καὶ λίμνην ποιεῖ μείζω τῆς παρ' ἡμῖν θαλάττης, ζέουσαν ὕδατος καὶ πηλοῦ· ἐντεῦθεν δὲ χωρεῖ κύκλῳ θολερὸς καὶ Β πηλώδης, περιελιττόμενος δὲ [τῇ γῇ] ἄλλοσέ τε ἀφικνεῖται καὶ παρ ̓ ἔσχατα τῆς ̓Αχερουσιάδος λίμνης, οὐ ξυμμι γνύμενος τῷ ὕδατι· περιελιχθεὶς δὲ πολλάκις ὑπὸ γῆς ἐμβάλλει κατωτέρω τοῦ Ταρτάρου. οὗτος δ ̓ ἐστὶν ὃν ἐπονομάζουσι Πυριφλεγέθοντα, οὗ καὶ οἱ ῥύακες ἀποσπάσματα αναφυσῶσιν, ὅπῃ ἂν τύχωσι τῆς γῆς. τούτου δὲ αὖ καταντικρὺ ὁ τέταρτος ἐκπίπτει εἰς τόπον πρῶτον δεινόν τε καὶ ἄγριον, ὡς λέγεται, χρῶμα δὲ ἔχοντα ὅλον οἷον ὁ Ο κυανός, ὃν δὴ ἐπονομάζουσι Στύγιον, καὶ τὴν λίμνην, ἣν ποιεῖ ὁ ποταμὸς ἐμβάλλων, Στύγα. ὁ δ ̓ ἐμπεσὼν ἐνταῦθα καὶ δεινὰς δυνάμεις λαβὼν ἐν τῷ ὕδατι, δὺς κατὰ τῆς γῆς, περιελιττόμενος χωρεῖ ἐναντίος τῷ Πυριφλεγέθοντι καὶ ἀπαντᾶ ἐν τῇ ̓Αχερουσιάδι λίμνῃ ἐξ ἐναντίας· καὶ οὐδὲ τὸ τούτου ὕδωρ οὐδενὶ μίγνυται, ἀλλὰ καὶ οὗτος κύκλῳ περιελθὼν ἐμβάλλει εἰς τὸν Τάρταρον ἐναντίως τῷ Πυριφλεγέθοντι· ὄνομα δὲ τούτῳ ἐστίν, ὡς οἱ ποιηταὶ λέγουσι, Κωκυτός.

D Τούτων δὲ οὕτω πεφυκότων, ἐπειδὰν ἀφίκωνται οἱ τετελευτηκότες εἰς τὸν τόπον, οἱ ὁ δαίμων ἕκαστον κομίζει, πρῶτον μὲν διεδικάσαντο οἵ τε καλῶς καὶ ὁσίως βιώσαντες καὶ οἱ μή. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἂν δόξωσι μέσως βεβιωκέναι, πορευθέντες ἐπὶ τὸν ̓Αχέροντα, ἀναβάντες ἃ δὴ αὐτοῖς ὀχήματά ἐστιν, ἐπὶ τούτων ἀφικνοῦνται εἰς τὴν λίμνην, καὶ ἐκεῖ οἰκοῦσί τε καὶ καθαιρόμενοι τῶν τε ἀδικημάτων διδόντες δίκας ἀπολύονται, εἴ τίς τι ἠδίκηκε, τῶν ΤΕ Ε εὐεργεσιῶν τιμὰς φέρονται κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν ἕκαστος· οἱ δ ̓ ἂν δόξωσιν ἀνιάτως ἔχειν διὰ τὰ μεγέθη τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, ἢ ἱεροσυλίας πολλὰς καὶ μεγάλας ἢ φόνους ἀδίκους καὶ παρανόμους πολλοὺς ἐξειργασμένοι, ἢ ἄλλα ὅσα τοιαῦτα τυγχάνει ὄντα, τούτους δὲ ἡ προσήκουσα μοῖρα ῥίπτει εἰς τὸν Τάρταρον, ὅθεν οὔποτε ἐκβαίνουσιν. οἳ δ ̓ ἂν ἰάσιμα μέν, μεγάλα δὲ δόξωσιν ἡμαρτηκέναι ἁμαρτήματα, οἷον πρὸς πατέρα ή μητέρα ὑπ ̓ ὀργῆς βίαιόν τι πράξαντες, καί, 114 μεταμέλον αὐτοῖς, τὸν ἄλλον βίον βιῶσιν, ἢ ἀνδροφόνοι τοιούτῳ τινὶ ἄλλῳ τρόπῳ γένωνται, τούτους δὲ ἐμπεσεῖν μὲν εἰς τὸν Τάρταρον ἀνάγκη, ἐμπεσόντας δὲ αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐκεῖ γενομένους ἐκβάλλει τὸ κῦμα, τοὺς μὲν

with much fire, and maketh a lake greater than our Sea, seething with water and mud: thence it fetcheth a compass, and going thick and muddy, and winding round the Earth, cometh at last unto the coasts of the Acherusian Lake, mixing not with the water thereof. Then after many windings under the Earth it poureth itself into a lower part of Tartarus. This is the river which they name Pyriphlegethon, whereof also the fiery floods which boil up in divers places of the Earth are derivations. Over against him the fourth river issues forth, first into a fearful savage place, they tell, which hath wholly the colour of blue steel; and they call it the Stygian place, and the Lake which the river maketh with his flood they call Styx; whereinto this river falling conceiveth mighty virtues in his water, and afterward sinketh under the Earth, and windeth round, going contrary to Pyriphlegethon, and cometh to the Acherusian Lake from the contrary side: neither doth his water mix with any; but he also goeth round about, and falleth into Tartarus over against Pyriphlegethon. The name of this river, the poets tell, is Cocytus.

"When the dead are come unto the place whither his Familiar bringeth each, first are they judged, and according as they have lived righteous and godly lives, or lived unrighteously, are they divided. Thereafter all those who are deemed to have lived indifferently well journey unto Acheron, and go on board the vessels which are prepared for them, and so come to the Lake; and abiding there, get themselves cleansed, and paying the price of their evil deeds, are acquitted from the guilt thereof; and for their good deeds. receive each the reward that is meet. But whoso are deemed incurable by reason of the greatness of their sins, robbers of temples, and those who have oftentimes shed blood unlawfully, or wrought other iniquities that are great, them the appointed Angel doth cast into Tartarus, and thence they come not out at all: and whoso are deemed to have committed sins great but curable, who in wrath have violently entreated father or mother and have repented them thereof all the days of their lives thereafter, or who in like manner are manslayers, they must needs fall into Tartarus, but when they have been there one year, the surge casts them forth, the

ἀνδροφόνους κατὰ τὸν Κωκυτόν, τοὺς δὲ πατραλοίας καὶ μητραλοίας κατὰ τὸν Πυριφλεγέθοντα· ἐπειδὰν δὲ φερόμε νοι γένωνται κατὰ τὴν λίμνην τὴν ̓Αχερουσιάδα, ἐνταῦθα βοῶσί τε καὶ καλοῦσιν, οἱ μὲν οὓς ἀπέκτειναν, οἱ δὲ οὓς Β ὕβρισαν, καλέσαντες δ ̓ ἱκετεύουσι καὶ δέονται ἐᾶσαι σφᾶς ἐκβῆναι εἰς τὴν λίμνην καὶ δέξασθαι, καὶ ἐὰν μὲν πείσωσιν, ἐκβαίνουσί τε καὶ λήγουσι τῶν κακῶν, εἰ δὲ μή, φέρονται αὖθις εἰς τὸν Τάρταρον κἀκεῖθεν πάλιν εἰς τοὺς ποταμούς, καὶ ταῦτα πάσχοντες οὐ πρότερον παύονται, πρὶν ἂν πείσωσιν οὓς ἠδίκησαν· αὕτη γὰρ ἡ δίκη ὑπὸ τῶν δικαστῶν αὐτοῖς ἐτάχθη. οἱ δὲ δὴ ἂν δόξωσι διαφερόντως πρὸς τὸ ὁσίως βιῶναι, οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ τῶνδε μὲν τῶν τόπων τῶν ἐν τῇ γῇ ἐλευθερούμενοί τε καὶ ἀπαλλαττόμενοι ὥσπερ ο δεσμωτηρίων, ἄνω δὲ εἰς τὴν καθαρὰν οἴκησιν ἀφικνούμενοι καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς οἰκιζόμενοι. τούτων δὲ αὐτῶν οἱ φιλοσοφίᾳ ἱκανῶς καθηράμενοι ἄνευ τε σωμάτων ζῶσι τὸ παράπαν εἰς τὸν ἔπειτα χρόνον, καὶ εἰς οἰκήσεις ἔτι τούτων καλλίους ἀφικνοῦνται, ἃς οὔτε ῥᾴδιον δηλῶσαι οὔτε ὁ χρόνος ἱκανὸς ἐν τῷ παρόντι.

̓Αλλὰ τούτων δὴ ἕνεκα χρὴ ὧν διεληλύθαμεν, ὦ Σιμμία, πᾶν ποιεῖν, ὥστε ἀρετῆς καὶ φρονήσεως ἐν τῷ βίῳ μετασχεῖν· καλὸν γὰρ τὸ ἆθλον καὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς μεγάλη.

manslayers by Cocytus, and the slayers of father or mother by Pyriphlegethon; and when they are carried down and are come to the Acherusian Lake, there they cry out aloud unto those whom they slew or used despitefully, and call upon them and beseech them with prayers that they will suffer them to come out into the Lake and will receive them; and if they prevail, they come out and cease from their torments; but if they prevail not, they are carried back into Tartarus, and thence again into the rivers, and they cease not from this torment till they have prevailed with those whom they have wronged; for this was the doom that was appointed of the Judges unto them. But whosoever are deemed to have been godly above others in their lives, they are released from these places in the Earth, and depart from them as from a prisonhouse, and come unto the Pure Mansions which are above, and dwell upon the Earth. And of these whoso have cleansed themselves throughly by Wisdom live without fleshly bodies for evermore, and come to yet fairer Mansions, whereof it is not easy to tell, nor doth the time now suffice for the telling. Nevertheless, by that which hath been told are we admonished to do all so that we may lay hold of Righteousness and Wisdom in this life; for the prize is fair and the hope is great."

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PHAEDO MYTH

I

a

We may begin by noting that Plato here, as elsewhere, gives verisimilitude to Myth by making it explain facts, or what he accepts as facts, and bringing it, as far as possible, into conformity with the "modern science" of his day. The fact of the Earth's rotundity had already been ascertainedor guessed—in Plato's day; and the geography of the Myth is made consistent with this fact, as well as with the supposed fact" of the Earth's central position in the Cosmosposition which it retains for a sufficient reason, which Plato sets forth "scientifically." The Phaedo Myth, starting with the "scientific truths" of the Earth's rotundity and central position, gives a consistent geography, which makes it easy for the reader to localise the " Earthly Paradise" and Tartarus, as real places continuous with the part of the world which men inhabit. Geography is treated in this Myth, as ancient history may, or must, be treated according to Plato-romantically the general scheme is, as far as possible, true to facts; but blanks are filled in by μυθολογία. The line between uncritical "science" and μvoλoyía is difficult to draw, and Plato knows how to turn the difficulty to artistic, and more than that to philosophic use. A sophistic use of the difficulty he happily has no temptation to make, because he holds no brief obliging him to contend for a large amount of literal truth in the traditional myths which he borrows.

Again, the Phaedo Myth recommends itself to the "scientific mind" by explaining the origin of hot and cold springs, volcanic action, winds, and, I think, the tides of the Atlantic Ocean. The suggestion, too, that gems-objects which have

1 See Zeller's Plato, Engl. Transl. pp. 379, 380.

2 See Republic, 382 D, καὶ ἐν αἷς νῦν δὴ ἐλέγομεν ταῖς μυθολογίαις, διὰ τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι ὅπῃ τἀληθὲς ἔχει περὶ τῶν παλαιῶν, ἀφομοιοῦντες τῷ ἀληθεῖ τὸ ψεῦδος ὅτι μάλιστα οὕτω χρήσιμον ποιοῦμεν ; καὶ μάλα, ἢ δ' ὅς. Cf. Legg. 682 f., where the early history of mankind appears as a myth, founded on fact, but embellishedπολλῶν τῶν κατ' ἀλήθειαν γιγνομένων ξύν τισι χάρισι καὶ Μούσαις ἐφάπτεται ÉKάσTOTE; and cf. Campbell's Politicus, Introd. p. xxxi.