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to ascend and never cease being exalted, because one always finds that which lies beyond the step attained in the height. 2.228 He denies the falsified kinship with the queen of the Egyptians. He becomes the avenger of the Hebrew. He migrates to the life of the desert, which human life has not disturbed. He shepherds within himself the flock of tame animals. He sees the radiance of the light. He makes the ascent to the light unburdened by the removal of his sandal. He sets free to liberty his kinsmen and fellow countrymen. He sees the enemy submerged, sinking beneath the waves. 2.229 He lodges under the cloud. With the rock he cures thirst. With the heaven he cultivates the bread. Then by the stretching out of his hands he overcomes the foreign people. He hears the trumpet. He passes into the darkness. He enters into the inner sanctuary of the tabernacle not made with hands. He learns the secrets of the divine priesthood. He destroys the idol. He propitiates the Deity. He restores the law shattered by the wickedness of the Jews.

2.230 He shines with glory. And having been lifted up through so many heights, he is still vigorous in his desire and insatiably longs for more, and he still thirsts for that of which he was always sated at will, and as if he had not yet partaken, he begs to attain it, supplicating that God might appear to him, not as he is able to partake, but as He is. 2.231 It seems to me that he experienced such a thing because his soul was disposed with a certain loving disposition toward the naturally beautiful, which hope always drew from the beauty that was seen toward that which lay beyond, through that which was always apprehended ever kindling the desire for that which was hidden, whence the vehement lover of beauty, accepting that which always appears as an image of the desired thing, longs to be filled with the very character of the archetype. 2.232 And this is what the request, both daring and transgressing the limits of desire, wishes: to enjoy the beauty not through certain mirrors and reflections, but face to face. But the divine voice grants the thing requested through the very means by which it denies it, showing forth in a few words a certain immeasurable depth of thoughts. For the great gift of God consented to fulfill his desire, but it did not promise any cessation of longing or satiety. 2.233 For He would not have shown Himself to His servant, if what was seen were of such a nature as to stop the desire of the one seeing, since truly seeing God consists in this: that the one who looks up to Him never ceases from his desire. For He says: You will not be able to see My face; for no man shall see My face and live. 2.234 But the word indicates this not as becoming a cause of death to those who see. For how could the face of life ever become a cause of death to those who approach it? But since the Divine is by nature life-giving, and the proper mark of the divine nature is to transcend every mark, he, therefore, who supposes God to be something of the things that are known, having turned aside from Him who truly is to that which is thought to be by comprehensive imagination, does not have life. 2.235 For that which truly is, is true life. But this is inaccessible to knowledge. If, therefore, the life-giving nature transcends knowledge, that which is apprehended is certainly not life. But what is not life does not have the nature to be productive of life. Thus, therefore, is that which was desired fulfilled for Moses, through the very means by which his desire remains unfulfilled. 2.236 For he is taught through what has been said that the Divine is in its own nature unlimited, not enclosed by any boundary. For if the Divine were conceived in some boundary, it would be entirely necessary that what is after that boundary also be considered along with it. For that which is bounded certainly ends in something, just as the boundary of birds is the air, and of aquatic creatures the water. As, therefore, the fish with all its parts is contained in the water, and the bird in the air, and between the water for the swimming creature or the air for the flying creature is the extreme surface of the boundary, which contains the bird or the fish, and which the water or the air follows, so it is necessary, if the Divine were conceived in a boundary, by the heterogeneous according to the

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ἐπιβαίνειν καὶ μηδέποτε ὑψούμενον παύεσθαι διὰ τὸ πάντοτε εὑρίσκειν τῆς κατει λημμένης ἐν τῷ ὕψει βαθμίδος τὸ ὑπερκείμενον. 2.228 Ἀρνεῖται τὴν πρὸς τὴν βασιλίδα τῶν Αἰγυπτίων κατεψευσ μένην συγγένειαν. Ἔκδικος γίνεται τοῦ Ἑβραίου. Μετανίσταται πρὸς τὴν ἔρημον διαγωγήν, ἣν ὁ ἀνθρώπινος οὐκ ἐτάραξε βίος. Ποιμαίνει ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὴν τῶν ἡμέρων ζῴων ἀγέλην. Ὁρᾷ τοῦ φωτὸς τὴν λαμπηδόνα. Ἀβαρῆ ποιεῖται τὴν πρὸς τὸ φῶς ἄνοδον τῇ περιαιρέσει τοῦ ὑποδήματος. Ἐξαιρεῖται πρὸς ἐλευθερίαν τὸ συγγενὲς καὶ ὁμόφυλον. Ὑποβρύχιον βλέπει τὸν ἐχθρὸν κατὰ τῶν κυμάτων δυόμενον. 2.229 Ὑπὸ τὴν νεφέλην αὐλίζεται. Τῇ πέτρᾳ θεραπεύει τὸ δίψος. Τῷ οὐρανῷ γεωργεῖ τὸν ἄρτον. Εἶτα τῇ ἐκτάσει τῶν χειρῶν καταγωνίζεται τὸ ἀλλόφυλον. Ἀκούει τῆς σάλπιγγος. Τὸν γνόφον ὑπέρχεται. Ἐπὶ τὰ ἄδυτα τῆς ἀχειροποιήτου σκηνῆς παραδύεται. Μανθάνει τῆς θείας ἱερωσύνης τὰ ἀπόρρητα. Ἐξαφανίζει τὸ εἴδωλον. Ἱλεοῦται τὸ Θεῖον. Ἀνακαλεῖται τὸν ἐν τῇ κακίᾳ τῶν Ἰουδαίων συντριβέντα νόμον.

2.230 Λάμπει τῇ δόξῃ. Καὶ διὰ τοσούτων ἐπαρθεὶς ὑψωμάτων, ἔτι σφριγᾷ τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ καὶ ἀκορέστως ἔχει τοῦ πλείονος καὶ οὗ διὰ παντὸς κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἐνεφορεῖτο ἔτι διψᾷ καὶ ὡς μήπω μετεσχηκὼς τυχεῖν δέεται, ἐμφανῆναι αὐτῷ τὸν Θεὸν ἱκετεύων, οὐχ ὡς μετέχειν δύναται, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐκεῖνός ἐστι. 2.231 ∆οκεῖ δέ μοι τὸ τοιοῦτο παθεῖν ἐρωτικῇ τινι διαθέσει πρὸς τὸ τῇ φύσει καλὸν τῆς ψυχῆς διατεθείσης, ἣν ἀεὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀφθέντος καλοῦ πρὸς τὸ ὑπερκείμενον ἐπεσπά σατο, διὰ τοῦ πάντοτε καταλαμβανομένου πρὸς τὸ κεκρυμ μένον ἀεὶ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐκκαίουσα, ὅθεν ὁ σφοδρὸς ἐραστὴς τοῦ κάλλους, τὸ ἀεὶ φαινόμενον ὡς εἰκόνα τοῦ ποθουμένου δεχόμενος, αὐτοῦ τοῦ χαρακτῆρος τοῦ ἀρχετύπου ἐμφορηθῆναι ἐπιποθεῖ. 2.232 Καὶ τοῦτο βούλεται ἡ τολμηρά τε καὶ παριοῦσα τοὺς ὅρους τῆς ἐπιθυμίας αἴτησις τὸ μὴ διὰ κατόπτρων τινῶν καὶ ἐμφάσεων, ἀλλὰ κατὰ πρόσωπον ἀπολαῦσαι τοῦ κάλλους. Ἡ δὲ θεία φωνὴ δίδωσι τὸ αἰτηθὲν δι' ὧν ἀπαναί νεται, ἐν ὀλίγοις τοῖς ῥήμασιν ἀμέτρητόν τινα βυθὸν νοημάτων παραδεικνύουσα. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ πληρῶσαι τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν αὐτῷ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ μεγαλοδωρεὰ κατένευσε, στάσιν δέ τινα τοῦ πόθου καὶ κόρον οὐκ ἐπηγγείλατο. 2.233 Οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἑαυτὸν ἔδειξε τῷ θεράποντι, εἴπερ τοιοῦτον ἦν τὸ ὁρώμενον ὥστε στῆσαι τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν τοῦ βλέποντος, ὡς ἐν τούτῳ ὄντος τοῦ ἀληθῶς ἰδεῖν τὸν Θεὸν ἐν τῷ μὴ λῆξαί ποτε τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τὸν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀναβλέποντα. Φησὶ γάρ· οὐ δυνήσῃ τὸ πρόσωπόν μου ἰδεῖν· οὐ γὰρ μὴ ἴδῃ ἄνθρωπος τὸ πρόσωπόν μου καὶ ζήσεται. 2.234 Τοῦτο δὲ οὐχ ὡς αἴτιον τοῦ θανάτου τοῖς ὁρῶσι γινόμενον ὁ λόγος ἐνδείκνυται. Πῶς γὰρ τὸ τῆς ζωῆς πρόσωπον αἴτιον θανάτου τοῖς ἐμπελάσασι γένοιτ' ἄν ποτε; Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ζωοποιὸν μὲν τῇ φύσει τὸ Θεῖον, ἴδιον δὲ γνώρισμα τῆς θείας φύσεώς ἐστι τὸ παντὸς ὑπερκεῖσθαι γνωρίσματος, ὁ τοίνυν τῶν γινωσκομένων τι τὸν Θεὸν εἶναι οἰόμενος, ὡς παρατραπεὶς ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄντως ὄντος πρὸς τὸ τῇ καταληπτικῇ φαντασίᾳ νομισθὲν εἶναι, ζωὴν οὐκ ἔχει. 2.235 Τὸ γὰρ ὄντως ὂν ἡ ἀληθής ἐστι ζωή. Τοῦτο δὲ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀνέφικτον. Εἰ οὖν ὑπερβαίνει τὴν γνῶσιν ἡ ζωοποιὸς φύσις, τὸ καταλαμβανόμενον πάντως ζωὴ οὐκ ἔστιν. Ὃ δὲ μή ἐστι ζωὴ παρεκτικὸν γενέσθαι ζωῆς φύσιν οὐκ ἔχει. Οὕτως οὖν πληροῦται τῷ Μωϋσεῖ τὸ ποθούμενον, δι' ὧν ἀπλήρωτος ἡ ἐπιθυμία μένει. 2.236 Παιδεύεται γὰρ διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων ὅτι τὸ Θεῖον κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φύσιν ἀόριστον, οὐδενὶ περιειργόμενον πέρατι. Εἰ γὰρ ἔν τινι πέρατι νοηθείη τὸ Θεῖον, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα καὶ τὸ μετ' ἐκεῖνο συνθεωρηθῆναι τῷ πέρατι. Πάντως γὰρ εἴς τι καταλήγει τὸ περατούμενον, ὥσπερ πτηνῶν πέρας ὁ ἀήρ ἐστι καὶ ἐνύδρων τὸ ὕδωρ. Ὡς οὖν πᾶσι τοῖς μορίοις ἑαυτοῦ ὁ μὲν ἰχθὺς ἐμπεριέχεται τῷ ὕδατι, τὸ δὲ πτηνὸν τῷ ἀέρι, καὶ μέσον τοῦ ὕδατος πρὸς τὸ νηκτὸν ἢ πρὸς τὸ πτηνὸν τοῦ ἀέρος ἡ ἄκρα τοῦ πέρατός ἐστιν ἐπιφάνεια, ἡ τὸ πτηνὸν ἢ τὸν ἰχθὺν περιέχουσα, ἣν τὸ ὕδωρ ἢ ὁ ἀὴρ διαδέχεται, οὕτως ἀνάγκη, εἴπερ ἐν πέρατι νοοῖτο τὸ Θεῖον, τῷ ἑτερογενεῖ κατὰ τὴν