Didascalicon, Book III: the art of study (discipline and method)
Chapter XVIII. On scrutiny
Scrutiny, that is meditation, looks to exercise. Scrutiny, however, seems to be contained under zeal for inquiry. If this is true, it is repeated superfluously, since it was numbered in the earlier part. But it must be known that there is this difference between the two: zeal for inquiry signifies the urgency of work, scrutiny the diligence of meditation. Labor and love carry out the work; care and watchfulness bring forth counsel. In labor is that you act; in love that you complete; in care that you provide; in watchfulness that you attend. These are the four attendants who carry the litter of Philology, because they exercise the mind over which wisdom presides. The chair of Philology is the seat of wisdom, which is said to be borne on these supports, since it is advanced by exercising itself in them. Hence it is beautifully said that young men, on account of their strength, hold the litter at the front; namely philos and kopos, that is love and labor, because outwardly they carry out the work; and from behind the maidens, namely epimeleia and agrypnia, which are interpreted care or diligence and watchfulness, because within in secret they bring forth counsel. There are some who think that by the chair of Philology the human body is signified, over which the rational soul presides, which four ministers carry, that is, the four elements compose. Of these the two upper, fire and air, are masculine in act and name. The two lower, earth and water, are feminine.