AFTER THE ASCENT: PLATO ON BECOMING LIKE GOD JOHN M. ARMSTRONG !"#"$%& Platonic dialogues indicate that humans should strive to become like god. Until recent work by Julia Annas and David Sedley, this had gone largely unnoticed in contemporary Plato scholarship.1In this article I explorethe idea further by arguing that Plato's later conception of god made a di*erence to how he conceived of becoming like god. In particular, I argue that Plato's identification of god with !"#$ or intelligence in the Timaeus, Philebus, and Laws influences his conception of assimilation to god.Rather than fleeing from the sensible world, becoming like this god commits one to improving it. In the Laws especially, following god requires an e*ort to unify the city under intelligent law and to educate the citizens ã John M. Armstrong 2004 I sincerely thank Julia Annas, Dirk Baltzly, David Bradshaw, Rose Cherubin, Thomas Christiano, Eve Browning Cole, Daniel Graham, Joel Martinez, Stephen Menn, Mitchell Miller, Martha Nussbaum, Nicholas Smith, Paul Woodru*, and especially the Editor for their helpful comments. Previous versions were presented at meetings of the American Philosophical Association's Central Division, the Virginia Philosophical Association, the Arizona Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy, the University of Arizona's Philosophy Department, and to audiences at Southern Virginia University and the Virginia Military Institute. The Center for Hellenic Studies generously supported this essay's research and writing during the summer of 2000. Translations of the Greek are my own unless otherwise indicated. 1 Annas, Platonic Ethics, Old and New (Ithaca, NY, 1999), ch. 3; Sedley, '"Becoming like God" in the Timaeus and Aristotle', in T. Calvo and L. Brisson (eds.), Interpreting the Timaeus-Critias: Proceedings of the IV Symposium Platonicum (Sankt Augustin, 1997), 327–39, and 'The Ideal of Godlikeness', in G. Fine (ed.), Oxford Readings in Philosophy: Plato (2 vols.; Oxford, 1999), ii. 309–28. For other discussions see J. Duerlinger, 'Ethics and the Divine Life in Plato's Philosophy', Journal of Religious Ethics, 13 (1985), 312–31; H. Merki, %&μ"'()*$ +,-.: Von der platonischen Angleichung an Gott zur Gott•ahnlichkeit bei Gregor vonNyssa (Freiburg, 1952); and C. G. Rutenber, The Doctrine of the Imitation of God in Plato (New York, 1946). The idea of godlikeness in Greek literature and philosophy prior to Plato is treated in D. Rolo*, Gott•ahnlichkeit, Verg•ottlichung und Erh•ohung zu seligem Leben: Untersuchungen zur Herkunft der platonischen Angleichung an Gott (Berlin, 1970). Created on 1 December 2003 at 20.14 hours page 171 172 John M. Armstrong in virtue. Plato's otherworldliness is therefore tempered by-of all things-his theology. Ever since ancient Platonists such as Eudorus, Philo, and Alcinous, Plato's notion of 'becoming like god' (/μ"'()*$ 0,-.) or 'following god' (1234"50"$ 0,-.) has been understood to be a flight from this world to a higher one.2This is due partly to the ancients' heavy reliance on this Theaetetus passage: But bad things cannot be destroyed, Theodorus, for there must always be something opposed to the good. Nor can they gain a place among gods. Rather, by necessity they haunt mortal nature and this place here. That's why one must try to flee from here to there as quickly as possible. Fleeing is becoming like god so far as one can, and to become like god is to become just and pious with wisdom. (176 a 5–b 2) Socrates says that we should escape from this world and its a*airs by trying to fit ourselves for dwelling where there is no evil, by trying to become fully virtuous, by trying to become like god. We will otherwise be forever stuck here, continually reborn to a life of misery, folly, and injustice (176 e–177 a). This conception of the soul's predicament-of an immortal being confined to the surface and depths of the earth unless it escapes to the heavens through moral virtue and philosophic wisdom- is common in Plato.3 In the Phaedo Socrates calls philosophy a 'practice of dying' (64 a) by which philosophers purify their souls of the body's influence while seeking knowledge of 'what is pure, ever existing, immortal, and changeless' (79 d 1–2).4 If one practises philosophy correctly, then after death one's soul 'arrives at that which is invisible,which is similar to it, and that which is divine and immortal and wise, and arriving there it falls to it to be happy . . . [and] truly to spend the rest of time with gods' (81 a; cf. 69 c, 2 Eudorus ap. Stob. Ecl. ii. 49. 8–50. 10 Wachsmuth; Philo, Fug. 62–3, and Opif. 69–71; Alcinous, Did. 28, in J. Whittaker (ed.), Alcinoos: Enseignement des doctrines de Platon (Paris, 1990). Cf. Plut. 550 d–e (De sera numinis vindicta); Apul. Plat. 23; Anon. on Plato's Theaetetus, vii. 14–20, in Corpus dei papiri filosofici greci e latini, iii (Florence, 1995), 278; Hipp.Ref., 1. 19. 17 =H. Diels, Doxographi Graeci (Berlin, 1879), 569. 13–16. 3 Cf.Gorg. 523 a–527 e;Phaedo 113 d–115 a;Rep. 614 a–621 d;Phdr. 248 c–249 c; Tim. 90 a–92 c; Laws 904 c–905 c. 4 'Wisdom' here translates 673!8)*$ (79 d 7). Alcinous seems to quote from this passage when he writes, 'The soul engaged in contemplation of the divine and the thoughts of the divine is said to be in a good state, and this state of the soul is called "wisdom [673!8)*$]", which may be asserted to be no other than likeness to the divine [9:$ ;7<$ 9< 0,="! /μ"*>),($]' (Did. 153. 5–9, trans. Dillon). Created on 1 December 2003 at 20.14 hours page 172 After the Ascent 173 111 a–c). InRepublic 6 Socrates says that 'by consorting with what is divine and ordered [i.e. the Forms], the philosopher becomes as ordered and divine as is possible for a human being' (500 c– d). After knowing the Forms, the guardians think that ordinary human a*airs are trivial and must be compelled to rule the city (519 c *.). In the Phaedrus our pre-mortal souls are said to have seen the Forms 'because we were pure and unmarked by this thing we are carrying around now, which we call a body, imprisoned like an oyster in its shell' (250 c 4–6). The philosopher's thought takes flight, remaining aloof of ordinary human pursuits and recollecting the realities that his soul once beheld when following a god around heaven's circuit (249 c–d). These are powerful images, and their influence upon Plato's ancient interpreters and subsequent philosophical and theological traditions has been profound. To take just one example from the first century ad, Philo of Alexandria claimed that 'what is good is upward-moving [1!>6"*9"!], and if it should ever come to us-for its father is fond of giving-it rightly urges us to follow in its path. The bad, however, remains here below, dwelling as far away as possible from the divine chorus' (Fug. 62). He cites our Theaetetus passage as proof, but any of the others could have served as well. What is unfortunate is that these images of flight and purificationdo not properly capture Plato's valuation of the earth and the human body even in the Phaedo and Phaedrus. The closing myth of the Phaedo describes a beautiful 'true' earth as it appears from above, adorned with colourful seas, plants, and precious stones 'so that it is a sight for blessed onlookers to behold' (109 a–111a).5 In the Phaedrus seeing a beautiful face or body can cause a soul to recollect the Beauty it once saw, and this recollection can result in the soul's trying to make the beloved's soul become as like a god as possible (250 b *., esp. 252 d–253 c). Beautiful bodies and souls-things in the changing world-can therefore help a soul return to following its god around the rim of heaven. Moreover, the return process might involve studious attention to another soul and so also help it re-enter thewinged entourage of its god.Plato's emphasis on escaping this world need not, then, entail his complete devaluation of it. 5 For an insightful account of the myth's connection to the teleology of the Phaedo's 'autobiographical' passage and the Timaeus, see D. Sedley, 'Teleology and Myth in the Phaedo', Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy, 5 (1989), 359–83. Created on 1 December 2003 at 20.14 hours page 173 174 John M. Armstrong Still, we might wonder whether the notion of becoming like god was very well formed in these influential dialogues, for in them the nature of the god to whom one is to assimilate oneself is not presented very clearly.TheRepublic sometimes speaks of becoming likemorally uprightOlympians, but at other times of becoming like the Forms (Rep. 383 c, 500 b–c; cf. Phaedo 65 d). The Theaetetus mentions god as the ideal, but says nothing about god's properties except that he 'is never and in no way unjust, but is as just as possible' (176 b 8–c 1), leaving it open as to whether god is a soul, a Form, or something else. In the Phaedrus we follow the wellordered Olympians around heaven, but our souls are most amazed and nourished by the Forms in the plain beyond (246 a–248 c). If Plato would have us assimilate ourselves to god, he should provide a clearer notion of what god is and what it is about god that we should follow or emulate. We find more clarity in the Timaeus, Philebus, and Laws, where Plato embraces a conception of god as !"#$ or intelligence.6 As an ethical virtue, intelligence appears throughout the dialogues, especially if one understands it to be identical or closely similar to wisdom (673!8)*$, )"6'?).7 In these late dialogues, however, Plato conceives of intelligence as both the highest virtue of the soul and the supreme e¶cient cause of order in the cosmos. By understanding what intelligence does in individuals, societies, and the world, we can better explain why assimilation to god takes on newmeaning in the Laws, involving concern for the order of human a*airs rather than a dismissive flight from them.8 Plato mentions intelligence as a cosmic causal principle in the so-called autobiographical passage of the Phaedo (95 e *.). The appearance of intelligence there is short-lived, however, for Socrates says that he did not find in Anaxagoras' book the account he wanted of intelligence's responsibility for the world and its arrangement. Wedo find suchan account, though, in thePhilebus, where Socrates himself posits intelligence as one of four fundamental categories 6 See R. Hackforth, 'Plato's Theism',Classical Quarterly, 30 (1936), 4–9, repr. in R. E. Allen (ed.), Studies in Plato's Metaphysics (London, 1965), 439–47; S. Menn, 'Aristotle and Plato on God as Nous and as the Good', Review of Metaphysics, 45 (1992), 543–73; and S. Menn, Plato on God as Nous (Carbondale, Ill., 1995). 7 See e.g. Ap. 27 e 6; Crito 51 b 2; Lys. 210 b 6; Gorg. 466 e 11;Meno 88 b 5. 8 The divine craftsman makes an appearance at Rep. 530 a–b as the arranger of celestialmovements, but this seems to haveno impact upon theRepublic's conception of assimilation to the divine. Created on 1 December 2003 at 20.14 hours page 174 After the Ascent 175 of being (23 c–d). Intelligence's role in this new ontology is to mix limit with the unlimited to produce harmonious and wellproportioned things such as the most perfect forms of music, the seasons, health in the body, and virtues in the soul (25 d–26 b).9 There are several points to note about Plato's conception of intelligence in thePhilebus. First, intelligence is presented as an e¶cient cause that always causes for the best (Phileb. 26 e 6, 27 b 1, 28 d–e, 30 d 10–e 1; cf. Phaedo 97 c). Second, intelligence is held to be god. Socrates says that his account agrees with the ancient view that 'intelligence forever rules the universe' (30 d 5) and that 'all the wise agree . . . that intelligence is our king, both of heaven and of earth' (28 c 7–8; cf. 28 a 4–6, 33 b 7). Related to both points, Socrates calls this cause 'the thing that constructs or fashions' (9< @8μ*"57A"#!, 27 b 1), a description applied in the Timaeus to the divine craftsman of the universe. Third, Socrates argues that the intelligence we use to produce health and other forms of order on a small scale is but part of the intelligence that orders the universe as a whole (30 a–c). We acquire intelligence, however, only by avoiding the strongest and most intense pleasures, for these impede understanding of 'what is naturally good in a human being and in the universe and . . . what the Form [of the Good] itself is' (64 a 1–3). Fourth, intelligence (!"#$) and wisdom (673!8)*$) are identical as evidenced by Plato's synonymous treatment of the terms (cf. 28 a 4, 59 d 1, 66 b 5–6). This conception of god opens the way to a new understanding of imitating the divine. Like god, we are agents: e¶cient causes of change in the world (cf. Tim. 89 a). Unlike god, however, we can be more or less intelligent and thus more or less e*ective at creating order in the world and in ourselves. To become like god, then, is not only to have goodness, beauty, or proportion feature more prominently in our own souls; it is to e*ect order in the world of change.We should become like god, then, because we, like god, are e¶cient causes and because god is the exemplary e¶cient cause.10 If this is right, we can see that becoming like god need not involve unremitting flight from the world. As with the ideal 9 See J. M. Cooper, 'Plato's Theory of Human Good in the Philebus', Journal of Philosophy, 74 (1977), 713–30, repr. in id., Reason and Emotion: Essays on Ancient Moral Psychology and Ethical Theory (Princeton, 1999), 151–64. 10 This claim is supported by the view that the applied sciences, in order to be included in the good human life, must be directed by the divine sciences, e.g. knowledge of justice itself (Phileb. 62 a–d). Created on 1 December 2003 at 20.14 hours page 175 176 John M. Armstrong life in the Phaedo, Phaedrus, and Republic, becoming like the god of intelligence involves knowledge of the Good itself, but unlike that ideal, the good human life involves the application of one's knowledge to the world of change, creating harmonious mixtures of limit and unlimited as an intelligent craftsman. The cosmic role of intelligence in the Timaeus is similar to that in the Philebus, but Timaeus' account of becoming like god raises a question about the object to which we are to assimilate ourselves. Like the Philebus, the Timaeus identifies the highest god with a cosmic demiurge (/ @8μ*"57A3$, 28 a 6). The demiurge desires all created things to become as much like him as possible, imposing order on what would otherwise be chaos (29 e–30 a, 69 b). To bring order to the world, the demiurge put intelligence in soul and soul in body, thereby making it possible for intelligence to order the perceptible world through the agency of the world soul (29 e– 30 b, 69 b).11 As for our individual souls, the rectilinear motions of corporeal nature that we experience upon embodiment disrupt the intelligent, circular motions of the immortal part (42 a, 43 a– b, 69 b–d).12 The immortal soul recovers its natural condition by disciplining the body and its passions (44 b, 86 b–89 c) and by devoting itself 'to the love of learning and to true wisdom' (90 b 6–7). As Timaeus explains, We should redirect the revolutions in our heads that were thrown o* course at our birth,13 by coming to learn the harmonies and revolutions of the universe, and so assimilate with its objects our faculty of understanding, as it was in its original condition. And when this assimilation is complete, we 11 For arguments against the view that !"#$ exists, as opposed to comes-to-be, only in soul, see Menn, Plato on God asNous, ch. 4; and R. Mohr, 'The Relation of Reason to Soul in the Platonic Cosmology: Sophist 248e–249d', in id.,The Platonic Cosmology (Leiden, 1985), 178–83. 12 See T. Johansen, 'Body, Soul, and Tripartition in Plato's Timaeus', Oxford Studies inAncient Philosophy, 19 (2000), 87–111, on the interrelations of intelligence, soul, and body.E.N.Lee, 'Reason andRotation: CircularMovement as theModel of Mind (Nous) inLater Plato', inW.H.Werkmeister (ed.), Facets of Plato's Philosophy (Assen, 1976), 70–102, suggests that intelligence's circular movement involves a comprehensive or non-perspectival apprehension of the object of thought. 13 Sedley translates ;,7B 9C! AD!,)*! as 'concerned with becoming' to suggest that corrupted thoughts are about becoming rather than being ('The Ideal of Godlikeness', 323). I adopt Zeyl's 'at our birth' because the passage seems to echo the account of the soul's embodiment at 43 a–44 a and because learning 'the harmonies and revolutions of the universe' would seem to involve thinking about the movements of celestial bodies and the world soul, as well as investigating the mathematical relations underlying their movements. Created on 1 December 2003 at 20.14 hours page 176 After the Ascent 177 shall have achieved our end: that most excellent life o*ered to humankind by the gods, both now and forevermore. (90 d 1–7, trans. Zeyl, adapted) Those who do not achieve this state are reincarnated as lower forms of life, including birds, snakes, and fish. They can eventually escape the cycle of reincarnation only by recovering fully their original intelligence (92 c). This account of assimilation di*ers from the one inspired by the Philebus' conception of god. Rather than imitating god's causal activity by producing well-proportioned mixtures ourselves, the immortal part of the soul is to imitate the motions of the world soul by coming to understand them. Trying to understand the principles of cosmic order is di*erent from applying them to the world of becoming. Hence, the Timaeus emphasizes contemplating the cosmos as our end-perhaps in lieu of trying to improve it. Was Plato an escapist after all? In the Laws we find the contemplative and the active aspects of godlikeness, suggesting that both appealed to Plato in his late years. To begin, we notice that the Laws, like other dialogues, advocates becoming like god or becoming divine. For example, the Athenian Stranger assumes that becoming divine is what people in fact desire when he says that 'the one intending to become divine' should not recklessly pursue pleasures with the belief that this will make one free from pain (792d 4–7). In book 12 he says that no one should be appointed as a guardian of the laws who is not divine and has not laboured over the arguments concerning the existence and nature of the gods (966 c–d). The guardians must know how virtue, the beautiful, and the good are each one and many and be able to demonstrate this in argument (965 c–966b). The Athenian says, 'Those who are to be real [E!9($] guardians of the laws must truly [E!9($] understand the things concerning the truth of [all serious matters], and must be capable of interpreting it in speech and of following it in deed' (966 b 5–7).14Understanding, articulating, and acting according to the truth about virtue, beauty, and goodness are, of course, extremely high standards. The guardians grasp the highest objects of knowledge and know how to apply and explain what they understand. Both sides of godlikeness are manifest in their lives. 14 In the Philebus intelligence and wisdom (!"#$ and 673!8)*$) are said to be terms most appropriately and accurately applied to 'thoughts about what truly is [9?=$ ;,7B 9< F! E!9($ G!!"'?*$]' (59 d 1–5). Created on 1 December 2003 at 20.14 hours page 177 178 John M. Armstrong Cosmology also has a role. The Athenian says that the guardians should study the nature of soul and the orderly motion of the stars 'and of all other things of which intelligence [!"#$] is master, having set in order the entire universe' (966 d 9–e 4). If one studies astronomy in the rightway, onewill see that the heavens are purposefully and precisely ordered and therefore are guided by soul and intelligence (967 a–b). This recalls the theology of book 10, where the Athenian counters various views he considers impious. He argues that the sun, moon, and stars have souls which move them across the heavens and that these souls, because they are completely virtuous, are to be called gods (899 b). This is meant to establish, against the atheist, that gods exist.What makes a soul good is being guided by intelligence, and the Athenian identifies intelligence as the highest god (897 b).15The gods take care of us as their property (902 b). They attend to the smallest details of human life and cannot be swayed by bribes to overlook our crimes (902 e, 905 d).16 Far from being aloof, then, the gods are highly concerned about human a*airs and seek to order the world in the best way possible. The world has its own disorderly tendencies, however, which compete with the gods' e*orts. The Athenian says that in this 'immortal battle' between good and evil we have a part: to fight-with gods and spirits as allies ()Hμμ?I"*, 906 a 6)-against personal and civic injustice (906 a–c). The guardians play a special role in the struggle. The law against impiety requires them to persuade those with impious beliefs to accept a correct conception of the gods (909 a). More generally, the guardians must apply their knowledge of cosmic intelligence and soul to civic life.17 In book 12 the Athenian says: After [a guardian] has considered the way in which these matters relate to the Muse, he should apply them harmoniously to customs and to the practices of character. He should be able to give an account of as many of these customs and practices as have an account. The one incapable of acquiring these abilities in addition to the popular virtues [@8μ")'?*$ 15 See E. B. England (ed.), The Laws of Plato (2 vols.; Manchester, 1921), ad loc., for discussion of textual variants of 0,<! J70.$ 0,"=$, and Hackforth, 'Plato's Theism', for a persuasive argument that !"#$ is the same supreme god in Laws 10 as it is in the Philebus and Timaeus. 16 The attentiveness of the gods in emphasized at e.g. 892 b, 896 d, 897 a, 897 c, 900 d, 902 c, 903 a. 17 Cf. Cic. Rep. 6. 16. 24–9, where civic duty is portrayed as important but none the less instrumental to the soul's flight to heaven. Created on 1 December 2003 at 20.14 hours page 178 After the Ascent 179 17,9?=$] would hardly ever become a competent ruler of an entire city, but would be an assistant to other rulers. (967 e 2–968 a 4) The Muse, i.e. the songs and dances that play a large role in the social and educational life of the city, should reflect the heavenly order by encouraging the rule of intelligence in the citizens' souls.18 The guardians will supervise these and all other practices, sometimesmodifying or supplementing the laws set by the Athenian and his companions (769 d*.).19 In this passage we notice the seamlessness with which the Athenian shifts from the guardian's theoretical studies to their application. The explanation is apparent: the divine men of the Laws imitate on the social level what god does at the cosmic level. As the demiurge of the Timaeus looked to an eternal model before creating our world (Tim. 29 a), the guardians too combine knowledge and practice. Contemplation and action are harmonious aspects of the ideal life. Few are guardians, however. Magnesia's ordinary citizen, although not expected to understand the good itself and the details of intelligence's ordering of the cosmos, is expected to acquire virtue and to study some mathematics and astronomy.20 To an extent, then, the ordinary citizen becomes like god by ordering his or her own soul. Virtue is acquired by disciplining one's emotions and appetites-one's 'human nature'21-in accordance with the value judgements of the city's laws. The laws, because they are good laws, embody intelligence (cf. 714 a 1–2, 890d, 957 c 3–7). Intelligence is the leading virtue (631 b–d). Hence, obeying and studying the law improve the citizens' souls. Obeying the law does this by controlling and guiding pleasures and pains so that the citizens experience the correct feelings in response to various sorts of action and character, especially as portrayed in drama, song, and dance (cf. 653 a *.). Studying the law, moreover, gives the citizens a bet18 653 a *., 700 d *., 775 b, 829 d; cf. Rep. 401 d–402 a. 19 See G. R.Morrow, Plato's Cretan City: A Historical Interpretation of the Laws (Princeton, 1960), 195–215, on the guardians' roles. 20 Cf. 747 b 1–6, 809 c–d, 818 c 3–8. In the Timaeus the study of number helps in the recovery of a soul's original intelligence (47 a–c). The Athenian of the Epinomis agrees: 'If number should ever be taken away from human nature, we would never become wise in anything' (977 c 1–3). The idea might be, to put it in the Philebus' terms, that without number we would not understand limit or quantity, and so not understand measure and proportion and, hence, the good. 21 For the Laws' identification of human nature with the soul's passional side, see e.g. 713 c, 732 e 4–5, 782 d 10–b 1, 937 d 8–e 2, 947 e 7–8. Created on 1 December 2003 at 20.14 hours page 179 180 John M. Armstrong ter understanding of intelligence's value judgements. Until one acquires the full virtue of intelligence for oneself, the law should serve as a surrogate intelligence. In this way, the divine can come to rule over the human in all citizens.22 In a key passage of book 4, the Athenian imagines that the future citizens of Magnesia are present, and he addresses them with words that will open the law code's preamble. Here again we find emphasis upon following god and some clues about god's nature. The Athenian declares: The god, just as the ancient saying goes, holding the beginning, the end, and the middle of all things, accomplishes his end in an undeviating course by revolving according to nature. Justice follows him always, avenger of those who abandon the divine law. The one intending to be happy follows her [Justice] with deference and order. But anyone who is pu*ed up by arrogance, or exalted by money, honours, or a nice shape of the body together with youthful impetuousness and a lack of intelligence, his soul inflamed with insolence, thinking that he needs neither a ruler nor some other leader but is capable of leading others, he is forsaken, bereft of god.23 (715 e 7–716 b 1) Justice follows god, and we, if we are to be happy, must follow justice. We know from other passages that justice entails courage and temperance and is the intelligent mastery of pleasures, pains, and desires (631 b–632a, 644 c *.; cf. Tim. 42 b). The unjust soul is 'bereft of god'-dominated by passion and devoid of intelligence. The emerging picture, then, is that misguided a*ections can prevent intelligence from taking its natural place in the soul (cf. 653 a *.; 672 c) and that justice consists of having a*ections that readily follow right judgement about the good. After theAthenian finishes his initial statement,Cleinias declares, 'One thing is clear: all men should aim to be among those following the god' (716 b 8–9). The Athenian then explains what it is that 22 For a masterful account of ordinary citizens' capacities for virtue in the Laws, see C. Bobonich, Plato's Utopia Recast: His Later Ethics and Politics (Oxford, 2002). 23 The scholiast on this passage says that 'god is clearly the demiurge' (G. C. Greene (ed.), Scholia Platonica (Haverford, 1937), 317). His demiurge must be part of the created world, then, for god here seems to be the outermost sphere of theworld soul as it moves in a perfect circle-either that or the outer sphere's intelligence. God's location is ethically significant because being in the world of change makes god, at least in this respect, like us. Alcinous seems to notice the di*erence when he says that we should become like the god in the heavens, not the god above the heavens (Did. 181. 42–5). Created on 1 December 2003 at 20.14 hours page 180 After the Ascent 181 makes us like god, emphasizing, as Socrates does in the Philebus, the prominence of measure in the good life: What action is dear to and follows god? One, as a single ancient saying has it: 'If it is measured, like is dear to like'; but unmeasured things are dear neither to each other nor to the measured. For us, the god would be the measure of all things, and much more so than any, as they say, human being. The one who would be dear to such a being must himself do everything in his power to become like that being. According to our argument, the temperate person among us is dear to god, for he is similar. The intemperate person, on the other hand, is dissimilar and di*erent, and is unjust. (716 c 1–d 3) The idea is not that temperance and justicemakeus likegodbecause god is temperate and just. Rather, we become like god by becoming measured. For souls such as ours, becoming temperate and just constitutes the appropriate measure. God, and not a human being as Protagoras thought, serves as the measure of all things for us because god, as the intelligently moving soul of the cosmos, is the perfect instantiation of measure. If measure is the good, then the point is simply that we become like god as we instantiate the good. This instantiation, moreover, involves the development of the thoughts, feelings, and actions constitutive of virtue. To the ordinary citizen of Magnesia, this would require obedience to the laws and an ongoing e*ort to play one's part in a well-ordered city. Becoming like god, then, involves attention to the city's virtue on the part of the guardian and the non-guardian, although in di*erent ways. In an early dialogue such as the Apology or Euthyphro, Socrates would have explained caring for the citizens' virtue as service to the god. The connection between civic improvement and divine reverence continues in the later dialogues, but against a metaphysical backdrop that connects the ordering agent of the universe with that which orders individual souls and cities. As we saw in Laws 10, god, as the ultimate craftsman, attends to the smallest details of the world in order to achieve its salvation, virtue, and happiness (903 b–c). The lesson for the young atheist is that his life, like everything else in creation, is for the good of the universe. At the level of politics, the good statesman, as a good craftsman, attends to the good of the city by caring for its parts, i.e. the citizens (cf. 902d 6 *.). Magnesia does not have the equivalent of a statesman among its citizens-someone above the law who directs Created on 1 December 2003 at 20.14 hours page 181 182 John M. Armstrong the city's a*airs though possession of the political art. Magnesia does have guardians, however, and they must understand, explain, and defend the city's laws. This, along with their obedience to the law, is their contribution to the good of the whole and is the way in which they become like god. Ordinary citizens do not supervise the city's institutions in the way that the guardians do. Their ordering activities are more focused on their own souls and so their assimilation to the divine is more limited. They none the less contribute to the city's order, and this contributes to the order of the universe, which is the aim of god's creative e*orts. This attention to the creation and maintenance of psychological and civic order might suggest that Plato had abandoned the conception of godlikeness that would have us flee from worldly a*airs. Not so. That one's soul should seek separation from the body's influence finds an echo in the Laws when the Athenian remarks that soldiers should not fear Pluto, god of the underworld, but 'should honour him as being in reality always the best for the human race. As I would assert in all seriousness, communion is in no way better for soul and body than separation' (828d 3–6).Moreover, the Athenian suggests that citizens of extraordinary virtue will escape this world after death and be transported to a better place where they presumably will dwell with the astral gods for ever (904 d 6–e 1). Even in theLaws, then, flight from the world of becoming retains some appeal for Plato. But we have seen the metaphysical foundation for an alternative conception. When we consider the role of intelligence in Plato's cosmology and theory of virtue, we can see the deep and elegant connection between metaphysics and ethics in Plato's thought (cf. Laws 631 c–d). If Plato's ancient interpreters had built this into their accounts of becoming like god, Plato would no doubt have been understood to be less of an escapist than he has been reputed to be. Nothing prevents us from correcting that reputation now, however. And it seems best that we do so, for we can then see better the overall integrity of his later philosophy. Southern Virginia University BIBLIOGRAPHY Annas, J., Platonic Ethics, Old and New (Ithaca, NY, 1999). Created on 1 December 2003 at 20.14 hours page 182 After the Ascent 183 Bobonich, C.,Plato's Utopia Recast: His Later Ethics and Politics (Oxford, 2002). Cooper, J. M., 'Plato's Theory of Human Good in the Philebus', Journal of Philosophy, 74 (1977), 713–30; repr. in id.,Reason and Emotion: Essays on Ancient Moral Psychology and Ethical Theory (Princeton, 1999), 151–64. Corpus dei papiri filosofici greci e latini, vol. iii (Florence, 1995). Diels, H., Doxographi Graeci (Berlin, 1879). Duerlinger, J., 'Ethics and the Divine Life in Plato's Philosophy', Journal of Religious Ethics, 13 (1985), 312–31. England, E. B. (ed.), The Laws of Plato (2 vols.; Manchester, 1921). Greene, G. C. (ed.), Scholia Platonica (Haverford, 1937). Hackforth, R., 'Plato's Theism', Classical Quarterly, 30 (1936), 4–9; repr. in R. E. Allen (ed.), Studies in Plato's Metaphysics (London, 1965), 439– 47. Johansen, T., 'Body, Soul, and Tripartition in Plato's Timaeus', Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, 19 (2000), 87–111. Lee, E. N., 'Reason and Rotation: Circular Movement as the Model of Mind (Nous) in Later Plato', in W. H. Werkmeister (ed.), Facets of Plato's Philosophy (Assen, 1976), 70–102. Menn, S., 'Aristotle and Plato on God as Nous and as the Good', Review of Metaphysics, 45 (1992), 543–73. Plato on God as Nous (Carbondale, Ill., 1995). Merki, H., %&μ"'()*$ +,-.: Von der platonischen Angleichung an Gott zur Gott•ahnlichkeit bei Gregor von Nyssa (Freiburg, 1952). Mohr, R., 'The Relation of Reason to Soul in the Platonic Cosmology: Sophist 248e–249d', in id., The Platonic Cosmology (Leiden, 1985), 178– 83. Morrow,G. R.,Plato's CretanCity: AHistorical Interpretation of theLaws (Princeton, 1960). Rolo*, D., Gott•ahnlichkeit, Verg•ottlichung und Erh•ohung zu seligem Leben: Untersuchungen zur Herkunft der platonischen Angleichung an Gott (Berlin, 1970). Rutenber, C. G., The Doctrine of the Imitation of God in Plato (New York, 1946). Sedley, D., '"Becoming likeGod" in theTimaeus andAristotle', inT.Calvo and L. Brisson (eds.), Interpreting the Timaeus-Critias: Proceedings of the IV Symposium Platonicum (Sankt Augustin, 1997), 327–39. 'The Ideal of Godlikeness', in G. Fine (ed.), Oxford Readings in Philosophy: Plato (2 vols.; Oxford, 1999), ii. 309–28. 'Teleology and Myth in the Phaedo', Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy, 5 (1989), 359–83. Whittaker, J. (ed.), Alcinoos: Enseignement des doctrines de Platon (Paris, 1990). Created on 1 December 2003 at 20.14 hours page 183 page 184 is blank Created on 1 December 2003 at 20.14 hours page