[614b]
“since there are not many things to which I would more gladly
listen.” “It is not, let me tell you,” said I,
“the tale1 to
Alcinous told2 that I shall unfold,
but the tale of a warrior bold,3 Er, the son of Armenius, by
race a Pamphylian.4 He once upon a time was slain in
battle, and when the corpses were taken up on the tenth day already decayed,
was found intact, and having been brought home, at the moment of his
funeral, on the twelfth day5 as he lay upon the pyre,
revived,6 and after coming to life
related what, he said, he had seen in the world beyond. He said that when
his soul7 went forth from his body he journeyed with
a great company
1 See Proclus, In Remp.,Kroll ii. 96 ff., Macrob. in Somnium Scip. i. 2. The Epicurean Colotes highly disapproved of Plato's method of putting his beliefs in this form. See Chassang, Histoire du roman, p. 15. See also Dieterich, Nekyia, pp. 114 ff., and Adam ad loc.
2 Odyssey ix.-xii. The term also became proverbial for a lengthy tale. See K. Tümpel, Ἀλκίνου ἀπόλογος, Philologus 52. 523 ff.
3 Plato puns on the name Alcinous. For other puns on proper names see on 580 B. See Arthur Platt, “Plato's Republic, 614 B,” CIass. Review, 1911, pp. 13-14. For the ἀλλὰ μέν without a corresponding δέ he compares Aristoph.Acharn. 428οὐ Βελλεροφόντης: ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖνος μὲν ἦ χωλός . . .(which Blaydes changed to ἀλλὰ μήν), Odyssey xv. 405 and Eryxias 308 B.
4 Perhaps we might say, “of the tribe of Everyman.” For the question of his identity see Platt, loc. cit.
5 Thomas Browne, Urn Burial, ch. iii., “Plato's historian of the other world lies twelve days incorrupted, while his soul was viewing the large stations of the dead,” See also Rohde, Psyche ii.6 pp. 92-93.
6 Stories of persons restored to life are fairly common in ancient literature. There are Eurydice and Alcestis in Greek mythology, in the Old Testament the son of the widow revived by Elijah (1Kings xvii. 17 ff. Cf. 2Kings iv. 34 ff. and xiii. 21), in the New Testament the daughter of Jairus (Matt. ix. 23 f.), the son of the widow of Nain (Luke vii. 11 ff.), and Lazarus(John xi.). but none of these recount their adventures. Cf. also Luke xvi. 31 “If they hear not Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded through one rose from the dead.” But in that very parable Lazarus is shown in Abraham's bosom and the rich man in torment. See further, Proclus, In Remp. ii. pp. 113-116, Rohde, Psyche ii.6 p. 191.
7 For the indirect reflexive cf. p. 507, note f, on 617 E.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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