other world — may this then, which is my prayer, be granted
to me. Then holding the cup to his lips, quite readily and
cheerfully he drank off the poison. And hitherto most of us
had been able to control our sorrow ; but now when we saw
him drinking, and saw too that he had finished the draught, we
could no longer forbear, and in spite of myself my own tears
were flowing fast ; so that I Covered my face and wept over
myself, for certainly I was not weeping over him, but at the
454 PLATO THE TEACHER
thought of my own calamity in having lost such a companion.
Nor was I the first, for Crito, when he found himself unable to
restrain his tears, had got up and moved away, and I followed ;
and at that moment, Apollodorus, who had been weeping all
the time, broke out into a loud cry which made cowards of us
all. Socrates alone retained his calmness : What is this strange
outcry ? he said. I sent away the women mainly in order that
they might not offend in this way, for I have heard that a man
should die in peace. Be quiet then, and have patience. When
we heard that, we were ashamed, and refrained our tears ; and
he walked about until, as he said, his legs began to fail, and
then he lay on his back, according to the directions, and the
man who gave him the poison now and then looked at his feet
and legs ; and after a while he pressed his foot hard and asked
him if he could feel ; and he said, No ; and then his leg, and so
upwards and upwards, and showed us that he was cold and stiff.
8 And he felt them himself, and said: When the poison
reaches the heart, that will be the end. He was beginning
to grow cold about the groin, when he uncovered his face, for
he had covered himself up, and said (they were his last words)
— he said : Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius ; will you re-
member to pay the debt? 41 The debt shall be paid, said Crito ;
is there anything ehe ? There was no answer to this question ;
but in a minute or two a movement was heard, and the attend-
ants uncovered him ; his eyes were set, and Crito closed his
eyes and mouth.
Such was the end, Echecrates, of our friend, whom I may
truly call the wisest, and justest, and best of all the men whom
I have ever known.
41 See Protagoras, note 8. What Socrates meant by this his last speech
is doubtful. Some hold that he believed literally in JEsculapius as a god,
that he had actually made a vow to him, and that he did not wish to die with
any religious duty unfulfilled. Others hold that he used the language of the
popular religion figuratively, that he meant to say that he was now cured of
the worst possible malady, the earthly life, and that he owed thanks to God
for this cure. In general, it remains doubtful how far Plato believed liter-
ally in the religion of his time and how far he used the language of that re-
ligion figuratively to express higher views.
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