[139]
Then, by your theory, when I think
of the walls of Babylon or of the face of Homer, some
'phantom' of what I have in mind 'strikes upon
my brain'! Hence it is possible for us to know
everything we wish to know, since there is nothing
of which we cannot think. Therefore no 'phantoms
from the outside steal in upon our souls in sleep; nor
do 'phantoms ' stream forth at all. In fact I never
knew anybody who could say nothing with more
ponderous gravity than Democritus.
"The soul is of such a force and nature that,
when we are awake, it is active, not because of
any extraneous impulse, but because of its own inherent power of self-motion and a certain incredible
[p. 527]
swiftness.1 When the soul is supported by the bodily
members and by the five senses its powers of perception, thought, and apprehension are more trustworthy. But when these physical aids are removed
and the body is inert in sleep, the soul then moves
of itself. And so, in that state, visions flit about
it, actions occur and it seems to hear and say many
things.
1 This same view (which is also expressed in Cic. C.M. 21. 78, Tusc. i. 43), was held by the ancient philosophers generally.
Cicero: De Senectute De Amicitia De Divinatione. With An English Translation. William Armistead Falconer. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1923.
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