Phaedrus — Plato

p. 226[Adeimantus agrees that* God cannot be changed by any external influence, and that he will not wish to change himself, for he is already perfect in virtue and beauty.] V Then, I said, my dear friend, let none of the poets tell us that "The gods, in the disguise of strangers, prowl about cities, having diverse forms ; " and let no one slander Proteus ^® and Thetis,^ neither let any one either in tragedy or any other kind of poetry, introduce Here disguised in the likeness of a priestess, — ** Asking an alms for the life-givin'^- daughters of the river Inachus ; " «'» let US have no more lies of that sort.

Neither must we have mothers under the influence of the poets scaring their children with abominable tales — "Of certain gods who go about by night in the likeness, as is said, of strangers from every land ; " let thenv beware lest they blaspheme against the gods, and at the same time make cowards of their children. That ought certainly to be prohibited, he said.

But still you may say that although God is himself unchangeable, he may take various forms in order to bewitch and deceive us. Suppose that, he replied.

Well, but can you imagine that God will be willing to lie, whether in word or action, by making a false representation ^ _ of himself? |g," I cannot say, he replied. [Adeimantus is made to see that " the superhuman and divine is absolutely incapable of falsehood ' * and agrees with Socrates that **God is perfectly simple and true both in deed and word ; he changes not ; he deceives not, either by dream or waking vision, by sign or word.*' The second rule then to which the poets must conform is that God is true.] i» See Euthydemus, note 19. *o Thetis (the'tfs): a sea-nymph, who, like Proteus, had the power of assuming any form. 3* Inachus (i^'n-a-kus).

THE REPUBLIC 22/

I \

BOOK III Such then, I said, are our principles of theology — ^some tales are to be told, and others are not to be told to our disciples from their youth upwards, if we mean them to I honor the gods and their parents, and to value friend- 3^" I ship with one^another. ^ ^ Yes ; and I think that our principles are right, he said. Well, I said, and if they are to be courageous, must they not learn, besides these, other lessons also, such as will have thi effect of taking away the fear. of death? Can any man be courageous who has the fear of death in him ? Certainly not, he said. And can he be fearless of death, or will he choose death in battle rather than defeat and slavery, who believes in the reality and the terror of the world below ? ^ Impossible. Then we must assume a control over this class of tales a3 well as over the others and beg the relators of them not simply to revile, but rather to ccanmend the world below. — [We must destroy such passages as the one in Homer where he attributes to the shade of Achilles in Hades these words : "I would rather be a serf on the land of a poor and portionless man than rule over all the dead who have come to naught ; ** and such verses as ** He feared lest the mansions grim and squalid which the gods abhor should be seen of mortals and immortals.'^] And we must beg Homer and the other poets not to be angry if we strike out these and similar passages, not because they are unpoetical, or unattractive to the popular ear, but because the greater the charm of them as poetry, the less are they meet for the ears of boys and men who are to be sons of freedom, and are to fear slavery more than death. Undoubtedly. Also we shall have to reject all the terrible and appalling > See Apology, note 23.

p. 228names which describe the world below — Cocytus and Styx,' ghosts under the earth, and sapless shades, and any other words of the same type, the very mention of which causes a shudder to pass through the inmost soul of him who hears them. I do not say that these tales may not have a use of some kind ; but there is a danger that the nerves of our guardians may become affected by them.

Cv I [The youth must learn to endure calmly any misfortune ' wnich may befall, even the death of relative or friend.] Reflect : our principle is that the good man will not consider death terrible to a good man. Yes ; that is our principle. And therefore he will not sorrow for his departed friend as though he had suffered anything terrible ? He will not.

Such an one, as we further maintain, is enough for himself and his own happiness, and therefore is least in need of other men. True, he said. And for this reason the loss of a son or brother, or the deprivation of fortune, is to him of all men least terrible. Assuredly. And th^efore he will be least likely to lament, and will bear with the greatest equanimity any misfortune of this sort which may befall him.

Yes, he will feel such a misfortune less than another. Then we shall be right in getting rid of the lamentations of famous men, and making them over to women (and not even to women who are good for anything), or to men of a 3^^" baser sort, that those who are being educated by us to ^^' be the defenders of their country may scorn to do the like. We shall be very right.

Then we will once more entreat Homer and the other poets not to depict Achilles, who is the son of a goddess,^ as first lying on his side, then on his back, and then on his face ; then « Cocytus (co-sy'tus) : the River of Wailing. Styx (styx) : the Hateful Both according to myth, rivers of the world below. ' See Apology, note 21.