Dēnique cōnūbia ad Veneris partūsque ferārum
esse animās praestō dērīdiculum esse vidētur,
expectāre immortālīs mortālia membra
innumerō numerō certāreque praeproperanter
inter sē quae prīma potissimaque īnsinuētur;780
sī nōn forte ita sunt animārum foedera pacta,
ut quae prīma volāns advēnerit īnsinuētur
prīma neque inter sē contendant vīribus hīlum.
Dēnique in aethere nōn arbor, nōn aequore in altō
nūbēs esse queunt nec piscēs vīvere in arvīs785
nec cruor in lignīs neque saxīs sūcus inesse.
certum ac dispositumst ubi quicquid crēscat et īnsit.
sīc animī nātūra nequit sine corpore orīrī
sōla neque ā nervīs et sanguine longius esse.
quod sī posset enim, multō prius ipsa animī vīs790
in capite aut umerīs aut īmīs calcibus esse
posset et innāscī quāvīs in parte solēret,
tandem in eōdem homine atque in eōdem vāse manēre.
quod quoniam nostrō quoque cōnstat corpore certum
dispositumque vidētur ubi esse et crēscere possit795
sorsum anima atque animus, tantō magis īnfitiandum
tōtum posse extrā corpus dūrāre genīque.
quārē, corpus ubi interiit, periisse necessest
cōnfiteāre animam distractam in corpore tōtō.
quippe etenim mortāle aeternō iungere et ūnā800
cōnsentīre putāre et fungī mūtua posse
dēsiperest; quid enim dīversius esse putandumst
aut magis inter sē disiūnctum discrepitānsque,
quam mortāle quod est inmortālī atque perennī
iūnctum in conciliō saevās tolerāre procellās?805
praetereā quaecumque manent aeterna necessest
aut quia sunt solidō cum corpore respuere ictus
nec penetrāre patī sibi quicquam quod queat artās
dissociāre intus partīs, ut māteriāī
corpora sunt, quōrum nātūram ostendimus ante,810
aut ideō dūrāre aetātem posse per omnem,
plāgārum quia sunt expertia sīcut inānest,
quod manet intāctum neque ab ictū fungitur hīlum,
aut etiam quia nūlla locī sit cōpia circum,
quō quasi rēs possint discēdere dissoluīque,815
sīcut summārum summast aeternā, neque extrā
quis locus est quō diffugiant neque corpora sunt quae
possint incidere et validā dissolvere plāgā.
notes
776-783: Immortal animae don't wait for bodies into which they may rush at birth.
776: conubia the -i- is consonantal facilitating the elision of the final syllable with ad. esse animas an existential infinitive as noun phrase subject of deridiculum esse videtur (line 777): "that there are animae near .... seems to be silly....."
778: expectare immortalis [animas] is parallel to esse animas --another ridiculous suggestion.
779: praeproperanter (adv.) "eagerly", "in haste", a word used only here, and perhaps formed from an imagined (or at least unattested) praepropero (1).
780: quae prima ... insinuetur indirect question authorized by certare- (line 779)
782: ut quae prima ... insinuetur ... contendant substantive clauses of purpose: "perhaps there are some agreements to the effect that ...."
784—805: Every kind of thing has an environment proper to itself, in
which alone it can live : the environment of the animus is the body.
And, more than that, even in the body iiself it has afixed, permanent
abode. Therefore the soul cannot exist outside the body. It is
impossible to suppose that an immortal soul and a mortal body could
be joined in so close a union.
787: dispositumst (= dispositum est): "it is determined" impersonal with the following indirect question as notional subject.
790: prius: here the meaning is that of potius.
792: et joins posset to soleret. innasci and manere (line 793) are complementary infinitives authorized by soleret.
793: tandem the force, which is unusual for tandem, seems to be "at very least."
796: sorsum = seorsum (adverb) "separately."
799: in corpore toto local ablative: "throughout the body."
801: putare ... disperest "it is irrational to think . . . "
813: fungitur "permit."
815: possint, diffugiant (line 817), and possint (line 818) are verbs in relative clauses of characteristic, as is necessary when the antecedent is negative.
817: quis = ullus, a poetic alternative.