E5P23S
Scholium — Part V
Latin
Est uti diximus hæc idea quæ corporis essentiam sub specie æternitatis exprimit, certus cogitandi modus qui ad mentis essentiam pertinet quique necessario æternus est. Nec tamen fieri potest ut recordemur nos ante corpus exstitisse quandoquidem nec in corpore ulla ejus vestigia dari nec æternitas tempore definiri nec ullam ad tempus relationem habere potest. At nihilominus sentimus experimurque nos æternos esse. Nam mens non minus res illas sentit quas intelligendo concipit quam quas in memoria habet. Mentis enim oculi quibus res videt observatque, sunt ipsæ demonstrationes. Quamvis itaque non recordemur nos ante corpus exstitisse, sentimus tamen mentem nostram quatenus corporis essentiam sub æternitatis specie involvit, æternam esse et hanc ejus existentiam tempore definiri sive per durationem explicari non posse. Mens igitur nostra eatenus tantum potest dici durare ejusque existentia certo tempore definiri potest quatenus actualem corporis existentiam involvit et eatenus tantum potentiam habet rerum existentiam tempore determinandi easque sub duratione concipiendi.
English (Elwes 1883)
This idea, which expresses the essence of the body under the form of eternity, is, as we have said, a certain mode of thinking, which belongs to the essence of the mind, and is necessarily eternal. Yet it is not possible that we should remember that we existed before our body, for our body can bear no trace of such existence, neither can eternity be defined in terms of time, or have any relation to time. But, notwithstanding, we feel and know that we are eternal. For the mind feels those things that it conceives by understanding, no less than those things that it remembers. For the eyes of the mind, whereby it sees and observes things, are none other than proofs. Thus, although we do not remember that we existed before the body, yet we feel that our mind, in so far as it involves the essence of the body, under the form of eternity, is eternal, and that thus its existence cannot be defined in terms of time, or explained through duration. Thus our mind can only be said to endure, and its existence can only be defined by a fixed time, in so far as it involves the actual existence of the body. Thus far only has it the power of determining the existence of things by time, and conceiving them under the category of duration.
Modern English
This idea, which expresses the essence of the body *sub specie aeternitatis* (under the aspect of eternity), is, as we have said, a certain mode of thinking that belongs to the essence of the mind and is necessarily eternal. Yet it cannot happen that we remember having existed before the body: no traces of such existence can reside in the body, and eternity cannot be defined by time or stand in any relation to time.
All the same, we feel and know by experience that we are eternal. For the mind feels those things it conceives through understanding no less than those it holds in memory. The eyes of the mind, by which it sees and observes things, are the demonstrations themselves. Although we therefore do not remember that we existed before the body, we nonetheless sense that our mind, insofar as it involves the essence of the body *sub specie aeternitatis*, is eternal, and that this existence of the mind cannot be defined by time or explained through duration.
Our mind, then, can be said to endure, and its existence can be defined by a fixed time, only insofar as it involves the body's actual existence — and only to that extent does it have the power to determine the existence of things in time and to conceive them under the aspect of duration.