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is the passionate movement towards the body according to pleasure; and evil is the disposition arising from the deprivation of this.

2.36 (λστ΄) He who has persuaded his conscience that what is worst is by nature good when it is being practiced, this one, having stretched out his practical faculty like a hand, partook blameworthily of the tree of life, considering what is worst to be immortal by nature. Therefore God, having naturally placed in man the accusation of evil against the conscience, separated him from life, who had become evil by choice; so that in doing evil, he might not be able to persuade his own conscience that what is worst is by nature good.

2.37 (λζ΄) The vine produces wine; wine, intoxication; intoxication, ecstasy. Therefore the active word, which is the vine, being cultivated by the virtues, begets knowledge; and knowledge begets the good ecstasy, which removes the intellect from its relation to the senses.

2.38 (λη΄) To the thoughts of sensible things the evil one is accustomed to maliciously add the forms and shapes of sensible things, through which the passions are naturally produced concerning the surfaces of visible things, as the passage toward intelligible things 1236 of the rational activity in us is halted through the intermediary of sense. This is why he is also able to ravage the soul, and to drag it down into the confusion of the passions.

2.39 (λθ΄) The word of God is at once both a lamp and a light, both as illuminating the natural thoughts of the faithful, and as burning the unnatural ones; and as dispelling the darkness of the life according to sense, for those hastening through the commandments toward the hoped-for 15∆_096 life, and as punishing by the burning of judgment those who by intention cling to this dark night of life through love of the flesh.

2.40 (μ΄) He who has not first been led up to himself, he says, through the casting off of the unnatural passions, will not be led up to his own cause, that is, God, through the acquisition in grace of the goods beyond nature. For it is necessary for the one who is truly being gathered to God to be separated in thought from created things.

2.41 (μα΄) The work of the written law is deliverance from the passions; of the natural law, equal honor towards all men according to equality of law; the perfection of the spiritual law, likeness to God, as is possible for man.

2.42 (μβ΄) The power of the intellect is naturally receptive of the knowledge of bodies and incorporeal things; but it receives the manifestations of the Holy Trinity by grace alone, believing only that it is, but not presuming what it is in essence, like a demonic intellect. For he who is without knowledge in no way knows the way of cleansing from vice according to virtue.

2.43 (μγ΄) He who loves falsehood is delivered to it for destruction, so that he may know by suffering what he willingly held, and may learn by coming to experience that he was unconsciously embracing death instead of life.

2.44 (μδ΄) God has knowledge only of the good, as being in essence both the nature and knowledge of the good; but of evil, ignorance, as having the powerlessness of it; for of those things of which he naturally has the power, of these he possesses the knowledge essentially.

2.45 (με΄) The breastplate in Leviticus signifies the better and higher 15∆_098 contemplation; 1237 and the arm, practice, that is, the state and activity of the intellectual faculty, or knowledge and virtue; as knowledge brings the intellect immediately to God; while virtue, in all its practice, removes it from the genesis of beings; which things the word has set apart for priests,

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ἐστιν, ἡ καθ᾿ ἡδονήν ἐμπαθής πρός σῶμα κίνησις· κακόν δέ, ἡ κατά στέρησιν ταύτης ἐπιγινομένη διάθεσις.

2.36 (λστ΄) Ὁ πείσας τό συνειδός ὡς φύσει καλόν, πραττόμενον ἔχειν τό κάκιστον, οὗτος χειρός δίκην ἐκτείνας τό πρακτικόν, ἔλαβε ψεκτῶς τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς, ἀθάνατον ἡγησάμενος φύσει τό κάκιστον. ∆ιόπερ τήν κατά τό συνειδός τοῦ κακοῦ διαβολήν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ φυσικῶς ἐνθέμενος ὁ Θεός, διέκρινεν αὐτόν τῆς ζωῆς, κακόν τῇ προαιρέσει γεγενημένον· ἵνα μή τό κακόν πράττων, δύνηται πεῖσαι τήν ἰδίαν συνείδησιν, ὅτι φύσει καλόν ὑπάρχει τό κάκιστον.

2.37 (λζ΄) Ἡ ἄμπελος, οἶνον ποιεῖ· ὁ οἶνος, μέθην· ἡ μέθη, ἔκστασιν. Οὐκοῦν ὁ ἐνεργής λόγος, ὅπερ ἐστίν ἡ ἄμπελος, γεωργούμενος ταῖς ἀρεταῖς, γεννᾷ τήν γνῶσιν· ἡ δέ γνῶσις, γεννᾷ τήν καλήν ἔκστασιν, τήν τόν νοῦν τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν σχέσεως ἐξιστῶσαν.

2.38 (λη΄) Τοῖς τῶν αἰσθητῶν νοήμασιν εἴωθε κακούργως ὁ πονηρός συμβάλλειν τά τῶν αἰσθητῶν εἴδη καί σχήματα, δι᾿ ὧν πέφυκε τά πάθη δημιουργεῖσθαι περί τάς ἐπιφανείας τῶν ὁρατῶν, στάσιν λαμβανούσης διά τῆς μέσης αἰσθήσεως τῆς περί τά νοητά 1236 διαβάσεως, τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν λογικῆς ἐνεργείας. ∆ιό καί κατισχύει πορθεῖν τήν ψυχήν, καί εἰς τήν τῶν παθῶν σύγχυσιν κατασύρειν.

2.39 (λθ΄) Λύχνος ἐστί, κατά ταυτόν ὁμοῦ καί φῶς, ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος, καί ὡς φωτίζων τούς κατά φύσιν λογισμούς τῶν πιστῶν, καί ὡς καίων τούς παρά φύσιν· καί ὡς λύων τόν ζόφον τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ζωῆς, τοῖς διά τῶν ἐντολῶν πρός τήν ἐλπιζομένην 15∆_096 ἐπειγομένοις ζωήν, καί ὡς κολάζων τῇ καύσει τῆς κρίσεως τούς ταύτης τῆς σκοτεινῆς τοῦ βίου νυκτός κατά γνώμην διά φιλίαν σαρκός ἐντεχομένους.

2.40 (μ΄) Ὁ μή πρός ἑαυτόν, φησί, πρότερον ἀναχθείς διά τῆς ἀποβολῆς τῶν παρά φύσιν παθῶν, πρός τήν ἰδίαν αἰτίαν, ἤγουν τόν Θεόν, διά τῆς ἐν χάριτι τῶν ὑπέρ φύσιν ἀγαθῶν ἐπικτήσεως, οὐκ ἀναχθήσεται. Τῶν γάρ πεποιημένων χωρισθῆναι δεῖ κατά διάνοιαν, τόν πρός Θεόν ἀληθῶς συναγόμενον.

2.41 (μα΄) Τοῦ μέν γραπτοῦ νόμου ἔργον ἐστίν, ἡ τῶν παθῶν ἀπαλλαγή· φυσικοῦ δέ νόμου, ἡ κατ᾿ ἰσονομίαν πρός πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἰσοτιμία· πνευματικοῦ δέ νόμου τελείωσις, ἡ πρός τόν Θεόν, ὡς ἔστιν ἀνθρώπῳ δυνατόν ἐξομοίωσις.

2.42 (μβ΄) Τῆς μέν τῶν σωμάτων καί ἀσωμάτων γνώσεως, δεκτική κατά φύσιν ἐστίν ἡ τοῦ νοῦ δύναμις· τῆς δέ τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος, κατά μόνην τήν χάριν δέχεται τάς ἐμφάσεις· ὅτι ἐστί μόνον πιστεύσουσα, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τί ποτε κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ἐστίν αὐθαδιζομένη, ὡς δαιμόνιος νοῦς. Ὁ γάρ γνώσεως ἄμοιρος, τόν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ῥυπτικόν τῆς κακίας οὐδαμῶς ἐπίσταται τρόπον.

2.43 (μγ΄) Ὁ τό ψεῦδος ἀγαπῶν, αὐτῷ παραδίδοται πρός ἀπώλειαν, ἵνα γνῷ πάσχων ὅπερ ἑκών περιεῖπε, καί μάθῃ κατά τήν πεῖραν γενόμενος, ὡς ἐλάνθανεν ἀντί ζωῆς περιπτυσσόμενος θάνατον.

2.44 (μδ΄) Μόνην ἔχει τοῦ καλοῦ τήν γνῶσιν ὁ Θεός, ὡς κατ᾿ οὐσίαν τοῦ καλοῦ φύσις τέ καί γνῶσις ὑπάρχων· τοῦ δέ κακοῦ, τήν ἄγνοιαν, ὡς τήν αὐτοῦ ἔχων ἀδυναμίαν· ὧν γάρ ἔχει τήν δύναμιν φυσικῶς, τούτων οὐσιωδῶς κέκτηται τήν γνῶσιν.

2.45 (με΄) Τό ἐν τῷ Λευϊτικῷ στηθύνιον, τήν ἀμείνω καί ὑψηλήν 15∆_098 θεωρίαν δηλοῖ· 1237 ὁ δέ βραχίων, τήν πρᾶξιν, ἤγουν τοῦ διανοητικοῦ τήν ἕξιν καί τήν ἐνέργειαν, ἤ τήν γνῶσιν καί τήν ἀρετήν· ὡς τῆς μέν γνώσεως, αὐτῷ προσαγούσης ἀμέσως τόν νοῦν τῷ Θεῷ· τῆς ἀρετῆς δέ, κατά τήν πρᾶξιν πάσης ἀφαιρουμένης αὐτόν τῆς τῶν ὄντων γενέσεως· ἅπερ ἱερεῦσιν ἀφώρισεν ὁ λόγος,