Socrates' Version of the Cycle of Life Flashcards
On their arrival the souls had to go straight before Lachesis. And an
Interpreter first marshalled them in order and then took from the lap of
Lachesis a number of lots and types of life and, mounting on a high
rostrum, proclaimed: “This is the word of Lachesis, Daughter of Necessity.
Souls of a day, here you must begin another round of mortal life. No
Guardian Angel will be allotted to you; you shall choose your own. And he
on whom the lot falls first shall be the first to choose the life which then
shall of necessity be his. Goodness knows no master; a man shall have more
or less of her according to the value he sets on her. The fault lies not with
God, but with the soul that makes the choice.”
.
Where is the passage from?
Plato - Republic 614-5, 616, 617-8, 619, 620 - The Myth of Er.
What is the passage about?
The story of Er, a soldier who died in battle and went to the after-world. Er came back to show how great the rewards for being just are in the afterlife.
It is said that there were judges who decided which path each soul should follow depending on the life they had led on Earth.
Er and other combatants who died with him were led to there was the Spindle of Necessity. There they meet Necessity, and they were given a lottery number which allocates them to their next life.
The night before they commence their new life, they were told to drink water from the River of Lethe, but Er does not - making him remember everything and telling his fellow soldiers when he comes back to life in his own body.
Who was Necessity?
Mother of our invention.
Who was Lachesis?
Daughter of Necessity, she resembles the past.
Who is Clotho?
Necessity’s daughter, the past.
Who is Atropos?
Necessity’s daughter, who represents the future. She turns the wheel of the spindle.
