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having understood nature, will surely have his soul in misfortune, because the present life is not in that good, thus mourning. Therefore, it seems to me that the Word does not bless grief, but the knowledge of the good, upon which the passion of grief follows, because what is sought is not present in life. It is therefore fitting to examine what that light is, by which this gloomy cave of human nature is not illuminated in the present life. Or perhaps, does not our desire look toward the unattainable and incomprehensible? For what thought is there in us such as to trace out the nature of what is sought? What meaning of nouns and verbs is such as to produce in us a worthy conception of the transcendent light? How shall I name the invisible? How shall I represent the immaterial? How shall I show the formless? how shall I grasp the unextended, the unquantifiable, the unqualified, the unshaped? that which is found neither in place nor in time? that which is beyond all limitation, and every defining imagination? whose work is life, and the substance of all things conceived according to the good? concerning which every lofty thought and name is contemplated? divinity, kingdom, power, eternity, incorruptibility, joy and exultation, and everything whatever that is conceived and spoken of on high? How then is it possible, and by what thoughts, for such a good of ours to come into view, that which sees and is not seen? That which gives being to all things that are? itself always being, and not in need of coming into being? But lest our discourse labor in vain, extending itself to things incomprehensible, let us cease from inquiring into the nature of the transcendent goods, since it is impossible for such a thing to come under our grasp, gaining only this much from what has been sought, that through the very inability to see what is sought, we may form some conception of the greatness of the things sought. And by as much as we believe the good to be by nature higher than our knowledge, by so much more let us intensify our mourning, because the good from which we happen to be separated is of such a kind and so great, that we are unable even to contain the knowledge of it. Yet of this which surpasses all apprehensive power, we human beings were once in participation; and so great was that good beyond all thought in our nature, that that human state seems to have been another thing, being formed in the most exact likeness according to the image of the prototype. For what things we now contemplate about that conjecturally, all these things were also about man, in incorruptibility and blessedness; and self-rule and freedom from masters, and the painless and 44.1228 untroubled life, and a way of life among more divine things; and to look upon the good with a mind naked and pure of every veil. For the account of the world's creation hints at all these things to us in a few words, saying that man was formed according to the image of God, and lives in paradise, and delights in the things planted there. And the fruit of those plants is life and knowledge and such things. If then these things were in us, how is it possible, by comparing the present misery with the blessedness of that time, not to groan at our calamity; the exalted is humbled; that which was made according to the image of the heavenly has been made earthly; that which was appointed to rule has been enslaved; that which was created for immortality has been corrupted by death; that which passed its time in the delight of paradise has been removed to this sickly and toilsome place; that which was companion to impassibility has exchanged it for a passionate and precarious life; that which was free from masters and had free will is now mastered by such and so many evils, that it is not even easy to enumerate our tyrants. For each of the passions within us, whenever it gains mastery, becomes the lord of the one enslaved; and just as some tyrant, having seized the acropolis of the soul, abuses his subject through his own underlings, using our thoughts as servants for what seems good to him; so does anger, so does fear, cowardice, boldness, the passion of grief and of pleasure, hatred, strife, ruthlessness,

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φύσεως κατανοήσας, ἐν συμφορᾷ τὴν ψυχὴν πάντως ἕξει, τῷ μὴ εἶναι ἐν τῷ ἀγαθῷ ἐκείνῳ τὸν παρόντα βίον, πένθος ποιού μενος. Οὐκοῦν οὐ τὴν λύπην μοι δοκεῖ μακαρίζειν ὁ Λόγος, ἀλλὰ τὴν εἴδησιν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, ᾗ τὸ τῆς λύπης πάθος ἐπισυμβαίνει, διὰ τὸ μὴ παρεῖναι τῷ βίῳ τὸ ζητούμενον. Ἀκόλουθον τοίνυν ἐξετάσαι τί ποτε ἄρα ἐστὶν ἐκεῖνο τὸ φῶς, ᾧ τὸ ζοφῶδες τοῦτο τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως σπήλαιον ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ οὐ καταυγά ζεται. Ἦ τάχα, οὐ πρὸς τὸ ἀνήνυτόν τε καὶ ἀκατά ληπτον ἡ ἐπιθυμία βλέπει; Τίς γὰρ ἐν ἡμῖν λογισμὸς τοιοῦτος, ὡς ἀνιχνεῦσαι τοῦ ζητουμένου τὴν φύσιν; Τίς ἐξ ὀνομάτων τε καὶ ῥημάτων σημασία τοιαύτη, ὡς ἀξίαν ἡμῖν ἔννοιαν τοῦ ὑπερκειμένου φωτὸς ἐμ ποιῆσαι; Πῶς ὀνομάσω τὸ ἀθέατον; Πῶς παραστήσω τὸ ἄϋλον; Πῶς δείξω τὸ ἀειδές; πῶς διαλάβω τὸ ἀμέγεθες, τὸ ἄποσον, τὸ ἄποιον, τὸ ἀσχημάτιστον; τὸ μήτε τόπῳ, μήτε χρόνῳ εὑρισκόμενον; τὸ ἐξώτε ρον παντὸς περασμοῦ, καὶ πάσης ὁριστικῆς φαντα σίας; οὗ ἔργον ζωὴ, καὶ ἡ πάντων τῶν κατὰ τὸ ἀγα θὸν νοουμένων ὑπόστασις; περὶ ὃ πᾶν ὑψηλὸν νόημά τε καὶ ὄνομα θεωρεῖται; θεότης, βασιλεία, δύναμις, ἀϊδιότης, ἀφθαρσία, χαρά τε καὶ ἀγαλλίαμα, καὶ πᾶν ὅτι πέρ ἐστιν ἐν ὕψει νοούμενόν τε καὶ λεγόμενον; Πῶς τοίνυν ἔστι καὶ διὰ ποίων λογισμῶν τὸ τοιοῦτον ἡμῶν ἀγαθὸν ὑπ' ὄψιν ἐλθεῖν, τὸ θεώμενον καὶ μὴ βλεπόμενον; Τὸ πᾶσι τοῖς οὖσι τὸ εἶναι παρεχόμενον; αὐτὸ δὲ ἀεὶ ὂν, καὶ τοῦ γενέσθαι οὐ προσδεόμενον; Ἀλλ' ὡς ἂν μὴ μάτην ὁ λόγος κάμνοι τοῖς ἀχωρή τοις ἑαυτὸν ἐπεκτείνων, τῶν μὲν ὑπερκειμένων ἀγα θῶν τὴν φύσιν, ὡς ἀμήχανον ὂν τὸ τοιοῦτον ὑπὸ κατάληψιν ἐλθεῖν, πολυπραγμονοῦντες παυσώμεθα, τοσοῦτον μόνον ἐκ τῶν ζητηθέντων κερδάναντες, ὅσον δι' αὐτοῦ τοῦ μὴ δυνηθῆναι κατιδεῖν τὸ ζητούμενον, ἔννοιάν τινα τοῦ μεγέθους τῶν ζητουμένων ἀνατυ πώσασθαι. Ὅσῳ δὲ τῆς γνώσεως ἡμῶν ὑψηλότερον εἶναι τὸ ἀγαθὸν τῇ φύσει πιστεύομεν, τοσούτῳ μᾶλ λον τὸ πένθος ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐπιτείνωμεν, ὅτι τοιοῦτόν ἐστι καὶ τοσοῦτον τὸ ἀγαθὸν, οὗ διεζευγμένοι τυγχά νομεν, ὡς μηδὲ τὴν γνῶσιν αὐτοῦ χωρεῖν δύνασθαι. Τούτου μέντοι τοῦ ὑπεραίροντος πᾶσαν δύναμιν κατα ληπτικὴν, ἐν μετουσίᾳ ποτὲ ἦμεν οἱ ἄνθρωποι· καὶ τοσοῦτον ἦν ἐν τῇ φύσει ἡμῶν ἐκεῖνο τὸ ἀγαθὸν τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν νόημα, ὡς ἄλλο ἐκεῖνο τὸ ἀνθρώπινον εἶναι δοκεῖν, τῇ ἀκριβεστάτῃ ὁμοιώσει κατὰ τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ πρωτοτύπου μεμορφωμένον. Ἃ γὰρ νῦν περὶ ἐκείνου στοχαστικῶς θεωροῦμεν, ταῦτα πάντα καὶ περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἦν, ἀφθαρσίᾳ τε καὶ μακαριότητι· καὶ τὸ αὐτοκρατὲς καὶ τὸ ἀδέσποτον, τό τε ἄλυπον καὶ 44.1228 ἀπραγμάτευτον τῆς ζωῆς, καὶ ἡ ἐν θειοτέροις δια γωγή· καὶ τὸ γυμνῇ τε καὶ καθαρᾷ παντὸς προκα λύμματος τῇ διανοίᾳ πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν βλέπειν. Ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα δι' ὀλίγων ῥημάτων ὁ τῆς κοσμογενείας ἡμῖν ὑπαινίττεται λόγος, κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ λέγων πεπλάσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ ζῇν, καὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ πεφυτευμένων κατατρυφᾷν. Τῶν δὲ φυ τῶν ἐκείνων καρπὸς, ζωὴ καὶ γνῶσις καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτά ἐστιν. Εἰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐν ἡμῖν ἦν, πῶς οὖν ἔστι διὰ συγ κρίσεως ἀντιπαραθεωροῦντα τῇ τότε μακαριότητι τὴν παροῦσαν νῦν ἀθλιότητα, μὴ ἐπιστενάζειν τῇ συμφορᾷ· τὸ ὑψηλὸν τεταπείνωται· τὸ κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου γενόμενον, ἀπεγεώθη· τὸ βασιλεύειν τεταγμένον, κατεδουλώθη· τὸ εἰς ἀθανασίαν κτισθὲν, κατεφθάρη θανάτῳ· τὸ ἐν τρυφῇ τοῦ παραδείσου διάγον, εἰς τὸ νοσῶδες καὶ ἐπίπονον τοῦτο μετῳκίσθη χωρίον· τὸ τῇ ἀπαθείᾳ σύντροφον, τὸν ἐμπαθῆ καὶ ἐπίκηρον ἀντηλλάξατο βίον· τὸ ἀδέσποτόν τε καὶ αὐτεξούσιον, νῦν ὑπὸ τοιούτων καὶ τοσούτων κακῶν κυριεύεται, ὡς μηδὲ ῥᾴδιον εἶναι τοὺς τυράννους ἡμῶν ἀπαριθμήσασθαι. Ἕκαστον γὰρ τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν παθῶν, ὅταν ἐπικρατήσῃ, δεσπότης τοῦ δουλωθέντος γίνεται· καὶ καθάπερ τις τύραννος καταλαβὼν τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, δι' αὐτῶν τῶν ὑποχειρίων κακοῖ τὸ ὑπήκοον, ὑπηρέταις τοῖς ἡμετέροις λογι σμοῖς πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν ἑαυτῷ καταχρώμενος· οὕτως ὁ θυμὸς, οὕτως ὁ φόβος, ἡ δειλία, τὸ θράσος, τὸ κατὰ λύπην τε καὶ τὸ καθ' ἡδονὴν πάθος, μῖσος, ἔρις, ἀνέλεος,