They assert, however, that Edem is the brain, as it were, bound and tightly fastened in encircling robes, as if (in) heaven. But they suppose that man, as far as the head only, is Paradise, therefore that "this river, which proceeds out of Edem," that is, from the brain, "is divided into four heads, [443] and that the name of the first river is called Phison; this is that which encompasseth all the land of Havilath: there is gold, and the gold of that land is excellent, and there is bdellium and the onyx stone." This, he says, is the eye, which, by its honour (among the rest of the bodily organs), and its colours, furnishes testimony to what is spoken. "But the name of the second river is Gihon: this is that which compasseth the land of Ethiopia." This, he says, is hearing, since Gihon is (a tortuous stream), resembling a sort of labyrinth. "And the name of the third is Tigris. This is that which floweth over against (the country of) the Assyrians." This, he says, [444] is smelling, employing the exceedingly rapid current of the stream (as an analogy of this sense). But it flows over against (the country of) the Assyrians, because in every act of respiration following upon expiration, the breath drawn in from the external atmosphere enters with swifter motion and greater force. For this, he says, is the nature of respiration. "But the fourth river is Euphrates." This, they assert, is the mouth, through which are the passage outwards of prayer, and the passage inwards of nourishment. (The mouth) makes glad, and nurtures and fashions the Spiritual Perfect Man. This, he says, is "the water that is above the firmament," [445] concerning which, he says, the Saviour has declared, "If thou knewest who it is that asks, thou wouldst have asked from Him, and He would have given you to drink living, bubbling water." [446] Into this water, he says, every nature enters, choosing its own substances; and its peculiar quality comes to each nature from this water, he says, more than iron does to the magnet, and the gold to the backbone [447] of the sea falcon, and the chaff to the amber.
But if any one, he says, is blind from birth, and has never beheld the true light, "which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world," [448] by us let him recover his sight, and behold, as it were, through some paradise planted with every description of tree, and supplied with abundance of fruits, water coursing its way through all the trees and fruits; and he will see that from one and the same water the olive chooses for itself and draws the oil, and the vine the wine; and (so is it with) the rest of plants, according to each genus. That Man, however, he says, is of no reputation in the world, but of illustrious fame in heaven, being betrayed by those who are ignorant (of his perfections) to those who know him not, being accounted as a drop from a cask. [449] We, however, he says, are spiritual, who, from the life-giving water of Euphrates, which flows through the midst of Babylon, choose our own peculiar quality as we pass through the true gate, which is the blessed Jesus. And of all men, we Christians alone are those who in the third gate celebrate the mystery, and are anointed there with the unspeakable chrism from a horn, as David (was anointed), not from an earthen vessel, [450] he says, as (was) Saul, who held converse with the evil demon [451] of carnal concupiscence.
[435] John i. 3.
[436] John iv. 21.
[437] ex hes or hexes, i.e., next.
[438] Matt. xiii. 31, 32; Mark iv. 31, 32; Luke xiii. 19.
[439] Ps. xix. 3.
[440] The passage following obviously was in verse originally. It has been restored to its poetic form by Schneidewin.
[441] Deut. xxxiii. 17.
[442] Gen. ii. 10.
[443] Gen. ii. 11-14.
[444] Or, "they say."
[445] Gen. i. 7.
[446] John iv. 10.
[447] kerkis. This word literally means the rod; or, in later times, the comb fixed into the histos (i.e., the upright loom), for the purpose of driving the threads of the woof home, thus making the web even and close. It is, among other significations, applied to bones in the leg or arm. Cruice and Schneidewin translate kerkis by spina, a rendering adopted above. The allusion is made again in chap. xii. and chap. xvi. In the last passage, kentron (spur) is used instead of kerkis
[448] John i. 9; ix. 1.
[449] Isa. xl. 15.
[450] 1 Sam. x. 1; xvi. 13.
[451] 1 Sam. xvi. 14.