therefore of the two pairs I just now mentioned to you I will explain and their generations do you shew me the other To sleep and to awake for out of sleep comes waking and out of waking sleep The origins or generatipns of these are of sleep to be in a deep sleep of waking to be raised up from sleep Is this sufficiently explained or not Sufficiently * That death is contrary to life and life to death whence is collected that the dead are out of the living and the living out of the dead and therefore the souls thus passing from body to body still are in Being for otherwise they could not transmigrate Do you then tell me with equal plainess of life and death whether is life contrary to death It is so And are some things generated out of others They are What then is made out of one living A dead one saith he and what out of a dead A living I must confess Of the dead therefore Cebes are made the living Clearly so saith he Are then our Souls in the Mansions below It seems so Of the two generations or orgins therefore which we have demonstrated to be in these things is not one at least perspicuous For to die is manifest to all is it not yes saith he * The same conclusion further explicated thus tho this new life appear not to us yet since no man can doubt of death which is known to all from the nature of contraries that cannot be understood one without the other it is necessary that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or reviving or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 second generation to life be What then shall we do shall we compose some other contrary to this or will this nature rather be maimed and imperfect or shall we determine that some other generation is to be rendred contrary to death yes saith he What shall that be Even to revive that is a new life If then there be a new life will that be a certain generation out of the dead to the living Doubtless That therefore shall be confessed and established betwixt us that the living have existence out of the dead no less than the dead out of the living Which being so is a convenient argument that it is plainly necessary the Souls of the dead be somewhere from whence they may again exist This indeed Socrates seems to me to be proved from Propositions granted and given Observe this also Cebes that we have not confessed that without good cause * Another Argument ab incommodo if contraries were not thus produced out of contraries all Generations would inevitably cease which being absurd he thence collects and evinces that out of the living are made the dead and out of the dead the living Which is the first conclusion For unless those things that are made were composed some of others by turns so as they come round again as in a circle but there were only a generation in a right line from one to its opposite not reflecting again to the first nor making a return or regress assure your self it would come to pass that at length all things would have the same figure be in the same manner affected and consequently would cease to be made How 's that saith he 'T is not difficult answers Socrates to comprehend what I say For Example if this very thing to sleep if I may so speak that is sleep were existent but to awake were not on the reverse composed of the man sleeping we were obliged to conclude that all would at length represent the Fable of Endymion and appear no where because the same would happen to all that hapned to that Endymion namely to sleep And if all things were mixed and compounded into one without discretion or distinction then that of the Anaxagoreans would come to pass all things would be at once In the same manner my Cebes if all things that now participate of life should die and then remain dead in that figure nor revive again is it not clearly necessary that at length all must die and nothing be left alive for if the living have existence out of others and the living should die how could it be possible but all would be consumed by death By no meanes Socrates quoth he for all you say appears to me to be true 'T is even so Cebes saith he Nor do we seem to confess things as being imposed upon and circumvented by error but this is really demonstrated by us that there is a return and restauration of a certain new life that the living are made out of the dead that the Souls of the dead exist and that good Souls are in a better condition and wicked ones in a worse Here Cebes answering A second Reason to prove the Immortality of the Soul drawn from that Hypothesis that to learn is only to remember For if in this body the Soul remember the things it knew before it came into it it hath had a Being before it was married to the same Socrates saith he what you now said ariseth from the reason of that opinion which you frequently have in your mouth if at least it be true that to learn is only to remember And from this opinion indeed it seems to be necessarily concluded that we some time heretofore learned what we now recal into our memory But this could not be unless our Soul were in being before it came into this human form So by this reason also the Soul seems to be a thing immortal But Cebes saith Simmias taking up the Discourse pray recal to our memory those your demonstrations for I do not well remember them at present The thing may be demonstrated by one and that a remarkable Reason * A proof of that Platonic Hypothesis that science is Reminiscense from the effects themselves viz. that men being asked rightly answer fitly of things otherwise than by reminiscense unknown to them yea and of such as are indeed obscure and abstruse as in Mathematics This Plato more copiously explicates in his Dialogue called Menon here touching it only en passant namely because men being asked they deliver the whole matter as it is but this certainly they could not do if there were not Science and right reason in them Again if a man bring a matter to Geometrical Figures or Diagrams or the like evidences this most manifestly proves and demonstrates the same to be true But if by this way saith Socrates that be not proved to you consider well whether when you by this reason seriously examine the matter it seem to you so clear as that you ought to assent thereunto Do you not believe how that which is called to learn is really nothing but to remember I do not indeed refuse to believe it but desire to have recalled into my memory that of which we began to discourse and from those reasons Cebes hath endevoured to alledge I almost remember and believe it already Nevertheless
be instructed rather to seek after virtue than to accumulate riches that if my Sons when they are grown up be troublesome to them in the same matters wherein I have disquieted and offended them they would severely punish them chiefly if they seem to take more care either of riches or the like transitory thing than of virtues they seem to be something when they are nothing I would have ye reprehend and convince them as I have reprehended you if they neglect things necessary to be solicitous about things unnecessary and pretend to be what they are not sharply reprove them Which if ye shall do both I and my Sons shal obtain from you a just and lawful benefit But 't is now time to depart I to my death ye to life and whether of the two is better I think is known only to God The End of Socrates his Apology AXIOMS MORAL Collected out of Socrates his Apology 1. A Judge is to consider not the Elegancy but Truth of what is said before him 2. The good Education of Youth is of very great Importance to the Common-wealth 3. Humane wisdom is not to be much valued because God alone is truly wise and among men he only deserves to be reputed wise who conscious of his own ignorance professeth to know nothing certainly but that he knows nothing 4. The Station and Office that God hath assigned to us in this Life we are to defend and maintain tho we thereby incur the greatest incommodities and dangers and we ought to have no consideration either of death or any other terror when Shame and Dishonour is to be avoided Nor are those things to be feared which we do not certainly know to be Evil but only those which we do certainly know to be Evil namely not to obey the Commands of God and to do unjustly 5. To be conversant in Affairs of State * A precept delivered also by Epicurus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non ad rem publicam accessurum Sapientem and inculcated even by Cicero himself Omnia suâ causâ facere sapientes Remp. capessere hominem non oportere c. Orat. pro Sext. is full of danger 6. It is both indecent and unjust for Judges to be moved and seduced by the Charms of Eloquence or Tears for they ought to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no respecters of persons and without passion and so to give judgment not from their own affections but from the merit of the Cause and according to Law 7. An honorable Death is alwaies to be preferred to a dishonorable Life 8. Since God takes care of human Affairs and chiefly of Good men no Evil can come to Good men neither living nor dead 9. We are not to be immoderately angry with our Enemies nor to hate them although guilty of Crimes against us and certainly to suffer the punishments reserved for them A DIALOGUE Concerning the Immortality of Mans Rational Soul AND Admirable Constancy of SOCRATES at his Death The ARGUMENT Out of SERRANVS PLATO here introduceth Phedo recounting to Echecrates the Philosophical Discourses delivered by Socrates the very day wherein he suffered death by a draught of poyson wherein he shewed both his invincible magnanimity in embracing death with perfect tranquility of mind and his most certain perswasion of the immortality of the Rational Soul By this eminent Example then and from the mouth of that true Hero at that time encountring that Gyant of Terrors death when the judgment and sayings of men much inferior to Socrates in point of wisdom are commonly reputed Oraculous Plato proves the Humane Soul to be immortal and declares his opinion concerning the state and condition thereof after its separation from the body The Thesis therefore or capital design of this Dialogue seems to be two-fold first to evince that death ought to be contemned and then that the Soul is by the prerogative of its nature exempt from the power of death And from the latter as the more noble and august part the whole Dialogue borrows its Title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de Animo of the Soul The Contents thereof are partly moral in that it teaches the contempt of death and constant adherence to virtue partly Metaphysical or Theological for that it treats of the excellency of the Soul and of God To these are added also Ornamental parts viz. a decent Introduction and accurate Narration of the remarkable manner and circumstances of Socrates his death Of these so various parts the Oeconomy or Order is concisely this Some Philosophers Friends to Socrates visiting him in the prison the last day of his life and talking familiarly together the clue of their conference oon leads them to this useful question Whether a wise man ought to fear death Of this Socrates first disputing with less cogent Reasons and transiently determining that other doubt Whether it be lawful for a man to kill himself opportunely and after his grave way of arguing resumes proceeds in the former enquiry about despising death Concerning which the summe of his reasoning is this Since the principal duty of a Philosopher is daily to meditate upon Death i. e. to withdraw and divide his Mind or Soul from his body and the exorbitant desires thereof and death is defined to be only a separation of the Soul from the Body and that after this frail and mortal life is at an end there remains a full and solid felicity to be enjoyed by those who have here truly and sincerly embraced the study of Wisdom there is no reason why he should fear death but good cause rather why he should wish and long for it because being thereby freed and secured from all importune and insatiable lusts of the body wherewith the Soul is here intangled and fettered he should instantly pass to a second and better life and therein attain to a full and perfect knowledg of Wisdom Which he now remonstrates he most assuredly expected to enjoy immediatly after his death and so his body being dissolved to become consummately happy So from the consequence of this conclusion there naturally ariseth a new dispute about the Souls surviving the Body For if the Soul exist not after death all dissertation concerning future felicity or infelicity must be vain and absurd Of this most important conference about the immortality of the Soul there are three parts One positively asserts the Soul to be essentially immortal the Second refutes the contrary opinions the Third teaches the use and advantages of the belief of the Souls immortality The FIRST part then of this excellent Doctrine of Plato and of Socrates too from whom he seems to have learned it concerning the Souls immortality is Apodictical or Demonstrative And yet he so prudently and circumspectly manages his forces as to begin the combat with a Forlorn of lighter Reasons and then bring up as it were a phalanx of stronger and more pressing arguments to assure the Victory which indeed is his
3000 annos c Upon which he elsewhere reflecting hath this pertinent remark Hinc tantum condiendi cadaveris studium tantae in struendis repositorijs impensae This Doctrin being brought from the Aegyptian Schools by Orpheus and from him descended to Homer he thence taught that Eternal Souls are from Heaven conveyed into human bodies and that after death they return to the Gods for a Symbol of this region of Corruption feigning his Antrum Nympharum wherein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Janua duplex Haec Boream spectans homines demittit Odyss 13. v. 109 at illa Respiciens Austrum divinior invia prorsus Est homini praebetque viam immortalibus unis Of which Poetical fiction Porphyrius giving the Mythology wrote an excellent Book published by Holstenius de Antro Homerico wherein he tells us that the Cave it self carries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an image and symbol of the world that the Naiades or Nymphs are Souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 entered into bodies newly generated that one Gate is for the admittance of Souls descending into bodies the other for not Gods but Souls ascending from bodies to the Gods again Wherefore he call'd it the road or way not of the Gods but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Souls which are by their very Essence Immortal From this commonly embraced Existence of Souls departed arose the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Image-making of the Ancient Ethnics whereby they attributed to Souls separated from their bodies Effigies quasi Corporeas whereunto Virgil seems learnedly to allude where he makes Dido as she was dying say Et nunc magna mei sub terras ibit imago and Lucretius lib. 1. in these verses Esse Acherusia templa Quo neque permanent Animae neque corpora nostra Sed quaedam Simulacra modis pallentia miris From the same fountain and at the same time also were derived into Grece the Comments concerning the Mansions of Souls delivered from their bodies and the Rewards and Punishments to come For Diodorus Siculus lib. 1. pag. 61. hath left this record thereof Dicunt Orpheum dum impiorum palmas apud inferos piorum prata pervulgatas spectrorum fictiones introduxit funebres Aegyptiorum ritus imitatum fuisse adding that from the old institute of the Aegyptians Mercury was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Conductor of Souls ad inferos Wherein Homer long after carrying on the tradition of Orpheus promotes the credit of the fiction by inserting it into his immortal Poem in initio Odyss ῶ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Souls of Hero's Mercury the God Calls forth and guides t' Elysium with his rod. But leaving the most ancient Grecian Poets who yet were then the only Theologues let us persue this tradition of the Souls Immortality among their most eminent Philosophers as men less prone to Credulity and therefore more worthy of credit Of these the eldest we can find is Thales Milesius who as Plutarch de placitis lib. 4. cap. 2. attesteth first defined the Soul to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a nature perpetually moving and self-moving Which argument Cicero indeed afterward borrowing from Plato's Phaedrus most judiciously explained in the first book of his Tusculan Questions but fathers the opinion it self upon Pherecydes Syrius in these words Credo equidem etiam alios sed quod literis exstet Pherecydes Syrus Syrius rather from Syros an Island of the Aegean Sea the place of his birth primum dixit Animos hominum esse sempiternos hanc opinionem discipulns ejus Pythagoras maxime confirmavit But by Cicero's favour Pythagoras who seems to have been yonger then Homer by almost 400 years for he was among the Aegyptians carried away captive by Cambyses as appears from that place in Apuleius Florid. lib. 2. Pythagoram aiunt inter captivos Cambysae Regis doctores habuisse Persarum Magos ac praecipue Zoroastrem omnis divini arcani antistitem drew this Doctrin not out of the streams of either Orpheus or Homer or Phercydes but from the very spring-head of Aegypt And he taught that the Soul was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a self-moving Number and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incapable of destruction returning after its departure from the body to its original the Universal Soul of the world as we find in the records of Plutarch de placit lib. 4. cap. 2. Next comes Heraclitus the Ephesian whom Porphyrius de Antro pag. 257. makes the Author of that memorable sentence concerning our Souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that this our life is the Souls death and our death the Souls life that the Soul descended from Heaven to animate the body suffers Exile in this lowest and darksom region and remains as it were dead during its imprisonment in flesh Then Empedocles Agrigentinus a Pythagorean who as Plutarch de Exilio commemorates speaking likewise of the descent of his Soul as a Banishment from its Celestial home Ego jamdudum saith he eo exul a Deo vagus and of the Eternal Society of the just that they should be after death immortalium aliorum contubernales convivae expertes humanarum miseriarum incorruptibiles immortales Whence it may be with good probability conjectured that Pindar took the main argument of his 2 d. Olympic ode wherein he sings that the Just enjoy eternal light and life exempt from cares and labour among the Gods whereupon Plutarch excellently descanteth de facie in luna And at length our Plato whom our best Antiquaries and Chronologists agree to have flourished about the 100 Olympiad in the reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon over the Persians This Father of the Academics though he would have Homer ejected out of his Common-wealth as a Poet yet both embraced his doctrin of the immortal Existence of the Soul and added no little authority to his description of the Infernal Mansions especialy in this Dialogue where he introduceth Socrates discoursing most profoundly of the Immortality of the Soul Whereupon Cicero perhaps reflecting in lib. 1. Tusculan saith Platonem ferunt ut Pythagoraeos cognosceret in Italiam venisse in ea cum alios multos tum Architam Timaeumque cognovisse didicisse Pythagorae omnia primumque de Animorum aeternitate non solum sensisse idem quod Pythagoras sed rationem etiam attulisse From Plato down to his Disciples and Successors the Academics we need not further deduce this constant Doctrin it being of it self sufficiently manifest to all men not inconversant in the writings of the ancient Philosophers devolved to our late hands that whatsoever either the Author of that laudable Dialogue entitled Axiochus vulgarly adscribed to Plato and inserted into his works or Cicero in his noble Dialogue de Senectute Contemnenda morte or Seneca in his Epistles and elsewhere or indeed St. Augustin and Tertullian or any other hath written of this Subject either ex professo or only in transitu hath been borrowed from him And yet notwithstanding
not from heat of blood nor from excess of Choler but from strength and resolution of Mind and that a good Philosopher may make an excellent Captain Had you seen him in another Expedition returning a Conquerour from Potidaea and transferring all the honours and rewards due to so signal a victory upon his beloved Alcibiades reserving to himself no other place in the Triumph but among the followers of his Friend You might have sworn he had fought so bravely rather for Conscience than for either Glory or Spoyl and that he desired no greater name than that of a good Patriot and sincere Friend When you reflect upon his fearless refusal to execute the Command he had received from the supreme Council of Athens to fetch Leo Salaminius from Salamine to be put to death according to the Sentence given against him by the Usurper Critias and his Adherents you will I presume acknowledge that he fear'd nothing but to do ill that he disdain'd to assert any power that was not just that Athens it self might with more ease have been removed to Salamine than he brought to relinquish Right and Equity and that he was more ready to accompany the oppressed in their Sufferings under Tyranny than to be a sharer in the administration of it Had some Roman been a witness of this virtuous obstinacy he would have cried out perhaps that the Capitol itself was not more immoveable than the integrity of Socrates and envied Greece the glory of so rare an Example What then would he have said my Lord had he been present at the dispute betwixt the same Socrates and his most faithful Scholar Crito wherein he being with no weak arguments urged to evade the execution of that most unjust Sentence lately pass'd upon him and deliver himself from violent death by an escape plotted and prepared to his hand nevertheless not only rejected that affectionate advice but by demonstration convinced the Author of it that the auctority of Law and Decrees of Courts of Judicature are things in their sanction so venerable and sacred as to oblige men to submission even when they are manifestly unjust and brought him at length to acquiesce in this Conclusion nefas sibi esse è carcere egredi injussu Magistratus contra legum autoritatem Herein whether Socrates were in the right or not let our Civilians determin I for my part verily believe he thought he was and this is most evident that he could never be either overcome by terrors or won by allurements to recede so much as a hairs bredth from what he had once defined to be just This very Monosyllable doubtless was his whole Decalogue equivalent to the Laws of the twelve Tables among the Romans the basis of his Religion the Centre of his Counsels and rule to his actions nor can I be easily persuaded that Astrea left to dwell among men untill after his death Of his obedience to the Laws and constitutions of his City he gave this further testimony that when the Athenian Republic to repair their people much exhausted by warre and pestilence had made an Edict that every man of fit years should be obliged to espouse one woman as principal wife and have liberty to take another for procreation he notwithstanding he had his hands full of unquiet Xantippe whose peevishness and morosity was grown to be the daily exercise of his patience at home and his reproch abroad yet in conformity to the Edict fear'd not to receive into his little house and narrow bed another Consort also one Myrto daughter of that Aristides surnamed the Just but equaly poor with himself This certainly could not but be somwhat harsh and disagreeable to a man already entered into the confines of old age and understanding the pleasures of serenity and repose and yet I must not imagin it to have been at all difficult to the wisedom of our Socrates whose tranquillity appears to have been elevated like the head of mount Athos above the tempest of feminin contentions jealousies and impertinences and his Mind incapable of peâ—turbations However he put not private cares into the balance against a duty to the Public but chose to be a good Citisen by increasing Posterity though he were sure thereby to multiply his own domestic incommodities Acting by this infallible principle of Justice which is as Plato calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greatest of human goods and Mother of all other virtues and fully persuaded of the divinity and immortality of the Soul which is the fundament of all Religion and of future rewards and punishments the wonder is the less that this admirable man was able both to trample upon all the splendid and precious things of this momentany life and to bid defiance to all the terrible for secure in his own innocence and confident of happiness to come 't was less difficult to him either to contemn dangers or resist temptations Nay to do him right neither could this Temperance nor that Fortitude be at all difficult to him who by long use and continual practice had exalted them from Virtues into Habits In the first he appear'd to be so perfect that tho as a man he could not but feel the motions and sollicitations of Corporeal Appetites yet none of them dared to rebell against the Soveraignty of Reason by whose power he alwaies both ruled and bounded them nor could even a good Soul separated from its body and delivered from all encumbrances of Matter have acted more sedately or been less incommodated with Passions In a word in his whole life he seem'd not only unconcern'd in but insensible of the vain appearance of human things Being thus impenetrable to Cupidities it may be worth our labour to enquire also how strong he was against Fear That we may therefore take the true hight of his Courage let us if it please Your Lordship observe his deportment at the bar in the prison and at his death At the Tribunal we hear his Constancy no less than his Innocency triumphing over the power and malice of his combined Accusers the greatest hurt they can do to me saith he is to think it possible to hurt me since God takes care of Good men and they therefore can never be violated by wicked men To a friend whispering in his ear that his Judges had before resolved to doom him to death he answers softly and with a smile but such a smile as retain'd an aire of Gravity and Dignity and hath not Nature passed the same doom upon them Retiring after his condemnation Adieu my friends saith he I am now going to suffer death ye to enjoy life God alone knows which of the two is better In the Prison we find him despoil'd of whatever Fortune could take from him his body covered with raggs and loaden with chains his leggs galled and cramp'd with fetters his eyes entertain'd with no objects but a wife and Infant weeping and yet for all this we hear no complaints no lamentations
hence that all Relatives imply the Existence each of other do We conceive them to be Gods or the Sons of Gods Dost thou affirm or deny this I affirm it If then I hold there are Daemones as thou affirmest if some Gods be Daemones this is the very thing wherein I affirm thou dost Jest in obscure Words when thou saist I think not that there are Gods and on the contrary think there are Gods seeing thou grantest that I think there are Daemones And if these Daemones be the Sons of Gods Bastards begotten upon either Nymphs or some others such as are vulgarly talked of what man can hold them to be the Sons of Gods and yet hold that the Gods themselves are not for it would be equally absurd as if a man should affirm there are Sons of Horses or of Asses Mules but deny Horses Asses themselves to be in rerum natura But Melitus thou hast formed this Accusation against me either that thou mightest Experiment my skill in Reasoning or certainly because thou hadst nothing to object to me as a true crime Couldst thou perswade any man who hath but a spark of sense and understanding that the same man can hold there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divine things and yet at the same time deny there are either Daemones or Gods or Heroes this cannot be possible And so Athenians it is not necessary for me further to demonstrate that I am not in the least point guilty of the charge contrived by Melitus against me seeing these particulars seem abundantly cleared and proved Having refuted Melitus in all parts of his Indictment so that he need not doubt of Absolution from impartial Judges he yet shews his danger from the prejudice and inveterate hatred of the people always insense to good men Now ye may take it for an evident Truth that as I said afore among the multitude also there was raised up very great hatred against me and that is it which if any thing do will take away my life not Melitus nor Anitus but the very Crimination and Odium of the people which hath destroyed many other good men and will likewise destroy many in times to come for there is nothing of incommodity if this plague ended in me But some one may here ask Art not thou ashamed Socrates to undertake this so great an Enterprise which may bring thee into present danger of Death and I think I may return him this just Answer Thou art grosly mistaken whoever thou art That a virtuous and valiant man is not even by death it self deterred from doing his duty which he confirms by Examples if thou thinkest that a brave and valiant man makes any difference betwixt or is at all concerned in life or death where any though but little Utility may from thence result and that he doth not when he undertakes any Enterprise throughly consider this whether he therein performs Things just or unjust whether he doth the work of a Good or Ill man For according to that thy reason all the Heroes or Half-Gods who dyed at Troy were wicked and profligate as well others as the Son of Thetis who that he might suffer nothing of dishonor so far contemned death that after his Mother the Goddess her self opposing his desire of killing Hector had assured him that if he to Revenge the slaughter of his Friend and Kinsman Patroclus should kill Hector he should himself be slain in these very words if I be not mistaken Hector once killed thou too shalt surely die He nevertheless persisted in his Resolution despising death and danger he rather feared lest Surviving he should be held dishonest and unfaithful if he vindicated not the injuries of his Friends and thereupon instantly retorts Let me dye punishing an injurious man lest here exposed to the Laughter and scorn of the Greeks I sit on Ship-board an unprofitable Burthen of the Earth Thinkest thou that he was concerned in death or any other danger Thus it is Athenians in what place soever any man is set either by his own Judgment that it will be best for most commodious for him or by command of the Magistrate he is oblieged therein constantly to persist whatever danger threatens him nor is he to consider any other thing so much as this how he may avoid Dishonor Truly Athenians I should involve my self in a very great Wickedness if having hitherto even to the Hazard of my Life constantly maintained my station in that place n which they whom you had constituted my Generals have set me whether in Potidaea or in Amphipolis or in Delium He argueth a miâ—ori ad wajus if the Authority of a mortal General be so great as to oblige all under his Command to maintain their stations with invincible constancy what ought we to think of the authority of God I should now at length when God hath ordered and constituted me in that degree as I have hitherto conceived and with full perswasion of mind entertained that Judgment that it behoves me to spend my life in Philosophizing and so to search and throughly examine both my self and others commit a very hainous sin if for fear of death or any other terror I should abandon my station and desert my office And then certainly any man might drag me to judgment without injustice for that I from fear of death disobeying the command of the Oracle held there are no Gods and for that I thought my self to be wise when I am not so For to fear Death O ye men is nothing else but for a man to think himself wise who is far from being so for he thinks he knows what he doth not know For no mortal knows whether Death be not mans greatest good and yet they fear death as if they certainly knew it to be of all Evils the greatest And who sees not that it is an infamous and shameful ignorance to think ones self to know that whereof he is utterly ignorant But I Athenians herein very much differ from many men and if I durst affirm my self wiser than any other in any one thing it should be in this that I understand nothing concerning the state and condition of those below nor think I know it This one thing I certainly know that to do injury to any man or to rebel against our Superiors whether God or Men is sinful and shameful But as for those things which I know not whether they be good or evil certainly I never will either fear or avoid them rather than those which I certainly know to be evil If therefore repudiating the Since it would be a crime equivalent to Atheism or â—â—piety for him to relinquish his office of reproving men he declares his firm resolution to persist in the execution thereof in contempt of all danger yea of death it self Counsel of Anytus who saith that either I ought not to have been brought to this judgment at all or that since I
am come hither you are in prudence obliged to adjudg me to capital punishment and subjoyns this reason that if I escape condemnation it will come to pass that your Sons eagerly and with zeal pursuing the Lessons I teach them will all be wholly corrupted if I say ye should acquit and dismiss me and say to me Socrates at this time we give no credit at all to Anytus but acquit and discharge thee yet on this condition that henceforth thou never again meddle with this Disquisition that is never more Philosophize and if thou art found to do it thou shalt certainly be punished with death if as I said ye would acquit me upon these conditions I should tell ye that indeed I acknowledg and thank ye for your good will and favour but choose rather to obey God than you and that while I live and am able to do it I will never cease to Philosophize and to teach and exhort every one of you whom I shall meet and after my manner to inculcate thus And thou who also art a Citizen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sive ut Ciceroni vocatur Conformatio qua Socrates sibi personam quae non adest adesse consingit of Athens a City both exceeding great and most renowned as well for wisdom as power fearest thou not to undertake the menage and conduct of an affair of importance and to acquire Honor that those advantages may be accumulated upon thee and yet takest no care no consideration of prudence and verity i. e. of thy own mind to render it most accomplisht and noble If any man should desire contentiously to oppugn this my admonition and affirm that he doth take care also of those most excellent things prudence and truth I would not presently dismiss him and go my way but would interrogate and by strict examination sift him and so convince him If I conceived him to be unfurnished with virtue though he should never so confidently own himself to be therewith adorned I would rebuke him and severely tell him that he hath no esteem for things of greatest moment but puts too great value upon things vile and contemptible And this will I do to every man young or old Citizen or stranger whomsoever I shall meet but more studiously to Citizens as you are more neerly related to me For so believe me God commands me to do Nor do I think a greater good can come to your City After the divine authority of his commission to reform men he here asserts the excellent utility of it than that I perform this service to God For addicting my self intirely to this work and pretermitting all other affairs I walk up and down with no other design but to perswade you young and old to esteem neither bodies nor riches nor any thing else before nor so much as your mind that it be with all possible speed refined to the last degree of goodness And I give this reason that Virtue hath not its being from riches but from Virtue flow both riches and all other goods as well privatly as publickly to men Now if I corrupt youth by saying these things let them be hurtful but if any one avouches that I say other things besides these he saith nothing In fine I shall answer to these things do ye Athenians believe Anytus or not discharge me or not do according to your pleasure I will never do any thing but this though I were to suffer many deaths Be not disturbed Athenians but continue the calm attention I begged of ye lest you excite a tumult by reason of what I shall speak but hear me patiently Which if ye shall do ye will I think receive from thence no little emolument Other things besides I shall speak that perhaps will move ye to exclame but pray forbear to do so For be well assured that if ye shall put me to death me such a man as I describe myself to be ye will bring greater loss to your City to your selves than to me for neither shall Melitus nor Anytus hurt me in the least nor could they Since I think it impossible that a good man should be violated by a wicked man He will murder me perhaps or expel or disgrace me and he and some others will account those to be great evils but I think them not to be such Nay I rather hold that to do the actions that he doth is a great evil indeed for he attempts to inflict punishment unjustly upon an innocent man Now therefore Athenians I am so far from making a Defense for my self as some may expect that I will speak rather for your sakes lest by giving sentence against me ye hainously sin against the gift of God that is in me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Que verba ipsemet Saâ—ctas Apostolus Paulus alicubi emphatice reciuit for if ye kill me ye shall not easily find such another one who that I may speak truly and candidly though bluntly and ridiculously being by God appointed to the care and oversight of this your City am constituted supervisor thereof and Moderator that I might sit upon it as upon a Horse great and generous indeed but by reason of his huge bulk dull and slow and to be excited by sharp pricks Exactly so God seems to me to have placed me over the City that I may incite ye and perswade ye end reprove every Mothers Son of ye ceasing not daily to sit by and admonish every one in every place Such another monitor Athenians will not easily come to ye and therefore if ye believe me spare me Though ye perhaps filled with indignation as men rouzed up from profound sleep and following the Counsel of Anytus rejecting mine shall without remorse put me to death yet be most confident you shall spend the remainder of your life in drowsiness unless God taking care of ye shall send some other to excite ye And that I am such a man by the special favour and bounty of God given to the City ye may collect from hence It seems not consentaneous A farther proof of the Divine authority of his Office from his neglect of all his private and Domestick affairs only that he might execute that with diligence for the Public good to Humane reason that I casting away all care of my own private affairs have so tempered my self as to endure so many years together in that contempt of my domestic concernments and wholly apply my self to the administration of yours by catching hold of and going unto every one and as a Father or elder Brother inculcating to ye that ye should studiously addict your selves to Virtue If from these advises of mine I received any emolument or any reward to my own private uses and gave them to that end that would seem to rely upon some probable reason but ye see that my very Adversaries themselves who have impudently forged so many lies against me could not yet to their highest improbity adjoyn
inconsiderate as not to be able to see that if ye my Fellow-Citizens cannot endure the way of my conversation and discourses but think them so offensive and hateful to ye that now ye seek to be freed from them others will less patiently endure them I am far from this Athenians Wisely should I order my life indeed if at this age departing from my City and wandring to and fro in banishment through various Countries I should prolong a miserable life So certainly the case stands wheresoever I shall come young men will hear me discoursing as here they do If I repel them they will on the other side expel me and bring their Elders to do so too if I not repel them their Parents and Kindred will for their sakes expel me Some man will say perhaps what Socrates being expulsed the City canst thou not live silent and quiet What I shall say is of that nature as hardly to be insinuated into the belief of some of ye for if I tell ye that for me to be silent is to resist God and therefore it is not possible I should live in quiet ye will not believe me as if dissembling the matter in jest But if I say this also that it is the supreme happiness of man-kind daily to discourse of virtue and of those other excellent things concerning which ye hear me disputing and examining both my self and others for without such scrutiny and examination life is not life ye wil not give credit to me and yet these are most certain truths Athenians though such as cannot easily be wrought into your belief And with the same difficulty truly am I perswaded to pronounce my self worthy of any punishment For if I had monies by me I would condemn my self in such a fine as I should be able to pay for that I should account no detriment to me but I have no mony unless ye should proportion my fine to my ability perhaps I should make a shift to pay down a mina The Mina Attica of silver conteined 25 sicles and the sicle conteined half an ounce so that 12 ounces half make a mina a sum equal to 25 staters or Belgic Florens each of 20 stufers of silver and therefore I fine my self at that rate Plato here Athenians and Crito and Critobulus and Apollodorus bid me offer the price of thirty minae and promise to be sureties for the paiment thereof This sum therefore I propose for my redemption and they will be assiduous and competent sureties for the paiment of it But now Athenians ye shall ere-long suffer ignominy and reproach brought upon your City by those who desire to defame it He freely reproaches the Athenians with their ingratitude and inhumanity towards him namely that ye have murdered Socrates a wise man For tho I be far from a wise man yet they who seek to cast this disgrace upon ye will say I am one Would ye have expected but a little time I should have prevented this your infamy by dying of my self by the course of nature for ye see my age how far it is from possibility of long life how nearly approaching to death These things I say not to all of ye but to those only who have by their Suffrages doomed me to death and to those I again and again proclaim the same Ye think perhaps Atheninians that I have lost my cause for want of words * And rejoyceth in the Justice of his cause and of his defense by which I might have inclined you to approve of my defense had I resolved to leave nothing in this matter unalledged that I might escape punishment but 't is not so I have lost my cause indeed for want not of words but of boldness and impudence and that I was unwilling to speak things that would have been most grateful and pleasant to your ears in particular that ye might hear me wailing and howling and doing and speaking what I think highly unworthy of me such as ye are accustomed to hear from others But I even then thought I was obliged to do nothing indecent and dishonest in order to my evasion from danger nor doth it now repent me that I made my defense in that manner Nay I had rather die having made my defense in this manner than live by making it in that abjectly and poorly For neither in Judgement nor in War An honorable death is to be preferred to a dishonorable life ought any man to endeavour to avoid death by any way or means whatsoever for in many Battels this is clearly evident that death may be easily avoided if a man throwing away his arms cast himself a suppliant at the feet of the victorious and pursuing enemy and begg his life There are also very many other arts and shifts of declining danger in all occurrents and of avoiding of death if a man will adventure to say and do any thing however indecent and dishonorable To avoid death is not difficult Athenians but 't is very difficult indeed to avoid improbity which runs on swifter than death And now truly I old and slow am catcht by one that is slower by death but my accusers who are vehement and fierce are overtaken by that which is swifter by improbity And now I go away by your command to suffer the penalty of death but these men are by truth it self condemned in the mulct of improbity and injustice I stand to the punishment appointed for me and they stand to theirs And these things ought so to be and they have in my opion succeeded conveniently and opportunely Now ye who have condemned me Converting his Speech to those who had condemned him he predicts the evils to come upon them for their putting an innocent man to death Concerning the event of which prediction read Diogen Laertius in vita Socratis I desire to fore-tel you as by Oracle the calamities that shall come upon ye for I am now arrived at that critical time wherein men are most able in the faculty of Divining things to come namely when they are dying I say then O ye men whosoever shall put me to death that soon after my death punishments shall overtake ye much more grievous than the death ye inflict upon me for thereby ye now design to free your selves from the labour of giving an account of your life but the event shall be altogether contrary to your expectation as I affirm There shall rise up to reprove ye many whom hitherto I have repressed nor have ye felt them and they shall so much the more severely rebuke ye by how much the younger ye are and ye shall be vehemently offended even to indignation For if ye think by killing men to restrain and keep under those who are minded to upbraid and convince ye that ye take a wrong course to prevent that trouble and to reproach ye for your dishonest life ye are grosly mistaken For that way of freeing your selves is neither
he turning his eyes upon Crito I desire Crito said he that one of you would lead away this Woman into some other place Her therefore weeping and lamenting the Servants of Crito led away But Socrates sitting upon a little Bed with one legg resting upon his other thigh rubbed his legg saying the while how absurd dos that seem which men call pleasant Socrates upon occasion of the pleasure he felt in his leggs soon after his Fetters had been taken off reflects upon the affinity betwixt pleasure and pain and their vicissitude intimating that the condition of human life is such as to be led in a round of pleasure and pain alternately succeeding and how wonderfully strange is the nature of what 's unpleasant so as to be perceived contrary to what 's pleasant so that nature would not have a man affected with both at once but if any man pursue and take one of them he is compelled for the most part to take the other also as if they were both fitly contained in one head and I believe that Aesop if he had taken notice of the thing would have composed a Fable of it namely that God when he attempted to reconcile these two Enemies Pleasure and Pain making War each against other but could not effect it bound their heads together so that where either comes the other also must follow as seemed to me even now for while my Fetters were upon my leggs I had pain there and the pain vanishing away upon the remove of my Fetters pleasure seems immediatly to succeed it And you have opportunely put me in mind of this answered Cebes by Jove Socrates for a good while since many have asked me and Evenus lately concerning the Poems you have of late made particularly the Fables of Aesop you have turned into Verses and a Hymn to Apollo for what reason you composed those Poems since you came into this place when you never before addicted your self to Poetry If therefore you will have me give an answer to Evenus when he shall again interrogate me as I am confident he will tell me I pray what answer I shall make to him Tell him replies Socrates Another occasional reflection touching some poetical Essaies made by Socrates during the time of his imprisonment whereof he gives this reason that having been by Dreams frequently admonished to learn Music and being doubtful whether the music of philosophy to which he had alwaies studiously addicted himself or that of poetry were thereby meant he thought it his duty before his departure to compose Verses lest he might offend by omitting to fulfil that Divine command in this sense also the truth Cebes that I have done this not out of design to emulate him and his Writings for that I know would be extreamly difficult but to make trial what might be the sense of some Dreams and to know if they injoyn'd me this kind of Music For very often heretofore in my life the same Dream occurred to me when appearing to me sometimes in this sometimes in that figure or representation it still inculcated to me the same thing alwaies saying study Music Socrates and practise it And I thought what I did in the past time of my life to be the very thing that my Dream commanded and by reiterated Injunctions urged and as they who by repeated shouts incite men running a race so I thought my Dream did the same to me by frequent admonitions inculcating its command that I should apply my self to Music for as much as Philosophy is the noblest and most excellent Music While I did this and sentence of death had now been pronounced against me and the Feast of Apollo forbad me to die I thought fit by no means to disobey the injunction of my Dream even though I interpreted it to concern the vulgar Music but to do according to the prescript thereof For I thought it safer not to depart from hence before I had in that manner also to some degree performed my Vow obeying my Dream by making Verses The first Poem I made therefore was to that God whose Feast this was * The beginning of this Hymn Diogen Laertius recites in vita Socrat. After that devout care of God conceiving it decent for a Poet if he ought to be reputed worthy of that name to compose Fables not Orations and being my self unskilful in the art of inventing Fables I therefore made an Essay upon the Fables of Aesop which I had by me and knew of those that first came to hand This Cebes The occasion of the following dispute deduced naturally from the clue of the conference Let Evenus folfow me saith Socrates in death for being he is a philosopher he ought neither to kill himself nor to fear death Hence are started two Questionr Whether Self-murder be a crime and how a philosopher stands obliged not to fear death Now this Evenus was a Sophist fond of the pleasures of this life and an adversary to the Doctrine of Socrates and therefore fit to be answered by him thus ironically after the usual manner of Socrates I would have you report to Evenus and wish him health bidding him if he be wise to follow me for I go hence as I think this very day the Athenians so commanding Here Simmias interrupts him saying what advice is that Socrates you give to Evenus I have had conversation with him a long time but as much as I can fore-see he will not be very forward to follow your counsel in this particular What saith Socrates is not Evenus a Philosopher He seems to be one replies Simmias and therefore saith Socrates he whoever else embraceth the study of Philosophy as he ought will not decline death and yet will not think himself obliged to lay violent hands upon himself for this they say is no waies lawful And saying this he let down his leggs from the little Bed to the ground and sitting in that posture pursued the remainder of his discourse Cebes asked him then what say you Socrates that it is a crime for a man to lay violent hands upon himself and yet that a Philosopher is willing to follow him who dies To whom Socrates what Cebes have ye you and Simmias heard nothing concerning these matters after so familiar conversation with Philolaus Nothing Socrates I assure you What I have heard it will not be ungrateful to me to recount seeing nothing seems more agreeable to him who is ready to set forth towards some place than to meditate upon and speak of what concerns either his Journey or the condition he expects to be in at the end of it such as we are able to conceive before-hand and of what Subject can we more usefully discourse until the setting of the Sun Now as for what they say that it is criminal to kill ones self that indeed I have long since heard not only from Philolaus as you asked me when he lived among us but from some others
also that it is a nefarious act but why it should be such I have understood nothing of certainty from any The first question Whether self-murder be criminal or not argued Socratically that is pro and con and then determined by these two fundamental reasons God takes care of us and we are his by right of possession therefore t is double impiety to lay violent hands upon our selves But be of good courage replies Socrates perhaps you shall hear the reason by and by Mean while this perchance may seem strange that this among other things should be universally true without exception that no calamity can befal a man so great and intollerable as that it may be better for him to die than to live and to men in such a case is it inconvenient to affirm that it is impiety in them rather to confer this benefit upon themselves than to expect it from the hand of another And Cebes gently smiling be it known to Jove said he in his own Dialect * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you have said well So it seems saith Socrates to be inconsistent with reason That darksom and abstruse speech which is carried about concerning this matter viz. that we men are placed in a certain station and guard from which we ought not upon any pretext whatever to free our selves nor to abandon our charge seems to me to be truly great and such as cannot easily be understood and comprehended and yet notwithstanding I conceive it to be very truly said Cebes that both God takes care of us and that we are his possession Do not you conceive so too Cebes I do indeed saith Cebes But saith he if any one of your slaves should kill himself without your command would you be angry with him and if it were in your power revenge it I would saith Socrates and therefore this also seems grounded upon no less reason that no man ought to be author of his own death before God hath brought some absolute necessity upon him such as he hath now imposed upon us This also seems consentanious saith Cebes Coming here to the second Query viz. Whether a Philosopher ought to desire death First he shews reasons for the Negative viz. that the Gods are both Despots or Lords of men and gracious or good Lords to good men ergo good men ought not to desire death it being evident and confest that all are to desire to continue in the fruition of good things and he assuming that we remain with the Gods so long as we remain in this life Wherein lieth concealed a parasyllogism for in truth while we live here we are as it were pilgrims from God as Socrates will in due place remonstrate But in good truth what you said even now that Philosophers are easily inclined to die seems next to absurd if what we have here said be said consentaneously namely that God takes care of us and we belong to him as a Free-hold and certain possession For to affirm that even the wisest of men are not displeased and troubled in the least when they depart from this procuration and trust which the best Lords and Guardians of things the Gods committed unto them seems in no measure agreeable to reason For that Wise man thinks not that if he should be at his own liberty and dispose he can provide better for himself than God doth but a fool will think that he is to fly from his Lord nor will he think he ought to fly from a good thing but constantly to continue therein and so he flies away without any fore-going knowledg of reason But a prudent and circumspect man will rather desire to continue still in that which is more advantageous and profitable to him which certainly Socrates seems plainly repugnant to those things that have been by us just now explicated and yet it appears to be more like truth that wise men when they die ought to be troubled and fools to rejoyce This Socrates hearing seemed to me to be highly pleased with that subtile disquisition of Cebes and turning his eyes upon us Cebes saith he alwaies hunts after some amusing reasons nor will he presently give assent to what is said by any man But I also saith Simmias am in this point of the same opinion with Cebes For when Wise men desire death what else do they propose to themselves than to fly from Lords better than themselves and to be freed from them And Cebes seems to me to aim his discourse at you who can so easily relinquish both us and the Gods as your self confesses the best Lords Ye have reason saith Socrates for I think ye require me to make my defense before ye as in the Judgment-hall We do so saith Simmias Well then saith he I will endeavour to defend my self with more convenient and more probable Arguments before ye than before my Judges For I * Socrates going to prove that death is not only not to be feared but also wished by a Philosopher layeth down the fundamentals of his future probation applying the matter to himself namely that he was sustained by a stedfast hope that after death he should go not from the Gods but to them because there remains something after death and it will be well with good men Which are the two Heads of the subsequent disputation viz. that our Souls are immortal and that felicity is reserv d for good Souls after death saith he Simmias and Cebes if I did not think I should come first to other Gods wise and good and then to men deceased better than those who are here truly I should do very ill not to be offended and troubled at my death but now believe me I am confident I shall come to good men This I confess I will not positively affirm but if I affirm any thing for certain it shall be this that I shall come to Gods the best Lords And this is the true reason why I am not at all discomposed or troubled but sustain my self with a strong hope that something remains in reserve for the dead after death and as they long ago said that it will be much better with good men than with wicked What then saith Simmias since relying upon this cogitation you have a mind to depart will you not communicate to us the cause of it for that seems to be a good common to us also and if you shall convince us of the truth of what you say that will be also your full defense I will endeavour it saith Socrates but first let us see what Crito here would have What else should I desire to say to you Socrates answered Crito but this that a good while since the man who is to give the poyson to you bad us advertise you that you ought to speak very sparingly because much speaking puts men into a heat and therefore ought not to precede the poyson for tha from thence it may
come to pass that the draught of poyson must be repeated twice or thrice Wish him good health saith Socrates let him take care only of what belongs to his own duty and provide enough as if he were to give the dose twice and if need be thrice This I knew before answers Crito but the Fellow hath been troublesom to me a good while suffer him saith he But I will render an account to ye my Judges by what right I became possessed of that my opinion that he who truly and seriously addicts himself to Philosophy or the love of wisdom doth die with undaunted courage and stedfast resolution furnished with that noble hope that immediatly after his death he shall certainly attain unto the greatest Goods or supreme felicity How this is Simmias and Cebes I will endeavour to explain to ye They who have rightly embraced the study of Philosophy First argument the great duty and business of a Philosopher is continually to meditate upon death therefore he ought not to dread it when it comes seem to excel in this one thing that living in obscurity and retirement from vulgar conversation they intirely and with all possible contentation of mind devote themselves to the meditation of death If this be true it will be absurd to addict our study and devoirs to the consideration of this one thing all our life long and at last when death it self comes to be offended and preturbed at it after so long and familiar a converse therewith in our thoughts * The popular scoff against Philosophers that they have death alwaies in their thoughts because they are conscious to themselves they deserve to die in respect of their nesarious lives urged to Socrates Here Simmias smiling Socrates saith he by Jove you have forced me to smile who was nothing inclined to such gayety of humor for the vulgar if they had heard this would I believe be of opinion that it is extremely suitable to Philosophers and the greatest part of our men would consequently assent that all Philosophers ought in good earnest to die and that themselves are not ignorant they very well deserve to die * Whereunto he gravely replies that it is no wonder if the ignorant vulgar give a rash and importune judgement of what they understand not This replies Socrates they might say Simmias and truly too this one thing excepted that they themselves are not ignorant how far those who are truly Philosophers both meditate upon death and are worthy of it for the vulgar are really ignorant thereof and cannot judge of what they understand not Wherefore securely pretermitting those vulgar Scoffers let us seriously pursue our discourse A Second and indeed an artificial argument drawn from the nature of death it self which he defines to be a deliverance of the Soul from the Body and puts that for the first proposition of a Syllogysm Do ye think that death is any thing Yes answers Simmias Do ye think death to be any thing else but a freeing of the Soul from the body and that to die is this when the Body being freed from the Soul remains by it self and the Soul likewise freed from the Body hath existence apart by it self or is death any other thing besides this Nothing but that answers Simmias Consider then I beseech ye whether your judgment be not the same with mine for thence I conceive light will be derived to the argument now under our consideration * Assumption but the main care of a Philosopher is to alienate and divorce his Soul from his Body and the cupidities thereof Do ye take them to be Philosophers who imploy themselves in pursuit of those pleasures as they call them of the body as of eating and drinking and other the like sensual delights By no means Socrates saith Simmias What then in Venerial pleasures Neither Hath a Philosopher any care or value for other things that appertain to the delicacy and ornament of the body as of rich cloaths fine shooes and other gaudy ornaments doth he desire to be furnished with store of these toyes Whether do ye think he esteems or contemns those things unless so far as there may be great necessity of using them My opinion is a true Philosopher contemns them all Then your opinion is that the whole study care and labour of such a Philosopher is not in pampering and adorning his body but in with-drawing as much as he can his thoughts from his body and converting them intirely upon his mind I confess it Doth it not then evidently follow from thence that the Office of a Philosopher doth chiefly appear in this that he renders his Mind free and absolute from community of his body It doth so But yet Simmias most men think that he who takes no pleasure from those sensual things deserves not the use of this life but comes nearer to death being insensible and careless of those delights that belong to the body You are in the right The first circumstance of his probation from the effects of the corporeal senses that they being not sufficiently pure and perfect cause the Soul by contagion and sympathy to be dull and pore-blind in the disquisition and discernment of truth What then when wisdom it self is to be acquired will the body prove an impediment if a man take it along as a companion in that disquisition for example the sight it self or hearing have they any truth in men or do Poets speak truth when they say that we neither see nor hear any thing clearly and intirely and if these senses of the body be not perfect or sufficiently quick and perspicuous certainly the others which are all weaker and duller than the sight and hearing must needs be less perfect and sincere Do you not think so I do saith he When then doth the Soul attain truth for when it endeavours to discern any thing clearly and distinctly by the help of the body 't is apparent that then it is seduced and circumvented by the body it self You are in the right Doth not the Soul by reasoning or some other way of discerning comprehend this perspicuously Certainly it doth And then it reasoneth best when no sense of the body offends it whether hearing or seeing or pain or pleasure but it converseth intirely undisturbdly with it self alone contemning and repudiating the body and as much as lies in its power retiring from all community and commerce therewith with certain premeditation and counsel desires things and pursues them No doubt on 't Doth not therefore the Soul of a Philosopher even in this also highly contemn the body and retreat from it and by its self inquire into the nature of things satisfied only with its own conversation So it seems Now this Operation or work of the Soul Another proof from the proper and peculiar operation of the Soul wherein withdrawing it self from commerce with the Senses it is exercised in pure and abstracted Reasoning shall
we say 't is just or not Just without doubt Is it fair and good Why not But have you ever beheld with your eyes any thing of those None saith he Have you with any other of your corporal senses attained to these things I speak of all as of magnitude health strength and in a word the like which are of such a nature as they have all a real being is their most true and certain nature considered and fully discovered by the body Or is it thus that he who is most fitly and exquisitely comparated or disposed to comprehend by cogitation the nature of that very thing in the disquisition whereof he is versed shall come nearest to the knowledge and understanding of the nature thereof No doubt of it He then will perform this most purely and clearly who by that edge of his Wit by that accuteness of Spirit pierceth into everything neither making use of his sight while he thinks nor drawing any other sense into counsel together with his reasoning but imploying only his pure and simple faculty of reasoning endeavours thereby to investigate and discover the naked and true nature of the things themselves free and separated from his ears and eyes and in a word from his whole body as that which may perturb the Soul it self and hinder it from acquiring to it self verity and wisdom when it is imployed in conversation and commerce therewith Will this man think you if any other doth attain to understand the true nature of things you speak truth Socrates over and over saith Simmias Is it not then consequently necessary that to those who are truly Philosophers there be a constant and established Opinion that they may confer among themselves about these things there seems to be a plain way as it were paved to our hands which leads us with reason to the consideration of things but while we carry about this body and our Soul is immersed in so dark and incommodious a sink of evil we shall never attain to what we desire This we affirm to be truth For this body creates to us an infinity of businesses troubles and disquiets meerly for the nourishment and necessary supplies of it Besides if diseases chance to invade us they likewise hinder us from the investigation of various things and that fills us with loves desires fears various imaginations and Chimera's and many foolish whimsies so that it is a very true saying that the body will never permit us to be wise For nothing but the body raiseth wars seditions combats and the like mischiefs by its inordinate lusts and we are forced to provide monies for maintenance of the body being slaves and drudges to the necessary services of it Now while we are thus imployed in these meaner Offices we have no leisure to apply our selves to the study and search of wisdom And what is the greatest of all incommodities if we do by chance get any thing of leisure and vacancy from the cares of the body and address our minds to the serious consideration of any thing presently the body intrudes and while we are busied in that inquiry raiseth commotions and tumult and so disturbs and confounds the mind that it cannot possibly discern truth But we have already demonstrated The former assumption repeated and illustrated by a Dilemma Whence flows a certain conclusion since the grand design of a Philosopher is to discern truth his duty is to separate his Soul from his Body and so as it were to anticipate death in this life that if we desire to perceive any thing purely and clearly we must withdraw from the body and imploy only our mind which alone is capable to discern the nature and properties of Objects in the contemplation thereof for then at length as appears we shall attain to the fruition of what we desire and with love and diligence seek after namely wisdom when we have passed through the refinement of death as our precedent discourse intimates but not whilst we remain in this life For if it be impossible for us to perceive any thing pure and intire in conjunction with the body one of these two propositions must of necessity follow either we shall never attain to sapience or not until we have passed out of this life For then will the Soul be intirely divorced and separate from the Body but not before While we live here we approach indeed never to sapience if we have as little commerce and conversation with the body and be as little infected with the lusts thereof as the condition and necessities of our frail nature will permit but preserve our selves pure from the contagion of the same until God himself shall discharge and free us wholly from it And being once thus delivered and pure from the madness and seducements of the body as is reasonable to believe we shall both be associated to the like pure beings and by our selves know all purity and integrity which perhaps is truth it self For it is not possible for him who is himself impure to touch what is pure These things Simmias I conceive it necessary for all who are possessed with a right desire of understanding things both to hold and to discourse of among themselves Are not you also of the same opinion Altogether Socrates If then these be true proceeds Socrates there is truly great hope The second conclusion from the premises viz. if we then only live well i. e. exercise our faculty of reasoning when we abdicate our senses it necessarily follows that we shall then be happy and perceive truth plainly when we shall be wholly separated from the body i. e. after death that who shall arrive at the place whither I am now going will there if any where abundantly attain to the enjoyment of that for which we have in the whole course of our life past been seeking with extreme labour and study This peregrination therefore now appointed to me is finished with good hope and so it will to any other who shall have once perswaded himself to prepare his mind by rendring it pure and clean No doubt of it saith Simmias Is therefore what we said even now to be held a purification and purging of the Mind viz. as much as is possible to divorce it from the Body and to accustom it to be by it self congregated and retired from the same and to dwell as it were by it self both in this and in the future life single by it self and freed as from the chains of the body Yea certainly saith Simmias Is death then rightly called a solution and separation of the Soul from the Body It is so saith he And do they only who study Philosophy rightly most endeavour to divorce their Souls from their Bodies as we have said is not this the constant meditation of Philosophers It seems to be so What therefore we said in the beginning A third conclusion Since the principal design of a Philosopher is to attain unto truth and
that he cannot attain unto it until after death it is inconsistent for him to fear death So the whole question is determined that to a wise man death is not only not formidable but also desirable would it not be ridiculous if a man who hath all his life long made it his constant study and principal care to anticipate death by rendring his life as nearly like to it as is possible should yet when death really comes be afraid of and troubled at it Why not In truth then saith he they who Philosophize seriously and rightly meditate most upon death and to them of all men living death is least formidable which is evident from this argument Funera non metuit sapiens suprema nec illi Qui contemplando toties super astra levavit Carnoso abstractam penitus de carcere mentem Corporis atque Animi faciens divortia tanta Quanta homini licuit mors formidanda venire Aut ignota potest Nam mors divortia tantum Plena haec quae sapiens toties optasse videtur Et toties tentasse facit Superosque petenti Libertatem animae claustris concedit apertis Majus noster in Supplemento Lucani lib. 4. For if at all times they contemn and vilifie the Body and strive to have their Soul apart by it self and when the hour of their real and final separation comes fear and be disquieted what could be more alien or remote from reason unless they willingly and freely come thither where there is hope they shall at their arrival obtain whatever they in this life desired and they desired Wisdom and to be delivered from all commerce of the body with which they are offended Have many been willing out of ardent affection to their Friends Wives and Children deceased to descend to the shades below led by this hope that there they should see and converse with those whom they loved and shall he who is really in love with Wisdom and hath conceived a strong and certain hope that he shall no where obtain and enjoy it but in the other world as is decent and consentaneous when he is at the instant of death be vexed and grieved and not rather voluntarily and freely meet and embrace it for so we are to hold that a genuine Philosopher will conceive that he shall never meet with true wisdom but only apud inferos among the dead Which if true how inconsistent with reason were it for such a man to fear death Highly inconsistent saith he by Jove 'T is then a fit argument that he whom you shal see dying with reluctancy and fear is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lover of Wisdom but a lover of his Body not a lover of verity but of Riches and the Pleasures of this life It is just so as you say To those therefore who are in this manner disposed and inclined A new Theorem resulting from the precedents that those who neglecting the study of phylosophy pursue not truth as politicians and the vulgar have not true Virtue but only the shadow and resemblance of it is not that Virtue which is named Fortitude most agreeable and proper It is saith he Is not Temperance which many define to be this not to be disquieted or afflicted With lusts but to despise them and to regulate ones life by moderation does not this properly and peculiarly belong to those who both contemn the Body and continually exercise themselves in the study of Philosophy Of necessity For saith he if you consider the Fortitude and Temperance of other men you will discover them to be nothing but an importune and absurd ostentation of Virtue How so Socrates You know saith he that all other men account death to be one of the greatest Evils They do so indeed replies he Do then men of courage and fortitude endure death bravely for fear of greater Evils They do answers he Then are all except Philosophers said to be Valiant only from fear though it be truly somewhat absurd and a kind of contradiction to call any man valiant upon the account of fear and cowardise I grant it to be so What as for those of the vulgar who are reputed to be Temperate are not they so out of some intemperance Tho we have declared that to be impossible yet the like affection falls upon them in that their senseless and foolish temperance for while they fear to be deprived of some pleasures and still coveting them abstain from others they are carried away by those they covet without restraint Now they call it Intemperance to be governed by the tyranny of pleasures and 't is their case to be overcome by some pleasures whilst they conquer others So that what we said even now of vulgar Fortitude holds true also of these men that they are Temperate from some Intemperance But my Simmias That the firmament of true Virtue is wisdom without which the politic virtues are vizards and disguizes So that to Plato true Virtue is wisdom Wisdom truth and Truth Expurgation this is not the right way to Virtue to exchange pleasures for pleasures pains for pains one fear for another greater for less as we do money That is at last the true money for which all things else are to be exchanged Wisdom for the sake whereof and for which alone all things are to be sold and bought that fortitude and temperance and in summe every true and genuine Virtue may exist with wisdom while pleasures and fears and all of the same Tribe come and go But if they be separated from prudence and exchanged one for another by turns such Virtue will not amount to the shadow of Virtue but be meerly servile and base it will have nothing of true nothing of sound and solid in it Now Truth it self is the expurgation and refinement of all these not temperance nor justice nor fortitude no nor Wisdom it self can be the expurgation And indeed those who first ordain'd our Ceremonies seem not to have been silly and vile men but to have prudently designed that wrapt up in the veyls of words when they said that he who should descend to those below not being initiated and expiated according to the use of Sacrifices Hence that of Virgil Aeneid lib 6 ea prima piacula sunto Sic demum lucos stygios regna invia vivis aspicies c. Concerning which Expiation derived from the antient Egyptians consult Servius Honoratus upon the place should be rowl'd in mudd but he who descended to the shades being first ritely expiated and admitted to the Sacrifices should have his habitation with the Gods For in the Ceremonies themselves as they say you may see * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Multos Thyrsigeros paucos est cernere Bacchos an old Greek a dage many that bear Lances covered with leaves but few Bacchuses * The importance of all the precedent Arguments accomodated by Socrates to his own justification for that rejecting the
counsel and aid of his Friends who strove to perswade him to avoid death as Plato hath left upon Record in a precedent Dialogue intitled Crito he still remained fixed in his judgement that he sought rather to embrace it These are in my opinion no other but they who study Philosophy rightly From which institute I for my part have never in my whole life departed but have with all possible contention of mind laboured to be one of them But if we have done our devoirs rightly and profited any thing in that study when we come thither we shall certainly understand if God be so pleased a little after as I think These then Simmias and Cebes are the reasons I bring for my defense that I leave you and these Lords who are here not only upon just motives but without trouble or regret being fully perswaded within my self that I shall there find as good Lords and Friends as here The things I have said are indeed of that abstruse nature that they may be by very many esteemed incredible but if I shall appear to you to have made now a more pertinent decent defense to engage your assent than I did before those Athenians who were my Judges 't is very well When Socrates had said this A new disputation of the Immortality of the Soul but the basis of the former For if the Soul survive not the body all dispute concerning future felicity or infelicity must be vain and idle Cebes taking up the discourse some things saith he seem indeed to be excellently well said by you but what you have delivered concerning mans Mind or Soul seems wholly abhorrent from Humane belief nay they believe rather * To make way for this dispute first is proposed the contrary opinion of those who held that the Soul dies with the Body but so proposed that in the words of this opinion lie conceled the seeds as it were of more solid Arguments For things compounded are said to be dissipated He therefore being about to demonstrate the Soul to be a things not compound but most simple makes it most evident that a Soul is uncapable of destruction by dissipation as will appear from the dispute it self that the Soul so soon as it goes out of the Body doth no longer exist but in the very day wherein a man dies utterly perish more plainly that departing from the Body as a breath or smoke it is dispersed and flies away nothing of it afterwards remaining Now if it continued intire and had a being apart by it self delivered and freed from the evils you recounted then I confess there would be a noble hope beyond death if the things you have said Socrates be true But this wants no little probation of Arguments to prevail upon belief * The state of the Question Whether after the d ssolution of the Body the Soul be likewise dissolved and hath no longer a being namely that the Soul existeth after a man is dead and what faculty it hath of perceiving and understanding You are in the right Cebes replies Socrates But what do we Will you that we discourse further of this matter whether it be reasonable or not I would gladly hear saith Cebes your opinion concerning these abstruse things Nor do I think saith Socrates again there is any man living though he be a Comedian when he shall hear me disputing about them will say I trifle and speak of things impertinent and undecent If you please therefore that this matter be fully debated among us let us consider it in this manner namely whether the Souls of men deceased be in the infernal habitations or not * The first reason drawn from the Pythagorean opinion of the transmigration of souls For if souls go from bodies into another life and return thence hither to animate other bodies it follows both that they do and will exist hereafter because they are supposed 〈◊〉 pass through many bodies For this is a very antient Tradition which we here commemorate that the Souls of the dead go from hence thither and return from thence hither and are made of the dead Now if it be so that the living are made out of the dead our Souls truly can be no where but there for if they were not men could not be made again of them And this would be a strong Argumeâ—t that the thing is so in case it were manifest that the living are not otherwise animated than by the Souls of the dead But if this be not evident and certain other reasons are to be sought for that may be more convincing They are so saith Cebes * Proof of this Pythagorean Hypothesis that this circulation is performed not only in the bodies of men so that the living are made out of the dead but in all other creatures namely that contraries are made out of their contraries as he teacheth by various examples Do not then saith he consider this in men only if you would easily understand it but in Animals and Plants also in summe in all that have being by Generation that we may enquire whether they be all produced from no other original than as contraries from contraries whatsoever have their contraries as Beautiful or Honorable is contrary to ugly or shameful just to unjust and infinite others in the same manner Let us see therefore if it be necessary that any contrary can have no being in nature unless from its contrary for example that when a greater thing is made it be necessary it should be made of a less first and then greater Let us examine this If a less thing be made out of that which was greater before will it afterward be made less Yes saith he And of a stronger a weaker oâ— a slower a swifter It will so What if any thing worse be made is it out of a better if any thing more just is it out of what is more unjust Why not This then is clear saith he that all things are thus made contraries out of contraries 'T is so What more Is there any medium betwixt two contraries so that where there are two contraries there must be also two generations or originals of being produced first from one to the other and then from that to this again for betwixt a less thing and a greater there is augmentation and diminution of which one we call to increase the other to decrease Right Therefore to separate and compound to grow cold and to grow hot and all in the same manner though we use not names sometimes yet in reality it is necessary that some things be made out of others and that there be a mutual generation and beginning of some to others I grant it saith he Is any thing contrary to life as sleep is contrary to waking Yes What Death saith he Are these then made mutually each out of other seeing they are contraries and their generations made by some thing intermediate betwixt two contraries Why not One
a higher or let down to a lower pitch or repugnant to the passions of the instruments of which it is composed but must inevitably obey their dictates and commands not prescribe and give law to them This we have granted saith he why should we not Now then doth not the Soul appear to do quite contrary when it exerciseth Dominion over and dispenseth commands to the various members and organs of the body out of whose combination and system you suppose it to result and when for the most part during life it strives to control all their inclinations and appetites with absolute Soveraignty ruling and moderating them more severely chastising some by the rules of strict Diet and Medicine and more gently and mildly correcting others with menaces and advices composing the lusts anger and fears of the Body as if in man himself there were two distinct natures or as it were persons one speaking to the other as Prince and Subject as Homer also imagined in his Odysses where he saith of Vlisses Knocking his breast to 's Heart he thus did speak Be not thou Heart in these afflictions weak But bear them bravely in thy self secur'd Thou heretofore hast greater ills endur'd Think you that the Poet feigned this out of opinion that the Soul it self was an Harmony and such a frail thing as to be at the will and conduct of the corporeal affections and unable to lead and rule them or rather out of a full perswasion that the Soul was a thing much more noble and divine than a Harmony He seems to me by Jove Socrates to have signified that the Soul is not a Harmony but something incomparably more Noble and more excellent * Conclusion that the opinion of the Souls being Harmony is to be exploded as many waies absurd We cannot therefore believe me hold the Soul to be an Harmony for manifest it is that if we do we shall both dissent from that Divine Poet and contradict even our selves You are in the right saith Simmias Well then saith Socrates we have commodiously I think appeased and silenced the reasons of the Theban Harmony but Cebes how shall we in the next place solve those of the * Both Simmias and Cebes being Thebans it seems that Socrates here facetely alluded to the fable of Cadmus the Thehan of armed men growing out of the earth because Cebes had many times contradicted and opposed him with fresh forces Cadmean You saith Cebes are most likely to find out that for you have admirably and beyond our expectation discoursed against that Harmony which Simmias defended For when I heard him proposing his doubts I thought it strange even to wonder if it were possible for any man living to find a reasonable solution of them and it seemed admirable to me that he was not able to sustain the very first charge of your speech 'T wil therefore be less admirable if the Cadmean opinion proposed by me meet with the same fate Good Cebes saith Socrates speak not those magnific things of me I beseech you lest envy rise up and disturb our following discourse But let God alone with that care also while we encountring as Homer saith hand to hand try the force of what you can allege He first recites and sta e the second contrary opinion Of all your Enquiries this is the grand and capital one You judge it fit to be demonstrated that the Soul of man is free and exempt from destruction and death and this lest a Philosopher when at the near approach of death he is of a resolved and undaunted courage and believes that after death he shall be far happier than in the short race of this life should out of an ignorant and foolish confidence triumph and exsult Now to affirm both that the Soul is a thing firm and divine and that it existeth of it self before we are born this I say hinders not but all your arguments may come short of the main question in hand they may serve to evince indeed not the immortality of the Soul but only the duration of it for that an immense time before its entrance into the Body it hath existed and then both knew and did many things and yet notwithstanding all this we are under no necessity of concluding from thence that it is immortal nay rather on the contrary it seems reasonable that its very entrance into and conjunction with the Body is the beginning of its destruction and a kind of sickness so that it lives a sad and miserable life here tormenting it self with the sense of various calamities and at last perisheth by that end which is called death But you say that as to our security from fear of death it makes no difference whether the Soul come only once into one Body or into many successively For in truth no just cause of fear is given to any unless he be very silly and unable to give a reason why the Soul is immortal And this I take it is the summ of what you said Cebes which I industriously recite and more than once inculcate that nothing may escape us and you may add and detract what you please But I saith Cebes at present demand neither to detract nor to add any thing and you have faithfully recounted what I said Then Socrates after he had a pretty while recollected himself from intent and fixed thoughts the thing you seek saith he is not to be contemned Cebes as being that for the sake whereof it may concern us exquisitely to enquire into the causes of Generation and Corruption I will therefore if you please pursue my discourse declaring what are my sentiments concerning the same Let it be so saith Cebes Attend you then diligently while I explain my thoughts * Accomodating his Answer to the order and method of the opinion he designs to refute he first removes the prejudices upon which it was grounded and then teacheth that the true cause of the Souls immortality is to be sought in God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very form and fountain of life I have saith he even from my Youth been strangely enamour'd and inflamed with the study of that part of Wisdom which they call the History of Nature It seemed a magnific and noble thing to understand the causes of all things why this or that particular was made why it should be again destroyed and by what reason it had existence and I very often turned my self up and down first revolving these things in my mind Why Animals after hot and cold have undergone a certain sort of putrefaction as some say are nourished and whether the Blood be that by which we have the power of Vnderstanding and growing Wise or Aire or Fire or none of all these but rather the Brain which gives us the senses of hearing seeing smelling c. Whether out of these Memory be made and Opinion and from memory and opinion setled by quiet Knowledg be made in the
is not contrary to the number Three It is not truly Therefore not only contrary Species admit not the accession of one to another mutually but some other contraries also abhor and are incapable to suffer that mutual accession You speak with great probability saith Cebes Will you then saith he that if we be able we define of what quality these things are With all my heart saith he Will they not be such Cebes which so conform whatsoever they possess as not only to force it to retain its own Species of form but also suffer it not to admit and put on the Species or form of any Contrary whatsoever How say you to this saith Cebes As we said a little before for you know it to be necessary that that which contains the Species of Three is not only Three but also Odd. Right For this reason we said that the Species contrary to that form which makes this can never be induced By no means Hath the Species of Odd perfected that form Certainly And is the Species of Even contrary to the Species of Odd. It is Therefore the species of Even shall never force it self upon Three Never Are Three then free from she ration of Even Free Therefore tste number Three is odd Certainly What therefore I undertook to define I have now defined namely * He repeateth what he had above distinctly applicated viz. that contrary qualities cannot be together in the same subject but one of necessity expelleth the other But the subjects themselves admit contraries successively that of what sort those things are which being contrary to none yet admit not a Contrary as now the number Three is not at all contrary to Even and yet is nevertheless incapable thereof For the number Two alwaies infers a contrary to Odd and Fire a Contrary to Cold and the like of very many others But consider whether you agree that the matter ought to be defined thus That a Contrary doth not only not receive its contrary but that also which may adfer any contrary to that to which it self may come namely that which adfers it doth never admit a form contrary to the form of that which is adferred But again rub up your memory for 't is no incommodity to hear the same again The number Five never admits the ration of Even nor the number of Ten the duple of five the ration of Odd. This therfore being it self contrary to another will yet never admit the ration of Odd. Nor will that number and half that number or half a number admit the ration of the whole nor a third part c. at least if you comprehend my meaning and assent unto me I both understand your sense saith he and assent without the least doubt or scruple * Here recomodating his precedent Suppositions and treating of second Causes he first evinceth this that we are to seek not remote but proxime causes not as his Interpreters speak Accidentary but substantial ones as he teaches by the Examples alleged But tell me again reflecting upon our precedent positions yet I would not have you answer to the questions I ask expresly and in the same prints of words as before For besides that certain way of answering of which I have treated before I find another naturally arising from the things said by us just now and this certain and firm for example if you ask me what that is which if it be in a body the body will be hot I will not give that gross and ignorant answer that it is Heat but a more elegant and polite one from our last conclusions namely that it is fire Nor if you ask what that is which if it invade the body the body will be sick will I answer that it is a disease but more precisely that it is a Feaver and if you ask me what is that which if it intervene to a number the number will be Odd I will not say it is imparity or Oddness but Vnity and of others in the same manner But look if you sufficiently understand me Very clearly saith he Answer me then what is that which if it be in the body * First Theorem the Soul is the proxim cause of life in man the body will be alive The Soul saith he And is not that alwaies so Why not saith he The Soul therefore alwaies brings life to the Body it embraceth whatsoever the Body be It doth alwaies bring life saith he Is any thing contrary to Life or not Yes saith he * Second Theorem death is contrary to life and therefore contrary to the Soul which is the cause of life and conclusion therefore the Soul admits not death from the conceded supposition that one Contrary never admits of another What Death The Soul therefore shall never receive the contrary to that which it self alwaies induceth as hath been granted from our late conclusions True saith Cebes What then That which admits not the Species or ration of Even by what name do we now call it Odd saith he And what do we call that which admits not Justice or Music That we call Vnjust this Immusical * Consummation of that Conclusion from adjuncts the Soul receives not death therefore it is immortal What do we call that which is incapable of Death Immortal saith he Is not the Soul capable of Death No. Therefore the Soul is a thing immortal It is immortal Well then saith he shall we acknowledg this to be thus demonstrated or what think you of it Demonstrated perfectly Socrates saith he * Another Theorem of the same Conclusion If what is Immortal be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exempt from destruction then certainly the Soul is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exempt from destruction because proved to be Immortal What therefore saith he if it were necessary that Odd be free and exempt from all destruction would not Three also be free and exempt from all destruction Why not Therefore if it were necessary that that which is wholly void of Heat be likewise free and exempt from all destruction when a man should induce Hot upon Snow would the Snow go out safe and unmelted for it would not then perish when it had once admitted and received heat You say true quoth he In the same manner I opine if that which is void of Cold were free from all destruction when any cold thing should be brought to fire it would not be destroyed or perish but go away safe and intire Of necessity saith he We are therefore by necessity obliged to conclude the same of an Immortal For if what is immortal be free and exempt from all destruction 't is impossible the Soul should perish when death comes to it For from our late Positions it will not suffer or undergo death and so not dye as a Ternary will never as we have said be Even nor will Odd be by any means Even nor Fire be Cold nor the Heat which is in
fire be coldness But some may Object What hinders that Odd may not be made Even if Even be added as hath been granted and Odd being extinct Even succeed into the room thereof To him that should thus argue we could not I confess deny but that Odd may perish for Odd it self is not exempt from all destruction Since if that were not agreed upon among us we might easily evince that when Even comes in place Odd and the Ternary instantly fly away and so we might firmly determine of fire and hot and the rest Might we not Yes * Last conclusion that the Soul is both immortal and free from all destruction which is certainly demonstrated from the given and proved Hypothesis of proxim and cognate causes Now therefore of an immortal also since we are now agreed that an Immortal is absolutely free and exempt from all destruction it is demonstrated beyond all doubt or dispute that the Soul since it is immortal is free and immune from all destruction but if that be not granted it will require another disputation But saith he in good truth there is no need of further dispute as to that point For it is impossible that any thing whatever should escape death if this immortal and sempiternal undergo corruption and destruction * A confirmation of the Immortality and indissolubility of the Soul from the first and principal Cause God which being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very form of life the Soul also must be sempiternal because Divine and made after the Exemplar of that primary Idea which is confessed in the former disputation That God saith Socrates the very form of life as I conceive and if there be any other Immortal can never dye is confessed by all men By all by Jove saith Cebes not only men but Gods too I believe An Immortal therefore being incapable of Corruption what else ought we to conclude than that the Soul since it is certainly immortal must be also free and exempt from all destruction It is absolutely necessary When therefore death comes to a man what is in him mortal doth as is manifest die but what is immortal departs safe and free from all corruption giving place to death It seems so Then without all doubt Cebes the Soul is a thing immortal and free from destruction and certainly our Souls will eternally survive apud inferos I can say no more to this saith Cebes nor any way deny my assent to your Reasons But if Simmias or any other hath any new matter to object he shall do well not to conceal it since I do not see to what more convenient time he can differ the handling of these things if he desire either to speak or to hear any thing concerning them I also saith Simmias have nothing that detains me from submitting my faith to all you have explained in your former discourse And yet by reason of the Grandure and Excellency of the things commemorated while I think Human infirmity not at all worthy of so great Endowments and Prerogatives I find my self constrained not yet intirely to resign up my belief to your later conclusisions You speak with good reason Simmias saith Socrates and modestly for those our first Suppositions though we be perswaded of their verity are yet more diligently and accuratly to be considered But if ye shall after they have been decently and with just reason examined and explicacated once receive them ye will understand the whole matter as far as mans intellect is capable to comprehend things of that abstruse nature and if that be once made clear and evident ye will require no more You have reason saith he The Third part of the discourse arising from the conclusision of the Souls immortality and concerning the state of it after death which Socrates blindly describes from the opinion of the vulgar and superstitious fictions of Poets But my Friends saith he 't is fit we make diligent inquisition into this also that if the Soul be immortal we are highly concerned to take care of it not only in respect of this short time which we define by the name of life but of Eternity that remains after this life and the danger now seems to be great if any man shall neglect his Soul For if Death be a separation and dissolution of the whole it were to be reputed an advantage and emolument to dissolute and wicked men that when they are dead they might be freed from their Body and Soul and improbity all at once Whereas now it is manifest that the Soul is immortal a man hath no other way to avoid Evils and acquire security from future dangers but to become as wise and virtuous as is possible For the Soul departing hence to the Mansions of Ghosts carries along with it nothing but its former manners and education which are said to be of very great moment either to the importance of Utility or aggravation of loss to him who is dead when he first arrives there And Tradition tells us that every one of the dead is by that very Demon that attended on him living purposely led into a certain place where it is ordained all Ghosts assembled together must receive their Doom and according to the form of Judgment ratified and constituted go to the Infernal Mansions with that Guide to whom command is given to conduct those who are at those places But when they have obtained those things they ought to obtain and remained there the time appointed another Leader brings them back again after many and long periods of time But this Journey is not such as Telephus in Aeschylus describes to be for he affirms there is but one way and that Uniform too that leads to the Infernal Mansions whereas to me it seems more probable the way is neither Uniform nor Single for if there were but one way neither would there be any need of Guides nor could any Soul go out of it But now this seems to have many by-wayes diversions and intricate windings whereof I make a conjecture from Sacrifices and other Rites and Ceremonies belonging to Religion which are here performed Further a moderate and prudent Soul both follows his Guide willingly and chearfully and knows things present but a Soul fetter'd with sense of Lusts and commerce with the Body as we formerly declared still hankering after the Body with an affrighting and tumultuary error and striving much and suffering much about a visible-place is not without extreme difficulty at length led away by that Demon to whom the care of it was committed And when it comes to that place where other Souls are from this impure Soul which hath either committed Murder or polluted it self with some other crime or perpretrated some other villanous act of kin to that wickedness such as are the works of impious Souls from this Soul I say every Soul flies away with detestation and will be neither Companion nor Guide unto it while it self wanders up and
Purgatory of the antient Heathens described with their Repentance in Hell and three parts thereof Contrition Confession Satisfaction all which they saw to be necessary by the light of Nature i. e. Sorrow These things being thus constituted when Ghosts have arrived whither the tutelar Demon of every one conducts them first they are examined tryed and judged both they who have lived well righteously and justly and they who have lived in vice injustice and impiety they also who have lived in a middle way going on to Acheron and mounting into Waggons prepared for them are therein carried to the Marish where they both remain and suffer punishments appointed for the expiation and expurgation of their sins After they are thus expiated they are absolved and quitted and every one receives rewards for their good deeds according to their merits But if for the greatness of their Crimes they be found incurable having committed either many or great Sacriledges or unjust and unlawful Homicides or such execrable Wickednesses a just lott casteth them into Tartarus from whence they never get out Whereas they who stand convicted of and obnoxious to sins great indeed but not inexpiable as they who have in heat of anger committed any violence against Father or Mother and truly repented of it all their life after or who have been Homicides through immoderate passion upon these is imposed a necessity of falling into Hell But when they have been there a year in Torments the Waves cast them forth Homicides by Cocytus Killers of Father or Mother by the Burning River And when they come to the Acherusiad Marish then with a loud voice they by name call some those whom they have killed others those whom they have wronged and begg and beseech them to be satisfied with their unfeigned penitence and grievous sufferings and to give them leave to depart out of that Marish If they prevail they retire thence and are freed from those miseries if not they are carried back again into Tartarus and so returned to the other rivers not ceasing to suffer their renewed torments untill they have obtained pardon from those to whom they have been injurious for this punishment is appointed for them by the decree of the Judges Now they who have been rightly purged by Philosophy live ever after without bodies and come into other habitations fair and delightful which to describe is too difficult for my understanding and too long for the short remainder of my life Commodious admonitions concluding the description of Hell that we are not obliged to give credit to those Poetic fictions and yet it is useful to reflect upon them that we may be incited to aim at felicity after death and to follow the only path that leads to it viz. Wisdom and Virtue But as for the concernment and importance of what we have here related Simmias we ought to labour with all possible study and care that we may follow the conduct of Virtue and Wisdom in this life For the reward is great and the hope good That the descriptions I have recounted to you of the places and conditions of Souls after death are true becomes not a wise man to affirm But that there are some such or the like as for what concerns the state and condition of our Souls and the places whither they are to go for habitation seeing it is evident that our Souls are immortal this also seems both consentaneous and worthy the danger to believe they are such For the danger is honorable and glorious and we are obliged to inculcate and as it were inchant these things into our minds wherefore I have been the more prolix in commemorating that Fable But yet as to what concerns a mans own Soul he ought to be with full confidence perswaded of these things who while he hath lived hath repudiated corporeal pleasures and outward Ornaments as alien and unnecessary and so hath resolved to addict himself to any thing rather than to lusts of the body and hath made it the grand business of his life to furnish his mind with learning and to render it polite and brave not with strange but it s own proper ornaments namely with Temperance Justice Fortitude Liberty Truth Thus armed let him expect the time when he is to take his Journey ad inferos to the Mansions of Souls departed and let him so prepare and address himself as to set forward redily and chearfully whensoever Fate shall call him And for your parts Simmias and Cebes and the rest that are here ye shall all go this Journey each in his appointed time Fate as the Tragedian saith calls me now But perhaps it is time for me to go and wash my self for I think it more decent to be washed before I drink the poyson that I may give the Women no trouble in washing my Body after death Be it so then saith Crito to him An Historical Narration of the manner of Socrates his death which was perfectly agreeable to his Life and Doctrine But do you Soorates give to those here or to me any command either concerning your Children or about any other matter wherein we may chiefly gatifie you No truly saith he Crito I leave no new command with you besides what I have alwaies told you namely that if ye take due care of your selves you will perform your duty to me and to mine and to your selves also whatever ye do though now ye make no promises nor enter into new engagements but if ye neglect your selves and will not order your life according to the prints as it were of what I now remonstrate to you what I have heretofore enjoyned ye though ye should even with vehement asseveration promise to do many and great things for my sake ye will do I am sure nothing more This saith Crito we will with courage and alacrity of mind endevour to perform But in what manner shall we Bury you Even how ye please saith he at least if ye can catch me and I not fly out of your reach And when he had sweetly smiled and turned his eyes upon us my Friends saith he I cannot perswade Crito here that I am that Socrates who just now disputed and pursued all parts of the discourse in order but he thinks me to be the same whom after a few hours ye shall behold dead and asketh me how I desire to be Buried not remembring that a good while since I made a long discourse to this very purpose that after I have drank the poyson I shall be no longer with you but go away to the Felicities of the Blessed This seems to have been spoken by me in vain while yet I endevoured to consolate both you and my self Do ye therefore undertake for me to Crito in an obligation quite contrary to what he entred into on my behalf before my Judges He was surety for me that I should remain but be ye my sureties to him that I shall not remain after I am
dead but fly away to the end that Crito may more easily bear my departure and seeing my Body to be burn'd or committed to the ground he may not be troubled or grieved for me as if I had suffered any great calamity nor say at my Funeral that Socrates is exposed to sight or carried forth or put into the Grave But be assured of this my Crito that to speak of these important matters without due circumspection is not only a great offence but brings detriment also to mens Minds It becomes us rather to be of good courage and resolution and I will command that my Body be buried and buried so as shall be grateful to you and you shall judge to be most consentaneous to the Laws Other Circumstances conducing to the saith of the History Having said this he arose and went into an inner room to wash himself and Crito following him enjoyn'd us to stay and expect his return We therefore expected discoursing among our selves of the things that had been commemorated by him and conferring our judgments concerning them And we frequently spake of the calamity that seemed to impend on us by his death concluding it would certainly come to pass that as Sonns deprived of their Father so should we disconsolately spend the remainder of our life After he had been washed and his Children were brought to him for he had two Sonns very young and a third almost a Youth and his * That Socrates had indeed Two Wives is plainly delivered by Diogen Laertius who saith the first was Xantippe upon whom he begat Lamprocles the other Myrto the Daughter of Aristides the just who brought him Sophroniscus and Meneximus Wives also were come he spake to them before Crito and gave them his last commands so he gave order to his Wives and Children to retire Then he came back to us By this time the day had declined almost to the setting of the Sun for he had staid long in the room where he washed himself Which done he returned and sate to repose himself not speaking much after that Then came the Minister of the Eleven the Executioner and addressing himself to him I do not believe Socrates said he that I shall reprehend that in you which I am wont to reprehend in others that they are angry with me and curse me when by command of the Magistrates whom I am by my Office obliged to obey I come and give notice to them that they must now drink the poyson but I know you to be at all times and chiefly at this a man both generous and most mild and civil the best of all men that ever came into this place so that I may be assured you will not be displeased with me but you know the Authors with them rather Now therefore for you know what Message I come to bring Farewell and endevour to suffer as patiently and calmly as you can what cannot be avoided Then breaking forth into tears he departed And Socrates converting his eyes upon him and Farewel thou too saith he we will perform all things Then turning to us again How civil this man is saith he all this time of my mprisonment he came to me willingly and sometimes talked with me respectfully and hath been the best of all that belong to the Prison and now how generously doth he weep for me But Crito let us spare him and let some other bring hither the deadly Draught if it be already bruised if not let him bruise it Then Crito I think saith he the Sun shines upon the tops of the Mountains is not yet quite gone down * and I have seen some delay the drinking of the poyson much longer nay more By the Athenian Law no man was to be put to death until after Sun-set lest the Sun for which they had a singular veneration might be displeased at the sight after notice had been given them that they ought to dispatch they have Supped and drank largely too and talked a good while with their Friends be not then so so hasty you have yet time enough Those men of whom you speak Crito saith he did well for they thought they gained so much more of life but I will not follow their example for I conceive I shall gain nothing by deferring my draught till it be later in the night unless it be to expose my self to be derided for being desirous out of too great love of life to prolong the short remander of it But well get the Poyson prepared quickiy and do nothing else till that be dispatch'd Crito hearing this beckned to a Boy that was present and the Boy going forth and imploying himself a while in bruising the Poyson returned with him who was to give it and who brought it ready bruised in a cup Upon whom Socrates casting his eye be it so good man said he tell me for thou art well skill'd in these matters what is to be done Nothing saith he but after you have drank to walk until a heaviness comes upon your leggs and thighs and then to sit and this you shall do And with that he held forth the Cup to Socrates * Socrates with admirable constancy receives and drinks off the Poyson Which appears to have been the Juice of Hemlock both from the auctority of Diog. Laertius in vita Socrat. where he expresly names it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Cicura and from the manner of its operation whereof consult Dioscorides As also from that of Seneca Epist 13. Cicuta magnum Socratem fecit which he readily receiving and being perfectly sedate O Echecrates without trembling without change either in the color or in the aire of his face but with the same aspect and countenance intent and stern as was usual to him looking upon the man what saist thou saith he may not a man offer some of this Liquor in Sacrifice We have bruised but so much Socrates saith he as we thought would be sufficient I understand you saith he but yet it is both lawful and our duty to pray to the Gods that our transmigration from hence to them may be happy and fortunate Having spoke those words and remaining silent for a minute or two he easily and expeditely drank all that was in the Cup. Then many of us endevored what we could to contain our tears but when we beheld him drinking the Poyson and immediatly after no man was able lon-her to refrain from weeping and while I put force upon my self to suppress my tears they flowed down my cheeks drop after drop So covering my face I wept in secret deploring not his but my own hard fortune in the loss of so great a Friend and so neer a Kins-man But Crito no longer able to contend with his grief and to forbid his tears rose up before me And Apollodorus first breaking forth into showres of tears and then into cries howlings and lamentations left no man from whom he extorted not tears in
abundance Socrates himself only excepted Who said what do ye my Friends truly I sent away the Women for no other reason but lest they should in this kind offend For I have heard that we ought to die with good mens and gratulation But recompose your selves and resume your courage and resolution Hearing this we blush'd with shame and suppressed our tears But when he had walked awhile and told us that his thighs were grown heavy and stupid he lay down upon his back for so he who had given him the poyson had directed him to do Who a little time after returns and feeling him looked upon his leggs and feet then pinching his foot vehemently he asked him if he felt it and when he said no he again pinched his leggs and turning to us told us that now Socrates was stiff with cold and touching him said he would die so soon as the Poyson came up to his heart for the parts about his heart were already grown stiff Then Socrates putting aside the Garment wherewith he was covered we ow saith he a Cock to * Intimating that death was most grateful to him for which and for his deliverance now granted to him he would have a Sacrifice offered to Aesculapius See Erasmus Chiliad 3. cent 3. pag. 1. Aesculapius but do ye pay him and neglect not to do it And these were his last words It shall be done saith Crito but see if you have any other Command for us To whom he gave no answer but soon after fainting he moved himself often as if suffering Convulsions Then the Servant uncovered him and his eyes stood wide open which Crito perceiving he closed both his mouth and his eyes * A most august testimony given by Plato of his Master Socrates to vindicate both his person and Doctrine from the prejudice of an ignominious death This Echecrates was the end of our Friend and Familiar a man as we in truth affirm of all whom we have by use and experience known the Wisest and most Just. Quid dicam de Socrate cujus morti illachrimari soleo Platonem legens Cicero de natura Deor. lib. 3. Quidni ego narrem ultima illa nocte Catonem Platonis librum legentem posito ad caput gladio Duo haec in rebus extremis inst umenta prospexerat alterum ut vellet mori alterum ut posset c. Seneca Epist 24. Sic longa virtute fuit mens sancta Catonis Purgata atque illi vitae immortalis honorem Jam contemplanti divini fata Platonis Phaedonem tradunt Cum laetus talia fatur Salve sancte liber superis demisse Catoni Dirige tu cursum vitaeque extrema meantis Instrue non alium moriturus quaero magistrum Nec restare alias voluerunt Numina curas c. Tho. Maius in Supplemento Lucani lib. 4. Quid Ambraciotes ille Cleombrotus videlicet qui cum Platonis illum Phaedonem perlegasset praecipitem se dedit nullam aliam ob causam nisi quod Platoni credidit Lactantius Certain General AXIOMS Collected out of the Precedent Dialogue concerning the Soul 1. Axioms Moral 1. PAin and Pleasure are of Kin and so linked together that they closely succeed each other by turns 2. No man ought upon what account soever to desert the station wherein God hath placed him but to persist in the duties thereof contemning all opposition 3. Self-murder is a great Crime * Ac donec Deus ille Creator Qui terrena Animam primò statione locavit Evocat haud illa statione excedere fas est 4. A Wise man ought not only not to fear Death but also to desire it with submission to to the Divine Will 5. Philosophy is the perpetual meditation of Death that is to recal and divorce the Soul from commerce with the Senses and alienate it from Corporeal lusts and pleasures Which is an anticipatton of Death that is defined to be a solution and separation of the Soul from the Body 6. The Virtues of Politicians are not true Virtues but only faint resemblances of the true 7. Philosophy is the way to true Felicity and the two grand Duties of it are 1 To contemplate the perfections of God and 2 to alienate the Soul from the allurements of the Senses and from indulgence to the Body 8. Hope of future Felicity is a very great Reward that is the best way of passing through both the Temptations and Adversities of this Life with satisfaction of Mind 9. Decent Burial such as is ordained and prescribed by good Laws of the Country ought not to be neglected by a Wise man nor Funeral Pomp affected * So Epicurus in his last Will and Testament Sepeliunto nos quà videbitur in hortis commodissimum nihilq interim sumptuosiùs quod sivo ad sepulturam sive ad monumentum pertineat agunto Diog. Laert. lib. 80. II. Axioms Natural 1. COntraries are produced out of Contraries but cannot possibly subsist the same in one subject at the same time 2. To learn is to remember what the Soul knew before it came into the Body or there are naturally and congenially in the Soul the seeds of all Sciences which are only cultivated and matured by method of Discipline not implanted or ingraffed at first as Aristotle taught III. Axioms Theological 1. GOd takes care of Men for that they are his own Possession 2. God according to Plato's definition here is not only the Cause of his own Being but gives both Being and Well-being to all things else 3. The Soul of Man is the Off-spring of God in a peculiar manner participant of the Divine Nature incompound without figure or shape Incorruptible immortal as God 4. The Soul in this Life doth indeed use the service of the Body yet is not composed organically of the Senses and other Faculties thereof but simple and existeth apart by it self after separation by Death whereby the Body being compound is dissolved but the Soul goes away untouched and void of all Corruption into another Life and there lasteth Eternally 5. Of our Souls departed there is a Twofold state some are happy others unhappy 6. Seeing that in this Life things are carried on intemperately and in confusion there must be in the next Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certain and just Judgement of God the Supreme and Vniversal Judge whereby Good men may be distinguished from Wicked this being an Axiom evident by the very Light of Nature that God will reward every man according to his works in this life * Deus ipse sequendam Proposuit Virtutem praemia debita justis Haec quoniam justos injusta potentia fraudat Saepiùs in terris gens humanu rebellat Solvere post mortem justissimus ipse tenetur 7. Positively and with confidence to describe the places whither the Souls of the Dead go and to define what are the Rewards and Punishments they there receive is the part of a man extremely ignorant and superstitious though it be most
ad proximas balneas prius sueto lavacro traditum praefarus Deum veniam purissime circumrorans abluit c. Nor is it to be doubted but this was then done to him de more antiquo according to the most ancient use of that Nation Which while the Israelites remain'd in bondage among them were much more likely to give Examples to them than to receive any from them it being seldom observed that Lords imitate their Slaves But this is confirmed by Tertullian de Baptismo cap. 5. where he writes Nationes sacris quibusdam per lavacrum initiantur Isidis alicujus aut Mithrae summi apud Persas numinis ipsos etiam Deos suos lavationibus efferunt c. And whencesoever Moses borrowed this rite we have it under the hand of Diodorus Siculus lib. 1. that it was traduced from Aegypt to Athens by King Erechtheus Nor is there just cause why the traduction of the like Baptism from the Jews to Christians should be urged to the disparagement of our Mystical Ablution at the font when by the Church we are admitted to Christianism as well because ours was changed from a mere rite to a blessed Sacrament by Christ himself the Author of our faith honored by his Example and sanctified by his Benediction and the Divinity of its constitution confirmed by the miraculous descent of the most Holy Spirit in form of a Dove as because tho the External act of washing continue still the same yet the Signification and Effiacy thereof is become infinitely more noble and excellent Again if it be true as some very learned men have held that those Articles of faith and those religious Rites and Ceremonies that are embraced by men of all Religions and as it were seal'd by universal consent of Mankind in all Ages be less obnoxious to exceptions and dispute than others that are proper and peculiar only to some one Religion Age or Nation then certainly by how much more antique and common to various Religions and Nations this Rite of Expurgation by Water hath been by so much more sacred ought it to be esteem'd But this is only a Digression from my Theme the Lustration of Ethnics and more particularly of the Grecians Whereby those who were legitimately initiated were esteem'd not only more honorable then others in this life but more happy after death For their Wise men taught and the Vulgar therefore believ'd that by virtue of such Lustrations the Souls of men were rendred more defecate and pure from the contagion of the body refined as it were from the dross of sensual affections and made more fit and expedite for contemplation of Divine things Whence Sophocles the Tragedian writing of Mysteries is said by Plutarch de audiendis Poetis to have composed these verses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Felices nimis Initia quotquot ista cum conspexerint Eunt ad Orcum Namque eos solos manet Ibi vita reliquos miserias praeter nihil and the Chorus in Aristophanes's Comedy named the Froggs was made to sing these Solis nobis Sol Et lux hilaris est Qui initiamur Piam degimus vitam c. This persuasion therefore being so universally diffused among the Grecians and rendred so plausible by Superstition no wonder if Plato in this Dialogue put this as an Axiom into the mouth of Socrates Whoever not expiated nor with due rites initiated shall descend to the Mansions of Souls departed shall there lye rowling in mudd but who shall after expurgation and initiation come thither shall for ever dwell with Gods Nor this altogether without reason because the Initiati were both obliged to newness of life and reformation of manners and instructed in Philosophy as well Natural as Moral II. The Antiquity and Traduction of the opinion of the Souls Immortality THough Strabo Geograph lib. 15. pag. 713 speaking of the Indian Brachmans be so rash to say of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they as Plato compose fables of the incorruptibility of the Soul and of judgements in the infernal shades yet to me it seems not to be doubted but the belief of the Immortality of mans Rational Soul is fully as ancient as Mankind it self For methinks the Excellency of its own Faculties and Operations above all Material Agents should be alone sufficient to afford to every contemplative man certain glimpses of both the divine Original and Immortality thereof and the desire of posthume glory an affection congenial and natural Arist 2. de Anima calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most natural to all noble minds together with a secret fear of future unhappiness common to all to give pregnant hints of its sempiternal Existence after death And yet notwithstanding such has been the cruelty of Time in the destruction of Books and other Monuments and so far hath Oblivion swallowed up the Tenents and Doctrines of the yonger World that of this so reasonable and comfortable an opinion we can find no prints remaining but what the Grecian Sages observed among the Aegyptians and from them transmitted down to posterity From them alone therefore we are to trace the tradition thereof Consentaneous it is that the Eleusinian Mysteries and other sacred Rites so solemnly observed and celebrated by the ancient Aegyptians more particularly that of Lustration just now explicated were grounded upon a belief of and had their chief respect unto a future life and the different state of good and bad Souls therein For to what end could that religious Ablution and Expurgation serve but as they were persuaded to rinse away the stains of guilt from the Soul or as Tertullian de Baptismo cap. 5. expresseth it in regenerationem impunitatem perjuriorum suorum if they were not possessed with a belief even to confidence of the Eternal Duration of the Soul after death and that in a condition of Felicity or Misery according to its virtuous or vicious Affections and Actions in this life Had they admitted the extinction thereof by death vain certainly and absurd had been all their care and sollicitude about the purification of it from the pollutions of Sin and from the dreggs of sensual inclinations before death The same may be by like genuine consequence inferred from their most magnificent Sepulchres their exquisite Embalmings of the dead and their Amenthes or subterraneous place into which they held the Souls of the Defunct to be received But what need we range into their Mythologies in search after evidence of their being strongly possessed with this opinion when we have proofs from Authority unquestionable that their Priests and other Learned men expresly taught it Hear then Herodotus lib. 2. cap. 123. saying Aegyptij primi sunt qui Animam hominis immortalem esse dicerent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ejus transmigrationem in alia animalia terrestria marina volueria rursumque in corpus humanum docuerunt hunc circuitum ab ea fieri intra