ΦΑΙΔΩΝ
Benjamin Jowett
Plato · Benjamin Jowett
Narrator: PHAEDO of Elis, a student of Socrates, founder of philosophy school
Also present: WOMEN of Socrates’ household; APOLLODORUS, a constant companion of Socrates; SOPHRONISCUS and MENEXENUS, sons of Socrates; CRITOBULUS, son of Crito; Athenians AESCHINES, ANTISTHENES, CTESIPPUS, EPIGENES, HERMOGENES, MENEXENUS (son of Demophon); Theban PHAIDONDAS; Megarians EUCLIDES, TERPSION
Scene: a meeting of Phaedo and Echecrates in Phlius, a month after Socrates’ death / Socrates’ prison cell
The Phaedo recounts the last hours of Socrates, who, awaiting the cup of hemlock, spends his final day arguing for the immortality of the soul. Calm and even cheerful, he gives the famous definition of philosophy as a 'practice of death' — the lifelong freeing of the soul from the body — and offers a series of arguments that the soul, akin to the changeless Forms, cannot perish.
It is one of Plato's supreme achievements, weaving the theory of Forms, the doctrine of recollection, and the transmigration of souls into the moving drama of a good man's death. The dialogue closes with Socrates' serene last words and the narrator's verdict that he was the best and wisest of men.
From the Plato Scroll Encyclopedia · open this entry in the reader
Place of the narration: Phlius.
Echecrates: Were you yourself, Phaedo, in the prison with Socrates on the day when he drank the poison?
Phaedo: Yes, Echecrates, I was.
Echecrates: I should so like to hear about his death. What did he say in his last hours? We were informed that he died by taking poison, but no one knew anything more; for no Phliasian ever goes to Athens now, and it is a long time since any stranger from Athens has found his way hither; so that we had no clear account.
Phaedo: Did you not hear of the proceedings at the trial?
Echecrates: Yes; some one told us about the trial, and we could not understand why, having been condemned, he should have been put to death, not at the time, but long afterwards. What was the reason of this?
Phaedo: An accident, Echecrates: the stern of the ship which the Athenians send to Delos happened to have been crowned on the day before he was tried.
Echecrates: What is this ship?
Phaedo: It is the ship in which, according to Athenian tradition, Theseus went to Crete when he took with him the fourteen youths, and was the saviour of them and of himself. And they were said to have vowed to Apollo at the time, that if they were saved they would send a yearly mission to Delos. Now this custom still continues, and the whole period of the voyage to and from Delos, beginning when the priest of Apollo crowns the stern of the ship, is a holy season, during which the city is not allowed to be polluted by public executions; and when the vessel is detained by contrary winds, the time spent in going and returning is very considerable. As I was saying, the ship was crowned on the day before the trial, and this was the reason why Socrates lay in prison and was not put to death until long after he was condemned.
Echecrates: What was the manner of his death, Phaedo? What was said or done? And which of his friends were with him? Or did the authorities forbid them to be present — so that he had no friends near him when he died?
Phaedo: No; there were several of them with him.
Echecrates: If you have nothing to do, I wish that you would tell me what passed, as exactly as you can.
Phaedo: I have nothing at all to do, and will try to gratify your wish. To be reminded of Socrates is always the greatest delight to me, whether I speak myself or hear another speak of him.
Echecrates: You will have listeners who are of the same mind with you, and I hope that you will be as exact as you can.
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The Athenian who turned Socratic conversation into a written philosophy and founded the Academy.
Plato was born around 428 BCE into a wealthy and politically prominent Athenian family; through his mother Perictione the family traced kinship to the lawgiver Solon, and his relatives Critias and Charmides were among the oligarchs of the Thirty. A late tradition says his given name was Aristocles and that 'Plato' — from the word for 'broad' — was a nickname. He grew up during the long agony of the Peloponnesian War and came of age amid the violence and disillusion that followed Athens' defeat.
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