登陆注册
5385300000018

第18章

But now, if seeds Receive no property of colour, and yet Be still endowed with variable forms From which all kinds of colours they beget And vary (by reason that ever it matters much With what seeds, and in what positions joined, And what the motions that they give and get), Forthwith most easily thou mayst devise Why what was black of hue an hour ago Can of a sudden like the marble gleam,-As ocean, when the high winds have upheaved Its level plains, is changed to hoary waves Of marble whiteness: for, thou mayst declare, That, when the thing we often see as black Is in its matter then commixed anew, Some atoms rearranged, and some withdrawn, And added some, 'tis seen forthwith to turn Glowing and white.But if of azure seeds Consist the level waters of the deep, They could in nowise whiten: for however Thou shakest azure seeds, the same can never Pass into marble hue.But, if the seeds-Which thus produce the ocean's one pure sheen-Be now with one hue, now another dyed, As oft from alien forms and divers shapes A cube's produced all uniform in shape, 'Twould be but natural, even as in the cube We see the forms to be dissimilar, That thus we'd see in brightness of the deep (Or in whatever one pure sheen thou wilt)Colours diverse and all dissimilar.

Besides, the unlike shapes don't thwart the least The whole in being externally a cube;But differing hues of things do block and keep The whole from being of one resultant hue.

Then, too, the reason which entices us At times to attribute colours to the seeds Falls quite to pieces, since white things are not Create from white things, nor are black from black, But evermore they are create from things Of divers colours.Verily, the white Will rise more readily, is sooner born Out of no colour, than of black or aught Which stands in hostile opposition thus.

Besides, since colours cannot be, sans light, And the primordials come not forth to light, 'Tis thine to know they are not clothed with colour-Truly, what kind of colour could there be In the viewless dark? Nay, in the light itself A colour changes, gleaming variedly, When smote by vertical or slanting ray.

Thus in the sunlight shows the down of doves That circles, garlanding, the nape and throat:

Now it is ruddy with a bright gold-bronze, Now, by a strange sensation it becomes Green-emerald blended with the coral-red.

The peacock's tail, filled with the copious light, Changes its colours likewise, when it turns.

Wherefore, since by some blow of light begot, Without such blow these colours can't become.

And since the pupil of the eye receives Within itself one kind of blow, when said To feel a white hue, then another kind, When feeling a black or any other hue, And since it matters nothing with what hue The things thou touchest be perchance endowed, But rather with what sort of shape equipped, 'Tis thine to know the atoms need not colour, But render forth sensations, as of touch, That vary with their varied forms.

Besides, Since special shapes have not a special colour, And all formations of the primal germs Can be of any sheen thou wilt, why, then, Are not those objects which are of them made Suffused, each kind with colours of every kind?

For then 'twere meet that ravens, as they fly, Should dartle from white pinions a white sheen, Or swans turn black from seed of black, or be Of any single varied dye thou wilt.

Again, the more an object's rent to bits, The more thou see its colour fade away Little by little till 'tis quite extinct;As happens when the gaudy linen's picked Shred after shred away: the purple there, Phoenician red, most brilliant of all dyes, Is lost asunder, ravelled thread by thread;Hence canst perceive the fragments die away From out their colour, long ere they depart Back to the old primordials of things.

And, last, since thou concedest not all bodies Send out a voice or smell, it happens thus That not to all thou givest sounds and smells.

So, too, since we behold not all with eyes, 'Tis thine to know some things there are as much Orphaned of colour, as others without smell, And reft of sound; and those the mind alert No less can apprehend than it can mark The things that lack some other qualities.

But think not haply that the primal bodies Remain despoiled alone of colour: so, Are they from warmth dissevered and from cold And from hot exhalations; and they move, Both sterile of sound and dry of juice; and throw Not any odour from their proper bodies.

Just as, when undertaking to prepare A liquid balm of myrrh and marjoram, And flower of nard, which to our nostrils breathes Odour of nectar, first of all behooves Thou seek, as far as find thou may and can, The inodorous olive-oil (which never sends One whiff of scent to nostrils), that it may The least debauch and ruin with sharp tang The odorous essence with its body mixed And in it seethed.And on the same account The primal germs of things must not be thought To furnish colour in begetting things, Nor sound, since pow'rless they to send forth aught From out themselves, nor any flavour, too, Nor cold, nor exhalation hot or warm.......

The rest; yet since these things are mortal all-The pliant mortal, with a body soft;

The brittle mortal, with a crumbling frame;The hollow with a porous-all must be Disjoined from the primal elements, If still we wish under the world to lay Immortal ground-works, whereupon may rest The sum of weal and safety, lest for thee All things return to nothing utterly.

Now, too: whate'er we see possessing sense Must yet confessedly be stablished all From elements insensate.And those signs, So clear to all and witnessed out of hand, Do not refute this dictum nor oppose;But rather themselves do lead us by the hand, Compelling belief that living things are born Of elements insensate, as I say.

Sooth, we may see from out the stinking dung Live worms spring up, when, after soaking rains, The drenched earth rots; and all things change the same:

同类推荐
  • 隋唐野史

    隋唐野史

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 欧阳修词集评

    欧阳修词集评

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • On Interpretation

    On Interpretation

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 次柳氏旧闻

    次柳氏旧闻

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 丹方鉴源

    丹方鉴源

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 我到远古来修仙

    我到远古来修仙

    请问一下,在座的各位有没有体会过什么叫做被雷一劈回到解放前的感觉?而且...还是被劈到了远古!看着一只只剑齿虎从她身边走过,她表示她一堂堂的现代修仙界天才,还能怕了不成?佛挡杀佛,神挡杀神!不管是豺狼虎豹还是阴谋诡计,在她面前都是纸老虎!!(本文纯属虚构背景,非真实远古时期现状)
  • 全世界不及一个你

    全世界不及一个你

    他是令人闻风丧胆的帝国继承者,权倾一世,薄情冷性,却唯独对她宠溺入骨。“苏晨夏,我这辈子唯一会娶的女人!”家族为他和其他女人安排的订婚宴上,他带着她现身,公然把白莲花踢出了局。世人皆知,苏晨夏是顾景寒宠在心尖尖上的人,只要她想要的,没有他给不了的。因她一句想他,他隔着几千公里大半夜飞到她身边。因她一句怀念家的味道,他命人准备好食物,立马空运送到她面前。她说想摘星辰,他包下108层楼高的空中餐厅,让星光触手可及。“还想要什么?”看着她,他一本正经。她脚尖一踮,将他抱住,“顾景寒,我只要你!”
  • 皈依(中篇小说)

    皈依(中篇小说)

    桃花汛过后,资水就渐渐地平静了。婆婆崖渡口有人在扯着闲谈等候渡船,一个中轻汉子正扬起手向老远走来的圆满和尚打招呼。“圆满师傅,您这是过河还是上街啊?”那汉子是对河鹊坪人。“阿弥陀佛!是上趟街去。施主您这是回家吧?”听到喊声,圆满和尚收住了纷乱的心思,也停住了脚步,出于礼节就明知故问地答了话。两人当然是老相识,去年开春,他还去他家里化缘过树苗的。都说出家人不打诳语,圆满和尚却有意隐瞒了是去看慕容大夫的实情。或许这也不叫打诳语,因为人家又没有问他是去街上做什么事。他于是向其他人也作了个揖,重又拾步前行。
  • 证据游戏

    证据游戏

    来自英国的畅销小说:萨拉·纽比系列第一部《证据游戏》,为你解开一个个悬而未决的疑团……
  • 盗梦空间

    盗梦空间

    一部好莱坞大片《盗梦空间》使这个伴随我们一生却往往被忽视的神秘领域——“梦的世界”成为了焦点。本书用通俗易懂、深入浅出的语言,带着你和解梦大师一起揭开梦的神秘面纱,认识梦、了解梦、解释梦、利用梦,在梦的空间里自由徜徉,快乐飞翔。
  • 势关成败:以势谋事的8种学问

    势关成败:以势谋事的8种学问

    本书阐述了要变被动为主动,就必须学会通过主观努力适应、把握并利用客观规律,学会去“用势”,也就是要能动地度势、谋势、乘势、导势、借势、蓄势、造势和转势。“势”是一个意蕴精微、涵义丰富的词,在不同语境中可分别解释为形势、姿态、权力、地位、时机、法度、情况、威力、规律和运动趋向等。任何人都要在“势”中生存。“势”有消长、逆转,“势”的运动变化对人影响很大。人置身于“势”中,被“势”那显然无形却几乎不可抗拒的力所左右、所推动,在一种不得不这样的格局中去作相应的运动演变。
  • 无良儿子邪魅爹:盛宠惹火妖妃

    无良儿子邪魅爹:盛宠惹火妖妃

    !穿越了!穿就穿呗,还被某黑衣男给强了,强就强呗,还怀上了一个囧宝,囧就囧呗--还是个超能囧宝!初吻没有了,初¥也没有了,剩下的都是些什么?美男!权势,古武学的最高境界等等,当然,最重要的不是这些,而是那个囧宝。为娘的欺负老爹,脾气火爆,超级极品,作为儿子的囧宝,更是节操碎了一地,节操无下限!-----
  • 云间剑

    云间剑

    “跟我走吧,我带你去个好玩儿的地方~”韩枫已经不止一次听到这句话了,但是看着牵着自己手一脸认真的家伙他还真不好反驳什么。一会儿把自己带到八大派华山论剑,一会儿把自己带到朝廷出兵血洗武林,一会儿又来了个魔教正道惊天大决战,他真的只想安安静静的住在太平盛世,只可惜他的系统有些不靠谱……粉丝群群聊号码:569645580,欢迎各位寄刀片
  • 我的歌唱人生

    我的歌唱人生

    当陈子书站在百万人舞台上,台下皆是呼唤着他名字的粉丝,他回望过去那时的自己。原来,不知不觉中,他已经彻底改变了自己的生活,成为了一位大娱乐家。
  • 灵兽宠物店

    灵兽宠物店

    灵气复苏时代,身为凤族后裔的鸿华,手握族内空间传承,本应就此踏上修行巅峰——然后她开起了宠物店。鸿华:“没有毛茸茸的人生和咸鱼有什么两样,有了毛茸茸,甘当咸鱼。毛茸茸是世间的宝物,比一只毛茸茸更棒的,那就是一屋子的毛茸茸……”一个修真加养(一大群)宠物的故事,无CP。