Note 159 — Chapter XII · DE ANIMÂ, ETC.

Aristot. De Generat. Animal. II. vi. p. 744, a. 11-31: δηλοῖ δὲ τὴν εὐκρασίαν ἡ διάνοια· φρονιμώτατον γάρ ἐστι τῶν ζῷων ἄνθρωπος. We may remark that Aristotle considers cold as in some cases a positive property, not simply as the absence or privation of heat (De Partibus Animal. II. ii. p. 649, a. 18). The heart is the part wherein the psychical fire (as it were) is kept burning: τῆς ψυχῆς ὥσπερ ἐμπεπυρευμένης ἐν τοῖς μορίοις τούτοις (Aristot. De Vitâ et Morte, iv. p. 469, b. 16). Virgil, in the beautiful lines of his Second Georgic (483), laments that he is disqualified for deep philosophical studies by the want of heat round his heart:—

“Sin, has ne possim naturæ accedere partes, Frigidus obstiterit circum præcordia sanguis,” &c.