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I do not see the tree then. But the flower, blooming more frequently and drawing me wholly toward itself with longing, ends in the fruit of love. And this fruit, in turn, does not endure being borne by the tree of fear, but rather when it has fully ripened, then it is seen alone, without the tree. For fear is not found in love at all, nor, on the other hand, is [love] brought to fruit in the soul without fear. Truly a wonder beyond reason, and beyond all comprehension, that a tree with labor blossoms and bears fruit; but its fruit, in turn, uproots the entire tree, and the fruit remains alone. How a fruit can be without the tree, I am altogether unable to say; yet it remains, yet love exists without the fear that gave it birth. Love, therefore, is truly all gladness, (103) and it fills the one possessing it with joy and delight and, in perception, casts him outside the world, which fear is not at all able to accomplish. For being within the visible and the sensible, how can it have the strength to cast the one who has it far from these things, and in perception join him wholly to the invisible? Truly, it will in no way have the strength!

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οὐχ ὁρῶ τό δένδρον τότε. Συχνοτέρως δέ τό ἄνθος ἐπανθοῦν καί πρός ἐκεῖνο ὅλον με τῷ πόθῳ ἕλκον εἰς καρπόν ἀγάπης λήγει. Ὁ καρπός δέ οὗτος πάλιν οὐκ ἀνέχεται τῷ δένδρῳ τῷ τοῦ φόβου βασταχθῆναι, ἀλλά μᾶλλον ὅτε πλήρης ὡριμάσει, τότε μόνος δίχα δένδρου καθορᾶται. Φόβος γάρ ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ οὐχ εὑρίσκεται οὐδ᾿ ὅλως, οὐδέ πάλιν δίχα φόβου ἐν ψυχῇ καρποφορεῖται. Ὄντως θαῦμα ὑπέρ λόγον, ὑπέρ ἔννοιαν δέ πᾶσαν, ὅτι δένδρον μετά κόπου ἐξανθεῖ καί καρπόν φέρει˙ ὁ καρπός αὐτοῦ δέ πάλιν ὅλον ἐκριζοῖ τό δένδρον, μένει δ᾿ ὁ καρπός καί μόνος. Πῶς καρπός τοῦ δένδρου δίχα, ὅλως ἐξειπεῖν οὐκ ἔχω˙ τέως μένει, τέως ἔστιν ἡ ἀγάπη δίχα φόβου τοῦ αὐτήν ἀποτεκόντος. Ἡ ἀγάπη οὖν ὑπάρχει ὄντως πᾶσα εὐφροσύνη, (103) καί χαρᾶς καί θυμηδίας ἐμπιπλᾷ τόν κεκτημένον καί τοῦ κόσμου ἐν αἰσθήσει τοῦτον ἔξωθεν ἐκβάλλει, ὅπερ φόβος οὐκ ἰσχύει ἀπεργάσασθαι οὐδ᾿ ὅλως. Ἔνδον γάρ τῶν ὁρωμένων καί τῶν αἰσθητῶν ὤν ἔνδον, πῶς τόν ἔχοντα ἰσχύει τούτων πόρρω βάλλειν ἆρα, ἐν αἰσθήσει τε συνάψαι ὅλον ἄν τοῖς ἀοράτοις; Ὄντως οὐδαμῶς ἰσχύσει!