_Ech._ Yes; some one told me this; and I wondered that, as it took
place so long ago, he appears to have died long afterward. What was the
reason of this, Phædo?

_Phæd._ An accidental circumstance happened in his favor, Echecrates;
for the poop of the ship which the Athenians send to Delos chanced to be
crowned on the day before the trial.

_Ech._ But what is this ship?

_Phæd._ It is the ship, as the Athenians say, in which Theseus formerly
conveyed the fourteen boys and girls to Crete, and saved both them and
himself. They, therefore, made a vow to Apollo on that occasion, as it
is said, that if they were saved they would every year dispatch a solemn
embassy to Delos; which, from that time to the present, they send yearly
to the god. 3. When they begin the preparations for this solemn embassy,
they have a law that the city shall be purified during this period, and
that no public execution shall take place until the ship has reached
Delos, and returned to Athens; and this occasionally takes a long time,
when the winds happen to impede their passage. The commencement of the
embassy is when the priest of Apollo has crowned the poop of the ship.
And this was done, as I said, on the day before the trial: on this
account Socrates had a long interval in prison between the trial and his
death.

4. _Ech._ And what, Phædo, were the circumstances of his death? What was
said and done? and who of his friends were with him? or would not the
magistrates allow them to be present, but did he die destitute of
friends?