18. Does the body, thanks to the presence of the soul that vivifies it,
possess something which becomes characteristically its own, or is its
possession nothing more than its nature, and is this the only thing
added to the body? Evidently, the body which enjoys the presence of the
soul, and of nature, would not resemble a corpse. It will be in the
condition of the air, not when the air is penetrated by the sun-light
(for then it really receives nothing), but when it participates in
the heat. Therefore, plant and animal bodies that possess "a nature,"
find that it consists of the shadow of a soul. It is to this body,
thus vivified by nature, that sufferings and pleasures relate; but
it is for us to experience these sufferings and pleasures without
ourselves suffering. By us is here meant the reasonable soul, from
which the body is distinct, without however being foreign to it, since
it is ours (since it belongs to us). Only because of this, that it is
ours, do we care for it. We are not the body; but we are not entirely
separated from it; it is associated with us, it depends on us. When we
say "we," we mean by this word what constitutes the principal part of
our being; the body also is "ours": but in another sense. Therefore its
sufferings and pleasures are not indifferent to us; the weaker we are,
the more we occupy ourselves with it. In it, so to speak, is plunged
the most precious part of ourselves, which essentially constitutes the
personality, the man.