9. I shall explain to you
also how it is that the soul is transfused into five bodies.
1503
First of
all, in this process some small portion of it is purified; and then it
is transfused into the body of a dog, or a camel, or some other
animal. But if the soul has been guilty of homicide, it is
translated into the body of the celephi;
1504
and if it has been found to have engaged in
cutting;
1505
it is made to pass
into the
body of the
dumb. Now these are the designations
of the soul,—namely, intelligence, reflection, prudence,
consideration, reasoning.
1506
Moreover, the reapers who reap are
likened to the princes who have been in darkness from the
beginning,
1507
since they
consumed somewhat of the panoply of the first man. On this
account there is a necessity for these to be translated into hay, or
beans, or barley, or corn, or vegetables, in order that in these forms
they, in like manner, may be reaped and cut. And again, if any
one eats bread, he must needs also become bread and be eaten. If
one kills a chicken,
1508
he will be a chicken himself. If one kills a mouse, he will also
become a mouse himself. If, again, one is wealthy in this world,
it is necessary that, on quitting the tabernacle of his body, he should
be made to pass into the body of a beggar, so as to go about asking
alms, and thereafter he shall depart into everlasting punishment.
Moreover, as this body pertains to the princes and to matter, it is
necessary that he who plants a persea
1509
should pass though many bodies until that
persea is prostrated. And if one builds a house for himself, he
will be divided and scattered among all the bodies.
1510
If one bathes in water, he
freezes
1511
his soul; and if
one refuses to give pious regard
1512
to his elect, he will be punished through
the generations,
1513
and will be
translated into the bodies of catechumens, until he render many
tributes of piety; and for this reason they offer to the elect whatever
is best in their meats. And when they are about to eat
bread, they offer up prayer
first of all, addressing themselves in these terms to the bread:
“I have neither reaped thee, nor ground thee, nor pressed thee,
nor cast thee into the baking-vessel; but another has done these
things, and brought thee to me, and I have eaten thee without
fault.” And when he has uttered these things to himself, he
says to the catechumen,
1514
“I have prayed for thee;” and in this manner that person
then takes his departure. For, as I remarked to you a little
before, if any one reaps, he will be reaped; and so, too, if one casts
grain into the mill, he will be cast in himself in like manner, or if
he kneads he will be kneaded, or if he bakes he will be baked; and for
this reason they are interdicted from doing any such work.
Moreover, there are certain other worlds on which the luminaries rise
when they have set on our world.
1515
And if a person walks upon the ground
here, he injures the earth; and if he moves his hand, he injures the
air; for the air is the soul (
life
) of men and living creatures,
both fowl, and fish, and creeping thing. And as to every
one
1516
existing in this
world, I have told you that this body of his does not pertain to God,
but to matter, and is itself darkness, and consequently it must needs
be cast in darkness.
1503
πῶς
μεταγγίζεται
ἡ ψυχὴ εἰς
πέντε
σώματα
. But the Codex
Bobiensis reads
transferuntur
; and the Latin version gives
“quomodo et animæ in alia quoque corpora
transfunduntur” = how the souls are also transfused into other
bodies.
1504
The text
gives
κελεφῶν
, which is
spoken of in Migne as an unknown animal, though
κέλεφος
(thus
accentuated) occurs in ecclesiastical writers in the sense of a
leper
. It is proposed to read
ἐλεφαντιῶν
,
“of elephants;” and so the Codex Bobiensis gives
“elephantorum corpora,” and Codex Casinensis has “in
elefantia eorum corpora,” which is probably an error for
“in elephantiacorum corpora.” Routh suggests
ἐλεφαντείων
. [
Reliqu. Sac.
, vol. v. p. 58.]
1505
θερίασα
, reaping.
1506
νοῦς,
ἔννοια,
φρόνησις,
ἐνθύμησις,
λογισμός
. The
Latin version renders,
mens, sensus, prudentia, intellectus,
cogitatio.
Petavius gives,
mens, notio, intelligentia,
cogitatio, ratiocinatio.
1507
τοῖς
ἀπαρχῆς
οὖσιν εἰς
σκότος
. But the Latin
version gives “qui ex materia orti,” etc.—who, having
sprung from matter, are in darkness.
1508
ὁρνίθιον
.
1509
Explained as a species of Egyptian tree, in which the fruit grows from
the stem. The Codex Casinensis has the strange reading,
per se
ad illam
, for
perseam
, etc. See also Epiphanius, num.
9.
1510
εἰς τὰ
ὅλα σώματα
.
1511
πήσσει
. But the Latin
version gives
vulnerat
, “wounds,” from the reading
πλήσσει
. [Note
2, p. 176,
supra
.]
1512
εὐσέβειαν
.
But the Latin version gives
alimenta.
1513
εἰς τὰς
γενεάς
. But the Latin
version has “pœnis subdetur gehennæ” = will
suffer the pains of hell. [Compare p. 185,
infra
,
“Gehen.”]
1514
But the
Latin version gives, “respondet ad eum qui ei detulit” = he
makes answer to the person who brought it to him.
1515
The text
is,
καὶ
πάλιν εἰσιν
ἕτεροι
κόσμοι τινὲς,
τῶν φωστήρων
δυνάντων ἀπὸ
τούτου τοῦ
κόσμου, ἐξ ὧν
ἀνατέλλουσι
.
Routh suggests
οἴς
τινὲς
, deleting
ἐξ
ὧν
.
1516
Reading
εἴ τις
, as
in the text. Routh suggests
εἴ τι
, = As to everything existing in
this world, I have told you that the body thereof does, etc.