of her existence prior to our
becoming men, does not necessarily imply her immortality. Admitting the
soul to be longlived, and to have known and done much in a former state,
still she is not on that account immortal; and her entrance into
the human form may be a sort of disease which is the beginning of
dissolution, and may at last, after the toils of life are over, end in
that which is called death. And whether the soul enters into the body
once only or many times, does not, as you say, make any difference in
the fears of individuals. For any man, who is not devoid of sense,
must fear, if he has no knowledge and can give no account of the soul's
immortality. This, or something like this, I suspect to be your notion,
Cebes; and I designedly recur to it in order that nothing may escape us,
and that you may, if you wish, add or subtract anything.

But, said Cebes, as far as I see at present, I have nothing to add or
subtract: I mean what you say that I mean.

Socrates paused awhile, and seemed to be absorbed in reflection. At
length he said: You are raising a tremendous question, Cebes, involving
the whole nature of generation and corruption, about which, if you like,
I will give you my own experience; and if anything which I say is likely
to avail towards the solution of your difficulty you may make use of it.

I should very much like, said Cebes, to hear what you have to say.

Then I will tell you, said Socrates. When I was young, Cebes, I had a
prodigious desire to know that department of philosophy which is called
the investigation of nature; to know the causes of things, and why
a thing is and is created or destroyed appeared to me to be a lofty
profession; and I was always agitating myself with the consideration of
questions such as these:--Is the growth of animals the result of some
decay which the hot and cold principle contracts, as some have said? Is
the blood the element with which we think, or the air, or the fire? or
perhaps nothing of the kind--but the brain may be the originating
power of the perceptions of hearing and sight and smell, and memory
and opinion may come from them, and science may be based on memory and
opinion when they have attained fixity. And then I went on to examine
the corruption of them, and then to the things of heaven and earth, and
at last I concluded myself to be utterly and absolutely incapable
of these enquiries, as I will satisfactorily prove to you. For I was
fascinated by t