The Downward Journey or The Tyrant

​Micyllus “By Heracles, what darkness! Where is the handsome Megillus now? Or by what could anyone here distinguish whether Simiche is more beautiful than Phryne? For all things are equal and of the same color, and nothing is either beautiful or more beautiful; but even my worn cloak, which until now seemed to me unsightly, already becomes of equal value with the purple robe of the king. For both are unseen, submerged under the same darkness. Cyniscus, where on earth do you happen to be?” Cyniscus “Here, I tell you, Micyllus; but let us walk together, if it seems good.” Micyllus “You speak well; give me your right hand. Tell me — for you were initiated, Cyniscus, clearly into the Eleusinian mysteries — do not things here seem to you similar to those there?” Cyniscus “You speak well. Look, at any rate, someone carrying a torch approaches, looking with a fearful and threatening gaze. Can she really be an Erinys?” Micyllus “She seems so, at least from her appearance.”

​Hermes “Receive these, Tisiphone, a thousand and four.” Tisiphone “And indeed, Rhadamanthys here has been waiting for you for a long time.” Rhadamanthys “Bring them forward, Erinys. And you, Hermes, make proclamation and summon them.” Cyniscus “Rhadamanthys, by your father, examine me first, bringing me forward.” Rhadamanthys “For what reason?” Cyniscus “I wish above all to accuse a certain tyrant of the evil deeds which I know he committed during his life. I would not, therefore, be trustworthy in speaking, unless I myself first appear as to what kind of man I am and what sort of life I lived.” Rhadamanthys “And who are you?” Cyniscus “Cyniscus, my good sir, a philosopher by conviction.” Rhadamanthys “Come here and stand trial first. And you, summon the accusers.”

​Hermes “If anyone accuses this Cyniscus, let him come forward.” Cyniscus “No one approaches.” Rhadamanthys “But this is not enough, Cyniscus; strip, so that I may examine you by your scars.” Cyniscus “For where did I become a marked man?” Rhadamanthys “Whatever evil deeds any of you commits during life, for each of them he carries invisible marks upon his soul.” Cyniscus “Look, I stand before you naked; so search for those marks you speak of.” Rhadamanthys “This man is clean on the whole, except for these three or four very faint and indistinct marks. And yet, what is this? There are many traces and signs of brandings, but somehow they have been wiped out, or rather cut away. How is this, Cyniscus, or how have you appeared clean anew?” Cyniscus “I will tell you. Formerly, having become wicked through lack of education and having acquired many marks because of this, as soon as I began to philosophize, I washed away all the stains from my soul little by little.” Rhadamanthys “This man indeed has used a good and most effective remedy. But depart to the Isles of the Blessed to dwell with the best, after you have first accused the tyrant you speak of. Summon others.”

​Micyllus “And my case, Rhadamanthys, is small and in need of some brief examination; at any rate, I have been naked before you for a long time, so inspect me.” Rhadamanthys “And who do you happen to be?” Micyllus “The shoemaker Micyllus.” Rhadamanthys “Well done, Micyllus, precisely clean and without inscription; go you too to join this Cyniscus. Summon the tyrant now.” Hermes “Let Megapenthes, son of Lacydes, come. Where are you turning? Approach. I summon you, the tyrant. Throw him forward, Tisiphone, pushing him by the neck into the midst.” Rhadamanthys “And you, Cyniscus, accuse and refute him now; for here is the man close by.”