The divine soul God lodged in the head, to raise us, like plants
which are not of earthly origin, to our kindred; for the head is
nearest to heaven. He who is intent upon the gratification of his
desires and cherishes the mortal soul, has all his ideas mortal,
and is himself mortal in the truest sense. But he who seeks after
knowledge and exercises the divine part of himself in godly and
immortal thoughts, attains to truth and immortality, as far as is
possible to man, and also to happiness, while he is training up
within him the divine principle and indwelling power of order.
There is only one way in which one person can benefit another;
and that is by assigning to him his proper nurture and motion. To
the motions of the soul answer the motions of the universe, and
by the study of these the individual is restored to his original
nature.
Thus we have finished the discussion of the universe, which,
according to our original intention, has now been brought down to
the creation of man. Completeness seems to require that something
should be briefly said about other animals: first of women, who
are probably degenerate and cowardly men. And when they
degenerated, the gods implanted in men the desire of union with
them, creating in man one animate substance and in woman another
in the following manner:—The outlet for liquids they connected
with the living principle of the spinal marrow, which the man has
the desire to emit into the fruitful womb of the woman; this is
like a fertile field in which the seed is quickened and matured,
and at last brought to light. When this desire is unsatisfied the
man is over-mastered by the power of the generative organs, and
the woman is subjected to disorders from the obstruction of the
passages of the breath, until the two meet and pluck the fruit of
the tree.