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Well, I said, I will tell you a tale; not one of the tales which
Odysseus tells to the hero Alcinous, yet this too is a tale of a hero,
Er the son of Armenius, a Pamphylian by birth. He was slain in battle,
and ten days afterwards, when the bodies of the dead were taken up
already in a state of corruption, his body was found unaffected by
decay, and carried away home to be buried. And on the twelfth day,
as he was lying on the funeral pile, he returned to life and told them
what he had seen in the other world. He said that when his soul left
the body he went on a journey with a great company, and that they came
to a mysterious place at which there were two openings in the earth;
they were near together, and over against them were two other openings
in the heaven above. In the intermediate space there were judges
seated, who commanded the just, after they had given judgment on
them and had bound their sentences in front of them, to ascend by
the heavenly way on the right hand; and in like manner the unjust were
bidden by them to descend by the lower way on the left hand; these
also bore the symbols of their deeds, but fastened on their backs.
He drew near, and they told him that he was to be the messenger who
would carry the report of the other world to men, and they bade him
hear and see all that was to be heard and seen in that place. Then
he beheld and saw on one side the souls departing at either opening of
heaven and earth when sentence had been given on them; and at the
two other openings other souls, some ascending out of the earth
dusty and worn with travel, some descending out of heaven clean and
bright. And arriving ever and anon they seemed to have come from a
long journey, and they went forth with gladness into the meadow, where
they encamped as at a festival; and those who knew one another
embraced and conversed, the souls which came from earth curiously
enquiring about the things above, and the souls which came from heaven
about the things beneath. And they told one another of what had
happened by the way, those from below weeping and sorrowing at the
remembrance of the things which they had endured and seen in their
journey beneath the earth (now the journey lasted a thousand years),
while those from above were describing heavenly delights and visions
of inconceivable beauty. The Story, Glaucon, would take too long to
tell; but the sum was this: --He said that for every wrong which
they had done to any one they suffered tenfold; or once in a hundred
years --such being reckoned to be the length of man's life, and the
penalty being thus paid ten times in a thousand years. If, for
example, there were any who had been the cause of many deaths, or
had betrayed or enslaved cities or armies, or been guilty of any other
evil behaviour, for each and all of their offences they received
punishment ten times over, and the rewards of beneficence and
justice and holiness were in the same proportion. I need hardly repeat
what he said concerning young children dying almost as soon as they
were born. Of piety and impiety to gods and parents, and of murderers,
there were retributions other and greater far which he described. He
mentioned that he was present when one of the spirits asked another,
'Where is Ardiaeus the Great?' (Now this Ardiaeus lived a thousand
years before the time of Er: he had been the tyrant of some city of
Pamphylia, and had murdered his aged father and his elder brother, and
was said to have committed many other abominable crimes.) The answer
of the other spirit was: 'He comes not hither and will never come. And
this,' said he, 'was one of the dreadful sights which we ourselves
witnessed. We were at the mouth of the cavern, and, having completed
all our experiences, were about to reascend, when of a sudden Ardiaeus
appeared and several others, most of whom were tyrants; and there were
also besides the tyrants private individuals who had been great
criminals: they were just, as they fancied, about to return into the
upper world, but the mouth, instead of admitting them, gave a roar,
whenever any of these incurable sinners or some one who had not been
sufficiently punished tried to ascend; and then wild men of fiery
aspect, who were standing by and heard the sound, seized and carried
them off; and Ardiaeus and others they bound head and foot and hand,
and threw them down and flayed them with scourges, and dragged them
along the road at the side, carding them on thorns like wool, and
declaring to the passers-by what were their crimes, and that they were
being taken away to be cast into hell.' And of all the many terrors
which they had endured, he said that there was none like the terror
which each of them felt at that moment, lest they should hear the
voice; and when there was silence, one by one they ascended with
exceeding joy. These, said Er, were the penalties and retributions,
and there were blessings as great.
Now when the spirits which were in the meadow had tarried seven
days, on the eighth they were obliged to proceed on their journey,
and, on the fourth day after, he said that they came to a place
where they could see from above a line of light, straight as a column,
extending right through the whole heaven and through the earth, in
colour resembling the rainbow, only brighter and purer; another
day's journey brought them to the place, and there, in the midst of
the light, they saw the ends of the chains of heaven let down from
above: for this light is the belt of heaven, and holds together the
circle of the universe, like the under-girders of a trireme. From
these ends is extended the spindle of Necessity, on which all the
revolutions turn. The shaft and hook of this spindle are made of
steel, and the whorl is made partly of steel and also partly of
other materials. Now the whorl is in form like the whorl used on
earth; and the description of it implied that there is one large
hollow whorl which is quite scooped out, and into this is fitted
another lesser one, and another, and another, and four others,
making eight in all, like vessels which fit into one another; the
whorls show their edges on the upper side, and on their lower side all
together form one continuous whorl. This is pierced by the spindle,
which is driven home through the centre of the eighth. The first and
outermost whorl has the rim broadest, and the seven inner whorls are
narrower, in the following proportions --the sixth is next to the
first in size, the fourth next to the sixth; then comes the eighth;
the seventh is fifth, the fifth is sixth, the third is seventh, last
and eighth comes the second. The largest (of fixed stars) is spangled,
and the seventh (or sun) is brightest; the eighth (or moon) coloured
by the reflected light of the seventh; the second and fifth (Saturn
and Mercury) are in colour like one another, and yellower than the
preceding; the third (Venus) has the whitest light; the fourth
(Mars) is reddish; the sixth (Jupiter) is in whiteness second. Now the
whole spindle has the same motion; but, as the whole revolves in one
direction, the seven inner circles move slowly in the other, and of
these the swiftest is the eighth; next in swiftness are the seventh,
sixth, and fifth, which move together; third in swiftness appeared
to move according to the law of this reversed motion the fourth; the
third appeared fourth and the second fifth. The spindle turns on the
knees of Necessity; and on the upper surface of each circle is a
siren, who goes round with them, hymning a single tone or note. The
eight together form one harmony; and round about, at equal
intervals, there is another band, three in number, each sitting upon
her throne: these are the Fates, daughters of Necessity, who are
clothed in white robes and have chaplets upon their heads, Lachesis
and Clotho and Atropos, who accompany with their voices the harmony of
the sirens --Lachesis singing of the past, Clotho of the present,
Atropos of the future; Clotho from time to time assisting with a touch
of her right hand the revolution of the outer circle of the whorl or
spindle, and Atropos with her left hand touching and guiding the inner
ones, and Lachesis laying hold of either in turn, first with one
hand and then with the other.
When Er and the spirits arrived, their duty was to go at once to
Lachesis; but first of all there came a prophet who arranged them in
order; then he took from the knees of Lachesis lots and samples of
lives, and having mounted a high pulpit, spoke as follows: 'Hear the
word of Lachesis, the daughter of Necessity. Mortal souls, behold a
new cycle of life and mortality. Your genius will not be allotted to
you, but you choose your genius; and let him who draws the first lot
have the first choice, and the life which he chooses shall be his
destiny. Virtue is free, and as a man honours or dishonours her he
will have more or less of her; the responsibility is with the
chooser --God is justified.' When the Interpreter had thus spoken he
scattered lots indifferently among them all, and each of them took
up the lot which fell near him, all but Er himself (he was not
allowed), and each as he took his lot perceived the number which he
had obtained. Then the Interpreter placed on the ground before them
the samples of lives; and there were many more lives than the souls
present, and they were of all sorts. There were lives of every
animal and of man in every condition. And there were tyrannies among
them, some lasting out the tyrant's life, others which broke off in
the middle and came to an end in poverty and exile and beggary; and
there were lives of famous men, some who were famous for their form
and beauty as well as for their strength and success in games, or,
again, for their birth and the qualities of their ancestors; and
some who were the reverse of famous for the opposite qualities. And of
women likewise; there was not, however, any definite character them,
because the soul, when choosing a new life, must of necessity become
different. But there was every other quality, and the all mingled with
one another, and also with elements of wealth and poverty, and disease
and health; and there were mean states also. And here, my dear
Glaucon, is the supreme peril of our human state; and therefore the
utmost care should be taken. Let each one of us leave every other kind
of knowledge and seek and follow one thing only, if peradventure he
may be able to learn and may find some one who will make him able to
learn and discern between good and evil, and so to choose always and
everywhere the better life as he has opportunity. He should consider
the bearing of all these things which have been mentioned severally
and collectively upon virtue; he should know what the effect of beauty
is when combined with poverty or wealth in a particular soul, and what
are the good and evil consequences of noble and humble birth, of
private and public station, of strength and weakness, of cleverness
and dullness, and of all the soul, and the operation of them when
conjoined; he will then look at the nature of the soul, and from the
consideration of all these qualities he will be able to determine
which is the better and which is the worse; and so he will choose,
giving the name of evil to the life which will make his soul more
unjust, and good to the life which will make his soul more just; all
else he will disregard. For we have seen and know that this is the
best choice both in life and after death. A man must take with him
into the world below an adamantine faith in truth and right, that
there too he may be undazzled by the desire of wealth or the other
allurements of evil, lest, coming upon tyrannies and similar
villainies, he do irremediable wrongs to others and suffer yet worse
himself; but let him know how to choose the mean and avoid the
extremes on either side, as far as possible, not only in this life but
in all that which is to come. For this is the way of happiness.
And according to the report of the messenger from the other world
this was what the prophet said at the time: 'Even for the last
comer, if he chooses wisely and will live diligently, there is
appointed a happy and not undesirable existence. Let not him who
chooses first be careless, and let not the last despair.' And when
he had spoken, he who had the first choice came forward and in a
moment chose the greatest tyranny; his mind having been darkened by
folly and sensuality, he had not thought out the whole matter before
he chose, and did not at first sight perceive that he was fated, among
other evils, to devour his own children. But when he had time to
reflect, and saw what was in the lot, he began to beat his breast
and lament over his choice, forgetting the proclamation of the
prophet; for, instead of throwing the blame of his misfortune on
himself, he accused chance and the gods, and everything rather than
himself. Now he was one of those who came from heaven, and in a former
life had dwelt in a well-ordered State, but his virtue was a matter of
habit only, and he had no philosophy. And it was true of others who
were similarly overtaken, that the greater number of them came from
heaven and therefore they had never been schooled by trial, whereas
the pilgrims who came from earth, having themselves suffered and
seen others suffer, were not in a hurry to choose. And owing to this
inexperience of theirs, and also because the lot was a chance, many of
the souls exchanged a good destiny for an evil or an evil for a
good. For if a man had always on his arrival in this world dedicated
himself from the first to sound philosophy, and had been moderately
fortunate in the number of the lot, he might, as the messenger
reported, be happy here, and also his journey to another life and
return to this, instead of being rough and underground, would be
smooth and heavenly. Most curious, he said, was the spectacle --sad
and laughable and strange; for the choice of the souls was in most
cases based on their experience of a previous life. There he saw the
soul which had once been Orpheus choosing the life of a swan out of
enmity to the race of women, hating to be born of a woman because they
had been his murderers; he beheld also the soul of Thamyras choosing
the life of a nightingale; birds, on the other hand, like the swan and
other musicians, wanting to be men. The soul which obtained the
twentieth lot chose the life of a lion, and this was the soul of
Ajax the son of Telamon, who would not be a man, remembering the
injustice which was done him the judgment about the arms. The next was
Agamemnon, who took the life of an eagle, because, like Ajax, he hated
human nature by reason of his sufferings. About the middle came the
lot of Atalanta; she, seeing the great fame of an athlete, was
unable to resist the temptation: and after her there followed the soul
of Epeus the son of Panopeus passing into the nature of a woman
cunning in the arts; and far away among the last who chose, the soul
of the jester Thersites was putting on the form of a monkey. There
came also the soul of Odysseus having yet to make a choice, and his
lot happened to be the last of them all. Now the recollection of
former tolls had disenchanted him of ambition, and he went about for a
considerable time in search of the life of a private man who had no
cares; he had some difficulty in finding this, which was lying about
and had been neglected by everybody else; and when he saw it, he
said that he would have done the had his lot been first instead of
last, and that he was delighted to have it. And not only did men
pass into animals, but I must also mention that there were animals
tame and wild who changed into one another and into corresponding
human natures --the good into the gentle and the evil into the savage,
in all sorts of combinations.
All the souls had now chosen their lives, and they went in the order
of their choice to Lachesis, who sent with them the genius whom they
had severally chosen, to be the guardian of their lives and the
fulfiller of the choice: this genius led the souls first to Clotho,
and drew them within the revolution of the spindle impelled by her
hand, thus ratifying the destiny of each; and then, when they were
fastened to this, carried them to Atropos, who spun the threads and
made them irreversible, whence without turning round they passed
beneath the throne of Necessity; and when they had all passed, they
marched on in a scorching heat to the plain of Forgetfulness, which
was a barren waste destitute of trees and verdure; and then towards
evening they encamped by the river of Unmindfulness, whose water no
vessel can hold; of this they were all obliged to drink a certain
quantity, and those who were not saved by wisdom drank more than was
necessary; and each one as he drank forgot all things. Now after
they had gone to rest, about the middle of the night there was a
thunderstorm and earthquake, and then in an instant they were driven
upwards in all manner of ways to their birth, like stars shooting.
He himself was hindered from drinking the water. But in what manner or
by what means he returned to the body he could not say; only, in the
morning, awaking suddenly, he found himself lying on the pyre.
And thus, Glaucon, the tale has been saved and has not perished, and
will save us if we are obedient to the word spoken; and we shall
pass safely over the river of Forgetfulness and our soul will not be
defiled. Wherefore my counsel is that we hold fast ever to the
heavenly way and follow after justice and virtue always, considering
that the soul is immortal and able to endure every sort of good and
every sort of evil. Thus shall we live dear to one another and to
the gods, both while remaining here and when, like conquerors in the
games who go round to gather gifts, we receive our reward. And it
shall be well with us both in this life and in the pilgrimage of a
thousand years which we have been describing.
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