Dialogues of the Dead (23.2-24.3)

AGAMEMNON

Blame Thetis, then, my good man. She ought to have left you the arms as a legacy to a kinsman, but she brought them and delivered them up to the community.

AJAX

No, Odysseus is to blame, as the only one to make a rival claim.

AGAMEMNON

There’s some excuse for him, Ajax, as he’s only a man, and was eager for glory, the sweetest thing of all, the thing for which each of us faced danger, especially as he was judged your better—and, what’s more, by Trojans. [*]

AJAX

I know who voted against me, but it’s not right to discuss the gods. However, as far as Odysseus is concerned, I couldn’t stop myself from hating him, even if Athena herself ordered me to do so.

MINOS

Let this pirate, Sostratus, be cast into Pyriphlegethon, the temple-robber be torn apart by

Chimera, and the tyrant he stretched alongside Tityus, Hermes, and have his liver too torn by the vultures; but you good ones go off with all speed to the Elysian Fields, and live in the Isles of the Blest, as a reward for your just dealings in life.

SOSTRATUS

Listen, Minos, and see if what I say is just.

MINOS

Listen again now? Haven’t you already been found guilty of wickedness, Sostratus, and of committing all these murders?

SOSTRATUS

I admit I have, but consider whether it will be just for me to be punished.

MINOS

Of course it will, if it is just to pay the proper penalty.

SOSTRATUS

But answer me this, Minos. My question will be a short one.

MINOS

Speak on, then, only be brief, so that we can settle the other cases at once.

SOSTRATUS

Were my actions in life carried out by me of my own will, or already spun for me by Fate?

MINOS

Already spun by Fate, of course.

SOSTRATUS

Then all of us, whether we are thought good or bad, acted as we did as the servants of Fate?

MINOS

Yes, as servants of Clotho, who has ordained for each of us at birth what he must do.

SOSTRATUS

If, then, a man is forced by another man to kill, and is unable to gainsay the compulsion he brings to bear, if, for instance, he is a public executioner, or a mercenary, obeying, in one case, a judge, and, in the other, a tyrant, whom will you hold responsible for the killing?

MINOS

Clearly the judge or the tyrant, since the actual sword can’t be blamed; for it merely serves as a tool to serve the passion of the person who is responsible in the first instance.

SOSTRATUS

Many thanks, Minos, for your generous elaboration of my example. And, if some one brings with his own hands gold or silver sent by his master, whom must we thank and record as the benefactor?

MINOS

The sender, Sostratus; the bringer was merely a servant.

SOSTRATUS

Don’t you see then how wrong it is for you to punish us, who have been the servants of the commands of Clotho, and to have shown honour to those who ministered to the good deeds of others? No one can say that it was possible for us to gainsay ordinances that are all-compelling.

MINOS

These are not the only illogicalities you could find, Sostratus, by examining things carefully. However, you shall have your reward for your persistent questions, as I can see you’re not merely a pirate but also something of a master in the art of argument. Set him free, Hermes, and have his punishment stopped. But take care, fellow, that you don’t teach the other shades to ask questions like that.