The Literal Meaning of Genesis
BOOK TWELVE 311
1. the mind meanwhile using the senses of the body, or
2. the mind meanwhile being completely independent of the senses. The visions described in IIB are caused by a spirit, either good or evil.
his is explained in the next chapter. °°T read male adfecti: see Taylor "Text" 90-91. °1A man is not necessarily a prophet when he narrates a vision, even though the vision may have a prophetic meaning. But when his mind is illumined so that he can understand and explain the meaning of the vision, then he is truly a prophet.
are endowed with the gift of prophecy for the moment. Aug. distinguishes them from "true prophets" only because the gift of prophecy is not habitual in them.
the meaning of intentio in Aug., see n. 19 supra. For Augustine's physiology of sensation, see 12.16.32 supra.
94 Aug. has a picturesque way of describing sensation. The attention of the soul is "sent forth" or "thrust out" (exeritur) by the soul to the object; or, as he says later in this chapter, it "presses on" (nititur) towards its object.
has already described (12.2.3 supra) his awareness in dreams of the fact that he was dreaming. He also mentions that this awareness did not imply a full realization of the nature of the images seen in the dream.
Joel 2.28 (Vulg.), 3.1 (Hebr.); Acts 2.17. 97Matt. 1.20. 98Matt. 2.13. 29The sense in which the body is a cause has been explained in 12.20.42—43 supra.
100John 11.50-51. 101U/trum duodecim signa dicerentur: lit. '""whether the signs were called the twelve signs" or "whether the twelve signs were discussed" (among the astrologers). The duodecim signa are the twelve signs of the Zodiac: see Aratus, Phaenomena, tr. by Cicero,
317-19 (Poetae latini minores 1.21 Baehrens); cf. Cic., De div. 2.42.89.
102 Aug. was familiar with these pagan festivals, having occa-