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2.20 (ρκ΄) Until the mind sees the glory of God with an unveiled face, the soul is not able to say in its perception: 'But I will delight in the Lord; I will rejoice in his salvation.' For the veil of self-love lies upon its heart, so that the foundations of the world may not be revealed to it, which are the inner principles of created things, which is not removed from it without voluntary and involuntary labors.

2.21 (ρκα΄) Not after the flight from Egypt, which is sin in act (15∆_360>; nor after the crossing of the sea, I mean slavery in habit; but after the sojourn in the desert, lying between the activities and movements of wickedness, the leader of Israel is able to spy out the land of promise, which is dispassion, sending out his power of sight and supervision.

2.22 (ρκβ΄) Those who sit in the desert, that is, in the inactivity of evils, [know] the good things of that blessed land by hearing only. . . but those who have spied out the things in it have clearly come to a contemplation of the soul's perceived objects. But those deemed worthy to enter into it, with their whole sense of the things flowing from it like milk and honey, of the first, I mean, and second contemplation, were filled with inner principles.

2.23 (ρκγ΄) He has not yet been crucified with Christ, who still has the natural movements of the flesh; nor has he been buried with Him, who is dragged along by psychic thoughts; how then can such a one rise with Him, to live in newness of life?

1420 2.24 (ρκδ΄) Of the three more comprehensive virtues of the soul's essence, fasting, prayer, and silence, it is necessary for the one about to be released from prayer to rest in contemplation; for the one from silence, in ethical discourse, for the one fasting, in a second and grace-filled nourishment.

2.25 (ρκε΄) As long as the mind exists in its own proper state, it preserves the likeness, being found good and compassionate. But when it is engaged in things of the senses, if it descends easily and [not] properly, giving and receiving experience, being strong in those things, and again returns to itself, at the appropriate time and need, it will be found like an imprudent general, having much of his power cut down (15∆_362> in battle. However, not all will be found outside of him, who were not strong enough to be within that which is contained.

2.26 (ρκστ΄) The perceptible sun keeps its rays out of a closed house; but the intelligible sun would not send its own rays to a soul that has not closed its senses to visible things.

2.27 (ρκζ΄) He is a gnostic, who arranges his own descents magnificently; but the ascents of the soul humbly.

2.28 (ρκη΄) A bee, roaming a meadow, procures from there the materials for honey; but a soul, contemplating the ages, infuses a varied sweetness from there into the mind.

2.29 (ρκθ΄) A deer that has eaten snakes, to quench the poison, runs to springs of water; but a soul wounded by divine arrows draws unceasing love for the one who wounded it.

2.30 (ρλ΄) Simple thoughts arise in the monadic life; but compound thoughts in the dyadic; but for the multifarious soul, 1432 thoughts have been driven away; and only concepts, bare of bodies, approaching it, the inner principles concerning Providence and judgment, revealing them as certain foundations of the earth, manifest them to it.

2.31 (ρλα΄) Thoughts are neither of the irrational part of the soul, for there is no thought in irrational beings; nor of the intellective, since they are not even in angels; but being offspring of the rational part itself, using the imagination as a ladder, they ascend towards

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2.20 (ρκ΄) Ἕως ἄν τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ δόξαν ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ οὐκ ἴδῃ ὁ νοῦς, οὐ δύναται ἡ ψυχή λέγειν ἐν αἰσθήσει αὐτῆς· Ἐγώ δέ ἐπί τῷ Κυρίῳ τερφθήσομαι· ἀγαλλιάσομαι ἐπί τῷ σωτηρίῳ αὐτοῦ. Κάλλυμα γάρ κεῖται τό τῆς φιλαυτίας ἐπί τήν καρδίαν αὐτῆς, πρός τό μή ἀνακαλυφθῆναι αὐτῇ τά θεμέλια τῆς οἰκουμένης, ἅτινά εἰσιν οἱ λόγοι τῶν γεγονότων, ὅπερ ἐξ αὐτῆς οὐ περιειρεῖται, ἑκουσίων πόνων καί ἀκουσίων χωρίς.

2.21 (ρκα΄) Οὐ μετά τήν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου φυγήν· ἥτις ἐστίν ἡ κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν (15∆_360> ἁμαρτία· οὐδέ μετά τήν θαλάσσης διάβασιν, τῆς κατά σχέσιν λέγω δουλείας· ἀλλά μετά τήν ἐν ἐρήμῳ διατριβήν, μεταξύ κειμένην ἐνεργημάτων καί κινημάτων κακίας, τοῦ Ἰσραήλ ὁ δημαγωγός κατασκοπεῖν δύναται τήν γῆν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, ἥτις ἐστίν ἡ ἀπάθεια, τήν ὀπτικήν ἀποστέλλων καί ἐποπτικήν αὐτοῦ δύναμιν.

2.22 (ρκβ΄) Οἱ μέν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καθήμενοι, τουτέστιν, ἐν τῇ τῶν κακῶν ἀνενεργησία, ἀκοῇ μόνῃ τῆς μακαρίας ἐκείνης γῆς τά ἀγαθά. . . οἱ δέ τά ἐν ἐκείνῃ κατασκοπήσαντες, ἐν περινοίᾳ δηλονότι ψυχῆς τῶν ὀρωμένων θεωρίας γεγόνασι. Οἱ δέ καταξιωθέντες ἐν αὐτῇ εἰσελθεῖν, ὅλῃ τῇ αἰσθήσει τῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀποῤῥεόντων ὡς γάλα καί μέλι, τῆς πρώτης φημί καί δευτέρας θεωρίας, λόγων ἐνεφορήθησαν.

2.23 (ρκγ΄) Οὔπω συνεσταυρώθη Χριστῷ, ὁ ἔτι φυσικάς κινήσεις ἔχων σαρκός· οὐδέ συνετάφη, ὁ ψυχικάς ἐνθυμήσεις ἐπισυρόμενος· πῶς οὖν συναναστῇ αὐτῷ ὁ τοιοῦτος, ἐν καινότητι ζωῆς πολιτεύεσθαι.

1420 2.24 (ρκδ΄) Τριῶν οὐσιῶν τῆς ψυχῆς περιεκτικωτέρων ἀρετῶν, νηστείας, εὐχῆς τε καί σιωπῆς, ἀναγκαῖον τόν μέν ἐξ εὐχῆς λύεσθαι μέλλοντα, εἰς τήν θεωρίαν ἐπαναπαύεσθαι· τόν δέ ἐκ σιωπῆς, εἰς ἠθικήν ὁμιλίαν, εἰς δευτέραν καί κεχαρισμένην τροφήν τόν νηστεύοντα.

2.25 (ρκε΄) Ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις ἕως ὑπάρχει ὁ νοῦς, σώζει τό καθ᾿ ὁμοίωσιν, ἀγαθός τε καί συμπαθῆς εὑρισκόμενος. Ἐν δέ τοῖς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν γεγονώς, εἰ μέν εὐχερῶς καί [μή] προσηκόντως κατέρχεται, πεῖραν διδούς καί λαμβάνων, ἐν ἐκείνοις εὐρωστῶν, αὖθίς τε πρός ἑαυτόν ἐπανέρχεται, περί τόν καιρόν καί τήν χρείαν, ὥς τις στρατηγός ἀπερίσκεπτος εὑρεθήσεται, τό πολύ αὐτοῦ ὑποτεμνόμενος (15∆_362> τῆς δυνάμεως ἐν τῷ μάχεσθαι. Πλήν οὐ πάντες ἐκείνου ἐκτός εὑρεθήσονται, ὅσοι ἐντός τοῦ ἐμπεριεχομένου γενέσθαι οὐκ ἴσχυσαν.

2.26 (ρκστ΄) Ὁ μέν αἰσθητός ἥλιος, ξένας τάς ἑαυτοῦ ἀκτῖνας ἐξ οἰκίας κεκλεισμένης καθίστησι· οὐκ ἄν δέ τάς οἰκείας ὁ νοητός ἐπαφήσει, τῇ μή κεκλεισμένας ἐχούσῃ τάς αἰσθήσεις ἀπό τῶν ὁρωμένων ψυχῇ.

2.27 (ρκζ΄) Γνωστικός ἐστιν, ὁ τάς μέν καταβάσεις αὐτοῦ μεγαλοπρεπῶς· ταπεινοπρεπῶς δέ τῆς ψυχῆς τάς ἀναβάσεις διατιθέμενος.

2.28 (ρκη΄) Μέλιττα μέν λειμῶνα περινοστοῦσα, ἐκεῖθεν τῷ μέλιτι τάς ἀφορμάς προσπορίζεται· ψυχή δέ εἰς αἰῶνας περισκοποῦσα, ποικίλον αὐτόθεν τόν γλυκασμόν τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐνίησιν.

2.29 (ρκθ΄) Ἡ ἐμφαγούσα μέν ἔλαφος ὄφεις, ἰόν τοῦ σβέσαι, πρός ὑδάτων τρέχει πηγάς· ψυχή δέ ἡ βέλεσι θείοις τρωθεῖσα, ἄπαυστον ἕλκει τόν τρώσαντα ἔρωτα.

2.30 (ρλ΄) Ψιλοί μέν λογισμοί τῇ μοναδικῇ ζωή ἐπιφύονται· ἐπιλογισμοί δέ τῇ δυαδικῇ· τῇ δέ πολυσχιδεῖ ψυχῇ, 1432 λογισμοί μέν ἀπελήλανται· νόες δέ μόνοι γυμνοί σωμάτων αὐτῇ προσπελάζοντες, τούς περί Προνοίας καί κρίσεως λόγους, ὥς τινα θεμέλια γῆς ἀνακαλύπτοντες, αὐτῇ ἐμφανίζουσιν.

2.31 (ρλα΄) Οἱ λογισμοί, οὔτε τοῦ ἀλόγου μέρους εἰσί τῆς ψυχῆς· οὐδέ γάρ ἐστι λογισμός ἐν τοῖς ἀλόγοις· οὔτε τοῦ νοεροῦ· ἐπεί μηδέ ἐν ἀγγέλοις· αὐτῆς δέ τῆς λογικῆς ὄντες γεννήματα, ὡς κλίμακι τῇ φαντασίᾳ χρώμενοι, ἀναβαίνουσι μέν πρός