On the Soul against the Philosophers
De anima contra philosophos
The Fullness of God and the Myth of Lethe§1
1God fills all things, without being limited by anything. For he who is not limited by place will be entirely in every place, according to the hymn of David. If it were said that he is outside of any place, it is necessary that he be limited by that which he is fixed to; therefore, becoming whole in all things, he does not move from one place to another while filling all.
The divine is not subject to description by explicit laws and temporal accounts.
But since they clearly know themselves to have been caught here, moving about, they muddy the water of forgetfulness, which they say causes each to forget the births of their own lives. Since these things are mythical and far from philosophy, no one of sound mind seems to be ignorant. For what do we say, O Pythagoreans and Platonists: did you yourselves drink the water that causes forgetfulness after taking it, or on the contrary do you flee it?
Greek · §1
De anima contra philosophos (ap. Joannem Damascenum, Sacra parallela) (fragmenta) ΠΕΡΙ ΨΥΧΗΣ ΚΑΤΑ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΩΝ 1 Ὁ Θεὸς τὰ πάντα πληροῖ ὑπ' οὐδενὸς περιοριζόμενος· ὁ γὰρ ὑπὸ τόπου μὴ περιοριζόμενος πάντως ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ (∆αυῒδ) ὑμνολογίαν ἔσται· εἰ γὰρ ἔξω λέγοιτο τόπου τινός, ἀνάγκη περιορίζεσθαι αὐτὸν ὑπ' ἐκείνου οὗπερ στερίσκεται· ὅλος οὖν ἐν πᾶσι γινόμενος, οὐδαμῶς ἐξ ἑτέρων εἰς ἑτέρους μεθίσταται τόπους τὰ πάντα πληρῶν. 2 Οὐ νόμων καὶ χρόνων ῥηταῖς τὸ θεῖον ὑπόκειται περιγραφαῖς. 3 Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ σαφῶς ἴσασιν ἁλισκομένους ἐντεῦθεν ἑαυτοὺς, μεταβαλλόμενοι πλάττουσιν τὸ τῆς λήθης ὕδωρ, ὅ φασιν πίνοντας ἑκάστους τὰς τῶν οἰκείων βίων γεννήσεις ἀμνημονεῖν. Ὅτι δὲ ταῦτα μυθώδη καὶ πόρρω φιλοσοφίας ἐστὶν, οὐδεὶς τῶν εὖ φρονούντων ἔοικεν ἀγνοεῖν. Τί γάρ φαμεν, ὦ Πυθαγόραι καὶ Πλάτωνες· αὐτοὶ τὸ ληθοποιὸν ὕδωρ πεπώκατε λαβόντες; ἢ τοὐναντίον ἐφύγετε
The Error of Myth-making§2
2Have you erred? If indeed you are such that you have drunk the potion of error, many being mere travelers; but if, having broken the common air of all, you drink the water of forgetfulness in handfuls, how and from where do you mythologize, having taken knowledge regarding souls? From where do you know at all the nature of these streams? For either you have not attempted their use, and so you are ignorant of the rising of the waters; or having become partakers of their experience, you have made the memory of their use vanish and have exhaled the knowledge.
But having turned toward such barbarian superstition, you have stumbled, using Egyptian guides. That indeed the souls are not ungenerated, this shows more clearly the age of newborn infants.
For if, at the same time as the children were born, they had reached perfection of wisdom, it would have been possible for some to feign a certain lack of understanding; but if mind and reason and [...] are lacking.
Greek · §2
λαθόντες; Εἰ μὲν οὖν ὑμεῖς οἷοί· τε ἐγένεσθε τὸ τῆς πλάνης διαδρᾶναι πόμα, πρόδηλοι πολλοί τινες· εἰ δὲ τὸν κοινὸν πᾶσιν ἀέρα σπασάμενοι, τὸ τῆς λήθης ὕδωρ ἐπίετε χανδόν, πῶς καὶ πόθεν μυθοποιεῖτε λαβόντες περὶ ψυχῶν; πόθεν ὅλως ἴστε τὸ τῶν ῥείθρων τούτων γένος; εἴτε γὰρ μὴ ἐπειράθητε τῆς χρείας αὐτῶν, ἀγνοεῖτε τὴν τῶν ὑδάτων ἀνάδοσιν· εἴτε τῆς πείρας αὐτῶν ἔσω γεγονότες, λήθῃ τὴν μνήμην τῆς χρήσεως αὐτῶν ἠφανίσατε καὶ τὴν γνῶσιν ἐξεπτύσατε. Ἀλλ' εἰς ταῦτα βαρβαρώδη δεισιδαιμονίᾳ τραπέντες ἐσφάλησαν, Αἰγυπτίοις χρησάμενοι καθηγεμόσιν. 4 Ὅτι μὲν οὔκ εἰσιν ἀγέννητοι αἱ ψυχαὶ, τοῦτο δείκνυσιν σαφέστερον ἡ τῶν ἀρτιγόνων ἡλικία βρεφῶν. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἅμα τῷ τεχθῆναι τὰ παιδία, τελείας ἐξῆπτο φρονήσεως, ἐξῆν ἴσως ὑποκρίνεσθαί τινας ἄνοιαν· εἰ δὲ λείπεται νοῦ καὶ λόγου καὶ
The Non-Innate Nature of Souls§3
3Regarding understanding, it is therefore not the case that souls were established as ungenerated in their nature. We know all things, then, that the soul is bound to the magnitudes of the bodies, not only continuously in the size or brevity of the members, but also by the other irrationalities of opinion.
Insofar as these things happen to be newly-formed in infants, for they lack every kind of conception and will everywhere; but occasionally and little by little they receive both intellect and prudence and reason. And if these things are indeed proper to the soul, but they receive better additions from abundance, does it not follow that just as it increases with the body—as it is commonly understood that this consumes the powers—so also the soul, as it progresses, increases the intellect?
But those who never ascend to the better, but remain foolish, it is evident that...
Greek · §3
συνέσεως, οὐκ ἄρα καθέστηκαν ἀγέννητοι τὴν φύσιν αἱ ψυχαί. Σύμπαντες οὖν ἴσμεν, ὅτι τοῖς τῶν σωμάτων ὄγκοις ἡ ψυχὴ συνεκτέταται, διαρκῶς οὐ μεγέθει μόνον ἢ βραχύτητι μελῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις τῆς γνώμης ἀλογίαις· ἐς ὅσον μὲν νεόπλαστα τυγχάνει ταῦτα τὰ βρέφη, πάσης μὲν πανταχῶς ἐννοίας ἀπορεῖ καὶ βουλῆς· ἡρέμα δὲ καὶ κατ' ὀλίγον προϊόντα νοῦν τε καὶ φρόνησιν προσλαμβάνει καὶ λόγον. Εἰ δὲ ταῦτα ἴδια μέν ἐστιν ψυχῆς, ἐκ περιουσίας δὲ τὰς κρείττους ἐπιδέχονται προσθήκας, ἆρ' οὖν ὅτι συναυξάνει μὲν τῷ σώματι, καθάπερ δὲ τοῦτο λεληθότως ὑπαναλέγεται τὰς δυνάμεις, οὕτω καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ προκόπτουσα τὸν νοῦν· ὅσοι δὲ μηδέποτε βαίνουσιν ἐπὶ τὸ ἄμεινον, ἀλλὰ μωροὶ διαμένουσιν, δῆλον ὅτι
The Soul's Need for Form and the First Body§4
4Having been gripped by a certain form, souls are incomplete, just like those who have fallen ill with the disease of phrenitis. Moreover, the body of the first-molded one, once it had been shaped, lay there dead, breathless, and motionless, even though its limbs were perfectly regulated by proportion and it was appropriately adorned in form and beauty, so that it was indeed produced by that same maker as the first prototype image and the most powerful likeness imprinted from the most wonderful icon; yet it remained insensate, voiceless, and breathless.
But when God breathed creatively into its face, immediately it received motion; and from that breath, it begins to walk, to breathe, and to speak, to reason, to act, and to govern. Sleep is a common passion of both body and soul.
Greek · §4
λελωβημένου τινὸς μορίου ἀτελεῖς ἔχουσι τὰς ψυχὰς, ὥσπερ οἱ τὴν φρενίτιδα ἀρρωστήσαντες νόσον. Ἀμέλει καὶ τὸ τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου σῶμα σχηματισθὲν ἔκειτο νεκρὸν, ἄπνουν, ἀκίνητον μέλεσιν μὲν καὶ ἁρμονίᾳ ῥερυθμισμένον ἄκρως, μορφῇ τε καὶ κάλλει κεκοσμημένον ἐμπρεπῶς ἅτε δὴ καὶ παρ' αὐτοῦ πλάστου γεννηθὲν τοῦ Θεοῦ πρωτότυπον ἄγαλμα καὶ τῆς θεσπεσιωτάτης εἰκόνος ἐκτυπωθὲν ἀφομοίωμα κράτιστον, ἀναίσθητον δὲ καὶ ἄφωνον καὶ ἄπνουν· ὡς δὲ εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ δημιουργικῶς ἐνεφύσησεν ὁ Θεὸς, αὐτίκα τὴν κίνησιν εἴληφεν· ἐξ ἐκείνου δὲ βαδίζει καὶ ἀναπνεῖ καὶ φθέγγεται, ἄρχει λογίζεται πράττει διοικεῖ. 6 Κοινὸν σώματος καὶ ψυχῆς πάθος ὕπνος.