350
Follows behind, fills every pore, blockades
The channels of the eyes, so that no images
Thrown off from things in any way can move them.
And when we see the square towers of a city
From far away, they often appear to be round.
This is because every angle when seen at a distance
355
Is blurred, or rather is not seen at all.
Its flow is lost, it does not strike our eyes,
And the air, while the images travel so far through it,
Inflicts many blows upon them and blunts them.
So when every angle has escaped our vision
360
The stone structures appear as though turned on a lathe,
Not like things really round that are seen close to,
But in a shadowy way they mimic them.
Our shadow also appears to move in the sun,
To follow our footsteps, imitate our gestures,
365
If you can conceive that air without light can walk
And follow the movements and gestures of men;
For what we are accustomed to call shadow
Can be nothing else than air deprived of light.
Doubtless because the air in certain places
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One after another is deprived of the sun’s light
Wherever in our movements we obstruct it,
And the point which we have left is filled again;
That is why the successive shadows of our body
Seem to be the same shadow always following us.
For always new rays of light are pouring out
375
And the first are consumed, like wood thrown into a flame.
Thus easily the earth is robbed of light
And is replenished as it washes away
The stain of the black shadows darkening it.
And here we do not concede in any way
That the eyes are deluded. For their task it is
To see in what place light is, and where shadow;
380
But whether one light is the same as another,
Whether the shadow that was here is now moving there,
Or rather what happens is what I have just described,
That the mind’s reasoning power must discern.
Eyes cannot understand the nature of things.
385
Do not then blame the eyes for this fault of the mind.
A ship we sail in moves while it seems to stand still.
A ship at anchor seems to be passing by,
And hills and plains appear to fly astern
When we drive our vessel past them with flying sails.
390
The stars in all the vaults of heaven seem fixed
And still, yet all are in constant motion,
Since to their distant setting they return
When with bright bodies they have crossed the sky.
The sun and moon likewise seem to stand still
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In their places, though the facts show that they move.
In the midst of the ocean mountains rise far off,
Between them lies a channel for a fleet,
And yet they seem to form a single island.
When children spinning round have come to a stop
400
They seem to see halls and pillars whirling round
So vividly that they can scarce believe
That the whole roof will not fall in on them.
And when with flickering fires nature begins
To lift her red glow on high, above the hills,
405
The glowing sun seems to be close upon them
And touching them with its own heat and fire.
Yet scarce two thousand bowshots are they distant
Or even five hundred throws of a javelin;
But far between them and the sun there lie
410
Enormous tracts of ocean spread below
Vast regions of the sky, and many thousands
Of lands lie in between where many men
And varied nations dwell and tribes of beasts.
A puddle no more than a finger deep
Lying between stones on a paved highway
415
Gives a view downwards below the earth as far
As the expanse of sky that yawns above,
So that you seem to look down upon the clouds
And see the heavenly bodies wonderfully
Deep-buried in a heaven below the earth.
Again, when in midstream our lively horse
420
Stands fast, and we look down upon the waves
Of the river flowing rapidly, a force
Seems to be carrying his body sideways
And to push it violently against the stream,
And wherever we turn our eyes, everything seems
To be rushing and flowing in a similar way.
425
A colonnade of equal width throughout
Supported by pillars of equal height
If you look down its whole length from one end
It gradually takes the outlines of a cone
Quite joining roof to floor and right to left
430
Until the invisible apex of the cone is reached.
At sea, to sailors from the waves the sun
Appears to rise, then set and hide its light in them.
This is because they see only sea and sky,
Lest you should readily believe the senses
435
Are everywhere confused and undermined.
To landsmen ignorant of the sea a ship
In harbour seems to struggle against the waves
Maimed, its poop broken. For whatever part
Of the oar is raised above the sea is straight
And the rudders above are straight; but the parts submerged
440
Below the water appear all broken back
And wrenched and turned flat upwards and so bent
Right back almost to float upon the surface.
And when at night the winds drive scattered clouds
Across the sky, the shining stars appear
To glide against the clouds and pass above them
445
On a way far different from their actual course.
And if you place a hand below one eye
And press it, then a new sensation comes.
Everything we see is doubled by our vision.
Two lights of lamps a-flowering with flames,
450
Two sets of furniture all through the house,
And men with double faces and two bodies.
When in sweet slumber sleep has bound our limbs
And in deep quiet all the body lies
Yet we seem then to ourselves to be awake
455
And move our limbs, and in the night’s blind dark
We think we see the sun and light of day,
That in our narrow room we pass in turn
Over sky and sea, rivers and mountains;
We see ourselves walking across wide plains.
We hear sounds, though the stern silence of night
460
Reigns everywhere; we speak, but still are silent.
And many marvels in this way we see
Which seek as it were to break the credit of our senses,
But all in vain, since the most part of them
Deceive because of notions of the mind
465
Which we ourselves bring to them, so that things
Seem so be seen which senses have not seen.
For nothing is more difficult than to distinguish
And separate plain things from doubtful things
Which all at once are added by the mind.
Now here’s another thing: if someone thinks
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That nothing is known, he does not even know
Whether that can be known, since he declares
470
That he knows nothing. Therefore I will spare
To argue a case against a man like this
Who has put his head where his feet ought to be.
And yet, if I were to grant that he does know, then
I ask him this: since you could see no truth
In anything before, how do you know
What it is to know, and what again not to know?
475
What gave you the idea of true and false,
What proves to you that there’s a difference,
That the doubtful and the certain are not the same?
You will find that it is from the senses
In the first place that the concept of truth has come,
And that the senses cannot be refuted.
For some standard must be found of greater credit
480
Able of itself to refute false things with true.
And what can be held to tell the truth more clearly
Than the senses? or shall reasoning derived
From false senses prevail against those senses
Being itself wholly derived from them?
Unless they are true, all reasoning is false.
485
Will the ear be able to convict the eye?
Or the touch the ear? Or taste refute the touch,
Or nose confound it or eye discredit it?
Not so, I think. For each has its own force
And separate power, so it needs must be
490
That softness and cold or heat and colour each
Is separately perceived and separately
We see whatever is involved in colour.
The taste in our mouth has its separate power, and smells
Have separate birth, and sounds. So it must be
495
That one sense never can refute another
Nor can they possibly convict themselves
Since each must always equally be trusted.
Accordingly whatever at any time
Has seemed to the senses to be true, is true.
And if reason cannot explain the cause
500
Why objects seen as square close to at a distance
Seem round, yet it is better that a man
Lacking reason should give a faulty explanation
Than to let slip from your hands in any way
Your grip upon the obvious, and break
The trust upon which all depends, and tear up
505
All the foundations on which life is built.
For not only would all reason come to ruin,
Life itself also would at once collapse,
Unless you dare to place trust in your senses,
Avoiding precipices and such things
As must be shunned, and follow the contrary.
510
Believe me, all that array of words is vain
That has been massed and deployed against the senses.
Lastly, in a building, if the ruler is crooked
And the square is faulty and misses the straight line
And the level is even slightly unbalanced,
515
The whole house then will of necessity
Be wrongly constructed and be falling over,
Warped, sloping, leaning forward, leaning back,
All out of proportion, so that some parts seem
Ready to collapse, and the whole destined to fall,
A victim to the first false measurements.
So your reasoning about things must be false and warped
520
Whenever it is based upon false senses.
And now I have no stony path to tread
In showing how the other senses work.
In the first place, every sound and voice is heard
When it has crept into the ears, and then
525
Made impact with its body upon the senses.
For we must confess that voice and sound also
Have bodies, since they strike upon the senses.
Besides, the voice often scrapes the throat. A shout
Roughens the windpipe on its outward course.
530
For when the voice’s atoms massed together
Make their way out through the narrow passage,
As the mouth is filled the gateway is scraped.
There is no doubt therefore that words and voices
Consist of bodily elements, since they can hurt.
You see also how much the body is worn,
535
How much is drawn from man’s very thews and sinews
By a speech that lasts from the first gleam of dawn
To the black shades of night, especially
If the words are shouted, at the top of the voice.
Therefore the voice must be made of bodily stuff,
540
Since much speaking diminishes the body.
The roughness of the voice moreover comes
From the roughness of its atoms, and smoothness from smooth.
The atoms that enter the ear are not of the same shape
When the horn bellows with deep and hollow roar
545
And the land re-echoes with its barbarous boom
As when swans from the glens of Helicon
With liquid voice uplift their mournful plaint.
When therefore from deep within our body
We force the voices out and send them forth
550
Straight through the mouth, the quickly moving tongue,
The cunning fashioner of words, joints them
And moulds them, and the shaping of the lips
Plays its due part in giving form to them.
When there is no great distance for the voice
To run, it follows that the words themselves
Are clearly heard, each separate syllable.
555
For the sound keeps its shape and keeps its form.
But if the space between is unduly long,
Words passing through much air must be confused
And the voice distorted as it flies through the air.
And that is why, though you can hear the sound,
560
You cannot grasp the meaning of the words,
The voice is so obstructed and confused.
Often one voice can penetrate the ears
Of a whole crowd, when uttered by a cryer.
Therefore one voice is suddenly dispersed
Into many voices, since it divides itself
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Into separate ears, stamping on them
The form of the word and its distinctive sound.
But those voices that do not strike the ear
Are carried past, and lost, and all in vain
Are scattered through the air and perish there.
Some, hitting solid objects, give back a sound
570
And at times delude with the image of a word.
And when you clearly see this You’ll be able
To give the reason to yourself and others
Why cliffs and rocks standing in lonely places
Give back the sounds in the same shape and order
When straying comrades in thick mountain country
575
We seek and with loud voices call to them.
Six times or even seven I have heard come back
One voice, so skilfully did hill from hill
Repeat the words and throw them back again.
Nymphs and goat-footed satyrs haunt these places,
580
So country-folk make out; and fauns they say
Are there as well, when their night-wandering noises
And merry pranks break the deep silences;
And there are s
ounds of strings; and sweet laments
The flute pours out pressed by a player’s fingers;
585
And everywhere the farm-folk listen, while Pan
Shaking the pine-leaves from his half-wild head
Runs his curved lips along the hollow reeds
And pipes all day his woodland melody.
And other signs and wonders they relate
590
Lest they be thought to live in haunts so wild
That even the gods have left them; or maybe
They have some other reason, for mankind
Is greedy aye for things that please the ear.
Well now, here’s something you can well believe:
595
That voices can come and impact on the ears
From places through which eyes can never see.
We hear a conversation through closed doors
Doubtless because the voice can travel safe
Through tortuous paths, while images refuse.
600
For they are split apart unless they swim
Through straight passages, such as glass contains,
Through which all things that can be seen can fly.
The voice is spread about in all directions
Since voices beget voices, when one voice
Once spoken has sprung apart into many, as fires
605
Lit by a spark break out into many fires.
So places are filled with voices, and though withdrawn
And hidden from sight they are stirred and boil with sound.
But images all travel in straight paths
When once they have been sent out. And therefore no one
610
Can see beyond a wall, though he hear voices through it.
Yet the voice itself passing through the walls of a house
Comes blunted and confused into the ears
And we seem to hear a sound rather than words.
The tongue now, and the palate, which give us taste
615
Need no more work of reasoning to explain.
In the first place we sense flavour in the mouth
When we press it out in chewing food, as a sponge
When full of water is pressed and begins to dry.
Next, what we press out is distributed
620
Abroad through all the passages of the palate
And winding channels of the porous tongue.
Therefore when bodies of the oozing juice
Are smooth, they sweetly touch and sweetly stroke
All the wet trickling regions round the tongue.
But contrariwise they prick the sense and tear it,
625
Being pressed out, the more they are filled with roughness.
The pleasure of flavour stops short at the palate.
When it has dropped down through the throat no pleasure
Is given while it disperses through our limbs.
It matters not what food is given the body
On the Nature of the Universe (Oxford World’s Classics) Page 18
