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English

Quid ? miserius quam omnino numquam fuisse ? ita , qui nondum nati sunt , miseri iam sunt , quia non sunt , et nos , si post mortem miseri futuri sumus , miseri fuimus ante quam nati . ego autem non commemini , ante quam sum natus , me miserum ; tu si meliore memoria es , velim scire , ecquid de te recordere .

Ita iocaris , quasi ego dicam eos miseros , qui nati non sint , et non eos miseros , qui mortui sunt .

Esse ergo eos dicis .

Immo , quia non sint , cum fuerint , eo miseros esse .

Latin

English

" in primis enim hoc traditur : omne pronuntiatum ( sic enim mihi in praesentia occurrit ut appellarem axioma , — utar post alio , si invenero melius ) id ergo est pronuntiatum , quod est verum aut falsum . cum igitur dicis : ' miser M . Crassus ' , aut hoc dicis : ' miser est Crassus ' , ut possit iudicari , verum id falsumne sit , aut nihil dicis omnino .

Age , iam concedo non esse miseros , qui mortui sint , quoniam extorsisti , ut faterer , qui omnino non essent , eos ne miseros quidem esse posse . "

sed haec quidem quae dixi , cor , cerebrum , animam , ignem volgo , reliqua fere singuli . ut multo ante veteres , proxime autem Aristoxenus , musicus idemque philosophus , ipsius corporis intentionem quandam , velut in cantu et fidibus quae harmonia dicitur : sic ex corporis totius natura et figura varios motus cieri tamquam in cantu sonos . Xenocrates animi figuram et quasi corpus negavit esse ullum , numerum dixit esse , cuius vis , ut iam ante Pythagorae visum erat , in natura maxuma esset . eius doctor Plato triplicem finxit animum , cuius principatum , id est rationem , in capite sicut in arce posuit , et duas partes parere voluit , iram et cupiditatem , quas locis disclusit : iram in pectore , cupiditatem subter praecordia locavit .

Now the views I have mentioned , that the soul is heart , brain , life or fire are those ordinarily held : the remaining views are as a rule peculiar to individual thinkers , just as philosophers of old held individual views long ago , but nearest in date to our time there was Aristoxenus , musician as well as philosopher , who held the soul to be a special tuning-up of the natural body analogous to that which is called harmony in vocal and instrumental music ; answering to the nature and conformation of the whole body , vibrations of different kinds are produced just as sounds are in vocal music : this thinker has not gone outside the limits of his own art , but all the same he has made a contribution of value , the proper meaning of which had long before been plainly stated by Plato . Xenocrates denied that the soul had form or any substance , but said that it was number , and the power of number , as had been held by Pythagoras long before , was the highest in nature . His teacher Plato imagined the soul to be of three-fold nature ; the sovereign part , that is reason , he placed in the head as the citadel , and the other two parts , anger and desire , he wished to be subservient , and these he fixed in their places , anger in the breast and desire below the diaphragm .

But what I have said as to the heart , the blood , the brain , air , or fire being the soul , are common opinions : the others are only entertained by individuals ; and indeed there were many amongst the ancients who held singular opinions on this subject , of whom the latest was Aristoxenus , a man who was both a musician and a philosopher ; he maintained a certain straining of the body , like what is called harmony in music , to be the soul ; and believed that , from the figure and nature of the whole body , various motions are excited , as sounds are from an instrument . [ 20 ] He adhered steadily to his system , and yet he said something , the nature of which , whatever it was , had been detailed and explained a great while before by Plato . Xenocrates denied that the soul had any figure , or anything like a body ; but said it was a number , the power of which , as Pythagoras had fancied , some ages before , was the greatest in nature : his master , Plato , imagined a three-fold soul ; a dominant portion of which , that is to say , reason , he had lodged in the head , as in a tower ; and the other two parts , namely , anger and desire , he made subservient to this one , and allotted them distinct abodes , placing anger in the breast , and desire under the praecordia .