XET. r a .] TO NEBRIDIUS. too, it is "better n o t to put the question; for whatever the answer m ight be, other questions would s till remain. This one thing greatly perplexed m e, that bodies could be infinitely subdivided. To th is perhaps an answer has been given, by setting over against it the converse property o f abstract number [viz. its susceptibility o f infinite m ultiplication]. 3. B ut stay: le t us see w hat is that indefinable object^ w hich is suggested to the m ind. This world w ith which our senses acquaint us is surely the image of some world which the understanding apprehenda U"ow it is a strange phenomenon which w e observe in the images which mirrors reflect to us,— that however great the mirrors be, they do not make the images larger than the objects placed before them , be th ey ever so sm all; but in sm all mirrors, such as th e pupil of the .eye, although a large surface be placed over against them, a very sm all image is formed, proportioned to th e size o f th e mirror.* Therefore if the mirrors be reduced in size, the images reflected in them are also reduced; but it is not possible for the images to be enlarged by enlarging the mirrors. Surely there is in this something which m ight reward further in vestigation ; b u t mean­ w hile, I m ust sleep.® Moreover, if I seem to Nebridius to be happy, it is not because I seek, but because perchance I have found something. W hat, then, is that som ething ? Is it that chain, of reasoning w hich I am wont so to caress as if it were m y sole treasure, and in which perhaps I' take too much delight ? 4. " Of what parts do w e consist ? ” “ Of soul and body.” “ WTiich o f these is the n ob ler?” “ D oubtless the soul.” “ W hat do m en praise in th e body ? ” “ N othing that I see but • com eliness.” “ And what is comeliness of body ? ” “ Harmony o f parts in the form, together w ith a certain agreeableness of colour.” " Is this com eliness better where it is true or where it is illu sive ? ” “ U nquestionably it is better where it is true.” " And where is it found true ? ” " In the so u l” “ The soul, ^ ITescio quid. * Augustine’ s acquaintance w ith the first principles of optics, and with the properties of reflection possessed by convex, plane, and coiiMve mirrors, must have been lamentably limited. * W isely resolved.