The Colloquies of Erasmus Part 104

_Eu._ But if Nature gives Strength to conceive, it doubtless gives Strength to give Suck too.

_Fa._ That may be.

_Eu._ Prithee tell me, don't you think Mother is a very pretty Name?

_Fa._ Yes, I do.

_Eu._ And if such a Thing were possible, would you endure it, that another Woman should be call'd the Mother of your Child?

_Fa._ By no Means.

_Eu._ Why then do you voluntarily make another Woman more than half the Mother of what you have brought into the World?

_Fa._ O fy! _Eutrapelus_, I don't divide my Son in two, I am intirely his Mother, and no Body in the World else.

_Eu._ Nay, _Fabulla_, in this Case Nature herself blames you to your Face. Why is the Earth call'd the Mother of all Things? Is it because she produces only? Nay, much rather, because she nourishes those Things she produces: that which is produced by Water, is fed by Water. There is not a living Creature or a Plant that grows on the Face of the Earth, that the Earth does not feed with its own Moisture. Nor is there any living Creature that does not feed its own Offspring. Owls, Lions, and Vipers, feed their own Young, and does Womankind make her Offspring Offcasts? Pray, what can be more cruel than they are, that turn their Offspring out of Doors for Laziness, not to supply them with Food?

_Fa._ That you talk of is abominable.

_Eu._ But Womankind don't abominate it. Is it not a Sort of turning out of Doors, to commit a tender little Infant, yet reaking of the Mother, breathing the very Air of the Mother, imploring the Mother's Aid and Help with its Voice, which they say will affect even a brute Creature, to a Woman perhaps that is neither wholsome in Body, nor honest, who has more Regard to a little Wages, than to your Child?

_Fa._ But they have made Choice of a wholsome, sound Woman.

_Eu._ Of this the Doctors are better Judges than yourself. But put the Case, she is as healthful as yourself, and more too; do you think there is no Difference between your little tender Infant's sucking its natural and familiar Milk, and being cherish'd with Warmth it has been accustomed to, and its being forc'd to accustom itself to those of a Stranger? Wheat being sown in a strange Soil, degenerates into Oats or small Wheat. A Vine being transplanted into another Hill, changes its Nature. A Plant when it is pluck'd from its Parent Earth, withers, and as it were dies away, and does in a Manner the same when it is transplanted from its Native Earth.

_Fa._ Nay, but they say, Plants that have been transplanted and grafted, lose their wild Nature, and produce better Fruit.

_Eu._ But not as soon as ever they peep out of the Ground, good Madam.

There will come a Time, by the Grace of G.o.d, when you will send away your young Son from you out of Doors, to be accomplish'd with Learning and undergo harsh Discipline, and which indeed is rather the Province of the Father than of the Mother. But now its tender Age calls for Indulgence. And besides, whereas the Food, according as it is, contributes much to the Health and Strength of the Body, so more especially it is essential to take Care, with what Milk that little, tender, soft Body be season'd. For _Horace's_ Saying takes Place here.

_Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu. What is bred in the Bone, will never out of the Flesh._

_Fa._ I don't 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 Ax whose Edge is spoiled?

_Eu._ Then you do acknowledge the Body is the Organ of the Mind?

_Fa._ That's 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; suppose the Soul of a Man was to pa.s.s into the Body of a c.o.c.k, would it make the same Sound it does now?

_Fa._ No to be sure.

_Eu._ What would hinder?

_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 pa.s.s into the Body of a Camel?

_Fa._ It would make a Noise like a Camel.

_Eu._ What if it should pa.s.s into the Body of an a.s.s, as it happened to _Apuleius_?

_Fa._ Then I think it would bray as an a.s.s does.

_Eu._ Indeed he is a Proof of this, who when he had a Mind to call after _Caesar_, having contracted his Lips as much as he possibly could, scarce p.r.o.nounced O, but could by no Means p.r.o.nounce _Caesar._ The same Person, when having heard a Story, and that he might not forget it, would have written it, reprehended 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 thro' purblind 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 can't 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'll grant that too, but what signifies that to the Goodness of the Mind?

_Eu._ As much as Darnel does to a clear Eye-Sight.

_Fa._ Because it vitiates the Organ.

_Eu._ Well answer'd. But solve me this Difficulty: Why is it that one understands quicker than another, and has a better Memory; why is one more p.r.o.ne to Anger than another; or is more moderate in his Resentment?