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to enter the bodies of kites, but that those who have practiced civic virtue enjoy thrice-blessed rewards, becoming wasps and bees and ants; for the philosopher assigned such prizes to those who care for virtue. 11.38 And these things are directly contradictory; for in what was said before, he sent them away to the isles of the blessed, and said that the dwellings of the philosophers were not even expressible in words; but here he has assigned them the life of wasps and bees and ants, and he said that those who had done no wrong in their former life receive as a prize 11.39 to do wrong and to harm others. For both wasps and bees are by nature apt to strike with their sting, and ants plunder the cornfields and share the fruits with the farmers, having least of all shared in the labors; and wasps make war on gardeners, corrupting the fruit of the plants; and this in some way bees also do. But the best of philosophers understood none of these things, but looked only to the fame of the one who first said these things. 11.40 And elsewhere he tells such myths and says: "For to the place from which each soul comes, it does not arrive for ten thousand years. For it does not grow wings before so long a time, except for the soul of one who has philosophized without guile, or of one who has loved boys with philosophy. And these, in the third period of a thousand years, are let go; and having thus been winged for three successive lives, in the thousandth year they depart. But the other souls, when they have finished their first life, have obtained judgment; and having been judged, some, going to the places of judgment under the earth, pay their penalty; while others, lightened by justice to some place in heaven, pass their time 11.41 worthily of the life they lived in human form." And it is easy to learn the absurdity of these words. For who, I ask, taught him about the myriads of years, and that when ten thousand years have passed, then each of the souls returns to its own place? But the things between these were not fitting to be said even by the most licentious—let alone a philosopher? For with those who have practiced pure philosophy he has yoked the dissolute and the pederasts, and said that both these and those would enjoy the same rewards. 11.42 But again forgetting these words—for he had assigned heaven to such souls—, in the *Republic* he said the soul of Orpheus chose the body of a swan, and that Agamemnon became an eagle, and Ajax a lion, and Atalanta an athlete, and Thersites an ape, I know not for what reason he consented to put this irrationality of doctrines into his words; it is clear, however, that he is jesting rather than being serious in the parts where he describes the reincarnations; for in many places he points out the places of punishment in Hades. But I will turn to these things again, so that I may not 11.43 leave the philosopher in those ridiculous arguments. Hear him, then, saying: "But I will not, said I, tell you the tale of Alcinous, but of a brave man, Er the son of Armenius, a Pamphylian by race; who having died in the war, when the bodies of the dead were taken up on the tenth day already decayed, was taken up sound, and being brought home, when he was about to be buried on the twelfth day, lying on the pyre, came back to life, and having come back to life told what 11.44 he had seen there. He said that, when his soul had gone out, he journeyed with many, and they came to a certain divine place, in which were two chasms in the earth, close to one another, and two others in the heaven above, opposite them; and judges were sitting between these, who, when they had given judgment, commanded the just to go to the right and upward through the heaven, having attached signs of the judgments in front of them, and the unjust to the left and downward, these also having behind them a sign of all that they had done. And when he himself approached, they told him that he must be a messenger to men of the things there, and they charged him to listen and to observe all things in the place." 11.45 These are words truly worthy of philosophy. For they do not send down the souls into the bodies of irrational creatures,

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ἰκτίνων εἰσάγεσθαι σώματα, τοὺς δέ γε τὴν πολι τικὴν ἀσκήσαντας ἀρετὴν τρισολβίων ἀπολαύειν ἄθλων, σφῆκας γινομένους καὶ μελίττας καὶ μύρμηκας· τοιαῦτα γὰρ τοῖς ἀρετῆς ἐπιμελουμένοις ὁ φιλόσοφος ἀπένειμε γέρα. 11.38 Καὶ ταῦτα δὲ ἄντικρυς ἐναντία· ἐν μὲν γὰρ τοῖς πρόσθεν εἰρημένοις εἰς μακάρων αὐτοὺς ἀπέπεμψε νήσους, τὰς δὲ τῶν φιλοσόφων οἰκήσεις οὐδὲ λόγῳ ῥητὰς ἔφησεν εἶναι· ἐνταῦθα δὲ σφηκῶν αὐτοῖς καὶ μελιττῶν καὶ μυρμήκων ἀπεκλήρωσε βίον, καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῷ προτέρῳ βίῳ μηδὲν ἠδικηκότας ἆθλον ἔφη λαμ 11.39 βάνειν τὸ ἀδικεῖν καὶ λωβᾶσθαι τοῖς ἄλλοις. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ σφῆκες καὶ μέλιτται πλήττειν τῷ κέντρῳ πεφύκασι, καὶ μύρμηκες συλῶσι τὰ λήϊα καὶ τοῖς γηπόνοις ξυνδιανέμονται τοὺς καρπούς, ἥκιστα κεκοινωνηκότες τῶν πόνων· καὶ οἱ σφῆκες δὲ τοῖς φυτουρ γοῖς πολεμοῦσι, τὸν τῶν φυτῶν καρπὸν διαφθείροντες· τοῦτο δὲ ἀμηγέπη καὶ αἱ μέλιτται δρῶσιν. Ἀλλὰ τούτων οὐδὲν ξυνεῖδε τῶν φιλοσόφων ὁ ἄριστος, ἀλλ' εἰς μόνον ἐπεῖδε τοῦ πρώτου γε ταῦτα εἰρηκότος τὸ κλέος. 11.40 Καὶ ἑτέρωθι δὲ τοιαῦτα ἄττα μυθολογεῖ καί φησιν· "Εἰς μὲν γὰρ τὸ ὅθεν ἥκει ψυχὴ ἑκάστη, οὐκ ἀφικνεῖται ἐτῶν μυρίων. Οὐ γὰρ πτεροῦται πρὸ τοσούτου χρόνου, πλὴν ἡ τοῦ φιλοσοφήσαντος ἀδόλως ἢ παιδεραστήσαντος μετὰ φιλοσοφίας. Αὗται δὲ τρίτῃ περιόδῳ τῇ χιλιετίᾳ ἐῶνται· τρὶς δὲ ἐφεξῆς τὸν βίον τοῦτον οὕτω πτερωθεῖσαι, τῷ χιλιοστῷ ἔτει ἀπέρχονται. Αἱ δὲ ἄλλαι, ὅταν τὸν πρῶτον βίον τελευτήσωσι, κρίσεως ἔτυχον· κριθεῖσαι δέ, αἱ μὲν εἰς τὰ ὑπὸ γῆς δικαιωτήρια ἐλθοῦσαι, δίκην τίνουσιν· αἱ δὲ εἰς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τινα τόπον ὑπὸ τῆς δίκης κουφισθεῖσαι, διάγουσιν 11.41 ἀξίως οὗ ἐν ἀνθρώπου εἴδει ἐβίωσαν βίου." Καὶ τούτων δὲ τὴν ἀτοπίαν τῶν λόγων καταμαθεῖν εὐπετές. Τίς γάρ που αὐτὸν τὰς τῶν ἐτῶν ἐδίδαξε μυριάδας, καὶ ὅτι μυρίων διεληλυθότων ἐτῶν, τότε τῶν ψυχῶν ἑκάστη εἰς ἴδιον ἐπανέρχεται χῶρον; τὰ δὲ μεταξὺ τούτων οὐδὲ τοῖς ἄγαν ἀσελγεστάτοις ἥρμοττε λέγειν- ἤπου γε φιλοσόφῳ; Τοῖς γὰρ τὴν ἀκραιφνῆ φιλοσοφίαν κατωρθω κόσι τοὺς ἀκολάστους καὶ παιδεράστας ξυνέζευξε, καὶ τούτους κἀκείνους τῶν αὐτῶν ἄθλων ἔφησεν ἀπολαύσεσθαι. 11.42 Ἀλλὰ τούτων πάλιν τῶν λόγων ἐπιλαθόμενος-τὸν γὰρ οὐρανὸν ταῖς τοιαύταις ψυχαῖς ἀπεκλήρωσεν-, ἐν τῇ Πολιτείᾳ τὴν Ὀρφέως ψυχὴν κύκνειον ἔφη σῶμα λαχεῖν, καὶ ἀετὸν μὲν ἔφη γενέσθαι τὸν Ἀγαμέμνονα, λέοντα δὲ τὸν Αἴαντα, ἀθλητὴν δὲ τὴν Ἀταλάντην, καὶ πίθηκον τὸν Θερσίτην, οὐκ οἶδα ὅτου χάριν τήνδε τῶν δογμάτων τὴν ἀλογίαν ἐνθεῖναι τοῖς λόγοις κατα δεξάμενος· δῆλος μέντοι ἐστὶ παίζων μᾶλλον ἢ σπουδάζων ἐν οἷς τὰς μετενσωματώσεις διέξεισι· πολλαχοῦ γὰρ τὰ ἐν Ἅιδου κο λαστήρια δείκνυσιν. Ἐγὼ δ' εἰς ταῦτα τρέψομαι πάλιν, ἵνα μὴ 11.43 ἐπ' ἐκείνων δὴ τῶν γελοίων τὸν φιλόσοφον καταλείπω λόγων. Ἀκούσατε τοίνυν αὐτοῦ λέγοντος· "Ἀλλ' οὐ μέντοι σοι, ἦν δ' ἐγώ, Ἀλκίνου γε ἀπόλογον ἐρῶ, ἀλλ' ἀλκίμου μὲν ἀνδρός, Ἠρὸς τοῦ Ἀρμενίου, τὸ γένος δὲ Παμφύλου· ὃς ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τελευτήσας, ἀναιρεθέντων δεκαταίων νεκρῶν ἤδη διεφθαρμένων, ὑγιὴς μὲν ἀνῃρέθη, κομισθεὶς δὲ οἴκαδε, μέλλων θάπτεσθαι, δωδεκαταῖος ἐπὶ τῇ πυρᾷ κείμενος ἀνεβίω, ἀναβιοὺς δὲ ἔλεγεν, ἃ 11.44 ἐκεῖ εἶδεν. Ἔφη δέ, ἐπειδὴ οἱ ἐκβῆναι τὴν ψυχήν, πορεύεσθαι ἤδη μετὰ πολλῶν, καὶ ἀφικνεῖσθαι σφᾶς εἰς τόπον τινὰ δαιμόνιον, ἐν ᾧ τῆς τε γῆς εἶναι δύο χάσματα ἐχόμενα ἀλλήλοιν, καὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ αὖ ἐν τῷ ἄνω ἄλλα καταντικρύ· δικαστὰς δὲ μεταξὺ τού των καθῆσθαι, οὕς, ἐπειδὰν δικάσαιεν, τοὺς μὲν δικαίους κελεύειν πορεύεσθαι τὴν εἰς δεξιάν τε καὶ ἄνω διὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, σημεῖα περιρράψαντας τῶν δεδικασμένων ἐν τῷ πρόσθεν, τοὺς δὲ ἀδίκους τὴν εἰς ἀριστεράν τε καὶ κάτω, ἔχοντας καὶ τούτους ἐν τῷ ὄπισθεν σημεῖον ἁπάντων, ὧν ἔπραξαν. Αὐτοῦ δὲ προσελθόντος, εἰπεῖν, ὅτι δέοι αὐτὸν ἄγγελον ἀνθρώποις γενέσθαι τῶν ἐκεῖ, καὶ διακελεύεσθαι διακούειν τε καὶ θεᾶσθαι πάντα τὰ ἐν τῷ τόπῳ." 11.45 Οὗτοι ἀληθῶς ἄξιοι τῆς φιλοσοφίας οἱ λόγοι. Οὐ γὰρ εἰς ἀλό γων σώματα καταπέμπουσι τὰς ψυχάς,