I would rather that he had given men the perfections of the Gods! those perfections, I mean, of uninterrupted health, wisdom, invention, memory.

Therefore the soul (which is, as I say, divine) is, as Euripides more boldly expresses it, a God.

And thus, if the divinity be air or fire, the soul of man is the same; for as that celestial nature has nothing earthly or humid about it, in like manner the soul of man is also free from both these qualities: but if it is of that fifth kind of nature, first introduced by Aristotle, then both Gods and souls are of the same.
XXVII.

As this is my opinion, I have explained it in these very words, in my book on Consolation.[19] The origin of the soul of man is not to be found upon earth, for there is nothing in the soul of a mixed or concrete nature, or that has any appearance of being formed or made out of the earth; nothing even humid, or airy, or fiery.

For what is there in natures of that kind which has the power of memory, understanding, or thought?
which can recollect the past, foresee the future, and comprehend the present?
for these capabilities are confined to divine beings; nor can we discover any source from which men could derive them, but from God.