[9] See Homer's "Iliad," 1 IX, v 363

[10] That is to say, the principle which we had laid down in former
discussions that no regard is to be had to popular opinion, is still
found to hold good.

[11] The Corybantes, priests of Cybele, who in their solemn festivals
made such a noise with flutes that the hearers could hear no other
sound.




INTRODUCTION TO THE PHÆDO.


This dialogue presents us with an account of the manner In which
Socrates spent the last day of his, life, and how he met his death. The
main subject is that of the soul's immortality, which Socrates takes
upon himself to prove with as much certainty as it is possible for the
human mind to arrive at. The question itself, though none could be
better suited to the occasion, arises simply and naturally from the
general conversation that precedes it.

When his friends visit him in the morning for the purpose of spending
this his last day with him, they find him sitting up in bed, and rubbing
his leg, which had just been freed from bonds. He remarks on the
unaccountable alternation and connection between pleasure and pain, and
adds that Æsop, had he observed it, would have made a fable from it.
This remark reminds Cebes of Socrates's having put some of Æsop's fables