Cicero Speaks about the Nature of the Soul Free Essay Example

Animōrum nūlla in terrīs orīgō invenīrī potest.

No origin of souls is able to be found on the earth.

Nihil enim est in animīs mixtum atque concrētum,

For nothing is mixed and concrete in souls,

aut quod ex terrā natum atque fictum esse videātur,

or the kind of things which seem to be born and formed from the earth,

nihil nē aut ūmidum quidem aut flābile aut igneum.

nothing not even wet or airy or fiery.

Hīs enim in nātūrīs nihil inest

For nothing belongs in these elements

quod vim memoriae, mentis, cōgitātiōnis habeat,

because the power of memory, of the mind, and of thought is possessed

quod et praeterita teneat et futūra prōvideat

because it holds the past and seizes forth the future

et complectī possit praesentia,

and is able to embrace the present,

quae sōla dīvīna sunt.

which are alone divine.

Singulāris est igitur quaedam nātūra

This certain nature of our mind therefore is unique and

atqu evīs animī sēiūncta ab hīs ūsitātīs nōtīsque nātūrīs.

separated from this ordinary and known nature.

Ita, quicquid est illud quod sentit,

Thus, whatever it is which senses,

quod sapit, quod vīvit, quod viget,

which knows, which lives, which thrives,

caeleste et dīvīnum ob eamque rem aeternum sit necesse est.

is necessary to be heavenly and divine because of this eternal thing.

Nec vērō deus ipse,

Nor truly is god himself

quī intellegitur ā nōbīs,

to the extent that the divine being is grasped by us,

aliō modō intellegī potest nisi mēns solūta quaedam et lībera,

is able to be understood by us by any means if not the mind

sēgregāta ab omni concrētiōne mortalī,

having been separated from all mortal material,

omnia sentiēns et movēns ipsaque praedita mōtū sempiternō.

perceiving all things and moving those things themselves endowed with motion

Hōc ē genere atque eādem ē nātūra est humāna mēns.

From this type and from the same nature is the human mind.