Of these people, the ones who have purified themselves sufficiently through philosophy live thereafter without bodies for all time, and they arrive at dwellings even more beautiful than those, which are not easy to describe, nor is there enough time just now. But as a consequence of everything we have been discussing, Simmias, we must make all efforts to partake of virtue and wisdom in this life, for the reward is beautiful and the hope is great.
“Now, it would not be appropriate for a man of intelligence to insist that matters are as I have recounted them. But that these considerations, or something like them, are applicable to our souls and their dwelling places, in view of the fact that the soul turns out to be immortal, seems to me a hazard worth taking, for the hazard is beautiful and appropriate to someone who holds this view of the soul. And he should chant to himself as though they were charms and that is why I have been lengthening the story just now.
“So, these are the reasons why a man should be confident about his own soul once he has bid farewell, in this life, to the various pleasures and adornments associated with the body because they are alien. And realising they are more inclined to have the opposite effect, has busied himself with learning and adorned the soul, not with an alien adornment but with its own, with sound-mindedness, justice, courage, freedom and truth. And in this condition he awaits the journey to Hades, ready to make that journey whenever destiny may call.