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YOUNG SOCRATES: What is it?
STRANGER: The life of all animals first came to a standstill, and the mortal
nature ceased to be or look older, and was then reversed and grew young and
delicate; the white locks of the aged darkened again, and the cheeks the bearded
man became smooth, and recovered their former bloom; the bodies of youths
in their prime grew softer and smaller, continually by day and night returning
and becoming assimilated to the nature of a newly-born child in mind as well as
body; in the succeeding stage they wasted away and wholly disappeared. And
the bodies of those who died by violence at that time quickly passed through
the like changes, and in a few days were no more seen.
YOUNG SOCRATES: Then how, Stranger, were the animals created in
those days; and in what way were they begotten of one another?
STRANGER: It is evident, Socrates, that there was no such thing in the then
order of nature as the procreation of animals from one another; the earth-born
race, of which we hear in story, was the one which existed in those days–they
rose again from the ground; and of this tradition, which is now-a-days often
unduly discredited, our ancestors, who were nearest in point of time to the end
of the last period and came into being at the beginning of this, are to us the
heralds. And mark how consistent the sequel of the tale is; after the return of
age to youth, follows the return of the dead, who are lying in the earth, to life;
simultaneously with the reversal of the world the wheel of their generation has
been turned back, and they are put together and rise and live in the opposite
order, unless God has carried any of them away to some other lot. According
to this tradition they of necessity sprang from the earth and have the name of
earth-born, and so the above legend clings to them.
YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly that is quite consistent with what has pre-
ceded; but tell me, was the life which you said existed in the reign of Cronos in
that cycle of the world, or in this? For the change in the course of the stars and
the sun must have occurred in both.
STRANGER: I see that you enter into my meaning;–no, that blessed and
spontaneous life does not belong to the present cycle of the world, but to the
previous one, in which God superintended the whole revolution of the universe;
and the several parts the universe were distributed under the rule of certain
inferior deities, as is the way in some places still. There were demigods, who
were the shepherds of the various species and herds of animals, and each one was
in all respects sufficient for those of whom he was the shepherd; neither was there
any violence, or devouring of one another, or war or quarrel among them; and I
might tell of ten thousand other blessings, which belonged to that dispensation.
The reason why the life of man was, as tradition says, spontaneous, is as follows:
In those days God himself was their shepherd, and ruled over them, just as
man, who is by comparison a divine being, still rules over the lower animals.
Under him there were no forms of government or separate possession of women
and children; for all men rose again from the earth, having no memory of the
past. And although they had nothing of this sort, the earth gave them fruits
in abundance, which grew on trees and shrubs unbidden, and were not planted
by the hand of man. And they dwelt naked, and mostly in the open air, for the
temperature of their seasons was mild; and they had no beds, but lay on soft
couches of grass, which grew plentifully out of the earth. Such was the life of
man in the days of Cronos, Socrates; the character of our present life, which is
said to be under Zeus, you know from your own experience. Can you, and will
you, determine which of them you deem the happier?
YOUNG SOCRATES: Impossible.
STRANGER: Then shall I determine for you as well as I can?
YOUNG SOCRATES: By all means.
STRANGER: Suppose that the nurslings of Cronos, having this boundless
leisure, and the power of holding intercourse, not only with men, but with
the brute creation, had used all these advantages with a view to philosophy,
conversing with the brutes as well as with one another, and learning of every
nature which was gifted with any special power, and was able to contribute
some special experience to the store of wisdom, there would be no difficulty in
deciding that they would be a thousand times happier than the men of our own
day. Or, again, if they had merely eaten and drunk until they were full, and told
stories to one another and to the animals–such stories as are now attributed to
them–in this case also, as I should imagine, the answer would be easy. But until
some satisfactory witness can be found of the love of that age for knowledge and
discussion, we had better let the matter drop, and give the reason why we have
unearthed this tale, and then we shall be able to get on. In the fulness of time,
when the change was to take place, and the earth-born race had all perished,
and every soul had completed its proper cycle of births and been sown in the
earth her appointed number of times, the pilot of the universe let the helm go,
and retired to his place of view; and then Fate and innate desire reversed the
motion of the world. Then also all the inferior deities who share the rule of
the supreme power, being informed of what was happening, let go the parts
of the world which were under their control. And the world turning round
with a sudden shock, being impelled in an opposite direction from beginning
to end, was shaken by a mighty earthquake, which wrought a new destruction
of all manner of animals. Afterwards, when sufficient time had elapsed, the
tumult and confusion and earthquake ceased, and the universal creature, once
more at peace, attained to a calm, and settled down into his own orderly and
accustomed course, having the charge and rule of himself and of all the creatures
which are contained in him, and executing, as far as he remembered them, the
instructions of his Father and Creator, more precisely at first, but afterwords
with less exactness. The reason of the falling off was the admixture of matter
in him; this was inherent in the primal nature, which was full of disorder, until
attaining to the present order. From God, the constructor, the world received
all that is good in him, but from a previous state came elements of evil and
unrighteousness, which, thence derived, first of all passed into the world, and
were then transmitted to the animals. While the world was aided by the pilot in
nurturing the animals, the evil was small, and great the good which he produced,
but after the separation, when the world was let go, at first all proceeded well
enough; but, as time went on, there was more and more forgetting, and the
old discord again held sway and burst forth in full glory; and at last small
was the good, and great was the admixture of evil, and there was a danger
of universal ruin to the world, and to the things contained in him. Wherefore
God, the orderer of all, in his tender care, seeing that the world was in great
straits, and fearing that all might be dissolved in the storm and disappear in
infinite chaos, again seated himself at the helm; and bringing back the elements
which had fallen into dissolution and disorder to the motion which had prevailed
under his dispensation, he set them in order and restored them, and made the
world imperishable and immortal. And this is the whole tale, of which the
first part will suffice to illustrate the nature of the king. For when the world
turned towards the present cycle of generation, the age of man again stood still,
and a change opposite to the previous one was the result. The small creatures
which had almost disappeared grew in and stature, and the newly-born children
of the earth became grey and died and sank into the earth again. All things
changed, imitating and following the condition of the universe, and of necessity
agreeing with that in their mode of conception and generation and nurture; for
no animal was any longer allowed to come into being in the earth through the
agency of other creative beings, but as the world was ordained to be the lord of
his own progress, in like manner the parts were ordained to grow and generate
and give nourishment, as far as they could, of themselves, impelled by a similar
movement. And so we have arrived at the real end of this discourse; for although
there might be much to tell of the lower animals, and of the condition out of
which they changed and of the causes of the change, about men there is not
much, and that little is more to the purpose. Deprived of the care of God, who
had possessed and tended them, they were left helpless and defenceless, and
were torn in pieces by the beasts, who were naturally fierce and had now grown
wild. And in the first ages they were still without skill or resource; the food
which once grew spontaneously had failed, and as yet they knew not how to
procure it, because they had never felt the pressure of necessity. For all these
reasons they were in a great strait; wherefore also the gifts spoken of in the old
tradition were imparted to man by the gods, together with so much teaching
and education as was indispensable; fire was given to them by Prometheus, the
arts by Hephaestus and his fellow-worker, Athene, seeds and plants by others.
From these is derived all that has helped to frame human life; since the care
of the Gods, as I was saying, had now failed men, and they had to order their
course of life for themselves, and were their own masters, just like the universal
creature whom they imitate and follow, ever changing, as he changes, and ever
living and growing, at one time in one manner, and at another time in another.
Enough of the story, which may be of use in showing us how greatly we erred
in the delineation of the king and the statesman in our previous discourse.
