What did Socrates say upon his death?! "We owe a rooster to<the god they

Question: What did Socrates say upon his death!?! "We owe a rooster to<the god they sacrifice roosters upon healing>"

Who was that god!? Name starts with "A" is all i remember!.Thanks in advanceWww@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

"We owe a c ock to Asklepios!. Please see that it is paid!."

Asklepios was the god of healing!. Socrates implied that, at long last, he was being cured of the lingering disease we call life, and was going to immortality in a better world!. The traditional sacrifice of a c ock signified the gratitude of a patient who had been cured!.

Read the 'Phaedo' for the full story - but read the 'Apology' first, to get the facts behind the case!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

According to the report written by Plato in the dialogue "Phaedo", his last words were, "Crito, we owe a cock to Aesculapius; pay it, therefore; and do not
neglect it!." (link below for full text)

As to exactly what this means, we can only speculate to a degree!. Giving the priests of that god of healing an animal would be a traditional payment for their nominal aid as such!. The question we are left with, then, is what service it was for which he felt he needed to pay!.

Some believe that it was something not mentioned in the dialogues!. Perhaps he was ill earlier and wanted to die with no debts on the books!. I believe it was Nietzsche who argued that Socrates was anti-life and so viewed the ending of it as a good thing for which he should pay!. Some of Plato's later writings seem to back up this view in that he argues that a true philosopher would be only too happy to be free of his crude and imperfect material body and progress to realms of pure thought after death!.

The problem with these theories is they presume that Plato is either a lousy writer or a person who was doing nothing but write down everything said whether it made sense or not!. Socrates comments in the dialogue that he doesn't fear death and has nothing to gain by putting it off, but he never suggests (in ANY dialogue) that he dislikes life and that it is akin to a disease to be cured!. Likewise, to include nonsensical or confusing death ramblings seems out of character for a student who idolized his teacher; if Socrates was being scrupulous about his old debts, one would imagine that Plato would have mentioned them in there somewhere!.

No, most believe it has more to do with the prayer he made just moments before in that dialogue!. He says, "!.!.!.it is certainly both lawful and right to pray to the gods that my journey to them may be happy; which therefore I pray, and so may it be!." He is asking the gods for an easy and peaceful death!. So in that sense it is VERY appropriate for his last comment to be a payment to the gods for ANSWERING his last prayer!. Plato depicts him as a man who dies well and in good conscience in spite of the accusations against him!. This is both in character for Plato and good writing!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

He said, "I don't feel so good!."Www@QuestionHome@Com