I admit it to be true that the intellectual part of the soul is often disturbed by prevalence of passions; and that the reason is blunted by some bodily accident so as to hinder its natural operation; and that the heart is a sort of source of the fiery element in the body, and is moved in correspondence with the impulses of passion; and moreover, in addition to this, I do not reject (as I hear very much the same account from those who spend their time on anatomical researches) the statement that the cerebral membrane (according to the theory of those who take such a physiological view), enfolding in itself the brain, and steeped in the vapours that issue from it, forms a foundation for the senses; yet I do not hold this for a proof that the incorporeal nature is bounded by any limits of place.

Certainly we are aware that mental aberrations do not arise from heaviness of head alone, but skilled physicians declare that our intellect is also weakened by the membranes that underlie the sides being affected by disease, when they call the disease frenzy, since the name given to those membranes is fre/nej. And the sensation resulting from sorrow is mistakenly supposed to arise at the heart; for while it is not the heart, but the entrance of the belly that is pained, people ignorantly refer the affection to the heart.

Ἐγὼ δὲ τὸ μὲν ἐπιταράσσεσθαι πολλάκις πρὸς τὰς τῶν παθημάτων ἐπικρατήσεις τὸ διανοητικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς͵ καὶ ἀμβλύνεσθαι τῆς κατὰ φύσιν ἐνεργείας τὸν λογισμὸν ἔκ τινος σωματικῆς περιστάσεως͵ ἀληθὲς εἶναί φημι, καὶ πηγήν τινα τοῦ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα πυρώδους τὴν καρδίαν εἶναι πρὸς τὰς θυμώδεις ὁρμὰς συγκινουμένην. Καὶ ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις͵ τὸ ὑποβεβλῆσθαι τοῖς αἰσθητηρίοις τὴν μήνιγγα κατὰ τὸν λόγον τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα φυσιολογούντων͵ περιπτυσσομένην ἐν ἑαυτῇ τὸν ἐγκέφαλον καὶ τοῖς ἐκεῖθεν ἀτμοῖς ὑπαλειφομένην͵ τῶν ταῖς ἀνατομικαῖς θεωρίαις ἐσχολακότων τὸ τοιοῦτον ἀκούων͵ οὐκ ἀθετῶ τὸ λεγόμενον. Οὐ μὴν ἀπόδειξιν ποιοῦμαι ταύτην τοῦ τοπικαῖς τισι περιγραφαῖς ἐμπεριειλῆφθαι τὴν ἀσώματον φύσιν.

Τάς τε γὰρ παραφορὰς οὐκ ἐκ μόνης καρηβαρείας γίνεσθαι μεμαθήκαμεν͵ ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν τὰς πλευρὰς ὑπεζωκότων ὑμένων ἐμπαθῶς διατεθέντων ὁμοίως ἀῤῥωστεῖν τὸ διανοητικὸν διορίζονται οἱ τῆς ἰατρικῆς ἐπιστήμονες͵ φρενῖτιν τὸ πάθος καλοῦντες͵ ἐπειδὴ φρένες τοῖς ὑμέσι τούτοις ἐστὶ τὸ ὄνομα. Καὶ ἡ ἀπὸ τῆς λύπης ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν γινομένη συναίσθησις ἐσφαλμένως ὑπονοεῖται. Οὐ γὰρ τῆς καρδίας͵ ἀλλὰ τοῦ στόματος τῆς κοιλίας δριμυσσομένου͵ εἰς τὴν καρδίαν τὸ πάθος ὑπ' ἀπειρίας ἀνάγουσι.