Book 10
8
Such a life as this however will be higher than the human level:This section and 8.7 and 13 interpret 1.9.3. not in virtue of his humanity will a man achieve it, but in virtue of something within him that is divine; and by as much as this something is superior to his composite nature, by so much is its activity superior to the exercise of the other forms of virtue. If then the intellect is something divine in comparison with man, so is the life of the intellect divine in comparison with human life. Nor ought we to obey those who enjoin that a man should have man’s thoughtsEuripides, fr. 1040. and a mortal the thoughts of mortality,Pind. I. 4.16. but we ought so far as possible to achieve immortality, and do all that man may to live in accordance with the highest thing in him; for though this be small in bulk, in power and value it far surpasses all the rest.
9
It may even be held that this is the true self of each,Cf. 9.4.3, 4; 8.6. inasmuch as it is the dominant and better part; and therefore it would be a strange thing if a man should choose to live not his own life but the life of some other than himself.
9
Moreover what was said before will apply here also: that which is best and most pleasant for each creature is that which is proper to the nature of each; accordingly the life of the intellect is the best and the pleasantest lifeCf. 1.8.14. for man, inasmuch as the intellect more than anything else is man; therefore this life will be the happiest.
