Chapter 2 Matter as a Mirror: Marsilio Ficino and Renaissance ...

108
Disreputable Bodies
in general, but in particularly concentrated form by the eyes which, in the
act of perception, project this vapour onto the surface of all surrounding
objects. In accordance with that, Aristotle maintains that the blood will become
visible only on hard and polished things, such as mirrors, otherwise it
is dispersed. The story of the bloody mirror highlights the Greek idea that
vision entails the exchange of material particles; to see means to enter into
a contact of some sort with the perceived object. Normally, this exchange is
imperceptible, as the visual rays emitted by the eye are very fine; yet, in the
case of a very dirty and particularly material gaze, such as that of a menstruating
woman, the visual ray may condense on the surface of a very fine
and clean mirror. The context of the observation is particularly important:
no man has the capacity to stain a mirror by looking at it; only a woman
can soil a mirror and only at the particularly dangerous and taboo-loaded
period in her life. 180
But nothing could easily be found that is more remarkable
(monstrificium) than the monthly flux of women. Contact
with it turns new wine sour, crops touched by it become
barren, grafts die, seeds in gardens are dried up, the fruit
of trees falls off, the bright surface of mirrors in which it is
merely reflected is dimmed (hebetatur), the edge of steel and
the gleam of ivory are dulled, hives of bee die, even bronze
and iron are at once seized by rust, and a horrible smell fills
the air. To taste it drives dogs mad and infects their bites
with an incurable poison. […] Not only does this pernicious
mischief (malum) occur in a woman every month; but
it comes larger every three months […] the substance in
question is the material for human generation, as the semen
from the males acting like rennet collects this substance
within it, which thereupon immediately is inspired with life
and endowed with body. 181
The exchange of material particles has the potential to transmute
distant objects, in our context to soil a clean mirror. Indeed, the story of the
bloody mirror provides us with the key to the mechanisms of transmission,
180 Frontisi-Ducroux (1997) 147–154.
181 Pliny (1938–63) VII, 15, 64: II 549; see also XXVI, 23, 77–79: VIII, 55–59.