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drink and goodness and portion and wealth and possessions and gladness and preoccupation with God and light and life and gift; and the Holy Spirit gives many other names to knowledge, which it is not possible to enumerate now, as the rule of the scholia does not permit it. 43 In contrast to those who received the wealth of wisdom and knowledge but did not guard it, it is said, "and he had power over it." For the traitor Judas also received intelligible wealth and spiritual possessions, but did not have power over them, having betrayed the wisdom and truth of God for the sake of profit. 44 When a man receives spiritual knowledge from God, he seldom remembers this life and sensible life, his heart being always occupied with contemplation.

45 Preoccupation with God is true knowledge separating the purified soul from sensible things. 46 6, 1 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: 6, 2 a man to whom God has given wealth, and possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a stranger eats it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease. 6, 3 If a man begets a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, and his soul is not filled with goodness, and also that he has no burial; I said, that a stillborn child is better than he. 6, 4 For he came in with vanity, and departs in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness. 6, 5 Moreover he has not seen the sun, nor known anything: this has more rest than the other. 6, 6 And even if he lived a thousand years twice over, yet has seen no good, do not all go to one place? In this chapter he speaks of those deemed worthy of dispassion and knowledge and who have fallen away again through the envy of the devil. The second chapter contains the long life of an impure man with many children who has not known God, for whom the stillborn child is considered preferable, and who obtains the same place as him after death. 47 The one who corrupts the wealth enriched with all knowledge and all wisdom is the evil one, whom he also calls a stranger and alien to the knowledge of God. But "to eat" is said both of food and of corruption: "If you are willing and obedient," he says, "you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword"—instead of "corrupted." "For the mouth of the Lord has spoken this." This stranger, coming to David, also persuaded him to sacrifice the poor man's lamb; for Nathan the prophet also called him a stranger then. 48 6, 7 All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the soul is not filled. All the evil of man remains in his heart, and he may not say, "of his fullness we have all received." 49 6, 8 For what has the wise more than the fool? For the poor man knows how to walk before the living. Of her who said: "I am the life." 50 6, 9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the soul: this is also vanity and a choice of the spirit. Good is he who follows the knowledge of God rather than he who follows the desires of the soul; or, the knowledge of God is better than corruptible pleasure. But according to Symmachus: it is better to look to the future than to rejoice in the present. 51 But it is not fitting to apply vanity and the evil preoccupation and the choice of the spirit to all things in the chapter, but to apply them to the blameworthy things, and not to apply them to the praiseworthy. I say this because he does not apply vanity and the preoccupation and the choice of the spirit to the whole chapter in common, in which some praiseworthy things also exist; for the poor man who walks before the living is not vanity, but he who has lived for a thousand years twice over and

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πόσις καὶ ἀγαθωσύνη καὶ μερὶς καὶ πλοῦτος καὶ ὑπάρχοντα καὶ εὐφροσύνη καὶ περισπασμὸς θεοῦ καὶ φῶς καὶ ζωὴ καὶ δόμα· καὶ πολλὰ ἕτερα ὀνόματα τίθησι τῇ γνώσει τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ἅπερ νῦν καταλέγειν οὐ δυνατόν, μὴ συγχωροῦντος τοῦ τῶν σχολίων κανόνος. 43 Πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν τῶν λαβόντων μὲν πλοῦτον σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως, οὐ μὴν δὲ διαφυλαξάντων, εἴρηται τὸ «καὶ ἐξουσίασεν αὐτόν». Καὶ γὰρ ὁ προδότης Ἰούδας ἔλαβε πλοῦτον νοητὸν καὶ ὑπάρχοντα πνευματικά, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐξουσίασεν αὐτῶν, κέρδους ἕνεκεν προδεδωκὼς τὴν σοφίαν καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν τοῦ θεοῦ. 44 Ὅταν ἄνθρωπος παρὰ θεοῦ δέξηται γνῶσιν πνευματικήν, ὀλιγάκις μέμνηται τούτου τοῦ βίου καὶ τῆς αἰσθητῆς ζωῆς, τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ ἀεὶ περὶ τὴν θεωρίαν ἀσχολουμένης.

45 Περισπασμὸς θεοῦ ἐστι γνῶσις ἀληθὴς ἀπὸ τῶν αἰσθητῶν πραγμάτων χωρίζουσα τὴν κεκαθαρμένην ψυχήν. 46 6, 1 ἔστιν πονηρία ἣν εἶδον ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον, καὶ πολλή ἐστιν ἐπὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον· 6, 2 ἀνὴρ ᾧ δώσει αὐτῷ ὁ θεὸς πλοῦτον καὶ ὑπάρχοντα καὶ δόξαν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὑστερῶν τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ παντὸς οὗ ἐπιθυμεῖ, καὶ οὐκ ἐξουσιάσει αὐτῷ ὁ θεὸς φαγεῖν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἀνὴρ ξένος φάγεται αὐτά· καί γε τοῦτο ματαιότης καὶ ἀρρωστία πονηρά ἐστιν. 6, 3 ἐὰν γεννήσῃ ἀνὴρ ἑκατὸν καὶ ἔτη πολλὰ ζήσεται, καὶ πλῆθος ὅ τι ἔσονται αἱ ἡμέραι ἐτῶν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐμπλησθήσεται ἀπὸ ἀγαθωσύνης, καί γε ταφὴ οὐκ ἐγένετο αὐτῷ, εἶπα· ἀγαθὸν ὑπὲρ αὐτὸν τὸ ἔκτρωμα, 6, 4 ὅτι ἐν ματαιότητι ἦλθεν καὶ ἐν σκότει πορεύεται, καὶ ἐν σκότει ὄνομα αὐτοῦ καλυφθήσεται, 6, 5 καί γε ἥλιον οὐκ εἶδεν καὶ οὐκ ἔγνω, ἀναπαύσεις τούτῳ ὑπὲρ τοῦτον. 6, 6 καὶ εἰ ἔζησεν χιλίων ἐτῶν καθόδους καὶ ἀγαθωσύνην οὐκ εἶδεν, μὴ οὐκ εἰς τόπον ἕνα τὰ πάντα πορεύεται; Ἐν τούτῳ τῷ κεφαλαίῳ λέγει περὶ τῶν ἀπαθείας καταξιωθέντων καὶ γνώσεως καὶ πάλιν ἐκπεπτωκότων φθόνῳ τοῦ διαβόλου. Τὸ δὲ δεύτερον κεφάλαιον περιέχει ἀνδρὸς ἀκαθάρτου καὶ πολύπαιδος βίον μακρὸν καὶ μὴ ἐπεγνωκότος θεόν, οὗ καὶ προτιμότερον τὸ ἔκτρωμα τίθεται εἶναι, καὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ μετὰ θάνατον αὐτῷ τόπου τυγχάνον. 47 Ὁ διαφθείρων τὸν πλοῦτον τὸν πλουτισθέντα ἐν πάσῃ γνώσει καὶ πάσῃ σοφίᾳ ὁ πονηρός ἐστιν, ὅντινα καὶ ξένον καὶ ἀλλότριον λέγει τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ θεοῦ. Τὸ δὲ φαγεῖν λέγεται καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς βρώσεως καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς διαφθορᾶς· «ἐὰν θέλητε καὶ εἰσακούσητέ μου, φησί, τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῆς γῆς φάγεσθε· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ θέλητε μηδὲ εἰσακούσητέ μου, μάχαιρα ὑμᾶς κατέδεται-ἀντὶ τοῦ διαφθερεῖ. Τὸ γὰρ στόμα κυρίου ἐλάλησε ταῦτα.» Οὗτος δὲ ὁ ξένος καὶ πρὸς τὸν ∆αυὶδ ἐλθὼν πέπεικεν αὐτὸν θῦσαι τὴν ἀμνάδα τοῦ πένητος· ξένον γὰρ αὐτὸν ὠνόμασε τότε καὶ Νάθαν ὁ προφήτης. 48 6, 7 πᾶς μόχθος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου εἰς στόμα αὐτοῦ, καί γε ψυχὴ οὐ πληρωθήσεται Πᾶσα κακία τοῦ ἀνθρώπου μένει ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐ μὴ εἴπῃ τὸ «ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἐλάβομεν». 49 6, 8 ὅτι τίς περισσεία τῷ σοφῷ ὑπὲρ τὸν ἄφρονα; διότι ὁ πένης οἶδεν πορευθῆναι κατέναντι τῆς ζωῆς Τῆς εἰπούσης· «ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ζωή.» 50 6, 9 ἀγαθὸν ὅραμα ὀφθαλμῶν ὑπὲρ πορευόμενον ψυχῇ, καί γε τοῦτο ματαιότης καὶ προαίρεσις πνεύματος Ἀγαθὸς ὁ ἀκολουθῶν γνώσει θεοῦ ὑπὲρ τὸν ἀκολουθοῦντα τοῖς θελήμασι τῆς ψυχῆς· ἢ ἀγαθὸν γνῶσις θεοῦ ὑπὲρ ἡδονὴν φθαρτήν. Κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· βέλτιον πρὸς τὸν μέλλοντα βλέπειν ἢ ἐπὶ τοῖς παροῦσιν εὐφραίνεσθαι. 51 Οὐ πᾶσι δὲ τοῖς ἐν τῷ κεφαλαίῳ ἐφαρμόζειν τὴν ματαιότητα καὶ τὸν περισπασμὸν τὸν πονηρὸν καὶ τὴν προαίρεσιν τοῦ πνεύματος προσήκει, ἀλλὰ τοῖς μὲν ψεκτοῖς πράγμασιν ἐφαρμόζειν, τοῖς δὲ ἐπαινετοῖς μὴ ἐφαρμόζειν. Τοῦτο δὲ λέγω διὰ τὸ μὴ παντὶ τῷ κεφαλαίῳ ἐπιφέρειν αὐτὸν κατὰ κοινοῦ τὴν ματαιότητα καὶ τὸν περισπασμὸν καὶ τὴν προαίρεσιν τοῦ πνεύματος, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἐπαινετά τινα πράγματα ἐνυπάρχει· οὐ γὰρ ὁ πένης ματαιότης ἐστὶν ὁ πορευόμενος κατέναντι τῆς ζωῆς, ἀλλ' ὁ ζήσας χιλίων ἐτῶν καθόδους καὶ