In Plato's dialogue, Phaedo, Echecrades asks Phaedo for details of the last day of Socrates' life. Phaedo first describes his own face and that of Socrates' other companions as "an unusual mixture of pleasure and pain" because everyone knows that Socrates' death is imminent, yet they see that Socrates appears happy and fearless (58, e). The conversation with Socrates focuses on why a philosopher should not fear death. Socrates defines death as the separation of the soul from the body (64, c). He states that the body is a constant obstacle for a philosopher in the search for truth. Socrates says that the body “fills us with needs, desires, fears, all sorts of illusions and much nonsense, so that…no thoughts of any kind ever come to us from [it].” (66,c). He states that philosophy itself is “death training” and that philosophers purify their soul by detaching it from the body (67, e). Socrates concludes that it would be unreasonable for a philosopher to fear death because he will obtain the truth he sought in life with the separation of his body and soul, or with death (67, c). After successfully proving the immortality of the soul, Socrates tells a myth to his companions. This myth tells of the judgment of the dead and their journey to the underworld (107, d). Explain the shape of the Earth and how it has different surfaces (108, c- 113, d). It also tells of the punishment for mutilated souls and the reward for pure souls, those of the philosophers (113, c – 114, d). After concluding this myth, Socrates seems to point out that the exact details of the story are not important and “no sensible man would insist that these things are as I have described them” but it is important to “risk the beautiful..... .means of paper ......and commit crimes. Men who are too attached to the body suffer in the underworld. Those who commit incurable crimes are thrown into Tartarus. This fate can be avoided by those who practice philosophy. The second way the Socrates myth reinforces philosophy as a cure for the soul is by explaining the cycle that continues until the soul is purified through philosophy. This cycle ends only when the soul is purified by philosophy. The final way in which the Socrates myth reinforces its recommendation of philosophy as a cure for the soul is by explaining how the pure souls of philosophers are rewarded. The souls of philosophers go into the ether to dwell among the gods. Philosophers achieve the knowledge and truth they have sought in the ether all their earthly lives. The myth of Socrates serves to reinforce his recommendation of philosophy as a cure for the soul.