THE PHAEDO MYTH CONTEXT OF THE MYTH In the Phaedo, the disciple from whom the Dialogue takes its name tells some Friends what was said and done in the Prison on the day of the Master's death. The conversation was concerning the Immortality of the Soul, and was continued up to the last hour. Cebes and Simmias, the chief speakers, brought forward arguments tending to show that, even granted that the identity of Learning with Reminiscence is in favour of the Orphic doctrine of the pre-existence of the Soul, yet its after-existence, not to mention its immortality, is not proved. Thereupon Socrates brought in the Doctrine of Eternal Ideas-a doctrine which the company were already prepared to accept and showed, in accordance with it, that Life-and the Soul is Life-excludes Death. Thus was the Immortality of the Soul proved. Next came the practical question: How must a man live that it may be well with him both in this World and in the World Eternal? It was then that Socrates, standing in the very presence of death, was filled with the spirit of prophecy, and made able to help his friends before he left them :-If, he said, they took to heart the Myth which he told them, they should know how to live, and it would be well with them both now and hereafter for ever. When he had finished the telling of the Myth, and had warned his friends against a too literal interpretation of it, he gave directions about his family and some other private matters; then the Officer came in with the Cup. 107 C Phaedo 107 c-114 c ̓Αλλὰ τόδε γ ̓, ἔφη, ὦ ἄνδρες, δίκαιον διανοηθῆναι ὅτι, εἴπερ ἡ ψυχὴ ἀθάνατος, ἐπιμελείας δὴ δεῖται οὐχ ὑπὲρ τοῦ χρόνου τούτου μόνον, ἐν ᾧ καλοῦμεν τὸ ζῆν, ἀλλ ̓ ὑπὲρ τοῦ παντός, καὶ ὁ κίνδυνος νῦν δὴ καὶ δόξειεν ἂν δεινὸς εἶναι, εἴ τις αὐτῆς ἀμελήσει. εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἦν ὁ θάνατος τοῦ παντὸς ἀπαλλαγή, ἕρμαιον ἂν ἦν τοῖς κακοῖς ἀποθανοῦσι τοῦ τε σώματος ἅμα ἀπηλλάχθαι καὶ τῆς αὐτῶν κακίας μετὰ τῆς ψυχῆς· νῦν δὲ ἐπειδὴ ἀθάνατος φαίνεται οὖσα, D οὐδεμία ἂν εἴη αὐτῇ ἄλλη ἀποφυγή κακῶν οὐδὲ σωτηρία πλὴν τοῦ ὡς βελτίστην τε καὶ φρονιμωτάτην γενέσθαι. οὐδὲν γὰρ ἄλλο ἔχουσα εἰς "Αιδου ἡ ψυχὴ ἔρχεται πλὴν τῆς παιδείας τε καὶ τροφῆς, ἃ δὴ καὶ μέγιστα λέγεται ὠφελεῖν ἢ βλάπτειν τὸν τελευτήσαντα εὐθὺς ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς ἐκεῖσε πορείας. λέγεται δὲ οὕτως, ὡς ἄρα τελευτήσαντα ἕκαστον ὁ ἑκάστου δαίμων, ὅσπερ ζῶντα ειλήχει, οὗτος ἄγειν ἐπιχειρεῖ εἰς δή τινα τόπον, οἱ δεῖ τοὺς ξυλλεγέντας Ε Η διαδικασαμένους εἰς "Αιδου πορεύεσθαι μετὰ ἡγεμόνος ἐκείνου, ᾧ δὴ προστέτακται τοὺς ἐνθένδε ἐκεῖσε πορεῦσαι. τυχόντας δ' ἐκεῖ ὧν δεῖ τυχεῖν καὶ μείναντας ὃν χρὴ χρόνον ἄλλος δεῦρο πάλιν ἡγεμὼν κομίζει ἐν πολλαῖς χρόνου καὶ μακραῖς περιόδοις. ἔστι δὲ ἄρα ἡ πορεία οὐχ 108 ὡς ὁ Αἰσχύλου Τήλεφος λέγει· ἐκεῖνος μὲν γὰρ ἁπλῆν οἶμόν φησιν εἰς "Αιδου φέρειν, ἡ δ ̓ οὔτε ἁπλῆ οὔτε μία φαίνεταί μοι εἶναι. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν ἡγεμόνων ἔδει· οὐ γάρ πού τις ἂν διαμάρτοι οὐδαμόσε μιᾶς ὁδοῦ οὔσης. νῦν δὲ ἔοικε σχίσεις τε καὶ περιόδους πολλὰς ἔχειν· ἀπὸ τῶν ὁσίων τε καὶ νομίμων τῶν ἐνθάδε τεκμαιρόμενος λέγω. ἡ μὲν οὖν κοσμία τε καὶ φρόνιμος ψυχὴ ἕπεταί τε καὶ οὐκ ἀγνοεῖ τὰ παρόντα· ἡ δὲ ἐπιθυμητικῶς τοῦ σώματος ἔχουσα, Β ὅπερ ἐν τῷ ἔμπροσθεν εἶπον, περὶ ἐκεῖνο πολὺν χρόνον ἐπτοημένη καὶ περὶ τὸν ὁρατὸν τόπον, πολλὰ ἀντιτείνασα καὶ πολλὰ παθοῦσα, βίᾳ καὶ μόγις ὑπὸ τοῦ προστεταγμένου δαίμονος οἴχεται ἀγομένη. ἀφικομένην δὲ ὅθιπερ αἱ ἄλλαι, τὴν μὲν ἀκάθαρτον καί τι πεποιηκυῖαν τοιοῦτον, ἢ φόνων TRANSLATION "It is meet, my friends, that we should take thought of this: that the Soul, being immortal, standeth in need of care, not only in regard of the time of this present life, but in regard of the time without end, and that 'tis now, even to-day, that the jeopardy is great, if a man will still be careless of his Soul. Were death riddance of all, 'twould be good luck for the wicked man to die and be rid of body and soul and his wickedness; but inasmuch as the Soul is manifestly immortal, no other escape from evil hath she nor salvation save this -that she be perfected in righteousness and wisdom. For she taketh hence nothing with her to the House of Hades, save only her instruction and nurture that, to wit, wherefrom they say the greatest profit cometh to the dead or greatest damage straightway at the beginning of their journey thither; for when a man dieth, his own Familiar Spirit, which had gotten him to keep whilst he lived, taketh and leadeth him to a certain place whither the dead must be gathered together; whence, after they have received their sentences, they must journey to the House of Hades with him who hath been appointed to guide thither those that are here; and when they have received there the things which are meet for them, and have sojourned the time determined, another Guide bringeth them again hither, after many long courses of time. The way, belike, is not as Aeschylus his Telephus telleth; for he saith that a single path leadeth to the House of Hades. But, methinks, if it were single and one, there would be no need of guides, for no man would go astray. Nay, that it hath many partings and windings I conclude from the offerings which men use to make unto the dead. "The Soul which ordereth herself aright and hath wisdom, understandeth well her present case, and goeth with her Familiar. But the Soul which lusteth after the body, having fluttered about it and the Visible Place for a long while, and having withstood her appointed Familiar with great strife and pain, is by him at the last mastered and carried away; and when she is come to the place where the other Souls are assembled together, inasmuch as she is impure and hath wrought that 1 ἀδίκων ἡμμένην ἢ ἄλλ ̓ ἄττα τοιαῦτα εἰργασμένην, ἃ τούτων ἀδελφά τε καὶ ἀδελφῶν ψυχῶν ἔργα τυγχάνει ὄντα, ταύτην μὲν ἅπας φεύγει τε καὶ ὑπεκτρέπεται καὶ οὔτε ξυνέμπορος οὔτε ἡγεμὼν ἐθέλει γίγνεσθαι, αὐτὴ δὲ πλανᾶται C ἐν πάσῃ ἐχομένη ἀπορίᾳ, ἕως ἂν δή τινες χρόνοι γένωνται, ὧν ἐξελθόντων ὑπ ̓ ἀνάγκης φέρεται εἰς τὴν αὐτῇ πρέπουσαν οἴκησιν· ἡ δὲ καθαρῶς τε καὶ μετρίως τὸν βίον διεξελθοῦσα, καὶ ξυνεμπόρων καὶ ἡγεμόνων θεῶν τυχοῦσα, ᾤκησε τὸν αὐτῇ ἑκάστη τόπον προσήκοντα. Εἰσὶ δὲ πολλοὶ καὶ θαυμαστοὶ τῆς γῆς τόποι, καὶ αὐτὴ οὔτε οἵα οὔτε ὅση δοξάζεται ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ γῆς εἰωθότων λέγειν, ὡς ἐγὼ ὑπό τινος πέπεισμαι. Καὶ ὁ Σιμμίας, Πῶς Ο ταῦτα, ἔφη, λέγεις, ὦ Σώκρατες; περὶ γάρ τοι τῆς γῆς καὶ αὐτὸς πολλὰ δὴ ἀκήκοα, οὐ μέντοι ταῦτα, ἃ σὲ πείθει. ἡδέως ἂν οὖν ἀκούσαιμι. ̓Αλλὰ μέντοι, ὦ Σιμμία, οὐχ ἡ Γλαύκου γέ μοι τέχνη δοκεῖ εἶναι διηγήσασθαι ἅ γ ̓ ἐστίν· ὡς μέντοι ἀληθῆ, χαλεπώτερόν μοι φαίνεται ἢ κατὰ τὴν Γλαύκου τέχνην, καὶ ἅμα μὲν ἐγὼ ἴσως οὐδ ̓ ἂν οἷός τε εἴην, ἅμα δέ, εἰ καὶ ἠπιστάμην, ὁ βίος μοι δοκεῖ ὁ ἐμός, ὦ Σιμμία, τῷ μήκει τοῦ λόγου οὐκ ἐξαρκεῖν. τὴν μέντοι Ε ἰδέαν τῆς γῆς, οἵαν πέπεισμαι εἶναι, καὶ τοὺς τόπους αὐτῆς οὐδέν με κωλύει λέγειν. Ἀλλ ̓, ἔφη ὁ Σιμμίας, καὶ ταῦτα ἀρκεῖ. Πέπεισμαι τοίνυν, ἢ δ ̓ ὅς, ἐγώ, ὡς πρῶτον μέν, εἰ ἔστιν ἐν μέσῳ τῷ οὐρανῷ περιφερὴς οὖσα, μηδὲν αὐτῇ δεῖν 109 μήτε ἀέρος πρὸς τὸ μὴ πεσεῖν μήτε ἄλλης ἀνάγκης μηδεμιᾶς τοιαύτης, ἀλλὰ ἱκανὴν εἶναι αὐτὴν ἴσχειν τὴν ὁμοιότητα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ αὐτοῦ ἑαυτῷ πάντῃ καὶ τῆς γῆς αὐτῆς τὴν ισορροπίαν· ἰσόρροπον γὰρ πρᾶγμα ὁμοίου τινὸς ἐν μέσῳ τεθὲν οὐχ ἕξει μᾶλλον οὐδ ̓ ἧττον οὐδαμόσε κλιθῆναι, ὁμοίως δ ̓ ἔχον ἀκλινὲς μενεῖ. πρῶτον μὲν τοίνυν, ἡ δ ̓ ὅς, τοῦτο πέπεισμαι. Καὶ ὀρθῶς γε, ἔφη ὁ Σιμμίας. Ἔτι τοίνυν, ἔφη, πάμμεγά τι εἶναι αὐτό, καὶ ἡμᾶς οἰκεῖν τοὺς 3 μέχρι Ηρακλείων στηλῶν ἀπὸ Φάσιδος ἐν σμικρῷ τινι μορίῳ, ὥσπερ περὶ τέλμα μύρμηκας ἢ βατράχους, περὶ τὴν which is impure, having shed innocent blood, or done like deeds which Souls that are her like use to do, her all flee and eschew, and none will be her companion or guide; wherefore she wandereth alone in great stress, until certain times have been accomplished; then is she constrained to go unto the habitation fit for her. But the Soul which hath lived all her days in purity and sobriety hath given unto her Gods to be her companions and guides, and she maketh her habitation in the place meet for her. "The Earth hath many and wondrous places, and it is of a fashion and greatness whereof those who use to tell concerning the Earth have no true opinion. There is one who hath persuaded me of this." "Socrates," quoth Simmias, "how sayest thou this? for I also have heard many things concerning the Earth, but not this of which thou art persuaded. Wherefore I would gladly hear it." "Well, Simmias," quoth he, " methinks it needeth not the skill of Glaucus to set forth that which I have heard; but the truth thereof, which I wot it surpasseth the skill of Glaucus to find out, haply I should not be able to attain unto: nay, if I knew it, my life is too far spent, methinks, for the length of the discourse which should declare it: but my persuasion as touching the Earth and the places it hath, nothing hindereth me from declaring unto thee." "That is enough," said Simmias. "I am persuaded, then," said he, " of this first-that if the Earth, being a globe, is in the middle of the Heaven, it hath no need of air or any other like constraint to keep it from falling, but 'tis sufficient to hold it that the Heaven is of one substance throughout, and that itself is equally balanced: for that which is itself equally balanced and set in the midst of that which hath one substance, will have no cause at all of inclining towards any side, but will continue the same and remain without inclination. Of this first I am persuaded." "And rightly," said Simmias. "Moreover, I am persuaded that the Earth is very great, and that we who inhabit unto the Pillars of Hercules from the river Phasis dwell in a small part thereof, like unto ants or frogs round about a pool, dwelling round this Sea; and G |