Well, replied the Teacher, our doctrine will be in no ways injured by such a supposition. For if it is true, what you say65    εἰ γὰρ ἀληθὴς ὁ λόγος ὁ κατὰ σέ, καὶ τὸ συνεχῆ τε πρὸς, κ. τ. λ., Krabinger’s reading, following the majority of Codd.; ὁ κατὰ σέ being thus opposed to the next words, which others say. But Schmidt points out that the conclusion introduced below by ἀνάγκη πᾶσα does not follow at all from the first, but only from the second of these suppositions, and he would await the evidence of fresh Codd. Sifanus and Augentius would read εἰ καὶ…κατὰ σέ. Τῷ γὰρ, κ. τ. λ., which would certainly express the sense required., and also that the vault of heaven prolongs itself so uninterruptedly that it encircles all things with itself, and that the earth and its surroundings are poised in the middle, and that the motion of all the revolving bodies66    πάντων τῶν κυκλοφορουμένων, i.e. the heavenly bodies moving as one (according to the ancient astronomy) round the central earth. is round this fixed and solid centre, then, I say, there is an absolute necessity that, whatever may happen to each one of the atoms on the upper side of the earth, the same will happen on the opposite side, seeing that one single substance encompasses its entire bulk. As, when the sun shines above the earth, the shadow is spread over its lower part, because its spherical shape makes it impossible for it to be clasped all round at one and the same time by the rays, and necessarily, on whatever side the sun’s rays may fall on some particular point of the globe, if we follow a straight diameter, we shall find shadow upon the opposite point, and so, continuously, at the opposite end of the direct line of the rays shadow moves round that globe, keeping pace with the sun, so that equally in their turn both the upper half and the under half of the earth are in light and darkness; so, by this analogy, we have reason to be certain that, whatever in our hemisphere is observed to befall the atoms, the same will befall them in that other. The environment of the atoms being one and the same on every side of the earth, I deem it right neither to contradict nor yet to favour those who raise the objection that we must regard either this or the lower region as assigned to the souls released. As long as this objection does not shake our central doctrine of the existence of those souls after the life in the flesh, there need be no controversy about the whereabouts to our mind, holding as we do that place is a property of body only, and that soul, being immaterial, is by no necessity of its nature detained in any place.

Μ. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν μᾶλλον, φησὶν ἡ διδάσκαλος, τὸ δόγμα διὰ τῆς ὑπονοίας ταύτης παραβλαβήσεται, κἂν ἀληθὴς ὁ λόγος ὁ κατὰ σέ. Εἰ γὰρ συνεχῆ τε πρὸς ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἀδιάσπαστον εἶναι τὸν οὐράνιον πόλον τῷ ἰδίῳ κύκλῳ πάντα ἐμπεριέχοντα, καὶ ἐν τῷ μέσῳ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὰ περὶ αὐτὴν αἰωρεῖσθαι, καὶ πάντως κυκλοφορουμένων τὴν κίνησιν περὶ τὸ ἑστὼς καὶ πάγιον γίνεσθαι, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα, φησὶν, ὅτιπερ ἂν ἑκάστῳ ἐκ τῶν στοιχείων ᾖ κατὰ τὸ ἄνω τῆς γῆς μέρος, τοῦτο κατὰ τὸ ἀντικείμενον εἶναι, μιᾶς τῆς οὐσίας ὅλον αὐτῆς τὸν ὄγκον ἐν κύκλῳ περιθεούσης. Καὶ ὥσπερ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἡλίου φανέντος ἐπὶ τὸ ὑποκείμενον αὐτῆς στρέφεται ἡ σκιὰ τοῦ σφαιροειδοῦς σχήματος, οὐ δυναμένου κατ' αὐτὸν ἐν κύκλῳ διαληφθῆναι τῇ τῆς ἀκτῖνος περιβολῇ, ἀλλὰ κατὰ πᾶσαν ἀνάγκην, καθ' ὅπερ ἂν τῆς γῆς μέρος προσβάλλῃ ταῖς ἀκτῖσιν ὁ ἥλιος, κατά τινος κέντρου πάντως ἐπὶ τῆς σφαίρας γινόμενος, πρὸς τὴν εὐθεῖαν διάμετρον κατὰ τὸ ἕτερον πέρας σκότος ἔσται: καὶ οὕτω κατὰ τὸ διηνεκὲς, τῷ ἡλιακῷ δρόμῳ ἐπὶ τὸ ἀντικείμενον τῇ τῆς ἀκτῖνος εὐθείᾳ συμπεριοδεύει τὸ σκότος, ὥστε κατὰ τὸ ἶσον, τόν τε ὑπέργειον, καὶ τὸν ὑπόγειον τόπον ἀνὰ μέρος γίνεσθαι ἐν φωτί τε καὶ σκότει: οὕτως εἰκὸς καὶ τἄλλα πάντα ὅτιπερ ἂν στοιχειωδῶς ἐν τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἡμισφαιρίῳ τῆς γῆς θεωρεῖται, τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ περὶ τὸ ἕτερον εἶναι μὴ ἀμφιβάλλειν. Μιᾶς δὲ καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς οὔσης κατὰ πᾶν τῆς γῆς μέρος τῆς τῶν στοιχείων περιβολῆς, οὔτε ἀντιλέγειν, οὔτε συναγορεύειν οἶμαι δεῖν τοῖς περὶ τούτων ἐνισταμένοις, ὡς δέον ἢ τοῦτον, ἢ τὸν καταχθόνιον τόπον ἀποτετάχθαι οἴεσθαι ταῖς τῶν σωμάτων ἐκλυθείσαις ψυχαῖς. Ἕως γὰρ ἂν μὴ παρακινοίη τὸ προηγούμενον δόγμα ἡ ἔνστασις περὶ τοῦ εἶναι μετὰ τὴν ἐν σαρκὶ ζωὴν τὰς ψυχὰς, οὐδὲν περὶ τόπου ὁ ἡμέτερος λόγος διενεχθήσεται, μόνον σωμάτων ἴδιον εἶναι τὴν ἐπὶ τόπου θέσιν καταλαμβάνων: ψυχὴν δὲ ἀσώματον οὖσαν, μηδεμίαν ἀνάγκην ἔχειν ἐκ φύσεως τόποις τισὶν ἐγκατέχεσθαι.