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shows the soul to be dead by its own blow to the one who rises up against the word of piety. 2.14 And one might find such a battle in us in another way. For man is set forth in the middle, like a prize of a contest for those contending from the opposite side; and to whomever he is added, he makes that one the victor over the opponent; for example, idolatry and piety, licentiousness and self-control, justice and injustice, pride and moderation, and all things conceived from opposition are clearly a battle of an Egyptian against a Hebrew; 2.15 Moses, therefore, teaches us by his own example to stand with virtue as with a kinsman, but to destroy the one from the opposite side who attacks virtue. For in reality the prevalence of piety becomes the death and destruction of idolatry. Thus also injustice is destroyed by justice and pride is slain by moderation. 2.16 But also the civil strife among themselves occurs in us as well. For the dogmatic formulations of wicked heresies would have had no place, if the erring reasonings had not set themselves in opposition to the truer ones in a hostile array. If, therefore, we are too weak to give victory to the just on our own, while the worse prevails through its arguments and thrusts away the principle of truth, we must flee from there as quickly as possible in accordance with the historical example, to a greater and higher teaching of the mysteries. 2.17 And if again it should be necessary to dwell with a foreigner, that is, if need should compel us to associate with outside wisdom, let us choose this too, after scattering the wicked shepherds from their unjust use of the wells, which is to say, after refuting the teachers of evil for their wicked use of learning. 2.18 Thus we shall be by ourselves, no longer engaging and mediating for certain combatants, but we shall live together with those of one mind and one opinion who are tended by us, with all the movements of the soul within us being shepherded, like sheep, by the will of the presiding reason. 2.19 And thus, as we abide in this peaceful and unwarlike way of life, truth will then shine upon us, illuminating the eyes of the soul with its own splendors. And God is the truth that was then made manifest to Moses through that ineffable illumination.

2.20 And if the light is kindled from a thorny bush, by which the soul of the prophet is illuminated, this too will not be unhelpful for our inquiry. For if God is truth, and truth is light, and the voice of the Gospel attests these high and divine names to the God who appeared to us in the flesh, it follows that such a discipline of virtue leads us to the knowledge of that light which descends even to human nature, not shining from one of the luminaries among the stars, so that its radiance might not be thought to be of the underlying matter, but from an earthly bush surpassing the luminaries in heaven with its rays, 2.21 through which we are also taught the mystery concerning the Virgin, from whom the light of the divinity, having shone upon human life through birth, kept the kindled bush incorrupt, the shoot of her virginity not having been withered by the childbirth. 2.22 From that light we are taught what we must do to stand within the rays of the true light: that it is not possible to run up with bound feet to that height where the light of truth is seen, unless the dead and earthly covering of skins is loosed from the foundations of the soul, which was placed around our nature at the beginning, when we were made naked through disobedience to the divine will. And so, when these things have been done by us, the knowledge of the truth will follow, revealing itself; for the full knowledge of what is becomes a purification from the conception of what is not. 2.23 And this, according to my account, is the definition of truth: not to be deceived in the understanding of what is. For falsehood is a certain fantasy concerning what is not, arising in the mind, as if what does not exist subsists, but truth is the secure

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ψυχὴν νεκρὸν ἀποδείκνυσι τῇ παρ' ἑαυτοῦ πληγῇ τὸν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀντεγειρόμενον. 2.14 Καὶ ἄλλως δ' ἄν τις εὕροι τὴν τοιαύτην ἐν ἡμῖν μάχην. Μέσος γὰρ ὁ ἄνθρωπος οἷόν τι ἔπαθλον ἀγῶνος τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου μεταποιουμένοις πρόκειται· καὶ ᾧπερ ἂν προστεθῇ, τοῦτον νικητὴν τοῦ ἐναντίου ποιεῖ· οἷον εἰδωλολατρεία καὶ θεοσέβεια, ἀκολασία καὶ σωφροσύνη, δικαιοσύνη καὶ ἀδικία, τύφος καὶ μετριότης, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐξ ἀντιθέτου νοούμενα Αἰγυπτίου τινὸς ἄντικρύς ἐστι πρὸς Ἑβραῖον μάχη· 2.15 παιδεύει τοίνυν ἡμᾶς ὁ Μωϋσῆς τῷ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὑποδείγματι συνίστασθαι μὲν ὡς ὁμοφύλῳ τῇ ἀρετῇ, ἀναιρεῖν δὲ τὸν ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου τῇ ἀρετῇ ἐπεμβαίνοντα. Τῷ ὄντι γὰρ ἡ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐπικράτησις θάνατος καὶ φθορὰ τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας γίνεται. Οὕτω καὶ διὰ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἀναιρεῖται ἡ ἀδικία καὶ τῇ μετριότητι ὁ τύφος καταφονεύεται. 2.16 Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ τῶν ἐμφυλίων πρὸς ἀλλήλους στάσις καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν γίνεται. Οὐ γὰρ ἂν αἱ τῶν πονηρῶν αἱρέσεων δογμα τοποιΐαι χώραν ἔσχον, μὴ εἰς ἀντίπαλον τάξιν τῶν πεπλανη μένων λογισμῶν τοῖς ἀληθεστέροις ἀντιβαινόντων. Ἐὰν οὖν ἀσθενέστεροι ὦμεν ἢ ὥστε δι' ἑαυτῶν δοῦναι τῷ δικαίῳ τὸ κράτος, ὑπερισχύοντος διὰ τῶν ἐπιχειρημάτων τοῦ χείρονος καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ἀληθείας ἀπωθουμένου, φευκτέον ἐντεῦθεν ὡς τάχιστα καθ' ὁμοιότητα τοῦ ἱστορικοῦ ὑποδείγματος, πρὸς μείζονά τε καὶ ὑψηλοτέραν τῶν μυστηρίων διδασκαλίαν. 2.17 Κἂν ἀλλοφύλῳ πάλιν συνοικῆσαι δέῃ, τουτέστι κἂν τῇ ἔξω συγγενέσθαι σοφίᾳ καταναγκάζῃ ἡ χρεία, καὶ τοῦτο ἑλώμεθα τοὺς πονηροὺς ποιμένας τῆς ἀδίκου τῶν φρεάτων χρήσεως ἀποσκεδάσαντες, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τοὺς τῶν κακῶν διδασκάλους ἐπὶ τῇ πονηρᾷ χρήσει τῆς παιδεύσεως διελέγ ξαντες. 2.18 Οὕτως ἐφ' ἑαυτῶν ἰδιάσομεν, οὐκέτι μαχομένοις τισὶ συμπλεκόμενοί τε καὶ μεσιτεύοντες, ἀλλ' ἐν ὁμοφρονοῦσί τε καὶ ὁμογνωμοῦσι τοῖς παρ' ἡμῶν βουκολουμένοις συζή σομεν, πάντων τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν τῆς ψυχῆς κινημάτων, προβάτων δίκην, τῷ βουλήματι τοῦ ἐπιστατοῦντος λόγου ποιμαινομένων. 2.19 Καὶ οὕτω προσεδρεύουσιν ἡμῖν τῇ εἰρηνικῇ ταύτῃ καὶ ἀπολέμῳ διαγωγῇ ἐπιλάμψει τότε ἡ ἀλήθεια, ταῖς ἰδίαις μαρμαρυγαῖς τὰς τῆς ψυχῆς ὄψεις περιαυγάζουσα. Θεὸς δέ ἐστιν ἡ ἀλήθεια ἡ ἐμφανισθεῖσα τότε διὰ τῆς ἀρρήτου ἐκείνης φωταγωγίας τῷ Μωϋσεῖ.

2.20 Εἰ δὲ καὶ θάμνου τινὸς ἀκανθώδους τὸ φέγγος ἐξάπτεται, ᾧ ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ προφήτου καταφωτίζεται, οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἀσυντελὲς ἡμῖν ἔσται πρὸς τὸ ζητούμενον. Εἰ γὰρ Θεὸς μὲν ἡ ἀλήθεια, ἡ δὲ ἀλήθεια φῶς ἐστι, ταῦτα δὲ τὰ ὑψηλά τε καὶ θεῖα τῶν ὀνομάτων ἡ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου φωνὴ προσμαρτυρεῖ τῷ διὰ σαρκὸς ἡμῖν ὀφθέντι Θεῷ, ἀκολούθως ἡ τοιαύτη τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀγωγὴ προσάγει ἡμᾶς τῇ γνώσει τοῦ φωτὸς ἐκείνου ὃ μέχρι τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης κάτεισι φύσεως, οὐκ ἀπό τινος τῶν περὶ τὰ ἄστρα φωστήρων λαμπόμενον, ὡς ἂν μὴ τῆς ὑποκειμένης ὕλης ἡ αὐγὴ νομισ θείη, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ γηΐνης θάμνου τοὺς κατ' οὐρανὸν φωστῆρας ταῖς ἀκτῖσιν ὑπερβαλλόμενον, 2.21 δι' οὗ διδασκόμεθα καὶ τὸ κατὰ τὴν Παρθένον μυστήριον ἀφ' ἧς τὸ τῆς θεότητος φῶς ἐπιλάμψαν τῷ ἀνθρωπίνῳ βίῳ διὰ γεννήσεως ἀδιάφθορον ἐφύλαξε τὴν ἐξάψασαν θάμνον, τοῦ βλαστοῦ τῆς παρθενίας μὴ καταμαρανθέντος τῷ τόκῳ. 2.22 Παρ' ἐκείνου τοῦ φωτὸς διδασκόμεθα τί ποιήσαντες ἐντὸς τῶν ἀκτίνων τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς στησόμεθα ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι δεδεμένοις ποσὶν ἀναδραμεῖν πρὸς τὸ ὕψος ἐκεῖνο, ἐν ᾧ τὸ φῶς τῆς ἀληθείας ὁρᾶται, εἰ μὴ περιλυθείη τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς βάσεων ἡ νεκρά τε καὶ γηΐνη τῶν δερμάτων περιβολή, ἡ περιτεθεῖσα κατ' ἀρχὰς τῇ φύσει, ὅτε διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς τοῦ θείου θελήματος ἐγυμνώθημεν. Καὶ οὕτως ἐπακολουθήσει τούτων ἡμῖν γενομένων ἡ τῆς ἀληθείας γνῶσις, αὐτὴ ἑαυτὴν φανεροῦσα· ἡ γὰρ τοῦ ὄντος ἐπίγνωσις τῆς περὶ τὸ μὴ ὂν ὑπολήψεως καθάρσιον γίνεται. 2.23 Τοῦτο δέ ἐστι κατά γε τὸν ἐμὸν λόγον ὁρισμὸς ἀληθείας τὸ μὴ διαψευσθῆναι τῆς τοῦ ὄντος κατανοήσεως. Ψεῦδος γάρ ἐστι φαντασία τις περὶ τὸ μὴ ὂν ἐγγινομένη τῇ διανοίᾳ, ὡς ὑφεστῶτος τοῦ μὴ ὑπάρχον τος, ἀλήθεια δὲ ἡ τοῦ ὄντως ὄντος ἀσφαλὴς