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to our reasons, follow the advice of those who brought you up, and do not put your children, your life, or anything whatsoever, in the balance with justice; to the end that when you come before the tribunal of Pluto, you may be able to clear yourself before your judges. For do not deceive yourself: if you perform what you now design, you will neither better your own cause, nor that of your party; you will neither enlarge its justice nor sanctity either here or in the regions below. But if you die bravely, you owe your death to the injustice, not of the laws, but of men; whereas if you make your escape by repulsing so shamefully the injustice of your enemies, by violating at once both your own faith and our treaty, and injuring so many innocent persons as yourself, your friends, and your country, together with us, we will still be your enemies as long as you live; and when you are dead, our sisters, the laws in the other world, will certainly afford you no joyful reception, as knowing that you endeavored to ruin Wherefore do not prefer Crito's counsel to ours."

us.

I think, my dear Crito, I hear what I have now spoken, just as the priests of Cybele imagine they hear the cornets and flutes; and the sound of these words makes so strong an impression in my ears, that it stops me from hearing anything else. These are the sentiments I like; and all you can say to take me off them will be in vain. However, if you think to succeed, I do not prevent you from speaking.

Crito-I have nothing to say, Socrates.

Socrates-Then be quiet, and let us courageously run this course, since God calls and guides us to it.

Complete. From Morley's text.

C

SOCRATES DRINKS THE HEMLOCK

RITO said: "I think, Socrates, the sun is still upon the mountains, and has not yet set. I have known persons who have drunk the poison late in the evening, who after the announcement was made to them supped well and drank well, and enjoyed the society of their dearest friends. Do not act in haste. There is yet time."

"Probably," said Socrates, "those who did as you say thought that it was a gain to do so, and I have equally good reasons for not doing so. I shall gain nothing by drinking the poison a little

later except to make myself ridiculous to myself, as if I were so fond of life that I would cling to it when it is slipping away. But go," said he "do as I say, and no otherwise."

On this, Crito made a sign to the servant who stood by; and he, going out after some time, brought in the man who was to administer the poison, which he brought prepared in a cup. And Socrates, seeing the man, said:

"Well, my excellent friend, you are skillful in this matter: what am I to do?"

"Nothing," said he; "but when you have drunk it, walk about till your legs feel heavy, and then lie down. The drink will do. the rest"; and at the same time he offered the cup to Soc

rates.

And he, taking it, said very calmly (I assure you, Echecrates, without trembling or changing color or countenance, but, as his wont was, looking with protruded brow at the man), "Tell me,” said he, "about this beverage: is there any to spare for a libation, or is that not allowable?"

And he replied:

"We prepare so much, Socrates, as we think to be needed for the potion."

"I understand," said he; "but at least it is allowable and it is right to pray to the gods that our passage from hence to that place may be happy. This I pray, and so may it be "; and as he said this he put the cup to his lips and drank it off with the utmost serenity and sweetness.

Up to this time the greater part of us were able to restrain our tears; but when we saw him drink the potion and take the cup from his lips, we could refrain no longer. For my part, in spite of myself, my tears flowed so abundantly that I drew my mantle over my head and wept to myself, not grieving for Socrates, but for my own loss of such a friend.

And Crito had risen up and gone away already, being unable to restrain his tears. Apollodorus, even before this, had been constantly weeping, and now burst into a passion of grief, wailing and sobbing, so that every one was moved to tears except Socrates himself. And he said: —

"O my friends, what are you doing? On this account mainly I sent the women away, that they might not behave so unwisely;

for I have heard that we ought to die with good words in our Be silent, then, and be brave." VIII--197

ears.

And we at hearing this were ashamed, and refrained ourselves from weeping. And he, walking about, when he said his legs felt heavy, lay down on his back; for so the man directed. And the man who gave him the poison came near him, and after a time examined his feet and legs, and, squeezing his foot strongly, asked him if he felt anything; and he said he did not. And then he felt his legs, and so upward, and showed us that they were cold and stiff. And, feeling them himself, he said that when the cold reached his heart he would depart. And now the lower part of the body was already cold, and he, uncovering his face,for he had covered it,- said the last words that he spoke.

"Crito," said he, "we owe a cock to Esculapius: discharge it, and do not neglect it."

"It shall be done," said Crito.

To this he made no reply, but after a little time there was a movement in the body, and the man uncovered him, and his eyes were set. And hereupon Crito closed his mouth and his eyes. This was the end, Echecrates, of our friend-of all the men whom we have known, the best, the wisest, and the most just. From "Phædo." Whewell's translation.

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THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL

(Socrates, CEBES AND SIMMIAS.)

a slave, and the other to

OCRATES" During the conjunction of body and soul, nature orders the one to obey and be command and hold the empire. acters is most suitable to the Divine

Which of these two char

Being, and which to what

is mortal? Are not you sensible that the divine is only capable of commanding and ruling, and that mortal is only worthy of obedience and slavery?"

"Sure enough."

"Which of these two, then, agrees best with the soul? »

"Tis evident, Socrates, that our soul resembles what is divine,

and our body what is mortal. "

"You see, then, my dear Cebes, the necessary result of all is, that our soul bears a strict resemblance to what is divine, immortal, intellectual, simple, indissolvable; and is always the same, and always like, and that our body does perfectly resemble what is human, mortal, sensible, compounded, dissolvable, always chang

ing, and never like itself.

Can anything be alleged to destroy

that consequence or to make out the contrary ? »

"No, surely, Socrates."

"Does not it, then, suit with the body to be quickly dissolved, and with the soul to be always indissolvable, or something very near it?"

"That is a standing truth."

"Accordingly you see every day, when a man dies, his visible body, that continues exposed to our view, and which we call the corpse, that alone admits of dissolution, alteration, and dissipation; this, I say, does not immediately undergo any of these accidents, but continues a pretty while in its entire form, or in its flower, if I may so speak, especially in this season. Bodies embalmed after the manner of those in Egypt remain entire for an infinity of years, and even in those that corrupt there are always some parts, such as the bones, nerves, and the like, that continue in a manner immortal. Is not this true ? »

"Very true."

"Now as for the soul, which is an invisible being, that goes to a place like itself, marvelous, pure, and invisible, in the infernal world; and returns to a God full of goodness and wisdom, which I hope will be the fate of my soul in a minute, if it please God. Shall a soul of this nature, and created with all these advantages, be dissipated and annihilated, as soon as it parts from the body, as most men believe? No such thing, my dear Simmias, and my dear Cebes. I'll tell you what will rather come to pass, and what we ought to believe steadily. If the soul retain its purity without any mixture of filth from the body, as having entertained no voluntary correspondence with it, but, on the contrary, having always avoided it, and recollected itself within itself in continual meditations; that is, in studying the true philosophy, and effectually learning to die,- for philosophy is a preparation to death: I say, if the soul departs in this condition, it repairs to a being like itself, a being that's divine, immortal, and full of wisdom; in which it enjoys an inexpressible felicity, as being freed from its errors, its ignorance, its fears, its amours, that tyrannized over it, and all the other evils pertaining to human nature: and as 'tis said of those who have been initiated into holy mysteries, it truly passes a whole course of eternity with the gods? Ought not this to be the matter of our belief?"

"Sure enough, Socrates."

"But if the soul depart full of uncleanness and impurity, as having been all along mingled with the body, always employed in its service, always possessed by the love of it, wheedled and charmed by its pleasures and lusts, insomuch that it is believed there was nothing real or true beyond what is corporeal, what may be seen, touched, drank, or eaten, or what is the object of carnal pleasures, that it hated, dreaded, and avoided what the eyes of the body could not descry, and all that is intelligible, and can only be enjoyed by philosophy. Do you think, I say that a soul in this condition can depart pure and simple from the body?"

"No, surely, Socrates, that's impossible.

"On the contrary, it departs stained with corporeal pollution, which was rendered natural to it by its continual commerce and too intimate union with the body, at a time when it was its constant companion, and was still employed in serving and gratifying it. Were death the dissolution of the whole man, it would be a great advantage to the wicked after death to be rid at once of their body, their soul, and their vices. But forasmuch as the soul is immortal, the only way to avoid those evils and obtain salvation is to become good and wise: for it carries nothing along with it but its good or bad actions, and its virtues or vices, which are the cause of its eternal happiness or misery, commencing from the first minute of its arrival in the other world, And 'tis said that after the death of every individual person, the Demon or Genius, that was partner with it and conducted it during life, leads it to a certain place, where all the dead are obliged to appear, in order to be judged, and from thence are conducted by a guide to the world below. And after they have there received their good or bad deserts, and continued there their appointed time, another conductor brings them back to this life, after several revolutions of ages. Now this road is not a plain united road, else there would be no occasion for guides, and nobody would miss their way; but there are several by-ways and cross-ways, as I conjecture from the method of our sacrifices and religious ceremonies. So that a temperate, wise soul follows its guide, and is not ignorant of what happens to it; but the soul that's nailed to its body, as I said just now, that is inflamed with the love of it, and has been long its slave, after much struggling and suffering in this visible world, is at last

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