<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" xmlns:py="http://codespeak.net/lxml/objectify/pytype" py:pytype="TREE"><text xml:lang="eng"><body><div type="translation" n="urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0062.tlg017.perseus-eng4" xml:lang="eng"><div type="textpart" subtype="section" xml:base="urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0062.tlg017.perseus-eng4:" n="7"><sp><speaker>Cyniscus</speaker><p>Everything proceeds from the Fates, you say?</p></sp><sp><speaker>Zeus</speaker><p>Yes.</p></sp><sp><speaker>Cyniscus</speaker><p>And is it in your power to unspin what they have spun?</p></sp><sp><speaker>Zeus</speaker><p>It is not.</p></sp><sp><speaker>Cyniscus</speaker><p>Shall I proceed, or is the inference clear?</p></sp><sp><speaker>Zeus</speaker><p>Oh, clear enough. But you seem to think that people sacrifice to us from ulterior motives; that they are driving a bargain with us, buying blessings, as it were: not at all; it is a disinterested testimony to our superior merit.</p></sp><sp><speaker>Cyniscus</speaker><p>There you are, then. As you say, sacrifice answers no useful purpose; it is just our good-natured way of acknowledging your superiority. And mind you, if we had a sophist here, he would want to know all about that superiority. You are our fellow slaves, he would say; if the Fates are our mistresses, they are also yours. Your immortality will not serve you; that only makes things worse. We mortals, after all, are liberated by death: but for you there is no end to the evil; that long thread of yours means eternal servitude.

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