Then may we not say, Simmias, that if, as we are always repeating, there is an absolute beauty, and goodness, and essence in general, and to this, which is now discovered to be a previous condition of our being, we refer all our sensations, and with this compare them — assuming this to have a prior existence, then our souls must have had a prior existence, but if not, there would be no force in the argument ? There can be no doubt that if these ABSOLUTE IDEAS existed before we were born, then our souls must have existed before we were born, and if not the ideas, then not the souls. PHAEDO
Parmenides proceeded : And would you also make ABSOLUTE IDEAS of the just and the beautiful and the good, and of all that class ? PARMENIDES