The image declares its identity in words reminiscent of the Wisdom
literature or of passages in the hermetic writings, but which seem in
fact to be partly borrowed from Bernard Sylvestris.
‘I am that supreme and fiery force that sends forth all the sparks
of life. Death hath no part in me, yet do I allot it, wherefore I
am girt about with wisdom as with wings. I am that living and fiery
essence of the divine substance that glows in the beauty of the
fields. I shine in the water, I burn in the sun and the moon and
the stars. Mine is that mysterious force of the invisible wind. I
sustain the breath of all living. I breathe in the verdure and in
the flowers, and when the waters flow like living things, it is I.
I formed those columns that support the whole earth.... I am the
force that lies hid in the winds, from me they take their source,
and as a man may move because he breathes so doth a fire burn but
by my blast. All these live because I am in them and am of their
life. I am wisdom. Mine is the blast of the thundered word by which
all things were made. I permeate all things that they may not die.
I am life.’[72]
[Illustration: WIESB. COD. B. fo. 4 r