Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/234

 230 FAMILIAR COLLOQUIES. the bone will never out of the flesh. Fa. I do not so much concern myself as to his body so his mind be but as I would have it. Eu. That indeed is piously spoken, but not philosophically. Fa. Why not ? Eu. Why do you, when you shred herbs, complain your knife is blunt, and order it to be whetted ? Why do you reject a blunt- pointed needle when that does not deprive you of your art ] Fa. Art is not wanting, but an unfit instrument hinders the exerting it. Eu. Why do they that have much occasion to use their eyes avoid darnel and onions ? Fa. Because they hurt the sight. Eu. Is it not the mind that sees ? Fa. It is; for those that are dead see nothing. But what can a carpenter do with an axe whose edge is spoiled 1 Eu. Then you do acknowledge the body is the organ of the mind 1 Fa. That is plain. Eu. And you grant that in a vitiated body the mind either cannot act at all, or if it does it is with inconvenience. Fa. Very likely. Eu. Well, I find I have an intelligent person to deal with ; sup- pose the soul of a man was to pass into the body of a cock, would it make the same sound it does now 1 Fa. No, to be sure. Eu. What would hinder 1 Fa. Because it would want lips, teeth, and a tongue, like to that of a man. It has neither the epiglottis nor the three cartilages that are moved by three muscles, to which nerves are joined that come from the brain, nor has it jaws and teeth like a man's. Eu. What if it should go into the body of a swine ? Fa. Then it would grunt like a swine. Eu. What if it should pass into the body of a camel 1 Fa. It would make a noise like a camel. Eu. What if it should pass into the body of an ass, as it happened to Apuleius 1 Fa. Then I think it would bray as an ass does. Eu. Indeed he is a proof of this, who, when he had a mind to call after Csesar, having contracted his lips as much as he possibly could, scarce pronounced O, but could by no means pronounce Csesar. The same person when having heard a story, and that he might not forget it, would have written it, repre- hended himself for his foolish thought when he beheld his solid hoofs. Fa. And he had cause enough. Eu. /Then it follows that the soul does not see well through pur- blind eyes. The ears hear not clearly when stopped with filth, the brain smells not so well when oppressed with phlegm, and a member feels not so much when it is benumbed. The tongue tastes less when vitiated with ill humours. Fa. These things cannot be denied. Eu. And for no other cause but because the organ is vitiated. Fa. I believe the same, Eu. Nor will you deny, I suppose, that sometimes it is vitiated by food and drink. Fa. I will grant that too, but what signifies that to the goodness of the mind 1 Eu. As much as darnel does to a clear eyesight, Fa. Because it vitiates the organ. Eu. Well answered. But solve me this difficulty, why is it that one understands quicker than another, and has a better memory ? why one is more prone to anger than another, or is more moderate in his resentment 1 Fa. It proceeds from the disposition of the mind. Eu. That will not do. Whence comes it that one who was formerly of a very ready wit and a retentive memory becomes afterwards stupid and forgetful, either by a blow or a fall, by sickness or old age ? Fa. Now you seem to play the sophist with me. Eu. Then do you play the sophistress with me,