The parallel which I will
suppose is that of an old weaver, who dies, and after his death
somebody says: He is not dead, he must be alive; and he appeals to the
coat which he himself wove and wore, and which is still whole and
undecayed. And then he proceeds to ask of someone who is
incredulous, whether a man lasts longer, or the coat which is in use
and wear; and when he is answered that a man lasts far longer,
thinks that he has thus certainly demonstrated the survival of the
man, who is the more lasting, because the less lasting remains. But
that, Simmias, as I would beg you to observe, is not the truth;
everyone sees that he who talks thus is talking nonsense. For the
truth is that this weaver, having worn and woven many such coats,
though he outlived several of them, was himself outlived by the
last; but this is surely very far from proving that a man is
slighter and weaker than a coat. Now the relation of the body to the
soul may be expressed in a similar figure; for you may say with reason
that the soul is lasting, and the body weak and short-lived in
comparison. And every soul may be said to wear out many bodies,
especially in the course of a long life.
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