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Phaedo |

| ## The Death Scene ### 115b-118a |
115b | When he had done speaking, Crito said: And have you any | ##### Jowett's Notes
| commands for us, Socrates--anything to say about your |
| children, or any other matter in which we can serve you? |
| ##### The setting is the Jail in the Agora Full View Athens (207K) Artist: Ru Dien-Jen |
| Nothing particular, he said: only, as I have always told you, |
| I would have you look to yourselves; that is a service which |
| you may always be doing to me and mine as well as to |
| yourselves. And you need not make professions; for if you |
| take no thought for yourselves, and walk not according to the |
| precepts which I have given you, not now for the first time, |
115c | the warmth of your professions will be of no avail. |
| ##### Ruins of the Jail Photo: Steven S. Tigner |
| We will do our best, said Crito. But in what way would you |
| have us bury you? |
| In any way that you like; only you must get hold of me, and |
| take care that I do not walk away from you. Then he |
| turned to us, and added with a smile: I cannot make Crito |
| believe that I am the same Socrates who have been talking |
| and conducting the argument; he fancies that I am the other |
| Socrates whom he will soon see, a dead body--and he asks, |
115d | How shall he bury me? And though I have spoken many |
| words in the endeavor to show that when I have drunk the |
| poison I shall leave you and go to the joys of the blessed -- |
| these words of mine, with which I comforted you and myself, |
| have had, I perceive, no effect upon Crito. And therefore I |
| want you to be surety for me now, as he was surety for me |
| at the trial: but let the promise be of another sort; for he |
| was my surety to the judges that I would remain, but you |
| must be my surety to him that I shall not remain, but go away |
115e | and depart; and then he will suffer less at my death, and not |
| Thus we lay out Socrates, or, Thus we follow him to the |
| grave or bury him; for false words are not only evil in |
| themselves, but they infect the soul with evil. Be of good |
| cheer, then, my dear Crito, and say that you are burying |
| my body only, and do with that as is usual, and as you |
116a | think best. |
| When he had spoken these words, he arose and went into |
| the bath chamber with Crito, who bade us wait; and we |
| waited, talking and thinking of the subject of discourse, |
| and also of the greatness of our sorrow; he was like a father |
| of whom we were being bereaved, and we were about to |
| pass the rest of our lives as orphans. When he had taken |
| ##### Ruins of the Well Where Prisoners Bathed Photo: Steven S. Tigner |
116b | the bath his children were brought to him--(he had two young | He takes leave of
| sons and an elder one); and the women of his family also | his family.
| came, and he talked to them and gave them a few directions |
| in the presence of Crito; and he then dismissed them and |
| returned to us. |
| Now the hour of sunset was near, for a good deal of time |
| had passed while he was within. When he came out, he |
| sat down with us again after his bath, but not much was said. |
| Soon the jailer, who was the servant of the Eleven, entered | The humanity of the
116c | and stood by him, saying: To you, Socrates, whom I know | jailer.
| to be the noblest and gentlest and best of all who ever |
| came to this place, I will not impute the angry feelings of |
| other men, who rage and swear at me when, in obedience to |
| the authorities, I bid them drink the poison--indeed, I am |
| sure that you will not be angry with me; for others, as you |
| are aware, and not I, are the guilty cause. And so fare you |
| well, and try to bear lightly what must needs be; you know |
116d | my errand. Then bursting into tears he turned away and |
| went out. |
| Socrates looked at him and said: I return your good wishes, |
| and will do as you bid. Then, turning to us, he said, How |
| charming the man is: since I have been in prison he has always |
| been coming to see me, and at times he would talk to me, |
| and was as good to me as could be, and now see how |
| generously he sorrows for me. But we must do as he says, |
| Crito; let the cup be brought, if the poison is prepared: if |
| not, let the attendant prepare some. |
116e | Yet, said Crito, the sun is still upon the hilltops, and many | Crito would detain
| a one has taken the draught late, and after the announcement | Socrates a little
| has been made to him, he has eaten and drunk, and indulged | while.
| in sensual delights; do not hasten then, there is still time. |
| Socrates said: Yes, Crito, and they of whom you speak are |
| right in doing thus, for they think that they will gain by the | Socrates thinks that
| delay; but I am right in not doing thus, for I do not think that | there is nothing to be
117a | I should gain anything by drinking the poison a little later; | gained by delay.
| I should be sparing and saving a life which is already gone: I |
| could only laugh at myself for this. Please then to do as I |
| say, and not to refuse me. |
| Crito, when he heard this, made a sign to the servant, and the |
| servant went in, and remained for some time, and then |
| returned with the jailer carrying a cup of poison. Socrates |
| said: You, my good friend, who are experienced in these |
| matters, shall give me directions how I am to proceed. The |
| ##### Pharmaceutical Vials Used for Preparing Hemlock Photo: Steven S. Tigner |
117b | man answered: You have only to walk about until your legs |
| are heavy, and then to lie down, and the poison will act. At |
| the same time he handed the cup to Socrates, who in the |
| easiest and gentlest manner, without the least fear or change |
| of color or feature, looking at the man with all his eyes, |
| Echecrates, as his manner was, took the cup and said: What |
| do you say about making a libation out of this cup to any |
| god? May I, or not? The man answered: We only prepare, |
| Socrates, just so much as we deem enough. I understand, |
| he said: yet I may and must pray to the gods to prosper my |
| journey from this to that other world--may this, then, which |
| is my prayer, be granted to me. Then holding the cup to his |
| lips, quite readily and cheerfully he drank off the poison. |
| And hitherto most of us had been able to control our sorrow; |
| but now when we saw him drinking, and saw too that he |
| had finished the draught, we could no longer forbear, and |
| in spite of myself my own tears were flowing fast; so that |
| I covered my face and wept over myself, for certainly I was |
116d | not weeping over him, but at the thought of my own calamity |
| in having lost such a companion. Nor was I the first, for |
| Crito, when he found himself unable to restrain his tears, had |
| got up and moved away, and I followed; and at that moment. |
| Apollodorus, who had been weeping all the time, broke out |
| a loud cry which made cowards of us all. Socrates alone |
117e | in retained his calmness: What is this strange outcry? he said. |
| I sent away the women mainly in order that they might not |
| offend in this way, for I have heard that a man should die |
| in peace. Be quiet, then, and have patience. |
| When we heard that, we were ashamed, and refrained our |
| tears; and he walked about until, as he said, his legs began to |
| fail, and then he lay on his back, according to the directions, |
| and the man who gave him the poison now and then looked |
| at his feet and legs; and after a while he pressed his foot |
118a | hard and asked him if he could feel; and he said, no; and then |
| his leg, and so upwards and upwards, and showed us that he |
| was cold and stiff. And he felt them himself, and said: When |
| the poison reaches the heart, that will be the end. He was |
| beginning to grow cold about the groin, when he uncovered |
| his face, for he had covered himself up, and said (they were |
| his last words)--he said: Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius; |
| will you remember to pay the debt? The debt shall be paid, |
| ##### Offering to Asclepius Photo: Steven S. Tigner |
| said Crito; is there anything else? There was no answer to |
| this question; but in a minute or two a movement was heard, |
| and the attendants uncovered him; his eyes were set, and |
| Crito closed his eyes and mouth. |
| Such was the end, Echecrates, of our friend, whom I may |
| truly call the wisest, and justest, and best of all the men |
| whom I have ever known. |
| ##### Ruins of Phaedo's House Photo: Steven S. Tigner |