Chapter XII.—Theory of Disease.

“Whence many, not knowing how they are influenced, consent to the evil thoughts suggested by the demons, as if they were the reasoning of their own souls.  Wherefore they become less active to come to those who are able to save them, and do not know that they themselves are held captive by the deceiving demons.  Therefore the demons who lurk in their souls induce them to think that it is not a demon that is distressing them, but a bodily disease, such as some acrid matter, or bile, or phlegm, or excess of blood, or inflammation of a membrane, or something else.  But even if this were so, the case would not be altered of its being a kind of demon.  For the universal and earthly soul, which enters on account of all kinds of food, being taken to excess by over-much food, is itself united to the spirit, as being cognate, which is the soul of man; and the material part of the food being united to the body, is left as a dreadful poison to it.  Wherefore in all respects moderation is excellent.