17 FEBRUARY 1967, Page 13

Side Effect SIR,—Mr Cole (Letters, February 10) does less than

justice to a famous line of Menander (frg. Ill) when he treats it as an inverted cliché: that the sense of 'those whom the gods love die young' is what it is generally supposed to be is set beyond doubt by the quotations of several ancient writers and Plautus' imitation of the passage. Of course the immortals don't snatch their favourites away because they are so eager to enjoy their company, opportunities for social intercourse between Hades and Olympus being virtually non-existent: it is a commonplace in Greek literature that life is a burden and a torment, and the gods confer on those they love the blessing of an early death.