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26. The number seven thousand, being praiseworthily placed here, signifies the temporal and present life adorned with virtue and reason. For if the number one thousand, according to the meaning given in the myriads, signifies the written and natural law fitting for one another in the life of the God-loving, it is clear from this that the number seven thousand indicates the whole life of the God-loving that is guarded by these and subject to time; and the number three hundred indicates the providence for the existence according to nature, and the well-being according to grace, of those for whom providence is exercised. And the number seven, dispassion in one's ways. Therefore, the one who, through his own natural powers, has preserved his own life dispassionate, as providence wills, having seven thousand three hundred and seven sons and daughters, escapes the confusion of the passions.

27. He speaks of the end, both dispassion in action here, and deification by grace there.

28. He speaks of singers, those whose life in practice proclaims the will of God.

29. He says that chanters are those who are not only doers of the divine will, but also become interpreters to others of the mysteries within them.

30. The number eight has both stability and motion: stability when considered in itself (for every even number is immobile, having no center), but motion when combined with the one before or the one after it; for it makes an odd number. For every odd number is in itself mobile, according to the equal distance of its extremities from the middle. Therefore, what the number eight does among the numbers under ten, this the number eighty also does among the numbers under one hundred; and likewise the number eight hundred among the numbers classified under one thousand. When considered in itself, therefore, it has stability, circumscribing the motion of the odd number before it. For the numbers seven, seventy, and seven hundred happen to be indicative of a temporal quality. Therefore, since sense perception has its grasp more on things under time and generation, it remains for the mind being perfected to receive unerring knowledge, that is, science, of eternal and intelligible realities; for they define science as the unerring knowledge of the subject.

And the number fifty, bearing an odd monad after the sevenfold multiplication of the hebdomad into itself, indicates the limit of the practice of the virtues in the worthy. For one who has attained the good according to nature, and has taken his stand in it, is no longer moved concerning the practice of virtues; for the monad is the beginning and end of all motion. And the number five indicates the science concerning these things; for it contains the principles of intelligible and rational, of sensible and living, and of existing things; these only the divine wisdom is able to circumscribe, which they define as the unerring science of the truth.

31. He speaks of the camels of Midian; when this is interpreted as 'of judgment,' it means the true contemplations of things that come to be and pass away; but when as 'of bloody clay,' he has understood the principles of providence in this transient and unstable life; but when as 'of human sweat and of a mother,' the principles of divine judgment in the present life, which both the thoughts of the discursive mind and the sense-based imagination of visible things gather; from which, I mean from thoughts and imagination, the true opinion of beings is gathered, being the fruit of the discursive mind that is based on the senses. Therefore he says 'human sweat and of a mother' for the thoughts of the discursive mind put forth with labor, and the imaginations from sense perception, which nurses us like a mother.

And the camels of Ephah, that is, 'of the possession of the back'; and the back is the flesh of the soul, as it comes into being for the sake of the soul. If therefore we possess the flesh well, we have it serving the soul for the generation of virtues, and we understand only its divine principles for which it was made; with which also the principles of visible things as camels

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26. Ὁ ἑπτακισχίλια ἀριθμός ἐπαινετῶς ἐνταῦθα κείμενος, τήν χρονικήν καί παροῦσαν ζωήν ἀρετῇ καί λόγῳ σημαίνει κεκοσμημένην. Εἰ γάρ γραπτόν καί φυσικόν νόμον ὁ χίλια ἀριθμός, κατά τήν ἀποδοθεῖσαν ἐν ταῖς μυριάσιν ἔννοιαν, περί τόν βίον ἀλλήλοις σημαίνει τοῦ φιλοθέου συμπρέποντας, δῆλον ἐντεῦθεν ὡς ὁ ἑπτακισχίλια πᾶσαν τούτοις φρουρουμένην τήν ὑπό χρόνου δηλοῖ τοῦ φιλοθέου ζωήν∙ ὁ δέ τριακόσια, τήν ἐπί τό εἶναι κατά φύσιν, καί εὖ εἶναι κατά χάριν τῶν προνοουμένων δηλοῖ πρόνοιαν. Ὁ δέ ἑπτά, τήν ἐν τοῖς τρόποις ἀπάθειαν. Ὁ τοίνυν διά τῶν κατά φύσιν οἰκείων δυνάμεων ἀπαθῆ, καθώς ἡ πρόνοια βούλεται, διατηρήσας τήν οἰκείαν ζωήν, παῖδας ἔχων καί παιδίσκας ἑπτακισχιλίους τριακοσίους ἑπτά, τήν τῶν παθῶν ἐξέρχεται σύγχυσιν.

27. Τέλος λέγει, καί τήν ἐνταῦθα κατά τήν πρᾶξιν ἀπάθειαν, καί τήν ἐκεῖσε κατά χάριν ἐκθέωσιν.

28. Ψάλτας λέγει, τούς κατά τήν πρᾶξιν τόν βίον ἔχοντας κράζοντα τοῦ Θεοῦ τά θελήματα.

29. Ψαλτῳδούς εἶναί φησι, τούς οὐ μόνον ποιητάς τῶν θείων θελημάτων, ἀλλά καί τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς μυστηρίων ἄλλοις γινομένους ἐξηγητάς.

30. Ὁ ὀκτώ ἀριθμός, καί στάσιν ἔχει καί κίνησιν· στάσιν μέν καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν θεωρούμενος (πᾶς γάρ ἄρτιος ἀριθμός ἀκίνητος, κέντρον οὐκ ἔχων), κίνησιν δέ, τῷ πρό αὐτοῦ, ἤ τῷ μετ᾿ αὐτόν συντιθέμενος· ποιεῖ γάρ περιττόν ἀριθμόν. Πᾶς γάρ περιττός καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν κινητός, κατά τήν τῶν ἄκρων αὐτοῦ πρός τό μέσον ἴσην ἀπόστασιν. Ὅπερ οὖν ποιεῖ ἐν τοῖς ὑπό δέκα ἀριθμοῖς ὁ ὀκτώ, τοῦτο ποιεῖ καί ὁ ὀγδοήκοντα ἐν τοῖς ὑπό τήν ἑκατοντάδα ἀριθμοῖς· ὡσαύτως δέ καί ὁ ὀκτακόσια ἐν τοῖς ὑπό χιλιάδα ταττόμενος ἀριθμοῖς. Καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν οὖν θεωρούμενος στάσιν ἔχει, περιγράφων τοῦ πρό αὐτοῦ περιττοῦ ὄντος τήν κίνησιν. Ὁ γάρ ἑπτά καί ὁ ἑβδομήκοντα καί ὁ ἑπτακόσια, χρονικῆς ἐμφαντικοί τυγχάνουσιν ἰδιότητος. Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδή τῶν ὑπό χρόνον καί γένεσιν ἔχει μᾶλλον ἡ αἴσθησις τήν κατάληψιν, λείπεται τήν τῶν αἰωνίων καί νοητῶν τόν τελειούμενον νοῦν ἄπταιστον ὑποδέχεσθαι γνῶσιν ἤγουν ἐπιστήμην· τήν γάρ ἐπιστήμην ἄπταιστον ὁρίζονται τοῦ ὑποκειμένου γνῶσιν.

Ὁ δέ πεντήκοντα ἀριθμός, μονάδα φέρων περιττήν μετά τόν εἰς ἑαυτήν τῆς ἑβδομάδος ἑπταπλασιασμόν, τό πέρας δηλοῖ τῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐν τοῖς ἀξίοις ποιήσεως. Οὐ γάρ ἔτι κινεῖται περί τήν τῶν ἀρετῶν ποίησιν, ὁ τό κατά φύσιν φθάσας ἀγαθόν, καί ἐν αὐτῷ τήν στάσιν λαβών· ἀρχή γάρ καί τέλος πάσης κινήσεως ἡ μονάς. Ὁ δέ πέντε ἀριθμός, τήν ἐπί τούτοις ἐπιστήμην δηλοῖ· περιέχει γάρ νοητῶν τε καί λογικῶν, αἰσθητικῶν τε καί ζώντων καί ὄντων τούς λόγους· οὕς μόνη περιγράφειν ἡ θεία πέφυκε σοφία, ἥν ἄπταιστον ἐπιστήμην τῆς ἀληθείας ὁρίζονται.

31. Καμήλους Μαδιάν φησιν, ὡς μέν ἐκκρίσεως ἑρμηνευομένης, τάς τῶν γινομένων καί ἀπογινομένων ἀληθεῖς θεωρίας· ὡς δέ πηλοῦ αἱματώδους, τούς κατά ταύτην τήν παροδικήν καί ἄστατον ζωήν τῆς προνοίας νενόηκε λόγους· ὡς δέ ἱδρώτων ἀνθρωπίνων καί μητρός, τούς ἐπί τῇ παρούσῃ ζωῇ τῆς θείας κρίσεως λόγους, οὕς συνάγουσιν, οἵ τε κατά διάνοιαν λογισμοί, καί ἡ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν φαντασία τῶν ὁρατῶν· ἐξ ὧν, λογισμῶν φημι καί φαντασίας, ἡ τῶν ὄντων ἀληθής συνάγεται δόξα, τῆς ἐπ᾿ αἰσθήσεσι διανοίας ὑπάρχουσα καρπός. Ἀνθρωπίνους οὖν καί μητρός λέγει ἱδρῶτας, τούς μετά πόνου προβληθέντας τῆς διανοίας λογισμούς, καί τάς φαντασίας, τῆς μητρός δίκην ἡμᾶς τιθηνούσης αἰσθήσεως.

Κάμηλοι δέ Γεφάρ, τουτέστι τῆς κτήσεως τοῦ νώτου· νῶτος δέ ἐστι, τῆς ψυχῆς ἡ σάρξ, ὡς διά τήν ψυχήν γινομένη. Ἐάν οὖν κτησώμεθα τήν σάρκα καλῶς, ἔχομεν αὐτήν δουλεύουσαν τῇ ψυχῇ πρός γένεσιν ἀρετῶν, καί μόνους κατανοοῦμεν αὐτῆς τούς ἐφ᾿ οἷς γέγονε θείους λόγους· μεθ᾿ ὧν καί τούς τῶν ὁρατῶν ὡς καμήλους