of the night there was heard a sound of iron.  On closer attention it proved to be a rattling of chains, first at a distance and then close at hand.  Soon there appeared the spectre of an old man, miserably thin and squalid, with a long beard and unkempt hair.  On his legs were fetters, and on his hands chains, which he kept shaking.  In consequence the inhabitants spent horrible and sleepless nights; the sleeplessness made them ill, and, as their terror increased, the illness was followed by death....  As a result the house was deserted and totally abandoned to the ghost.  Nevertheless it was advertised, on the chance that some one ignorant of all this trouble” (note the commercial morality) “might choose to buy it or rent it.  To Athens there comes a philosopher named Athenodorus, who reads the placard.  On hearing the price and finding it so cheap, he has his suspicions” (the ancient philosopher had his practical side), “makes enquiry, and learns the whole story.  So far from being less inclined to hire it, he is only the more willing.  On the approach of evening he gives orders for his couch to be made up in the front part of the house, and asks for his tablets, pencils, and a light.  After dismissing his attendants to the back rooms, he applies all his attention, as well as his eyes and hand, steadily to his writing, for fear his mind, if unoccupied, might conjure up imaginary sounds and causeless fears.  At first there was the same silence of the night as elsewhere; then there was a shaking of iron, a movement of chains.  The philosopher refused to lift his eyes or stop his pencil; instead he braced up his mind so as to overcome his hearing.  The noise grew louder; it approached; it sounded as if on the threshold; then as if within the room.  He looks behind him; sees and recognises the apparition of which he has been told.  It was standing and beckoning to him with its finger, as if calling him.  In answer our friend makes it a sign with his hand to wait a while, and once more applies himself to tablet and pencil.  The ghost began to rattle its chains over his head while he was writing.  He looks behind him again, sees it making the same signal as before, and promptly picks up the light and follows.  It goes at a slow pace, as if burdened with chains, then, after turning into the open yard of the house, it suddenly vanishes and leaves him by himself.  At this he gathers some grass and leaves, and marks the spot with them.  The next day he goes to the magistrates and urges them to dig up the spot in question; and they find bones tangled with chains through which they were passed...  These they put together and bury at the public charge.  The spirit being thus duly, laid, the house was henceforward free of them.”