fancy that the right of either is his left, and the left right.
If, when powerfully experiencing these and similar effects, the
revolutions of the soul come in contact with some external thing,
either of the class of the same or of the other, they speak of
the same or of the other in a manner the very opposite of the
truth; and they become false and foolish, and there is no course
or revolution in them which has a guiding or directing power; and
if again any sensations enter in violently from without and drag
after them the whole vessel of the soul, then the courses of the
soul, though they seem to conquer, are really conquered.
And by reason of all these affections, the soul, when encased in
a mortal body, now, as in the beginning, is at first without
intelligence; but when the flood of growth and nutriment abates,
and the courses of the soul, calming down, go their own way and
become steadier as time goes on, then the several circles return
to their natural form, and their revolutions are corrected, and
they call the same and the other by their right names, and make
the possessor of them to become a rational being. And if these
combine in him with any true nurture or education, he attains the
fulness and health of the perfect man, and escapes the worst
disease of all; but if he neglects education he walks lame to the
end of his life, and returns imperfect and good for nothing to
the world below. This, however, is a later stage; at present we
must treat more exactly the subject before us, which involves a
preliminary enquiry into the generation of the body and its
members, and as to how the soul was created—for what reason and
by what providence of the gods; and holding fast to probability,
we must pursue our way.