,

2. He calls formal rhetoric that which is created more from art than from nature.

3. Since reason is corrupted by sense-perception, with all its power it draws the soul away from its kindred flesh and makes it belong to God. The soul is said to be kindred to the flesh in two ways: either as the soul, together with the flesh, constitutes one hypostasis, or as it shows disobedience to reason and is bound together with the flesh by means of sense-perception.

4. He says that divine illumination itself is power, which always, like light to the eyes, is present to reason, teaching the 14Β_024 soul the natural virtues and recalling it from carnal desire.

5. The law of sin is the passionate disposition of the soul toward matter, that is, toward bodily things.

6. The bridge of the soul is sense-perception separated from sensible things, through which it ascends to reason, through reason to the intellect, and through the intellect to God.

7. He says "those who will encounter" means those devoted to the pursuits of spiritual philosophy.

8. He calls "treatise" all the questions of Thalassius, to which, answering in order, he has set forth each of the answers, that is, the scholia, for each exposition, which he has shown to all readers and copyists is what this book accomplishes.

9. "Clarity," he says, as I think, means the interpretive manner of the exposition; "addition," not only what Thalassius puts forward from Scripture, but also what he himself further adds and interprets; "reminder" is where, with exceptional clarity and by the manner of the exposition, he introduces the most sublime concepts.

PROLOGUE TO THE ONE WHO COMMANDED THE WRITING 14Β_026 TO THALASSIUS, MOST HOLY PRESBYTER AND HEGUMEN, CONCERNING VARIOUS DIFFICULTIES IN HOLY SCRIPTURE To the most holy servant of God, the lord Thalassius, presbyter and hegumen, Maximus, a humble monk, greeting. Having rationally separated the soul from the flesh in its relation and from the

sense-perception having completely drawn the mind out through the Spirit, O man of God, you have established the one as a fertile mother of virtues, and have shown the other to be an ever-flowing spring of divine knowledge, having made the union of the soul with the flesh for the use only of the economy of higher things, and possessing sense-perception as an instrument for the understanding of the magnificence of visible things, the one practically, through character, receiving the glory of the soul according to virtue which is being formed into a type, and showing it forth to those outside, so that we might have an image of virtue, your life, set forth for imitation, and the other, in the forms of visible things the logoi of intelligible things

2. Ἐπίσημον ρητορείαν φησὶ τὴν δημιουργηθεῖσαν μᾶλλον ἐκ τῆς τέχνης, παρὰ ἐκ τῆς φύσεως.

3. Ἐπεὶ ὁ λόγος διαφθείρεται ὑπό τῆς αἰσθήσεως, ὑφέλκει τὴν ψυχὴ ἐκ τῆς συγγενοῦς αὐτῆς σαρκός ὅσῃ δυνάμει καὶ ποιεῖ αὐτὴν οἰκείαν τῷ Θεῷ. Ἡ ψυχὴ λέγεται ὅτι συγγενής ἐστι τῆς σαρκός δυσὶ τρόποις· ἤ ὡς συναποτελεοῦσα ἡ ψυχή μετά τῆς σαρκὸς μίαν ὑπόστασιν ἤ ὡς δεικνύουσα ἀνυπακοὴν τῷ λόγῳ καὶ συνδεόμενη μετὰ τῆς σαρκὸς μέσῳ τῆς αἰσθήσεως.

4. ∆ύναμίν φησι αὐτὸν τὸν θεῖον φωτισμόν, ἥτις ἀεί, ὡς τὸ φῶς τοῖς ὁφθαλμοῖς, παροῦσά ἐστι τῷ λόγῳ, διδάσκουσα τὴν 14Β_024 ψυχὴν τὰς φυσικὰς ἀρετὰς καὶ ἀνακαλοῦσα αὐτὴν διὰ τῆς σαρκικῆς ἐπιθυμίας.

5. Ὁ νόμος τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐστὶ ἡ ἐμπαθής διάθεσις τῆς ψυχῆς πρὸς τὴν ὕλην, τουτέστι πρὸς τὰ σωματικὰ.

6. Γέφυρα τῆς ψυχῆς ἐστι ἡ αἴσθησις ἡ ἀποχωρισμένη τῶν αἰσθητῶν, δι' ἧς αὕτη ἀναβαίνει τῷ λόγῳ, διὰ τοῦ λόγου τῷ διανοίᾳ καὶ διὰ τῆς διανοίας τῷ Θεῷ.

7. Ἐντευξομένους φησὶ τοὺς προσηλωμένους εἰς τὰς σπουδὰς τῆς πνευματικῆς φιλοσοφίας.

8. Πραγματείαν λέγει ἅπαντα τὰ ἐρωτήματα τοῦ Θαλασσίου, εἰς ἅ, ἀπαντῶν κατὰ σειράν, παρέθεσε ἑκάστην τῶν ἀπαντήσεων, τουτέστι τα σχόλια, εἰς ἑκάστην ἔκθεσιν, ὅπερ ἔδειξε πᾶσι τοῖς ἀναγνώσταις καὶ ἀντιγραφοῖς ὅτι ποιεῖ τὸ βιβλίον τοῦτο.

9. Σαφήνειαν λέγει, ὡς οἶμαι, τὸν ἑρμηνευτικὸν τρόπον τῆς ἐκθέσεως· προσθήκην ὄχι μόνον ἅπερ ὁ Θαλάσσιος προβάλλει ἐκ τῆς Γραφῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσα ἔτι προστίθησι καὶ ἑρμηνεύει ὁ ἴδιος· ὑπενθύμισις ὑπάρχει ἔνθα μετ' ἐξαίρετου σα- φηνείας καὶ τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς ἐκθέσεως εἰσάγει ὑψηλοτάτας ἐννοίας.

ΠΡΟΟΙΜΙΟΝ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΕΠΙΤΑΞΑΝΤΑ ΤΗΝ ΣΥΓΓΡΑΦΗΝ 14Β_026 ΠΡΟΣ ΘΑΛΑΣΣΙΟΝ ΟΣΙΩΤΑΤΟΝ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΟΝ ΚΑΙ ΗΓΟΥΜΕΝΟΝ ΠΕΡΙ ∆ΙΑΦΟΡΩΝ ΑΠΟΡΩΝ ΤΗΣ ΑΓΙΑΣ ΓΡΑΦΗΣ Τῷ ὁσιωτάτῳ δούλῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ κυρίῳ Θαλασσίῳ πρεσβυτέρῳ καὶ ἡγουμένῳ Μάξιμος ταπεινὸς μονάζων χαίρειν Τῆς σαρκὸς κατὰ τὴν σχέσιν λογικῶς τὴν ψυχὴν ἀποχωρίσας καὶ τῆς

αἰσθήσεως ὁλικῶς διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐκσπάσας τὸν νοῦν, ἄνθρωπε τοῦ Θεοῦ, τὴν μὲν ἀρετῶν κατέστησας μητέρα πολύγονον, τὸν δὲ θείας πηγὴν ἀένναον ἀπέδειξας γνώσεως, εἰς χρῆσιν μόνον τῆς τῶν κρειττόνων οἰκονομίας τὴν πρὸς τὴν σάρκα τῆς ψυχῆς συζυγίαν ποιησάμενος καὶ πρὸς κατανόησιν τῆς τῶν ὁρωμένων μεγαλουργίας ὄργανον κεκτημένος τὴν αἴσθησιν, τὴν μὲν πρακτικῶς διὰ τοῦ ἤθους πρὸς εἶδος τυπούμενον τὸ κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν τῆς ψυχῆς δεχομένην κλέος καὶ τοῖς ἔξω προφαίνουσαν, ἵν᾽ ἔχωμεν ἀρετῆς εἰκόνα, πρὸς μίμησιν προβεβλημένον, τὸν ὑμέτερον βίον, τὴν δέ, τοῖς τῶν ὁρωμένων σχήμασι τοὺς λόγους τῶν νοητῶν