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
| 3573
Lit., “but retaining its own things, bind itself in earthly
bodies.” |
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 with
3574
any bodily form is not hampered by the
opposition of another, nor can anything be led
3575
| 3575
So the ms. and edd., reading
sua-de-ri, for which Oehler reads very neatly sua de
vi—“can anything of its own power destroy,”
etc. |
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
| 3576
Lit., “not suffer forgetfulness.” |
of the past, however thoroughly they
may have been enclosed in bodies.
3577
| 3577
Lit., “however the most solid unions of bodies may have bound
them round.” |
Moreover, the same reasoning not
only shows that they are not incorporeal, but deprives them of
all
3578
| 3578
So the edd. reading privat immortalitate has omni, for
which, according to Hildebrand, the ms.
reads -tatem has omnis—“all these of
immortality.” |
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.
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