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depth, and from there again to be pushed out by nature through the passage of the mouth, with all the inward parts, and especially the liver, as they say, expelling such a breath through a certain convulsion and agitated movement. Whence nature, contriving a certain ease for the exit of the breath, widens the passage around the mouth, distending the cheeks on both sides for the exhalation. And the name for what happens is laughter. Therefore, neither for this reason should the ruling principle be reckoned to the liver, nor, on account of the boiling of the blood around the heart in states of anger, should the seat of the mind be thought to be in the heart? but these things must be referred to the particular constitutions of bodies. But the mind must be thought to attach itself equally to each of the members, according to the ineffable principle of its commixture. And if some adduce to us Scripture for this, testifying that the ruling principle is in the heart, we shall not receive the statement without examination. For he who mentioned the heart, mentioned the reins also, saying, "God tries the hearts and reins;" so that they confine the intelligent principle either to both, or to neither. But being taught that the intellectual energies are blunted, or even entirely inactive in a particular disposition of the body, I do not consider this a sufficient proof that the power of the mind is confined to a certain place, as if it were driven out of its proper space by inflammations occurring in the parts. For such an opinion is corporeal, that when a vessel is pre-occupied by something thrown into it, another thing cannot find room in it. For the intellectual nature neither delights in the empty spaces of bodies, nor is it thrust out by the excess of flesh. But since the whole body has been created like some musical instrument, just as often happens with those who know how to make melody but are unable to show their knowledge, because the uselessness of the instruments does not admit their art (for that which is either worn out by time, or broken by a fall, or rendered useless by some rust and mold, remains voiceless and inoperative, even if it is breathed into by one who seems to excel in the art of flute-playing); so also the mind, pervading the whole instrument, and attaching itself to each of the parts suitably for its intellectual energies, as is its nature, on the one hand, in those that are in a natural state, it has worked its proper effect, but on the other hand, in those that are too weak to receive its skillful motion, it remained inactive and inoperative. For the mind is somehow naturally disposed to be in tune with what is in a natural state, but to be alienated from that which has deviated from it. And it seems to me that there is a more physical contemplation concerning this part, through which it is possible to learn something of the more elegant doctrines.

For since the most beautiful and most excellent good of all is the Divine itself, towards which all things incline that have a desire for the beautiful, for this reason we say that the mind also, being made in the image of the most beautiful, so long as it partakes of the likeness to the archetype, as far as is possible, itself also abides in the beautiful, but if it should somehow fall outside of this, it is stripped of the beauty in which it was. And just as we said that the mind is adorned by the likeness of the archetypal beauty, being formed like a mirror by the character of that which appears in it; according to the same analogy, we also reckon that the nature administered by it holds to the mind, and is itself adorned by the adjacent beauty, becoming as it were a mirror of a mirror; and that the material part of the substance, in which nature is contemplated, is mastered and held together by this. As long, then, as the one holds to the other, the communion of the truly beautiful will pass through all things analogously, beautifying what is next through that which is above. But when some disruption of this good union occurs, or even the opposite, when the superior follows the subordinate; then the deformity of matter itself, when it is isolated from nature, is brought forth (for matter in itself is something formless and unadorned) and with its formlessness the beauty of nature was also corrupted, or through the

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βάθος, κἀκεῖθεν πάλιν ἐξωθεῖσθαι παρὰ τῆς φύσεως διὰ τοῦ κατὰ τὸ στόμα πόρου, πάντων τῶν σπλάγχνων, καὶ μάλιστά γε τοῦ ἥπατος, ὤς φασι, διά τινος κλόνου καὶ βρασμώδους κινήσεως τὸ τοιοῦ τον πνεῦμα συνεξωθούντων. Ὅθεν εὐκολίαν τινὰ τῇ διεξόδῳ τοῦ πνεύματος μηχανωμένη ἡ φύσις, ἀνευρύ νει τὸν περὶ τὸ στόμα πόρον, ἑκατέρωθεν περὶ τὸ ἆσθμα τὰς παρειὰς διαστέλλουσα. Ὄνομα δὲ τῷ γινομένῳ γέλως ἐστίν. Οὔτε οὖν διὰ τοῦτο τῷ ἥπατι τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν λογιστέον, οὔτε διὰ τὴν περικάρδιον ζέσιν τοῦ αἵματος ἐν ταῖς θυμικαῖς διαθέσεσιν, ἐν καρδίᾳ νομιστέον εἶναι τοῦ νοῦ τὴν καθίδρυσιν; ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν εἰς τὰς ποιὰς τῶν σωμάτων κατασκευὰς ἀνακτέον. Τὸν δὲ νοῦν ὁμοτίμως ἑκάστῳ τῶν μορίων, κατὰ τὸν ἄφραστον τῆς ἀνακράσεως λόγον ἐφάπτεσθαι νομιστέον. Κἂν τὴν Γραφήν τινες ἡμῖν πρὸς τοῦτο προτείνωνται, τῇ καρδίᾳ τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν μαρτυροῦ σαν, οὐκ ἀνεξετάστως τὸν λόγον δεξόμεθα. Ὁ γὰρ καρδίαν μνησθεὶς, καὶ νεφρῶν ἐμνημόνευσεν, εἰπών· «Ἐτάζων καρδίας καὶ νεφροὺς ὁ Θεός·» ὥστε ἢ ἀμ φοτέροις, ἢ οὐδετέρῳ τὸ νοερὸν κατακλείουσιν. Ἀμ βλύνεσθαι δὲ τὰς νοητικὰς ἐνεργείας, ἢ καὶ παντάπα σιν ἀπρακτεῖν ἐν τῇ ποιᾷ διαθέσει τοῦ σώματος δι 161 δαχθεὶς, οὐχ ἱκανὸν ποιοῦμαι τοῦτο τεκμήριον, τοῦ τόπῳ τινὶ τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ νοῦ περιείργεσθαι, ὡς ταῖς ἐπιγινομέναις τοῖς μέρεσι φλεγμοναῖς τῆς οἰκείας εὐρυχωρίας ἐξειργομένης. Σωματικὴ γὰρ ἡ τοιαύτη δόξα, τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι προκατειλημμένου τοῦ ἀγγείου διά τινος τῶν ἐμβεβλημένων, ἕτερόν τι ἐν αὐτῷ χώραν εὑρεῖν. Ἡ γὰρ νοητὴ φύσις οὔτε ταῖς κενώσεσιν ἐμ φιλοχωρεῖ τῶν σωμάτων, οὔτε τῷ πλεονάζοντι τῆς σαρκὸς ἐξωθεῖται. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ καθάπερ τι μουσικὸν ὄργανον ἅπαν τὸ σῶμα δεδημιούργηται, ὥσπερ συμ βαίνει πολλάκις ἐπὶ τῶν μελῳδεῖν μὲν ἐπισταμένων, ἀδυνατούντων δὲ δεῖξαι τὴν ἐπιστήμην, τῆς τῶν ὀργάνων ἀχρηστίας οὐ παραδεχομένης τὴν τέχνην (τὸ γὰρ ἢ χρόνῳ φθαρὲν, ἢ παρεῤῥηγμένον ἐκ καταπτώσεως, ἢ ὑπό τινος ἰοῦ καὶ εὐρῶτος ἠχρειω μένον, ἄφθογγον μένει καὶ ἀνενέργητον, κἂν ὑπὸ τοῦ προέχειν δοκοῦντος κατὰ τὴν αὐλητικὴν τέχνην ἐμπνέηται)· οὕτω καὶ ὁ νοῦς δι' ὅλου τοῦ ὀργάνου διήκων, καὶ καταλλήλως ταῖς νοητικαῖς ἐνεργείαις, καθὸ πέφυκεν, ἑκάστῳ τῶν μερῶν προσαπτόμενος, ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν κατὰ φύσιν διακειμένων τὸ οἰκεῖον ἐν ήργησεν, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἀσθενούντων δέξασθαι τὴν τεχνι κὴν αὐτοῦ κίνησιν, ἄπρακτός τε καὶ ἀνενέργητος ἔμεινε. Πέφυκε γάρ πως ὁ νοῦς πρὸς μὲν τὸ κατὰ φύσιν διακείμενον οἰκείως ἔχειν, πρὸς δὲ τὸ παρενε χθὲν ἀπὸ ταύτης, ἀλλοτριοῦσθαι. Καί μοι δοκεῖ φυσικώτερον εἶναί τι κατὰ τὸ μέρος τοῦτο θεώρημα, δι' οὗ μαθεῖν ἔστι τι τῶν ἀστειοτέρων δογμάτων.

Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὸ κάλλιστον πάντων καὶ ἐξ οχώτατον ἀγαθὸν αὐτὸ τὸ Θεῖόν ἐστι, πρὸς ὃ πάντα νέ νευκεν, ὅσα τοῦ καλοῦ τὴν ἔφεσιν ἔχει, διὰ τοῦτό φα μεν καὶ τὸν νοῦν, ἅτε κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ καλλίστου γε νόμενον, ἕως ἂν μετέχῃ τῆς πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον ὁμοιό τητος, καθόσον ἐνδέχεται, καὶ αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ καλῷ δια μένειν, εἰ δέ πως ἔξω γένοιτο τούτου, γυμνοῦσθαι τοῦ κάλλους ἐν ᾧ ἦν. Ὥσπερ δὲ ἔφαμεν τῇ ὁμοιώσει τοῦ πρωτοτύπου κάλλους κατακοσμεῖσθαι τὸν νοῦν, οἷόν τι κάτοπτρον τῷ χαρακτῆρι τοῦ ἐμφαινομένου μορ φούμενον· κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἀναλογίαν, καὶ τὴν οἰκονο μουμένην ὑπ' αὐτοῦ φύσιν ἔχεσθαι τοῦ νοῦ λογιζόμεθα, καὶ τῷ παρακειμένῳ κάλλει καὶ αὐτὴν κοσμεῖσθαι οἷόν τι κατόπτρου κάτοπτρον γινομένην· κρατεῖσθαι δὲ ὑπὸ ταύτης καὶ συνέχεσθαι τὸ ὑλικὸν τῆς ὑποστάσεως, περὶ ἢν θεωρεῖται ἡ φύσις. Ἕως ἂν οὖν ἔχηται τοῦ ἑτέρου τὸ ἕτερον, διὰ πάντων ἀναλόγως ἡ τοῦ ὄντως κάλλους κοινωνία διέξεισι, διὰ τοῦ ὑπερκειμένου τὸ προσεχὲς καλλωπίζουσα. Ἐπειδὰν δέ τις γένηται τῆς ἀγαθῆς ταύτης συμφυΐας διασπασμὸς, ἢ καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἔμπαλιν, ἀντακολουθῇ τῷ ὑποβεβηκότι τὸ ὑπερέχον· τότε αὐτῆς τε τῆς ὕλης, ὅταν μονωθῇ τῆς φύσεως, διηνέχθη τὸ ἄσχημον (ἄμορφον γάρ τι καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἡ ὕλη καὶ ἀκατάσκευον) καὶ τῇ ἀμορφίᾳ ταύτης συνδιεφθάρη τὸ κάλλος τῆς φύσεως, ἢ διὰ τοῦ