Chapter 21

77 “I see no reason not to venture to tell you what I myself think about death, since I seem to understand it better the nearer I stand to it. I believe that your fathers, Publius Scipio and Gaius Laelius, those most distinguished men and my dearest friends, are alive—and living the only life worthy of the name. While we are enclosed in this framework of the body, we perform a compulsory service and a heavy labor. The soul is heavenly, cast down from its highest dwelling and, as it were, submerged in the earth, a place alien to its divine nature and eternity. But I believe the immortal gods scattered souls into human bodies so that there might be guardians of the earth who, contemplating the order of the heavens, would imitate it in the measured constancy of their lives. Not reason and argument alone moved me to this belief, but also the eminence and authority of the greatest philosophers.”

78 “I used to hear that Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, almost our neighbors, once called the philosophers of Italy, never doubted that our souls were drawn from the universal divine mind. I was also taught what Socrates, whom Apollo’s oracle judged the wisest of all, said on his last day about the immortality of souls. Why say more? This is my conviction and belief: since souls have such swiftness, such memory of the past and foresight of the future, so many arts, such learning, and so many discoveries, the nature that contains all these cannot be mortal. Since the soul is always in motion and its motion has no beginning, because it moves itself, neither will its motion have an end, because it will never desert itself. And since the soul’s nature is simple, with no mixture unlike and different from itself, it cannot be divided; if it cannot be divided, it cannot perish. A strong argument that people know much before their birth is that even as children, when learning difficult arts, they grasp countless things so quickly that they seem not to be receiving them for the first time, but remembering and recalling them. These, in substance, are Plato’s arguments.”

77 “I see no reason to hold back from telling you my own thoughts about death. I seem to see it more clearly as I get nearer to it. Publius Scipio, and you, Gaius Laelius, I believe your fathers are still alive. They were outstanding men and very dear friends of mine. Now they live the only life that really deserves the name. Here, shut inside the body’s structure, we carry out a necessary service and a hard task. The soul comes from heaven. It has been pushed down from its home high above and, as it were, buried in the earth, a place opposed to its divine, everlasting nature. But I believe the immortal gods placed souls in human bodies so there would be beings to care for the earth. By studying the order of the heavens, they could copy it in the measure and steadiness of their own lives. Reason and argument are not the only things that brought me to this belief. The standing and authority of the greatest philosophers helped too.”

78 “I used to hear about Pythagoras and his followers. They lived almost next door to us and were once known as the Italian philosophers. They never doubted that our souls are portions drawn from the divine mind of the universe. I was also shown what Socrates said on his last day about souls never dying. He was the man Apollo’s oracle called wisest of all. Why go on at length? This is what I believe, and I am convinced of it. The mind works so quickly, remembers so much of the past, and understands so much about what is coming. It has so many skills, so much knowledge, and so many inventions. A nature that holds all these things cannot be mortal. The soul is always moving. Its movement has no beginning because it moves itself. It will have no end either, because the soul will never abandon itself. Its nature is simple. It has nothing mixed into it that is different or unlike itself. So it cannot be split up, and if it cannot be split up, it cannot die. There is also strong evidence that people know many things before they are born. When children learn difficult skills, they grasp an immense number of things at such speed that it looks as if they are remembering and recalling them rather than learning them for the first time. Those are roughly Plato’s arguments.”