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Dr. Charlotte Krause : Her Life & Literature
behind the earth and our dull abodes, to stand on the shoulders of mighty Atlas, to watch from far away the human race, as they wander far and wide, devoid of all reason, and a joy it is thus to admonish them, the trembling ones, in their fear of death, and to unroll the book Fate :
'Oh race terrified by the shape of cold death, why do you fear Styx, why fear vain shadows and empty words, the creations of poets and the dangers of an unreal world ?
'Do not believe that our bodies could possibly be exposed to any further hardships, after once the flame of the funeral pyre or the decay of old age has consumed them ! The souls however can never die, but leaving their former habitations, they live on in new abodes, which they enter to dwell there.
'So I was, at the time of the Trojan War, Euphorbus, the son of Panthous ( for I do remember ), whose breast was pierced by the heavy spear of the younger son of Atreus. Only recently, I recognised the shield which I had once borne on my left arm, in a temple of Juno at Agos, the city of Abas.
'All things change, there is no death anywhere. The spirit comes from here and goes thither, starts from there and comes hither, and occupies whatever abode it chooses. From wild beasts it passes into human bodies, and our own spirit passes into wild beasts. It can never perish, but just as soft wax can be modelled into new designs, just as it does not remain in its former state, nor keeps one and the same shape, and yet remains one and the same itself, just so do I teach the soul it remain always the same, wandering into various forms.
Therefore, lest piety be vanquished by gluttonous greed, I warn you as a seer, refrain from expelling kindred souls by sinful murder ! Do not allow blood to be fed on blood !
Since I am sailing thus on a vast ocean, having given all my sails to the winds, let me continue :
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