§6δοκῶ δʼ ἐγὼ καὶ τὸ ζῆν αὐτὸ καὶ ὅλως τὸ φῦναι καὶ μετασχεῖν ἀνθρώπῳ γενέσεως εἰς γνῶσιν ὑπὸ θεοῦ δοθῆναι· ἔστι δʼ ἄδηλος καὶ ἄγνωστος ἐν τῷ παντὶ πόλῳ καὶ κατὰ μικρὰ καὶ σποράδην φερόμενος· ὅταν δὲ γένηται, συνερχόμενος αὑτῷ καὶ λαμβάνων μέγεθος ἐκλάμπει καὶ καθίσταται δῆλος ἐξ ἀδήλου καὶ φανερὸς ἐξ ἀφανοῦς.
I think that life itself, and in general to be born and to share in generation for man, is given by God for the purpose of knowledge. [The soul] is unseen and unknown in the whole celestial sphere, carried about in small portions and dispersedly; but when it is born, gathering together with itself and receiving magnitude, it shines forth and becomes distinct from indistinct, and visible from invisible.
οὐ γὰρ εἰς οὐσίαν ὁδὸς ἡ γνῶσις ὡς ἔνιοι λέγουσιν, ἀλλʼ οὐσίας εἰς γνῶσιν· οὐ γὰρ ποιεῖ τῶν γιγνομένων ἕκαστον ἀλλὰ δείκνυσιν·
For knowledge is not a path to essence, as some say, but of essence to knowledge; for it does not make each of the things that come to be, but shows them.
ὥσπερ οὐδʼ ἡ φθορὰ τοῦ ὄντος ἄρσις εἰς τὸ μὴ ὄν ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον εἰς τὸ ἄδηλον ἀπαγωγὴ τοῦ διαλυθέντος.
Just as the destruction of what exists is not a removal into non-existence, but rather a leading away of what is dissolved into the unseen.
ὅθεν δὴ τὸν μὲν ἣλιον Ἀπόλλωνα κατὰ τοὺς πατρίους καὶ παλαιοὺς θεσμοὺς νομίζοντες Δήλιον καὶ Πύθιον προσαγορεύουσι· τὸν δὲ τῆς ἐναντίας κύριον μοίρας, εἴτε θεὸς εἴτε δαίμων ἐστίν, Ἅιδην ὀνομάζουσιν, ὡς ἂν εἰς ἀειδὲς καὶ ἀόρατον ἡμῶν, ὅταν διαλυθῶμεν, βαδιζόντων
"νυκτὸς ἀιδνᾶς ἀεργηλοῖὸ θʼ ὕπνου κοίρανον. "
οἶμαι δὲ καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον αὐτὸν οὑτωσὶ φῶτα καλεῖν τοὺς παλαιούς, ὅτι τοῦ γιγνώσκεσθαι καὶ γιγνώσκειν ἑκάστῳ διὰ συγγένειαν ἔρως ἰσχυρὸς ἐμπέφυκεν.
Whence indeed, regarding the sun as Apollo according to ancestral and ancient customs, they address him as Delius and Pythius; but the lord of the opposite portion, whether he is a god or a daemon, they name Hades, as if we, when we are dissolved, are walking into the unseen and invisible, "ruler of dark night and of idle sleep." And I think that the ancients also called man himself "phos" in this way, because a strong desire for being known and for knowing is implanted by nature in each, due to kinship.
αὐτήν τε τὴν ψυχὴν ἔνιοι τῶν φιλοσόφων φῶς εἶναι τῇ οὐσίᾳ νομίζουσιν, ἄλλοις τε, χρώμενοι τεκμηρίοις καὶ ὅτι τῶν ὄντων μάλιστα τὴν μὲν ἄγνοιαν ἡ ψυχὴ δυσανασχετεῖ καὶ πᾶν τὸ ἀφεγγὲς ἐξαιρεῖ καὶ ταράττεται πρὸς τὰ σκοτεινά, φόβου καὶ ὑποψίας ὄντα πλήρη πρὸς αὐτήν ἡδὺ δʼ αὐτῇ καὶ ποθεινὸν οὕτω τὸ φῶς ἐστιν, ὥστε μηδʼ ἄλλῳ τινὶ τῶν φύσει τερπνῶν ἄνευ φωτὸς ὑπὸ σκότους χαίρειν, ἀλλὰ τοῦτο πᾶσαν ἡδονὴν καὶ πᾶσαν διατριβὴν καὶ ἀπόλαυσιν, ὥσπερ τι κοινὸν ἥδυσμα καταμιγνύμενον, ἱλαρὰν ποιεῖ καὶ φιλάνθρωπον.
Indeed, some of the philosophers believe that the soul itself is light in its essence, employing other proofs and especially that the soul is most displeased with ignorance of all things, and rejects everything dark, and is troubled by things of darkness, which are full of fear and suspicion to it; but light is so pleasant and desirable to it, that it does not rejoice in any other of the things naturally delightful without light in the darkness, but this, being mixed as if a common seasoning into every pleasure, every pastime, and every enjoyment, makes them cheerful and friendly.
ὁ δʼ εἰς τὴν ἄγνοιαν αὑτὸν ἐμβαλὼν καὶ σκότος περιαμπισχόμενος καὶ κενοταφῶν τὸν βίον ἔοικεν αὐτὴν βαρύνεσθαι τὴν γένεσιν καὶ ἀπαυδᾶν πρὸς τὸ εἶναι.
But he who casts himself into ignorance and wraps himself in darkness, making his life a cenotaph, seems to be burdened by generation itself and to give up on existence.
§7καίτοι τῆς γε δόξης καὶ τοῦ εἶναι φύσιν εὐσεβῶν χῶρον
"
τοῖσι λάμπει μὲν μένος ἀελίου τὰν ἐνθάδε νύκτα κάτω,
φοινικορόδοις ἐνὶ λειμώνεσσι,
καὶ τοῖσιν ἀκάρπων μὲν ἀνθηρῶν
καὶ σκυθίων δένδρων ἄνθεσι τεθηλὸς
ἀναπέπταται πεδίον
"
καὶ ποταμοί τινες ἄκλυστοι καὶ λεῖοι διαρρέουσι, καὶ διατριβὰς ἔχουσιν ἐν μνήμαις καὶ λόγοις τῶν γεγονότων καὶ ὄντων παραπέμποντες αὑτοὺς καὶ συνόντες.
Yet, in the place of the pious, which indeed has the nature of reputation and of true being, "for them shines the might of the sun below during the night here, in meadows of red roses, and for them a plain flourishes and opens wide with blossoms of fruitless but flowering trees, and shady trees, "and some unruffled and smooth rivers flow through, and they have pastimes in memories and discourses of things past and present, passing their time and associating with one another.
ἡ δὲ τρίτη τῶν ἀνοσίως βεβιωκότων καὶ παρανόμως ὁδός ἐστιν, εἰς ἔρεβός τι καὶ βάραθρον ὠθοῦσα τὰς ψυχὰς
"
ἔνθεν τὸν ἄπειρον ἐρεύγονται σκότον
βληχροὶ δνοφερᾶς νυκτὸς ποταμοί
"
δεχόμενοι καὶ ἀποκρύπτοντες ἀγνοίᾳ καὶ λήθῃ τοὺς κολαζομένους.
But the third path of those who have lived impiously and unlawfully is one that thrusts the souls into a certain darkness and pit, "whence they vomit forth infinite darkness, feeble rivers of gloomy night, "receiving and hiding in ignorance and oblivion those who are being punished.
οὐ γὰρ οὔτε γῦπες κειμένων ἐν γῇ τῶν πονηρῶν κείρουσιν ἀεὶ τὸ ἧπαρ· κατακέκαυται γὰρ ἢ κατασέσηπεν οὔτε βαρῶν τινων ἀχθοφορίαι θλίβουσι καὶ καταπονοῦσι τὰ σώματα τῶν κολαζομένων
"οὐ γὰρ ἔτι σάρκας τε καὶ ὀστέα ἶνες ἔχουσιν. "
οὐδʼ ἔστιν ὑπόλειμμα σώματος τοῖς τεθνηκόσι τιμωρίας ἀπέρεισιν ἀντιτύπου δέξασθαι δυνάμενον· ἀλλʼ ἓν κολαστήριον ὡς ἀληθῶς τῶν κακῶς βιωσάντων, ἀδοξία καὶ ἄγνοια καὶ παντελῶς ἀφανισμός, ὃς αἴρων εἰς τὸν ἀμειδῆ ποταμὸν ἀπὸ τῆς Λήθης καταποντίζει εἰς ἄβυσσον καὶ ἀχανὲς πέλαγος, ἀχρηστίαν καὶ ἀπραξίαν καὶ πᾶσάν ἄγνοιαν καὶ ἀδοξίαν συνεφελκόμενον.
For vultures do not always tear the liver of the wicked when they lie in the earth; for it has been burned up or rotted; nor do the carrying of certain heavy burdens oppress and exhaust the bodies of those being punished, "for the fibers no longer hold flesh and bones." Nor is there any remnant of a body for the dead capable of receiving resistant punishment; but there is truly one place of punishment for those who have lived badly: obscurity, ignorance, and complete disappearance, which, raising them into the joyless river, plunges them from Lethe into an abyss and yawning sea, dragging along usefulness, inactivity, complete ignorance, and obscurity.