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there in Hades in the prison, spectacles and admonitions for those who are always arriving for their trials. 12.6.12 Of whom I say Archelaus will be one, if what Polus says is true, and any other such tyrant. And I think that the majority of these examples have come from tyrants and kings and potentates and those who have managed the affairs of states; 12.6.13 for these men, on account of their power, commit the greatest and most unholy sins. And Homer also bears witness to these things. for he has represented kings and potentates as those in Hades who are punished for all time, Tantalus and Sisyphus and Tityus. But Thersites, and any other who was wicked but a private person, no one has represented as being afflicted with great punishments as one incurable; for it was not, I think, in his power; for which reason he was also happier 12.6.14 than those in whose power it was. But in fact, O Callicles, it is from the powerful that exceedingly wicked men also come; however, this does not prevent good men from arising even among these, and indeed those who do arise are worthy of great admiration; for it is difficult, O Callicles, and worthy of much praise, when one has great power to do wrong, to live one's life justly. But few are such men; since they have existed both here and elsewhere, and I think there will be others also, good men with this virtue 12.6.15 of justly administering whatever may be entrusted to them. And one very famous man has arisen, even among the other Greeks, Aristeides the son of Lysimachus. and the others, indeed, O most excellent Callicles, who become noble men; but of the judges, as I was saying, whenever that Rhadamanthus takes hold of such a man, he knows nothing else about him, neither who he is nor of what family, but only that he is a wicked man; and seeing this he sends him away to Tartarus, having marked him as seeming to be either curable or incurable. 12.6.16 And he, having arrived there, suffers his due. But sometimes when he sees another soul that has lived piously and with truth, that of a private man or of some other, but especially, I say, O Callicles, of a philosopher who has done his own work and not been a busybody in his life, he admires it and sends it away to the isles of the blest. 12.6.17 And Aeacus does the very same things; each of these judges holding a staff. But Minos sits as an overseer alone, holding a golden sceptre, as Homer's Odysseus says he saw him: holding a golden sceptre, giving judgment to the dead. 12.6.18 I, therefore, O Callicles, am persuaded by these tales, and I consider how I shall show my soul to the judge in the healthiest state. Therefore, disregarding the honors of the many, by practicing the truth I will try in reality to be the best man I can, both while I live and, when I die, to die so. 12.6.19 And I exhort all other men also, as far as I am able; and in turn I exhort you to this life and this contest, which I say 12.6.20 is worth all the contests here. and I reproach you, that you will not be able to help yourself, when the trial and the judgment are upon you, of which I was just now speaking, but when you come before that judge, the son of Aegina, when he takes hold of you and leads you away, you will gape and be dizzy, no less than I am here and you are there, and perhaps someone will strike you even a dishonorable blow on the cheek and in every way 12.6.21 treat you with contempt. Now perhaps these things seem to you to be a tale, as if from an old woman, and you despise them. And there would be nothing surprising in despising them, if by searching we were able to find better and truer things than these. 12.6.22 But as it is, you see that you three, who are the wisest of the Greeks, you and Polus and Gorgias, are not able to show that one ought to live any other life than this one, which is shown to be advantageous even there, but in so many arguments, while the others have been refuted, this argument alone stands firm, that one must be more careful to avoid doing wrong than suffering wrong, and that above all a man must practice not seeming to be good, but being good, both in private and in public.” 12.6.23 Plato indeed Aeacus and Minos

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ἐκεῖ ἐν Ἅιδου ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ, τοῖς ἀεὶ τῶν δικῶν ἀφικνουμένοις θεά12.6.12 ματα καὶ νουθετήματα. ὧν ἐγώ φημι ἕνα καὶ Ἀρχέλαον ἔσεσθαι, εἰ ἀληθῆ λέγει Πῶλος, καὶ ἄλλος ὅστις ἂν τοιοῦτος τύραννος ᾖ. οἶμαι δὲ καὶ τοὺς πολλοὺς εἶναι τούτων τῶν παραδειγμάτων ἐκ τυράννων καὶ βασιλέων καὶ δυναστῶν καὶ τὰ τῶν πολέμων πραξάντων γεγονότας· οὗτοι γὰρ διὰ τὴν 12.6.13 ἐξουσίαν μέγιστα καὶ ἀνοσιώτατα ἁμαρτήματα ἁμαρτάνουσι. μαρτυρεῖ δὲ τούτοις καὶ Ὅμηρος. βασιλέας γὰρ καὶ δυνάστας ἐκεῖνος πεποίηκε τοὺς ἐν Ἅιδου τὸν ἀεὶ χρόνον τιμωρουμένους, Τάνταλον καὶ Σίσυφον καὶ Τιτυόν. Θερσίτην δέ, καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος πονηρὸς ἦν, ἰδιώτης δέ, οὐδεὶς πεποίηκε μεγάλαις τιμωρίαις συνεχόμενον ὡς ἀνίατον· οὐ γάρ, οἶμαι, ἐξῆν αὐτῷ· διὸ καὶ εὐδαιμονέστερος ἦν 12.6.14 ἢ οἷς ἐξῆν. ἀλλὰ γάρ, ὦ Καλλίκλεις, ἐκ τῶν δυναμένων εἰσὶ καὶ οἱ σφόδρα πονηροὶ γιγνόμενοι ἄνθρωποι· οὐδὲ μὴν κωλύει καὶ ἐν τούτοις ἀγαθοὺς ἄνδρας ἐγγίγνεσθαι καὶ σφόδρα γε ἄξιον ἄγασθαι τῶν γιγνομένων· χαλεπὸν γάρ, ὦ Καλλίκλεις, καὶ πολλοῦ ἐπαίνου ἄξιον ἐν μεγάλῃ ἐξουσίᾳ γενόμενον τοῦ ἀδικεῖν δικαίως διαβιῶναι. ὀλίγοι δὲ γίγνονται οἱ τοιοῦτοι· ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐνθάδε καὶ ἄλλοθι γεγόνασιν, οἶμαι δ' ἔσονται κἄλλοι ἀγαθοὶ ταύτην τὴν ἀρε12.6.15 τὴν τοῦ δικαίως διαχειρίζειν ἃ ἄν τις ἐπιτρέπῃ. εἷς δὲ καὶ πάνυ ἐλλόγιμος γέγονε καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἄλλους Ἕλληνας, Ἀριστείδης ὁ Λυσιμάχου οἵ τε δὴ ἄλλοι, ὦ ἄριστε Καλλίκλεις, ὅσοι καλοὶ γίγνονται· τῶν δὲ δικαστῶν, ὅπερ ἔλεγον, ἐπειδὰν ὁ Ῥαδάμανθυς ἐκεῖνος τοιοῦτόν τινα λάβῃ, ἄλλο μὲν περὶ αὐτοῦ οὐκ οἶδεν οὐδέν, οὔθ' ὅστις οὔθ' ὧν τινων, ὅτι δὲ πονηρός τις· καὶ τοῦτο κατιδὼν ἀπέπεμψεν εἰς Τάρταρον, ἐπισημηνάμενος ἐάν τε ἰάσιμος ἐάν τε ἀνίατος 12.6.16 δοκῇ εἶναι. ὁ δὲ ἐκεῖσε ἀφικόμενος τὰ προσήκοντα πάσχει. ἐνίοτε δὲ ἄλλην ἐσιδὼν ὁσίως βεβιωκυῖαν καὶ μετ' ἀληθείας, ἀνδρὸς ἰδιώτου ἢ ἄλλου τινός, μάλιστα μέν, ἐγώ φημι, ὦ Καλλίκλεις, φιλοσόφου τὰ αὑτοῦ πράξαντος καὶ οὐ πολυπραγμονήσαντος ἐν τῷ βίῳ, ἠγάσθη τε καὶ εἰς μακάρων νήσους 12.6.17 ἀπέπεμψε. ταὐτὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ ὁ Αἰακός· ἑκάτερος τούτων ῥάβδον ἔχων δικάζει. ὁ δὲ Μίνως ἐπισκοπῶν κάθηται μόνος, ἔχων χρύσεον σκῆπτρον, ὥς φησιν Ὀδυσσεὺς ὁ Ὁμήρου ἰδεῖν αὐτόν· χρύσεον σκῆπτρον ἔχοντα, θεμιστεύοντα νέκυσσιν. 12.6.18 ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν, ὦ Καλλίκλεις, ὑπὸ τούτων τῶν λόγων πέπεισμαι καὶ σκοπῶ ὅπως ἀποφανοῦμαι τῷ κριτῇ ὡς ὑγιεστάτην τὴν ψυχήν. χαίρειν οὖν ἐάσας τὰς τιμὰς τῶν πολλῶν ἀνθρώπων, τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀσκῶν πειράσομαι τῷ ὄντι ὡς ἂν δύνωμαι βέλτιστος ὢν καὶ ζῆν καὶ ἐπειδὰν ἀποθνήσκω ἀποθνήσκειν. 12.6.19 παρακαλῶ δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους πάντας ἀνθρώπους, καθ' ὅσον δύναμαι· καὶ δὴ σὲ ἀντιπαρακαλῶ ἐπὶ τοῦτον τὸν βίον καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα τοῦτον, ὃν ἐγώ 12.6.20 φημι ἀντὶ πάντων τῶν ἐνθάδε ἀγώνων εἶναι. καὶ ὀνειδίζω σε, ὅτι οὐχ οἷός τε εἶ σαυτῷ βοηθῆσαι, ὅταν ἡ δίκη σοι ᾖ καὶ ἡ κρίσις, ἣν νῦν ἐγὼ ἔλεγον, ἀλλὰ ἐλθὼν παρὰ τὸν δικαστὴν ἐκεῖνον, τὸν τῆς Αἰγίνης υἱόν, ἐπειδάν σε ἐπιλαβόμενος ἐκεῖνος ἄγῃ, χασμήσῃ καὶ ἰλιγγιάσεις οὐδὲν ἧττον ἢ ἐγὼ ἐνθάδε καὶ σὺ ἐκεῖ, καί σε ἴσως τυπτήσει τις καὶ ἐπὶ κόρρης ἀτίμως καὶ πάν12.6.21 τως προπηλακιεῖ. τάχα δ' οὖν ταυτὶ μῦθός σοι δοκεῖ λέγεσθαι ὥσπερ ὑπὸ γραὸς καὶ καταφρονεῖς αὐτῶν. καὶ οὐδέν γ' ἂν ἦν θαυμαστὸν καταφρονεῖν τούτων, εἰ ἐπιζητοῦντες εἴχομεν αὐτῶν βελτίω καὶ ἀληθέστερα εὑρεῖν. 12.6.22 νῦν δὲ ὁρᾷς ὅτι τρεῖς ὄντες ὑμεῖς, οἵπερ σοφώτατοί ἐστε τῶν Ἑλλήνων, σύ τε καὶ Πῶλος καὶ Γοργίας, οὐκ ἔχετε ἀποδεῖξαι ὡς δεῖ ἄλλον τινὰ βίον ζῆν ἢ τοῦτον ὅσπερ καὶ ἐκεῖσε φαίνεται συμφέρων, ἀλλ' ἐν τοσούτοις λόγοις τῶν ἄλλων ἐλεγχομένων μόνος οὗτος ἠρεμεῖ ὁ λόγος, ὡς εὐλαβητέον ἐστὶ τὸ ἀδικεῖν μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ ἀδικεῖσθαι καὶ παντὸς μᾶλλον ἀνδρὶ μελετητέον οὐ τὸ δοκεῖν εἶναι ἀγαθόν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀγαθὸν εἶναι καὶ ἰδίᾳ καὶ δημοσίᾳ.» 12.6.23 Ὁ μὲν δὴ Πλάτων τὸν Αἰακὸν καὶ τὸν Μίνω