e who deduces the soul from the fortuitous
concourse of small, light, and round substances; for, if you believe men
of his school, there is nothing which a crowd of atoms cannot effect.
Which of these opinions is true, some god must determine. It is an
important question for us, which has the most appearance of truth. Shall
we, then, prefer determining between them, or shall we return to our
subject?

_A._ I could wish both, if possible; but it is difficult to mix them;
therefore, if without a discussion of them we can get rid of the fears of
death, let us proceed to do so; but if this is not to be done without
explaining the question about souls, let us have that now, and the other
at another time.

_M._ I take that plan to be the best, which I perceive you are inclined
to; for reason will demonstrate that, whichever of the opinions which I
have stated is true, it must follow, then, that death cannot be an evil;
or that it must rather be something desirable, for if either the heart, or
the blood, or the brain, is the soul, then certainly the soul, being
corporeal, must perish with the rest of the body; if it is air, it will
perhaps be dissolved; if it is fire, it will be extinguished; if it is
Aristoxenus's harmony, it will be put out of tune. What shall I say of
Dicaearchus, who denies that there is any soul? In all these opinions,
there is nothing to affect any one after death; for all feeling is lost
with life, and where there is no sensation, nothing can interfere to
affect us. The opinions of others do indeed bring us hope; if it is any
pleasure to you to think that souls, after they leave the body, may go to
heaven as to a permanent home.

_A._ I have great pleasure in that thought, and it is what I most desire;
and even if it should not be so, I should still be very willing to believe
it.

_M._ What occasion have you, then, for my assistance? am I superior to
Plato in eloquence? Turn over carefully his book that treats of the soul,
you will have there all that you can want.

_A._ I have, indeed, done that, and often; but, I know not how it comes to
pass, I agree with it whilst I am reading it, but when I have laid down
the book, and begin to reflect with myself on the immortality of the soul,
all that agreement vanishes.

_M._ How comes that? do you admit this, that souls either exist after
death, or else that they also perish at the moment of death?

_A._ I agree to that. And if they do exist, I admit t