Zeus What! you doubt that there are punishments and rewards to come? You doubt of that judgement-seat before which every soul is arraigned? Cyniscus I have heard mention of a judge in that connexion;

 

one Minos, a Cretan. Ah, yes, tell me about him: they say he is your son? Zeus And what of him? Cyniscus Whom does he punish in particular? Zeus Whom but the wicked?, Murderers, for instance, and temple-robbers. Cyniscus And whom does he send to dwell with the heroes? Zeus Good men and God-fearing, who have led virtuous lives. Cyniscus Why? Zeus Because they deserve punishment and reward respectively. Cyniscus Suppose a man commits a crime accidentally; does he punish him just the same? Zeus Certainly not. Cyniscus Similarly, if a man involuntarily performed a good action, he would not reward him? Zeus No. Cyniscus Then there is no one for him to reward or punish. Zeus How so? Cyniscus Why, we men do nothing of our own free will: we are obeying an irresistible impulse,—that is, if there is any truth in what we settled just now, about Fate’s being the cause of everything. Does aman commit a murder? Fate is the murderess. Does he rob a temple? He has her instructions for it. So if there is going to be any justice in Minos’s sentences, he will punish Destiny, not Sisyphus; Fate, not Tantalus. What harm did these men do? They only obeyed orders.