ks you 'why a body is diseased,' you
will not say from disease, but from fever; and instead of saying that
oddness is the cause of odd numbers, you will say that the monad is the
cause of them: and so of things in general, as I dare say that you will
understand sufficiently without my adducing any further examples.

Yes, he said, I quite understand you.

Tell me, then, what is that of which the inherence will render the body
alive?

The soul, he replied.

And is this always the case?

Yes, he said, of course.

Then whatever the soul possesses, to that she comes bearing life?

Yes, certainly.

And is there any opposite to life?

There is, he said.

And what is that?

Death.

Then the soul, as has been acknowledged, will never receive the opposite
of what she brings.

Impossible, replied Cebes.

And now, he said, what did we just now call that principle which repels
the even?

The odd.

And that principle which repels the musical, or the just?

The unmusical, he said, and the unjust.

And what do we call the principle which does not admit of death?

The immortal, he said.

And does the soul admit of death?

No.

Then the soul is immortal?

Yes, he said.

And may we say that this has been proven?

Yes, abundantly proven, Socrates, he replied.

Supposing that the odd were imperishable, must not three be
imperishable?

Of course.

And if that which is cold were imperishable, when the warm principle
came attacking the snow, must not the snow have retired whole and
unmelted--for it could never have perished, nor could it have remained
and admitted the heat?

True, he said.

Again, if the uncooling or warm principle were imperishable, the fire
when assailed by cold would not have perished or have been extinguished,
but would have gone away unaffected?

Certainly, he said.

And the same may be said of the immortal: if the immortal is also
imperishable, the soul when attacked by death cannot perish; for the
preceding argument shows that the soul will not admit of death, or ever
be dead, any more than three or the odd number will admit of the even,
or fire or the heat in the fire, of the cold. Yet a person may say: 'But
although the odd will not become even at the approach of the even, why
may not the odd perish and the even take the place of the odd?' Now to
him who makes this objection, we cannot answer that the odd principle is
imperishable; for this has not been acknowledged, but