10 Facts About Phaedo

1.

Phædo or Phaedo, known to ancient readers as On The Soul, is one of the best-known dialogues of Plato's middle period, along with the Republic and the Symposium.

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2.

Phaedo tells the story that following the discussion, he and the others were there to witness the death of Socrates.

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3.

Phaedo was first translated into Latin from Greek by Henry Aristippus in 1160.

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4.

Phaedo relates the dialogue from that day to Echecrates, a Pythagorean philosopher.

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5.

Phaedo explains why a delay occurred between his trial and his death, and describes the scene in a prison at Athens on the final day, naming those present.

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6.

Phaedo tells how he had visited Socrates early in the morning with the others.

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7.

Phaedo says, "I too believe that the gods are our guardians, and that we men are a chattel of theirs".

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8.

Phaedo goes on to show, using examples of relationships, such as asleep-awake and hot-cold, that things that have opposites come to be from their opposite.

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9.

Phaedo begins by showing that "if there is anything beautiful other than absolute beauty it is beautiful only insofar as it partakes of absolute beauty".

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10.

Plato's Phaedo had a significant readership throughout antiquity, and was commented on by a number of ancient philosophers, such as Harpocration of Argos, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Paterius, Plutarch of Athens, Syrianus and Proclus.

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