THE GORGIAS MYTH

CONTEXT

GORGIAS, the famous teacher of Rhetoric, and his young disciple Polus, meet Socrates at the house of Callicles, an Athenian gentleman; and the conversation turns on the difference between Rhetoric and the Way of true Knowledge and the true Conduct of Life.

What is Rhetoric? Socrates asks. Neither Gorgias nor Polus can give an intelligible answer; and Socrates answers for them by describing it as the Simulation of Justice, the Art of getting people to believe what the Professor of the Art wishes them to believe, and they themselves wish to believe, without regard to Truth or Justice. It is the Art of Flattery. It ignores the distinction between Pleasure and the Good-a distinction to the reality of which human nature itself testifies—for all men, bad as well as good, wish the Good, and bad men, in doing what they think best for themselves, do what they do not wish to do. To seek after the Good is of the very essence of Life —it is better to suffer evil than to do evil; and if a man has done evil, it is better for him to be chastised than to escape chastisement.

Here Callicles, speaking as a man of the world, takes up the argument, and maintains that Statesmanship does not recognise this distinction drawn by Socrates between Pleasure and the Good. Pleasure is the Good. Might is Right.

After much talk Callicles is silenced, and Socrates points out that there are two kinds of Statesmanship-that which uses Rhetoric as its instrument, and flatters people, and deceives them, holding up Pleasure before them; and that which, keeping the better.

Good always in view, makes them becte the Myth now told by

At Day of which

Soerates declares, there will be no place for the Art of Flattery. Pretence will not avail. There will be no side issues then. The only issue will be: Is this man righteous or is he wicked?

With the Myth of the Day of Judgment the Gorgias ends.

523

Gorgias 523 A-527 c

Ακουε δή, φασί, μάλα καλοῦ λόγου, ὃν σὺ μὲν ἡγήσει μῦθον, ὡς ἐγὼ οἶμαι, ἐγὼ δὲ λόγον· ὡς ἀληθῆ γὰρ ὄντα σοι λέξω ἃ μέλλω λέγειν. Ωσπερ γάρ "Ομηρος λέγει, διενείμαντο τὴν ἀρχὴν ὁ Ζεὺς καὶ ὁ Πλούτων, ἐπειδὴ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς παρέλαβον. ἦν οὖν νόμος ὅδε περὶ ἀνθρώπων ἐπὶ Κρόνου, καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ νῦν ἔτι ἔστιν ἐν θεοῖς, τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸν μὲν δικαίως τὸν βίον διελθόντα καὶ ὁσίως, Β ἐπειδὰν τελευτήσῃ, ἐς μακάρων νήσους ἀπιόντα οἰκεῖν ἐν πάσῃ εὐδαιμονίᾳ ἐκτὸς κακῶν, τὸν δὲ ἀδίκως καὶ ἀθέως εἰς τὸ τῆς τίσεώς τε καὶ δίκης δεσμωτήριον, ὃ δὴ τάρταρον καλοῦσιν, ἰέναι. τούτων δὲ δικασταὶ ἐπὶ Κρόνου καὶ ἔτι νεωστὶ τοῦ Διὸς τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχοντος ζῶντες ἦσαν ζώντων, ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ δικάζοντες, ᾗ μέλλοιεν τελευτᾶν. κακῶς οὖν αἱ δίκαι ἐκρίνοντο. ὅ τε οὖν Πλούτων καὶ οἱ ἐπιμε ληταὶ οἱ ἐκ μακάρων νήσων ἰόντες ἔλεγον πρὸς τὸν Δία, C ὅτι φοιτῷέν σφιν ἄνθρωποι ἑκατέρωσε ἀνάξιοι. εἶπεν οὖν ὁ Ζεύς, Αλλ ̓ ἐγώ, ἔφη, παύσω τοῦτο γιγνόμενον. νῦν μὲν γὰρ κακῶς αἱ δίκαι δικάζονται. ἀμπεχόμενοι γάρ, ἔφη, οἱ κρινόμενοι κρίνονται· ζῶντες γὰρ κρίνονται. πολλοὶ οὖν, ἡ δ ̓ ὅς, ψυχὰς πονηρὰς ἔχοντες ήμφιεσμένοι εἰσὶ σώματά τε καλὰ καὶ γένη καὶ πλούτους, καί, ἐπειδὰν ἡ κρίσις ᾖ, ἔρχονται αὐτοῖς πολλοὶ μάρτυρες μαρτυρήσοντες, ὡς δικαίως D βεβιώκασιν. οἱ οὖν δικασταὶ ὑπό τε τούτων ἐκπλήττονται, καὶ ἅμα καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀμπεχόμενοι δικάζουσι, πρὸ τῆς ψυχῆς τῆς αὑτῶν ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ ὦτα καὶ ὅλον τὸ σῶμα προκεκαλυμμένοι. ταῦτα δὴ αὐτοῖς πάντα ἐπίπροσθεν γίγνεται, καὶ τὰ αὐτῶν ἀμφιέσματα καὶ τὰ τῶν κρινομένων. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν, ἔφη, παυστέον ἐστὶ προειδότας αὐτοὺς τὸν θάνατον· νῦν μὲν γὰρ προἴσασι. τοῦτο μὲν οὖν καὶ δὴ εἴρηται τῷ Ε Προμηθεῖ ὅπως ἂν παύσῃ αὐτῶν. ἔπειτα γυμνοὺς κριτέον ἁπάντων τούτων· τεθνεῶτας γὰρ δεῖ κρίνεσθαι. καὶ τὸν

TRANSLATION

Hearken now to an excellent True Story: a Fable, methinks, thou wilt deem it; but I deem it no Fable, for that the things are true, whereof I will now tell, I am fully persuaded. What Homer telleth, that will I now tell: That Zeus and Poseidon and Pluto divided amongst them the kingdom, when they had received it from their father Cronus. Now, in his time there was this law among the gods concerning men, which standeth fast unto this day as of old, that the man who hath gone through his life righteously in the fear of the Gods, after death goeth to the Isles of the Blessed, and dwelleth there in all felicity beyond the touch of ill; but the man who hath lived unrighteously without the fear of the Gods before his eyes, he goeth to the prison-house of just retribution, which men call Tartarus.

They who were Judges in the time of Cronus, and when Zeus was newly come to his kingdom, were living men; and they also were living men who were judged, each on that day on the which he should die. Now, judgments given thus were ill-given, and Pluto and the Overseers from the Isles of the Blessed came and spake unto Zeus, making complaint that many came unworthily unto either place. Wherefore Zeus said: Verily I will end this; for now are the judgments given ill, because they who are judged are judged with their raiment on, being judged alive. Many there be, he said, that have evil souls, and, for raiment, have fair bodies and noble birth and riches when these are judged, many witnesses come to bear witness for them, that they have lived righteously. By these are the Judges confounded; and, moreover, they themselves sit in judgment with raiment on, having eyes and ears, yea, and the whole Body, as clothing wherewith their Soul is covered. All these things hinder them, to wit, their own raiment, and the raiment of those that are judged. First, then, he said, must they be stopped of their foreknowing the day of their death for now have they foreknowledge. Wherefore Prometheus hath been charged to stop them of this. Then naked, stripped of all, must they be judged; for they must be

κριτὴν δεῖ γυμνὸν εἶναι, τεθνεῶτα, αὐτῇ τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτὴν τὴν ψυχὴν θεωροῦντα ἐξαίφνης ἀποθανόντος ἑκάστου, ἔρημον πάντων τῶν συγγενῶν καὶ καταλιπόντα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς πάντα ἐκεῖνον τὸν κόσμον, ἵνα δικαία ἡ κρίσις ᾖ. ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν ταῦτα ἐγνωκὼς πρότερος ἢ ὑμεῖς ἐποιησάμην δικαστὰς υἱεῖς ἐμαυτοῦ, δύο μὲν ἐκ τῆς ̓Ασίας, Μίνω τε καὶ Ραδάμανθυν, 524 ἕνα δὲ ἐκ τῆς Εὐρώπης, Αἰακόν. οὗτοι οὖν, ἐπειδὰν τελευτήσωσι, δικάσουσιν ἐν τῷ λειμῶνι, ἐν τῇ τριόδῳ, ἐξ ἧς φέρετον τω ὁδώ, ἡ μὲν εἰς μακάρων νήσους, ἡ δ ̓ εἰς τάρταρον. καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐκ τῆς ̓Ασίας Ραδάμανθυς κρινεῖ, τοὺς δὲ ἐκ τῆς Εὐρώπης Αἰακός· Μίνῳ δὲ πρεσβεῖα δώσω ἐπιδιακρίνειν, ἐὰν ἀπορῆτόν τι τὰ ἑτέρω, ἵνα ὡς δικαιοτάτη ἡ κρίσις ᾖ περὶ τῆς πορείας τοῖς ἀνθρώποις.

Ταῦτ ̓ ἔστιν, ὦ Καλλίκλεις, ἃ ἐγὼ ἀκηκοώς πιστεύω Β ἀληθῆ εἶναι· καὶ ἐκ τούτων τῶν λόγων τοιόνδε τι λογίζομαι συμβαίνειν. Ὁ θάνατος τυγχάνει ὤν, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ δυοῖν πραγμάτοιν διάλυσις, τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τοῦ σώματος, ἀπ ̓ ἀλλήλοιν. ἐπειδὰν δὲ διαλυθῆτον ἄρα ἀπ ̓ ἀλλήλοιν, οὐ πολὺ ἧττον ἑκάτερον αὐτοῖν ἔχει τὴν ἕξιν τὴν αὑτοῦ ἥνπερ καὶ ὅτε ἔζη ὁ ἄνθρωπος, τό τε σῶμα τὴν φύσιν τὴν αὑτοῦ καὶ τὰ θεραπεύματα καὶ τὰ παθήματα, C ἔνδηλα πάντα. οἷον εἴ τινος μέγα ἦν τὸ σῶμα φύσει ἢ τροφῇ ἢ ἀμφότερα ζῶντος, τούτου καὶ ἐπειδὰν ἀποθάνῃ ὁ νεκρὸς μέγας· καὶ εἰ παχύς, παχὺς καὶ ἀποθανόντος, καὶ τἆλλα οὕτως. καὶ εἰ αὖ ἐπετήδευε κομᾶν, κομήτης τούτου καὶ ὁ νεκρός. μαστιγίας αὖ εἴ τις ἦν καὶ ἴχνη είχε τῶν πληγῶν οὐλὰς ἐν τῷ σώματι ἢ ὑπὸ μαστίγων ἢ ἄλλων τραυμάτων ζῶν, καὶ τεθνεῶτος τὸ σῶμα ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ταῦτα ἔχον. κατεαγότα τε εἴ του ἦν μέλη ἢ διεστραμμένα ζῶντος, D καὶ τεθνεῶτος ταὐτὰ ταῦτα ἔνδηλα. ἑνὶ δὲ λόγῳ, οἷος εἶναι παρεσκεύαστο τὸ σῶμα ζῶν, ἔνδηλα ταῦτα καὶ τελευτήσαντος ἢ πάντα ἢ τὰ πολλὰ ἐπί τινα χρόνον. ταὐτὸν δή μοι δοκεῖ τοῦτ ̓ ἄρα καὶ περὶ τὴν ψυχὴν εἶναι, ὦ Καλλίκλεις· ἔνδηλα πάντα ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ, ἐπειδὰν γυμνωθῇ τοῦ σώματος, τά τε τῆς φύσεως καὶ τὰ παθήματα ἃ διὰ τὴν ἐπιτήδευσιν ἑκάστου πράγματος ἔσχεν ἐν τῇ

judged dead. The Judge also must be naked, dead, with very Soul beholding the very Soul of each, as soon as he is dead, bereft of all his kindred, having left upon the earth all the adornment he had there. So shall the judgment be just. I therefore, having considered all these things before that ye came unto me, have made my sons Judges-two from Asia, Minos and Rhadamanthys, and one from Europe, Aeacus. These, when they are dead, shall sit in judgment in the Meadow at the Parting of the Ways, whence the two Ways lead-the one unto the Isles of the Blessed, and the other unto Tartarus. And those of Asia shall Rhadamanthys judge, and those of Europe, Aeacus. But unto Minos will I appoint the chief place, that he may give judgment at the last, if the other two be in doubt as touching any matter. Thus shall the judgments concerning the Passage of Men be most just.

These are the things, O Callicles, which I have heard; and I believe that they are true; moreover, therefrom I conclude this, to wit:-Death is only the separation of two things, Soul and Body, from each other. When they have been separated from each other, the state of each of them is well nigh the same it was while the man lived. The Body keepeth the natural fashion it had, and the marks plain of all the care that was taken for it and of all that happened unto it. For if any man while he lived was great of body, by nature, or nurture, or both, his corpse also is great when he is dead; and if he was fat, his corpse also is fat when he is dead; also, if any man wore long hair, his corpse also hath long hair; and if any man was a whipped cur, and bore on his body the prints of his beatings-scars made by the whip, or scars of other wounds-while he lived, when he is dead thou mayest see his corpse with the same; and if any man had his limbs broken and disjoint while he lived, when he is dead also the same is plain. The sum of the whole matter is, that whatsoever conditions of Body a man hath while he liveth, these are plain when he is dead, all or most, for some while.

Now, O Callicles, that which happeneth unto the Body, happeneth, methinks, unto the Soul likewise, to wit, there are plain in the Soul, after she hath been stripped of the Body, her natural conditions and those affections which, through use in any matter, a man hath gotten in his Soul.