But if _he_ should behold, should grant, and should attend
My thoughts, my wishes, and my reasoning,
Who makes them so uncertain, hot, and vague,
Such dear conceits, such acts and speech,
Will not be given nor done to him, who stays
From birth, through life, to death in sheltered home.
Non da, non fa, non ha qualunque stassi
De l'orto, vita e morte a le magioni.
From what we have considered and said in the preceding discourses one is
able to understand these sentiments, especially where it is shown that
the sense of low things is diminished and annulled whenever the superior
powers are strongly intent upon a more elevated and heroic object. The
power of contemplation is so great, as is noted by Jamblichus, that it
happens sometimes, not only that the soul ceases from inferior acts, but
that it leaves the body entirely. The which I will not understand
otherwise than in such various ways as are explained in the book of
thirty seals, wherein are produced so many methods of contraction, of
which some infamously, others heroically operate, that one learns not to
fear death, suffers not pain of body, feels not the hindrances of
pleasures: wherefore the hope, the joy, and the delight of the superior
spirit are of so intense a kind that they extinguish all those passions
which may have their origin in doubt, in pain and all kinds of sadness.
CES.
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