Chapter XV
THE MYSTICAL ARK
son, the crown extends itself there according to the length and width of the ark, so that it can encircle it on all sides.
Chapter XV That this kind of contemplation is rightly divided into five stages This third kind of contemplation is rightly separated into five stages according to those five modes of consideration mentioned above on the basis of which the rational principle of similitudes is sought and assigned in the investigation of invisible things.
For when a similitude from one thing to another is adopted, it is formed by a varying order according to these same modes. And so, the first mode is when a similitude is taken from that of which something is constituted, or better from that which it is itself. The second and third modes take their similitude from that which something is in itself. The fourth and fifth take their similitude from that which something is through itself. And the second, certainly, is taken from that which it is in itself, but externally; the third, from that which it is in itself, but internally; the fourth, from that which it does through itself, by some impulse of necessity; the fifth, from that which it does through itself, but by means of the purpose of will.
So the first mode of such reasoning in this speculation is drawn from the particular nature of matter. The second and third are drawn from the quality of the thing itself; but the second is from the external quality that we have called form, while the third is from the internal quality that we earlier called nature. However, the fourth mode is gathered from that which is done in the thing itself or from itself according to a natural motion. Finally, the fifth is gathered from that which is done according to artificial motion. A similitude is drawn from the particular nature of matter when it is said: "His legs are marble columns, which have been set upon golden bases" (Song of Songs 5:15).
Extrinsic quality consists of color and figure. A similitude is assigned from color in that which is read: "My beloved is dazzling white and ruddy" (Song of Songs
5:10). A similitude is taken from the quality of a figure when a quality is commended by a mystical description in sacred
RICHARD OF ST. VICTOR
Scripture: "The appearance of wheels, and their workmanship, is as if it were a wheel in the midst of a wheel" (Ezech.
1:16).
Note that extrinsic quality pertains to sight only, just as intrinsic quality pertains to any of the other senses. To hearing pertains that assignment of a similitude, where you hear: "And the sound which I heard was, as it were, the sound of harpers harping on their harps" (Rev.
14:2). However that passage in which Wisdom speaks of herself seems to have a view to smelling: "I gave off an odor, smelling like cinnamon and balsam; I gave pleasantness of odor, like choice myrrh" (Ecclus.
24:20). A similitude is adopted from the delights of taste when Wisdom acknowledges concerning herself:
"My spirit is sweet above honey and my inheritance, above honey and the honeycomb"
(Ecclus.
24:27).
That which you have elsewhere is full of the pleasures of touch: "Like the ointment on the head which flows down into the beard, the beard of Aaron" (Ps.
132:2). Let so much be said concerning intrinsic quality, certainly as regards that part which the senses of the body are able to touch.
With regard to the grace of similitude, a natural working is drawn into consideration when it is promised by the voice of a Prophet from the Lord: "Even as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there above but saturate the earth and spread over it and make it to sprout forth and give seed to the one sowing and bread to the one eating; so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth"
(Isa.
55:10). The adaptation of a similitude is from an artificial working when you hear from the Apostle: "Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ Himself the chief cornerstone" (Eph. 2:20). We have striven zealously to report these things to you concerning the rational principle of similitudes in the construction of our crown like a kind of seed of doctrine (just as above, in the gilding of the ark) so that you might have that by which you may be able, when you wish, to gather an abundant crop of knowledge. But to explain this topic fully and sufficiently would require a tract of its own. The more the reason of this speculation pays attention to this reasoning, the more this topic needs a more careful and greater inquiry. However, it is evident that in our times the greatest and almost the chief consolation of spiritual men is in this and subsequent speculations. For there are very few who are able to rise up to the two highest kinds of con-