122.
OF THE NATURE OF SHADOW.
Shadow partakes of the nature of universal matter. All such matters
are more powerful in their beginning and grow weaker towards the
end, I say at the beginning, whatever their form or condition may be
and whether visible or invisible. And it is not from small
beginnings that they grow to a great size in time; as it might be a
great oak which has a feeble beginning from a small acorn. Yet I may
say that the oak is most powerful at its beginning, that is where it
springs from the earth, which is where it is largest (To return:)
Darkness, then, is the strongest degree of shadow and light is its
least. Therefore, O Painter, make your shadow darkest close to the
object that casts it, and make the end of it fading into light,
seeming to have no end.
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