|
27. For the woman who lost her drachma, and searched for it with a
lamp. unless she had remembered it, would never have found it. For
when it was found, whence could she know whether it were the same, had
she not remembered it? I remember to have lost and found many things;
and this I know thereby, that when I was searching for any of them,
and was asked, "Is this it?" "Is that it?" I answered
"No," until such time as that which I sought were offered to me.
Which had I not remembered, whatever it were, though it were
offered me, yet would I not find it, because I could not recognise
it. And thus it is always, when we search for and find anything that
is lost. Notwithstanding, if anything be by accident lost from the
sight, not from the memory, as any visible body, the image of
it is retained within, and is searched for until it be restored to
sight; and when it is found, it is recognised by the image which is
within. Nor do we say that we have found what we had lost unless we
recognise it; nor can we recognise it unless we remember it. But
this, though lost to the sight,, was retained in the memory.
|
|