_The sixth blind man_.
Eyes, no longer eyes, fountains no longer founts,
Ye have wept out the waters that did keep
The body, soul, and spirit joined in one,
And thou, reflecting crystal, which from without
So much unto the soul made manifest,
Thou art consumed by the wounded heart.
So towards the dark and cavernous abyss,
I, a blind arid man, direct my steps.
Ah, pity me, and do not hesitate
To help my speedy going. I who
So many rivers in the dark days spread out,
Finding my only comfort in my tears,
Now that my streams and fountains all are dry,
Towards profound oblivion lead the way.
[AC] Water is the first principle of all things; this was the
central doctrine of his system (Thales). Now, if we may believe
Aristotle, this thought was suggested to him not so much by
contemplating the illimitable ocean, out of which, as old
cosmogonists taught, all things had at first proceeded, as by
noticing the obvious fact, that moisture is found in all living
things, and that if it were absent they would cease to be. Thales,
no doubt, believed this humour or moisture to be, as he said, the
essence and principle of all things.--("Encyclopaedia
Metropolitana.")
The next one avers that he has lost his sight through the intensity of
the flame, which, proceeding from the heart, first destroyed the eyes,
and then dried up all the remaining moisture of the substance of the
lover, so that being all melted and turned to flame, he is no longer
himself, because the fire whose property it is to resolve all bodies
into their atoms, has converted him into impalpable dust, whereas by
virtue of water alone, the atoms of other bodies thicken, and are welded
together to make a substantial composition.
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