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persistences and assaults, swifter or slower; and, as it were, the pleadings against the soul as in a law court, and the verdicts supposedly cast by the mind; the apparent defeats or victories; what the disposition is in each case; and for what reason many passions are permitted to assail the soul at once, and this either by themselves or together with one another; and by what thought [Fr. λόγῳ] they timelessly bring up their own proper matters, through which they secretly engage us in bitter warfare; so that we labor arduously over things that are in no way present, as if rushing toward or fleeing from these matters. suffering the one through pleasure, the other through pain. And the manner of their existence in us, and of their intricate and varied fantasy in dreams during sleep; and whether they are confined in some part of the soul, or of the body; or in the whole soul, and in the whole body; and whether, being within, they persuade the soul through the passions of the soul to be drawn to external things through the body, and lead it astray, so that it becomes wholly of the sense alone, having abandoned its own natural properties; or, being without, through external contact with the body, they shape the invisible soul towards material things, imposing on it a composite form, fashioning the image of the matter that has been impressed (Fr. ἀναληφθείσης] upon the imagination; and whether there is an order among them, and a maliciously devised sequence, to make trial of the soul first through these passions, and thus to fight against it consequently through others; and which passions precede which, and which in turn accompany or follow which, or whether they disturb the soul pell-mell and without order, as it may happen, through whatsoever passions; and whether the soul is permitted to suffer such things from them without providence, or according to providence; and what is the providential reason for the abandonment of the soul in each passion; and what is the manner of destruction of each of the enumerated passions; and by what works, (252) or words, or thoughts the soul is freed from these, and shakes off the defilement of the conscience; and by opposing what virtue to what passion it will conquer, putting the evil demon to flight, completely destroying along with him the very movement of the passion; and how after the release from the passions, it will be able to discern its own properties well; and by what principles or ways, having appropriated the passionless relations of sensible things to the senses through the natural law, it will form itself toward virtues, as it was previously formed toward sin through the passions; and how it will indeed make the good and necessary reversal, using those things by which it formerly transgressed for the generation and substance of virtues; and how, being released again from these relations, it will scientifically gather up the principles of created things through natural contemplation in the Spirit, once they have been freed from the sensible symbols within them; and how, in turn, after these, approaching the intelligible things again, with the intellect having become pure from thought based on the senses, it will receive simple concepts, and will take up the simple knowledge that binds all things to one another according to the originating principle of wisdom; after which, having passed beyond all beings, along with the thoughts naturally suited to them, and being purely released from everything, even from its own natural power of intellection, it might suffer toward God himself the union beyond intellection; according to which, receiving ineffably from him the learning of that which is truly truth, in the manner of a seed, it will no longer be turned to sin, there being no longer room for the devil to plausibly drag it toward evil through ignorance of the naturally good, which beautifies all things able to partake of it.

Since you have sought and commanded that the principles and ways and causes of these and suchlike things be set down for you in writing, let the discourse on these matters wait for a little while for now; if God grants, it will be examined more opportunely and investigated more laboriously in other works, if indeed I should at all perceive a nocturnal power in my intellect that is able to venture upon this great and deep sea.

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ἐπιμονάς τε καί προσεδρείας ταχυτέρας ἤ βραδυτέρας· καί οἷον τάς ὡς ἐν δικαστηρίῳ πρός τήν ψυχήν δικαιολογίας καί τάς δῆθεν κατά διάνοιαν γινομένας ψήφους· τάς τε φαινομένας ἥττας ἤ νίκας· τίς τε ἡ ἐφ᾿ ἑκάστῳ διάθεσις· καί διά ποίαν αἰτίαν ἑνί πολλά πάθη τῇ ψυχῇ συγχωροῦνται προσβάλλειν, καί τοῦτο ἤ καθ᾿ ἑαυτούς ἤ σύν ἀλλήλοις καί ποίῳ λογισμῷ [Fr. λόγῳ] ἀναφέρουσιν ἑαυτοῖς ἀχρόνως τάς οἰκείας ὕλας, δι᾿ ὧν κεκρυμμένως πρός ἡμᾶς τόν πικρόν συμπλέκουσι πόλεμον· ὡς ἐπί παροῦσιν ἐργωδῶς τοῖς μηδαμῶς οὖσιν διαπονουμένους, καί οἷον ὁρμῶντας ταῖς ὕλαις, ἤ φεύγοντας. Τό μέν, δι᾿ ἡδονήν· τό δέ, δι᾿ ὀδύνην πάσχοντας. Τόν τε τρόπον τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν ὑπάρξεως αὐτῶν, καί τῆς πολυπλόκου καί διαφόρου κατά τόν ὕπνον αὐτῶν ἐν ὀνείροις φαντασίας· καί εἰ ἔν τινι μέρει καθείργνυνται τῆς ψυχῆς, ἤ τοῦ σώματος· ἤ ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ ψυχῇ, καί ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ σώματι· καί εἰ ἐντός ὄντες, διά τῶν ψυχικῶν παθῶν τά ἐκτός ἐπισπᾶσθαι πείθουσι τήν ψυχήν διά μέσου τοῦ σώματος, καί πλανῶσι, τῆς αἰσθήσεως μόνης ὅλην γενέσθαι, τῶν κατά φύσιν οἰκείων ἀφεμένην· ἤ ἐκτός ὄντες, διά τῆς ἔξωθεν ἐπαφῆς τοῦ σώματος, τήν ἀόρατον ψυχήν πρός τά ὑλικά σχηματίζουσιν, σύνθετον αὐτῇ μορφήν ἐπιτιθέντες, τῆς ἀναλειφθείσης (Fr. ἀναληφθείσης] κατά τήν φαντασίαν ὕλης τό εἶδος, προσπλάττοντες· καί εἰ τάξις ἐστίν ἐν αὐτοῖς, καί εἱρμός κακούργως ἐπινενοημένος, διά τῶνδε τῶν παθῶν πρότερον ἀπόπειραν λαβεῖν τῆς ψυχῆς, καί οὕτως διά τῶν ἄλλων ἀκολούθως αὐτῇ μάχεσθαι· καί τίνες τίνων προηγοῦνται, τίνες τε τίσιν συνέπονται πάλιν, ἤ παρέπονται, ἤ φύρδην ἀτάκτως, ὡς ἔτυχεν, δι᾿ οἵων δήποτε παθῶν τήν ψυχήν ἐκταράττουσιν· καί εἰ προνοίας δίχα τα τοιαῦτα πάσχειν ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν ἡ ψυχή συγχωρεῖται, ἤ κατά πρόνοιαν· καί τίς ὁ τῆς προνοίας ἐφ᾿ ἑκάστῳ πάθει τῆς ἐγκαταλείψεως τῆς ψυχῆς λόγος· τίς τε τῆς ἑκάστου τῶν ἀπηριθμημένων παθῶν ἀναιρέσεως ὁ τρόπος· καί ποίοις ἔργοις, (252) ἤ λόγοις, ἤ λογισμοῖς ἡ ψυχή τούτων ἐλεθεροῦται, καί τῆς συνειδήσεως τόν μολυσμόν ἐκτινάσσεται· ποίῳ δέ πάθει ποίαν ἀρετήν ἀντιθεῖσα νικήσει, τόν πονηρόν φυγαδεύσασα δαίμονα, συναφανίσασα παντελῶς αὐτῷ καί τήν αὐτήν τοῦ πάθους κίνησιν· καί πῶς μετά τήν τῶν παθῶν ἀπαλλαγήν, τά οἰκεῖα καλῶς διασκοπῆσαι δυνήσεται· καί διά ποίων λόγων ἤ τρόπων τάς ἀπαθεῖς τῶν αἰσθητῶν πρός τάς αἰσθήσεις οἰκειωσαμένη διά τοῦ κατά φύσιν λόγου σχέσεις, μορφώσει πρός ἀρετάς, ὡς διά τῶν παθῶν αὐτή πρότερον ἐμορφοῦτο πρός ἁμαρτίαν· καί πῶς τήν καλλήν ποιήσεται δή δεόντως ἀντιστροφήν, τοῖς δι᾿ ὧν τό πρίν ἐπλημμέλει, χρωμένη πρός γένεσιν ἀρετῶν καί ὑπόστασιν· πῶς δέ τούτων πάλιν ἀπαλλαγεῖσα τῶν σχέσεων, τούς τῶν γεγονότων λόγους διά τῆς εν πνεύματι φυσικῆς θεωρίας, ἀφέτους τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς αἰσθητῶν συμβόλων γενομένους, ἐπιστημονικῶς ἀναλέξεται· πῶς τε αὖ μετά τούτους πάλιν τοῖς νοητοῖς προσβαλοῦσα, καθαρῷ τῆς ἐπ᾿ αἰσθήσεσιν διανοίας γενομένῳ τῷ νῷ, τάς ἁπλᾶς δέξεται νοήσεις, καί τήν τά πάντα συνδέουσαν ἀλλήλοις κατά τόν ἀρχικόν τῆς σοφίας λόγον, ἁπλῆν ἀναλήψεται γνῶσιν· μεθ᾿ ἥν, ὡς πάντα τά ὄντα περάσασα, μετά τῶν αὐτοῖς προσφυῶν νοημάτων, πάσης ὑπολελυμένη καθαρῶς, καί αὐτῆς πρός τό νοεῖν οἰκείας δυνάμεως, πρός αὐτόν πάθῃ τόν Θεόν τήν ὑπέρ νόησιν ἕνωσιν· καθ᾿ ἥν ἀφράστως παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ δεχομένη τῆς ὄντως ἀληθείας, σπέρματος δίκην, τήν μάθησιν, πρός ἀμαρτίαν οὐκέτι τραπήσεται χώρας οὐκ οὔσης ἔτι τῷ διαβόλῳ πρός κακίαν αὐτήν πιθανῶς ὑποσύρεσθαι, διά τήν ἄγνοιαν τοῦ φύσει καλοῦ, καί πάντα τά μετέχειν αὐτοῦ δυνάμενα καλλωπίζοντος.

Ἐπειδή τούτων, καί τῶν τοιούτων ἐζητήσατε τούς λόγους καί τούς τρόπους, καί τάς αἰτίας ἐγγράφως ὑμῖν καταθέσθαι, κελευόντων ὑμῶν, ἀναμεινάτω μικρόν τέως ὁ περί τούτων λόγος· ἄν διδῷ Θεός, ἐν ἄλλοις εὐκαιρότερον ἐξετασθησόμενος καί φιλοπονώτερον βασανισθησόμενος, εἴπερ ὅλως αἴσθωμαι δυνάμεως κατά νοῦν νυκτικῆς, καί τούτου τοῦ μεγάλου καί βαθέως κατατολμῆσαι πελάγους ἀνεχομένης·