Introduction to the Philosophy of Saint Augustine
man who had seen. Thus it is obvious that prophecy belongs more to the mind than to the spirit, in the rather special sense in which the word spirit is taken, namely, in the sense of a certain power of the soul inferior to the mind, wherein likenesses of corporeal objects are produced. And so Joseph, who understood the meaning of the seven ears of corn and the seven kine, was more a prophet than Pharaoh, who saw them in a dream; for Pharaoh saw only a form impressed upon his spirit, whereas Joseph understood through a light given to his mind. And for this reason the former had a gift of tongues; the latter, the gift of prophecy. In the one there was the production of the images of things; in the other, the interpretation of the images produced.
Less a prophet, therefore, is he who, by means of the images of corporeal objects, sees in spirit only the signs of the things signified, and a greater prophet is he who is granted only an understanding of the images. But /the greatest prophet is he who is endowed with both gifts, namely, that of seeing in spirit the symbolic likenesses of corporeal objects and that of understanding them with the vital power of the mind. Such a one was Daniel. His pre-eminence was tested and established when he not only told the king the dream he had had but also explained the meaning of it. For the corporeal images themselves were produced in his spirit, and an understanding of them was revealed in his mind. I am using the word spirit, therefore, in the sense in which the Apostle uses it, where he distinguishes it from the mind: "I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also." Here he implies that signs of things are formed in the spirit, and that an understanding of the signs shines forth in the mind. According to this distinction, then, I have designated as spiritual the kind of vision by which we represent in thought the images of bodies even in their absence.
10. But the intellectual type of vision, which is proper to the mind, is on a higher plane. The word intellect, as far as I know, cannot be used in a wide variety of meanings, such as we found in the case of the word spirit. But whether we say intellectual or intelligible, we mean one and the same thing, though some have wished to make a distinction between the two, designating as intelligible that reality which can be perceived by the intellect alone, and as intellectual the mind which understands. But whether there exists any being perceivable by the intellect alone, but not itself endowed with intellect—this is a large and difficult question. On the other hand I do not believe there is any one who either thinks or says that there exists a thing which perceives with the intellect and is at the same time incapable of being perceived by