Brutus

Plucking up courage to question it, Who art thou, said he, of gods or men, and what is thine errand with me? Then the phantom answered: I am thy evil genius, Brutus, and thou shalt see me at Philippi. And Brutus, undisturbed, said: I shall see thee.[*](Cf. Caesar, lxix. 5-7. )

When the shape had disappeared, Brutus called his servants; but they declared that they had neither heard any words nor seen any apparition, and so he watched the night out. As soon as it was day, however, he sought out Cassius and told him of the apparition.

Cassius, who belonged to the school of Epicurus, and was in the habit of taking issue on such topics with Brutus, said: This is our doctrine, Brutus, that we do not really feel or see everything, but perception by the senses is a pliant and deceitful thing, and besides, the intelligence is very keen to change and transform the thing perceived into any and every shape from one which has no real existence.

An impression on the senses is like wax, and the soul of man, in which the plastic material and the plastic power alike exist, can very easily shape and embellish it at pleasure.

This is clear from the transformations which occur in dreams, where slight initial material is transformed by the imagination into all sorts of emotions and shapes.

The imagination is by nature in perpetual motion, and this motion which it has is fancy, or thought. In thy case, too, the body is worn with hardships and this condition naturally excites and perverts the intelligence.