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alone, what warmth could they draw from such sustenance? How great, or what kind of, a supply of blood would come from it? 31.3 Therefore, the practices of others in no way resemble the practices of these men. For their clothing is not the same as that of the others; for theirs is very coarse, and least able to provide warmth; nor is their food similar, but diametrically opposite. For to shepherds and others of that kind, any time is a time for food; for they define the time by their appetite, and if hunger strikes in the morning, they immediately take their food; and they take whatever is at hand; for it is not prescribed to eat this, and by no means that, but they enjoy fearlessly everything they wish. But here there are days and times and kinds of food and measures, and satiety from this is set apart. Let none of the complainers, therefore, bringing forward farmers and shepherds and sailors, attempt to belittle the contests of these greatest athletes. For the farmer, toiling during the day, is cared for at home by night, with his wife providing every care for him. And the shepherd likewise partakes of all those things we have mentioned before; and the sailor receives the sun's ray on his body, but brings the remedy of the waters to his body; for he swims as much as he wishes, and brings the coldness of the waters as an antidote to the flame of the sun's ray. But these men enjoy no care from anyone. For women do not live with them, who devise all kinds of comfort for their husbands. Nor when the sun's ray strikes more hotly do they bring themselves the recreation of the waters; nor in time of winter do they set their food against the frost, nor do they bring the repose of the night, like some medicine, to their daytime toils; for the sweats of the night are greater and more numerous than those that happen in the day. For in it, they undertake the struggle against sleep, and do not endure that sweet defeat; but they overcome that most pleasant tyranny, and continue all night long praising the Master. Therefore no one outside their philosophy has demonstrated their endurance. 31.4 But if none of the other men have been able to withstand such toils, it is clear that love for God has prepared them to surpass the limits of nature; and being set on fire by the torch from above, they gladly bear the assault of the frost, and with the dew from there, they calm the flame of the sun's ray. This both nourishes them, and gives them drink, and clothes them, and gives them wings, and teaches them to fly, and prepares them to pass beyond heaven, and shows them the beloved as far as possible, and by the imagination of contemplation kindles their desire, and awakens their affection, and ignites a more vehement flame. For just as those who love bodies provide fuel for their affection from the sight of their beloved ones and work that passion more intensely, so those who receive the goads of divine love, imagining that divine and pure beauty, work the barbs of love more sharply, and the more they long to enjoy it, the more they drive away satiety. For with the pleasure of bodies follows satiety, but divine love does not accept the laws of satiety. 31.5 Such a one was Moses the great lawgiver; who often, as is possible for a man, having been deemed worthy of divine contemplation, and often having enjoyed the blessed voice, and having been within the darkness for forty days at a time, and having received the divine legislation, not only did not receive satiety, but also acquired a more vehement and warmer desire. For as though having received a certain torpor from the intoxication of that love, and being driven to a frenzy by affection, he was ignorant of his own

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μόνοις, ποῖον ἂν ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης τροφῆς ἀρύσαιντο θάλπος; πόση δ' ἂν ἐντεῦθεν, ἢ ποία λιβὰς αἵματος γένοιτο; 31.3 Κατ' οὐδὲν τοίνυν ἔοικε τὰ τῶν ἄλλων τοῖς τούτων ἐπιτηδεύμασιν. Οὔτε γὰρ ἐσθὴς ἡ αὐτὴ τούτων κἀκείνων· τραχυτάτη γὰρ αὕτη, καὶ ἥκιστα θερμᾶναι δυναμένη· οὔτε τροφὴ ὁμοία, ἀλλ' ἐναντία ἐκ διαμέτρου. Ποιμέσι μὲν γὰρ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς τοιούτοις, τροφῆς καιρὸς ἅπας καιρός· τῇ ὀρέξει γὰρ ὁρίζονται τὸν καιρόν, κἂν ἕωθεν ἡ πείνη προσβάλῃ, παραυτίκα προσφέρουσι τὴν τροφήν· καὶ προσφέρουσιν ὅτι ἂν τύχῃ· οὐ γὰρ ὥρισται τοῦτο μὲν ἐσθίειν, ἐκεῖνο δὲ ἥκιστα, ἀλλὰ πάντων ὧν ἂν ἐθέλωσιν, ἀδεῶς ἀπολαύουσιν. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ ἡμέραι καὶ καιροὶ καὶ εἴδη τροφῆς καὶ μέτρα, καὶ κόρος ταύτης κεχω ρισμένος. Μηδεὶς τοίνυν ἡμῖν τῶν μεμψιμοίρων, γηπόνους καὶ ποιμένας καὶ ναύτας προφέρων εἰς μέσον, σμικρύνειν ἐπιχειρείτω τῶν μεγίστων τούτων ἀθλητῶν τοὺς ἀγῶνας. Ὅ τε γὰρ γηπόνος, μεθ' ἡμέραν κάμνων, οἴκοι θεραπεύεται νύκτωρ, πᾶσαν αὐτῷ θεραπείαν τῆς ὁμοζύγου ποριζούσης. Καὶ ὁ ποιμὴν δὲ ὡσαύτως μεταλαγχάνει πάντων ἐκείνων, ὧν προειρήκαμεν· ὁ δὲ ναύτης δέχεται μὲν τὴν ἀκτῖνα κατὰ τοῦ σώματος, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ὑδάτων θεραπείαν προσφέρει τῷ σώματι· ἐπινήχεται γὰρ ὅσον βούλεται, καὶ τῇ φλογὶ τῆς ἀκτῖνος ἀλεξιφάρμακον προσφέρει τὴν τῶν ὑδάτων ψυχρότητα. Οὗτοι δὲ θεραπείας μὲν οὐδεμιᾶς παρ' οὐδενὸς ἀπολαύουσιν. Οὐ γὰρ συνοικοῦσι γυναῖκες, αἳ τοῖς ἀνδράσι παντοδαπὴν μηχανῶνται παραψυχήν. Οὔτε δὲ τῆς ἀκτῖνος θερμότερον προσβαλλούσης, τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ὑδάτων ψυχαγωγίαν προσφέρονται· οὔτε χειμῶνος ὥρᾳ τὴν τροφὴν ἀντιτάττουσι τῷ κρυμῷ, οὔτε τῆς νυκτὸς τὴν ἀνάπαυλαν, οἷόν τι φάρμακον, τοῖς μεθημερινοῖς προσφέ ρουσι πόνοις· καὶ μείζους γὰρ καὶ πλείους οἱ ταύτης τῶν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ γιγνομένων ἱδρώτων. Ἐν ταύτῃ γάρ, καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸν ὕπνον ἀναδέχονται πάλην, καὶ τῆς γλυκείας ἐκείνης οὐκ ἀνέχονται ἥττης· ἀλλὰ τῆς ἡδίστης περιγί νονται τυραννίδος, καὶ παννύχιοι διατελοῦσι τὸν δεσπότην ὑμνοῦντες. Οὐδεὶς τοίνυν τῶν ἔξω τῆς τούτων φιλοσοφίας, τὴν τούτων ἐπιδέδεικται καρτερίαν. 31.4 Εἰ δὲ μηδεὶς τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων ἀντισχεῖν πρὸς τοὺς τοιούτους πόνους δεδύνηται, δῆλον ὡς ὁ περὶ τὸν θεὸν ἔρως ὑπερβῆναι τοὺς τῆς φύσεως παρεσκεύασεν ὅρους· καὶ τῷ ἄνωθεν πυρσῷ πυρπολούμενοι, φέρουσιν ἀσπασίως τὴν τοῦ κρυμοῦ προσβολήν, καὶ τῇ ἐντεῦθεν δρόσῳ, τὴν τῆς ἀκτῖνος καταπραΰνουσι φλόγα. Οὗτος αὐτοὺς καὶ τρέφει, καὶ ἄρδει, καὶ περιβάλλει, καὶ πτερὰ δίδωσι, καὶ πέτεσθαι διδάσκει, καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν ὑπερβαίνειν παρα σκευάζει, καὶ τὸν ἐρώμενον ὡς δυνατὸν ἐπιδείκνυσι, καὶ τῇ φαντασίᾳ τῆς θεωρίας πυρσεύει τὸν πόθον, καὶ διεγείρει τὸ φίλτρον, καὶ σφοδροτέραν ἐξάπτει τὴν φλόγα. Καθάπερ γὰρ οἱ τῶν σωμάτων ἐρῶντες ὕλην ἀπὸ τῆς θέας τῶν ἐρωμένων τῷ φίλτρῳ πορίζουσι καὶ τὸν οἶστρον ἐκεῖνον χαλεπώτερον ἀπεργάζονται, οὕτως οἱ τῆς θείας ἀγάπης τὰ κέντρα δεχόμενοι, τὸ θεῖον ἐκεῖνο καὶ ἀκήρατον φαντα ζόμενοι κάλλος, ὀξυτέρας τῆς ἀγάπης τὰς ἀκίδας ἐργάζονται καὶ ὅσῳ πλέον ἀπολαῦσαι ποθοῦσι, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον τὸν κόρον ἐλαύνουσι. Τῇ μὲν γὰρ ἡδονῇ τῶν σωμάτων ἀκο λουθεῖ πλησμονή, ὁ δὲ θεῖος ἔρως τοῦ κόρου τοὺς νόμους οὐ δέχεται. 31.5 Τοιοῦτος ἦν Μωϋσῆς ὁ μέγας νομοθέτης· ὃς πολλάκις, ὡς ἐφικτὸν ἀνθρώπῳ, τῆς θείας θεωρίας ἀξιωθείς, καὶ πολλάκις τῆς μακαρίας ἀπολαύσας φωνῆς, καὶ τεσσαράκοντα κατὰ ταὐτὸν ἡμέρας εἴσω τοῦ γνόφου γενόμενος, καὶ τὴν θείαν νομοθεσίαν δεξάμενος, οὐ μόνον κόρον οὐκ ἔλαβεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ σφοδροτέραν καὶ θερμοτέραν τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐκτή σατο. Καθάπερ γάρ τινα κάρον ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ ἔρωτος ἐκείνου δεξάμενος μέθης, καὶ τῷ φίλτρῳ λίαν ἐκβακχευθείς, τὴν μὲν οἰκείαν ἠγνόησε