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

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 no worse to speak and interpret again concerning these things, who Zeus is, who the twelve gods are, and who is the immovable Hestia who does not accompany the army of the other gods. Concerning these things, the one who is explaining should not permit himself the principles of interpretation, but should start from the Platonic hypotheses. For one might ingeniously make a start from the twelve spheres of the cosmos, I mean the sphere of the fixed stars and the seven wandering stars and the four elements, and he will place Zeus according to the fixed sphere, since he leads all things, and Hestia according to the earth because of her immobility. And again another will conceive of the souls of these spheres, and another the intellects mounted upon such souls. And those who explain the sayings in this way will say something, but they will not arrive at the end of the myth. But we, not exercising our own conception now, but following Plato himself and the theologians among the Greeks, speak, uncovering their opinion, that after the demiurgic monad and the one and transcendent Zeus, there are among them three gods of Zeus, named Zeus, Poseidon, and Pluto; and under each of the three are arranged four gods, one providing being to existing things, another life, another immutable abiding, and another reversion to their own principles; so that there are three causes of being for all bodies and souls and intellects, and three of being guarded and remaining immutable, and three of living, and three 13 of reverting to their own principles; so that three times four becomes twelve. Of whom the first is Zeus; for though he is ordered with the other twelve, he has a hegemonic rank as among those who are ordered. And these twelve gods among the Greeks are leaders both of the cosmic gods and of angels and of all <the> other races. And he said "in heaven" because, even if the whole cosmos partakes of him, yet much more so does heaven, being more akin and more suited to partake of the god. And by "chariot" and horses of the gods we must understand their second and third powers, which the first powers direct, through which Zeus both gathers himself together and the whole army of gods and daemons subject to him and, simply, all things that depend on him. And if someone should wish to suggest a vehicle for him, he would suggest Olympus, that is, the firmaments above the fixed sphere, which are even swifter than the fixed sphere. And since there are twelve leaders and twelve orders, and Hestia is one of the leaders and her army is understood to be in abiding and motionlessness, it is reasonably said that the eleven orders "follow" Zeus. For if Hestia is also led up and the other gods remain and have a hearth and an abiding, it must be said, that both are in each of the gods, or rather the three; for each of them both abides and proceeds and reverts, being led up to its own principles. But one is characterized in one way, another in another, and Zeus is the cause of all things being led up, while Hestia is the cause of all things being established, and Hera and the life-giving goddesses are the cause of procession; for all existing things both abide in their own causes and proceed from them and turn back again to their own principles, and through Hestia they receive their stability and the cause of their establishment, and through Zeus the cause of their reversion and ascent. And this is what Plato says concerning the gods. But before this, undertaking to speak about the immortality of our soul, he speaks thus: "And concerning its form, it must be spoken of thus. What it is, would be in every way a divine and long narrative, but what it is like, a human and lesser one; so in this way we shall speak. It is like the composite power {and} of a winged pair of steeds and a charioteer. Now, the horses and charioteers of the gods are all good themselves and of good stock, but that of the others is mixed. And first, our

καὶ ἐξηγήσεως. καὶ ἔστιν ἐπιστολὴ ἐμὴ ἐν τοῖς ἐμοῖς κειμένη βιβλίοις τὸν ἐν τοῖς ῥητοῖς ἀνιχνεύσασα νοῦν καὶ ἐξακριβώσασα. οὐδὲν δὲ χεῖρον καὶ αὖθις περὶ τούτων εἰπεῖν καὶ διερμηνεῦσαι, τίς μὲν ὁ Ζεύς, τίνες δὲ οἱ δώδεκα θεοί, τίς δὲ ἡ ἀκίνητος Ἑστία μὴ συνεπομένη τῇ στρατιᾷ τῶν λοιπῶν θεῶν. Περὶ τούτων δὲ οὐ χρὴ τὸν ἐξηγούμενον ἑαυτῷ ἐπιτρέπειν τὰς τῆς ἑρμηνείας ἀρχάς, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῶν Πλατωνικῶν ὑποθέσεων. εὐφυῶς μὲν γάρ τις ἐπιβαλεῖ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν δώδεκα τοῦ κόσμου σφαιρῶν, τῆς ἀπλανοῦς φημι καὶ τῶν πλανωμένων ἑπτὰ καὶ τῶν τεττάρων στοιχείων, καὶ τὸν μὲν ∆ία τάξει κατὰ τὴν ἀπλανῆ, ἐπειδὴ πάντα ἄγει, τὴν δὲ Ἑστίαν κατὰ τὴν γῆν διὰ τὸ ἀκίνητον. καὶ αὖθις ἕτερος τὰς τῶν σφαιρῶν τούτων ψυχὰς ἐννοήσει, καὶ ἄλλος τοὺς νοῦς τοὺς ἐπιβεβηκότας ταῖς τοιαύταις ψυχαῖς. καὶ ἐροῦσι μέν τι οἱ οὕτως ἐξηγούμενοι τὰ ῥητά, ἀτὰρ οὐκ εἰς τέλος τοῦ μύθου ἀφίξονται. Ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς οὐ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἐπιβολὴν γυμνάζοντες νῦν, ἀλλ' αὐτῷ Πλάτωνι κατακολουθοῦντες καὶ τοῖς παρ' Ἕλλησι θεολόγοις φαμὲν τὴν ἐκείνων δόξαν ἀνακαλύπτοντες, ὅτι μετὰ τὴν μονάδα τὴν δημιουργικὴν καὶ τὸν ἕνα καὶ ἐξῃρημένον ∆ία τρεῖς εἰσι παρ' αὐτοῖς θεοὶ δίιοι, Ζεύς, Ποσειδῶν καὶ Πλούτων ὠνομασμένοι· ὑφ' ἑκάστῳ δὲ τῶν τριῶν τέτταρές εἰσιν τεταγμένοι θεοί, ὁ μέν τις τὸ εἶναι παρέχων τοῖς οὖσιν, ὁ δὲ τὸ ζῆν, ὁ δὲ μονὴν ἄτρεπτον, ὁ δὲ ἐπιστροφὴν ἐπὶ τὰς οἰκείας ἀρχάς· ὡς εἶναι τρεῖς μὲν αἰτίους τοῦ εἶναι τοῖς πᾶσι σώμασι καὶ ψυχαῖς καὶ νοῖς, τρεῖς δὲ τοῦ φρουρεῖσθαι καὶ ἄτρεπτα μένειν, τρεῖς δὲ τοῦ ζῆν, τρεῖς δὲ 13 τοῦ ἐπιστρέφειν ἐπὶ τὰς οἰκείας ἀρχάς· ὡς γίνεσθαι τρὶς τέτταρας δώδεκα. ὧν πρῶτός ἐστιν ὁ Ζεύς· συντεταγμένος γὰρ ὢν τοῖς λοιποῖς δώδεκα ἡγεμονικὴν ἔχει ὡς ἐν συντεταγμένοις τάξιν. εἰσὶ δὲ οὗτοι οἱ δώδεκα παρ' Ἕλλησι θεοὶ ἡγεμόνες καὶ θεῶν ἐγκοσμίων καὶ ἀγγέλων καὶ πάντων <τῶν> λοιπῶν γενῶν. τὸ δὲ «ἐν οὐρανῷ» εἰρήκει, ὅτι, εἰ καὶ ὅλος ὁ κόσμος αὐτοῦ ἀπολαύει, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὁ οὐρανὸς ἅτε συγγενέστερος ὢν καὶ ἐπιτηδειότερος πρὸς τὸ μετασχεῖν τοῦ θεοῦ. «ἅρμα» δὲ καὶ ἵππους τῶν θεῶν τὰς δευτέρας αὐτῶν καὶ τρίτας δυνάμεις ἀκουστέον, ἃς αἱ πρῶται κατευθύνουσι, δι' ὧν ὁ Ζεὺς καὶ ἑαυτὸν συνάγει καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν ὑποβεβλημένην αὐτῷ στρατιὰν θεῶν καὶ δαιμόνων καὶ πάντα ἁπλῶς τὰ ἐξημμένα αὐτοῦ. εἰ δὲ καὶ ὄχημά τις θέλοι ὑποβάλλειν αὐτῷ, τὸν Ὄλυμπον ἂν αὐτῷ ὑποβάλοι, τουτέστι τὰ ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀπλανῆ στερεώματα, ἃ καὶ τῆς ἀπλανοῦς ἐστι πτηνότερα. δώδεκα δὲ ὄντων ἡγεμόνων καὶ δώδεκα τάξεων, τῆς δὲ Ἑστίας μιᾶς οὔσης τῶν ἡγεμόνων καὶ τῆς στρατείας αὐτῆς ἐν μονῇ καὶ ἀκινησίᾳ λαμβανομένης εἰκότως εἴρηνται αἱ ἕνδεκα τάξεις «ἕπεσθαι» τῷ ∆ιί. εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἡ Ἑστία ἀνάγεται καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι θεοὶ μένουσι καὶ ἑστίαν ἔχουσι καὶ μονήν, ῥητέον, ὡς ἀμφότερα μέν ἐστιν ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῶν θεῶν, μᾶλλον δὲ τὰ τρία· ἕκαστος γὰρ αὐτῶν καὶ μένει καὶ πρόεισι καὶ ἐπιστρέφει πρὸς τὰς οἰκείας ἀρχὰς ἀναγόμενος. ἄλλος δὲ κατ' ἄλλο χαρακτηρίζεται, καὶ ἔστι τοῦ μὲν πάντως ἀνάγεσθαι αἴτιος ὁ Ζεύς, τοῦ δὲ πάντα ἑδράζεσθαι ἡ Ἑστία, τοῦ δὲ προϊέναι ἡ Ἥρα καὶ αἱ ζωογόνοι θεαί· πάντα γὰρ τὰ ὄντα καὶ μένει ἐν τοῖς ἑαυτῶν αἰτίοις καὶ πρόεισιν ἐξ αὐτῶν καὶ ὑποστρέφει πάλιν εἰς τὰς οἰκείας ἀρχάς, καὶ διὰ μὲν τῆς Ἑστίας τὸ μόνιμον καὶ αἴτιον τῆς ἐνιδρύσεως αὐτῶν λαμβάνει, διὰ δὲ τοῦ ∆ιὸς τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ὑποστροφῆς καὶ ἀνόδου. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν περὶ τῶν θεῶν ὁ Πλάτων. Πρὸ τούτων δὲ περὶ ἀθανασίας τῆς ἡμετέρας ψυχῆς ἐπιβαλλόμενος ἐρεῖν οὕτω φησί· «περὶ δὲ τῆς ἰδέας αὐτῆς οὕτω λεκτέον. οἷον μέν ἐστι, πάντη καὶ πάντως θείας εἶναι καὶ μακρᾶς διηγήσεως, ᾧ δὲ ἔοικεν, ἀνθρωπίνης καὶ ἐλάττονος· ταύτῃ οὖν λέγομεν. ἔοικε δὴ τῷ συμφύτῳ δυνάμει {καὶ} ὑποπτέρου ζεύγους τε καὶ ἡνιόχου. θεῶν μὲν οὖν ἵπποι τε καὶ ἡνίοχοι πάντες αὐτοί τε ἀγαθοὶ καὶ ἐξ ἀγαθῶν, τὸ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων μέμικται. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ἡμῶν ὁ