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having made their own mind inaccessible to things around it and unmixed, they may be able to gather it precisely into a "uniform coiling". This one might know also as following automatically upon the attention of the mind. For this Spirit quietly enters and departs during every anxious reflection, but especially in the case of those who are at rest in body and in thought. For these, keeping sabbath spiritually and ceasing, as far as possible, from all their own works, remove every work that is transitory and discursive and variegated concerning the knowledge of the soul's powers, and all perceptions of the senses and simply every activity of the body, that which is in our power, and that which is not completely in our power, like breathing, in so far as it is in our power.

(p. 134) But all these things follow effortlessly and without anxiety for those who have progressed in stillness; for by the complete entry of the soul into itself, all these same things must automatically come to be. But for beginners, you would see not one of the things mentioned coming about without toil. As, therefore, endurance follows love ("for love bears all things," but we are taught to achieve patience by force, so that through it we may arrive at love), so also is it with these matters. And what more needs to be said about these things? For all who are experienced laugh at those who legislate against them out of inexperience; for of such matters the teacher is not reason but labor and the experience gained through labor, which itself bears the fruit of what is beneficial and turns away the fruitless arguments of the contentious and quarrelsome. And since, as one of the great ones says concerning these things, the inner man is naturally conformed to the outer postures after the transgression, how would it not contribute something great to the one hastening to turn his mind in upon himself, so that it might be moved not in a straight but in a circular and unerring motion, by not directing the eye here and there, but fixing it as on some support on his own breast or navel? For in addition to coiling himself into a circle as it were from without, as far as possible, similarly to the movement of the mind earnestly pursued within him, he will also send inward to the heart the power of the mind that is poured out through the sight, by means of such a posture of the body. And if the power of the intelligible beast is upon the navel of the belly, as the law of sin has its dominion there and gives it pasture, why should we not set over it the law of the mind which wars against it, armed by prayer itself, so that the evil spirit driven out through the bath of regeneration, returning with seven other (p. 136) more evil spirits, may not settle in again and the last state become worse than the first?

"Take heed to yourself," says Moses; to all of yourself, that is, not to one part of what is yours, and not another. Through what? Through the mind, of course. For it is not possible for anything else to take heed to all of itself. Set this guard, therefore, over both soul and body; for through it you will easily be delivered from evil passions both of the body and of the soul. Therefore, stand before yourself, stand over yourself, inspect yourself, or rather, preside over and inspect and examine; for thus you will subdue the rebellious flesh to the spirit and "a hidden thing shall never be in your heart." "If the spirit of the ruler," that is, of the evil spirits and passions, "rises up against you," says Ecclesiastes, "do not leave your place," that is, do not leave a part of the soul, nor a member of the body, unsupervised. For thus you will be superior to the spirits that harass from below and you will stand with boldness, unexamined, before "the one who tests hearts and reins," as you yourself have pre-examined these things. "For if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged." It is Paul who says this. And having experienced that blessed experience of David, you yourself will say to God that "darkness will not be dark to you, and night will be light as day for me, for you have possessed my reins." Not that of the

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ἀπρόσιτον πρός τά περί αὐτόν καί ἀμιγῆ τόν οἰκεῖον νοῦν ποιήσαντες δυνηθῶσιν ἀκριβῶς εἰς «ἑνοειδῆ συνέλιξιν» συναγαγεῖν. Τοῦτο δ᾿ ἴσοι τις ἄν καί αὐτομάτως ἑπόμενον τῇ προσοχῇ τοῦ νοῦ. Ἡρέμα γάρ εἴσεσί τε καί ἔξεισι τουτί τό Πνεῦμα κἀπί πάσης ἐναγωνίου σκέψεως, μάλιστα δέ ἐπί τῶν ἡσυχαζόντων σώματι καί διανοίᾳ. Πνευματικῶς γάρ οὗτοι σαββατίζοντες καί ἀπό πάντων τῶν οἰκείων ἔργων καταπαύοντες, ὡς ἐφικτόν, πᾶν μέν τό μεταβατικόν καί διεξοδικόν καί πεποικιλμένον περί τάς γνώσεις τῶν ψυχικῶν δυνάμεων περιαιροῦσιν ἔργον καί τάς αἰσθητικάς πάσας ἀντιλήψεις καί πᾶσαν ἁπλῶς σώματος ἐνέργειαν, ἥτις ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν, ἥ δ᾿ οὐκ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν τελέως ὥσπερ καί τό ἀναπνεῖν, ἐφ᾿ ὅσον ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν.

(σελ. 134) Ταῦτα δέ πάντα τοῖς προκόψασι καθ᾿ ἡσυχίαν ἀπόνως καί ἀπεριμερίμνως ἕπεται˙ τῇ γάρ τελέα πρός ἑαυτήν εἰσόδῳ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτόματα ταὐτί πάντα ἐπιγίνεσθαι ἀνάγκη. Τοῖς δ᾿ ἀρχομένοις ἕν οὐδέν τῶν εἰρημένων ἴδοις ἄν ἀμογητί περιγινόμενον. Ὡς οὖν τῇ ἀγάπῃ ἕπεται τό ὑπομένειν («ἡ γάρ ἀγάπη πάντα στέγει», ἡμεῖς δέ διδασκόμεθα κατορθοῦν βίᾳ τήν ὑπομονήν, ὡς δ᾿ αὐτῆς πρός τήν ἀγάπην φθάσωμεν), οὕτω κἀπί τούτων ἔχει. Καί τί δεῖ πλείω περί τούτων λέγειν; Πάντες γάρ οἱ πεπειραμένοι γελῶσι τούς ἐξ ἀπειρίας ἀντινομοθετοῦντας˙ τῶν γάρ τοιούτων οὐ λόγος ἀλλά πόνος καί ἡ διά πόνων πεῖρα διδάσκαλος, αὐτή τε καρπουμένη τό συμφέρον καί τῶν φιλονείκων τε καί φιλενδείκτων τούς ἀκάρπους ἀποστρεφομένη. Ἐπεί δέ καί, καθάπερ τις τῶν μεγάλων περί ταῦτα λέγει, τοῖς ἔξω σχήμασι πέφυκεν ὁ ἔσω ἄνθρωπος συνεξομοιοῦσθαι μετά τήν παράβασιν, πῶς οὐκ ἄν συντελέσειέ τι μέγα τῷ σπεύδοντι συστρέφειν τόν νοῦν εἰς ἑαυτόν, ὡς μή τήν κατ᾿ εὐθεῖαν ἀλλά τήν κυκλικήν καί ἀπλανῆ κινεῖσθαι κίνησιν, τῷ μή τόν ὀφθαλμόν ὧδε κἀκεῖσε περιάγειν, ἀλλ᾿ οἷον ἐρείσματί τινι τοῦτον προσερείδειν τῷ οἰκείῳ στήθει ἤ τῷ ὀμφαλῷ; Πρός γάρ τῷ εἰς κύκλον ὥσπερ ἔξωθεν, ἐφ᾿ ὅσον ἐφικτόν, συνελίττειν ἑαυτόν, παραπλησίως τῇ σπουδαζομένη ἐν αὑτῷ τοῦ νοῦ κινήσει καί τήν δι᾿ ὄψεως ἔξω χεομένην δύναμιν τοῦ νοῦ τῆς καρδίας εἴσω πέμψει διά τοῦ τοιούτου σχήματος τοῦ σώματος. Εἰ δέ καί ἡ τοῦ νοητοῦ θηρός δύναμις ἐπ᾿ ὀμφαλοῦ γαστρός, ὡς τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐκεῖ τό κράτος ἔχοντος καί νομήν αὐτῷ διδόντος, διατί μή τῶν ἀντιστρατευόμενον ἐκείνῳ τοῦ νοῦ νόμον, αὐτοῦ δι᾿ εὐχῆς ὡπλισμένον ἐπιστήσομεν, ὡς ἄν μή τό διά τοῦ λουτροῦ τῆς παλιγγενεσίας πνεῦμα πονηρόν ἀπελαθέν, μεθ᾿ ἑτέρων ἑπτά (σελ.136) πονηροτέρων πνευμάτων ἐπιστρέψαν, αὖθις ἐγκατοικισθῇ καί γένηται τά ἔσχατα χείρονα τῶν πρώτων;

«Πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ», φησίν ὁ Μωϋσῆς˙ παντί δηλονότι, οὐ τινί μέν τῶν σῶν, τινί δ᾿ οὔ. ∆ιά τίνος; Τοῦ νοῦ πάντως. Οὐδενί γάρ ἄλλῳ δυνατόν προσέχειν ἑαυτῷ παντί. Ταύτην οὖν ἐπίστησιν καί ψυχῇ σώματι τήν φυλακήν˙ δι᾿ αὐτῆς γάρ καί σωματικῶν καί ψυχικῶν πονηρῶν παθημάτων ἀπαλλαγήσῃ ρᾳδίως. Σεαυτοῦ τοίνυν πρόστηθι, σεαυτῷ ἐπίστηθι, σεαυτόν ἐπίσκεψαι, μᾶλλον δέ προΐστασο καί ἐπισκέπτου καί ἔταζε˙ καί γάρ οὕτω τήν σάρκα ἀφηνιάζουσαν ὑποτάξεις τῷ πνεύματι καί «ρῆμα κρυπτόν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου οὐ μήποτε γένηται». Ἐάν πνεῦμα τοῦ ἐξουσιάζοντος», τῶν πονηρῶν δηλονότι καί πνευμάτων καί παθημάτων, «ἀναβῇ ἐπί σέ», φησίν ὁ Ἐκκλησιαστής, «τόπον σου μή ἀφῇς», τουτέστι μή ψυχῆς μέρος, μή μέλος σώματος ἀνεπίσκοπον ἐάσῃς. Οὕτω γάρ καί τῶν κάτωθεν ἐπηρεαζόντων πνευμάτων ἀνώτερον διαγενήσῃ καί «τῷ ἐτάζοντι καρδίας καί νεφρούς», ὡς αὐτός ταῦτα προετάσας, ἀνεξετάστως παραστήσῃ μετά παρρησίας. «Εἰ γάρ ἑαυτούς ἐκρίνομεν, οὐκ ἄν ἐκρινόμεθα». Παῦλός ἐστιν ὁ λέγων. Καί τό τοῦ ∆αυίδ παθών μακάριον ἐκεῖνο πάθος, καί αὐτός πρός τόν Θεόν ἐρεῖς ὅτι «σκότος οὐ σκοτισθήσεται ἀπό σοῦ καί νύξ ὡς ἡμέρα φωτισθήσεταί μοι ὅτι σύ ἐκτήσω τούς νεφρούς μου». Οὐ τό τῆς