[213] Accordingly, when the practiser of virtue asks, "From whence come ye?" the shepherds answer him truly, that they come "from Charran." [198] For the irrational powers come from the external sense, as the rational ones come from the mind. And when he further inquires whether they know Laban, they very naturally assert that they do know him, for the outward sense is acquainted with complexion and [199] [200] with every distinctive quality, as it thinks; and of complexion and distinctive qualities Laban is the symbol.