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wise men, did he call together, and these things so that he might put to shame the wise men from without, as Paul says? How then does he put to shame those who lead to him, as these men say? And why did he make their wisdom foolish? And for what reason did he see fit to save believers through the foolishness of the proclamation? Was it not because through wisdom the world did not know God? And what have they learned, those whom you say? Of the Word of God who dwelt among us in the body, who became for us wisdom from God, and of the light having arisen, which enlightens every man coming into the world, and of the day having dawned and the morning star having risen in the hearts of us believers, according to the chief of the apostles, they themselves both need a mended wick, of the knowledge from the outside philosophers leading to the knowledge of God, and they exhort others, having abandoned purifying themselves in stillness through the supervision of their thoughts and attending to God through unceasing prayer, to grow old in vain, sitting beside a smoldering lamp.

Did it never even enter their mind that by desire for and partaking of the plant of knowledge we have fallen from that divine place of delight? For not having been willing to work it and keep it according to the commandment, (p. 72) we gave way to the evil counselor who stole his entry and charmed us with the beauty of the knowledge of good and evil. Perhaps now, too, this one, to those not willing to work and guard their own heart according to the instruction of the fathers, promises precise knowledge of the celestial spheres and the things in them, of many motions and counter-balances, a knowledge being of good and evil, by its not possessing the good in its own nature, but in the choice of those who use it, changing with it toward either. And before these things, and almost perhaps because of these things, experiences and the graces of many-tongued dialects, the power of rhetoric, the knowledge of history, the discovery of the mysteries of nature, multifaceted methods of logical inquiry, manifold considerations of the science of calculation, the shaping of immaterial things, multiform measurements, all of which I for my part would say are both good and evil, not only being easily changed to what seems best to those who use them and transformed with the purpose of those who possess them, but also because leisure for these things is good, training the eye of the soul toward keen-sightedness; but to remain attending to this until old age is evil, and it would be for the good for one who has been moderately trained to transfer the contest to things far better and more lasting, with contempt for these studies also bringing him a great reward from God. For this reason the second theologian says concerning the great Athanasius that he gained this from the outside studies, to understand those things which he chose to disdain; and he himself, as he (p. 74) again says, enjoyed this alone from them, to have overlooked and possessed those things for which he preferred Christ.

But the evil one, wickedly eager always to draw us away from better things, begets charms in our souls and binds us with bonds beloved by the foolish, almost indissolubly, and he suggests the great and long length and multitude of these branches of knowledge, just as to others he suggests wealth or inglorious glory and carnal pleasures, so that, having occupied ourselves with the search for these things throughout our whole life, we might not be strong enough to lay fast hold of the discipline that purifies the soul, whose beginning is the fear of God, from which is born continual supplication to God in compunction and the keeping of the evangelical ordinances, and through these, reconciliation having been made with God, fear is changed into love and the painfulness of prayer, having been transformed into what is pleasant, the flower of illumination blossoms; and from this, as a fragrance spreading to the one who bears it, is the knowledge of the mysteries of God. This is true discipline and knowledge, of which not even the

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σοφούς, συνεκάλει, καί ταῦθ᾿ ἵνα καταισχύνῃ τούς ἔξω σοφούς, ὡς ὁ Παῦλός φησι; Πῶς οὖν καταισχύνει τούς πρός αὐτόν, ὡς οὗτοι λέγουσιν, ὁδηγοῦντας; ∆ιατί δέ καί τήν σοφίαν αὐτῶν ἐμώρανε; Τίνος δέ χάριν καί διά τῆς μωρίας τοῦ κηρύγματος εὐδόκησε σῶσαι τούς πιστεύοντας; Οὐκ ἐπειδή διά τῆς σοφίας ὁ κόσμος οὐκ ἔγνω τόν Θεόν; Τί δέ καί μαθόντες οὕς φῄς; Λόγου Θεοῦ σωματικῶς ἐνδημήσαντος, ὅς ἐγενήθη ἡμῖν σοφία ἀπό Θεοῦ, καί τοῦ φωτός ἀνασχόντος, ὅ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τόν κόσμον, ἡμέρας τε διαυγασάσης καί φωσφόρου ἀνατείλαντος ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν τῶν πιστῶν, κατά τό τῶν ἀποστόλων κορυφαῖον, αὐτοί τε δέονται θρυαλλίδος ἐπισκευαστῆς, τῆς ἀπό τῶν ἔξω φιλοσόφων γνώσεως πρός θεογνωσίαν ὁδηγούσης, καί τούς ἄλλους παραινοῦσιν, ἀφεμένοις τοῦ καθ᾿ ἡσυχίαν διά τῆς τῶν λογισμῶν ἐπιστασίας καθαίρειν ἑαυτούς καί δι᾿ ἀδιαλείπτου προσευχῆς προσανέχειν τῷ Θεῷ, καταγηρᾶν μάτην, λύχνῳ τυφομένῳ παρακαθημένους.

Ἆρ᾿ οὐδ᾿ ἐκεῖνο ποτ᾿ ἐπῆλθεν ἐπί νοῦν αὐτοῖς, ὡς ἐφέσει τε καί μεταλήψει τοῦ φυτοῦ τῆς γνώσεως ἐκπεπτώκαμεν ἐκείνου τοῦ θείου χωρίου τῆς τρυφῆς; Ἐργάζεσθαι γάρ αὐτό καί φυλάττειν κατά τήν ἐντολήν οὐκ ἐθελήσαντες, (σελ. 72) εἴξαμεν τῷ πονηρῷ συμβούλῳ τήν εἴσοδον κλέψαντι καί τῷ κάλλει θέλξαντι τῆς γώσεως τοῦ καλοῦ καί τοῦ πονηροῦ. Τάχα δή καί νῦν οὗτος τοῖς μή βουλομένοις ἐργάζεσθαι καί φυλάττειν τήν ἑαυτῶν καρδίαν, κατά τήν τῶν πατέρων ὑφήγησιν, οὐρανίων σφαιρῶν τε καί τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτάς ἀκριβῆ γνῶσιν ἐπαγγέλλεται, πολυκινήτων τε καί ἀντιρρόπων, γνῶσιν οὖσαν καλοῦ καί πονηροῦ, τῷ μή ἐν τῇ ἑαυτῆς φύσει κεκτῆσθαι τό καλόν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν τῇ τῶν χρωμένων προαιρέσει, συμμεταβάλλουσαν ταύτῃ πρός ἑκάτερον. Πρό δέ τούτων, μικροῦ καί διά ταῦτ᾿ ἴσως, ἐμπειρίας τε καί χάριτας πολυγλώσσων διαλέκτων, δύναμιν ρητορείας, εἴδησιν ἱστορίας, μυστηρίων φύσεως εὕρεσιν, πολυειδεῖς μεθόδους λογικῆς πραγματείας, πολυμερεῖς σκέψεις λογιστικῆς ἐπιστήμης, σχηματισμόν ἀύλων πολυσχήμονας ἀναμετρήσεις, ἅ πάντα καλά τε καί πονρά φαίην ἄν ἔγωγε, μή μόνον πρός τό δοκοῦν τοῖς χρωμένοις μεταγινόμενα καί συμμεταμορφούμενα ρᾳδίως τῷ σκοπῷ τῶν ἐχόντων, ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι καί καλόν μέν ἡ πρός ταῦτα σχολή, γνμνάζουσα πρός ὀξυωπίαν τόν τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμόν˙ παραμένειν δ᾿ ἄχρι γήρως ταύτῃ προσανέχοντα πονηρόν, πρός ἀγαθοῦ δ᾿ ἄν εἴη μετρίως ἐκγυμνασάμενον πρός τά μακρῷ κρείττω καί μονιμώτερα μετασκεύασασθαι τόν ἀγῶνα, πολλήν αὐτῷ καί τῆς τῶν λόγων περιφρονήσεως φερούσης τήν ἐκ Θεοῦ ἀμοιβήν. ∆ιό φησιν ὁ θεολόγος ὁ δεύτερος περί Ἀθανασίου τοῦ πάνυ τοῦτ᾿ ἐκ τῶν ἔξω κερδῆσαι λόγων, τό συνιδεῖν ὧν ὑπεριδεῖν ἐδοκίμασεν˙ αὐτός τε τούτων, ὡς αὐτός (σελ. 74) αὖθις λέγει, τοῦτ᾿ ἀπήλαυσε μόνον, τό παριδεῖν καί ἐσχηκέναι ὧν Χριστόν προετίμησεν.

Ἀλλ᾿ ὁ πονηρός, πονηρῶς ὑποσπᾶν ἡμᾶς τῶν κρειττόνων ἀεί γλιχόμενος, ἴυγγας ἐντίκτει ταῖς ἡμετέραις ψυχαῖς καί δεσμοῖς ἀγαπωμένοις τοῖς ἀνοήτοις σχεδόν ἀδιαλύτως συνδεῖ, τό πολύ τε καί μακρόν ὑποτίθεται μῆκος καί πλῆθος τούτων τῶν γνώσεων, ὥσπερ ἑτέροις πλοῦτον ἤ δόξαν ἄδοξον καί σαρκικάς ἠδονάς, ὡς ἄν, τῇ τούτων ζητήσει διά βίου παντός ἀπασχολήσαντες ἑαυτούς, ἀπρίξ ἐπιλαβέσθαι τῆς καθαιρούσης τήν ψυχήν παιδείας οὐκ ἐξισχύσωμεν, ἧς ἀρχή μέν ὁ φόβος τοῦ Θεοῦ, παρ᾿ οὗ δέησις ἐν κατανύξει συνεχής πρός τόν Θεόν γεννᾶται καί ἡ τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν θεσπισμάτων φυλακή, διά τούτων δέ καταλλαγῆς γεγονυίας πρός θεόν, ὁ φόβος εἰς ἀγάπην μεταβάλλει καί τό τῆς εὐχῆς ὁδυνηρόν εἰς τερπνόν μετενεχθέν τοῦ φωτισμοῦ τό ἄνθος ἀνατέλλει˙ τούτου δ᾿ οἷον ὀσμή διαδιδομένη πρός τόν φέροντα ἡ τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ γνῶσις μυστηρίων. Αὕτη παιδεία καί γνῶσις ἀληθής, ἧς οὐδέ τήν