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2, 6 I made for myself pools of water, to water from them a wood of budding trees This is said with hyperbaton; its straightforward reading is this: to water from them the budding trees of a wood. 8 2, 10.1-4 and whatever my eyes asked for, I did not take away from them; I did not withhold my heart from any joy A soul does not ask for knowledge with a word, but with purity; ‘for not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” he says, “will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father”’; for according to the proportion of our state we also receive knowledge, if indeed with the measure we use it will be measured back to us; therefore, a request is the intelligible dispassion of a rational soul drawing holy knowledge to itself. Thus, therefore, he who makes himself receptive to all knowledge takes nothing away from his eyes; and I speak of all knowledge which is naturally incident to a soul bound to blood and flesh. 9 He who sins in nothing does not withhold his heart from all spiritual joy. 10 2, 11.4 and behold, all was vanity and a choice of spirit He calls the soul spirit; for choice is a certain movement of the mind. And David: ‘Into your hands I will commit my spirit’; and Stephen: ‘Lord Jesus,’ he says, ‘receive my spirit’; and in Kings: ‘David,’ it says, ‘did not grieve the spirit of Amnon his son.’ 11 2, 14.1 The wise man's eyes are in his head If ‘the head of every man is Christ,’ and the wise man is also a man, the head of the wise man is Christ; but our Christ is wisdom—‘for he was made wisdom for us from God’—the head of the wise man, therefore, is wisdom, in which the wise man has the eyes of his mind, contemplating in it the principles of things that have come to be. 12 2, 22 that comes to a man in all his toil and in the choice of his heart, with which he toils under the sun From this it is shown that the choice of the spirit is the choice of the heart. 13 2, 25 For who will eat and who will drink without him? For who without Christ will be able to eat his flesh or drink his blood, which are symbols of virtues and of knowledge? 14 2, 26.4-7 and to the sinner he has given the distraction of adding and of gathering, to give to the one who is good before God; because this also is vanity and a choice of spirit This is similar to the proverb which says: ‘He who increases his wealth with interest and usury gathers it for the one who has mercy on the poor’ and ‘An envious man hastens to be rich and does not know that a merciful one will prevail over him’; therefore, let us be content with the scholia found there. Nevertheless, this must be known, that he declared the collection of sins to be vanity, not his receiving a good teacher from God. 15

3, 10 I have seen the distraction that God has given to the sons of man to be distracted in it. 3, 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time; and he has also put eternity into their hearts, so that man cannot find out the work that God has done from the beginning to the end. 3, 12 I know that there is nothing good in them, except to be glad and to do good in one’s life; 3, 13 and also that every man should eat and drink and see good in all his toil—this is the gift of God. I have seen, he says, the perceptible things distracting the mind of man, which God has given to men before purification, that they may be distracted by them. But he calls their beauty temporary and not eternal; for after purification the pure man no longer sees perceptible things merely as distracting his mind, but as containing principles for him for spiritual contemplation. For the mind is formed one way by perceptible things when it approaches them perceptibly through the senses, and it is disposed another way when contemplating the principles that lie within perceptible things; but this knowledge comes only to the pure, whereas the understanding of things through the senses comes to both the pure and the impure. Therefore also distraction

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2, 6 ἐποίησά μοι κολυμβήθρας ὑδάτων τοῦ ποτίσαι ἀπ' αὐτῶν δρυμὸν βλαστῶντα ξύλα Ὑπερβατῶς εἴρηται· ἔστι δὲ αὐτοῦ ἡ ἐπ' εὐθεῖαν ἀνάγνωσις ἥδε· τοῦ ποτίσαι ἀπ' αὐτῶν τὰ ξύλα δρυμοῦ βλαστῶντα. 8 2, 10.1-4 καὶ πᾶν ὃ ᾔτησαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου, οὐκ ὑφεῖλον ἀπ' αὐτῶν· οὐκ ἀπεκώλυσα τὴν καρδίαν μου ἀπὸ πάσης εὐφροσύνης Οὐ λόγῳ αἰτεῖ γνῶσιν ψυχή, ἀλλὰ τῇ καθαρότητι· «οὐ γὰρ πᾶς ὁ λέγων μοι· κύριε, κύριε, εἰσελεύσεται, φησίν, εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἀλλ' ὁ ποιῶν τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρός μου»· κατὰ ἀναλογίαν γὰρ τῆς καταστάσεως καὶ τὴν γνῶσιν δεχόμεθα, εἴγε ᾧ μέτρῳ μετροῦμεν καὶ ἀντιμετρηθήσεται ἡμῖν· αἴτησις τοίνυν ἐστὶ νοητὴ ἀπάθεια ψυχῆς λογικῆς ἁγίαν γνῶσιν ἐπισπωμένη. Οὕτως οὖν οὐδὲν ὑφαιρεῖ ἀπὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ὁ πάσης τῆς γνώσεως παρέχων ἑαυτὸν δεκτικόν· πᾶσαν δὲ λέγω γνῶσιν, τὴν πεφυκυῖαν ἐπισυμβαίνειν ψυχῇ συνδεδεμένῃ αἵματι καὶ σαρκί. 9 Ὁ μηδὲν ἁμαρτάνων οὐκ ἀποκωλύει τὴν καρδίαν αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ πάσης πνευματικῆς εὐφροσύνης. 10 2, 11.4 καὶ ἰδοὺ τὰ πάντα ματαιότης καὶ προαίρεσις πνεύματος Πνεῦμα τὴν ψυχὴν ὀνομάζει· ἡ γὰρ προαίρεσίς ἐστι ποιὰ νοῦ κίνησις. Καὶ ὁ ∆αυίδ· «εἰς χεῖράς σου παραθήσομαι τὸ πνεῦμά μου»· καὶ ὁ Στέφανος· «κύριε Ἰησοῦ, φησί, δέξαι τὸ πνεῦμά μου»· καὶ ἐν ταῖς Βασιλείαις· «οὐκ ἐλύπησε, φησίν, ὁ ∆αυὶδ τὸ πνεῦμα Ἀμνὼν τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ.» 11 2, 14.1 τοῦ σοφοῦ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ ἐν κεφαλῇ αὐτοῦ Εἰ «παντὸς ἀνδρὸς κεφαλὴ ὁ Χριστός», ἀνὴρ δὲ καὶ ὁ σοφός, κεφαλὴ τοῦ σοφοῦ ὁ Χριστός· ἀλλ' ὁ Χριστὸς ἡμῶν σοφία ἐστίν-»ἐγεννήθη γὰρ ἡμῖν σοφία ἀπὸ θεοῦ»-, ἡ κεφαλὴ ἄρα τοῦ σοφοῦ ἡ σοφία ἐστίν, ἐν ᾗ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἔχει τῆς διανοίας ὁ σοφὸς θεωρῶν ἐν αὐτῇ τοὺς λόγους τῶν γεγονότων. 12 2, 22 ὅτι γίνεται τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐν παντὶ μόχθῳ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν προαιρέσει καρδίας αὐτοῦ, ᾧ αὐτὸς μοχθεῖ ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον Ἐντεῦθεν δείκνυται ὅτι ἡ προαίρεσις τοῦ πνεύματος προαίρεσις καρδίας ἐστίν. 13 2, 25 ὅτι τίς φάγεται καὶ τίς πίεται πάρεξ αὐτοῦ; Τίς γὰρ χωρὶς Χριστοῦ δυνήσεται φαγεῖν τὰς σάρκας αὐτοῦ ἢ πιεῖν τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ, ἅπερ ἀρετῶν σύμβολά ἐστι καὶ γνώσεως; 14 2, 26.4-7 καὶ τῷ ἁμαρτάνοντι ἔδωκεν περισπασμὸν τοῦ προσθεῖναι καὶ τοῦ συναγαγεῖν τοῦ δοῦναι τῷ ἀγαθῷ πρὸ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ· ὅτι καί γε τοῦτο ματαιότης καὶ προαίρεσις πνεύματος Τοῦτο ὅμοιόν ἐστι τῇ παροιμίᾳ τῇ λεγούσῃ· «ὁ πληθύνων τὸν πλοῦτον αὐτοῦ μετὰ τόκων καὶ πλεονασμῶν τῷ ἐλεῶντι πτωχοὺς συνάγει αὐτὸν» καὶ «σπεύδει πλουτεῖν ἀνὴρ βάσκανος καὶ οὐκ οἶδεν ὅτι ἐλεήμων κρατήσει αὐτοῦ»· διόπερ ἀρκεσθῶμεν τοῖς ἐκεῖσε κειμένοις σχολίοις. Πλὴν τοῦτο ἰστέον, ὅτι ματαιότητα τὴν συναγωγὴν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἀπεφήνατο, οὐ τὸ τυχεῖν αὐτὸν παρὰ θεοῦ ἀγαθοῦ διδασκάλου. 15

3, 10 εἶδον σὺν τὸν περισπασμὸν ὃν ἔδωκεν ὁ θεὸς τοῖς υἱοῖς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοῦ περισπᾶσθαι ἐν αὐτῷ. 3, 11 σύμπαντα ἃ ἐποίησεν καλὰ ἐν καιρῷ αὐτοῦ, καί γε σὺν τὸν αἰῶνα ἔδωκεν ἐν καρδίᾳ αὐτῶν, ὅπως μὴ εὕρῃ ὁ ἄνθρωπος τὸ ποίημα ὃ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς ἀπ' ἀρχῆς καὶ μέχρι τέλους. 3, 12 ἔγνων ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἀγαθὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς, εἰ μὴ τοῦ εὐφρανθῆναι καὶ τοῦ ποιεῖν ἀγαθὸν ἐν ζωῇ αὐτοῦ· 3, 13 καί γε πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ὃς φάγεται καὶ πίεται καὶ ἴδῃ ἀγαθὸν ἐν παντὶ μόχθῳ αὐτοῦ, τοῦτο δόμα θεοῦ ἐστιν Εἶδον, φησί, τὰ αἰσθητὰ πράγματα περισπῶντα τὴν διάνοιαν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἅπερ ἔδωκεν ὁ θεὸς πρὸ τῆς καθάρσεως τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἵν' ἐν αὐτοῖς περισπῶνται. Πρόσκαιρον δὲ αὐτῶν τὴν καλλονὴν λέγει καὶ οὐκ ἀΐδιον· μετὰ γὰρ τὴν κάθαρσιν οὐκ ἔτι ὡς περισπῶντα τὸν νοῦν αὐτοῦ μόνον ὁ καθαρὸς τὰ αἰσθητὰ πράγματα καθορᾷ, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐγκείμενα αὐτῷ πρὸς τὴν πνευματικὴν θεωρίαν. Ἄλλως γὰρ τυποῦται ὁ νοῦς τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς διὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἐπιβάλλων αἰσθητῶς, καὶ ἄλλως διατίθεται τοὺς λόγους τοὺς ἐναποκειμένους τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς θεωρῶν· ἀλλ' αὕτη μὲν ἡ γνῶσις καθαροῖς μόνον ἐπισυμβαίνει, ἡ δὲ διὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων κατανόησις τῶν πραγμάτων καὶ καθαροῖς καὶ ἀκαθάρτοις. ∆ιὸ καὶ περισπασμὸν