1. Plato, Timaeus, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 57| 41b. δεθὲν πᾶν λυτόν, τό γε μὴν καλῶς ἁρμοσθὲν καὶ ἔχον εὖ λύειν ἐθέλειν κακοῦ· διʼ ἃ καὶ ἐπείπερ γεγένησθε, ἀθάνατοι μὲν οὐκ ἐστὲ οὐδʼ ἄλυτοι τὸ πάμπαν, οὔτι μὲν δὴ λυθήσεσθέ γε οὐδὲ τεύξεσθε θανάτου μοίρας, τῆς ἐμῆς βουλήσεως μείζονος ἔτι δεσμοῦ καὶ κυριωτέρου λαχόντες ἐκείνων οἷς ὅτʼ ἐγίγνεσθε συνεδεῖσθε. νῦν οὖν ὃ λέγω πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐνδεικνύμενος, μάθετε. θνητὰ ἔτι γένη λοιπὰ τρία ἀγέννητα· τούτων δὲ μὴ γενομένων οὐρανὸς ἀτελὴς ἔσται· τὰ γὰρ ἅπαντʼ ἐν | 41b. yet to will to dissolve that which is fairly joined together and in good case were the deed of a wicked one. Wherefore ye also, seeing that ye were generated, are not wholly immortal or indissoluble, yet in no wise shall ye be dissolved nor incur the doom of death, seeing that in my will ye possess a bond greater and more sovereign than the bonds wherewith, at your birth, ye were bound together. Now, therefore, what I manifest and declare unto you do ye learn. Three mortal kinds still remain ungenerated; but if these come not into being the Heaven will be imperfect; for it will not contain within itself the whole sum of the hinds of living creatures, yet contain them it must if |
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| 2. Plato, Symposium, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 45 |
3. Herodotus, Histories, 1.65, 4.94, 5.4 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •philosophy, and immortality Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 65 | 1.65. So Croesus learned that at that time such problems were oppressing the Athenians, but that the Lacedaemonians had escaped from the great evils and had mastered the Tegeans in war. In the kingship of Leon and Hegesicles at Sparta , the Lacedaemonians were successful in all their other wars but met disaster only against the Tegeans. ,Before this they had been the worst-governed of nearly all the Hellenes and had had no dealings with strangers, but they changed to good government in this way: Lycurgus, a man of reputation among the Spartans, went to the oracle at Delphi . As soon as he entered the hall, the priestess said in hexameter: , quote type="oracle" l met="dact" You have come to my rich temple, Lycurgus, /l l A man dear to Zeus and to all who have Olympian homes. /l l I am in doubt whether to pronounce you man or god, /l l But I think rather you are a god, Lycurgus. /l /quote ,Some say that the Pythia also declared to him the constitution that now exists at Sparta , but the Lacedaemonians themselves say that Lycurgus brought it from Crete when he was guardian of his nephew Leobetes, the Spartan king. ,Once he became guardian, he changed all the laws and took care that no one transgressed the new ones. Lycurgus afterwards established their affairs of war: the sworn divisions, the bands of thirty, the common meals; also the ephors and the council of elders. 4.94. Their belief in their immortality is as follows: they believe that they do not die, but that one who perishes goes to the deity Salmoxis, or Gebeleïzis, as some of them call him. ,Once every five years they choose one of their people by lot and send him as a messenger to Salmoxis, with instructions to report their needs; and this is how they send him: three lances are held by designated men; others seize the messenger to Salmoxis by his hands and feet, and swing and toss him up on to the spear-points. ,If he is killed by the toss, they believe that the god regards them with favor; but if he is not killed, they blame the messenger himself, considering him a bad man, and send another messenger in place of him. It is while the man still lives that they give him the message. ,Furthermore, when there is thunder and lightning these same Thracians shoot arrows skyward as a threat to the god, believing in no other god but their own. 5.4. As for the Getae, who claim to be immortal, I have already given an account of their practices. The Trausi, who in all else conform to the customs of other Thracians, do as I will show at the times of birth and death. ,When a child is born, the kinsmen sit around it and lament all the ills that it must endure from its birth onward, recounting all the sorrows of men. The dead, however, they bury with celebration and gladness, asserting that he is rid of so many ills and has achieved a state of complete blessedness. |
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4. Plato, Republic, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 46| 608d. χρόνου ἐσπουδακέναι, ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὑπὲρ τοῦ παντός; | 608d. and not rather for all time? I think so, he said; but what is this that you have in mind? Have you never perceived, said I, that our soul is immortal and never perishes? And he, looking me full in the face in amazement, said, No, by Zeus, not I; but are you able to declare this? I certainly ought to be, said I, and I think you too can, for it is nothing hard. It is for me, he said; and I would gladly hear from you this thing that is not hard. Listen, said I. Just speak on, he replied. You speak of good |
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5. Plato, Phaedrus, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 54| 248a. ΣΩ. | 248a. that which best follows after God and is most like him, raises the head of the charioteer up into the outer region and is carried round in the revolution, troubled by the horses and hardly beholding the realities; and another sometimes rises and sometimes sinks, and, because its horses are unruly, it sees some things and fails to see others. The other souls follow after, all yearning for the upper region but unable to reach it, and are carried round beneath, |
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6. Plato, Menexenus, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •philosophy, and immortality Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 44| 247d. προσδεήσονται· ἱκανὴ γὰρ ἔσται καὶ ἡ γενομένη τύχη τοῦτο πορίζειν—ἀλλʼ ἰωμένους καὶ πραΰνοντας ἀναμιμνῄσκειν αὐτοὺς ὅτι ὧν ηὔχοντο τὰ μέγιστα αὐτοῖς οἱ θεοὶ ἐπήκοοι γεγόνασιν. οὐ γὰρ ἀθανάτους σφίσι παῖδας ηὔχοντο γενέσθαι ἀλλʼ ἀγαθοὺς καὶ εὐκλεεῖς, ὧν ἔτυχον, μεγίστων ἀγαθῶν ὄντων· πάντα δὲ οὐ ῥᾴδιον θνητῷ ἀνδρὶ κατὰ νοῦν ἐν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ βίῳ ἐκβαίνειν. καὶ φέροντες μὲν ἀνδρείως τὰς συμφορὰς δόξουσι τῷ ὄντι ἀνδρείων παίδων πατέρες εἶναι | 247d. the present misfortune will provide grief in plenty. Rather should we mollify and assuage their sorrow by reminding them that in the greatest matters the gods have already hearkened unto their prayers. For they prayed not that their sons should become immortal, but valiant and renowned; and these, which are the greatest of boons, they obtained. But that all things should turn out thus according to his mind, in respect of his own life, is for a mortal man no easy matter. Moreover, by bearing their calamities thus bravely they will clearly show that they are in truth the fathers of brave son |
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7. Plato, Charmides, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •philosophy, and immortality Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 65 | 156d. Then I, on hearing his approval, regained my courage; and little by little I began to muster up my confidence again, and my spirit began to rekindle. So I said,—Such, then, Charmides, is the nature of this charm. I learnt it on campaign over there, from one of the Thracian physicians of Zalmoxis, who are said even to make one immortal. This Thracian said that the Greeks were right in advising as I told you just now: but Zalmoxis, he said, |
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| 8. Aristotle, Soul, None (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •philosophy, and immortality Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 66 |
| 9. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, None (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69 |
| 10. Aristotle, Metaphysics, None (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 69 |
11. Polybius, Histories, 6.54.2 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •philosophy, and immortality Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 65| 6.54.2. ἐξ ὧν καινοποιουμένης ἀεὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν τῆς ἐπʼ ἀρετῇ φήμης ἀθανατίζεται μὲν ἡ τῶν καλόν τι διαπραξαμένων εὔκλεια, γνώριμος δὲ τοῖς πολλοῖς καὶ παραδόσιμος τοῖς ἐπιγινομένοις ἡ τῶν εὐεργετησάντων τὴν πατρίδα γίνεται δόξα. τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, | 6.54.2. By this means, by this constant renewal of the good report of brave men, the celebrity of those who performed noble deeds is rendered immortal, while at the same time the fame of those who did good service to their country becomes known to the people and a heritage for future generations. |
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| 12. Cicero, Letters, 13.19.4 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •philosophy, and immortality Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 66 |
13. Philo of Alexandria, On The Eternity of The World, 35 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •philosophy, and immortality Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 65 | 35. Moreover this point is manifest to every one, that every nature is desirous to keep and preserve, and if it were possible to make immortal, everything of which it is the nature; the nature of trees, for instance, desires to preserve trees, and the nature of animals desires to preserve each individual animal. |
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14. Philo of Alexandria, That Every Good Person Is Free, 109 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •philosophy, and immortality Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 65 | 109. and the other said with great fortitude, "Beat Aristarchus's skin, for you cannot beat Aristarchus himself." These instances of brave fortitude, wholly full of daring, exceed in no slight degree the nobleness of those heroes, because the one class have a glory handed down to them by their ancestors without any actions of their own, while the fame of the others is founded on deeds of virtue deliberately performed, which very naturally make immortal those who practise them in a guileless spirit. XVII. |
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15. Philo of Alexandria, On The Special Laws, 1.303 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •philosophy, and immortality Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 65 | 1.303. But, nevertheless, he selected out of the whole race of mankind those who were really men for their superior excellence; and he elected them and thought them worthy of the highest possible honour, calling them to the service of himself, to that everlasting fountain of all that is good; from which he has showered forth other virtues, drawing forth, at the same time, for our enjoyment, combined with the greatest possible advantage, a drink contributing more than ever nectar, or at all events not less, to make those who drink of it immortal. |
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16. Plutarch, Letter of Condolence To Apollonius, None (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 66 | 115b. There is no vacant pathway for the air? Not merely now, but long ago, as Crantor says, the lot of man has been bewailed by many wise men, who have felt that life is a punishment and that for man to be born at all is the greatest calamity. Aristotle says that Silenus when he was captured declared this to Midas. It is better to quote the very words of the philosopher. He says, in the work which is entitled Eudemus, or ofthe Soul, the following: "'Wherefore, Obest and blessedest of all, in addition to believing that those who have ended this life are blessed and happy, |
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| 17. Philostratus The Athenian, Life of Apollonius, 8.7.21 (2nd cent. CE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •philosophy, and immortality Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 65 |
| 18. Athenaeus, The Learned Banquet, None (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 65 |
| 19. Themistius, On Aristotles On The Soul, 106.29-107.5 Tagged with subjects: •philosophy, and immortality Found in books: Long (2019), Immortality in Ancient Philosophy, 66 |
