Cataplus

Charon Wait a bit! Fares first, please. Your fare, Micyllus; every one else has paid; one penny.

Micyllus You don’t expect to get a penny out of the poor cobbler? You’re joking, Charon; or else this is what they call a ‘castle in the air.’ I know not whether your penny is square or round.

Charon A fine paying trip this, I must say! However,—all ashore! I must fetch the horses, cows, dogs, and other livestock. Their turn comes now.

Clotho You can take charge of them for the rest of the way, Hermes. I am crossing again to see after the Chinamen, Indopatres and Heramithres. They have been fighting about boundaries, and have killed one another by this time.

Hermes Come, shades, let us get on;—follow me, I mean, in single file.

Micyllus Bless me, how dark it is! Where is handsome Megillus now? There would be no telling Simmiche from Phryne. All complexions are alike here, no question of beauty, greater or less. Why, the cloak I thought so shabby before passes muster here as well as royal purple; the darkness hides both alike. Cyniscus, whereabouts are you?

Cynic Use your ears; here I am. We might walk together. What do you say?

Micyllus Very good; give me your hand.—I suppose you have been admitted to the mysteries at Eleusis? That must have been something like this, I should think?

Cynic Pretty much. Look, here comes a torch-bearer; a grim, forbidding dame. A Fury, perhaps?

Micyllus She looks like it, certainly.

Hermes Here they are, Tisiphone. One thousand and four.

Tisiphone It is time we had them. Rhadamanthus has been waiting.

Rhadamanthus Bring them up, Tisiphone. Hermes, you call out their names as they are wanted.

Cynic Rhadamanthus, as you love your father Zeus, have me up first for examination.

Rhadamanthus Why?

Cynic There is a certain shade whose misdeeds on earth I am anxious to denounce. And if my evidence is to be worth anything, you must first be satisfied of my own character and conduct.

Rhadamanthus Who are you?

Cynic Cyniscus, your worship; a student of philosophy.

Rhadamanthus Come up for judgement; I will take you first. Hermes, summon the accusers.

Hermes If any one has an accusation to bring against Cyniscus here present, let him come forward.

Cynic No one stirs!

Rhadamanthus Ah, but that is not enough, my friend. Off with your clothes; I must have a look at your brands.

Cynic Brands? Where will you find them?

Rhadamanthus Never yet did mortal man sin, but he carried about the secret record thereof, branded on his soul.

Cynic Well, here I am stripped. Now for the ‘brands.’

Rhadamanthus Clean from head to heel, except three or four very faint marks, scarcely to be made out. Ah! what does this mean? Here is place after place that tells of the iron; all

Cynic Why, in old days, when I knew no better, I lived an evil life, and acquired thereby a number of brands. But from the day that I began to practise philosophy, little by little I washed out all the scars from my soul,—thanks to the efficiency of that admirable lotion.

Rhadamanthus Off with you'then to the Isles of the Blest, and the excellent company you will find there. But we must have your impeachment of the tyrant before you go.—Next shade, Hermes!

Micyllus Mine is a very small affair, too, Rhadamanthus; I shall not keep you long. I have been stripped all this time; so do take me next.

Rhadamanthus And who may you be?

Micyllus Micyllus the cobbler.

Rhadamanthus Very well, Micyllus. As clean as clean could be; not a mark anywhere. You may join Cyniscus. Now the Tyrant.

Hermes Megapenthes, son of Lacydes, wanted! Where are you off to? This way! You there, the Tyrant! Up with him, Tisiphone, neck and crop.

Rhadamanthus Now, Cyniscus, your accusation and your proofs. Here is the party.

Cynic There is in fact no need of an accusation. You will very soon know the man by the marks upon him. My words however may serve to unveil him, and to show his character in a clearer light. With the conduct of this monster as a private citizen, I need not detain you. Surrounded with a bodyguard, and aided by unscrupulous accomplices, he rose against his native city, and established a lawless rule. The persons put to death by him without trial are to be counted by thousands, and it was the confiscation of their property that gave him his enormous wealth. Since then, there is no conceivable iniquity

Rhadamanthus Villain, what have you to say to this?

Megapenthes. I committed the murders referred to. As for the rest, the adulteries and corruptions and seductions, it is all a pack of lies.

Cynic I can bring witnesses to these points too, Rhadamanghus.

Rhadamanthus Witnesses, eh?

Cynic Hermes, kindly summon his Lamp and Bed. They will appear in evidence, and state what they know of his conduct.

Hermes Lamp and Bed of Megapenthes, come into court. Good, they respond to the summons,

Rhadamanthus Now, tell us all you know about Megapenthes. Bed, you speak first.

Bed All that Cyniscus said is true. But really, Mr. Rhadamanthus, I don’t quite like to speak about it; such strange things used to happen overhead.

Rhadamanthus Why, your unwillingness to speak is the most telling evidence of all!—Lamp, now let us have yours.;

Lamp What went on in the daytime I never saw, not being there. As for his doings at night, the less said the better. I saw some very queer things, though, monstrous queer. Many is the time I have stopped taking oil on purpose, and tried to goout. But then he used to bring me close up. It was enough to give any lamp a bad character.

Rhadamanthus Enough of verbal evidenee. Now, just divest yourself of that purple, and we will see what you have in the way of brands. Goodness gracious, the man’s a positive network! Black and blue with them! Now, what punishment can we givehim? A bathin Pyriphlegethon? The tender mercies of Cerberus, perhaps?

Cynic No, no. Allow me,—I have a novel idea; something that will just suit him.

Rhadamanthus Yes? I shall be obliged to you for a suggestion.

Cynic I fancy it is usual for departed spirits to take a draught of the water of Lethe?

Rhadamanthus Just so.

Cynic Let him be the sole exception.

Rhadamanthus What is the idea in that?

Cynic His earthly pomp and power for ever in his mind; his fingers ever busy on the tale of blissful items;—’tis a heavy sentence!

Rhadamanthus True. Be this the tyrant’s doom. Place him in fetters at Tantalus’s side,—never to forget the things of earth.