For, as a matter of fact, there is no such thing as good health or bad health.There are only different conditions of the organs.Having studied what are called maladies, I have come to consider them as necessary forms of life.I take pleasure in studying them in order to be able to conquer them.Some of them are worthy of admiration, and conceal, under apparent disorder, profound harmonies; for instance, a quartan fever is certainly a very pretty thing! Sometimes certain affections of the body cause a rapid augmentation of the faculties of the mind.You know Creon? When he was a child, he stuttered and was stupid.But, having cracked his skull by tumbling off a ladder, he became an able lawyer, as you are aware.This monk must be affected in some hidden organ.Moreover, this kind of existence is not so extraordinary as it appears to you, Lucius.I may remind you that the gymnosophists of India can remain motionless, not merely for a year, but during twenty, thirty, or forty years.""By Jupiter!" cried Cotta, "that is a strange madness.For man was born to move and act, and idleness is an unpardonable crime, because it is an injury to the State.I do not know of any religion in which such an objectionable practice is permitted, though it possibly may be in some of the Asiatic creeds.When I was Governor of Syria, I found /phalli/ erected in the porches at the city of Hera.A man ascended, twice a year, and remained there for a week.The people believed that this man talked with the gods, and interceded with them for the prosperity of Syria.The custom appeared senseless to me; nevertheless I did nothing to put it down.For I consider that a functionary ought not to interfere with the manners and customs of the people, but on the contrary, to see that they are preserved.It is not the business of the government to force a religion on a people, but to maintain that which exists, which, whether good or bad, has been regulated by the spirit of the time, the place, and the race.If it endeavours to put down a religion, it proclaims itself revolutionary in its spirit, and tyrannical in its acts, and is justly detested.Besides, how are you to raise yourself above the superstitions of the vulgar, except by understanding them and tolerating them? Aristaeus, I am of opinion that I should leave this nephelo-coccygian[*] in the air, exposed only to the indignities the birds shower on him.I should not gain anything by having him pulled down, but I should by taking note of his thoughts and beliefs."Nephelo-coccygia, the cloud-city built by the cuckoos, in the /Birds/ of Aristophanes.
He puffed, coughed, and placed his hand on the secretary's shoulder.
"My child, note down that, amongst certain sects of Christians, it is considered praiseworthy to carry off courtesans and live upon columns.
You may add that these customs are evidence of the worship of genetic divinities.But on this point we ought to question him himself."Then, raising his head, and shading his eyes with his hand, to keep off the sun, he shouted--"Hallo, Paphnutius! If you remember that you were once my guest, answer me.What are you doing up there? Why did you go up, and why do you stay there? Has this column any phallic signification in your mind?"Paphnutius, considering Cotta as nothing but an idolater, did not deign to reply.But his disciple, Flavian, approached, and said--"Illustrious Sir, this holy man takes the sins of the world upon him, and cures diseases.""By Jupiter! Do you hear, Aristaeus?" cried Cotta."This nephelo-coccygian practises medicine, like you.What do you think of so high a rival?"Aristaeus shook his head.
"It is very possible that he may cure certain diseases better than Ican; such, for instance, as epilepsy, vulgarly called the divine malady, although all maladies are equally divine, for they all come from the gods.But the cause of this disease lies, partly, in the imagination, and you must confess, Lucius, that this monk, perched up on the head of a goddess, strikes the minds of the sick people more forcibly than I, bending over my mortars and phials in my laboratory, could ever do.There are forces, Lucius, infinitely more powerful than reason and science.""What are they?" asked Cotta.
"Ignorance and folly," replied Aristaeus.
"I have rarely seen a more curious sight," continued Cotta, "and Ihope that some day an able writer will relate the foundation of Stylopolis.But even the most extraordinary spectacles should not keep, longer than is befitting, a serious and busy man from his work.
