The souls stayed with Er near the chasms for seven days, and then Er and the souls journeyed to where the Fates dwell. The Fates would give the souls new lives as mortals. Each soul was permitted to pick the sort of new life he would lead; some chose wisely while others did not. The first soul chose a new life as a tyrant, thereby condemning himself to a life of misery. Orpheus chose to be a swan; Ajax, a lion; Agamemnon, an eagle. Odysseus, who remembered his earlier sufferings pursuing a life of glory and deeds, chose to be a common citizen.
After choosing their new lives and being granted them by the Fates, the souls were made to drink from the River of Forgetfulness, so that they could remember nothing of the other world and could not tell men of it. Er was forbidden to drink; his fate was that he must remember and tell what he had seen and heard. A great earthquake occurred; the souls were taken away to be reborn to new lives. Er awoke, found himself on his funeral pyre, and told his story.
