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provides the perception of good things. Therefore, to those who hunger for these things, God the Word promises fulness, a fulness that kindles the appetite with satiety, not dulling it. This, then, is what He teaches, discoursing from the high mountain of thoughts, that we should not occupy our desire with any such thing, for which no end is set before those who are zealous, in which zeal is both vain and foolish; just as for those who run after the top of their own shadow, for whom the race leads to the unattainable, since that which is pursued always swiftly recedes from the one pursuing it; but to turn our appetite to those things in which zeal becomes a possession of the one who is zealous. For he who has desired virtue makes the good his own possession, seeing in himself what he desired. Blessed, then, is he who has hungered for temperance; for he will be filled with purity. But the fulness, as has been said, produces not aversion, but an increase of the appetite, and both grow together equally with each other. For upon the desire for virtue followed the possession of the thing desired; and the good that came to be unceasingly contributed gladness to the soul. For such is the nature of this good, that it not only sweetens the one enjoying it in the present, but also provides active gladness in all parts of time. For both the memory of things lived rightly gladdens the one who has succeeded; and life in the present, when it is conducted through virtue, and the expectation of the reward, which I suppose to be none other than virtue itself again, which is both the work of those who succeed, and becomes the prize for their successes. But if it is necessary to touch upon a bold argument: it seems to me, perhaps, that through the word concerning virtue and righteousness the Lord sets Himself forth to the appetite of his hearers; who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, but also the bread coming down from heaven, and living water; for which David confesses to thirst in a certain psalm, offering to God this blessed passion of the soul, in which he says: My soul has thirsted for God, the strong, the living; when shall I come and appear before the face of God? He seems to me, having been pre-instructed by the power of the Spirit in these magnificent teachings of the Lord, also to have proclaimed to himself the fulness of such an appetite. For I, he says, in righteousness shall appear before your face, I shall be satisfied when your glory appears to me. This, then, according to my word, is true virtue, the good unmixed with the worse, concerning which every thought 44.1248 of things conceived towards the better is comprehended God the Word Himself, the virtue that covered the heavens, as Habakkuk relates, and well were they blessed who hunger for this righteousness of God. For in reality he who has tasted of the Lord, as the psalm says, that is, he who has received God in himself, becomes full of that for which he thirsted and hungered, according to the promise of the one who said: For I and the Father will come, and we will make our abode with him, the Holy Spirit obviously having dwelled in him beforehand. Thus it seems to me also the great Paul, who tasted of those ineffable fruits from paradise, was both full of what he tasted, and always hungry. For he confesses to have been filled with the desired thing, saying: But Christ lives in me; and as one who is always hungry he presses on to what is ahead, saying: Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect, but I run so that I may lay hold. For let it be granted to us by authority to say something hypothetically, which nature does not possess. For just as with perceptible food, if nothing of what is taken for nourishment were expelled as superfluous, but the whole were taken up for the increase of the body's height, the bodies would have been raised to a great height, with the daily nourishment increasing the size by itself; so that righteousness, and all virtue with it, since it is not expelled when eaten in the intelligible manner of food, always makes higher through itself those who

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ἀγαθῶν παρέχει τὴν αἴσθησιν. ∆ιὸ τοῖς ταῦτα πεινῶσιν, ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος τὴν πλησμονὴν ἐπαγγέλλεται πλησμονὴν ἐξάπτουσαν κόρῳ τὴν ὄρεξιν, οὐκ ἀμβλύνουσαν. Τοῦτο οὖν ἐστιν, ὃ διδάσκει ἐκ τοῦ ὑψηλοῦ τῶν νοημάτων ὄρους δια λεγόμενος, τῷ μηδενὶ τοιούτῳ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἡμῶν προσασχολεῖν, οὗ μηδὲν πρόκειται τοῖς σπουδάζουσι πέρας, ἐν οἷς ματαία τε καὶ ἀνόητός ἐστιν ἡ σπουδή· καθάπερ τοῖς τῇ κορυφῇ τῆς ἑαυτῶν σκιᾶς ἐπιτρέ χουσιν, οἷς ὁ δρόμος ἐπὶ τὸ ἀνήνυτον φέρεται, εἰς ἐκεῖνο ἀεὶ ταχέως τοῦ διωκομένου ὑπεξιόντος τῷ ἐπι τρέχοντι· ἀλλ' ἐκεῖ τρέψαι τὴν ὄρεξιν, ἐν οἷς ἡ σπουδὴ κτῆμα τοῦ σπουδάζοντος γίνεται. Ὁ γὰρ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐπιθυμήσας, κτῆμα ἴδιον ποιεῖται τὸ ἀγαθὸν, ἐν ἑαυτῷ βλέπων ὃ ἐπεθύμησεν. Μακάριος οὖν ὁ πει νάσας τὴν σωφροσύνην· ἐμπλησθήσεται γὰρ τῆς καθαρότητος. Ἡ δὲ πλησμονὴ, καθὼς εἴρηται, οὐκ ἀποστροφὴν, ἀλλ' ἐπίτασιν ποιεῖ τῆς ὀρέξεως, καὶ συναύξεται ἀλλήλοις κατὰ τὸ ἶσον ἀμφότερα. Τῇ τε γὰρ ἐπιθυμίᾳ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἡ τοῦ ἐπιθυμηθέντος κτῆ σις ἐπηκολούθησεν· καὶ τὸ ἐγγενόμενον ἀγαθὸν ἄπαυ στοι τὴν εὐφροσύνην τῇ ψυχῇ συνεισήνεγκεν. Τοιαύτη γὰρ ἡ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τούτου φύσις ἐστὶν, ὡς μὴ ἐν τῷ παρόντι μόνον καταγλυκαίνειν τὸν ἀπολαύοντα, ἀλλ' ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς τοῦ χρόνου μέρεσιν ἐνεργὸν παρέχειν τὴν εὐφροσύνην. Καὶ γὰρ ἡ μνήμη τῶν ὀρθῶς βε βιωμένων εὐφραίνει τὸν κατορθώσαντα· καὶ ἡ ἐν τῷ παρόντι ζωὴ, ὅταν δι' ἀρετῆς διεξάγηται, καὶ ἡ τῆς ἀντιδόσεως προσδοκία, ἣν οὐκ ἄλλην εἶναί τινα ὑπο λαμβάνω, ἢ αὐτὴν πάλιν τὴν ἀρετὴν, ἣ καὶ ἔργον ἐστὶ τῶν κατορθούντων, καὶ γέρας ἐπὶ τοῖς κατορθώ μασι γίνεται. Εἰ δὲ χρή τινος καὶ τολμηροῦ καθάψασθαι λόγου· δοκεῖ τάχα μοι διὰ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἀρετήν τε καὶ δικαιο σύνην λόγου ἑαυτὸν προτιθέναι τῇ ὀρέξει τῶν ἀκουόν των ὁ Κύριος· ὃς ἐγενήθη ἡμῖν σοφία ἀπὸ Θεοῦ, δι καιοσύνη τε καὶ ἁγιασμὸς, καὶ ἀπολύτρωσις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄρτος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταβαίνων, καὶ ὕδωρ ζῶν· οὗ διψῇν ὁμολογεῖ ∆αβὶδ ἔν τινι ψαλμῳδίᾳ, τὸ μακαρι στὸν τοῦτο τῆς ψυχῆς πάθος τῷ Θεῷ προσφέρων, ἐν οἷς φησιν· Ἐδίψησεν ἡ ψυχή μου πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ἰσχυρὸν, τὸν ζῶντα· πότε ἥξω καὶ ὀφθήσο μαι τῷ προσώπῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ; Ὅς μοι δοκεῖ τῇ δυνά μει τοῦ Πνεύματος προπαιδευθεὶς τὰ μεγαλοφυῆ ταῦτα τοῦ Κυρίου διδάγματα, καὶ τὴν πλησμονὴν τῆς τοιαύτης ὀρέξεως ἑαυτῷ προσειπεῖν. Ἐγὼ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ ὀφθήσομαι τῷ προσώπῳ σου, χορτασθήσομαι ἐν τῷ ὀφθῆναί μοι τὴν δόξαν σου. Αὕτη οὖν ἐστι κατά γε τὸν ἐμὸν λόγον ἡ ἀληθὴς ἀρετὴ, τὸ ἀμιγὲς τοῦ χείρονος ἀγαθὸν, περὶ ὃ πᾶν νόημα 44.1248 τῶν πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον νοουμένων καταλαμβάνεται αὐτὸς ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος, ἡ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς καλύψασα ἀρετὴ, καθὼς ὁ Ἀμβακοὺμ διεξέρχεται, καὶ καλῶς οἱ ταύτην τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν δικαιοσύνην πεινῶντες, ἐμακαρίσθησαν. Τῷ ὄντι γὰρ ὁ γευσάμενος τοῦ Κυρίου, καθὼς ἡ ψαλμῳδία λέγει, τουτέστιν, ὁ ἐν ἑαυτῷ δεξάμενος τὸν Θεὸν, πλήρης γίνεται οὗ ἐδίψησέν τε καὶ ἐπείνασεν, κατὰ τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν τοῦ εἰπόντος· ὅτι Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἐλευσόμεθα, καὶ μονὴν παρ' αὐτῷ ποιήσο μεν, τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος δηλονότι προενοικήσαντος. Οὕτω μοι δοκεῖ καὶ Παῦλος ὁ μέγας ὁ τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων ἐκείνων καρπῶν τῶν ἐκ τοῦ παραδείσου ἀπογευσά μενος, καὶ πλήρης ὧν ἐγεύσατο εἶναι, καὶ ἀεὶ πει νῶν. Καὶ γὰρ πεπληρῶσθαι τοῦ ποθουμένου ὁμολογεῖ λέγων· Ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός· καὶ ὡς πεινῶν ἀεὶ τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτείνεται λέγων· Οὐχ ὅτι ἤδη ἔλαβον ἢ ἤδη τετελείωμαι, τρέχω δὲ ἵνα κατα λάβω. ∆εδόσθω γὰρ ἡμῖν κατ' ἐξουσίαν ὑποθετικῶς εἶναί τι λέγειν, ὃ ἡ φύσις οὐκ ἔχει. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς αἰσθητῆς βρώσεως, εἰ μηδὲν περιττωματικῶς τῶν εἰς τροφὴν λαμβανομένων ἐξεποιεῖτο, ἀλλὰ τὸ ὅλον εἰς προσθήκην τοῦ σωματικοῦ ὕψους ἀνελαμ βάνετο, εἰς πολὺ ἂν ὕψος ἐπήρθη τὰ σώματα, τῆς καθ' ἡμέραν τροφῆς δι' ἑαυτῆς ἐπαυξούσης τὸ μέγε θος· οὕτως ἡ δικαιοσύνη ἐκείνη, καὶ πᾶσα ἡ μετ' αὐτῆς ἀρετὴ, ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἐκποιεῖται ἐσθιομένη κατὰ τὸν νοητὸν τῆς βρώσεως τρόπον, ὑψηλοτέρους ἀεὶ ποιεῖ δι' ἑαυτῆς τοὺς