For they placed that, which feels anger, in the heart; but that, which is affected by desire, in the intermediate place between the boundary on the side of the navel and that of the diaphragm, after binding it down, as if it were a mad and wild beast. But the lungs they planned, for the sake of the heart, to be soft and without blood, and with cavities, and sponge-like, in order that the heart, while leaping, according as anger was boiling, might have a softening down; but the liver for exciting the feeling of desire in the soul, and for rendering it gentle, by having a sweetness and bitterness; and moreover for making manifest the prophetic power in dreams; for there is shown in it the power carried on from the mind through what is smooth and thick and brilliant; but the spleen for the sake of the liver, in order that the former may cleanse the latter, and render it brilliant, and at least receive to the same the differences, generated by certain diseases around the liver. — Alcinous, *Handbook of Platonism*, Ch. 23, trans. George Burges (1854), pp. 285–286. *Surface Gloss:* The lesser gods quarantined mortal passions below the neck, giving the boiling heart a spongy lung-cushion and the wild-beast belly a smooth, shiny liver. The liver translates the mind's thoughts into bitter threats or sweet prophetic dreams, while the spleen acts as a sponge to wipe the liver's mirror clean. **The Sub-Rational Screen (Governing by Image, Not Argument):** You cannot govern an appetite or a mob with a syllabus, because appetites do not process abstract logic. To steer the non-rational tier of a system, you need a translator organ that converts high-level policy into visceral images—projected terror and sweet reward—and a maintenance mechanism (a "spleen") dedicated exclusively to keeping that communication channel free of noise.
— In our words · Source: Handbook of Platonism (Alcinous)