Plato Complete Works (Volume 1)

Author: (Ancient Greece) Plato
Translator: Wang Xiaozhao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: "The Republic" is not the entirety of Plato's thought. Plato's dialogues are undoubtedly a treasure left by Greek culture. They not only show us one of the earliest, as well as the most influential rationalist philosophical systems in the history of Western philosophy, but are also extremely beautiful works in the history of literature, especially in his early and middle dialogues, which are filled with witty and humorous conversations, interspersed with many moving myths and fables. Philosophers before Socrates left only some fragments, and Socrates himself wrote nothing. His ideas can mainly be glimpsed only through Plato's dialogues. Excerpt: Phaedo - Main Text
Echecrates: Socrates was executed when you were with him, or did you hear about it from others?
Phaedo: I was there at the time, Echecrates.
Echecrates: So what did this great master say before his death? How did he face his death? I am very eager to know these things.
These days, not many people often travel from Phlius to Athens, and for a long time there has been no visitor to provide us with any certain news. We only know that he drank the poison hemlock. No one can tell us more.
Phaedo: So you haven’t even heard how he was tried?
Echecrates: Some people have told us, so we find it strange, because the trial and execution were separated by such a long time. Why is that, Phaedo?
Phaedo: It is purely a coincidence, Echecrates. The day before his trial, the Athenians had just finished hanging garlands on the sterns of the ships sent to Delos.
Echecrates: What kind of ships were they?
Phaedo: The Athenians said they were the ships that Theseus took with seven pairs of young men and women to Crete, and preserved their lives and his own. It is said that the Athenians swore to Apollo that if these young people returned alive, they would send an embassy to Delos every year to worship. Since then, they have always kept their promise to this god. A law was also established at that time, requiring the city-state to remain pure during the embassy, and no criminal could be executed before the embassy arrived at Delos and returned to Athens. Sometimes, if the wind was unfavorable, the embassy would take a long time to return. As soon as the priest of Apollo hung garlands on the embassy ships, the mission was considered to have officially begun, and as I said, this happened the day before the trial. That is why there was such a long time between the trial and the execution, during which Socrates had to spend in prison.
Echecrates: What was the real scene of his death like? What did he say? What did he do? Which of his companions were with him? Or did the guards not let them in, so that he had no friends with him when he died?
Phaedo: Oh, no, some companions were with him, in fact quite a few.
Echecrates: I hope you can kindly tell us all the details, unless time does not permit and you are in a hurry to leave.
Phaedo: No, I am not in a hurry. I am just about to tell you the details. Recalling the joy Socrates brought me is incomparable to anything else, whether I told it myself or listened to others.
Echecrates: That is wonderful, Phaedo. You will find that your audience will feel the same way. So now, please tell us all the details in detail.
Phaedo: First, I want to tell you about my feelings at the time. This feeling was very special—I was not sad for him, and you might think I would have the kind of feeling I would have when facing a close friend who was about to die. Socrates’ behavior and words at that time were quite joyful, Echecrates, and he faced death nobly, taking it in stride. I couldn’t help but think that even on the road to the other world, divine will was guiding him, and if people could go there, everything would be fine when he arrived. So I felt no sadness at all, and you would think that at such a solemn moment one should feel sad, but at the same time I did not experience the joy we usually feel in our philosophical discussions, which is the form of our conversation. When I thought that my friend would die in a little while, I had an extremely complex emotion, a strange interweaving of joy and pain. All of us who were present felt this way, with a sense of being between laughter and tears. There was one person among us who was particularly affected, you know him—Apollo, do you know what he looks like?
Echecrates: Of course, I do.
Phaedo: He could hardly control himself, and so could the others.
Echecrates: Who were present, Phaedo?
Phaedo: Why do you ask that question? Among the locals were Apollo, Critobulus, and his father, Hermogenes, Eupigene, Eiskines, Antisthenes. Oh, and there was also Ctesippus of Peania, Menexenus, and some other locals. I believe Plato was ill at the time.
Echecrates: Were there any guests from other places?
Phaedo: Yes, Simias, Cebes, and Phaedo from Thebes, as well as Euclid and Terpsion from Megara.
Echecrates: Why were Aristippus and Cleobulus not there?
Phaedo: They were obviously in Aegina.
Echecrates: Were there any others?
Phaedo: I think these were the people who were present.
Echecrates: Well, what form did your discussion take?
Phaedo: I want to tell you about the situation of the discussion from the beginning. Our discussion was just like the discussions we usually had when visiting Socrates, or rather, we could say we had been practicing this daily exercise even before. We had gathered early in the morning near the court where the trial took place, because that place was close to the prison. While waiting for the prison to open, we were always discussing. The prison never opened very early, and once it did, we went in to see Socrates and stayed with him all day. On this particular day, we gathered even earlier than usual, because when we left the prison the day before, we heard that the ship that had returned from Delos had arrived. So we agreed to meet as early as possible at the usual place the next day. When we arrived, the prison guard did not let us in as usual, but made us wait until he came to tell us. He said that the executioners were removing Socrates’ shackles and that he would be executed that day.