E5P6S
Scholium — Part V
Latin
Quo hæc cognitio quod scilicet res necessariæ sint, magis circa res singulares quas distinctius et magis vivide imaginamur, versatur, eo hæc mentis in affectus potentia major est, quod ipsa etiam experientia testatur. Videmus enim tristitiam boni alicujus quod periit mitigari simulac homo qui id perdidit, considerat bonum illud servari nulla ratione potuisse. Sic etiam videmus quod nemo miseretur infantis propterea quod nescit loqui, ambulare, ratiocinari et quod denique tot annos quasi sui inscius vivat. At si plerique adulti et unus aut alter infans nascerentur, tum unumquemque misereret infantum quia tum ipsam infantiam non ut rem naturalem et necessariam sed ut naturæ vitium seu peccatum consideraret et ad hunc modum plura alia notare possemus.
English (Elwes 1883)
The more this knowledge, that things are necessary, is applied to particular things, which we conceive more distinctly and vividly, the greater is the power of the mind over the emotions, as experience also testifies. For we see, that the pain arising from the loss of any good is mitigated, as soon as the man who has lost it perceives, that it could not by any means have been preserved. So also we see that no one pities an infant, because it cannot speak, walk, or reason, or lastly, because it passes so many years, as it were, in unconsciousness. Whereas, if most people were born full--grown and only one here and there as an infant, everyone would pity the infants; because infancy would not then be looked on as a state natural and necessary, but as a fault or delinquency in Nature; and we may note several other instances of the same sort.
Modern English
The more this knowledge, that things are necessary, bears on particular things, which we imagine more distinctly and vividly, the greater is the mind's power over the affects. Experience confirms this. We see that the sadness over the loss of some good is eased as soon as the person who lost it comes to see that the good could not by any means have been preserved. So too we see that no one pities an infant for not knowing how to speak, walk, or reason, or for spending so many years as it were unaware of itself. But if most people were born full-grown and only one or two were born as infants, then everyone would pity infants, because infancy would be seen not as something natural and necessary but as a defect or failing in nature. And we could note many other things of the same kind.