Reason. The Germans have also a word
Verstand, which seems to represent our word "understanding,"
"intelligence," "intellect," not as a thing absolute which
exists by itself, but as a thing connected with an individual
being, as a man. Accordingly it is the capacity of receiving
impressions (Vorstellungen, [Greek: phantasiai],) and forming
from them distinct ideas (Begriffe), and perceiving
differences. I do not think that these remarks will help the
reader to the understanding of Antoninus, or his use of the
words [Greek: nous] and [Greek: logos]. The emperor's meaning
must be got from his own words, and if it does not agree
altogether with modern notions, it is not our business to force
it into agreement, but simply to find out what his meaning is,
if we can.

Justinus (ad Diognetum, c. vii.) says that the omnipotent,
all-creating, and invisible God has fixed truth and the holy,
incomprehensible Logos in men's hearts; and this Logos is the
architect and creator of the Universe. In the first Apology (c.
xxxii.), he says that the seed ([Greek: sperma]) from God is
the Logos, which dwells in those who believe in God. So it
appears that according to Justinus the Logos is only in such
believers. In the second Apology (c. viii.) he speaks of the
seed of the Logos being implanted in all mankind; but those who
order their lives according to Logos, such as the Stoics, have
only a portion of the Logos ([Greek: kata spermatikou logou
meros]), and have not the knowledge and contemplation of the
entire Logos, which is Christ. Swedenborg's remarks (Angelic
Wisdom, 240) are worth comparing with Justinus. The modern
philosopher in substance agrees with the ancient; but he is
more precise.

God exists then, but what do we know of his nature? Antoninus says that
the soul of man is an efflux from the divinity. We have bodies like
animals, but we have reason, intelligence, as the gods. Animals have
life ([Greek: psyche]) and what we call instincts or natural principles
of action: but the rational animal man alone has a rational, intelligent
soul ([Greek: psyche logike noera]). Antoninus insists on this
continually: God is in man,[A] and so we must constantly attend to the
divinity within us, for it is only in this way that we can have any
knowledge of the nature of God. The human soul is in a sense a portion
of the div