On thought and sense-perception — sister faculties, united in man
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Hermes — Χθές, ὦ Ασκληπιέ, τὸν τέλειον ἀποδέδωκα λόγον, νῦν δὲ ἀναγκαῖον ἡγοῦμαι ἀκόλουθον ἐκείνῳ καὶ τὸν περὶ αἰσθήσεως λόγον διεξελθεῖν. αἴσθησις γὰρ καὶ νόησις διαφορὰν μὲν δοκοῦσιν ἔχειν, ὅτι ἡ μὲν ὑλική ἐστιν, ἡ δὲ οὐσιώδης· ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκοῦσιν ἀμφότεραι ἡνῶσθαι καὶ μὴ διαιρεῖσθαι ἐν ἀνθρώποις λόγῳ. ἐν γὰρ τοῖς ἄλλοις ζώοις ἡ αἴσθησις τῇ φύσει ἥνωται, ἐν δὲ ἀνθρώποις ἡ νόησις. νοήσεως δὲ ὁ νοῦς διαφέρει τοσοῦτον ὅσον ὁ θεὸς θειότητος. ἡ μὲν γὰρ θειότης ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ γίνεται, ἡ δὲ νόησις ὑπὸ τοῦ νοῦ, ἀδελφὴ οὖσα τοῦ λόγου, καὶ ὄργανα ἀλλήλων. οὔτε γὰρ ὁ λόγος ἐκφωνεῖται χωρὶς νοήσεως, οὔτε ἡ νόησις φαίνεται χωρὶς λόγου. ἡ οὖν αἴσθησις καὶ ἡ νόησις ἀμφότεραι εἰς τὸν ἄνθρωπον συνεπεισρέουσιν, ἀλλήλαις ὥσπερ συμπεπλεγμέναι. οὔτε γὰρ χωρὶς αἰσθήσεως δυνατὸν νοῆσαι οὔτε αἰσθέσθαι χωρὶς νοήσεως. δυνατὸν δὲ νόησιν χωρὶς αἰσθήσεως νοεἴσθαι, καθάπερ οἱ διὰ τῶν ὀνείρων φανταζόμενοι ὁράματα· ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκεῖ τὸ γεγονέναι ἀμφοτέρας τὰς ενεργείας ἐν τῇ τῶν ὀνείρων ὄψει, τὴν δ᾽ αἴσθησιν ἐξ ὕπνου εἰς ἐγρήγορσιν ἐγείρεσθαι· διῄρηταί γε ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰς τε τὸ σῶμα καὶ εἰς τὴν ψυχήν· καὶ ὅταν ἀμφότερα τὰ μέρη τῆς αἰσθήσεως πρὸς ἄλληλα συμφωνήσῃ, τότε τὴν νόησιν ἐκφωνεῖσθαι ἀποκνηθεῖσαν ὑπὸ τοῦ νοῦ.
Yesterday, O Asclepius, I delivered the complete discourse; but now I consider it necessary, as a sequel to that one, to go through also the discourse on sense-perception. For sense-perception and intellection seem to have a difference, because the one is material and the other essential; but to me they both seem to be united and not divided in men, by reason. For in the other living beings sense-perception is united with nature, but in men, intellection. And Mind differs from intellection as much as God from divinity; for divinity comes to be by God, and intellection by Mind, being sister of the Word, and the two instruments of one another. For neither is the Word uttered without intellection, nor does intellection appear without the Word. So then sense-perception and intellection both stream into the man together, as if intertwined with one another. For it is possible neither to think without sense-perception nor to perceive without intellection. Yet intellection can be conceived without sense-perception, just as those who see visions through dreams. And to me it seems that both the activities have come about in the vision of dreams, but that sense-perception is roused out of sleep into wakefulness. For man is indeed divided into both body and soul; and whenever both the parts of sense-perception are in accord with one another, then intellection is uttered, brought to birth by the Mind.
CH IX (Περὶ νοήσεως καὶ αἰσθήσεως, 'On thought and sense-perception') opens the sequel Hermes promises to the 'complete discourse' of the day before. Sense-perception (αἴσθησις) and intellection (νόησις) seem to differ — one material, the other essential — but in man they are united, not divided. In the other animals sense is joined to nature; in man, intellection. Mind differs from intellection as much as God from divinity: divinity comes to be by God, intellection by Mind — intellection being sister of the Word, and the two instruments of one another. Neither is the Word uttered without intellection, nor intellection seen without the Word. So sense and thought stream into man together, intertwined; one cannot think without perceiving, nor perceive without thinking — yet thought can act alone, as in dreams. Man is divided into body and soul, and only when both parts of sense are in accord is thought uttered, brought to birth by the Mind. (OCR-sourced from the Parthey scan; flagged for proof.)
The treatise announces its whole method in its first move: it takes two words English keeps apart — 'perception' and 'thought' — and asks whether they are really two. αἴσθησις is sense, the material intake of the world; νόησις is intellection, the mind's own act. They 'seem to differ, because the one is material (ὑλική) and the other essential (οὐσιώδης)' — the great Hermetic axis of matter against being. But Hermes overrules the appearance: in man they are 'united and not divided (ἡνῶσθαι καὶ μὴ διαιρεῖσθαι),' and the differentia of the human is stated exactly — in the other animals sense is welded to nature, but 'in men, intellection.' The beast perceives; only man thinks.
Then the treatise builds its ladder of derivations, each rung a pair. 'Mind differs from intellection as much as God from divinity (ὁ νοῦς διαφέρει τοσοῦτον ὅσον ὁ θεὸς θειότητος): for divinity comes to be by God, intellection by Mind.' νοῦς is the source, νόησις its activity, as θεός is the source and θειότης the quality that streams from him — the same relation twice, on the divine plane and in the soul. And νόησις has a twin: it is 'sister of the Word (ἀδελφὴ… τοῦ λόγου), and instruments of one another' — thought and speech arising together, so that 'neither is the Word uttered without intellection, nor does intellection appear without the Word.' What we think and what we say are born at one birth.
The last movement gives the doctrine its proof and its image. Sense and thought 'stream into man together (συνεπεισρέουσιν), intertwined' — the rare flowing verb makes them a single current. Ordinarily neither works alone: no thinking without perceiving, no perceiving without thought. But there is one exception, and it is the treatise's evidence — the dream. 'Intellection can be conceived without sense-perception, just as those who see visions through dreams': the mind goes on working while the senses lie in sleep, and only on waking is sense 'roused out of sleep into wakefulness.' The seed-word arrives at the very end — thought is 'brought to birth (ἀποκυηθεῖσαν) by the Mind' — and it opens the next section, where the Mind becomes a womb that conceives every thought a man has, for good or for evil.
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