Such then while he lives are the prizes, the wages, and the gifts
that the just man receives from gods and men in addition to those blessings which justice herself bestowed.
And right fair and abiding rewards,
he said. Well, these,
I said, are nothing in number and magnitude compared with those that await both Footnote 1i.e. the just and unjust man. after death. And we must listen to the tale of them,
said I, in order that each may have received in full Footnote 2τελέως: cf. 361 A. what is due to be said of him by our argument.
Tell me,
he said, since there are not many things to which I would more gladly listen.
It is not, let me tell you,
said I, the tale Footnote 3See Proclus, In Remp.,Kroll ii. 96 ff., Macrob. in Somnium Scip. i. 2. The Epicurean Colotes highly disapproved of Plato’s method of putting his beliefs in this form. See Chassang, Histoire du roman, p. 15. See also Dieterich, Nekyia, pp. 114 ff., and Adam ad loc. to Alcinous told Footnote 4Odyssey ix.-xii. The term also became proverbial for a lengthy tale. See K. Tümpel, Ἀλκίνου ἀπόλογος, Philologus 52. 523 ff. that I shall unfold, but the tale of a warrior bold, Footnote 5Plato puns on the name Alcinous. For other puns on proper names see on 580 B. See Arthur Platt,
Plato’s Republic, 614 B,
Class. Review, , pp. 13-14. For the ἀλλὰ μέν without a corresponding δέ he compares Aristoph. Acharn. 428 οὐ Βελλεροφόντης· ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖνος μὲν ἦ χωλός . . .
(which Blaydes changed to ἀλλὰ μήν), Odyssey xv. 405 and Eryxias 308 B. Er, the son of Armenius, by race a Pamphylian. Footnote 6Perhaps we might say, of the tribe of Everyman.
For the question of his identity see Platt, loc. cit. He once upon a time was slain in battle, and when the corpses were taken up on the tenth day already decayed, was found intact, and having been brought home, at the moment of his funeral, on the twelfth day Footnote 7Thomas Browne, Urn Burial, ch. iii., Plato’s historian of the other world lies twelve days incorrupted, while his soul was viewing the large stations of the dead,
See also Rohde, Psyche ii.6 pp. 92-93. as he lay upon the pyre, revived, Footnote 8Stories of persons restored to life are fairly common in ancient literature. There are Eurydice and Alcestis in Greek mythology, in the Old Testament the son of the widow revived by Elijah (1Kings xvii. 17 ff. Cf. 2Kings iv. 34 ff. and xiii. 21), in the New Testament the daughter of Jairus (Matt. ix. 23 f.), the son of the widow of Nain (Luke vii. 11 ff.), and Lazarus(John xi.). but none of these recount their adventures. Cf. also Luke xvi. 31 If they hear not Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded through one rose from the dead.
But in that very parable Lazarus is shown in Abraham’s bosom and the rich man in torment. See further, Proclus, In Remp. ii. pp. 113-116, Rohde, Psyche ii.6 p. 191. and after coming to life related what, he said, he had seen in the world beyond. He said that when his soul Footnote 9For the indirect reflexive cf. p. 507, note f, on 617 E. went forth from his body he journeyed with a great company and that they came to a mysterious region Footnote 10For the description of the place of judgement cf. also Gorg. 524 A. Cf. Phaedo 107 D, 113 D, where there is no description but simply the statement that the souls are brought to a place and judged. On the topography of the myth in general cf. Bréhier, La Philos. de Plot. pp. 28-29: Voyez, par exemple, la manière dont Numénius . . . interprète le mythe du Xe livre de Ia République, et comment il précise, avec Ia lourdeur d’un théologien, les traits que la poésie de Platon avait abandonnés à l’imagination du lecteur. Le lieu du jugement devient le centre du monde; le ciel platonicien devient Ia sphère des fixes; le
where there were two openings side by side in the earth, and above and over against them in the heaven two others, and that judges were sitting Footnote 11Cf. Gorg. 523 E f., 524 E-525 B, 526 B-C. between these, and that after every judgement they bade the righteous journey to the right and upwards through the heaven with tokens attached Footnote 12Gorg. 526 B. to them in front of the judgement passed upon them, and the unjust to take the road to the left Footnote 13Cf. Gorg. 525 A-B, 526 B. For lieu sonterrain
où sont punies les âmes, ce sont les planètes; la bouche du ciel,
par laquelle les âmes descendront à la naissance, est le tropique du Cancer; et c’est par le Capricorne qu’elles remontent.right
and left
cf. the story of the last judgement, Matt. xxv. 33-34 and 41. and downward, they too wearing behind signs of all that had befallen them, and that when he himself drew near they told him that he must be the messenger Footnote 14Cf. the rich man’s request that a messenger be sent to his brethren, Luke xvi. 27-31. to mankind to tell them of that other world, Footnote 15ἐκεῖ: so in 330 D, 365 A, 498 C, Phaedo 61 E, 64 A, 67 B, 68 E, Apol. 40 E, 41 C, Crito 54 B, Symp. 192 E. In 500 D and Phaedr. 250 A it refers to the world of the ideas, in 516 C and 520 C to the world of the cave. and they charged him to give ear and to observe everything in the place. And so he said that here he saw, by each opening of heaven and earth, the souls departing after judgement had been passed upon them, while, by the other pair of openings, there came up from the one in the earth souls full of squalor and dust, and from the second there came down from heaven a second procession of souls clean and pure, and that those which arrived from time to time appeared to have come as it were from a long journey and gladly departed to the meadow Footnote 16Cf. Gorg. 524 A. and encamped Footnote 17Cf. 621 A, 610 E, and John i. 14 ἐσκήνωσεν
. there as at a festival, Footnote 18Cf. 421 B. and acquaintances greeted one another, and those which came from the earth questioned the others about conditions up yonder, and those from heaven asked how it fared with those others.
Book 10