We must not, then, on this account ascribe the ruling principle any more to the liver than we must think, because of the heatedstate of the blood about the heart in wrathful dispositions, that the seat of the mind is in the heart; but we must refer these matters to the character of our bodily organization, and consider that the mind is equally in contact with each of the parts according to a kind of combination which is indescribable.

Even if any should allege to us on this point the Scripture which claims the ruling principle for the heart, we shall not receive the statement without examination; for he who makes mention of the heart speaks also of the reins, when he says, "God trieth the hearts and reins" ; so that they must either confine the intellectual principle to the two combined or to neither.

And although I am aware that the intellectual energies are blunted, or even made altogether ineffective in a certain condition of the body, I do not hold this a sufficient evidence for limiting the faculty of the mind by any particular place, so that it should be forced out of its proper amount of free space by any inflammations that may arise in the neighbouring parts of the body (for such an opinion is a corporeal one, that when the receptacle is already occupied by something placed in it, nothing else can find place there); for the intelligible nature neither dwells in the empty spaces of bodies, nor is extruded by encroachments of the flesh; but since the whole body is made like some musical instrument, just as it often happens in the case of those who know how to play, but are unable, because the unfitness of the instrument does not admit of their art, to show their skill (for that which is destroyed by time, or broken by a fall, or rendered useless by rust or decay, is mute and inefficient, even if it be breathed upon by one who may be an excellent artist in flute-playing); so too the mind, passing over the whole instrument, and touching each of the parts in a mode corresponding to its intellectual activities, according to its nature, produces its proper effect on those parts which are in a natural condition, but remains inoperative and ineffective upon those which are unable to admit the movement of its art; for the mind is somehow naturally adapted to be in close relation with that which is in a natural condition, but to be alien from that which is removed from nature.

Οὔτε οὖν διὰ τοῦτο τῷ ἥπατι τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν λογιστέον͵ οὔτε διὰ τὴν περικάρδιον ζέσιν τοῦ αἵματος ἐν ταῖς θυμικαῖς διαθέσεσιν͵ ἐν καρδίᾳ νομιστέον εἶναι τοῦ νοῦ τὴν καθίδρυσιν, ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν εἰς τὰς ποιὰς τῶν σωμάτων κατασκευὰς ἀνακτέον. Τὸν δὲ νοῦν ὁμοτίμως ἑκάστῳ τῶν μορίων κατὰ τὸν ἄφραστον τῆς ἀνακράσεως λόγον ἐφάπτεσθαι νομιστέον.

Κἂν τὴν Γραφήν τινες ἡμῖν πρὸς τοῦτο προτείνωνται͵ τῇ καρδίᾳ τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν μαρτυροῦσαν͵ οὐκ ἀνεξετάστως τὸν λόγον δεξόμεθα. Ὁ γὰρ καρδίαν μνησθεὶς καὶ νεφρῶν ἐμνημόνευσεν εἰπών· Ἐτάζων καρδίας καὶ νεφροὺς ὁ Θεός· ὥστε ἢ ἀμφοτέροις ἢ οὐδετέρῳ τὸ νοερὸν κατακλείουσιν.

Ἀμβλύνεσθαι δὲ τὰς νοητικὰς ἐνεργείας ἢ καὶ παντάπασιν ἀπρακτεῖν ἐν τῇ ποιᾷ διαθέσει τοῦ σώματος διδαχθείς͵ [161] οὐχ ἱκανὸν ποιοῦμαι τοῦτο τεκμήριον͵ τοῦ τόπῳ τινὶ τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ νοῦ περιείργεσθαι͵ ὡς ταῖς ἐπιγινομέναις τοῖς μέρεσι φλεγμοναῖς τῆς οἰκείας εὐρυχωρίας ἐξειργομένης. Σωματικὴ γὰρ ἡ τοιαύτη δόξα͵ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι προκατειλημμένου τοῦ ἀγγείου διά τινος τῶν ἐμβεβλημένων͵ ἕτερόν τι ἐν αὐτῷ χώραν εὑρεῖν. Ἡ γὰρ νοητὴ φύσις οὔτε ταῖς κενώσεσιν ἐμφιλοχωρεῖ τῶν σωμάτων͵ οὔτε τῷ πλεονάζοντι τῆς σαρκὸς ἐξωθεῖται. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ καθάπερ τι μουσικὸν ὄργανον ἅπαν τὸ σῶμα δεδημιούργηται͵ ὥσπερ συμβαίνει πολλάκις ἐπὶ τῶν μελῳδεῖν μὲν ἐπισταμένων͵ ἀδυνατούντων δὲ δεῖξαι τὴν ἐπιστήμην͵ τῆς τῶν ὀργάνων ἀχρηστίας οὐ παραδεχομένης τὴν τέχνην (τὸ γὰρ ἢ χρόνῳ φθαρὲν ἢ παρεῤῥηγμένον ἐκ καταπτώσεως ἢ ὑπό τινος ἰοῦ καὶ εὐρῶτος ἠχρειωμένον͵ ἄφθογγον μένει καὶ ἀνενέργητον͵ κἂν ὑπὸ τοῦ προέχειν δοκοῦντος κατὰ τὴν αὐλητικὴν τέχνην ἐμπνέηται), οὕτω καὶ ὁ νοῦς δι' ὅλου τοῦ ὀργάνου διήκων καὶ καταλλήλως ταῖς νοητικαῖς ἐνεργείαις͵ καθὸ πέφυκεν͵ ἑκάστῳ τῶν μερῶν προσαπτόμενος͵ ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν κατὰ φύσιν διακειμένων τὸ οἰκεῖον ἐνήργησεν͵ ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἀσθενούντων δέξασθαι τὴν τεχνικὴν αὐτοῦ κίνησιν ἄπρακτός τε καὶ ἀνενέργητος ἔμεινε. Πέφυκε γάρ πως ὁ νοῦς πρὸς μὲν τὸ κατὰ φύσιν διακείμενον οἰκείως ἔχειν͵ πρὸς δὲ τὸ παρενεχθὲν ἀπὸ ταύτης ἀλλοτριοῦσθαι.