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Not unreasonably? He says it is not absurd to apply the images in the oracles of Scripture to all the heavenly powers, so that all of them, so to speak, are exalted and saving and gnostic, even if not in the same way, but some in a preeminent way, others in a subordinate way.

And that which is uphill: Higher and preeminent. § 2. One must begin and investigate: Note why in the angelic types the fiery element is not especially included, and why Scripture says for the most part that things concerning the heavens are fiery. And that the seraphim are called burners.

(14Ε_314> Being burners: Interpretation of seraphim. For the holy ones: Why God was also seen as fire. For perceptible fire: A wonderful natural philosophy concerning fire. We see fire scattered throughout the universe, but unmixed, that is, not blended with the things in which it exists. It travels through all things, that is, not like water, which makes its mixture with the earth manifest; so also fire, burning and consuming the whole; but it is set apart, that is, it transcends all things in an exceptional way among the elements, that is, in its active quality; he calls it unknown and hidden, as existing in certain materials, but not appearing without friction or without matter receptive of its energy, and in this respect shown to be unconstrained and unobservable; likewise one must also consider the other properties of fire, which this Father, according to a pious anagogy and concept, applied to God and the angelic natures. But note why the Lord God was often seen as fire, and in what respect the likeness of fire is to God.

Unconquerable, unmixed, discerning: Note the description of perceptible fire, that is, its praise; for it both separates materials, for instance lead from silver, and dissolves bonds; and unalterable, in that it is not possible, while the substrate remains, that is, the very substance of fire, for it to change in its properties, for instance to become round or conical, which can be found in earthly things, or to suffer the properties of air, for instance to be corrupted by exhalations or to be thickened or even, like water, to undergo changes.

Of subsidence: For it never moves downwards. Self-moved: Moving in the same way. Not in need: That fire is not in need of another, although it needs some substrate in order to be ignited; but he does not mean this, but (14Ε_316> that fire does not mix with another element, nor is it blended, as water is with earth; for which reason some have also called it of a single substance among the elements.

§ 3. Anthropomorphic: Why the angels are also fashioned as anthropomorphic. And that which is according to sense perception: Note the difference of the perceptible of irrational animals from the perceptive of rational beings, I mean of us; for irrational beings are entirely sense perception, through which they also subsist, being unintelligent; but in us the perceptive is small; for we do not subsist through it, but through the intellectual; whence we also still exist after death, being an intellectual soul. But in the case of the angels, there is not even the smallest part of the senses, but things related to us are a dense place; and he says man is least according to sense perception, not as though other animals have more senses, but more effective and keener ones. He takes this as a riddle: that the angels use our sense organs, but they excel by far in the abundance of their intellectual power; just as man also, by the superiority of his mind and by reason, masters irrational nature.

The optic faculties: What the eyes of the intelligibles signify, and what the olfactory organs, that is, the nostrils, and what the ears, and what taste, and what touch, which he calls the tactile sense, and what the eyelids and the eyebrows, and what youth, and what the teeth, and what the shoulders and the

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Οὐκ ἀπεικότως; Οὐκ ἄτοπόν φησι τάς ἐν τοῖς λογίοις τῆς Γραφῆς εἰκόνας πάσαις ταῖς ἐπουρανίαις δυνάμεσι περιτιθέναι, ὡς πάσας, φέρε εἰπεῖν, εἶναι ὑψηλάς καί σωτηρίους καί γνωστικάς, εἰ καί μή ὁμοίως, ἀλλά τάς μέν ὑπερκείμενως, τάς δέ ὑφειμένως.

Καί τό πρός τό ἄναντες: Ἀνώτερον καί ὑπερκείμενον. § 2. Ἀρκτέον καί ζητητέον: Σημείωσαι, διά τί ἐν τοῖς ἀγγελικοῖς τύποις μή

ἐμπύριον μάλιστα παραλαμβάνεται, καί διά τί τά περί τά οὐράνια πυρώδη ὡς ἐπί πλεῖστόν φησιν ἡ Γραφή. Καί ὅτι οἱ σεραφίμ ἐμπρησταί λέγονται.

(14Ε_314> Ἐμπρηστάς ὄντας: Ἑρμηνεία σεραφίμ. Οἱ γάρ ἱεροί: ∆ιά τί καί ὁ Θεός εἰς πῦρ ἐθεωρήθη. Τό γάρ αἰσθητόν πῦρ: Φυσιολογία θαυμαστή περί πυρός. Τό πῦρ ὁρῶμεν τῷ

παντί κατεσπταρμένον, ἀμιγῶς δέ, τουτέστιν οὐκ ἀναφυρόμενον τοῖς ἐν οἷς ὑπάρχει. ∆ιά πάντων δέ φοιτᾷ, τουτέστιν οὐ καθάπερ τό ὕδωρ προφανῆ τήν πρός τήν γῆν ποιεῖται μίξιν· οὕτω καί τό πῦρ, καταφλέγον τό πᾶν καί ἀναλίσκον· ἐξήρηται δέ, ἤγουν ὑπέρκειται πάντων κατ' ἐξαίρετον στοιχείων δηλαδή, κατά τό δραστήριον· ἄγνωστον δέ αὐτό καί κρύφιον καλεῖ, ὡς ὑπάρχον μέν ἐν ὕλαις τισίν, οὐ φαινόμενον δέ δίχα παρατρίψεως ἤ ἄνευ ὕλης δεκτικῆς τῆς ἐνεργείας αὐτοῦ, δεικνύμενον καί κατά τοῦτο ἄσχετον καί ἀθεώρητον· ὁμοίως καί τάς λοιπάς τοῦ πυρός ἰδιότητας θεωρητέον, ἅστινας οὗτος ὁ Πατήρ κατ' εὐσεβῆ ἀναγωγήν τε καί ἔννοιαν ἔλαβεν ἐπί Θεοῦ τε καί ἀγγελικῶν φύσεων. Σημείωσαι δέ διά τί Κύριος ὁ Θεός ὡς πῦρ ἐθεωρήθη πολλάκις, καί κατά τί ἡ ὁμοίωσις τοῦ πυρός πρός τόν Θεόν.

Ἀκράτητον, ἀμιγές, διακριτικόν: Σημείωσαι ἔκφρασιν αἰσθητοῦ πυρός, ἤτοι ἔπαινον· διακρίνει γάρ καί τάς ὕλας, οἷον μόλυβδον ἀπό ἀργύρου, καί τάς κολλήσεις διαλύει· ἀναλλοίωτον δέ, καθό οὐ δυνατόν, μένοντος τοῦ ὑποκειμένου, τουτέστιν αὐτῆς τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ πυρός, μεταβάλλειν αὐτό ἐν τοῖς πάθεσιν, οἷον γενέσθαι αὐτό στρογγύλον ἤ κωνοειδές, ὅπερ ἐν τοῖς γηΐνοις ἐστίν εὑρεῖν, ἤ παθεῖν τά τοῦ ἀέρος, οἷον φθαρῆναι διά τῶν ἀναθυμιάσεων ἤ παχυνθῆναι ἤ καί ὡς τό ὕδωρ μεταβολάς δέξασθαι.

Ὑφέσεως: Οὐδέποτε γάρ χωρεῖ ἐπί τά κάτω. Ταυτοκίνητον: Ὡσαύτως κινούμενον. Ἀπροσδεές: Ὅτι ἀπροσδεές ἑτέρου τό πῦρ, καίτοι δέεταί τινος ὑποκειμένου

εἰς τό ἐξαφθῆναι· ἀλλ' οὐ τοῦτο λέγει, ἀλλ' (14Ε_316> ὅτι τό πῦρ οὐ μίγνυται ἑτέρῳ στοιχείῳ, οὐδέ κιρνᾶται, ὡς τό ὕδωρ τῇ γῆ· διό καί ἐν στοιχείοις μονοούσιον αὐτό ἔνιοι κεκλήκασιν.

§ 3. Ἀνθρωπομόρφους: ∆ιά τί καί ἀνθρωπόμορφοι διαπλάττονται οἱ ἄγγελοι. Καί τό κατ' αἴσθησιν: Σημείωσαι τήν διαφοράν τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ τῶν ἀλόγων

ζώων πρός τό αἰσθητικόν τῶν λογικῶν, ἡμῶν λέγω· τά μέν γάρ ἄλογα τό πᾶν αἴσθησίς εἰσι, δι' ἦς καί συνίστανται ἀνόητα ὄντα· ἐν δέ ἡμῖν βραχύ τό αἰσθητικόν· οὐ γάρ δι' αὐτοῦ συνιστάμεθα, ἀλλά διά τοῦ νοεροῦ· ὅθεν καί μετά θάνατον ἔτι ἐσμέν, ψυχή νοερά ὄντες. Ἐπί δέ τῶν ἀγγέλων οὐδέ τό βραχύτατόν ἐστι τῶν αἰσθήσεων, ἀλλά τόπος παχύς τά καθ' ἡμᾶς· ἐλάχιστον δέ τόν ἄνθρωπον κατ' αἴσθησίν φησιν, οὐχ ὡς τῶν ἄλλων ζώων πλείονας αἰσθήσεις ἐχόντων, ἀλλά δραστικωτέρας καί ὀξυτέρας. Αἴνιγμα δέ τοῦτο λαμβάνει τό τούς ἀγγέλους μέν κεχρῆσθαι μέν τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς αἰσθητηρίοις, ὑπερέχειν δέ κατά πολύ τῷ περιόντι τῆς νοερᾶς δυνάμεως· ὥσπερ καί ἄνθρωπος τῇ τοῦ νοῦ ὑπεροχῇ καί τῷ λογισμῷ τῆς ἀλόγου φύσεως κρατεῖ.

Τάς μέν ὀπτικάς: Τί οἱ ὀφθαλμοί τῶν νοητῶν δηλοῦσι, καί τί τά ὀσφραντά, τουτέστιν αἱ ρῖνες, καί τί τά ὦτα, καί τί ἡ γεῦσις, καί τί ἡ ἀφή, ἥν ἁπτικήν φησι, καί τί τά βλέφαρα καί αἱ ὁφρύες, καί τί ἥβη, καί τί οἱ ὀδόντες, καί τί οἱ ὦμοι καί οἱ