Book 1, Chapter 19

43 “Moreover, the soul escapes from this air I have so often mentioned and breaks through it all the more easily because nothing is swifter than the soul; no speed can compete with its speed. If it remains uncorrupted and unchanged, it must be carried along so as to penetrate and divide this whole region of the sky where clouds, rains, and winds gather, a region damp and dark because of the earth’s exhalations.

“Once the soul has passed beyond that region and touched and recognized a nature like its own, it comes to rest among fires formed from the union of rarefied air and the sun’s tempered heat, and ceases to rise higher. For when it <has> attained a lightness and warmth like its own, it is, as it were, balanced between equal weights, and moves in no direction. Only then has it reached its natural dwelling, when it has penetrated to what is like itself. There, lacking nothing, it will be nourished and sustained by the same things that sustain and nourish the stars.

“And since the body’s torches habitually kindle us to almost every desire, and we burn all the more because we envy those who possess what we wish to possess, we shall certainly be happy when, leaving our bodies behind, we are free of both desire and rivalry.

44 “What we do now, when released from cares—the wish to look at something and explore it—we shall do then with far greater freedom, devoting ourselves wholly to contemplating things and understanding them. For our minds have by nature an insatiable desire to see the truth; and the very regions we shall have reached, by making knowledge of heavenly things easier, will give us a greater desire to know them.

45 “Even on earth this beauty stirred that ‘ancestral’ and ‘inherited’ philosophy, as Theophrastus calls it, kindling it with the desire for knowledge. But those will enjoy it most who, even when living on this earth surrounded by darkness, still longed to see clearly with the mind’s keen sight.”

43 “There’s another reason the soul can escape and break through this air I’ve mentioned so often all the more easily. Nothing is faster than the soul. No speed can compete with its speed. If it stays intact and remains itself, it must travel in such a way as to pierce and cut through this whole region of sky where clouds, rain, and winds gather. That region is damp and dark because of the vapors rising from earth.

“Once the soul has passed beyond that region and reached and recognized a substance like itself, it comes to rest among fires made from thin air and the sun’s tempered heat. It stops rising any farther. Having reached lightness and warmth like its own, it stays still, like a balance with equal weights, and moves in no direction. Only then, when it has reached something like itself, is it in its natural home. There, lacking nothing, it will be fed and sustained by the same things that sustain and feed the stars.

“The body’s torches usually set us on fire with almost every kind of desire. We’re inflamed all the more because we compete with people who have what we want. So surely we’ll be happy when we leave our bodies behind and are free of both desires and rivalries;

44 “and what we do now, when we’re free of worries and want to look at something and see the sights, we’ll do much more freely then. We’ll devote ourselves entirely to studying and understanding things. Our minds have a natural, insatiable desire to see the truth. And the very regions we’ll reach will make us more eager to learn, since they’ll make it easier for us to understand things in the sky.

45 “Even here on earth, this beauty stirred up that ‘ancestral’ philosophy, ‘handed down from our grandfathers,’ as Theophrastus calls it, and set it on fire with a desire to know. Those will especially enjoy this beauty who, even when they lived here on earth surrounded by darkness, still longed to see clearly with the sharp eye of the mind.”