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
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 you inquire whether the soul, released from the body, also has with reason both desire and anger, you are stirring up a swarm of arguments. But as for the postscript of a letter, if the rational soul should be released entirely from the irrational (and it is released when purified), with reason alone and with the intellect that immediately surrounds it, it ascends to the all-perfect intellect; but if it does not cast off, so to speak, all that is foreign, but flies away from the body mixed with it, it is tripartite and dissolute, not having been alienated from the powers of irrationality. [δε ῃολυνταριο ετ ινῃολυνταριο] You also asked about the voluntary and involuntary. And know that of the involuntary, some is by force, and some is through ignorance; and of involuntary acts done by force, the efficient cause is external. The voluntary is opposed to both; for 109 it is that which happens neither by force nor through ignorance. And while all choice is voluntary, not everything voluntary is from choice; for both children and irrational animals act voluntarily, but not with choice. Choice is a certain mixed thing from deliberation and judgment and desire. We deliberate about things that are in our power and have an uncertain end. Concerning virtues Having read the letter of Synesius to Herculianus, you are inquiring what the little saying contained in it means, that he wishes "to transfer the strength of the body to the courage of the soul, not that from the first and terrestrial tetractys of the virtues". In this tetractys, or rather, as on a ladder, on this step, they are spoken of as what they properly are; but on the others they are not spoken of in their proper sense, but are named by analogy. Know, therefore, that some of the virtues were named political by the wise men of the Greeks, which we call practical, taking their name from association and community and harmless interaction with one's neighbors, while the contemplative are situated at a distance from the things here. Wherefore, resembling a purification, these are also called purificatory, being contemplated in abstinence from the actions with the body and the passions related to it. For the political virtues adorn the mortal man, while the contemplative, or purificatory, virtues separate the soul from the body towards that which truly is. And there is also another third class of virtues after the purificatory and the political, those called intellectual, in which the soul also acts intellectually. And a fourth kind of virtues is that of the paradigmatic, being superior to the psychical ones. The paradigmatic virtues belong to the intellect, being concurrent with its substance; the intellectual virtues belong to a soul already gazing into the intellect and being filled 110 from it; the purificatory virtues belong to the soul of a man being purified and having been purified from the body and from the irrational passions; and the political virtues belong to the soul of a man adorning the man by setting a measure for irrationality and working moderation of passion. See, then: we have enumerated four grades of the virtues, of which the first for us is the political, and after this, for us as we ascend, is the contemplative or purificatory, then next in order the intellectual and fourth, but first in rank, the paradigmatic. And in each of such grades the four general virtues appear: courage, temperance, prudence, and justice. This, then, is what is called by Synesius the tetractys of the virtues. The political grade was called by him terrestrial, because it is the last, as we have said, and the first for us as we ascend. And in it the general virtues are seen thus: prudence concerning the rational part, courage concerning the spirited part, temperance in the agreement and harmony of the appetitive part with reason, and justice is the proper functioning of each of these together with respect to ruling and being ruled. And this is the terrestrial tetractys of the virtues, but the analogous one in the third and
μόνων ἀπογεννῶνται δυνάμεων, διὰ ταῦτα τὰς ἄλλας ἀφέντες εἰς ταύτας μόνον τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς οὐσίαν διεῖλον. Εἰ δὲ ἐπιζητεῖς εἰ
καὶ ἀπολυθεῖσα ψυχὴ τοῦ σώματος μετὰ τοῦ λόγου ἔχει καὶ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν καὶ τὸν θυμόν, σμῆνος ἀνεγείρεις λόγων. τὸ δ' ὅσον εἰς
ἀκροτελεύτιον ἐπιστολῆς, εἰ μὲν ἀπολυθείη παντάπασι τῆς ἀλόγου ἡ λογικὴ ψυχή (ἀπολύεται δὲ καθαρεῖσα), μετὰ τοῦ λόγου μόνον
καὶ τοῦ περισχόντος αὐτὴν προσεχῶς νοῦ εἰς τὸν παντέλειον ἄνεισι νοῦν· εἰ δὲ μὴ ἀποσκυβαλίσῃ οἷον εἰπεῖν πᾶν τὸ ἀλλότριον,
ἀλλὰ συμπεφυρμένη τούτῳ τοῦ σώματος ἀποπτῇ, τριμερής ἐστι καὶ ἀπόλυτος, τῶν τῆς ἀλογίας οὐκ ἀλλοτριωθεῖσα δυνάμεων. [δε ῃολυνταριο
ετ ινῃολυνταριο] Ἠρώτησας καὶ περὶ ἑκουσίου καὶ ἀκουσίου. καὶ ἴσθι ὅτι τοῦ ἀκουσίου τὸ μὲν κατὰ βίαν, τὸ δὲ δι' ἄγνοιάν ἐστι·
καὶ τῶν κατὰ βίαν ἀκουσίων ἡ ποιητικὴ ἀρχὴ ἔξωθέν ἐστι. τὸ δὲ ἑκούσιον ἀμφοτέροις ἀντίκειται· ἔστι 109 γὰρ τὸ μήτε βίᾳ μήτε
δι' ἄγνοιαν γινόμενον. καὶ πᾶσα μὲν προαίρεσις ἑκούσιος, οὐ πᾶν δὲ τὸ ἑκούσιον ἐκ προαιρέσεως· καὶ γὰρ τὰ παιδία καὶ τὰ ἄλογα
ζῷα ἑκουσίως μὲν ποιεῖ, οὐ μὴν προαιρούμενα. ἔστι δὲ ἡ προαίρεσις μικτόν τι χρῆμα ἐκ βουλῆς καὶ κρίσεως καὶ ὀρέξεως. βουλόμεθα
δὲ περὶ τῶν ἐφ' ἡμῖν καὶ ἄδηλον ἐχόντων τὸ τέλος. Περὶ ἀρετῶν Τὴν πρὸς Ἑρκουλιανὸν ἀνεγνωκὼς ἐπιστολὴν Συνεσίου ἐπιζητεῖς
τί ποτέ ἐστι τὸ ἐν ταύτῃ κείμενον ῥησίδιον τὸ βούλεσθαι αὐτὸν «μεταθεῖναι τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἰσχὺν ἐπὶ τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀνδρείαν,
οὐ τὴν ἐκ τῆς πρώτης καὶ περιγείου τετρακτύος τῶν ἀρετῶν». ἐν ταύτῃ μὲν τῇ τετρακτύι, ἢ μᾶλλον, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ κλίμακος, ἐν ταύτῃ
μὲν τῇ βαθμίδι, κυρίως ὅπερ εἰσὶ λέγονται· ἐν δέ γε ταῖς ἄλλαις οὐ κυριολεκτοῦνται, ἀλλ' ἀνάλογον ὀνομάζονται. Ἴσθι τοιγαροῦν
ὡς αἱ μὲν τῶν ἀρετῶν πολιτικαὶ τοῖς τῶν Ἑλλήνων σοφοῖς ὠνομάσθησαν, ἃς ἡμεῖς πρακτικὰς φαμέν, ἀπὸ τοῦ συναγελασμοῦ καὶ τῆς
κοινωνίας καὶ τῆς ἀβλαβοῦς τῶν πλησίον συναναστροφῆς λαβοῦσαι τὸ ὄνομα, αἱ δὲ θεωρητικαὶ ἐν ἀποστάσει κείμεναι τῶν ἐντεῦθεν·
διὸ καὶ καθάρσεσιν αὗται ἐοικυῖαι καθαρτικαὶ ὀνομάζονται, ἐν ἀποχῇ θεωρούμεναι τῶν μετὰ τοῦ σώματος πράξεων καὶ συμπαθειῶν
τῶν πρὸς αὐτό. αἱ μὲν γὰρ πολιτικαὶ τὸν θνητὸν κατακοσμοῦσιν ἄνθρωπον, αἱ δὲ θεωρητικαὶ ἤτοι καθαρτικαὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀφιστῶσιν
ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος πρὸς τὸ ὄντως ὄν. ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλο γένος τρίτον ἀρετῶν μετὰ τὰς καθαρτικὰς καὶ πολιτικὰς αἱ καλούμεναι νοεραί,
ἐν αἷς καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ νοερῶς ἐνεργεῖ. τέταρτον δὲ εἶδος ἀρετῶν τὸ τῶν παραδειγματικῶν, κρείττους οὖσαι τῶν ψυχικῶν. αἱ δὲ παραδειγματικαὶ
ἀρεταὶ τοῦ νοῦ εἰσί, σύνδρομοι οὖσαι αὐτοῦ τῇ οὐσίᾳ· αἱ δὲ νοεραὶ ψυχῆς πρὸς νοῦν ἐνορώσης ἤδη καὶ πληρουμένης 110 ἀπ' αὐτοῦ·
αἱ δὲ καθαρτικαὶ ψυχῆς ἀνθρώπου καθαιρομένης τε καὶ καθαρθείσης ἀπὸ σώματος καὶ τῶν ἀλόγων παθῶν· αἱ δὲ πολιτικαὶ ψυχῆς ἀνθρώπου
κατακοσμούσης τὸν ἄνθρωπον διὰ τὸ μέτρον τῇ ἀλογίᾳ ἀφορίζειν καὶ μετριοπάθειαν ἐργάζεσθαι. Ὅρα γοῦν· τέτταρας βαθμοὺς τῶν
ἀρετῶν ἀπηριθμησάμεθα, ὧν πρῶτος ὡς πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὁ πολιτικός, μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον ἀνιοῦσιν ἡμῖν ὁ θεωρητικὸς ἤτοι καθαρτικός, εἶτ'
ἐφεξῆς ὁ νοερὸς καὶ τέταρτος, πρῶτος δὲ τῷ ἀξιώματι, ὁ παραδειγματικός. ἐν ἑκάστῳ δὲ τῶν τοιούτων βαθμῶν αἱ τέτταρες γενικαὶ
ἐμφαίνονται ἀρεταί, ἡ ἀνδρεία, ἡ σωφροσύνη, ἡ φρόνησις καὶ ἡ δικαιοσύνη. αὕτη γοῦν ἔστιν ἡ παρὰ τῷ Συνεσίῳ λεγομένη τῶν ἀρετῶν
τετρακτύς. Περίγειος δὲ αὐτῷ ὠνομάσθη ἡ τοῦ πολιτικοῦ βαθμοῦ, διότι ἔσχατος οὗτός ἐστι ὡς εἰρήκαμεν καὶ πρῶτος ἡμῖν ἀναβαίνουσιν.
ὁρῶνται δὲ ἐν αὐτῷ αἱ γενικαὶ ἀρεταὶ οὕτως· ἡ μὲν φρόνησις περὶ τὸ λογιζόμενον, ἡ δὲ ἀνδρεία περὶ τὸ θυμούμενον, ἡ δὲ σωφροσύνη
ἐν ὁμολογίᾳ καὶ συμφωνίᾳ ἐπιθυμητικοῦ πρὸς λογισμόν, δικαιοσύνη δέ ἐστιν ἡ ἑκάστων τούτων ὁμοῦ οἰκειοπραγία ἀρχῆς πέρι καὶ
τοῦ ἄρχεσθαι. καὶ ἡ μὲν περίγειος τετρακτὺς αὕτη τῶν ἀρετῶν, ἡ δὲ ἀνάλογος ἐν τρίταις καὶ
