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and it is part of being well according to virtue to take thought for one's neighbor; which the written law enjoins; but to love one's neighbor more than oneself, is the special property of the law of grace.

5.15 (15) The one who is hindered from the occasions for the pleasure of the body, learns the principles of Providence, which holds back the flammable matter of the passions; but the one who receives scourges for the pain of the body, is taught the principles of judgment, which cleanses him of preceding defilements with involuntary pains.

5.16 (16) If the word of Scripture introduced in contrast the prophet grieving because of the booth and the gourd, that is to say, the flesh and the pleasure of the flesh, but God holding fast to Nineveh, it is clear that of the things precious and lovely to men, this which appeared dear to God is much better and more precious than all existing things, much more than [unus Reg. ὅπου γε] the things that are not, and which seem to be only by preconception according to a mistaken judgment, of which there is no account at all according to existence; but only a fantasy deceiving the mind, and providing an empty form to things that are not, but not substance to the passion.

1356 5.17 (17) The precise knowledge of the oracles of the Spirit, (15∆_268> is naturally revealed only to those worthy of the Spirit; who through great attention to the virtues, having cleansed the mind of the soot of the passions, receive the knowledge of divine things impressed upon them and falling into them like a face in the manner of a clean and transparent mirror, at the very moment of its approach. But for those whose life is stained by the blemishes of the passions, it is barely possible even to establish by proof the knowledge of divine things from some probable conjectures, let alone to dare both to understand and to express it with precision.

5.18 (18) The one who has received the knowledge from the virtues in the divine Spirit as the form of the mind, is said to have experienced divine things, because he has acquired this not by nature according to existence, but by grace according to participation. But the one who has not received the knowledge from grace, even if he says something pertaining to knowledge, does not know by experience the power of what is said. For mere learning does not give knowledge as a state.

5.19 (19) The mind, being purified to the utmost through the virtues, is naturally and reasonably taught the principles of the virtues, making the knowledge divinely characterized from them its own person. For in itself every mind is constituted both formless and uncharacterized, having an acquired form, either the knowledge subsisting from the virtues in spirit, or the ignorance resulting from the passions.

5.20 (20) Everyone who has fallen from divine love, has the law in the flesh reigning through pleasure, which is neither able nor willing to keep any divine commandment. For having preferred the pleasure-loving life over the life and kingdom conducted in the Spirit of God according to virtue, he has drawn upon himself ignorance instead of knowledge.

5.21 (21) The one who does not cross over in his mind to the divine comeliness within in spirit of the letter of the law, is naturally disposed to beget the pleasure-loving (15∆_270> disposition of the will, that is, worldly passion and love of the world, from the utterance of the learning which is only in the letter of the law.

5.22 (22) The shame of the mouth is the world-loving and body-loving meditation on thoughts in the mind. For in this the world is naturally begotten from the corporeal formation which is made apparent in the letter of the law, according to the disposition of the will; that is, the disposition that loves the world, and the pleasure-loving meditation on thoughts in the mind. For toward whatever we are disposed by way of relation, toward that we also possess a meditation in the mind.

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καί τῆς πρός τό εὖ εἶναι κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ἐστι προνοεῖσθαι τοῦ πέλας· ὅπερ ὁ γραπτός ἐπιτρέπει νόμος· τό δέ ὑπέρ ἑαυτόν ἀγαπῆσαι τόν πλησίον, τοῦ νόμου τῆς χάριτός ἐστιν ἰδιαίτατον.

5.15 (ιε΄) Ὁ κωλυόμενος τῶν πρός ἡδονήν σώματος ἀφορμῶν, μανθάνει Προνοίας λόγους, ἐπεχούσης τήν ἐξαπτικήν ὕλην τῶν παθῶν· ὁ δέ τάς πρός ὀδύνην σώματος δεχόμενος μάστιγας, διδάσκεται κρίσεως λόγους, προλαβόντων μολυσμῶν ἀκουσίοις πόνοις αὐτόν ἐκκαθαιρούσης.

5.16 (ιστ΄) Εἰ τόν προφήτην διά τήν σκηνήν καί τήν κολόκυνθαν λυπούμενον, λέγω δέ τήν σάρκα καί τήν τῆς σαρκός ἡδονήν, τῆς δέ Νινευΐ τόν Θεόν ἀντεχόμενον ἀντεισήγαγεν ὁ τῆς Γραφῆς λόγος, δῆλον ὡς τῶν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τιμίων καί ἐπεράστων, τόδε τῷ Θεῷ φανέν προσφιλές, πάντων τῶν ὄντων πολλῷ κρεῖττόν ἐστι καί τιμιώτερον, ἤπουγε [unus Reg. ὅπου γε] τῶν οὐκ ὄντων, καί μόνῃ προλήψει κατ᾿ ἐσφαλμένην κρίσιν εἶναι δοκούντων, ὧν οὐδείς τό παράπαν ἐστί κατά τήν ὕπαρξιν λόγος· μόνη δέ φαντασία τόν νοῦν φενακίζουσα, καί σχῆμα τοῖς οὐκ οὖσι διάκενον, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὑπόστασιν τῷ πάθει παρεχομένη.

1356 5.17 (ιζ΄) Ἡ μέν ἀκριβής γνῶσις τῶν λογίων τοῦ Πνεύματος, (15∆_268> μόνοις ἀποκαλύπτεσθαι πέφυκε τοῖς ἀξίοις τοῦ Πνεύματος· οἵ διά πολλήν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐπιμέλειαν, τῆς τῶν παθῶν αἰθάλης τόν νοῦν ἐκκαθάραντες, ἐσόπτρου δίκην καθαροῦ καί διαυγοῦς, ἅμα τῇ προσβολῇ, καθάπερ πρόσωπον ἐντυπουμένην αὐτοῖς καί ἐμπίπτουσαν τήν τῶν θείων δέχονται γνῶσιν. Οἷς δέ ταῖς τῶν παθῶν κηλῖσιν ὁ βίος κατέστικται, μόλις κἄν ἐξ εἰκότων τινῶν στοχασμῶν τεκμηριῶσαι τήν τῶν θείων γνῶσίν ἐστι δυνατόν, μή ὅτι γε νοῆσαί τε καί φράσαι ταύτην δι᾿ ἀκριβείας ἀπαυθαδίζεσθαι.

5.18 (ιη΄) Ὁ τοῦ νοῦ μορφήν τήν ἐξ ἀρετῶν ἐν Πνεύματι θείῳ δεξάμενος γνῶσιν, τά θεῖα λέγεται παθεῖν, ὅτι μή φύσει κατά τήν ὕπαρξιν, ἀλλά χάριτι κατά τήν μέθεξιν, ταύτην προσέλαβεν. Ὁ δέ τήν ἐκ χάριτος μή δεξάμενος γνῶσιν, κἄν λέγῃ τι γνωστικόν, οὐκ οἶδε κατά πείραν τοῦ λεγομένου τήν δύναμιν. Ψιλή γάρ μάθησις, τήν καθ᾿ ἕξιν γνῶσιν οὐ δίδωσι.

5.19 (ιθ΄) Νοῦς εἰς ἄκρον διά τῶν ἀρετῶν καθαιρόμενος, τούς τῶν ἀρετῶν πέφυκεν εἰκότως ἐκδιδάσκεσθαι λόγους, τήν ἐξ αὐτῶν θειωδῶς χαρακτηρισθεῖσαν γνῶσιν οἰκεῖον ποιούμενος πρόσωπον. Καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν γάρ ἀνείδεός τε καί ἀχαρακτήριστος πᾶς καθέστηκε νοῦς, μορφήν ἔχων ἐπίκτητον, ἤ τήν ἐκ τῶν ἀρετῶν ὑποστᾶσαν ἐν πνεύματι γνῶσιν, ἤ τήν ἐκ τῶν παθῶν ἐπισυμβαίνουσαν ἄγνοιαν.

5.20 (κ΄) Πᾶς ὁ τῆς θείας ἐκπεπτωκώς ἀγάπης, τόν ἐν τῇ σαρκί νόμον ἔχει διά τῆς ἡδονῆς βασιλεύοντα, τόν μηδεμίαν θείαν ἐντολήν φυλάξαι δυνάμενον ἤ βουλόμενον. Τῆς γάρ ἐν πνεύματι Θεοῦ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν διεξαγομένης ζωῆς τε καί βασιλείας, προτιμήσας τήν φιλήδονον ζωήν, τήν ἄγνοιαν ἀντί τῆς γνώσεως ἑαυτῷ ἐπεσπάσατο.

5.21 (κα΄) Ὁ μή διαβαίνων κατά νοῦν πρός τήν ἔνδον ἐν πνεύματι τοῦ νομικοῦ γράμματος θείαν εὐπρέπειαν, τήν τῆς γνώμης φιλήδονον (15∆_270> σχέσιν, ἤγουν τήν κοσμικήν προσπάθειαν καί φιλοκοσμίαν γεννᾷν πέφυκεν, ἐκ τῆς κατά μόνην τήν ἐν λόγῳ τοῦ νόμου μαθήσεως προφοράν.

5.22 (κβ΄) Αἰσχύνη στόματός ἐστιν, ἡ κατά νοῦν φιλόκοσμος μελέτη τῶν λογισμῶν καί φιλοσώματος. Ἐν ᾧ γάρ ὁ κόσμος ἐκ τῆς ἐμφαινομένης τῷ γράμματι τοῦ νόμου σωματικῆς διαπλάσεως, κατά τήν γνωμικήν σχέσιν γεννᾶσθαι πέφυκεν· ἤγουν, ἡ τόν κόσμον φιλοῦσα διάθεσις, καί ἡ κατά νοῦν φιλήδονος μελέτη τῶν λογισμῶν. Πρός ὅ γάρ σχετικῶς διακείμεθα, πρός ἐκεῖνο καί κατά νοῦν μελέτην κεκτήμεθα.