Reached the part in The secret History again where the conversation goes as follows:
"We're all a lot better off.”
"Some of us are, you mean.”
Henry smiled acidly. “Oh, I don't know,” he said. “Πελλαιου βους μεγας ειν Αιδη.”
This was something to the effect that, in the Underworld, a great ox costs only a penny, but I knew what he meant and in spite of myself I laughed. There was a tradition among the ancients that things were very cheap in Hell.
Once again I wondered at it and looked up several translations (one of them seems very logical in context, you can find it here: https://ahorsemanontheroof.tumblr.com/post/131000026984/pellaiou-bous-megas-ein-aidei). None of these translations satisfied what I wanted to know and yes probably a million people took this step before me, but I thought a moment about the context of the dialogue.
Henry: “We’re all a lot better off.” Implying: when Bunny is dead, he can’t harm them anymore and so it was worth to kill him.
Charles: “Some of us are, you mean.” I always thought this was a snippy comment, meaning that only Henry was better off with Bunny dead because he seems to be the only one who has no bad conscience.
But in fact, Charles probably meant Bunny’s dad, about whom he was just talking, since of course Bunny’s dad is not better off with his son dead.
Henry seems to understand that Charles is talking about Bunny himself (of course Bunny isn’t better off dead) and so the response is:
Henry smiled acidly. “Oh, I don't know,” he said. “Πελλαιου βους μεγας ειν Αιδη.”
And Richard’s explanation is: This was something to the effect that, in the Underworld, a great ox costs only a penny, but I knew what he meant and in spite of myself I laughed. There was a tradition among the ancients that things were very cheap in Hell.
And the reason Richard laughs is that Henry says as much as ‘Stuff in hell is cheaper’, with regard to Bunny who never had money and drained Henry, Francis and even the twins of theirs to get the stuff he wanted, which is now over because he is dead and Henry points out that, in Hell, Bunny doesn’t have to spent as much money in order to get what he wants. Which is a very morbid joke, as Richard understands it.
I finally get this part without any knowing of ancient languages!
