Chap. X. A N T I E N t M E T A P H Y S I C S. 135 



1 he p bant q/i J, as I have faid, is ihe repofitory of the peiceptlons 

 of the objeds of fenfe, by the means of which they opjrate upon the 

 f?nnd, even when the objeds are not prefcnt. In this manner, the 

 brutes are affected, as well as we. But there are two differences, 

 which 1 have already obferved, betwixt their ph.int.'ifia and ours. The 

 firft is, that their phantafta only operates, either when the objea it- 

 felr is again piefented to them, or, when any natural, inftindive de- 

 fire, neceffary either for the prefervation of th- individual, or the con- 

 tinuation of the fpecies, excites the perception of the objedt in the 

 phantafia ; whereas, our phantafta, as Ariifotle has obferved t> is at 

 our command, and we can, at any time, conjure up the forms in it ; 

 and thefe phantoms very often affedt us as ftrongly, or more ftrongly, 

 than the real objects, hn^^/econdly^ we can not only call up thofe 

 forms when we pleafe, but we can mould and falliion them according 

 to our fancy ; adding to them, or taking from them; feparating or 

 combining them, in a manner very different from their appearance 

 in nature : And we can make them more perfed, as in the cafe of 

 geometrical figures ; which (hows evidently, that, even in this matter 

 of the phantafia^ and with reipe6t to external objedtt:, there is a power 

 in us, fuperior to any which the brute poffeffes ; for the brute pre- 

 ferves, in his phantafia^ the objeds, juft as he received them from 

 nature, without making any alteration in them, for the better, or the 

 worfe. 



And, as to the comparifon of the perceptions of fenfe, a faculty, 

 which, as I obferved, the brute poffeffes in a certain degree, there is 

 llkewife the difference whivh I have obferved betwixt our phantcfia 

 and that of the brute, namely, that the brute never makes the compa- 

 rifon, unlefs inftigated by one or other of tiie natural deiires above 

 mention-d ; whereas, man makes the comparifon without any fuch 



inftigation. 



Further, 



t Lib. 3. capi 3. de An'ima, 



