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conviction. And now I must begin again and find another argument which
will assure me that when the man is dead the soul survives. Tell me, I implore
you, how did Socrates proceed? Did he appear to share the unpleasant feeling
which you mention? or did he calmly meet the attack? And did he answer
forcibly or feebly? Narrate what passed as exactly as you can.
PHAEDO: Often, Echecrates, I have wondered at Socrates, but never more
than on that occasion. That he should be able to answer was nothing, but what
astonished me was, first, the gentle and pleasant and approving manner in
which he received the words of the young men, and then his quick sense of
the wound which had been inflicted by the argument, and the readiness with
which he healed it. He might be compared to a general rallying his defeated
and broken army, urging them to accompany him and return to the field of
argument.
ECHECRATES: What followed?
PHAEDO: You shall hear, for I was close to him on his right hand, seated
on a sort of stool, and he on a couch which was a good deal higher. He
stroked my head, and pressed the hair upon my neck—he had a way of
playing with my hair; and then he said: To-morrow, Phaedo, I suppose that
these fair locks of yours will be severed.
Yes, Socrates, I suppose that they will, I replied.
Not so, if you will take my advice.
What shall I do with them? I said.
To-day, he replied, and not to-morrow, if this argument dies and we cannot
bring it to life again, you and I will both shave our locks; and if I were you,
and the argument got away from me, and I could not hold my ground against
Simmias and Cebes, I would myself take an oath, like the Argives, not to
wear hair any more until I had renewed the conflict and defeated them.
Yes, I said, but Heracles himself is said not to be a match for two.
Summon me then, he said, and I will be your Iolaus until the sun goes
down.
I summon you rather, I rejoined, not as Heracles summoning Iolaus, but as
Iolaus might summon Heracles.
That will do as well, he said. But first let us take care that we avoid a
danger.
Of what nature? I said.
Lest we become misologists, he replied, no worse thing can happen to a
469
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book The Complete Plato"
The Complete Plato
- Title
- The Complete Plato
- Author
- Plato
- Date
- ~347 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 1612
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International