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of the theorems of wisdom made foolish. 28 4, 8 There is one, and there is not a second, and indeed he has no son and no brother; and there is no end to all his toil, and indeed his eye is not satisfied with wealth. And for whom do I toil and deprive my soul of goodness? And indeed this is vanity and an evil distraction. If someone does not have a brother, this one has not received the spirit of adoption, and if someone is not a father, this one is evil; "for it may not be," he says, "that the evil have offspring." And rightly such a person is not even filled with wickedness, depriving his own soul of the knowledge of God. But here I say father and brother according to the sense of Scripture; for I am not ignorant that the propositions set forth are not true when applied to perceptible brothers and fathers. But if someone wished to take even the literal sense of these sayings, he will utterly condemn the childless rich who are zealous to provide a multitude of riches for themselves, especially if they are also unapproachable to their friends; for these words, said against men, are very true. 29 4, 11 And indeed if two lie together, they also have warmth; but how can one be warm? Without the Lord no one could become fervent in spirit; "for the Lord is the Spirit." 30 4, 12 And if the one be strong, the two shall stand against him, and the threefold cord will not be quickly broken. I think the one who is strong is the evil one, against whom the two stand, both the man and the angel of God, so that the man, having conquered the devil, may be deemed worthy of the knowledge of God and become a threefold cord not quickly broken. And it is possible to learn this clearly also from the patriarch Jacob who, blessing the children of Joseph, says: "my angel who delivers me from all evils, bless these children." Similar to this is also what is found in David: "the angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him and will deliver them." 31 A threefold cord is a dispassionate mind filled with spiritual knowledge, or a wise mind having an angel of God accompanying it. And it is good also that he did not say "it will not be broken," but "it will not be quickly broken"; for the rational nature is mutable. 32 4, 13 A poor and wise child is better than an old and foolish king who no longer knew to take heed. A child is one who has kept the teaching from youth, but an old man is one who has left the teaching from youth and forgotten the divine covenant and has grown old in wickedness; and the former belongs to Christ, but the latter to the evil one. 33 4, 14 For out of the house of the prisoners he shall come forth to be king, because indeed he was born poor in his kingdom. The house of prisoners is the perceptible world, in which "each is bound by the cords of his own sins." 34 4, 17 Guard your foot when you go to the house of God, and be near to hear; your sacrifice is better than the gift of fools, for they do not know how to do evil. "They do not know how they stumble," not even knowing this very thing, that they transgress the law.

35 5, 1 Do not be hasty with your mouth, and let not your heart be swift to bring forth

a word before the face of God; for God is in heaven, and you are on the earth; on this account let your words be few. 5, 2 For a dream comes through a multitude of temptation and the voice of a fool through a multitude of words.

"For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought." Or perhaps he does not mean to say this now, but commands not to theologize thoughtlessly; for it is not possible for one who is in perceptible things and who receives concepts from them to discourse without error about the God who is in the intelligible realms and escapes all sensation. For this reason he says, "and let your words be few," that is, true and considered; for "few" seems to me to signify something of this sort, as also "a little that a righteous man has is better than the riches

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θεωρημάτων τῆς μωρανθείσης σοφίας. 28 4, 8 ἔστιν εἷς καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν δεύτερος, καί γε υἱὸς καί γε ἀδελφὸς οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτῷ· καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν περασμὸς τῷ παντὶ μόχθῳ αὐτοῦ, καί γε ὀφθαλμὸς αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐμπίπλαται πλούτου. καὶ τίνι ἐγὼ μοχθῶ καὶ στερίσκω τὴν ψυχήν μου ἀπὸ ἀγαθωσύνης; καί γε τοῦτο ματαιότης καὶ περισπασμὸς πονηρός ἐστιν Εἴ τις οὐκ ἔχει ἀδελφόν, οὗτος υἱοθεσίας οὐκ εἴληφε πνεῦμα, καὶ εἴ τις οὐκ ἔστι πατήρ, οὗτός ἐστι πονηρός· «οὐ γὰρ μὴ γένηται, φησίν, ἔγγονα πονηροῖς.» Εἰκότως δὲ ὁ τοιοῦτος οὐδ' ἐμπίπλαται κακίας στερίσκων τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν ἀπὸ γνώσεως θεοῦ. Πατέρα δὲ ἐνταῦθα λέγω καὶ ἀδελφὸν κατὰ τὴν ἔννοιαν τῆς γραφῆς· οὐ γὰρ ἀγνοῶ τὰς τεθείσας προτάσεις ὡς οὐκ ἀληθεύουσιν ἐπὶ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἀδελφῶν καὶ πατέρων τιθέμεναι. Εἰ δέ τις βούλοιτο καὶ τὴν ψιλὴν ἔννοιαν τούτων τῶν ῥητῶν ἐκλαβεῖν, πάνυ καταγνώσεται τῶν ἀτέκνων πλουσίων καὶ σπουδαζόντων ἑαυτοῖς ἐκπορίζειν πλῆθος χρημάτων, μάλιστα εἰ καὶ δυσπρόσιτοι εἶεν τοῖς φίλοις· ἀληθεύει γὰρ πάνυ τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα κατὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων λεγόμενα. 29 4, 11 καί γε ἐὰν κοιμηθῶσιν οἱ δύο, καὶ θέρμη αὐτοῖς· καὶ ὁ εἷς πῶς θερμανθῇ; Ἄνευ κυρίου οὐκ ἄν τις γένοιτο τῷ πνεύματι ζέων· «ὁ γὰρ κύριος τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστιν.» 30 4, 12 καὶ ἐὰν ἐπικραταιωθῇ ὁ εἷς, οἱ δύο στήσονται κατέναντι αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸ σπαρτίον τὸ ἔντριτον οὐ ταχέως ἀπορραγήσεται Ἐγὼ νομίζω τὸν ἐπικραταιούμενον ἕνα τὸν πονηρὸν εἶναι οὗ κατέναντι ἵστανται οἱ δύο, ὅ τε ἄνθρωπος καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος τοῦ θεοῦ, ἵνα τὸν διάβολον νικήσας ὁ ἄνθρωπος καταξιωθῇ γνώσεως θεοῦ καὶ γένηται ἔντριτον σπαρτίον οὐ ταχέως ἀπορρηγνύμενον. Ἔστι δὲ τοῦτο σαφῶς μαθεῖν καὶ παρὰ τοῦ πατριάρχου Ἰακὼβ ὃς τοὺς παῖδας τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ εὐλογῶν φησιν· «ὁ ἄγγελός μου ὁ ῥυόμενός με ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν κακῶν, εὐλογήσαι τὰ παιδία ταῦτα.» Ὅμοιον τούτῳ καὶ τὸ παρὰ τῷ ∆αυὶδ κείμενον· «παρεμβαλεῖ ἄγγελος κυρίου κύκλῳ τῶν φοβουμένων αὐτὸν καὶ ῥύσεται αὐτούς.» 31 Σπαρτίον ἔντριτόν ἐστι νοῦς ἀπαθὴς πνευματικῆς πληρούμενος γνώσεως ἢ νοῦς σοφὸς ἄγγελον θεοῦ παρεπόμενον ἔχων. Εὖ δὲ καὶ τὸ μὴ φάναι αὐτὸν «οὐκ ἀπορραγή σεται», ἀλλ' «οὐ ταχέως ἀπορραγήσεται»· τρεπτὴ γάρ ἐστιν ἡ φύσις ἡ λογική. 32 4, 13 ἀγαθὸς παῖς πένης καὶ σοφὸς ὑπὲρ βασιλέα πρεσβύτερον καὶ ἄφρονα ὃς οὐκ ἔγνω τοῦ προσέχειν ἔτι Παῖς ἐστιν ὁ τὴν ἐκ νεότητος διδασκαλίαν φυλάξας, πρεσβύτερος δὲ ὁ καταλελοιπὼς τὴν διδασκαλίαν τὴν ἐκ νεότητος καὶ τῆς θείας ἐπιλαθόμενος διαθήκης καὶ γεγηρακὼς τῇ κακίᾳ· καὶ ὁ μὲν πρότερός ἐστι τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ δὲ δεύτερος τοῦ πονηροῦ. 33 4, 14 ὅτι ἐξ οἴκου τῶν δεσμίων ἐξελεύσεται βασιλεῦσαι, ὅτι καί γε ἐν βασιλείᾳ αὐτοῦ ἐγεννήθη πένης Οἶκος δεσμίων ἐστὶν ὁ κόσμος ὁ αἰσθητός, ἐν ᾧ «σειραῖς τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτιῶν ἕκαστος σφίγγεται». 34 4, 17 φύλαξον τὸν πόδα σου, ἐν ᾧ ἂν πορεύῃ εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ ἐγγὺς τοῦ ἀκούειν· ὑπὲρ δόμα τῶν ἀφρόνων θυσία σου, ὅτι οὐκ εἰσὶν εἰδότες τοῦ ποιῆσαι κακόν «Οὐκ οἴδασι πῶς προσκόπτουσιν», μηδ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο εἰδότες ὅτι παρανομοῦσιν.

35 5, 1 μὴ σπεῦδε ἐπὶ στόματί σου, καὶ καρδία σου μὴ ταχυνέτω τοῦ ἐξενέγκαι

λόγον πρὸ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ· ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, καὶ σὺ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἔστωσαν οἱ λόγοι σου ὀλίγοι. 5, 2 ὅτι παραγίνεται ἐνύπνιον ἐν πλήθει πειρασμοῦ καὶ φωνὴ ἄφρονος ἐν πλήθει λόγων «Τὸ γὰρ τί προσευξώμεθα καθὸ δεῖ οὐκ οἴδαμεν.» Ἢ τάχα νῦν οὐ τοῦτο βούλεται λέγειν, προστάσσει δὲ μὴ ἀπερισκέπτως θεολογεῖν· οὐ γὰρ δυνατὸν τὸν ἐν αἰσθητοῖς ὄντα καὶ ἀπὸ τούτων λαμβάνοντα τὰ νοήματα περὶ τοῦ ὄντος ἐν τοῖς νοητοῖς θεοῦ καὶ πᾶσαν διαφεύγοντος αἴσθησιν ἀπταίστως διαλεχθῆναι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησι· «καὶ ἔστωσαν οἱ λόγοι σου ὀλίγοι», τουτέστιν ἀληθεῖς καὶ περιεσκεμμένοι· τὸ γὰρ ὀλίγον τοιοῦτόν τι σημαίνειν μοι φαίνεται, ὡς καὶ τὸ «κρεῖσσον ὀλίγον τῷ δικαίῳ ὑπὲρ πλοῦτον