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knowledge, arriving at the very intellectual soul of the Lord; so that we too may have the mind of Christ according to the Apostle by participation in the Spirit, becoming by grace through him all that he himself became by nature according to the economy for our sakes.

2. He has called the cornerstone the bond of the corner, that is, of the Church.

3. He calls the incarnation the gate of the corner, being the gate of the Church; and the towers, the correct doctrines concerning the incarnation.

4. He spoke of the corner of the valley, both the union of the flesh with the soul according to nature; and the conjunction of the soul with it according to the Spirit, as a minister of virtue.

5. Simply, he calls corners the various unions of beings; that is, the unions of different more general natures with each other into one accord.

6. That every union of the said creatures has a principle of wisdom, according to which it comes to be; which the text called towers of corners. For a fortress and a towering defense of each of the beings is both the essential principle of knowledge about them, and the principle which connects all things to one another in one accord.

7. He calls towers in the wilderness the principles of nature. (14Β_324> 8. He called cisterns, those receptive of the heavenly gifts

the hearts of holy knowledge, quarried by the firm word of the commandments; and casting off like calluses both the friendship toward the passions, and the relation of nature to sensible things; and being filled with what is borne from above, which both cleanses the passions, and is life-giving and, as it were, nourishing of the virtues in the spirit of knowledge.

9. The flocks of Shephelah, he says, are those who are instructed in moral philosophy through many afflictions, being in need of words that teach endurance.

10. The flocks of the plain, he says, are those who run well in virtues, and remain dispassionate toward what is worse, being in need of words and teachings concerning thanksgiving.

11. He calls the mountainous region simply, the lofty contemplation of nature in the Spirit, which is farmed by those who have been weaned from sensible images, and have passed over to their intelligible principles by means of the virtues.

12. Carmel is the height of the knowledge according to circumcision. And circumcision is, either the removal of the disposition according to nature toward generation, or the renunciation of the mind's relation by disposition to beings. And clearly the vineyard of this state is the principle of providence which gives sober ecstasy; which is farmed by men and thoughts who are moved around the simple and unoriginate monad alone. For he who is moved toward this alone, has cut off from himself, as it were a foreskin, the disposition that conceals the cause of the generation of beings.

13. He has called practical philosophy the fear of the Lord; the end from the beginning. For the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.

(14Β_326> 14. The lofty discourse concerning the Godhead, is a tower in the soul, fortified by the energies of the commandments.

15. The principles of particular things, he says, approaching the universal ones, effect the unions of divided things. Because the more universal principles unitively contain the principles of the more particular ones; to which the particular things naturally have their reference.

16. That of these also there is a certain relational principle in the Spirit, giving them union with one another.

17. He who has acquired a pious opinion concerning each thing, does not fear the demons who deceive men through phenomena.

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γνῶσιν, πρός αὐτήν ἀφικνούμενοι τήν νοεράν τοῦ Κυρίου ψυχήν· ἵνα καί ἡμεῖς νοῦν Χριστοῦ κατά τόν Ἀπόστολον τῇ μεθέξει τοῦ Πνεύματος ἔχωμεν, γινόμενοι κατά χάριν δι᾿ αὐτόν ὅσαπερ αὐτός φύσει κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν γέγονεν δι᾿ ἡμᾶς.

2. Τόν ἀκρογωνιαῖον λίθον σύνδεσμον κέκληκεν τῆς γωνίας, ἤγουν Ἐκκλησίας.

3. Πύλην γωνίας τήν σάρκωσιν λέγει, πύλην οὖσαν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας· πύργους δέ, τά ὀρθά περί τῆς σαρκώσεως δόγματα.

4. Φάραγγος γωνίαν εἶπεν, τήν τε πρός τήν ψυχήν κατά φύσιν ἕνωσιν τῆς σαρκός· τήν τε κατά Πνεῦμα πρός αὐτήν τῆς ψυχῆς ὡς ἀρετῆς ὑπουργόν συνάφειαν.

5. Γωνίας ἁπλῶς λέγει, τάς τῶν ὄντων διαφόρους ἑνώσεις· ἤγουν τάς τῶν διαφόρων γενικωτέρων φύσεων πρός ἀλλήλας εἰς μίαν σύννευσιν ἑνώσεις.

6. Ὅτι πᾶσα ἕνωσις τῶν εἰρημένων κτισμάτων, λόγον ἔχει σοφίας, καθ᾿ ὅν γίνεται· οὕστινας πύργους γωνιῶν εἶπεν ὁ λόγος. Ὀχύρωμα γάρ καί πύργωσίς ἐστιν ἑκάστου τῶν ὄντων, ὅ τε κατ᾿ οὐσίαν τῆς ἐπ᾿ αὐτὰ γνώσεως, καί ὁ πρός ἄλληλα πάντων συνδετικός εἰς μίαν σύννευσιν λόγος.

7. Πύργους ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ φησί τούς περί φύσεως λόγους. (14Β_324> 8. Λάκκους ἐκάλεσεν, τάς δεκτικάς τῶν οὐρανίων χαρισμάτων

τῆς ἁγίας γνώσεως καρδίας, λατομουμένας τῷ στεῤῥῷ λόγῳ τῶν ἐντολῶν· καί ἀποβαλλομένας καθάπερ πορώματα τήν τε πρός τά πάθη φιλίαν, καί τήν πρός τά αἰσθητά τῆς φύσεως σχέσιν· καί πληρουμένας τῆς ἄνωθεν φερομένης ῥυπτικῆς τε τῶν παθῶν, καί ζωοποιητικῆς καί οἷον θρεπτικῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐν πνεύματι γνώσεως.

9. Τά κτήνη τῆς Σεφιλά, τούς τήν ἠθικήν παιδευομένους διά πολλῶν θλίψεων φιλοσοφίαν, δεομένους τήν ὑπομονήν διδασκόντων λόγων φησίν.

10. Τά κτήνη τῆς πεδινῆς φησιν, τούς εὐδρομοῦντας ἐν ἀρεταῖς, καί ἀπαθεῖς τοῦ χείρονος διαμένοντας, δεομένους τῶν περί εὐχαριστίας λόγων τε καί διδαγμάτων.

11. Τήν ἁπλῶς ὀρεινήν λέγει, τήν ὑψηλήν ἐν Πνεύματι θεωρίαν τῆς φύσεως, ἥν γεωργοῦσιν οἱ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἀπογενόμενοι φαντασιῶν, καί πρός τούς αὐτῶν νοητούς διά μέσων τῶν ἀρετῶν διαβάντες λόγους.

12. Κάρμηλος μέν ἐστιν τό ὕψος τῆς κατά τήν περιτομήν ἐπιγνώσεως. Περιτομή δέ καθέστηκεν, εἴτε τῆς κατά φύσιν πρός γένεσιν ἀφαίρεσις διαθέσεως, εἴτε τῆς τοῦ νοῦ πρός τά ὄντα κατά διάθεσιν σχέσεως ἀπογένεσις. Ταύτης δέ προδήλως ἄμπελός ἐστι τῆς καταστάσεως, ὁ τήν σώφρονα διδούς ἔκστασιν τῆς προνοίας λόγος· ὅν γεωργοῦσιν οἱ περί μόνην τήν ἁπλῆν καί ἄναρχον μονάδα κινούμενοι ἄνδρες καί λογισμοί. Ὁ γάρ πρός μόνην ταύτην κινούμενος, ὥσπερ ἀκροβυστίαν ἀπέτεμεν ἑαυτοῦ, τήν καλύπτουσαν τήν αἰτίαν τῆς γενέσεως τῶν ὄντων διάθεσιν.

13. Φόβον Κυρίου κέκληκε τήν πρακτικήν φιλοσοφίαν· ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς τό τέλος. Ἀρχή γάρ σοφίας, φόβος Κυρίου.

(14Β_326> 14. Ὁ περί θεότητος ὑψηλός λόγος, πύργος ἐστί κατά ψυχήν, ταῖς τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐνεργείαις ὀχυρούμενος.

15. Οἱ τῶν ἐπί μέρους λόγοι φησίν, τοῖς καθόλου προσχωροῦντες, τάς τῶν διῃρημένων ἑνώσεις ποιοῦνται. ∆ιότι τῶν μερικωτέρων ἑνοειδῶς οἱ καθολικώτεροι τούς λόγους περιλαμβάνουσι· πρός οὕς φυσικῶς τήν ἀναφοράν ἔχει τά κατά μέρος.

16. Ὅτι καί τούτων ἐστί τι σχετικός ἐν Πνεύματι λόγος, τήν πρός ἄλληλα διδούς αὐτοῖς ἕνωσιν.

17. Ὁ τήν εὐσεβῆ περί ἕκαστον δόξαν κτησάμενος, οὐ δέδοικε τούς διά τῶν φαινομένων τούς ἀνθρώπους πλανῶντας δαίμονας.