[76c]
“Then, Simmias, you do not think all men know these things?”
“By no means.”
“Then they recollect the things they once learned?”
“Necessarily.”
“When did our souls acquire the knowledge of them? Surely not after we were born as human beings.”
“Certainly not.”
“Then previously.”
“Yes.”
“Then, Simmias, the souls existed previously, before they were in human form, apart from bodies, and they had intelligence.”
“Unless, Socrates, we acquire these ideas at the moment of birth; for that time
