Phaedo Summary | Ancient Tales | Flax Golden Tales | BBA / BBS First Year

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Phaedo Summary | Ancient Tales |  Flax Golden Tales | BBA / BBS First Year

Phaedo by Plato

MAIN SUMMARY 

Phaedo by Plato

Here in this text, a great philosopher, Plato, writes about Socrates' death with the help of two characters, Phaedo and Echecrates. There is a conversation between these characters. Phaedo was the person who was present when Socrates was given poison. Both Echecrates and Phaedo were disciples of Socrates. Echecrates asks Phaedo to tell him every detail of how Socrates died. After the charge, Socrates' execution was postponed for several days due to some delay in ritual performance. Before execution, they had to perform some ritual performances. Socrates would be executed if the ship arrived from Delos. During that time, the ship had been sent to Delos by God Apollo. When the ship came, they fixed the date of Socrates' execution.

When the day of Socrates' execution arrived, many students from different places came to meet Socrates. All his disciples, as well as family members, came there. At that time, Socrates gave a philosophical talk about the human body and soul. Hearing his talk, some of them began to weep.

After his short talk, Socrates sent them back home. Crito, a disciple of Socrates, asked Socrates how they would bury him. Socrates made fun of him and explained that it didn't matter to him how he would be buried. For him, death was important. He knew that he would leave the world and go to another world soon. He would go and get a place in heaven. Later, Socrates went to take a bath. An officer came to him and asked for pardon. The officer was so upset, and he had tears in his eyes. Next, a man came to him with a bowl of poison. Socrates didn't seem fearful. There was no change in his facial expression. He commanded his disciples not to lose their hearts. Later, he drank poison. Eventually, he asked Crito to offer a cock to the divine healer, Asclepius. Offering cock to Asclepius was a custom in Greek for the recovery of the illness. Socrates believed that he would recover from an illness but not die. He walked for a distance. He felt his legs heavy, and he fell to the ground. Finally, he wished that a cock should be offered to Asclepius. The disciples, as well as other relatives, started to weep bitterly.

FOUR LEVELS OF INTERPRETATION 

Phaedo by Plato

Literal Comprehension

This story has been written in dialogue form. It mainly consists of three characters. They are Phaedo, Echecrates, and Crito. In this treatise, a great philosopher, Plato, has written about the death of Socrates with the help of two characters, Phaedo and Echecrates. There is a conversation between these characters. Phaedo was present at the time when Socrates was poisoned. Both Echecrates and Phaedo were disciples of Socrates. Here, Echecrates asks Phaedo to explain the details of Socrates' death. After Socrates was accused, his execution was postponed for several days due to a delay in the ritual performance. The executioners had to perform some rituals. When the ship arrived from Delos, Socrates would be put to death. Actually, the ship was sent to the god Apollo near Delos. When the ship arrived, they set the date of Socrates' execution.

On that day of execution, many students from different places came to meet Socrates. All his disciples as well as family members also came there. Socrates gave a philosophical lecture about the human body and soul. Some of them started crying after hearing his words. Socrates sent them back home after a short talk. Crito asked, "How should they bury Socrates?" Socrates made a kind of joke of him. He explained that he didn't care about his burial. For him, death was important. He knew that he would soon leave this world, go to another world, and be in heaven.

After his talk, he went to take a bath. Later, an officer came and apologised to Socrates. There were tears in his eyes. Next, a man came with a bowl of poison. Socrates seemed quite bold and did not change his facial expressions. He ordered his disciples to be bold. Socrates drank that poison.

After drinking, he walked for some distance. He felt his legs heavy. Finally, he fell. He wished that a cock be offered to Asclepius. All his disciples, as well as other relatives, also started crying with broken hearts.

Interpretation

Here, the author Plato has tried to show the immortality of Socrates. According to him, a great man is never afraid of the concept of death. He shows that death is necessary when our body is useless. Here, he means that a short but adventurous life is better than a long, monotonous life. Here, Socrates first drank the poison before the appointed time, as he found his body useless as he was going to be killed soon. Plato showed that a courageous life is more important than a cowardly life. Socrates spoke for the righteous, although he was executed. This story also tells us that a person who sacrifices his life for democratic rights, norms, and values never dies.

Critical Thinking

I agree that we should not spend our lives without doing any good deeds. We are humans, and we should do something great. Although Socrates had democratic feelings and spoke mostly in favour of the common people, he was poisoned. But we can still say that Socrates was a great, honest man. But here, Plato tries to show that there is life after death. There is no proof of this yet. I have never heard of anyone coming to heaven.

Assimilation

By reading this lesson, I learned that we must be truthful. The truth makes us great people. We should always protest for what is right. Socrates also spoke for truth but eventually was poisoned by those who lived in darkness, although he was still known as a great philosopher. 

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