eath, replies Socrates; and he has heard often enough, and
would rather not hear again, that the bad man will kill the good. But
he thinks that such a fate is very likely reserved for him, because he
remarks that he is the only person who teaches the true art of politics.
And very probably, as in the case which he described to Polus, he may be
the physician who is tried by a jury of children. He cannot say that he
has procured the citizens any pleasure, and if any one charges him with
perplexing them, or with reviling their elders, he will not be able
to make them understand that he has only been actuated by a desire for
their good. And therefore there is no saying what his fate may be.
'And do you think that a man who is unable to help himself is in a good
condition?' Yes, Callicles, if he have the true self-help, which is
never to have said or done any wrong to himself or others. If I had not
this kind of self-help, I should be ashamed; but if I die for want of
your flattering rhetoric, I shall die in peace. For death is no evil,
but to go to the world below laden with offences is the worst of evils.
In proof of which I will tell you a tale:--

Under the rule of Cronos, men were judged on the day of their death, and
when judgment had been given upon them they departed--the good to the
islands of the blest, the bad to the house of vengeance. But as they
were still living, and had their clothes on at the time when they were
being judged, there was favouritism, and Zeus, when he came to the
throne, was obliged to alter the mode of procedure, and try them after
death, having first sent down Prometheus to take away from them the
foreknowledge of death. Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus were appointed
to be the judges; Rhadamanthus for Asia, Aeacus for Europe, and Minos
was to hold the court of appeal. Now death is the separation of soul and
body, but after death soul and body alike retain their characteristics;
the fat man, the dandy, the branded slave, are all distinguishable. Some
prince or potentate, perhaps even the great king himself, appears before
Rhadamanthus, and he instantly detects him, though he knows not who he
is; he sees the scars of perjury and iniquity, and sends him away to the
house of torment.

For there are two classes of souls who undergo punishment--the curable
and the incurable. The curable are those who are benefited by their
punishment; the incurable are such as Archelaus, who benefit others by
bec