obvious to require comment; but some commentators have in the term σφαῖρα seen an allusion to the celestial spheres, rather than a ball, because, as the upper controls in its movements the lower sphere, so reason, being superior to appetite, is to control inordinate desires. "Quibus collatis, non temerarium erit, σφαίρας similitudinem ita interpretari: consilium tanquam superius (ἡ ἄυω) ita appetitum in suum motum convertere, sicut superior sphæra eas, quœ inferiores volvuntur." The words which follow "that which is superior is ever naturally more dominant," may require some such interpretation, for they seem to imply that motion, by translation, may be derived from the motions of the spheres above, which were said to be in three directions; but the knowing faculty, the mind, that is, like the first motor, is, for ever, at rest.
Note 3, p. 183. Although the conception of the universal, &c.] This abstruse passage can only be understood by reference to the special treatise upon "the motion of animals, wherein this topic is considered;" it is asked, "whence comes it, that an individual, after thinking, sometimes acts and sometimes does not act, sometimes moves and sometimes does not move?" and the answer[1] is, that "action or motion is the conclusion of a syllogism," of which "the conception of the universal is the major, that of the particular, the middle, and the action following it the minor."
- ↑ De Motu Animalm, 5. 7. 1.
