And as soon as I repressed my tears, I was able to start speaking: "Why," I said, "greatest and most pious father, since—as I heard Africanus say—this is truly life,should I delay on earth? Why would I not hasten to come here to all of you?"
"It is not so," he said. "Indeed, unless you go when god—whose temple is all that you see here—has liberated you from your physical confines, the entrance to this place will not stand open for you. For humans have been created to this end: that they watch over that globe which in this universe you see in the center, which is called Earth; and to this Earth spirit has been given out of his eternal fires, which you have called stars and constellations. These spherical, wheel-like bodies—set into motion by the divine mind itself—hurry wondrously about on their circuits and their orbits. Therefore, by you, Publius, and by all people, the spirit is to be held within the confines of the body—not without the command of him from whom you have received it—and then it is to depart from this human life, lest you should seem to flee that human duty allotted by God.
atque ego ut primum fletu represso loqui posse coepi, "Quaeso," inquam, "pater sanctissime atque optime, quoniam haec est vita, ut Africanum audio dicere, quid moror in terris? Quin huc ad vos venire propero?"
"Non est ita," inquit ille; "nisi enim cum deus is cuius hoc templum est omne quod conspicis, istis te corporis custodiis liberaverit, huc tibi aditus patere non potest. Homines enim sunt hac lege generati, qui tuerentur illum globum quem in hoc templo medium vides, quae terra dicitur; eisque animus datus est ex illis sempiternis ignibus quae sidera et stellas vocatis, quae globosae et rotundae, divinis animatae mentibus, circulos suos orbesque conficiunt celeritate mirabili. Quare et tibi, Publi, et piis omnibus, retinendus animus est in custodia corporis, nec iniussu eius a quo ille est vobis datus, ex hominum vita migrandum est, ne munus humanum assignatum a deo defugisse videamini.
And as soon as I repressed my tears, I was able to start speaking: "Why," I said, "greatest and most pious father, since—as I heard Africanus say—this is truly life,should I delay on earth? Why would I not hasten to come here to all of you?"
"It is not so," he said. "Indeed, unless you go when god—whose temple is all that you see here—has liberated you from your physical confines, the entrance to this place will not stand open for you. For humans have been created to this end: that they watch over that globe which in this universe you see in the center, which is called Earth; and to this Earth spirit has been given out of his eternal fires, which you have called stars and constellations. These spherical, wheel-like bodies—set into motion by the divine mind itself—hurry wondrously about on their circuits and their orbits. Therefore, by you, Publius, and by all people, the spirit is to be held within the confines of the body—not without the command of him from whom you have received it—and then it is to depart from this human life, lest you should seem to flee that human duty allotted by God.
atque ego ut primum fletu represso loqui posse coepi, "Quaeso," inquam, "pater sanctissime atque optime, quoniam haec est vita, ut Africanum audio dicere, quid moror in terris? Quin huc ad vos venire propero?"
"Non est ita," inquit ille; "nisi enim cum deus is cuius hoc templum est omne quod conspicis, istis te corporis custodiis liberaverit, huc tibi aditus patere non potest. Homines enim sunt hac lege generati, qui tuerentur illum globum quem in hoc templo medium vides, quae terra dicitur; eisque animus datus est ex illis sempiternis ignibus quae sidera et stellas vocatis, quae globosae et rotundae, divinis animatae mentibus, circulos suos orbesque conficiunt celeritate mirabili. Quare et tibi, Publi, et piis omnibus, retinendus animus est in custodia corporis, nec iniussu eius a quo ille est vobis datus, ex hominum vita migrandum est, ne munus humanum assignatum a deo defugisse videamini.