VISIO QUARTA, cap. XXXVIII
The Moon's Path in the Eyebrows
The human eyebrows mirror the moon's dual movement of restoration and withdrawal, and like the moon they guard and nourish what lies beneath them.
A person's eyebrows, for their part, trace the moon's paths—one way as it moves toward its own restoration under the sun, and the other way as, set ablaze by the sun, it draws back. And the eyebrows are the defense and fortification of the eyes, just as the moon is the safeguard and nourishment of the stars, because once it has been set ablaze by the sun and begins to grow, it receives fire from the stars as much as from the sun, coming to their aid in this respect so that the fires don't overflow them in excess; and when it is in decline, it pours out its fires upon the stars, but not upon the sun alone, since that one, existing as a kind of prince, always remains in a single state.
The Soul's Fortitude Through the Fear of the Lord
The soul implants steadfastness in the person who fears God, so that neither prosperity elates nor adversity crushes, and fortitude gathers all virtues under the fear of the Lord as a shield.
In this way too, the soul implants steadfastness and security in a person directed toward the fear of the Lord—these being, as it were, that person's ways—because while a person fears God, at times prosperity and at times adversity comes their way, circumstances in which they must walk rightly, so as neither to be elated by prosperity nor crushed by adversity. And so, when it is fortified by the spirit of fortitude, it shows itself strong in all things. For these virtues afford protection to a person's resolve, just as the fear of the Lord is the foundation and shield of the other virtues, since when it is clothed with fortitude, it gathers the remaining virtues to itself and displays them fortified with both fortitude and fear, where it makes a person cling to heavenly desires as much in adversity as in prosperity.
A Glimpse of the Face's Deeper Powers
The nose, mouth, and ears carry great power whose effects reach into the outer elements and the soul's depths, and the saints' examples are to be followed in all things.
Concerning the nose, mouth, and ears: how much power they have in a person, what their various effects signify in the elements of the outer world and in the inner depths of the soul, and that in all things the examples of the saints are to be followed.
Read the original Latin
Supercilia vero hominis itinera lunae declarant, viam scilicet alteram, qua ad restaurationem sui sub solem vadit, alteram autem, qua a sole incensa recedit. Et supercilia defensio et munimentum oculorum sunt, velut et luna tutamen et nutrimentum stellarum est, quia dum a sole incensa crescere incipit, ignem tam a stellis quam a sole recipit, in hoc illis subveniens, ne in nimietate ignium superabundent; et dum in detrimento est, ignes suos stellis non autem soli infundit, quoniam ille velut princeps existens, in uno statu semper est. Hoc quoque modo anima constantiam et securitatem in homine ad timorem Domini mittit, quae quasi via illius sint, quia dum homo Deum timet, interdum prosperitas, interdum quoque adversitas ei occurrit, in quibus eum recte incedere oportet, ita ut nec de prosperitate elevetur, nec de adversitate opprimatur. Unde et cum spiritu fortitudinis munitur, se robustum in omnibus ostendit. Virtutes enim istae protectionem intentioni hominis faciunt, quemadmodum timor Domini fundamentum et scutum aliarum virtutum est, quoniam cum ipse fortitudine induitur, caeteras virtutes ad se colligit, easque et fortitudine et timore munitas ostendit, ubi hominem coelestibus desideriis tam in adversitate quam in prosperitate inhaerere facit.
De naso, ore, auribus, quantum in homine valeant, et quid diversi effectus eorum in exterioris mundi elementis et in interioribus animae significent, et quod in omnibus exempla sanctorum sequenda sunt.
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