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

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 are not smooth, the air is again shattered by the hollows. But there is need of the violent collision of hard things, so that much air is left behind between them, which, being trapped and quickly pushed out, 54 produces a sound. In bells and other hollow objects, air resounds for a long time, because it is contained around the hollow and cannot get out, and because the bell, being struck inside by bronze, produces a prolonged echo, since the outer air falls upon the inner air and strikes and is struck back and resounds through. The movement occurs neither through a void nor through a solid, but in air or water. In water no sound is produced, if you should go into it and strike both your palms together. For we said that the coming together of the things being struck must be sudden, so that the air is not broken up little by little. Striking the air with a whip, we do not produce a sound, because the air then fulfills two roles, that of the thing being struck and that of what is in between. Air and water are receptive of sound, but not productive of it, just as that which is colorless is receptive of color; but solids are productive. An echo is produced when the air, having been struck, is pushed and carried against something resistant which has a hollow, and is turned back by reflection, like a ball thrown against a wall and thus going back to the one who struck it. And the echo becomes articulate, because the first air struck by us as we speak is also reflected first, carrying to us the echo of the first word, and the second air that of the second word, and thus the order of the speech is preserved. Even if sound is incorporeal, how is it reflected? Not by itself, but with its own substrate, that is, the air. The senses, beginning from the brain, proceed to the sensory organs, the sense of hearing as far as the root of the ears, which they call membranes. a nerve proceeding from the brain made porous, in which is the optic pneuma. There is {for} therefore enclosed <some air> in the cavity of the hearing, connate with the membrane and the skin. This, receiving the sounds from the external air, conveys them to the membrane. And it proceeds from a wider passage of the ear's cavity to the passage of the membrane, which is narrower, being narrow. And sight also has as something transparent the crystalline and cornea-like humor, which receive the action of the external transparent medium and convey this 55 to the optic pneuma, which, <being a> nerve beginning from the brain, 55 ends at the crystalline humor. The passages of the ears are spiral-shaped, so that something entering might not easily strike the membrane. We hear through the ears alone, because in these alone is the connate air continuous with the outer air and the auditory sensorium, so as to be able to transmit through it the affection occurring in the outer air. As the connate air is set before the sense of hearing, so too is the humor set before the pupil for the perception of the sensible object. The air is also moved with its own motion, and this is clear from the fact that in calm weather filings appear to be moved in the sunlight coming through windows. There is need of the outer air for hearing, so that it may itself bring the sound; for hearing perceives an external sound, not its own. And what sound, that of the thing being struck or of the striker? Both; for the cause is indistinguishable, since that which is struck also strikes and that which strikes is also struck. Hearing occurs not by the entry of the external air, but by contact with the air built into the ears. And a proof of there being some air connate with the membrane is that water does not easily enter the ear, being pushed out by the internal air. We can know if the auditory sense is healthy, if upon blocking the ear with a finger we perceive a certain buzzing. the internal air comes out thin and strikes the external and produces

σφοδρᾷ συμπτώσει. ἐν τοῖς μαλακοῖς οὐ γίνεται ψόφος, ὅτι θρύπτεται ὁ ἀὴρ ἐν τοῖς πόροις τούτων καὶ διαλύεται ὡς ἐν τοῖς σπόγγοις. ἐν τοῖς μὴ λείοις κ[ατα]κερματίζεται πάλιν ταῖς κοιλότησιν ὁ ἀήρ. δεῖ δὲ τῆς σφοδρᾶς τῶν σκληρῶν συμπτώσεως, ἵνα πολὺς ἀὴρ ἐναπολειφ[θῇ] μεταξύ, ὃς ἐναπολαμβανόμενος καὶ ταχέως ἐξωθούμενος 54 ποιεῖ ψόφον. ἐν κώδωσι καὶ λοιποῖς κοίλοις ἠχεῖ ἀὴρ ἐπὶ πολύ, ὅτι τελεῖται περὶ τὸ κοίλωμα καὶ ἐξελθεῖν οὐ δύναται, καὶ ὅτι διὰ χαλκῶν τυπτόμενος ἐντὸς ὁ κώδων ποιεῖ ἐκτεταμένην τὴν ἠχήν, ἐπειδὴ ἐμπίπτει ὁ ἐκτὸς ἀὴρ τῷ ἐντὸς καὶ πλήττει καὶ ἀντιπλήττεται καὶ διηχεῖ. Οὔτε διὰ κενοῦ οὔτε διὰ στερεοῦ γίνεται ἡ κίνησις, ἀλλ' ἐν ἀέρι ἢ ὕδατι. ἐν ὕδατι ψόφος οὐ γίνεται, ἂν ἐν τούτῳ βῇς καὶ ἄμφω τὰς παλάμας πλήξῃς. εἴπομεν γὰρ ὅτι δεῖ ἀθρόαν τὴν συνδρομὴν γενέσθαι τῶν πληττομένων, ἵνα μὴ κατὰ μικρὸν ὁ ἀὴρ θρυφθῇ. Τῇ μάστιγι πλήξαντες τὸν ἀέρα οὐ ποιοῦμεν ψόφον, ὅτι ὁ ἀὴρ τότε δύο χρείας ἀναπληροῖ, καὶ τὴν τοῦ πληττομένου καὶ τὴν τοῦ μεταξύ. ὁ ἀὴρ καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ δεκτικὰ ψόφου, οὐ μὴν ποιητικά, ὡς καὶ τὸ ἄχρουν χρώματος· ποιητικὰ δὲ τὰ στερεά. Ἠχὼ γίνεται ὅταν πληχθεὶς ὁ ἀὴρ ὠθούμενος ἐνεχθῇ ἐπί τι ἀντίτυπον κοιλότητα ἔχον καὶ ἀποστραφῇ κατὰ ἀνάκλασιν, ὡς ἡ ῥιπτουμένη κατὰ τοίχου σφαῖρα καὶ οὕτως χωροῦσα ἐπὶ τὸν πλήξαντα. ἔναρθρος δὲ ἡ ἠχὼ γίνεται, ἐπειδὴ ὁ πρῶτος ὑφ' ἡμῶν διαλεγομένων πληττόμενος ἀὴρ πρώτως καὶ ἀνακλᾶται φέρων εἰς ἡμᾶς τῆς πρώτης λέξεως τὴν ἠχώ, καὶ ὁ δεύτερος τῆς δευτέρας, καὶ οὕτως ἡ τάξις τῆς διαλέκτου φυλάττεται. Εἰ καὶ ὁ ψόφος ἀσώματος, πῶς ἀνακλᾶται; ἀλλ' οὐ καθ' αὑτόν, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τοῦ οἰκείου ὑποκειμένου, ἤγουν τοῦ ἀέρος. Αἱ αἰσθήσεις διὰ τοῦ ἐγκεφάλου ἀρχόμεναι ἄχρι τῶν αἰσθητηρίων προΐασι, ἡ ἀκουστικὴ μέχρι τῆς ῥίζης τῶν ὤτων, ἃς καλοῦσι μήνιγγας. νεῦρον ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐγκεφάλου προϊὸν πεποροποιημένον, ἐν ᾧ τὸ ὀπτικὸν πνεῦμα. ἔστιν {γὰρ} οὖν ἀπειλημμένος <τις ἀὴρ> ἐν τῷ κοιλώματι τῆς ἀκοῆς συμφυὴς τῇ μήνιγγι καὶ τῷ ὑμένι. οὗτος δεχόμενος ἐκ τοῦ ἔξωθεν ἀέρος τοὺς ψόφους διαπορθμεύει εἰς τὴν μήνιγγα. πρόεισι δὲ ἀπὸ πλατυτέρου πόρου τοῦ κοιλώματος τοῦ ὠτὸς μέχρι τοῦ πόρου τῆς μήνιγγος τοῦ στενωτέρου στενοῦ ὄντος. Ἔχει δὲ καὶ ὄψις οἷον διαφανὲς τὸ κρυσταλλοειδὲς ὑγρὸν καὶ κερατοειδές, ἃ δέχονται τὴν τοῦ ἔξωθεν διαφανοῦς ἐνέργειαν καὶ διαπορθμεύουσι ταύ55 την ἐπὶ τὸ ὀπτικὸν πνεῦμα, ὅ<περ> νεῦρον ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐγκεφάλου ἀρχόμενον 55 καταλήγει μέχρι καὶ τοῦ κρυσταλλοειδοῦς. Ἑλικοειδεῖς οἱ πόροι τῶν ὤτων, ἵνα μὴ ῥᾳδίως εἰσελθόν τι πλήξῃ τὴν μήνιγγα. ∆ιὰ μόνων τῶν ὠτίων ἀκούομεν, ὅτι ἐν μόνοις τούτοις ἐστὶν ὁ ἀὴρ συμφυὴς καὶ συνεχὴς πρὸς τὸν ἔξω ἀέρα καὶ τὸ ἀκουυστικὸν αἰσθητήριον, ὡς δύνασθαι δι' αὐτοῦ διαδιδόναι τὸ ἐν τῷ ἔξω ἀέρι γινόμενον πάθος. ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς ἀκοῆς προβέβληται ὁ συμφυὴς ἀήρ, τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς κόρης τὸ ὑγρὸν διὰ τὴν ἀντίληψιν τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ. Ὁ ἀὴρ κινεῖται καὶ οἰκείαν κίνησιν, καὶ δῆλον ἐκ τοῦ ἐν ταῖς νηνεμίαις τὰ ξύσματα φαίνεσθαι κινούμενα ἐν τῷ διὰ τῶν θυρίδων ἡλίῳ. Χρεία τοῦ ἔξω ἀέρος δι' ἀκοήν, ἵνα αὐτὸς παρενέγκῃ τὸν ψόφον· τοῦ γὰρ ἀλλοτρίου ψόφου ἡ ἀκοὴ ἀντιλαμβάνεται, οὐ τοῦ ἰδίου. καὶ ποῖον ψόφον, τὸ τυπτόμενον ἢ τὸ τύπτον; καὶ ἄμφω· ἀδιάκριτος γὰρ ἡ αἰτία, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ τυπτόμενον τύπτει καὶ τὸ τύπτον τύπτεται. Τὸ ἀκούειν γίνεται οὐ κατ' εἴσοδον τοῦ ἐκτὸς ἀέρος, ἀλλὰ κατὰ ἁφὴν τὴν πρὸς ἐγκατῳκοδομημένον ἀέρα ἐν τοῖς ὠσί. τεκμήριον δὲ τοῦ εἶναί τινα ἀέρα συμπεφυκότα τῇ μήνιγγι, ὅτι οὐκ εὐκόλως εἰσέρχεται ὕδωρ εἰς τὸ ὦς ἐξωθούμενον ἐκ τοῦ ἐντὸς ἀέρος. Ἔχομεν γνωρίσαι εἰ ὑγιὲς τὸ ἀκουστικόν, ἐὰν ἐμφράξαντες τὸ ὦς τῷ δακτύλῳ αἰσθανόμεθά τινος βόμβου. ἐξέρχεται ὁ ἐντὸς ἀὴρ λεπτὸς καὶ τύπτει τὸν ἐκτὸς καὶ ποιεῖ