Aeneas, with
surprise, inquired who were these. Anchises answered, "They are
souls to which bodies are to be given in due time. Meanwhile they
dwell on Lethe's bank, and drink oblivion of their former lives."
"O father!" said Aeneas, "is it possible that any can be so in
love with life as to wish to leave these tranquil seats for the
upper world?" Anchises replied by explaining the plan of creation.
The Creator, he told him, originally made the material of which
souls are composed of the four elements, fire, air, earth, and
water, all which when united took the form of the most excellent
part, fire, and became FLAME. This material was scattered like
seed among the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, and stars. Of this
seed the inferior gods created man and all other animals, mingling
it with various proportions of earth, by which its purity was
alloyed and reduced. Thus, the more earth predominates in the
composition the less pure is the individual; and we see men and
women with their full-grown bodies have not the purity of
childhood. So in proportion to the time which the union of body
and soul has lasted is the impurity contracted by the spiritual
part. This impurity must be purged away after death, which is done
by ventilating the souls in the current of winds, or merging them
in water, or burning out their impurities by fire.
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