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to partake of the fruits, says the craftsman of such words, that the word ought not to be understood as a saying, but that virtue in deeds, set before those who see it for the instruction of life, becomes a word for those who are being taught. All such words, therefore, are laborious, with those who teach virtue first accomplishing in themselves what they teach. For this is what it means to partake first of the fruits, which 5.293 we cultivate for ourselves through virtue before others. Or perhaps the word also explains the weakness of the rational nature. For whenever the mind, having gone outside the organs of sense, which are indeed called vanity, and having somehow entered into the contemplation of invisible things, attempts to present with a word what it has conceived, then there is much toil for the word, as this interpretive voice finds no device for the clarification of things that cannot be spoken. We see the heaven, we receive the rays of the luminaries with our sense, we have stepped upon the earth, we draw the air with our mouth, we have used water as seems fit to nature, we accept fire into the community of life; and if we should wish to consider anything about these things—what each of the phenomena is by nature in the principle of its essence, or how it received its subsistence, a man will not be able to speak, even if he happens to be above others, since all apprehensive knowledge is powerless for the utterance of unattainable things. If, then, the word concerning these things is a toil surpassing the human power and nature of speaking, what might one say the words concerning the Word himself or the Father of the Word suffer? Surely all lofty speech and grandiloquence is a kind of speechlessness and silence, if it should be judged against the true meaning of the subject sought, so that one could properly say this one thing 5.294 about him, that even if someone were to stir up all reasonings and omit none of the God-befitting concepts, if the utterance were judged against the very worth of the subject at hand, whatever he might say, is not a word; for a man will not be able to speak. For sight has not established the contemplation of the phenomenon that comes to the soul through the eyes, but ever seeing as if having not yet seen, we still hold in ignorance that which is received through sense. For sight is not able to pass through color, but has as the measure of its own activity that which appears to it on the surface of things. Therefore he says: The eye will not be filled with seeing, and the ear will not be filled from hearing; whose auditory faculty, receiving the word concerning each thing, does not have the nature to be filled. For no word will be found that comprehends with precision in itself the thing sought. How then will the hearing be filled with the audition of the things sought, when that which fills does not exist? Then after these words he questions himself and answers himself. For having asked: What is that which has been? It is, he says, that which will be. And what is that which has been done? It is, he says, that which will be done. What then does the question mean? As if we, following on from what we have learned, 5.295 were to object and say to him: If all things are vanity, it is clear that not one of these things, which have no subsistence, has even come into being; for what is vain is entirely non-existent, and what is non-existent one would not reckon among the things that have come to be. If, then, these things are not, tell me what is that which has come into being, which will remain in being? So the answer to the question came to him concisely: Do you wish to know what it is that has come into being? Consider what it is that will be, and you will recognize what has come into being. And this is: consider for me, he says, O man, what sort of being you will become, having exalted yourself through virtue. If you should form your soul in all respects with good characteristics, if you should get outside the stains of wickedness, if you should wash away all the filth of material defilements from your own nature, what will you become, being beautified by such things? What form will you put on yourself? If you perceive this with your reason, you have been taught that which came to be in the beginning, which truly is that which will be: that according to the image of God and likeness. And where is that now, I shall say to the one teaching these things, which once came to be and is hoped for again later, but is not now? But he answers in any case 5.296 the same word

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τῶν καρπῶν μεταλαμβάνειν, φησὶν ὁ τῶν τοιούτων λόγων τεχνίτης, ὡς δέον μὴ ῥῆμα νοεῖσθαι τὸν λόγον, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις ἀρετὴν εἰς διδασκαλίαν βίου τοῖς ὁρῶσιν προτι θεμένην ἀντὶ λόγου γίνεσθαι τοῖς διδασκομένοις. πάντες οὖν οἱ τοιοῦτοι λόγοι ἔγκοποι, τῶν τὴν ἀρετὴν ὑφηγουμένων πρῶτον ἐν ἑαυτοῖς κατορθούντων, ἅπερ διδάσκουσι. τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ δεῖν πρῶτον τῶν καρπῶν μεταλαμβάνειν, ὧν 5.293 πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἑαυτοῖς διὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς γεωργοῦμεν. Ἢ τάχα καὶ τὸ ἀσθενὲς τῆς λογικῆς φύσεως διερμηνεύει ὁ λόγος. ἐπειδὰν γὰρ ἔξω γενομένη τῶν αἰσθητηρίων, ἃ δὴ ματαιότης ὠνόμασται, καὶ εἰς τὴν τῶν ἀοράτων θεωρίαν διαδυεῖσά πως ἡ διάνοια τῷ λόγῳ παραστῆσαι τὸ νοηθὲν ἐγχειρήσῃ, τότε πολὺς γίνεται κόπος τῷ λόγῳ, τῆς ἑρμηνευτι κῆς ταύτης φωνῆς μηδεμίαν μηχανὴν ἐξευρισκούσης περὶ τὴν τῶν ἀνεκφωνήτων σαφήνειαν. οὐρανὸν ὁρῶμεν, τὰς τῶν φωστήρων αὐγὰς τῇ αἰσθήσει δεχόμεθα, γῆς ἐπιβεβήκαμεν, τὸν ἀέρα τῷ στόματι ἕλκομεν, τῷ ὕδατι πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν τῇ φύσει κεχρήμεθα, τὸ πῦρ εἰς κοινωνίαν βίου παραδεχόμεθα· κἄν τι περὶ τούτων ἐννοῆσαι θελήσωμεν τί τῶν φαινομένων ἕκαστον πέφυκε τῷ τῆς οὐσίας λόγῳ ἢ ὅπως τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔσχεν, Οὐ δυνήσεται ἀνὴρ τοῦ λαλῆσαι, κἂν ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἄλλους ὢν τύχῃ, πάσης καταληπτικῆς ἐπιστήμης πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀνεφί κτων ἐξαγόρευσιν ἀτονούσης. εἰ δὴ ὁ περὶ τούτων λόγος κόπος ἐστὶ ὑπερβαίνων τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην τοῦ λαλεῖν δύναμίν τε καὶ φύσιν, τί ἄν τις εἴποι πάσχειν τοὺς περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ λόγου λόγους ἢ τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ λόγου; ἦ που πᾶσα ὑψηγορία τε καὶ μεγαλοφωνία ἀφασία τίς ἐστι καὶ σιωπή, εἰ πρὸς τὴν ἀληθῆ τοῦ ζητουμένου σημασίαν κρίνοιτο, ὡς τοῦτο μόνον ἐπ' 5.294 αὐτοῦ τὸ ῥῆμα κυρίως εἰπεῖν, ὅτι κἂν πάντας κινήσῃ τις λογισμοὺς καὶ μηδὲν ἐλλίπῃ τῶν θεοπρεπῶν νοημάτων, εἰ πρὸς αὐτὴν τὴν ἀξίαν τοῦ προκειμένου κρίνοιτο ἡ φωνή, ὅπερ ἂν εἴπῃ, λόγος οὐκ ἔστιν· οὐ γὰρ δυνήσεται ἄνθρωπος τοῦ λαλεῖν. οὐ γὰρ τὴν δι' ὀφθαλμῶν ἐγγινομένην τῇ ψυχῇ περὶ τὸ φαινόμενον θεωρίαν ἡ ὄψις ἔστησεν, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ βλέποντες ὡς μηδέπω ἑωρακότες ἔτι ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ τὸ διὰ τῆς αἰσθήσεως λαμβανόμενον ἔχομεν. διαβῆναι γὰρ τὸ χρῶμα ἡ ὄψις οὐ δύναται, ἀλλ' ἔχει μέτρον τῆς ἰδίας ἐνεργείας τὸ κατὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν τῶν ὄντων αὐτῇ προφαινό μενον. διό φησιν· Οὐκ ἐμπλησθήσεται ὀφθαλμὸς τοῦ ὁρᾶν, καὶ οὐ πληρωθήσεται οὖς ἀπὸ ἀκροάσεως· ὧν ἡ ἀκουστικὴ δύναμις δεχομένη τὸν περὶ ἑκάστου λόγον πληροῦσθαι φύσιν οὐκ ἔχει. οὐδεὶς γὰρ εὑρεθήσεται λόγος διαλαμβάνων δι' ἀκριβείας ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸ ζητούμενον. πῶς οὖν πλησθήσεται ἀκοὴ τῆς περὶ τῶν ζητουμένων ἀκροάσεως, τοῦ πληροῦντος οὐκ ὄντος; Εἶτα μετὰ τοὺς λόγους τούτους αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐρωτᾷ καὶ ἑαυτῷ ἀποκρίνεται. ἐρωτήσας γάρ· Τί τὸ γεγονός; αὐτό, φησί, τὸ γενησόμενον· καὶ τί τὸ πεποιημένον; αὐτό, φησί, τὸ ποιηθησόμενον. τί οὖν βούλεται τὸ ἐρώτημα; ὡς ἐξ ἀκολουθίας ἡμῶν πρὸς αὐτόν, ἀφ' ὧν μεμαθήκαμεν, 5.295 ἀντιτιθέντων καὶ λεγόντων· εἰ τὰ πάντα ματαιότης, δῆλον ὅτι οὐδὲ γέγονεν ἕν τι τούτων, ἃ οὐχ ὑφέστηκε· τὸ γὰρ μάταιον πάντως ἀνύπαρκτον, τὸ δὲ ἀνύπαρκτον οὐκ ἄν τις ἐν τοῖς γεγονόσι λογίσαιτο. εἰ δὴ ταῦτα οὐκ ἔστιν, εἰπὲ τί ἐστι τὸ γενόμενον, ὃ ἐν τῷ εἶναι μενεῖ; συντόμως οὖν αὐτῷ γέγονε πρὸς τὸ ἐρωτηθὲν ἡ ἀπόκρισις· βούλει γνῶναι, τί ἐστι τὸ γενόμενον; νόησον, τί ἐστι τὸ ἐσόμενον, καὶ ἐπιγνώσῃ ὃ γέγονε. τοῦτο δέ ἐστι τὸ νόησόν μοι, φησίν, ὦ ἄνθρωπε, οἷος γενήσῃ διὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς σεαυτὸν ὑψώσας. εἰ κατὰ πάντα διὰ τῶν ἀγαθῶν χαρακτήρων τὴν ψυχὴν μορφωθείης, εἰ ἔξω γένοιο τῶν τῆς κακίας καλίδων, εἰ πάντα ῥύπον τῶν ὑλικῶν μολυσμά των τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φύσεως ἀποκλύσειας, τί γενήσῃ διὰ τῶν τοιούτων καλλωπιζόμενος; οἵαν σεαυτῷ περιθήσεις μορφήν; ἐὰν τοῦτο τῷ λογισμῷ κατανοήσῃς, ἐδιδάχθης τὸ ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις γενόμενον, ὅ γε ἀληθῶς ἐστι γενησόμενον, τὸ Κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ καὶ ὁμοίωσιν. καὶ ποῦ νῦν ἐκεῖνό ἐστιν, ἐρῶ πρὸς τὸν ταῦτα διδάσκοντα, ὅ ποτε γέγονε καὶ εἰς ὕστερον αὖθις ἐλπίζεται, νῦν δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν; ἀλλ' ἀποκρίνεται πάντως 5.296 τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον