Dear Socrates

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Having traveled from the turn of the Fourth Century B.C. to the turn of the Twenty-First Century A.D., Socrates has eagerly signed on as a Philosophy Now columnist so that he may continue to carry out his divinely-inspired dialogic mission.

Dear Socrates,

Your last words in ancient times, as reported second-hand by Plato, were, “Crito, we ought to offer a cock to Asclepius. See to it, and don’t forget.” Did you really say that, and if so, what did you mean?

Yours truly,

Farmer Jones

Dear Jones,

I’m a little hazy after 2400 years, but it sounds close enough. Asclepius was the god of medicine, and I was expressing relief and thankfulness that my illness was about to be cured. That illness was life on the solid surface of the Earth.

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