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to be contained in nature. But that which contains is testified by the sequence of the argument to be a multiple of that which is enclosed. 2.237 But indeed, the Divine is confessed by nature to be good. But that which is of a different nature from the good is certainly something other than the good. But that which is outside the good is apprehended in the nature of evil. And it was shown that which contains is a multiple of that which is contained. Therefore, it is entirely necessary that those who think the Divine is in a limit also agree that it is contained by evil. 2.238 And since that which is contained is in every way less than the nature of that which contains, it would follow that the mastery of the greater comes to be. Therefore, he who circumscribes the Divine with some limit contrives for the good to be dominated by its opposite. But indeed this is absurd. Therefore, no comprehension of the undefined nature will be supposed. But that which is incomprehensible does not have a nature to be comprehended. But every desire for the good, being drawn to that ascent, is always co-extended with the course of one who strives for the good. 2.239 And this is truly to see God: never to find satisfaction for the desire. But one must always, while seeing through the means by which it is possible to see, be inflamed with the desire to see more. And thus no limit would cut short the growth of the ascent to God, because neither is any limit of the good found, nor is the progress of the desire for the good cut off by any satiety.

2.240 But what is that place that is understood to be with God? And what is the rock? And what again is the space in the rock? And what is the hand of God, that covers the opening of the hollow of the rock? And what is the passing by of God? And what are his back parts, which God promised to give to Moses who had asked for the sight face to face? 2.241 For it is necessary that each of these things be something great and worthy of the magnificent gift of the Giver, so that this promise is believed to be more magnificent and more sublime than any theophany that had already occurred for the great servant. How then might one comprehend the height from what has been said, to which, after so many ascents, Moses longs to ascend and He who works all things for good for those who love God makes the ascent easy through His guidance: behold, he says, a place by me? 2.242 Perhaps the meaning agrees with what has been considered before. For in saying 'place' he does not circumscribe what is shown by quantity (for there is no measure for that which is without quantity), but by the omission of the description according to measure he leads the hearer to the infinite and undefined. Therefore, the word seems to signify some such meaning: since your desire is stretched out toward what is before and you have no satiety of the course, nor do you know any limit of the good, but your longing always looks to more, the place with me is so great that he who runs in it could never cease from his course. 2.243 But the course is, in another sense, a standing; for 'I will set you,' he says, 'upon the rock.' But this is the most paradoxical of all, how the same thing is both standing and movement. For he who is going up is certainly not standing, and he who is standing is not ascending. But here, the ascent happens through standing. And this is because, the more fixed and unchangeable one remains in the good, the more one completes the course of virtue. For one who is prone to stumble and slippery in the foundation of his reasonings, having an unsteady standing in the good, tossed by waves and carried about, as the Apostle says, and wavering and shaken in his conceptions about realities, could never run up to the height of virtue. 2.244 Like those who walk uphill through sand, even if they happen to take great strides with their feet, they labor without accomplishment, as the foundation always sinks downward with the sand, so that movement is enacted, but no progress from the movement occurs. But if someone, as the psalm says, having drawn his feet out of the mire of the deep, should set them upon the rock (and the rock is Christ, perfect virtue), by as much as

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φύσιν ἐμπεριέχεσθαι. Τὸ δὲ ἐμπεριέχον τοῦ ἐναπειλημμένου πολλαπλάσιον εἶναι τῇ ἀκολουθίᾳ τοῦ λόγου μαρτυρεῖται. 2.237 Ἀλλὰ μὴν καλὸν εἶναι τὸ Θεῖον ὁμολογεῖται τῇ φύσει. Τὸ δὲ πρὸς τὸ καλὸν ἑτεροφυῶς ἔχον ἄλλο τι παρὰ τὸ καλὸν πάντως ἐστί. Τὸ δὲ ἔξω τοῦ καλοῦ ἐν τῇ τοῦ κακοῦ φύσει καταλαμβάνεται. Ἐδείχθη δὲ πολλα πλάσιον εἶναι τοῦ περιεχομένου τὸ περιέχον. Ἀνάγκη οὖν πᾶσα τοὺς ἐν πέρατι τὸ Θεῖον οἰομένους εἶναι καὶ ἐμπεριει λῆφθαι τοῦτο τῇ κακίᾳ συντίθεσθαι. 2.238 Ἐλαττουμένου δὲ πάντως τοῦ περιεχομένου τῆς τοῦ περιέχοντος φύσεως, ἀκόλουθον ἂν εἴη τὴν ἐπικράτησιν τοῦ πλεονάζοντος γίνεσθαι. Οὐκοῦν δυναστεύεσθαι τὸ καλὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐναντίου κατασ κευάζει ὁ πέρατί τινι περιείργων τὸ Θεῖον. Ἀλλὰ μὴν τοῦτο ἄτοπον. Οὐκ ἄρα περίληψίς τις τῆς ἀορίστου φύσεως νομισθήσεται. Τὸ δὲ ἀπερίληπτον καταληφθῆναι φύσιν οὐκ ἔχει. Ἀλλὰ πᾶσα πρὸς τὸ καλὸν ἡ ἐπιθυμία ἡ πρὸς τὴν ἄνοδον ἐκείνην ἐφελκομένη ἀεὶ τῷ δρόμῳ τοῦ πρὸς τὸ καλὸν ἱεμένου συνεπεκτείνεται. 2.239 Καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν ὄντως τὸ ἰδεῖν τὸν Θεὸν τὸ μηδέποτε τῆς ἐπιθυμίας κόρον εὑρεῖν. Ἀλλὰ χρὴ πάντοτε βλέποντα δι' ὧν ἐστι δυνατὸν ὁρᾶν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ πλέον ἰδεῖν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐκκαίεσθαι. Καὶ οὕτως οὐδεὶς ὅρος ἂν ἐπικόπτοι τῆς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀνόδου τὴν αὔξησιν, διὰ τὸ μήτε τοῦ καλοῦ τι πέρας εὑρίσκεσθαι, μήτε τινὶ κόρῳ τὴν πρόοδον τῆς πρὸς τὸ καλὸν ἐπιθυμίας ἐκκόπτεσθαι.

2.240 Ἀλλὰ τίς ὁ τόπος ἐκεῖνος ὁ παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ νοούμενος; Τίς δὲ ἡ πέτρα; Καὶ τί πάλιν ἐν τῇ πέτρᾳ τὸ χώρημα; Τίς δὲ ἡ χεὶρ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἡ τὸ στόμιον τοῦ κοίλου τῆς πέτρας διαλαμβάνουσα; Ἡ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ πάροδος τίς; Τί δὲ αὐτοῦ τὸ ὀπίσθιον, ὅπερ αἰτήσαντι τῷ Μωϋσεῖ τὴν κατὰ πρόσωπον ὄψιν δώσειν ὁ Θεὸς ἐπηγγείλατο; 2.241 Χρὴ γὰρ πάντως μέγα τι τούτων ἕκαστον εἶναι καὶ τῆς τοῦ διδόντος μεγαλο δωρεᾶς ἐπάξιον, ὥστε πάσης τῆς γενομένης ἤδη τῷ μεγάλῳ θεράποντι θεοφανείας τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν ταύτην μεγαλοπρεπεσ τέραν τε καὶ ὑψηλοτέραν πιστεύεσθαι. Πῶς οὖν ἄν τις τὸ ὕψος τὸ ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων κατανοήσειεν, ἐφ' ᾧ μετὰ τὰς τοσαύτας ἀναβάσεις ὅ τε Μωϋσῆς ἀναβῆναι ποθεῖ καὶ ὁ τοῖς ἀγαπῶσι τὸν Θεὸν πάντα συνεργῶν εἰς τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐξευμαρίζει διὰ τῆς ὁδηγίας τὴν ἄνοδον· ἰδοὺ τόπος, φησί, παρ' ἐμοί; 2.242 Συμβαίνει τάχα τοῖς προτεθεωρημένοις τὸ νόημα. Τόπον γὰρ εἰπὼν οὐ περιείργει τῷ ποσῷ τὸ δεικνύμενον (ἐπὶ γὰρ τοῦ ἀπόσου μέτρον οὐκ ἔστιν), ἀλλὰ τῇ παραλήψει τῆς κατὰ τὸ μέτρον περιγραφῆς ἐπὶ τὸ ἄπειρόν τε καὶ ἀόριστον χειραγωγεῖ τὸν ἀκούοντα. ∆οκεῖ τοίνυν τοιοῦτόν τινα νοῦν ὑποσημαίνειν ὁ λόγος· ἐπειδή σοι πρὸς τὸ ἔμπροσθεν ἡ ἐπιθυμία συντέταται καί σοι τοῦ δρόμου κόρος οὐδείς, οὐδέ τινα τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ὅρον ἐπίστασαι, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸ πλεῖον ὁ πόθος βλέπει, τοσοῦτός ἐστιν ὁ παρ' ἐμοὶ τόπος, ὥστε τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ διαθέοντα μηδέποτε δυνηθῆναι λῆξαι τοῦ δρόμου. 2.243 Ὁ δὲ δρόμος ἑτέρῳ λόγῳ στάσις ἐστί· στήσω γάρ σε, φησίν, ἐπὶ τῆς πέτρας. Τοῦτο δὲ τὸ πάντων παρα δοξότατον πῶς τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ στάσις ἐστὶ καὶ κίνησις. Ὁ γὰρ ἀνιὼν πάντως οὐχ ἵσταται καὶ ὁ ἑστὼς οὐκ ἀνέρχεται. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ διὰ τοῦ ἑστάναι τὸ ἀναβῆναι γίνεται. Τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν ὅτι ὅσῳ τις πάγιός τε καὶ ἀμετάθετος ἐν τῷ ἀγαθῷ διαμένει, τοσούτῳ πλέον τὸν τῆς ἀρετῆς διανύει δρόμον. Ὁ γὰρ περισφαλής τε καὶ ὀλισθηρὸς κατὰ τὴν τῶν λογισμῶν βάσιν, ἀβέβαιον τὴν ἐν τῷ καλῷ στάσιν ἔχων, κλυδωνιζόμενός τε καὶ περιφερόμενος, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, καὶ ταῖς περὶ τῶν ὄντων ὑπολήψεσιν ἐπιδιστάζων καὶ κραδαινόμενος, οὐκ ἄν ποτε πρὸς τὸ ὕψος τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀναδράμοι. 2.244 Ὡς οἱ διὰ ψάμμου βαδίζοντες πρὸς τὸ ἄναντες, κἂν μεγάλα τύχωσι τοῖς ποσὶ διαβαίνοντες, ἀνήνυτα μοχθοῦσιν, ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸ κάτω τῆς βάσεως συγκαταρρεούσης τῇ ψάμμῳ, ὡς τὴν μὲν κίνησιν ἐνεργεῖσθαι, πρόοδον δὲ μηδεμίαν τῆς κινήσεως γίνεσθαι. Εἰ δέ τις, καθὼς ἡ ψαλμῳδία φησί, τῆς τοῦ βυθοῦ ὑποστάθμης ἀνασπάσας τοὺς πόδας, ἐπὶ τῆς πέτρας τούτους ἐρείσειεν (ἡ πέτρα δέ ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός, ἡ παντελὴς ἀρετή), ὅσῳ