whether they be material things or unreasoning and ignorant people.
(Book vi., §22.)


THE FUTURE LIFE. IMMORTALITY

This very moment thou mayest die. Think, act, as if this were now to
befall thee. Yet fear not death. If there are gods they will do thee no
evil. If there are not gods, or if they care not for the welfare of men,
why should I care to live in a Universe that is devoid of Divine beings
or of any providential care? But, verily, there are Divine beings, and
they do concern themselves with the welfare of men; and they have given
unto him all power not to fall into any real evil. If, indeed, what men
call misfortunes were really evils, then from these things also, man
would have been given the power to free himself. But--thou sayest--are
not death, dishonor, pain, really evils? Reflect that if they were, it
is incredible that the Ruler of the Universe has, through ignorance,
overlooked these things, or has not had the power or the skill to
prevent them; and that thereby what is real evil befalls good and bad
alike. For true it is that life and death, honor and dishonor, pain and
pleasure, come impartially to the good and to the bad. But none of these
things can affect our lives if they do not affect our true selves. Now
our real selves they do not affect either for better or for worse; and
therefore such things are not really good or evil. (Book ii., §11.)

* * * * *

If our spirits live, how does Space suffice for all during all the ages?
Well, how does the earth contain the bodies of those who have been
buried therein during all the ages? In the latter case, the