Sostratus Argues His Way Out

Minos has finished assigning punishments — Pyriphlegethon, Chimaera, vultures — when Sostratus the bandit asks for a moment. He walks Minos through it step by step: if Fate spun out all his actions, then he was Clotho's instrument, the way a sword is the judge's. Minos, after a long pause, lets him go and quietly asks him not to teach the rest of the dead the same questions. The collection closes on the underworld's justice quietly conceding a point. Cast: Minos, Sostratus.