Note 32 — Chapter VI · THE STUDY OF NATURE. FUNDAMENTAL POSITIONS.

Ep. 36, 10: Mors … intermittit vitam, non eripit: veniet iterum qui nos in lucem reponat dies, quem multi recusarent, nisi oblitos reduceret. Sed postea diligentius docebo omnia, quæ videntur perire, mutari. Æquo animo debet rediturus exire. The souls cannot return, according to the Stoic teaching, until after the general conflagration, presuming that the same persons will be found in the future world as in the present. See p. 166, 2. As long as the world lasts, the better souls will continue to exist, and only the particles of the body are employed for fresh bodies. Accordingly, the passage just quoted, and also Ep. 71, 13, must refer to the physical side of death, or else to the return of personality after the conflagration of the world. ↑