The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius/The Great Didactic/Chapter 15
CHAPTER XV
THE BASIS OF THE PROLONGATION OF LIFE
1. Aristotle, as well as Hippocrates, has complained of the shortness of human life, and accuses nature of granting a long term of years to stags, ravens, and other animals, while she hems in by narrow boundaries the lives of men born to great responsibility. Seneca, however, opposes this view, and wisely says: “The life that we receive is not short, unless we make it so. We suffer from no lack of years, but carouse away those that are granted us. Life is long, if we do but know how to use it.” And again: “Our lives are sufficiently long, and, if we order them well, allow us to bring the greatest undertakings to completion” (De Brevitate Vita, cc. i. and ii.)
2. If this be correct, and indeed it is very true, it is grossly culpable on our parts if our lives do not prove sufficiently long to bring great undertakings to completion, since the reason is that we waste our lives, partly by taking no care of them, so that they do not reach the natural limit, and partly by frittering them away on worthless objects.
3. A trustworthy authority (Hippolytus Guarino)23 asserts, and gives good reasons for his assertion, that a man of the most delicate constitution, if he come into the world without any deformity, possesses enough vitality to carry him on to his sixtieth year; while a very strong man should attain to his hundredth year. If any die before this age (it is, of course, well known that most men die as children, as youths, or in middle age), they are themselves to blame, since, by excesses, or by neglect of the natural demands of life, they have undermined their own health and that of their children, and have hastened their death.
4. The examples of men who, before middle age, have reached a point to which others could not attain in the course of a long life, prove that a short lifetime (i.e. one of fifty, forty, or thirty years) is sufficient to realise the highest aims, if only it be properly used. Alexander the Great died when he was thirty-three years old, and he was not only a master of all the sciences, but also conqueror of the world, which he had subdued less by sheer force than by the wisdom of his plans, and the rapidity with which he put them into execution. Giovanni Pico Mirandola,24 who was even younger than Alexander when he died, attained by his philosophical studies such proficiency in all the departments of human knowledge, that he was considered the marvel of his age.
5. To take one more example, Jesus Christ, our Lord, remained only thirty-four years on earth, and in that time completed the task of Redemption. This He undoubtedly did to prove (for with Him every event has a mystic meaning) that whatever length of life a man may enjoy, it is sufficient to serve him as a preparation for eternity.
6. I cannot leave this question without quoting a golden saying of Seneca (out of his ninety-fourth letter): “I have,” he says, “found many men who are just in their dealings with men, but few who are just in their dealings with God. We daily lament our fate; but what does it matter how soon we quit this world, since we must certainly quit it one day or other? Life is long if it be full, and it becomes full if the spirit exert its power on itself; if it learn the secret of self-control.” And again: “I entreat of you, my Lucilius! let us strive that our lives, like earthly jewels, may be, not of great bulk, but of great weight”; and a little farther on: “Let us, therefore, deem that man one of the blest, who has used well the time allotted to him, no matter how short it may have been. For he has seen the true light. He has not been one of the common herd; but has lived a full life, and has come to maturity.” And again: “As a perfect man can exist in a small body, so can a perfect life be found in a short term of years. The duration of life is a purely accidental circumstance. Do you ask which is the path of life that reaches farthest? It is the path that leads to wisdom. He who attains wisdom, has reached not only the farthest, but also the highest goal.”
7. Against this shortness of life, which is complained of, there are two remedies for us and for our children (and therefore for schools also). We must take all possible precautions that—
(i) Our bodies may be protected from disease and from death.
(ii) Our minds may be placed in such an environment that they can attain all knowledge.
8. The body must be protected from disease and from accidents, firstly, because it is the dwelling-place of the soul, which must leave this world as soon as ever the body is destroyed. If it fall into bad repair, and suffer damage in any of its parts, the soul, its guest, will have an inhospitable abode. Therefore, if we wish to dwell as long as possible in the palace of this world, into which we have been brought by God’s grace, we must take wise forethought for the fabric of our bodies.
Secondly, this same body is not only intended to be the dwelling-place of the reasoning soul, but also to be its instrument, without which it could hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing, conduct no business, and could not even think. And since nothing exists in the mind that has not previously existed in the senses, the intellect takes the material of all its thoughts from the senses, and performs the operations of thought in a manner that may be termed “inner sensation,” that is to say, by acting on the images of things that are brought before it. It follows, therefore, that, if the brain receive an injury, the imagination will be impaired, and that if an impression be made on the body, an impression will be made on the soul also. We may therefore unhesitatingly say that all should pray that they may have a sound mind in a sound body.
9. Our bodies are preserved in health and strength by a regular and moderate life, and on this we will make a few remarks from the medical point of view, taking a tree as illustration. In order to maintain its freshness, a tree needs three things: (1) a continuous supply of moisture; (2) copious transpiration; (3) an alternating period of rest and activity.
Moisture is necessary, because the tree would wither and dry up without it, but it must not be supplied in too great a quantity, as, if it be, it causes the roots to rot away. In the same way the body needs nourishment, because it wastes away from hunger and thirst without it; but it should not obtain a supply so large that the stomach is unable to digest it. The greater the moderation with which men partake of food, the easier they find its digestion.
The generality of men pay but little attention to this law, and by taking too much food diminish their strength and shorten their lives. For death is caused by disease, disease by unwholesome juices, and these, in turn, by insufficient digestion. Insufficient digestion arises from over-nutrition, and takes place when the stomach is so full that it cannot digest, and is compelled to supply the various members of the body with semi-digested juices, and in this case it is impossible that diseases should not arise. As the son of Sirach says: “By surfeiting have many perished, but he that taketh heed prolongeth his life” (Ecclesiasticus xxxvii. 31).
10. In order that good health may be preserved, it is necessary that nourishment be not only moderate in quantity, but also simple in quality. When a tree is young and tender, the gardener does not water it with wine or with milk, but with the liquid that suits trees, namely water. Parents should therefore take care not to spoil their boys, particularly those who study, or ought to study, by giving them dainties. Are we not told that Daniel and his companions, the youths of noble birth who had to apply themselves to the pursuit of wisdom, lived on a diet of pulse and water, and that they were found to be more capable and more active, and, what is of greater value, more intelligent, than all the other youths who ate of the king’s meat? (Daniel i. 12 sqq.) But of these particulars we will speak in another place.
11. A tree must also transpire, and needs to be copiously refreshed by wind, rain, and frost; otherwise it easily falls into bad condition, and becomes barren. In the same way the human body needs movement, excitement, and exercise, and in daily life these must be supplied, either artificially or naturally.
12. Finally, a tree needs rest at stated periods, that it may not have to put forth branches, blossoms, and fruit perpetually, but may have some time to fulfil its inner functions, to develope sap, and in this way to strengthen itself. It was for this reason that God ordained that winter should follow summer, namely, to guarantee rest to all things that live on the earth, and even to the earth itself, since he commanded that the fields should lie fallow every seventh year (Lev. xxv.) In the same way He has ordained the night for man, and for other animals, in order that, by sleep and by resting their limbs, they may once more gather together the strength which the exertions of the day have dissipated. Even the smaller periods, such as the hours, are devised with a view to giving the body and the mind some relaxation; otherwise a strained and unnatural condition would set in. It is, therefore, useful to intersperse the labours of the day with recreation, amusements, games, merriment, music, and such-like diversions, and thus to refresh the inner and the outer senses.
13. He who observes these three principles (that is to say, eats moderately, exercises his body, and uses the relaxations supplied by nature) cannot fail to preserve his life and his health as long as possible. We naturally leave out of consideration accidents that depend on a dispensation higher than ours.
We see then that a large portion of the good organisation of schools consists of the proper division of work and of rest, and depends on the disposition of studies, intervals to relieve the strain, and recreation.
14. This can be attained by the skilful disposition of the time devoted to study. Thirty years seem insignificant, and are easily dismissed from the tongue. But these years include many months, more days, and countless hours.
In a single period of such duration much progress can be made, no matter how slow the process of advancement may be, provided it be continuous. We can see this in the growth of plants. It is impossible for the sharpest sight to perceive the process, since it takes place too gradually; but every month some increase is visible, and at the end of thirty years every one can see that the sapling has turned into a large and shady tree. The same holds good in the growth of our bodies. We do not see them growing, but only perceive that they have grown. So, too, with the acquisition of knowledge by the mind, as we learn from the well-known Latin couplet:
To a little add a little, and to that little yet a little more,
And in a short time you will pile up a large heap.
15. He who realises the natural strength of progress will easily understand this. From each bud a tree puts forth but one shoot yearly; but in thirty years the same tree will possess thousands of shoots, large and small, and leaves, blossoms, and fruit without number. Why then should it seem impossible to bring the activity of a man to any degree of intensity or fulness, and this in twenty or thirty years? Let us examine the matter more losely.
16. There are twenty-four hours in a day, and if, for the daily uses of life, we divide these into three parts, setting aside eight hours for sleep, and the same number for the external needs of the body (such as care of the health, meals, dressing and undressing, agreeable recreation, friendly converse, etc.), we have eight hours left for the serious work of life. We shall therefore have forty-eight working hours a week (setting aside the seventh day for rest). In one year this will amount to 2945 hours, and in ten, twenty, or thirty years to an immense number.
17. If, in each hour, a man could learn a single fragment of some branch of knowledge, a single rule of some mechanical art, a single pleasing story or proverb (the acquisition of which would require no effort), what a vast stock of learning he might lay by?
18. Seneca is therefore right when he says: “Life is long, if we know how to use it; it suffices for the completion of the greatest undertakings, if it be properly employed.” It is consequently of importance that we understand the art of making the very best use of our lives, and to this point we will now direct our investigation.