但是，既然我已经讲过万物的种子是什么样的，它们是怎样以不同的形式自发地飞翔，以一种永恒的运动搅动着，事物是怎样从它们中产生出来的，既然我已经讲过心灵的本质是什么，以及事物是怎样与身体结合在一起并茁壮成长的，以及心灵以怎样的方式被撕裂，回到它的本源，现在我要进行一个论证——一个是关于这些最重要的问题——存在着一些我们称之为事物形象的东西;这些,喜欢电影的最大限度以外的东西,搬家到处穿过大气层,和相同的恐吓我们的智力,未来在我们醒来或睡,经常我们同行时美妙的奇怪形状和图片的人孤独的,经常有严重唤醒我们躺在睡眠——这或许永远不再可能我们假设灵魂从冥河松脱,或阴影漂浮在生活中,或任何事物我们留下的死亡,当身体和心灵,一起被摧毁，每个人都回到自己的原始状态。于是我说，事物的肖像，事物的纤弱的形状，都是从事物的最外面，从事物的最外面发出来的，它们就像薄膜，或者可以被称为外壳，因为这些形象的外观和形状都像它的躯体所脱落的一样，飘飘着——这是一个事实，不管你的智慧多么迟钝，你都可以从中学到:主要是因为我们看到，即使是最显眼的物体，也有许多发出躯体的物体，有些松散地散开——像橡树冒出的烟和火里的热——还有一些更紧密地交织在一起——就像夏天的蝗虫脱下它们光滑的外衣，或者犊犊在出生时从体表上脱下膜，又或者，当滑溜溜的蛇在荆棘中脱下它的外衣——因为我们经常看到微风带着它们飞翔的战利品而扩张;既然发生了这样的事，同样可以肯定的是，事物的脆弱的形象是从事物的最外面发出来的。为什么这类人会从万物中坠落、分离，而不是那些脆弱、消瘦的人呢?人类没有能力开口诉说;特别是，在事物的外面，有许多细小的躯体，它们可以按照原来的顺序，在保持体形的情况下，被扔到外面去，而且速度也快得多，因为它们的数量很少，不容易受到阻碍，可以放在前面。因为我们所看到的许多事物，确实都在尽情地释放着它们的物质，不仅像我们上面所说的那样，是从它们的内心深处释放出来的，而且有时也从它们的表面释放出来——它们的颜色也是如此。 And commonly The awnings, saffron, red and dusky blue, Stretched overhead in mighty theatres, Upon their poles and cross-beams fluttering, Have such an action quite; for there they dye And make to undulate with their every hue The circled throng below, and all the stage, And rich attire in the patrician seats. And ever the more the theatre's dark walls Around them shut, the more all things within Laugh in the bright suffusion of strange glints, The daylight being withdrawn. And therefore, since The canvas hangings thus discharge their dye From off their surface, things in general must Likewise their tenuous effigies discharge, Because in either case they are off-thrown From off the surface. So there are indeed Such certain prints and vestiges of forms Which flit around, of subtlest texture made, Invisible, when separate, each and one. Again, all odour, smoke, and heat, and such Streams out of things diffusedly, because, Whilst coming from the deeps of body forth And rising out, along their bending path They're torn asunder, nor have gateways straight Wherethrough to mass themselves and struggle abroad. But contrariwise, when such a tenuous film Of outside colour is thrown off, there's naught Can rend it, since 'tis placed along the front Ready to hand. Lastly those images Which to our eyes in mirrors do appear, In water, or in any shining surface, Must be, since furnished with like look of things, Fashioned from images of things sent out. There are, then, tenuous effigies of forms, Like unto them, which no one can divine When taken singly, which do yet give back, When by continued and recurrent discharge Expelled, a picture from the mirrors' plane. Nor otherwise, it seems, can they be kept So well conserved that thus be given back Figures so like each object. Now then, learn How tenuous is the nature of an image. And in the first place, since primordials be So far beneath our senses, and mu