Opuscula psychologica, theologica, daemonologica

 After the judgment of the thoughts, an exact discernment of how the thoughts happen to be, whether they are good or otherwise but imagination is the

 to divide for us, by the established terms, the sesquitertian ratios into both the sesquioctave ratios and the leimmata, we would have stopped at thes

 having split it, he bent each one into a circle, bringing them together middle to middle with each other like a chi, having joined 7 them both to them

 left, or rather the one is an image of mind, the other of soul. And in the soul itself, the right is that which is turned toward the intelligible thin

 regarding the explanation of the Platonic psychogony, this we now discharge for you as a kind of debt. For Plato's statement that the division of thes

 and of exegesis. And there is a letter of mine placed among my books that has traced out and carefully examined the meaning in the sayings. But it is

 a ruler drives a team of two then of the 14 horses, one of them is noble and good and of such stock, but the other is from opposite stock and is oppo

 a body from one of the seeing things, such that it is able to be extended as far as the stars. But it was better, he says, than to say that the extern

 through which it is not swept into material disorder, but is joined to the divine light, holds it in its own place and makes it unmixed with matter, l

 of knowledge. For there is something intelligible, which you must understand with the flower of the intellect. And he says that the one in us is twofo

 agrees, but among them the salty is more than the drinkable. They say, for example, that every soul is either divine or changing from intellect to min

 to be deemed worthy of pardon in repenting. If the soul is a body according to some of the ancients, what is it that contains it? every body is three-

 distinction. Two kinds of air according to Aristotle, the vaporous from the exhalation of water and the smoky from the extinguishing of fire. The latt

 Plato. Pleasure is not a coming-to-be for coming-to-be is of things that are not, while pleasure is of things that are. And coming-to-be is swift and

 is natural, while habit is acquired and taught. Providence is the care for existing things that comes from God. Epicurus says: the blessed and incorr

 but such powers are simply and imperceptibly desired. What then? Do we have three souls? Solution: just as the soul, when united to the body, seems to

 When this is dimmed they also are dimmed the soul flourishes when this 34 withers. Further, everything desires to preserve its own substrate. If the

 actuality, as physicians, others in relation to something, others a double or one-and-a-half ratio. Potentiality is found in substance, as a man in th

 concerning form, matter and cause, for example the matter of the celestial bodies is not the four elements, but a certain fifth, spherical one, as be

 as knowledge (for knowledge is a transition from defined things to defined things for this reason it is also knowledge, as leading the mind to a stat

 this, for indeed the flesh also moves downwards and is none of the elements. Aporia: but matter, that is the element, is not soul, but the form that c

 definitions have as their beginning the most general things, as their end the most specific things. If, then, these are finite, so are the definitions

 and it acts according to one part and another. It seems to act in these ways as being one. For if it is divided, it is necessary for the parts to be e

 the rest, but this is about hot and soft, heavy and light, rare and dense, and many opposites. In humans, the cause of local motion is intellect, in i

 is nourished {which} is twofold: either as Matter or as an instrument. And the instrument is twofold: either moving and being moved, like the innate h

 is equal in distance to the zodiac signs. Light is not a body. for if it were a body, how would it be possible for it to have instantaneous movement,

 we see the introduction of the forms of things seen entering the sight, but how do we see the interval of the air in between? Solution: It is not that

 with a violent collision. In soft things no sound is produced, because the air is broken up in their pores and dispersed as in sponges. In things that

 a buzzing which is conveyed back to the sense of hearing. Others say that the sound occurring in the ears after the blockage is of the external air th

 For instance, fish, not having this, are cooled through their gills. Those that have a windpipe also have a lung. Fish have neither these nor a heart.

 the sense organs of touch, it is clear for every sense organ is both separated and known. Aristotle speaks of the senses both as one each and as many

 Aristotle in On the Soul : if sensation ceased, the sense-organ would also cease. But if the second is not, neither is the first. Sensation and sense-

 Some add also a sixth, the attentive [faculty], as when a man says, I perceived, I thought, I opined. To this part they also add the activities of t

 We can say ten, but not indeed opine it, so that opinion is not up to us. But neither do we imagine what we wish for we see at night what we do not w

 in the case of children, the one according to state, and the one in act, as the one governing all things or the one entering from without. Plato says

 theoretical versus the practical. The theoretical corresponds to a vision discerning of forms, while the practical corresponds to a vision not only kn

 organs. Moreover, at night the nutritive faculty is more active, but the locomotive faculty is not at all. A difficulty: the vegetative faculty produc

 simpler, or rather the things inherent in the matter, into which the matter is also divided, which are also prop[erly] called its elements. I say then

 he hints that it is not completed from both of the things mixed, but is produced in the union of the soul and the body, not by the soul itself giving

 closing the senses, so as to know unknowingly the transcendent substance of that which is. For according to their own opinions, the philosopher who ha

 he himself will also pardon his own student for the apparent 78 opposition to him and others will come here again to bear witness for us, the philoso

 it grows and is naturally constituted to decay, must in every way grow along with and decay along with the other in a connate manner for that by whic

 a demonstration, so also the soul in an infant's body and a more imperfect one, if it were in another, perfect body, would immediately have shown its

 I shall use the argument. In what do you say virtue is inherent? or again, is it superimposed on the formless and incorporeal and uncompounded nature,

 Porphyry has philosophized in harmony with this. For in discussing the soul, he says: “Just as insomniacs, by the very act of wanting to sleep and wat

 have they cast off? Perhaps those who hold the contrary opinion will vex us with these things. But their objection is like a spider's web, which will

 to have received watchwords from the first father, nor that they possess the fullness of many bosoms, nor would I accept that they stand before the bo

 both the Sibylline and the Orphic ones, and those according to which the Berytian Bulls came to be and Amous the Egyptian, and Socrates and Plato (for

 of the bonds by which they were bound, and after this, turning their minds upward, they will approach God. And if the account told about the Sibyl wer

 has the front part? What then do you think? a mind scattered in so great a size is from this cause for him both slack and weak, and the soul is simply

 would remember any of the things here. But as many of the souls as were allotted to more humble portions and their whole mind has not been snatched aw

 Let us not altogether reject the analogy of the eye in the case of the soul, let it be and be called a more precise substance of the soul but if some

 The manner of the entry of souls, and likewise of their release or separation from hence, both are most difficult or hard to explain for of the first

 but by such powers the soul is led like some kind of thing moved by another, being drawn towards whatever the leaders happen to lead it, but then rath

 For that which is according to reason, knowledge is readily at hand, but that which is contrary to reason, is so because it has received such a nature

 of beasts, but perhaps the matter which reason has shown not to exist. Therefore our bodies will be resurrected, and there will be nothing to prevent

 fitting and gluing it to that by means of a suitable analogy, not placing the rational and intellectual substance into any of the animals for this is

 are generated from these powers alone, for this reason, having abandoned the others, they divided the substance of the soul into these alone. But if y

 it is in fourths, when one might contemplate these both in the third order of the intellectual virtues and in the fourth of the paradigmatic virtues,

 and so interpreting the Platonic opinion, but they do not seem to me to have grasped the precise meaning of his doctrine. But if I shall clarify for y

 and with nothing separating them, it is necessary for the one to be ordered, and the other to order and the one which is ordered has its form divided

 what is hard and resistant in them has been smoothed out by me. But what follows from this must be attributed to them alone for, proposing to speak a

 proceeds from it and returns to it.” Then indeed he works out the point by division. For if it only remained, it would in no way differ from its cause

 in our sacred writings, neither a whole soul nor any whole nature, apart from the partial ones, has been dogmatically established1. I for my part reje

 by the energy, then also the substance is perfected according to it, and these things stand in each other according to one energy. For he who does not

 having a life activated according to intellect and reason the psychic is defined according to reason 124 and takes care of divisible souls the physi

 tormenting them. But there are, they say, both on earth divine daimons and in the air, guardians of the animals there, and <in> the water, extending t

 make it superior to the confusion of life, but, if possible, may you not even leave behind in the terrestrial world the very body which you have put o

 cast under your mind: for there is no plant of truth on earth» that is: do not busy your mind with the great measures of the earth, as the geographer

 Gregory by reason and contemplation leads the soul up to the more divine things by reason that is according to us, the more intellectual and better,

 such a lion-bearing fount of heaven and the stars, but the ruling part of its own existence conceals the vision of them. Chaldaean Oracle. From all si

 often appearing, they feign the semblance of some goodness towards the one being initiated. Chaldean Oracle. The soul of mortals will draw God into it

 they can. Whence everything they say and show is false and insubstantial for they know existing things through forms but that which knows future thi

 and fear is the holding back of his goodness towards us for the sake of the economy. Chaldean Oracle. The Father snatched himself away, not even enclo

 they are possessed by passions. Therefore, it is necessary for these also to receive their part of the whole judgment and, having been filled up with

 for it is higher than being venerated, than being uttered, and than being conceived. A Chaldean Oracle. The Iynges, being conceived by the Father, the

 an unknown password, spoken and unspoken. And they often bring the soul down 148 into the world for many reasons, either through the shedding of its w

 of truth and of love. After which are the demiurgic fountains, such as that of the ideas, according to which the cosmos and the things in it have shap

 enclosing the triad towards itself and they call these also intelligible. After these, another order of the intelligible and at the same time intelle

 to the setting [sun], and the pit to the one just at mid-heaven. And thus, gently separating the membrane of the liver, [which is placed] upon the org

 parts of philosophy is necessary. For according to moral philosophy it is necessary to assume that not all things are and come to be by necessity, but

 knowledge and sees not only the essences themselves, but also their powers and their activities, both those according to nature and those contrary to

 he acquired. For even before the birth of both, God knew that the one would be good, and the other would turn out bad and this knowledge is an unchan

 from the one who knows, and it revolves around the thing known and is made like the one who knows. I mean something like this: the knowledge of the so

 they fabricate. For I too had a certain little man, ignoble in soul, but by no means the least of storytellers to him, at any rate, such phantoms pre

After the judgment of the thoughts, an exact discernment of how the thoughts happen to be, whether they are good or otherwise; but imagination is the indication of the thought that has appeared. But that which appears is not in every case also true; for sometimes, without judgment, the true is presented to the mind as false, and the false is received as true through a lack of discernment. And these divisions are powers of the mind which it puts forth according to its own measure. An explanation by the same author of the mathematical existence or generation of the soul in Plato's Timaeus. You have asked me in part about the Platonic diagram concerning the soul, about which you must learn the hidden thought of the philosopher. But it is necessary first to state the entire mathematical scope of the argument, and then thus to explain to you the meaning of what has been said. For Plato, then, says thus concerning the demiurge: "he took one portion from the whole, and after this he took away a portion double this, and a third, one and a half times the second and three times the first, and a fourth double the second, and a fifth three times the third, and a sixth eight times the first, and a seventh twenty-seven times the first. After this he went on to fill up both the double and the triple intervals, cutting off yet more portions from the original mixture and placing them in the intervals, so that in each interval there were two means, the one exceeding and being exceeded by the extremes by the same fraction of the extremes, the other exceeding and being exceeded by the same number. And when from these links intervals of one and a half and one and a third and one and an eighth had been formed in the previous intervals, he filled up all the intervals of one and a third with the interval of one and an eighth, leaving over of each a fraction, the terms of the interval of this fraction left over being in the numerical ratio of two hundred and fifty-six to two hundred and forty-three. And indeed the mixture from which he was cutting these things he had now consumed entirely in this way." So then, this is the verbal sketch of Plato. So that we may proceed in order, let us first take, among the numbers from the monad, the ratios called primary by Plato. Let the monad, then, be set out; and double this, the dyad; then the triad, one and a half times the dyad and three times the monad; then the tetrad, four times the monad; then the ennead, three times the triad; then the ogdoad, eight times the monad; and on top of all, a seventh portion, being twenty-seven times the monad. And since Plato exhorts us to connect the double and triple intervals with harmonic and arithmetic means, but it is impossible to find these means between the monad and the dyad, some first number must be taken, which being the smallest will have both a half and a third. Let six, therefore, be taken, and let this be the portion taken by the demiurge from the whole; and after the six, the twelve, being double the six; then the eighteen, one and a half times the twelve and three times the six; then the twenty-four, being double the second term, the twelve; then the fifty-four, being three times the third term, I mean, the eighteen; then the forty-eight, being eight times the first term, I mean, the six; then the one hundred and sixty-second, being twenty-seven times the first term, the six. Therefore, between the six and twelve will fall the harmonic mean, the eight, and the arithmetic, the nine; and between the twelve and the double twenty-four, the harmonic mean is the sixteen, and the arithmetic, the eighteen; and between the third double, of the twenty-four and forty-eight, the harmonic mean is 32, and the arithmetic, 36; and in the triples, between the six and 18, the harmonic mean is 9, and the arithmetic, 12. And let these terms be set out in order: 6, 8, 9, 12, 16, 24, 32, 36, 40 50, 54, 81, 108, 162. But if it were possible in 5 these

μετὰ τὴν κρίσιν τῶν νοημάτων ἀκριβὴς διάγνωσις ὡς ἂν τύχῃ ὄντα τὰ νοήματα, εἴτε καλῶς εἴτε καὶ ἄλλως ἔχοντα· φαντασία δὲ ἡ τοῦ φανέντος νοήματος ἔνδειξις. οὐ πάντως δὲ τὸ φαινόμενον καὶ ἀληθές· ἀκρίτως γὰρ ἔστιν ὅτε παραπέμπεται τῇ διανοίᾳ τὸ ἀληθὲς ὡς ψευδὲς καὶ τὸ ψεῦδος ὡς ἀληθὲς παραδεχομένῃ δι' ἔλλειψιν διακρίσεως. αὗται δὲ αἱ διαιρέσεις δυνάμεις εἰσὶ τοῦ νοὸς ἃς κατὰ τὸ αὐτοῦ μέτρον προβάλλεται. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐξήγησις τῆς ἐν τῷ Τιμαίῳ τοῦ Πλάτωνος μαθηματικῆς περὶ ψυχῆς ὑπάρξεως ἢ γεννήσεωσ Ἐκ μέρους ἠρώτηκάς με τὸ Πλατωνικὸν περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς διάγραμμα, περὶ οὗ δέῃ μαθεῖν τὴν κεκρυμμένην τοῦ φιλοσόφου διάνοιαν. δεῖ δὲ πρῶτον πᾶσαν ἐρεῖν τὴν μαθηματικὴν τοῦ λόγου περιοχήν, εἶθ' οὕτως σοι τῶν εἰρημένων τὸν νοῦν ἐξηγήσασθαι. λέγει γοῦν περὶ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ ὁ Πλάτων οὑτωσί· «μίαν ἀφεῖλεν ἀπὸ παντὸς μοῖραν, μετὰ δὲ ταύτην ἀφῄρει διπλασίαν ταύτης, τὴν δὲ αὖ τρίτην ἡμιολίαν μὲν τῆς δευτέρας, τριπλασίαν δὲ τῆς πρώτης, τετάρτην δὲ τῆς δευτέρας διπλῆν, πέμπτην δὲ τριπλῆν τῆς τρίτης, τὴν δὲ ἕκτην τῆς πρώτης ὀκταπλασίαν, ἑβδόμην δ' ἑπτακαιεικοσαπλασίαν τῆς πρώτης. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα συνεπλήρου τά τε διπλάσια καὶ τριπλάσια διαστήματα, μοίρας ἔτι ἐκεῖθεν ἀποτέμνων καὶ τιθεὶς εἰς τὸ μεταξὺ τούτων, ὥστε ἐν ἑκάστῳ διαστήματι δύο εἶναι μεσότητας, τὴν μὲν ταὐτῷ μέρει τῶν ἄκρων αὐτῶν ὑπερέχουσαν καὶ ὑπερεχομένην, τὴν δὲ ἴσῳ μὲν κατ' ἀριθμὸν ὑπερέχουσαν, ἴσῳ δὲ ὑπερεχομένην. ἡμιολίων δὲ διαστάσεων καὶ ἐπιτρίτων καὶ ἐπογδόων γενομένων ἐκ τούτων τῶν δεσμῶν ἐν ταῖς πρόσθεν διαστάσεσι, τῷ τοῦ ἐπογδόου διαστήματι τὰ ἐπίτριτα πάντα συνεπληροῦτο, λείπων αὐτῶν ἑκάστου μόριον, τῆς δὲ τοῦ μορίου ταύτης διαστάσεως λειφθείσης ἀριθμοῦ πρὸς ἀριθμὸν ἐχούσης τοὺς ὅρους ἓξ καὶ πεντήκοντα καὶ διακοσίων πρὸς τρία καὶ τετταράκοντα καὶ διακόσια. καὶ δὴ τὸ μιχθὲν ἐξ οὗ ταῦτα κατέτεμνεν οὕτως ἤδη πάντα κατανηλώκει.» Ἡ μὲν οὖν τοῦ Πλάτωνος ἐπὶ λέξεων ὑποτύπωσις αὕτη. ἵνα οὖν ἐν τάξει προΐωμεν, λάβωμεν πρῶτον ἐν τοῖς ἀπὸ μονάδος ἀριθμοῖς τοὺς λεγομένους πρώτους ὑπὸ τοῦ Πλάτωνος λόγους. ἐκκείσθω οὖν μονάς· καὶ ταύτης διπλασία δυάς· εἶτα τριάς, ἡμιολία μὲν τῆς δυάδος, τριπλασία δὲ τῆς μονάδος· εἶτα τετράς, τετραπλασία τῆς μονάδος· εἶτα ἐννεάς, τριπλασία τῆς τριάδος· εἶτα ὀγδοάς, ὀκταπλασία τῆς μονάδος· ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ ἑβδόμη {καὶ εἰκοστὴ} μοῖρα ἑπτακαιεικοσαπλασία οὖσα τῆς μονάδος. ἐπειδὴ δὲ παρακελεύεται ἡμῖν ὁ Πλάτων τὰ διπλάσια καὶ τριπλάσια διαστήματα ταῖς ἁρμονικαῖς καὶ ἀριθμητικαῖς μεσότησι συνδεῖν, μονάδος δὲ καὶ δυάδος μεταξὺ ταύτας τὰς μεσότητας εὑρεῖν ἀδύνατον, ληπτέον τινὰ πρῶτον ἀριθμόν, ὃς ἐλάχιστος ὢν ἕξει καὶ ἥμισυ καὶ τρίτον. εἰλήφθω οὖν ὁ ἕξ, καὶ ἔστω οὗτος ἡ ἀφῃρημένη παρὰ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ ἀπὸ παντὸς μοῖρα· μετὰ δὲ τὸν ἓξ ὁ δώδεκα, διπλάσιος ὢν τοῦ ἕξ· εἶτα ὁ ὀκτωκαίδεκα, ἡμιόλιος μὲν τοῦ δώδεκα, τριπλάσιος δὲ τοῦ ἕξ· εἶτα ὁ εἰκοσιτέτταρα, διπλάσιος ὢν τοῦ δευτέρου ὅρου τοῦ δώδεκα· εἶτα ὁ πεντηκοντατέτταρα, τριπλάσιος ὢν τοῦ τρίτου ὅρου, φημὶ δὴ τοῦ ὀκτωκαίδεκα· εἶτα ὁ τετταρακονταοκτώ, ὀκταπλάσιος ὢν τοῦ πρώτου ὅρου, φημὶ δὴ τοῦ ἕξ· εἶτα ὁ ἑκατοστὸς ἑξηκοστὸς δεύτερος, ἑπτακαιεικοσαπλάσιος ὢν τοῦ πρώτου ὅρου τοῦ ἕξ. τοιγαροῦν μεταξὺ μὲν τοῦ ἓξ καὶ δώδεκα ἐμπεσοῦνται ἁρμονικὴ μὲν μεσότης ὁ ὀκτώ, ἀριθμητικὴ δὲ ὁ ἐννέα· μεταξὺ δὲ τοῦ δώδεκα καὶ τοῦ εἰκοστοῦ τετάρτου διπλασίου ἁρμονικὴ μὲν μεσότης ὁ δεκαέξ, ἀριθμητικὴ δὲ ὁ ὀκτωκαίδεκα· μεταξὺ δὲ τοῦ τρίτου διπλασίου τοῦ εἰκοσιτέτταρα καὶ τετταρακονταοκτὼ ἁρμονικὴ μὲν μεσότης ὁ ˉλˉβ, ἀριθμητικὴ δὲ ὁ ˉλˉϛ· ἐν δὲ τοῖς τριπλασίοις μεταξὺ τοῦ ἓξ καὶ ˉιˉη ἁρμονικὴ μὲν μεσότης ὁ ˉθ, ἀριθμητικὴ δὲ ὁ ˉιˉβ. καὶ κείσθωσαν ἐφεξῆς ὅροι οὗτοι· ˉϛ, ˉη, ˉθ, ˉιˉβ, ˉιˉϛ, ˉκˉδ, ˉλˉβ, ˉλˉϛ, ˉμˉν, ˉνˉδ, ˉπˉα, ˉρˉη, ˉρˉξˉβ. ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν ἦν δυνατὸν ἐν 5 τούτοις τοῖς