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In the same way, the Lord also teaches the scribe through the Gospel to place before every commandment the love for God, which is active from the whole heart and soul and mind. For here also the text seems to me to explain the same distinction, calling the more corporeal state "heart," the middle one "soul," and "mind" the higher nature, the 148 intellectual and creative power, Hence also the Apostle knows three distinctions of disposition, naming one carnal, which is occupied with the belly and the pleasures concerning it; another soulish, which is midway between virtue and vice, rising above the one, but not purely partaking of the other; and the other spiritual, which contemplates the perfection of the life according to God. Therefore he says to the Corinthians, reproaching their indulgent and passionate state, that "You are carnal," and incapable of the more perfect doctrines; and elsewhere, making a certain comparison of the middle with the perfect, he says: "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit, for they are foolishness to him; but the spiritual man judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one." As therefore the soulish man has ascended above the carnal, by the same analogy the spiritual man also has risen above him. If therefore Scripture says that man came to be last after every living thing, the lawgiver does nothing other than philosophize for us about the soul, in a certain necessary sequence of order seeing the perfect among the last things. For in the rational the rest are also included; but in the sensitive the natural kind is certainly also present. But that is considered only with respect to the material.

Therefore it is with good reason that nature, as if through steps—I mean of the properties of life—makes its ascent from the smaller things to the perfect. Since, therefore, man is a rational animal, it was necessary for the instrument of the body to be constructed suitably for the need of reason. Just as one can see musicians practicing their music according to the kind of instruments, neither playing the flute on lyres nor playing the cithara on them; in the same way it was necessary for the construction of the organs to be suitable for speech, so that it might sound fittingly, being formed by the vocal parts for the need of words. For this reason the hands were joined to the body. For even if one can enumerate the myriad needs in life, for which these resourceful and most sufficient instruments of the hands are useful for every art and every activity, easily pursuing things in war and in peace; yet also before other things, and especially for the sake of speech, nature added them to the body. For if man were without hands, the parts of his face would surely have been arranged for him in the likeness of the quadrupeds, suitably for the need of food, so that his form would be elongated and tapered toward the nostrils, and the lips of his mouth would project, callous and firm and thick, being suited for taking up grass, and the tongue would lie within the teeth differently; of such a kind, very fleshy, and hard and rough, and working together with the teeth on what comes under the tooth; or moist and 149 spread out at the sides, such as that of dogs and the other carnivorous animals, flowing in between the gaps of the jagged teeth. If, therefore, the hands were not present on the body, how could articulate speech have been impressed upon it, since the construction of the parts around the mouth was not co-formed for the need of the voice? so that it would be necessary for man either to bleat, certainly, or to baa, or to bark, or to neigh, or to cry out similarly to oxen or donkeys, or to let out some bestial roar. But now, with the hand having been placed on the body, the mouth is at leisure for the service of speech. Therefore the hands have been shown to be a property of the rational nature, since the Creator thus devised through them facility for speech.

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Ὡσαύτως καὶ τὸν γραμματέα διὰ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου παιδεύει ὁ Κύριος, πάσης ἐντολῆς προτιθέναι τὴν εἰς Θεὸν ἀγά πην, τὴν ἐξ ὅλης καρδίας καὶ ψυχῆς καὶ διανοίας ἐν εργουμένην. Καὶ γὰρ ἐνταῦθα τὴν αὐτὴν δοκεῖ μοι διαφορὰν ἑρμηνεύειν ὁ λόγος, τὴν μὲν σωματι κωτέραν κατάστασιν καρδίαν εἰπὼν, ψυχὴν δὲ τὴν μέσην, διάνοιαν δὲ τὴν ὑψηλοτέραν φύσιν, τὴν 148 νοεράν τε καὶ ποιητικὴν δύναμιν, Ὅθεν καὶ τρεῖς διαφορὰς προαιρέσεως ὁ Ἀπόστολος οἶδε, τὴν μὲν σαρκικὴν κατονομάζων, ἣ περὶ γαστέρα καὶ τὰς περὶ ταύτην ἡδυπαθείας ἠσχόληται· τὴν δὲ ψυχικὴν, ἢ μέσως πρὸς ἀρετὴν καὶ κακίαν ἔχει, τῆς μὲν ὑπερανεστῶσα, τῆς δὲ καθαρῶς οὐ μετέχουσα· τὴν δὲ πνευματικὴν, ἣ τὸ τέλειον ἐνθεωρεῖ τῆς κατὰ Θεὸν πολιτείας. ∆ιό φησι πρὸς Κορινθίους, τὸ ἀπο λαυστικὸν αὐτῶν καὶ ἐμπαθὲς ὀνειδίζων, ὅτι Σάρκι νοί ἐστε, καὶ τῶν τελειοτέρων δογμάτων ἀχώρητοι· ἑτέρωθι δὲ σύγκρισίν τινα τοῦ μέσου πρὸς τὸ τέλειον ποιούμενος, λέγει· «Ψυχικὸς δὲ ἄνθρωπος οὐ δέχεται τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος· μωρία γὰρ αὐτῷ ἐστιν· ὁ δὲ πνευ ματικὸς ἀνακρίνει μὲν πάντα, αὐτὸς δὲ ὑπ' οὐδενὸς ἀνακρίνεται.» Ὡς οὖν ἀναβέβηκεν ὁ ψυχικὸς τὸν σαρκικὸν, κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἀναλογίαν καὶ ὁ πνευματικὸς τούτου ὑπερανέστηκεν. Εἰ οὖν τελευταῖον μετὰ πᾶν ἔμψυχον ἡ Γραφὴ γεγενῆσθαι λέγει τὸν ἄνθρωπον, οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ φιλοσοφεῖ τὰ περὶ ψυχῆς ἡμῖν ὁ νομο θέτης, ἐπ' ἀναγκαίᾳ τινὶ τῇ τάξεως ἀκολουθίᾳ τὸ τέ λειον ἐν τελευταίοις βλέπων. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῷ λογικῷ καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ περιείληπται· ἐν δὲ τῷ αἰσθητικῷ καὶ τὸ φυσικὸν εἶδος πάντως ἐστίν. Ἐκεῖνο δὲ περὶ τὸ ὑλικὸν θεωρεῖται μόνον.

Οὐκοῦν εἰκότως, καθάπερ διὰ βαθμῶν ἡ φύσις, τῶν τῆς ζωῆς λέγω ἰδιωμάτων, ἀπὸ τῶν μικροτέ ρων ἐπὶ τὸ τέλειον ποιεῖται τὴν ἄνοδον. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν λογικόν τι ζῶόν ἐστιν ὁ ἄνθρωπος, κατάλληλον ἔδει τῇ χρείᾳ τοῦ λόγου κατασκευασθῆναι τὸ τοῦ σώματος ὄργανον. Καθάπερ τοὺς μουσικοὺς ἔστιν ἰδεῖν πρὸς τὸ τῶν ὀργάνων εἶδος τὴν μουσικὴν ἑκπονοῦντας, καὶ οὔτε διὰ βαρβίτων αὐλοῦντας, οὔτε ἐν αὐλοῖς κιθαρίζοντας· κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἔδει τῷ λόγῳ κατάλληλον εἶναι τὴν τῶν ὀργάνων κατα σκευὴν, ὡς ἂν προσφυῶς ἐνηχοίη πρὸς τὴν τῶν ῥη μάτων χρείαν ὑπὸ τῶν φωνητικῶν μορίων τυπούμενος. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο συνηρτήθησαν αἱ χεῖρες τῷ σώματι. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μυρίας ἔστιν ἀπαριθμήσασθαι τὰς κατὰ τὸν βίον χρείας, πρὸς ἃς τὰ εὐμήχανα ταῦτα καὶ πολυαρκῆ τῶν χειρῶν ὄργανα χρησίμως ἔχει πρὸς πᾶσαν τέχνην καὶ πᾶσαν ἐνέργειαν, τὸν κατὰ πόλεμόν τε καὶ εἰρή νην εὐαφῶς μετιόντα· ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων δια φερόντως τοῦ λόγου χάριν προσέθηκεν αὐτὰς ἡ φύσις τῷ σώματι. Εἰ γὰρ ἄμοιρος τῶν χειρῶν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἦν, πάντως ἂν αὐτῷ καθ' ὁμοιότητα τῶν τετραπόδων καταλλήλως τῇ τῆς τροφῆς χρείᾳ διεσκεύαστο τοῦ προσώπου τὰ μόρια, ὥστε προμήκη τε τὴν μορφὴν εἶναι, καὶ ἐπὶ μυκτῆρας ἀπολεπτύνεσθαι, καὶ προ βεβλῆσθαι τὰ χείλη τοῦ στόματος τυλώδη καὶ στα θερὰ, καὶ παχέα, πρὸς τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τῆς πόας ἐπι τηδείως ἔχοντα, ἐγκεῖσθαι δὲ τοῖς ὀδοῦσι τὴν γλῶσσαν ἄλλην· τινὰ τοιαύτην, πολύσαρκον, καὶ ἀντιτυπῆ καὶ τραχεῖαν, καὶ συγκατεργαζομένην τοῖς ὀδοῦσι τὸ ὑπὸ τὸν ὀδόντα γινόμενον· ἢ ὑγράν τε καὶ δια 149 κεχυμένην κατὰ τὰ πλάγια, οἵα ἡ τῶν κυνῶν τε καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν τῶν ὠμοβόρων ἐστὶ, τῷ καρχάρῳ τῶν ὀδόντων μεταξὺ τῶν διαστημάτων ἐνδιαῤῥέουσα. Εἰ οὖν μὴ παρῆσαν αἱ χεῖρες τῷ σώματι, πῶς ἂν ἔναρ θρος τούτῳ ἐνετυπώθη φωνὴ, τῆς κατασκευῆς τῶν κατὰ τὸ στόμα μορίων οὐ συνδιασχηματιζομένης πρὸς τὴν χρείαν τοῦ φθόγγου; ὡς ἐπάναγκες εἶναι ἢ βλη χᾶσθαι πάντως, ἢ μηκάζειν, ἢ ὑλακτεῖν, ἢ χρεμετί ζειν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἢ βουσὶν, ἢ ὄνοις βοᾷν παραπλή σιον, ἤ τινα θηριώδη μυκηθμὸν ἀφιέναι. Νυνὶ δὲ τῆς χειρὸς ἐντεθείσης τῷ σώματι, εὔσχολόν ἐστι τὸ στόμα τῇ ὑπηρεσίᾳ τοῦ λόγου. Οὐκοῦν ἴδιον τῆς λογικῆς φύσεως αἱ χεῖρες ἀναπεφήνασιν, οὕτω τοῦ πλάστου διὰ τούτων ἐπινοήσαντος τῷ λόγῳ τὴν εὐκολίαν.