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calling ignorance especially darkness of the soul, you teach that it is naturally cleansed through external learning, how then does this man consider the Greeks and Egyptians and any other inventors of rational studies to be physicians and luminaries and saviors of our soul, no less than, if not even more than, Jesus? But the subsequent disease in the intellect of this knowledge-loving soul was revealed to be so great, and this through these few words about it; and with the intellect of the philosopher being sick, it is not unlikely that he does not understand both what ails it and from where. We shall therefore attempt to perceive and declare the cause of the disease, and also, with God, to mix a medicine, which brings one back to health, if he might be persuaded to accept it. For who would not suffer in his soul, seeing so fine a member being intellectually torn away from the church? For my part, I know that I was so stung in my soul for this very reason at the beginning, (p. 338) that some would not seem to believe me were I to say to what extent. And as for the great pain I endured in writing, as I myself then said to my companions, I undertook it not so much for the sake of those who embrace stillness as for this man, against whom the objections are directed; and if he had been willing, when I asked at the beginning, to resolve these opinions and attacks against the simpler of the brethren through face-to-face discussions, the long writings would have been in vain. But now I do not know to what end these things will come; but I pray to God and hope for better things.

But I think I should leave aside the first and more remote causes of the disease; the most immediate of all, which is also apparent in the words of the sick man, is the thing and the name of the truth that is beyond us. It is truly a terrible thing to steal a man fond of learning and to engender an unattainable desire in souls greedily disposed to knowing; for this at the beginning created in Adam the desire for equality with God. For this philosopher also thought this to be salvific and that without this there is no perfection: for the gnostic faculty of the soul to be harmonized in a permanent union with the truth that pervades all of God's creations. Seeing that this was not perfectly attained from the divine oracles and commandments, he looked to the Greeks, who seemed to have discovered the principles of creation, and revered their teachings as perfecting the soul; for he did not consider how unprofitable this is for the soul in the present age, and impossible; “for as you do not know the way of the bones in the womb of her who is with child,” says Solomon, “so you will not know the works of God who makes all things.” But you will not know what he will make, but you will know what he has made? And indeed the same says: “a man cannot find out the work that is done (p. 340) under the sun: because though he may labor to seek it out, and though a wise man think to know it, yet he shall not be able to find it.” Therefore the accounts of the pagans concerning creation are various, and there are those who have composed a science of them demonstrating that all of them are not true; but that some one of the differing accounts boasts the truth, no science of these is able to show, nor has it been devised at all. And so, the one who does not attest to the indisputable nature of the truth only in what has been revealed for our benefit by the divinely-inspired, and does not understand the incomprehensibility of God's wisdom in His creations from what was said by God to Job, but thinks he can precisely comprehend the truth shown through all things from pagan wisdom, has unwittingly built the house of knowledge on sand, or rather, on successive waves, entrusting so great a matter to the twists of arguments, which are always by nature overthrown by the twists of other arguments; therefore, such a wise man will be likened to a fool, and there is no small fear that he may also suffer the great fall according to the Lord's parable. The cause of the deception, then, if indeed I am aiming at the truth, is this part of the truth. It remains, then, to mix the cleansing potion.

But taking care so that the sick might also partake without distress, let us grant what we before denied, as being altogether impossible. Let us grant, then, that the

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ἄγνοιαν μάλιστα σκότος λέγων τῆς ψυχῆς διά τῆς ἔξω πεφυκός καθαίρεσθαι παιδείς, πῶς οὖν οὗτος, οὐδέν ἧττον ὅτι μή καί μᾶλλον, ἰατρούς καί φωστῆρας καί σωτῆρας τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμῶν Ἕλληνας καί Αἰγυπτίους καί οὑστινασοῦν λογικῶν μαθημάτων εὑρετάς, ἤ τόν Ἰησοῦν ἡγεῖται; Ἀλλ᾿ ἡ μέν ἐπιγενομένη νόσος τῷ φρονοῦντι τῆς τοῦ φιλογνώστου τούτου ψυχῆς ἐξεφάνη τοσαύτη καί ταῦτα δι᾿ ὀλίγων τῶν περί αὐτῆς λόγων τουτωνί˙ τοῦ δέ φρονοῦντος νοσοῦντος τῷ φιλοσόφῳ, οὐδέν ἀπεικός καί ὅ τι καί ὅθεν αὐτό νοσεῖ μή νοεῖν. Πειρασόμεθα οὖν ἡμεῖς τήν αἰτίαν τῆς νόσου συνιδεῖν τε καί ἐξειπεῖν, ἀλλά καί φάρμακον σύν Θεῷ κεράσαι, ἤν ἄρα πεισθῇ προσέσθαι, πρός ὑγίειαν ἐπανάγον. Τίς γάρ οὐκ ἄν πάθοι τήν ψυχήν, οὕτω καλόν μέλος τῆς ἐκκλησίας νοητῶς ὁρῶν ταύτης ἀπορρηγνύμενον; Ἔγωγ᾿ οὖν ἐπί τοσοῦτον οἶδα δι᾿ αὐτό τοῦτο τήν ψυχήν δηχθείς τήν ἀρχήν, (σελ. 338) ὡς μή ἄν πιστευθῆναί τισι δοκεῖν ἐφ᾿ ὅσον εἰπόντα. Καί τόν πόνον δ᾿ ὅσον ὑπέστην γράφων, ὡς καί αὐτός τότε τῖς συνοῦσιν ἔλεγον, οὐχ ὑπέρ τῶν τήν ἡσυχίαν ἀσπαζομένων μᾶλλον ὑπῆλθον ἤ τούτου πρός ὅν αἱ ἀντιθέσεις εἰσί˙ κἄν εἴπερ ἠθέλησεν, ἀξιοῦντι τήν ἀρχήν, τοῖς πρός ἀλλήλους διά στόματος λόγοις καταλῦσαι τάς δόξας ταύτας καί τάς πρός τούς ἁπλουστέρους τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἐπιθέσεις, φροῦδα ἄν ἦν τά μακρά συγγράμματα. Νῦν δ᾿ οὐκ οἶδ᾿ εἰς ὅ τι ταυτί τελευτήσει˙ Θεῷ δ᾿ εὔχομαι καί ἐλπίζω τά κρείττω.

Ἀλλά γάρ τῶν τῆς νόσου πρώτων καί πορρωτέρω αἰτίων ἀφεῖσθαί μοι δοκῶ˙ τό προσεχέστατον δ᾿ ἁπάντων, ὅ κἀν τοῖς τοῦ νοσοῦντος ἐμφαίνεται λόγοις, τό τῆς ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς ἀληθείας ἐστί καί πρᾶγμα καί ὄνομα. ∆εινόν ὄντως ἄνδρα κλέψαι φιλομαθῆ καί ταῖς περί τό εἰδέναι λίχνως διακειμέναις ψυχαῖς ἔφεσιν ἀνέφικτον ἐντεκεῖν˙ αὕτη γάρ καί τῷ Ἀδάμ τῆς ἰσοθεΐας τόν ἔρωτα τήν ἀρχήν ἐνεποίησεν. Ὠήθη γάρ καί ὁ φιλόσοφος οὗτος τοῦτ᾿ εἶναι σωτηριῶδες καί ἄνευ τούτου τελειότητα μή παρεῖναι τῇ διά τῶν κτισμάτων πάντων τοῦ Θεοῦ διηκούσῃ ἀληθείᾳ τό γνωστικόν ἐνηρμόσθαι τῆς ψυχῆς καθ᾿ ἕνωσιν μόνιμον. Τοῦτο δ᾿ ἐκ τῶν θείων λογίων καί ἐνταλμάτων μή τελέως προσγινόμενον ὁρῶν, πρός τούς δοκοῦντας τούς τῆς κτίσεως εὑρηκέναι λόγους ἔβλεψεν Ἕλληνας καί τά κατ᾿ αὐτούς ὡς τελεστικά ψυχῆς ἐσεβάσθη μαθήματα˙ οὐ γάρ ἐνενόησεν ὡς ἀλυσιτελές τοῦτο κατά τόν νῦν αἰῶνα τῇ ψυχῇ καί ἀδύνατον˙ «ὡς γάρ ὀστᾶ ἐν γαστρί τῆς κυοφορούσης», φησίν ὁ Σολομών, «οὕτως οὐ γνώσῃ τά ποιήματα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἅ ποιήσει τά σύμπαντα». Ἀλλ᾿ ἅ μέν ποιήσει οὐκ εἴσῃ, ἅ δέ πεποίηκεν εἴσῃ; Καί μήν ὁ αὐτός φησιν˙ «οὐ δυνήσεται ἄνθρωπος τοῦ εὑρεῖν τό ποίημα τό πεποιημένον (σελ. 340) ὑπό τόν ἥλιον, ὅσα ἐάν μοχθήσῃ τοῦ ζητῆσαι, καί γε ὅσα ἄν εἴποι ὁ σοφός τοῦ γνῶναι, οὐ δυνήσεται εὑρεῖν. ∆ιό καί διάφοροι περί κτίσεως μέν εἰσίν οἱ τῶν ἔξωθεν λόγοι, πάντες δ᾿ ὅτι μή ἀληθεῖς, εἰσίν οἵ τούτων ἐπιστήμην συνέθεντο τήν δεικνῦσαν˙ ὅτι δέ εἷς τις τῶν διαφερομένων τἀληθές αὐχεῖ, οὐδεμία τούτων ἐπιστήμη δύναται δεῖξαι ἤ ὅλως ἐπινενόηται. Καί τοίνυν ὁ μή τοῖς ὑπό τῶν θεοπνεύστων ἐπί τό συνοῖσον ἐκφανεῖσι μόνοις τό ἀναμφίλεκτον τῆς ἀληθείας προσμαρτυρῶν κἀν τῶν πρός τόν Ἰώβ ὑπό Θεοῦ εἰρημένων τῆς ἐν τοῖς κτίσμασι τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφίας τό ἀκατάληπτον συνιών, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ τῆς ἔξω σοφίας τήν διά πάντων δεικνουμένην ἀλήθειαν ἀκριβῶς κατανοῆσαι οἰόμενος, ἔλαθεν ἑαυτόν ἐπί ψάμμου, μᾶλλον δέ ἐπ᾿ ἀλλεπαλλήλων κυμάτων, τόν τῆς γνώσεως οἶκον οἰκοδομῶν, τοσοῦτο πρᾶγμα λόγων στροφαῖς πιστεύων, ἀεί στροφαῖς ἄλλων λόγων πεφυκυΐαις καταπαλαίεσθαι˙ μωρῷ τοίνυν ὁμοιωθήσεται ὁ τοιοῦτος σοφός καί δέος οὔ τι μικρόν μή καί τήν πτῶσιν πάθῃ μεγάλην κατά τήν τοῦ Κυρίου παραβολήν. Τό γοῦν αἴτιον τῆς ἀπάτης, εἴπερ ἄρα καταστοχάζομαι τῆς ἀληθείας, τοῦτο τό μέρος τῆς ἀληθείας ἐστίν. Ὑπόλοιπον δ᾿ ἄρα κεράσαι τό καθάρσιον πόμα.

Προμηθευόμενοι δέ ὥστε καί προσενέγκασθαι τούς νοσοῦντας ἀλύπως, δῶμεν ὅ ἀπείπομεν πρότερον, ὡς ἀδύνατον παντάπασιν ὄν. ∆ῶμεν τοίνυν τούς τῶν