76

testifies to justice and temperance and wisdom and prudence? For what is more temperate than those who did not endure to depart from those things which from the beginning they supposed to be right? What is more just than those who repaid the divine benefits with slaughter and gave up their bodies 8.38 for the sake of the one who gave up his body to the cross? What is more prudent or wiser than those who so deliberated these things and despised the things of this world, as having nothing sure and lasting, but fell in love with those things which speech cannot interpret? What is more manly than those who struggled against many and various sufferings and conquered their tormentors by the endurance of their will 8.39? Therefore, these are indeed the leaders of men and champions and helpers and averters of evils, who turn away the harms brought on by demons. But Heraclitus considers even those slain in wars worthy of all honor; for he says, "The gods and men honor those slain by Ares," and again: "for greater men obtain a greater 8.40 lot." But I for my part do not accept this saying; for very many, having embraced a most wicked life, have endured a violent death. If, then, it is fitting to honor all those slain by Ares, it is time for you also to bestow this prize on the sons of Oedipus, who left their father uncared for, and for the sake of tyranny raged against each other and stained their own 8.41 right hands with each other’s blood; then the Peisistratids must also be honored, who were justly slain by Harmodius and Aristogeiton. But the Athenians did the opposite; for they honored those who killed them with bronze statues and granted exemption from taxes to their family. Therefore, not all those slain by Ares are to be honored according to Heraclitus, but those who gladly accepted death for the sake of piety; for they truly, according to this man himself, are the only greater ones. For this reason, they also enjoy a greater lot, both now receiving the prize of honor from all men and awaiting the eternal crowns. But I greatly admire that saying of Heraclitus, that "what awaits men when they die are things they neither expect nor imagine." 8.42 And that the souls of the pious also enjoy a divine portion, Plato too has shown in the Phaedo, speaking thus: "'Those who are judged to have distinguished themselves preeminently in a holy life, these are they who are released from these regions of the earth as from a prison, and arrive at a pure dwelling above.'" And a little after he added this also: "And they arrive at dwellings still more beautiful than these, which it is not easy to describe, nor is time sufficient at 8.43 present." But lest anyone, hearing these things and falling in love with that divine way of life, should suppose it a holy thing to lead himself out from here by some force and necessity, he necessarily added: "But one must not release oneself from this, nor run away," and to sum up, 8.44 to consider matter evil. He says also that the soul, having become by itself, is able to partake of true wisdom and of a power greater than human, when the love from here gives it wings to heaven, having arrived through philosophical training at the goal of its hope, receiving the beginning of another, eternal 8.45 life. And again in the same dialogue he says: "'with good hope' the good souls depart from here; but the wicked live, he says, 'with evil hope.'" This man also called philosophy a practice of death: "For there is a danger," he says, "that all those who rightly engage in philosophy are unnoticed by others, that they practice nothing else than dying and 8.46 being dead." All these things, then, he has written in the Phaedo; but in the tenth book of the Republic he speaks thus: "'Of those who have died in a campaign, whoever dies with distinction, shall we not first say that he is of the golden race? {-} Most certainly of all.'" And a little after: "'What then? For the rest of time, are we not going to tend and venerate their tombs as those of daemons? The same things also

76

δικαιοσύνην καὶ σωφροσύνην καὶ σοφίαν καὶ φρόνησιν μαρτυρεῖ; τί γὰρ σωφρονέστερον τῶν οὐκ ἀνασχομένων ἐκείνων ἐκστῆναι, ἅπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς εὖ ἔχειν ὑπέλαβον; τί δὲ δικαιότερον τῶν τὰς θείας εὐεργεσίας ἀμειψαμένων σφαγῇ καὶ τὰ σώματα ἐκδεδωκότων 8.38 ὑπὲρ τοῦ τὸ σῶμα παραδεδωκότος σταυρῷ; τί δὲ φρονιμώτερον ἢ σοφώτερον τῶν οὕτω ταῦτα βουλευσαμένων καὶ τῶν μὲν τῇδε καταπεφρονηκότων, ὡς βέβαιον οὐδὲν ἐχόντων καὶ μόνιμον, ἐρα σθέντων δὲ ἐκείνων, ἃ λόγος ἑρμηνεύειν οὐ δύναται; τί δὲ ἀνδρικώτερον τῶν ἀνταγωνισαμένων πρὸς πολλὰ παθήματα καὶ διάφορα καὶ τοὺς κολάζοντας νενικηκότων τῇ καρτερίᾳ τῆς γνώ 8.39 μης; Τοιγάρτοι οὗτοί γέ εἰσιν ἀτεχνῶς πρόμοι ἀνθρώπων καὶ πρόμαχοι καὶ ἐπίκουροι καὶ τῶν κακῶν ἀποτρόπαιοι, τὰς ὑπὸ τῶν δαιμόνων ἐπιφερομένας ἀποδιοπομπούμενοι βλάβας. Ὁ δέ γε Ἡράκλειτος καὶ τοὺς ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις ἀναιρεθέντας πάσης ἀξίους ὑπολαμβάνει τιμῆς· "Ἀρηϊφάτους" γάρ φησιν "οἱ θεοὶ τιμῶσι καὶ ἄνθρωποι", καὶ πάλιν· "μόνοι γὰρ μείζονες μείζο 8.40 νος μοίρας λαγχάνουσιν". Ἀλλὰ τόνδε τὸν λόγον ἔγωγε οὐ προσίεμαι· πλεῖστοι γὰρ δὴ παμπόνηρον ἀσπασάμενοι βίον τὸν βίαιον ὑπέμειναν θάνατον. Εἰ τοίνυν τοὺς ἀρηϊφάτους ἅπαντας προσήκει τιμᾶν, ὥρα ὑμῖν καὶ τοῖς Οἰδίπου παισὶ τόδε ἀπονεῖμαι τὸ γέρας, οἳ τὸν πατέρα μὲν κατέλιπον ἀτημέλητον, ἕνεκα δὲ τυραννίδος κατ' ἀλλήλων λυττήσαντες τῷ ἀλλήλων αἵματι τὰς 8.41 οἰκείας ἐφοίνιξαν δεξιάς· τιμητέον δ' ἄρα καὶ τοὺς Πεισιστρατί δας ὑπὸ Ἁρμοδίου καὶ Ἀριστογείτονος ἐνδίκως ἀναιρεθέντας. Ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον ἔδρασαν Ἀθηναῖοι· τοὺς γὰρ ἀνελόντας χαλκαῖς εἰκόσιν ἐτίμησαν καὶ τῷ γένει τῷ τούτων ἀτέλειαν ἐδωρή σαντο. Οὔκουν πάντας ἀρηϊφάτους κατὰ τὸν Ἡράκλειτον τιμητέον, ἀλλ' ἐκείνους, οἳ τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀσπασίως κατεδέξαντο θάνατον· ἐκεῖνοι γὰρ ἀληθῶς, κατά γε τοῦτον αὐτόν, μόνοι μεί ζονες. Οὗ δὴ εἵνεκα καὶ μείζονος ἀπολαύουσι μοίρας, καὶ νῦν τὸ παρὰ πάντων ἀνθρώπων κομιζόμενοι γέρας καὶ τοὺς αἰωνίους στεφάνους προσμένοντες. Ἐκεῖνο δὲ τοῦ Ἡρακλείτου μάλα θαυμάζω, ὅτι "μένει τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀποθνῄσκοντας, ὅσα οὐκ ἔλπονται οὐδὲ δοκέουσιν". 8.42 Ὅτι δὲ καὶ θείας λήξεως ἀπολαύουσιν αἱ τῶν ὁσίων ψυχαί, καὶ ὁ Πλάτων δεδήλωκεν ἐν τῷ Φαίδωνι, λέγων ὡδί· "Οἳ δὲ δὴ ἂν δόξωσι διαφερόντως πρὸς τὸ ὁσίως βιῶναι προκεκρίσθαι, οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ τῶνδε μὲν τῶν ἐν τῇ γῇ ἀπαλλαττόμενοι ὥσπερ δεσμω τηρίου, ἄνω δὲ εἰς καθαρὰν οἴκησιν ἀφικνούμενοι." Προστέθεικε δὲ μετ' ὀλίγα καὶ ταῦτα· "Καὶ εἰς οἰκήσεις ἔτι τούτων καλλίους ἀφικνοῦνται, ἃς οὔτε ῥᾴδιον δηλῶσαι, οὔτε ὁ χρόνος ἱκανὸς ἐν 8.43 τῷ παρόντι." Ἵνα δὲ μή τις τούτων ἀκούσας καὶ τῆς θείας ἐκείνης διαγωγῆς ἐρασθείς, εὐαγὲς ὑπολάβοι τὸ βίᾳ τινὶ καὶ ἀνάγκῃ ἑαυτὸν ἐντεῦθεν ἐξαγαγεῖν, ἀναγκαίως ἐπήγαγεν· "Οὐ δεῖ δ' ἑαυτὸν ἐκ ταύτης λύειν οὐδὲ ἀποδιδράσκειν" καὶ ξυνελόντι 8.44 εἰπεῖν κακὴν λογίζεσθαι τὴν ὕλην. Λέγει δὲ καί, ὡς αὐτὴ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἡ ψυχὴ γενομένη δύναται τῆς ἀληθινῆς σοφίας καὶ κρείττονος τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης δυνάμεως μεταλαβεῖν, ὅταν αὐτὴν ὁ ἐνθένδε ἔρως εἰς οὐρανὸν πτερώσῃ, διὰ τῆς φιλοσόφου ἀγωγῆς εἰς τὸ τῆς ἐλπίδος τέλος ἀφικομένην, ἄλλου βίου ἀϊδίου ἀρχὴν 8.45 λαμβάνουσαν. Καὶ αὖθις ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ διαλόγῳ φησίν· "μετ' ἀγαθῆς μὲν ἐλπίδος" τὰς καλὰς ψυχὰς ἐνθένδε ἀπιέναι· οἱ πονηροὶ δὲ ζῶσί, φησί, "μετὰ κακῆς ἐλπίδος." Οὗτος καὶ τὴν φιλοσοφίαν θανάτου μελέτην ἐκάλεσε· "Κινδυνεύουσι γάρ" φησιν "ὅσοι τυγχάνουσιν ὀρθῶς ἁπτόμενοι φιλοσοφίας λεληθέναι τοὺς ἄλλους, ὅτι οὐδὲν ἄλλο αὐτοὶ ἐπιτηδεύουσιν ἢ ἀποθνῄσκειν καὶ 8.46 τεθνάναι." Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἅπαντα ἐν τῷ Φαίδωνι γέγραφεν· ἐν δὲ τῷ δεκάτῳ τῆς Πολιτείας οὕτω φησίν· "Τῶν δὲ δὴ ἀποθα νόντων ἐπὶ στρατείας, ὃς ἂν εὐδοκιμήσας τελευτήσῃ, ἆρ' οὐ πρῶτον μὲν τοῦ χρυσοῦ γένους εἶναι φήσομεν; {-} Πάντων μά λιστα." Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· "Τί δέ; οὐ μέλλομεν τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον, ὡς δαίμονας γεγονότας, οὕτω θεραπεύειν τε καὶ προσ κυνεῖν αὐτῶν τὰς θήκας; τὰ αὐτὰ δὲ