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the essays of montaigne, v3-第9部分

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thy dissolution; than every one of the rest: the last step is not the
cause of lassitude: it does not confess it。  Every day travels towards
death; the last only arrives at it。〃  These are the good lessons our
mother Nature teaches。

I have often considered with myself whence it should proceed; that in war
the image of death; whether we look upon it in ourselves or in others;
should; without comparison; appear less dreadful than at home in our own
houses (for if it were not so; it would be an army of doctors and whining
milksops); and that being still in all places the same; there should be;
notwithstanding; much more assurance in peasants and the meaner sort of
people; than in others of better quality。  I believe; in truth; that it
is those terrible ceremonies and preparations wherewith we set it out;
that more terrify us than the thing itself; a new; quite contrary way of
living; the cries of mothers; wives; and children; the visits of
astounded and afflicted friends; the attendance of pale and blubbering
servants; a dark room; set round with burning tapers; our beds environed
with physicians and divines; in sum; nothing but ghostliness and horror
round about us; we seem dead and buried already。  Children are afraid
even of those they are best acquainted with; when disguised in a visor;
and so 'tis with us; the visor must be removed as well from things as
from persons; that being taken away; we shall find nothing underneath but
the very same death that a mean servant or a poor chambermaid died a day
or two ago; without any manner of apprehension。  Happy is the death that
deprives us of leisure for preparing such ceremonials。




CHAPTER XX

OF THE FORCE OF IMAGINATION

            〃Fortis imaginatio generat casum;〃 say the schoolmen。

     '〃A strong imagination begets the event itself。〃Axiom。 Scholast。'

I am one of those who are most sensible of the power of imagination:
every one is jostled by it; but some are overthrown by it。  It has a very
piercing impression upon me; and I make it my business to avoid; wanting
force to resist it。  I could live by the sole help of healthful and jolly
company: the very sight of another's pain materially pains me; and I
often usurp the sensations of another person。  A perpetual cough in
another tickles my lungs and throat。  I more unwillingly visit the sick
in whom by love and duty I am interested; than those I care not for; to
whom I less look。  I take possession of the disease I am concerned at;
and take it to myself。  I do not at all wonder that fancy should give
fevers and sometimes kill such as allow it too much scope; and are too
willing to entertain it。  Simon Thomas was a great physician of his time:
I remember; that happening one day at Toulouse to meet him at a rich old
fellow's house; who was troubled with weak lungs; and discoursing with
the patient about the method of his cure; he told him; that one thing
which would be very conducive to it; was to give me such occasion to be
pleased with his company; that I might come often to see him; by which
means; and by fixing his eyes upon the freshness of my complexion; and
his imagination upon the sprightliness and vigour that glowed in my
youth; and possessing all his senses with the flourishing age wherein I
then was; his habit of body might; peradventure; be amended; but he
forgot to say that mine; at the same time; might be made worse。  Gallus
Vibius so much bent his mind to find out the essence and motions of
madness; that; in the end; he himself went out of his wits; and to such a
degree; that he could never after recover his judgment; and might brag
that he was become a fool by too much wisdom。  Some there are who through
fear anticipate the hangman; and there was the man; whose eyes being
unbound to have his pardon read to him; was found stark dead upon the
scaffold; by the stroke of imagination。  We start; tremble; turn pale;
and blush; as we are variously moved by imagination; and; being a…bed;
feel our bodies agitated with its power to that degree; as even sometimes
to expiring。  And boiling youth; when fast asleep; grows so warm with
fancy; as in a dream to satisfy amorous desires:

         〃Ut; quasi transactis saepe omnibu rebu; profundant
          Fluminis ingentes; fluctus; vestemque cruentent。〃

Although it be no new thing to see horns grown in a night on the forehead
of one that had none when he went to bed; notwithstanding; what befell
Cippus; King of Italy;  is memorable; who having one day been a very
delighted spectator of a bullfight; and having all the night dreamed that
he had horns on his head; did; by the force of imagination; really cause
them to grow there。  Passion gave to the son of Croesus the voice which
nature had denied him。  And Antiochus fell into a fever; inflamed with
the beauty of Stratonice; too deeply imprinted in his soul。  Pliny
pretends to have seen Lucius Cossitius; who from a woman was turned into
a man upon her very wedding…day。  Pontanus and others report the like
metamorphosis to have happened in these latter days in Italy。  And;
through the vehement desire of him and his mother:

          〃Volta puer solvit; quae foemina voverat; Iphis。〃

Myself passing by Vitry le Francois;  saw a man the Bishop of Soissons
had; in confirmation; called Germain; whom all the inhabitants of the
place had known to be a girl till two…and…twenty years of age; called
Mary。  He was; at the time of my being there; very full of beard; old;
and not married。  He told us; that by straining himself in a leap his
male organs came out; and the girls of that place have; to this day; a
song; wherein they advise one another not to take too great strides; for
fear of being turned into men; as Mary Germain was。  It is no wonder if
this sort of accident frequently happen; for if imagination have any
power in such things; it is so continually and vigorously bent upon this
subject; that to the end it may not so often relapse into the same
thought and violence of desire; it were better; once for all; to give
these young wenches the things they long for。

Some attribute the scars of King Dagobert and of St。 Francis to the force
of imagination。  It is said; that by it bodies will sometimes be removed
from their places; and Celsus tells us of a priest whose soul would be
ravished into such an ecstasy that the body would; for a long time;
remain without sense or respiration。  St。 Augustine makes mention of
another; who; upon the hearing of any lamentable or doleful cries; would
presently fall into a swoon; and be so far out of himself; that it was in
vain to call; bawl in his ears; pinch or burn him; till he voluntarily
came to himself; and then he would say; that he had heard voices as it
were afar off; and did feel when they pinched and burned him; and; to
prove that this was no obstinate dissimulation in defiance of his sense
of feeling; it was manifest; that all the while he had neither pulse nor
breathing。

'Tis very probable; that visions; enchantments; and all extraordinary
effects of that nature; derive their credit principally from the power of
imagination; working and making its chiefest impression upon vulgar and
more easy souls; whose belief is so strangely imposed upon; as to think
they see what they do not see。

I am not satisfied whether those pleasant ligatures 'Les nouements
d'aiguillettes; as they were called; knots tied by some one; at a
wedding; on a strip of leather; cotton; or silk; and which; especially
when passed through the wedding…ring; were supposed to have the magical
effect of preventing a consummation of the marriage until they were
untied。  See Louandre; La Sorcellerie; 1853; p。 73。  The same
superstition and appliance existed in England。' with which this age of
ours is so occupied; that there is almost no other talk; are not mere
voluntary impressions of apprehension and fear; for I know; by
experience; in the case of a particular friend of mine; one for whom I
can be as responsible as for myself; and a man that cannot possibly fall
under any manner of suspicion of insufficiency; and as little of being
enchanted; who having heard a companion of his make a relation of an
unusual frigidity that surprised him at a very unseasonable time; being
afterwards himself engaged upon the same account; the horror of the
former story on a sudden so strangely possessed his imagination; that he
ran the same fortune the other had done; and from that time forward; the
scurvy remembrance of his disaster running in his mind and tyrannising
over him; he was subject to relapse into the same misfortune。  He found
some remedy; however; for this fancy in another fancy; by himself frankly
confessing and declaring beforehand to the party with whom he was to have
to do; this subjection of his; by which means; the agitation of his soul
was; in some sort; appeased; and knowing that; now; some such
misbehaviour was expected from him; the restraint upon his faculties grew
less。  And afterwards; at such times as he was in no such apprehension;
when setting about the act (his thoughts being then disengaged and free;
and his body in its true and natural estate) he was at leisure to cause
t
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