Volume 1 - Discourses - Books I - II - College of Stoic Philosophers

BOOK II. YIII. 6-12the highest degree the faculty of using externalimpressions, still they do not have the faculty ofunderstanding,, at all events, their use of the externalimpressions. And with good reason for; they areborn to serve others,, and are not themselves ofprimary importance. 1 The ass, for example,is notborn to be of primary importance, is it? No; butbecause we had need of a back that was able tocarry something. But, by Zeus,, we had need thatit should be able also to walk around ;therefore ithas further received the faculty of using externalimpressions for otherwise it would not be able to;walk -around. And at about that stage there wasan end. 2 But if it, like man, had somehow receivedthe faculty of understanding the use of its externalimpressions, it is also clear that consequentlyit wouldno longer be subject to us,, nor would it be performingthese services, but would be our equal and our peer.Will you not, therefore, seek the true nature ofthe good in that quality the lack of which in allcreatures other than man prevents you from usingthe term "good" of any of these? "But whatthen ? Are not those creatures also works of God " ?They are, but they are not of primary importance, norportions of TDivinity. But } OU are a being of primaryimportance ; you are a fragment of God ;you havewithin you a part of Him. Why, then, are youignorant of your own kinship ? Why do you notknow the source ffom which you have sprung? Willyou not bear in mind, whenever you eat, who youare that eat, and whom you are nourishing? Wheneveryou indulge in intercourse with women, whoyou are that do this ? Whenever you mix in society,whenever you take physical exercise, whenever you261