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all mind, soul and reason of rational beings has from this, but also the spirit of irrational beings and likewise of all creatures, both intellectual and sensible, has its being from thence. He who has Him, whoever will have Him, and carries Him within himself and sees His beauty, how will he endure the flame of desire, how will he bear the fire of love, how will he not let fall a warm tear from the heart, how will he speak of the wonders, how will he number these things, which are accomplished in him? How will he keep silent at all, being compelled to speak? For he sees himself in hades, I mean by the radiance of the light; for no one else among those sitting there recognizes himself before the divine light has shone, (244) but they are in ignorance of the gloom and corruption and death in which they are held. Nevertheless she sees, where it shines, that soul I mean, and perceives that she was wholly in the most terrible darkness and in the most secure prison of deepest ignorance. Then she sees, where she lies, where she is imprisoned, the place all mire, filled with unclean venomous serpents, and herself bound and tightly constrained by bonds in hands and feet, and squalid and filthy, wounded at the same time by the bites of the serpents and bearing her flesh swelling along with a multitude of worms. Seeing these things how will he not shudder, how will he not weep, how will he not cry out

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νοῦς ἅπας, ψυχή καί λόγος λογικῶν ἔχει ἐκ τούτου, ἀλλά καί ἀλόγων πνεῦμα καί πάντων ὡσαύτως ζῴων, νοερῶν καί αἰσθητῶν τε, τό εἶναι ἐντεῦθεν ἔχει Τοῦτον ἔχων, ὅστις ἕξει, καί ἐντός αὐτοῦ βαστάζων καί ὁρῶν αὐτοῦ τό κάλλος, πῶς ὑποίσει πόθου φλόγα, πῶς ἐνέγκῃ πῦρ ἀγάπης, πῶς θερμόν οὐκ ἀποστάξει δάκρυον ἐκ τῆς καρδίας, πῶς τά θαύματα ἐξείπει, πῶς δέ ταῦτα ἀριθμήσει, ἅπερ ἐν αὐτῷ τελοῦνται; Πῶς καί σιωπήσει ὅλως βιαζόμενος τοῦ λέγειν; Βλέπει γάρ αὑτόν ἐν ᾅδη, τοῦ φωτός τῇ λάμψει λέγω˙ οὐδείς γάρ ἄλλως ἑαυτόν τῶν ἐκεῖ καθεζομένων πρό τοῦ λαμψαι φῶς τό θεῖον ἑαυτόν ἐπιγινώσκει, (244) ἀλλ᾿ εἰσίν ἐν ἀγνωσίᾳ τοῦ ἐν ᾧ κρατοῦνται ζόφου καί φθορᾶς καί τοῦ θανάτου. Ὅμως βλέπει, ἔνθα λάμπει, ἡ ψυχή ἐκείνη λέγω, καί νοεῖ, ὅτι ἐν σκότει ὅλη ἦν τῷ δεινοτάτῳ καί φρουρᾷ ἀσφαλεστάτῃ βαθυτάτης ἀγνωσίας. Τότε βλέπει, ἔνθα κεῖται, ἔνθα ἔστι καθειργμένη, ὅλον βόρβορον τόν τόπον, ἀκαθάρτων ἰοβόλων ἑρπετῶν μεμεστωμένον, ἑαυτήν δέ δεδεμένην καί δεσμοῖς κατεσφιγμένην χεῖρας ἅμα τε καί πόδας καί αὐχμῶσαν καί ῥυπῶσαν, τετραυματισμένην ἅμα δήγμασι τῶν ἑρπετῶν καί τάς σάρκας οἰδαινούσας ἑαυτῆς φέρουσαν ἅμα μετά πλήθους γε σκωλήκων. Ταῦτα βλέπων πῶς οὐ φρίξει, πῶς οὐ κλαύσει, πῶς οὐ κράξει