Sympathetic Theater

concludes that perhaps this matter is not entirely true. Indeed, Auditors, I cannot disapprove of such a mode of arguing when the matter is proposed only between cups, where all conversation tends at least to the end that we might recreate ourselves with pleasant and cheerful talk rather than, acting like a severe Cato, mix in witty subtleties of jokes and the force of arguments which require the sharpness of judgment and the nerves of genius: But in truth, in an assembly as celebrated as the one I see here, where men of refined judgment original: "emunctae naris", lit. "wiped nostrils," an idiom for those with sharp discernment, and who are especially strong in judgment, and who are not merely smeared but dyed with solid learning of wisdom, have convened; and who furthermore conceive such a hope and opinion of me, that I will satisfy their expectation not with fig-wood i.e., worthless or brittle arguments but with solid arguments: By God! I would grieve in a wonderful way if, after I have tried with all my might to show by what reason the Powder, which is commonly called Sympathetic, heals wounds naturally and without any aid of magic, although we neither touch them with a finger nor even look at the injured part with the other eye, there were nevertheless found someone who would not blush to call into doubt whether such healing is given in the nature of things or not. As often as we institute a discourse concerning a fact, the determination of existence and truth depends on what our senses persuade us.