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
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 be most quickly torn away by the touch of reason. The name of virtue, my good sir, is homonymous; the one being in activity, the other being as it were the underlying subject. For instance: by nature snow is cold and fire is hot, and each of them, the one cools, the other heats, each exercising its own power. You, then, who say that snow is cold by nature, by which do you define what is naturally cold, by its being connatural to its body or by its cooling that which approaches it? It is quite clear that it is by its being connatural; for we do not define natures from their activities. For then fire would sometimes and for some be hot, and snow cold, by heating or cooling those who are able to be affected by heat and cold, and for you fire will be hot for iron, but cold for the salamander, having received contrary qualities in the same thing at the same time. But it is not so; for we define something as being of this or that kind by its inherence, not by its activity. If, then, this is so acknowledged, do not define the good for man from his action, but by the unfailing principle of the good being connatural to him. Tell me then: has one who practiced virtue and then cast it away also cast away the seed of the good? And if this is so, in short order the chief point of our faith and the peculiar property of human nature is destroyed for you, and in vain are the loving arms of the Good One spread out to receive the lost prodigal; for to whom the impulse of the good is lost, for him the fatherly hands are stretched out to receive him superfluously. But if he has not cast it away, and we define the natural good in this and not in actions, it is in every way immovable and unchangeable, never failing us. Answer me again: is not the rational constitutive of the substance for the rational animal (I mean man, for we must leave what is above us)? And by 'reason' here we mean the indwelling reason. Is it then ever the nature of the animal to be at rest in the thoughts of its soul? Why then do you, who define underlying subjects from their activity, not say that he is deprived of reason? And is not mortality itself a constitutive part of nature? But we do not call man mortal because he dies at every instant, but because it is inherent in his nature and can never be separated from his nature. And in some such way the good is congenital to man, and for this reason is indelible. It was possible to bring forward other arguments and to confirm the argument with testimonies, but what has been said is sufficient for a well-disposed and intelligent hearing. 87 That nature, even if it be noble, is not sufficient for the acquisition of learning without education. But I cannot at all see how this could happen to a soul, and how it could know divine and human things, and understand all learning, unless it first unrolled many books and conversed with many wise men. For one would know what is unknown to others either through teaching and learning or through seeking and discovery. For I am persuaded by the philosophers that for souls outside of bodies, the knowledge of existing things is self-operative. But how shall we grant this to those who fall under generation? For they have lost what they inherited from the father, and it must be unearthed through reasoning, so that what was sown in the innermost part of their nature may shine forth again in them; and even if one has a noble nature, he may get ahead of the less noble, but not, so to speak, acquire the learning, especially if it is not sought. But let the Sibyl fare well, and anyone else who from birth immediately uttered a voice and spoke of the sphere from which his soul had descended. For I have considered this very thing that is believed by the Greeks concerning this not a doctrine, but a myth. For I am persuaded that souls are of a more divine nature, and that they have in themselves many intellectual kinds, and most beautifully
ἀποβεβλήκασι; Ταῦτ' ἴσως ἡμῖν ἐρεσχελήσουσιν οἱ τῷ ἐναντίῳ συνιστάμενοι δόγματι. ἱστῷ δὲ ἀράχνης ἡ ἀντίθεσις αὐτῶν ἔοικεν,
ἣ καὶ τάχιστα τῇ ἐπαφῇ τοῦ λόγου περιρρυήσεται. ὁμώνυμον, ὦ λῷστε, τὸ τῆς ἀρετῆς ὄνομα· τὸ μὲν ἐνεργούμενον, τὸ δ' οἷον ὑποκείμενον.
οἷόν τι λέγω· φύσει ψυχρὰ ἡ χιὼν καὶ θερμὸν τὸ πῦρ, ἑκάτερόν τε αὐτῶν τὸ μὲν ψύχει, τὸ δὲ θερμαίνει, ἐνεργοῦν ἕκαστον τὴν
οἰκείαν δύναμιν. σὺ οὖν ὁ λέγων φύσει ψυχρὰν τὴν χιόνα, ποτέρῳ τὸ φύσει ψυχρὸν διορίζῃ, τῷ συμπεφυκέναι τῷ ταύτης σώματι ἢ
τῷ ψύχειν τὸ προσπελάζον; εὔδηλον ὅτι τῷ συμπεφυκέναι· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκ τῶν ἐνεργειῶν τὰς φύσεις διοριζόμεθα. ἦ γὰρ ἄν ποτε καί
τισι τὸ μὲν πῦρ θερμόν, ψυχρὰ δὲ ἡ χιὼν τῷ θερμαίνειν ἢ ψύχειν τοῖς πάσχειν δυναμένοις τὴν θερμότητα καὶ ψυχρότητα, καὶ ἔσται
σοι τὸ πῦρ τῷ μὲν σιδήρῳ θερμόν, τῇ δὲ σαλαμάνδρᾳ ψυχρόν, κατὰ ταὐτὸν ἐν ταὐτῷ τὰς ἐναντίας δεδεγμένον ποιότητας. ἀλλ' οὐχ
οὕτως ἔχει· τῷ γὰρ ἐνυπάρχειν, οὐ τῷ ἐνεργεῖν, τὸ τοιῶσδε εἶναι ἢ τοιῶσδε διοριζόμεθα. εἰ οὖν τοῦθ' οὕτω διωμολόγηται, μηδὲ
τἀγαθὸν τἀνθρώπῳ διορίζου ἀπὸ τῆς πράξεως, ἀλλὰ τῷ συμπεφυκέναι τούτῳ τὴν τοῦ καλοῦ ἀρχὴν ἀδιάπτωτον. εἰπὲ οὖν μοι· πράξας
τις τὴν ἀρετήν, εἶτ' αὖθις ἀποβαλὼν καὶ τὸ σπέρμα τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἀποβέβληκε; καὶ εἰ τοῦθ' οὕτως ἔχει, ἀνῄρηταί σοι ἐν βραχεῖ τῆς
πίστεως ἡμῶν τὸ κεφάλαιον καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης τὸ ἴδιον φύσεως, καὶ μάτην αἱ φιλάνθρωποι τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἀγκάλαι ἥπλωνται τὸν ἀπολωλότα
ὑποδεχόμεναι ἄσωτον· ᾧ γὰρ ἡ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἀπώλετο κίνησις, τούτῳ αἱ πατρικαὶ χεῖρες εἰς ὑποδοχὴν παρελκόντως ἐκτέτανται. εἰ
δ' οὐκ ἀποβέβληκεν, ἐν τούτῳ δὲ καὶ οὐκ ἐν ταῖς πράξεσι τὸ φυσικὸν ὁριζόμεθα ἀγαθόν, ἀκίνητον πάντως καὶ ἀμετάθετον, μηδέποτε
ἐλλεῖπον ἡμᾶς. ἀπόκριναί μοι καὶ αὖθις· οὐ τὸ λογικὸν τῷ λογικῷ ζῴῳ (τἀνθρώπῳ φημί, ἐατέον γὰρ τὰ ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς) συμπληρωτικὸν
τῆς οὐσίας ἐστίν; λόγον δ' ἐνταῦθα τὸν ἐνδιάθετον λέγομεν. ἆρ' οὖν ἔστιν ὅτε ἀτρεμεῖν τὸ ζῷον πέφυκεν ἐν ταῖς ψυχικαῖς ἐνθυμήσεσι;
τί γοῦν ποτε μὴ φῂς ἐστερῆσθαι τοῦ λόγου ὁ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐνεργείας τὰ ὑποκείμενα ὁριζόμενος; τὸ δὲ θνητὸν οὐ καὶ αὐτὸ {τὸ} μέρος
συμπληρωτικὸν ὂν τῆς φύσεως; ἀλλ' οὐ τῷ θνῄσκειν ὁπόσαι στιγμαὶ θνητὸν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὀνομάζομεν, ἀλλὰ τῷ τῇ φύσει ἐγκεῖσθαι
καὶ μηδέποτε φύσιν ἔχειν χωρίζεσθαι. καὶ τἀγαθὸν οὕτω πως τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐστὶ συγγιγνόμενον, τούτῳ καὶ ὂν ἀνεξάλειπτον. ἐνῆν καὶ
ἑτέρους ἐπάγειν λόγους καὶ μαρτυρίαις τὸν λόγον πιστώσασθαι, ἀλλ' ἱκανὰ τὰ εἰρημένα πρὸς ἀκοὴν εὐγνώμονα καὶ εὐσύνετον. 87
Ὅτι οὐκ ἀρκεῖ ἡ φύσις, κἂν γενναία ᾖ, πρὸς τὴν τῶν μαθημάτων ἀνάληψιν ἄνευ παιδεύσεωσ Ἐγὼ δὲ οὐδὲ τὴν πρώτην συνορᾶν δύναμαι,
πῶς ἂν τοῦτο ψυχῇ παραγένοιτο καὶ εἰδείη τὰ θεῖα καὶ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, γνοίη τε καὶ σύμπαντα τὰ μαθήματα, εἰ μὴ πρότερον πολλὰς
μὲν ἀνελίξοι δέλτους, πολλοῖς δὲ σοφοῖς ὁμιλήσειεν. ἢ γὰρ διὰ διδασκαλίας καὶ μαθήσεως ἢ διὰ ζητήσεως καὶ εὑρέσεως γινώσκειν
τις ἐπίσταιτο τὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἄγνωστα. ταῖς μὲν γὰρ ἔξω τῶν σωμάτων ψυχαῖς πείθομαι τοῖς φιλοσοφοῦσιν αὐτενέργητον εἶναι τὴν
γνῶσιν τῶν ὄντων. ταῖς δὲ πιπτούσαις ὑπὸ τὴν γένεσιν πῶς τοῦτο δώσομεν; ἀπολωλέκασι γὰρ ὃ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκληρώσαντο, καὶ
δεῖ ἀναχώννυσθαι διὰ λόγων, ἵν' αὐταῖς ἀναλάμψῃ τὰ ἐνσπαρέντα ἐν τῷ ἀδύτῳ τῆς φύσεως· κἂν εἰ γενναίαν δέ τις ἔχοι τὴν φύσιν,
προλαμβάνει μὲν τῶν ἀγενεστέρων, οὐ μὴν οὕτως εἰπεῖν καὶ προσλάβοι τὸ μάθημα καὶ μάλιστα μὴ ζητούμενον. Σίβυλλα δὲ χαιρέτω
καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος ἐκ γενετῆς εὐθὺς ἀφῆκε φωνὴν καὶ τὴν σφαῖραν εἶπεν ἀφ' ἧς καταβεβήκοι αὐτῷ ἡ ψυχή. ἐγὼ γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸ δὴ τὸ
περὶ τούτου τοῖς Ἕλλησι δοξαζόμενον οὐ δόγμα, ἀλλὰ μυθολόγημα ἥγημαι. θειοτέρας μὲν γὰρ εἶναι φύσεως τὰς ψυχὰς πείθομαι, καὶ
πολλὰ μὲν νοερὰ γένη ἐν ἑαυταῖς ἔχειν, κάλλιστά τε
