AS TO OURSELVES 



the heavens, as no larger than a bright 

 jewel in a lady's necklace, though we know 

 that since that star has no proper motion, 

 as astronomers say, it must be immeasu- 

 rably distant, and for it then to shine so 

 splendidly, it is very probably more than 

 a hundred thousand times larger and a 

 hundred thousand times brighter than our 

 own sun. But our poor eye can now an- 

 swer: You know that I do not report the 

 exact truth to you about anything. You 

 should not trust me so, because, owing to 

 radical defects in my make-up, I tell you 

 that a man six feet high is only six inches 

 high when he is a mile off. And as to the 

 stars, you have had to make a telescope to 

 help me out, but even with its aid the fixed 

 stars remain beyond me, for I then see 

 them as merely shining points. It is not 

 by me, but by that greater power than 

 mine in you, your Reason, that you learn 

 not only how large Canopus is, but also by 

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