No More Learning

Socrates alone retained his calm-
ness: What is this strange outcry? he said. I sent away the
women mainly in order that they might not offend in this
way; for I have heard that a man should die in peace. Be
quiet then, and have patience. When we heard that, we were
ashamed, and refrained our tears; and he walked about until, as
he said, his legs began to fail, and then he lay on his back,
according to the directions: and the man who gave him the poi-
son now and then looked at his feet and legs; and after a while
he pressed his foot hard and asked him if he could feel; and he
said No; and then his leg, and so upwards and upwards, and
showed us that he was cold and stiff. And he felt them himself,
and said: When the poison reaches the heart, that will be the
end. He was beginning to grow cold about the groin, when he
uncovered his face, for he had covered himself up, and said (they
were his last words) -he said: Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius:
will you remember to pay the debt? The debt shall be paid,
said Crito: is there anything else? There was no answer to this
question: but in a minute or two a movement was heard, and
the attendants uncovered him; his eyes were set, and Crito
closed his eyes and mouth.
Such was the end, Echecrates, of our friend, whom I may
truly call the wisest and justest and best of all the men whom
I have ever known.
FROM THE APOLOGY'
[Remarks added by Socrates after his condemnation. ]
Α
ND now, O men who have condemned me, I would fain
prophesy to you; for I am about to die, and that is the
hour in which men are gifted with prophetic power.
And
I prophesy to you who are my murderers, that immediately after
my death, punishment far heavier than you have inflicted on me
will surely await you. Me you have killed because you wanted
to escape the accuser, and not to give an account of your lives.


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11539
For I say
But that will not be as you suppose: far otherwise.
that there will be more accusers of you than there are now; ac-
cusers whom hitherto I have restrained: and as they are younger
they will be more severe with you, and you will be more offended
at them. For if you think that by killing men you can avoid
the accuser censuring your lives, you are mistaken; that is not a
way of escape which is either possible or honorable: the easiest
and the noblest way is not to be crushing others, but to be im-
proving yourselves. This is the prophecy which I utter before
my departure, to the judges who have condemned me.
Friends who would have acquitted me, I would like also to
talk with you about this thing which has happened, while the
magistrates are busy, and before I go to the place at which I
must die. Stay then for a while; for we may as well talk with
one another while there is time. You are my friends, and I
should like to show you the meaning of this event which has
happened to me. O my judges,- for you I may truly call
judges, I should like to tell you of a wonderful circumstance.
Hitherto the familiar oracle within me has constantly been in
the habit of opposing me even about trifles, if I was going to
make a slip or error about anything; and now, as you see, there
has come upon me that which may be thought, and is generally
believed to be, the last and worst evil. But the oracle made no
sign of opposition, either as I was leaving my house and going
out in the morning, or when I was going up into this court,
or while I was speaking, at anything which I was going to say;
and yet I have often been stopped in the middle of a speech, but
now in nothing I either said or did touching this matter has
the oracle opposed me. What do I take to be the explanation of
this? I will tell you. I regard this as a proof that what has
happened to me is a good, and that those of us who think that
death is an evil are in error. This is a great proof to me of
what I am saying; for the customary sign would surely have
opposed me had I been going to evil and not to good.
Let us reflect in another way, and we shall see that there is
great reason to hope that death is a good, for one of two things:
either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness,
or as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from
this world to another. Now if you suppose that there is no con-
sciousness, but a sleep like the sleep of him who is undisturbed
even by the sight of dreams, death will be an unspeakable gain.
―――


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For if a person were to select the night in which his sleep was
undisturbed even by dreams, and were to compare with this the
other days and nights of his life, and then were to tell us how
many days and nights he had passed in the course of his life.
better and more pleasantly than this one, I think that any man
-I will not say a private man, but even the great king-will
not find many such days or nights, when compared with the
others. Now if death is like this, I say that to die is gain; for
eternity is then only a single night. But if death is the journey
to another place, and there, as men say, all the dead are, what
good, O my friends and judges, can be greater than this? If
indeed, when the pilgrim arrives in the world below, he is de-
livered from the professors of justice in this world, and finds the
true judges who are said to give judgment there,- Minos and
Rhadamanthus and acus and Triptolemus, and other sons of
God who were righteous in their own life,- that pilgrimage will
be worth making. What would not a man give if he might con-
verse with Orpheus and Musæus and Hesiod and Homer? Nay,
if this be true, let me die again and again. I too shall have
a wonderful interest in a place where I can converse with Pala-
medes, and Ajax the son of Telamon, and other heroes of old,
who have suffered death through an unjust judgment; and there
will be no small pleasure, as I think, in comparing my own suf-
fering with theirs. Above all, I shall be able to continue my
search into true and false knowledge; as in this world, so also in
that, I shall find out who is wise, and who pretends to be wise
and is not. What would not a man give, O judges, to be able
to examine the leader of the great Trojan expedition; or Odys-
seus or Sisyphus, or numberless others, men and women too!
What infinite delight would there be in conversing with them.
and asking them questions! For in that world they do not put
a man to death for this; certainly not. For besides being hap-
pier in that world than in this, they will be immortal, if what
is said is true.
Wherefore, O judges, be of good cheer about death, and
know this of a truth,- that no evil can happen to a good man,
either in life or after death. He and his are not neglected by
the gods; nor has my own approaching end happened by mere
chance. But I see clearly that to die and be released was better
for me; and therefore the oracle gave no sign. For which rea-
son, also, I am not angry with my accusers or my condemners;


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they have done me no harm, although neither of them meant to
do me any good; and for this I may gently blame them.
Still I have a favor to ask of them. When my sons are
grown up, I would ask you, O my friends, to punish them; and
I would have you trouble them, as I have troubled you, if they
seem to care about riches, or anything, more than about virtue;
or if they pretend to be something when they are really nothing,
- then reprove them, as I have reproved you, for not caring
about that for which they ought to care, and thinking that they
are something when they are really nothing. And if you do
this, I and my sons will have received justice at your hands.
The hour of departure has arrived; and we go our ways—I
to die, and you to live. Which is better, God only knows.
E
FROM THE PHEDRUS›
[Mythic description of the soul. ]
NOUGH of the Soul's immortality.
Her form is a theme of divine and large discourse;
human language may however speak of this briefly, and in
a figure. Let our figure be of a composite nature,—a pair of
winged horses and a charioteer. Now the winged horses and the
charioteer of the gods are all of them noble, and of noble breed,
while ours are mixed; and we have a charioteer who drives them
in a pair, and one of them is noble and of noble origin, and the
other is ignoble and of ignoble origin; and as might be expected,
there is a great deal of trouble in managing them.
I will en-
deavor to explain to you in what way the mortal differs from the
immortal creature. The soul or animate being has the care of
the inanimate, and traverses the whole heaven in divers forms
appearing; when perfect and fully winged she soars upward, and
is the ruler of the universe: while the imperfect soul loses her
feathers, and drooping in her flight, at last settles on the solid
ground; there, finding a home, she receives an earthly frame
which appears to be self-moved, but is really moved by her
power: and this composition of soul and body is called a living
and mortal creature. For no such union can be reasonably be-
lieved, or at all proved, to be other than mortal; although fancy
may imagine a god, whom, not having seen nor surely known, we


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11542
invent,― such a one, an immortal creature having a body and
having also a soul, which have been united in all time. Let that,
however, be as God wills, and be spoken of acceptably to him.
But the reason why the soul loses her feathers should be ex-
plained, and is as follows:-
The wing is intended to soar aloft and carry that which gravi-
tates downward, into the upper region which is the dwelling of
the gods; and this is that element of the body which is most
akin to the divine. Now the divine is beauty, wisdom, goodness,
and the like: and by these the wing of the soul is nourished, and
grows apace; but when fed upon evil and foulness, and the like,
wastes and falls away. Zeus, the mighty lord holding the reins
of a winged chariot, leads the way in heaven, ordering all and
caring for all; and there follows him the heavenly array of gods
and demigods, divided into eleven bands: for only Hestia is left
at home in the house of heaven; but the rest of the twelve
greater deities march in their appointed order. And they see in
the interior of heaven many blessed sights: and there are ways
to and fro, along which the happy gods are passing, each one
fulfilling his own work; and any one may follow who pleases, for
jealousy has no place in the heavenly choir. This is within the
heaven. But when they go to feast and festival, then they move
right up the steep ascent, and mount the top of the dome of
heaven. Now the chariots of the gods, self-balanced, upward
glide in obedience to the rein; but the others have a difficulty,
for the steed who has evil in him, if he has not been properly
trained by the charioteer, gravitates and inclines and sinks to-
wards the earth; and this is the hour of agony and extremest con-
flict of the soul. For the immortal souls, when they are at the
end of their course, go out and stand upon the back of heaven,
and the revolution of the spheres carries them round, and they
behold the world beyond. Now of the heaven which is above the
heavens, no earthly poet has sung or ever will sing in a worthy
manner. But I must tell, for I am bound to speak truly when
speaking of the truth. The colorless and formless and intangible
essence is visible to the mind, which is the only lord of the soul.
Circling around this in the region above the heavens is the
place of true knowledge. And as the divine intelligence, and
that of every other soul which is rightly nourished, is fed upon
mind and pure knowledge, such an intelligent soul is glad at
once more beholding Being; and feeding on the sight of truth, is
-


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11543
replenished, until the revolution of the worlds brings her round.
again to the same place. During the revolution she beholds just-
ice, temperance, and knowledge absolute, not in the form of gen-
eration or of relation, which men call existence, but knowledge
absolute in existence absolute; and beholding other existences in
like manner, and feeding upon them, she passes down into the
interior of the heavens and returns home; and there the chari-
oteer, putting up his horses at the stall, gives them ambrosia to
eat and nectar to drink.
This is the life of the gods: but of the other souls, that which
follows God best and is likest to him lifts the head of the chari-
oteer into the outer world, and is carried round in the revolu-
tion, troubled indeed by the steeds, and beholding true being, but
hardly; another rises and falls, and sees, and again fails to see
by reason of the unruliness of the steeds. The rest of the souls
are also longing after the upper world, and they all follow, but
not being strong enough, they sink into the gulf as they are
carried round, plunging, treading on one another, striving to be
first; and there is confusion and the extremity of effort, and
many of them are lamed or have their wings broken through
the ill driving of the charioteers; and all of them after a fruit-
less toil go away without being initiated into the mysteries of
being, and are nursed with the food of opinion. The reason of
their great desire to behold the plain of truth is, that the food
which is suited to the highest part of the soul comes out of that
meadow; and the wing on which the soul soars is nourished
with this. And there is a law of the goddess Retribution, that
the soul which attains any vision of truth in company with the
god is preserved from harm until the next period, and he who
always attains is always unharmed. But when she is unable to
follow, and fails to behold the vision of truth, and through some
ill-hap sinks beneath the double load of forgetfulness and vice,
and her feathers fall from her, and she drops to earth,-then
the law ordains that this soul shall in the first generation pass,
not into that of any other animal, but only of man; and the
soul which has seen most of truth shall come to the birth as a
philosopher or artist, or musician or lover; that which has seen
truth in the second degree shall be a righteous king or warrior
or lord; the soul which is of the third class shall be a politician
or economist or trader; the fourth shall be a lover of gymnas-
tic toils or a physician; the fifth a prophet or hierophant; to the


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11544
PLATO
sixth a poet or imitator will be appropriate; to the seventh the
life of an artisan or husbandman; to the eighth that of a sophist
or demagogue; to the ninth that of a tyrant: all these are states
of probation, in which he who lives righteously improves, and he
who lives unrighteously deteriorates his lot.
Ten thousand years must elapse before the soul can return to
the place from whence she came, for she cannot grow her wings
in less: only the soul of a philosopher, guileless and true, or the
soul of a lover, who is not without philosophy, may acquire wings
in the third recurring period of a thousand years; and if they
choose this life three times in succession, then they have their
wings given them, and go away at the end of three thousand
years. But the others receive judgment when they have com-
pleted their first life: and after the judgment they go, some of
them to the houses of correction which are under the earth, and
are punished; others to some place in heaven whither they are
lightly borne by justice, and there they live in a manner worthy
of the life which they led here when in the form of men. And
at the end of the first thousand years, the good souls and also
the evil souls both come to cast lots and choose their second life,
and they may take any that they like. And then the soul of the
man may pass into the life of a beast, or from the beast again
into the man.
But the soul of him who has never seen the
truth will not pass into the human form, for man ought to have
intelligence, as they say, "secundum speciem," proceeding from
many particulars of sense to one conception or reason; and this
is the recollection of those things which our soul once saw when
in company with God-when looking down from above on that
which we now call Being, and upwards towards the true Being.
And therefore the mind of the philosopher alone has wings: and
this is just; for he is always, according to the measure of his
abilities, clinging in recollection to those things in which God
abides, and in beholding which he is what he is. And he who
employs aright these memories is ever being initiated into per-
fect mysteries, and alone becomes truly perfect. But as he for-
gets earthly interests, and is rapt in the divine, the vulgar deem
him mad, and rebuke him: they do not see that he is inspired.


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FROM THE GORGIAS'
[Myth of the judgment of the dead. ]
LST
ISTEN then, as story-tellers say, to a very pretty tale, which
I daresay that you may be disposed to regard as a fable
only, but which, as I believe, is a true tale; for I mean, in
what I am going to tell you, to speak the truth. Homer tells us
how Zeus and Poseidon and Pluto divided the empire which they
inherited from their father. Now in the days of Cronos there
was this law respecting the destiny of man, which has always
existed, and still continues in heaven: that he who has lived all
his life in justice and holiness shall go, when he dies, to the
islands of the blest, and dwell there in perfect happiness out
of the reach of evil; but that he who has lived unjustly and
impiously shall go to the house of vengeance and punishment,
which is called Tartarus. And in the time of Cronos, and even
later in the reign of Zeus, the judgment was given on the very
day on which the men were to die; the judges were alive, and
the men were alive: and the consequence was that the judgments
were not well given. Then Pluto and the authorities from the
islands of the blest came to Zeus, and said that the souls found
their way to the wrong places. Zeus said:-"I shall put a stop
to this: the judgments are not well given, and the reason is
that the judged have their clothes on, for they are alive; and there
are many having evil souls who are appareled in fair bodies, or
wrapt round in wealth and rank, and when the day of judgment
arrives, many witnesses come forward and witness on their behalf
that they have lived righteously. The judges are awed by them,
and they themselves too have their clothes on when judging:
their eyes and ears and their whole bodies are interposed as
a veil before their own souls. This all stands in the way: there
are the clothes of the judges and the clothes of the judged.
What is to be done? I will tell you: In the first place, I will
deprive men of the foreknowledge of death, which they at pres-
ent possess; that is a commission the execution of which I have
already intrusted to Prometheus. In the second place, they shall
be entirely stripped before they are judged, for they shall be
judged when they are dead: and the judge too shall be naked,
that is to say, dead; he with his naked soul shall pierce into the
other naked soul as soon as each man dies, he knows not when,
and is deprived of his kindred, and hath left his brave attire in


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PLATO
the world above: and then judgment will be just. I knew all
about this before you did, and therefore I have made my sons
judges: two from Asia,- Minos and Rhadamanthus; and one from
Europe, Æacus. And these, when they are dead, shall judge
in the meadow where three ways meet, and out of which two
roads lead: one to the islands of the blessed, and the other to
Tartarus. Rhadamanthus shall judge those who come from
Asia, and Æacus those who come from Europe. And to Minos
I shall give the primacy, and he shall hold a court of appeal in
case either of the two others are in doubt: in this way the judg-
ment respecting the last journey of men will be as just as possi-
ble. "
-
This is a tale, Callicles, which I have heard and believed,
and from which I draw the following inferences: Death, if I am
right, is in the first place the separation from one another of
two things, soul and body; this, and nothing else. And after
they are separated they retain their several characteristics, which
are much the same as in life; the body has the same nature
and ways and affections, all clearly discernible. For example, he
who by nature or training or both was a tall man while he was
alive, will remain as he was after he is dead, and the fat man
will remain fat, and so on; and the dead man who in life has
a fancy to have flowing hair, will have flowing hair. And if he
was marked with the whip and had the prints of the scourge
or of wounds in him when he was alive, you might see the same
in the dead body; and if his limbs were broken or misshapen
when he was alive, the same appearance would be visible in the
dead. And in a word, whatever was the habit of the body dur-
ing life would be distinguishable after death, either perfectly, or
in a great measure and for a time. And I should infer that this
is equally true of the soul, Callicles: when a man is stripped of
the body, all the natural or acquired affections of the soul are
laid open to view. And when they come to the judge, as those
from Asia came to Rhadamanthus, he places them near him and
inspects them quite impartially, not knowing whose the soul is:
perhaps he may lay hands on the soul of the great king, or of
some other king or potentate, who has no soundness in him;
but his soul is marked with the whip, and is full of the prints
and scars of perjuries, and of wrongs which have been plastered
into him by each action, and he is all crooked with falsehood and
imposture, and has no straightness, because he has lived without


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11547
truth. Him Rhadamanthus beholds, full of deformity and dis-
proportion, which is caused by license and luxury and insolence
and incontinence, and dispatches him ignominiously to his prison,
and there he undergoes the punishment which he deserves.
Now the proper office of punishment is twofold: he who is
rightly punished ought either to become better and profit by it,
or he ought to be made an example to his fellows, that they
may see what he suffers, and fear and become better. Those
who are punished by gods and men, and improved, are those
whose sins are curable: still the way of improving them, as in
this world so also in another, is by pain and suffering; for there
is no other way in which they can be delivered from their evil.
But they who have been guilty of the worst crimes, and are in-
curable by reason of their crimes, are made examples; for, as
they are incurable, the time has passed at which they can receive
any benefit themselves. But others get good when they behold
them forever enduring the most terrible and painful and fearful
sufferings as the penalty of their sins; there they are, hanging
up as examples, in the prison-house of the world below,—a spec-
tacle and a warning to all unrighteous men who come thither.
And most of those fearful examples, as I believe, are taken from
the class of tyrants and kings and potentates and public men;
for they are the authors of the greatest and most impious crimes,
because they have the power. And Homer witnesses to the truth
of this; for those whom he has described as suffering everlast-
ing punishment in the world below are always kings and poten-
tates; there are Tantalus, and Sisyphus, and Tityus. But no
one ever described Thersites, or any private person who was a
villain, as suffering everlasting punishment because he was incur-
able. For to do as they did was, as I am inclined to think, not
in his power; and he was happier than those who had the power.
Yes, Callicles, the very bad men come from the class of those
who have power. And yet, in that very class there may arise
good men, and worthy of all admiration they are; for where
there is great power to do wrong, to live and die justly is a
hard thing, and greatly to be praised, and few there are who
attain this. Such good and true men, however, there have been,
and will be again, in this and other States, who have fulfilled
their trust righteously; and there is one who is quite famous all
over Hellas,— Aristides the son of Lysimachus. But in general,
great men are also bad, my friend.
-


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And as I was saying, Rhadamanthus, when he gets a soul of
this kind, knows nothing about him, neither who he is nor who
his parents are: he knows only that he has got hold of a villain;
and seeing this, he stamps him as curable or incurable, and sends
him away to Tartarus, whither he goes and receives his recom-
pense. Or again, he looks with admiration on the soul of some
just one who has lived in holiness and truth: he may have been
a private man or not; and I should say, Callicles, that he is most
likely to have been a philosopher who has done his own work,
and not troubled himself with the doings of other men in his
lifetime: him Rhadamanthus sends to the islands of the blest.
Eacus does the same; and they both have sceptres, and judge;
and Minos is seated, looking on, as Odysseus in Homer declares
that he saw him,-
"Holding a sceptre of gold, and giving laws to the dead. "
Now I, Callicles, am persuaded of the truth of these things; and
I consider how I shall present my soul whole and undefiled be-
fore the judge in that day. Renouncing the honors at which the
world aims, I desire only to know the truth, and to live as well
as I can; and when the time comes, to die. And to the utmost
of my power, I exhort all other men to do the same. And in
return for your exhortation of me, I exhort you also to take part
in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater
than every other earthly conflict. And I retort your reproach of
me, and say that you will not be able to help yourself when the
day of trial and judgment, of which I was speaking, comes upon
you: you will go before the judge, the son of Ægina, and when
you are in the hands of justice you will gape and your head will
swim round, just as mine would in the courts of this world; and
very likely some one will shamefully box you on the ears, and
put upon you every sort of insult.
Perhaps this may appear to you to be only an old wife's tale,
which you contemn. And there might be reason in your con-
temning such tales, if by searching we could find out anything
better or truer: but now you see that you and Polus and Gorgias,
who are the three wisest of the Greeks of our day, are not able
to show that we ought to live any life which does not profit in
another world as well as in this. And of all that has been said,
nothing remains unshaken but the saying, that to do injustice is
more to be avoided than to suffer injustice, and that the reality


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11549
and not the appearance of virtue is to be followed above all
things, as well in public as in private life; and that when any
one has been wrong in anything, he is to be chastised; and that
the next best thing to a man being just is, that he should become
just, and be chastised and punished; also that he should avoid
all flattery of himself as well as of others, of the few as of the
many; and rhetoric and any other art should be used by him,
and all his actions should be done, always with a view to justice.
FROM THE REPUBLIC'
[The figure of the cave. ]
A
FTER this, I said, imagine the enlightenment or ignorance of
our nature in a figure: Behold! human beings living in a
sort of underground den, which has a mouth open towards
the light, and reaching all across the den; they have been here
from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so
that they cannot move, and can only see before them; for the
chains are arranged in such a manner as to prevent them from
turning their heads around. At a distance above and behind
them the light of a fire is blazing, and between the fire and the
prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a
low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette
players have before them, over which they show the puppets.
I see, he said.
And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carry-
ing vessels, which appear over the wall; also figures of men
and animals, made of wood and stone and various materials; and
some of the passengers, as you would expect, are talking, and
some of them are silent?
That is a strange image, he said, and they are strange pris-
oners.
Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shad-
ows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the
opposite wall of the cave?
True, he said: how could they see anything but the shadows
if they were never allowed to move their heads?
And of the objects which are being carried in like manner
they would only see the shadows?
Yes, he said.


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11550
And if they were able to talk with one another, would they
not suppose that they were naming what was actually before
them?
Very true.
And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came
from the other side, would they not be sure to fancy that the
voice which they heard was that of a passing shadow?
No question, he replied.
There can be no question, I said, that the truth would be to
them just nothing but the shadows of the images.
That is certain.
And now look again, and see how they are released and cured
of their folly. At first, when any one of them is liberated and
compelled suddenly to go up and turn his neck round and walk
and look at the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will
distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which
in his former state he had seen the shadows: and then imagine
some one saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion,
but that now he is approaching real Being, and has a truer sight
and vision of more real things,- what will be his reply? And
you may further imagine that his instructor is pointing to the
objects as they pass and requiring him to name them,- will he
not be in difficulty? Will he not fancy that the shadows which
he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown
to him?
Far truer.
And if he is compelled to look at the light, will he not have
a pain in his eyes, which will make him turn away to take
refuge in the object of vision which he can see, and which he
will conceive to be clearer than the things which are now being
shown to him?
True, he said.
And suppose once more, that he is reluctantly dragged up a
steep and rugged ascent, and held fast and forced into the pres-
ence of the sun himself, do you not think that he will be pained
and irritated, and when he approaches the light he will have his
eyes dazzled, and will not be able to see any of the realities
which are now affirmed to be the truth?
Not all in a moment, he said.
He will require to get accustomed to the sight of the upper
world. And first he will see the shadows best, next the reflec-
tions of men and other objects in the water, and then the objects


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PLATO
11551
themselves; next he will gaze upon the light of the moon and
the stars; and he will see the sky and the stars by night, better
than the sun, or the light of the sun, by day?
Certainly.
And at last he will be able to see the sun, and not mere
reflections of him in the water, but he will see him as he is in
his own proper place, and not in another; and he will contem-
plate his nature?
Certainly.
And after this he will reason that the sun is he who gives
the seasons and the years, and is the guardian of all that is in
the visible world, and in a certain way the cause of all things
which he and his fellows have been accustomed to behold?
Clearly, he said, he would come to the other first and to this
afterwards.
And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom
of the den and his fellow-prisoners, do you not suppose that he
would felicitate himself on the change, and pity them?
Certainly he would.
And if they were in the habit of conferring honors on those
who were quickest to observe and remember and foretell which
of the shadows went before, and which followed after, and which
were together, do you think that he would care for such honors
and glories, or envy the possessors of them? Would he not say
with Homer,-
"Better be a poor man, and have a poor master,"
and endure anything, rather than to think and live after their
manner?
Yes, he said, I think that he would rather suffer anything
than live after their manner.
Imagine once more, I said, that such a one, coming suddenly
out of the sun, were to be replaced in his old situation: is he
not certain to have his eyes full of darkness?
Very true, he said.
And if there were a contest, and he had to compete in
measuring the shadows with the prisoners who have never moved
out of the den, during the time that his sight is weak, and be-
fore his eyes are steady (and the time which would be needed
to acquire this new habit of sight might be very considerable),
would he not be ridiculous? Men would say of him that up he


## p. 11552 (#166) ##########################################

11552
PLATO
went and down he comes without his eyes; and that there was
no use in even thinking of ascending: and if any one tried to
loose another and lead him up to the light, let them only catch
the offender in the act, and they would put him to death.
No question, he said.
This allegory, I said, you may now append to the previous
argument: the prison is the world of sight, the light of the fire
is the sun, the ascent and vision of the things above you may
truly regard as the upward progress of the soul into the intel-
lectual world; that is my poor belief, to which, at your desire, I
have given expression. Whether I am right or not, God only
knows: but whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world
of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen
only with an effort; and when seen, is also inferred to be the
universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light
and the lord of light in this world, and the source of truth and
reason in the other: this is the first great cause, which he who
would act rationally either in public or private life must behold.
I agree, he said, as far as I am able to understand you.
I should like to have your agreement in another matter, I
said. For I would not have you marvel that those who attain to
this beatific vision are unwilling to descend to human affairs; but
their souls are ever hastening into the upper world in which they
desire to dwell: and this is very natural, if our allegory may be
trusted.
Certainly, that is quite natural.
And is there anything surprising in one who passes from
divine contemplations to human things, misbelieving himself in a
ridiculous manner; if while his eyes are blinking and before he
has become accustomed to the darkness visible, he is compelled
to fight in courts of law, or in other places, about the images or
shadows of images of justice, and is endeavoring to meet the
conceptions of those who have never yet seen the absolute
justice?
There is nothing surprising in that, he replied.
Any one who has common-sense will remember that the be-
wilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two
causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into
the light; which is true of the mind's eye quite as much as of
the bodily eye: and he who remembers this when he sees the
soul of any one whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be
―


## p. 11553 (#167) ##########################################

PLATO
11553
too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul has come
out of the brighter life, and is unable to see because unaccustomed
to the dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is dazzled.
by excess of light. And then he will count the one happy in his
condition and state of being, and he will pity the other; or if he
have a mind to laugh at the soul which comes from below into
the light, there will be more reason in this than in the laugh
which greets the other from the den.
That, he said, is a very just remark.
But if this is true, then certain professors of education must
be mistaken in saying that they can put a knowledge into the
soul which was not there before, like giving eyes to the blind.
Yes, that is what they say, he replied.
Whereas, I said, our argument shows that the power is already
in the soul; and that as the eye cannot turn from darkness to
light without the whole body, so too, when the eye of the soul
is turned round, the whole soul must be turned from the world
of generation into that of Being, and become able to endure the
sight of Being and of the brightest and best of Being,- that is
to say, of the good.
Very true.
And this is conversion: and the art will be how to accomplish
this as easily and completely as possible; not implanting eyes,
for they exist already, but giving them a right direction, which
they have not.
Yes, he said, that may be assumed.
And hence while the other qualities seem to be akin to the
body, being infused by habit and exercise and not originally in-
nate, the virtue of wisdom is part of a divine essence, and has a
power which is everlasting; and by this conversion is rendered.
useful and profitable, and is also capable of becoming hurtful and
useless.
FROM THE STATESMAN›
TRANGER
STR
When we praise quickness and energy and acute-
ness, whether of mind or body or speech, we express our
praise of the quality which we admire, by one word; and
that one word is manliness or courage.
Young Socrates - How is that?
―
XX-723


## p. 11554 (#168) ##########################################

PLATO
11554
•Stranger-We speak of an action as energetic and manly,
quick and manly, or vigorous and manly; this is the common
epithet which we apply to all persons of this class.
Young Socrates - True.
Stranger - And do we not often praise the quiet strain of
action also?
Young Socrates-To be sure.
Stranger - And do we not then say the opposite of what we
Isaid of the other?
Young Socrates - How do you mean?
Stranger-In speaking of the mind, we say, How calm!
How temperate! These are the terms in which we describe the
working of the intellect; and again we speak of actions as delib-
erate and gentle, and of the voice as smooth and deep, and of all
rhythmical movement and of music in general as having a proper
solemnity. To all these we attribute not courage, but a name
indicative of order.
Young Socrates -Very true.
Stranger-But when, on the other hand, either of these is
out of place, the names of either are changed into terms of
censure.
Young Socrates-How is that?
Stranger Too great sharpness or quickness or hardness is
termed violence or madness; too great slowness or gentleness
is called cowardice or sluggishness: and we may observe that
these qualities, and in general the temperance of one class of
characters and the manliness of another, are arrayed as enemies
on opposite sides, and do not mingle with one another in their
respective actions; and if we pursue the inquiry, we shall find
that the men who have these qualities are at variance with one
another.
-
Young Socrates- How do you mean?
Stranger
In the instance which I mentioned, and very likely
in many others, there are some things which they praise as being
like themselves, and other things which they blame as belonging
to the opposite characters; and out of this, many quarrels and
occasions of quarrels arise among them.
Young Socrates - True.
Stranger-The difference between the two classes is amusing
enough at times; but when affecting really important matters,
becomes a most utterly hateful disorder in the State.


## p. 11555 (#169) ##########################################

PLATO
11555
Young Socrates - What part of the State is thus affected? .
Stranger - The whole course of life suffers from the disorder.
For the orderly class are always ready to lead a peaceful life,
and do their own business; this is their way of living with all
men at home, and they are equally ready to keep the peace
with foreign States. And on account of this fondness of theirs
for peace, which is often out of season where their influence
prevails, they become by degrees unwarlike, and bring up their
young men to be like themselves; they are at the command
of others: and hence in a few years they and their children and
the whole city often pass imperceptibly from the condition of
freemen into that of slaves.
-
Young Socrates- That is a hard, cruel fate.
Stranger What now is the case with the more courageous
natures? Are they not always inciting their country to go to
war, owing to their excessive love of the military life? Their
enemies are many and mighty; and if they do not ruin their
cities, they enslave and subject them to their enemies.
Young Socrates-That, again, is true.
Stranger-Must we not admit, then, that these two classes
are always in the greatest antipathy and antagonism to one an-
other?
Young Socrates - We cannot deny that.
Stranger-I want to know whether any constructive art will
make any, even the smallest thing, out of bad and good mate-
rials indifferently, if this can be avoided? whether all art does
not rather reject the bad as far as possible, and accept the good
and fit materials, and out of these like and unlike elements
gathering all into one, work out some form or idea?
Young Socrates-To be sure.
Stranger-Then the true natural art of statesmanship will
never allow any State to be formed by a combination of good
and bad men, if this can be avoided; but will begin by testing
human natures in play, and after testing them, will intrust them
to proper teachers who are her ministers: she will herself give
orders and maintain authority, like weaving, which continually
gives orders and maintains authority over the carders and all the
others who prepare the material for the work; showing to the
subsidiary arts the works which she deems necessary for making
the web.
Young Socrates-Quite true.
-


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11556
PLATO
Stranger-In like manner, the royal science appears to me
to be the mistress of all careful educators and instructors; and
having this queenly power, will not allow any of them to train
characters unsuited to the political constitution which she desires
to create, but such as are suitable only. Other natures, which
have no part in manliness and temperance or any other virtuous
inclination, and from the necessity of an evil nature are violently
carried away to godlessness and injustice and violence, she ex-
terminates by death, and punishes them by exile and the greatest
of disgraces.
Young Socrates-That is commonly said.
Stranger-But those who are wallowing in ignorance and
baseness she bows under the yoke of slavery.
Young Socrates — Quite right.
Stranger-The rest of the citizens-of whom, if they have
education, something noble may be made, and who are capable
of social science- the kingly art blends and weaves together;
taking on the one hand those whose natures tend rather to cour-
age, which is the stronger element and may be regarded as the
warp, and on the other hand those which incline to order and
gentleness, and which are represented in the figure as spun
thick and soft after the manner of the woof,- these, which are
naturally opposed, she seeks to bind and weave together.
This, then, according to our view, is the perfection of the web of
political action. There is a direct intertexture of the brave and
temperate natures, when the kingly science has drawn the two
sorts of lives into communion by unanimity and kindness; and
having completed the noblest and best of all webs of which a
common life admits, and enveloping therein all other inhabitants
of cities, whether slaves or freemen, binds them in one fabric
and governs and presides over them, omitting no element of a
city's happiness.
—
Young Socrates- You have completed, Stranger, a very perfect
image of the King and of the Statesman.
[The preceding selections from the Dialogues are Professor Jowett's
translations. ]


## p. 11557 (#171) ##########################################

11557
TITUS MACCIUS PLAUTUS
(254-184 B. C. )
BY GONZALEZ LODGE
ITUS MACCIUS PLAUTUS, Rome's greatest comic poet, died in
184 B. C. According to the very meagre tradition recorded
by Gellius, he was born at Sarsina in Umbria, but came as
a young man to Rome. There he worked in a subordinate capacity
with a theatrical troupe, and accumulated some money. He then
engaged in foreign trade, but was unsuccessful, and therefore returned
to Rome and worked in a mill. Here he produced three plays which
were accepted by the ædiles; and from this time on he devoted him-
self, with the greatest success, to writing.
The number of his plays has been a matter of discussion since
shortly after his death. His great popularity caused the work of
other writers to be ascribed to him. Hence in Cicero's time, the
great antiquarian Varro found it necessary to make a careful exam-
ination of the plays then circulating under the name of Plautus,—
one hundred and thirty in number, according to some authorities. He
found that twenty-one were acknowledged by all critics as genuine;
and he himself decided that nineteen others were probably so. At
the revival of learning, but eight comedies were known. Later how-
ever other manuscripts were discovered, giving twenty more or less
complete plays; finally, in 1815, an important palimpsest of the fourth
century A. D. was found, which showed fragments of still another.
Hence it has generally been assumed that we have the twenty-one
undisputed dramas referred to by Varro.
The most striking peculiarity of these plays is, that though writ-
ten for Romans and in Latin, the plot and character are generally
Attic, and the scene is usually Athens. This was due to the literary
conditions at Rome. Until after the first Punic War, the life of
Rome had been one long succession of wars for existence, during the
latter period of which the Romans came into contact with Greek
culture and civilization in Sicily and lower Italy. There had been no
opportunity for a native literature to develop. That there were at
hand the elements of one, which under normal circumstances might
soon have shown a sturdy growth, we have abundant evidence; but
when they found time to turn their attention to literature, it was
found to be much easier to transfer the finished products of Greek


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11558
TITUS MACCIUS PLAUTUS
culture to Rome, than to develop the native product to suit a taste
already grown critical from foreign contact.
The bloom of the New Comedy was just past in Greece, and the
stage in Greek lands was still held by the masters of this school,—
Menander, Philemon, and others. They portrayed with greater or
less accuracy the rather ignoble social life of the period, sometimes
descending to the coarseness of burlesque. Plautus had probably
become familiar with such plays during his wandering youth, and he
naturally turned to them for the inspiration of his maturer years.
Accordingly we cannot expect to find in Plautus's comedies a
representation of the Roman life of the time. Their originals were
Greek; and however much worked over, they remained Greek.
Roman allusions and jokes, and some purely Roman features, were
introduced, probably to lessen the jar on the Roman sensibility: but
these were of minor importance; for it must be remembered that any
criticism of the public life of Rome was vigorously repressed by a
strict police censorship, and that only such Roman allusions would
be tolerated as would cause laughter without ill-feeling. How far
the plays as thus recast were still untrue to Roman life, we cannot
decide; but they were probably much less realistic to the Romans
than are French plays to us.
The chief interest centres about the young men. There are two
principal types, which may be roughly called the good and the bad;
but there are numerous variations in the individual characters. The
minority are represented as brave, high-minded, and genial, cultured
in manners, prudent and economical in habits; the majority are
audacious or vacillating spendthrifts, moody and dissipated, living
from hand to mouth. Frequently the contrast between the two types
is made more striking by their juxtaposition in the same play.
Almost all are in love, but are hindered from gaining possession of
their loved ones by lack of money. Being still under the control of
their fathers, they are without resources; and their expedients to raise
money, and their success or misfortune in this pursuit of their loves,
form the subject of the play. They are themselves more or less
passive, the brunt of the work falling upon their slaves; but they are
keenly interested in the slave's efforts, and follow his actions with the
liveliest emotions. When the outlook is gloomy they threaten to leave
home forever, or to destroy themselves; supplicating the slaves most
abjectly, or threatening them with the direst punishments. When
success seems assured they break out into violent transports, calling
their slaves by the most endearing names, and often showing their
gratitude by manumitting them. At other times they testify to the
strength of their passion by lackadaisical soliloquies, and are in gen-
eral "very hard to endure. "


## p. 11559 (#173) ##########################################

TITUS MACCIUS PLAUTUS
11559
Opposed to these young men, who are still under their father's
control, we have in several plays the braggart soldier. He is usually
the rival most feared by the young men, for he has the money of
which they are in such urgent need. He is usually portrayed with
the bearing of a lion but the courage of a hare, always boasting of
his prowess but ready to yield to the slightest display of force, the
type immortalized once for all in Falstaff. He is the victim of all
the intrigues, and is invariably cheated out of both his money and
his mistress.
-
The inamoratas of the young men are usually slave girls, who
were originally free-born, but were either exposed or stolen in
infancy, and have been brought up in low surroundings for immoral
purposes. There is usually a genuine attachment between them and
the young men; the desire of both is matrimony, which the young
men hope to accomplish by purchasing the girls and manumitting
them. Frequently their origin is discovered; they are acknowledged
by delighted parents, who hasten to betroth them to their happy
lovers. Sometimes however the women are much more debased, and
the plays too coarse to be at all enjoyable.
The most important rôle is that of the slaves. These usually
stand shoulder to shoulder with their young masters, and give them
their loyal and constant support. Naturally they fall into two
classes, the honest and the dishonest. The former are few in num-
bers; and are either old slaves who have grown up in the family,
and perhaps served as tutors for the children, or stupid country
clowns, coarse in speech and habit, who serve mainly as foils to their
unscrupulous fellows. The dishonest slaves are the life of the play,
and ancient critics regarded their rôles as the most important. Their
chief characteristics are an extraordinary boldness and skill in inven-
tion and trickery, with the most utter shamelessness in carrying out
their plans. They help their young masters out of their difficul-
ties, supply the necessary money, and at the same time furnish the
broad humor so essential to comedy. Running the risk of the most
condign punishment from the fathers, or others whom they have
deceived, they preserve a careless coolness in the most trying cir-
cumstances, and almost always manage to secure a full and com-
plete pardon, and often manumission at the end.
The lovers and their assisting slaves are often opposed by stern
fathers. These are sordid and miserly elders, who have either accu-
mulated a competence by severe toil or have married for money.
In their youth they were dissipated, but they have no sympathy
with their sons when they follow a similar course. They are there-
fore the objects of attack by the slaves, and are usually cheated out
of the money needed. Their feeling towards their wives is one of
1
8


## p. 11560 (#174) ##########################################

11560
TITUS MACCIUS PLAUTUS
aversion and contempt, and they take delight in deceiving them.
The wives in their turn are usually depicted as shrewish and un-
lovely, which may be for comic effect merely. The other class of
fathers is more attractive. These are genial and mild, prudent and
wise in council. They have frequently gained their wealth in for-
eign trade, and settled down to enjoy a quiet and dignified old age.
They are their sons' confidants instead of enemies, and look kindly
upon their youthful follies out of remembrance of their own youth.
Peculiar to Comedy are the Parasites. These are decayed gen-
tlemen who live by their wits. They often attach themselves to
some family, or young man, and assist the latter in his love intrigues.
They are perpetually hungry, and during the most serious discussions
their minds run continually upon the prospects of a dinner. They
endure the most scornful snubs if they can get but the lowest seats
at the feast. They are the perpetual objects of mockery, and their
exaltation or depression when they are invited to a dinner or cheated
of it furnish some of the liveliest scenes. The plots in which these
and minor characters appear are somewhat stereotyped, and the
motives are few and simple. But the most of the plays may be
grouped roughly in four classes: those in which some particular type
of character is portrayed; those which turn upon the recovery of
children lost or stolen in infancy; plays of simple intrigue; and those
which turn upon the impersonation of an individual or a pair of
individuals by another.
The best of the first class is the 'Aulularia,' which gives us the
fortunes and misfortunes of a miser who has discovered a pot of gold
in his house, and imagines that every one knows it and has designs
upon it. The 'Miles, Gloriosus' portrays the braggart soldier, who is
always boasting of his glorious deeds in war, and trying his fortune
with the ladies,- with indifferent success. The most interesting ex-
ample of the second class is the 'Rudens'; which, though faulty in
construction, shows Plautus at his best, and is really of a high order.
Of a lower order are the Curculio' and the Epidicus'; the latter of
which, as Plautus tells us in another comedy, was his favorite drama.
In these plays, opportunity is given for the liveliest play of feel-
ing, and some of the scenes where the child is recognized are very
pathetic. The most interesting example of the third class is the Tri-
nummus. An old man going abroad on a business venture has com-
initted to the care of a faithful friend a sum of money, which in
case of necessity shall be used to preserve his family, a son and
daughter, from the excesses of the profligate son. The play records
the devices of the friend to employ some of it as a dower for the
daughter, without allowing the son to know that he has it in his pos-
session. A parasite is accordingly hired for three nummi (shillings)


## p. 11561 (#175) ##########################################

TITUS MACCIUS PLAUTUS
11561
to act as messenger from the absent father; and he gives his name to
the play. To the fourth class belong the three most important come-
dies: the Captives' and the 'Menæchmi,' abstracts of which follow;
and the Amphitruo,' a tragicomedy, which is interesting as showing
some tendency to burlesque the religious myths of the people. The
play gives the story of how Jupiter and Mercury personated Amphi-
truo and his slave Sosia, for the purpose of beguiling Amphitruo's
wife Alcmena.
Two of the best plays may be sketched in outline. We place
first the 'Captives,' though the plot hardly justifies Lessing's extrava-
gant praise of it as the best ever devised. At the outset we are
informed that Philopolemus, only son of a certain Hegio, was some
time previously captured in battle and made a slave in Elis; since
which time Hegio has been buying war captives, with the hope that
he might finally secure some Elean of quality with whom to effect an
exchange for his son. The stage represents Hegio's court-yard. He,
entering, informs us that he has recently made a purchase of import-
ant captives, two of whom he thinks may serve his purpose. After
he retires, the two captives, Philocrates and his slave Tyndarus, are
brought in, guarded, and lamenting their fate. They plan to person-
ate each other, with the hope that Philocrates, if looked upon as the
slave, may the easier escape. In the next scene Hegio learns from
them that his son is actually in bondage to Philocrates's father, and
the supposed Tyndarus (really the master, Philocrates) is sent away
to negotiate an exchange. Subsequently Hegio introduces another of
the captives, Aristophontes, who claims to have known Philocrates in
He being brought face to face with the supposed Philocrates,
immediately discloses the true state of affairs; and Hegio in a fury
orders the now discovered Tyndarus to punishment. Later, Philocra-
tes returns with Philopolemus; and in the ensuing explanation Tyn-
darus is discovered to be a long-lost son of Hegio, who was stolen
when he was but four years old.
In the Menæchmi,' the prologist states that an old Syracusan
merchant had two sons. Once on a business trip to Tarentum he
took one of the boys, who strayed away in the crowd and was stolen.
On his return the father was shipwrecked and drowned. The grand-
father bestowed the name of the lost boy, Menæchmus, upon the
surviving son at home. Long afterwards the son set out in search
of his brother; and in the course of his travels arrived at Epidamnus,
where the play opens. The first scene is an interview between a
parasite and Menæchmus I. (the lost one), who gleefully explains how
he has stolen his wife's cloak, and is going to bestow it upon Erotium,
a courtesan. On the appearance of Erotium he presents the cloak,
and bespeaks a dinner for himself and the parasite. In the next
scene Menæchmus II. and his servant Messenio appear. Then follow


## p. 11562 (#176) ##########################################

11562
TITUS MACCIUS PLAUTUS
two amusing scenes, first with the cook who is to prepare the dinner,
and later with Erotium; both think they are talking with Menæch-
mus I. finally Menæchmus II. goes in with Erotium to dinner. Later
the parasite appears, complaining that he has been detained and is
afraid he has lost his dinner. Menæchmus II. comes out of Erotium's
house with the cloak, which he is to take to a cleaner's to be cleaned.
The parasite, thinking that he is Menæchmus I. , attacks him for not
waiting for him, and finally, in high dudgeon departs to inform the
wife of her husband's doings. After Menæchmus II. leaves the stage,
Menæchmus I. appears and is met by his angry wife, whom he tries
to pacify by promising to return the cloak. After his departure
Menæchmus II. enters with the cloak. He has an amusing discus-
sion with the wife, and later with the wife's father, whom she has
summoned in desperation. He finally gets rid of them by feigning
madness; and the old man goes in search of a physician, while
Menæchmus II. hurries away. Then Menæchmus I. enters, and is
pounced upon by the physician and his attendants. He is rescued by
Messenio, who has just entered in search of his master, Menæchmus
II. In the final scene the two Menæchmi are brought face to face;
and the kinship of the long-separated brothers is explained by Mes-
senio, who is given his freedom for his services.
Certain of the plays were performed occasionally down to the
close of the Republic, or even later. Indeed, Plautus remained a
much read and appreciated author from the time of Varro and Cicero
until the dark ages. The Christian fathers, especially Jerome, were
very fond of him. At the Renaissance the newly discovered plays
were eagerly caught up in Italy, and later in France and Germany.
Translations were made; and great authors wrote plays based upon
those of Plautus, of which a few may be mentioned: Molière's
'Amphitryon' was based upon the 'Amphitruo,' and the two together
inspired Dryden's 'Amphitryon. ' Molière's 'L'Avare' was an imita-
tion of the 'Aulularia,' and it in turn inspired Shadwell's 'Miser'
and Fielding's 'Miser.