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It is not the sight that is deceived, but the mind. For sight was not mistaken in its proper objects of sense; for it perceived both the color and the shape. Therefore, three of the senses, sight, hearing, and smell, perceive external things that are not close by through the medium of the air; but taste does not perceive otherwise unless it comes into contact with the object of sense; but touch does both; for it perceives by approaching bodies and sometimes through a rod alone. Sometimes, therefore, sight needs the corroboration of the other senses, whenever the appearance is artfully contrived for deception, as in the case of a painting; for it is the work of painting to deceive sight with projections and hollows that do not exist, if the subject has such a nature; where for diagnosis there is need especially of touch, and sometimes also of taste or smell, as in the case of a wax apple; but sometimes by itself it clearly presents appearances when it does not see from a distance; for instance, it sees a square tower as round from afar; and it is mistaken also when we look through a mist or smoke or any similar things that obscure the sight. Similarly also when through moving water; for in the sea it sees the oar as if it were broken; similarly also when it looks through some transparent material, as in the case of mirrors and glass and other such things; or when the thing seen moves quickly; for rapid motion confuses the sight, so that it sees non-round things as round and moving things as standing still; or when the mind is occupied with other things, as in the case of one who intended to meet a friend and, having met him, passed him by, because his mind was on other things. And this is not an error of sight, but of the intellect. For sight saw and reported; but the intellect did not pay attention to what was reported. But for clear diagnosis sight especially needs four things: an unimpaired sense organ, proportionate motion and distance, and clear and bright air. 8 Concerning Touch Each of the other sense organs the Creator made double and confined to a certain place and part of the body; for He made two eyes and two ears and two passages of sense in the nose and also implanted two tongues in all animals; but in some divided, as in snakes, and in others joined and united, as in humans; for this reason He also made only the two anterior ventricles of the brain, so that the sensory nerves sent down from each ventricle might make the sense organs double. And He made them double out of surpassing care; so that if one should be affected, the remaining one might preserve the sense. But when most sense organs are destroyed, the animal is not harmed in its very life; but when touch is lost, the animal is also lost. For touch alone of the senses is common to all animals. For every animal has touch; but not all have all the other senses, but some have some; but the more perfect have all of them. Since, therefore, in this the animal was at risk of being or not being an animal, the Creator did not assign one part to touch; but almost the whole body of the animal; for except for bones and nails and horns, and ligaments and hairs, and certain other such things, every part of the body perceives touch. It happens, therefore, that each of the sense organs has a double sensation, one of its own proper objects of sense, and the other of touch, as sight does; for it both distinguishes colors and perceives hot and cold things; but the latter as a body, and colors as sight. Similarly also taste and smell and hearing. How then is touch of the whole body, if we say the senses are from the anterior ventricles of the brain? Or it is clear that the sense of touch is added by nerves being sent down from the brain and being dispersed to every part of the body. But since often when struck on the foot by a thorn we immediately feel our hair stand on end on our head, some have thought that the sensation or the perception of the sensation is sent up to the brain and
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οὐχ ἡ ὄψις ἐστὶν ἡ ἐξαπατωμένη ἀλλ' ἡ δίανοια. ἡ γὰρ ὄψις ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις αἰσθητοῖς οὐ διεσφάλη· τό τε γὰρ χρῶμα καὶ τὸ σχῆμα συνεῖδεν. αἱ μὲν οὖν τρεῖς τῶν αἰσθήσεων, ἥ τε ὄψις καὶ ἡ ἀκοὴ καὶ ἡ ὄσφρησις τῶν ἔξωθεν καὶ μὴ προσπελαζόντων ἀντιλαμβάνονται διὰ μέσου τοῦ ἀέρος· ἡ δὲ γεῦσις οὐκ ἄλλως αἰσθάνεται ἐὰν μὴ προσομιλήσῃ τῷ αἰσθητῷ· ἡ δὲ ἁφὴ ἐπαμφοτερίζει· καὶ γὰρ πλησιάζουσα τοῖς σώμασιν καὶ διὰ μόνης ἔσθ' ὅτε ῥάβδου. ποτὲ μὲν οὖν ἡ ὄψις τῆς ἐπιμαρτυρίας χρῄζει τῆς τῶν ἄλλων αἰσθήσεων, ὅταν ᾖ τὸ φαινόμενον ἐπιτετεχνημένον πρὸς ἀπάτην, ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς γραφῆς· γραφικῆς γὰρ ἔργον ἀπατῆσαι τὴν ὄψιν ἐξοχαῖς οὐκ οὔσαις καὶ κοιλώμασιν, εἰ τὸ πρᾶγμα τοιαύτην ἔχει τὴν φύσιν· ἔνθα χρεία πρὸς διάγνωσιν μάλιστα μὲν τῆς ἁφῆς, ἔσθ' ὅτε δὲ καὶ τῆς γεύσεως ἢ ὀσφρήσεως, ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ κηρίνου μήλου· ποτὲ δὲ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἐναργῶς παρίστησι τὰ φαινόμενα ὅταν μὴ πόρρωθεν ὁρᾷ· τὸν γοῦν πύργον, τὸν τετράγωνον στρογγύλον ὁρᾷ πόρρωθεν· σφάλλεται δὲ καὶ ὅταν δι' ἀχλύος ἢ καπνοῦ βλέπωμεν ἤ τινος τῶν παραπλησίων τῶν ἐπιθολούντων τὴν ὄψιν. ὁμοίως καὶ ὅταν δι' ὕδατος κινουμένου· καὶ γὰρ ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ τὴν κώπην ὡς κεκλασμένην ὁρᾷ· ὁμοίως καὶ ὅταν διά τινος διαφανοῦς ὕλης βλέπῃ, ὡς ἐπὶ τῶν ἐσόπτρων καὶ τῆς ὑάλου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τοιουτοτρόπων· ἢ ὅταν ὀξέως κινῆται τὸ ὁρώμενον· συνταράσσει γὰρ τὴν ὄψιν ἡ ταχεῖα κίνησις, ὡς στρογγύλα τὰ μὴ στρογγύλα βλέπειν καὶ ὡς ἑστῶτα τὰ κινούμενα· ἢ ὅταν ἡ διάνοια πρὸς ἄλλοις ἀσχολῆται, ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ προθεμένου μὲν συντυχεῖν φίλῳ καὶ συντυχόντος μὲν παρελθόντος δὲ αὐτόν, τῷ τὴν διάνοιαν αὐτοῦ πρὸς ἑτέροις εἶναι. οὐκ ἔστιν δὲ οὐδὲ τοῦτο διαμάρτημα τῆς ὄψεως, ἀλλὰ τοῦ νοῦ. ἡ μὲν γὰρ εἶδεν καὶ ἀπήγγειλεν· ὁ δὲ νοῦς οὐ προσέσχε τοῖς ἀπαγγελθεῖσιν. τεσσάρων δὲ μάλιστα πρὸς ἐναργῆ διά γνωσιν ἡ ὄψις χρῄζει, ἀβλαβοῦς αἰσθητηρίου, συμμέτρου κινήσεως καὶ διαστήματος, ἀέρος καθαροῦ καὶ λαμπροῦ. 8 περὶ ἁφῆσ Ἕκαστον μὲν τῶν ἄλλων αἰσθητηρίων διπλοῦν ὁ δημιουργὸς κατεσκεύασεν καὶ τόπῳ τινὶ καὶ μορίῳ τοῦ σώματος περιέγραψεν· καὶ γὰρ ὀφθαλμοὺς δύο καὶ ὦτα δύο καὶ δύο πόρους τῆς αἰσθήσεως ἐν τῇ ῥινὶ πεποίηκεν καὶ γλώττας δὲ δύο πᾶσι τοῖς ζῴοις ἐνέφυσεν· ἀλλὰ τοῖς μὲν διῃρημένας ὡς τοῖς ὄφεσι, τοῖς δὲ συνημμένας καὶ συνηνωμένας ὡς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ δύο τὰς προσθίους κοιλίας μόνας τοῦ ἐγκεφάλου πεποίηκεν, ἵνα ἐξ ἑκατέρας κοιλίας τὰ αἰσθητικὰ νεῦρα καταπεμπόμενα, διπλᾶ ποιῇ τὰ αἰσθητήρια. διπλᾶ δὲ αὐτὰ πεποίηκεν δι' ὑπερβάλλουσαν κηδεμονίαν· ἵνα τοῦ ἑτέρου παθόντος τὸ περιλειπόμενον σῴζῃ τὴν αἴσθησιν. ἀλλὰ τῶν μὲν πλείστων αἰσθητηρίων διαφθειρομένων οὐδὲν εἰς αὐτὴν τὴν ζωὴν καταβλάπτεται τὸ ζῷον· ἁφῆς δὲ ἀπολλυμένης συναπόλλυται καὶ τὸ ζῷον. ἁφὴ γὰρ μόνη τῶν αἰσθήσεων κοινὴ πάντων ἐστὶ τῶν ζῴων. πᾶν γὰρ ζῷον ἁφὴν ἔχει· τὰς δὲ ἄλλας αἰσθήσεις οὐ πάντα πάσας, ἀλλ' ἐνίας ἔνια· πάσας δὲ ἔχει τὰ τελειότερα. ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ἐν τούτῳ τὸ ζῷον ἐκινδύνευε ζῷον εἶναι ἢ μὴ εἶναι, οὐχ ἓν μόριον ὁ δημιουργὸς ἀπεκλήρωσε τῇ ἁφῇ· ἀλλὰ πᾶν σχεδὸν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ζῴου· πλὴν γὰρ ὀστῶν καὶ ὀνύχων καὶ κεράτων, συνδέσμων τε καὶ τριχῶν, καὶ ἄλλων τινῶν τοιούτων, πᾶν μόριον τοῦ σώματος τῆς ἁφῆς ἀντιλαμβάνεται. συμβέβηκεν οὖν ἕκαστον τῶν αἰσθητηρίων διπλᾶς ἔχειν αἰσθήσεις τὴν μὲν τῶν ἰδίων αἰσθητῶν, τὴν δὲ τῆς ἁφῆς, ὡς ἡ ὄψις· καὶ γὰρ τὰ χρώματα διακρίνει καὶ τῶν θερμῶν καὶ ψυχρῶν ἀντιλαμβάνεται· ἀλλὰ τούτων μὲν ὡς σῶμα, τῶν δὲ χρωμάτων ὡς ὄψις. ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ γεῦσις καὶ ὄσφρησις καὶ ἀκοή. πῶς οὖν παντός ἐστι τοῦ σώματος ἡ ἁφή, εἴπερ ἀπὸ τῶν προσθίων κοιλιῶν τοῦ ἐγκεφάλου λέγομεν εἶναι τὰς αἰσθήσεις; ἢ δῆλον ὅτι νεύρων καταπεμπομένων ἐξ ἐγκεφάλου καὶ διασπειρομένων εἰς πᾶν μόριον τοῦ σώματος ἡ τῆς ἁφῆς αἴσθησις προσγίνεται. ἐπειδὴ δὲ πολλάκις ὑπ' ἀκάνθης πληγέντες τὸν πόδα τῆς κεφαλῆς εὐθέως τὰς τρίχας φρίττομεν ὠήθησάν τινες τὸ πάθος ἢ τὴν αἴσθησιν τοῦ πάθους εἰς τὸν ἐγκέφαλον ἀναπέμπεσθαι καὶ