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6. By Aimath he means men-pleasing. For the men-pleaser is concerned only with visible habits, and indeed with flattering speech, so that he might appropriate the sight of some, and the hearing of others, of those who are only pleased or astonished by things seen and heard, and who define virtue by sense-perception alone. Therefore we say that men-pleasing is the display of habits and words honored for the sake of men as though for virtue.

7. By Hevites he means hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is a pretense of friendship, or hatred concealed by the guise of friendship; or enmity effected through goodwill, or envy imitating the character of love; or a disposition fond of sin, which takes in onlookers by the display of virtuous habits; or a life (14Γ_132> having decorum in the pretense of virtue, but not in reality; or a pretense of justice, preserved by the appearance of being; or a manner of ethical philosophy, concealing the hidden lack of virtue in one's thought; or deceit, having the form of truth, which those who imitate the serpent in the crookedness of their habits practice.

8. God is the cause of beings, and of the goods existing in beings. Therefore, the one who labors for virtue and knowledge, and does not extend the acknowledgment of his own incapacity in proportion to the measure of his progress in grace, has not escaped the evil of pride. But the one who practices the good for the sake of his own glory has preferred himself to God, being impaled on the nail of vainglory. And the one who performs or pursues virtue in order to be seen by men has greatly preferred human approval to divine, being afflicted by the passion of men-pleasing. But the one who wickedly uses the dignity of virtue for deceit, and conceals the evil disposition of his mind with the outward form of piety, sells virtue for the deceit of hypocrisy. Therefore, the intelligible Asbakaphath led the purpose of each of these away to things other than the cause.

9. The words of God spoken merely in utterance alone, he says, are not heard, having no voice, that is, the action of those who speak them. But if they are uttered by the practice of the commandments, they have both the demons scattered by such a voice, and men obediently building the divine temple of the heart by progress in the works of righteousness.

10. Here he took Zerubbabel as the practical mind, as being more warlike; and Jesus, as the contemplative, as a (14Γ_134> priest, and one appointed to make intercession to God at all times.

11. By the division of soul and spirit he means the difference between the virtues from nature, of which we have the principles naturally, and those from the Spirit, of which we receive the grace as a gift; for the Logos, when judging, makes a clear distinction between these.

12. Marrow is the divine word, which nourishes the divine thoughts within us like bones, which sustain the body of virtues. A joint is the way of practice, according to which the union of thoughts with the divine words is naturally brought about for the single fulfillment of virtue.

13. And the thoughts and intentions, of which the Logos is a judge, he says are, the soul's dispositions toward both the divine words and thoughts, and, of course, the causes of the dispositions themselves. For thought moves memory, to which disposition is proper; while intention looks to an end, which characterizes a cause.

14. Knowledge in its essence, he says, is God; but the mind, to which it is naturally subject, clearly precedes all knowledge; therefore God is also beyond this, because He is established infinitely beyond every mind to which knowledge in any way is naturally subject.

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6. Αἱμάθ λέγει τήν ἀνθρωπαρέσκειαν. Μόνων γάρ ἐπιμελεῖται τῶν φαινομένων ἠθῶν ὁ ἀνθρωπάρεσκος, καί μήν καί λόγου τοῦ κόλακος, ἵνα τοῖς μέν τήν ὅρασιν, τοῖς δέ τήν ἀκοήν σφετερίζηται, τῶν μόνοις ἡδομένων ἤ καταπληττομένων τοῖς φαινομένοις τε καί ἀκουομένοις, καί μόνῃ τῇ αἰσθήσει περιγραφόντων τήν ἀρετήν. Ἀνθρωπαρέσκειαν οὖν εἶναί φαμεν, τήν ὡς ἐπ᾿ ἀρετῇ δι᾿ ἀνθρώπους τιμωμένην τῶν ἠθῶν τε καί λόγων ἐπίδειξιν.

7. Εὐαίους λέγει τήν ὑπόκρισιν. Ὑπόκρισις δέ ἐστι φιλίας προσποίησις, ἤ μῖσος σχήματι φιλίας κεκαλυμμένον· ἤ ἔχθρα δι᾿ εὐνοίας ἐνεργουμένη, ἤ φθόνος ἀγάπης χαρακτῆρα μιμούμενος· ἤ φιλαμαρτήμων διάθεσις, τῇ τῶν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ἠθῶν προβολῇ τούς θεωμένους λαμβάνουσα· ἤ βίος (14Γ_132> ἀρετῆς πλάσματι, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ πράγματι τό κόσμιον ἔχω ἤ δικαιοσύνης προσποίησις, τῇ τοῦ εἶναι δοκήσει συντηρουμένη, ἤ τρόπος ἠθικῆς φιλοσοφίας, τήν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν συγκαλύπτων τῆς γνώμης λανθάνουσαν στέρησιν· ἤ ἀπάτη, ἀληθείας ἔχουσα μόρφωσιν, ἥν οἱ τόν ὄφιν τῇ τῶν ἠθῶν σκολιότητι μιμούμενοι ἐπιτηδεύουσι.

8. Τῶν ὄντων αἰτία, καί τῶν ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ὄντων ἀγαθῶν ἐστιν ὁ Θεός. Ὁ τοίνυν περί τήν ἀρετήν καί τήν γνῶσιν πονούμενος, καί μή τῷ μέτρῳ τῆς ἐν χάριτι προκοπῆς συνεπεκτείνων τῆς οἰκείας ἀνικανότητος τήν ἐπιγνωμοσύνην, τό τῆς ὑπερηφανείας κακόν οὐ διέφυγεν. Ὁ δέ δόξης ἕνεκεν ἰδίας τό καλόν ἐπιτηδεύων, ἑαυτόν τοῦ Θεοῦ προετίμησε, τῷ τῆς κενῆς δόξης ἥλῳ περιπαρείς. Ὁ δέ πρός τό θεαθῆναι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ποιῶν ἤ διώκων τήν ἀρετήν, τῆς θείας πολλῷ τήν ἀνθρωπίνην ὑπερέθηκεν ἀποδοχήν, τῷ τῆς ἀνθρωπαρεσκίας πάθει νοσηλευόμενος. Ὁ δέ μόνῃ τῇ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν σεμνότητι πρός ἀπάτην κακούργως ἐπιχρώσας τά ἤθη, καί τήν πονηράν τῆς γνώμης διάθεσιν τῷ φαινομένῳ σχήματι τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐπικαλύπτων, τῷ τῆς ὑποκρίσεως ἐξωνεῖται δόλῳ τήν ἀρετήν. Οὐκοῦν ἐπ᾿ ἄλλα παρά τήν αἰτίαν ἑκάστου τούτων ἀπήγαγε τόν σκοπόν, ὁ νοητός Ἀσβακαφάθ.

9. Οἱ λόγοι τοῦ Θεοῦ ψιλῶς κατά μόνην λαλούμενοι τήν προφοράν, φησίν, οὐκ ἀκούονται, φωνήν, τήν τῶν αὐτούς λαλούντων πρᾶξιν, οὐκ ἔχοντες. Εἰ δέ τῇ πράξει τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐκφωνοῦνται, τούς τε δαίμονας ἔχουσι τῇ τοιαύτῃ διαστηκομένους φωνῇ, καί τούς ἀνθρώπους τῇ προκοπῇ τῶν ἔργων τῆς δικαιοσύνης εὐπειθῶς τόν θεῖον τῆς καρδίας οἰκοδομοῦντας ναόν.

10. Τόν Ζοροβάβελ ἐνταῦθα, εἰς τόν πρακτικόν νοῦν ἔλαβεν, ὡς πολεμικώτερον· τόν δέ Ἰησοῦν, εἰς τόν θεωρητικόν, ὡς (14Γ_134> ἱερέα, καί διά παντός τήν ἐντυχίαν πρός τόν Θεόν ποιεῖσθαι τεταγμένον.

11. Μερισμόν ψυχῆς καί πνεύματος λέγει τήν διαφοράν τῶν ἐκ φύσεως ἀρετῶν, ὧν φυσικῶς ἔχομεν τούς λόγους, καί τῶν ἐκ Πνεύματος, ὧν κατά δωρεάν δεχόμεθα τήν χάριν· τούτων γάρ εὐκρινῶς τήν διαστολήν ποιεῖται κρίνων ὁ Λόγος.

12. Μυελός ἐστιν ὁ θεῖος λόγος, ὁ τούς ἐν ἡμῖν ὥσπερ ὀστᾶ θείους διατρέφων λογισμούς, τούς ὑποτρέφοντας τό σῶμα τῶν ἀρετῶν. Ἁρμός δέ ἐστιν, ὁ τῆς πράξεως τρόπος, καθ᾿ ὅν ἡ πρός τούς θείους λόγους τῶν λογισμῶν γίνεσθαι πέφυκεν ἕνωσις πρός μίαν ἀρετῆς ἐκπλήρωσιν.

13. Τάς ἐνθυμήσεις δέ καί τάς ἐννοίας, ὧν ἐστι κριτικός ὁ Λόγος φησίν εἶναι, τάς τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπί τε τοῖς θείοις λόγοις καί τοῖς λογισμοῖς σχέσεις, καί τάς αὐτῶν δηλαδή τῶν σχέσεων αἰτίας. Ἡ γάρ ἐνθύμησις κινεῖ μνήμην, ἧς οἰκεῖον ἡ σχέσις· ἡ δέ ἔννοια, πέρας ἀποσκοπεῖ, ὅπερ αἰτίαν χαρακτηρίζει.

14. Ἡ κατ᾿ οὐσίαν γνῶσις, φησίν, ἔστιν ὁ Θεός· προηγεῖται δέ σαφῶς πάσης γνώσεως ὁ νοῦς, ᾧ καί ὑποπίπτειν πέφυκεν· ἄρα καί ὑπέρ ταύτην ἐστίν ὁ Θεός, ὅτι καί ὑπέρ πάντα νοῦν, ᾧ γνῶσις καθοτιοῦν πέφυκεν ὑποπίπτειν, ὑπεραπείρως καθέστηκεν.