De anima contra philosophos

On the Soul, Against the Philosophers God fills all things, being limited by nothing; for he who is not limited by place will certainly be in every place, according to the hymnody of David; for if he were said to be outside some place, he would necessarily be limited by that of which he is deprived. Therefore, being wholly in all things, he never moves from one place to another, filling all things. 2 The divine is not subject to the literal descriptions of laws and times. But since they clearly know themselves to be caught in this, they change course and fabricate the water of forgetfulness, which they say each person drinks so as to forget the generations of their own lives. That these things are mythical and far from philosophy, no one of sound mind seems to be ignorant. For what do we say, O Pythagorases and Platons? Have you yourselves drunk the forgetfulness-producing water, having taken it? Or, on the contrary, have you escaped it by hiding? If, then, you were such as to evade the drink of error, you are manifestly many; but if, having drawn in the air common to all, you drank the water of forgetfulness greedily, how and from where do you fabricate myths about souls? From where do you know the kind of these streams at all? For if you have not experienced their use, you are ignorant of the emergence of these waters; but if you have been within their experience, forgetfulness has obliterated the memory of your use of them and you have spat out knowledge. But in these matters, turning to barbarous superstition, they have erred, having used Egyptians as guides. That souls are not unbegotten, this is shown most clearly by the age of newborn infants.

If indeed at the moment of birth infants were already fully possessed of understanding, it might perhaps be possible to pretend that some are without reason; but if they lack mind, speech, and intelligence, then souls are not by nature unbegotten. We all know, therefore, that the soul is extended along with the masses of the bodies, not only in size or smallness of limbs, but also in the other irrationalities of judgment; as long as these infants are newly formed, they are entirely without any thought or counsel; but gradually and little by little, as they advance, they acquire mind, understanding, and speech. If these are proper to the soul, and if from abundance they admit of superior additions, then indeed the soul grows together with the body, and just as the body imperceptibly gathers its powers, so too the soul progresses in mind. But those who never advance to the better, but remain foolish, clearly have imperfect souls because of some damaged part, like those who suffer from the disease of phrenitis. Indeed, the body of the first-formed man, when shaped, lay dead, breathless, motionless, though it was exquisitely ordered in limbs and harmony, and fittingly adorned in form and beauty, since it was fashioned by the Creator God himself as a first-formed statue and a most excellent likeness stamped from the most divine image; but it was insensible, speechless, and breathless. When God breathed into its face in a creative manner, it immediately received motion; and from that time it walks, breathes, speaks, rules, thinks, acts, and governs. Sleep is a common affection of body and soul.