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Objection 1: It would seem that sleep and baths do not assuage
sorrow. For sorrow is in the soul: whereas sleep and baths regard the
body. Therefore they do not conduce to the assuaging of sorrow.
Objection 2: Further, the same effect does not seem to ensue from
contrary causes. But these, being bodily things, are incompatible
with the contemplation of truth which is a cause of the assuaging of
sorrow, as stated above (Article 4). Therefore sorrow is not
mitigated by the like.
Objection 3: Further, sorrow and pain, in so far as they affect
the body, denote a certain transmutation of the heart. But such
remedies as these seem to pertain to the outward senses and limbs,
rather than to the interior disposition of the heart. Therefore they
do not assuage sorrow.
On the contrary, Augustine says (Confess. ix, 12): "I had
heard that the bath had its name . . . from the fact of its driving
sadness from the mind." And further on, he says: "I slept, and
woke up again, and found my grief not a little assuaged": and quotes
the words from the hymn of Ambrose [Sarum Breviary: First Sunday
after the octave of the Epiphany, Hymn for first Vespers], in
which it is said that "Sleep restores the tired limbs to labor,
refreshes the weary mind, and banishes sorrow."
I answer that, As stated above (Question 37, Article 4),
sorrow, by reason of its specific nature, is repugnant to the vital
movement of the body; and consequently whatever restores the bodily
nature to its due state of vital movement, is opposed to sorrow and
assuages it. Moreover such remedies, from the very fact that they
bring nature back to its normal state, are causes of pleasure; for
this is precisely in what pleasure consists, as stated above
(Question 31, Article 1). Therefore, since every pleasure
assuages sorrow, sorrow is assuaged by such like bodily remedies.
Reply to Objection 1: The normal disposition of the body, so far
as it is felt, is itself a cause of pleasure, and consequently
assuages sorrow.
Reply to Objection 2: As stated above (Question 31, Article
8), one pleasure hinders another; and yet every pleasure assuages
sorrow. Consequently it is not unreasonable that sorrow should be
assuaged by causes which hinder one another.
Reply to Objection 3: Every good disposition of the body reacts
somewhat on the heart, which is the beginning and end of bodily
movements, as stated in De Causa Mot. Animal. xi.
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