On the Immortality of the Soul

...aid to living men, and the experiences which he nevertheless uses? Aristotle uses experiences as if they were most true to prove the immortality of the soul, so far as pertains to the aid brought and the revelations after death. But since that Aristotelian book in which these things are written might be considered of too little authority to The book of the mystical philosophy of Aristotle. bring any prejudice to those who think otherwise, I shall spare the labor; for under the name of Theology, or of mystical philosophy according to the Egyptians, it has come into public use, and it relates and celebrates Pythagorean dogmas; yet it was not reckoned among the number under this title by those who catalogued Aristotle's books in ancient times. Neither did Iamblichus, who cites passages of Aristotle from the work on the Pythagorean sect—as we have reported elsewhere—mention this volume, nor are those things found in it; therefore I shall neither use Note. the testimonies of this book, nor shall I rely on the authority of miracles. For he who believes in the immortality of the soul from the Gospel does not need them to be repeated in this place; and for him who turns a deaf ear to the Gospel, and is an adversary to the cross of Christ, and makes his belly his god, sacred testimony is no more fitting for him than precious pearls for a foul-smelling sow. But indeed, let those who do not acquiesce to our theologians listen at least to Plato and to many Platonists, among whom are found very many reasons and authorities concerning the immortality of the soul, as well as the experiences of those who are reported to have returned to life, until, their stubbornness having been driven away, they may become partakers of the divine light, and may learn that the reasons which are accustomed to be brought forward for mortality are of either no weight or certainly the lightest. For there are some who bring forward more reasons, and some who bring fewer; yet all, as it That the reasons brought forward for mortality are few and weak. seems to me, can be reduced to a small number, and they fail not only by their falsity but by their weakness. For they think the body is so joined to the soul that she cannot exert herself without it, especially as pertains to that in which she most excels. For they say that she can in no way be removed, neither from the body as subject nor from the body as object; wherefore they either decree, or strongly suspect, that she can neither understand without it, nor be able to survive without it. But if she should be released from the bodily bond, they assert either that she returns again by Pythagorean transmigration, or that she lies dormant in idleness. And so they think that an infinite number is reached through the eternity of the world; they certainly consider the soul such a part of man that on that account su-