18 LETTERS o r ST. AUGUSTINE. [ l e t. VU. th e sen se s; but the parts of it had all been -within such ob­ servation, though found m a variety of difiPerent th in g s: e.g., w hen -we were boys, born and brought up in an inland district, w e could already form some idea o f the sea, after we had seen water even in a’ sm all cup; but the flavour of strawberries and o f cherries could in no -vrise enter our conceptions before w e tasted these fruits in Italy. H ence it is also, that those who have been born blind know not what to answer when th ey are asked about lig h t and colours. For those who have never perceived, coloured objects b y the senses are not capable of ha-ring the images o f such objects in the mind. 7. A nd le t it not appear to you strange, that though the m ind is present in and interm ingled w ith a ll those images w h ic h in th e nature of things are figured or can be pictured b y us, these are not evolved by the mind from -within itse lf before it has received them through the senses from without. For w e also find that, along -with anger, joy, and other such em otions, w e produce changes in our bodily aspect and com­ plexion, before our thinking factdty even conceives that -we have the power of producing such images [or indications of our feeling]. These foUow upon the experience of the emotion in those wonderful w ays (especially deserving your' attentive consideration), w hich consist in the repeated action and re­ action of hidden numbers ^ in the soul, -without the interven­ tion o f any image of illu siv e m aterial things. W hence I would have you understand— ^perceiring as you do that so many movements of the mind go on w holly independently of the im ages in question— ^that of a ll the movements of the mind b y w h ic h i t m a y c o n c e iv a b ly a tta in to the knowledge of bodies, every other is more lik ely than the process of creating forms o f sensible things by unaided thought, because I do not th in k that it is capable of any such conceptions before it uses, the body and th e senses. Wherefore, m y weU beloved and most amiable brother, by the friendship w hich unites us, and by our faith in the di-rine law itself,* I would warn you never to lin k yourself in friend­ ship w ith those shadows of the realm of darkness, and to break off w ithout delay w hatever friendship m ay have been begun > Fumeri actitantur occulti. ' ’ ipsius diviui juris fide.