Phœnommon of Dreaming . 177

XLVIII. As to what is said of the ab-Us dity of supposing such Beings busied in, u §gestlng imaginary scenes to brute animals;

ls replied that, strictly speaking, this is buta s u ppoJition, and nothing that we can bsCer tain of. If any one was to go about toP r °ve st, he could not possibly do more thanit probable. The point is thus. Wehave scenes of vision obtruded on the° U 1 in sleep, where there is life, aBton , nay^ reason too: the foul is unconcerned in theseduction of these: therefore we concludea living cause produces these visions, and°fters them to the perceptivity, a capacity in^ich we are passive and necessary. Now, 0l he beasts give signs, by the motions of their°dies in sleep, that their perceptivity is notVac ^sit then, and that’s all (Æ): for surely they

do

I Lucretius says, lib. 4. ver. 987.

nanturque canes , in mollisape quiete,

Jotlant crura tamen fubito , vocesque repente^Littunt, & crebras reducunt naribus auras ,

*sh‘ • t fi teneant inventa ferarum.

p Ur s ls '• but when he fays, birds dream that the hawkit sg UeS . t ^ eiTl ) and that they fly to the sacred groves, &c.ef sis rather a poetical embellishment.

Vo *" U. N dt