Tag: athanatos

When Socrates had done speaking, for a considerable time there was silence ; he himself and most of us appeared to be meditating on what had been said ; only Cebes and Simmias spoke a few words to one another. And Socrates observing this asked them what they thought of the argument, and whether there…

Socrates proceeded : I thought that as I had failed in the contemplation of true existence, I ought to be careful that I did not lose the eye of my soul ; as people may injure their bodily eye by observing and gazing on the sun during an eclipse, unless they take the precaution of…

Then I heard someone who had a book of Anaxagoras, as he said, out of which he read that mind was the disposer and cause of all, and I was quite delighted at the notion of this, which appeared admirable, and I said to myself : If mind is the disposer, mind will dispose all…

Socrates paused awhile, and seemed to be absorbed in reflection. At length he said : This is a very serious inquiry which you are raising, Cebes, involving the whole question of generation and corruption, about which I will, if you like, give you my own experience ; and you can apply this, if you think…

Thus much, said Socrates, of Harmonia, your Theban goddess, Cebes, who has not been ungracious to us, I think ; but what shall I say to the Theban Cadmus, and how shall I propitiate him ? I think that you will discover a way of propitiating him, said Cebes ; I am sure that you…

But, rejoined Socrates, you will have to think differently, my Theban friend, if you still maintain that harmony is a compound, and that the soul is a harmony which is made out of strings set in the frame of the body ; for you will surely never allow yourself to say that a harmony is…

But first let us take care that we avoid a danger. And what is that ? I said. The danger of becoming misologists, he replied, which is one of the very worst things that can happen to us. For as there are misanthropists or haters of men, there are also misologists or haters of ideas,…

All of us, as we afterwards remarked to one another, had an unpleasant feeling at hearing them say this. When we had been so firmly convinced before, now to have our faith shaken seemed to introduce a confusion and uncertainty, not only into the previous argument, but into any future one ; either we were…

Cebes said : I will tell you. My feeling is that the argument is still in the same position, and open to the same objections which were urged before ; for I am ready to admit that the existence of the soul before entering into the bodily form has been very ingeniously, and, as I…

Well, Socrates, said Simmias, then I will tell you my difficulty, and Cebes will tell you his. For I dare say that you, Socrates, feel, as I do, how very hard or almost impossible is the attainment of any certainty about questions such as these in the present life. And yet I should deem him…

Now the earth has divers wonderful regions, and is indeed in nature and extent very unlike the notions of geographers, as I believe on the authority of one who shall be nameless. What do you mean, Socrates ? said Simmias. I have myself heard many descriptions of the earth, but I do not know in…

Cebes answered : I agree, Socrates, in the greater part of what you say. But in what relates to the soul, men are apt to be incredulous ; they fear that when she leaves the body her place may be nowhere, and that on the very day of death she may be destroyed and perish…

Simmias said : What a message for such a man I having been a frequent companion of his, I should say that, as far as I know him, he will never take your advice unless he is obliged. Why, said Socrates, — is not Evenus a philosopher ? I think that he is, said Simmias.…

Echecrates. Were you yourself, Phaedo, in the prison with Socrates on the day when he drank the poison ? Phaedo. Yes, Echecrates, I was. Ech. I wish that you would tell me about his death. What did he say in his last hours ? We were informed that he died by taking poison, but no…

When he had spoken these words, he arose and went into the bath chamber with Crito, who bade us wait ; and we waited, talking and thinking of the subject of discourse, and also of the greatness of our sorrow ; he was like a father of whom we were being bereaved, and we were…

Wherefore, Simmias, seeing all these things, what ought not we to do in order to obtain virtue and wisdom in this life ? Fair is the prize, and the hope great. I do not mean to affirm that the description which I have given of the soul and her mansions is exactly true — a…

Such is the name of the other world ; and when the dead arrive at the place to which the genius of each severally conveys them, first of all they have sentence passed upon them, as they have lived well and piously or not. And those who appear to have lived neither well nor ill,…

Such is the nature of the whole earth, and of the things which are around the earth ; and there are divers regions in the hollows on the face of the globe everywhere, some of them deeper and also wider than that which we inhabit, others deeper and with a narrower opening than ours, and…