Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/238

 234 FAMILIAR COLLOQUIES. proceeds frcra the soul. And the motion of the body is various. Fa. I take that in, but why does he add of an organical 1 Eu. Because the soul does nothing but by the help of organs that is, by the instru- ments of the body. Fa. Why does he say physical? Eu. Because Daedalus made such a body to no purpose; and therefore he adds, hav- ing life in potentia. Form does not act upon everything, but upon a body that is capable. Fa. What if an angel should pass into the body of a man? Eu. He would act, indeed, but not by the natural organs, nor would he -give life to the body if the soul was absent from it. Fa. Have I had all the account that is to be given of the soxil 1 Eu. You have Aristotle's account of it. Fa. Indeed, I have heard he was a Very famous philosopher, and I am afraid that the college of sages would prefer a bill of heresy against me, if I should say any- thing against Mm ; but else all that he has said concerning the soul of a man is as applicable to the soul of an ass or an ox. Eu. Nay, that is true, or to a beetle or a snaiL Fa. What difference, then, is there between the soul of an ox and that X)f a man 1 Eu. They that say the soul is nothing else but the harmony of the qualities of the body would confess that there was no great difference ; and that this harmony being interrupted, the souls of both of them do perish. The soul of a man and an ox is not distinguished ; but that of an ox has less knowledge than the soul of a man. And there are some men to be seen that have less understanding than an ox. Fa. In truth, they have the mind of an ox. Eu. This indeed concerns you, that accord- ing to the quality of your guitar your music will be the sweeter. Fa. I own it. Eu. Nor is it of small moment of what wood and in what shape your guitar is made. Fa. Very true. Eu. Nor are fiddle- strings made of the guts of every animal. Fa. So I have heard. Eu. They grow slack or tight by the moisture and dryness of the circumambient air, and will sometimes break. Fa. I have seen that more than once. Eu. On this accofunt you may do uncommon service to your little infafi-t, that his mind may have an instrument well tempered, and not vitiated, nor relaxed by sloth, nor squeaking with wrath, nor hoarse with intemperate drinking ; for education and diet oftentimes impress us with these affections. Fa. I will take your counsel ; but I want to hear how you can defend Aristotle. Eu. He indeed in general describes the soul, animal, vegetative, and sensitive. The soul gives life, but everything that has life is not an animal ; for trees live, grow old, and die ; but they have no sense, though some attribute to them a stupid sort of sense. In things that adhere one to another there is no sense to be perceived, but it is found in a sponge by those that pull it off. Hewers discover a sense in timber-trees, if we may believe them ; for they say, that if you strike the trunk of a tree that you design to hew down with the palm of your hand, as woodmongers use to do, it will be harder to cut that tree down because it has contracted itself with fear. But that which has life and feeling is an animal. But nothing hinders that which does not feel from being a vegetable, as mushrooms, beets, and coleworts. Fa. If they have a sort of life, a sort of sense, and motion in their growing, what hinders but that they may be honoured with the title of animals ? Eu. Why, the