zi6 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV. 



This will appear the Icfs incredible, even to the Reader who is no 

 philofopher, if he confidcrs the common phacnomcnon of Dreaming^ 

 which evidently fliows that the Mind has the Power of Perception, 

 independent of the Body and its Organs ; for, in our Dreams, we 

 fee and hear without our Eyes and Ears, and fometiraes in fo lively 

 and forcible a manner, that we are more affe£ted than by the fame 

 perceptions when awake. The cafe of the Night-walker is ftill a 

 more remarkable example of what the Mind can do by itlelf ; for 

 the Mind of the Night-walker, as it appears to be more feparated 

 from the Body than in common Sleep, does things which are gene- 

 rally not believed, becaufe few people are philofophers enough to 

 know the Power of Mind ading by itfelf *. The fame is the cafe 



of 



cero, with that copioufiicfs and elegance wliich illflinguifli his philofophical ftyle, 

 as well as that of PlatOj from every other of the fame kind. The paflage is in the 

 firfl Book of his Tufculan Queftions, cap. 20. where, after fpeaking of the enlarged 

 views anil wonderful profpeiSls that the Mind fhall enjoy after its feparation from the 

 Body, he adds, " Nos enim ne nunc quidem oculis ctrnimtis ea quae videmus, Ne- 

 " que enim eft ullus fenfus in corpore, fed ut non folum Phyfici decent, verum 

 " etiam Medici, qui ifta aperta et patefafta viderunt, viae quafi quaedam funt ad 

 •' oculos, ad aures, ad nares, a fede animi perforatae. Itaque faepe aut cogitatione, 

 •' aut aliqua vi morbi impediti, apertis atque integris et *culis et auribus, nee vi- 

 " dermis nee audimus : Ut facile intclligi pofTir, animinn et videre et audire, non 

 ■" eas parteis quae quafi feneftrae funt animi: Quibus tamen fentire nihil queat 

 " mens, nifi id agat et adfit. Quid quod eadem Mente res difTimillimas comprc- 

 " hendimus, ut colorem, faporcm, odorem, fonum ? ^ae nunquam quinque nun- 

 " tiis animus cegne/ceret, nift ad eum omnia referrentur, et is omnium judex fotus ef- 

 *' fet. Atque ea prcfefto turn multo puriora et dilucidiora cernentur, cum, quo 

 " natura fert, liber animus pervenerit. Nam nunc quidem, quanquam foramina 

 " ilia, quae patent ad Animum a corpore, calidiflimo artificio natura fabricata eft, 

 *' tamen terrenis concretifque corporibus funt intercepta quodam modo. Cum 

 *' autcm nihil erit pratter animum, nulla res ohjeUa impediet, que minus percipiat 

 *' quale quidque fit.'" I have faid the fame thing in vol. i. p. 162. when I had not 

 this paffage of Cicero before me, in which it is fo much better exprefled. 



• See what I have faid upon the fubje£t of the Night-walkers, vol. !• 

 p. i6t. 



