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temperance is established, beginning, and of air and courage, that according to Luke, as being more cyclical and filled with more histories, and of ether and prudence, that according to John, as being the highest of all, and mystically introducing the simple faith and conception concerning God. And they say in another way that the tetrad of the holy Gospels is a symbol, of faith, and of practical, and of natural, and of theological philosophy; and that the symbol of faith is that according to Matthew, as it introduces the Magi, unbelievers, worshiping with gifts, and of the practical, that according to Mark, as beginning its teaching from repentance, according to which every action is virtuous, and of the natural, that according to Luke, as having a more cyclical explanation of the word, and the history of the teaching (1248) suitable to its ways, and of theology, that according to John, from which and to which it both began and ended in a manner befitting God.

And again, just as the sensible world is by nature elementary, falling under the five senses and leading them to its own comprehension, so also the intelligible world of the virtues, falling under the powers of the soul, instructs them towards the spirit, making them uniform by their being moved around it alone, and by their resting upon its perceptions. And the very senses of the body, according to the more divine reason appropriate to them, they say are elementary introductions to the powers of the soul, gently instructing them towards activity, by their own perceptions of the principles in existing things, through which, as through certain letters, God the Word is read by those who look sharply towards the truth. Wherefore they also called the senses paradigmatic images of the psychic powers, since each sense with its organ, that is, its sensorium, has been by nature principally allotted to each power of the soul according to some more mystical reason. And they say that the acoustic sense belongs to the intellectual power or reason, and the olfactory to the incensive, and the gustatory to the desiderative, and the tactile to the vital, and simply, so that I may speak more clearly, sight, that is, the eye, is an image of the mind, and hearing, that is, the ear, is of reason, and smell, that is, the nose, is of the incensive part, and taste is of desire, and touch is of life; on which the soul, according to the law of God who wisely created all things, is naturally carried through its own powers, and is variously transported towards sensible things, if indeed it should use the senses well through its own powers, collecting the manifold principles of existing things, and be able wisely to transfer to itself all that is seen, in which God is hidden, proclaimed in silence, it has also itself created by choice a most beautiful and spiritual world in the intellect, having composed the four general virtues for one another in the manner of elements for the consolidation of the world completed from them intelligibly according to the spirit, having established each virtue, however, by the interplay of the activity of its own powers with the senses; for instance, prudence from the interplay of both the intellectual and rational power with the optic and acoustic sense, concerning their own sensibles, of both gnostic and scientific activity, and courage from the interplay of the incensive part with the sense of smell, that is, the nostril, in which the incensive spirit, as they say, lodges, concerning its connatural sensible, of extreme evenness in its activity, and temperance from the interplay of the (1249) desiderative power with the gustatory sense concerning its own sensible, of measured use, and justice from the equal, orderly, and harmonious distribution in all things through the tactile sense and concerning almost all sensibles of the vital power according to its activity. And from these four general ones again

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σωφροσύνη συνέστηκεν, ἀρχόμενον, ἀέρος δέ καί ἀνδρείας τό κατά Λουκᾶν, ὡς περιοδικώτερον καί πλείονι ἱστορίαις πυκνούμενον, αἰθέρος δέ καί φρονήσεως τό κατά Ἰωάννην, ὡς πάντων ἀνώτατον, καί ἁπλῆν μυστικῶς τήν περί Θεοῦ πίστιν εἰσάγον, καί ἔννοιαν. Φασί δέ καί ἄλλως σύμβουλον εἶναι τήν τῶν ἁγίων Εὐαγγελίων τετράδα, πίστεως, καί πρακτικῆς, καί φυσικῆς, καί θεολογικῆς φιλοσοφίας· καί τῆς μέν πίστεως σύμβολον εἶναι τό κατά Ματθαῖον, ὡς ἀπίστους μετά δώρων προσκυνοῦντας εἰσάγον τούς Μάγους, τῆς δέ πρακτικῆς τό κατά Μάρκον, ὡς ἐκ τῆς μετανοίας, καθ᾿ ἥν πᾶσα πρᾶξίς ἐστιν ἐνάρετος, τῆς διδασκαλίας ἀρχόμενον, τῆς δέ φυσικῆς τό κατά Λουκᾶν, ὡς περιοδικωτέραν τοῦ λόγου τήν ἐξήγησιν ἔχον, καί τήν τῆς διδασκαλίας (1248) ἱστορίαν τοῖς τρόποις κατάλληλον, τῆς δέ θεολογίας τό κατά Ἰωάννην, ἐξ ἧς καί εἰς ἥν θεοπρεπῶς ἤρξατό τε καί ἔληξε.

Καί πάλιν ὥσπερ ὁ αἰσθητός κόσμος στοιχειωτικός ἐστι κατά φύσιν τῶν πέντε αἰσθήσεων ὑποπίπτων αὐταῖς καί πρός τήν ἑαυτοῦ κατάληψιν ὁδηγῶν, οὕτω καί ὁ κατά διάνοιαν κόσμος τῶν ἀρετῶν, ταῖς τῆς ψυχῆς ὑποπίπτων δυνάμεσι στοιχειοῖ αὐτά πρός τό πνεῦμα, ἑνοειδεῖς ἐργαζόμενος τῷ περί αὐτό μόνον αὐτάς κινεῖσθαι, καί ταῖς αὐτοῦ ἀντιλήψεσιν ἐπερείδεσθαι. Καί αὐτάς δέ τάς αἰσθήσεις τοῦ σώματος, κατά τόν αὐταῖς ἐμπρέποντα θειότερον λόγον, στοιχειωτικάς εἶναί φασι 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 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 τάς αἰσθήσεσι διά τῶν οἰκείων δυνάμεων τούς παντοδαπούς τῶν ὄντων λόγους ἀναλεγομένη, καί δυνηθῇ μεταβιβάσαι 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