Classic Poem

" STILL other properties these glasses have, "
Nature resumed, " and they are powerful;
For large things near at hand appear far off
As seen through them. Even the highest mount
Between Sardinia and France would seem so small
And so remote that he who looked for it
At longest leisure scarce could make it out.
" Some other glasses truly show the size
Of things seen through them, if the man who looks
Is one who can manipulate them well.
" Then there are glasses which will burn things up
When focused on them, if one knows but how
To bring together in a point the rays
Of sunlight shining brightly on the glass.
" Some mirrors of material diverse
In various reflections things display —
Some upright, some reversed, and some stretched out —
And he who gains the mirror's mastery
Can make it one to many multiply:
For instance, in one visage show four eyes,
If he the right glass ready have to hand —
Or make phantasmic forms appears to one
Who looks therein — or even make appear
Outside, in air or water, living shapes.
A man may see them play before the eye
And mirror if the latter is composed
Of divers angles which depend upon
Whether the medium is a composite
Or simple — of one nature or diverse.
Sometimes the form's reversed or multiplied
By the responsive glass, so that it comes
In various phases to the observer's eyes,
According as the rays are variously
Absorbed by the material, and thus
The sight of the observer is deceived.
" Aristotle knew these matters well,
Loving all science, and he cites this case:
A man fell ill with such a malady
As dimmed his eyesight — made the atmosphere
Seem dark and troubled. But where'er he went
He saw his face before him in the air.
Glasses, if unimpaired by obstacles,
Make many miracles appear. Their lack
Causes mistakes at divers distances;
For things far sundered may together seem
Or quite conjoined, or one thing may seem two,
By some diversity of view, or three
Seem six, or four seem eight, or less or more,
According as a man may please himself.
One who knows how to separate or bring
Closer together the focus of his eyes
May make a group of objects seem but one.
Glasses may make a very tiny man
Whom people call a dwarf appear to be
Big as ten giants, so that those who look
May shake with fear, although the little man
Could pass beneath the branches in a wood
And never break or even bend a bough.
Similarly a giant may appear
A dwarf to eyes abnormally deranged,
Which see a great diversity in things.
How many times when men have been deceived
By mirrors or the effect of distances
Which have made things appear as they are not,
They straightway to their neighbors run, and boast,
Not telling truth, but lies, that they have seen
The demons, so their eyes have been betrayed!
An eye diseased makes one thing seem like two —
Two candles where there's but a single one,
Or double moon in heaven. There is no man
Who sees so well that he may never be
Deceived in vision; wherefore many things
Have been adjudged quite other than they are.
" It is not now my purpose to explain
The figures of these mirrors, or to say
How they reflect the rays that on them fall.
You'll find that written elsewhere in a book.
Nor do I wish their angles to describe;
Nor tell why images of things observed
In glasses are reversed before the eyes
Of anyone who gazes on them there,
Nor how they cause deception, nor the grounds
For their appearances. Nor do I wish,
Dear priest, to tell where all such images
Their being have — without or in the glass.
Moreover, I'll forbear to analyze
The other visions just as marvelous —
Pleasing and dolorous — that come to man
Quite unexpectedly, to know if they
Objective are or only in the mind.
I'll none of this unfold, for it is now
No part of my intent; so silently
I'll pass it by, with other things I named
But never did expound. 'Twould surely be
Too big a subject, and a grievous one
To talk about, and hard to understand,
Especially for laymen, unless I
Confined myself to generalities.
Lay folk could not believe the facts are true,
Especially of glasses which produce
Such different effects, unless they saw
The instruments themselves, and had a clerk
Willing to show them and to demonstrate
That they might have this knowledge marvelous.
Indeed, the vulgar could not give belief
To demonstrations one might make for them,
So grand and wonderful the visions are.
Nor the deceptions could they realize
That from such visions come, and much amaze
Many a man while sleeping or awake.
Therefore I'll pass them by. I would not tire
Myself to speak or you to hear of them;
For all prolixity 'twere well I should avoid. "