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is made perfect in weakness,” let us be eager to endure the suffering in silence. Let us cast into the fire the viper that clung to the hand. Let our hands minister to the works; for such a thing also has some spiritual benefit. Let the care of the churches consume us; for this is good and pleasing to Christ. If it should be necessary, let us flee through a basket, let us spend a night and a day in the deep; let us become a spectacle both to angels and to men; let us appear as the refuse of the world; for these things are good, since they easily lead up to God. Let us suffer all the things of Paul. Let us become to the Jews as Jews, to those under the law as under the law, to those without law as without law, being under the law to Christ. Let us become all things to all men, that we may win all or the most; let us dare even to speak against ourselves for the sake of our brothers, and let us be willing to become an anathema for their sakes. If we live in this way, the world will be crucified to us and we to the world, and we will no longer live, but Christ will live in us. Can anyone say anything more beloved than such a life? But let us boast least of all in other things; but if we should choose to boast, we will not be fools; for we shall speak the truth; the third heaven has been seen by us and paradise has appeared, and we do not even know whether in the body or out of the body; and unspoken words have been heard by us, which it is not lawful for those who think human thoughts to speak.

24 Thus may we appear as Pauls and thus indeed may we attain similar graces. Thus both Peter and Paul will be glorified by our improvement and will be pleased by our imitation of them; for in nothing does the company of the saints so rejoice as in a man's repentance and change for the better, and in our salvation, for which was their every purpose, both of their teaching and of their preaching and of their very end, which they achieved in imitation of the Lord's. Thus the apostles rejoice in our affairs, thus the chosen of the twelve are gladdened. But since I have mentioned the number, I have something to say about this. And do not suppose me to be rambling if I chatter about numbers; for the argument has some theory that is not ignoble and not unpleasing to the saints, since the heralds of God did not entirely reject the wisdom that is apparent, but accepted what was not harmful, and abhorred what was superfluous. I seek, therefore, for what reason Christ adopted the number of the twelve and, when it was necessary to take disciples for the preaching, He chose neither fewer nor more than the twelve. Arithmetical arguments have nothing surprising to say about the number twelve; for neither on planes a triangle or a square or a circle, nor in solids a cube or a pyramid or anything else of the known prominent figures in these has happened upon it. For it has been shown to be a heteromecic number, composed of a double six, the twelve being as it were from a perfect number in its relation, as has been observed by those skilled in these matters, lest the argument be altogether too curious and not suited to theological theorems. But not even musical harmony has anything to contribute for us; for it is common to other numbers. This number, then, is very dear to God; for by it He measures the things of His inheritance. And Israel is the portion of the inheritance; by so many tribes is this one counted. The number twelve, then, is composed of ten and two, the ten being of a second monad and belonging to things under generation; for just as, of course, the first monad applies to the first things as indivisible and unable to proceed from themselves and to those whose essence is hidden, so indeed also to the second and things of our world as divisible and measured by ten, the second is in every way suitable. It was necessary, then, that Christ, having come into the mystery among us and having taken up the man whom He also willed to deify, should somehow take on the ten, and it was necessary that to the ten should be added neither a monad nor a triad nor any other of the numbers, but a dyad in every way; for the dyad is the first number and the very first and fertile movement of the monad

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ἀσθενείᾳ τελειοῦται», σιωπῇ τὸ πάθος ὑπομεῖναι σπουδά σωμεν. ἀπορρίψωμεν τῷ πυρὶ τὴν προσφῦσαν ἔχιδναν τῇ χειρί. αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν πρὸς τὰ ἔργα διακονείτωσαν· ἔχει γάρ τι τὸ τοιοῦτον καὶ ὠφελείας πνευματικῆς. ἡ μέριμνα καταδαπανάτω ἡμᾶς τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν· ἀγαθὸν γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ ἀρέσκον Χριστῷ. διὰ σαργάνης ἂν δεήσειε φύγωμεν, νυχθήμερον ποιήσωμεν ἐν τῷ βυθῷ· θέατρον γενοίμεθα καὶ ἀγγέλοις καὶ ἀνθρώποις· ὡσπερεὶ καθάρματα τοῦ κόσμου φανούμεθα· καλὰ γὰρ ταῦτα ἐπείπερ εὐχερῶς ἀνάγουσιν εἰς θεόν. πάντα τὰ Παύλου πεισώμεθα. γενώμεθα τοῖς Ἰου δαίοις ὡς Ἰουδαῖοι, τοῖς ὑπὸ νόμου ὡς ὑπὸ νόμου, τοῖς ἀνόμοις ὡς ἄνομοι, ἔννομοι ὄντες Χριστῷ. τοῖς πᾶσι πάντα γενοίμεθα, ἵνα τοὺς πάντας ἢ τοὺς πλείους κερδήσωμεν· θαρρήσωμεν καὶ καθ' ἑαυτῶν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἡμῶν φθέγξασθαι, καὶ ἀνάθεμα διὰ τούτους γενέσθαι θελήσωμεν. ἂν οὕτω πολιτευθῶμεν, σταυρωθήσεται μὲν ἡμῖν ὁ κόσμος καὶ ἡμεῖς τῷ κόσμῳ σταυρωθησόμεθα, ζήσομεν δὲ ἡμεῖς οὐκέτι, ζήσεται δὲ ἐν ἡμῖν ὁ Χριστός. ἔχει τις εἰπεῖν τῆς τοιαύτης ζωῆς προσφιλέστερον; καυχησώμεθα δὲ ἐν μὲν ἄλλοις ἥκιστα· εἰ δὲ καυχήσασθαι προελοίμεθα, οὐκ ἐσό μεθα ἄφρονες· ἐροῦμεν γὰρ τἀληθές· τρίτος ἡμῖν οὐρανὸς τεθεώρηται καὶ ὁ παράδεισος ὤφθη, καὶ οὐδ' ἐν γνώσει εἰ μετὰ σωμάτων ἢ σωμάτων ἐκτός· λόγοι δὲ ἡμῖν ἠκούσ θησαν ἄρρητοι, οὓς οὐκ ἐξὸν τοῖς τὰ ἀνθρώπινα φρονοῦσι λαλεῖν.

24 Οὕτως ἡμεῖς καὶ Παῦλοι φανείημεν καὶ οὕτω δὴ καὶ τῶν ὁμοίων χαρίτων ἐπιτευξοίμεθα. οὕτω καὶ Πέτρος καὶ Παῦλος τῇ ἡμῶν βελτιώσει ἐνδοξασθήσονται καὶ τῇ πρὸς αὐτοὺς μιμήσει χαρίσονται· ὡς οὐδενὶ γὰρ οὕτως ὥσπερ ἐπὶ ἀνθρώπου μετανοίᾳ καὶ πρὸς τὰ κρείττω μεταβολῇ ὁ τῶν ἁγίων δῆμος καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ σωτηρίᾳ ἀγάλλεται, ὑπὲρ οὗ ἅπας ἐκείνοις σκοπὸς καὶ τῆς διδασκαλίας καὶ τοῦ κηρύγ ματος καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ τέλους, ὃ τοῦ δεσποτικοῦ πρὸς μίμη σιν κατωρθώσαντο. οὕτως ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις οἱ ἀπόστολοι χαίρουσιν, οὕτως οἱ τῆς δωδεκάδος ἐπευφραίνονται πρόκριτοι. ἀλλ' ἐπείπερ ἐμνήσθην τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ, ἔχω τι περὶ τού του εἰπεῖν. καὶ μή με περιττολόγον ὑπολάβητε, εἰ ἀδολεσχῶ περὶ ἀριθμῶν· ἔχει γάρ τι θεωρίας ὁ λόγος οὐκ ἀγεννοῦς καὶ μηδὲ τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀπᾳδούσης, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ πάμπαν τὸ τῆς φαινομένης σοφίας οἱ θεοκήρυκες ἀπεβάλλοντο, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν μὴ βλάπτον ἐδέξαντο, τὸ δὲ περιττὸν ἐβδελύξαντο. ζητῶ γοῦν, ὅτου χάριν τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῆς δωδεκάδος προσή κατο ὁ Χριστὸς καί, δεῆσαν μαθητὰς λαβεῖν εἰς τὸ κήρυγμα, οὐκ ἐλάττους ἢ μείζους τῆς δωδεκάδος προείλετο. ἀριθμητι κοὶ μὲν λόγοι οὐκ ἔχουσί τι ξενίζον περὶ δωδεκάδος ἐρεῖν· οὔτε γὰρ ἐν ἐπιπέδοις τρίγωνος ἢ τετράγωνος ἢ κύκλος οὔτ' ἐν στερεοῖς κύβος ἢ πυραμὶς ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν γινωσκομένων περιφανῶν ἐν τούτοις ἐπισυμβέβηκεν. ἑτερομήκης γὰρ ἀνα πέφανται ἐκ διπλῆς ἑξάδος συντεθεῖσθαι τῶν δώδεκα ὡς ἐκ τελείου τῇ σχέσει, καθὼς τοῖς περὶ ταῦτα δεινοῖς τεθεώ ρηται, μὴ καὶ πάνυ περίεργος ἂν εἴη ὁ λόγος καὶ θεωρήμασι θεολογικοῖς οὐχ ἁρμόδιος. ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὸ τῆς μουσικῆς ἁρμονίας ἔχει τι ἡμῖν συντελοῦν· κοινὸν γὰρ ἑτέροις τῶν ἀριθμῶν. ἔστι μὲν οὖν ὁ ἀριθμὸς οὗτος φίλος πάνυ θεῷ· τὰ γὰρ τῆς αὐτοῦ κληρονομίας ὑπὸ τούτου μετρεῖ. σχοίνισμα δὲ κληρονομίας ὁ Ἰσραήλ· τοσαύταις οὗτος ταῖς φυλαῖς κατη ρίθμηται. ἔστι γοῦν ὁ ἀριθμὸς ἐκ τοῦ δέκα καὶ δύο συν τεθειμένος ὁ δώδεκα, τοῦ δέκα μὲν δευτέρας μονάδος καὶ προσηκούσης τοῖς ὑπὸ γένεσιν· ὡς γὰρ ἀμέλει τοῖς πρώτοις ὡς ἀμερέσι καὶ ἑαυτῶν ἀνεκφυτήτοις καὶ τοῖς οὐσίαν κρυ φίοις ἡ πρώτη ἐφαρμόττει μονάς, οὕτω δὴ καὶ τοῖς δευ τέροις καὶ καθ' ἡμᾶς ὡς μεριστοῖς καὶ τοῖς δέκα μετρου μένοις ἡ δευτέρα πάντως ἁρμόδιος. ἔδει γοῦν τοῦ δέκα ὁ πωσοῦν προσλαβεῖν ἐν τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς μυστηρίῳ γενόμενον τὸν Χριστὸν καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀναδεξάμενον ὃν καὶ θεῶσαι βεβούληται, ἔδει δὲ τῇ δεκάδι προσεῖναι μήτε μονάδα μήτε τριάδα μήτε τινὰ ἄλλον τῶν ἀριθμῶν, δυάδα δὲ πάντως· δυὰς γάρ ἐστιν ἀριθμὸς πρῶτος καὶ μονάδος πρωτίστη κίνησις καὶ γόνιμος