Antony and Cleopatra 15:41
'But There Is No Goodness in Thy Face' Antony and Cleopatra, Act 2, Scene 5
It was a dark, windy night. Anthropius walked quietly among the forest in the Peloponnese. It was not safe for a young, reckless mortal to walk there late at night. But Anthropius was not reckless; he was a young man with courage and wisdom. His mission was one of a mad man. He set out to the River Styx. He set out to save his fathers soul.
His Father died a month ago, and unfortunately because his family was poor, they couldn't supply his corpse with a gold coin, the price to go to the underworld. Anthropius had walked from his home in Athens to Delphi where he met the oracle. She told him to go to Marathon and there he could find a gold coin, but he only had one month to give the coin to Chiron or his fathers soul would have to stay on Earth forever.
He set off to Marathon and on his way he met an old man who was dying on the side of the road. He knew that he was running out of time but still stopped to help the old man. He couldn't speak and could barely move but was able to thrust two gold coins into Anthropius's hand. One for him and one for Anthropius.
Anthropius set one on the tongue of the old man and picked up the corpse and set him on his back. Anthropius then traveled day and night with the man on his back to the river.
He walked in silence and exhaustion. He followed the path laid out in many myths to help him find the location of the river. Anthropius came across a stream and bent down to take a drink. He set down the old man whose dead body moved towards the river as if pulled by a rope. The body then fell in the stream and turned to steam. Anthropius knew that this was where he set out to be. He know faced another problem: how to get Chiron to come to him so he could give him the coin. Anthropius knew how.
He went back into the thick of the woods and cut down three thick logs. With some rope he tied them together and then put his raft onto the river. Chiron came racing down, no mortal should be allowed on the river. Anthropius knew what he had to do he set the raft on fire and jumped into the water. He swam to Chiron's raft and handed him the coin. Chiron picked up his stick to smite Anthropius but couldn't. Anthropius had become immortal. He then traveled with Chiron to the mouth of the Underworld where they met his father. Hades then turned Anthropius into a three-headed dog in order to punish him for coming down the underworld. Anthropius became Cerberus who guards the mouth of the underworld for all eternity.
Note: Anthropius comes from the Ancient Greek (Ionic dialect) word anqropw (anthropoe) which means man.