Cause Principle Unity

On magic
prayers. Rather, they freely distort all these things and play with humans
by counterfeiting illusions of fear, anger, religion and such things. They
understand languages and the sciences, but never make any firm assertions.
And so these hateful demons introduce confusion and doubt into the
human mind and senses.
There are also ethereal spirits which are pure and luminous. All agree
that they are hostile to no one and are completely good and friendly to
virtuous men. But the airy spirits are friendly to some, and hostile and
hateful to others.
The aqueous and terrestrial spirits are hostile, or at least are not friendly,
since they are less rational and more fearful. In accordance with the saying,
‘They hate what they fear,’ 14 they deliberately cause injury.
But the spirits of fire, which are more properly called heroes and gods,
are said to be the ministers of God. The cabalists call them Fissim,
Seraphim and Cherubim, and the prophet of the Psalms said, ‘He made
the winds to be his angels, and the flames of fire his ministers.’ 15 Hence,
Basil and Origen rightly argue that the angels are not completely incorporeal,
but are spiritual substances; that is, they are animals with very subtle
bodies, which divine revelation has said are fire and flames of fire.
In every group of spirits there are sovereigns and rulers, ministers, leaders,
governors and ranks, by which the wiser and more powerful dominate
and direct the more ignorant and more uncultured. These roles do not
endure forever, but they are also not as briefly constituted as they are
among humans. For in many ways, the lives of spirits are not comparable
to ours, since the soul’s union with a simple body is much more easily maintained
than it is with bodies like ours, which are composed of contraries.
Their bodies very easily ward off change. Thus, air and water undergo less
change than do composite bodies. Furthermore, they are easily restored.
For example, when air is divided, it is reunited very easily, and portions of
water reunite after they have been separated. Thus, Virgil did not use a
ridiculous poetic figure of speech when he said that Aeneas frightened the
shades when he cut through their abode with his drawn sword. 16
These various spirits occupy the bodies of humans, animals, stones and
minerals. There is no body which is completely devoid of spirit and intelligence.
Furthermore, no spirit possesses a permanent location for itself.
Rather, spirits fluctuate from one matter to another, and matter fluctuates
from one spirit to another, and from one nature or composition to another.
14 Cicero, De officiis, II, 7, 3. 15 Psalm, 103:4. 16 Virgil, Aeneid, VI, 260, 290, 388.
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