and corruptible; for even he supposes that there is a receptacle for it,[1] and that it possesses a luminous body, but that everything generated involves a necessity of corruption.[2] Those, however, who assert the immortality of the soul are especially strengthened in their opinion by those passages[3] [in Plato's writings], where he says, that both there are judgments after death, and tribunals of justice in Hades, and that the virtuous [souls] receive a good reward, while the wicked [ones] suitable punishment. Some notwithstanding assert, that he also acknowledges a transition of souls from one body to another, and that different souls, those that were marked out for such a purpose, pass into different bodies,[4] according to the desert of each, and that after[5] certain definite periods they are sent up into this world to furnish once more a proof of their choice. Others, however, [do not admit this to be his doctrine, but will have it that Plato affirms that the souls] obtain a place according to the desert of each; and they employ as a testimony the saying of his, that some good men are with Jove, and that others are ranging abroad [through heaven] with other gods; whereas that others are involved in eternal punishments, as many as during this life have committed wicked and unjust deeds.
And people affirm that Plato says, that some things are without a mean, that others have a mean, that others are a mean. [For example, that] waking and sleep, and such like, are conditions without an intermediate state; but that there are things that had means, for instance virtue and vice; and there are means [between extremes], for instance grey between white and black, or some other colour. And they
- ↑ The word is literally a cup or bowl, and being employed by Plato in an allegorical sense, is evidently intended to signify the anima mundi (soul of the world), which constituted a sort of depository for all spiritual existences in the world.
- ↑ Or, "that there exists a necessity for the corruption of everything created."
- ↑ Or, "are confirmed by that [philosopher Plato], because he asserts," etc.; or, "those who assert the soul's immortality are especially confirmed in their opinion, as many as affirm the existence of a future state of retribution."
- ↑ Or, "that he changes different souls," etc.
- ↑ Or, "during."
