3. Now when I was in this state of mind, intending to be
straight away; for this is the objective of Plato's philosophy.
3. Now when I was in this state of mind, intending to be filled with a great tranquillity and 'to shun the haunt of men'!,
I made a journey to a place which was not far from the sea.
When I was near the spot where I intended to be quite alone, an old man whose appearance was not beneath notice and who gave the impression of possessing a gentle and respectable character, began almost shadowing me. I turned round to him, stopped, and inspected him keenly.
He said: 'Do you know me?'
'No,' I said.
'Then,' said he, 'why are you looking at me like that?'
'I am surprised,' I said, 'that you happen to be in the same place as I am, because I did not expect to see anybody else here.'
'I am looking after some of my slaves,' he said.
"They have run away from me, so I have made a personal visit to look for them, in case they turn up anywhere here.
But what are you doing here?' he asked me.
'I am spending my time here for my own enjoyment,' I said.
'My discourse with myself meets no hindrance here, and places like these are conducive to the study of ideas.'
'So you study ideas, do you?' said he, 'and you never study deeds nor truth, nor try to be a man of action rather than an academic?'
'But,' said I, 'what better advantage could anyone achieve than to demonstrate the principle which governs all things and, having grasped it, from its vantage-point to survey the error of other people and their behaviour and to see how they do nothing right nor acceptable to God? Without philosophy and the right principle wisdom cannot be in anybody's possession.
That is why everybody ought to study philosophy and regard this as the greatest and most
1Another Homeric quotation.
honourable activity and put everything else in second and third place and think of things which are dependent upon philosophy as proper and worth embracing, but activities divorced from it and where it does not accompany those who undertake them should be esteemed drudgery and fit only for artisans.'
'So philosophy brings happiness:', he said in answer.
'Yes it does,' I said, 'and it alone.'
'Then what is philosophy,' he said, 'and what is the happiness attached to it?
Explain, unless there is any reason why you should not explain.'
'Philosophy,' I said, 'is the science of reality and the understanding of truth, and happiness is the reward of this science and wisdom.'
"What do you think God is?' he said.
'That which eternally remains the Same in its existence and its mode of existence, and is the cause of existence for all other things, that is God.'
This was my answer, and he was glad when he heard me and then asked me this question:
'Is not science a common name given to diverse things?
For in all the crafts a man who is skilled in them is called scientifically qualified; it is the same in military affairs, in navigation and in medicine.
But this does not hold of divine and human matters.
Is there a science which supplies the knowledge of human affairs themselves and of divine affairs, and the conviction of the latter's divinity and righteousness?'
'Yes, there is,' I said.
'Well, then, is it the same thing to know man and God as it is to know music and arithmetic and astronomy or any of those subjects?'
'Far from it,' I said.
'Then you have given me a wrong answer,' he said.
'One sort of knowledge comes from study or experience, B
the other gives science by vision.
If I were to say to you that there is an animal living in India unlike all the other animals but with such and such an appearance, with many forms and many colours, you would not have previously known it or seen it, but you could not even give a description of it unless you had listened to somebody who had seen it.'
'No,' I said.
'Then,' said he, 'how can the philosophers think rightly about God or say anything true about him, as they have no science about him, they have never seen him nor heard him?'
'But sir,' I said, "the divine is not visible to the physical eyes as are other living things, but can only be apprehended by the mind.
This is what Plato says, and I agree with him.'
'Is there then,' he said, 'in the mind a power sufficiently strong and appropriate, or perhaps it grasps reality by tangible means?
Or will the mind of man never see God unless enriched by a holy spirit?'
"Well, Plato says,' I replied, 'that this very capacity is the eye of the mind and was given for this very purpose, to be able to see reality directly by its own power, that reality which is the cause of all intellectual things, which has no colour, no shape, no magnitude, nor any of the qualities visible to the eye, but somehow this very reality, says he, which is higher than all substance, which cannot be spoken about nor described, but is simply Beauty and Goodness, suddenly appears in souls whose nature is good, because of its kinship to them and the desire they have of seeing it.'
"Then what kinship,' said he, 'have we with God?
Or is the soul divine and immortal and a part of that controlling mind already mentioned?
And as it sees God so it is within our reach also to grasp the divine with our mind and thenceforward at once to be happy?'
'Certainly,' I said.
'And do all the souls of living creatures receive it in all cases,' he said, 'or is there one soul of men and another of a horse and an ass?'
'No, but the same souls are in all,' I answered.
'Then,' said he, 'horses and asses will see or have at some time seen God?'
'No,' I said, 'not even the majority of men, but only if a man were to live in justice, cleansing himself in righteousness and in every other virtue.'
'Therefore,' he said, "he does not see God through kinship nor because he is mind, but because he is self-controlled and righteous.'
Yes,' I said, "and by having a capacity to perceive God.'
"What?
So goats and sheep do wrong in some way?'
'No, they do not do anybody any wrong,' I said.
'Then, said he, 'according to your argument these animals will also see God.'
'No, because the particular sort of body they have is an obstruction to them.'
'If those animals were to receive the power of speech,' he replied, 'you can be sure that they would disparage our body with much greater reason.
But for the moment let us leave this argument as it is, and agree with what you say.
But tell me this: does the soul have vision while it is in the body or when it is freed from the body?'
'While the soul is in a human form,' I said, 'it is possible for it to remain in it by means of the mind, but when it is released from the body and abides entirely by itself it much more achieves what it has been desiring all the time.'
'Does it remember this achievement when it is in a human being again?'
'I do not think so,' I said.
'What is the advantage for those souls who have had the vision, or what more has he who sees than he who does not
see, if he does not remember this fact that he has had the vision?'
'I cannot answer that,' I replied.
'What happens to those souls who are judged unworthy of this vision?' he said.
'They are imprisoned in the bodies of various beasts, and this is their punishment.'
'They are aware, then, that this is the reason why they are in bodies of this sort, and that they have done something wrong?'
'T think not.'
'Apparently there is no advantage in their punishment, and I would not even say that they are being punished if they do not recognize the punishment.'
'No.'
'Then souls do not see God, nor do they change into other bodies.
For if that were so they would know that they are being punished and they would be afraid of committing even the slightest wrong for the future.
But that they can know that God exists and that righteousness and piety are good, with that I agree,' he said.
"You speak truly,' I said... .
[Chapter 5 omitted; it establishes that souls are not immortal and that they are after this life reserved for punishment or reward.| 6.
'I am not interested in Plato or Pythagoras,' he said, 'nor in fact in anyone who holds any sort of opinions like theirs.
This is the true state of affairs, and you might as well learn it: The soul either is life or possesses life.
If then it were life, it would communicate life to something else, not to itself.
But nobody would deny that the soul lives.
If it lives it lives not as being life but as sharing in life; what shares in something is distinct from that in which it shares.
The soul shares in life since God wishes it to live.
Similarly
then it will at some point no longer have a share when he does not wish it to live, for living is not its peculiar characteristic as it is God's; but just as a man does not exist indefinitely and his body does not permanently co-exist with his soul, but when this combination must be dissolved the soul deserts the body and the man exists no longer, so when the soul must no longer exist the life-giving spirit deserts it and it is a soul no longer but of its own accord it goes back again to the place from where it was taken.'
7. "What teacher could anyone employ then,' I said, 'or how could anyone get any assistance, if the truth is not in these philosophers?'
"There were men a very long time ago more ancient than these who are reputed to be philosophers, blessed and righteous and dear to God.
They spoke by a divine spirit _and they oracularly predicted future events which are now taking place. They are called prophets.
They alone saw the truth and declared it to men; they did not suffer from timidity nor embarrassment nor were they influenced by ambition, but they spoke only those things which they had heard and seen when they were filled with a holy Spirit.
Their writings remain to this day and it is possible for anyone who studies them to gain much enlightenment about first principles and the final consummation and everything which a philosopher ought to know, if a man will but believe them.
They have not set out their accounts with formal argument, but as witnesses of the truth worthy of belief, as if they were above all formal argument.
Past events and events now taking place compel us to agree with what was spoken by them.
Furthermore they deserved to be believed because of the miracles which they performed, since they were glorifying God the Creator and Father of the universe and they were announcing the Christ coming from him, his
Son.
This the false prophets who were filled with the