,

Everyone therefore who willingly endures, from the consciousness of his own deeds, to accept the painful onslaughts of involuntary temptations with the required thankfulness is not exiled from the state and grace of virtue and knowledge, like those of old from Judea and Jerusalem, as one who has willingly submitted to the yoke of the king of Babylon and, as though paying a debt, accepting the onslaughts of torments, but remaining in them, he renders to the king of Babylon, on the one hand, the violent labors from the passible part of nature and the consent to them in his thought, as a debtor for his preceding offenses, but to God he offers, through true worship—I mean, the humble disposition—the correction of his negligences.

But he who does not thankfully accept the affliction brought upon him for correction through involuntary temptations by God’s permission and does not repentantly put aside the conceit of seeming to be righteous, as one who opposes the divine decrees of just judgments, like the ancient inhabitants of Judea, and not willingly accepting to come under the yoke of the king of Babylon according to the divine command, is handed over into captivity to the king of Babylon, and to collars and bonds and death and famine and the sword, and is utterly exiled from his own land, that is, from the state that seems to be one of virtue and knowledge, being condemned for apostasy from divine things through captivity, through collars, for a false opinion about reality, through bonds, for complete inaction of good things, through famine, for the privation of divine teachings, through death, for perfect hardness and insensibility toward good things, (14B_174> and through the sword, for passionate and dissolute thoughts that destroy the memory of divine things.

For he who is exiled from the state of virtue and knowledge, as from his own land, suffers all these things and more because he is unwilling, out of pride and vain conceit, paying the penalties for his offenses, to be well-pleased in tribulations and necessities and distresses, according to the divine apostle, although he is free from all debt in these matters on account of righteousness. For the great apostle knew that the outward humility concerning the body, which consists of labors, is a guardian of the divine treasures in the soul, and for this reason he lovingly endured, both for himself and for those for whom he was set forth as a type of virtue and faith, so that, even if they suffer as though guilty, like the Corinthian who was rebuked, they might have for consolation and for an imitation of patience one who suffers though he is not guilty.

And the kings of the nations, according to this passage of Scripture, I consider to be the men who are masters of the other passions of dishonor, and they themselves are justly subject to the punishment of their own debts and for this reason are handed over to the king of Babylon as to a punishing power that rejoices in the torment of nature. The Egyptian king, then, is the pleasure-loving and dissolute mind, the Moabite, the luxurious and wanton mind, the Ammonite, the covetous mind, the Syrian, the superstitious and dialectical mind—for the Syrian alone is written to be opposed to Solomon, that is, to peace and wisdom—the Tyrian, the world-loving and life-loving mind; and all the other kings, whom the gnostic will know by their own significance from the interpretation of the names or from the position of the places or from the general tradition prevailing among them or from their practice among one another or from some kind of antipathy toward Israel (14B_176> ... For they are not always and all taken in the same way and with one meaning, but according to the underlying need and the power of the prophecy, since indeed Scripture knows how to take Pharaoh for the devil, when he becomes the destroyer of Israel, and again for the

Πᾶς οὖν ἀνεχόμενος ἑκουσίως ἐκ τῆς τῶν αὐτῷ πεπραγμένων συναισθήσεως δέξασθαι τὰς ἐπιπόνους τῶν ἀκουσίων ἐπιφορὰς πειρασμῶν μετὰ τῆς δεούσης εὐχαριστίας οὐκ ἐξοικίζεται τῆς κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν καὶ γνῶσιν ἕξεώς τε καὶ χάριτος καθάπερ οἱ πάλαι τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ Ἱερουσαλήμ, ὡς ὑπελθὼν ἑκουσίως τὸν ζυγὸν βασιλέως Βαβυλῶνος καὶ ὡς χρέος ἀποτιννὺς τὰς τῶν βασάνων ἐπιφορὰς καταδεχόμενος, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν αὐταῖς μένων τελεῖ τῷ μὲν βασιλεῖ Βαβυλῶνος τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ παθητοῦ τῆς φύσεως βιαίους πόνους καὶ τὴν ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς κατὰ τὴν διάνοιαν ὡς ὀφειλέτης αὐτῶν διὰ τὰς προλαβούσας πλημμελείας συγκατάθεσιν, τῷ δὲ Θεῷ προσφέρει διὰ λατρείας ἀληθινῆςτῆς ταπεινῆς λέγω διαθέσεωςτὴν τῶν παρημελημένων διόρθωσιν.

Ὁ δὲ τὴν κατὰ συγχώρησιν Θεοῦ πρὸς διόρθωσιν ἐπαγομένην αὐτῷ διὰ τῶν ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν συμφορὰν εὐχαρίστως μὴ καταδεχόμενος καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ δοκεῖν δίκαιος εἶναι μεταγνοὺς οὐκ ἀποτιθέμενος οἴησιν, ὡς τοῖς θείοις τῶν δικαίων κριμάτων ἀντιπίπτων θεσπίσμασι κατὰ τοὺς πάλαι τῆς Ἰουδαίας οἰκήτορας, καὶ μὴ καταδεχόμενος ἑκουσίως ὑπὸ τὸν ζυγὸν γενέσθαι τοῦ βασιλέως Βαβυλῶνος κατὰ τὴν θείαν διαταγήν, εἰς αἰχμαλωσίαν παραδίδοται τῷ βασιλεῖ Βαβυλῶνος καὶ κλοιοὺς καὶ δεσμὰ καὶ θάνατον καὶ λιμὸν καὶ μάχαιραν καὶ τῆς ἰδίας παντελῶς ἀποικίζεται γῆς, τουτέστι τῆς κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν καὶ γνῶσιν εἶναι δοκούσης ἕξεως, διὰ μὲν τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας τὴν τῶν θείων ἀποστασίαν κατακρινόμενος, διὰ δὲ τῶν κλοιῶν τὴν ψευδῆ περὶ τῶν ὄντων δόξαν, διὰ δὲ τῶν δεσμῶν τὴν παντελῆ τῶν καλῶν ἀπραξίαν, διὰ δὲ τοῦ λιμοῦ τὴν τῶν θείων στέρησιν διδαγμάτων, διὰ δὲ τοῦ θανάτου τὴν τελείαν πρὸς τὰ καλὰ (14Β_174> πώρωσίν τε καὶ ἀναισθησίαν, διὰ δὲ τῆς μαχαίρας τοὺς τῶν θείων μνημῶν ἀναιρετικοὺς ἐμπαθεῖς καὶ ἀκολάστους λογισμούς.

Πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα καὶ τούτων πλείονα ὁ τῆς κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν καὶ γνῶσιν, ὡς ἰδίας γῆς, ἐξοικιζόμενος ἕξεως πάσχει διὰ τὸ μὴ θέλειν αὐτὸν ἐξ ὑπερηφανίας καὶ ματαίας οἰήσεως, τὰς ἐφ᾽ οἷς ἐπλημμέλησεν ἐκτιννὺς δίκας, ἐν θλίψεσιν εὐδοκῆσαι καὶ ἀνάγκαις καὶ στενοχωρίαις κατὰ τὸν θεῖον ἀπόστολον, καίτοι πάσης τῆς ἐπὶ τούτοις ὀφειλῆς ὄντα διὰ τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἐλεύθερον. Ἤιδει γὰρ ὁ μέγας ἀπόστολος φυλακτικὴν τῶν θείων κατὰ ψυχὴν θησαυρῶν ὑπάρχουσαν τὴν ἐκτὸς περὶ τὸ σῶμα συνισταμένην διὰ τῶν πόνων ταπείνωσιν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο στέργων ὑπέμενε, καὶ δι᾽ ἑαυτὸν καὶ τοὺς οἷς ἀρετῆς καὶ πίστεως προέκειτο τύπος, ἵνα, κἂν ὡς ὑπεύθυνοι πάσχωσι κατὰ τὸν ἐπιτιμηθέντα Κορίνθιον, εἰς παρηγορίαν ἔχωσι καὶ ὑπομονῆς μίμησιν τὸν ἀνευθύνως πάσχοντα.

Τοὺς δὲ βασιλεῖς τῶν ἐθνῶν εἶναι νομίζω κατὰ τοῦτον τῆς Γραφῆς τὸν τόπον τοὺς τῶν λοιπῶν τῆς ἀτιμίας παθῶν ἐπάρχοντας ἀνθρώπους, καὶ αὐτοὺς ὑποκειμένους ἐνδίκως τῇ τιμωρίᾳ τῶν οἰκείων ὀφλημάτων καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῷ βασιλεῖ Βαβυλῶνος παραδιδομένους ὡς τιμωρῷ δυνάμει καὶ χαιρούσῃ τῇ βασάνῳ τῆς φύσεως. Ἔστιν οὖν ὁ μὲν Αἰγύπτιος βασιλεὺς ὁ φιλήδονος νοῦς καὶ ἀκόλαστος, ὁ δὲ Μωαβίτης ὁ τρυφητὴς καὶ βάκηλος νοῦς, ὁ δὲ Ἀμμανίτης ὁ πλεονεκτικὸς νοῦς, ὁ δὲ Σύρος ὁ δεισιδαίμων καὶ διαλεκτικὸς νοῦςμόνος γὰρ ἀντικεῖσθαι γέγραπται τῷ Σαλομῶν ὁ Σύρος, τουτέστι τῇ εἰρήνῃ καὶ τῇ σοφίᾳ, ὁ δὲ Τύριος ὁ φιλόκοσμος νοῦς καὶ φιλόζωος· καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ πάντες βασιλεῖς οὓς γνώσεται διὰ τῆς οἰκείας σημασίας ὁ γνωστικὸς ἐκ τῆς τῶν ὀνομάτων ἑρμηνείας ἢ τῆς τῶν τόπων θέσεως ἢ τῆς κρατούσης ἐν αὐτοῖς γενικῆς παραδόσεως ἢ τῆς ἐν ἀλλήλοις ἐπιτηδεύσεως ἢ τῆς πρὸς τὸν Ἰσραὴλ (14Β_176> ποιᾶς ἀντιπαθείας ... Οὐ γὰρ πάντοτε καὶ πάντες ὡσαύτως καὶ καθ᾽ ἓν σημαινόμενον λαμβάνονται, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν ὑποκειμένην χρείαν καὶ τῆς προφητείας τὴν δύναμιν, ἐπεί τοί γε καὶ εἰς τὸν διάβολον οἶδεν ἡ Γραφὴ λαμβάνειν τὸν Φαραώ, ὅταν ἀναιρέτης γίνηται τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, καὶ πάλιν εἰς τὸν