58
Phaedo. Not at all. Some were there, in fact, a good many.
58
Echecrates. Be so good as to tell us as exactly as you can about all these things, if you are not too busy.
58
Phaedo. I am not busy and I will try to tell you. It is always my greatest pleasure to be reminded of Socrates whether by speaking of him myself or by listening to someone else.
58
Echecrates. Well, Phaedo, you will have hearers who feel as you do; so try to tell us everything as accurately as you can.
58
Phaedo. For my part, I had strange emotions when I was there. For I was not filled with pity as I might naturally be when present at the death of a friend; since he seemed to me to be happy, both in his bearing and his words, he was meeting death so fearlessly and nobly. And so I thought that even in going to the abode of the dead he was not going without the protection of the gods, and that when he arrived there it would be well with him, if it ever was well with anyone.
59
Phaedo. And for this reason I was not at all filled with pity, as might seem natural when I was present at a scene of mourning; nor on the other hand did I feel pleasure because we were occupied with philosophy, as was our custom—and our talk was of philosophy;—but a very strange feeling came over me, an unaccustomed mixture of pleasure and of pain together, when I thought that Socrates was presently to die. And all of us who were there were in much the same condition, sometimes laughing and sometimes weeping; especially one of us, Apollodorus; you know him and his character.
59
Echecrates. To be sure I do.
59
Phaedo. He was quite unrestrained, and I was much agitated myself, as were the others.
59
Echecrates. Who were these, Phaedo?
59
Phaedo. Of native Athenians there was this Apollodorus, and Critobulus and his father, and Hermogenes and Epiganes and Aeschines and Antisthenes; and Ctesippus the Paeanian was there too, and Menexenus and some other Athenians. But Plato, I think, was ill.
59
Echecrates. Were any foreigners there?
