On the Meeting for the sake of seeking Instruction (26-30)

For since our soul is composed of two parts, and since the one contains the rational faculties, and the other the irrational ones, it follows that each part must have its own peculiar virtue, Leah being the virtue of the rational part, and Rachel of the irrational.

For the one trains us, by means of the external senses and the parts of speech, to look contemptuously upon all things which it is proper to disregard, such as glory, and wealth, and pleasure, which the principal and general multitude of common men look upon as things to be admired and striven for, their sense of hearing being corrupted, and the tribunal of all the other external senses being corrupted likewise.

But the other teaches us to turn away from that uneven and rough road which is never approached by souls that love virtue, and to go smoothly along the smooth road without any stumbling and without meeting any hindrances in the path.

Therefore the handmaiden of the former of the two citizen wives will necessarily be the power of interpretation as exercised by means of the organs of speech, and also the rational invention of sophisms, deceiving man by a well-imagined plausibility; and its necessary nourishment is meat and drink.

The historian has recorded for us the names of the two handmaidens, calling them Zilpah and Billah. [*] The name Zilpah, being interpreted, means "a mouth going forth," a symbol of that nature which interprets and speaks. But Billah means "a swallowing," which is the first and most necessary support of all mortal animals. For it is by swallowing that our bodies are established firmly, and the cables of life are attached to this action as to a sure foundation.