ABSTRACT
Simmias reference to Socrates present position as a misfortune causes Socrates to liken himself to the swans that are said to sing before they die; he, like them, has a prophetic awareness that happiness will follow after death. Socrates, in answering Simmias, refutes the doctrine that soul is a kind of attunement; but he leaves unanswered the point that affinity to the incomposite is no proof of immortality, which suggests that Plato acknowledged that to be the case and wished to emphasize it. This chapter provides a pause of great dramatic effect, preparatory to Socrates reply. This effect is helped by an interruption from Echecrates, to whom the whole of the main discussion is being related by Phaedo. Echecrates reminds us of the earlier of the two objections, that of Simmias, by remarking that he, too, had been attracted by the theory that soul is a sort of attunement.
