P R E F A C E .

...even if you were to weigh it according to every quality of the elements, it would still be corruptible from the outside—namely, by celestial power original: "virtute celesti"; the influence of the heavens and stars over earthly matter—because it could be chilled by means of cold water, and thus return to a state of corruption from that equality of humors the four bodily fluids (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) that were believed to determine health and temperament and in this way be destroyed.

Note that the text says, "humans are like God in mind" original: "homines sunt similes Deo mente"; this is clear because a human becomes divine through knowledge original: "scientiam"; in this context, it refers to the systematic study of the natural and divine world. Seneca a Roman Stoic philosopher (4 BC–65 AD) often cited by Medieval scholars for his moral and natural philosophy says that in speculative matters, man is like God and most beloved by Him. This is also clear in Book 2 of the Metaphysics a foundational work by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, where Aristotle says that in humans there is a pleasure for a short time which the Intelligences divine, non-physical beings that move the celestial spheres enjoy for all eternity. By this, he understands the knowledge of God, in which there is the greatest pleasure.

Note that all pleasure occurs through a certain likeness or assimilation of the knower to the thing known, mediated by the "exemplary form" of the knower; therefore, the more a human knows about God, the more—or more greatly—he is assimilated to Him.

The text says that among all types of motion original: "motus"; for Aristotle, this meant any kind of change, including physical movement, growth, or chemical change, generation original: "generatio"; the process of a new thing coming into existence or being born is the most noble, referring to the "drawing forth" of the soul original: "animæ" or the formation of the fetus in the womb; how this is considered a "motion" will be seen later. Regarding this, note that motion is of two types: one is a motion that casts something out from a substance, just as the heating of water casts out coldness, or as a thing moves from whiteness to blackness. The other is a motion that does not cast out any perfe-