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CHAPTER 6.

The inscription "For Maeleth," having been rendered more clearly 5.86 by those who translated this word into the Greek language, instills a certain eagerness in those who strive through virtue, showing what the end of the labors is like. saying that dances and gladness are set before those who have been victorious in the contests, since the word was interpreted with this meaning. For the name Maeleth has the interpretation of "for the dance," just as we also know from history in the case of David's victory that when Goliath fell in the young man's single combat, the maidens soothed his struggle-filled labor by meeting him with dances; thus the inscription about Maeleth says that every victory achieved against opponents with sweat and labor is followed by gladness and choral dance, as all of the intelligible creation joins itself to the victors, as if in the symphony of a chorus. For there was a time when the choral dance of the rational nature was one, looking to the one leader of the chorus, and unfolding the dance toward the harmony given from him to its motion through the commandment. But when sin, having intervened, dissolved that divine choral harmony and, at the feet of the first humans who were dancing with the angelic powers, poured out the slipperiness of deceit and caused a fall, from which man was torn from his union with the angels, since the fall dissolved their joining together, for this reason much sweat and labors are needed for the one who has fallen, so that having fought against and overthrown the one pressing down on him in his fall, he might be raised up again, receiving the divine choral dance as a prize for the victory over his opponent. When therefore you hear 5.87 the inscription joining "For Maeleth" with the phrase "To the end," then know that through this enigma counsel is being brought to you, not to be exhausted by the contests of temptations, but to look to the end of the victory. And this is for your soul, having been purified by the assault of temptations, to be numbered with the angelic dance. just as we have also heard from the voice of the Lord happened in the case of Lazarus. who, since through the endurance of sufferings he kept himself from falling throughout the whole course of his life, when his tent was dissolved and his adversary was defeated in the stadium of life, was immediately among the angels. For it came to pass, it says, that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels. This is the dance, the journey with the angels, and the bosom of the patriarch that embraces Lazarus within itself; not even he himself is conceived of as being outside the joyful symphony of the chorus. For upon hearing "bosom," one would not err in understanding it as a kind of spacious expanse of the sea, the fullness of good things, for which the patriarch was named, in which Lazarus also is. For of those who have shone in similar contests, nothing belongs to any one person, but the good becomes common to all who have run together through the same virtue to the same good. The inscription that has "The exodus of the tent" and again "For the dedication of the house of David" are near to each other both in position and in meaning. For the one is in the twenty-eighth, and the other in the one after it. And the wording for each is in this manner: for the 5.88 first inscription, "A Psalm of David, for the exodus of the tent"; and in the following one, "A Psalm of a song for the dedication of the house of David." For if we do not go out of the sensible tent, our true house is not dedicated. And what is being said is something like this: two things are conceived concerning human nature: both the carnal life, which is actualized through the senses, and the spiritual and immaterial life, which is achieved by the intellectual and incorporeal life of the soul. But it is not possible to partake of both at the same time. For earnestness about one of these brings about the privation of the other. Therefore if we are to make a dwelling place for God the

26

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ςʹ.

Ἡ δὲ Ὑπὲρ Μαελὲθ ἐπιγραφὴ σαφέστερον ἐκδοθεῖσα 5.86 παρὰ τῶν

μεταβαλόντων εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα φωνὴν ταύτην τὴν λέξιν, προθυμίαν τινὰ τοῖς δι' ἀρετῆς ἀγωνιζομένοις ἐντίθησι, τὸ πέρας τῶν ἄθλων οἷόν ἐστιν ὑποδεικνύουσα. χορείας καὶ εὐφροσύνας τοῖς κεκρατηκόσι τῶν ἀγώνων προκεῖσθαι λέγουσα πρὸς ταύτην τὴν ἔμφασιν ἑρμηνευθείσης τῆς λέξεως. τὸ γὰρ Μαελὲθ ὄνομα διὰ χορείας τὴν ἑρμηνείαν ἔχει, οἷον δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς νίκης τοῦ ∆αβὶδ διὰ τῆς ἱστορίας ἔγνωμεν ὅτι πεσόντος τοῦ Γολιὰθ ἐν τῇ μονομαχίᾳ τοῦ νέου θεραπεύουσι τὸν ἐναγώνιον αὐτοῦ πόνον ὑπαπαντῶσαι διὰ χορείας αἱ νεάνιδες· οὕτως πᾶσαν νίκην ἱδρῶτί τε καὶ πόνῳ κατὰ τῶν ἀντιπάλων κατορθουμένην ἡ περὶ τοῦ Μαελὲθ ἐπιγραφὴ εὐφροσύνην λέγει καὶ χοροστασίαν ἐκδέχε σθαι, πάσης τῆς νοητῆς κτίσεως ἑαυτὴν καθάπερ ἐν χοροῦ συμφωνίᾳ τοῖς νικηταῖς συναρμοζούσης. ἦν γὰρ ὅτε μία τῆς λογικῆς φύσεως ἦν ἡ χοροστασία πρὸς ἕνα βλέπουσα τὸν τοῦ χοροῦ κορυφαῖον, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἐνδιδομένην αὐτοῦ τῇ κινήσει διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς ἁρμονίαν τὸν χορὸν ἀνελίσσουσα. ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὴν ἔνθεον ἐκείνην διέλυσε τοῦ χοροῦ συνῳδίαν παρεμπεσοῦσα ἡ ἁμαρτία καὶ τοῖς ποσὶ τῶν πρώτων ἀνθρώπων τῶν ταῖς ἀγγελικαῖς δυνάμεσι συγχορευόντων τὸν τῆς ἀπάτης ὄλισθον ὑποχέασα πτῶμα ἐποίησεν, ὅθεν διεσπάσθη τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἀγγέλους συναφείας ὁ ἄνθρωπος, τοῦ πτώματος τὴν συμβολὴν διαλύσαντος τούτου χάριν πολλῶν ἱδρώτων χρεία τῷ πεπτωκότι καὶ πόνων, ἵνα τὸν ἐπικείμενον αὐτοῦ τῷ πτώματι καταγωνισάμενός τε καὶ ἀνατρέψας πάλιν ἀνορθωθῇ, γέρας τῆς κατὰ τοῦ παλαίοντος νίκης τὴν θείαν χοροστασίαν δεξάμενος. ὅταν οὖν ἀκούσῃς 5.87 τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς συναπτούσης τὸ Ὑπὲρ Μαελὲθ τῇ Εἰς τέλος φωνῇ, τότε γίνωσκε διὰ τοῦ αἰνίγματος συμβουλήν σοι προσάγεσθαι, μὴ ἐγχαυνοῦσθαι τοῖς τῶν πειρασμῶν ἀγωνίσμασιν, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ τέλος τῆς νίκης βλέπειν. τοῦτο δέ ἐστι τὸ καταταχθῆναι τῇ ἀγγελικῇ χορείᾳ καὶ τὴν σὴν ψυχὴν τῇ προσβολῇ τῶν πειρασμῶν ἐκκαθαρθεῖσαν. οἷον δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Λαζάρου γενέσθαι παρὰ τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ κυρίου ἠκούσαμεν. ὃς ἐπειδὴ διὰ τῆς ὑπομονῆς τῶν παθημάτων παρ' ὅλον τοῦ βίου τὸ στάδιον ἐφύλαξεν ἑαυτὸν ἀκατάπτωτον, διαλυθείσης αὐτῷ τῆς σκηνῆς καὶ ἡττηθέντος ἐν τῷ τῆς ζωῆς σταδίῳ τοῦ προσπαλαίοντος εὐθὺς ἐν ἀγγέλοις ἦν. Ἐγένετο γάρ, φησίν, ἀποθανεῖν τὸν πτωχὸν καὶ ἀπενεχθῆναι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγγέλων. αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ χορεία, ἡ μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων ὁδοιπορία, καὶ ὁ κόλπος τοῦ πατριάρχου ὁ ἐν ἑαυτῷ συμπερι λαμβάνων τὸν Λάζαρον· οὐδὲ αὐτὸς τῆς φαιδρᾶς τοῦ χοροῦ συμφωνίας ἔξω νοεῖται. κόλπον γὰρ ἀκούσας οἷόν τινα εὐρύχωρον πελάγους περιοχὴν τὸ τῶν ἀγαθῶν πλήρωμα, ᾧ ἐπωνομάσθη ὁ πατριάρχης, νοήσας τις οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ὁ Λάζαρος γίνεται. τῶν γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ὁμοίοις ἀγῶσι διαφανέντων οὐδέν ἐστιν ἴδιον οὐδενός, ἀλλὰ κοινὸν πάντων τὸ ἀγαθὸν γίνεται τῶν διὰ τῆς αὐτῆς ἀρετῆς ἐπὶ τὸ ἴσον ἀγαθὸν συνδραμόντων. Ἡ δὲ Τὸ ἐξόδιον ἔχουσα τῆς σκηνῆς ἐπιγραφὴ καὶ πάλιν Ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἐγκαινισμοῦ τοῦ οἴκου ∆αβὶδ γειτνιῶσιν ἀλλήλαις κατὰ τὴν θέσιν τε καὶ τὴν ἔννοιαν. ἔστι γὰρ ἡ μὲν ἐν τῷ εἰκοστῷ καὶ ὀγδόῳ, ἡ δὲ ἐν τῷ μετὰ τοῦτον. ἡ δὲ λέξις ἐφ' ἑκατέρου τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν τρόπον· ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς 5.88 προτέρας ἐπιγραφῆς, Ψαλμὸς τῷ ∆αβὶδ ἐξοδίου σκηνῆς· ἐν δὲ τῷ ἐφεξῆς, Ψαλμὸς ᾠδῆς τοῦ ἐγκαινισμοῦ τοῦ οἴκου ∆αβίδ. ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ τῆς αἰσθητῆς σκηνῆς ἐξέλθωμεν, ὁ ἀληθινὸς ἡμῶν οἶκος οὐκ ἐγκαινίζεται. τὸ δὲ λεγόμενον τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· δύο περὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην νοεῖται φύσιν· ἥ τε σαρκώδης ζωή, ἡ διὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἐνεργουμένη, καὶ ἡ πνευματική τε καὶ ἄϋλος, ἡ τῷ νοερῷ τε καὶ ἀσωμάτῳ τῆς ψυχῆς βίῳ κατορθουμένη. ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔστι τῶν δύο κατὰ ταὐτὸν ἐν μετουσίᾳ γενέσθαι. ἡ γὰρ περὶ τὸ ἕτερον τούτων σπουδὴ τὴν τοῦ ἑτέρου στέρησιν ἀπεργάζεται. οὐκοῦν εἰ μέλλοιμεν οἰκητήριον θεοῦ ποιεῖν τὴν