Autor: Plato

Buch: Gorgias

Titel: Gorgias

Stichwort: Sokrates Schlussrede; Reflexion über eine Gerechtigkeit nach dem Tod

Kurzinhalt: So I'll ignore the public honours which attract most people, follow the path of truth, and try to be as moral a person as I can during my lifetime and after my death as well.

Textausschnitt: Socrates: Pay attention, then, as they say. It's an (523a) excellent explanation. I expect you'll think that what I'm about to tell you is just a story, but to my mind it does explain things, since it is, as far as I'm concerned, the truth.1 (Fs) (notabene)

As Homer records, when Zeus, Poseidon, and Pluto inherited their father's dominion, they divided it between themselves.2 Now, during Cronus' reign human beings were subject to a law which the gods sanction even to this day and which is as follows: any human being who has lived a moral and god-fearing life shall on his death depart for the Isles of the Blessed (523b) and shall dwell there, and live a trouble-free life of perfect happiness; however, anyone who has lived an immoral and godless life shall be imprisoned in the place of retribution and justice, which is called Tartarus.3 In the time of Cronus, and in the relatively recent past during Zeus' reign as well, living judges dealt with living people and passed judgement upon them on the day of their impending death, which made the administration of justice poor. So Pluto and the supervisors of the Isles of the Blessed came and told Zeus that the wrong kinds of people were getting through to both places. So Zeus said, 'I'll put an end to that. The reason (523c) the administration of justice is poor at the moment is that people are being assessed with their clothes on, in the sense that they come before the court during their lifetimes, and plenty of people with corrupt souls are dressed in attractive bodies, noble birth, and wealth; also, when it's their turn to be judged, a lot of witnesses come forward and testify to the (523d) exemplary lives these people have led. All this impresses the judges. Besides, the judges themselves are wearing clothes as well: their souls are enclosed within eyes and ears and bodies in general. All this-their own clothing and that of the people they're assessing-constitutes a barrier. The first job', he went on, 'is to stop people knowing in advance when they're going to