57.3 · The pure soul’s blessed condition

“Then, in this condition, it goes to what resembles it, the invisible, divine, immortal, and wise. On arriving there it may be happy, freed from wandering, folly, fears, savage desires, and the other human evils, and, as is said of those who have been initiated, truly spending the rest of its existence with gods. Shall we say this, Cebes, or something else?”

“This, by Zeus,” Cebes said.¹⁶⁹⁴

57.4 · A soul enthralled by the body

“But suppose, I think, it leaves the body polluted and impure, because it has always associated with the body, served it, loved it, and been bewitched by it through desires and pleasures. It thinks nothing real except what is bodily, something one could touch, see, drink, eat, or use for sexual pleasure; but what is dark and invisible to the eyes, yet intelligible and attainable through philosophy, it has become accustomed to hate, tremble at, and flee. Do you think a soul in this condition will depart pure, itself by itself?”

“Not in any way,” he said.¹⁶⁹⁵

57.5 · Bodily character becomes ingrained

“Rather, I think, it will be permeated by what is bodily, which its association and intercourse with the body have made ingrained in it through constant companionship and much practice?”

“Certainly.”¹⁶⁹⁶

57.6 · Apparitions around graves

“We must suppose this bodily character, my friend, to be weighty, heavy, earthy, and visible. Possessing it, such a soul is weighed down and drawn back into the visible region through fear of the invisible and of Hades. As the story goes, it rolls about among memorials and graves, around which certain shadowlike apparitions of souls have [also] been seen: images of the kind in which such souls are wrapped, souls released without purity and still sharing in the visible. That is why they are seen.”

“That is likely, Socrates.”¹⁶⁹⁷

57.7 · Wandering and renewed embodiment

“It is likely [indeed], Cebes. These are certainly not the souls of good people but of the base, compelled to wander around such places, paying the penalty ⟨for their former bad nurture. And they continue wandering⟩ until, through desire for the bodily character that accompanies them, they are bound once more into a body.”¹⁶⁹⁸

57.8 · Gluttony and animal embodiment

“They enter, as is natural, characters like those they ⟨may⟩ have happened to practice in life.”

“What sorts do you mean, Socrates?”

“For example, those who have practiced gluttony, wantonness, and love of drinking, without taking precautions, are likely to enter the kinds of asses and similar beasts. Do you not think so?”

“What you say is indeed very likely.”¹⁶⁹⁹

57.9 · Violence and predatory kinds

“And those who have preferred injustice, tyranny, and every kind of strife enter the kinds of wolves, hawks, and kites. Where else should we say such souls go?”

“Certainly,” Cebes said, “into such kinds.”¹⁷⁰⁰

57.10 · Habit and likeness

“Then,” he said, “the other cases too are clear: where each would go according to [the] similarities of their habits?”

“Clearly,” he said. “How could it be otherwise?”¹⁷⁰¹

57.11 · Ordinary civic virtue

“Then,” he said, “the happiest among these, and those going to the best destination, are those who have practiced the ordinary civic virtue that people call moderation and justice, produced by habit and practice without philosophy and understanding?”

“In what way are they the happiest?”¹⁷⁰²

57.12 · Social creatures and decent human lives

“Because they are likely to return to a social and gentle kind of this sort, perhaps bees, wasps, or ants, or even back to the very same human kind, and from them decent men come to be.”

“Likely.”¹⁷⁰³

57.13 · The lover of learning and the gods

“But one may not enter the race of the gods without having practiced philosophy and departing wholly pure. This is permitted to no one other than the lover of learning.”¹⁷⁰⁴

58.1 · Care for the soul beyond this life

From the same work. “But this at least,” he said, “my friends, it is right to consider: if the soul is immortal, it needs care, not only for this period that we call living, but for all time. And now the danger would indeed seem terrible if anyone were to neglect it.”¹⁷⁰⁵

58.2 · Death would otherwise be a windfall

“For if death were release from everything, it ⟨would⟩ be a windfall for bad people when they died to be rid at once of the body and, along with the soul, of their own wickedness. But as things are, since the soul appears to be immortal, it could have no other escape from evils and no salvation except to become as good and wise as possible.”¹⁷⁰⁶

58.3 · What the soul carries with it

“For the soul comes to Hades with nothing else in its possession except its education and nurture. These, it is said, bring the greatest benefit or harm to the dead person from the very beginning of the journey there.”¹⁷⁰⁷

58.4 · The guides of the dead

“The account goes as follows. When each person dies, the daimon assigned to that person in life thus undertakes to lead the dead person to a certain place. Those gathered there must undergo judgment and travel to Hades with the guide appointed to conduct people from here to there. After they have received there what they must receive and stayed the necessary time, another guide brings them back here again over many long periods of time.”¹⁷⁰⁸

58.5 · More than one road to Hades

“The journey, however, is not as Aeschylus’ Telephus describes it. He says that a simple path leads to Hades, but to me it seems neither simple nor single. Otherwise there would be no need for guides: surely no one could go astray anywhere if there were only one road. As things are, it seems to have many forks and winding routes. I say this by inference from the sacrifices and customary observances practiced here.”¹⁷⁰⁹