Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

The Delay of the Deity
ones and testifying their aversion, as he thought, by
drawing themselves together, but their delight and
satisfaction, by expanding and extending themselves.
Here, he said, he recognized the soul of one of his
kinsmen, though not quite distinctly,
for he had died
when yet very young: but drawing near it saluted
him with, Hail, Thespesius! When he, in sur
prise, rejoined that his name was not Thespesius, but
Aridaeus. Formerly, it is true. replied the spirit,
that was thy name, but henceforth it is Thespesius
(the Divine). For thou didst not die, but through
the interposition of God art come hither in the full
possession of thy faculties; the other part of thy soul
thou hast left behind in thy body, as it were an
anchor; and let this be a token to thee both, now,
and henceforth, that the souls of the departed neither
cast a shadow nor move the eyelids. On hearing
this, Thespesius, who had by this time somewhat
recovered consciousness, looked and beheld a kind of
faint line about himself, while the rest were com
pletely encircled with a radiance and diaphanous,
though not all in the same manner, for some, like the
moon in her brightest splendor, had a uniformly
smooth and even color, while others were marked
with a kind of spots or faint weals; others again
were all variegated and strange to look upon; while
still others were marked with livid fleckings like
vipers, and some even showed slight scarifications.
The kinsman of Thespesius explained these things in
detail (for there is nothing to hinder us from
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calling