Book II (part 2 of 4)

21. Now, as we have prepared a place for our idea, let us next receive some one born to dwell there, where there is nothing but an empty void,³⁵⁴²—one of the race of Plato, namely, or Pythagoras, or some one of those who are regarded as of superhuman wit, or have been declared most wise by the oracles of the gods. And when this has been done, he must then be nourished and brought up on suitable food. Let us therefore provide a nurse also, who shall come to him always naked, ever silent, uttering not a word, and shall not open her mouth and lips to speak at all, but after suckling him, and doing what else is necessary, shall leave him fast asleep, and remain day and night before the closed doors; for it is usually necessary that the nurse's care should be near at hand, and that she should watch his varying motions. But when the child begins to need to be supported by more substantial food, let it be borne in by the same nurse, still undressed, and maintaining the same unbroken silence. Let the food, too, which is carried in be always precisely the same, with no difference in the material, and without being re-cooked by means of different flavours; but let it be either pottage of millet, or bread of spelt, or, in imitation of the ancients, chestnuts roasted in the hot ashes, or berries plucked from forest trees. Let him moreover, never learn to drink wine, and let nothing else be used to quench his thirst than pure cold water from the spring, and that if possible raised to his lips in the hollow of his hands. For habit, growing into second nature, will become familiar from custom; nor will his desire extend³⁵⁴³ further, not knowing that there is anything more to be sought after.

22. To what, then, you ask, do these things tend? We have brought them forward in order that—as it has been believed that the souls of men are divine, and therefore immortal, and that they come to their human bodies with all knowledge—we may make trial from this child, whom we have supposed to be brought up in this way, whether this is credible, or has been rashly believed and taken for granted, in consequence of deceitful anticipation. Let us suppose, then, that he grows up, reared in a secluded, lonely spot, spending as many years as you choose, twenty or thirty,—nay, let him be brought into the assemblies of men when he has lived through forty years; and if it is true that he is a part of the divine essence, and³⁵⁴⁴ lives here sprung from the fountains of life, before he makes acquaintance with anything, or is made familiar with human speech, let him be questioned and answer who he is, or from what father in what regions he was born, how or in what way brought up; with what work or business he has been engaged during the former part of his life. Will he not, then, stand speechless, with less wit and sense than any beast, block, stone? Will he not, when brought into contact with³⁵⁴⁵ strange and previously unknown things, be above all ignorant of himself? If you ask, will he be able to say what the sun is, the earth, seas, stars, clouds, mist, showers, thunder, snow, hail? Will he be able to know what trees are, herbs, or grasses, a bull, a horse, or ram, a camel, elephant, or kite?³⁵⁴⁶

23. If you give a grape to him when hungry, a must-cake, an onion, a thistle,³⁵⁴⁷ a cucumber, a fig, will he know that his hunger can be appeased by all these, or of what kind each should be to be fit for eating?³⁵⁴⁸ If you made a very great fire, or surrounded him with venomous creatures, will he not go through the midst of flames, vipers, tarantulæ,³⁵⁴⁹ without knowing that they are dangerous, and ignorant even of fear? But again, if you set before him garments and furniture, both for city and country life, will he indeed be able to distinguish³⁵⁵⁰ for what each is fitted? to discharge what service they are adapted? Will he declare for what purposes of dress the stragula³⁵⁵¹ was made, the coif,³⁵⁵² zone,³⁵⁵³ fillet, cushion, handkerchief, cloak, veil, napkin, furs,³⁵⁵⁴ shoe, sandal, boot? What, if you go on to ask what a wheel is, or a sledge,³⁵⁵⁵ a winnowing-fan, jar, tub, an oil-mill, ploughshare, or sieve, a mill-stone, ploughtail, or light hoe; a carved seat, a needle, a strigil, a laver, an open seat, a ladle, a platter, a candlestick, a goblet, a broom, a cup, a bag; a lyre, pipe, silver, brass, gold,³⁵⁵⁶ a book, a rod, a roll,³⁵⁵⁷ and the rest of the equipment by which the life of man is surrounded and maintained? Will he not in such circumstances, as we said, like an ox³⁵⁵⁸ or an ass, a pig, or any beast more senseless, look³⁵⁵⁹ at these indeed, observing their various shapes, but³⁵⁶⁰ not knowing what they all are, and ignorant of the purpose for which they are kept? If he were in any way compelled to utter a sound, would he not with gaping mouth shout something indistinctly, as the dumb usually do?

24. Why, O Plato, do you in the Meno³⁵⁶¹ put to a young slave certain questions relating to the doctrines of number, and strive to prove by his answers that what we learn we do not learn, but that we merely call back to memory those things which we knew in former times? Now, if he answers you correctly,—for it would not be becoming that we should refuse credit to what you say,—he is led to do so not by his real knowledge,³⁵⁶² but by his intelligence; and it results from his having some acquaintance with numbers, through using them every day, that when questioned he follows your meaning, and that the very process of multiplication always prompts him. But if you are really assured that the souls of men are immortal and endowed with knowledge when they fly hither, cease to question that youth whom you see to be ignorant³⁵⁶³ and accustomed to the ways of men;³⁵⁶⁴ call to you that man of forty years, and ask of him, not anything out of the way or obscure about triangles, about squares, not what a cube is, or a second power,³⁵⁶⁵ the ratio of nine to eight, or finally, of four to three; but ask him that with which all are acquainted—what twice two are, or twice three. We wish to see, we wish to know, what answer he gives when questioned—whether he solves the desired problem. In such a case will he perceive, although his ears are open, whether you are saying anything, or asking anything, or requiring some answer from him? and will he not stand like a stock, or the Marpesian rock,³⁵⁶⁶ as the saying is, dumb and speechless, not understanding or knowing even this—whether you are talking with him or with another, conversing with another or with him;³⁵⁶⁷ whether that is intelligible speech which you utter, or merely a cry having no meaning, but drawn out and protracted to no purpose?

25. What say you, O men, who assign to yourselves too much of an excellence not your own? Is this the learned soul which you describe, immortal, perfect, divine, holding the fourth place under God the Lord of the universe, and under the kindred spirits,³⁵⁶⁸ and proceeding from the fountains of life?³⁵⁶⁹ This is that precious being man, endowed³⁵⁷⁰ with the loftiest powers of reason, who is said to be a microcosm, and to be made and formed after the fashion of the whole universe, superior, as has been seen, to no brute, more senseless than stock or stone; for he is unacquainted with men, and always lives, loiters idly in the still deserts although he were rich,³⁵⁷¹ lived years without number, and never escaped from the bonds of the body. But when he goes to school, you say, and is instructed by the teaching of masters, he is made wise, learned, and lays aside the ignorance which till now clung to him. And an ass, and an ox as well, if compelled by constant practice, learn to plough and grind; a horse, to submit to the yoke, and obey the reins in running;³⁵⁷² a camel, to kneel down when being either loaded or unloaded; a dove, when set free, to fly back to its master's house; a dog, on finding game, to check and repress its barking; a parrot, too, to articulate words; and a crow to utter names.

26. But when I hear the soul spoken of as something extraordinary, as akin and very nigh to God, and as coming hither knowing all about past times, I would have it teach, not learn; and not go back to the rudiments, as the saying is, after being advanced in knowledge, but hold fast the truths it has learned when it enters its earthly body.³⁵⁷³ For unless it were so, how could it be discerned whether the soul recalls to memory or learns for the first time that which it hears; seeing that it is much easier to believe that it learns what it is unacquainted with, than that it has forgot what it knew but a little before, and that its power of recalling former things is lost through the interposition of the body? And what becomes of the doctrine that souls, being bodiless, do not have substance? For that which is not connected with³⁵⁷⁴ any bodily form is not hampered by the opposition of another, nor can anything be led³⁵⁷⁵ to destroy that which cannot be touched by what is set against it. For as a proportion established in bodies remains unaffected and secure, though it be lost to sight in a thousand cases; so must souls, if they are not material, as is asserted, retain their knowledge³⁵⁷⁶ of the past, however thoroughly they may have been enclosed in bodies.³⁵⁷⁷ Moreover, the same reasoning not only shows that they are not incorporeal, but deprives them of all³⁵⁷⁸ immortality even, and refers them to the limits within which life is usually closed. For whatever is led by some inducement to change and alter itself, so that it cannot retain its natural state, must of necessity be considered essentially passive. But that which is liable and exposed to suffering, is declared to be corruptible by that very capacity of suffering.

27. So then, if souls lose all their knowledge on being fettered with the body, they must experience something of such a nature that it makes them become blindly forgetful.³⁵⁷⁹ For they cannot, without becoming subject to anything whatever, either lay aside their knowledge while they maintain their natural state, or without change in themselves pass into a different state. Nay, we rather think that what is one, immortal, simple, in whatever it may be, must always retain its own nature, and that it neither should nor could be subject to anything, if indeed it purposes to endure and abide within the limits of true immortality. For all suffering is a passage for death and destruction, a way leading to the grave, and bringing an end of life which may not be escaped from; and if souls are liable to it, and yield to its influence and assaults, they indeed have life given to them only for present use, not as a secured possession,³⁵⁸⁰ although some come to other conclusions, and put faith in their own arguments with regard to so important a matter.

28. And yet, that we may not be as ignorant when we leave you as before, let us hear from you³⁵⁸¹ how you say that the soul, on being enwrapt in an earthly body, has no recollection of the past; while, after being actually placed in the body itself, and rendered almost senseless by union with it, it holds tenaciously and faithfully the things which many years before, eighty if you choose to say so, or even more, it either did, or suffered, or said, or heard. For if, through being hampered by the body, it does not remember those things which it knew long ago, and before it came into this world,³⁵⁸² there is more reason that it should forget those things which it has done from time to time since being shut up in the body, than those which it did before entering it,³⁵⁸³ while not yet connected with men. For the same body which³⁵⁸⁴ deprives of memory the soul which enters it,³⁵⁸⁵ should cause what is done within itself also to be wholly forgotten; for one cause cannot bring about two results, and these opposed to each other, so as to make some things to be forgotten, and allow others to be remembered by him who did them. But if souls, as you call them, are prevented and hindered by their fleshly members from recalling their former knowledge,³⁵⁸⁶ how do they remember what has been arranged³⁵⁸⁷ in these very bodies, and know that they are spirits, and have no bodily substance, being exalted by their condition as immortal beings?³⁵⁸⁸ how do they know what rank they hold in the universe, in what order they have been set apart from other beings? how they have come to these, the lowest parts of the universe? what properties they acquired, and from what circles,³⁵⁸⁹ in gliding along towards these regions? How, I say, do they know that they were very learned, and have lost their knowledge by the hindrance which their bodies afford them? For of this very thing also they should have been ignorant, whether their union with the body had brought any stain upon them; for to know what you were, and what to-day you are not, is no sign that you have lost your memory,³⁵⁹⁰ but a proof and evidence that it is quite sound.³⁵⁹¹

29. Now, since it is so, cease, I pray you, cease to rate trifling and unimportant things at immense values. Cease to place man in the upper ranks, since he is of the lowest; and in the highest orders, seeing that his person only is taken account of,³⁵⁹² that he is needy, poverty-stricken in his house and dwelling,³⁵⁹³ and was never entitled to be declared of illustrious descent. For while, as just men and upholders of righteousness, you should have subdued pride and arrogance, by the evils³⁵⁹⁴ of which we are all uplifted and puffed up with empty vanity; you not only hold that these evils arise naturally, but—and this is much worse—you have also added causes by which vice should increase, and wickedness remain incorrigible. For what man is there, although of a disposition which ever shuns what is of bad repute and shameful, who, when he hears it said by very wise men that the soul is immortal, and not subject to the decrees of the fates,³⁵⁹⁵ would not throw himself headlong into all kinds of vice, and fearlessly³⁵⁹⁶ engage in and set about unlawful things? who would not, in short, gratify his desires in all things demanded by his unbridled lust, strengthened even further by its security and freedom from punishment?³⁵⁹⁷ For what will hinder him from doing so? The fear of a power above and divine judgment? And how shall he be overcome by any fear or dread who has been persuaded that he is immortal, just as the supreme God Himself, and that no sentence can be pronounced upon him by God, seeing that there is the same immortality in both, and that the one immortal being cannot be troubled by the other, which is only its equal?³⁵⁹⁸

30. But will he not be terrified by³⁵⁹⁹ the punishments in Hades, of which we have heard, assuming also, as they do, many forms of torture? And who³⁶⁰⁰ will be so senseless and ignorant of consequences,³⁶⁰¹ as to believe that to imperishable spirits either the darkness of Tartarus, or rivers of fire, or marshes with miry abysses, or wheels sent whirling through the air,³⁶⁰² can in any wise do harm? For that which is beyond reach, and not subject to the laws of destruction, though it be surrounded by all the flames of the raging streams, be rolled in the mire, overwhelmed by the fall of overhanging rocks and by the overthrow of huge mountains, must remain safe and untouched without suffering any deadly harm.

Moreover, that conviction not only leads on to wickedness, from the very freedom to sin which it suggests, but even takes away the ground of philosophy itself, and asserts that it is vain to undertake its study, because of the difficulty of the work, which leads to no result. For if it is true that souls know no end, and are ever³⁶⁰³ advancing with all generations, what danger is there in giving themselves up to the pleasures of sense—despising and neglecting the virtues by regard to which life is more stinted in its pleasures, and becomes less attractive—and in letting loose their boundless lust to range eagerly and unchecked through³⁶⁰⁴ all kinds of debauchery? Is it the danger of being worn out by such pleasures, and corrupted by vicious effeminacy? And how can that be corrupted which is immortal, which always exists, and is subject to no suffering? Is it the danger of being polluted by foul and base deeds? And how can that be defiled which has no corporeal substance; or where can corruption seat itself, where there is no place on which the mark of this very corruption should fasten?

But again, if souls draw near to the gates of death,³⁶⁰⁵ as is laid down in the doctrine of Epicurus, in this case, too, there is no sufficient reason why philosophy should be sought out, even if it is true that by it³⁶⁰⁶ souls are cleansed and made pure from all uncleanness.³⁶⁰⁷ For if they all³⁶⁰⁸ die, and even in the body³⁶⁰⁹ the feeling characteristic of life perishes, and is lost;³⁶¹⁰ it is not only a very great mistake, but shows stupid blindness, to curb innate desires, to restrict your mode of life within narrow limits, not yield to your inclinations, and do what our passions have demanded and urged, since no rewards await you for so great toil when the day of death comes, and you shall be freed from the bonds of the body.

31. A certain neutral character, then, and undecided and doubtful nature of the soul, has made room for philosophy, and found out a reason for its being sought after: while, that is, that fellow³⁶¹¹ is full of dread because of evil deeds of which he is guilty; another conceives great hopes if he shall do no evil, and pass his life in obedience to³⁶¹² duty and justice. Thence it is that among learned men, and men endowed with excellent abilities, there is strife as to the nature of the soul, and some say that it is subject to death, and cannot take upon itself the divine substance; while others maintain that it is immortal, and cannot sink under the power of death.³⁶¹³ But this is brought about by the law ofthe soul's neutral character:³⁶¹⁴ because, on the one hand, arguments present themselves to the one party by which it is found that the soul³⁶¹⁵ is capable of suffering, and perishable; and, on the other hand, are not wanting to their opponents, by which it is shown that the soul is divine and immortal.

32. Since these things are so, and we have been taught by the greatest teacher that souls are set not far from the gaping³⁶¹⁶ jaws of death; that they can, nevertheless, have their lives prolonged by the favour and kindness of the Supreme Ruler if only they try and study to know Him,—for the knowledge of Him is a kind of vital leaven³⁶¹⁷ and cement to bind together that which would otherwise fly apart,—let them,³⁶¹⁸ then, laying aside their savage and barbarous nature, return to gentler ways, that they may be able to be ready for that which shall be given.³⁶¹⁹ What reason is there that we should be considered by you brutish, as it were, and stupid, if we have yielded and given ourselves up to God our deliverer, because of these fears? We often seek out remedies for wounds and the poisoned bites of serpents, and defend ourselves by means of thin plates³⁶²⁰ sold by Psylli³⁶²¹ or Marsi, and other hucksters³⁶²² and impostors; and that we may not be inconvenienced by cold or intense heat,³⁶²³ we provide with anxious and careful diligence coverings in³⁶²⁴ houses and clothing.

33. Seeing that the fear of death, that is, the ruin of our souls, menaces³⁶²⁵ us, in what are we not acting, as we all are wont, from a sense of what will be to our advantage,³⁶²⁶ in that we hold Him fast who assures us that He will be our deliverer from such danger, embrace Him, and entrust our souls to His care,³⁶²⁷ if only that³⁶²⁸ interchange is right? You rest the salvation of your souls on yourselves, and are assured that by your own exertions alone³⁶²⁹ you become gods; but we, on the contrary hold out no hope to ourselves from our own weakness, for we see that our nature has no strength, and is overcome by its own passions in every strife for anything.³⁶³⁰ You think that, as soon as you pass away, freed from the bonds of your fleshly members, you will find wings³⁶³¹ with which you may rise to heaven and soar to the stars. We shun such presumption. and do not think³⁶³² that it is in our power to reach the abodes³⁶³³ above, since we have no certainty as to this even, whether we deserve to receive life and be freed from the law of death. You suppose that without the aid of others³⁶³⁴ you will return to the master's palace as if to your own home, no one hindering you; but we, on the contrary, neither have any expectation that this can be unless by the will of the Lord of all, nor think that so much power and licence are given to any man.

34. Since this is the case, what, pray, is so unfair as that we should be looked on by you as silly in that readiness of belief at which you scoff, while we see that you both have like beliefs, and entertain the same hopes? If we are thought deserving of ridicule because we hold out to ourselves such a hope, the same ridicule awaits you too, who claim for yourselves the hope of immortality. If you hold and follow a rational course, grant to us also a share in it. If Plato in the Phædrus,³⁶³⁵ or another of this band of philosophers, had promised these joys to us—that is, a way to escape death, or were able to provide it and bring us to the end which he had promised,³⁶³⁶ it would have been fitting that we should seek to honour him from whom we look for so great a gift and favour. Now, since Christ has not only promised it, but also shown by His virtues, which were so great, that it can be made good, what strange thing do we do, and on what grounds are we charged with folly, if we bow down and worship His name³⁶³⁷ and majesty from whom we expect to receive both these blessings, that we may at once escape a death of suffering, and be enriched with eternal life?³⁶³⁸

35. But, say my opponents, if souls are mortal and³⁶³⁹ of neutral character, how can they from their neutral properties become immortal? If we should say that we do not know this, and only believe it because said by³⁶⁴⁰ One mightier than we, when will our readiness of belief seem mistaken if we believe³⁶⁴¹ that to the almighty King nothing is hard, nothing difficult, and that³⁶⁴² what is impossible to us is possible to Him and at His command?³⁶⁴³ For is there anything which may withstand His will, or does it not follow³⁶⁴⁴ of necessity that what He has willed must be done? Are we to infer from our distinctions what either can or cannot be done; and are we not to consider that our reason is as mortal as we ourselves are, and is of no importance with the Supreme? And yet, O ye who do not believe that the soul is of a neutral character, and that it is held on the line midway between life and death, are not all whatever whom fancy supposes to exist, gods, angels, dæmons, or whatever else is their name, themselves too of a neutral character, and liable to change³⁶⁴⁵ in the uncertainty of their future?³⁶⁴⁶ For if we all agree that there is one Father of all, who alone is immortal and unbegotten, and if nothing at all is found before Him which could be named,³⁶⁴⁷ it follows as a consequence that all these whom the imagination of men believes to be gods, have been either begotten by Him or produced at His bidding. Are they³⁶⁴⁸ produced and begotten? they are also later in order and time: if later in order and time, they must have an origin, and beginning of birth and life; but that which has an entrance into and beginning of life in its first stages, it of necessity follows, should have an end also.

36. But the gods are said to be immortal. Not by nature, then, but by the good-will and favour of God their Father. In the same way, then, in which the boon³⁶⁴⁹ of immortality is God's gift to these who were assuredly produced,³⁶⁵⁰ will He deign to confer eternal life upon souls also, although fell death seems able to cut them off and blot them out of existence in utter annihilation.³⁶⁵¹ The divine Plato, many of whose thoughts are worthy of God, and not such as the vulgar hold, in that discussion and treatise entitled the Timæus, says that the gods and the world are corruptible by nature, and in no wise beyond the reach of death, but that their being is ever maintained³⁶⁵² by the will of God, their King and Prince;³⁶⁵³ for that that even which has been duly clasped and bound together by the surest bands is preserved only by God's goodness; and that by no other than³⁶⁵⁴ by Him who bound their elements together can they both be dissolved if necessary, and have the command given which preserves their being.³⁶⁵⁵ If this is the case, then, and it is not fitting to think or believe otherwise, why do you wonder that we speak of the soul as neutral in its character, when Plato says that it is so even with the deities,³⁶⁵⁶ but that their life is kept up by God's³⁶⁵⁷ grace, without break or end? For if by chance you knew it not, and because of its novelty it was unknown to you before, now, though late, receive and learn from Him who knows and has made it known, Christ, that souls are not the children of the Supreme Ruler, and did not begin to be self-conscious, and to be spoken of in their own special character after being created by Him;³⁶⁵⁸ but that some other is their parent, far enough removed from the chief in rank and power, of His court, however, and distinguished by His high and exalted birthright.

37. But if souls were, as is said, the Lord's children, and begotten by³⁶⁵⁹ the Supreme Power, nothing would have been wanting to make them perfect, as they would have been born with the most perfect excellence: they would all have had one mind, and been of one accord; they would always dwell in the royal palace; and would not, passing by the seats of bliss in which they had learned and kept in mind the noblest teachings, rashly seek these regions of earth, that³⁶⁶⁰ they might live enclosed in gloomy bodies amid phlegm and blood, among these bags of filth and most disgusting³⁶⁶¹ vessels of urine. But, an opponent will say, it was necessary that these parts too should be peopled, and therefore Almighty God sent souls hither to form some colonies, as it were. And of what use are men to the world, and on account of what are they necessary,³⁶⁶² so that they may not be believed to have been destined to live here and be the tenants of an earthly body for no purpose? They have a share, my opponent says, in perfecting the completeness of this immense mass, and without their addition this whole universe is incomplete and imperfect. What then? If there were not men, would the world cease to discharge its functions? would the stars not go through their changes? would there not be summers and winters? would the blasts of the winds be lulled? and from the clouds gathered and hanging overhead would not the showers come down upon the earth to temper droughts? But now³⁶⁶³ all things must go on in their own courses, and not give up following the arrangement established by nature, even if there should be no name of man heard in the world, and this earth should be still with the silence of an unpeopled desert. How then is it alleged that it was necessary that an inhabitant should be given to these regions, since it is clear that by man comes nothing to aid in perfecting the world, and that all his exertions regard his private convenience always, and never cease to aim at his own advantage?

38. For, to begin with what is important, what advantage is it to the world that the mightiest kings are here? What, that there are tyrants, lords, and other innumerable and very illustrious powers? What, that there are generals of the greatest experience in war, skilled in taking cities; soldiers steady and utterly invincible in battles of cavalry, or in fighting hand to hand on foot? What, that there are orators, grammarians, poets, writers, logicians, musicians, ballet-dancers, mimics, actors, singers, trumpeters, flute and reed players? What, that there are runners, boxers, charioteers, vaulters,³⁶⁶⁴ walkers on stilts, rope-dancers, jugglers? What, that there are dealers in salt fish, salters, fishmongers, perfumers, goldsmiths, bird-catchers, weavers of winnowing fans and baskets of rushes? What, that there are fullers, workers in wool, embroiderers, cooks, confectioners, dealers in mules, pimps, butchers, harlots? What, that there are other kinds of dealers? What do the other kinds of professors and arts, for the enumeration of which all life would be too short, contribute to the plan and constitution³⁶⁶⁵ of the world, that we should believe³⁶⁶⁶ that it could not have been founded without men, and would not attain its completeness without the addition of³⁶⁶⁷ a wretched and useless being's exertion?³⁶⁶⁸

39. But perhaps, some one will urge, the Ruler of the world sent hither souls sprung from Himself for this purpose—a very rash thing for a man to say³⁶⁶⁹—that they which had been divine³⁶⁷⁰ with Him, not coming into contact with the body and earthly limits,³⁶⁷¹ should be buried in the germs of men, spring from the womb, burst into and keep up the silliest wailings, draw the breasts in sucking, besmear and bedaub themselves with their own filth, then be hushed by the swaying³⁶⁷² of the frightened nurse and by the sound of rattles.³⁶⁷³ Did He send souls hither for this reason, that they which had been but now sincere and of blameless virtue should learn as³⁶⁷⁴ men to feign, to dissemble, to lie, to cheat,³⁶⁷⁵ to deceive, to entrap with a flatterer's abjectness; to conceal one thing in the heart,³⁶⁷⁶ express another in the countenance; to ensnare, to beguile³⁶⁷⁷ the ignorant with crafty devices, to seek out poisons by means of numberless arts suggested by bad feelings, and to be fashioned³⁶⁷⁸ with deceitful changeableness to suit circumstances? Was it for this He sent souls, that, living till then in calm and undisturbed tranquillity, they might find in³⁶⁷⁹ their bodies causes by which to become fierce and savage, cherish hatred and enmity, make war upon each other, subdue and overthrow states; load themselves with, and give themselves up to the yoke of slavery; and finally, be put the one in the other's power, having changed the condition³⁶⁸⁰ in which they were born? Was it for this He sent souls, that, being made unmindful of the truth, and forgetful of what God was, they should make supplication to images which cannot move; address as superhuman deities pieces of wood, brass, and stones; ask aid of them³⁶⁸¹ with the blood of slain animals; make no mention of Himself: nay more, that some of them should doubt their own existence, or deny altogether that anything exists? Was it for this He sent souls, that they which in their own abodes had been of one mind, equals in intellect and knowledge, after that they put on mortal forms, should be divided by differences of opinion; should have different views as to what is just, useful, and right; should contend about the objects of desire and aversion; should define the highest good and greatest evil differently; that, in seeking to know the truth of things, they should be hindered by their obscurity; and, as if bereft of eyesight, should see nothing clearly,³⁶⁸² and, wandering from the truth,³⁶⁸³ should be led through uncertain bypaths of fancy?

40. Was it for this He sent souls hither, that while the other creatures are fed by what springs up spontaneously, and is produced without being sown, and do not seek for themselves the protection or covering of houses or garments, they should be under the sad necessity³⁶⁸⁴ of building houses for themselves at very great expense and with never-ending toils, preparing coverings for their limbs, making different kinds of furniture for the wants³⁶⁸⁵ of daily life, borrowing help for³⁶⁸⁶ their weakness from the dumb creatures; using violence to the earth that it might not give forth its own herbs, but might send up the fruits required; and when they had put forth all their strength³⁶⁸⁷ in subduing the earth, should be compelled to lose the hope with which they had laboured³⁶⁸⁸ through blight, hail, drought; and at last forced by³⁶⁸⁹ hunger to throw themselves on human bodies; and when set free, to be parted from their human forms by a wasting sickness? Was it for this that they which, while they abode with Him, had never had any longing for property, should have become exceedingly covetous, and with insatiable craving be inflamed to an eager desire of possessing; that they should dig up lofty mountains, and turn the unknown bowels of the earth into materials, and to purposes of a different kind; should force their way to remote nations at the risk of life, and, in exchanging goods always catch at a high price for what they sell, and a low one³⁶⁹⁰ for what they buy, take interest at greedy and excessive rates, and add to the number of their sleepless nights spent in reckoning up thousands³⁶⁹¹ wrung from the life-blood of wretched men; should be ever extending the limits of their possessions, and, though they were to make whole provinces one estate, should weary the forum with suits for one tree, for one furrow; should hate rancorously their friends and brethren?

41. Was it for this He sent souls, that they which shortly before had been gentle and ignorant of what it is to be moved by fierce passions, should build for themselves markets and amphitheatres, places of blood and open wickedness, in the one of which they should see men devoured and torn in pieces by wild beasts, and themselves slay others for no demerit but to please and gratify the spectators,³⁶⁹² and should spend those very days on which such wicked deeds were done in general enjoyment, and keep holiday with festive gaiety; while in the other, again, they should tear asunder the flesh of wretched animals, some snatch one part, others another, as dogs and vultures do, should grind them with their teeth, and give to their utterly insatiable³⁶⁹³ maw, and that, surrounded by³⁶⁹⁴ faces so fierce and savage, those should bewail their lot whom the straits of poverty withheld from such repasts;³⁶⁹⁵ that their life should be³⁶⁹⁶ happy and prosperous while such barbarous doings defiled their mouths and face? Was it for this He sent souls, that, forgetting their importance and dignity as divine, they should acquire gems, precious stones, pearls, at the expense of their purity; should entwine their necks with these, pierce the tips of their ears, bind³⁶⁹⁷ their foreheads with fillets, seek for cosmetics³⁶⁹⁸ to deck their bodies,³⁶⁹⁹ darken their eyes with henna; nor, though in the forms of men, blush to curl their hair with crisping-pins, to make the skin of the body smooth, to walk with bare knees, and with every other kind of wantonness, both to lay aside the strength of their manhood, and to grow in effeminacy to a woman's habits and luxury?

42. Was it for this He sent souls, that some should infest the highways and roads,³⁷⁰⁰ others ensnare the unwary, forge³⁷⁰¹ false wills, prepare poisoned draughts; that they should break open houses by night, tamper with slaves, steal and drive away, not act uprightly, and betray their trust perfidiously; that they should strike out delicate dainties for the palate; that in cooking fowls they should know how to catch the fat as it drips; that they should make cracknels and sausages,³⁷⁰² force-meats, tit-bits, Lucanian sausages, with these³⁷⁰³ a sow's udder and iced³⁷⁰⁴ puddings? Was it for this He sent souls, that beings³⁷⁰⁵ of a sacred and august race should here practise singing and piping; that they should swell out their cheeks in blowing the flute; that they should take the lead in singing impure songs, and raising the loud din of the castanets,³⁷⁰⁶ by which another crowd of souls should be led in their wantonness to abandon themselves to clumsy motions, to dance and sing, form rings of dancers, and finally, raising their haunches and hips, float along with a tremulous motion of the loins?

Was it for this He sent souls, that in men they should become impure, in women harlots, players on the triangle³⁷⁰⁷ and psaltery; that they should prostitute their bodies for hire, should abandon themselves to the lust of all,³⁷⁰⁸ ready in the brothels, to be met with in the stews,³⁷⁰⁹ ready to submit to anything, prepared to do violence to their mouth even?³⁷¹⁰

43. What say you, O offspring and descendants of the Supreme Deity? Did these souls, then, wise, and sprung from the first causes, become acquainted with such forms of baseness, crime, and bad feeling? and were they ordered to dwell here,³⁷¹¹ and be clothed with the garment of the human body, in order that they might engage in, might practise these evil deeds, and that very frequently? And is there a man with any sense of reason who thinks that the world was established because of them, and not rather that it was set up as a seat and home, in which every kind of wickedness should be committed daily, all evil deeds be done, plots, impostures, frauds, covetousness, robberies, violence, impiety, all that is presumptuous, indecent, base, disgraceful,³⁷¹² and all the other evil deeds which men devise over all the earth with guilty purpose, and contrive for each other's ruin?

44. But, you say, they came of their own accord, not sent³⁷¹³ by their lord. And³⁷¹⁴ where was the Almighty Creator, where the authority of His royal and exalted place,³⁷¹⁵ to prevent their departure, and not suffer them to fall into dangerous pleasures? For if He knew that by change of place they would become base—and, as the arranger of all things,³⁷¹⁶ He must have known—or that anything would reach them from without which would make them forget their greatness and moral dignity,—a thousand times would I beg of Him to pardon my words,—the cause of all is no other than Himself, since He allowed them to have freedom to wander³⁷¹⁷ who He foresaw would not abide by their state of innocence; and thus it is brought about that it does not matter whether they came of their own accord, or obeyed His command, since in not preventing what should have been prevented, by His inaction He made the guilt His own, and permitted it before it was done by neglecting to withhold them from action.

45. But let this monstrous and impious fancy be put³⁷¹⁸ far from us, that Almighty God, the creator and framer, the author³⁷¹⁹ of things great and invisible, should be believed to have begotten souls so fickle, with no seriousness, firmness, and steadiness, prone to vice, inclining to all kinds of sins; and while He knew that they were such and of this character, to have bid³⁷²⁰ them enter into bodies, imprisoned in which,³⁷²¹ they should live exposed to the storms and tempests of fortune every day, and now do mean things, now submit to lewd treatment; that they might perish by shipwreck, accidents, destructive conflagrations; that poverty might oppress some, beggary, others; that some might be torn in pieces by wild beasts, others perish by the venom of flies;³⁷²² that some might limp in walking, others lose their sight, others be stiff with cramped³⁷²³ joints; in fine, that they should be exposed to all the diseases which the wretched and pitiable human race endures with agony caused by³⁷²⁴ different sufferings; then that, forgetting that they have one origin, one father and head, they should shake to their foundations and violate the rights of kinship, should overthrow their cities, lay waste their lands as enemies, enslave the free, do violence to maidens and to other men's wives, hate each other, envy the joys and good fortune of others; and further, all malign, carp at, and tear each other to pieces with fiercely biting teeth.