285. XIV. THEY ARE FOR THE SAKE OF PEACE IN THE HOUSE. Assumed conjugial
semblances, or external friendships for the sake of domestic peace and
tranquillity, relate principally to the men, who, from their natural
characteristic, act from the understanding in whatever they do; and the
understanding, being exercised in thought, is engaged in a variety of
objects which disquiet, disturb, and distract the mind; wherefore if
there were not tranquillity at home, it would come to pass that the
vital spirits of the parties would grow faint, and their interior life
would as it were expire, and thereby the health of both mind and body
would be destroyed. The dreadful apprehension of these and several other
dangers would possess the minds of the men, unless they had an asylum
with their wives at home for appeasing the disturbances arising in their
understandings. Moreover peace and tranquillity give serenity to their
minds, and dispose them to receive agreeably the kind attentions of
their wives, who spare no pains to disperse the mental clouds which they
are very quick-sighted to observe in their husbands: moreover, the same
peace and tranquillity make the presence of their wives agreeable.
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