第24章

For, since the nature of all heat is rare, Athrough it many seeds of air must move.

Thus nature of mind is triple; yet those all Suffice not for creating sense- since mind Accepteth not that aught of these can cause Sense-bearing motions, and much less the thoughts A man revolves in mind.So unto these Must added be a somewhat, and a fourth;That somewhat's altogether void of name;

Than which existeth naught more mobile, naught More an impalpable, of elements More small and smooth and round.That first transmits Sense-bearing motions through the frame, for that Is roused the first, composed of little shapes;Thence heat and viewless force of wind take up The motions, and thence air, and thence all things Are put in motion; the blood is strook, and then The vitals all begin to feel, and last To bones and marrow the sensation comes-Pleasure or torment.Nor will pain for naught Enter so far, nor a sharp ill seep through, But all things be perturbed to that degree That room for life will fail, and parts of soul Will scatter through the body's every pore.

Yet as a rule, almost upon the skin These motion aIl are stopped, and this is why We have the power to retain our life.

Now in my eagerness to tell thee how They are commixed, through what unions fit They function so, my country's pauper-speech Constrains me sadly.As I can, however, I'll touch some points and pass.In such a wise Course these primordials 'mongst one another With inter-motions that no one can be From other sundered, nor its agency Perform, if once divided by a space;Like many powers in one body they work.

As in the flesh of any creature still Is odour and savour and a certain warmth, And yet from all of these one bulk of body Is made complete, so, viewless force of wind And warmth and air, commingled, do create One nature, by that mobile energy Assisted which from out itself to them Imparts initial motion, whereby first Sense-bearing motion along the vitals springs.

For lurks this essence far and deep and under, Nor in our body is aught more shut from view, And 'tis the very soul of all the soul.

And as within our members and whole frame The energy of mind and power of soul Is mixed and latent, since create it is Of bodies small and few, so lurks this fourth, This essence void of name, composed of small, And seems the very soul of all the soul, And holds dominion o'er the body all.

And by like reason wind and air and heat Must function so, commingled through the frame, And now the one subside and now another In interchange of dominance, that thus From all of them one nature be produced, Lest heat and wind apart, and air apart, Make sense to perish, by disseverment.

There is indeed in mind that heat it gets When seething in rage, and flashes from the eyes More swiftly fire; there is, again, that wind, Much, and so cold, companion of all dread, Which rouses the shudder in the shaken frame;There is no less that state of air composed, Making the tranquil breast, the serene face.

But more of hot have they whose restive hearts, Whose minds of passion quickly seethe in rage-Of which kind chief are fierce abounding lions, Who often with roaring burst the breast o'erwrought, Unable to hold the surging wrath within;But the cold mind of stags has more of wind, And speedier through their inwards rouses up The icy currents which make their members quake.

But more the oxen live by tranquil air, Nor e'er doth smoky torch of wrath applied, O'erspreading with shadows of a darkling murk, Rouse them too far; nor will they stiffen stark, Pierced through by icy javelins of fear;But have their place half-way between the two-Stags and fierce lions.Thus the race of men:

Though training make them equally refined, It leaves those pristine vestiges behind Of each mind's nature.Nor may we suppose Evil can e'er be rooted up so far That one man's not more given to fits of wrath, Another's not more quickly touched by fear, A third not more long-suffering than he should.

And needs must differ in many things besides The varied natures and resulting habits Of humankind- of which not now can IExpound the hidden causes, nor find names Enough for all the divers shapes of those Primordials whence this variation springs.

But this meseems I'm able to declare:

Those vestiges of natures left behind Which reason cannot quite expel from us Are still so slight that naught prevents a man From living a life even worthy of the gods.

So then this soul is kept by all the body, Itself the body's guard, and source of weal:

For they with common roots cleave each to each, Nor can be torn asunder without death.

Not easy 'tis from lumps of frankincense To tear their fragrance forth, without its nature Perishing likewise: so, not easy 'tis From all the body nature of mind and soul To draw away, without the whole dissolved.

With seeds so intertwined even from birth, They're dowered conjointly with a partner-life;No energy of body or mind, apart, Each of itself without the other's power, Can have sensation; but our sense, enkindled Along the vitals, to flame is blown by both With mutual motions.Besides the body alone Is nor begot nor grows, nor after death Seen to endure.For not as water at times Gives off the alien heat, nor is thereby Itself destroyed, but unimpaired remains-Not thus, I say, can the deserted frame Bear the dissevering of its joined soul, But, rent and ruined, moulders all away.

Thus the joint contact of the body and soul Learns from their earliest age the vital motions, Even when still buried in the mother's womb;So no dissevering can hap to them, Without their bane and ill.And thence mayst see That, as conjoined is their source of weal, Conjoined also must their nature be.

If one, moreover, denies that body feel, And holds that soul, through all the body mixed, Takes on this motion which we title "sense,"He battles in vain indubitable facts: