A quote about perception by Ambrose
Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Hexameron [CSEL] (397): lib. 6;67:
(English)
"Language, indeed, has a most precious function not only in speaking but also in eating. For it is like the plectrum of one speaking and, in a way, the hand of one eating, which offers and serves the flowing food to the teeth. The voice, too, is carried by a kind of oar of air and transported through the void, and by its own force it strikes the air, sometimes stirring, sometimes soothing the emotions of the listener, calming the angry, uplifting the broken, consoling the sorrowful.
Let us therefore have a melody in common with the birds, but the rational use of the voice, which is reasonable, cannot be common to all irrational animals. For even the senses are common to us and other animals, but the other animals do not use them with the same industry.
The cow raises its eyes to the heavens, but it does not know what it sees; wild beasts raise their eyes, birds raise their eyes; all have free sight, but only humans have the interpreter of emotions for what they see.
With their eyes, humans observe the rising and setting of signs, see the adornment of the heavens, marvel at the orbits of the stars, and understand the diverse brilliance of each one: when the evening star rises, when the morning star shines, why one is evening and the other morning.
They perceive the movements of Orion, the eclipses of the moon, how the sun knows its own setting, and how it preserves the solemnity of its circuit and course. Other animals also hear, but who, besides humans, understands by hearing?"
Linguae quoque non solum in loquendo, sed etiam in edendo munus pretiosissimum est. ea enim velut plectrum loquentis et quaedam edentis est manus, quae defluentem cibum dentibus suggerit et ministrat. vox quoque aeris quodam remigio vehitur et per inane portatur eademque vi sua aerem verberat, nunc conmovet, nunc demulcet audientis adfectum, iratum mitigat, fractum erigit, solatur dolentem.
Sit igitur nobis canorum commune cum avibus, sed apud quem quo sono vocis utatur, quod est rationabile, non potest cum omnibus animantibus inrationalibus scilicet esse commune. nam et ipsi sensus communes nobis sunt cum animalibus ceteris, sed tamen non eadem his ceterae animantes industria utuntur. erigit et bucula ad caelum oculos, sed quid spectet ignorat, erigunt ferae, erigunt aves, omnibus est liber aspectus, sed soli inest homini eorum quae aspiciat affectus interpres. spectat oculis ortus obitusque signorum, uidet ornamentum caeli, miratur stellarum orbes, fulgores quoque diuersos intellegit singulorum, quando vesperus surgat, quando lucifer, cur ille vespertinus, hic matutinus inradiet, quos motus Orion habeat, quos luna defectus, quemadmodum sol suos norit occasus, circuitus quoque cursus sui sollemnitate custodiat. audiunt quoque animantes ceterae, sed quis praeter hominem audiendo cognoscit?
Gallery
Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio, Milan
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