Socrates' Last Specifications of The Virtues
Socrates' Last Specifications of The Virtues
Socrates' Last Specifications of The Virtues
the Virtues
Joannes Richter
Abstract
Socrates was the teacher of ignorance and for some greatest philosophers the master of philosophy,
who authored no texts and is known mainly through the posthumous accounts of classical writers,
particularly his students Plato and Xenophon.
A few minutes before the dawn of his last sunlight Socrates is reported to discuss the 5 virtues
temperance and justice and courage and freedom and truth with his pupils Simmias and Cebes.
The virtues may be considered as philosophical keywords, for which the impact may be compared
to the divine names of the most important deities.
For most of these keywords we may identify pentagrams, such as ΜΈΤRΙΟΝ (for temperance),
ThEMIS (for justice), ThYMOS (for courage), POLIS (for freedom), KREY(N) (for truth).
The pentagrams ΘΈΜΙΣ (justice), ΘῩΜΌΣ (courage) and ΜΗΗΤΙΣ (wisdom) are sharing the letters
T, O/E, M, I and S and seem to be composed as a triad. These compositions are merely
repositioning their letters.
Most copies of the Phaedo-manuscripts however do use another set of words: σωφροσύνῃ (for
temperance), δικαιοσύνῃ (for justice), ἀνδρείᾳ (for courage), ἐλευθερίᾳ (for freedom), and ἀληθείᾳ
(for truth). These 5 words for the virtues may have been modernized by various copyists, who did
not understand the symbolic impact of the pentagrams for these virtues.
This paper documents the relevant pentagrams for Socrates' virtues, including ΜΗΗΤΙΣ (wisdom).
Teachers
As a kid I had a teacher, who was a priest and his name was “Stormy”, although he was as relaxed
as Socrates. In fact he looked a like Socrates and for us as pupils he WAS Socrates. Anyway he told
us how the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was to be burned down by someone in an act of arson.
Stormy told us that the arsonist had destroyed the temple to become famous for this deed and
therefore should never be mentioned. But in the classroom we were curious to learn his name and
started a murmuring rumor. Stormy refused to answer the question and explained that the felon had
been condemned by a damnatio memoriae.
Strange as it may seem however Stormy unveiled the felon's name a few days later. His motive to
unveil the name was based on his vocation to teach us the complete classic history, which includes
the name of the felon who destroyed one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The following years such revelations shocked my admiration for my teachers. Our most admirable
teacher decided to offend the damnatio memoriae in order to complete the historic facts. What
about the other adults who were responsible for our society? I began to learn how the propaganda
may be able to build Potemkin villages and Western false front architecture. Stormy may have
educated me to check the evidences and discern between the truth and the (intended and
unintended) falsifications.
The last thoughts before the death of Socrates
In 399 BC, the 70-year-old Socrates (c. 470–399 BC) was accused of corrupting the youth and
failing to acknowledge the city's official gods. After a trial that lasted a day, he was sentenced to
death. He spent his last day in prison among friends and followers who offered him a route to
escape, which he refused. He died the next morning, in accordance with his sentence, after drinking
poison hemlock.[55]1
A few minutes before the sunrise of his last day Socrates discussed with his pupils Simmias and
Cebes details about the world and the proper behavior of citizens. Although some of these details
are interesting their original determination seems to be lost. The keywords seem to be replaced by
alternative wordings, which may be
ἐπᾴδειν ἑαυτῷ, διὸ δὴ ἔγωγε καὶ πάλαι μηκύνω τὸν μῦθον.ἀλλὰ τούτων δὴ ἕνεκα
θαρρεῖν χρὴ περὶ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῇ ἄνδρα ὅστις ἐν τῷ βίῳ τὰς μὲν ἄλλας ἡδονὰς τὰς περὶ
τὸ σῶμα καὶ τοὺς κόσμους εἴασε χαίρειν, ὡς ἀλλοτρίους τε ὄντας, καὶ πλέον θάτερον
ἡγησάμενος ἀπεργάζεσθαι, τὰς δὲ περὶ τὸ μανθάνειν ἐσπούδασέ τε καὶ κοσμήσας τὴν
ψυχὴν οὐκ ἀλλοτρίῳ ἀλλὰ τῷ αὐτῆς κόσμῳ, σωφροσύνῃ τε καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ἀνδρείᾳ
καὶ ἐλευθερίᾳ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ, οὕτω περιμένει τὴν εἰς Ἅιδου πορείαν ὡς πορευσόμενος
ὅταν ἡ εἱμαρμένη καλῇ. 4
1 Biography
2 Plato's Phaedo - Translated By Church, F. J. (Frederick John), 1854-1888
3 Quotation from 2.116 These descriptions are not true to the letter, but something like them is true.
Source: From Phaedo (1892) by Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett
4 Greek only text (.pdf) rev. 12Oct17 from Geoffrey Steadman
The alternative pentagrams for Greek words
The following table describes the last philosophical definitions for the virtues (or skill), spoken by
Socrates to Simmias, which are documented in Plato's Phaedo:
From Middle English vertu, virtue, borrowed from Anglo-Norman vertu, virtu, from
Latin virtus (“manliness, bravery, worth, moral excellence”), from vir (“man”). Doublet
of vertu. See virile. In this sense, displaced Old English cræft (CRÆFT), whence
Modern English craft (CRAFT). 5
Although the original words in Phaedo cannot be identified as pentagrams there are other Greek
words, which are pentagrams, such as: ΜΈΤRΙΟΝ, ThEMIS, ThYMOS, POLIS, KREY(N). Some
of these words seem to be composed as pentagrams to emphasize their symbolic power.
In Greek ΘΈΜΙΣ is the second consort of Zeus and represents justice. The pentagrams ΘΈΜΙΣ
(justice), ΘῩΜΌΣ (courage) and ΜΗΗΤΙΣ (wisdom) are sharing the letters T, O/E, M, I and S and
seem to be composed as a triad. These compositions are merely repositioning their letters. The word
METIS (wisdom) does not belong to Socrates' virtues, but wisdom belongs to the elementary
standard virtues. The only Greek pentagram for freedom is the PIE-root *KREY(N), which could
not be identified in Phaedo's text nor on other books such as Farewell to Freedom:A Western
Genealogy of Liberty – Oapen by Riccardo Baldissone.
The 5 words for the virtues may have been modernized by medieval copyists, who did not
understand the symbolic impact (CRAFT) of the pentagrams.
VIRTUES Orginal text in Plato's Phaedo Alternative text with pentagram Dictionary
CRAFT L036 (pages 392 → 293)
Socrates' Plato's Phaedo Pentagram Alternative text Pentagram Source
definitions Original text
Tem- σωφροσύνῃ ΣΩΦΡΟΣΎΝΗΙ μέτριον ΜΈΤΡΙΟΝ Page Image: 860
perance (Sophrosynæi) ΜΈΤRΙΟΝ
Justice δικαιοσύνῃ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΣΎΝΗΙ Θέμις, 2nd consort ΘΈΜΙΣ Page Image: 466
(Dikaiosynæi) of Zeus ThEMIS
Courage ἀνδρείᾀ ἈΝΔΡΕΊἈΙ ὁ Θῡμός ΘῩΜΌΣ Page Image 178
(Andreiai) ThYMOS
Freedom ἐλευθερίᾀ ἘΛΕΥΘΕΡΊἈΙ τοὐλεύθερον ΤΟΥΥΛΕΎΘΕΡΟΝ Page Image 344
(Eleutheriai) polis POLIS
LIBER
Truth ἀληθείᾀ ἈΛΗΘΕΊἈΙ *krey(n) *KREY(N) Page Image: 899
(Alætheiai) κρῑῑνω (krīῑnō) KRĪĪNŌ
“I separate, English rinse, Latin RINSE
discern” cernō CERNO
Late Latin CRĪBLŌ
5 Source: Virtue
The pentagrams for the virtues
The following virtues may be found in the Greek philosophy:
# Pentagram P Information Definition Language
1 M
METIS P Metis (personified by Athena, pag. 2-59) Mind, wisdom Greek
(ΜΗΗΤΙΣ) P wisdom. She was the first wife of Zeus.
2 T
ThEMIS P ThEMIS – After METIS the 2nd wife of Zeus Themis Greek
(ΘEMIΣ) P Themis (justice) (justice)
3 T
ThYMOS P Courage (θυμός) soul, will, temper (→ Courage) θυμός Greek
4 K
*KREY(N) P sieve, sifter, riddle (→ truth) *KREY(N) PIE-root
5 M
ΜΈΤRΙΟS P Metrios - moderate, average, mean Metrion Greek
6 P
L POLIS P Polis (city - the polis as a source for freedom) Polis (city) Greek
LIBER Liber (freedom) Liber (free) Latin
The name Minerva stems from Proto-Italic *meneswo' ('intelligent, understanding'), and ultimately
from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) *MENOS ('thought'). This word *MENOS may also be correlating
to the pentagram Menis (MENIS) and Menirva (MENIRva).
Therefore the Capitoline Triad (Jupiter, Juno and Minerva) and the Etruscan trio (Tinia, Uni and
Menrva) may have been derived from a Hellenic triad (*DiEUS, METIS, ThEMIS). These 3 names
of the triads correlated to the sky-god, wisdom respectively justice.
Of course also Jupiter (*DJOUS-PITER) and *JUNO(S) both correlated with “Justice”.
Menis (MENIS) and Menirva (MENIRva) are related to *MENESWO and *MENOS ('thought').
Therefore Menis (MENIS) and Menirva (MENIRva) may symbolize wisdom, which is related to
the Greek deity METIS.
Therefore the Etruscan / Roman goddess UNI / *JUNO(S) is the divine symbol for the virtue
“Justice” and the Etruscan / Roman goddess Menirva (MENIRva) / Minerva (MINERVA) is the
divine symbol for wisdom.
As a result the 1st consort of Zeus (Metis-METIS) is equivalent to the “daughter” Menirva (MENIRva) /
Minerva (MINERVA), whereas the 2nd consort of Zeus (Themis–ThEMIS ) is related to the Etruscan /
Roman sky-god's “consort”. The Greek “daughter” was transformed to the “consort” in Etruscan / Roman
mythology.
Triad Greek Triad Etruscan Triad Roman Capitoline Triad Germanic Triad
Sky-god Zeus*DiEUS Tinia TI[A]NIA Jupiter *DJOUSPITER *Teiws *TEIWS
IOUSTice Themis–ThEMIS Uni *JUNO(S) Juno *JUNO(S) TIWES, TIWAZ
WISdom Metis-METIS Menrva *MENIRVA Minerva MINERVA WIT(E)S (“WISSEN”)
Table 3 Overview of the main pentagrams for the Triads in the European Languages
6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minerva#Etymology
The mirroring or reflection of the words for the virtues wisdom↔justice
The mirroring or reflection of the words MET(IS) ↔ ThEM(IS) for the virtues wisdom ↔ justice
may also be unveiled in the corresponding Germanic deities WIT(ES) ↔ TIW(AZ).
In fact the reflections are concentrated in the 3-letter roots for the Greek roots MET ↔ ThEM
symbolizing the virtues wisdom ↔ justice and in parallel in the 3-letter roots for the Germanic roots
WIT ↔ TIW.
These virtues had been honored in the Germanic days of the week: WIT(ES) in the day of the week
Wednesday and TIW(ES) in the day of the week Tuesday. In English these days of the week are honored by
using capitalized words.
Probably the Greek and Germanic people did not only honored deities, but also virtues such as
wisdom (MET = WIT) and justice (ThEM = TIW). Obviously the naming conventions are correlating
and in these mythologies and religions all words for the virtues wisdom ↔ justice are mirrored:
• the Greek MET(IS) ↔ ThEM(IS)
• and the Germanic WIT(ES) ↔ TIW(AZ).
The German word (“WISSEN” for “to know”) is a pentagram but does not correctly mirror the “WIT”-
root.
These marvelous mirrored words for the most important virtues are not found in comparable
Etruscan and Roman mythology, in which the virtue “IUstice” had been included in the naming
convention if the IU-root of IU-piter. The Latin IU-root had been deteriorated from DIOUS, which
had lost the symbolized mirror of the Greek ThEM(IS)-definition.
In contrast to the Latin virtue “Justice” the Latin virtue “Wisdom” may still be included in the
mirroring process. The core of the virtue “Minerva” ( MINERVA, “wisdom”) and may be correlated
with the Greek MET(IS) and the Germanic WIT(ES). The Etruscan word *MENIRVA deviates from
the Latin MINERVA. The 3-letter roots are correlating as follows: Greek MET = Etruscan *MEN,
Germanic WIT = Latin MIN.
(Theoretically a Roman virtue “justice” may be generated by mirroring the Greek root MET or Etruscan *MEN
or Germanic WIT and Latin MIN. The theoretical result may be interpreted as TEM or TIW or NIM or *NEM.
One of these strange roots may have been responsible for the Etruscan sky-god TIN or TINIA.)
The Correspondences and Mirroring of the Virtues “Wisdom and “Justice” between the 4 languages
Greek, Etruscan, Latin and Germanic may be listed as follows:
Correspon- Horizontal MET↔MEN MIN↔WIT
dences and (wisdom) Transits
MEN↔MIN
Mirrors
Vertical Mirrors MET↔ThEM WIT↔TIW
Correspondences Language Greek Etruscan Latin Germanic
Wisdom MET↔MEN roots MET *MEN MIN WIT
(Wednesday) MIN↔WIT
MEN↔MIN
pentagrams MET(IS) *MENIRVA MINERVA WIT(ES)
Justice ThEM↔TIW roots ThEM TIW
(Tuesday)
ThEMIS↔TIW(AZ) pentagrams ThEM(IS) TIW(AZ)
Table 4 Correspondences and Mirroring of the Virtues “Wisdom and “Justice” between the 4
languages Greek, Etruscan, Latin and Germanic
Evidence for the correlation between the Virtues “Wisdom” & “Justice”
In the European languages Greek, Etruscan, Latin and Germanic the mythology used to combine the
most important virtues “wisdom” and “justice” and the name of the sky-god (usually *DJOUS-
PITER) to a triad.
In English and Dutch these virtues are honored in the Days of the Week: Tuesday for “justice” and
Wednesday for “wisdom”.
The names of the Hellenic virtues are MET(IS) (wisdom) and ThEM(IS) (justice), in which the
cores MET and ThEM are mirroring their letters as follows: MET ↔ ThEM or:
MET ↔ ThEM
The same construct may be found in the corresponding Germanic cores WIT ↔ TIW for the words
WIT(ES) (wisdom) ↔ TIW(AZ) (justice):
WIT ↔ TIW
The roots and the words for the Hellenic virtues share the categorization of the letters:
M ↔ W, E ↔ I, E ↔ A, T ↔ Th, S ↔ Z
In the Etruscan and Latin languages this mirroring construct cannot be detected because the words
for “justice” had not inherited the “IUS”-root from the Greek ThEM(IS) (justice), but had inherited
IU-piter's IU-core.
In contrast to “justice” the word-cores (MET, MEN, MIN, WIT) for the virtue “wisdom” are found
in (Greek) MET(IS), (Etruscan) *MENIRVA, (Latin) MINERVA and (Germanic) WIT(ES).
Between the languages Greek, Etruscan, Latin and Germanic these word-cores may have followed
the following transitions: MET↔MEN, MEN↔MIN, MIN↔WIT.
These transitions: MET↔MEN, MEN↔MIN, MIN↔WIT and the mirrors in MET(IS) (wisdom)
↔ ThEM(IS) (justice) and WIT(ES) (wisdom) ↔ TIW(AZ) (justice) may be interpreted as the
evidence for the honor for the virtues “wisdom” and “justice” in the names “Wednesday”,
respectively “Tuesday”.
Is there a name for the sky-god in the Germanic days of the week ?
The Germanic days of the week do not include a “paternal” sky-gods (equivalent to Jupiter), such as
Dīs Pater, originally DĪVES-PATER (or TUISCO) to represent the Creator-god.
Julius Caesar, in his Commentaries on the Gallic Wars (VI:18), states that the Gauls all
claimed descent from Dīs Pater7.
The name for a Germanic Dīs Pater (such as DĪVES) may be TIW's day, but the other overviews of
the days of the week dedicate the Creator to the names Thursday (in German “Donnerstag”; in
Dutch “Donderdag” for “Thunder's-day”).
Extending the unveiling of the virtues justice and wisdom I started to check the other days of the
week for names, which symbolized the other virtues.
I guessed a total of six days may have been devoted to virtues (and their symbolized gods).
Having discovered the origins of the words for the virtues justice and wisdom I investigated the
other virtues, which may be encoded in a similar set of roots and pentagrams. The virtue justice
may be found in a great number of lists for the virtues. The virtue wisdom is specified in Plato's
Republic.
I decided to highlight the relevant words in this chapter.
Seven virtues
Apart from the four classical Cardinal Virtues three of the Seven virtues had been contributed by the
Church as the three Theological Virtues of faith, hope, and charity.
Roman virtues
Most Roman concepts of virtues were also personified as a numinous deity. The primary Roman
virtues, both public and private, contain pentagrams:
• Fides: FIDES, in Old Greek: σφίδη (sphídē): ΣΦΊΔΗ – "good faith" – mutual trust and
reciprocal dealings in both government and commerce (public affairs), a breach meant legal
and religious consequences.
• Justitia – "justice" (probably from Jupiter *DJOUS-PITER) – sense of moral worth to an
action; personified by the goddess Iustitia, the Roman counterpart to the Greek Themis.
• Virtus – "manliness" VIRT(u)E – valor, excellence, courage, character, and worth. 'Vir' is
Latin for "man".
• Veritas – "truthfulness" (VERITas) – honesty in dealing with others, personified by the
goddess Veritas. Veritas, being the mother of Virtus, was considered the root of all virtue; a
person living an honest life was bound to be virtuous.
In the overview Roman virtues one entry was missing: the pentagram LIBER (freedom).
The difference between DIS-PATER and IU-PITER
According to the Roman god lists the Romans started with a Roman pantheon with one Archaic
Triad, which in the course of history resulted in two triads for the patricians and plebeians:
• Archaic Triad: Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus.
1. The Capitoline Triad (Jupiter, Juno and Minerva)
2. The Plebeian or Aventine Triad: Ceres, Liber, Libera, dating to 493 BC.[12]
The Capitoline Triachthonicod was based on the sky-god Jupiter, whereas the Plebeian or Aventine
Triad was based on a chthonic pantheon, which may have been lead by the chthonic god Dīs Pater
(whose name had been derived from DĪVES).
We know that Mars had been categorized as a chthonic deity.
The name DĪVES-PATER seems to be equivalent to the Jupiter *DIOUS-PITER. Both names are
composed with different vowel cores ĪVE respectively IOU. If the Germanic pantheon also allowed
a duality in the pantheon.
The duality may have resulted in two deities, such as a chthonic leading god *TĪWES and a sky-
god *TEIWS.
These deities may also have been distributed over several sectors of the Germanic population:
Supreme god Pentagram Type Sample composition Language
Jupiter *DIOUS-PITER sky-god *DIOUS → (D)ĪU Latin
Dīs Pater DĪVES-PATER Chthonic god *DĪWES (→ DĪS) Latin