Chapter XXVII.—Plato’s knowledge of the judgment.

And in the tenth book he plainly and manifestly wrote what he had learned from the prophets about the judgment, not as if he had learned it from them, but, on account of his fear of the Greeks, as if he had heard it from a man who had been slain in battle—for this story he thought fit to invent—and who, when he was about to be buried on the twelfth day, and was lying on the funeral pile, came to life again, and described the other world. The following are his very words:57    Plato, Rep., p. 615, [lib. x. p. 325. Ed. Bipont, 1785.] “For he said that he was present when one was asked by another person where the great Ardiæus was. This Ardiæus had been prince in a certain city of Pamphylia, and had killed his aged father and his elder brother, and done many other unhallowed deeds, as was reported. He said, then, that the person who was asked said: He neither comes nor ever will come hither. For we saw, among other terrible sights, this also. When we were close to the mouth [of the pit], and were about to return to the upper air, and had suffered everything else, we suddenly beheld both him and others likewise, most of whom were tyrants. But there were also some private sinners who had committed great crimes. And these, when they thought they were to ascend, the mouth would not permit, but bellowed when any of those who were so incurably wicked attempted to ascend, unless they had paid the full penalty. Then fierce men, fiery to look at, stood close by, and hearing the din,58    The bellowing of the mouth of the pit. took some and led them away; but Ardiæus and the rest, having bound hand and foot, and striking their heads down, and flaying, they dragged to the road outside, tearing them with thorns, and signifying to those who were present the cause of their suffering these things, and that they were leading them away to cast them into Tartarus. Hence, he said, that amidst all their various fears, this one was the greatest, lest the mouth should bellow when they ascended, since if it were silent each one would most gladly ascend; and that the punishments and torments were such as these, and that, on the other hand, the rewards were the reverse of these.” Here Plato seems to me to have learnt from the prophets not only the doctrine of the judgment, but also of the resurrection, which the Greeks refuse to believe. For his saying that the soul is judged along with the body, proves nothing more clearly than that he believed the doctrine of the resurrection. Since how could Ardiæus and the rest have undergone such punishment in Hades, had they left on earth the body, with its head, hands, feet, and skin? For certainly they will never say that the soul has a head and hands, and feet and skin. But Plato, having fallen in with the testimonies of the prophets in Egypt, and having accepted what they teach concerning the resurrection of the body, teaches that the soul is judged in company with the body.

Ἐν δὲ τῷ δεκάτῳ σαφῶς καὶ φανερῶς ἃ παρὰ τῶν προφητῶν περὶ κρίσεως μεμάθηκε, ταῦτα οὐχ ὡς παρ' αὐτῶν μεμαθηκώς, διὰ τὸ πρὸς Ἕλληνας δέος, ἀλλ' ὡς παρά τινος, ὡς αὐτῷ πλάττειν ἐδόκει, ἐν πολέμῳ ἀναιρεθέντος καὶ δωδεκαταίου μέλλοντος θάπτεσθαι καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς πυρᾶς κειμένου, ἀναβιώσαντός τε καὶ τὰ ἐκεῖ διηγουμένου, ἀκηκοώς, αὐταῖς λέξεσιν οὕτως γέγραφεν: Ἔφη γὰρ δὴ παραγενέσθαι ἐρωτωμένῳ ἑτέρῳ ὑπὸ ἑτέρου, ὅπου εἴη Ἀριδαῖος ὁ μέγας. Ὁ δὲ Ἀριδαῖος οὗτος τῆς Παμφυλίας ἔν τινι πόλει τύραννος ἐγεγόνει, γέροντα πατέρα ἀποκτείνας καὶ πρεσβύτερον ἀδελφόν, καὶ ἄλλα δὴ πολλὰ καὶ ἀνόσια ἐργασάμενος, ὡς ἐλέγετο. Ἔφη γοῦν τὸν ἐρωτώμενον εἰπεῖν: Οὐχ ἥκει, φάναι, οὐδὲ ἂν ἥξειν δεῦρο. Ἐθεασάμεθα γὰρ οὖν δὴ καὶ τοῦτο τῶν δεινῶν θεαμάτων. Ἐπειδὴ ἐγγὺς τοῦ στομίου ἦμεν, μέλλοντες ἀνιέναι καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα πεπονθότες, ἐκεῖνόν τε κατείδομεν ἐξαίφνης καὶ ἄλλους σχεδόν τι αὐτῶν τοὺς πλείστους τυράννους: ἦσαν δὲ καὶ ἰδιῶταί τινες τῶν μεγάλα ἡμαρτηκότων: οὓς οἰομένους ἤδη ἀναβήσεσθαι οὐκ ἐδέχετο τὸ στόμιον, ἀλλὰ ἐμυκᾶτο, ὁπότε τις τῶν οὕτως ἀνιάτως ἐχόντων εἰς πονηρίαν, εἰ μὴ ἱκανῶς δεδωκὼς δίκην, ἐπιχειροῖ ἀνιέναι. Ἐνταῦθα ἄνδρες ἄγριοι, διάπυροι ἰδεῖν, παρεστῶτες καὶ καταμανθάνοντες τὸ φθέγμα, τοὺς μὲν διαλαβόντες ἦγον, τὸν δὲ Ἀριδαῖον καὶ ἄλλους συμποδίσαντες χεῖράς τε καὶ πόδας καὶ κεφαλήν, καταβαλόντες καὶ ἐκδείραντες, εἷλκον παρὰ τὴν ὁδὸν ἐκτός, ἐπ' ἀσπαλάθων γνάπτοντες, καὶ τοῖς παροῦσι σημαίνοντες ὧν ἕνεκά τε καὶ ὅτι εἰς τὸν τάρταρον ἐμπεσούμενοι ἄγοιντο. Ἔνθα δὴ φόβων, ἔφη, πολλῶν καὶ παντοδαπῶν σφίσι γεγονότων τοῦτον ὑπερβάλλειν, εἰ μὴ γένοιτο ἑκάστῳ τὸ φθέγμα ὅτε ἀναβαίνοι, ὡς καὶ ἀσμενέστατα ἕκαστον σιγήσαντος ἀναβῆναι. Καὶ τὰς μὲν δίκας τε καὶ τιμωρίας τοιαύτας τινὰς εἶναι καὶ αὖ τὰς εὐεργεσίας ταύταις ἀντιστρόφους. Ἐνταῦθά μοι δοκεῖ ὁ Πλάτων οὐ μόνον τὸν περὶ κρίσεως παρὰ τῶν προφητῶν μεμαθηκέναι λόγον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν περὶ τῆς ἀπιστουμένης παρ' Ἕλλησιν ἀναστάσεως. Τὸ γὰρ μετὰ σώματος κρίνεσθαι τὴν ψυχὴν φῆσαι οὐδὲν ἕτερον δηλοῖ, ἢ ὅτι τῷ περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἐπίστευσε λόγῳ. Ἐπεὶ πῶς Ἀριδαῖος καὶ οἱ λοιποί, τὸ ἔχον σῶμα κεφαλὴν καὶ χεῖρας καὶ πόδας καὶ δέρμα ὑπὲρ γῆς καταλιπόντες, τοιαύτην ὑπεῖχον ἐν ᾅδου τιμωρίαν; Οὐ γὰρ δήπου τὴν ψυχὴν κεφαλὴν καὶ χεῖρας καὶ πόδας καὶ δέρμα ἔχειν φήσουσιν. Ἀλλ' ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ταῖς τῶν προφητῶν ἐντυχὼν μαρτυρίαις ὁ Πλάτων, καὶ τὴν περὶ τῆς τοῦ σώματος ἀναστάσεως δεξάμενος διδασκαλίαν, μετὰ τοῦ σώματος τὴν ψυχὴν κρίνεσθαι διδάσκει.