320 HILDEGARD OFBINGEN
the soul’s interior. For the soul emanates the senses. How? It vivifies a person’s face and
glorifies him with sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, so that by this touch he
becomes watchful in all things. For the senses are the sign of all the powers of the soul,
as the body is the vessel of the soul. What does this mean? A person is recognized by his
face, sees with his eyes, hears with his ears, opens his mouth to speak, feels with his
hands, walks with his feet; and so the senses are to a person as precious stones and as a
rich treasure sealed in a vase. But as the treasure within is known when the vase is seen,
so also the powers of the soul are inferred by the senses.
25: THAT THESOULIS THEMISTRESS AND THEFLESH
THEHANDMAID
The soul is the mistress, the flesh the handmaid. How? The soul rules the body by vivi-
fying it, and the body is ruled by this vivification, for if the soul did not vivify the body
it would fall apart and decay. But when a person does an evil deed and the soul knows
it, it is as bitter for the soul as poison is for the body when it knowingly takes it. But the
soul rejoices in a sweet deed as the body delights in sweet food. And the soul flows
through the body like sap through a tree. What does this mean? By the sap, the tree
grows green and produces flowers and then fruit. And how is this fruit matured? By the
air’s tempering. How? The sun warms it, the rain waters it, and thus by the tempering of
the air it is perfected. What does this mean? The mercy of God’s grace, like the sun, will
illumine the person, the breath of the Holy Spirit, like the rain, will water him, and so
discernment, like the tempering of the air, will lead him to the perfection of good fruits.
26: ANALOGY OF ATREE TO THESOUL
The soul in the body is like sap in a tree, and the soul’s powers are like the form of the
tree. How? The intellect in the soul is like the greenery of the tree’s branches and leaves,
the will like its flowers, the mind like its bursting firstfruits, the reason like the per-
fected mature fruit, and the senses like its size and shape. And so a person’s body is
strengthened and sustained by the soul. Hence, O human, understand what you are in
your soul, you who lay aside your good intellect and try to liken yourself to the brutes.