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

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 Cosmos-a position 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 μvooλoyía 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.

* 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, ᾗ 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.

always been regarded with wonder, as possessing mysterious virtues are fragments which have found their way down to this part of the world from the rocks of the "Earthly Paradise," is a touch of fine imagination which helps to bring the two regions-our part of the world and the "Earthly Paradise"-into physical connection.1 Tartarus and the True

Surface of the Earth, or Earthly Paradise, are indeed real places to which there are real approaches for the ghostly travellers from this οἰκουμένη. The care, half playful, half earnest, which Plato takes to prove this scientifically from observed effects volcanoes, tides, precious stoneshas its parallel in the method of Dante and other great masters of Myth. Skilful use of “ modern science" is indeed one of the marks of the great master. Before referring to Dante for this, let me first compare Plato's delicate handling of "science" in the Phaedo Myth with the work of one who is certainly not a great master of Myth-the Cambridge Platonist, Dr. Henry More; but let me preface his "Myth" with a few words explanatory of the "science" which serves as foundation to his "mythology."

The Spirit of Nature, according to More and his school, is an incorporeal substance, without sense, diffused through the whole universe, exercising plastic power, producing those phenomena which cannot be explained mechanically.2 This plastic principle in nature explains "sympathetic cures," the the "astral bodies" (the phrase More borrows from the Paracelsians) of witches, in which they appear as hares, cats, weasels (so that if the hare or other animal is wounded, the witch is found to be similarly wounded-More was a firm believer in all that, and could give "scientific reasons for his belief), the growth of plants and embryos, and the instincts of animals, such as the nest-building instinct of birds, the cocoon-spinning instinct of silk-worms. The Soul of man partakes in this plastic principle, and by means of it constructs for herself a body terrestrial, aerial, or aethereal (i.e. celestial), according as the stage of her development has

1 Cf. Conv. iv. 20, p. 323, Oxf. Dante: "E così è difinita questa nostra Bontà, la quale in noi similmente discende da somma e spirituale Virtù, come virtute in pietra da corpo nobilissimo celestiale.

'More's Immortality of the Soul, book iii. ch. 12.

3 More, o.c. iii. 13.

1

brought her into vital relation with the vehicle of earth, air, or aether. "As we see," he says, "that the perceptive part of the Soul is vitally affected with that which has no life in it, so it is reasonable that the plastick part thereof may be so too; that there may be an Harmony betwixt matter thus and thus modified, and that Power that we call plastick that is utterly devoid of all perception. And in this alone consists that which we call Vital Congruity in the prepared matter either to be organised or already shaped into the perfect form of an Animal." He then lays it down as an "axiome " that "there is a Triple Vital Congruity in the Soul, namely, Aethereal, Aerial, and Terrestrial"; and proceeds: "That this is the common opinion of the Platonists, I have above intimated (Immortality of the Soul, ii. 14). That this opinion is also true in itself, appears from the foregoing axiome. Of the Terrestrial Congruity there can be no doubt; and as little can there be but that at least one of the other two is to be granted, else the Soul would be released from all vital union with matter after Death. Wherefore she has a vital aptitude, at least, to unite with Aire. But Aire is a common receptacle of bad and good spirits (as the Earth is of all sorts of men and beasts), nay, indeed, rather of those that are in some sort or other bad, than of good, as it is upon Earth. But the Soul of man is capable of very high refinements, even to a condition purely angelical, whence Reason will judge it fit, and all Antiquity has voted it, that the souls of men arrived to such a due pitch of purification must at last obtain Celestial vehicles."

The Soul, by means of her plastic power, moulds the vehicle-earth, air, or aether-to any form she pleases; but having been first habituated to the human shape in the terrestrial body, she naturally moulds the aerial and celestial vehicles to the same shape. This is why ghosts (in whom More is a firm believer), being the Souls of the departed in their aerial bodies, are easily recognised by their features, when 1 More, o.c. ii. 14. 2 More, o.c. iii. 28.

3 See Immortality of the Soul, ii. 16, for the wonderfully well-told story of Marsilius Ficinus appearing (by arrangement) on the day of his death to his friend Michael Mercatus. He rides up to Michael's window on a white horse, saying, "Michael, Michael, vera sunt illa." Michael sends to Florence, and finds that Marsilius died the same hour his ghost appeared at the window.