VISIO QUARTA, cap. XXXIX
The Face as Cosmos
The human face—nose, mouth, and ears—mirrors the stirring, sounding, and moistening of the waters through air, with the nose sending moisture upward to the sky and cleansing the inner person.
But from the nose all the way to the throat, with the moist air set beneath it and a strong, bright, luminous air having been shown beforehand, the human nose signifies the air that stirs up the waters; the mouth, however, in reason shows forth their moisture, while the ears reveal the roar and sound of those same waters, which, through the wind of the moist air and through the rising of the clouds, flood down fittingly. For by the hearing of the ear the inner parts of a person are shaken, just as the elements above are also pierced by the sound of the waters, and the mouth is flooded with the moisture of reason, as though it were being watered from above by the wetness of those same waters, so that it may not be consumed by dryness, and the nostrils are filled with their scent, just as those same waters are also stirred by the air. And that the nose stretches upward in the direction of the higher regions along its length means that this moist air sends its own moisture into the purity of the upper sky and into the heat of the upper fire, and from them it receives a strengthening balance so that it may not be scattered and dissipated or dissolved by flowing away. Through the nose, too, the brain and the veins are cleansed, because these same elements, when stirred at times, are repeatedly purged in the upper regions by moisture and by vapor.
Breath, Scent, and the Soul's Path
The moist air, like repentance and the hearing of God's words, floods the pure sky, while the soul's breath through nose and mouth keeps its ordered path and draws the fragrance of virtue into the heart through grace.
For the pure sky is flooded, as was said, with the moisture of the moist air, just as repentance is illuminated by the works and examples of the righteous, and just as the hearing of the ears receives the words of knowledge, in which the words of him resound. The breath of scent and the moisture of the mouth's reason also come together into one, and they hold a moist wetness; and just as water flows and sounds, and floods the whole earth with its wetness, so also the moist air moistens the elements above. The soul's breath also has its right path through the nose and through the mouth, which does not go up beyond its boundary or go down, just as the same moist air keeps its paths where it is set. These things also signify that the soul, made in a human being by the gift of God, when with a discerning intellect it eagerly tastes, as a good scent, the examples of the righteous, which the greenness of their words had poured into it through the hearing of others, stirs the inner parts of the heart, so that, once it has been soaked with the grace of the Holy Spirit, it may hold fast the scent of the virtues with every desire.
Temperance and the Fragrance of Good Works
Temperance receives the fragrance of blessedness, weighs works of persistence and penitence, and entrusts them to God so that right moderation orders all things toward heaven without excess.
And so when temperance receives the fragrance of blessedness and considers the works of the faithful — which are accomplished as much by persisting in good things as by desisting from evil things through penitence — it entrusts them to the power of God, so that they aren't dissolved through immoderation, because when the knowledge of a person of good fragrance is purified through temperance, it makes that person strong in good things everywhere. For penitence is often lifted up by true groans, when true and holy words are brought forth for building up the faithful. For the virtue of right moderation ought to be present in these matters, so that a person arranges all their works well and lifts themselves toward heavenly things with a rightly ordered gaze, and so doesn't exceed their proper measure.
Dew of Compunction and Heavenly Desire
As moist breath tempers the fruits of the earth in summer and winter, so the examples of the just bring compunction that greens good works and dries up evil, feeding the soul's desire for heavenly things.
And just as in the watery air there is a certain breath that, descending with the moisture of dew over the earth, tempers the greenness and dryness of fruits — the greenness, namely, in summer, but the dryness in winter — and just as through that breath the fruits of the earth receive their strength, so too through the mouth of a person the whole person is fed; and just as the world is illuminated through the splendor of the sun, so also through that same breath all the higher spirits are tempered and brought forth. In the same way, through the examples of the just, compunction sometimes arises in a faithful person, bringing the greenness of good works and the dryness of evil ones — clearly, when as if in summer they desire good things, and when as if in winter they despise evil things. Having been delighted and fed in this way on these fruits of justice, the person always directs their desire toward heavenly things.
The Tongue and the Inner Flood
The flooding waters figured on the human tongue reveal the inward reality signified by that outward inundation.
This is shown in the tongue of man by a flood of waters, and what is figured inwardly through that same outward inundation of waves.
Read the original Latin
Sed et a naso usque ad guttur, aquoso aere cum sibi supposito forti et albo lucidoque aere praemonstrato, nasus hominis aerem qui aquas movet significat; os vero in rationalitate humiditatem earum demonstrat, aures autem strepitum et sonum ipsarum aquarum manifestant, quae per ventum aquosi aeris et per elevationem nubium convenienter inundant. Nam auditu auris interiora hominis concutiuntur, sicut et sono superiorum aquarum elementa penetrantur, et humore os rationalitatis perfunditur, velut humiditate earumdem aquarum superiore humectantur, ne ariditate consumantur, atque odore nares replentur, sicut et aere eaedem aquae commoventur. Quod autem nasus sursum ad superiora in longitudine tendit, hoc est quod aer iste qui aquosus est in puritatem superioris aetheris et in ardorem superioris ignis humores suos transmittit, et ab eis temperamentum fortitudinis ne diffluendo dissipentur aut dissolvantur recipit. Per nasum quoque cerebrum et venae purgantur, quia etiam eadem elementa interdum commota, humore et fumo in superioribus multoties expurgantur. Purus enim aether humiditate aquosi aeris, ut praefatum est, perfunditur, quemadmodum poenitentia operibus et exemplis justorum illuminatur, et ut auditus aurium verba scientiae capit, in qua verba ejus sonant. Flatus quoque odoris et humiditas rationalitatis oris in unum se conjungunt, madidumque humorem habent; et sicut etiam aqua fluit et sonat, et humiditate sua totam terram perfundit, similiter et aquosus aer superiora elementa humectat. Spiramen etiam animae rectum iter per nasum et per os habet, quod extra terminum suum nec ascendit nec descendit, sicut et idem aquosus aer itinera sua ut positus est tenet. Haec etiam designant, quod anima dono Dei in homine facta, cum discretivo intellectu boni odoris intente gustat exempla justorum, quae illi verborum viriditate auditus aliorum infuderat, interna cordis concutit, quatenus gratia Spiritus sancti perfusa, odorem virtutum omni desiderio retineant.
Quapropter et temperantia odorem beatitudinis recipiens, et considerans opera fidelium, quae tam bonis insistendo quam a malis per poenitentiam desistendo perficiunt, potentiae Dei committit, ne per immoderationem dissolvantur, quia per temperantiam boni odoris scientia hominis purgata, ipsum in bonis ubique robustum reddit. Poenitentia quippe veris gemitibus multoties sublevatur, ubi vera et sancta verba aedificatione fidelium proferuntur. Virtus enim rectae moderationis in his esse debet, quatenus omnia opera sua homo bene disponat, et se ad coelestia justo intuitu ita attollat, ne modum suum excedat. Et ut in aquoso aere quidam sufflatus est, qui cum humiditate roris super terram descendens, viriditatem et ariditatem fructuum temperat, in aestate scilicet viriditatem, in hieme vero ariditatem; et ut per sufflatum istum fructus terrae vires recipiunt, ita et per os hominis totus homo pascitur; et sicut per splendorem solis mundus illustratur, ita etiam per eumdem sufflatum omnia superiora spiramina temperantur et producuntur. Similiter per exempla justorum compunctio in fideli homine aliquando exoritur, quae illi viriditatem bonorum operum et ariditatem malorum infert, videlicet cum quasi in aestate bona appetit, et cum velut in hieme mala contemnit. Hoc modo in his justitiae fructibus delectatus et pastus, ut coelestibus desideriis semper intendat.
Quod in lingua hominis inundatio aquarum ostendatur, et quid per eamdem exteriorem fluctuum inundationem in interioribus figuretur.
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