Chap. 54.] THE THEORY OE SIOHT. :, \ 



very great distance, while there are others, again, who can only 

 distinguish objects when brought quite close to them. The 

 vision of many stands in need of the rays of the sun ; such 

 persons cannot see on a cloudy day, nor yet after the sun has 

 set. Others, again, have bad sight in the day-time, but a 

 sight superior to that of others by night. Of persons having 

 double pupils, or the evil eye, we have already spoken 93 at 

 sufficient length. Blue 94 eyes are the best for seeing in the 

 dark. 



It is said that Tiberius Caesar, like no other human being, 

 was so endowed by Nature, that on awaking in the night 95 he 

 could for a few moments distinguish objects just as well as 

 in the clearest daylight, but that by degrees he would find 

 his sight again enveloped in darkness. The late Emperor 

 Augustus had azure eyes like those of some horses, the white 

 being larger than with other men ; he used to be very angr}- 

 if a person stared intently at them for this peculiarity. Claudius 

 Caesar had at the corners of the eyes a white fleshy substance, 

 covered with veins, which would occasionally become suffused 

 with blood; with the Emperor Caius 96 they had a fixed, steady 

 gaze, while Nero could see nothing distinctly without wink- 

 ing, and having it brought close to his eyes. The Emperor 

 Caius had twenty pairs of gladiators in his training-school, 

 and of all these there were only two who did not wink the 

 eyes when a menacing gesture was made close to them : hence 

 it was that these men were invincible. So difficult a matter is 

 it for a man to keep his eyes from winking : indeed, to wink is 

 so natural to many, that they cannot desist from it ; such per- 

 sons we generally look upon as the most timid. 



No persons have the eye all of one colour; that of the 

 middle of the eye is always different from the white which 

 surrounds it. In all animals there is no part in the whole 

 body that is a stronger exponent of the feelings, and in man 

 more especially, for it is from the expression of the eye that 

 we detect clemency, moderation, compassion, hatred, love, 

 sadness, and joy. Erom the eyes, too, the various characters 

 of persons are judged of, according as they are ferocious, me- 



93 B. vii. c. 2. 94 « Caesii." 



95 The same has been said also of Cardan, the elder Scaliger, Theodore 

 Beza, the French physician Mairan, and the republican Camille Besmoulins. 



96 Caligula. 



E 2 



