1 03 Ibid, 286d. In the words of Schaercr (La Question platonicienne, p. 87): "Definitions arc worthless in and of themselves. Their entire value consists in the road travelled to achieve them. Along the way, the interlocutor acquires more met11al penetration (Sophist, 227a-b), more cotifidence ( Theaetttus, 1 87b), and more skillfulness in all things (Statesman, 285dff). His soul is thereby purified, as he rejects the opinions which formerly barred the way co enlightenment (Sophist, 230b-c). But whatever words one uses to designate this dialectical progress, it always takes place in the soul of the interlocutor - and, by the same token, in the soul of the intelligent reader."
104 Cf. Schaerer, La Question platonicienne, pp. 38-44; Goldschmidt Les dialogues, pp.
79-80, 292, and 34 1 : "The Republic solves the problem of Justice and its advantages. At the same time, and by the same token, it urges us on towards Justice." On the cxhortatory character of the dialogues, see K. Gaiser, Protreptik und Pariinese bei Platon. Untersuch1mgen zur Fonn des platonischen Dialogs, Stuttgart 1959; K. Gaiser, P/atone come scrillore filosojico, Naples 1984.
105 Plato, Me1111, H i e:.
l llt1 Phuu, Rtpultlii.·, SOSc:.
120
S piritua/ Exercises
107 The dialectical exercise, as it rids our thought of the illusions of the senses, brings about the apprenticeship for death which we are about to discuss; cf. Plato, Phaedo, 83a.
1 08 Brice Parain, "Le langage et I' existence" ["Language and existence"], in L 'Existence, Paris 1945, p. 173. Parain's novels, especially La morl de Socrate ["The Death of Socrates"], Paris 1950, try to make comprehensible this relationship between language and death.
109 Sallustius, Sal/ustius: Concerning the Gods and tire Universe, 5, 3, p. 1 1 Nock.
1 1 0 Plato, Apology, 28b-30b.
1 1 1 Plato, Phaedo, 67e. Cf. ibid, 64a, 80e.
1 12 Plato, ibid, 67c. Note the use of the verb "to accustom" (ethisa1), which presupposes the practice of exercises.
1 13 Cf. above.
1 14 Cf. Plato, Phaedo, 84a: "The philosophical soul calms the sea of the passions, following the course of reasoning and always being present within it, contemplating and drawing nourishment from the true, the divine, and that which is not subject to opinion." Cf. ibid, 6Se, 66c, 79c, 81b, 83b-d.
1 1 5 Plato, Republfr, 571 d .
1 16 Plato, Republic, 57 l d-572a.
1 1 7 Plato, Phaedo, 64a-b. This is probably an allusion to Aristophanes, Clouds, verses 1 03, 504.
1 1 8 La Rochefoucauld, Ma.-ri,nes, no. 26.
1 19 Horace, Letler, l, 4, 1 3-14: "Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum; gratia superveniet quae non sperabitur hora." Once again, we encounter the Epicurean theme of gratitude.
1 20 Michel de Montaigne, Essays, bk I, ch. 20, vol. 1, p. 87 Villey/Saulnier = vol.
1, p. 1 1 1 Ives. Cf. Seneca, Leiter, 26, 8: "Meanwhile Epicurus will oblige me with these words: 'Think on death,' or rather, if you prefer the phrase, on 'migration to heaven.' The meaning is clear - that it is a wonderful thing to learn thoroughly how to die . . . 'think on death.' In saying this, he bids us think on freedom . . .
He who has learned to die has un-leamed slavery. [.Qui mori didicit, servire dedidicit.]" As we can see, the Stoic Seneca borrowed the maxim "Meditare mortem" from Epicurus.
1 2 1 Epictetus, Manual, ch. 2 1 . Cf. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2, 1 1 : "Let your every deed and word and thought be those of one who might depart from this life this very moment."
1 22 See above.
1 23 Cf. A. de Waelhens, la philosophie de Martin Heidegger (= Bibliotheque Philosophique de Louvain 2), 4th edn, Louvain 1955, pp. 1 35-5 1 ; and especially Heidegger, Sein und Zeit, §53, pp. 260ff. As R. Brague pointed out in his review of the first edition of this work (Eludes phi/osophiques, 1982), Heidegger here "is careful to distinguish Being-for-Death from the metlitatio mortis." It is perfectly true that Heideggerian Being-for-Death only takes on its full meaning within the perspective particular to Heidegger; it is nonetheless true: that we have here a system which makes of the anticipation or forcstnlling of Lleath 11 prccomlillon of 11uthentic exi11tencc, We muHI 11111 furgcl th111 in Pliucmic philoNuphy, the '"'Int iN
Spiritual Exercises
121
not simply to think about death, but to carry out a training fo r dying which is, in reality, a training for life .
1 24 Cf. Plato, Republic, 525c, 532b8, and especially 5 18c: "the true analogy for this indwelling power in the soul and the organ whereby each of us learns is that of an eye that could not be converted to the light from the darkness except by turning the whole body. Even so this organ of knowledge must be turned around from the world of becoming together with the entire soul . . . until it is able to endure the contemplation of that which is. Education is the art of turning this eye of the soul."
1 25 Plato, Republic, 604b-d.
1 26 Should we call this exercise already Stoic, or should we rather say that Stoic exercises are still Platonic?
1 27 Plato, Republic, 486a. This passage is quoted by Marcus Aurelius in his Meditations, 7, 35.
1 28 Cf. I. Hadot, Seneca, pp. 1 1 5-17, 1 28-30.
1 29 Aristotle, Paris of Animals, 2, 3, 5, 645a 9- 1 0.
1 30 Sec above.
1 3 1 Epictetus, Diuoi1rses, I, 6, 1 9-25: "God has brought man into the world to be a spectator of himself and his works, and not merely a spectator, but also an interpreter . . . Nature . . . did not end [i.e. in the case of mankind] until she reached contemplation and understanding and a manner of life harmonious with nature. Take heed, therefore, lest you die without ever having been spectators of these things. You arc wi lling to travel to Olympia to look at the work of Pheidias, and each of you regards it as a misfortune to die without seeing such sights; yet when there is no need to travel at all, when you have such works near you and under your noses, will you not yearn to look at these works and know them? Will you consequently refuse to learn either who you are, or for what you have been born, or what is the meaning of the spectacle to which you have been admitted?"
1 32 Philo Judaeus, On the Special Laws, 2, chs. 44--6; cf. the other passages from Philo on the contemplation of the world quoted by A.-J. Festugiere, la rtvtla1io11
d'Hem1es Trismegiste, vo1. 2, Paris 1949, p. 599.
1 33 Plutarch, 011 Peace of Mind, §20, 477c.
1 34 On this theme, sec Fcstugiere, La reve/a1im1, vol. 2, pp. 441 -57; P. Courcelle, la Consolation de Phi/osophie dans la traditio11 lilleraire, Paris 1967, pp. 355-72.
1 35 Marcus Aurelius, Medi1ations, 1 2, 24. Cf. ibid, 9, 30: "Contemplate from up above."
1 36 Seneca, Natural Questions, I, Preface, 7-9.
1 37 Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8, 54; 9, 32.
1 38 Plotinus, Ermead, 6, 5, 12, 1 9-29.
1 39 For example, Plotinus, E11nead, I, 2; Porphyry, Se111ences, ch. 32; Macrobius, f;omme11tary on the Dream of' Scipio, I, 8, 3-1 1 ; Olympiodorus, Commentary on Plato 's Pliaedo, pp. 23, 25ff, 45, l 4ff. Cf. 0. Schissel von Fleschenberg, Marinos vim Neap11lis 1md die neuplatonischen Tugendgrade, Athens 1 928, with the review by W. Theiler in G1iomo11 5 ( 1929), pp. 307-1 7; I. Hadot, le problbne d"
neoplat011isme ttle.\'andn
/Jierodes et Simplicus,
'n,
Paris 1 978, pp. I 52ff. On the
important role played by this theme in the systematization of Christian mystid1m, Nee I I. vnn l .icNhuut, /,11 tl1r11rie pl11ti11ie1111e de la 11er111. Ess11i s11r la gmese