that they should speak among themselves as follows: 'A by-path, as it
were, seems to lead us on in our researches undertaken by reason,'
because so long as we are encumbered with the body, and our soul is
contaminated with such an evil, we can never fully attain to what we
desire; and this, we say, is truth. For the body subjects us to
innumerable hinderances on account of its necessary support; and,
moreover, if any diseases befall us, they impede us in our search after
that which is; and it fills us with longings, desires, fears, all kinds
of fancies, and a multitude of absurdities, so that, as it is said in
real truth, by reason of the body it is never possible for us to make
any advances in wisdom. 30. For nothing else than the body and its
desires occasion wars, seditions, and contests; for all wars among us
arise on account of our desire to acquire wealth: and we are compelled
to acquire wealth on account of the body, being enslaved to its service;
and consequently on all these accounts we are hindered in the pursuit of
philosophy. But the worst of all is, that if it leaves us any leisure,
and we apply ourselves to the consideration of any subject, it
constantly obtrudes itself in the midst of our researches, and occasions
trouble and disturbance, and confounds us so that we are not able, by
reason of it, to discern the truth. It has, then, in reality been
demonstrated to us that if we are ever to know any thing purely, we must
be separated from the body, and contemplate the things themselves by the
mere soul; and then, as it seems, we shall obtain that which we desire,
and which we profess ourselves to be lovers of--wisdom--when we are
dead, as reason shows, but not while we are alive. 31. For if it is not
possible to know any thing purely in conjunction with the body, one of
these two things must follow, either that we can never acquire
knowledge, or only after we are dead; for then the soul will subsist
apart by itself, separate from the body, but not before. And while we
live we shall thus, as it seems, approach nearest to knowledge, if we