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Thus, then, let the things set before us be summarily considered by us in one way, expounding our Lord Jesus Christ; but in another way, and considered with respect to each individual mind, it has the greatest power for the completion of perfection, for those who are guarded by the fear and love of the Lord. But before touching upon their contemplation, I am at a loss, wondering, how Uzziah, being king of Judea according to the history, was able to have vinedressers on Carmel, which was not under the kingdom of Judah, but subject to the kingdom of Israel; on which also the city itself of the kingdom of Israel was almost built. But, as it seems, the Word, stirring up the sluggishness of our intellect towards the search for truth (410), has mixed in something that in no way belongs to the fabric of the history.

Uzziah, then, is the mind that has acquired divine strength in practice and contemplation; for it is interpreted, as I said, “strength of God.” And, it says, Uzziah was seeking the Lord in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the fear of the Lord. Zechariah is interpreted as “remembrance of God.” Therefore, as long as the mind has the living remembrance of God in itself, it seeks the Lord through contemplation; and not simply, but in the fear of the Lord; that is, in the practice of the commandments. For he who seeks the Lord through contemplation without practice does not find the Lord, because he did not seek the Lord in the fear of the Lord.

And the Lord prospered him. For the Lord prospers everyone who acts with knowledge; both teaching the ways of the commandments, and revealing the true principles of beings.

And Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem. He who is well prospered in seeking the Lord through contemplation, with the requisite fear, that is, the practice of the commandments, builds towers in Jerusalem; that is, according to the simple and tranquil state of the soul, raising up discourses about the Godhead.

And upon the corner gate. The gate of the corner (that is, of ecclesiastical faith) is the devout way of life, through which we are led into the inheritance of good things; upon which, as if towers, strong and noble, the gnostic mind builds the fortifications of the dogmas concerning the Incarnation, as if composed from certain stones of different thoughts; and the ways of the virtues, for the guarding of the work of the commandments.

And upon the corner of the valley. The valley is the flesh; and its corner is the union with the soul through the law of the commandments; upon which it builds, as if a tower, the discernment that subjects the flesh to the soul according to the law of the spirit.

And upon the corners. It says that there are many corners, upon which the mind, most powerful according to God, is said to have built the towers. A corner is not only, within the same nature, the union of particulars to universals according to the same principle of being; as, for example, individuals to the species under which they fall, and species to genera, and genera to substance, being joined to one another uniquely at the limit of their extremes; upon which the principles of the particulars, having appeared as universals, make, as it were, corners, the many and various unions of the divided things; but also of mind to sense, and of heaven to earth; and of sensibles to intelligibles, and of nature to reason; upon all of which the contemplative mind, having established the true opinions on each according to its proper knowledge, wisely builds the intelligible towers upon the corners; that is, upon the unions, the dogmas that bind the unions.

(411) And he became strong, and built towers in the desert; and hewed out many cisterns; he who has been able to drive the passions from the senses, and to separate the soul from its relation to the senses, has prevailed in walling off the entry of the devil to the mind through the medium of the senses; and through

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Οὕτως μέν οὖν ἐπιτόμως ἡμῖν καθ᾿ ἕνα τρόπον τεθεωρήσθω τά προτεθέντα, τόν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν ὑφηγούμενα· καθ᾿ ἕτερον δέ τρόπον, καί εἰς τόν καθ᾿ ἕκαστον νοῦν θεωρούμενα, πλείστην ἔχει δύναμιν πρός ἀπαρτισμόν τελειότητος, τῶν τῷ φόβῳ καί τῇ ἀγάπῃ τοῦ Κυρίου πεφρουρισμένων. Πρίν δέ τῆς αὐτῶν ἅψασθαι θεωρίας, ἀπορῶ θαυμάζων, πῶς ἠδύνατο τῆς Ἰουδαίας ὑπάρχων βασιλεύς ὁ Ὀζίας κατά τήν ἱστοράν, ἔχειν ἀμπελουργούς ἐν τῷ καρμήλῳ, μή ὄντι ὑπό τήν βασιλείαν Ἰούδα· ἀλλά τῇ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ ὑποκειμένῳ βασιλείᾳ· ἐφ᾿ οὗ καί ἡ πόλις αὐτή τῆς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ βασιλείας σχεδόν ᾠκοδόμητο. Ἀλλ᾿, ὡς ἔοικε, τό νωθρόν ἡμῶν τῆς διανοίας πρός ἔρευναν τῆς ἀληθείας (410) διεγείρων ὁ λόγος, τό μηδαμῶς ὑπάρχον τῷ τῆς ἱστορίας ὕφει παρέμιξεν.

Ὀζίας τοίνυν ἐστίν ὁ περί πρᾶξιν καί θεωρίαν τήν θείαν ἰσχύν κεκτημένος νοῦς· ἰσχύς γάρ Θεοῦ, καθώς ἔφην, ἑρμηνεύεται. Καί ἦν, φησίν, Ὀζίας ἐκζητῶν τόν Κύριον ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ζαχαρίου τοῦ συνιέντος ἐν φόβῳ Κυρίου. Ζαχαρίας ἑρμηνεύεται μνήμη Θεοῦ. Οὐκοῦν ὁ νοῦς ἐφ᾿ ὅσον ἔχει ζῶσαν ἐν ἑαυτῷ τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ μνήμην, διά τῆς θεωρίας ἐκζητεῖ τόν Κύριον· καί οὐχ ἁπλῶς, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν φόβῳ Κυρίου· τουτέστιν, ἐν τῇ πράξει τῶν ἐντολῶν. Ὁ γάρ ἐκζητῶν διά θεωρίας τόν Κύριον χωρίς πράξεως, οὐχ εὑρίσκει τόν Κύριον, ὅτι οὐκ ἐν φόβῳ Κυρίου τόν Κύριον ἐζήτησε.

Καί εὐώδωσεν αὐτῷ ὁ Κύριος. Παντί γάρ τῷ μετά γνώσεως πράττοντι, εὐοδοῖ ὁ Κύριος· τούς τε τῶν ἐντολῶν διδάσκων τρόπους, καί τούς τῶν ὄντων ἀληθεῖς λόγους ἀποκαλύπτων.

Καί ᾠκοδόμησεν Ὀζίας πύργους ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ. Ὁ καλῶς εὐοδούμενος ἐπί τήν διά θεωρίας ἐκζήτησιν τοῦ Κυρίου, μετά τοῦ ἐπιβεβλημένου φόβου, τουτέστι τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν πράξεως, οἰκοδομεῖ πύργους ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ· κατά τήν ἁπλῆν δηλαδή καί ἠρεμαίαν τῆς ψυχῆς κατάστασιν, τούς περί Θεότητος ἀνυψῶν λόγους.

Καί ἐπί τήν πύλην τῆς γωνίας. Πύλη τῆς γωνίας (ἤγουν τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς πίστεως), ἡ εὐσεβής πολιτεία, δι᾿ ἧς εἰς τήν τῶν ἀγαθῶν εἰσαγόμεθα κληρονομίαν· ἐφ᾿ ἧς καθάπερ πύργους, ἰσχυρούς τε καί γενναίους, ὁ γνωστικός νοῦς τά ὀχυρώματα τῶν περί σαρκώσεως δογμάτων οἰκοδομεῖ, ὡς ἐκ λίθων τινῶν τῶν διαφόρων νοημάτων συγκείμενα· καί τούς τρόπους τῶν ἀρετῶν, εἰς τήν φυλακήν τοῦ ἔργου τῶν ἐντολῶν.

Καί ἐπί τήν γωνίαν τῆς φάραγγος. Φάραγξ ἐστίν ἡ σάρξ· γωνία δέ ταύτης, ἡ πρός τήν ψυχήν διά τοῦ νόμου τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐστιν ἕνωσις· ἐφ᾿ ἧς καθάπερ πύργον οἰκοδομεῖ, τήν κατά τόν νόμον τοῦ πνεύματος ὑποτάσσουσαν τῇ ψυχῇ τήν σάρκα, διάγνωσιν.

Καί ἐπί τῶν γωνιῶν. Πολλάς φησιν εἶναι τάς γωνίας, ἐφ᾿ ὧν ᾠκοδομηκέναι λέγεται τούς πύργους, ὁ κατά Θεόν ἰσχυρότατος νοῦς. Γωνία ἐστίν, οὐ μόνον ἐπί τῆς αὐτῆς φύσεως ἡ τῶν μερικῶν πρός τά καθ᾿ ὅλου κατά τόν αὐτόν τοῦ εἶναι λόγον ἕνωσις· ὡς φέρε εἰπεῖν, πρός τά εἴδη τά ὑπ᾿ αὐτά ἄτομα, καί πρός τά γένη τά εἴδη· καί πρός τήν οὐσίαν τά γένη, μοναδικῶς κατά τό πέρας τῶν ἄκρων ἀλλήλοις συναπτομένων· ἐφ᾿ ὧν οἱ καθ᾿ ὅλου τῶν μερικῶν προφανέντες λόγοι, ποιοῦνται καθάπερ γωνίας, τάς πολλάς καί διαφόρους τῶν διῃρημένων ἑνώσεις· ἀλλά καί νοῦ πρός αἴσθησιν, καί οὐρανοῦ πρός γῆν· καί αἰσθητῶν πρός νοητά, καί φύσεως πρός λόγον· ἐφ᾿ ὧν ἁπάντων κατά τήν οἰκείαν ἐπιστήμην τάς ἀληθεῖς ἐφ᾿ ἑκάστῳ δόξας πηξάμενος ὁ θεωρητικός νοῦς, ἐπί τῶν γωνιῶν σοφῶς οἰκοδομεῖ τούς νοητούς πύργους· τουτέστιν, ἐπί τῶν ἑνώσεων τά συνδετικά τῶν ἑνώσεων δόγματα.

(411) Καί κατίσχυσε, καί ᾠκοδόμησε πύργους ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ· καί ἐλατόμησε λάκκους πολλούς· ὁ τῶν παθῶν ἐξηλῶσαι δυνηθείς τάς αἰσθήσεις, καί τῆς τῶν αἰσθήσεων σχέσεως τήν ψυχήν ἀποδιαστείλας, κατίσχυσεν ἀποτειχίσαι τήν γενομένην τοῦ διαβόλου πρός τόν νοῦν διά μέσων τῶν αἰσθήσεων εἴσοδον· καί διά