23–24
CYNISCUS
Come what may, I wish to prosecute a certain tyrant for the wicked deeds that I know him to have done in life, and I cannot expect to be believed when I speak unless I first make it plain what sort of man I am. and what sort of life I led.
RHADAMANTHUS
Who are you?
CYNISCUS
Cyniscus, your worship, by profession a philosopher.
RHADAMANTHUS
Come here and be tried first. Call the plaintiffs.
HERMES
If any one has charges to prefer against this man Cyniscus, let him come this way.
RHADAMANTHUS
But that is not enough, Cyniscus: strip yourself, so that I can judge you from the marks on your back.
CYNISCUS
Why, how did I ever come to be a marked man?As orvypyartas (branded man) was applied to rogues in general, there is a slight word-play in the Greek also.
RHADAMANTHUS
For every wicked deed that each of you has done in his life he bears an invisible mark on his soul.
5
CYNISCUS
Here I am naked, so seek out the marks you mention.
RHADAMANTHUS
The man is altogether free from marks, except for these three or four, very faint and uncertain. But what is this? There are many traces and indications of brandings, but somehow or other they have been erased, or rather, effaced. How is that, Cyniscus, and how is it that you looked free from them at first?
CYNISCUS
I will tell you. For a long time I was a wicked man through ignorance and earned many marks thereby; but no sooner had I begun to be a philosopher than I gradually washed away all the scars from my soul.
