2147. On the immortality of the soul
I began thinking about the fact that there are people who strive for immortality of fame by their deeds, writings, and such, also by sepulchral statues and other things. These things show that something was moving them to long for immortality, even though they knew they were going to die. Most of them hardly believed that they would live after death, as was certainly the case with the Romans, who were known to have striven for immortality more than others. They would expose themselves to death for the sake of their country, if only their name might live on after their death. Many of them hardly thought at all about immortality of the soul, or a life after death.
2147. CONCERNING THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.
I commenced thinking that there are men who long for the immortality of fame by exploits, writings, and the like, as also by sepulchral statues and many other things, from which it is plain that something impelled them to the desire of immortality, though they knew that they were to die, and the greatest part of them could scarce credit that they were to live after death. Such was the case with the Romans, of whom it is known that they longed for immortality more than others, so that they would have devoted themselves to death for their country could but their name survive death. Yet many of them could scarcely have thought about the immortality of the soul, or the life after death.
2147. De immortalitate animae 1
Cogitare coepi, quod sint homines qui affectant immortalitatem famae, per gesta, scripta, et similia, tum per sepulchrales statuas et plura, ex quibus constare potuit, quod aliquid eos movebat ad immortalitatis desiderium, tametsi nossent quod morerentur, et plurima pars eorum vix crederet, quod victuri post mortem, sicut etiam fuit apud Romanos, de quibus notum est, quod immortalitatem prae aliis affectaverint, sic ut se morti obtulerint pro patria, modo nomen eorum viveret post mortem, quorum multi vix cogitaverint de immortalitate animae, seu vita post mortem.
Footnotes:
1. vide ad 2132 annotationem