comeliness and beauty, or for strength and prowess, some for birth and the virtues of their forefathers; likewise also there were Lives of men of no such renown. There were also Lives of women. But conditions of the Soul were not amongst the Ensamples; the reason whereof is this, that a Soul which hath chosen a certain Life is of necessity changed accordingly; but all other things both good and evil were there mixed together -riches and poverty, and health and disease, and also states between these.

"There, methinks, dear Glaucon, is man's great peril. Wherefore let each one of us give heed to this chiefly, how that, taking no thought for the knowledge of other things, he shall seek after the knowledge of one thing, if peradventure he may learn and find out who it is that shall make him able and wise, so that he may discern the good Life from the evil, and, according to his ability, alway and everywhere choose the better Life, and reckoning how all the things that have been now said, both taken together and severally, concern the Virtuous Life, may understand what good or evil, for what state of the Soul, beauty joined with poverty or riches worketh, and what good or evil noble birth, and base birth, and private station, and rule in the city, and strength, and weakness, and quickness of wit, and slowness, and the other native qualities of the Soul like unto these, and the qualities which the Soul acquireth, do work, according as they are mixed variously with one another; to the end that, having taken count of all these, he may be able to choose, having regard to the nature of his Soul, between the worse and the better Life, calling that the worse which will lead his Soul to become more unrighteous, and calling that the better which will lead it to become more righteous. All else will he let go by; for we have seen and know that this is the best choice for a man, both whilst he liveth and when he is dead. With this doctrine, then, as hard as adamant within him, must he go unto Hades, so that there also he may not be amazed at riches and such like trumpery, and may not fall into the Life of a tyrant or of some other such evil-doer, and work iniquities many and without all remedy, and himself suffer still worse things; but rather may discern to choose alway the Life between such states, and eschew the extremes on either hand, both in this Life, as far

L

ἐν τῷδε τῷ βίῳ κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν καὶ ἐν παντὶ τῷ ἔπειτα· Β οὕτω γὰρ εὐδαιμονέστατος γίγνεται ἄνθρωπος.

καὶ δὴ οὖν καὶ τότε ὁ ἐκεῖθεν ἄγγελος ἤγγελλε τὸν μὲν προφήτην οὕτως εἰπεῖν, καὶ τελευταίῳ ἐπιόντι, ξὺν νῷ ἑλομένῳ, συντόνως ζῶντι κεῖται βίος ἀγαπητός, οὐ κακός. μήτε ὁ ἄρχων αἱρέσεως ἀμελείτω μήτε ὁ τελευτῶν ἀθυμείτω. εἰπόντος δὲ ταῦτα τὸν πρῶτον λαχόντα ἔφη εὐθὺς ἐπιόντα τὴν μεγίστην τυραννίδα ἑλέσθαι, καὶ ὑπὸ ἀφροσύνης τε καὶ λαιμαργίας οὐ πάντα ἱκανῶς ἀνασκεψά Ο μενον ἑλέσθαι, ἀλλ ̓ αὐτὸν λαθεῖν ἐνοῦσαν εἱμαρμένην, παίδων αὑτοῦ βρώσεις καὶ ἄλλα κακά· ἐπειδὴ δὲ κατὰ σχολὴν σκέψασθαι, κόπτεσθαί ΤΕ καὶ ὀδύρεσθαι τὴν αἵρεσιν, οὐκ ἐμμένοντα τοῖς προρρηθεῖσιν ὑπὸ τοῦ προφήτου· οὐ γὰρ ἑαυτὸν αἰτιᾶσθαι τῶν κακῶν, ἀλλὰ τύχην τε καὶ δαίμονας καὶ πάντα μᾶλλον ἀνθ ̓ ἑαυτοῦ. εἶναι δὲ αὐτὸν τῶν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἡκόντων, ἐν τεταγμένῃ πολιτεία ἐν τῷ προτέρῳ βίῳ βεβιωκότα, ἔθει ἄνευ φιλοσοφίας ἀρετῆς Ο μετειληφότα. ὡς δὲ καὶ εἰπεῖν, οὐκ ἐλάττους εἶναι ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις ἁλισκομένους τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἥκοντας, ἅτε πόνων ἀγυμνάστους· τῶν δ ̓ ἐκ τῆς γῆς τοὺς πολλούς, ἅτε αὐτούς τε πεπονηκότας ἄλλους τε ἑωρακότας, οὐκ ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς τὰς αἱρέσεις ποιεῖσθαι. διὰ δὴ καὶ μεταβολὴν τῶν κακῶν καὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ταῖς πολλαῖς τῶν ψυχῶν γίγνεσθαι καὶ διὰ τὴν τοῦ κλήρου τύχην· ἐπεὶ εἴ τις ἀεί, Ε ὁπότε εἰς τὸν ἐνθάδε βίον ἀφικνοῖτο, ὑγιῶς φιλοσοφοῖ καὶ ὁ κλῆρος αὐτῷ τῆς αἱρέσεως μὴ ἐν τελευταίοις πίπτοι, κινδυνεύει ἐκ τῶν ἐκεῖθεν ἀπαγγελλομένων οὐ μόνον ἐνθάδε εὐδαιμονεῖν ἄν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἐνθένδε ἐκεῖσε καὶ δεῦρο πάλιν πορείαν οὐκ ἂν χθονίαν καὶ τραχεῖαν πορεύεσθαι, ἀλλὰ λείαν τε καὶ οὐρανίαν. ταύτην γὰρ δή, ἔφη, τὴν θέαν ἀξίαν εἶναι ἰδεῖν, ὡς ἕκασται αἱ ψυχαὶ ᾑροῦντο τοὺς 620 βίους· ἐλεεινήν τε γὰρ ἰδεῖν εἶναι καὶ γελοίαν καὶ θαυμα

σίαν. κατὰ συνήθειαν γὰρ τοῦ προτέρου βίου τὰ πολλὰ αἱρεῖσθαι. ἰδεῖν μὲν γὰρ ψυχὴν ἔφη τήν ποτε Ὀρφέως

as he is able, and in all the Life hereafter: for in this lieth man's chief happiness.

"Now the Messenger who brought this Tale from that place went on and said that the Prophet then spake thus :-Even for him whose turn cometh last, if he hath chosen with understanding, there is prepared a Life, which, if only a man bear himself manfully, is tolerable, not wretched. Neither let him who cometh first be careless of his choice; nor let him who cometh at the end be downcast.

"He said that when the Prophet had spoken these words, the one that had gotten the first place, as soon as he came forward, chose the greatest kingship there; and by reason of folly and greediness looked not well enough into all before he chose it, and marked not that therein it was appointed of Fate that he should eat his own children, and that other evils should befall him. When therefore he had looked at it at leisure, he began to beat his breast and bewail his choice, not abiding by the commandment of the Prophet; for he did not blame himself for these evils, but Ill-Luck, and Gods, and any thing rather than himself. Now, he was of them that were come from Heaven, having spent his former life in a well-ordered city, and become virtuous through Custom without True Knowledge they that were come from Heaven were not the least part, belike, of them that were caught thus; for they had not been exercised with labours; but most part of those from under the Earth, inasmuch as they themselves had endured labours, and had seen others enduring, made not their choice hastily. For this cause, as well as through the luck of the lot, a change of good and of evil befalleth most part of the Souls; for if any man, whenever he cometh into this life, seek alway with his whole heart after wisdom, and if the lot so fall that he is not of the last to choose, there is good hope, from what the Messenger said, not only that he will have happiness here, but also that the journey hence to that place and back again hither will not be under the ground and rough, but smooth and heavenly.

“Truly it was a sight worth looking at, he said, to see how the Souls severally chose their lives-yea, a pitiful sight, and a laughable, and a wonderful; inasmuch as they chose mostly after the custom of their former life; for he told how he saw

γενομένην κύκνου βίον αἱρουμένην, μίσει τοῦ γυναικείου γένους διὰ τὸν ὑπ ̓ ἐκείνων θάνατον οὐκ ἐθέλουσαν ἐν γυναικὶ γεννηθεῖσαν γενέσθαι· ἰδεῖν δὲ τὴν Θαμύρου ἀηδόνος ἑλομένην· ἰδεῖν δὲ καὶ κύκνον μεταβάλλοντα εἰς ἀνθρωπίνου Β βίου αἵρεσιν, καὶ ἄλλα ζώα μουσικὰ ὡσαύτως. εἰκοστὴν δὲ λαχοῦσαν ψυχὴν ἑλέσθαι λέοντος βίον· εἶναι δὲ τὴν Αἴαντος τοῦ Τελαμωνίου, φεύγουσαν ἄνθρωπον γενέσθαι, μεμνημένην τῆς τῶν ὅπλων κρίσεως. τὴν δ ̓ ἐπὶ τούτῳ Αγαμέμνονος· ἔχθρᾳ δὲ καὶ ταύτην τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου γένους διὰ τὰ πάθη ἀετοῦ διαλλάξαι βίον. ἐν μέσοις δὲ λαχοῦσαν τὴν ̓Αταλάντης ψυχήν, κατιδοῦσαν μεγάλας τιμὰς ἀθλητοῦ ἀνδρός, οὐ δύνασθαι παρελθεῖν, ἀλλὰ λαβεῖν. μετὰ δὲ Ο ταύτην ἰδεῖν τὴν Ἐπειοῦ τοῦ Πανοπέως εἰς τεχνικῆς γυναικὸς ἰοῦσαν φύσιν· πόρρω δ ̓ ἐν ὑστάτοις ἰδεῖν τὴν τοῦ γελωτοποιοῦ Θερσίτου πίθηκον ἐνδυομένην· κατὰ τύχην δὲ τὴν Ὀδυσσέως, λαχοῦσαν πασῶν ὑστάτην, αἱρησομένην ἰέναι· μνήμῃ δὲ τῶν προτέρων πόνων φιλοτιμίας λελωφη. κυῖαν ζητεῖν περιϊοῦσαν χρόνον πολὺν βίον ἀνδρὸς ἰδιώτου ἀπράγμονος, καὶ μόγις εὑρεῖν κείμενόν που καὶ παρημελημένον D ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων, καὶ εἰπεῖν ἰδοῦσαν, ὅτι τὰ αὐτὰ ἂν ἔπραξε καὶ πρώτη λαχοῦσα, καὶ ἀσμένην ἑλέσθαι. καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἄλλων δὴ θηρίων ὡσαύτως εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἰέναι καὶ εἰς ἄλληλα, τὰ μὲν ἄδικα εἰς τὰ ἄγρια, τὰ δὲ δίκαια εἰς τὰ ἥμερα μεταβάλλοντα, καὶ πάσας μίξεις μίγνυσθαι. ἐπειδὴ δ ̓ οὖν πάσας τὰς ψυχὰς τοὺς βίους ᾑρῆσθαι, ὥσπερ ἔλαχον, ἐν τάξει προσιέναι πρὸς τὴν Λάχεσιν· ἐκείνην δ ̓ ἑκάστῳ ὃν Ε είλετο δαίμονα, τοῦτον φύλακα ξυμπέμπειν τοῦ βίου καὶ ἀποπληρωτὴν τῶν αἱρεθέντων. ὃν πρῶτον μὲν ἄγειν αὐτὴν πρὸς τὴν Κλωθὼ ὑπὸ τὴν ἐκείνης χεῖρά τε καὶ ἐπιστροφὴν τῆς τοῦ ἀτράκτου δίνης, κυροῦντα ἣν λαχὼν εἵλετο μοῖραν· ταύτης δ ̓ ἐφαψάμενον αὖθις ἐπὶ τὴν τῆς ̓Ατρόπου ἄγειν νῆσιν, ἀμετάστροφα τὰ ἐπικλωσθέντα ποιοῦντα· ἐντεῦθεν

the Soul that had been Orpheus's choosing a swan's Life, for that, hating womankind because women murdered him, it would not be born of a woman. Also he said that he saw the Soul of Thamyras when it had chosen the life of a nightingale; and that he saw also a swan changing, and choosing the life of a man, and other musical creatures doing likewise. And the Soul which got the twentieth place chose the life of a lion: this was the Soul of Ajax, the son of Telamon, which eschewed becoming a man because it remembered the Judgment concerning the Arms. Next came the Soul of Agamemnon; which also, out of enmity towards mankind because that it went evil with him, took in exchange the life of an eagle. The Soul of Atalanta, which had gotten her place between the first and the last, perceiving the great honour which belongeth to the life of a man who contendeth at the Games, was not able to pass by but took it. After her he saw the Soul of Epeius, the son of Panopeus, passing into the nature of a spinster; and amongst the last he saw the Soul of Thersites the jester putting on an ape. Also it chanced that the Soul of Odysseus, which had gotten the last place of all, came forward to choose, and having abated all her ambition because she remembered her former labours, went about seeking for a long while, and after much ado, found the life of a quiet private man lying somewhere despised of the others, and when she saw it said 'Had I come first I would have done the same;' and took it with great joy.

"Beasts likewise were changed into men and into one another, the unjust into those that were savage, and the just into those that were tame: yea in everywise were they mixed together.

"Now when all the Souls had chosen their lives according to the place allotted unto each, they went forward, in order, unto Lachesis; and she sent the Angel, which each one had chosen, with him, to be the guardian of his life and to fulfil the things that he had chosen; and the Angel, bringing him first unto Clotho, taketh him beneath her hand and the revolution of the whirling spindle, and ratifieth the Portion which the man had chosen in his turn; then, from her presence, the Angel brought him unto Atropos where she span; so did he make the threads of the man's life unalterable.