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for they say that the polluted souls run back to the elements, and are mixed with one another, and are again punished in their reincarnations, uniting them according to the magnitude of their sins and again separating them according to substance; for shadows are separated when there is light, but are united when there is cloudiness; which is impossible to happen in the case of an intelligible nature. For shadows belong to the sensible world, even if one should grant that they are separated and again united. But Plato declares that souls are both one and many; for the soul of the universe is one, but there are also others of the parts, so that the whole is ensouled in its own way by the soul of the universe, and again the parts in their own way by the individual soul of each. And he says that the soul of the universe is extended from the center of the earth to the ends of heaven, not saying that it is extended locally but intelligibly; and that this soul is what leads the universe around spherically and holds together and binds the corporeal nature of the world; for it was shown in what was said before that bodies need something to hold them together; and that the form-giving soul does this. For each of the beings lives its own life and perishes its own perishing; for as long as the body is held together and bound, it is said to be; but when dissolved, to perish; and all things live, but not all things are animals. For they distinguish plants from inanimate things by their growing and being nourished, that is, by the nutritive and vegetative faculty; irrational animals from plants by perception; and rational beings from irrational ones by reason; and thus saying that all things live, they distinguish the nature of each. Therefore, they say that even things entirely inanimate live a 'hectic' life, insofar as they are held together by the soul of the universe for the sake of merely being and not being dissolved. And that this is the soul that governs the universe and sends forth the partial souls which were previously generated by the demiurge, with the demiurge himself having given it laws according to which it must manage this universe, which laws he also calls fate, and supplying sufficient power to direct us; these things have also been said in the treatises concerning fate. Therefore, all the Greeks who have declared the soul immortal in common hold the dogma of reincarnation; but they differ concerning the forms of souls. For some say there is one form, the rational, and that this passes also into plants and into the bodies of irrational animals, some according to certain fixed periods of time, others as it may happen. But others say not one form of souls but two, both rational and irrational. And some say many, as many as are the species of animals. But especially the followers of Plato differed concerning this dogma. For when Plato said that spirited and wrathful and rapacious souls put on the bodies of wolves and lions, while those engaged in licentiousness take on the bodies of donkeys and such; some understood the wolves and the lions and the donkeys literally; but others discerned that he had spoken tropologically, indicating the characters through the animals. For Cronius, in his work On Palingenesis (for so he calls reincarnation), wishes all souls to be rational, and likewise Theodore the Platonist in his work That the Soul is All the Forms, and Porphyry likewise; but Iamblichus, taking the opposite course to these, says that there is a form of soul corresponding to each species of animal, that is, different forms. At any rate, a monograph has been written by him entitled That Reincarnations Do Not Occur from Humans into Irrational Animals nor from Irrational Animals into Humans, but from Animals into Animals and from Humans into Humans. And it seems to me that he, on this account, has aimed well not only at Plato's opinion but also at truth itself, as it is possible to demonstrate from many other things, but especially from these. For none of the rational movements are apparent in irrational animals. For neither arts nor studies nor counsels nor virtues nor anything else of the intellectual faculties are in them; from which it is clear that they have no share of a rational soul. For it is absurd to call the irrational rational. For even if completely
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γὰρ ἀνατρέχειν τὰς μεμολυσμένας ψυχὰς ἐπὶ τὰ στοιχεῖα, καὶ συμμί γνυσθαι ἀλλήλαις, πάλιν αὐτὰς ἐν ταῖς μετενσωματώσεσί φασιν τιμωρεῖσθαι, κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἑνοῦντες αὐτὰς καὶ πάλιν χωρίζοντες καθ' ὑπόστασιν· καὶ γὰρ τὰς σκιὰς φωτὸς μὲν ὄντος χωρίζεσθαι, συννεφείας δὲ γενομένης ἑνοῦσθαι· ὅπερ ἀδύνατον ἐπὶ νοητῆς φύσεως γενέσθαι. καὶ γὰρ αἱ σκιαὶ τῶν αἰσθητῶν εἰσιν, εἰ καὶ δοίη τις αὐτὰς χωρίζεσθαι καὶ πάλιν ἑνοῦσθαι. Πλάτων δὲ καὶ μίαν εἶναι καὶ πολλὰς τὰς ψυχὰς ἀποφαίνεται· μίαν μὲν γὰρ εἶναι τοῦ παντὸς τὴν ψυχήν, εἶναι δὲ καὶ ἄλλας τῶν κατὰ μέρος, ὡς ἰδίᾳ μὲν τὸ πᾶν ἐψυχῶσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς ψυχῆς, ἰδίᾳ δὲ πάλιν τὰ κατὰ μέρος ὑπὸ τῆς ἰδίας ἑκάστου ψυχῆς. λέγει δὲ τὴν μὲν τοῦ παντὸς διατετάσθαι ψυχὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ κέντρου τῆς γῆς ἐπὶ τὰ πέρατα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, οὐ τοπικῶς αὐτὴν διατετάσθαι φάσκων ἀλλὰ νοητῶς· ταύτην δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν εἶναι τὴν περιάγουσαν σφαιροειδῶς τὸ πᾶν καὶ συνέχουσαν καὶ συσφίγγουσαν τὸ σωματοειδὲς τοῦ κόσμου· δεῖσθαι γὰρ τὰ σώματα τοῦ συνέχοντος ἐν τοῖς προλαβοῦσιν ἐδείχθη· ποιεῖν δὲ τοῦτο τὴν εἰδοποιὸν ψυχήν· ζῆν γὰρ ἕκαστον τῶν ὄντων τὴν ἰδίαν ζωὴν καὶ φθείρεσθαι τὴν ἰδίαν φθοράν· ἕως μὲν γὰρ συνέχεται καὶ συσφίγγεται τὸ σῶμα, εἶναι λέγεται· διαλυόμενον δέ, φθείρεσθαι· καὶ ζῆν μὲν πάντα, μὴ πάντα δὲ εἶναι ζῷα. διακρίνουσι γὰρ ἀπὸ μὲν τῶν ἀψύχων τὰ φυτὰ τῷ αὔξεσθαι καὶ τρέφεσθαι, τουτέστι τῇ θρεπτικῇ καὶ φυτικῇ δυνάμει· τὰ δὲ ἄλογα ζῷα ἀπὸ τῶν φυτῶν τῇ αἰσθήσει· τὰ δὲ λογικὰ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀλόγων τῷ λογικῷ· καὶ οὕτω πάντα ζῆν λέγοντες διαστέλλουσι τὴν ἑκάστου φύσιν. ζῆν οὖν λέγουσι καὶ τὰ πάντῃ ἄψυχα ἑκτικὴν ζωὴν καθ' ὃ συνέχεται ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς ψυχῆς εἰς τὸ εἶναι μόνον καὶ μὴ διαλύεσθαι. ταύτην δὲ εἶναι τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν διακυβερνῶσαν τὸ πᾶν καὶ τὴν τὰς μερικὰς ψυχὰς τὰς πρότερον παρὰ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ γενομένας ἐπιπέμπουσαν, δηλαδὴ αὐτοῦ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ καὶ νόμους αὐτῇ δεδωκότος καθ' οὓς διεξάγειν ὀφείλει τοῦτο τὸ πᾶν, οὓς καὶ εἱμαρμένην καλεῖ, καὶ χορηγοῦντος δύναμιν ἀρκοῦσαν διέπειν ἡμᾶς· εἴρηται δὲ ταῦτα καὶ ἐν τοῖς περὶ εἱμαρμένης. κοινῇ μὲν οὖν πάντες Ἕλληνες οἱ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀθάνατον ἀποφηνάμενοι τὴν μετενσωμάτωσιν δογματίζουσιν· διαφέρονται δὲ περὶ τὰ εἴδη τῶν ψυχῶν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἓν εἶδος τὸ λογικὸν λέγουσιν, τοῦτο δὲ καὶ εἰς φυτὰ καὶ εἰς τὰ τῶν ἀλόγων σώματα μεταβαίνειν, οἱ μὲν κατά τινας ῥητὰς χρόνων περιόδους, οἱ δὲ ὡς ἔτυχεν. ἄλλοι δὲ οὐχ ἓν εἶδος ψυχῶν ἀλλὰ δύο, λογικόν τε καὶ ἄλογον. τινὲς δὲ πολλά, τοσαῦτα ὅσα τῶν ζῴων τὰ εἴδη. μάλιστα δὲ οἱ ἀπὸ Πλάτωνος περὶ τὸ δόγμα τοῦτο διηνέχθησαν. εἰπόντος γὰρ Πλάτωνος τὰς μὲν θυμικὰς καὶ ὀργίλους καὶ ἁρπακτικὰς ψυχὰς λύκων καὶ λεόντων σώματα μεταμφιέννυσθαι, τὰς δὲ περὶ τὴν ἀκολασίαν ἠσχολημένας ὄνων καὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἀναλαμβάνειν σώματα· οἱ μὲν κυρίως ἤκουσαν τοὺς λύκους καὶ τοὺς λέοντας καὶ τοὺς ὄνους· οἱ δὲ τροπικῶς αὐτὸν εἰρηκέναι διέγνωσαν, τὰ ἤθη διὰ τῶν ζῴων παρεμ φαίνοντα. Κρόνιος μὲν γὰρ ἐν τῷ περὶ παλιγγενεσίας (οὕτω δὲ καλεῖ τὴν μετενσωμάτωσιν) λογικὰς πάσας εἶναι βούλεται, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Θεόδωρος ὁ Πλατωνικὸς ἐν τῷ ὅτι ἡ ψυχὴ πάντα τὰ εἴδη ἐστί, καὶ Πορφύριος ὁμοίως· Ἰάμβλιχος δὲ τὴν ἐναντίαν τούτοις δραμὼν κατ' εἶδος ζῴων ψυχῆς εἶδος εἶναι λέγει, ἤγουν εἴδη διάφορα. γέγραπται γοῦν αὐτῷ μονόβιβλον ἐπίγραφον ὅτι οὐκ ἀπ' ἀνθρώπων εἰς ζῷα ἄλογα οὐδὲ ἀπὸ ζῴων ἀλόγων εἰς ἀνθρώπους αἱ μετενσωματώσεις γίνονται ἀλλ' ἀπὸ ζῴων εἰς ζῷα καὶ ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπων εἰς ἀνθρώπους. καί μοι δοκεῖ μᾶλλον οὗτος ἕνεκα τούτου καλῶς κατεστοχάσθαι μὴ μόνον τῆς Πλάτωνος γνώμης ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας αὐτῆς, ὡς ἔστιν ἐκ πολλῶν μὲν καὶ ἄλλων ἐπιδεῖξαι, μάλιστα δὲ ἐκ τούτων. οὐδεμίαν γὰρ τῶν λογικῶν κινήσεων ἐμφαίνεσθαι τοῖς ἀλόγοις ζῴοις. οὔτε γὰρ τέχναι οὔτε μαθήματα οὔτε βουλαὶ οὔτε ἀρεταὶ οὔτε ἄλλο τι τῶν διανοητικῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐστιν· ἐξ ὧν δῆλον ὡς οὐ μέτεστι λογικῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῖς. καὶ γὰρ ἄτοπον λέγειν τὰ ἄλογα λογικά. εἰ γὰρ καὶ κομιδῆ