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death, consisting in separation and dissolution. But according to neither of these stated views is it possible to find a just judgment preserved. For neither do the virtuous receive the rewards of virtue in the present life, nor indeed the wicked the rewards of vice. For I omit to say that, while the nature in which we now exist is preserved, mortal nature is not even capable of bearing the commensurate punishment for more numerous or more grievous transgressions. For the robber or ruler or tyrant who has unjustly killed countless thousands would not by a single death pay the penalty for these things, and he who holds no true opinion concerning God, but lives with all insolence and blasphemy, neglecting divine things, annulling laws, violating children and women alike, unjustly razing cities, burning houses with their inhabitants and ravaging a country, and with these things wiping out towns and peoples or even an entire nation, how in a corruptible body could he suffice for the penalty commensurate with these things, since death anticipates what is according to desert, and mortal nature is not sufficient even for one of the deeds committed? Therefore, neither in the present life is a judgment according to desert shown, nor after death. For either death is a complete extinction of life, with the soul being dissolved and destroyed along with the body, or the soul remains by itself indissoluble, unscattered, incorruptible, but the body is corrupted and dissolved, no longer preserving any memory of what was done nor any sensation of the sufferings upon it. For if the life of men is completely extinguished, no care will appear for men who are not living, nor any judgment of those who have lived according to virtue or vice, but the things of a lawless life will circle back again, and the swarm of absurdities that follow it, and the chief of this lawlessness, atheism. But if the body were to be destroyed and each of its dissolved parts go to what is akin to it, while the soul remained by itself as incorruptible, not even in this way would judgment against it have a place, if justice is not present. Since it is not even lawful to suppose that any judgment comes from God and by God in which justice is not present. But justice is not present in the judgment if the one who practiced righteousness or lawlessness is not preserved. For the one who committed each of the things in life for which there is judgment was a man, not a soul by itself. To put it altogether, this argument will in no way preserve what is just. For when right actions are honored, the body will clearly be wronged by having shared with the soul in the labors for what was striven for, but not sharing in the honor for what was accomplished, and by the soul often obtaining pardon for certain trans-

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θάνατον ἐν χωρισμῷ καὶ διαλύσει τυγχανόντων. ἀλλὰ κατ' οὐδέτερον τῶν εἰρημένων εὑρεῖν δυνατὸν σῳζομένην τὴν δικαίαν κρίσιν· οὔτε γὰρ οἱ σπουδαῖοι κατὰ τὴν παροῦσαν ζωὴν φέρονται τὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐπίχειρα οὔτε μὴν οἱ φαῦλοι τὰ τῆς κακίας. παρίημι γὰρ λέγειν ὅτι σῳζομένης τῆς φύσεως ἐν ᾗ νῦν ἐσμέν, οὐδ' ἡ θνητὴ φύσις ἐνεγκεῖν οἵα τε τὴν σύμμετρον δίκην πλειόνων ἢ βαρυτέρων φερομένην πλημμελημάτων. ὅ τε γὰρ μυρίους ἐπὶ μυρίοις ἀνελὼν ἀδίκως λῃστὴς ἢ δυνάστης ἢ τύραννος οὐκ ἂν ἑνὶ θανάτῳ λύσειεν τὴν ἐπὶ τούτοις δίκην ὅ τε μηδὲν περὶ θεοῦ δοξάζων ἀληθές, ὕβρει δὲ πάσῃ καὶ βλασφημίᾳ συζῶν καὶ παρορῶν μὲν τὰ θεῖα, καταλύων δὲ νόμους, ὑβρίσας δὲ παῖδας ὁμοῦ καὶ γυναῖκας, κατα- σκάψας δὲ πόλεις ἀδίκως, ἐμπρήσας δὲ οἴκους μετὰ τῶν ἐνοικούντων καὶ δῃώσας χώραν καὶ τούτοις συναφανίσας δήμους καὶ λαοὺς ἢ καὶ σύμπαν ἔθνος, πῶς ἂν ἐν φθαρτῷ τῷ σώματι πρὸς τὴν τούτοις σύμμετρον ἀρκέσειεν δίκην, προλαμβάνοντος τοῦ θανάτου τὸ κατ' ἀξίαν καὶ μηδὲ πρὸς ἕν τι τῶν εἰργασμένων τῆς θνητῆς ἐξαρκούσης φύσεως; οὔτ' οὖν κατὰ τὴν παροῦσαν ζωὴν ἡ κατ' ἀξίαν δείκνυται κρίσις οὔτε μετὰ θάνατον. Ἤτοι γὰρ παντελής ἐστι σβέσις τῆς ζωῆς ὁ θάνατος συν- διαλυομένης τῷ σώματι τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ συνδιαφθειρομένης, ἢ μένει μὲν ἡ ψυχὴ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἄλυτος ἀσκέδαστος ἀδιάφθορος, φθείρεται δὲ καὶ διαλύεται τὸ σῶμα, οὐδεμίαν ἔτι σῷζον οὔτε μνήμην τῶν εἰργασμένων οὔτ' αἴσθησιν τῶν ἐπ' αὐτῇ παθημάτων. σβεννυμένης μὲν γὰρ παντελῶς τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ζωῆς, οὐδεμία φανήσεται τῶν ἀνθρώπων οὐ ζώντων φροντίς, οὐ τῶν κατ' ἀρετὴν ἢ κακίαν βεβιωκότων [ἡ] κρίσις, ἐπεισκυκληθήσεται δὲ πάλιν τὰ τῆς ἀνόμου ζωῆς καὶ τῶν ταύτῃ συνεπομένων ἀτόπων τὸ σμῆνος τό τε τῆς ἀνομίας ταύτης κεφάλαιον, ἀθεότης. εἰ δὲ φθείροιτο μὲν τὸ σῶμα καὶ χωροίη πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς τῶν λελυμένων ἕκαστον, μένοι δὲ ἡ ψυχὴ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ὡς ἄφθαρτος, οὐδ' οὕτως ἕξει χώραν ἡ κατ' αὐτῆς κρίσις, μὴ προσούσης δικαιοσύνης· ἐπεὶ μηδὲ θεμιτὸν ὑπολαμβάνειν ἐκ θεοῦ καὶ παρὰ θεοῦ γίνεσθαί τινα κρίσιν, ᾗ μὴ πρόσεστι τὸ δίκαιον. οὐ πρόσεστι δὲ τῇ κρίσει τὸ δίκαιον μὴ σῳζομένου τοῦ διαπραξαμένου τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἢ τὴν ἀνομίαν· ὁ γὰρ διαπραξάμενος ἕκαστον τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον ἐφ' οἷς ἡ κρίσις, ἄνθρωπος ἦν, οὐ ψυχὴ καθ' ἑαυτήν. τὸ δὲ σύμπαν εἰπεῖν, ὁ λόγος οὗτος ἐπ' οὐδενὸς φυλάξει τὸ δίκαιον. Κατορθωμάτων τε γὰρ τιμωμένων, ἀδικηθήσεται τὸ σῶμα σαφῶς ἐκ τοῦ κοινωνῆσαι μὲν τῇ ψυχῇ τῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς σπουδαζομένοις πόνων, μὴ κοινωνῆσαι δὲ τῆς ἐπὶ τοῖς κατορθωθεῖσι τιμῆς, καὶ συγγνώμης μὲν τυγχάνειν πολλάκις τὴν ψυχὴν ἐπί τινων πλημ-