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and it is called both sheep and plant—for it too is called both plant and sheep—it cannot be all these things bodily, so it is an intelligible substance. If, therefore, you hear concerning the soul, you hear heart, understanding, belly, spring, for it is also called both plant and sheep; do not take it in a sensory way. Therefore, the vessel of the soul, in which it receives spiritual nourishment, is called the belly. Then, since it is also generative, again having this belly, sometimes it is taken as holding food, and at other times as giving birth. You know that the wax is a consequence of the honey. The composition of the honey came first, and the wax is for the sake of the honey, not the honey for the sake of the wax. And just as in the case of a plant the fruit is not for the sake of the leaf, but the leaf for the sake of the fruit—for it is a protection for the fruit—so the wax is not something primary, but a consequence. If, then, the soul has the primary virtues, it is honey. But if it has those that follow them, something material is mixed in, it is wax. For this reason it says the sinners melt like wax 'before the face of fire'. Honey, however, is praiseworthy; it is a primary substance; it signifies sweetness. Just as it has the ability to sweeten, it also has the ability to heal. The 35 primary, therefore, goods and movements and activities of the soul are like honey, but the secondary ones, which have something of the sensible and material mixed in, are wax. So a person sometimes melts, the material element sometimes falls away from the understanding and the heart, so that the mind no longer has anything attached to it, but is in every way immaterial, just as it existed in the beginning. 16 My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My strength has lost all moisture and all richness, so as to be compared to a potsherd. But it is possible to speak in another way: the clay-like element in us—and you know what that is—if it remains clay, it dissolves when moisture falls upon it. But when it takes on dryness and casts off all external moisture from its matter, it is dried out like a potsherd. Each of the examples taken is taken in a certain respect. And this has often been said; for if it were taken in all respects, it would not be an example, but that very thing which we wish to show. The potsherd, then, is often censured for this reason: a vessel made from a potsherd, once shattered, does not accept mending; it cannot be glued back together. But in another way I say that what is made of clay, when it is tempered by fire and furnace, loses its softness, its fragility. 'My strength' therefore 'is dried up like a potsherd'. We take it in both ways: it no longer has any moisture, no clay-like state. But it is also possible to take it in another way: that he has cast off all bitterness from the great affliction that is upon him. 16 and my tongue has cleaved to my throat. It is a custom of Scripture to call the cleaving of the tongue to the throat 'silence'. Since my members and those around me and my listeners no longer exist, so that I might not seem to bring forth my word in vain, I have fallen silent, 'my tongue has cleaved to my throat'. But it has not cleaved when we are speaking. In the movement of the tongue the word is uttered. But when it cleaves to the throat, there is silence. But this silence comes about not because of the one who is silent, but because of those who happen not to be listeners. For he says in one of the prophets, in Amos: 'many are the fallen in every place; I will cast silence upon them'. If they flee, I cast silence upon them, so that I may not seem to be bringing forth teaching. And this is one of the helps. For example, in Isaiah he commands the clouds not to pour down rain when the vineyard bears thorns instead of grapes, when the one watering waited for it to produce righteousness, but it produced lawlessness. The grape is righteousness, lawlessness the thorn. And since, though watered, it did not produce suitable fruits, but cares, the pleasures of life, he no longer speaks; for for the most part, those who are wicked in character are worn down by words concerning virtue, they learn to despise them. At some point 36 he holds back the rain. The

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λέγηται δὲ καὶ πρόβατον καὶ φυτόν-καὶ αὐτὴ γὰρ λέγεται καὶ φυτὸν καὶ πρόβατον-, οὐ δύναται σωματικῶς ταῦτα εἶναι πάντα, ὥστε νοητὴ οὐσία ἐστίν. ἐὰν τοίνυν ἀκούῃς ἐπὶ ψυχῆς ἀκούεις καρδίαν, νόησιν, κοιλίαν, πηγήν, καὶ αὐτὴ γὰρ λέγεται καὶ φυτὸν καὶ πρόβατον μὴ ἐπὶ αἰσθήσεως λάμβανε. τὸ δοχεῖον τοίνυν τῆς ψυχῆς, ἐν ᾧ λαμβάνει τὰς πνευματικὰς τροφάς, κοιλία λέγεται. εἶτα ἐπεὶ καὶ γεννητική ἐστιν, πάλιν ἔχων ταύτην τὴν κοιλίαν ὁτὲ μὲν ὡς χωροῦσαν τροφὰς λαμβανομένην, ὁτὲ δὲ ὡς γεννῶσαν. οἶδας ὅτι ὁ κηρὸς ἐπακολούθημά ἐστιν τοῦ μέλιτος. ἡ σύνστασις προηγουμένως τοῦ μέλιτος γέγονεν, καὶ διὰ τὸ μέλι ὁ κηρός, οὐ διὰ τὸν κηρὸν τὸ μέλι. καὶ ὥσπερ ἐπὶ φυτοῦ οὐχ ὁ καρπὸς διὰ τὸ φύλλον, ἀλλὰ τὸ φύλλον διὰ τὸν καρπόν-φυλακτικὸν γάρ ἐστιν τοῦ καρποῦ-, οὕτω ὁ κηρὸς οὔκ ἐστίν τι προηγούμενον, ἀλλ' ἐπακολούθημα. ἐὰν οὖν ἡ ψυχὴ τὰς προηγουμένας ἔχῃ ἀρετάς, μέλι ἐστίν. ἐὰν δὲ τὰς ἑπομέναις αὐταῖς, παραμέμικταί τι ὑλικόν, κηρός ἐστιν. διὰ τοῦτο τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς λέγει τήκεσθαι ὡς κηρὸν "ἀπὸ προσώπου πυρός". τὸ μέντοι μέλι ἐπαινετόν ἐστιν, προηγουμένη οὐσία ἐστίν, γλυκύτητα σημαίνει. ὥσπερ ἔχει τὸ γλυκαίνειν, ἔχει καὶ τὸ ἰατικόν. τὰ 35 προηγούμενα οὖν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀγαθὰ καὶ κινήματα καὶ ἐνεργήματα μέλιτι ἔοικεν, τὰ δὲ δεύτερα καὶ ἔχοντά τι παραμε μιγμένον τῶν αἰσθητῶν καὶ ὑλικῶν κηρός ἐστιν. τήκεται οὖν ποτε ὁ ἄνθρωπος, τὸ ὑλικόν ποτε ἀποπίπτει τῆς νοήσεως καὶ τῆς καρδίας, ὥστε τὸν νοῦν μηκέτι ἔχειν τι προσπεπλεγμένον, ἀλλὰ πάντῃ ἄϋλον εἶναι ὡς καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ὑπῆρκται. 16 ἐξηράνθη ὡς ὄστρακον ἡ ἰσχύς μου. ἡ ἰσχύς μου πᾶσαν νοτίδα καὶ πᾶσαν πιότητα ἀποβέβληκεν ὡς ὀστράκῳ παραβληθῆναι. δυνατὸν δὲ καὶ ἑτέρως εἰπεῖν· τὸ ἐν ἡμῖν πηλῶδες-ἴστε δὲ τί ἐστιν-ἐὰν μένῃ πηλός, παρεμπεσούσης ὑγρότητος διαλύεται. ὅταν δὲ ξηρότητα ἀναλάβῃ καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν ὑγρότητα τὴν ἔξωθεν ἐκ τῆς ὕλης ἀποβάλῃ, ξηραίνεται κατὰ τὸ ὄστρακον. ἕκαστον τῶν λαμβανομένων παραδειγμάτων κατά τι λαμβάνεται. τοῦτο δὲ πολλάκις εἴρηται· εἰ γὰρ ἐξ ὅλων λαμβάνοιτο, οὔκ ἐστιν παράδειγμα, ἀλλ' αὐτὸ ἐκεῖνο ὃ δεῖξαι βουλόμεθα. ψέγεται οὖν πολλάκις τὸ ὄστρακον διὰ τόνδε τὸν τρόπον· τὸ ἐξ ὀστράκου πεποιημένον σκεῦος συντριβὲν ἴασιν οὐ δέχεται, οὐ δύναται κολληθῆναι. κατ' ἄλλον δὲ τρόπον λέγω ὅτι τὸ ἐκ πηλοῦ κατασκευασθὲν ὅταν στομωθῇ διὰ πυρὸς καὶ καμίνου, ἀποβάλλει τὸ εὐμάλακτον, τὸ εὔθλαστον. "ἡ ἰσχύς μου" οὖν "ἐξηράνθη ὡσεὶ ὄστρακον". ἑκατέρως δὲ λαμβάνομεν αὐτό· οὐδεμίαν ἔτι ὑγρότητα ἔχει, οὐ πηλώδη κατάστασιν. δυνατὸν δὲ καὶ ἄλλως λαβεῖν ὅτι· πᾶσαν πικρότητα ἀπὸ τῆς πολλῆς προσούσης θλίψεως ἀποβέβληκεν. 16 καὶ ἡ γλῶσσά μου κεκόλληται τῷ λάρυγγί μου. ἔθος τῇ γραφῇ ἐστιν τὴν κόλλαν τῆς γλώσσης πρὸς τὸν λάρυγγα λέγειν τὴν σιωπήν. οὐκ ὄντων ἔτι τῶν ὄντων μου μελῶν καὶ περὶ ἐμὲ ὄντων καὶ ἀκροατῶν μου ὅπως μὴ δοκῶ κατὰ κενοῦ φέρειν τὸν λόγον, σεσιώπηκα, "κεκόλληται ἡ γλῶσσά μου τῷ λάρυγγί μου". οὐ κεκόλληται δὲ ὅτε διαλεγόμεθα. ἐν κινήσει τῆς γλώττης ὁ λόγος προφέρεται. ὅταν δὲ κολληθῇ τῷ λάρυγγι, σιωπή ἐστιν. ἡ σιωπὴ δὲ αὕτη οὐ παρὰ τὸν σιωπῶντα γίνεται, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τοὺς μὴ τυγχάνοντας ἀκροατάς. λέγει γοῦν ἐν ἑνὶ τῶν προφητῶν ἐν τῷ Ἀμώς· "πολὺς ὁ πεπτωκὼς ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, ἐπιρίψω σιωπήν". ἐὰν φεύγωσιν, ἐπιρίπτω σιωπήν, ὅπως μὴ δόξω προφέρειν τὴν διδασκαλίαν. καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ἓν τῶν βοηθημάτων ἐστίν. αὐτίκα γοῦν ἐν Ἰσαίᾳ ἐντέλλεται ταῖς νεφέλαις μὴ ῥεῖν ὑετὸν ὅταν ὁ ἀμπελὼν ἀντὶ σταφυλῆς ἀκάνθας φέρῃ, ὅταν μείναντος τοῦ ποτίζο̣ντος ἵνα ποιήσῃ δικαιοσύνην, ποιήσῃ ἀνομίαν. ἡ σταφυλή ἐστιν ἡ δικαιοσύνη, ἡ ἀνομία ἡ ἄκανθα. καὶ ἐπειδὴ ποτιζόμενος οὐ τοὺς καταλλήλους ἠγίοχεν καρπούς, ἀλλὰ μερίμνας, βιωτικὰς ἡδονάς, οὐκέτι λαλεῖ· ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον γὰρ οἱ φαῦλοι τὸν τρόπον ἐκ τῶν λόγων τῶν περὶ ἀρετῆς ἐπιτρίβονται, καταφρονεῖν αὐτῶν μανθάνουσιν. ποτὲ 36 γοῦν ἀνέχει τὸν ὑετόν. ὁ