Lactantius, Divine Institutes 7.23
Therefore they will not be reborn, since that cannot happen; rather, they will rise again and be clothed with bodies by God. They will remember their former life and all their deeds, and, placed in heavenly blessings, they will enjoy the joy of countless riches and give thanks to God present among them, because He has destroyed all evil and raised them to the kingdom and eternal life.
The philosophers, too, have attempted to speak of this resurrection, but as corruptly as the poets. Pythagoras argued that souls pass into new bodies, yet ineptly — claiming they move from humans into beasts and from beasts back into humans, and that he himself was once Euphorbus. Chrysippus fared better; Cicero says he upheld the Stoic school. In his books on providence, when discussing the world's renewal, he wrote: 'Since this is so, it is clear that nothing is impossible, and that after we die we shall again be restored, in some cycle of time, to the very state in which we now exist.'
But let us turn from human speculations to divine testimony. The Sibyl declares: 'The whole race of mortals is faithless. But when the judgment of the world and of mortals arrives — the judgment God Himself will execute, judging the ungodly and the godly together — then He will consign the ungodly to darkness in fire. But those who are godly will live again upon the earth, the Spirit of God having granted them both honor and life.'
If not only prophets but also seers, poets, and philosophers agree that a resurrection of the dead will come, let no one demand from us an explanation of how it can happen. For no account can be given of God's works. But if from the beginning God fashioned man in some unspeakable manner, let us believe that the One who made the new can also restore the old.
Latin
Non igitur renascentur, quod fieri non potest, sed resurgent et a deo corporibus induentur et prioris uitae factorumque omnium memores erunt et in bonis caelestibus conlocati ac fruentes iucunditate innumerabilium copiarum praesenti deo gratias agent, quod malum omne deleuerit, quod eos ad regnum uitamque perpetuam suscitarit. qua de anastasi philosophi quoque dicere aliquid conati sunt tam corrupte quam poetae. nam Pythagoras transire animas in noua corpora disputauit, sed inepte, quod ex hominibus in pecudes et ex pecudibus in homines et se ipsum ex Euphorbo esse reparatum. meiius Chrysippus, quem Cicero ait fulcire porticum Stoicorum: qui in libris quos de prouidentia scripsit cum de innouatione mundi loqueretur, haec intulit: τούτου δέ οὕτως ἔχοντος δῆλον, ὡς οὐδὲν ἀδύνατον, καὶ ἡμᾶς μετά τὸ τελευτῆσαι πάλιν περιόδῳ τινὶ χρόνου εἰς τοῦτο ἐν ᾧ νῦν ἐσμεν ἀποκαταστῆναι σχῆμα. sed nos ab humanis ad diuina redeamus. Sibylla dicit haec: δύσπιστον γὰρ ἅπαν μερόπων γένος. ἀλλ᾽ ὅταν ἠδὴ κόσμου καὶ θνητῶν ἔλθῃ κρίσις, ἣν θεὸς αὐτὸς ποιήσει κρίνων ἀσεβεῖς θ᾽ ἅμα εὐσεβέας τε, καὶ τότε δυσσεβέας μὲν ἐπὶ ζόφον ἐν πυρὶ πέμψει. ὅσσοι δ᾽ εὐσεβέουσι, πάλιν ζήσουσ᾽ ἐπὶ γαίης, πνεῦμα θεοῦ δόντος τιμὴν ἅμα καὶ βίον αὐτοῖς. quodsi non modo prophetae, sed etiam uates et poetae et philosophi anastasim mortuorum futuram esse consentiunt, nemo quaerat a nobis quemadmodum fieri possit. nec enim diuinorum operum reddi potest ratio: sed si a principio deus hominem nescio quo inenarrabili modo instituit, credamus ab eodem restitui ueterem posse qui nouum fecit.