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of the son of man, cupbearers and a cupbearer. {Dionysius.} Do you see how, having numbered a multitude of houses and fields and the other things which he mentions, then finding nothing profitable in these—for not even did his soul become better from them, nor on account of this did he acquire intimacy with God—he necessarily shifts his discourse to true wealth and firm substance. Wishing, therefore, to show which of the possessions stands fast for the one who has acquired it, and remains with him continually and is saved, he added: and yet wisdom has stood by me. 2.911 And I became great and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem; and yet wisdom stood by me. And whatever my eyes asked for I did not withhold from them, I did not keep my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this became my portion from all my labor. And I looked upon all my works which my hands had done, and on the labor which I had labored to do, and behold, all was vanity and a choice of the spirit, and there is no advantage under the sun. {σξηολια αυξτορις νομινε ξαρεντ} And yet wisdom has stood by me. For this alone remains, but the other things flee and depart, all that he previously enumerated. Wisdom, therefore, stood by me, and I stood on account of it; for those other things both fall and cause those who pursue them to fall. But wishing to make a comparison of wisdom and the things considered good by men, he added these things: and whatever my eyes asked for I did not withhold from them, and so forth, rebuking not only these labors which those who live luxuriously in pleasure suffer while toiling, but also those which men endure while toiling out of necessity and force, for the sake of daily food, practicing their trades by the sweat of their brow. For the labor is great, he says, but the delight from the labor is temporary, adding nothing useful to the one who is delighted. Wherefore the gain is nothing; for where there is no advantage, there is no gain either. Reasonably, therefore, the things pursued are vanity and a choice of the spirit. By spirit he means the soul; for choice is a certain movement of the mind. And David: into your hands I commit my spirit. And truly wisdom has stood by me, because it has made me know and understand to say that there is no advantage under the sun. If, therefore, we desire good gain, if we want advantage, if we seek to be incorruptible, let us labor labors that run beyond the sun. For in these things there is no vanity nor a choice of the spirit that is randomly and vainly distracted hither and thither. 2.12 And I turned to see wisdom and madness and folly; for what man is there who will come after the council for all the things which it has done? {Gregory.} I admire the one who, being carried away irrationally, then taking hold of himself, turned to what is right after the council. {Another of Dionysius.} He calls wisdom that which is from God, which also stood by him, but madness and folly human labors and the vain and senseless pleasure from them. Having discerned these things and what is between them and true wisdom, pronouncing blessed he added: for what man is there who will come after the council? For this council teaches us true wisdom, and grants release from madness and folly. 2.13 And I saw that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly, as the advantage of light over darkness. {σξηολια αυξτορις νομινε ξαρεντ} He does not say this by way of comparison—for opposites are incomparable and destroy one another—but that he knew the one to be chosen, and the other to be shunned. Such also is the saying, men loved darkness rather than light. For the 'rather' belongs to the choice of the one who loved, not to the comparison of the things. {Another of Nilus.} Having groped after many things, I have been able to find with difficulty, having lifted up the eye of my mind to the council, which Christ brought to us from the heavens. Just as there is a mean between light and darkness, so is it between wisdom, that from God and concerning God, the pure and the peaceful, and folly, which revolves around the affairs of this life,

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τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, οἰνοχόας καὶ οἰνοχόον. {∆ιονυσίου.} Θεωρεῖς ὅπως πλῆθος οἴκων καὶ ἀγρῶν καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ὧν φησιν ἀριθμήσας, εἶτα μηδὲν ἐν τούτοις ἐπικερδὲς εὑρώνοὐδὲ γὰρ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐξ αὐτῶν βελτίων ἐγένετο, οὐδὲ διὰ τοῦτο τὴν πρὸς θεὸν οἰκείωσιν ἐκτήσατο ἀναγκαίως ἐπὶ τὸν ἀληθῆ πλοῦτον καὶ τὴν βεβαίαν ὕπαρξιν τὸν λόγον μετατίθησιν. ∆εῖξαι τοίνυν βουληθεὶς ποῖα τῶν κτημάτων ἵσταται τῷ κτησαμένῳ, μένει τε αὐτῷ διηνεκῶς καὶ σῴζεται, ἐπήγαγε· καί γε σοφία ἐστάθη μοι. 2.911 Καὶ ἐμεγαλύνθην καὶ προσέθηκα παρὰ πάντας οἳ ἐγένοντο ἔμπροσθέν μου ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ· καί γε σοφία ἐστάθη μοι. Καὶ πᾶν ὃ ᾔτησαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου οὐκ ἀφεῖλον ἀπ' αὐτῶν, οὐκ ἀπεκώλυσα τὴν καρδίαν μου ἀπὸ πάσης εὐφροσύνης, ὅτι ἡ καρδία μου εὐφράνθη ἐν παντὶ μόχθῳ μου, καὶ τοῦτο ἐγένετο μερίς μου ἀπὸ παντὸς μόχθου μου. Καὶ ἐπέβλεψα ἐγὼ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ποιήμασί μου οἷς ἐποίησαν αἱ χεῖρές μου, καὶ ἐν μόχθῳ ᾧ ἐμόχθησα τοῦ ποιεῖν, καὶ ἰδοὺ τὰ πάντα ματαιότης καὶ προαίρεσις πνεύματος, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι περισσεία ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον. {σξηολια αυξτορις νομινε ξαρεντ} Καί γε σοφία ἐστάθη μοι. Μόνη γὰρ αὕτη μένει, τὰ δ' ἄλλα φεύγει καὶ ἀφίσταται, ὅσα φθάσας ἠρίθμησε. Σοφία τοίνυν ἐστάθη μοι, κἀγὼ δι' αὐτὴν ἐστάθην· ἐκεῖνά τε γὰρ πίπτει καὶ πεσεῖν ποιεῖ τοὺς αὐτοῖς ἐπιτρέχοντας. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ σύγκρισιν θεῖναι τῆς σοφίας καὶ τῶν ὑπ' ἀνθρώπων ἀγαθῶν νομιζομένων βουλόμενος, ταῦτα ἐπήγαγε· καὶ πᾶν ὃ ᾔτησαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου οὐκ ἀφεῖλον ἀπ' αὐτῶν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, οὐ μόνον τούτους κακίζων τοὺς μόχθους οὓς οἱ ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ τρυφῶντες πάσχουσι μοχθοῦντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ οὓς πρὸς ἀνάγκην καὶ βίαν οἱ ἄνθρωποι μοχθοῦντες ὑπομένουσι, τροφῆς ἕνεκα τῆς ἐφημέρου, ἐν ἱδρῶτι τοῦ προσώπου τὰς τέχνας ἐργαζόμενοι. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ μόχθος πολύς, φησίν, ἡ δὲ τέρψις ἡ ἐκ τοῦ μόχθου πρόσκαιρος, οὐδὲν προστιθεῖσα τῷ τερπομένῳ χρήσιμον. ∆ιόπερ τὸ κέρδος οὐδέν· ἔνθα γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι περισσεία, οὐδὲ κέρδος ἔνι. Εἰκότως τοίνυν ματαιότης τὰ σπουδασθέντα καὶ προαίρεσις πνεύματος. Πνεῦμα δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν ὀνομάζει· ἡ γὰρ προαίρεσίς ἐστι ποιὰ νοῦ κίνησις. Καὶ ὁ ∆αβίδ· εἰς χεῖράς σου παρατίθημι τὸ πνεῦμά μου. Καί γε ἀληθῶς σοφία ἐστάθη μοι, ὅτι με γνῶναι καὶ συνιέναι πεποίηκε τοῦ λέγειν πᾶν ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι περισσεία ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον. Εἰ τοίνυν ἀγαθοῦ κέρδους ἐπιθυμοῦμεν, εἰ περισσείαν θέλομεν, εἰ ἄφθαρτοι ζητοῦμεν εἶναι, μοχθήσωμεν μόχθους τοὺς ὑπὲρ τὸν ἥλιον τρέχοντας. Ἐν τούτοις γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι ματαιότης οὐδὲ προαίρεσις τοῦ εἰκαίου καὶ μάτην ὧδε κἀκεῖ περισπωμένου πνεύματος. 2.12 Καὶ ἐπέβλεψα ἐγὼ τοῦ ἰδεῖν σοφίαν καὶ περιφορὰν καὶ ἀφροσύνην· ὅτι τίς ἄνθρωπος ὃς ἐλεύσεται ὀπίσω τῆς βουλῆς σύμπαντα ὅσα ἐποίησεν αὕτη; {Γρηγορίου.} Θαυμάζω τὸν ὅστις ἀλόγως φερόμενος, εἶτα λαβόμενος ἑαυτοῦ, ἐπὶ τὸ δέον ἐπέστρεψεν ὀπίσω τῆς βουλῆς. {Ἄλλο ∆ιονυσίου.} Σοφίαν φησὶ τὴν παρὰ θεοῦ, ἣ καὶ αὐτῷ ἐστάθη, περιφορὰν δὲ καὶ ἀφροσύνην τοὺς ἀνθρωπίνους μόχθους καὶ τὴν ἐπ' αὐτῶν τέρψιν εἰκαίαν καὶ ἀνόητον. Ταῦτα διαγνοὺς καὶ τί τὸ μέσον αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς ἀληθοῦς σοφίας, μακαρίζων ἐπήγαγεν· ὅτι τίς ἄνθρωπος ὃς ἐλεύσεται ὀπίσω τῆς βουλῆς; Αὕτη γὰρ ἡ βουλὴ ἡμᾶς σοφίαν τὴν ὄντως διδάσκει, περιφορᾶς τε καὶ ἀφροσύνης ἀπαλλαγὴν χαρίζεται. 2.13 Καὶ εἶδον ἐγὼ ὅτι περισσεία ἐστὶ τῇ σοφίᾳ ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀφροσύνην, ὡς περισσεία τοῦ φωτὸς ὑπὲρ τὸ σκότοσ. {σξηολια αυξτορις νομινε ξαρεντ} Οὐ κατὰ σύγκρισιν τοῦτό φησινἀσύγκριτα γὰρ τὰ ἐναντία καὶ ἄλληλα φθείρονταιἀλλ' ὅτι τὸ μὲν αἱρετὸν ἔγνω, τὸ δὲ φευκτόν. Τοιοῦτον καὶ τὸ ἠγάπησαν οἱ ἄνθρωποι τὸ σκότος μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ φῶς. Τὸ γὰρ μᾶλλον τῆς αἱρέσεως τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντος, οὐ τῆς τῶν πραγμάτων συγκρίσεως. {Ἄλλο Νείλου.} Πολλὰ ψηλαφήσας, μόλις εὑρεῖν δεδύνημαι, ἄρας ἐμαυτοῦ τὸν τῆς διανοίας ὀφθαλμὸν πρὸς τὴν βουλήν, ἥνπερ ἡμῖν ὁ Χριστὸς ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐπήγαγεν. Ὥσπερ ἐστὶ φωτὸς καὶ σκότου μέσον, τοῦτο σοφίας, τῆς παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ περὶ θεοῦ τῆς ἁγνῆς καὶ τῆς εἰρηνικῆς, μεταξὺ καὶ τῆς ἀφροσύνης, τῆς περὶ τὰ πράγματα στρεφομένης τοῦ βίου,