image of Intellect, obstinately separating all its inquiries from
the belief in the spiritual essence and destiny of man, and incurring all
kinds of perplexity and resorting to all kinds of visionary speculation
before it settles at last into the simple faith which unites the
philosopher and the infant; and thirdly, the image of the erring but
pure-thoughted visionary, seeking over-much on this earth to separate
soul from mind, till innocence itself is led astray by a phantom, and
reason is lost in the space between earth and the stars. Whether in
these pictures there be any truth worth the implying, every reader
must judge for himself; and if he doubt or deny that there be any
such truth, still, in the process of thought which the doubt or
denial enforces, he may chance on a truth which it pleases himself
to discover.

"Most of the Fables of AEsop,"--thus says Montaigne in his
charming essay "Of Books"[7]--"have several senses and meanings, of
which the Mythologists choose some one that tallies with the fable.
But for the most part 't is only what presents itself at the first
view, and is superficial; there being others more lively, essential,
and internal, into which they had not been able to penetrate;
and"--adds Montaigne--"the case is the very same with me."

[1] OEuvres inedites de Maine de Biran, vol. i. See introduction.

[2] OEuvres inedites de Maine de Biran, vol. iii. p. 546 (Anthropologie).

[3] OEuvres inedites de Maine de Biran, vol. iii. p. 524.

[4] "The Golden Ass" of Apuleius.