Part 54 (1/2)
It is from the Egyptians that Orpheus, Homer, and the other Greeks derived the idea of the immortality of the soul, as well as the cave of the Nymphs described by Homer, who says there are two gates, the one to the north, through which the soul enters the cavern, and the other to the south, by which they leave the nymphic abode.
A certain Thespisius, a native of Soloe in Cilicia, well known to Plutarch,[626] having pa.s.sed a great part of his life in debauchery, and ruined himself entirely, in order to gain a livelihood lent himself to everything that was bad, and contrived to ama.s.s money.
Having sent to consult the oracle of Amphilochus, he received for answer, that his affairs would go on better after his death. A short time after, he fell from the top of his house, broke his neck, and died. Three days after, when they were about to perform the funeral obsequies, he came to life again, and changed his way of life so greatly that there was not in Cilicia a worthier or more pious man than himself.
As they asked him the reason of such a change, he said that at the moment of his fall he felt the same as a pilot who is thrown back from the top of the helm into the sea; after which, his soul was sensible of being raised as high as the stars, of which he admired the immense size and admirable l.u.s.tre; that the souls once out of the body rise into the air, and are enclosed in a kind of globe, or inflamed vortex, whence having escaped, some rise on high with incredible rapidity, while others whirl about the air, and are thrown in divers directions, sometimes up and sometimes down.
The greater part appeared to him very much perplexed, and uttered groans and frightful wailings; others, but in a less number, rose and rejoiced with their fellows. At last he learnt that Adrastia, the daughter of Jupiter and Necessity, left nothing unpunished, and that she treated every one according to their merit. He then details all he saw at full length, and relates the various punishments with which the bad are tormented in the next world.
He adds that a man of his acquaintance said to him, ”You are not dead, but by G.o.d's permission your soul is come into this place, and has left your body with all its faculties.” At last he was sent back into his body as through a channel, and urged on by an impetuous breeze.
We may make two reflections on this recital; the first on this soul, which quits its body for three days and then comes back to reanimate it; the second, on the certainty of the oracle, which promised Thespisius a happier life when he should be dead.
In the Sicilian war[627] between Caesar and Pompey, Gabienus, commander of Caesar's fleet, having been taken, was beheaded by order of Pompey.
He remained all day on the sea-sh.o.r.e, his head only held on to his body by a fillet. Towards evening he begged that Pompey or some of his people might come to him, because he came from the shades, and he had things of consequence to impart to him. Pompey sent to him several of his friends, to whom Gabienus declared that the G.o.ds of the infernal regions favored the cause and the party of Pompey, and that he would succeed according to his wishes; that he was ordered to announce this, ”and as a proof of the truth of what I say, I must die directly,”
which happened. But we do not see that Pompey's party succeeded; we know, on the contrary, that it fell, and Caesar was victorious. But the G.o.d of the infernal regions, that is to say, the devil, found it very good for him, since it sent him so many unhappy victims of revenge and ambition.[628]
Footnotes:
[621] Job xxvi. 5.
[622] Prov. ix. 18.
[623] Isa. xix. 9, _et seq._
[624] Ezek. x.x.xi. 15.
[625] Luke xvi. 26.
[626] Plutarch, de his qui misero a Numine puniuntur.
[627] Plin. Hist. Natur. lib. vii. c. 52.
[628] This story is related before, and is here related on account of the bearing it has on the subject of this chapter.
CHAPTER LV.
INSTANCES OF CHRISTIANS WHO HAVE BEEN RESUSCITATED AND SENT BACK TO THE WORLD--VISION OF VETINUS, A MONK OF AUGIA.
We read in an old work, written in the time of St. Augustine,[629]
that a man having been crushed by a wall which fell upon him, his wife ran to the church to invoke St. Stephen whilst they were preparing to bury the man who was supposed to be dead. Suddenly they saw him open his eyes, and move his body; and after a time he sat up, and related that his soul, having quitted his body, had met a crowd of other souls of dead persons, some of whom he knew, and others he did not; that a young man, in a deacon's habit, having entered the room where he was, put aside all those souls, and said to them three times, ”Return what you have received.” He understood at last that he meant the creed, which he recited instantly; and also the Lord's Prayer; then the deacon (St. Stephen) made the sign of the cross upon his heart, and told him to rise in perfect health. A young man,[630] a catechumen, who had been dead for three days, and was brought back to life by the prayers of St. Martin, related that after his death he had been presented before the tribunal of the Sovereign Judge, who had condemned him, and sent him with a crowd of others into a dark place; and then two angels, having represented to the Judge that he was a man for whom St. Martin had interceded, the Judge commanded the angels to send him back to earth, and restore him to St. Martin, which was done.
He was baptized, and lived a long time afterwards.