Er: he had been the tyrant of
some city of Pamphylia, and had murdered his aged father and his elder
brother, and was said to have committed many other abominable crimes.)
The answer of the other spirit was: 'He comes not hither and will never
come. And this,' said he, 'was one of the dreadful sights which we
ourselves witnessed. We were at the mouth of the cavern, and, having
completed all our experiences, were about to reascend, when of a sudden
Ardiaeus appeared and several others, most of whom were tyrants; and
there were also besides the tyrants private individuals who had been
great criminals: they were just, as they fancied, about to return into
the upper world, but the mouth, instead of admitting them, gave a roar,
whenever any of these incurable sinners or some one who had not been
sufficiently punished tried to ascend; and then wild men of fiery
aspect, who were standing by and heard the sound, seized and carried
them off; and Ardiaeus and others they bound head and foot and hand, and
threw them down and flayed them with scourges, and dragged them along
the road at the side, carding them on thorns like wool, and declaring
to the passers-by what were their crimes, and that they were being taken
away to be cast into hell.' And of all the many terrors which they had
endured, he said that there was none like the terror which each of them
felt at that moment, lest they should hear the voice; and when there was
silence, one by one they ascended with exceeding joy. These, said Er,
were the penalties and retributions, and there were blessings as great.

Now when the spirits which were in the meadow had tarried seven days,
on the eighth they were obliged to proceed on their journey, and, on the
fourth day after, he said that they came to a place where they could
see from above a line of light, straight as a column, extending right
through the whole heaven and through the earth, in colour resembling the
rainbow, only brighter and purer; another day's journey brought them to
the place, and there, in the midst of the light, they saw the ends of
the chains of heaven let down from above: for this light is the belt
of heaven, and holds together the circle of the universe, like the
under-girders of a trireme. From these ends is extended the spindle of
Necessity, on which all the revolutions turn. The shaft and hook of this
spindle are made of steel, and the whorl is made partly of steel and
also partly of other materials. Now