which it does not immediately, as soon as it is separated from
the body, but afterwards, when it is alone and divided from the
understanding. And of all that Homer ever writ, there is not any
passage more divine than that in which, speaking of those who are
departed this life, he says,
Next these, I saw Alcides’ image move;
Himself is with th’ immortal Gods above.[108]
For every one of us is neither courage, nor fear, nor desire,—no more
than flesh or humors,—but the part by which we think and understand.
And the soul being moulded and formed by the understanding, and itself
moulding and forming the body, by embracing it on every side, receives
from it an impression and form; so that although it be separated both
from the understanding and the body, it nevertheless so retains still
its figure and semblance for a long time, that it may with good right
be called its image.
And of these souls (as I have already said) the moon is the element,
because souls resolve into her, as the bodies of the deceased do into
earth. Those indeed who have been virtuous and honest, living a quiet
and philosophical life without embroiling themselves in troublesome
affairs, are quickly resolved; because being left by the understanding,
and no longer using corporeal passions, they incontinently vanish
away. But the souls of the ambitious and such as have been busied
in negotiations, of the amorous and such as have been addicted to
corporeal pleasures, as also of the angry and revengeful, calling to
mind the things they did in their lives, as dreams in their sleep, walk
wandering about here and there, like that of Endymion; because their
inconstancy and their being over-subject to passions transports them,
and draws them out of the moon to another generation, not letting them
rest, but alluring them and calling them away. For there is nothing
small, staid, constant, and accordant, after that being forsaken by
the understanding, they come to be seized by corporeal passions. And
of such souls, destitute of reason and suffering themselves to be
carried away by the proud violence of passion, were bred the Tityi and
Typhons; and particularly that Typhon who, having by force and violence
seized the city of Delphi, overturned the sanctuary of the oracle
there. Nevertheless, after a long tract of time the moon receives those
souls and recomposes them; and the sun inspiring again and sowing
understanding in them, the moon receives them by its vital power, and
makes them new souls; and the earth in the third place gives them a
body. For she gives nothing ... after death of all that she takes to
generation. And the sun takes nothing, but reassembles and receives
again the understanding which he gave. But the moon gives and receives,
joins and disjoins, unites and separates, according to divers faculties
and powers; of which the one is named Ilithyia or Lucina (to wit,
that which joins), and the other Artemis or Diana (to wit, that which
separates and divides). And of the three fatal Goddesses or Parcae, she
which is called Atropos is placed in the sun, and gives the principle
of generation; and Clotho, being lodged in the moon, is she who joins,
mingles, and unites; and the last, named Lachesis, is on the earth,
where she adds her helping hand, and with her does Fortune very much
participate. For that which is without a soul is weak in itself and
liable to be affected by others. The understanding is sovereign over
all the rest, and cannot be made to suffer by any. Now the soul is a
certain middle thing mixed of them both; as the moon was by God made
and created a composition and mixture of things high and low, having
the same proportion to the sun as the earth has to her.
This (said Sylla) is what I understood from this guest of mine, who
was a stranger and a traveller; and this he said he learned from the
Daemons who served and ministered to Saturn. And you, O Lamprias, may
take my relation in such part as you please.