7

to understand according to the division in the psalms shown by us. And this is the number of the psalms for each section: for the first, forty; for the second, thirty-one; and for the third, seventeen, and as many for the fourth; and for the fifth, forty-five. The first part, therefore, stops at the fortieth from the first, whose end is "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting and to everlasting, amen, amen." The second at the seventy-first, whose end is thus: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who only does wondrous things, and blessed be the name of his glory for ever and for ever and ever. And let all the earth be filled with his glory, amen, amen." The third at the eighty-eighth, and this also concludes with a similar ending. For it is thus: "Blessed be the Lord for ever, amen, amen." And the end of the fourth section is the one hundred and fifth, whose end is similar to the others: "Blessed be the Lord 5.39 God of Israel from everlasting and to everlasting, and all the people shall say, Amen, amen." And the fifth part is from this one to the last, whose end is "Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord." What, then, is the artistic arrangement we have understood in these things, it would be the right time to say in a few words. In the first, it stops those living in wickedness from their absurd error, and draws them to the choice of what is better, so that they no longer proceed in the deceits of the impious, nor stand deep in the wicked path of sin, nor practice wickedness as something immovable and established for themselves, but are joined to the divine law, having established for themselves through meditation the unerring path, so that the disposition for what is better might be rooted in them like a plant, being watered by the divine teachings. Therefore, the first entry to the good is the departure from its opposites, through which participation in the better comes about. But he who has already tasted virtue and through his own experience of the good has understood its nature, is no longer such as to be drawn away from the attachment to wickedness by some necessity and admonition and to look to virtue, but he thirsts exceedingly for what is better. For the discourse likens the uncontrollable and vehement aspect of desire to thirst, having sought out the most thirsty nature among animals, so that the intensity of the desire might best be shown through the animal that becomes exceedingly thirsty. And this animal it calls a deer, whose nature it is to be fattened on the food of venomous beasts. And the 5.40 juices of the beasts are hot and burning, and when the deer has eaten of them, it necessarily becomes drier, having been drugged by the juice of the beasts. And for this reason it desires water more vehemently, in order to cure the dryness produced in it from such food. He, therefore, who has been initiated into the life of virtue in the first part of the psalmody and has known the sweetness of the desired thing by taste, and having consumed every creeping form of desire in himself and devoured the passions instead of beasts with the teeth of temperance, thirsts for participation in God more than the deer longs for the springs of water. And it follows for the one who has found the spring after excessive thirst to draw as much of the water as desire draws at will. And he who has received in himself the desired thing is full of that which he desired. For not in the likeness of bodily satiety is that which has become full emptied again, nor does the drink remain idle in itself, but the divine spring, in whomever it may be, transforms to itself the one who has touched it and shares its own power.

CHAPTER 6

But indeed, proper to the divinity is the overseeing of existing things, both power and

activity. Therefore he who has in himself what he desired, himself becomes an overseer and

7

ἐπιγνῶναι κατὰ τὴν παρ' ἡμῶν ὑποδεικνυμένην ἐν ταῖς ψαλμῳδίαις διαίρεσιν. ἔστι δὲ ἑκάστου τμήματος ἀριθμὸς τῶν ψαλμῳδιῶν οὗτος· τοῦ πρώτου τεσσαράκοντα· τοῦ δευτέρου εἷς καὶ τριάκοντα· ἑπτὰ καὶ δέκα δὲ τοῦ τρίτου, καὶ τοῦ τετάρτου τοσοῦτοι· τοῦ δὲ πέμπτου πέντε καὶ τεσσαράκοντα. ἵσταται οὖν τὸ πρῶτον μέρος ἐπὶ τὸν τεσσαρακοστὸν ἐκ τοῦ πρώτου, οὗ πέρας ἐστὶν Εὐλογητὸς κύριος ὁ θεὸς Ἰσραὴλ ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, γένοιτο, γένοιτο. τὸ δεύτερον ἐπὶ τὸν ἑβδομηκοστόν τε καὶ πρῶτον, οὗ τὸ τέλος οὕτως ἔχει· Εὐλογητὸς κύριος ὁ θεὸς Ἰσραὴλ ὁ ποιῶν θαυμάσια μόνος, καὶ εὐλογητὸν τὸ ὄνομα τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος. καὶ πληρωθήσεται τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ, γένοιτο, γένοιτο. τὸ τρίτον ἐπὶ τὸν ὀγδοηκοστόν τε καὶ ὄγδοον, καταλήγει δὲ καὶ τοῦτο εἰς ὅμοιον πέρας. ἔχει γὰρ οὕτως· Εὐλογητὸς κύριος εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, γένοιτο, γένοιτο. τοῦ δὲ τετάρτου τμήματος πέρας ὁ ἑκατοστός τε καὶ πέμπτος, οὗ τὸ τέλος τοῖς λοιποῖς παραπλήσιον· Εὐλογητὸς κύριος ὁ 5.39 θεὸς Ἰσραὴλ ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος καὶ ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος, καὶ ἐρεῖ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς Γένοιτο, γένοιτο. πέμπτον δὲ μέρος ἐστὶν ἀπὸ τούτου εἰς τὸν ἔσχατον, οὗ πέρας Πᾶσα πνοὴ αἰνεσάτω τὸν κύριον. Τίνα τοίνυν τὴν ἐν τούτοις τεχνικὴν τάξιν κατενοήσαμεν, καιρὸς ἂν εἴη δι' ὀλίγων εἰπεῖν. ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τοὺς ἐν κακίᾳ ζῶντας ἵστησι μὲν τῆς ἀτόπου πλάνης, ἐφέλκεται δὲ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ κρείττονος αἵρεσιν, ὡς μηκέτι ταῖς τῶν ἀσεβῶν ἀπάταις ἐπιπορεύεσθαι, μηδὲ τῇ πονηρᾷ τρίβῳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας διὰ βάθους ἐνίστασθαι, μηδὲ ἀκίνητόν τε καὶ καθιδρυμένην ἑαυτοῖς τὴν κακίαν ἐπιτηδεύειν, ἀλλὰ τῷ θείῳ συνάπτεσθαι νόμῳ διὰ μελέτης τὴν ἀπλανῆ πορείαν ἑαυτοῖς κατορθώσαν τας, ὡς ἂν ἐνριζωθείη φυτοῦ δίκην αὐτοῖς ἡ πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ἕξις ταῖς θείαις διδασκαλίαις ἐπαρδομένη. ἡ οὖν πρώτη πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν εἴσοδος ἡ τῶν ἐναντίων ἐστὶν ἀπόστασις, δι' ἧς γίνεται ἡ μετοχὴ τοῦ βελτίονος. Ὁ δὲ γευσάμενος ἤδη τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ τῇ καθ' ἑαυτὸν πείρᾳ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τὴν φύσιν κατανοήσας, οὐκέτι τοιοῦτός ἐστιν, ὡς ἀνάγκῃ τινὶ καὶ νουθεσίᾳ τῆς πρὸς τὴν κακίαν προσπαθείας ἀφέλκεσθαι καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀρετὴν βλέπειν, ἀλλ' ὑπερδιψῇ τοῦ βελτίονος. τὸ γὰρ ἄσχετόν τε καὶ σφοδρὸν τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τῇ δίψῃ προσεικάζει ὁ λόγος, ἐπιζητήσας τὴν διψωδεστάτην ἐν τοῖς ζῴοις φύσιν, ὡς ἂν μάλιστα τὸ ἐπιτετα μένον τῆς ἐπιθυμίας διὰ τοῦ ὑπερβαλλόντως ἐν δίψῃ γινομένου ζῴου ἐπιδειχθείη. τοῦτο δὲ τὸ ζῷον ἔλαφον λέγει, ᾧ φύσις ἐστὶ τῇ ἐδωδῇ τῶν ἰοβόλων θηρίων πιαίνεσθαι. θερμοὶ δὲ καὶ 5.40 διακαεῖς οἱ χυμοὶ τῶν θηρίων, ὧν ἐμφαγοῦσα ἡ ἔλαφος, ξηροτέρα γίνεται κατ' ἀνάγκην φαρμακευθεῖσα τῷ τῶν θηρίων χυμῷ. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο σφοδρότερον ἐπιθυμεῖ τοῦ ὕδατος, ἵνα θεραπεύσῃ τὴν ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης βρώσεως αὐτῇ ἐγγινομένην ξηρότητα. ὁ τοίνυν προτελεσθεὶς τὴν ἐν ἀρετῇ ζωὴν ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ μέρει τῆς ψαλμῳδίας καὶ τὸ γλυκὺ τοῦ ποθουμένου τῇ γεύσει γνωρίσας, δαπανήσας δὲ πᾶν ἑρπυστικὸν ἐπιθυμίας εἶδος ἐν ἑαυτῷ καὶ τοῖς τῆς σωφροσύνης ὀδοῦσι διαφαγὼν ἀντὶ θηρίων τὰ πάθη, διψῇ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ μετουσίας πλέον ἢ καθ' ὅσον ποθεῖ τὰς πηγὰς τῶν ὑδάτων ἡ ἔλαφος. ἕπεται δὲ τῷ τῆς πηγῆς ἐπιτυχόντι μετὰ τὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν δίψαν τοσοῦτον σπᾶσαι τοῦ ὕδατος, ὅσον ἡ ἐπιθυμία κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἐφέλκεται. ὁ δὲ λαβὼν ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸ ποθούμενον πλήρης ἐστὶν οὗ ἐπόθησεν. οὐ γὰρ καθ' ὁμοιότητα τῆς ἐν σώματι πλησμονῆς κενοῦται πάλιν τὸ πλῆρες γενόμενον οὐδὲ ἀργὸν ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸ ποτὸν διαμένει, ἀλλ' ἡ θεία πηγή, ἐν ᾧπερ ἂν γένηται, πρὸς ἑαυτὴν μεταποιεῖ τὸν ἁψάμενον καὶ συμμεταδίδωσι τῆς ἰδίας δυνάμεως.

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ςʹ

Ἀλλὰ μὴν ἴδιόν ἐστι τῆς θεότητος ἡ ἐποπτικὴ τῶν ὄντων δύναμίς τε καὶ

ἐνέργεια. οὐκοῦν ὁ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχων ὅπερ ἐπόθησε, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐποπτικὸς γίνεται καὶ