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And it also related that the corpse of Alkmena when it was being carried
out for burial, disappeared, and a stone was found lying on the bier in
its place. And many such stories are told, in which, contrary to reason,
the earthly parts of our bodies are described as being deified together
with the spiritual parts. It is wicked and base to deny that virtue is a
spiritual quality, but again it is foolish to mix earthly with heavenly
things.
We must admit, speaking with due caution, that, as Pindar has it, the
bodies of all men follow overpowering Death, but there remains a living
spirit, the image of eternity, for it alone comes from heaven. Thence it
comes, and thither it returns again, not accompanied by the body, but
only when it is most thoroughly separated and cleansed from it, and
become pure and incorporeal. This is the pure spirit which Herakleitus
calls the best, which darts through the body like lightning through a
cloud, whereas that which is clogged by the body is like a dull, cloudy
exhalation, hard to loose and free from the bonds of the body. There is
no reason, therefore, for supposing that the bodies of good men rise up
into heaven, which is contrary to nature; but we must believe that men's
virtues and their spirits most certainly, naturally and rightly proceed
from mankind to the heroes, and from them to the genii, and from thence,
if they be raised above and purified from all mortal and earthly taint,
even as is done in the holy mysteries, then, not by any empty vote of
the senate, but in very truth and likelihood they are received among the
gods, and meet with the most blessed and glorious end.
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