Let us now come to the
consideration of the voluntary captivity and of the pleasant yoke under
the dominion of the said Diana; that yoke, I say, without which, the
soul is impotent to rise to that height from which it fell, and which
renders it light and agile, while the noose renders it more active and
disengaged.

CES. Speak on then!

MAR. To begin, to continue, and to conclude in order; I consider that
all which lives must feed itself and nourish itself in a manner suitable
to the way in which it lives. Therefore, nothing squares with the
intellectual nature but the intellectual, as with the body nothing but
the corporeal; seeing that nourishment is taken for no other reason, but
that it should go to the substance of him who is to be nourished. As
then the body does not transmute into spirit, nor the spirit into
body,--for every transmutation takes place, when matter, which was in
one form, comes to be in another,[N]--so the spirit and the body are not
the same matter; in that that, which was subject to one should come to
be subject to the other.

[N] Carlyle says, "For matter, were it never so despicable, is
spirit: were it never so honourable, can it be more?"--("Sartor
Resartus.")

CES. Surely, if the soul should be nourished with body, it would carry
itself better there, where the fecundity of the material is, (as
Jamblichus argues); so that when a large fat body presents itself, we
should imagine that it were the habitation of a strong soul, firm, ready
and heroic, and we should say: Oh, fat soul, oh, fecund spirit, oh, fine
nature, oh, divine intelligence, oh, clear mind, oh, blessed repast, fit
to spread before lions, or verily for a banquet for dogs. 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