Colloquies of Erasmus, Volume I. eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 548 pages of information about Colloquies of Erasmus, Volume I..

Colloquies of Erasmus, Volume I. eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 548 pages of information about Colloquies of Erasmus, Volume I..

Eu. Ay, and as a Squirrel turns his Wheel-Cage about, and is himself carried about with it.

Fa. And so the Soul affects the Body, and is affected by the Body.

Eu. Yes indeed, as to its Operations.

Fa. Why then, as to the Nature of it, the Soul of a Fool is equal to the Soul of Solomon.

Eu. There’s no Absurdity in that.

Fa. And so the Angels are equal, in as much as they are without Matter, which, you say, is that which makes the Inequality.

Eu. We have had Philosophy enough:  Let Divines puzzle themselves about these Things; let us discourse of those Matters that were first mentioned.  If you would be a compleat Mother, take Care of the Body of your little Infant, so that after the little Fire of the Mind has disengaged itself from the Vapours, it may have sound and fit Organs to make Use of.  As often as you hear your Child crying, think this with yourself, he calls for this from me.  When you look upon your Breasts, those two little Fountains, turgid, and of their own Accord streaming out a milky Juice, remember Nature puts you in Mind of your Duty:  Or else, when your Infant shall begin to speak, and with his pretty Stammering shall call you Mammy, How can you hear it without blushing? when you have refus’d to let him have it, and turn’d him off to a hireling Nipple, as if you had committed him to a Goat or a Sheep.  When he is able to speak, what if, instead of calling you Mother, he should call you Half-Mother?  I suppose you would whip him:  Altho’ indeed she is scarce Half a Mother that refuses to feed what she has brought into the World.  The nourishing of the tender Babe is the best Part of Geniture:  For he is not only fed by the Milk, but with the Fragrancy of the Body of the Mother.  He requires the same natural, familiar, accustomed Moisture, that he drew in when in her Body, and by which he received his Coalition.  And I am of that Opinion, that the Genius of Children are vitiated by the Nature of the Milk they suck, as the Juices of the Earth change the Nature of those Plants and Fruits that it feeds.  Do you think there is no Foundation in Reason for this Saying, He suck’d in this ill Humour with the Nurse’s Milk? Nor do I think the Greeks spoke without Reason, when they said like Nurses, when they would intimate that any one was starved at Nurse:  For they put a little of what they chew into the Child’s Mouth, but the greatest Part goes down their own Throats.  And indeed she can hardly properly be said to bear a Child, that throws it away as soon as she has brought it forth; that is to miscarry, and the Greek Etymology of [Greek:  Meter] from [Greek:  me terein], i.e. from not looking after, seems very well to suit such Mothers.  For it is a Sort of turning a little Infant out of Doors, to put it to a hireling Nurse, while it is yet warm from the Mother.

Fa. I would come over to your Opinion, unless such a Woman were chosen, against whom there is nothing to be objected.

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Colloquies of Erasmus, Volume I. from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.