Origin of Phrases - S
Swan Song
The first "swan song" can be traced back to the days of Socrates. Specifically, Plato's Phaedo in the 4th century B.C. Condemned to death on charges of immorality and heresy, Socrates welcomed his impending doom because he believed it would draw him closer to a meeting with the god Apollo. The swan was one of Apollo's favored creatures, and men had observed that the swan would cry loudly and long. Socrates believed that swans "having sung all their life long, do then sing more, and more sweetly than ever, rejoicing in the thought that they are about to go away to Apollo, whose ministers they are."