CES. That is all well. Let us come to that which follows. I see a ship
floating on the waves; its ropes are attached to the shore and there is
the legend: Fluctuat in portu. Deliberate about the signification of
this, and when you are decided about it, explain.
MAR. Both the legend and the figure have a certain connexion with the
present legend and figure, as may be easily understood, if one considers
it a little. But let us read the sonnet.
46.
If I by gods, by heroes and by men
Be re-assured, so that I not despair,
Nor fear, pain, nor the impediments
Of death of body, joy and happiness,
Yet must I learn to suffer and to feel.
And that I may my pathways clearly see,
Let doubts arise, and dolour, and the woe
Of vanished hopes, of joy and all delight.
But if _he_ should behold, should grant, and should attend
My thoughts, my wishes, and my reasoning,
Who makes them so uncertain, hot, and vague,
Such dear conceits, such acts and speech,
Will not be given nor done to him, who stays
From birth, through life, to death in sheltered home.
Non dà, non fa, non ha qualunque stassi
De l'orto, vita e morte a le magioni.
From what we have considered and said in the preceding discourses one is
able to understand these sentiments, especially where it is shown that
the sense of low things is diminished and annulled whenever the superior
powers are strongly intent upon a more elevated and heroic object. The
power of contemplation is so great, as is noted by Jamblichus, that it
happens sometimes, not only that the soul ceases from inferior acts, but
that it leaves the body entirely. The which I will not understand
otherwise than in such various ways as are explained in the book of
thirty seals, wherein are produced so many methods of contraction, of
which some infamously, others heroically operate, that one learns not to
fear death, suffers not pain of body, feels not the hindrances of
pleasures: wherefore the hope, the joy, and the delight of the superior
spirit are of so intense a kind that they extinguish all those passions
which may have their origin in doubt, in pain and all kinds of sadness.
CES. But what is that, of which he requests that it consider those
thoughts which it has rendered so uncertain, fulfil those desires which
it has made so ardent, and listen to those discourses which it has
rendered so vague?
MAR. He means the Object, which he beholds when it makes itself present;
for to see the Divine is to be seen by it, as to see the sun concurs
with the being seen of the sun. Equally, to be heard by the Divine, is
precisely to listen to it, and to be favoured by it, is the same as to
offer to it; for from the one immoveable and the same, proceed thoughts
uncertain and certain, desires ardent and appeased, and reasonings valid
and vain, according as the man worthily or unworthily puts them before
himself, with the intellect, the affections and actions. As that same
pilot may be said to be the cause of the sinking or of the safety of the
ship, according as he is present in it or absent from it; with this
difference, that the pilot through his defectiveness or his efficiency
ruins or saves the ship; but the Divine potency which is all in all does
not proffer or withhold except through assimilation or rejection by
oneself.[H]
[H] Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock,
and it shall be opened unto you.--("St. Matthew.")