Dialogue 4, Part 1 Summary and Analysis

"Phaedo" This dialogue is set in the small Greek town of Phlius, several months or years after Socrates' death. As Echecrates questions him, Phaedo confirms that Socrates' death was the result of his taking poison, that he (Socrates) seemed peaceful in his final moments (see "Quotes," p. 177), and that he was surrounded by friends, among them Simmias, Cebes, and Crito. "Plato," Phaedo says, "was ill." Phaedo then describes how, on the day of Socrates' death, the friends/students who visited him regularly arrived at the prison shortly after he'd been released from his chains. He describes Socrates massaging his leg and commenting on the strange relationship between pleasure and pain.

Then begins an extended discussion of the value of death, a discussion with begins with Cebes asking why, if death is an ultimate good, suicide is an evil. Socrates...