philebus   

Pro. Very true.

Soc. But is our body nourished wholly by this body, or is this

body nourished by our body, thence deriving and having the qualities

of which we were just now speaking?

Pro. That again, Socrates, is a question which does not deserve to

be asked.

Soc. Well, tell me, is this question worth asking?

Pro. What question?

Soc. May our body be said to have a soul?

Pro. Clearly.

Soc. And whence comes that soul, my dear Protarchus, unless the body

of the universe, which contains elements like those in our bodies

but in every way fairer, had also a soul? Can there be another source?

Pro. Clearly, Socrates, that is the only source.

Soc. Why, yes, Protarchus; for surely we cannot imagine that of

the four classes, the finite, the infinite, the composition of the

two, and the cause, the fourth, which enters into all things, giving

to our bodies souls, and the art of self-management, and of healing

disease, and operating in other ways to heal and organize, having

too all the attributes of wisdom;-we cannot, I say, imagine that

whereas the self-same elements exist, both in the entire heaven and in

great provinces of the heaven, only fairer and purer, this last should

not also in that higher sphere have designed the noblest and fairest

things?

Pro. Such a supposition is quite unreasonable.

Soc. Then if this be denied, should we not be wise in adopting the

other view and maintaining that there is in the universe a mighty

infinite and an adequate limit, of which we have often spoken, as well

as a presiding cause of no mean power, which orders and arranges years

and seasons and months, and may be justly called wisdom and mind?

Pro. Most justly.

Soc. And wisdom and mind cannot exist without soul?