Nor does this proceed from the conversation of men, or the agreement of philosophers; it is not an opinion established by institutions or by laws; but, no doubt, in every case the consent of all nations is to be looked on as a law of nature.

Who is there, then, that does not lament the loss of his friends, principally from imagining them deprived of the conveniences of life?
Take away this opinion, and you remove with it all grief; for no one is afflicted merely on account of a loss sustained by himself.

Perhaps we may be sorry, and grieve a little; but that bitter lamentation and those mournful tears have their origin in our apprehensions that he whom we loved is deprived of all the advantages of life, and is sensible of his loss.

And we are led to this opinion by nature, without any arguments or any instruction.
XIV.

But the greatest proof of all is, that nature herself gives a silent judgment in favor of the immortality of the soul, inasmuch as all are anxious, and that to a great degree, about the things which concern futurity: One plants what future ages shall enjoy, as Statius saith in his Synephebi.