The Phaedo and the Death of Socrates

Plato's Phaedo describes Socrates' final day in 399 BCE. Friends gather in the prison, and Socrates spends the day discussing whether the soul is immortal. He argues that philosophers should not fear death, because philosophy is a kind of practice for the soul's separation from the body. He offers several arguments: that opposites come from opposites, that learning is recollection of what the soul knew before birth, and that the soul resembles the unchanging Forms.

His friends raise objections, and Plato shows Socrates welcoming them. At sunset, Socrates drinks a cup of poison, calmly walks about, and lies down as his body grows numb. His last words ask Crito to offer a rooster to Asclepius, the god of healing. Interpreters still debate what he meant. The Phaedo turned Socrates' death into an enduring image of calm courage and of philosophy as a way of life.