Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the Soul, Chapter 4
CHAP. IV. Of the Fancie: Its offices to the Will and Reason, Uolubilitie of Thoughts, Fictions, Errors, Levitie, Fixednesse.
NOw for the Imagination, the dignitie thereof consists, either in the office, or in the latitude of it: Its office, is to be assistant both to the Vnderstanding and the Will; its assistance to the Vnderstanding, is principally in matter of Invention, readily to supply it with varietie of objects whereon to worke, as also to quicken and rayse the Minde with a kind of heat and rapterie proportionable in the inferior part of the Soule, to that which in the superior, Philosophers call Ext…sie; whereby it is possessed with such a strong delight in its prope… obje…, as makes the motions thereof towards it, to be restlesse and impatient: And of this, is that of the Poet;
Est Deus in nobis agitante ealescimus ipso:foreign. Ar…st. Prob…. c. 30.
By Divine Raptures we aspire,
And are inflam'd with noble fire.
The office of the Imagination to the Will, is to quicken, allure, and sharpen its desire towards some convenient object: for it often commeth to passe, that some plausible Fancie doth more prevaile with tender Wills, than a severe and sullen Argument, and hath more powerfull insi…uations to perswade, than the peremptorinesse of Reason hath to command. And the reason …ereof is, because libertie being naturall unto mans Will, that course must needs most of all gaine upon it, which doth offer least force unto its libertie: Which is done rather by an Argument of delight, than of constraint; and best of all, when a rationall and convincing Argument is so sweetned and tempered, to the delight of the hearer, that he shall be content to entertaine Truth, for the very beautie and attire of it; so that you shall not know, whether it were the weight of the Reason that over-rul'd, or the elegancie that enticed him. A man can be well pleased, to looke with delight on the picture of his enemie, when it is drawne with a skilfull and curious hand. And therefore, in that great worke of mens conversion unto God, he is said to allure them, and to speake comfortably unto them, to beseech, Hosea …. 14. a Cor. 5. 17. …ant. 5. 10, 16. Hag. 2. 7. Rom. 11. 1…. Ephes. 38. 1 Tim. 1. 15.and to perswade them; to set forth Chris… to the Soule, as altogether lovely, as the fairest … ten thousand, as the desire of the Nations, as th… Riches of the World, that men might be inflame… to love the beautie of Holinesse. That whic… must perswade the Will, must not onelyonly have … truth, but a worthinesse in it: in which respect, the Principles of Knowledge are called foreign worthy or honourable speeches: and the Gospe… is not onelyonly called foreign, a true saying; but foreign, a worthy saying; and in that respect▪ fitted for acceptation. It is true of the Will, which Seneca hath observed of Princes; Ap… Reges etiam quae prosunt ita tamen …t delectent su… denda sunt: That unto them even things profitable must be represented with the face rathe… of delight than of necessitie; even as Physicians, when they minister a very wholesome Potion:
—Prius or as pocula circumL…t. lib. 4. Plut. de edu… cal. liberorum. Contingunt d…lci mellis flavoque liquore:
That they their Patients may both please & cure,
With mixed-sweets their pallats they allure.
And hence is that observation, that the first reformers and drawers of men into Civill societie▪ and the practise of Vertue, wrought upon the Will by the ministrie rather of the Fancie, than of rigid Reason; not driving them thereunto by punctuall Arguments, but alluring them by the sweetnesse of Eloquence; not pressing the necessi…ie of Moralitie, by naked inserences, but rather secretly instilling it into the Will, that it might at last finde it selfe reformed, and yet hardly perceive how it came to be so. And this was done by those Musicall, Poeticall, and Mythologicall perswasions; whereby men in their discourses, did as it were paint Vertues and Vices; giving unto spirituall things Bodies and Beauties, such as might best affect the Imagination: Yea, God himselfe hath beene pleased to honour this way of setting out higher Notions, in that wee finde some roome in the holy Scriptures for Mythologies; as that of the Vine, the Fig-tree, and the Bramble, for Riddles, for Parables, Similitudes, and Poeticall Numbers andIudg. 18. 14. 12. Hos. 12. 10. Raptures, whereby heavenly Doctrines are shadowed forth, and doe condiscend unto humane frailties. And another reason hereof is, because the desires of men are fixed as well on pleasant as on profitable objects; so that those inducements must needs have most Authoritie, which have that happie mixture of … & dulce together; not onelyonly pressing necessitie upon the Vnderstanding, but pointing as it were and deciphering delight to the Fancie. And this reason Scaliger S…. sub…il. 307. 11.gives in his Inquirie, how false Things, such as Plato his Elizium, Homers Fictions, Orph…us his Musick, should delight wise men: Propterea quod exuperant vulgares limites veritatis, saith hee; because they are not exacted to the rigor and strictnesse of Reason, nor grounded on the severitie of Truth, but are (as I may so speake) the Creation of the Fancie, having a kind of delightfull libertie in them, wherewith they refresh and doe is it were open and unbind the Thoughts, which otherwise, by a continuall pressure in exacter and more massie reasonings, would easily tyre and despaire.
Concerning the Latitude of this Facultie, it hath there in a double prerogative above others▪ one, in the multiplicitie of Operations; another, in the framing of Objects. To the former of these, I reduce the Thoughts; which, by reason of their quicknesse and volubilitie, and withall, their continuall interchanges and successions, are the most numberlesse operations of the Soule of man: where, by Thoughts, I understand those springings and glances of the heart, grounded on the sudden representation of sundry different objects; for when the Mind begins once to be fixt, and standing, I call that rather Meditation than Thought. This multiplicitie of Thoughts is grounded first upon the abundance of their Objects; and next, upon the quicknesse and activitie of Apprehension; that is the matter, this the forme of those Thoughts which I now speake of. The abundance of Objects is seene in this, that it includes all the varieties of species belonging to other faculties; as that knowledge which the Schooles call Philosophia prima, doth within its owne limits draw in, in some sort, all the severall Objects of particular Sciences. There are Thoughts belonging unto the Will, flying and pursuing Thoughts, Wishings, and Loathings; and there are Thoughts belonging to the Vnderstanding, assenting and dissenting Thoughts, Beleefe and dis-opinion: There are Thoughts likewise proceeding from Anger, firie and revengefull Thoughts; from Envie, knowing and repining Thoughts; from Ioy, sweet and refreshing Thoughts; from Conscience, comforting and affrightfull Thoughts; and so in all other faculties. And for the quicknesse of Working, the motions of the Thoughts shew it, in the concu…rence of these two things, suddennesse of journey, and vastnesse of way; while like Lightning they are able to reach from one end of Heaven unto another, and in one light and imperceptible excursion, leave almost no part of the Vniverse untravelled. Now, of these two grounds of multiplicitie in Thoughts, the former, namely, the abundance of Objects, is ab extrinsec…, and dispersed over things, (though they are not otherwise the Objects of Thought, than as the Mind reflecteth on the Phan…asmata or images of them in this facultie) but the latter, which is the quicknesse of Apprehension, though it may seeme to be the most peculiar worke of Reason, yet the Imagination hath indeed the greatest interest in it: For, though the Act of Apprehending be the proper worke of the Vnderstanding, yet the forme and qualitie of that Act (which properly makes it a Thought inVid. A. Gell. lib. 9. c. 1. Aug. de Civ. Dei, lib. 9. c. 4. that strict sense, wherein here I take it) namely, the lightnesse, volubilitie, and suddennesse thereof, proceeds from the immediate restlesnesse of the Imagination; as is plaine, by the continuall varietie of Dreames and other Fancies, wherein the Facultie is the principall worker. The next thing, is the Latitude of Imagination, in framing of Objects, wherein it hath a propertie of boldnesse beyond other faculties: For Reason, and all other powers, have their fixed and determined limits in Nature; and therefore they alwayes frame themselves to the truth of things, yeelding assent to nothing but what they finde: But the Imagination is a Facultie boundlesse, and impatient of any imposed limits, save those which it selfe maketh. And hence it is, that in matter of perswasion and insinuation, Poetrie, Mythologie, and Eloquence (the Arts of rationall Fancie) have ever (as was observ'd) beene more forcible than those which have been rigorously grounded on Nature and Reason; it being (as Scaliger observes) the naturall infinitenesse of mans Soule. Aspernari c…rtorum sinium praescriptionem, to disdaine any bounds and confines in her operations.
Now, the libertie of the Imagination in this particular, is three-sold; Creation, as I may so speake, and n…w making of Objects; Composition, or new mixing them; and Translation, or new placing them: unto some of which three, will be reduced all Poeticall Fictions, fabulous Transmutations, high Metaphors, and Rhetoricall Allegories; things of excellent use, and ornament in speech.
Now, for the Corruptions and Diseases of this Facultie, I conceive the principall to beAug. Epist. 72. ad N…brid. these three, Error, Levitie, and dull fixednesse: The Error of the Imagination may be taken both actively, and passively; the Error which it produceth, and the Error which it suffereth: That the Fancie is fruitfull in producing Error, is as manifest, as it is difficult to shew the manner how it doth it. Hence, those strange and yet strong delusions, whereby the Mind of melancholy men (in whom this Facultie hath the most deepe and piercing operation) have beene peremptorily possessed: Hence, those vanishing and sh…dowie Assurances, Hopes, Feares, Ioyes, Visions, which the Dreames of men (the immediate issues of this Facultie) doe produce: Hence those gastly Apparitions, dreadfull Sounds, blacke Thoughts, Tremblings, and Horrors, which the strong working of Imagination doth present unto, or produce in men; disquieted either with the uglinesse of their Sinnes, or heavinesse of their Natures, making them to feare, where no feare is: which, whether it be done by affecting onelyonly the Fancie, or by the impression of such formes and shapes upon the Spirits, which goe unto the outward senses, as may thereby affect them with the same Images (not by reception from without, but by impression and transfusion from within) it is manifest, not onelyonly by various relations, but by continuall experience, what strong and strange effects those distempers have produced.
Neither are wee to conceive this impossible when we see as admirable effects in another kindA…l … rob. Sect. 10. …. 12, …. …b. 7. c. 1…. wrought by the same facultie, and, as is probable, by the same meanes; I meane, the impression o… likelinesse of an Infant in the Wombe, unto the Parents, or some other, who shall worke a stronger conceit in the Fancie: Or if this be not ascribed… d… …. co…a. unto the working of this power, but rather to a secret reall vertue intrinsecall unto the Seed of the Parents (as many doe affirme) yet that other effect of stamping on the Body the Images and Colours of some things, which had made any strong and violent immutation on the Fancie, must needs be hereunto ascribed, As wee see commeth often to passe, in the longing of Women; and in her, who having the picture of an Ethioplan in her Chamber, brought forth a blackAug. in Gen. … 93. Child; and in the course which Iacob tooke, … putting speckled Rods before the Cattell, when they were to conceive, that the sancie of them might make their Lambes to be ring-straked and speckled.
The Errors which are in the Fancie, are usuallyVid. …, …n …. E…th. l…b. 7. c. 5. & w…tn. de P… ▪ Q. g. D…m. l. 2. c. 24, 25, 26. & l. 3. …. 21. of the same nature with those that are wrought by it: Such was the Error of that man, which would not be perswaded, but that he had on his head a great paire of Hornes, and for that reason would not moove sorth nor uncover his face to any. And the causes of these Errors areFran. Mi…nd. …. de I…g. c. 8. Aug. de Civ. De…, … 18. c. 18 de divi…. Daemon. c. 5, 6. by Francis Mirandula ascribed first to the varietie of tempers in the Body, with the predominancie of those humours which give complexion thereunto: secondly, to the imposture of the Senses: thirdly, to the government of the Will, (though that, as is granted, hath least power over this Facultie) and lastly, to the ministry of evill Angels, who can easily cast into the Fancie strange and false species, with such subtletie, as shall easily gaine them plausible credit and admittance. And of this, we finde an expresse example (as I conceive) in that evill spirit▪ who promised to be a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahabs Prophets. For the vision: of such men being for the most part imaginarie, the impression of that lying and deceitfull perswasion was, in all probabilitie, made upon the Imagination. For, notwithstanding I confesse, that Prophets had events by divers meanes revealed unto them, as by true Voices, by reall accesse of Angels, and by immediate illapse of Truth into the Vnderstanding; yet because those two wayes, by Visions and byNumb. 12. 6. Ioel …. 28. Dreames, were (for ought can be observ'd) the most usuall meanes of Revelation; it is not unlikely, that the Devil (who in such things strives, for the better advancement of his owne ends, to imitate Gods manner of working) did by this manner of imposture on the Imagination, seeke to possesse the false Prophets, and to delude the King.
And here, by the way from the three former, we may take occasion to observe the miserie of mans corrupted Nature; wherein those Faculties which were originally ordained for mutuall assistance, doe now exercise a mutuall imposture: and as man did joyne with a fellow-creature to dishonour, and if it had been possible, to deceive his Maker; so in the Faculties of man, we may discover a joynt conspiracie in the working of their owne overthrow and reproach, and a secret joy, in one to be deluded by another.
The next Corruption which I observed, is the Levitie and too much Volubilitie of this Power, proceeding from the over-hastie obtrusion of the species. For, notwithstanding I grant the quicknesse of its operations to be one principall part of the excellencie thereof; yet I thereby understand the Power, not the Infirmitie; the Nature, not the Disease of that Facultie; the abilitie of having speedie recourse unto varietie of Objects, treasured up in the Memorie; or of apprehending new, with dexteritie; not that floating and inconstant humour, whereby it makes many needlesse excursions upon impertinent things, and thereby interrupteth the course of the more needfull and present operations of the Soule. For, since it may fall out, that unto the same Facultie, from diversitie of occasions, contrarie operations may proove arguments of worth; a restraint unto one manner of working, is an argument of weaknesse and defect, in that it straitneth and defraudeth the power of those advantages which it might receive, by a timely application of the other: There may be a time, when the Fancie may have libertie to expatiate; but againe, some objects will require a more fixed and permanent act. And therefore, to have a vanishing and lightning Fancie, that knoweth not how to stay and fasten upon any particular, but as an Hanging of divers Colours, shall in one view present unto the Vnderstanding an heape of species, and so distract its intention; argues not sufficiencie, but weaknesse and distemper in this Facultie.
The last Corruption observed, is in the otherArist. Pro…. Sect. 29. extreame; I meane, that heavinesse and sluggish fixednesse, whereby it is disabled from being serviceable to the Vnderstanding, in those actions which require dispatch, varietie, and suddennesse of execution: from which peremptorie adhesion and too violent intension of the Fancie on some particular objects, doth many times arise not onelyonly a dulnesse of Mind, a Syncope, and kind of benumnednesse of the Soule, but oftentimes madnesse, distraction, and torment: Many examplesLu…ian. in …uciosive Asin…. Apul. in Asin…. … lin. lib. 7. c▪ 2…. Ola…. Magnus de Region. …. l. 18. c▪ 45▪ 46, 47. … de … …. l. 3. c. 21. … … ad littus … … … … …, credidit ap…d …. of which kind of depravation of the Phantasie in melancholy men, wee every where meet withall; some, thinking themselves turned into Wolves, Horses, or other Beasts; others, pleasing themselves with Conceits of great Wealth and Principalities; some, framing to themselves Feares, and other Hopes; being all but the delusions and waking Dreames of a dist…mpered Fancie.
His ego saepè Lupum fieri & se condere SylvisVirg. Eclog. 8.
Moerim, saepè animas imis exire sepul…ris,
Atque salas alio vidi traducere messes:
Here o…en I have seene this Moeris worke
Himselfe into a Wolfe, and into Woods lurke;
O… have I seene him raise up ghosts from Hell,
And growing Corne translate by Magick Spell.
And upon this over-strong working and stay of the Fancie on some one or other object, it hath of…entimes come to passe, that some men, out of depth of contemplation on some difficulties of Learning, (as is reported of Aristotle, in his meditation on the cause of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea) others, out of some strong and predominant passion, as Love, Feare, Despaire, drawing all the intention of the Mind unto them, have attempted such strange practises on themselves, and others, as could not proceed but from a smothered and intangled Reason. And thus much briefely shall suffice, touching the honour of mans common and inferiour Faculties.