VISIO QUARTA, cap. XCII
The Soul's Lament in the Body
The measure from knee to ankle signifies the encircling ocean, and the soul's entrapment in fleshly desires leads through self-reproach to bitter repentance and a cry to God for deliverance.
But the same measure from the knees to the ankle as exists from the place of excretion, or from the thigh to the knee. And in the measure of this limb — that is, from the knee to the ankle — the ocean that surrounds the whole earth is signified, because just as the legs bend backward, so too these waters, embracing the whole roundness of the earth, do not pass their boundary. These waters do not rush beyond their channel, because flowing as if in a furrow and as if through canals, they do not exceed those limits, and they are level in their depth with the waters that are above the firmament. So too the soul, which is established in all the members of the human body, hurries toward all the desires of the flesh through that channel, as a bellows is driven to blow — and so, lamenting, it says to the same person: 'Ah, ah, you ashen rot, why was I ever sent by my God into you, since you have so entangled me in your desires that by diabolical persuasion you compel me to accomplish criminal works with you?'1 Then the person, even though they live in a shameless feast of sins, often says within themselves because of the soul's complaint: 'O woe to me, why can I not restrain myself from my sins!' 'I who know that my works are defiled before God and before others, and yet why do I not fear my God, who casts away every stain of sin as the malice of the devil, judging it so!' After this, the person turns away from their sins, counting them over in bitter repentance, and is led into that same distress in which the soul was when it sinned, saying: 'Ah, ah, I have forgotten my Creator, when I did not turn aside from the desire of the flesh into the knowledge of my rational mind out of fear and love for him!' And so, prostrating on the ground in true repentance, they cry out to God in prayer: 'O my God, help me, and by your blood lead me out of the depth of my sins, into which I am as if submerged in hell, and by your grace draw me to you, so that I may rise to salvation.'
Lust, Exile, and the Soul's Dwelling
True penitence washes away sins of lust aroused by the devil's suggestion, while the ankle signifies the place of exile and the soul's full dwelling in the body, where sin is darkness and virtue is light.
And so, considering each of his sins in true penitence, he washes them away. For the measure that exists from the place of excrement or from the thigh up to the knee signifies that any lust in the loins of a man, and in the navel of a woman, is aroused through the first suggestion of the devil, since through the evil of that same deception the sins of lust are accomplished with equal zeal by desiring and performing them. But after these things, the person, through the soul, is led into grief and into the distress of those same sins, which the measure from the knees down to the ankle also designates. The ankle, indeed, shows the place of exile in which Adam was placed: that a person cannot forget, in all their works, good and evil, because in evil works they remember Adam's expulsion, and in good works they recall how they were created by God. For God created the dwelling of the rational soul in such great fullness, so that in it it could exercise all its virtues, just as a person builds a house so that in it they may carry out all the things they wish; and the winds also were created by God, so that each might pass through now in pleasantness, now in danger, by its own breath. And just as the ocean does not exceed the place in which it flows, so the soul does not leave this measure, but rejoices in good works and is saddened in evil ones. For when a person sins according to the desires of the flesh before God, it is like a dark night; but when they work according to the nature of the soul, before God and his angels it shines like the light of day. Now from the ankle to the end of the greater joint, the same measure exists as from the junction of the hand to the top of the end of the finger that is called the middle one, as is shown above.
Feet, Rivers, and the Full Work of God
The feet represent the rivers watering the earth, and man — divine in soul and earthly in body — is God's complete work, sustaining all actions through body and soul alike.
The feet also represent the other rivers, which spread out across the whole earth and water it everywhere. And just as the same feet are joined to the legs, and the hands to the arms, so too these rivers draw their strength from the ocean. For God created the element of earth, which brings forth growth through the powers of the other elements, so that woman also through man's power conceives and bears life. Therefore man, divine through his soul and earthly through his body, is the full work of God; hence he knows earthly things and, in the mirror of faith, comes to know heavenly things. For just as the same measure runs from the ankle to the end of the greater joint, and from the hand's knuckle to the tip of the middle finger, so the soul, through which a person understands that he possesses God, holds the body in equal measure without any flaw, and sustains it in equal measure, so that the soul in the body may lack nothing in all the works it performs together with the body. And just as the earth brings forth things both useful and useless, so the feet carry a person to works both useful and useless; and just as all waters flow from the ocean, so through body and soul all the works of a person are carried out.
The Twelve Flexions and the Winds
The twelve greater flexions of the body's joints signify the four principal winds and the eight that flank them, tempered by heat, cold, dryness, and moisture.
Likewise, the bendings of the shoulders and arms, hands, loins, knees, and feet — where the twelve greater flexions are found — indicate the four principal winds and the eight that flank them, with their breaths and the spaces by which they differ from one another; and these same winds are tempered by one another through heat, cold, dryness, and moisture.
Read the original Latin
A genibus vero usque ad talum eadem mensura est quae a loco egestionis seu a femore usque ad genu existit. Et in mensura membri hujus, scilicet quod a genu usque ad talum est, oceanus, qui totam terram comprehendit, designatur, quoniam, ut crura ad posteriora recurvantur, ita et aquae istae omnem rotunditatem terrae circumamplectentes, metam suam non transeunt. Aquae etiam istae extra meatum suum non ruunt, quia velut in sulco et quasi in canalibus fluentes, eosdem terminos non excedunt, et aquis quae super firmamentum sunt in profunditate sua aequales existunt. Sic et anima, quae in omnibus membris hominis constituta est, per illum ad omnia desideria carnis festinat, ut follis flare cogitur, unde et lamentando ad eumdem hominem dicit: « Ach, ach, cinerosa putredo, cur a Deo meo in te unquam missa sum, quae in tua desideria me ita involvisti, ut diabolica suasione criminalia opera tecum cogat perficere? » Tunc homo, licet in petulanti convivio peccatorum vivat, propter querelam animae intra se saepe dicit: « O vae mihi, quare a peccatis me continere non possum! qui opera mea coram Deo et hominibus polluta esse cognosco, et quare non timeo Deum meum, qui omnem maculam peccatorum sicut malitiam diaboli judicando abjicit! » Post ea homo in amara poenitentia a peccatis ea dinumerando declinat, et in eamdem molestiam, in qua anima ipso peccante fuit, sic dicendo ducitur: « Ach, ach, ego Creatoris mei oblita sum, quando a desiderio carnis in scientia rationalitatis meae propter timorem et amorem ejus non declinavi! » sicque in vera poenitentia se ad terram prosternens, ad Deum sic orando clamat: « O Deus meus, adjuva me, et per sanguinem tuum educ me de profunditate peccatorum meorum, quibus quasi in infernum mersus sum, et per gratiam tuam trahe me ad te, ut ad salvationem surgere possim.
» Sicque singula peccata sua in vera poenitentia considerando abluit. Mensura enim quae a loco egestionis seu a femore usque ad genu existit, significat quodvis libidinis in lumbis viri, et in umbilico mulieris per primam suggestionem diaboli excitatur, cum per malum ejusdem deceptionis pari studio desiderando et operando peccata luxuriae perficiunt. Sed homo post ea per animam in dolorem et in molestiam eorumdem peccatorum ducitur, quod etiam mensura quae a genibus usque ad talum est designat. Talus quidem locum exsilii in quo Adam positus est ostendit, quod homo in omnibus operibus suis bonis et malis oblivisci non potest, quia in malis operibus expulsionis Adae recordatur, et in bonis operibus qualiter a Deo creatus sit reminiscitur. Deus quippe animae rationali habitaculum in tanta plenitudine creavit, ut in illo omnes virtutes suas exercere posset, sicut et homo domum aedificat, quatenus in illa omnia quae vult operetur; et ut etiam venti a Deo creati sunt, ut aliquando in jucunditate, alio modo in periculo, quaeque flatu suo pertranseant. Et sicut oceanus locum in quo fluit non excedit, sic anima modum istum non relinquit, quin in bonis operibus gaudeat, et in malis contristetur. Cum enim homo secundum desideria carnis peccat coram Deo ut tenebrosa nox est; cum autem secundum naturam animae operatur, coram Deo et angelis ejus sicut lux diei lucet. A talo autem usque ad finem majoris articuli ea mensura existit, quae a junctura manus usque ad summitatem finis digiti qui medius dicitur, est, ut supra demonstratur.
Pedes quoque caetera flumina demonstrant, quae se per totam terram dividentes, illam ubique irrigant. Et sicut iidem pedes cruribus, et ut manus brachiis adhaerent, sic et flumina ista vires suas ab oceano sumunt. Deus quippe elementum terrae creavit, quae per vires caeterorum elementorum germinat, ut etiam mulier per vires viri feta existit. Homo itaque per animam divinus, et per terram terrenus, plenum opus Dei est; unde etiam terrena scit, et in speculo fidei coelestia cognoscit. Sicut enim a talo usque ad finem majoris articuli, et a junctura manus usque ad summitatem finis medii digiti aequalis mensura existit, sic anima, per quam homo se Deum habere intelligit, aequali mensura sine omni defectu corpus possidet, illudque eam aequali mensura sustinet, ita ut anima in illo nullum defectum in omnibus operibus quae cum corpore operatur, habeat. Et ut etiam terra utilia et inutilia germinat, sic pedes hominem ad utilia et inutilia opera portant; et ut ab oceano omnes aquae fluunt, sic per corpus et animam omnia opera hominis peraguntur.
Item quod in flexuris humerorum et brachiorum, manuum, lumborum, poplitum et pedum, in quibus duodecim majores inflexiones sunt, quatuor principalium ventorum et octo collateralium ipsorum flatus et spatia quibus a se differunt, insinuent, et quod iidem venti calore, frigore, siccitate et humiditate invicem temperentur.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin presents the soul speaking in the first person to the body (or the person); 'follis' (bellows/bag) is rendered 'bellows is driven to blow' to capture the image of compulsive motion toward fleshly desire.
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