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c) The multitudes: Note, that one must use words according to what the multitudes can grasp; and it says what eros does, and concerning two loves, divine and divisible, that is, corporeal.

d) As more difficult: That is, as defamed. e) Has fallen upon, who says: David says concerning Jonathan in the first of the Kingdoms.

s) Is ranked by the sacred [writers]: That agape and eros can be the same thing, and what is the energy of eros.

z) Of unitive: That is, of mingling the lovers with one another.

e) For the sake of the beautiful: As was said above, that divine eros, pre-existing in the Good, begot the eros in us, through which we long for the Good.

§ 13. th'. Ecstatic: Concerning erotic ecstasy and David: "I said in my ecstasy". Being outside oneself: Note, how 'being outside oneself for God' is to be understood.

One must dare to say: That God, too, loves all things.

Therefore also jealous: In what sense God is called jealous, as a lover of the salvation of all.

§ 14. But what in general: Of agape and eros, he says God himself is the projector and begetter; for He Himself brought these things, existing in Himself, forth to things outside, that is, concerning created things, and in this sense it is said, "God is agape", and in the Song, agape is similarly spoken of; and again sweetness and desire, which is eros; but He Himself is the lovable and truly desired. By the fact, therefore, that the lovable eros is poured forth from Him, 14S_140 He, its begetter, is said to be moved, and by the fact that He Himself is the truly desired and lovable, He moves those who look toward this, and those in whom is the power of longing, according to their capacity.

Desired and lovable: Understand for me that God is leading and moving toward an erotic union in the spirit, that is, a mediator of this, and one who fits Himself to be desired and loved by His own creatures; and he says "moving" as moving each thing, according to its own principle, to turn back to Him. And the name "leading forth," even if among outsiders it signifies an unholy matter, yet here it means the mediation that brings about union in God.

And by the one is moved: Note a divine motion, in which God is moved and is its leader forth and mover.

And of the transcendent: The loving union with God is transcendent to and surpasses every union; he therefore calls the higher one "transcendent", and says that divine eros is without beginning and without end, as proceeding from the Good and returning to the Good in a circular fashion; since the line of a circle does not have a known point from where it began and where it ended; for from Him is the longing for the Good, and to Him it looks again; and in itself both is and remains the loving of the connatural goodness, and of those things that reach up toward the Good.

Erotic motion: That the erotic motion, pre-existing from the Good, being in the Good simple and self-moving, and proceeding from the Good, returns again to the same, being without end and without beginning, which signifies our longing for the Divine. Note, that he says there is an eternal circle proceeding in the Good, with it proceeding to the intelligible and perceptible things, and again returning to itself, neither stopping nor ceasing.

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γ) Τά πλήθη: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι πρός ὅ χωροῦσι τά πλήθη, δεῖ καί ταῖς λέξεσι χρῆσθαι· λέγει δέ τί ποιεῖ ὁ ἔρως, καί περί δύο ἐρώτων, θείου καί μεριστοῦ, ἤτοι σωματοπρεποῦς.

δ) Ὡς δυσχερέστερον: Ὡς διαβεβλημένον δηλονότι. ε) Ἐπέπεσε, τίς φησιν: Ὁ ∆αυίδ λέγει περί τοῦ Ἰωνάθαν ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν

Βασιλειῶν. ς) Τάττεται πρός τῶν ἱερῶν: Ὅτι τό αὐτό δύναται ἀγάπη καί ἔρως, καί τίς ἡ

τοῦ ἔρωτος ἐνέργεια. ζ) Συγκρατικῆς: Τουτέστι συγκιρνώσης τά ἐρῶντα πρός ἄλληλα. η) ∆ιά τό καλόν: Ὅπερ εἶπεν ἄνω, ὅτι ὁ θεῖος ἔρως, προϋπάρχων ἐν τῷ

ἀγαθῷ, ἔτεκε τόν ἐν ἡμῖν ἔρωτα, δι ' οὗ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἐφιέμεθα. § 13. θ'. Ἐκστατικός: Περί ἐκστάσεως ἐρωτικῆς καί ὁ ∆αυίδ· «ἐγώ εἶπον ἐν τῇ

ἐκστάσει μου». Ἐξεστηκώς: Σημείωσαι, πῶς νοεῖται τό, 'ἐξεστηκῶς Θεῷ'. Τολμητέον: Ὅτι καί ὁ Θεός πάντων ἐρᾷ. ∆ιό καί ζηλωτήν: Κατά τἰ λέγεται ζηλωτής ὁ Θεός, ὡς ἐραστής τῆς πάντων

σωτηρίας. § 14. Τί δέ ὅλως: Τῆς μέν ἀγάπης καί τοῦ ἔρωτος αὐτόν δηλαδή τόν Θεόν

προβολέα φησί καί γεννήτορα· αὐτός γάρ ταῦτα ἐν ἑαυτῷ ὄντα προήγαγεν εἰς τά ἐκτός, τουτέστι τά περί τά κτίσματα, καί κατά τοῦτο εἴρηται, «ὁ Θεός ἀγάπη ἐστί», καί ἐν τῷ ἄσματι ὁμοίως ἀγάπη εἴρηται· καί πάλιν γλυκασμός καί ἐπιθυμία, ὅ ἐστιν ἔρως· τό δέ ἀγαπητόν καί ὄντως ἐραστόν αὐτός ἐστι. Τῷ μέν οὖν τό ἀγαπητόν ἔρωτα ἐξ αὐτοῦ προχεῖσθαι, 14S_140 αὐτός κινεῖσθαι λέγεται ὁ τούτου γεννήτωρ, τῷ δέ αὐτόν εἶναι τό ἀληθῶς ἐραστόν καί ἀγαπητόν, κινεῖ τά πρός τοῦτο ὁρῶντα, καί οἷς ἡ τοῦ ἐφίεσθαι δύναμις ἀναλόγως αὐτοῖς.

Ἐραστόν καί ἀγαπητόν: Προσαγωγικόν καί κινητικόν πρός ἐρωτικήν συνάφειαν τήν ἐν πνεύματι τόν Θεόν εἶναί μοι νόει, τουτέστι μεσίτην ταύτης, καί πρός ἑαυτόν συναρμοστήν τοῦ ἐρᾶσθαι αὐτόν ὑπό τῶν αὐτοῦ ποιημάτων καί ἀγαπᾶσθαι· κινητικόν δέ φησιν, ὡς κινοῦντα ἕκαστα, κατά τόν οἰκεῖον λόγον πρός αὐτόν ἐπιστρέφεσθαι. Τό δέ τῆς προαγωγίας ὄνομα, εἰ καί παρά τοῖς τῶν ἔξωθεν πρᾶγμα σημαίνει οὐκ εὐαγές, ἀλλ' ἐνταῦθα τήν πρόξενον τῆς ἐν Θεῷ ἑνώσεως μεσιτείαν φησί.

Καί τῷ μέν κινεῖται: Σημείωσαι κίνησιν θείαν, ἐν ᾗ κινεῖται καί αὐτοῦ ἐστι προαγωγεύς καί κινητικός ὁ Θεός.

Καί τῆς ἐξῃρημένης: Ἡ πρός Θεόν ἀγαπητική ἕνωσις πάσης ἐξῄρηται καί ὑπέρκειται ἑνώσεως· ἐξῃρημένην οὖν τήν ἀνωτέραν φησίν, ἄναρχον δέ καί ἀτελεύτητον τόν θεῖον ἔρωτα λέγει, ὡς ἐκ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ προϊόντα καί πρός τό ἀγαθόν ἐπαναστρέφοντα κατά σχῆμα κυκλικόν· ἐπεί καί ἡ τοῦ κύκλου γραμμή οὐ γνώριμον ἔχει ὅθεν ἤρξατο καί οὗ κατέληξε· καί γάρ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἡ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἔφεσις, καί εἰς αὐτόν πάλιν ὁρᾷ· ἐν ἑαυτῷ δέ καί ἐστι καί μένει τό ἐρᾳν τῆς συμφυοῦς ἀγαθότητος, καί τῶν πρός τό ἀγαθόν ἀνατεινομένων.

Ἐρωτικήν κίνησιν: Ὅτι ἡ ἐρωτική κίνησις, τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ προϋπάρχουσα, ἐν τῷ ἀγαθῷ ἁπλῆ καί αὐτοκινητος οὖσα, καί ἐκ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ προϊοῦσα, αὖθις ἐπί τό αὐτό ἐπιστρέφει, ἀτελεύτητος καί ἄναρχος οὖσα, ὅπερ δηλοῖ τήν ἡμῶν ἔφεσιν πρός τό Θεῖον. Σημείωσαι δέ, ὅτι αΐδιον κύκλον προϊών φησιν εἶναι ἐν τῷ ἀγαθῷ, προϊόντος μέν αὐτοῦ ἐπί τά νοητά καί αἰσθητά, πάλιν δέ πρός ἑαυτόν ὑποστρέφοντος καί μήτε ἱσταμένου, μήτε λήγοντος.