SENECA - College of Stoic Philosophers

EPISTLE XC.
whatever grain slips out the tongue turns back to
the selfsame teeth. Then it is blended into a mass,
that it
may the more easily pass down the slippery
throat. When this has reached the stomach, it
is digested by the stomach's equable heat ; then,
and not till
then, it is assimilated with the body.
Following this pattern," he goes on, " someone placed
two rough stones, the one above the other, in
imitation of the teeth, one set of which is stationary
and awaits the motion of the other set. Then, by
the rubbing of the one stone against the other, the
grain is crushed and brought back again and again,
until by frequent rubbing it is reduced to powder.
Then this man sprinkled the meal with water, and
by continued manipulation subdued the mass and
moulded the loaf. This loaf was, at first, baked by
hot ashes or by an earthen vessel glowing hot later
;
on ovens were gradually discovered and the other
devices whose heat will render obedience to the
sage's will." Posidonius came very near declaring
that even the cobbler's trade was the discovery of
the wise man.
Reason did indeed devise all these things, but it
was not right reason. It was man, but not the wise
man, that discovered them ; just as they invented
ships, in which we cross rivers and seas ships fitted
with sails for the purpose of catching the force of
the winds, ships with rudders added at the stern in
order to turn the vessel's course in one direction or
another. The model followed was the fish, which
steers itself by its tail, and by its slightest motion on
this side or on that bends its swift course. "But,"
says Posidonius, " the wise man did indeed discover
all these things
;
they were, however, too petty for
him to deal with himself and so he entrusted them
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