As to the souls which have left the sense-world, so long as they remain
in the intelligible world, they are above the guardian condition,
and the fatality of generation. Souls bring with them thither that
part of their nature which is desirous of begetting, and which may
reasonably be regarded as the essence which is divisible in the body,
and which multiplies by dividing along with the bodies. Moreover, if
a soul divide herself, it is not in respect to extension; because she
is entirely in all the bodies. On the other hand, the Soul is one; and
from a single animal are ceaselessly born many young. This generative
element splits up like the vegetative nature in plants; for this nature
is divisible in the bodies. When this divisible essence dwells in the
same body, it vivifies the body, just as the vegetative power does for
plants. When it retires, it has already communicated life, as is seen
in cut trees, or in corpses where putrefaction has caused the birth of
several animals from a single one. Besides, the vegetative power of the
human soul is assisted by the vegetative power that is derived from the
universal (Soul), and which here below is the same (as on high).
FATE CONSISTS IN THE UNPREDICTABLE CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH ALTER THE
LIFE-CURRENTS.
If the soul return here below, she possesses, according to the life
which she is to lead, either the same guardian, or another. With her
guardian she enters into this world as if in a skiff. Then she is
subjected to the power (by Plato) called the Spindle of Necessity;[327]
and, embarking in this world, she takes the place assigned to her by
fortune. Then she is caught by the circular movement of the heavens,
whose action, as if it were the wind, agitates the skiff in which the
soul is seated; or rather, is borne along. Thence are born varied
spectacles, transformations and divers incidents for the soul which
is embarked in this skiff; whether because of the agitation of the
sea which bears it, or because of the conduct of the passenger who is
sailing in the bark, and who preserves her freedom of action therein.
Indeed, not every soul placed in the same circumstances makes the same
movements, wills the same volitions, or performs the same actions. For
different beings, therefore, the differences arise from circumstances
either similar or different, or even the same events may occur to
them under different circumstances. It is this (uncertainty) that
constitutes Providence.