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76 Angels rejoice when wickedness diminishes, but demons when virtue does; for the former are ministers of mercy and love, but the latter are servants of anger and hatred; and the former, when they draw near, fill us with spiritual contemplation, while the latter, when they approach, cast the soul into shameful fantasies.

77 The virtues do not check the demons' assaults, but they keep us unharmed by them.

78 The practical life is a spiritual method that purifies the passionate part of the soul.

79 The activities of the commandments are not sufficient to heal the powers of the soul completely, unless contemplations appropriate to them also take possession of the mind.

80 It is not possible to resist all the thoughts implanted in us by angels, but it is possible to overthrow all the thoughts from demons; a state of peace follows the former thoughts, but a state of disturbance follows the latter. 81 The offspring of dispassion is love; dispassion is the flower of the practical life; the practical life is constituted by the keeping of the commandments; the guardian of these is the fear of God, which is the child of right faith; and faith is an inward good, which by nature exists even in those who have not yet believed in God.

82 Just as the soul, acting through the body, is aware of its ailing members; so too the mind, when active in its own proper way, recognizes its own powers and through what is hindering it discovers the commandment that will heal it. 83 The mind that wages a passionate war will not contemplate the principles of the war, for it is like someone fighting in the night; but having acquired dispassion, it will easily recognize the wiles of the enemy.

84 The goal of the practical life is love; of knowledge, theology; the principles of both are faith and natural contemplation; and those demons that attack the passionate part of the soul are said to be opposed to the practical life; while those that trouble the rational part are called enemies of all truth and opponents of contemplation.

85 None of the things that cleanse the body remain with it after it has been cleansed; but the virtues both cleanse the soul and remain with it when it is cleansed. 86 A rational soul acts according to nature when its appetitive part yearns for virtue, its irascible part fights for it, and its rational part applies itself to the contemplation of created things.

87 He who progresses in the practical life diminishes the passions, but he who progresses in contemplation diminishes ignorance; and of the passions there will one day be a complete destruction, but of ignorance, they say, one kind has an end, but another does not.

88 Things good or evil according to their use become productive of virtues or vices; it is the task of prudence, then, to use these things for one purpose or the other. 89 The rational soul being tripartite, according to our wise teacher, when virtue is in the rational part, it is called prudence, understanding, and wisdom; when in the appetitive part, temperance, love, and self-control; and when in the irascible part, courage and patience; and in the whole soul, justice. And the work of prudence is to act as a general against the opposing powers, defending the virtues, arraying itself against the vices, and managing intermediate things according to the times; of understanding, to manage fittingly all things that contribute to our goal; of wisdom, to contemplate the inner principles of corporeal and incorporeal beings; the work of temperance is to look with dispassion on things that stir up irrational fantasies in us; of love, to show itself to every image of God as it does to the archetype itself, almost, even if the demons try to defile them; of self-control, to

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76 Ἄγγελοι μὲν χαίρουσι μειουμένης κακίας, δαίμονες δὲ τῆς ἀρετῆς· οἱ μὲν γάρ εἰσιν ἐλέους καὶ ἀγάπης θεράποντες, οἱ δὲ ὀργῆς καὶ μίσους ὑπήκοοι· καὶ οἱ μὲν πρότεροι πλησιάζοντες πνευματικῆς θεωρίας ἡμᾶς πληροῦσιν, οἱ δὲ δεύτεροι προσεγγίζοντες εἰς αἰσχρὰς τὴν ψυχὴν φαντασίας ἐμβάλλουσιν.

77 Αἱ ἀρεταὶ οὐ τὰς τῶν δαιμόνων ὁρμὰς ἀνακόπτουσιν, ἀλλ' ἡμᾶς ἀθῴους διαφυλάττουσιν.

78 Πρακτική ἐστι μέθοδος πνευματικὴ τὸ παθητικὸν μέρος τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκκαθαίρουσα.

79 Οὐκ ἀρκοῦσιν αἱ ἐνέργειαι τῶν ἐντολῶν πρὸς τὸ τελείως ἰάσασθαι τὰς δυνάμεις τῆς ψυχῆς, ἐὰν μὴ καὶ κατάλληλοι ταύταις διαδέξωνται τὸν νοῦν θεωρίαι.

80 Οὐ πᾶσι μὲν τοῖς ὑπ' ἀγγέλων λογισμοῖς ἡμῖν ἐμβαλλομένοις δυνατὸν ἀντιστῆναι, πάντας δὲ τοὺς ὑπὸ δαιμόνων λογισμοὺς δυνατὸν ἀνατρέψαι· ἕπεται δὲ τοῖς μὲν προτέροις λογισμοῖς εἰρηνικὴ κατάστασις, τοῖς δὲ δευτέροις τεταραγμένη. 81 Ἀπαθείας ἔγγονον ἀγάπη· ἀπάθεια δέ ἐστιν ἄνθος τῆς πρακτικῆς· πρακτικὴν δὲ συνίστησιν ἡ τήρησις τῶν ἐντολῶν· τούτων δὲ φύλαξ ὁ φόβος τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅστις γέννημα τῆς ὀρθῆς ἐστι πίστεως· πίστις δέ ἐστιν ἐνδιάθετον ἀγαθόν, ἥτις ἐνυπάρχειν πέφυκε καὶ τοῖς μηδέπω πεπιστευκόσι Θεῷ.

82 Ὥσπερ ἐνεργοῦσα διὰ τοῦ σώματος ἡ ψυχὴ τῶν ἀσθενούντων μελῶν ἐπαισθάνεται· οὕτως ἐνεργῶν καὶ ὁ νοῦς τὴν οἰκείαν ἐνέργειαν τάς τε δυνάμεις ἐπιγινώσκει τὰς ἑαυτοῦ καὶ διὰ τῆς ἐμποδιζούσης αὐτῷ τὴν θεραπευτικὴν αὐτῆς ἐντολὴν ἐφευρίσκει. 83 Ὁ νοῦς τὸν ἐμπαθῆ πόλεμον πολεμῶν οὐ θεωρήσει τοὺς λόγους τοῦ πολέμου· τῷ γὰρ ἐν νυκτὶ μαχομένῳ ἔοικεν· ἀπάθειαν δὲ κτησάμενος, ῥᾳδίως ἐπιγνώσεται τὰς μεθοδείας τῶν πολεμίων.

84 Πέρας μὲν πρακτικῆς ἀγάπη· γνώσεως δὲ θεολογία· ἀρχαὶ δὲ ἑκατέρων πίστις καὶ φυσικὴ θεωρία· καὶ ὅσοι μὲν τῶν δαιμόνων τοῦ παθητικοῦ μέρους ἐφάπτονται τῆς ψυχῆς, οὗτοι λέγονται ἀντικεῖσθαι τῇ πρακτικῇ· ὅσοι δ' αὖ πάλιν τῷ λογιστικῷ διοχλοῦσιν, ἐχθροὶ πάσης ἀληθείας ὀνομάζονται καὶ ἐναντίοι τῇ θεωρίᾳ.

85 Οὐδὲν τῶν καθαιρόντων τὰ σώματα σύνεστι μετὰ τοῦτο τοῖς καθαρθεῖσιν· αἱ δὲ ἀρεταὶ ὁμοῦ τε καθαίρουσι τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ καθαρθείσῃ συμπαραμένουσιν. 86 Κατὰ φύσιν ἐνεργεῖ ψυχὴ λογικὴ ὅταν τὸ μὲν ἐπιθυμητικὸν αὐτῆς μέρος τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐφίεται, τὸ δὲ θυμικὸν ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς ἀγωνίζεται, τὸ δὲ λογιστικὸν ἐπιβάλλει τῇ θεωρίᾳ τῶν γεγονότων.

87 Ὁ μὲν προκόπτων ἐν πρακτικῇ τὰ πάθη μειοῖ, ὁ δὲ ἐν θεωρίᾳ τὴν ἀγνωσίαν· καὶ τῶν μὲν παθῶν ἔσται ποτὲ καὶ φθορὰ παντελής, τῆς δὲ ἀγνωσίας τῆς μὲν εἶναι πέρας, τῆς δὲ μὴ εἶναί φασι.

88 Τὰ παρὰ τὴν χρῆσιν ἀγαθὰ καὶ κακὰ τῶν ἀρετῶν καὶ τῶν κακιῶν γίνεται ποιητικά· φρονήσεως δέ ἐστι λοιπὸν τὸ χρήσασθαι τούτοις πρὸς θάτερα. 89 Τριμεροῦς δὲ τῆς λογικῆς ψυχῆς οὔσης κατὰ τὸν σοφὸν ἡμῶν διδάσκαλον, ὅταν μὲν ἐν τῷ λογιστικῷ μέρει γένηται ἡ ἀρετή, καλεῖται φρόνησις καὶ σύνεσις καὶ σοφία· ὅταν δὲ ἐν τῷ ἐπιθυμητικῷ, σωφροσύνη καὶ ἀγάπη καὶ ἐγκράτεια· ὅταν δὲ ἐν τῷ θυμικῷ, ἀνδρεία καὶ ὑπομονή· ἐν ὅλῃ δὲ τῇ ψυχῇ, δικαιοσύνη. Καὶ φρονήσεως μὲν ἔργον τὸ στρατηγεῖν πρὸς τὰς ἀντικειμένας δυνάμεις, καὶ τῶν μὲν ἀρετῶν ὑπερασπίζειν, πρὸς δὲ τὰς κακίας παρατάττεσθαι, τὰ δὲ μέσα πρὸς τοὺς καιροὺς διοικεῖν· συνέσεως δὲ τὸ πάντα τὰ συντελοῦντα ἡμῖν πρὸς τὸν σκοπὸν ἁρμοδίως οἰκονομεῖν· σοφίας δὲ τὸ θεωρεῖν λόγους σωμάτων καὶ ἀσωμάτων· σωφροσύνης δὲ ἔργον τὸ βλέπειν ἀπαθῶς τὰ πράγματα τὰ κινοῦντα ἐν ἡμῖν φαντασίας ἀλόγους· ἀγάπης δὲ τὸ πάσῃ εἰκόνι τοῦ Θεοῦ τοιαύτην ἑαυτὴν ἐμπαρέχειν οἵαν καὶ τῷ πρωτοτύπῳ σχεδόν, κἂν μιαίνειν αὐτὰς ἐπιχειρῶσιν οἱ δαίμονες· ἐγκρατείας δὲ τὸ