Chapter 19 Volume 10-2

G: Undoubtedly. SOCRATES: Now let us consider the question: Is it because he does not feel pain, or is it impossible for him not to feel pain, only because he has a certain moderation over pain? G: The latter statement is more correct. SOCRATES: About him, now I ask you this question: On what occasion do you think he was more inclined to restrain his grief, in the presence of other people or when he was alone? G: He is much more restrained in front of others. SOCRATES: But when he's alone, I think, he lets himself say a lot that he doesn't want to be heard, and do a lot that he doesn't want to be seen.

G: That's right. SOCRATES: It is reason and the law that impel him to restrain himself, and it is pure emotion itself that urges him to give in to grief.isn't it? Greg: Yes. SOCRATES: The fact that two opposing forces are simultaneously present in a man with respect to the same thing, we take it to mean that there must be two elements in him. G: Of course it is. SO: One of them is ready to obey the law when the law directs it. isn't it? G: Please make further representations. SOCRATES: The law will tell in some way that it is best to keep as calm as possible in case of misfortune and not to rush and complain.For it is impossible to know whether such things are good or bad; nothing can be done without restraint; nothing in life in the world deserves much attention; Get the help we need!

G: What help do you mean? SOCRATES: Think carefully about what happened!Like deciding what to do with the rolled number after the die has fallen, deciding what to do next should be the best course of action as dictated by reason.We must not waste time crying like a child who is injured, instead of training our minds to form a habit: try to cure the wounded and save the dead as soon as possible, in order to eliminate the pain. G: This is indeed the best way to deal with misfortune when faced with it. SOCRATES: So we say that the best part of us is willing to follow the direction of reason.

G: Obviously yes. SOCRATES: Are we not to say, then, that that part of us which leads us to recall our sufferings and laments without adequately receiving that help, is our irrational, useless part, our cowardly companion? G: Yes, we should say that. SOCRATES: So that restless part of us provides a great variety of material for imitation.And that sane and peaceful state of mind, because it is almost eternally unchanged, is not easy to imitate, and it is not easy to imitate, especially not easy for the motley crowd that flocks to the theater. understand.For what is being imitated is a feeling with which they are not familiar.

Grid: Certainly. SOCRATES: It is clear that the poet who imitates does not imitate this good part of the mind, nor does his artifice aim at pleasing it, if he is to win the admiration of a large audience.He is essentially associated with a irascible and volatile personality, because it is easy to imitate. G: That's pretty obvious. Su: At this point, we can capture the poet and put him and the painter side by side.This is very fair.For, like the painter, the poet works in low truth; because, like the painter, he works with the baser parts of the soul.We are therefore perfectly justified in refusing to admit poets into well-governed cities.For his effect is to excite, nurture, and strengthen the baser parts of the mind, and to destroy the rational ones, as in a city-state, political power is given to bad men to harm the good ones.We also want to say that imitative poets also establish an evil political system in everyone's mind, by creating an image far from the real, by flattering the one who can't distinguish between big and small, and says the same thing big and small again The irrational part.

G: Exactly. SOCRATES: But we have not yet charged poetry with the greatest crime.It even has a power to corrupt the best (with few exceptions).It's scary. G: It would be terrifying indeed if it had such power. Su: Please listen to me.Even the best of us love it, you know, when we hear Homer or some tragic poet imitate some hero suffer, lament or chant long, beat our own breast, sympathetically fervently Listen, fascinated.We shall applaud a good poet who can best move our feelings by this means. G: I know, that's right. SOCRATES: However, when we encounter misfortune in our own lives, you know, we turn around and take pride in being patient and calm, believing that's what it takes to be a man, and believing in what we used to do in the theater. The kind of behavior that is commendable is the behavior of a woman.

G: Yes, I know that too. SOCRATES: So, when we look at that character on the stage—we're ashamed to see ourselves like that—and praise it, do you think the praise is really right?Are we justified in liking and admiring this character and not loathing it? G: Honestly, it doesn't seem to make sense. SOCRATES: Especially if you think about it this way. G: How to think? Su: Please think about it as follows.On the stage the poet satisfies and panders to that part of our psyche (forcibly repressed in our own misfortune), that part of our nature that craves weeping for outlet.And the best part of our nature, because it has not been educated in reason or even in habit, has relaxed the supervision of crying.The reason: it is looking at another's misery, and there is nothing shameful in admiring and pitying another--a man who proclaims his own virtue and acts out extreme suffering.Besides, it considers that the happiness it has obtained is entirely a good thing, and it will certainly not agree to let this happiness be lost by opposing all poetry.For not many of us realize that the feeling of putting ourselves in another's place will inevitably affect our feeling for ourselves, and that the pity that is fattened on that occasion is not easily subdued when it comes to our own suffering.

① The rational part of the mind. G: Exactly right. SOCRATES: Doesn't this argument about pity also apply to comic laughter?Though you yourself are shy about making jokes, you find it a joy to watch a comedy show or even hear a slapstick joke in everyday conversation without finding it vulgar.Isn't that the same thing as pity for another's suffering?For here, too, that joking instinct of yours, which your reason, for fear of being seen as a clown, restrained you when you were tempted to try it, is worn thicker and thicker in the theatre, when you let it run its course.So you yourself are unknowingly becoming a gag in your private life.

G: Exactly. SOCRATES: Love and anger, and all the other desires and pleasures of the mind— We say that they are with all our actions—and so poetry does to us in imitating these emotions.Poetry waters and fertilizes these emotions when we should be allowing them to dry up and die.Poetry allows them to establish their dominion over us when we should rule over them so that we may live better and happier lives rather than worse and wretched. G: I have no objection. SOCRATES: Therefore, Glaucon, when you meet those who praise Homer, and hear them say that Homer was the educator of Greece, we should learn from him in the management of people's lives and education, and we should follow his teachings. Arrange our whole life, at this time, you must love and respect the people who say such things.Because their level of awareness is that high.You have to admit to them that Homer was indeed the best poet and the first tragedian.But you should know yourself that in fact we only admit to our city the hymns that sing the praises of the gods and praise good men.If you cross the line, into sweet lyric and epic, then pleasure and pain will be your rulers instead of law and rational principles, which are recognized as the best.

G: Exactly right. SOCRATES: At this point, let us conclude our work on revisiting poetry and further justification.Our claim is that, since this is the nature of poetry, we did have good reasons for expelling poetry from our country in the first place.It is the result of the argument that requires us to do so.Lest it accuse us of crudeness, let us tell it again that the quarrel between philosophy and poetry is ancient.For example, the "barking dog that barks at its master"; All claims are evidence of this.Nevertheless we affirm that if poetry and drama written for entertainment can justify their need in any well-governed city-state, we will gladly admit it.Because we ourselves can feel its allure for us.But it is sinful to betray what appears to be the truth.Do you say so, my friend?Don't you feel its allure yourself, especially when Homer himself is bewitching you?

① personification. "It" refers to poetry. ②The source of these words is unknown.The first and third sentences seem to be scolding poets, and the fourth sentence is satirizing philosophers. G: Exactly. SOCRATES: Then, when the poem has justified itself, either in lyric or in some other measure—can it justly return from exile? G: Of course. SOCRATES: We should probably also allow the advocates of poetry—who are not poets themselves but lovers of poetry—to make the case in blank prose that poetry is not only pleasant, but also a blessing to orderly government and people. beneficial to the whole life.Let us also listen well to their defenses, for if they can show that poetry is not only pleasant but also beneficial, we shall know clearly that poetry is to our advantage. G: How can we benefit? SOCRATES: But, my dear friends, if they cannot give a reason, we are only like those lovers who, however hard it may be, break away from love when they find it is against us.Though we have been educated by our good institutions to love this kind of poetry, we are glad to hear them give as strong a case as possible for its goodness and truth.But if they can't do this, we have to say our reasons to ourselves silently, as a mantra against the charm of poetry, so as to prevent ourselves from falling into the childish love of everyone.We have been taught that we must not take poetry too seriously as a serious thing grounded in truth.We also warn the hearers of poetry against its ill influence on the institutions of the mind, and ask them to follow the views we propose about poetry. ① Irony. G: I totally agree. SOCRATES: My dear Glaucon, this struggle is important.Its importance far exceeds our imagination.It is the key to determine a person's good and evil.Therefore, honor, riches, power, and poetry must not induce us to treat justice and all virtues indifferently. G: From the arguments we have made, I agree with you on this conclusion.And I think others will agree with you. SOCRATES: But, you know, we haven't dealt with the greatest rewards and rewards that can be won for the highest good. G: You must be referring to something unimaginably large, if there is anything else bigger than what we've been talking about. SOCRATES: How can anything really big be produced in such a short period of time! Because a person's life time from childhood to old age must be very small compared with the overall time. G: Yeah, can't produce anything big. Su: So how?Do you think that an immortal thing should be related to such a short period of time, and not to the total time? G: I think it has to do with total time.But what do you mean by this immortal thing? SOCRATES: Don't you know that our souls are immortal? G: [looks at Socrates in surprise]: My God, I really don't know, but, are you going to claim that? SOCRATES: Yes, I should say so.I think you should claim the same.It's not difficult. G: This is very difficult for me.But I'd love to hear from you about this not-so-difficult proposition. Su: Please listen to me. G: Go ahead. S: Do you use the terms "good" and "evil"? G: I use it. SOCRATES: Do you understand them as I do? G: What do you understand? SOCRATES: Everything that can destroy and destroy is evil, and everything that can preserve and benefit is good. G: I agree. Su: What do you think?Does every thing have its own good and evil, such as inflammation of the eyes, disease of the whole body, mildew of grain, decay of trees, rust of copper and iron?As I see it, virtually everything has its inherent evil or disease, don't you think? Greg: Yes. SOCRATES: Then, when a kind of evil happens to a thing, does it not make the whole thing also evil, and finally collapse and perish? G: Of course. S: Then it is the evil or disease peculiar to each thing that destroys that thing.If it cannot destroy the thing, nothing else can destroy it.For the good obviously never destroys anything, and the middle, which is neither good nor evil, destroys anything. G: Of course not. SOCRATES: Then, if we find something which, though it has an evil which injures it, cannot disintegrate it, we shall know that things possessing this natural quality must be indestructible.right? G: It seems so. Sue: So how?Is there anything that makes the heart evil? G: Indeed.Everything we have just listed: injustice, intemperance, cowardice, ignorance. SOCRATES: Does any of these disintegrate and destroy the mind?Be careful not to think wrongly, and not to say that an unjust fool caught doing something wrong is ruined by injustice. (Injustice is the evil proper to the mind.) We would rather say: Just as it is the evil proper to the body (which is disease) that weakens and destroys the body so that it is no longer a body, so in all the examples we have enumerated Here, to be born into a thing and remain in that thing has the effect of destroying it, so that it ceases to be that thing, is a proper evil.Is that right? G: That's right. SOCRATES: Come on, then, let us discuss the mind in the same way.Can injustice and other inward evils destroy and destroy the mind by its inward and upward ways, till it dies and separates it from the body? G: Not at all. SOCRATES: But it is certainly unreasonable to think that a thing can be destroyed by the evil of other things, but not by its own evil. G: It makes no sense. SOCRATES: Because, O Glaucon, beware, we shall not hold it true that the human body is destroyed by the evils of food—whether mold or rot or whatever.Although we would say that the body is "destroyed" by its own evil, i.e. disease, "because of" these foods when the evils of food cause diseases in the human body, we would never think that the body (as a thing) could Destroyed by the evil of food (as another thing), a foreign evil (not causing bodily disease). G: You are quite right. SOCRATES: In the same way, if the evil of the body cannot produce the evil of the soul in the soul, we shall never be able to believe that the soul can be destroyed by a foreign evil (an evil separate from the soul itself), that is, a thing is destroyed by the evil of other things. perish. G: That's very reasonable. SOCRATES: We must therefore refute the following argument and point out its error.Or, if we do not refute it, we must always insist that fever or other disease, killing or dismembering the body can kill the soul-this statement does not seem to have more reason, unless someone It can be shown that the soul can be made more unjust or more evil by these sufferings of the body.We cannot admit that neither the soul nor anything else can be destroyed by having the evil of other things with it (without its own evil). G: In any case, no one can prove that the soul of a dying man can be rendered more unjust by death. SOCRATES: But if anyone dares to insist on this point, in order not to be compelled to admit the immortality of the soul, he says: a dying man becomes worse and more unjust.Then we shall still maintain that, if his words be true, injustice is as fatal to the unjust as disease is to death.If injustice naturally kills the unjust, then those infected with injustice will die of injustice, the most unjust will die the fastest, and the less unjust will die more slowly .But in reality, the unjust die not from injustice, but from the punishment imposed by others for committing bad deeds. G: Exactly.If injustice were fatal to the unjust, it would not appear to be a terrible thing in the end, because (if it were) it would be a thing that can kill evil.I would rather think that it would show just the opposite, that it is a thing that (if possible) kills, a thing that does keep the unjust alive. —not only keep him alive, but, I think, give him great vigor as it separates from fatality. Sue: You are quite right.If the proper disease and the proper evil cannot kill and destroy the soul, much less can an evil which is designed to destroy anything else but that which it is designed to destroy. G: It seems that it is even more impossible. SOCRATES: Since no evil—either peculiar or foreign—can destroy it, it follows that it must exist eternally.Since it is eternal, it must be immortal. G: Must be immortal. SOCRATES: Let us settle down at this point.Again, if this is settled, then you will see that the soul is always like this.Souls can neither diminish, for none of them can perish.Likewise, there will be no increase.For, if the immortal things can increase, you know, something must change from the mortal to the immortal, and consequently everything will be immortal. G: You're right. Su: We must not have this idea, because it is beyond the permission of reason.We must also not believe that the soul is really essentially a thing that has many differences, unlikenesses, and contradictions within it. G: How should I understand your words? SOCRATES: It is not easy for a thing to be immortal if it is composed of many parts and is not optimally organized, as we see the soul today. G: It seems that it is indeed not easy. SOCRATES: So the argument just now and others* presumably compel us to admit the immortality of the soul.But, in order to know the soul as it is, we must not observe it, as we do now, with the body or other evils mixed with it.We must, with the aid of reason, see fully what it is like in its pure state.Then you will find it much more beautiful, and justice and injustice and all that we have just discussed will be more clearly discerned.However, although we have just mentioned the "true" state of the soul that is currently seen, what we see is still like the statue of Glaucus, the sea god. Its true appearance is not so easy to see at a glance. Just like the true face of Poseidon is no longer easy to see: The parts of his original limbs had been washed away by the seawater for many years, and his body was covered with shells, seaweed, stones, etc., so that the original shape was lost, and he looked more like a monster.This is how we see the soul spoiled by countless evils.Glaucon, we must look elsewhere. G: Where? ① Other arguments can be found in "Phaedo" and "Phaedro". Su: Its part of loving wisdom.Imagine how long it, by virtue of its near kinship with divine, immortal, and eternal things, can allow itself to communicate with them, to comprehend them.Imagine, again, if it could be fully obeyed by this power, and rise up from the sea where it is now sunk, if it could remove the stones and shells from its body-for it is by these things that are believed to bring happiness. Worldly things live, so they are covered with a lot of barbaric worldly things. —what can it become.At this point one can presumably see the soul as it really is, whether its form is complex or singular or whatever it may be.So far, however, I think we have described clearly enough the feelings and forms of the soul in earthly life. G: Exactly. SOCRATES: So we have satisfied the other requirements of the argument.We do not pray for the rewards and fame of justice, as you say Hesiod and Homer did, but we have proved that justice itself is best for the soul itself.A man ought to be just, whether he has the ring of Gyges and the cap of invisibility of Hades. ③ ①363B-C. ②Below 359D; 367E. ③ "Iliad" V845. G: You are quite right. SOCRATES: So, Glaucon, if we now give justice and other virtues all kinds of rewards, and let people receive them from the hands of men and gods in life and after death for justice and virtue. Can there be any more objections? G: There will definitely not be any more. SOCRATES: So, will you give me back what you borrowed during the discussion? G: What does that mean? SOCRATES: I have allowed you to say that the just is considered unjust, and the unjust is considered just.For then you think that although these things are in fact hidden from God and man, yet, for the sake of discussion, concessions should be made, in order to determine the real justice and the real injustice.do not you remember? G: Repudiation is not fair. SOCRATES: Now that justice and injustice have been judged, I ask you to return to justice the honor it has received from men and gods, and I ask that we all agree that it should be regarded as such, in order to believe that it can give back to justice the prize won by being held just. Gather it up and give it to those who have justice, since our discussion has proved that it bestows the benefits of goodness to those who have really sought and obtained it without deceiving them. G: That's a fair request. SOCRATES: God, then, is not in fact ignorant of the nature of the just or the unjust. —Isn’t this the first thing you want to return? G: We return this. SOCRATES: Since they cannot hide it, one kind of people will be loved by God, and the other kind of people will be hated by God. —We have agreed on this from the very beginning. ① See "Phileb" chapter 39E. ② See 352B. G: That's right. Su: Again, we must all believe that everything from God will benefit the person loved by God to the greatest possible extent, unless he must be punished for his past sins.right? G: Of course. SOCRATES: We must therefore be convinced that whether poverty, disease, or other misfortunes befall a just man, all these misfortunes will in the end prove to be good for him, both in life and after death.For a man who is willing and eager to pursue justice, and practice godlike virtues within human reach, is one whom God must never overlook. Ge: Since such people are like gods, they should not be ignored by gods. SOCRATES: Shouldn't we think otherwise about the unjust? G: Of course. SOCRATES: These are, therefore, the prizes of victory that God gives to the just. G: At least I think so. SOCRATES: But what does a just man get from the world?If truth be told, is it not the case as follows?The cunning and unjust man is like the runner who is fast in the first half of the track and fails in the second half. Yeah?They started fast, but by the end they were exhausted, and they were jeered and booed at the end, without prizes.Real athletes can run to the finish line, get prizes and crowns.Is not this always the end of the just man: in every act of his, his dealings with men, and his life, he always finds in the end honor and prizes from men? G: Exactly. SOCRATES: Will you permit me, therefore, to restore now to the just those benefits which you have called the unjust?Because I want to say that as the righteous grow older, as long as they want to, they can govern their own country. What was said to be the unjust, now I say all the benefits of the just.I will also speak of the unjust.Even if they were not detected in youth, most of them will be caught and ridiculed at the end of their lives, and their old age will be miserable, reviled by foreigners and their own countrymen alike.They shall be flogged, and all those punishments that you rightly call barbaric, tortured, branded.Pretend you have heard me tell you all that has happened to them.However, please consider whether you should be patient and listen to me finish it. ① See 361E. G: Of course.For your word is just. SOCRATES: These are the prizes, salaries, and gifts (besides the benefits of justice itself) that the just man receives from gods and men while he is alive. G: That's some nice solid pay. SOCRATES: But these things are nothing in number and quantity compared with what awaits the just and the unjust after death.You must hear a story of these two kinds of men, so that each may receive all the retribution that we argue is due to him. G: Go ahead.Few things please me more than this. Socrates: The story I want to tell is not as long as Odysseus told Alcenus, but it is also a story about the warrior.The name of this warrior was Eros, son of Arminius, and of the race of Pamphyria.In a battle he was killed.Ten days after his death, the body was found and brought home.On the twelfth day there was a funeral. ① See the epic "Odyssey" ix-xii.Odysseus used such a long story to tell Alcenus, king of Phaecia, about his experience of distress.This story later became synonymous with the long story. ②The word ηρω, which has a similar pronunciation to Eros'Hρo, means "hero" or "warrior". When he was put on the funeral pyre, he was resurrected.After his resurrection, he told what he saw in another world.He said that when his spirit left his body, he traveled with the ghosts of the others.They came to a strange place.There are two side-by-side openings in the ground.Opposite these two openings, there are also two openings in the sky.The judges sit between heaven and earth.Every time they judged a person, the just one was ordered to ascend to heaven from the right, with the certificate of judgment on his chest;Eros said that when he approached by himself, the judge assigned him a task of delivering news to humans, asking him to tell humans what happened in that world, and told him to listen carefully and watch what happened here.So he saw that after the verdict was passed, the ghosts left one after another, some went to the entrance of the sky and some went to the entrance of the earth.At the same time, there are also ghosts coming up from the entrance of another cave, full of wind and dust, describing it as filthy, and ghosts coming down from the entrance of another sky, clean and pure.The ghosts that kept coming looked as if they had traveled a long way and were now happy to come to a meadow and pitch their tents for the festival.They met acquaintances and greeted each other.Those who come from the underground ask about the other party's situation in the sky, and those who come from the sky ask about the other party's situation underground.They narrated their experiences to each other.Those who went down recounted the pain and things they saw during their underground journey (one trip lasted a thousand years).As they talked, they lamented and wept bitterly.Those who came from heaven described the extraordinary beauty and happiness they saw in heaven.Glaucon, it will take us a long time to tell all this.In short, Eros told people that every bad deed done to others in life will be punished tenfold after death. That is to say, he is punished once every hundred years, and a person counts a hundred years as one life, so the punishment he receives is ten times that of sin.Suppose, for example, that a man has caused many deaths, or has surrendered to the enemy in war, and made others captives and slaves, or has participated in any other evil deeds, he must suffer ten times as much for each evil. retribution.Likewise, if a man does good deeds, he will be rewarded tenfold for the sake of justice and piety.Eros also speaks of infants who die soon after birth or live only a short time, but these are not worthy of my repetition.Eros also described that those who worshiped the gods and honored their parents received greater rewards, and those who blasphemed the gods, disobeyed their parents and murdered people received greater punishment.For example, he told people that he had seen someone ask, "Where is Artiaios the Great?" .According to legend, he killed his old father and his brother, among other evil things.So the man who answered the question said: "He has not come here, and probably never will. For this is indeed one of the dreadful things that have ever happened to us. When we came to the mouth of the cave When they came out of the cave, and their suffering was at an end, they suddenly saw him, and some others. Almost most of them were tyrants, though a few were guilty of great crimes in private life. When such people thought that they would finally pass through the cave And when it comes out, the hole will not accept it. There is a roar at the entrance of the cave when those who are unpardonable or who have not yet been punished try to get out of the cave.There were fierce-looking men guarding the hole, who could understand the roar. So they caught some of them and took them away.And some, like Artiaios, they bound them hand, foot, head, and neck, and cast them on the ground, and flayed them, and dragged them along the roadside, and beat them with thorns.At the same time, he told the people who passed by from time to time why these people were tortured in this way, and that they were still thrown into the dungeon of Tartarus. "He said that although they encountered many kinds of terrible things at that time, the most terrifying thing was that they were worried about hearing the roar from the hole when they wanted to go out. If there was no roar when they came out, they would be most fortunate. Judgment and punishment As mentioned above, the rewards for the righteous are the opposite. But groups of people stayed in the pasture for seven days, and on the eighth day they were asked to go on the road. After walking for four days, they came to a place. From here they could see a straight beam of light penetrating heaven and earth from top to bottom. The end of the descending ray. This pillar of light is the pivot of the heavens, like the keel of a ship, holding together the whole revolving bowl-shaped arch. The spindle of "necessity" that moves all spherical celestial bodies is suspended from the ray. The end. The pillar of light and the hook at its upper end are of fine iron, and the round arch is of alloy of fine iron and other substances. The characteristics of the round arch are as follows: It is shaped like the round arch of the world, but according to Eros' description, we must imagine The outermost one is a large hollow circular arch. From the outside to the inside, the second arch is smaller than the first one and fits right into it. The middle of the second one is also empty, and the space just fits the third one. The third one One inside a fourth, and so on, until finally the eighth, like a set of matching bowls. Since all eight bowl-shaped arches fit each other inside and outside, their edges are the same when viewed from above. They are circular, so they form a single circular arch continuous surface around the beam of light, and the beam of light passes straight through the center of the eighth bowl arch. The outermost bowl arch has the widest bowl edge, and the second widest bowl edge is The sixth is the fourth, the eighth, the seventh, the fifth, the third, and the narrowest is the second. The color of the outermost bowl is complex and diverse; The seventh side is the brightest; the eighth side reflects the light of the seventh and is the same color as it; The second and fifth sides are the same color as each other, but yellower than the first two; the third side is the whitest; the fourth side is slightly reddish; the sixth side is the second whitest.The whole spindle system is one movement when it rotates; but within this whole movement, the seven layers inside rotate slowly, and the direction is opposite to the whole movement; the eighth layer moves the fastest; the seventh, sixth, and fifth Rotate together with each other, and move second fastest; the fourth layer with the phenomenon of returning to the original place appears to them to move at the third speed; the third layer has the fourth speed; the second layer has the fifth speed. ① ①This is Plato's conception of the universe: (1) Ancient Greek spindle (schematic diagram) (2) Diagram of the edges of each circle of the arch (viewed from above) The whole spindle spins on the lap of Necessity.Standing on the edge of each bowl arch is a sea female song demon, ① turning together, each making a sound, and the eight sounds combine to form a harmonious tone.There are also three goddesses, about equal distances apart, seated in their seats in a circle.他们是“必然”的女儿，“命运”三女神②，身着白袍头束发带。她们分别名叫拉赫西斯、克洛索、阿特洛泊斯，和海妖们合唱着。拉赫西斯唱过去的事，克洛索唱当前的事，阿特洛泊斯唱将来的事。克洛索右手不时接触纺锤外面，帮它转动；阿特洛泊斯用左手以同样动作帮助内面转；拉赫西斯两手交替着两面帮转。 ①αUJιρLJ，用歌声诱杀航海者的女妖。在荷马史诗中是两人，在柏拉图笔下是八人。这里无妖精害人之意。 ②αOBραι（Fates），“命运”三女神。拉赫西斯决定人的命运。克洛索在三姊妹中年最长，为纺生命之线者。阿特洛泊斯年最幼，被叫做“不可逆转的阿特洛泊斯”。 当厄洛斯一行的灵魂到达这里时，他们直接走到拉赫西斯面前。这时有一个神使出来指挥他们排成次序和间隔，然后从拉赫西斯膝上取下阄和生活模式，登上一座高坛宣布道： “请听'必然'的闺女拉赫西斯如下的神意：'诸多一日之魂，你们包含死亡的另一轮回的新生即将开始了。不是神决定你们的命运，是你们自己选择命运。谁拈得第一号，谁就第一个挑选自己将来必须度过的生活。美德任人自取。每个人将来有多少美德，全看他对它重视到什么程度。过错由选择者自己负责，与神无涉。'”说完，神使把阄撒到他们之间。每个灵魂就近拾起一阄。厄洛斯除外，神不让他拾取。拾得的人看清自己抽得的号码。接着神使把生活模式放在他们面前的地上，数目比在场人数多得多。模式各种各样，有各种动物的生活和各种人的生活。其中有僭主的生活。僭主也有终身在位的，也有中途垮台因而受穷的，被放逐的或成乞丐的。还有男女名人的荣誉生活，其中有因貌美的，有因体壮的，有因勇武的，有因父母高贵的，有靠祖先福荫的。还有在这些方面有坏名声的男人和女人的生活。灵魂的状况是没有选择的，因为不同生活的选择必然决定了不同的性格。而其它的事物在选定的生活中则都是不同程度地相互混合着的，和富裕或贫穷、疾病或健康，以及各种程度的中间状况混合着的。亲爱的格劳孔，这个时刻看来对于一个人是一切都在危险中的。这就是为什么我们每个人都宁可轻视别的学习而应当首先关心寻师访友，请他们指导我们辨别善的生活和恶的生活，随时随地选取尽可能最善的生活的缘故。我们应当对我们所讨论的这一切加以计算，估价它们（或一起或分别地）对善的生活的影响；了解美貌而又贫困或富裕，或，美貌结合着各种心灵习惯，对善或恶有什么影响；了解出身贵贱、社会地位，职位高低、体质强弱、思想敏捷或迟钝，以及一切诸如此类先天的或后得的心灵习惯——彼此联系着——又有什么影响。考虑了所有这一切之后一个人就能目光注视着自己灵魂的本性，把能使灵魂的本性更不正义的生活名为较恶的生活，把能使灵魂的本性更正义的生活名为较善的生活，因而能在较善的生活和较恶的生活之间作出合乎理性的抉择。其余一切他应概不考虑，因为我们已经知道，无论对于生时还是死后这都是最好的选择。人死了也应当把这个坚定不移的信念带去冥间，让他即使在那里也可以不被财富或其它诸如此类的恶所迷惑，可以不让自己陷入僭主的暴行或其它许多诸如此类的行为并因而受更大的苦，可以知道在这类事情方面如何在整个的今生和所有的来世永远选择中庸之道而避免两种极端。因为这是一个人的最大幸福之所在。 据厄洛斯告诉我们，神使在把生活模式让大家选择之前布告大家：“即使是最后一个选择也没关系，只要他的选择是明智的他的生活是努力的，仍然有机会选到能使他满意的生活。愿第一个选择者审慎对待，最后一个选择者不要灰心。”神使说完，拈得第一号的灵魂走上来选择。他挑了一个最大僭主的生活。他出于愚蠢和贪婪作了这个选择，没有进行全面的考察，因此没有看到其中还包含着吃自己孩子等等可怕的命运在内。等定下心来一细想，他后悔了。于是捶打自己的胸膛，号啕痛哭。他忘了神使的警告：不幸是自己的过错。他怪命运和神等等，就是不怨自己。这是一个在天上走了一趟的灵魂，他的前世生活循规蹈矩。但是他的善是由于风俗习惯而不是学习哲学的结果。确实，广而言之，凡是受了这种诱惑的人大多数来自天上，没有吃过苦头，受过教训；而那些来自地下的灵魂不但自己受过苦也看见别人受过苦，就不会那么匆忙草率地作出选择了。大多数灵魂的善恶出现互换，除了拈阄中的偶然性之外，这也是一个原因。我们同样可以确信，凡是在人间能忠实地追求智慧，拈阄时又不是拈得最后一号的话，——如果这里所讲的故事可信的话——这样的人不仅今生今世可以期望得到快乐，死后以及再回到人间来时走的也会是一条平坦的天国之路，而不是一条崎岖的地下之路。 厄洛斯告诉我们，某些灵魂选择自己的生活是很值得一看的，其情景是可惊奇的、可怜的而又可笑的。他们的选择大部分决定于自己前生的习性。例如他看见俄尔菲①的灵魂选取了天鹅的生活。他死于妇女之手，因而恨一切妇女而不愿再生于妇女。赛缪洛斯②的灵魂选择了夜莺的生活。也有天鹅夜莺等歌鸟选择人的生活的。第二十号灵魂选择了雄狮的生活，那是特拉蒙之子阿雅斯的灵魂。他不愿变成人，因为他不能忘记那次关于阿克琉斯的武器归属的裁判③。接着轮到阿加门农。他也由于自己受的苦难而怀恨人类④，因此选择鹰的生活。选择进行到大约一半时轮到阿泰兰泰⑤。她看到做一个运动员的巨大荣誉时不禁选择了运动员的生活。在她之后是潘诺佩俄斯之子厄佩俄斯⑥，他愿投生为一有绝巧技术的妇女。 在远远的后边，滑稽家赛尔息特斯⑦的灵魂正在给自己套上一个猿猴的躯体。拈阄的结果拿到最后一号，最后一个来选择的竟是奥德修斯⑧的灵魂。由于没有忘记前生的辛苦劳累，他已经抛弃了雄心壮志。他花了很多时间走过各处，想找一种只须关心自己事务的普通公民的生活。他好不容易发现了这个模式。它落在一个角落里没有受到别人的注意。他找到它时说，即使抽到第一号，他也会同样很乐意地选择这一生活模式。同样，还有动物变成人的，一种动物变成另一种动物的。 不正义的变成野性的动物，正义的变成温驯的动物，以及一切混合的和联合的变化。 ①'OρψJH′，宗教歌唱家。死于酒神崇拜者的一群妇女之手。 ②VαμH′ρα，另一宗教歌唱家，由于向缪斯挑战比赛唱歌，结果失败，被罚成了瞎子，并被剥夺了歌唱的天赋。参见《伊里亚特》ii，595。 ③W'C′α，见索福克勒斯悲剧《阿雅斯》。 ④史诗《伊里亚特》中希腊远征军统帅。出征之初被迫以女儿祭神。战争结束回国，自己又被妻所杀。 ⑤阿卡底亚公主。是优秀的女猎手。传说向她求婚的人得和她赛跑，输给她的就得被杀。 ⑥'EπJlo，是著名的特洛亚木马的制造者。 ⑦VJρσC′Eη，参见《伊里亚特》ii，212以下。 ⑧史诗《奥德修纪》的主人翁。 总之，当所有的灵魂已经按照号码次序选定了自己的生活时，他们列队走到拉赫西斯跟前。她便给每个灵魂派出一个监护神①，以便引领他们度过自己的一生完成自己的选择。监护神首先把灵魂领到克洛索处，就在她的手下方在纺锤的旋转中批准了所选择的命运。跟她接触之后，监护神再把灵魂引领到阿特洛泊斯旋转纺锤的地方，使命运之线不可更改。然后每个灵魂头也不回地从“必然”的宝座下走过。一个灵魂过来了，要等所有其他的灵魂都过来了，才大家再一起上路。从这里他们走到勒塞②的平原，经过了可怕的闷热，因为这里没有树木和任何的植物。傍晚他们宿营于阿米勒斯河③畔，它的水没有任何瓶子可盛。他们全都被要求在这河里喝规定数量的水，而其中一些没有智慧帮助的人便饮得超过了这个标准数量。一喝这水他们便忘了一切。他们睡着了。到了半夜，便可听到雷声隆隆，天摇地动。所有的灵魂便全被突然抛起，象流星四射，向各方散开去重新投生。厄洛斯本身则被禁止喝这河的水，但他说不知道自己是怎样回到自己肉体的。他只知道，自己睁开眼睛时，天已亮了，他正躺在火葬的柴堆上。 ①个人命运之神。 ②Xθη，“忘记”女神。 ③'AμD′Aη，冥国一河名，意为“疏忽”。在后世文学作品中就被叫作勒塞（“忘记”）之河了，如《伊涅阿斯纪》vi，714以下。 格劳孔啊，这个故事就这样被保存了下来，没有亡佚。如果我们相信它，它就能救助我们，我们就能安全地渡过勒塞之河，而不在这个世上玷污了我们的灵魂。不管怎么说，愿大家相信我如下的忠言：灵魂是不死的，它能忍受一切恶和善。 让我们永远坚持走向上的路，追求正义和智慧。这样我们才可以得到我们自己的和神的爱，无论是今世活在这里还是在我们死后（象竞赛胜利者领取奖品那样）得到报酬的时候。我们也才可以诸事顺遂，无论今世在这里还是将来在我们刚才所描述的那一千年的旅程中。