ms. The next was
Agamemnon, who took the life of an eagle, because, like Ajax, he hated
human nature by reason of his sufferings. About the middle came the
lot of Atalanta; she, seeing the great fame of an athlete, was unable
to resist the temptation: and after her there followed the soul of
Epeus the son of Panopeus passing into the nature of a woman cunning in
the arts; and far away among the last who chose, the soul of the jester
Thersites was putting on the form of a monkey. There came also the
soul of Odysseus having yet to make a choice, and his lot happened to
be the last of them all. Now the recollection of former tolls had
disenchanted him of ambition, and he went about for a considerable time
in search of the life of a private man who had no cares; he had some
difficulty in finding this, which was lying about and had been
neglected by everybody else; and when he saw it, he said that he would
have done the had his lot been first instead of last, and that he was
delighted to have it. And not only did men pass into animals, but I
must also mention that there were animals tame and wild who changed
into one another and into corresponding human natures--the good into
the gentle and the evil into the savage, in all sorts of combinations.

All the souls had now chosen their lives, and they went in the order of
their choice to Lachesis, who sent with them the genius whom they had
severally chosen, to be the guardian of their lives and the fulfiller
of the choice: this genius led the souls first to Clotho, and drew
them within the revolution of the spindle impelled by her hand, thus
ratifying the destiny of each; and then, when they were fastened to
this, carried them to Atropos, who spun the threads and made them
irreversible, whence without turning round they passed beneath the
throne of Necessity; and when they had all passed, they marched on in a
scorching heat to the plain of Forgetfulness, which was a barren waste
destitute of trees and verdure; and then towards evening they encamped
by the river of Unmindfulness, whose water no vessel can hold; of this
they were all obliged to drink a certain quantity, and those who were
not saved by wisdom drank more than was necessary; and each one as he
drank forgot all things. Now after they had gone to rest, about the
middle of the night there was a thunderstorm and earthquake, and then
in an instant they were driven upwards in all manner of ways to their
birth, like