Phaedo.
Well
then, Cebes,
said he, if the odd were necessarily imperishable,
would
not the number three be imperishable?
Of course.
And if that
which is without heat were imperishable, would not snow go away whole and
unmelted whenever heat was brought in conflict with snow? For it could not have
been destroyed, nor could it have remained and admitted the
heat.
That is very true,
he replied.In the same way, I think, if
that which is without cold were imperishable, whenever anything cold approached
fire, it would never perish or be quenched, but would go away
unharmed.
Necessarily,
he
said.
And must not the same be said
of that which is immortal? If the immortal is also imperishable, it is
impossible for the soul to perish when death comes against it. For, as our
argument has shown, it will not admit death and will not be dead, just as the
number three, we said, will not be even, and the odd will not be even, and as
fire, and the heat in the fire, will not be cold. But, one might say, why is it
not possible that the odd does not become even when the even comes against it
(we agreed to that), but perishes,
and the
even takes its place? Now we cannot silence him who raises this question by
saying that it does not perish, for the odd is not imperishable. If that were
conceded to us, we could easily silence him by saying that when the even
approaches, the odd and the number three go away; and we could make the
corresponding reply about fire and heat and the rest, could we
not?
Certainly.
And so, too, in the case of the immortal; if it
is conceded that the immortal is imperishable, the soul would be imperishable as
well as immortal,
but if not, further
argument is needed.
But,
he
said, it is not needed, so far as that is concerned; for surely nothing
would escape destruction, if the immortal, which is everlasting, is
perishable.
All, I think,
said Socrates, would agree that God and the Principle of life, and
anything else that is immortal, can never perish.
All men would, certainly,
said he, and
still more, I fancy, the Gods.
Since, then, the immortal
is also
indestructible, would not the soul, if it is immortal, be also
imperishable?
Necessarily.
Then when death
comes to a man, his mortal part, it seems, dies, but the immortal part goes away
unharmed and undestroyed, withdrawing from death.
So it seems.