Part 71 (2/2)
Nee tamen hic oculos falli concedimus hilum....
Proinde animi vitium hoc oculis adfingere noli:
”Yet that the eye's deluded we deny; Charge not the mind's faults, therefore, on the eye:”
”and, resolutely, that there is no deceit in the senses; that we are to lie at their mercy, and seek elsewhere reasons to excuse the difference and contradictions we there find, even to the inventing of lies and other flams, if it come to that, rather than accuse the senses.”
Timagoras vowed that, by pressing or turning his eye, he could never perceive the light of the candle to double, and that the seeming so proceeded from the vice of opinion, and not from the instrument. The most absurd of all absurdities, with the Epicureans, is to deny the force and effect of the senses:--
Proinde, quod in quoquo est his visum tempore, verum est Et, si non potuit ratio dissolvere causam, Cur ea, quae fuerint juxtim quadrata, procul sint Visa rotunda; tamen praestat rationis egentem Beddere mendose causas utriusque figurae, Quam manibus manifesta suis emittere quaequam, Et violare fidem primam, et convellere tota Fundamenta, quibus nixatur vita salusque: Non modo enim ratio ruat omnis, vita quoque ipsa Concidat extemplo, nisi credere sensibus ausis, Procipitesque locos vitare, et caetera, quae sint In genere hoc fugienda.
”That what we see exists I will maintain, And if our feeble reason can't explain Why things seem square when they are very near, And at a greater distance round appear; 'Tis better yet, for him that's at a pause, 'T' a.s.sign to either figure a false cause, Than shock his faith, and the foundations rend On which our safety and our life depend: For reason not alone, but life and all, Together will with sudden ruin fall; Unless we trust our senses, nor despise To shun the various dangers that arise.”
This so desperate and unphilosophical advice expresses only this,--that human knowledge cannot support itself but by reason unreasonable, foolish, and mad; but that it is yet better that man, to set a greater value upon himself, make use of any other remedy, how fantastic soever, than to confess his necessary ignorance--a truth so disadvantageous to him. He cannot avoid owning that the senses are the sovereign lords of his knowledge; but they are uncertain, and falsifiable in all circ.u.mstances; 'tis there that he is to fight it out to the last; and if his just forces fail him, as they do, to supply that defect with obstinacy, temerity, and impudence. In case what the Epicureans say be true, viz: ”that we have no knowledge if the senses' appearances be false;” and if that also be true which the Stoics say, ”that the appearances of the senses are so false that they can furnish us with no manner of knowledge,” we shall conclude, to the disadvantage of these two great dogmatical sects, that there is no science at all.
As to the error and uncertainty of the operation of the senses, every one may furnish himself with as many examples as he pleases; so ordinary are the faults and tricks they put upon us. In the echo of a valley the sound of a trumpet seems to meet us, which comes from a place behind:--
Exstantesque procul medio de gurgite montes, Cla.s.sibus inter qnos liber patet exitus, idem Apparent, et longe divolsi licet, ingens Insula conjunctis tamen ex his ana videtur...
Et fugere ad puppim colies campique videntur, Qnos agimns proter navim, velisque volamus....
Ubi in medio n.o.bis equus acer obhaesit Flamine, equi corpus transversum ferre videtur Vis, et in adversum flumen contrudere raptim.
”And rocks i' th' seas that proudly raise their head, Though far disjoined, though royal navies spread, Their sails between; yet if from distance shown, They seem an island all combin'd in one.
Thus s.h.i.+ps, though driven by a prosperous gale, Seem fix'd to sailors; those seem under sail That ride at anchor safe; and all admire, As they row by, to see the rocks retire.
Thus, when in rapid streams my horse hath stood, And I look'd downward on the rolling flood; Though he stood still, I thought he did divide The headlong streams, and strive against the tide, And all things seem'd to move on every side.”
Take a musket-ball under the forefinger, the middle finger being lapped over it, it feels so like two that a man will have much ado to persuade himself there is but one; the end of the two fingers feeling each of them one at the same time; for that the senses are very often masters of our reason, and constrain it to receive impressions which it judges and knows to be false, is frequently seen. I set aside the sense of feeling, that has its functions nearer, more lively, and substantial, that so often, by the effects of the pains it helps the body to, subverts and overthrows all those fine Stoical resolutions, and compels him to cry out of his belly, who has resolutely established this doctrine in his soul--”That the colic, and all other pains and diseases, are indifferent things, not having the power to abate any thing of the sovereign felicity wherein the wise man is seated by his virtue.” There is no heart so effeminate that the rattle and sound of our drums and trumpets will not inflame with courage; nor so sullen that the harmony of our music will not rouse and cheer; nor so stubborn a soul that will not feel itself struck with some reverence in considering the gloomy vastness of our churches, the variety of ornaments, and order of our ceremonies; and in hearing the solemn music of our organs, and the grace and devout harmony of our voices. Even those that come in with contempt feel a certain s.h.i.+vering in their hearts, and something of dread that makes them begin to doubt their opinions. For my part I do not think myself strong enough to hear an ode of Horace or Catullus sung by a beautiful young mouth without emotion; and Zeno had reason to say ”that the voice was the flower of beauty.” One would once make me believe that a certain person, whom all we Frenchmen know, had imposed upon me in repeating some verses that he had made; that they were not the same upon paper that they were in the air; and that my eyes would make a contrary judgment to my ears; so great a power has p.r.o.nunciation to give fas.h.i.+on and value to works that are left to the efficacy and modulation of the voice. And therefore Philoxenus was not so much to blame, hearing one giving an ill accent to some composition of his, in spurning and breaking certain earthen vessels of his, saying, ”I break what is thine, because thou corruptest what is mine.” To what end did those men who have, with a firm resolution, destroyed themselves, turn away their faces that they might not see the blow that was by themselves appointed?
And that those who, for their health, desire and command incisions to be made, and cauteries to be applied to them, cannot endure the sight of the preparations, instruments, and operations of the surgeon, being that the sight is not in any way to partic.i.p.ate in the pain? Are not these proper examples to verify the authority the senses have over the imagination? 'Tis to much purpose that we know these tresses were borrowed from a page or a lackey; that this rouge came from Spain, and this pearl-powder from the Ocean Sea. Our sight will, nevertheless, compel us to confess their subject more agreeable and more lovely against all reason; for in this there is nothing of its own:--
Auferinrar cultu; gemmis, auroque teguntur Crimina; pars minima est ipsa puella sni.
Saepe, ubi sit quod ames, inter tarn multa requiras: Decipit hac oculos aegide dives Amor.
”By dress we're won; gold, gems, and rich brocades Make up the pageant that your heart invades; In all that glittering figure which you see, The far least part of her own self is she; In vain for her you love amidst such cost You search, the mistress in such dress is lost.”
What a strange power do the poets attribute to the senses, that make Narcissus so desperately in love with his own shadow,
Cunctaque miratur, quibus est mirabilis ipse; Se cupit imprudens, et, qui probat, ipse probatur; Dumque pet.i.t, pet.i.tur; pariterque accendit, et ardet:
”Admireth all; for which to be admired; And inconsiderately himself desir'd.
The praises which he gives his beauty claim'd, Who seeks is sought, th' inflamer is inflam'd:”
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