第23章

Besides, when these our limbs are given o'er To gentle sleep and lies the burdened frame At random void of sense, a something else Is yet within us, which upon that time Bestirs itself in many a wise, receiving All motions of joy and phantom cares of heart.

Now, for to see that in man's members dwells Also the soul, and body ne'er is wont To feel sensation by a "harmony"Take this in chief: the fact that life remains Oft in our limbs, when much of body's gone;Yet that same life, when particles of heat, Though few, have scattered been, and through the mouth Air has been given forth abroad, forthwith Forever deserts the veins, and leaves the bones.

Thus mayst thou know that not all particles Perform like parts, nor in like manner all Are props of weal and safety: rather those-The seeds of wind and exhalations warm-

Take care that in our members life remains.

Therefore a vital heat and wind there is Within the very body, which at death Deserts our frames.And so, since nature of mind And even of soul is found to be, as 'twere, A part of man, give over "harmony"-Name to musicians brought from Helicon,-

Unless themselves they filched it otherwise, To serve for what was lacking name till then.

Whate'er it be, they're welcome to it- thou, Hearken my other maxims.

Mind and soul, I say, are held conjoined one with other, And form one single nature of themselves;But chief and regnant through the frame entire Is still that counsel which we call the mind, And that cleaves seated in the midmost breast.

Here leap dismay and terror; round these haunts Be blandishments of joys; and therefore here The intellect, the mind.The rest of soul, Throughout the body scattered, but obeys-Moved by the nod and motion of the mind.

This, for itself, sole through itself, hath thought;This for itself hath mirth, even when the thing That moves it, moves nor soul nor body at all.

And as, when head or eye in us is smit By assailing pain, we are not tortured then Through all the body, so the mind alone Is sometimes smitten, or livens with a joy, Whilst yet the soul's remainder through the limbs And through the frame is stirred by nothing new.

But when the mind is moved by shock more fierce, We mark the whole soul suffering all at once Along man's members: sweats and pallors spread Over the body, and the tongue is broken, And fails the voice away, and ring the ears, Mists blind the eyeballs, and the joints collapse,-Aye, men drop dead from terror of the mind.

Hence, whoso will can readily remark That soul conjoined is with mind, and, when 'Tis strook by influence of the mind, forthwith In turn it hits and drives the body too.

And this same argument establisheth That nature of mind and soul corporeal is:

For when 'tis seen to drive the members on, To snatch from sleep the body, and to change The countenance, and the whole state of man To rule and turn,- what yet could never be Sans contact, and sans body contact fails-Must we not grant that mind and soul consist Of a corporeal nature?- And besides Thou markst that likewise with this body of ours Suffers the mind and with our body feels.

If the dire speed of spear that cleaves the bones And bares the inner thews hits not the life, Yet follows a fainting and a foul collapse, And, on the ground, dazed tumult in the mind, And whiles a wavering will to rise afoot.

So nature of mind must be corporeal, since From stroke and spear corporeal 'tis in throes.

Now, of what body, what components formed Is this same mind I will go on to tell.

First, I aver, 'tis superfine, composed Of tiniest particles- that such the fact Thou canst perceive, if thou attend, from this:

Nothing is seen to happen with such speed As what the mind proposes and begins;Therefore the same bestirs itself more swiftly Than aught whose nature's palpable to eyes.

But what's so agile must of seeds consist Most round, most tiny, that they may be moved, When hit by impulse slight.So water moves, In waves along, at impulse just the least-Being create of little shapes that roll;

But, contrariwise, the quality of honey More stable is, its liquids more inert, More tardy its flow; for all its stock of matter Cleaves more together, since, indeed, 'tis made Of atoms not so smooth, so fine, and round.

For the light breeze that hovers yet can blow High heaps of poppy-seed away for thee Downward from off the top; but, contrariwise, A pile of stones or spiny ears of wheat It can't at all.Thus, in so far as bodies Are small and smooth, is their mobility;But, contrariwise, the heavier and more rough, The more immovable they prove.Now, then, Since nature of mind is movable so much, Consist it must of seeds exceeding small And smooth and round.Which fact once known to thee, Good friend, will serve thee opportune in else.

This also shows the nature of the same, How nice its texture, in how small a space 'Twould go, if once compacted as a pellet:

When death's unvexed repose gets hold on man And mind and soul retire, thou markest there From the whole body nothing ta'en in form, Nothing in weight.Death grants ye everything, But vital sense and exhalation hot.

Thus soul entire must be of smallmost seeds, Twined through the veins, the vitals, and the thews, Seeing that, when 'tis from whole body gone, The outward figuration of the limbs Is unimpaired and weight fails not a whit.

Just so, when vanished the bouquet of wine, Or when an unguent's perfume delicate Into the winds away departs, or when From any body savour's gone, yet still The thing itself seems minished naught to eyes, Thereby, nor aught abstracted from its weight-No marvel, because seeds many and minute Produce the savours and the redolence In the whole body of the things.And so, Again, again, nature of mind and soul 'Tis thine to know created is of seeds The tiniest ever, since at flying-forth It beareth nothing of the weight away.

Yet fancy not its nature simple so.

For an impalpable aura, mixed with heat, Deserts the dying, and heat draws off the air;And heat there's none, unless commixed with air: