pleases the petty and the overly artful. Therefore, of these enumerated wise men, the one now honored in this discourse wishes to imitate Gregory, and indeed he even touches upon the tracks of the great man, but he is afraid, as if to approach the lion. For these reasons his character is more Isocratic, except that it is not diffuse, but compact; and it is not at all strange if he imitated the one with whom he conversed least frequently. For the types of characters do not come from wishing, but from nature. But to speak generally, his discourse is a harmonious blend from those who best imitated the best, or even of those of whom they themselves became leaders. Such was this wonderful man in his art, but greater in his knowledge, having divided the whole into parts, and as if not wishing to divide, he folded it together again, and he [himself] composed no less than he analyzed, having sought out all syllogisms, and having found out the cau[ses ...] of each, both the first causes and those from the first, and those after these of the hypotheses and of which the proof is indissoluble, and neither did any dialectical problem es[cape] him nor any demonstrative inquiry nor anything else of logic; but he was also well-supplied with propositions according to reason and traced back the syllogized conclusions to their principles, having found the definitions of the first mind and of our own composite ones. And indeed he recognized sophistry both in names and in thoughts, but he drove it from the city of his soul, no less than Plato drove the poet from his own, only not having crowned her with wool, but naked and uncrowned. Then, indeed, admiring also the theories of nature, beginning from the principles he launched forth to the whole. And he both yoked a continent, and sailed as far as the poles on either side. And he journeyed also to heaven, and left nothing in it unexamined, not what is in souls, since they even posit this genus as the first principle of natural philosophy, not what is in animals, not what is in plants. Then what? He also secretly conversed with mathematics; just as if someone wishing to sail away to Greece or Ionia would not lovingly craft a ship, but would use a found one just as much as needed for the voyage, so therefore that man, using mathematics as vehicles, approached the incorporeal from the corporeal, having first approached the mixture. And having arrived there, he had come to know the primal one, the unities from there, that which truly is, the parts of being, the paradigms of the beautiful, the wondrous chain, the middle bonds through which the extremes are joined. Such was truly my philosopher and teacher, not according to the many of today who handle knowledge, nor according to the other party, as many as spit upon these things and consider them superfluous wisdom, as if they themselves had especially acquired our reason and were in need of nothing else. who indeed know neither this, nor have they understood any of these things, but the argument is against some of those who think thus. For there are more than seven thousand who have neither given worship to Baal and have been helped toward piety by Greek reasonings. For if they had known all the reasonings, both as many as from the Egyptians, or Chaldeans, or the Jews who are known to us were channeled to us, and had advanced to the highest point of the Greek ones and how these men used the oracles, then they might distinguish these, and some they might approve, and others they might reject and refute, just as those around the great Basil and the luminary of theology Gregory have done, I would not only admire these men, but I would also submit myself to learn whatever they might teach. But if they have not advanced even so much as a single step of prose, nor have understood any one thing of all, it is more fitting for them to be ashamed and to conceal their ignorance than to act shamelessly against those who have gathered the sciences. I for my part, therefore, that I may add something also about myself to the discourse for my friend, and that the arrow of nemesis may not strike me; not

ἀρέσκει τοῦ μικρολόγου καὶ κατατέχνου. Τούτων τοιγαροῦν τῶν ἀπηριθμημένων σοφῶν ὁ νῦν τῷ λόγῳ τιμώμενος, Γρηγόριον μὲν μιμεῖσθαι βούλεται, καί γε καὶ παραψαύει τῶν τοῦ μεγάλου ἰχνῶν, δεδίττεται δὲ ὥσπερ προσεγγίσαι τῷ λέοντι. διὰ ταῦτα Ἰσοκρατικὸς μᾶλλον τούτῳ ὁ χαρακτήρ, πλὴν ὅσον οὐκ ἐκκεχυμένος, ἀλλὰ συνεστραμμένος· καὶ οὐδὲν καινὸν εἰ, ᾧπερ ὡς ἥκιστα θαμίζων προσωμίλησεν, ἐμιμήσατο. οὐ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ βούλεσθαι οἱ τύποι τῶν χαρακτήρων, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ πεφυκέναι. τὸ δὲ σύμπαν εἰπεῖν, κρᾶμα τούτῳ συνηρμοσμένον ὁ λόγος ἐκ τῶν ἄριστα τοὺς ἀρίστους μιμησαμένων, ἢ καὶ ὧν αὐτοὶ καθηγεμόνες ἐγένοντο. Τοιοῦτος μὲν τὴν τέχνην ὁ θαυμάσιος οὗτος ἐγένετο, πλείων δὲ τὴν ἐπιστήμην, ὅλην εἰς μέρη μερίσας, καὶ ὥσπερ οὐ διελεῖν βουλόμενος αὖθις συμπτύξας καὶ ὁ [αὐτὸς] οὐδὲν ἔλαττον ξυνθεὶς ἢ ἀναλύσας, πάντας μὲν τοὺς συλλογισμοὺς ἀνεζητηκώς, ἑκάστων δὲ τὰς αἰ[τίας ...] ἀνευρηκώς, τάς τε πρώτας καὶ τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν πρώτων, καὶ τὰς μετὰ ταῦτα τῶν ὑποθέσεων καὶ ὧν ἄλυτον τὸ τεκμήριον, καὶ οὔτε διαλεκτικὸν τοῦτον δι[έφυγε] πρόβλημα οὔτε ἀποδεικτικὸν ζήτημα οὔτ' ἄλλο τι τῆς λογικῆς οὐδέν· ἀλλὰ καὶ προτάσεων κατὰ λόγον ηὐπόρησε καὶ ἀνήνεγκεν εἰς ἀρχὰς τὰ συλλελογισμένα, τούς τε ὅρους τοῦ πρώτου νοῦ εὑρηκὼς καὶ τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς τοὺς ξυγκειμένους. τὴν δέ γε σοφιστείαν τήν τε ἐν ὀνόμασι καὶ ἐν διανοίαις ἐγνώκει μέν, ἀπήλασε δὲ τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν πόλεως, οὐδὲν ἔλαττον ἢ τὸν ποιητὴν ὁ Πλάτων τῆς ἑαυτοῦ, μόνον οὐκ ἐρίῳ στέψας, ἀλλὰ γυμνήν τε καὶ ἀστεφάνωτον. Εἶτα δὴ καὶ τὰς τῆς φύσεως ἀγασθεὶς θεωρίας, ἀπὸ τῶν ἀρχῶν ἀρξάμενος ἐπὶ τὸ σύμπαν ἀφῆκε. καὶ ἐπέζευσε μὲν ἤπειρον, ἔπλευσε δὲ ἄχρι τῶν ἐφ' ἑκάτερα πόλων. ἐστείλατο δὲ καὶ πρὸς οὐρανόν, καὶ οὐδὲν ἀφῆκεν αὐτῷ ἀθεώρητον, οὐχ ὅσα ἐν ψυχαῖς, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ γένος τοῦτο ἀρχὴν πρώτην τῶν φυσικῶν λόγων τιθέασιν, οὐχ ὅσα ἐν ζῴοις, οὐχ ὅσα ἐν φυτοῖς. εἶτα τί; λεληθότως καὶ τοῖς μαθήμασι προσωμίλησεν· ὥσπερ εἴ τις ἐς Ἑλλάδα ἢ ἐς Ἰωνίαν ἀποπλεῦσαι θελήσας οὐ ναῦν φιλοτεχνοίη, ἀλλὰ χρῷτο τῇ εὑρημένῃ τοσοῦτον ὅσον ἐς τὸν ἀπόπλουν, οὕτω τοιγαροῦν ἐκεῖνος τοῖς μαθήμασιν ὡς ὀχήμασι χρώμενος, ἀπὸ τῶν σωμάτων τοῖς ἀσωμάτοις προσέβαλε, τῷ κράματι πρότερον προσεληλυθώς. ἔνθα δὴ καὶ γενόμενος ἐγνώκει τὸ πρώτως ἕν, τὰς ἐκεῖθεν ἑνάδας, τὸ κυρίως ὄν, τὰς τοῦ ὄντος μερίδας, τὰ τοῦ καλοῦ παραδείγματα, τὴν θαυμασίαν σειράν, τοὺς μέσους δεσμοὺς δι' ὧν τὰ ἄκρα συνάπτεται. Τοιοῦτος ὁ ἐμὸς τῷ ὄντι καὶ φιλόσοφος καὶ διδάσκαλος, οὐ κατὰ τοὺς πολλοὺς τῶν νῦν τὴν ἐπιστήμην μεταχειριζομένων, οὐδὲ κατὰ τὴν ἑτέραν μερίδα ὅσοι καὶ διαπτύουσι ταῦτα καὶ περιττὴν σοφίαν τιθέασιν, ὥσπερ αὐτοὶ μάλιστα τὸν καθ' ἡμᾶς λόγον κτησάμενοι καὶ μηδενὸς τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιδεόμενοι. οἵ γε οὔτε τοῦτον ἴσασιν, οὔτε τι τούτων ἐγνώκασιν, ὁ δὲ λόγος πρὸς ἐνίους τῶν οὕτως οἰομένων. εἰσὶ γὰρ ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἑπτάκις χιλίους οἱ μήτε τῇ Βάαλ τὸ σέβας ἀπονειμάμενοι κἀκ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν λόγων ὠφελημένοι πρὸς θεοσέβειαν. εἰ μὲν γὰρ πάντας τοὺς λόγους ἐγνώκεισαν, ὅσοι τε ἀπ' Αἰγυπτίων, ἢ Χαλδαίων, ἢ τῶν συνεγνωσμένων ἡμῖν Ἰουδαίων μετωχετεύθησαν πρὸς ἡμᾶς, τῶν γε Ἑλληνικῶν εἰς ἄκρον προεληλύθεσαν καὶ ὅπως οὗτοι τοῖς λογίοις ἐχρήσαντο, εἶτα διακρίνοιεν τούτους, καὶ τοὺς μέν, ἐγκρίνοιεν, τοὺς δέ, ἀποκρίνοιεν καὶ ἀπελέγχοιεν, ὥσπερ δὴ οἱ περὶ τὸν μέγαν Βασίλειον καὶ τὸν τῆς θεολογίας φωστῆρα Γρηγόριον πεποιήκασιν, οὐκ ἀγαίμην ἂν τούτοις μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐμαυτὸν ὑποθείμην μαθεῖν ὅπερ ἂν ἐκεῖνοι διδάξωσιν. εἰ δὲ μηδ' ὅσον ἑνὶ βήματι τοῦ πεζοῦ προβεβήκασι λόγου, μὴ δὲ ἕν τι τῶν πάντων ἐγνώκασιν, αἰσχύνεσθαι μᾶλλον αὐτοὺς προσήκει καὶ ἐπικρύπτειν τὴν ἀμαθίαν ἢ ἀναισχυντεῖν κατὰ τῶν τὰς ἐπιστήμας συνειλοχότων. Ἔγωγ' οὖν, ἵνα τι καὶ περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ τῷ τοῦ φίλου λόγῳ προσθήσω, καί με μὴ βάλοι βέλος νεμέσεως· οὐκ