206. (18) This occurs because the soul of the offspring comes from its father, and its clothing from its mother. No one who is wise calls into question the idea that the soul comes from the father. Moreover, it is clearly visible in later generations which descend from fathers of families in a true line of descent, from their qualities of mind, and, in addition, from their facial features (these being images of the qualities of mind). Indeed, the father reappears, as though in effigy, if not in his children, nevertheless in his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The reason is that the soul forms the inmost element in a person, and though this may be covered over in the immediate offspring, still it emerges and displays itself in generations after that. The fact that the soul comes from the father and the clothing from the mother may be illustrated by analogous parallels in the vegetable kingdom. Here the earth or ground is the common mother. It admits seeds into it as though in a womb, and clothes them. Indeed, in a way it conceives, carries, gives birth to and rears the seedlings, as a mother does her offspring from a father.
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