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she made a treaty with it alone, or the opposites upon one nature were seen—how could I say it?—as having the same manner. She also covered the sin of the first mother, not only because she became a counsellor for the good to her spouse, having rejected the conversation of the serpent, but also because she brought immortality, in another way, not burying the soul with the body, nor becoming of nature, but making nature her own and alone implanting the body in the better nature. And to the generation after this she became an adornment and an example of virtue; and she judged both the female and the male, not giving to one the greater part, and to the other sex the lesser—for this is of an irrational arbiter and of an unapproved arbitration—but assigning the equal part to both; for even if the tone of the body is different for both sexes, yet reason is equal and unchangeable and this is not weakened in the lesser parts, but they are strengthened by the better part. One considering this would number her with holy women and rank her with martyrs; for she also contended against a most terrible and grim-browed tyrant and was not more terrified by him than she terrified him, enduring the terrible things and not shrinking from the punishments. She sanctified the earth also with blood, not from those sources which nature knows for flowing, but from those from which tears are accustomed to flow. And her body was cut, not by swords, but by prostrations, its continuity being dissolved, and by the tensions and bendings of its members on the ground. "She went also through fire," being aflame with the desires for necessities, but not partaking, but enduring even up to the things given; no less also "through water," having rejected the use of wine and satisfying the body's need with the ancient drink. For these reasons also she has "gone out into a place of refreshment." And in holiness, beyond all or from all, she bore away the prize of honor, having wasted her flesh through self-control and emptied her body and having subjected the dust to the spirit and brought nature into subjection and having in her practical impulses trained well in practical virtue, and having in the contemplative life advanced securely with the illuminations of contemplation and having become an example of the two lives to all men and all women, wisely arbitrating between matter and the immaterial and having divided to both parts what was fitting, or rather having mixed the immaterial with matter, and having shown this to be higher and more beautiful by participation in the Better. 26. But I, mother, am able to admire and be astonished at you, but I have not been at all able to imitate you, but I alone for you have even falsified the prayer and have not progressed according to your hopes. Or rather, your word has not even here fallen through; for of the desired thing, we have obtained as much as is in appearance, but philosophy extends only to the worn cloak. And this too is your work even after death. For a certain "vision of a dream" moves me to say this. For since you departed from here, and I hid the seed of the prayer in the furrows of my soul, I once seemed while "sleeping at night" to see certain hierophants clothed in white, and they said that they had come—so it was commanded them—to carry me away to the holy abbots. And having spoken thus in word, I immediately arose and followed them as though they were some better beings. And as we were proceeding, the road, being wide, was contracting and collapsing somehow upon itself so that we were almost in need and were straitened as we went. To me, at least: "But the narrowness, my child, is very great, as you see, and for most it is not even passable, for which reason we fear also for you. But even so you must not shrink back, but follow with courage." They said these things, and our speech and our journey had an end; for a barrier walled us off, and the barrier was "hewn stone," neither too white nor of the opposite color, but as if pale, thin, but not very transparent. And in the very middle something like a navel was impressed in it and was opened not into an exact circle nor

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μόνῃ ἐσπείσατο, ἢ τὰ ἐναντία ἐπὶ μιᾶς φύσεως ὤφθη-πῶς ἂν εἴποιμι; -ὁμοιότροπα. αὕτη καὶ τῇ προμήτορι ἐκάλυψε τὸ ἁμάρτημα, οὐ μόνον ὅτι σύμβουλος ἐγεγόνει πρὸς τὸ καλὸν τῷ ὁμοζύγῳ, τὴν ὁμιλίαν ἀποκρουσαμένη τοῦ ὄφεως, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ τὴν ἀθανασίαν ἐπήνεγκε, τρόπον ἕτερον, οὐ συνθάψασα τῷ σώματι τὴν ψυχήν, οὐδὲ γενομένη τῆς φύσεως, ἀλλὰ τὴν φύσιν ποιήσασα ἑαυτῆς καὶ μόνη τὸ σῶμα τῇ κρείττονι φύσει ἐνθεῖσα. Καὶ τῷ μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ γένει κόσμος κατέστη καὶ παράδειγμα ἀρετῆς· ἐδίκασε δὲ καὶ ἄμφω καὶ τῷ θήλυϊ καὶ τῷ ἄρρενι, οὐ τῷ μὲν δοῦσα τὸ μεῖζον, τῷ δὲ λοιπῷ γένει τὸ ἔλαττον-τοῦτο γὰρ ἀλογίστου διαιτητοῦ καὶ οὐ δεδοκιμασμένης τῆς διαιτήσεως-, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἶσον ἀμφοῖν ἀπονείμασα· εἰ γὰρ καὶ ὁ τοῦ σώματος τόνος ἀμφοῖν τοῖν γενοῖν διάφορος, ἀλλ' ὁ λόγος ἶσος καὶ ἀπαράλλακτος καὶ οὐχ οὗτος τοῖς χείροσιν ἐξατονεῖ μέρεσιν, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνα νευροῦται τῷ κρείττονι. Ταύτην ἄν τις λογιζόμενος καὶ ὁσίαις συναριθμήσειε καὶ συγκατατάξειε μάρτυσιν· ἀντηγωνίσατο γὰρ καὶ αὕτη πρὸς δεινότατον τύραννον καὶ βαρὺν τὴν ὀφρὺν καὶ οὐ μᾶλλον παρ' ἐκείνου κατεπτοήθη ἢ κατεπτόησεν, ἐγκαρτερήσασα τοῖς δεινοῖς καὶ τὰς τιμωρίας οὐχ ὑποπτήξασα. καθηγίασε δὲ καὶ τὴν γῆν αἵμασιν οὐκ ἀφ' ὧν ἡ φύσις τὴν προχοὴν οἶδεν, ἀλλ' ἀφ' ὧν τὸ δάκρυον εἴωθε ῥεῖν. ἐτμήθη δὲ καὶ τὸ σῶμα οὐ ξίφεσιν, ἀλλὰ κλίσεσι διαλυθεῖσα τὸ συνεχὲς καὶ ταῖς ἐπ' ἐδάφους τῶν μερῶν συντονίαις καὶ κάμψεσι. «διῆλθε καὶ διὰ πυρός», φλεγομένη μὲν ταῖς τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐπιθυμίαις, οὐ μεταλαμβάνουσα δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ μέχρι τῶν δεδομένων ἐγκαρτεροῦσα· οὐκ ἔλαττον δὲ καὶ «δι' ὕδατος», τὴν τοῦ οἴνου χρῆσιν ἀπωσαμένη καὶ τῷ ἀρχαίῳ πόματι τὴν χρείαν ἀποπληροῦσα τοῦ σώματος. διὰ ταῦτα καὶ «εἰς ἀναψυχὴν» ἐξελήλυθε. Τῆς δέ γε ὁσιότητος καὶ παρὰ πάσας ἢ καὶ πασῶν τὸ πρεσβεῖον ἠνέγκατο, τήξασα τὰς σάρκας δι' ἐγκρατείας καὶ τὸ σῶμα κενώσασα καὶ τὸν χοῦν τῷ πνεύματι ὑποτάξασα καὶ τὴν φύσιν δουλαγωγήσασα καὶ ταῖς μὲν πρακτικαῖς ὁρμαῖς καλῶς τῇ πρακτικῇ ἐμμελετήσασα ἀρετῇ, τῷ δὲ θεωρητικῷ βίῳ ἀσφαλῶς προβᾶσα ταῖς τῆς θεωρίας ἐλλάμψεσι καὶ τοῖν δυοῖν βίοιν πᾶσι καὶ πάσαις καταστᾶσα παράδειγμα, ὕλῃ καὶ ἀϋλίᾳ σοφῶς διαιτήσασα καὶ ἀμφοτέροις τοῖς μέρεσι διελομένη τὸ πρόσφορον, μᾶλλον δὲ τῇ μὲν ὕλῃ τὴν ἀϋλίαν κατακεράσασα, ταύτην δὲ τῇ μετουσίᾳ τοῦ Κρείττονος ὑψηλοτέραν καὶ καλλίονα ἀποδείξασα. 26. Ἀλλ' ἐγώ σε, μῆτερ, θαυμάζειν μὲν ἔχω καὶ καταπλήττεσθαι, μιμεῖσθαι δὲ οὐ πάνυ δεδύνημαι, ἀλλά σοι μόνος ἐγὼ καὶ τὴν εὐχὴν ἐπενόθευσα καὶ οὐ κατὰ τὰς σὰς ἐλπίδας προβέβηκα. μᾶλλον δὲ ὁ μὲν σὸς οὐδ' ἐνταῦθα διαπέπτωκε λόγος· τοῦ γὰρ ἐφετοῦ ὅσον ἐν σχήματι τετυχήκαμεν, μέχρι δὲ τοῦ τρίβωνος ἡ φιλοσοφία. καὶ τοῦτο δὲ σὸν ἔργον καὶ μετὰ θάνατον. ὑποκινεῖ με γάρ τις τοῦτο λέγειν «ὄψις ὀνείρατος». Ἐπεὶ γὰρ σὺ μὲν ἀπηλλάγης ἐντεῦθεν, ἐγὼ δὲ τὸ τῆς εὐχῆς σπέρμα ἐν ταῖς αὔλαξι κατέκρυψα τῆς ψυχῆς, ἔδοξά ποτε τῆς «νυκτὸς καθεύδων» ἱεροφάντας τινὰς λευχειμονοῦντας θεάσασθαι, οἱ δὲ καὶ δὴ ἐληλυθέναι ἔφασαν-οὕτως αὐτοῖς προστεταγμένον-εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους με ἀββάδας ἀπενεγκεῖν. καὶ τῇ λέξει οὕτως εἰρηκότες, ἐγὼ δὲ εὐθὺς ἀναστὰς εἱπόμην αὐτοῖς ὥσπερ τισὶ κρείττοσι. προϊοῦσι δὲ ἡμῖν· ἡ ὁδὸς πλατεῖα οὖσα συνῃρεῖτο καὶ συνέπιπτέ πως πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ὡς μικροῦ δεῖν καὶ στενοχωρεῖσθαι ἀπιόντας ἡμᾶς. πρὸς ἐμὲ γοῦν· «ἀλλὰ πολλή τις, ὦ τέκνον, ἡ στένωσις, ὡς ὁρᾷς, καὶ τοῖς πλείοσιν οὐδὲ βάσιμος, ὅθεν δεδίαμεν καὶ περὶ σοί. ἀλλ' οὐδ' ὡς ἀποκνητέον σοι, ἀλλ' ἕπου τεθαρρηκώς». Οἱ μὲν ταῦτα, τέλος δὲ εἶχεν ἡμῖν καὶ ὁ λόγος καὶ ἡ ὁδός· φραγμὸς γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἀπετείχιζεν, ὁ δὲ φραγμὸς «λίθος ξεστός», οὔτε λευκὸς ἄγαν οὔτε τοῦ ἐναντίου χρώματος, ἀλλ' οἷον ὠχρός, λεπτὸς μέν, οὐ πάνυ δὲ διαυγής. κατὰ δὲ τὸ μεσαίτατον οἷον ὀμφαλός τις αὐτῷ ἐντετύπωτο καὶ ἀνέῳκτο οὐκ εἰς ἀκριβῆ κύκλον οὐδὲ