The Downward Journey, or the Tyrant (21-25)

CHARON Come, now, pay us your fares, all of you, the first thing you do. (Yo micytius) You there, pay yours too; I have it from everybody now. I say, Micyllus, pay your obol too.

MICYLLUS You’re joking, Charon, or if not, you might as well write in water as look for an obol from Micyllus. I haven’t the slightest idea whether an obol is round or square.

CHARON What a fine, profitable cruise this has been to-day !

Ashore with you, all the same. I am going after horses and cattle and dogs and the rest of the animals, for they have to cross now.

CLOTHO Take them in charge, Hermes, and lead them off. I myself will go back to the other side to bring over the Chinamen Indopates and Heramithras, for they have just died fighting with one another over boundaries.

HERMES Let’s move on, good people—or better, all follow me in order.

MICYLLUS Heracles, how dark it is! Where now is handsome Megillus, and who can tell here that Simiche is not more beautiful than Phryne? All things are alike and of the same colour, and nothing is either beautiful or more beautiful; indeed, even my short cloak, which till now I thought ugly, is as good as the purple mantle of the king, for both are invisible and submerged in the same darkness. Cyniscus, where in the world are you?

CYNISCUS Here I am, talking to you, Micyllus. Come, let’s walk together, if you like. :

MICYLLUS Good! Give me your hand. Tell me—for of course you have been through the Eleusinian Mysteries, Cyniscus—don’t you think this is like them ?

CYNISCUS Right you are; indeed, here comes a woman with

a torch, who looks very fierce and threatening. Do you suppose it is an Erinys ?[*] MICYLLUS Probably, to judge from her appearance.

HERMES Take these people in charge, Tisiphone, a thousand and four.

TISIPHONE Indeed, Rhadamanthus here has been awaiting you this long time.

RHADAMANTHUS Bring them before me, Erinys. Be crier, Hermes, and summon them by name.

CYNISCUS Rhadamanthus, in the name of Zeus your father I beseech you to have me up first and judge me.

RHADAMANTHUS For what reason ?

CYNISCUS Come what may, I wish to prosecute a certain tyrant for the wicked deeds that I know him to have done in life, and I cannot expect to be believed when I speak unless I first make it plain what sort of man I am. and what sort of life I led.

RHADAMANTHUS Who are you?

CYNISCUS Cyniscus, your worship, by profession a philosopher.

RHADAMANTHUS Come here and be tried first. Call the plaintiffs.

HERMES If any one has charges to prefer against this man Cyniscus, let him come this way.

CYNISCUS No one comes.

RHADAMANTHUS But that is not enough, Cyniscus: strip yourself, so that I can judge you from the marks on your back.

CYNISCUS Why, how did I ever come to be a marked man?[*] RHADAMANTHUS For every wicked deed that each of you has done in his life he bears an invisible mark on his soul.

CYNISCUS Here I am naked, so seek out the marks you mention.

RHADAMANTHUS The man is altogether free from marks, except for these three or four, very faint and uncertain. But what is this? There are many traces and indications of brandings, but somehow or other they have been erased, or rather, effaced. How is that, Cyniscus, and how is it that you looked free from them at first ?

CYNISCUS I will tell you. For a long time I was a wicked man through ignorance and earned many marks thereby ; but no sooner had I begun to be a philosopher than I gradually washed away all the scars from my soul.

RHADAMANTHUS At any rate he made use of a cure that is sound and very efficacious. Well, go your way to the Isles of the Blest to live with the good, but first prosecute the tyrant you spoke of. Hermes, summon others.

MICYLLUS My case also is a trifling one and needs but a short investigation. In fact, I have been stripped and waiting for you a long time, so inspect me.

RHADAMANTHUS Who are you?

MICVLLUS The cobbler Micyllus.

RHADAMANTHUS Good, Micyllus, you are quite clean and unmarked. Be off and join Cyniscus there. Call the tyrant now.

HERMES Let Megapenthes, son of Lacydes, come this way. Where are you turning to? Come here! It is you I am calling, tyrant. Thrust him in among us, Tisiphone, with a push on the neck.

RHADAMANTHUS Cyniscus, open your prosecution and state your case now, for here is the man.