登陆注册
15677000000210

第210章

'Tis not to be expected that argument and instruction, though we never so voluntarily surrender our belief to what is read to us, should be of force to lead us on so far as to action, if we do not, over and above, exercise and form the soul by experience to the course for which we design it; it will, otherwise, doubtless find itself at a loss when it comes to the pinch of the business. This is the reason why those amongst the philosophers who were ambitious to attain to a greater excellence, were not contented to await the severities of fortune in the retirement and repose of their own habitations, lest he should have surprised them raw and inexpert in the combat, but sallied out to meet her, and purposely threw themselves into the proof of difficulties. Some of them abandoned riches to exercise themselves in a voluntary poverty; others sought out labour and an austerity of life, to inure them to hardships and inconveniences; others have deprived themselves of their dearest members, as of sight, and of the instruments of generation, lest their too delightful and effeminate service should soften and debauch the stability of their souls.

But in dying, which is the greatest work we have to do, practice can give us no assistance at all. A man may by custom fortify himself against pain, shame, necessity, and such-like accidents, but as to death, we can experiment it but once, and are all apprentices when we come to it.

There have, anciently, been men so excellent managers of their time that they have tried even in death itself to relish and taste it, and who have bent their utmost faculties of mind to discover what this passage is, but they are none of them come back to tell us the news:

"Nemo expergitus exstat, Frigida quern semel est vitai pausa sequuta."

["No one wakes who has once fallen into the cold sleep of death."--Lucretius, iii. 942]

Julius Canus, a noble Roman, of singular constancy and virtue, having been condemned to die by that worthless fellow Caligula, besides many marvellous testimonies that he gave of his resolution, as he was just going to receive the stroke of the executioner, was asked by a philosopher, a friend of his: "Well, Canus, whereabout is your soul now? what is she doing? What are you thinking of?"--"I was thinking," replied the other, "to keep myself ready, and the faculties of my mind full settled and fixed, to try if in this short and quick instant of death, I could perceive the motion of the soul when she parts from the body, and whether she has any sentiment at the separation, that I may after come again if I can, to acquaint my friends with it." This man philosophises not unto death only, but in death itself. What a strange assurance was this, and what bravery of courage, to desire his death should be a lesson to him, and to have leisure to think of other things in so great an affair:

"Jus hoc animi morientis habebat."

["This mighty power of mind he had dying."-Lucan, viii. 636.]

And yet I fancy, there is a certain way of making it familiar to us, and in some sort of making trial what it is. We may gain experience, if not entire and perfect, yet such, at least, as shall not be totally useless to us, and that may render us more confident and more assured. If we cannot overtake it, we may approach it and view it, and if we do not advance so far as the fort, we may at least discover and make ourselves acquainted with the avenues. It is not without reason that we are taught to consider sleep as a resemblance of death: with how great facility do we pass from waking to sleeping, and with how little concern do we lose the knowledge of light and of ourselves. Peradventure, the faculty of sleeping would seem useless and contrary to nature, since it deprives us of all action and sentiment, were it not that by it nature instructs us that she has equally made us to die as to live; and in life presents to us the eternal state she reserves for us after it, to accustom us to it and to take from us the fear of it. But such as have by violent accident fallen into a swoon, and in it have lost all sense, these, methinks, have been very near seeing the true and natural face of death; for as to the moment of the passage, it is not to be feared that it brings with it any pain or displeasure, forasmuch as we can have no feeling without leisure; our sufferings require time, which in death is so short, and so precipitous, that it must necessarily be insensible. They are the approaches that we are to fear, and these may fall within the limits of experience.

Many things seem greater by imagination than they are in effect; I have passed a good part of my life in a perfect and entire health; I say, not only entire, but, moreover, sprightly and wanton. This state, so full of verdure, jollity, and vigour, made the consideration of sickness so formidable to me, that when I came to experience it, I found the attacks faint and easy in comparison with what I had apprehended. Of this I have daily experience; if I am under the shelter of a warm room, in a stormy and tempestuous night, I wonder how people can live abroad, and am afflicted for those who are out in the fields: if I am there myself, I do not wish to be anywhere else. This one thing of being always shut up in a chamber I fancied insupportable: but I was presently inured to be so imprisoned a week, nay a month together, in a very weak, disordered, and sad condition; and I have found that, in the time of my health, I much more pitied the sick, than I think myself to be pitied when I am so, and that the force of my imagination enhances near one-half of the essence and reality of the thing. I hope that when I come to die I shall find it the same, and that, after all, it is not worth the pains I take, so much preparation and so much assistance as I call in, to undergo the stroke.

But, at all events, we cannot give ourselves too much advantage.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 屌丝碰上爱情

    屌丝碰上爱情

    爱情是虚无缥缈的东西,让人为之欢喜、心酸。太多的人为了爱情,不顾一切。亦有太多的人没能去珍惜那份属于自己的爱情,拼了命的去挽回却发现随着时间的流去留下来却只有回忆
  • 相公,我是现代人

    相公,我是现代人

    一次一个人的旅行,却是一场寻找爱的旅程,来到一个陌生的时空,荆心感到了前所未有的恐慌和不知所措,华丽的身份,卑微的地位,原来自己只是别人的一颗棋子,无奈无助委屈涌上心头,这一切的一切,她该怎么办……还好,尉迟段不算太狠,看穿了她的心灵,小妮子,原来你是这样的……--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 爱情收幕曲

    爱情收幕曲

    当清纯呆萌的她,遇上帅气的他,会擦出怎样的火花
  • 白痴,嫁我可好

    白痴,嫁我可好

    “给你十万,离开黎塘”牧苗苗沉默,拿出包包,掏了半天,然后拿出一张纸“给你,随便你填,让我和黎塘结婚!”刚刚走到包房的黎塘,满脸黑线,他这是被媳妇给买了吗?
  • 梦回大唐之武侠神话

    梦回大唐之武侠神话

    一次意外,让闷骚的他转世到一个武侠世界,一次意外,让有点好色的他从此坐拥四大美人,一次意外,让有些正直的他获得惊世内力,一次次意外,让他走向人生巅峰,这就是他,易天行!
  • 坏习惯 坏成绩

    坏习惯 坏成绩

    为了不让坏习惯成为大问题,将其扼杀于萌芽状态,为了让孩子对所失有挽回的余地,更为了及时发现孩子身上的坏习惯,本书针对具体问题提出对策,因势利导,为你导航。
  • 魔王在学院

    魔王在学院

    “吾乃第五魔王——路易斯,毕生致力于人类的计划生育!”..
  • 七虐七伤不负卿

    七虐七伤不负卿

    无语望天,她本是天上一介小小侍奉童子,怎么沦落到……“夕月,君上说你今夜不用侍奉了。”夕月瞪大了双眼,瞬间乐了。啊哈,那她今晚是不是可以实施逃跑计划了?……无良小白单纯傻气+专宠无下限=生生世世不分离(本人爱暖文,喜欢专宠,所以不喜欢勿喷啊!!)
  • 淇水有狐

    淇水有狐

    仅剩的一只白狐名叫白淇,自小与虎蛟生活在一起。尽管被要求不能接触人类,她还是误闯禁地遇见修仙的冷面青年劳商,误打误撞地得到了法术指点;又意外遇险不得不进入城市,“解救”下了被恶霸调戏的玄狐墨随,意外发现对方竟和自己有娃娃亲?一直无父无母的白淇靠着玄狐一族提供的线索,不断探寻自己的身世,而身边的所有人都随着她卷入。回忆十四年前天地大劫,白淇靠近真相的同时也越来越看不清身边人和自己……
  • 猎魂帝国

    猎魂帝国

    史上聚集鬼魂最多,阵容最大的亡灵小说!“借魂书,生死乱,亡灵毁”这是一个死者死后亡灵称帝的故事!死亡,才是另一个黑暗地狱的开始!鬼过界,建军队,噬魂剑,断魂台!人鬼殊途,鬼命相依,魂魄盛世!邪恶之魂扰乱人间正轨,破坏世间生死轮回正道。