6326.有一个几年前死去的哲学家，他非常有名，并且头脑冷静。我与他谈论了人里面的生命层级。我说，人无非是由被造来接受生命的形式构成的，并且一种形式比另一种形式更内在。我说，一种形式从另一种形式存在并持续存在；而且，当更低或更外在的形式消散时，更高或更内在的形式仍旧存活，拥有生命。我继续说，心智的一切运作都是形式的变化；当这些变化发生在更纯净的物质中时，它们如此完美，以至于无法描述。人的思维观念无非是这些变化，并非别的什么；这些变化照着情感状态的改变而发生。
我指出，至于更纯净形式中的变化何等完美，这可从肺推断出来。肺以不同方式折叠，并照着说话时的声音、唱歌时的音调、身体的每个动作，以及思维和情感的每个状态而产生不同形式。那么，与像肺这样重要的器官相比，处于最完美状态的更内在事物又必然是何情形呢？这位哲学家赞同这一切，并声称他活在世上时就十分清楚这些事。他补充说，世人应利用哲学来达到这样的目的，而不应专注于纯粹的词语形式，并为此而争论，从而在尘埃中汗流浃背地劳碌。
Potts(1905-1910) 6326
6326. There was a philosopher who ranked among the more celebrated and sane, and who died some years ago, with whom I have spoken about the degrees of life in man, saying that man consists of mere forms for receiving life, and that one form is more interior than another, but that one has come into existence and subsists from another; also that when the lower or exterior form is dissolved, the higher or interior form still lives. It was further said that all operations of the mind are variations of the form, which variations in the purer substances are in such perfection that they cannot be described; and that the ideas of thought are nothing else; and that these variations take place according to the changes of the state of the affections. How very perfect are the variations in the purer forms may be concluded from the lungs, which fold themselves variously and vary their forms according to every expression of speech, and to every note of a tune, and to every motion of the body, and also to each state of thought and affection; and what then must be the case with interior things, which, in comparison with so large an organ, are in the greatest perfection. The philosopher confirmed what was said, and declared that such things had been known to him when he lived in the world, and that the world should apply philosophy to such uses, and should not be intent on mere forms of words and disputes about these, and thus labor in the dust.
Elliott(1983-1999) 6326
6326. There was a philosopher who had died several years earlier, one of the quite renowned and level-headed. I spoke to him about the degrees of life in human beings. I said that a person consists of nothing but forms which are made for receiving life, and that one form is more internal than another. I said that one has derived its existence from another and is kept in existence by it, and also that a higher or more internal form still has life even when the lower or more external one may have been released from it. All workings of the mind, I continued, are variations of form, and when these variations occur in the purer substances, they are so perfect that they defy description. The ideas constituting a person's thought are nothing else than such variations, which take place as changes occur in the state of a person's affections.
[2] How utterly perfect the variations in purer forms are, I pointed out, can be deduced from the lungs. The lungs curl in varying ways and effect varying forms to produce particular sounds uttered in speech, particular notes struck in singing, particular movements made by the body, and also particular states of thought and affection. What then of more internal things which, when compared with such an important organ as the lungs, exist in an utterly perfect state of perfection? The philosopher endorsed all this and swore that such matters had been well known to him when he had lived in the world. He added that the world ought to be using philosophical arguments for such purposes and ought not to be fixing its attention merely on stock phrases and disputes about them, and so sweating away in the dust.
Latin(1748-1756) 6326
6326. Erat philosophus inter celebriores et sanos, ante annos aliquot mortuus, cum quo locutus sum de gradibus vitae in homine, dicendo quod homo consistat ex meris formis recipiendi vitam, et quod una forma sit altera interior, sed quod una exstiterit et subsistat ex altera; tum quod inferiore seu exteriore forma soluta usque vivat forma superior seu interior. Porro dictum quod omnes operationes mentis sint variationes formae, quae variationes in purioribus substantiis tali perfectione sunt ut describi nequeant, et quod ideae cogitationis non aliud sint, et quod illae variationes existant secundum mutationes status affectionum. [2]Quam perfectissimae variationes dantur in purioribus formis, quod concludi possit a pulmonibus, qui ad singulas voces loquelae, ac ad singulos sonos cantus, ad singulos motus corporis, et quoque ad singulos status cogitationis et affectionis, se varie plicant et variant formas; quid non interiora quae prae tanto viscere in perfectissimo statu sunt? Philosophus confirmavit, et vovit quod talia ei nota fuissent cum vixit in mundo; et quod mundus philosophica ad tales usus applicaret, et non intenderet nudis vocum formulis, ac litibus de illis, et sic sudaret in pulvere.