What was ever great
in a short time? The whole life period of a man 60-70 yrs is surely but a
little thing in comparison with eternity. And should an immortal being
seriously think of this little space rather than of the whole? Certainly, an
immortal being think of the whole. So, the soul of man is immortal and
imperishable & it’s not hard to prove.
There is a thing
which we call good and another which we call evil. You will be agree with me in
thinking that the corrupting and destroying element is the evil, and the saving
and improving element the good. And we will admit that everything has a good
and also an evil; as ophthalmia is the evil of the eyes and disease of the
whole body; as mildew is of corn, and rot of timber, or rust of copper and
iron: in everything, or in almost everything, there is an inherent evil and
disease.
And anything which is
infected by any of these evils is made evil, and at last wholly dissolves and
dies. The vice and evil which is inherent in each is the destruction of each;
and if this does not destroy them there is nothing else that will; for good
certainly will not destroy them, nor again, that which is neither good nor
evil. If, then, we find any nature which having this inherent corruption cannot
be dissolved or destroyed, we may be certain that of such a nature there is no
destruction.
In case of Soul,
there are evils and those are unrighteousness, intemperance, cowardice,
ignorance. But does any of these dissolve or destroy her? -and here we do
not fall into the error of supposing
that the unjust and foolish man, when he is detected, perishes through his own
injustice, which is an evil of the soul.
Taking in consideration
the analogy of the body, the evil of the body is a disease which wastes and
reduces and annihilates the body; and all the things of which we were just now
speaking come to annihilation through their own corruption attaching to them
and inhering in them and so destroying them.
Now, we will consider
the soul in like manner. We can say, the injustice or other evil which exists
in the soul can’t waste and consume her. They can’t by attaching to the soul
and inhering in her at last bring her to death and so separate her from the
body.
And yet, it is
unreasonable to suppose that anything can perish from without through affection
of external evil which could not be destroyed from within by a corruption of
its own.
Again Consider, that
even the badness of food, whether staleness, decomposition, or any other bad
quality, when confined to the actual food, is not supposed to destroy the body;
although, if the badness of food communicates corruption to the body, then we
should say that the body has been destroyed by a corruption of itself, which is
disease, brought on by this; but that the body, being one thing, can be
destroyed by the badness of food, which is another, and which does not engender
any natural infection -this we shall absolutely deny.
And, on the same principle, unless some bodily
evil can produce an evil of the soul, we must not suppose that the soul, which
is one thing, can be dissolved by any merely external evil which belongs to
another.
Either then, let us
refute this conclusion, or, while it remains unrefuted, let us never say that
fever, or any other disease, or the knife put to the throat, or even the
cutting up of the whole body into the minutest pieces, can destroy the soul,
until she herself is proved to become more unholy or unrighteous in consequence
of these things being done to the body; but that the soul, or anything else if
not destroyed by an internal evil, can be destroyed by an external one, is not
to be affirmed by any man.
And surely, no one
will ever prove that the souls of men become more unjust in consequence of
death. But if someone who
would rather not admit the immortality of the soul boldly denies this, and says
that the dying do really become more evil and unrighteous, then, if the speaker
is right, I suppose that injustice, like disease, must be assumed to be fatal
to the unjust, and that those who take this disorder die by the natural
inherent power of destruction which evil has, and which kills them sooner or
later, but in quite another way from that in which, at present, the wicked
receive death at the hands of others as the penalty of their deeds.
And in that case injustice, if fatal to the
unjust, will not be so very terrible to him, for he will be delivered from
evil. But I rather suspect the opposite to be the truth, and that injustice
which, if it have the power, will murder others, keeps the murderer alive
--aye, and well awake too; so far removed is her dwelling-place from being a house
of death.
So, if the inherent
natural vice or evil of the soul is unable to kill or destroy her, hardly will
that which is appointed to be the destruction of some other body, destroy a
soul or anything else except that of which it was appointed to be the
destruction.
But the soul which
cannot be destroyed by an evil, whether inherent or external, must exist for
ever, and if existing forever, must be immortal.
That is the
conclusion, and, if a true conclusion, then the souls must always be the same,
for if none be destroyed they will not diminish in number. Neither will they
increase, for the increase of the immortal natures must come from something
mortal, and all things would thus end in immortality.
Source: The Republic
by Plato (360 BCE); Translated-Benjamin Jowett.
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