Introduction.

The following version is an extract from Plato’s Phaedo.¹ Plato attempts to give logical arguments in favor of the divinity and hence the immortality of the soul. The soul is distracted from its true goals during life by physical needs. Philosophy liberates one’s soul from dependence on the body. In life the character of the soul is forever improving or deteriorating as a result of being bound by the body. In this work these ideas are set forth as hypothetical with the hope that the argument will be seen at least to be reasonable. This extract is meant to give a flavor of some of popular Greek religion evidently based on stories of journeys into the other world.