Book VI. Commentary I. Chapter on the immortality of the soul.

...furthermore, because it is moved by itself, as it is the very principle of motion, it is always in motion and is immortal. But the soul is moved by itself—plainly because it possesses an innate life for acting according to its own nature—therefore, the human soul is immortal. In the book On Virtue, he Plato mentions the most ancient poets: Pindar relates, he says, as do the rest of the poets who are divine, that the soul is immortal, and that it departs (which indeed men call dying) and then returns again, but never truly perishes. And in the Philebus, or On the Supreme Good, he says that the mind is a certain offspring of the cause of all things, and therefore immortal. "The ancients," he says, "who were more excellent than us and closer to the gods, handed down these oracles to us." Wisdom and mind never exist without a soul, and in the very nature of Jove Jupiter, used here to refer to the Supreme Deity himself there is a royal soul and a royal mind; indeed, the mind is the offspring—that is, created immediately by God—of that cause which is called the cause of all things. Wherefore it can be argued thus: That which is the offspring of and kindred to God is immortal. But the mind of man is of this kind; therefore, the mind of man is immortal.

In the Phaedo, he professedly builds up the immortality of the soul, although he says that souls are eternal and frequently return to bodies; in this point, indeed, he differs from our Theology Refers to the Christian doctrine that each soul is a new creation rather than pre-existing or reincarnating, which asserts that souls are created daily by God and infused into organic bodies. "The soul," he says, "is more similar to the invisible species than the body is; the body, however, is more like the visible." For when the soul considers something through the senses, it is then drawn by the body toward things that never remain the same, and it wanders and is disturbed, reeling as if drunk, because it has touched such things. But truly, whenever the mind itself thinks by itself, it directs itself toward that which is pure, everlasting, immortal, and always the same; and as its kindred, it always clings to that whenever it returns to itself—provided it is permitted—and it ceases from error. These are the words of Plato.

And the meaning is this: if the mind perished together with the body, it would grow old together with the body and advance toward the body's same end. But as the body ages, the mind is rendered more lively and more prudent; and toward the presence of the body's concerns, it wanders like a drunkard. Therefore, the mind of man is immortal. Indeed, everything is preserved in connection with that which is kindred and related to it. But the human mind, when it brings itself to the pure and eternal, flourishes, gains wisdom, and understands; therefore, its origin and home are there. Wherefore Plato says most learnedly and wisely that the soul is bound The body is the prison of the soul. and entangled in the body, and through it, as if through a certain prison, it considers things. And since it does not do this through itself i.e., through its own pure nature without the mediation of the senses, it is wrapped in total ignorance.

Furthermore, that which cannot receive death is immortal; for death is the opposite of life. But the soul cannot receive death—evidently because it has its own life and remains in itself—so much so that neither through itself nor through another subject can it undergo the loss of death. Therefore, the human soul is immortal. Moreover, virtue does not hinder the good, nor does vice benefit the wicked. If the soul were not immortal, this would not be true in the least: for the ungodly would profit, as they would be freed from the body and from their own depravity along with the soul. But now, since the soul appears to be immortal, no avoidance of evils remains; there is no safety except that the soul should become as good and as prudent as possible. For when the soul migrates to the shades original: "manes," the spirits of the dead in classical tradition, it carries nothing else with it except its learning and upbringing, which indeed, at the very beginning of its transmigration, can either benefit or hinder it greatly.

Socrates, when he was near death, said that he was a fellow-servant of the swans. For swans, when they sense they are soon to die, then sing much more sweetly than they were accustomed to before. The song of the swan. Men, however, since they themselves dread death, also falsely accuse the swans, claiming they emit a song out of grief, mourning their death. The swans are sacred to Apollo original: "Phœbo", as I believe, and are endowed with divination. They reveal the goods of the other life, and for that reason they sing more eagerly and rejoice on that day more than in time past. "Truly," says Socrates, "I also believe that I am a fellow-servant of the swans and sacred to the same God; and I do not have a worse prophecy from that same master than they do, nor do I depart from this life more sluggishly." Therefore, according to this doctrine of Socrates, our soul is endowed with such nature that it is not dissipated after it departs from the bo-