Somnium Scipionis (De Re Publica 6.24)

Rep. 6.24.1Quae cum dīxisset, Ego vērō, inquam, Āfricāne, sīquidem bene meritīs dē patriā quasi līmes ad caelī aditum patet, quamquam ā pueritiā vestīgiīs ingressus patris et tuīs decorī vestrō nōn dēfuī, nunc tamen tantō praemiō expositō ēnītar multō vigilantius.

When he had said this, I said: 'Africanus, if indeed for those who have served their country well there is, as it were, a path open to the entrance of heaven, then though from boyhood I have followed in my father's footsteps and yours and have not failed your glory, now, with so great a prize set before me, I shall strive far more watchfully.'

Note. bene meritīs dē patriā: 'for those who have deserved well of their country'; meritīs is the perfect participle of the deponent mereor. limes: 'a path'. vestīgiīs ingressus patris et tuīs: 'having walked in my father's footsteps and yours'. ēnītar: future, 'I shall strive'.

Rep. 6.24.1Et ille: Tū vērō ēnītere et sīc habētō, nōn esse tē mortālem, sed corpus hoc;

And he said: 'Strive indeed, and be sure of this: it is not you who are mortal, but this body;

Note. ēnītere: present imperative of the deponent ēnītor. nōn esse tē mortālem, sed corpus hoc: the true self is the soul, not the body.

Rep. 6.24.1nec enim tū is es, quem fōrma ista dēclārat, sed mēns cuiusque is est quisque, nōn ea figūra, quae digitō dēmōnstrārī potest.

for you are not what this outward form of yours shows, but each man's mind is the man himself, not the shape that can be pointed out with a finger.

Note. mēns cuiusque is est quisque: 'each man's mind is the man himself'. quae digitō dēmōnstrārī potest: the body, which can be pointed at.

Rep. 6.24.1Deum tē igitur scītō esse, sīquidem est deus, quī viget, quī sentit, quī meminit, quī prōvidet, quī tam regit et moderātur et movet id corpus, cui praepositus est, quam hunc mundum ille prīnceps deus;

Know, then, that you are a god, if indeed a god is that which lives, feels, remembers, foresees, and rules, governs and moves the body over which it is set, just as that supreme god rules this universe;

Note. Deum tē … esse: the soul is a god because it rules the body as god rules the universe. quī viget, quī sentit …: a string of relative clauses with anaphora. tam … quam: 'just as'.

Rep. 6.24.1et ut mundum ex quādam parte mortālem ipse deus aeternus, sīc fragile corpus animus sempiternus movet.

and as the eternal god himself moves a universe that is in part mortal, so an everlasting soul moves the frail body.

Note. ut … sīc: 'as … so'. mundum ex quādam parte mortālem: the region below the moon is mortal (see 6.17).