For my part, in view of the difficulties of the subject proposed, I think the exclamation of the Apostle very suitable to the present case, just as he uttered it over unfathomable questions: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord12    Rom. xi. 33, 34.?” But seeing on the other hand that that Apostle declares it to be a peculiarity of him that is spiritual to “judge all things13    1 Cor. ii. 15.,” and commends those who have been “enriched14    1 Cor. i. 5.” by the Divine grace “in all utterance and in all knowledge,” I venture to assert that it is not right to omit the examination which is within the range of our ability, nor to leave the question here raised without making any inquiries, or having any ideas about it; lest, like the actual subject of our proposed discussion, this essay should have an ineffectual ending, spoilt before its maturity by the fatal indolence of those who will not nerve themselves to search out the truth, like a new-born infant ere it sees the light and acquires any strength. I assert, too, that it is not well at once to confront and meet objections, as if we were pleading in court, but to introduce a certain order into the discussion and to lead the view on from one point to another. What, then, should this order be? First, we want to know the whence of human nature, and the wherefore of its ever having come into existence. If we hit the answer to these questions, we shall not fail in getting the required explanation. Now, that everything that exists, after God, in the intellectual or sensible world of beings owes that existence to Him, is a proposition which it is superfluous to prove; no one, with however little insight into the truth of things, would gainsay it. For every one agrees that the Universe is linked to one First Cause; that nothing in it owes its existence to itself, so as to be its own origin and cause; but that there is on the other hand a single uncreate eternal Essence, the same for ever, which transcends all our ideas of distance, conceived of as without increase or decrease, and beyond the scope of any definition; and that time and space with all their consequences, and anything previous to these that thought can grasp in the intelligible supramundane world, are all the productions of this Essence. Well, then, we affirm that human nature is one of these productions; and a word of the inspired Teaching helps us in this, which declares that when God had brought all things else upon the scene of life, man was exhibited upon the earth, a mixture from Divine sources, the godlike intellectual essence being in him united with the several portions of earthly elements contributed towards his formation, and that he was fashioned by his Maker to be the incarnate likeness of Divine transcendent Power. It would be better however to quote the very words: “And God created man, in the image of God created He him15    Gen. i. 27..” Now the reason of the making of this animate being has been given by certain writers previous to us as follows. The whole creation is divided into two parts; that “which is seen,” and that “which is not seen,” to use the Apostle’s words (the second meaning the intelligible and immaterial, the first, the sensible and material); and being thus divided, the angelic and spiritual natures, which are among “the things not seen,” reside in places above the world, and above the heavens, because such a residence is in correspondence with their constitution; for an intellectual nature is a fine, clear, unencumbered, agile kind of thing, and a heavenly body is fine and light, and perpetually moving, and the earth on the contrary, which stands last in the list of things sensible, can never be an adequate and congenial spot for creatures intellectual to sojourn in. For what correspondence can there possibly be between that which is light and buoyant, on the one hand, and that which is heavy and gravitating on the other? Well, in order that the earth may not be completely devoid of the local indwelling of the intellectual and the immaterial, man (these writers tell us) was fashioned by the Supreme forethought, and his earthy parts moulded over the intellectual and godlike essence of his soul; and so this amalgamation with that which has material weight enables the soul to live on this element of earth, which possesses a certain bond of kindred with the substance of the flesh. The design of all that is being born16    τῶν γινομένων. The Latin has overlooked this; “Hæc autem omnia huc spectant ut,” &c. (Sifanus)., then, is that the Power which is above both the heavenly and the earthly universe may in all parts of the creation be glorified by means of intellectual natures, conspiring to the same end by virtue of the same faculty in operation in all, I mean that of looking upon God. But this operation of looking upon God is nothing less than the life-nourishment appropriate, as like to like, to an intellectual nature. For just as these bodies, earthy as they are, are preserved by nourishment that is earthy, and we detect in them all alike, whether brute or reasoning, the operations of a material kind of vitality, so it is right to assume that there is an intellectual life-nourishment as well, by which such natures17    ἡ φύσις, i.e. the intellectual φύσις mentioned above. If this were translated “Nature,” it would contradict what has just been said about the body. It is plain that φύσις contains a much larger meaning always than our sole equivalent for it; φύσις is applied even to the Divine essence. are maintained in existence. But if bodily food, coming and going as it does in circulation, nevertheless imparts a certain amount of vital energy to those who get it, how much more does the partaking of the real thing, always remaining and always the same, preserve the eater in existence? If, then, this is the life-nourishment of an intellectual nature, namely, to have a part in God, this part will not be gained by that which is of an opposite quality; the would-be partaker must in some degree be akin to that which is to be partaken of. The eye enjoys the light by virtue of having light within itself to seize its kindred light, and the finger or any other limb cannot effect the act of vision because none of this natural light is organized in any of them. The same necessity requires that in our partaking of God there should be some kinship in the constitution of the partaker with that which is partaken of. Therefore, as the Scripture says, man was made in the image of God; that like, I take it, might be able to see like; and to see God is, as was said above, the life of the soul. But seeing that ignorance of the true good is like a mist that obscures the visual keenness of the soul, and that when that mist grows denser a cloud is formed so thick that Truth’s ray cannot pierce through these depths of ignorance, it follows further that with the total deprivation of the light the soul’s life ceases altogether; for we have said that the real life of the soul is acted out in partaking of the Good; but when ignorance hinders this apprehension of God, the soul which thus ceases to partake of God, ceases also to live. But no one can force us to give the family history18    γενεαλογεῖν of this ignorance, asking whence and from what father it is; let him be given to understand from the word itself that “ignorance” and “knowledge” indicate one of the relations of the soul;19    τῶν πρός τί πως ἔχειν τὴν ψυχὴν. but no relation, whether expressed or not, conveys the idea of substance; a relation and a substance are quite of different descriptions. If, then, knowledge is not a substance, but a perfected20    περιττή. Sifanus must have had περί τι in his Cod.; “sed mentis circa aliquam rem actio.” operation of the soul, it must be conceded that ignorance must be much farther removed still from anything in the way of substance; but that which is not in that way does not exist at all; and so it would be useless to trouble ourselves about where it comes from. Now seeing that the Word21    S. John i. 4 declares that the living in God is the life of the soul, and seeing that this living is knowledge according to each man’s ability, and that ignorance does not imply the reality of anything, but is only the negation of the operation of knowing, and seeing that upon this partaking in God being no longer effected there follows at once the cancelling of the soul’s life, which is the worst of evils,—because of all this the Producer of all Good would work in us the cure of such an evil. A cure is a good thing, but one who does not look to the evangelic mystery would still be ignorant of the manner of the cure. We have shown that alienation from God, Who is the Life, is an evil; the cure, then, of this infirmity is, again to be made friends with God, and so to be in life once more. When such a life, then, is always held up in hope before humanity, it cannot be said that the winning of this life is absolutely a reward of a good life, and that the contrary is a punishment (of a bad one); but what we insist on resembles the case of the eyes. We do not say that one who has clear eyesight is rewarded as with a prize by being able to perceive the objects of sight; nor on the other hand that he who has diseased eyes experiences a failure of optic activity as the result of some penal sentence. With the eye in a natural state sight follows necessarily; with it vitiated by disease failure of sight as necessarily follows. In the same way the life of blessedness is as a familiar second nature to those who have kept clear the senses of the soul; but when the blinding stream of ignorance prevents our partaking in the real light, then it necessarily follows that we miss that, the enjoyment of which we declare to be the life of the partaker.

ἐγὼ δὲ πρὸς τὸ δυσθεώρητον τοῦ προτεθέντος ἡμῖν σκέμματος βλέπων ἁρμόζειν μὲν οἶμαι καὶ τὴν τοῦ ἀποστόλου φωνὴν τῷ παρόντι λόγῳ, ἣν ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνεφίκτων ἐκεῖνος πεποίηται λέγων Ὦ βάθος πλούτου καὶ σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως θεοῦ: ὡς ἀνεξερεύνητα τὰ κρίματα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστοι αἱ ὁδοὶ αὐτοῦ. τίς γὰρ ἔγνω νοῦν κυρίου; ἐπεὶ δὲ πάλιν ὁ ἀπόστολος ἴδιον τοῦ πνευματικοῦ φησι τὸ ἀνακρίνειν τὰ πάντα καὶ ἀποδέχεται τοὺς παρὰ τῆς θείας χάριτος πλουτισθέντας Ἐν παντὶ λόγῳ καὶ πάσῃ γνώσει, καλῶς ἔχειν φημὶ μὴ κατολιγωρῆσαι τῆς δυνατῆς ἐξετάσεως μηδὲ περιιδεῖν τὸ ζητούμενον ἐν τούτοις ἀνερεύνητόν τε καὶ ἀθεώρητον, ὡς ἂν μὴ καθ' ὁμοιότητα τῆς τοῦ προβλήματος ὑποθέσεως καὶ ὁ περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγος ἀτελὴς ἀφανισθείη καὶ ἄωρος, καθάπερ τι νήπιον τῶν ἀρτιτόκων πρὶν εἰς φῶς προελθεῖν καὶ ἁδρυνθῆναι, οἷόν τινι θανάτῳ τῇ ῥαθυμίᾳ τῶν πρὸς τὴν ζήτησιν τῆς ἀληθείας ἀτονούντων διαφθειρόμενος.
Φημὶ τοίνυν καλῶς ἔχειν μὴ ῥητορικῶς τε καὶ ἀγωνιστικῶς εὐθὺς κατὰ στόμα πρὸς τὰς ἀντιθέσεις συμπλέκεσθαι, ἀλλά τινα τάξιν ἐπιθέντας τῷ λόγῳ δι' ἀκολούθου προάγειν τὴν περὶ τοῦ προβλήματος θεωρίαν. τίς οὖν ἡ τάξις; τὸ γνῶναι πρῶτον ὅθεν ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις καὶ ὅτου χάριν ἦλθεν εἰς γένεσιν: εἰ γὰρ τούτων μὴ διαμάρτοιμεν, οὐδὲ τῆς προκειμένης ἡμῖν θεωρίας ἡμαρτηκότες ἐσόμεθα. τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐκ θεοῦ πᾶν, ὅ τί πέρ ἐστι μετ' αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν νοούμενόν τε καὶ ὁρώμενον, τὸ εἶναι ἔχειν περιττὸν ἂν εἴη λόγῳ κατασκευάζεσθαι, οὐδενός, οἶμαι, τῶν ὁπωσοῦν ἐπεσκεμμένων τὴν τῶν ὄντων ἀλήθειαν πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην ὑπόληψιν ἐνισταμένου: ὁμολογεῖται γὰρ παρὰ πάντων μιᾶς αἰτίας ἐξῆφθαι τὸ πᾶν καὶ οὐδὲν τῶν ὄντων αὐτὸ ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ τὸ εἶναι ἔχειν οὐδὲ ἑαυτοῦ εἶναι ἀρχὴν καὶ αἰτίαν, ἀλλὰ μίαν μὲν φύσιν εἶναι ἄκτιστον καὶ ἀΐδιον, ἀεὶ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχουσαν, παντὸς διαστηματικοῦ νοήματος ὑπερκειμένην, ἀναυξῆ τινα καὶ ἀμείωτον καὶ παντὸς ὅρου ἐπέκεινα θεωρουμένην, ἦς ἔργον καὶ χρόνος καὶ τόπος καὶ τὰ ἐν τούτοις πάντα καὶ εἴ τι πρὸ τούτων καταλαμβάνει ἡ ἔννοια νοητόν τε καὶ ὑπερκόσμιον. ἓν δὲ τῶν γεγονότων καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν εἶναί φαμεν, λόγῳ τινὶ τῆς θεοπνεύστου διδασκαλίας ὁδηγῷ πρὸς τοῦτο συγχρώμενοι, ὅς φησι πάντων παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ παραχθέντων εἰς γένεσιν καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀναδειχθῆναι ἐξ ἑτερογενῶν συγκεκραμένον τὴν φύσιν, τῆς θείας τε καὶ νοερᾶς οὐσίας πρὸς τὴν ἀφ' ἑκάστου τῶν στοιχείων αὐτῷ συνερανισθεῖσαν μοῖραν καταμιχθείσης, γενέσθαι δὲ τοῦτον παρὰ τοῦ πεποιηκότος, ἐφ' ᾧτε εἶναι τῆς θείας τε καὶ ὑπερκειμένης δυνάμεως ἔμψυχόν τι ὁμοίωμα. βέλτιον δ' ἂν εἴη καὶ αὐτὴν παραθέσθαι τὴν λέξιν ἔχουσαν οὕτως: Καὶ ἐποίησε, φησίν, ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον: κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ ἐποίησεν αὐτόν. τὴν δὲ αἰτίαν τῆς τοῦ ζῴου τούτου κατασκευῆς τῶν πρὸ ἡμῶν τινες ταύτην ἀποδεδώκασιν, ὅτι διχῇ διῃρημένης τῆς κτίσεως πάσης, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, εἰς τὸ ὁρατόν τε καὶ ἀόρατον (σημαίνεται δὲ διὰ μὲν τοῦ ἀοράτου τὸ νοητὸν καὶ ἀσώματον, διὰ δὲ τοῦ ὁρατοῦ τὸ αἰσθητόν τε καὶ σωματῶδες): εἰς δύο τοίνυν ταῦτα διῃρημένων πάντων τῶν ὄντων (εἴς τε τὸ αἰσθητόν, λέγω, καὶ εἰς τὸ κατ' ἔννοιαν θεωρούμενον) καὶ τῆς μὲν ἀγγελικῆς τε καὶ ἀσωμάτου φύσεως, ἥτις τῶν ἀοράτων ἐστίν, ἐν τοῖς ὑπερκοσμίοις τε καὶ ὑπερουρανίοις διαιτωμένης διὰ τὸ κατάλληλον εἶναι τῇ φύσει τὸ ἐνδιαίτημα (ἥ τε γὰρ νοερὰ φύσις λεπτή τις καὶ καθαρὰ καὶ ἀβαρὴς καὶ εὐκίνητος τό τε οὐράνιον σῶμα λεπτόν τε καὶ κοῦφον καὶ ἀεικίνητον), τῆς δὲ γῆς ὃ δὴ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἐστιν ἔσχατον, οἰκείως τε καὶ καταλλήλως πρὸς τὴν τῶν νοητῶν ἐν αὐτῇ διαγωγὴν οὐκ ἐχούσης (τίς γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο τοῦ ἀνωφεροῦς τε καὶ κούφου πρὸς τὸ βαρύ τε καὶ ἐμβριθὲς κοινωνία;), ὡς ἂν μὴ τελείως ἄμοιρός τε καὶ ἀπόκληρος ἡ γῆ τῆς νοερᾶς τε καὶ ἀσωμάτου διαγωγῆς εἴη, τούτου χάριν προμηθείᾳ κρείττονι τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην συστῆναι γένεσιν, τῇ νοερᾷ τε καὶ θείᾳ τῆς ψυχῆς οὐσίᾳ τῆς γηΐνης μοίρας περιπλασθείσης, ὡς ἂν τῇ πρὸς τὸ ἐμβριθές τε καὶ σωματῶδες συμφυΐᾳ καταλλήλως ἡ ψυχὴ τῷ στοιχείῳ τῆς γῆς ἐμβιοτεύοι ἐχούσης τι πρὸς τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς οὐσίαν συγγενὲς καὶ ὁμόφυλον. σκοπὸς δὲ τῶν γινομένων ἐστὶ τὸ ἐν πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει διὰ τῆς νοερᾶς φύσεως τὴν τοῦ παντὸς ὑπερκειμένην δοξάζεσθαι δύναμιν, τῶν τε ἐπουρανίων καὶ τῶν ἐπιχθονίων διὰ τῆς αὐτῆς ἐνεργείας (λέγω δὲ διὰ τοῦ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν βλέπειν) ἀλλήλοις πρὸς τὸν αὐτὸν σκοπὸν συναπτομένων. ἡ δὲ τοῦ βλέπειν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἐνέργεια οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἐστὶν ἢ ζωὴ τῇ νοερᾷ φύσει ἐοικυῖά τε καὶ κατάλληλος. ὥσπερ γὰρ τὰ σώματα γήϊνα ὄντα ταῖς γηΐναις διακρατεῖται τροφαῖς καί τι σωματῶδες ζωῆς εἶδος ἐν τούτοις καταλαμβάνομεν, ὁμοίως ἐν ἀλόγοις τε καὶ λογικοῖς ἐνεργούμενον: οὕτως εἶναί τινα χρὴ καὶ νοητὴν ζωὴν ὑποτίθεσθαι, δι' ἦς ἐν τῷ ὄντι συντηρεῖται ἡ φύσις. εἰ δὲ ἡ τῆς σαρκὸς τροφή, ἐπίρρυτός τις οὖσα καὶ ἀπορρέουσα, δι' αὐτῆς τῆς παρόδου δύναμίν τινα ζωτικὴν ἐναποτίθεται οἷς ἂν ἐγγένηται, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ἡ μετουσία τοῦ ὄντως ὄντος, τοῦ ἀεὶ μένοντος καὶ πάντοτε ὡσαύτως ἔχοντος, ἐν τῷ εἶναι φυλάσσει τὸν μετασχόντα. εἰ οὖν αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ οἰκεία τε καὶ κατάλληλος τῇ νοερᾷ φύσει ζωή, τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ μετέχειν, οὐκ ἂν διὰ τῶν ἐναντίων γένοιτο ἡ μετουσία, εἰ μὴ τρόπον τινὰ συγγενὲς εἴη τῷ ὀρεγομένῳ τὸ μετεχόμενον. ὡς γὰρ ὀφθαλμῷ γίνεται τῆς αὐγῆς ἡ ἀπόλαυσις τῷ φυσικὴν αὐγὴν ἐν ἑαυτῷ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ὁμογενοῦς ἀντίληψιν ἔχειν καὶ οὔτε δάκτυλος οὔτε ἄλλο τι τῶν μελῶν τοῦ σώματος ἐνεργεῖ τὴν ὅρασιν διὰ τὸ μηδεμίαν ἐκ φύσεως αὐγὴν ἐν ἄλλῳ τινὶ τῶν μελῶν κατεσκευάσθαι, οὕτως ἀνάγκη πᾶσα καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ μετουσίας εἶναί τι συγγενὲς πρὸς τὸ μετεχόμενον ἐν τῇ φύσει τοῦ ἀπολαύοντος. διὰ τοῦτό φησιν ἡ γραφὴ Κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ γεγενῆσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ὡς ἄν, οἶμαι, τῷ ὁμοίῳ βλέποι τὸ ὅμοιον. τὸ δὲ βλέπειν τὸν θεόν ἐστιν ἡ ζωὴ τῆς ψυχῆς, καθὼς ἐν τοῖς φθάσασιν εἴρηται. ἐπεὶ δέ πως ἡ τοῦ ἀληθῶς ἀγαθοῦ ἄγνοια καθάπερ τις ὀμίχλη τῷ διορατικῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπεσκότισεν, παχυνθεῖσα δὲ ἡ ὀμίχλη νέφος ἐγένετο, ὥστε διὰ τοῦ βάθους τῆς ἀγνοίας τὴν ἀκτῖνα τῆς ἀληθείας μὴ διαδύεσθαι, ἀναγκαίως τῷ χωρισμῷ τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ ἡ ζωὴ αὐτῆς συνεξέλιπεν: εἴρηται γὰρ τὴν ἀληθῆ ζωὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐν τῇ μετουσίᾳ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἐνεργεῖσθαι, τῆς δὲ ἀγνοίας πρὸς τὴν θείαν κατανόησιν ἐμποδιζούσης ἐκπεσεῖν τῆς ζωῆς τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ μὴ μετέχουσαν.
Μηδεὶς δὲ γενεαλογεῖν ἡμᾶς ἀναγκαζέτω τὴν ἄγνοιαν, πόθεν αὕτη λέγων καὶ ἀπὸ τίνος, ἀλλ' ἐξ αὐτῆς νοείτω τῆς τοῦ ὀνόματος σημασίας, ὅτι ἡ γνῶσις καὶ ἡ ἄγνοια τὸ πρός τί πως ἔχειν τὴν ψυχὴν ἐνδείκνυται. οὐδὲν δὲ τῶν πρός τι νοουμένων τε καὶ λεγομένων οὐσίαν παρίστησιν: ἄλλος γὰρ ὁ τοῦ πρός τι καὶ ἕτερος ὁ τῆς οὐσίας λόγος. εἰ οὖν ἡ γνῶσις οὐσία οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλὰ περί τι τῆς διανοίας ἐνέργεια, πολὺ μᾶλλον ἡ ἄγνοια πόρρω τοῦ κατ' οὐσίαν εἶναι ὡμολόγηται. τὸ δὲ μὴ κατ' οὐσίαν ὂν οὐδὲ ἔστιν ὅλως. μάταιον τοίνυν ἂν εἴη περὶ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος τὸ ὅθεν ἐστὶ περιεργάζεσθαι.
Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ζωὴν μὲν ψυχῆς τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ μετουσίαν ὁ λόγος εἶναί φησι, γνῶσις δὲ κατὰ τὸ ἐγχωροῦν ἐστιν ἡ μετουσία, ἡ δὲ ἄγνοια οὐχί τινός ἐστιν ὕπαρξις, ἀλλὰ τῆς κατὰ τὴν γνῶσιν ἐνεργείας ἀναίρεσις, τῷ δὲ μὴ ἐνεργεῖσθαι τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν μετουσίαν ἡ τῆς ζωῆς ἀλλοτρίωσις ἀναγκαίως ἐπηκολούθησεν (τοῦτο δ' ἂν εἴη τῶν κακῶν τὸ ἔσχατον), ἀκολούθως ὁ παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ ποιητὴς τὴν τοῦ κακοῦ θεραπείαν ἐν ἡμῖν κατεργάζεται: ἀγαθὸν γὰρ ἡ θεραπεία. τὸν δὲ τρόπον τῆς θεραπείας ἀγνοεῖ πάντως ὁ μὴ πρὸς τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν βλέπων μυστήριον. κακοῦ τοίνυν ἀποδειχθέντος τοῦ ἀλλοτριωθῆναι θεοῦ, ὅστις ἐστὶν ἡ ζωή, ἡ θεραπεία τοῦ τοιούτου ἀρρωστήματος ἦν τὸ πάλιν οἰκειωθῆναι θεῷ καὶ ἐν τῇ ζωῇ γενέσθαι. ταύτης οὖν τῆς ζωῆς κατ' ἐλπίδα προκειμένης τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει, οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν κυρίως ἀντίδοσιν τῶν εὖ βεβιωκότων γενέσθαι τὴν τῆς ζωῆς μετουσίαν καὶ τιμωρίαν τὸ ἔμπαλιν: ἀλλ' ὅμοιόν ἐστι τῷ κατὰ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑποδείγματι τὸ λεγόμενον: οὐδὲ γὰρ τῷ κεκαθαρμένῳ τὰς ὄψεις ἔπαθλόν τί φαμεν εἶναι καὶ πρεσβεῖον τὴν τῶν ὁρατῶν κατανόησιν ἢ τῷ νοσοῦντι τὸ ἔμπαλιν καταδίκην τινὰ καὶ τιμωρητικὴν ἀπόφασιν τὸ μὴ μετέχειν τῆς ὁρατικῆς ἐνεργείας. ἀλλ' ὡς ἀναγκαίως ἕπεται τῷ κατὰ φύσιν διακειμένῳ τὸ βλέπειν τῷ τε ἀπὸ πάθους παρενεχθέντι τῆς φύσεως τὸ μὴ ἐνεργὸν ἔχειν τὴν ὅρασιν, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ἡ μακαρία ζωὴ συμφυής ἐστι καὶ οἰκεία τοῖς κεκαθαρμένοις τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς αἰσθητήρια, ἐφ' ὧν δὲ καθάπερ τις λήμη τὸ κατὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν πάθος ἐμπόδιον πρὸς τὴν μετουσίαν τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς γίνεται, ἀναγκαίως ἕπεται τὸ μὴ μετέχειν ἐκείνου, οὖ τὴν μετουσίαν ζωὴν εἶναί φαμεν τοῦ μετέχοντος.