I wish to tell you, also, what famous persons I
saw there. There were all the demi-gods and the


 


heroes who went on the Trojan expedition, with
the exception of Lokrian Ajax; he, they said,
was being punished in the realm of the wicked.
Among the barbarians there were both the Cyruses, Anacharsis the Scythian, Zamolxis the
Thracian, and Numa the Italian. Sparta was
represented by Lykourgos, and Athens by Phokion, Tellos, and all the sages except Periander.
I also saw Sokrates, son of Sophroniskos, gossipping with Nestor and Palamedes. Round him
were Hyakinthos of Lacedaemon, Narkissos of
Thespiae, Hylas, and many other handsome lads,
and it seemed to me that he was fond of Hyakinthos. At all events, he often put him down in
argument. It was rumored that Rhadamanthos
was out of temper with Sokrates, and had often
threatened to banish him from the island if he
continued his nonsense and was not willing to
stop revelling in his irony. Plato only was not
there, and I was told that he was living himself
in the city he had fashioned, under the constitution and laws with which he endowed it in his
writings.