[386a]
Socrates
“Concerning the gods
then,” said I, “this is the sort of thing that we must
allow or not allow them to hear from childhood up, if they are to honor the
gods1 and their fathers and
mothers, and not to hold their friendship with one another in light
esteem.” “That was our view and I believe it
right.” “What then of this? If they are to be brave,
must we not extend our prescription to include also the sayings that will
make them least likely
[386b]
to fear death? Or
do you suppose that anyone could ever become brave who had that dread in his
heart?” “No indeed, I do not,” he replied.
“And again if he believes in the reality of the underworld and its
terrors,2 do
you think that any man will be fearless of death and in battle will prefer
death to defeat and slavery?” “By no means.”
“Then it seems we must exercise supervision3 also, in the matter of such tales as
these, over those who undertake to supply them and request them not to
dispraise in this undiscriminating fashion the life in Hades but rather
praise it,
[386c]
since what they now tell us
is neither true nor edifying to men who are destined to be
warriors.” “Yes, we must,” he said.
“Then,” said I, “beginning with this verse we
will expunge everything of the same kind:“
Liefer were I in the fields up above to be serf to
another
Tiller of some poor plot which yields him a scanty subsistence,
Than to be ruler and king over all the dead who have perished,
”Aesch. Frag. 3504 and this:
[386d]
“
Lest unto men and immortals the homes of the dead be
uncovered
Horrible, noisome, dank, that the gods too hold in abhorrence,
”Hom. Il. 20.645
and:“
Ah me! so it is true that e'en in the dwellings of
Hades
Spirit there is and wraith, but within there is no understanding,
”Hom. Il. 10.4956 and this: “
Sole to have wisdom and wit, but the others are
shadowy phantoms,
”Hom. Il. 23.1037 and:“
Forth from his limbs unwilling his spirit flitted to
Hades,
Wailing its doom and its lustihood lost and the May of its
manhood,
”Hom. Il. 16.8568
1 We may, if we choose, see here a reference to the virtue of piety, which some critics fancifully suppose was eliminated by the Euthyphro. Cf. Unity of Plato's Thought, note 58.
2 For the idea that death is no evil Cf. Apology, in fine, Laws 727 D, 828 D, and 881 A, where, however, the fear of hell is approved as a deterrent.
3 Cf. 377 B.
4 Spoken by Achilles when Odysseus sought to console him for his death. Lucian, Dialog. Mort . 18, develops the idea. Proclus comments on it for a page.
6 The exclamation and inference (ῥά) of Achilles when the shade of Patroclus eludes his embrace in the dream. The text is endlessly quoted by writers on religious origins and dream and ghost theories of the origin of the belief in the soul.
7 Said of the prophet Teiresias. The preceding line is, “Unto him even in death was it granted by Persephoneia.” The line is quoted also in Meno 100 A.
8 Said of the death of Patroclus, and Hector, Hom. Il. 22.382; imitated in the last line of the Aeneid“Vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras.” Cf. Bacchyl. v. 153-4:πύματον δὲ πνέων δάκρυσα τλάμων ἀγλαὰν ἥβαν προλείπων.
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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