,

a wicked and tyrannical power that had risen up against him, and through the divine command, as if through a certain angel, of the word that is naturally suited to destroy the passions, having slain the one hundred and eighty-five thousand, that is, the habit that produces wickedness, which irrationally fastens itself upon the three powers of the soul through the senses, and the activity of the senses upon them.

Therefore, the mind that knows how to escape invisible conflicts with knowledge should neither pursue the contemplation of nature nor do anything else at the time of the assault of wicked demons than only to pray and to subdue the body with labors and to effect with all diligence the destruction of the earthly way of thinking and to guard the walls of the city—I mean the guardian virtues of the soul or the methods for guarding the virtues, I mean self-control and patience—through innate good thoughts, with no thought at all responding contentiously to any of the intelligible enemies outside, lest, having deceived him through things on the right, it separate him (14Β_336> from God, having stolen the desire, the one who gives the soul a muddy subversion to drink, and through things considered good, drags the mind that seeks good things down toward what is worse, Rabshakeh, the chief captain of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, speaking in the Hebrew tongue. Now Rabshakeh is interpreted as "much watering with kisses" or "having great kisses." For the wicked demon, who is accustomed to warring against the mind through things on the right, speaks in the Hebrew tongue through a virtue that is supposed but is not real, giving the soul the muddy subversion to drink, showing it the deceitful and destructive friendship, of which the wounds of a friend who strikes are better established; for it says, "more trustworthy are the wounds of a friend than the kisses of an enemy." And Sennacherib is interpreted as "temptation of dryness" or "sharpened teeth," which is the devil, who in truth through thoughts sharpened for wickedness—for "sharpened teeth" is understood by me in this way—dries up the inflow of the divine streams of knowledge within us, according to the activity that he is naturally suited to produce in those who accept him, having received the fitting title of his name, truly being and being called "temptation of dryness," as he makes those who have fallen for his deceits destitute of all life-giving transmission in the spirit.

Or perhaps Sennacherib, that is the devil, is called "temptation of dryness," as being without resource and poor and deprived of all his own power for the insurrection against us, and apart from sensible things, through which he is accustomed to war against the soul, being able to harm us in no way and for this reason needing for his contrived tyranny against us the springs outside the city, that is, the material thoughts, with which the shapes and forms of sensible things are naturally suited to invade the soul; through which the sense, being naturally impressed on account of its relation, often becomes for the devil (14Β_338> a wicked and destructive weapon for the destruction of the divine comeliness of the soul, betraying the whole power of the reason within us to the enemy, through flattery according to pleasure.

But he who nobly, through rational self-control, has closed the senses and through the powers of the soul has walled off the entrances of the forms of sensible things to the mind easily destroys the wicked devices of the devil, returning him with shame by the way he came—and the way by which the devil comes is the material things that seem to be for the constitution of the body—into his own land, I mean confusion, and slaying him with the wicked thoughts born from him, transferring them to the setting forth of rest. For he who was able to subdue the devil with his own thoughts through their better use according to contemplation killed Sennacherib by means of his own sons and exiled them to the land of Armenia, clearly transferring them to the setting forth of the

ἐπαναστᾶσαν αὐτῷ πονηρὰν καὶ τυραννικὴν δυναστείαν, καὶ διὰ τοῦ θείου προστάγματος, ὡς δι᾽ ἀγγέλου τινός, τοῦ διαφθείρειν τὰ πάθη πεφυκότος λόγου, ἀποκτείνας τὰς ἑκατὸν καὶ ὀγδοήκοντα καὶ πέντε χιλιάδας, τουτέστι τὴν ποιητικὴν τῆς κακίας ἕξιν, τὴν παραλόγως ταῖς τρισὶ τῆς ψυχῆς διὰ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἐπιφυομένην δυνάμεσι, καὶ τὴν ἐπ᾽ αὐταῖς ἐνέργειαν τῶν αἰσθήσεων.

Χρὴ τοιγαροῦν μήτε φυσικὴν μετιέναι θεωρίαν τὸν γνωστικῶς τὰς ἀοράτους συμπλοκὰς ὑπαλύσκειν ἐπιστάμενον νοῦν μὴδ᾽ ἄλλό τι ποιεῖν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς τῶν πονηρῶν δαιμόνων προσβολῆς ἢ μόνον προσεύχεσθαι καὶ τὸ σῶμα πόνοις καταδαμάζειν καὶ τὴν τοῦ χοϊκοῦ φρονήματος διὰ πάσης σπουδῆς ποιεῖσθαι καθαίρεσιν καὶ φυλάττειν τὰ τείχη τῆς πόλεωςλέγω δὲ τὰς φρουρητικὰς τῆς ψυχῆς ἀρετὰς ἢ τὰς τῶν ἀρετῶν φυλακτικὰς μεθόδους, ἐγκράτειαν λέγω καὶ ὑπομονήνδιὰ τῶν ἐμφύτων ἀγαθῶν λογισμῶν, μηδενὸς τὸ σύνολον λογισμοῦ ἀντιρρητικῶς τινι τῶν ἐκτὸς νοητῶν πολεμίων ἀποκρινομένου, μήπως, διὰ τῶν δεξιῶν ἀπατήσας, ἀποστήσῃ (14Β_336> Θεοῦ, κλέψας τὴν ἔφεσιν, ὁ τὴν ψυχὴν ποτίζων ἀνατροπὴν θολεράν, καὶ διὰ τῶν νομιζομένων καλῶν πρὸς τὰ χείρονα τὴν τὰ καλὰ ζητοῦσαν ὑποσύρῃ διάνοιαν λαλῶν Ἰουδαϊστὶ Ῥαψάκης ὁ ἀρχιστράτηγος Σενναχειρὶμ βασίλεως Ἀσσούρ. Ῥαψάκης δὲ ἑρμηνεύεται πολὺς ποτισμῷ μετὰ φιλημάτων ἢ μεγάλα ἔχων φιλήματα. Ὁ πονηρὸς γὰρ δαίμων, ὁ διὰ τῶν δεξιῶν τὸν νοῦν εἰωθὼς πολεμεῖν, Ἰουδαϊστὶ λαλεῖ διὰ τῆς νομιζομένης ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ οὔσης ἀρετῆς, τὴν θολερὰν ἀνατροπὴν τὴν ψυχὴν ποτίζων, δεικνὺς αὐτῇ τὴν ἠπατημένην καὶ ὀλέθριον φιλίαν, ἧς τοῦ πλήττοντος μᾶλλον φίλου καθέστηκε τὰ τραύματα κρείττονα· φησὶ γὰρ ἀξιοπιστότερα τραύματα φίλου ὑπὲρ φιλήματα ἐχθροῦ. Σενναχειρὶμ δὲ πειρασμὸς ξηρασίας ἑρμηνεύεται ἢ ὀδόντες ἠκονημένοι, ὅς ἐστιν ὁ διάβολος, ὁ κατ᾽ ἀλήθειαν διὰ τῶν πρὸς κακίαν ἠκονημένων λογισμῶν τοῦτο γάρ μοι νοεῖται ὀδόντες ἠκονημένοιτὴν ἐν ἡμῖν τῶν θείων ναμάτων τῆς γνώσεως καταξηραίνων ἐπιρροήν, κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν ἣν πέφυκε τοῖς αὐτὸν παραδεχομένοις ἐμποιεῖν, λαχὼν τὴν κλῆσιν τοῦ ὀνόματος πρόσφορον, πειρασμὸς ὄντως ξηρασίας καὶ ὢν καὶ καλούμενος, ὡς ἐρήμους καθιστῶν πάσης τῆς ἐν πνεύματι ζωτικῆς διαδόσεως τοὺς ὑποπεσόντας τοῖς δόλοις αὐτοῦ.

Ἢ τυχὸν πειρασμὸς κέκληται ξηρασίας ὁ Σενναχειρίμ, τουτέστι ὁ διάβολος, ὡς ἄπορος καὶ πένης καὶ πάσης ἐστερημένος πρὸς τὴν καθ᾽ ἡμῶν ἐπανάστασιν ἰδικῆς δυναστείας, καὶ χωρὶς τῶν αἰσθητῶν, δι᾽ ὧν εἴωθε τὴν ψυχὴν πολεμεῖν, οὐδὲν ἡμᾶς βλάψαι δυνάμενος καὶ διὰ τοῦτο δεόμενος τῆς καθ᾽ ἡμῶν περινενοημένης τυραννίδος τῶν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως πηγῶν, τουτέστι τῶν ὑλικῶν νοημάτων, οἷς πέφυκεν συνεισβάλλειν τῇ ψυχῇ τὰ σχήματα καὶ τὰ εἴδη τῶν αἰσθητῶν· δι᾽ ὧν τυπουμένη φυσικῶς διὰ τὴν σχέσιν ἡ αἴσθησις πολλάκις γίνεται τῷ διαβόλῳ (14Β_338> πρὸς καθαίρεσιν τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν θείας εὐπρεπείας ὅπλον πονηρὸν καὶ ὀλέθριον, ὅλην προδιδοῦσα τῷ ἐχθρῷ, διὰ τῆς καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν θωπείας, τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν λόγου τὴν δύναμιν.

Ἀλλ᾽ ὁ γενναίως διὰ τῆς λελογισμένης ἐγκρατείας μύσας τὰς αἰσθήσεις καὶ διὰ τῶν κατὰ ψυχὴν δυνάμεων τὰς πρὸς τὸν νοῦν τῶν αἰσθητῶν σχημάτων ἀποτειχίσας εἰσόδους εὐχερῶς τοῦ διαβόλου τὰς πονηρὰς διόλλυσι μηχανάς, ὑποστρέφων αὐτὸν μετ᾽ αἰσχύνης τῇ ὁδῷ ᾖ ἦλθενὁδὸς δέ, δι᾽ ἧς ὁ διάβολος ἔρχεται, ἔστι τὰ πρὸς σύστασιν τοῦ σώματος εἶναι δοκοῦντα ὑλικάεἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γῆν, φημὶ δὲ τὴν σύγχυσιν, καὶ τοῖς ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεννηθεῖσι πονηροῖς λογισμοῖς αὐτὸν ἀποκτέννων, μεταφέρων αὐτοὺς πρὸς τὴν παράθεσιν τῆς ἀναπαύσεως. Ὁ γὰρ δυνηθεὶς τὸν διάβολον τοῖς αὐτοῦ χειρώσασθαι λογισμοῖς διὰ τῆς πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον κατὰ τὴν θεωρίαν συγχρήσεως τὸν Σενναχειρὶμ ἀπέκτεινε διὰ τῶν αὐτοῦ υἱῶν καὶ πρὸς τὴν γῆν αὐτοὺς ἐφυγάδευσεν Ἀρμενίας, μεταθέμενος δηλονότι πρὸς τὴν παράθεσιν τῆς