[870d]
have wrought many murders,—in cases where men do or have done things concerning which they desire that no one should share their secret; consequently, if there are any who might expose their secret, they remove them by death, whenever they can do so by no other means. Concerning all these matters, the preludes mentioned shall be pronounced, and, in addition to them, that story which is believed by many when they hear it from the lips of those who seriously relate such things at their mystic rites,—that vengeance for such acts is exacted in Hades,1 and that those who return again to this earth2 are bound to pay
1 Cp. Plat. Laws 722d: whereas the law coerces, its “prelude” seeks to persuade.
2 This implies the (Pythagorean) doctrine of re-incarnation: cp. Plat. Laws 904c, Plat. Rep. 614e ff., Plat. Tim. 90e ff.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 10 & 11 translated by R.G. Bury. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1967 & 1968.
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