You may be sure I propose to mention the most
important point in the nature of the fly. It is, I
think, the only point that Plato overlooks in his
discussion of the soul and its immortality. When
ashes are sprinkled on a dead fly, she revives and
has a second birth and a new life from the beginning. This should absolutely convince everyone
that the fly’s soul is immortal like ours, since after
leaving the body it comes back again, recognises
and reanimates it, and makes the fly take wing. It
also confirms the story that the soul of Hermotimus
of Clazomenae would often leave him and go away



 

by itself, and then, returning, would occupy his
body again and restore him to life.

 

Knowing not labour and living at large, the. fly
enjoys the fruits of the toil of others, and finds a
bounteous table set everywhere. Goats give milk
for her, bees work for flies and for men quite as
much as for themselves, and cooks sweeten food for
her. She takes precedence even of kings in eating,
and walks about on their tables sharing their feasts
and all their enjoyment.