Note on the argument from reminiscence: How we get pure abstract ideas, such as those found in pure mathematics, has been a standing question in philosophy. Plato held, as we see, that we remember such ideas from a former existence. Some modern philosophers have held that we are born with these ideas or with natural capacities which always lead us to them. Others have held that all such ideas are gained by experience. Some hold that the experiences of our ancestors are born in us as instinctive tendencies which give rise to these ideas. The last view has more in common with that of Plato than may at first appear; for, according to this view, the individual has a kind of pre-existence in his ancestors, and his most abstract ideas are organic memories from that ancestral pre-existence. The modern theory does not, however, represent the soul as having existed individually before birth and so does not suggest an individual existence after death.

IV. Besides working out the formal arguments for immortality, Plato suggests his belief in respect to it by many incidents of the story. In some cases the connection between the incident and the argument is plain, in other cases, less so.

(1.) Consider each of the following incidents to see what, if any, connection it has with Socrates' belief as shown in the dialogue as a whole. (a) The message to Evenus (61 and following); (b) The direction about the care of his sons (115); (c) The answer to Crito about his burial (115); (d) The answer to Crito's proposal that he postpone his death to the last legal moment (116).

(2.) Collect a series of quotations from the dialogue which show the state of Socrates' feeling, and consider the connection of this feeling in presence of death, with his professed belief.

(3.) More difficult points: (a) Read 89, 90, and 91, to where the argument is resumed. Note Socrates' advice against misology or despair of reason. Read with special care the paragraph beginning, "Yes, Phædo, he replied," etc., in 90. What connection do you find between Socrates' reason why we should not be misologists and his belief as shown in the dialogue as a whole? (b) Read the paragraph in 91 beginning "Let us then," etc. This paragraph appears to be a confession of doubt and of willingness to have his arguments for immortality overthrown. Is this confession real or affected? If it is affected, is it consistent with Socrates' character and professions? If it is real, is it consistent with the rest of the dialogue? (c) Read from 78 to the end of 83. What is the deepest reason given here for loving good and for not loving evil?

Note: Taking the dialogue as a whole, it is evident that Plato's belief in immortality rests upon his conviction that beyond the world which appears to our senses, which is full of change, of illusion, and of evil, there is a world which is eternal and good; that the soul belongs by its deepest nature to that eternal and good world; and that by purging the soul from thoughts of this present evil world, and by feeding the soul upon that which is eternal and good, we may escape from this miserable changing existence, into our true estate with God. To know the divine is to embrace it and to assimilate the divine

-is to be divine; and to be divine is to be eternal. "This is life eternal that ye might know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent." Plato comes nearer to seeing this than does many a Christian.

Echecrates. Were you yourself, Phædo, in the prison with Socrates on the day when he drank the poison ? 3 Phado. Yes, Echecrates, I was.

Steph.

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What

Ech. I wish that you would tell me about his death. did he say in his last hours? We were informed that he died by taking poison, but no one knew anything more; for no Phliasian ever goes to Athens now, and a long time has elapsed since any Athenian found his way to Phlius, and therefore we had no clear account.

Phæd. Did you not hear of the proceedings at the trial?

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Phædo (fe'dō): a Greek philosopher, said to have been brought to Athens as a slave in his youth and ransomed by one of the friends of Socrates. Later he founded a school of philosophy.

Echecrates (e-kěk'ra-tēz): not mentioned elsewhere in Plato.
Apollodorus. See Symposium, note 1.

Simmias (sim'mi-as) a native of Thebes, educated in the Pythagorean philosophy, which taught the doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul. Hence his readiness to accept Socrates' argument based on that doctrine. He is said to have written twenty-three dialogues, all of which are lost.

Cebes (sē bez): a Greek philosopher, native of Thebes. He wrote three dialogues, one of which, called Pinax, or The Picture, has been preserved. Crito: see Apology, note 35.

2 Phlius (fli'us): a town about sixty miles west of Athens.

Ech. Yes; some one told us about the trial, and we could not understand why, having been condemned, he was put to death, as appeared, not at the time, but long afterwards. What was the reason of this?

Phæd. An accident, Echecrates. The reason was that the stern of the ship which the Athenians sent to Delos happened to have been crowned on the day before he was tried.

Ech. What is this ship?

Phæd. This is the ship in which, as the Athenians say, Theseus went to Crete when he took with him the fourteen youths, and was the saviour of them and of himself. And they were said to have vowed to Apollo at the time, that if they were saved they would make an annual pilgrimage to Delos. Now this custom still continues, and the whole period of the voyage to and from Delos, beginning when the priest of Apollo crowns the stern of the ship, is a holy season, during which the city is not allowed to be polluted by public executions; and often, when the vessel is detained by adverse winds, there may be a very considerable delay. As I was saying, the ship was crowned on the day before the trial, and this was the reason why Socrates lay in prison and was not put to death until long after he was condemned.

Ech. What was the manner of his death, Phædo? What was said or done? And which of his friends had he with him? Or were they not allowed by the authorities to be present? And did he die alone?

Phad. No; there were several of his friends with him, Ech. If you have nothing to do, I wish that you would tell me what passed, as exactly as you can.

Phad. I have nothing to do, and will try to gratify your wish. For to me too there is no greater pleasure than to have

Theseus (the'sus): a legendary Greek hero, one of whose exploits was the slaying of a monster called the Minotaur (min'o-taur). To this monster, imprisoned in a cave of Crete, Athens had to send a yearly sacrifice of seven youths and seven maidens. Theseus went voluntarily as one of these victims to Crete and with the help of Ariadne (à'ri-ăd'ne), the king's daughter, succeeded in slaying the Minotaur. The grateful Athenians preserved the ship in which Theseus made his voyage and sent in it every year envoys and a sacrifice to Delos.

Delos (delos), a small island of the Ægean, was sacred to the worship of Apollo, one of the greatest and most beneficent of the Greek gods, who is said to have been born there. The priest of Apollo decked the stern of the vessel with garlands before it left port