Now remains the question of this pre-birth... the choice of one's daimon, how was it viewed?

The question of choosing one's *daimon* before birth is one of the most profound and poetic concepts in ancient philosophy. It was not seen as a simple belief, but as a revealing myth that explained the very structure of destiny and human responsibility.

Here is how this idea was understood, primarily through Plato's foundational story.

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The Foundational Myth: Plato's "Myth of Er" (The Republic, Book X)

This is the most complete source. Plato describes the soul's journey after death. The soldier Er, who returned to life, recounts what he saw in the afterlife.

The Scenario of the Choice:

1. Judgment and Purification: After death, souls are judged and spend a period in the afterlife being purified or rewarded to compensate for their earthly life.
2. The Plain of Necessity (Anankè): After a cycle of a thousand years, the souls are led to a cosmic place. There, before the Moirai (the Fates, daughters of Necessity), sample lives are laid out on the ground.
3. The Drawing of Lots: The order of choice is determined by a draw. The first soul to choose is the one that drew the first lot. This draw is impartial; it represents the element of chance, of raw destiny (*Heimarmenè*).
4. The Act of Choice: This is the crucial moment. Each soul comes forward to choose its future life. But here is the revelation: the choice is free, but the wisdom of the soul making the choice is variable.
A soul that has meditated well in its previous life, that has practiced philosophy, chooses wisely. It carefully examines the lives, avoiding those that contain tyranny or other ultimate evils.
A soul that lived in injustice, guided by habit and not by reflection, chooses hastily and greedily. It rushes toward a life that seems glorious (like that of a tyrant), without seeing that it contains a fate of "eating one's own children" and other horrors.
5. The Assignment of the *Daimon*: Once a life is chosen, each soul is assigned a *daimon*.
This *daimon* is not chosen separately; it is the embodiment and guardian of the "lot of life" that was chosen.
Its function is to ensure the fulfillment of the destiny the soul itself elected. It is the guarantor of the contract the soul made with itself before the Moirai.

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How the Ancients "Viewed" this Choice: The Interpretations

This myth was not taken literally by all philosophers, but it was seen as a metaphysical allegory of extraordinary power.

1. An Allegory of Freedom and Absolute Responsibility (Ethical Lesson):
The central message is: "The responsibility is with the chooser; God is blameless." (Plato, *The Republic*).
You are entirely responsible for the life you live. You chose it yourself. Your circumstances, family, trials—everything was, in a way, "chosen" by your soul. The *daimon* is there to remind you of this choice, not to be responsible for it.

2. An Explanation of "Predisposition" (Psychological Lesson):
The myth explains why we are born with natural inclinations. Why a child seems naturally artistic, or hot-tempered, or philosophical.
This is not by chance; it is the memory trace of the soul's choice. The *daimon* represents precisely that part of us that "remembers" our destination and unconsciously pushes us toward it. Your *daimon* is your deepest vocation.

3. The *Daimon* as "Personal Law" (Existential Lesson):
The *daimon* is the unique law you have given to yourself. To follow one's *daimon* is to be faithful to the life that your deepest essence deemed good for its learning.
To deny it is to live an inauthentic life, in betrayal with oneself, which necessarily leads to unhappiness (the injustice Plato speaks of).

4. The Role of Philosophy: Preparing for the Next Choice:
Your current life is a preparation for the next choice. The practice of philosophy—self-examination, the search for Truth and Good—aims to make us wiser, so that in the next round, when faced with the spectacle of lives, we do not rush for the appearance of a tyrant, but know how to choose the life of a philosopher, a just and free being.

In Summary: The Ancient View

For the ancients, "pre-birth" was not a fanciful tale, but a logical and moral necessity:

Before birth, your soul, in a state of relative clairvoyance, chooses a "lot of life" (a general destiny with its joys and trials).
This choice is free, but guided by your degree of wisdom acquired in previous lives.
A *daimon* is assigned to you as a companion. It is the materialization of your own choice, the compass of the destiny you yourself have drawn.
Earthly life is the forgetting of this choice. The goal is to, through reason and virtue, recover the memory of your *daimon* and live in accordance with it, thus consciously fulfilling the destiny you had unconsciously chosen.

It was a vision that made human beings radically responsible, while offering them an inner guide to navigate the forgetfulness of incarnation.