¹ See J. Casteigt, “Le Super Iohannem d'Albert le Grand: Commenter un témoignage,” in Actes du colloque international de l'Institut d’Études médiévales de l'Institut Catholique de Paris (ICP): Commenter au Moyen-Âge, Publications de l'Institut d’Études Médiévales de l'Institut Catholique de Paris 5 (Paris, forthcoming). In a different paper, I analyzed the texts discussed in this paper from the specific perspective of the relationship between the human agent and the divine Principle, emphasizing Albert's contribution to the anthropological conception of the intellect; see Casteigt, J., “Welcher individuelle Erkenntnisweg zum Göttlichen ist für den Menschen nach Albert dem Großen möglich?,” Theologische Quartalschrift 196 (2016): 249–75Google Scholar. In the present paper, these texts are read from a completely different perspective, which lies at the heart of my philosophical and exegetical research, namely the hermeneutic method with which Albert interprets the biblical texts in the light of other scientific disciplines and other corpora of texts, some of which originate in other cultures and religions. Albert's hermeneutical method implements a conception of symbolic theology as aesthetics.

The principal editions of Albert's works will be referred to as follows: Ed. Colon. (=Editio Coloniensis): Alberti Magni Opera omnia, ed. B. Geyer et al. (Münster, 1951–); and Ed. Paris. (=Editio Parisiensis): B. Alberti Magni Ratisponensis episcopi, Ordinis Praedicatorum Opera omnia, ed. A. Borgnet, 38 vols. (Paris, 1890–99).

² Albert the Great, Super Iohannem 1.6, in Super Iohannem (Ioh. 1, 1–18), ed. J. Casteigt, Eckhart: Texts and Studies 10 (Leuven, forthcoming), 106, lines 14–17; trans. at 107, lines 15–19 “In prima harum, commendatur testis a quatuor que eum omni exceptione faciunt maiorem. Primo quidem, a natura; secundo, ab officio; tertio, ab auctoritate mittentis; quarto, a nomine et a nominis significatione.” See also Albert the Great, Enarrationes in Ioannem, Prologi S. Hieronymi in Evangelium secundum Joannem explanatio, Ed. Paris., 24:11b–12b.

³ For a sequence of the topoi on the life of John the Evangelist, see, for example, Venerable Bede, Homeliarum evangelii libri II 1.9, in Bedae Venerabilis Opera, pars III: Opera homiletica, ed. D. Hurst and J. Fraipont, CCL 72 (Turnhout, 1955), 60, line 1–67, line 259, especially 62, lines 61–93; and 66, lines 210–259; Venerable Bede, In S. Joannis evangelium expositio, Auctoris commendatio, PL 42:633–36. Albert inherits the criteria for this exclusive attribution from the patristic tradition, especially the criterion of interpretation of the name of John as “he in whom is grace.” As to the interpretation of John's name in particular, Albert depends on Jerome and a long chain of exegetes. See, for example, Jerome, , Liber interpretationis hebraicorum nominum, ed. de Lagarde, P., CCL 72 (Turnhout, 1959), 69Google Scholar, line 16; Seville, Isidore of, Etymologiarum siue Originum libri XX 7.9.12, ed. Lindsay, W. M., Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis (Oxford, 1911)Google Scholar, n.p., lines 1–2; Bede, Venerable, In Lucae euangelium expositio 1.1.13, ed. Hurst, D., CCL 70 (Turnhout, 1960), 25Google Scholar, lines 229–30: “‘Iohannes’ ergo interpretatur ‘in quo est gratia uel domini gratia’”; Maurus, Rhabanus, Expositio in Matthaeum 3.10.3, ed. Löfstedt, B., CCM 174 (Turnhout, 2000), 288Google Scholar, lines 62–63: “Iohannes ‘in quo est gratia’ uel ‘Domini gratia’ dicitur”; Radbertus, Paschasius, Expositio in Matheo libri XII 6.10.3, ed. Paulus, B., CCM 56 (Turnhout, 1984), 570Google Scholar, lines 501–2: “‘Iohannes’ vero ‘gratia’ Dei ‘vel in quo est gratia’”; Heiricus Autissiodorensis, Homiliae per circulum anni 1.2, ed. R. Quadri and R. Demeulenaere, CCM 116 (Turnhout, 1992), 91, lines 43–45: “interpretatur enim gratia siue in quo est gratia, uel cui donatum est”; and Heiricus Autissiodorensis, Homeliae, 299, lines 242–45: “Quaeritur quid uocabatur: ‘Cui nomen erat Iohannes,’ quod interpretatur gratia Dei, siue in quo est gratia, siue cui donatum est; uere enim Dei gratia donatum est illi regem regum non solum praecurrere, uerum etiam baptizare.”

⁴ Albert the Great, Super Iohannem, ed. J. Casteigt, 116, lines 17–20 (cf. Ed. Paris., 24:41b) “Quod, licet in se sit manifestissimum, tamen noster intellectus est ad ipsum ut oculi uespertilionis ad lumen solis. Et ideo, sicut dicit Dyonisius, oportet ut luce sibi proportionata manuducatur et, quo ad hoc, indiget testimonio.”

⁵ Aristotle, Metaph. 1.1.993b9–11, according to the Arabic-Latin translation. Cf. Albert the Great, Metaphysica 2.2, Ed. Colon., 16.1:92, line 83. On the different translations from Greek, see Steel, C., Der Adler und die Nachteule: Thomas und Albert über die Möglichkeit der Metaphysik, Lectio Albertina 4 (Münster, 2001), 2Google Scholar. On the status of the bat-image as a current adage among medieval thinkers, see Auctoritates Aristotelis: Un florilège médiéval; Étude historique et édition critique, ed. J. Hamesse, Philosophes médiévaux 17 (Leuven and Paris, 1974), 118; Anzulewicz, H., “Albertus Magnus über die ars de symbolica theologia des Dionysius Areopagita,” Teología y vida 51 (2010): 307–43CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 319.

⁶ Albert the Great, Metaphysica 2.2, Ed. Colon., 16.1:92, lines 70–73: “Patet igitur, quod sicut oculi nycticoracis vel noctuae sive vespertilionis ad lucem diei sive solis se habent, sic et intellectus animae nostrae habet se ad ea quae natura sua omnium cognoscibilium sunt manifestissima.”

⁷ In this paper, I will consider neither the literal meaning of the bat, that is, the very precise considerations that Albert develops in his oeuvre, especially in his De animalibus, regarding the characteristics of the different nocturnal flying animals and their habits, nor the debate on the several meanings of scripture and, in particular, the distinction between literal and figurative senses. My purpose is rather to concentrate on “figurality” understood as the Albertian exegetical method of giving to an image that is borrowed from a biblical or a philosophical source a specific argumentative status, which I will determine more precisely in the conclusion. Yet the reader should remember that figural interpretation presupposes the literal meaning of the bat and all its natural characteristics. On the literal meaning of the bat in Albert's works, I refer the reader to J. Casteigt, Métaphysique et connaissance testimoniale: Une lecture figurale du Super Iohannem (Jn 1, 7) d'Albert le Grand, Eckhart: Texts and Studies 11 (Leuven, forthcoming), 26–65. On the occurrence of the bat in Averroes's interpretations of Aristotle's Metaphysics, see Averroes, , In Aristotelis librum II (α) Metaphysicorum Commentarius: Die lateinische Übersetzung des Mittelalters auf handschriftlicher Grundlage mit Einleitung und problemgeschichtlicher Studie, ed. Darms, G., Thomistische Studien 11 (Fribourg [Switzerland], 1966), 55Google Scholar, line 59–56, line 67.

⁸ Pseudo-Dionysius, De coelesti hierarchia 1.3, in Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita: De coelesti hierarchia, De ecclesiastica hierarchia, De mystica theologia, Epistulae, ed. Günter Heil and Adolf M. Ritter, Patristische Texte und Studien 67 (Berlin, 1991), 8, line 19–9, line 5; cf. also Eriugena's, translation in Dionysiaca: Recueil donnant l'ensemble des traductions latines des ouvrages attribués au Denys de l'Aréopage, ed. Chevallier, P., 2 vols. (Bruges and Paris, 1937–50), 2:735–36Google Scholar.

⁹ Albert the Great is here referring to the expression discursas disciplinas, which is borrowed from Eriugena's translation of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, De coelesti hierarchia 1.3, in Dionysiaca 2:736 and in Expositiones super Ierarchiam caelestem S. Dionysii, PL 72:139C: “sacras disciplinas διεξοδικάς nominat.”

¹⁰ Albert the Great, Summa theologiae sive De mirabili scientia 1.1.5.1, Ed. Colon., 34.1:17, lines 21–31: “Unde Dionysius in Caelesti hierarchia cap. 1: ‘Neque est possibile nostro animo ad non-materialem illam ascendere caelestium hierarchiarum imitationem et contemplationem, nisi ea quae secundum ipsum est, materiali manuductione utatur, visibiles quidem formas invisibilis pulchritudinis imaginationes arbitrans, sensibiles suavitates sive fragrantias invisibilis distributionis figuras, et immaterialis luculentiae imaginem materialia lumina et secundum intellectum contemplativae pulchritudinis discursas disciplinas.’”

¹¹ For an analysis of all Albertian texts relating to the figure of testimony in the exegesis of John 1:7, see J. Casteigt, Métaphysique et connaissance testimoniale.

¹² Albert the Great, Summa theologiae Prol., Ed. Colon., 34.1:3, lines 50–53.

¹³ Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae 1.1.1, in Opera omnia (Rome, 1882–), 4:6b.

¹⁴ Albert the Great, Metaphysica 1.2.10, Ed. Colon., 36.1:28, lines 4–8: “Et ideo quoad nos etiam incohat haec scientia a physicis et mathematicis et terminatur ad speculationes divinorum. Propter quod ultimo docetur, et philosophi ab aliis scientiis manuducti in ista terminabant totam vitam.”

¹⁵ Albert the Great, Quaestio de raptu 1, in Quaestiones, Ed. Colon., 35.2:87, lines 23–43.

¹⁶ Albert the Great, Super Dionysium De divinis nominibus 7, Ed. Colon., 37.1:358, lines 1–10.

¹⁷ Albert the Great, Epistula IX, Ed. Colon., 37.2:538, line 56–539, line 2.

¹⁸ See Incerti auctoris de ratione dicendi ad C. Herennium libri IV (M. Tulli Ciceronis Ad Herennium libri VI) 3.16–20, no. 28–34, in M. T. Ciceronis scripta quae manserunt omnia, ed. F. Marx (Leipzig, 1894), 1:277, line 6–281, line 6. Cf. Albert the Great, De memoria et reminiscentia 2.1, Ed. Paris., 9:108ab.

¹⁹ Albert the Great, Epistula IX, Ed. Colon., 37.2:539, lines 3–13.

²⁰ Albert the Great, Epistula IX, Ed. Colon., 37.2:539, lines 10–13: “Quando etiam divina sine symbolis accepta sunt ut melius ea possimus inspicere, reducimus ad sensibili consueta nobis et connaturalia cognitioni nostrae.”

²¹ Albert the Great, Metaphysica 2.2, Ed. Colon., 36.1:93, line 81–94, line 6.

²² Albert the Great, Metaphysica 2.2, Ed. Colon., 36.1:93, lines 2–4.

²³ Albert the Great, Metaphysica 2.2, Ed. Colon., 36.1:92, lines 76–80.

²⁴ Albert the Great, Metaphysica 2.2, Ed. Colon., 36.1:93, lines 62–69.

²⁵ Albert the Great, Super Iohannem, ed. J. Casteigt (n. 2 above), 104, line 14–106, line 4.

²⁶ The quotation marks here indicate the Dionysian text commented by Albert the Great.

²⁷ Albert the Great, Super Dionysium De ecclessiastica hierarchia 2, Ed. Colon., 36.2:42, lines 1–3: “‘quaedam quidem sensibiliter sacra,’ idest sensibilia sacra, ‘sunt imaginationes,’ idest figurae, ‘invisibilium.’”

²⁸ Albert the Great, Summa theologiae 1.1.5.1, Ed. Colon., 34.1:16, lines 70–74.

²⁹ Albert the Great, Super Dionysium De caelesti hierarchia 1, Ed. Colon., 36.1:13, lines 37–42: “Quoniam neque possibile est nostro animo, idest intellectui, ascendere ad illam non-materialem imitationem et contemplationem caelestium hierarchiarum, quia contemplando eas imitamur, nisi utatur ea materiali manuductione quae secundum ipsum est, idest repraesentatione materialium sibi connaturali.”

³⁰ Albert the Great, Summa theologiae 1.1.5.1, Ed. Colon., 34.1:17, lines 6–9: “In omnibus enim talibus, ut dicit Augustinus in XII Super Genesim ad litteram, id quod figurative et quasi materialiter pingitur in sensu vel imaginatione, immateriali luce et in figurali splendet intelligentia.”

³¹ Aristotle, Div. somn. 2.464b12–14, in Aristotelis De Insomniis et de Divinatione per Somnum: A New Edition of the Greek Text with the Latin Translations, vol. 1, Preface, Greek Text, ed. H. J. Drossaart Lulofs, Philosophia antiqua (Leiden, 1947), 46, lines 7–9. Cf. Albert the Great, De somno et vigilia 3.2.9, Ed. Paris., 9:206b–207b.

³² Albert the Great, De homine, “De proprietatibus animae sensibilis in se, quae sunt somnus et vigilia et somnium” 2.5.3, Ed. Colon., 27.2:387, lines 53–56: “Et videtur Aristoteles dicere quod ‘promptus erit signific<ant>ias somniorum iudicare, qui cito potest sentire divulsa et inspicere distorta idolorum, quoniam hoc quidem hominis, hoc vero equi.’”

³³ Albert the Great, De homine, “De proprietatibus animae sensibilis in se, quae sunt somnus et vigilia et somnium” 2.5.1, Ed. Colon., 27.2:384, lines 16–18 and 26–27.

³⁴ Albert the Great, De homine, “De proprietatibus animae sensibilis in se, quae sunt somnus et vigilia et somnium” 2.5.1, Ed. Colon., 27.2:384, lines 18–21 and 59–60.

³⁵ See, for example, the distinction between sign and cause with reference to Aristotle's De somno et vigilia in Albert the Great, In II Sententiarum 7.5, Ed. Paris., 27:149b.

³⁶ Albert the Great, De homine, “De proprietatibus animae sensibilis in se, quae sunt somnus et vigilia et somnium” 2.5.1, Ed. Colon., 27.2:385, lines 24–27: “sicut est de navali bello futuro, vel de regnis subvertendis, vel de toto statu mundi futuro, sicut in somnio Nabuchodonosor.”

³⁷ Albert the Great, De homine, “De proprietatibus animae sensibilis in se, quae sunt somnus et vigilia et somnium” 2.5.1, Ed. Colon., 27.2:384, lines 22–25: “Quocumque autem modo cognoscendi erit per proprietates metaphoricas.”

³⁸ Al-Ghazālī, Metaphysica 2.5.5, in Algazel's Metaphysics: A Mediaeval Translation, ed. J. T. Muckle, St Michael's Medieval Studies 9 (Toronto, 1933), 190, lines 10–16.

³⁹ Albert the Great, De homine, “De proprietatibus animae sensibilis in se, quae sunt somnus et vigilia et somnium” 2.5.3, Ed. Colon., 27.2:388, lines 10–15: “Item dicit Algazel quod ‘quia commutationes phantasmatum non retinentur tantum in uno modo, idcirco multiplicantur modi interpretationis et variantur secundum singularia et secundum dispositiones, et artificia et tempora anni et infirmitatem dormientis.’”

⁴⁰ Albert the Great, Super Matthaeum 13.11, Ed. Colon., 21.1:400, lines 33–38.

⁴¹ For a synthetic presentation of Albert's sacramental doctrine, see Anzulewicz, H., “The Systematic Theology of Albert the Great,” in A Companion to Albert the Great: Theology, Philosophy, and the Sciences, ed. Resnick, I. M., Brill's Companions to the Christian Tradition 38 (Leiden, 2012), 38–41Google Scholar.

⁴² Boethius, De differentiis topicis 3.3.14, in Boethius’ De topicis differentiis und die byzantinische Rezeption dieses Werkes, ed. D. Z. Nikitas, Corpus Philosophorum Medii Aevi, Philosophi Byzantini 5 (Athens and Paris, 1990), 52, line 17: “Similitudo est eadem rerum differentium qualitas.” Cf. Albert the Great, De sacramentis 1.2, Ed. Colon., 26:3, lines 11–16.

⁴³ Albert the Great, In IV Sententiarum 1.b.5, Ed. Paris., 29:16b: “Ad aliud dicendum, quod similitudo sumitur ibi secundum proportionalitatem: est enim secundum Boetium in II Arithmeticae, similitudo rerum differentium eadem quantitas (qualitas corregi), et proportio est similitudo habitudinis inter duo, sed proportionalitas est similitudo proportionum inter quatuor. Et tunc dicemus, quod sumenda est proprietas elementi exterioris ad effectum quem habet in corpore in parte una, et proprietas gratiae per effectum quem habet in anima in parte alia: et ponenda est allegorice vel metaphorice similitudo inter illas duas proportiones. Sicut se habet elementum in vi refrigerativa et ablutiva ad corpus, ita gratia ad animam secundum metaphoram. Et tunc cessat objectio.”

⁴⁴ Albert the Great, Epistula IX, Ed. Colon., 37.2:530, lines 13–18: “Per similitudinem proportionalitatis, in qua oportet quattuor facere, scilicet accipere proprietatem rei sensibilis et comparare eam ad suum actum et similem comparationem invenire proprietatis rei spiritualis ad suum actum.”

⁴⁵ On the contemplation of the divine ray through the veil of signs and effects, see Meis, A., “Alberto Magno, Sobre el texto de la Editio Coloniensis,” Anales de la Facultad de Teología 59 (2008): 15–36Google Scholar; Burger, M., “Die Herrlichkeit göttlicher Gegenwart manifestiert sich in Theophanien: Albertus Magnus in der Tradition des Dionysius Ps.-Areopagita,” in Herrlichkeit: Zur Deutung einer theologischen Kategorie, ed. Kampling, R. (Paderborn, Munich, Vienna, and Zurich, 2008), 175–96Google Scholar. On the quotation extracted from Pseudo-Dionysius, De coelesti hierarchia 1.2 and its place in the work of Thomas Aquinas, see Bonino, S.-Th., “‘Les voiles sacrés’: À propos d'une citation de Denys,” in San Tommaso d'Aquino ‘Doctor Humanitatis’: Atti del IX Congresso Tomistico Internazionale (Roma, 1990), vol. 6, Storia del Tomismo: Fonti e Riflessi, Studi Tomistici 45 (Vatican City, 1992), 158–71Google Scholar, especially 158–59.

⁴⁶ Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, De coelesti hierarchia 1.3. See Eriugena's translation in Dionysiaca (n. 8 above), 2:735–36. Cf. Albert the Great, Summa theologiae 1.1.5.1, Ed. Colon., 34.1:17, lines 1–6: “Et Dionysius in Caelesti Hierarchia cap. 1: ‘Impossibile est nobis aliter superlucere divinum radium, nisi varietate sacrorum velaminum circumvelatum, et his quae secundum nos sunt, providentia paterna connaturaliter nobis et proprie praeparatum.’”

⁴⁷ Albert the Great considers poetry as a painting of passions on an ethical level. I will adopt this perspective here in order to understand the purpose of this text, although it seems that symbolic theology has more characteristics in common with Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy or with certain contemporary poetry, especially in its metaphorical praxis and in the exercise of the figural intelligence on which its search for the divine principle relies.

⁴⁸ Albert the Great, Summa theologiae 1.1.5.1, Ed. Colon., 34.1:17, lines 10–21: “Hinc est, quod theologia de incomprehensibili luce agens, talibus quasi poeticis utitur proprie secundum suum modum. Aliae autem scientiae philosophicae, quae de luce nobis proportionali agunt, peccant, si talibus utuntur; illud enim quod intendunt declarare, obscuratur per talia. Clariora enim sunt in seipsis proposita quam in figuris aenigmaticis. In theologia autem non proponuntur talia propter ea quae declarare intendit, sed propter nostram materialem intellectum, qui in connaturalibus sibi paulatim lucem colligit et luce collecta fortificatus sic tandem ad contuenda clarissima consurgit.”

⁴⁹ Cf. H. Anzulewicz, “Albertus Magnus” (n. 5 above), 320–21; 331. Cf. Simon, P., “Albertus Magnus und die Dichter,” in Xenia Medii Aevi historiam illustrantia oblata Thomae Kaeppeli O.P., Storia e Letteratura 141 (Rome, 1978)Google Scholar, especially 96–99.

⁵⁰ Albert the Great, Epistula IX, Ed. Colon., 37.2:529, lines 71–81.

⁵¹ Albert the Great, Epistula IX, Ed. Colon., 37.2:534, lines 1–19.

⁵² Albert the Great, Summa theologiae 1.1.5.2, Ed. Colon., 34.1:18, lines 17–23, in which he refers to Aristotle, Metaph. 1.2.983a2–3. See also Albert the Great, Metaphysica 1.2.8, Ed. Colon., 16:25, line 89, and Epistula VII, Ed. Colon., 37.2:504, lines 48–59.

⁵³ Albert the Great, Summa theologiae 1.1.5.1, Ed. Colon., 34.1:16, line 66–17, line 35.

⁵⁴ Albert the Great, Epistula IX, Ed. Colon., 37.2:529, lines 60–62: “Ea quae sunt manifestioris remotionis ab ipso, sunt magis convenientia ad reducendum nos in deum.”

⁵⁵ This negative dimension of the signs in theology implies that it is not a question of remaining in them. See Albert the Great, Epistula IX, Ed. Colon., 37.2:530, lines 67–71.

⁵⁶ Albert the Great, De homine, “De proprietatibus animae sensibilis in se, quae sunt somnus et vigilia et somnium” 2.4, Ed. Colon., 27.2:382, lines 36–42. See also Albert the Great, De fato 4, Ed. Colon., 17.1:74, lines 8–15; and De causis et processu universitatis a prima causa 2.1.12, Ed. Colon., 17.2:75, lines 16–20.

⁵⁷ Cf. supra (n. 29 above) Albert the Great, Super Dionysium De caelesti hierarchia 1, Ed. Colon., 36.1:13, lines 37–42.

⁵⁸ Aristotle, Div. somn. 1.463a31–b3 and 1.462b25–26, in Aristotelis De insomniis (n. 31 above), 38, lines 4–7; and 34, lines 1–2. Cf. Albert the Great, De somno et vigilia 3.2.3 and 3.1.2, Ed. Paris., 9:199b and 180a, respectively.

⁵⁹ Because the prophecies appear only at certain points in this group of texts, I will devote this study exclusively to the dreams that are revelations, insofar as these constitute the link with the group of texts unified by “the judge of dreams.”

⁶⁰ Albert the Great, De intellectu et intelligibili 1.3.3, Ed. Paris., 9:501b: “Ab Aristotele autem dicitur intellectus divinus, et hic intellectus de studio ad levi prophetias accipit illuminationem, et ad somniorum verissimam interpretationem.”

⁶¹ Maimonides, Moses, Dux seu director dubitantium aut perplexorum 2.37, ed. Iustinianus, A. (Paris, 1520, repr. Frankfurt, 1964)Google Scholar, fol. 82a. Cf. B. Decker, Die Entwicklung der Lehre von der prophetischen Offenbarung von Wilhelm von Auxerre bis zu Thomas von Aquin, Breslauer Studien zur historischen Theologie, Neue Folge 7 (Breslau, 1940), 33 and 122.

⁶² Albert the Great, Super Isaiam Prol., Ed. Colon., 19:3, lines 46–47: “casus a prophetia.”

⁶³ Albert the Great, De intellectu et intelligibili 1.3.3, Ed. Paris., 9:501b (collatio S. Donati: Po1, fol. 171v^b; V13, fol. 134v^a): “Medius autem est, qui juvatur doctrina faciliter ad intelligendum tam physica < physica] prophetica Ed. Paris.> quam divina.” Po1 = Pommersfelden, Gräflich Schönbornsche Bibl. MS B 103, fols. 166v^b–175v^a. V13= Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Lat. 718, fols. 130r^b–134v^a. Here I thank Silvia Donati, who was kind enough to communicate to me the results of her provisional collation of the De intellectu et intelligibili, based on eight manuscripts, for the critical edition she is preparing for the Editio Coloniensis under the auspices of the Albertus Magnus Institute.

⁶⁴ Albert the Great, De natura et origine animae 2.6, Ed. Colon., 12:28, lines 41–48: “Quaedam sunt in somnis verae intelligentiae, quae non somnii habent rationem, sed potius oracula sunt, ab intellectibus supernis in intellectum animae influxa. Constat autem, quod horum receptio non est nisi secundum conformitatem animae humanae ad intellectus supernos et caelestes et non secundum aliquam dependentiam ad corpus.”

⁶⁵ Albert the Great, De homine, “De proprietatibus animae sensibilis in se, quae sunt somnus et vigilia et somnium” 1.1, Ed. Colon., 27.2:321, lines 24–29: “In somnis anima coniungitur intelligentiis superioribus quae dicuntur angeli, et accipit ab eis intellectus puros simplices et immateriales, qui sunt somnia vera, quibus imaginatio praeparat imagines quandoque convenientes, quandoque contrarias, propter quas somnium illud indiget interpretatione.”

⁶⁶ Al-Ghazālī, Metaphysica 2.5.9, in Algazel's Metaphysics (n. 38 above), 189, lines 9–25.

⁶⁷ Albert the Great, Super Dionysium De caelesti hierarchia 4, Ed. Colon., 36.1:67, line 1–68, line 37, especially at 67, line 80–68, line 4. Cf. Albert the Great, Super Dionysium De caelesti hierarchia 4, Ed. Colon., 36.1:69, line 14–70, line 47 and the authority to which he refers: John of Damascus, De fide orthodoxa 2.17.10, in Saint John Damascene: De fide orthodoxa; Versions of Burgundio and Cerbanus, ed. E. Buytaert, Franciscan Institute Publications, Text Series 8 (St. Bonaventure, NY, 1955), 71, line 51–72, line 56.

⁶⁸ Aristotle, Div. somn. 2.463b12–15, in Aristotelis De insomniis (n. 31 above), 38, line 17–40, line 1. Cf. Albert the Great, De somno et vigilia 3.2.4, Ed. Paris., 9:200b.

⁶⁹ Albert the Great, Super Dionysii Mysticam theologiam 1, Ed. Colon., 37.2:464, lines 48–52: “Dicit Philosophus de divinationibus somniorum, quod quia ex principiis primis per modum scientiae speculativae concludi non possunt, unitur ad ea accipienda intellectus noster motoribus superioribus.”

⁷⁰ John of Damascus, De fide orthodoxa 2.21.3, ed. E. Buytaert, 86, lines 1–2: “Luminare enim est non ipsum lumen, sed luminis receptaculum.” Cf. Albert the Great, Super Dionysium De caelesti hierarchia 15, Ed. Colon., 36.1:235, lines 27–30.

⁷¹ Albert the Great, Super Iohannem, ed. J. Casteigt (n. 2 above), 122, lines 5–10: “Ad hoc dicendum quod duplex est lux. Vna quidem prima, que est fons lucis et illuminans, non illuminata. Et hec est divina lux. Altera autem est ut uas lucis et illuminans et illuminata. Et hec est lux perfectorum uirorum, sicut Iohannis et aliorum. Et hoc est luminare emanans lucem sibi infusam. Phil. ii: ‘Inter quos lucetis sicut luminaria in mundo.’”

⁷² To take up the beautiful title of Corbin, Henry, L'imagination créatrice dans le soufisme d'Ibn’ Arabî, Idées et recherches (Paris, 1958)Google Scholar.