Will you not allow that I have as much of the spirit of prophecy in me as the swans? For they, when they perceive that they must die, having sung all their life long, do then sing more lustily than ever, rejoicing in the thought that they are going to the god they serve.

λυπούμενα ᾁδειν οὔτε οἱ κύκνοι, ἀλλ᾽ ἅτε οἶμαι τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ὄντες, μαντικοί τέ εἰσι καὶ προειδότες τὰ ἐν Ἅιδου ἀγαθὰ ᾁδουσι καὶ τέρπονται ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν διαφερόντως ἢ ἐν τῷ ἔμπροσθεν χρόνῳ.

Socrates

Quoted in Phaedo, by Plato

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Original Citation

Socrates. Quoted in Φαίδων [Phaedo], written by Plato. c. 360 BC.

Current Citation

Socrates. Quoted in "Phaedo." Plato: Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo, written by Plato, translated by G. M. A. Grube and John M. Cooper. Hackett Publishing, 2002.