Clotho in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Clotho

7 passages from 4 ancient authors that tell of Clotho, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Clotho was one of the Three Fates or Moirai in Greek mythology, her sisters being Lachesis and Atropos. She was the one who spun the thread of the liv... For the story in one place, read our article on Clotho.

Hesiod (1)

Hesiod, Shield of Heracles 240–324The shield of Heracles: the besieged city and the city at peace (240-324)A besieged city shows women crying from bronze towers, old men praying outside the gates, and the dusky Fates, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, fighting over the fallen. Beside it is a city with seven golden gates at peace, with wedding processions, dancing and flute-playing, and then ploughmen, reapers, vintagers, boxers, huntsmen and charioteers racing for a tripod. Ocean flows round the rim with swans and fish, and the son of Zeus mounts his chariot with Iolaus.

Lucian of Samosata (3)

Lucian of Samosata, The Downward Journey 9–19The tyrant's pleas; Micyllus the cobblerMegapenthes offers Clotho a fortune and asks for time to conquer Persia, and Clotho tells him what will become of his wife, his daughter and his flatterers. Dragged to the boat, he asks to be made a pauper instead and quarrels with Cyniscus. Micyllus the cobbler, who watched the tyrant's life from next door and laughed at him, comes aboard cheerfully.
Lucian of Samosata, The Downward Journey 1–8Charon waits; Hermes arrives with the deadCharon complains to Clotho that Hermes is late and the ferry idle. Hermes arrives with a crowd of shades and a tyrant, Megapenthes, who tried to run away and was caught with the help of the Cynic Cyniscus. Clotho calls over the dead according to the way they died, and Megapenthes begs for time to finish his palace and is told that his cousin Megacles will inherit.
Lucian of Samosata, Dialogues of the Dead 21.1–24.3Moerichus and Aristeas; the road down; Agamemnon and Ajax; Minos and SostratusCrates tells Diogenes how two rich cousins who named each other heirs died on the same day and left their property to two distant relations. Diogenes, Antisthenes and Crates compare what they saw on the way down. Agamemnon asks Ajax why he blames others for his madness, and Ajax puts the fault on his rival for the arms of Achilles. Minos condemns the pirate Sostratus, who answers that he only served the will of Clotho, and the judge lets him off.

Orpheus (attributed) (1)

Orpheus (attributed), Orphic Hymns 57–61Hymns 57-61: the Terrestrial Hermes, Cupid, the Fates, the Graces, NemesisHermes of the earth is invoked as the god whom Fate set to dwell on the dread path that leads to deepest hell, and Cupid as the pure and lovely source of sweet delight. The Fates are addressed as the daughters of Night and are named Atropos, Lachesis and Clotho. The Graces are called on as the descendants of Jove, with Eunomia, and Nemesis as the almighty queen by whom the deeds of mortal life are seen.

Plato (2)

Plato, Republic 617a–621dBook X: The myth of Er: the spindle of Necessity, the choice of lives and the Plain of OblivionSocrates tells how Er saw the spindle of Necessity, turning on her knees, with its eight whorls of different colours, a Siren on each rim, and the three Fates, Lachesis, Clotho and Atropos, daughters of Necessity, singing with the Sirens of what was, is and will be. A prophet at Lachesis' direction flung lots among the souls and set before them the patterns of lives of all kinds, saying that the blame belongs to the chooser, and God is blameless. Er saw the soul of Orpheus choose a swan, Thamyras a nightingale, Ajax a lion, Agamemnon an eagle, Atalanta an athlete, Epeius a craftswoman and Thersites an ape, and Odysseus, last of all, take the life of a private man free from care. The souls then drank of the river of Forgetfulness on the Plain of Oblivion, and Er was sent back, and Socrates ends that if they believe in the immortality of the soul they will hold to the upward way, pursue justice with wisdom, and fare well both here and in the journey of a thousand years.
Plato, Laws 960a–962eBook XII: Funeral rules, and the Nocturnal CouncilThe Athenian says that weeping for the dead shall be neither ordained nor forbidden, but that loud lamentation outside the house and carrying the dead through the streets shall be forbidden, and that the funeral party must be outside the city before daybreak. He says that the legislation is almost complete, but that a law is not finished until it is made secure, and he describes the synod that must watch over the State, made up of the ten senior Law-wardens, those who have won the award of merit, the inspectors who have returned from abroad, and a younger man chosen by each member. He likens the synod to the head and the senses of a living creature, and says that the State needs to have one aim, as a general or a physician has.