Thedoctrineofideas, whichhaslongagoreceivedtheassentoftheSocraticcircle, ; , Simmiasmaybesaidtohavegreatnessandalsosmallness, , , saysSocrates, becauseIwanttoshowyounotonlythatidealoppositesexcludeoneanother, butalsotheoppositesinus.I, forexample, havingtheattributeofsmallnessremainsmall, andcannotbecomegreat: thesmallnesswhichisinmedrivesoutgreatness.

, repliesSocrates, wasaffirmed, notofoppositeideaseitherinusorinnature, butofoppositionintheconcrete—notoflifeanddeath, , Socratesproceeds: Thisdoctrineofthemutualexclusionofoppositesisnotonlytrueoftheoppositesthemselves, , coldandheatareopposed; andfire, whichisinseparablefromheat, cannotco-existwithcold, orsnow, whichisinseparablefromcold, , thenumberthreeexcludesthenumberfour, becausethreeisanoddnumberandfourisanevennumber, ‘thesafeandsimpleanswer.’ Wemaysay, notonlythattheoddexcludestheeven, butthatthenumberthree, whichparticipatesinoddness, , notonlydoeslifeexcludedeath, butthesoul, ofwhichlifeistheinseparableattribute, , thenthenumberthreewouldnotperishbutremove, ; andthereforethesoulontheapproachofdeathdoesnotperishbutremoves.

: Ifthesoulisimmortal, ‘whatmannerofpersonsoughtwetobe?’ , andthewickedisnotreleasedfromhisevilbydeath; buteveryonecarrieswithhimintotheworldbelowthatwhichheisorhasbecome, andthatonly.