The Ferry (14-16)

Mikyllos

Tell me, Klotho, do you take no account of me at all? Or because I am a poor man, is that a reason why I ought to be the last to embark, too?

Klotho

And who are you?

Mikyllos

Mikyllos the shoemaker.

Klotho

And you object to lingering? Do you not see what promises the tyrant makes on condition of being let off for a little while? I am amazed, then, if you, too, are not pleased at the delay.

Mikyllos

Listen, best of Fates. I am not greatly cheered by such a boon as the Cyclops gave to "Noman" in promising to eat him last. First or last, the same teeth are waiting. Moreover, I am not in the same plight as the rich. Our lives are poles asunder, as they say. Now the despot was considered happy while he lived. He was feared and stared at by all. When he left behind him so much gold and silver and raiment, so many horses and banquets and lovely boys and beautiful women, it was natural that he should take it ill and grieve at being dragged from them. For the soul sticks to such things as if it were somehow glued to them, and it is loth to give them up without a struggle, because it has clung to them so long. Or, rather, it is as

if they had come to be bound by fetters that cannot be broken. Of course if any one drags them off by force they shriek and beg mercy; and though they have a bold face for other things, they show themselves cowards about this, the road that leads to Hades. They turn back and have a lovesick longing to see the things of daylight even if from afar, just as this fool here did, trying to run away on the road and persecuting you with entreaties here.

Mikyllos

But I, because I had nothing at stake in life, neither estates nor apartment houses nor gold nor furniture nor reputation nor portraits, naturally had my loins girt up; and as soon as Atropos nodded to me I gladly threw down my knife and my sole-for I had a boot in my hand-and jumped up and followed barefoot, not even waiting to wash off the stains. from the leather. No, I rather led the way, looking ahead; for there was nothing behind that turned my head or called me back. And, by Zeus! I see already that everything is charming down here; for in my opinion it is most delightful to have universal equality, and no one better than his neighbor. I judge that debtors are not dunned for their debts here nor taxes paid; and most important of all, no one is frozen in winter or falls ill or gets beaten by his betters. We poor men laugh it is the rich who feel the pain and bewail their case.

Klotho

I have seen you laughing for some time, Mikyllos. What was it chiefly that stirred your mirth?

Mikyllos

I will tell you, goddess of my greatest reverence. I lived near a despot on earth, so that I saw pretty plainly all that went on in his house, and he seemed to me then to be somehow equal with the gods. For I counted him blessed when I saw the bloom of his purple, the crowd of his followers, the gold, the gemmed goblets, the silver-footed couches. And, moreover, the steam and savor of his dinner preparations used to drive me wild, so that he seemed to me more than mortal, thrice blessed, and almost handsomer than other people, and taller by two feet! lifted up as he was by fortune, dignified in his gait, with head thrown back, inspiring awe in those he met. But when he came to die, and had laid aside his luxury like a garment, I saw all his absurdity; but still more I laughed at myself for having admired such a wretch, judging of his happiness from the steam of his kitchen, and calling him blessed on the strength of the blood of the shell-fish in the Laconic Sea.