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    we term beings , but thai Knowledge which exists in Being in general x in that which really Is . After thus contemplating all real existences , and being nourished thereby , these souls again sink into the interior of the heavens , and repose . * Such is the life of the gods . Of other souls , those which beat follow

    the gods , and most resemble them , barely succeed in lifting the head of the charioteer into the parti beyond the heavens , atid being carried round by the circumvolution , are enabled with difficulty to contemplate this universe of Self-Existences . Others , being encumbered by the horses , sometimes rising and sometimes sinking , are enabled to see some Existences only . The remainder only struggle to elevate themselves , and by the unskilfulness of their drivers , coming continually into collision , are lamed , or break their wings , and lifter much labour go

    away without accomplishing their purpose , and return to feed upon mere Opinion . The motive of this great anxiety td view the supef-celestial plain of Truth , is , that the proper , food of the soul is derived from thence , and in particular , the wings , by which the soul is made light and carried aloft , are nourished upon it . Now it is an inviolable law that any soul , which , placing itself in the train of the gods , and . journeying along with them , obtains a sight of any of these self-existent Realities , remains exempt from all harm until the next circumvolution ; and if it can contrive to effect this every time , it is for ever safe and uninjured . But if , being unable to elevate itself to the necessary height , it altogether fails of seeing these Realities * and , being Weighed down by vice and oblivion ,

    loses its wings and falls to the earth , it enters into and animates some Body . It never enters , at tke first generation , into the body of a brute animal ; but that which has seen most , enters into the body of a person who will become a lover of wisdom , or a lover of beauty , or a person addicted to music , or to love ; the next in rank , into that of a monarch who reigns according to law , or a warrior , or a man of talents for

    command : the third , into a person qualified to administer the state , and manage his family affairs , or carry on a gainful occupation : the fourth , into a person fond of hard labour and bodily exercises , or skilled in the prevention and curing of bodily diseases : the fifth , into a prophet , or a teacher of religious ceremonies : the sixth , into a poet , or a person addicted to any other of the imitative arts : the seventh , into a husbandman

    or an artificer : the eighth , into a sophist , or a courtier of the people : the ninth , into a despot and usurper . And in all these different fortunes they who conduct themselves justly will obtain next time a more eligible lot ; they who conduct themselves unjustly , a woTse . 4 soul never returns to its pristine state in less than 10 , 000 years , for its wings do not grow in a shorter time ; except only the soul of one who philosophizes with sincerity , or who loves with philosophy . Such

    souls , after three periods of 1000 years , if they choose thrice in succession this kind of life , recover their wings in the three thousandth year , and depart * The other souls , at the termination of their first life , are judged , and having ffecoived their sentence , are either sent for punishment into the places of execution under the earth , or are elevated to a place in heaven , in which they are rewarded according to the life which they led while here . Ib cither case they are called back on the thousandth yew , to choose or draw lots fof * new life . Then a human

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    Ptato ' i £ > ialo * u <* i the Phmdrwt . 41 &

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1834, page 415, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2634/page/33/