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contrary to the goal, persuading them toward sense-perception alone, to make the movement of the course, through weakness of mind, considering the preconceived end to be that which is circumscribed for them according to sense-perception; which things he who does not suffer them ignores, who is joined to the principle of virtue alone, and has circumscribed for it every movement of his own power according to the mind, and for this reason is unable to think anything beyond the principle or contrary to the principle.

FIFTH CENTURY (15∆_258> 5.1 (a) The principle according to nature, through the midst of the virtues, 1349

is by nature disposed to lead up to the mind him who is devoted to practice; and the mind introduces to wisdom through contemplation him who desires knowledge. But the irrational passion persuades him who neglects the commandments to be carried down to sense-perception, whose end is for the mind to be nailed fast to pleasure.

5.2 (b) He calls virtue the most dispassionate and stable state concerning the good, from which nothing stands on either side, bearing the character of God, to whom nothing is opposed. And the cause of the virtues is God; and the knowledge of him through activity is the alteration toward the spirit in the state of him who has truly known God.

5.3 (c) If the principle has defined how the generation of each thing is by nature, none of the beings has naturally exceeded or fallen short of itself. Therefore, the boundary of beings is the full knowledge of the cause according to desire; and the measure, the possible imitation by beings of the cause through activity. But for the desire of those in motion to be carried beyond the boundary and the measure makes the course unprofitable, as they do not arrive at God, in whom the motion of all things according to desire comes to a stand, receiving the enjoyment of God as its self-subsistent end. But for the desire of those in motion to be carried contrary to the boundary and the measure makes the course unprofitable, as they arrive at sense-perception instead of God, wherein the unsubstantial enjoyment of the passions proceeds according to pleasure.

(15∆_260> 5.4 (d) He who without relation raises his mind to the cause of beings will be completely ignorant, contemplating no principle in God who in essence is beyond every principle according to every cause; toward whom, having withdrawn from all beings, he knows none of the principles from which he departed, contemplating in an uninterpretable manner only him toward whom he has come according to grace. For the mind that has run up to God in ecstasy leaves behind the principles of both the incorporeal and the corporeal. For it is not the nature of anything that is after God to be contemplated at the same time with God.

5.5 (e) Pride is truly a cursed passion, and is constituted from the synthesis of two evils, I mean arrogance and vainglory; of which arrogance, on the one hand, denies the cause of virtue and of nature; while vainglory, on the other hand, renders both nature and virtue itself illegitimate. For nothing is accomplished by the arrogant man according to God, and nothing proceeds from the vainglorious man according to nature.

5.6 (f) It is the property of arrogance to deny that God is the author of virtue and of nature; and of vainglory, to divide nature towards abatement; of which pride is naturally the offspring, being a composite state of evil, possessing a voluntary denial of God and an ignorance of the equality of honor according to nature.

1352 5.7 (g) Pride has been established as a mixture of arrogance and vainglory; having contempt toward God, according to which it is its nature to slander providence blasphemously; and possessing alienation toward nature, according to which it handles all things of nature contrary to nature, corrupting the seemliness of nature by way of misuse.

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παρά τόν σκοπόν, πρός μόνην τήν αἴσθησιν αὐτούς πεῖθον, τοῦ δρόμου ποιεῖσθαι τήν κίνησιν, δι᾿ ἀτονίας νοός, προεπινοούμενον τέλος νομίζοντας, τό κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν αὐτοῖς περιγραφόμενον· ἅπερ ἀγνοεῖ μή πάσχων, ὁ μόνῳ τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς συνημμένος, καί πᾶσαν αὐτῷ τῆς κατά νοῦν οἰκείας δυνάμεως περιγράψας τήν κίνησιν, καί διά τοῦτο μηδέν ὑπέρ τόν λόγον ἤ παρά τόν λόγον διανοεῖσθαι δυνάμενος.

ΕΚΑΤΟΝΤΑΣ ΠΕΜΠΤΗ (15∆_258> 5.1 (α΄) Ὁ κατά φύσιν λόγος, διά μέσων τῶν ἀρετῶν, 1349

πρός τόν νοῦν ἀνάγειν πέφυκε τόν ἐπιμελούμενον πράξεως· ὁ δέ νοῦς πρός τήν σοφίαν εἰσάγει διά θεωρίας τόν ἐφιέμενον γνώσεως. Τό δέ παράλογον πάθος, πρός τήν αἴσθησιν πείθει καταφέρεσθαι τόν ἀμελοῦντα τῶν ἐντολῶν, ἧς τέλος ἐστί, τό πρός τήν ἡδονήν καθηλωθῆναι τόν νοῦν.

5.2 (β΄) Ἀρετήν καλεῖ, τήν ἀπαθεστάτην καί παγίαν περί τό καλόν ἕξιν, ἧς ἐφ᾿ ἑκάτερα καθέστηκεν οὐδέν, Θεοῦ φερούσης χαρακτῆρα, ᾧ οὐδέν ἐστιν ἐναντίον. Αἰτία δέ τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐστιν ὁ Θεός· τούτου δέ κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν γνῶσις, ἡ τοῦ κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν ἐπεγνωκότος τόν Θεόν πρός τό πνεῦμα κατά τήν ἕξιν ἀλλοίωσις.

5.3 (γ΄) Εἰ ὁ λόγος διώρισεν ὡς πέφυκεν ἑκάστου τήν γένεσιν, οὐδέν τῶν ὄντων ἑαυτό φυσικῶς ἤ ὑπερβέβηκεν ἤ ὑποβέβηκεν. Οὐκοῦν ὅρος μέν τῶν ὄντων ἐστίν, ἡ κατ᾿ ἔφεσιν τῆς αἰτίας ἐπίγνωσις· μέτρον δέ, ἡ ἐφικτή τοῖς οὖσι κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν τῆς αἰτίας ἐκμίμησις. Τό δέ ὑπέρ τόν ὅρον φέρεσθαι καί τό μέτρον τῶν κινουμένων τήν ἔφεσιν, ἀνόνητον ποιεῖ τόν δρόμον, μή καταντώντων εἰς Θεόν, ἐν ᾧ ἡ κατ᾿ ἔφεσιν πάντων ἵσταται κίνησις, αὐθυπόστατον δεχομένη τέλος τοῦ Θεοῦ τήν ἀπόλαυσιν. Τό δέ παρά τόν ὄρον φέρεσθαι καί τό μέτρον τῶν κινουμένων τήν ἔφεσιν, ἀνόνητον ποιεῖ τόν δρόμον, ἀντί Θεοῦ καταντώντων πρός τήν αἴσθησιν, ἐν ᾗ καθ᾿ ἡδονήν βέβηκεν ἡ τῶν παθῶν ἀνυπόστατος ἀπόλαυσις.

(15∆_260> 5.4 (δ΄) Ὁ πρός τήν αἰτίαν τῶν ὄντων ἀσχέτως ἀνατιθείς νοῦν, ἀγνοήσει παντελῶς, μηδένα θεωρῶν λόγον, ἐν τῷ κατά πᾶσαν αἰτίαν ὑπέρ πάντα λόγον ὄντι κατ᾿ οὐσίαν Θεῷ· πρός ὅν ἀπό τῶν ὄντων ἁπάντων συσταλείς, οὐδένα τῶν ἀφ᾿ ὧν ἀπέστη λόγων, ἐπίσταται μόνον τόν πρός ὅν γέγονε κατά χάριν, ἀνερμηνεύτως θεώμενος. Καί γάρ καί τούς τῶν ἀσωμάτων καί τούς τῶν σωμάτων ἀφίησι λόγους, ὁ πρός τόν Θεόν ἀναδραμών κατ᾿ ἔκστασιν νοῦς. Οὐ γάρ πέφυκέ τι Θεῷ τῶν μετά Θεόν, ἅμα συγκατοπτεύεσθαι.

5.5 (ε΄) Ἐπάρατον ὄντως πάθος ὁ τῦφος, καί ἐκ δύο κακῶν κατά σύνθεσιν συνιστάμενον, ὑπερηφανίας φημί καί κενοδοξίας· ὧν ἡ μέν ὑπερηφανία, τήν αἰτίαν ἀρνεῖται τῆς ἀρετῆς καί τῆς φύσεως· ἡ δέ κενοδοξία, τήν τε φύσιν, καί αὐτήν νόθον τήν ἀρετήν καθίστησιν. Οὐδέν γάρ τῷ ὑπερηφάνῳ κατά Θεόν διαπράττεται, καί οὐδέν τῷ κενοδόξῳ κατά φύσιν προέρχεται.

5.6 (στ΄) Ὑπερηφανίας ἴδιον, τό ἀρνεῖσθαι τόν Θεόν ἀρετῆς εἶναι γενέτην καί φύσεως· κενοδοξίας δέ, τό μερίζειν τήν φύσιν πρός ὕφεσιν· ὧν ὁ τῦφος εἶναι γέννημα πέφυκεν, ἕξις κακίας ὑπάρχων σύνθετος, Θεοῦ ἄρνησιν ἑκούσιον ἔχουσα, καί τῆς κατά φύσιν ἰσοτιμίας ἄγνοιαν.

1352 5.7 (ζ΄) Ὑπερηφανίας καί κενοδοξίας μίξις, ὁ τῦφος καθέστηκε· πρός μέν τόν Θεόν ἔχων τήν καταφρόνησιν, καθ᾿ ἥν πέφυκε βλασφήμως διαβάλλειν τήν πρόνοιαν· πρός δέ τήν φύσιν κεκτημένος τήν ἀλλοτρίωσιν, καθ᾿ ἥν πάντα τά τῆς φύσεως παρά τήν φύσιν μεταχειρίζεται, τῷ κατά παράχρησιν τρόπῳ τήν τῆς φύσεως παραφθείρων εὐπρέπειαν.