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to make an acknowledgement of the divine power that sets things aright; so that, being permitted by Providence to have a conceit that is not completely removed in better circumstances, we should not slip into the godless disposition of pride, thinking that the possession of virtue and knowledge is our own by nature, and not acquired by grace; and be found using what is good for the generation of evil, and through those very things by which the divine knowledge ought to have been more tightly bound and to have remained unshaken in us, through those very things, would that it had not happened, we suffer from ignorance of it.

1265 3.13 We know of a boundary and divine law existing in things that are, the providence that holds all things together, which, according to a just judgment, through the scarcity of good things disciplines toward gratitude those who, in the abundance of good things, showed themselves ungrateful toward their Giver, leading them through opposites to an awareness of the discernment of the one who bestows good things. For conceit in virtue, remaining undisciplined, is wont to beget the disease of pride, which brings about a disposition opposed to God.

3.14 He who thinks he has attained the goal of virtue will in no way seek the fontal cause of good things, having circumscribed the power of desire to himself 15∆_138 alone, and being deprived by himself of the very boundary of salvation, I mean God. But he who is aware of his own natural poverty concerning good things does not cease to run headlong to the one who is able to give the fulfillment of his need.

3.15 He who has discerned the infinity of virtue never ceases from his course according to it, lest he be deprived of the very beginning and end of virtue, I mean God, by stopping the movement of desire around himself; and he unawares thinks he has laid hold of perfection, enduring a falling away from Him who truly is, toward whom every movement of a virtuous person hastens.

3.16 Wrath justly comes upon the high-minded intellect; that is, abandonment, as has been said; that is, the permission for it to be troubled by demons both in practice and in contemplation; so that it may receive, on the one hand, an awareness of its own natural weakness; and on the other, the acknowledgement of the divine power and grace that protects it and accomplishes every good thing; and be humbled, putting completely far from itself the foreign and unnatural height; so that the other wrath, the removal of the gifts that were given, may not come upon it, once it is humbled and has come to an awareness of the Giver of good things.

3.17 He who has not been chastened by the first kind of wrath, that is, abandonment, to come to humility, considering it the teacher of good acknowledgement, clearly receives the other wrath coming upon him, which takes away from him the activity of the charisms, and renders him destitute of the power that formerly guarded him. For I will take away its hedge, He says, speaking of ungrateful Israel, and it shall be for a spoil; and I will break down its wall, and it shall be trodden down; and I will let my vineyard go, and it shall not be pruned, 15∆_140 nor shall it be dug; and thorns shall come up on it as on a wasteland, and I will command the clouds not to rain upon it.

1268 3.18 That insensibility concerning the loss of virtues has become a path sloping toward impiety. For he who has accustomed himself to disobey God for the sake of the pleasures of the flesh, will also deny God Himself, when a pretext calls; preferring the life of the flesh to God, the pleasures of which alone he has held to be better than the divine wills.

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κατορθωτικῆς θείας ἐπίγνωσιν ποιεῖσθαι δυνάμεως· ὡς ἄν μή παντελῶς ἐπί τοῖς ἀμείνοσιν ἀκαθαίρετον παρά τῆς Προνοίας ἔχειν συγχωρηθέντες τήν οἴησιν, εἰς τήν ἀντίθεον τῆς ὑπερηφανίας διάθεσιν κατολισθήσωμεν, ἑαυτῶν κατά φύσιν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἐπίκτητον χάριτι τήν τῆς ἀρετῆς καί τῆς γνώσεως κτῆσιν εἶναι νομίζοντες· καί εὑρεθῶμεν τῷ καλῷ πρός τήν τοῦ κακοῦ χρώμενοι γένεσιν, καί δι᾿ ὧν ἔδει πλέον διασφιγχθεῖσαν ἐν ἡμῖν ἀσάλευτον μένειν τήν θείαν ἐπίγνωσιν, δι᾿ ἐκείνων ὡς οὐκ ὤφελον τήν ταύτης νοσήσαντες ἄγνοιαν.

1265 3.13 (ιγ΄) Ὅρον καί νόμον ἐνυπάρχοντα θεῖον τοῖς οὖσιν ἴσμεν, τήν τῶν ὄντων συνεκτικήν πρόνοιαν, κατά κρίσιν δικαίαν τῇ σπάνει τῶν ἀγαθῶν παιδεύουσαν πρός εὐγνωμοσύνην, τούς ἐπί τῇ ἀφθονίᾳ τῶν ἀγαθῶν πρός τόν ταύτης χορηγόν φανέντας ἀγνώμονας, διά τῶν ἐναντίων αὐτούς πρός συναίσθησιν ἄγουσαν τῆς τοῦ χαριζομένου τά καλά διαγνώσεως. Ἡ ἐπ᾿ ἀρετῇ γάρ οἴησις, ἀπαιδαγώγητος μένουσα, τό τῆς ὑπερηφανίας γεννᾷν πέφυκε νόσημα, τό τήν ἀντικειμένην τῷ Θεῷ φέρον διάθεσιν.

3.14 (ιδ΄) Ὁ οἰόμενος ἑαυτόν κατειληφέναι τό τέλος τῆς ἀρετῆς, οὐδαμῶς ζητήσει λοιπόν τήν πηγαίαν τῶν καλῶν αἰτίαν, ἑαυτῷ 15∆_138 μόνῳ περιγράψας τήν τῆς ἐφέσεως δύναμιν, καί αὐτόν τῆς σωτηρίας τόν ὅρον ὑφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ, φημί δέ τόν Θεόν, ζημιούμενος. Ὁ δέ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ περί τά καλά φυσικῆς συναισθόμενος πενίας, οὐ παύεται προτροπάδην τρέχων πρός τόν δοῦναι δυνάμενον τῆς ἐνδείας τήν πλήρωσιν.

3.15 (ιε΄) Ὁ τήν ἀπειρίαν τῆς ἀρετῆς διαγνούς, οὐδέποτε τοῦ κατ᾿ αὐτήν παύεται δρόμου, ἵνα μή ζημιωθῇ αὐτήν τῆς ἀρετῆς τήν ἀρχήν καί τό τέλος, τόν Θεόν λέγω, περί ἑαυτόν στήσας τήν κίνησιν τῆς ἐφέσεως· καί λάθῃ νομίζων ἐπειλῆφθαι τῆς τελειότητος, ὑπομένων τοῦ ἀληθῶς ὄντος τήν ἔκπτωσιν, πρός ὅπερ ἐπείγεται πᾶσα σπουδαίου κίνησις.

3.16 (στ΄) Γίνεται δικαίως ἐπί τόν ὑψηλόφρονα νοῦν ὀργή· τουτέστιν, ἐγκατάλειψις, καθά εἴρηται· ἤγουν ἡ τοῦ διοχληθῆναι αὐτόν κατά τε τήν πρᾶξιν, κατά τε τήν θεωρίαν ὑπό δαιμόνων συγχώρησις· ἵνα λάβῃ, τῆς μέν ἑαυτοῦ φυσικῆς ἀσθενείας, συναίσθησιν· τῆς δέ σκεπούσης αὐτόν, καί τό πᾶν κατορθούσης τῶν ἀγαθῶν θείας δυνάμεώς τε καί χάριτος, τήν ἐπίγνωσιν· καί ταπεινωθῇ, πόῤῥω παντελῶς ἑαυτοῦ τό ἀλλότριον καί παρά φύσιν ὕψος ποιούμενος· ὥστε μή ἐπελθεῖν ἐπ᾿ αὐτόν τήν ἄλλην ὀργήν, τῆς τῶν δοθέντων χαρισμάτων ἀφαιρέσεως, ταπεινωθέντα καί γενόμενον τῆς τοῦ παρέχοντος τά καλά συναισθήσεως.

3.17 (ιζ΄) Ὁ μή σωφρονισθείς τῷ πρώτῳ εἴδει τῆς ὀργῆς, ἤγουν ἐγκαταλείψεως, ἐλθεῖν πρός ταπείνωσιν, ἡγησάμενος αὐτήν τῆς καλῆς ἐπιγνωμοσύνης διδάσκαλον, τήν ἄλλην δέχεται σαφῶς ἐπ᾿ αὐτόν ἐρχομένην ὀργήν, ἀφαιρουμένην αὐτοῦ τήν τῶν χαρισμάτων ἐνέργειαν, καί ἔρημον αὐτόν καθιστῶσαν τῆς τέως φρουρούσης δυνάμεως. Ἀφελῶ γάρ, φησί, τόν φραγμόν αὐτοῦ, περί τοῦ ἀγνώμονος Ἰσραήλ ὁ Θεός λέγων, καί ἔσται εἰς διαρπαγήν· καί καθελῶ τόν τοῖχον αὐτοῦ, καί ἔσται εἰς καταπάτημα· καί ἀνήσω τόν ἀμπελῶνά μου, καί οὐ μή τιμηθῇ, 15∆_140 οὐδέ μή σκαφῇ· καί ἀναβήσεται εἰς αὐτόν ὡς εἰς χέρσον ἄκανθα, καί ταῖς νεφέλαις ἐντελοῦμαι τοῦ μή βρέξαι εἰς αὐτόν.

1268 3.18 (ιη΄) Ὅτι πρός ἀσέβειαν πρανής καθέστηκεν ὁδός, ἡ περί τήν ζημίαν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀναισθησία. Ὁ γάρ ἐθίσας ἑαυτόν διά τάς ἡδονάς τῆς σαρκός Θεοῦ παρακούειν, καί αὐτόν ἀρνήσεται τόν Θεόν, καλούσης προφάσεως· Θεοῦ τήν σαρκός ζωήν προτιμῶν, ἧς καί μόνης τάς ἡδονάς τῶν θείων κρείττους ἔσχηκε θελημάτων.