Book 1, Chapter 12

26 “Then explain, if it is no trouble, first, if you can, that souls remain after death; then, if you cannot establish that—for it is difficult—you will show that death is free of every evil. For my fear is that this very thing is an evil: I do not mean being without sensation, but having to lose it.”

“For the view you wish established, we can certainly draw on the finest authorities, something that both should and usually does carry the greatest weight in any question. First comes the whole of antiquity, which perhaps saw the truth more clearly the nearer it stood to our beginning and divine descent.

“And so one conviction was rooted in those ancient people whom Ennius calls the men of old: that sensation survives death, and that on leaving life a human being is not so destroyed as to perish utterly.

27 “This can be understood from many things, but especially from pontifical law and the rites of burial. Men endowed with the greatest gifts would neither have observed these with such care nor have made their violation subject to such inexpiable religious penalties, unless the conviction had been fixed in their minds that death is not a destruction which removes and obliterates everything, but a kind of migration and change of life. In distinguished men and women this would ordinarily lead to heaven; in others, life was kept on earth, yet still endured.

28 “From this comes our people’s belief that ‘Romulus lives out his days in heaven with the gods,’ as Ennius said, accepting the tradition. From this too comes the belief among the Greeks, spreading from them to us and as far as the Ocean, that Hercules is so mighty and so readily present a god. Hence comes Liber, born of Semele, and, with equal renown in tradition, the brothers born of Tyndareus, who are said not only to have helped the Roman people to victory in battle, but also to have announced it. And what of Ino, the daughter of Cadmus? Called Leucothea by the Greeks, is she not regarded by our people as Matuta? In short, without pursuing more examples, is not almost the whole of heaven filled with the human race?”

26 “Then please explain, if it isn’t a bother, “first, if you can, that souls survive death; then, if you can’t establish that—it’s a difficult task—you can show that death has nothing bad in it. “What worries me is precisely this: not, I mean, lacking sensation, but having to lose it.”

“We can call on the very best authorities for the view you want established. In every argument, such authorities ought to carry the greatest weight, and usually do. First there’s the whole ancient world. Perhaps those people saw the truth better because they were closer to their origin and divine ancestry.

“Those early people, whom Ennius calls casci, ‘the old ones,’ had this one firmly rooted belief: sensation remains in death, and leaving life doesn’t wipe a person out into complete nonexistence;

27 “you can see this from many things, especially the laws of the pontiffs and the rites at graves. Those gifted with the greatest intelligence wouldn’t have observed these so carefully, or made breaking them a religious offense so impossible to atone for, unless this belief had stuck in their minds: death isn’t a destruction that takes everything away and wipes it out. It’s a sort of move, a change of life. For famous men and women, that change generally led to the sky. For others, it kept them on the ground, but their life still continued.

28 “That’s why, in our people’s belief, ‘Romulus lives out his days in the sky with the gods,’ as Ennius said, accepting the tradition. It’s why Hercules is regarded as such a great god, so ready to help, among the Greeks, and from them among us and all the way to the Ocean. That’s where we get Liber, Semele’s son, and the brothers born to Tyndareus, who are just as widely celebrated. They are said not only to have helped the Roman people win battles, but also to have brought news of victory. And what about Ino, Cadmus’ daughter? Don’t our people regard her as Matuta, while the Greeks call her Leucothea, the White Goddess? To stop running through more names, isn’t almost the whole sky filled with members of the human race?”