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of the powers of the soul, gently instructing them towards activity, by their own perceptions of the principles in beings, through which, as through certain letters, God the Word is read by those who are sharp-sighted towards the truth. Hence they have also called the senses paradigmatic images of the psychical powers, as each sense with its own organ, that is, sense-organ, has been allotted principally to each power of the soul analogously by a certain more mystical principle according to nature. And they say that the sense of sight belongs to the intellective power, that is, the *nous*, and the sense of hearing to the rational, that is, the *logos*, and the sense of smell to the spirited, and the sense of taste to the desiderative, and the sense of touch to the vital, and simply, so that I may speak more clearly, sight, that is, the eye, is an image of the *nous*, and hearing, that is, the ear, is of the *logos*, and smell, that is, the nose, is of the spirited part, and taste is of desire, and touch of life;

By these senses the soul, being carried by its own powers according to nature and according to the law of God who wisely created all things, and being conveyed in various ways to the objects of sense, if it should make good use of the senses through its own powers, collecting the manifold principles of beings, and be able wisely to transfer (14∆_338> to itself all that is seen, in which God is hidden, proclaimed in silence, it too has created according to choice a most beautiful and spiritual cosmos in the mind, having composed the four general virtues for one another in the manner of elements for the solidifying of the cosmos that is being completed from them intelligibly according to the spirit, having substantiated each virtue, however, by the intertwining of the activity of its powers with the senses; for instance, prudence from the intertwining of the intellective and rational power with the sense of sight and hearing, concerning their proper objects of sense, through a gnostic and scientific activity, and courage from the intertwining of the spirited part with the sense of smell, that is, the nostril, in which the spirited breath, as they say, lodges, concerning its connatural object of sense, of extreme evenness in activity, and temperance from the intertwining of the 1249 power according to desire with the sense of taste, of measured use concerning its proper object of sense, and justice from the equal, well-ordered, and harmonious distribution of the vital power in all things through the sense of touch and concerning almost all objects of sense according to its activity.

And from these four general virtues, again, it is taught to make two more general virtues by synthesis, I mean wisdom and meekness, wisdom, as being the limit of things known, and meekness, of things practiced; for example, from prudence and justice it makes wisdom, as being the containing cause of the knowledge according to prudence and the science according to justice, and for this reason being, as I said, the limit of things known; and from courage and temperance, meekness, being nothing other than the complete immobility of the spirited and desiderative parts towards things contrary to nature, which some have called dispassion, and for this reason being the end of things practiced. And these again it brings together into the most general virtue of all, I mean love, which is ecstatic for those from it and leads to it those through it and unifies those (14∆_340> who have begun and been moved and ended in it, and is pre-eminently deifying above all.

Thus, therefore, the soul, being wisely moved and acting according to the divinely perfect principle by which it both exists and has come to be, perceives the objects of sense usefully through the senses, appropriating the spiritual principles in them, and the senses themselves, having already been rationalized by the abundance of reason, it accepts as rational vehicles of its own powers, and it joins the powers themselves to the virtues, and itself through the virtues to the more divine principles in them, and the more divine principles of the virtues to the

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τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεων, στοιχειούσας αὐτάς ἡρέμα πρός ἐνέργειαν, ταῖς δή ἑαυτῶν ἀντιλήψεσι τῶν ἐν τοῖς οὖσι λόγων, δι᾿ ὧν ὡς διά γραμμάτων τινῶν τοῖς ὀξυωποῦσι πρός τήν ἀλήθειαν ὁ Θεός Λόγος ἀναγινώσκεται. Ὅθεν καί παραδειγματικάς τῶν ψυχικῶν δυνάμεων εἰκόνας τάς αἰσθήσεις ἐκάλεσαν, ὡς ἑκάστης αἰσθήσεως μετά τοῦ αὐτῆς ὀργάνου, ἤγουν αἰσθητηρίου, προηγουμένως ἐκάστῃ δυνάμει τῆς ψυχῆς ἀναλόγως μυστικωτέρῳ τινί λόγῳ κατά φύσιν νενεμημένης. Καί φασιν εἶναι τῆς μέν νοερᾶς δυνάμεως ἤτοι τοῦ νοῦ, τήν ὁπτικήν αἴσθησιν, τῆς δέ λογικῆς, ἤτοι τοῦ λόγου τήν ἀκουστικήν, τῆς δέ θυμικῆς τήν ὀσφραντικήν, τῆς ἐπιθυμητικῆς δέ τήν γευστικήν, τῆς δέ ζωτικῆς τήν ἁπτικήν, καί ἁπλῶς ἵνα σαφέστερον εἴπω, τοῦ μέν νοῦ ἐστιν εἰκών ἡ ὄψις, ἤγουν ὁ ὀφθαλμός, τοῦ δέ λόγου ἐστίν ἡ ἀκοή, ἤγουν τό οὖς, τοῦ δέ θυμοῦ ἐστιν ἡ ὄσφρησις, ἤγουν ἡ ῥίς, τῆς δέ ἐπιθυμίας ἐστίν ἡ γεῦσις, καί τῆς ζωῆς ἡ ἀφή·

Αἷς ἡ ψυχή κατά τόν νόμον τοῦ τά πάντα σοφῶς δημιουργήσαντος Θεοῦ κατά φύσιν ἐποχουμένη διά τῶν αὐτῆς δυνάμεων, καί πρός τά αἰσθητά ποικίλως διαβιβαζομένη, εἰ μέν καλῶς χρήσαιτο ταῖς αἰσθήσεσι διά τῶν οἰκείων δυνάμεων τούς παντοδαπούς τῶν ὄντων λόγους ἀναλεγομένη, καί δυνηθῇ μεταβιβάσαι (14∆_338> πρός ἑαυτήν σοφῶς πᾶν τό ὁρώμενον, ἐν ᾧ κέκρυπται Θεός σιωπῇ κηρυττόμενος, κάλλιστον καί αὐτή κατά προαίρεσιν ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ καί πνευματικόν κόσμον ἐδημιούργησε, τάς γενικάς τέσσαρας ἀρετάς στοιχείων δίκην ἀλλήλαις συνθεῖσα πρός σύμπηξιν τοῦ ἐξ αὐτῶν νοητῶς κατά πνεῦμα συμπληρουμένου κόσμου, κατά συμπλοκήν μέντοι τῆς πρός τάς αἰσθήσεις τῶν αὐτῆς δυνάμεων ἐνεργείας ἑκάστην ἀρετήν ὑποστήσασα· οἷον τήν μέν φρόνησιν ἐκ τῆς κατά συμπλοκήν τῆς τε νοερᾶς καί λογικῆς δυνάμεως πρός τήν ὀπτικήν τε καί ἀκουστικήν αἴσθησιν, περί τά αὐτῶν αἰσθητά, γνωστικῆς τε καί ἐπιστημονικῆς ἐνεργείας, τήν δέ ἀνδρείαν ἐκ τῆς κατά συμπλοκήν τοῦ θυμικοῦ πρός τήν ὄσφρησιν, ἤγουν τόν μυκτῆρα, ἐν ᾧ τό θυμικόν, ὥς φασιν, αὐλίζεται πνεῦμα, περί τό συμφυές αἰσθητόν ἄκρας κατά τήν ἐνέργειαν ὁμαλότητος, τήν δέ σωφροσύνην ἐκ τῆς κατά συμπλοκήν τῆς 1249 κατ᾿ ἐπιθυμίαν δυνάμεως πρός τήν γευστικήν αἴσθησιν περί τό οἰκεῖον αἰσθητόν μεμετρημένης χρήσεως, τήν δέ δικαιοσύνην ἐκ τῆς ἐν ὅλοις διά τῆς ἁπτικῆς καί περί ὅλα σχεδόν τά αἰσθητά τῆς ζωτικῆς δυνάμεως κατά τήν ἐνέργειαν ἴσης καί εὐτάκτου καί ἁρμονικῆς διανεμήσεως.

Ἐκ δέ τούτων αὖθις τῶν γενικῶν τεσσάρων ἀρετῶν δύο γενικωτέρας κατά σύνθεσιν ἀρετάς ποιεῖν ἐκδιδάσκεται, τήν σοφίαν φημί καί τήν πραότητα, τήν μέν σοφίαν, ὡς πέρας οὖσαν τῶν γνωστῶν, τῶν δέ πρακτῶν, τήν πραότητα· οἶον ἐκ μέν τῆς φρονήσεως καί τῆς δικαιοσύνης ποιεῖ τήν σοφίαν, ὡς γνώσεως τῆς κατά τήν φρόνησιν καί τῆς κατά τήν δικαιοσύνην ἐπιστήμης ὑπάρχουσαν συνεκτικήν αἰτίαν, καί διά τοῦτο πέρας τῶν γνωστῶν, ὡς εἶπον, τυγχάνουσαν· ἐκ δέ τῆς ἀνδρείας καί τῆς σωφροσύνης τήν πραότητα, μηδέν ἄλλο τυγχάνουσαν ἤ θυμοῦ καί ἐπιθυμίας παντελῆ πρός τά παρά φύσιν ἀκινησίαν, ἥν τινες ἐκάλεσαν ἀπάθειαν, καί διά τοῦτο τῶν πρακτῶν τέλος ὑπάρχουσαν. Ταύτας δέ πάλιν εἰς τήν τῶν πασῶν γενικωτάτην ἀρετήν, φημί δέ τήν ἀγάπην, συνάγει, ἐκστατικήν οὖσαν τῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς καί προσαγωγικήν τῶν δι᾿ αὐτῆς καί ἑνοποιητικήν τῶν εἰς αὐτήν (14∆_340> ἀρξαμένων τε καί κινηθέντων καί ληξάντων, καί διαφερόντως ἐπί πᾶσι θεοποιητικήν.

Οὕτω μέν οὖν ἡ ψυχή κινουμένη τε σοφῶς καί ἐνεργοῦσα καθ᾿ ὅν καί ἔστι καί γεγένηται θεοτελῆ λόγον τῶν μέν αἰσθητῶν χρησίμως διά τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἀντιλαμβάνεται, τούς ἐν αὐτοῖς πνευματική λόγους οἰκειουμένη, τάς δέ αἰσθήσεις αὐτάς, λογισθείσας ἤδη τῇ τοῦ λόγου περιουσίᾳ, ὥσπερ ὀχήματα λογικά προσίεται τῶν αὐτῆς δυνάμεων, αὐτάς δέ τάς δυνάμεις ταῖς ἀρεταῖς συνάπτει, καί ἑαυτήν διά τῶν ἀρετῶν τοῖς ἐν αὐταῖς θειοτέροις λόγοις, οἱ δέ θειότεροι τῶν ἀρετῶν λόγοι τῷ