“Only one of them carries it,” Charon pointed out. “He may pass; the rest must stay behind.”
“They are all members of one party,” protested Hermes.
“They may be joined as tightly as Hermaphroditus and Salmacis for all I care,” said Charon. “If you wish to invoke an exception, well and good—but the exception covers only he whose hand touches the branch, not everyone he would bring in with him.”
“Aeneas and the Sibyl both got in with only one golden bough between them,” Hermes pointed out.
“Indeed, but the Sibyl had performed certain rituals beforehand,” replied Charon.
“What rituals?” asked the messenger of the gods.
“I will not say,” said Charon.
Having listened to Charon’s exact words earlier, the students all touched the branch at the same time, but the ferryman refused to budge.
