On the other
hand, an old man shrivelled, weak, of failing strength, would be held to
be of little savour and of small account. But go on.
MAR. Now, it must be said that the outcome of the mind is that alone
which is always by it desired, sought for, and embraced, and that which
is more enjoyed than anything else, with which it is filled, comforted
and becomes better,--that is Truth, towards which, in all times, in
every state, and in whatsoever condition man finds himself, he always
aspires, and for the which he despises every fatigue, attempts every
study, makes no account of the body, and hates this life. Therefore
Truth is an incorporeal thing; and neither physics, metaphysics, nor
mathematics can be found in the body, because we see that the eternal
human essence is not in individuals, who are born and die. It (Truth) is
specific unity, said Plato, not the numerical multitude that holds the
substance of things. Therefore he called Idea one and many, movable and
immovable because as incorruptible species it is intelligible and one,
and as it communicates itself to matter and is subject to movement and
generation, it is sensible and many. In this second mode it has more of
non-entity than of entity; seeing that it is one and another and is ever
running but never diminishes.[O] In the first mode it is an entity, and
true. See now, the mathematicians take it for granted, that the true
figures are not to be found in natural bodies, nor can they be there
through the power either of nature or of art.
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