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who have appeared, making the beginning of a filthy life the seemingly lawful and permitted participation in pleasures. For when once they had accepted such an experience, according to the example of the stream we mentioned, having turned their whole desire towards these things, and having diverted the impulse of their mind from more divine things to base and material ones, they opened up great room for passions within themselves, so that the upward impulse completely ceased and desire withered, having entirely flowed away towards the passions. 9.2 For this reason we believe it is profitable for the weaker ones to take refuge in virginity as in some safe fortress, and not, by descending to the ordinary course of life, to provoke temptations against themselves and to become entangled through the passions of the flesh with "those who war against the law of our mind," and to be in peril, not caring for earthly boundaries and the loss of money or any other of the things that are important in this life, but for our principal hope. For it is not possible for one who has turned his mind to this world, and taken up the cares of this life, and occupies himself in pleasing men, to become a fulfiller of the great and first commandment of the Lord, which says "to love God with all one's heart and strength." For how will someone love God with his whole heart, when he has divided his heart between God and the world, and stealing the love owed to Him alone, lavishes it on human passions? "For the unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, but the married man is anxious about the things of the world." But if the fight against pleasures seems arduous, let everyone take courage; for habit is not a small thing for this, and it works a certain pleasure through perseverance even in what seem most difficult—and the most beautiful and purest pleasure, which it is worthy for one who has sense to embrace rather than, by pettiness concerning base things, to be alienated from things that are truly great and "surpass all understanding."

10.t Chapter 10 What is truly desirable? 10.1 For how great is the loss to fall away from that which truly

possession of the beautiful, what word could describe? What hyperbole of thought could one use? How could one show and bring into description that which is both ineffable in speech and incomprehensible to thought? For if someone has so purified the eye of his heart as to be able somehow to see what was promised by the Lord in the Beatitudes, he will condemn every human voice as having no power to represent what has been perceived by the mind; but if someone, still mired in material passions, has his soul's vision plastered over, as if by some rheum of his impassioned state, so too is all power of words in vain. For in the case of those who are without perception, it is all the same whether one diminishes it by words or extols its wonders, just as in the case of the sun's ray, for one who has not seen the light from his very birth, the explanation of light through words is useless and unprofitable; for it is not possible for the splendor of the ray to shine through hearing. So also in the case of the intelligible and true light, each person has need of his own eyes in order to behold that beauty, which he who has seen it, by some divine gift and inspiration, holds the astonishment inexpressible in the secret place of his conscience; but he who has not seen it will not even know the loss of what he has been deprived. For how could anyone describe to him the good that has escaped him? How could anyone bring before his sight the

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φανέντας, ἀρχὴν δὲ ῥυπαροῦ βίου ποιησαμένους τὴν δοκοῦσαν ἔννομόν τε καὶ συγκεχωρη μένην τῶν ἡδονῶν μετουσίαν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἅπαξ τὴν τοιαύτην παρεδέξαντο πεῖραν, κατὰ τὸ ῥηθὲν ἡμῖν ἐπὶ τοῦ ῥείθρου ὑπόδειγμα ὅλον πρὸς ταῦτα τὸ ἐπιθυμητικὸν μεταστρέ ψαντες καὶ τὴν ὁρμὴν τῆς διανοίας ἀπὸ τῶν θειοτέρων πρὸς τὰ ταπεινὰ καὶ ὑλώδη μετοχετεύσαντες πολλὴν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς τὴν εὐρυχωρίαν τοῖς πάθεσιν ἤνοιξαν, ὡς παντελῶς τῆς ἐπὶ τὰ ἄνω φορᾶς λῆξαι καὶ ἀποξηρανθῆναι τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν, ὅλην πρὸς τὰ πάθη μεταρρυεῖσαν. 9.2 ∆ιὰ τοῦτο λυσιτελὲς εἶναι νομίζομεν τοῖς ἀσθενεστέ ροις εἰς τὴν παρθενίαν ὡς εἰς ἀσφαλές τι φρούριον κατα φεύγειν καὶ μὴ πρὸς τὴν ἀκολουθίαν κατιόντας τοῦ βίου προκαλεῖσθαι καθ' ἑαυτῶν πειρασμοὺς καὶ «τοῖς ἀντιστρα τευομένοις τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ νοὸς ἡμῶν» διὰ τῶν τῆς σαρκὸς παθημάτων συμπλέκεσθαι, καὶ κινδυνεύειν οὐ περὶ γῆς ὅρων καὶ χρημάτων ἀποβολῆς ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς τῶν κατὰ τὴν ζωὴν ταύτην σπουδαζομένων φροντίζοντας, ἀλλὰ περὶ τῆς προηγουμένης ἐλπίδος. Οὐκ ἔστι γὰρ τὸν εἰς τὸν κόσμον τοῦτον ἀποστραφέντα τῇ διανοίᾳ καὶ τὴν ὧδε μέριμναν ἀνα λαβόντα καὶ εἰς ἀνθρωπίνην ἀρέσκειαν ἑαυτὸν ἀσχολοῦντα πληρωτὴν γενέσθαι τῆς μεγάλης καὶ πρώτης ἐντολῆς τοῦ κυρίου, ἥ φησιν «ἐξ ὅλης καρδίας καὶ δυνάμεως τὸν θεὸν ἀγαπᾶν». Πῶς γὰρ ἀγαπήσει τις ἐξ ὅλης καρδίας τὸν θεόν, ὅταν καταμερίσῃ τὴν καρδίαν ἑαυτοῦ πρὸς θεὸν καὶ κόσμον καὶ κλέπτων τὴν ἐκείνῳ μόνῳ χρεωστουμένην ἀγάπην ἀνθρωπίνοις αὐτὴν πάθεσι προσαναλίσκῃ; «Ὁ γὰρ ἄγαμος μεριμνᾷ τὰ τοῦ κυρίου, ὁ δὲ γαμήσας μεριμνᾷ τὰ τοῦ κόσμου». Εἰ δὲ ἐπίπονος ἡ πρὸς τὰς ἡδονὰς μάχη δοκεῖ, θαρρείτω πᾶς· οὐδὲ γὰρ πρὸς τοῦτο μικρὰ ἡ συνήθεια καὶ τοῖς δυσκολωτάτοις εἶναι δοκοῦσιν ἡδονήν τινα διὰ τῆς ἐπιμονῆς ἐνεργάσασθαι, καὶ ἡδονὴν τὴν καλλίστην καὶ καθαρωτάτην, ἧς ἄξιόν ἐστι τόν γε νοῦν ἔχοντα περιέχεσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ τῇ περὶ τὰ ταπεινὰ μικροπρεπείᾳ τῶν μεγάλων κατὰ ἀλήθειαν καὶ «πάντα νοῦν ὑπερεχόντων» ἀλλοτριοῦσ θαι.

10.t Κεφάλαιον ιʹ Τί τὸ ἀληθῶς ἐπιθυμητόν; 10.1 Ὅση γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ζημία ἐν ἀποπτώσει γενέσθαι τῆς τοῦ ὄντως

καλοῦ κτήσεως, τίς ἂν παραστήσειε λόγος; Ποίᾳ δ' ἄν τις χρήσαιτο διανοίας ὑπερβολῇ; Πῶς ἂν ἐν δείξοιτο καὶ εἰς ὑπογραφὴν ἀγάγοι τὸ καὶ λόγῳ ἄρρητον καὶ νοήματι ἀκατάληπτον; Εἰ μὲν γάρ τις ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον τὸ τῆς καρδίας ὄμμα κεκάθαρται, ὡς δυνηθῆναι ποσῶς ἰδεῖν τὸ ἐν τοῖς μακαρισμοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου ἐπηγγελμένον, πάσης καταγνώσεται φωνῆς ἀνθρωπίνης, ὡς οὐδεμίαν ἐχούσης δύναμιν εἰς τὴν τοῦ νοηθέντος παράστασιν· εἰ δέ τις ἔτι τοῖς ὑλικοῖς ἐγκαθήμενος πάθεσι καθάπερ ὑπὸ λήμης τινὸς τῆς ἐμπαθοῦς διαθέσεως τὸ διορατικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπιπέπλασται, ματαία καὶ οὕτω πᾶσα λόγων ἰσχύς. Ἐπὶ γὰρ τῶν ἀναισθήτως ἐχόντων ἐν τῷ ὁμοίῳ καθέστηκε τό τε ἐλαττοῦν διὰ τοῦ λόγου καὶ τὸ ὑπεραίρειν θαύματα, ὡς καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἡλιακῆς ἀκτῖνος τῷ μὴ τεθεαμένῳ τὸ φῶς ἀπὸ πρώτης γενέσεως ἀργὴ καὶ ἀνόνητος γίνεται ἡ διὰ τῶν λόγων τοῦ φωτὸς ἑρμηνεία· οὐ γάρ ἐστι δυνατὸν τὴν τῆς ἀκτῖνος λαμπηδόνα δι' ἀκοῆς ἐναυγάσαι. Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ νοητοῦ καὶ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς ἰδίων ὀφθαλμῶν ἑκά στῳ χρεία, ἵνα τὸ κάλλος ἐκεῖνο θεάσηται, ὅπερ ὁ μὲν ἰδὼν κατά τινα θείαν δωρεάν τε καὶ ἐπίπνοιαν ἀνερμήνευτον ἐν τῷ ἀπορρήτῳ τῆς συνειδήσεως ἔχει τὴν ἔκπληξιν· ὁ δὲ μὴ τεθεαμένος οὐδὲ γνώσεται τὴν ζημίαν ὧν ἀπεστέρηται. Πῶς γὰρ ἄν τις αὐτῷ τὸ διαπεφευγὸς αὐτὸν ἀγαθὸν παρα στήσειε; Πῶς ἄν τις ὑπ' ὄψιν ἀγάγοι τὸ