The Colloquies of Erasmus Part 106

_Eu._ When you are a Nun of the Order of St. _Clare_, then I'll be a _Franciscan_, and preach to you.

_Fa._ In Truth, I would fain know what the Soul is, about which we hear so much, and talk of so often, and no Body has seen.

_Eu._ Nay, every Body sees it that has Eyes.

_Fa._ I see Souls painted in the Shape of little Infants, but why do they put Wings to them as they do to Angels?

_Eu._ Why, because, if we can give any Credit to the Fables of _Socrates_, their Wings were broken by their falling from Heaven.

_Fa._ How then are they said to fly up to Heaven?

_Eu._ Because Faith and Charity make their Wings grow again. He that was weary of this House of his Body, begg'd for these Wings, when he cry'd out, _Who will give me the Wings of a Dove, that I may fly away, and be at rest_. Nor has the Soul any other Wings, being incorporeal, nor any Form that can be beheld by the Eyes of the Body. But those Things that are perceiv'd by the Mind, are more certain. Do you believe the Being of G.o.d?

_Fa._ Yes, I do.

_Eu._ But nothing is more invisible than G.o.d.

_Fa._ He is seen in the Works of Creation.

_Eu._ In like Manner the Soul is seen in Action. If you would know how it acts in a living Body, consider a dead Body. When you see a Man Feel, See, Hear, Move, Understand, Remember and Reason, you see the Soul to be in him with more Certainty than you see this Tankard; for one Sense may be deceiv'd, but so many Proofs of the Senses cannot deceive you.

_Fa._ Well then, if you can't shew me the Soul, paint it out to me, just as you would the King, whom I never did see.

_Eu._ I have _Aristotle_'s Definition ready for you.

_Fa._ What is it? for they say he was a very good Decypherer of every Thing.

_Eu. The Soul is the Act of an Organical, Physical Body, having Life_ in Potentia.

_Fa._ Why does he rather call it an _Act_ than a _Journey_ or _Way?_

_Eu._ Here's no Regard either to Coachmen or Hors.e.m.e.n, but a bare Definition of the Soul. And he calls the Form _Act_, the Nature of which is to _act_, when it is the Property of Matter to _suffer_. For all natural Motion of the Body proceeds from the Soul. And the Motion of the Body is various.

_Fa._ I take that in; but why does he add _of an Organical_?

_Eu._ Because the Soul does nothing but by the Help of Organs, that is, by the Instruments of the Body.

_Fa._ Why does he say _Physical_?

_Eu._ Because _Daedalus_ made such a Body to no Purpose; and therefore he adds, _having Life_ in Potentia. Form does not act upon every Thing; but upon a Body that is capable.

_Fa._ What if an Angel should pa.s.s 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 Soul?

_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 him; but else all that he has said concerning the Soul of a Man, is as applicable to the Soul of an a.s.s or an Ox.

_Eu._ Nay, that's true, or to a Beetle or a Snail.

_Fa._ What Difference then is there between the Soul of an Ox, and that of a Man?

_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 according to the Quality of your Guittar, your Musick will be the sweeter.

_Fa._ I own it.

_Eu._ Nor is it of small Moment of what Wood, and in what Shape your Guittar 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 Driness of the circ.u.mambient Air, and will sometimes break.

_Fa._ I have seen that more than once.

_Eu._ On this Account you may do uncommon Service to your little Infant, that his Mind may have an Instrument well tempered, and not vitiated, nor relaxed by Sloth, nor squeaking with Wrath, nor hoa.r.s.e with intemperate drinking. For Education and Diet oftentimes impress us with these Affections.

_Fa._ I'll 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 every Thing that has Life is not an Animal. For Trees live, grow old, and die; but they have no Sense; tho'

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 Wood-Mongers 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 t.i.tle of Animals?

_Eu._ Why the Antients did not think fit to call them so, and we must not deviate from their Ordinances, nor does it signify much as to what we are upon.

_Fa._ But I can't bear the Thoughts on't, that the Soul of a Beetle and of a Man should be the same.

_Eu._ Good Madam, it is not the same, saving in some Respects; your Soul animates, vegetates, and renders your Body sensible; the Soul of the Beetle animates his Body: For that some Things act one Way, and some another, that the Soul of a Man acts differently from the Soul of a Beetle, partly proceeds from the Matter; a Beetle neither sings nor speaks, because it wants Organs fit for these Actions.

_Fa._ Why then you say, that if the Soul of a Beetle should pa.s.s into the Body of a Man, it would act as the human Soul does.

_Eu._ Nay, I say not, if it were an angelical Soul: And there is no Difference between an Angel and a human Soul, but that the Soul of a Man was formed to act a human Body compos'd of natural Organs; and as the Soul of a Beetle will move nothing but the Body of a Beetle, an Angel was not made to animate a Body, but to be capable to understand without bodily Organs.

_Fa._ Can the Soul do the same Thing?

_Eu._ It can indeed, when it is separated from the Body.

_Fa._ Is it not at its own Disposal, while it is in the Body?