is better to die--this probably will
appear wonderful to you--may not without impiety do this good to
themselves, but must await another benefactor."

16. Then Cebes, gently smiling, said, speaking in his own dialect,[28]
"Jove be witness!"

"And, indeed," said Socrates, "it would appear to be unreasonable; yet
still, perhaps, it has some reason on its side. The maxim, indeed, given
on this subject in the mystical doctrines,[29] that we men are in a kind
of prison, and that we ought not to free ourselves from it and escape,
appears to me difficult to be understood, and not easy to penetrate.
This, however, appears to me, Cebes, to be well said: that the gods take
care of us, and that we men are one of their possessions. Does it not
seem so to you?"

"It does," replied Cebes.

"Therefore," said he, "if one of your slaves were to kill himself,
without your having intimated that you wished him to die, should you not
be angry with him, and should you not punish him if you could?"

"Certainly," he replied.

"Perhaps, then, in this point of view, it is not unreasonable to assert
that a man ought not to kill himself before the deity lays him under a
necessity of doing so, such as that now laid on me."

17. "This, indeed," said Cebes, "appears to be probable. But what you
said just now, Socrates, that philosophers should be very willing to
die, appears to be an absurdity, if what we said just now is agreeable
to reason--that it is God who takes care of us, and that we are his
property. For that the wisest men should not be grieved at leaving that
service in which they govern them who are the best of all
masters--namely, the gods--is not consistent with reason; for surely he
can not think that he will take better care of himself when he has
become free. But a foolish man might perhaps think thus, that he should
fly from his master, and would not reflect that he ought not to fly from
a good one, but should cling to him as much as possible; therefore he
would fly against all reason; but a man of sense would desire to be
constantly with one better than himself. Thus, Socrates, the contrary of
what you just now said is likely to be the case; for it becomes the wise
to be grieved at dying, but the foolish to rejoice."

18. Socrates, on hearing this, appeared to me to be pleased with the
pertinacity of Cebes, and, looking toward us, said, "Cebes, you see,
always searches out arguments, and is not at all willing to admit at