Now these streams are many and
great and of all sorts, but among the many are four streams, the greatest and
outermost of which is that called Oceanus, which flows round in a circle, and
opposite this, flowing in the opposite direction, is Acheron, which flows through
various desert
places and, passing under the earth, comes to the Acherusian lake. To this lake
the souls of most of the dead go and, after remaining there the appointed time,
which is for some longer and for others shorter, are sent back to be born again
into living beings. The third river flows out between these two, and near the
place whence it issues it falls into a vast region burning with a great fire and
makes a lake larger than our Mediterranean sea, boiling with water and mud.
Thence it flows in a circle, turbid and
muddy, and comes in its winding course, among other places, to the edge of the
Acherusian lake, but does not mingle with its water. Then, after winding about
many times underground, it flows into Tartarus at a lower level. This is the
river which is called Pyriphlegethon, and the streams of lava which spout up at
various places on earth are offshoots from it. Opposite this the fourth river
issues, it is said, first into a wild and awful place, which is all of a dark
blue color, like lapis lazuli.
This is
called the Stygian river, and the lake which it forms by flowing in is the Styx.
And when the river has flowed in here and has received fearful powers into its
waters, it passes under the earth and, circling round in the direction opposed
to that of Pyriphlegethon, it meets it coming from the other way in the
Acherusian lake. And the water of this river also mingles with no other water,
but this also passes round in a circle and falls into Tartarus opposite
Pyriphlegethon. And the name of this river, as the Poets say, is Cocytus.
Such is the nature of these
things. Now when the dead have come to the place where each is led by his
genius, first they are judged and sentenced, as they have lived well and
piously, or not. And those who are found to have lived neither well nor ill, go
to the Acheron and, embarking upon vessels provided for them, arrive in them at
the lake; there they dwell and are purified, and if they have done any wrong
they are absolved by paying the penalty for their wrong doings,
and for their good deeds they receive rewards, each according to his merits. But those who
appear to be incurable, on account of the greatness of their wrongdoings,
because they have committed many great deeds of sacrilege, or wicked and
abominable murders, or any other such crimes, are cast by their fitting destiny
into Tartarus, whence they never emerge.
Those, however, who are curable, but
are found to have committed great sins—who have, for example, in a moment
of passion done some act of violence against father or mother and
have lived in
repentance the rest of their lives, or who have slain some other person under
similar conditions—these must needs be thrown into Tartarus, and when they
have been there a year the wave casts them out, the homicides by way of Cocytus,
those who have outraged their parents by way of Pyriphlegethon. And when they
have been brought by the current to the Acherusian lake, they shout and cry out,
calling to those whom they have slain or outraged, begging and beseeching them
to be gracious and to let them come out
into the lake; and if they prevail they come out and cease from their ills, but
if not, they are borne away again to Tartarus and thence back into the rivers,
and this goes on until they prevail upon those whom they have wronged; for this
is the penalty imposed upon them by the judges. But those who are found to have
excelled in holy living are freed from these regions within the earth and are
released as from prisons;
they mount upward
into their pure abode and dwell upon the earth. And of these, all who have duly
purified themselves by philosophy live henceforth altogether without bodies, and
pass to still more beautiful abodes which it is not easy to describe, nor have
we now time enough.But, Simmias, because
of all these things which we have recounted we ought to do our best to acquire
virtue and wisdom in life. For the prize is fair and the hope great.
Now it would not be fitting for a man of
sense to maintain that all this is just as I have described it, but that this or
something like it is true concerning our souls and their abodes, since the soul
is shown to be immortal, I think he may properly and worthily venture to
believe; for the venture is well worth while; and he ought to repeat such things
to himself as if they were magic charms, which is the reason why I have been
lengthening out the story so long. This then is why a man should be of good
cheer about his soul, who in his life
has
rejected the pleasures and ornaments of the body, thinking they are alien to him
and more likely to do him harm than good, and has sought eagerly for those of
learning, and after adorning his soul with no alien ornaments, but with its own
proper adornment of self-restraint and justice and
courage and freedom and truth,
awaits his departure to the other world, ready to go when fate calls him.