Plato · c. 428/427-348/347 BC
Phaedo
ΦαίδωνIn the Phaedo Phaedo of Elis tells Echecrates how Socrates spent his last day in the prison at Athens, talking about the immortality of the soul until he drank the hemlock. The conversation moves through the arguments from opposites, recollection and the affinity of the soul with the Forms, to Socrates' account of causes and the final proof. It ends with a myth of the true earth and of the rivers of the underworld, Acheron, Pyriphlegethon, Cocytus and Styx, and with the death of Socrates and his words about a cock for Aesculapius (Asclepius).
Contents · 17 passages
- 57a–59ePhaedo reports to Echecrates: the ship from Delos and who was present971 words
- 60a–62ePleasure and pain, Socrates' poetry in prison, and why one must not take one's own life1464 words
- 63a–66eThe philosopher practises dying: the soul separated from the body1816 words
- 67a–69ePurification and true virtue; Cebes' objection that the soul may scatter1361 words
- 70a–72eThe argument from opposites: the living come from the dead1440 words
- 73a–77eLearning as recollection: the soul existed before birth2378 words
- 78a–80eThe affinity argument: the soul is like the invisible and divine1374 words
- 81b–84eThe fate of souls: ghosts at the tombs, rebirth as animals, and the freedom of the philosopher1808 words
- 85b–88eThe swan's song; Simmias' harmony and Cebes' weaver1791 words
- 89a–91eSocrates' reply begins: the danger of misology1357 words
- 92a–95eThe soul is not a harmony1871 words
- 96a–99eSocrates' account of causes: Anaxagoras and the second voyage1882 words
- 100a–103eThe Forms as causes; the opposites cannot become one another1919 words
- 104a–107eThe final argument: the soul is deathless and imperishable1843 words
- 108a–111eThe myth of the true earth: the hollows and the pure upper world1746 words
- 112a–114eThe rivers of the underworld and the judgment of souls1343 words
- 115b–118aThe death of Socrates: the bath, farewell and the hemlock1595 words
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English translation by Harold North Fowler (1914). Original text: Harold North Fowler (trans.), Plato I: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, 1914; Greek text: John Burnet, Platonis Opera, Oxford Classical Texts (as digitised by Perseus).
Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.
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