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the soul, the devil; but by the manner of use according to need, through ourselves causing him to return to his own land. And his land is the fixed habit and confusion of evil, into which he has always gone, and to which he leads those defeated by the love of material things.

16. He who has transferred his thoughts to virtue has given them rest, having made them distant from the unstable confusion of the passions.

17. The intellect, according to nature, for itself, having joined sense-perception through the medium of reason, gathers true knowledge from natural contemplation, which was called a river defining the soul through the (14B_352> thought based on sense-perceptions.

18. The potentiality for aptitude naturally lies alongside the will; and habit is superimposed, for it comes upon aptitude; and activity is always composed with habit, even if it is not always readily shown on account of the frequent lack of materials.

19. He speaks of a conjunction of number, the expression of the simple numbers within the decad, distinguished by the conjunction 'and'; for example, six and five; and it indicates, whether it is used for ill or for good in Scripture, the potential productive aptitude for virtue or for vice.

But he speaks of an addition of number, the addition of a simple number made of units to a number multiplied by itself, distinguished by the conjunction 'and', for example, sixty and five, or one hundred twenty and five, or one hundred eighty and five, as the present number has it. And it indicates, not only the production by aptitude concerning sense-perceptions, but also the productive habit concerning sense-perceptions of virtue or of vice.

But he speaks of a composition of number, the coming together of numbers multiplied out of themselves into themselves, distinguished by the conjunction 'and'; for example 60 and 50, or 600 and 500, and such as these; and it makes clear not only the potential production according to aptitude and the habit, but also the activity according to habit concerning sense-perceptions of virtue or of vice.

Therefore, he who knows the power of each number within the decad; as the monad indicates the unmixed; the dyad, the different; the three, is both equal and intelligible; the four, sensible; the five, both sensory and cyclical; the six, both active and perfect; the seven, both peripheral and unmixed; the eight, stable and immovable; the nine, the borderland of matter and form, that is, of sensible things and of sense-perception; and the (14B_354> ten, most full; he will know what each number signifies according to Scripture, whether it is by conjunction, or by addition, or by composition.

20. Cain is the law of the flesh, whom Adam first begets after transgressing the divine commandment. Abel is the mindset of the spirit, whom the same man later begets through repentance, but Cain kills him before the perfect habit, as he enters into the natural spectacles; having killed him, he has set loose seven vengeances, says God. This same one he called a wicked spirit in the Gospels, and one who takes with him seven spirits more wicked than himself. This is perhaps the self-loving, that is, gluttonous thought, which is always accompanied by the thought of fornication, and that of avarice, and that of sadness, and that of anger, and that of acedia, and that of vainglory, and that of pride. Therefore, he who kills Cain according to the divine decree, that is, gluttony, has killed along with it also the passions that subsist through it, according to the saying, "Whoever kills Cain, will set loose seven vengeances."

21. That the law for the generation and corruption of the body, he says, was later imposed upon the nature of men, according to which we beget and are begotten, on account of the transgression, for not having kept the deifying law of the Spirit according to the first commandment.

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ψυχήν τόν διάβολον· τῷ δέ κατά τήν χρείαν τρόπῳ τῆς χρήσεως, δι᾿ ἑαυτῶν εἰς τήν ἑαυτοῦ γῆν αὐτόν ὑποστρέφοντα. Γῆ δέ τούτου ἐστίν, ἡ παγία τῆς κακίας ἕξις καί σύγχυσις, εἰς ἥν ἀεί βέβηκε, καί πρός ἥν ἄγει τοῦ ἡττημένους τῇ φιλίᾳ τῶν ὑλικῶν.

16. Ὁ πρός τήν ἀρετήν μετενέγκας τούς λογισμούς, ἀνέπαυσεν αὐτούς, μακράν ποιήσας τῆς τῶν παθῶν ἀστάτου συγχύσεως.

17. Νοῦς ἑαυτῷ κατά φύσιν, διά μέσου λόγου συνάψας τήν αἴσθησιν, τήν ἐκ τῆς φυσικῆς θεωρίας ἀληθῆ συλλέγεται γνῶσιν, ἥτις ποταμός ἐκλήθη τήν ψυχήν διορίζων διά τήν (14Β_352> ἐπ᾿ αἰσθήσεσι διάνοιαν.

18. Παράκειται τῇ γνώμῃ φυσικῶς ἡ κατ' ἐπιτηδειότητα δύναμις ἐπίκειται δὲ ἡ ἕξις τῇ γὰρ ἐπιτηδειότητι ἐπιγίνεταισύγκειται δὲ ἡ ἐνέργεια διαπαντὸς τῇ ἕξει, κἄν προχείρως ἀεὶ μὴ δείκνυται διὰ τὴν τῶν ὑλῶν πολλάκις ἀπορίαν.

19. Ἀριθμοῦ συνάφειαν λέγει, τήν τῶν ἁπλῶν ἀριθμῶν τῶν ἐντός δεκάδος ἐκφώνησιν, τῷ, καί, συνδέσμῳ διακρινομένην· οἷον ἕξ καί πέντε· καί δηλοῖ, εἴτ᾿ ἐπί κακῷ κεῖται τῇ Γραφῇ, εἴτ᾿ ἐπί καλῷ, τήν δυνάμει ποιητικήν ἐπιτηδειότητα τῆς ἀρετῆς ἤ τῆς κακίας.

Ἀριθμοῦ δέ πρόσθεσιν λέγει, τήν τῷ πολυπλασιασθέντι εἰς ἑαυτόν ἀριθμῷ γενομένην τοῦ ἐκ μονάδων ἁπλοῦ ἀριθμοῦ προσθήκην, τῷ, καί, συνδέσμῳ διακρινομένην, οἷον ἑξήκοντα καί πέντε, ἤ ἑκατόν εἴκοσι καί πέντε ἤ ἑκατόν ὀγδοήκοντα καί πέντε, καθώς ὁ παρών ἔχει ἀριθμός. Καί δηλοῖ, οὐ μόνον τήν ἐπ᾿ αἰσθήσεσιν ἐπιτηδειότητι ποίησιν, ἀλλά καί τήν ἐπ᾿ αἰσθήσεσι ποιητικήν ἕξιν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἤ τῆς κακίας.

Ἀριθμοῦ δέ σύνθεσιν λέγει, τήν τῶν ἐξ ἑαυτῶν εἰς ἑαυτούς πολυπλασιασθέντων ἀριθμῶν εἰς ἀλλήλους σύνοδον, τῷ, καί, συνδέσμῳ διακρινομένην· οἷον ξ΄ (60) καί ν΄ (50), ἤ χ΄ (600) καί φ΄ (500), καί τούς τοιούτους· καί δῆλοι οὐ μόνον τήν κατ᾿ ἐπιτηδειότητα δυνάμει ποίησιν καί τήν ἕξιν, ἀλλά καί τήν ἐπ᾿ αἰσθήσεσι κατά τήν ἕξιν ἐνέργειαν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἤ τῆς κακίας.

Ὁ τοίνυν γινώσκων ἑκάστου τῶν ἐντός δεκάδος ἀριθμοῦ τήν δύναμιν· ὡς ἡ μονάς δηλοῖ τό ἀμιγές· ἡ δέ δυάς, τό διάφορον· ὁ δέ τρεῖς, ἔστιν ἴσός τε καί νοητός· ὁ δέ τέσσαρα, αἰσθητός· ὁ δέ πέντε, αἰσθητικός τε καί κυκλικός· ὁ δέ ἕξ, δραστικός τε καί τέλειος· ὁ δέ ἑπτά, περιφερής τε καί ἀμιγής· ὁ δέ ὀκτώ, βάσιμος καί ἀκίνητος· ὁ δέ ἐννέα, μεταίχμιος ὕλης καί εἴδους, ἤγουν αἰσθητῶν καί αἰσθήσεως· ὁ δέ (14Β_354> δέκα, πληρέστατος· εἴσεται τί σημαίνει κατά τήν Γραφήν ἕκαστος ἀριθμός, εἴτε κατά συνάφειάν ἐστιν, εἴτε κατά πρόσθεσιν, εἴτε κατά σύνθεσιν.

20. Κάϊν ἐστίν ὁ νόμος τῆς σαρκός, ὅν πρῶτον γεννᾷ παραβάς τήν θείαν ἐντολήν ὁ Ἀδάμ. Ἄβελ δέ ἐστι τό φρόνημα τοῦ πνεύματος, ὅν ὕστερον γεννᾷ μέν διά μετανοίας ὁ αὐτός, ἀποκτείνει δέ πρό τῆς τελείας ἕξεως τοῖς φυσικοῖς ἐμβαντεύοντα θεάμασιν ὁ Κάϊν· ὅν ἀποκτείνας, ἑπτά παρέλυσεν ἐκδικούμενα, φησίν ὁ Θεός. Τοῦτον πνεῦμα πονηρόν ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις ὁ αὐτός προσηγόρευσε, καί τῶν αὐτοῦ πονηροτέρων ἑπτά πνευμάτων συμπαραληπτικόν. Τοῦτο δέ τυχόν ἐστιν ὁ φίλαυτος, ἤγουν γαστρίμαργος λογισμός, ᾧ παρέπεται πάντως ὁ τῆς πορνείας λογισμός, καί ὁ τῆς φιλαργυρίας, καί ὁ τῆς λύπης, καί ὁ τῆς ὀργῆς, καί ὁ τῆς ἀκηδίας, καί ὁ τῆς κενοδοξίας καί ὁ τῆς ὑπερηφανίας. Ὁ γοῦν ἀποκτείνας κατά τήν θείαν ψῆφον τόν Κάϊν, τουτέστι τήν γαστριμαργίαν, συναπέκτεινεν αὐτῇ καί τά δι' αὐτήν παρυφιστάμενα πάθη, κατά τό, Ὁ ἀποκτείνας Κάϊν, ἑπτά ἐκδικούμενα παραλύσει.

21. Ὅτι ὁ πρός γένεσιν καί φθοράν τοῦ σώματος, φησίν, νόμος, ὕστερον ἐπεβλήθη τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καθ᾿ ὅν γεννῶμεν καί γεννώμεθα, διά τήν παράβασιν, μή φυλάξαντες τόν κατά τήν πρώτην ἐντολήν θεοποιόν νόμον τοῦ Πνεύματος.