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the passions of dishonor into sensation, turning back the thoughts themselves, kills the devil who begets these for the destruction of human nature.

Therefore Hezekiah acted well and very wisely according to the spiritual sense of Scripture, stopping up the waters of the springs which were outside Jerusalem, on account of Sennacherib king of the Assyrians. The springs, therefore, outside the city, that is, the soul, are all sensible things; and the waters of these springs are the concepts of the sensible things. And the river flowing through the midst of the city is the knowledge gathered from the concepts of sensible things according to natural contemplation, passing through the midst of the soul, as being a borderland of intellect and sensation. For the knowledge of sensible things is neither entirely alienated from the intellectual power, nor wholly allotted only to the activity of sensation; but being, as it were, in the middle of the union of the intellect with sensation, and of sensation with the intellect, it effects through itself their connection with one another; according to sensation, being shaped in form by the figures of sensible things; but according to the intellect, transferring the impressions into the principles of the figures; wherefore the knowledge of things seen was fittingly called a river flowing through the midst of the city, as being a borderland of the extremities, I mean of intellect and sensation. He who with knowledge dissolves the hidden struggles with evil demons, by stopping this up in time of the harassment of the passions, on account of the injurious assault of material figures upon the intellect, kills the one hundred and eighty-five thousand: I mean the productive habit of evil, the power that irrationally, as I said, attaches itself through the senses to the three powers of the soul, and the activity of the senses upon them, that is, the irrational activity of the natural powers upon the senses. For the number six, whether it is composed of units, or of tens, or of hundreds, or of any other number, indicates the productive habit of virtue and of evil, according to the proportion of the multiplication of its composition, representing for those who apply themselves to numbers with understanding the disposition that constitutes this or that habit; and the number five, when joined to, or added to, or composed with this number six, additionally indicates the senses, that is, the power, or habit, or activity of sensible things, lying alongside, or superimposed upon, or composed with the natural powers of the soul. For example, if the number five is joined to the six as simple to simple, according to the units, it represents the productive aptitude for the senses in potentiality alone. But if the simple number five composed of units is added to a composite number six made of many, it indicates a productive habit for the senses in potentiality. But if a composite five made of many is composed with a composite six made of many, it signifies the effective production, according to potentiality and habit and activity, for the senses, that is, the completion of virtue or of evil. However the number may be, (457) whether blameworthy or praiseworthy according to the passage of Scripture being contemplated, that is, being examined, the number six, composed of tens, makes the number one hundred and eighty-five, and indicates the productive habit of evil operating through the senses on the natural powers, since this number is set down in a blameworthy sense in this passage of Holy Scripture; which habit the intellect kills, as if through an angel of the divine word of knowledge, relying more on prayer than on its own power, and ascribing to God alone the cause of every right action and of every victory over the demons.

He, therefore, who in the time of the assault of temptations, abstains from natural contemplation, but holds fast to prayer according to the intellect's withdrawal from all things unto itself and to God, kills the habit that produces evil, a habit of the natural powers of the soul being moved contrary to nature through the senses, and turns back the devil with shame, who has cast off the aforesaid habit, on which

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αἴσθησιν πάθη τῆς ἀτιμίας αὐτόν ὑποστρέφοντας λογισμούς, ἀποκτείνει τόν ἐπ᾿ ὀλέθρῳ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως τούτους γεννῶντα διάβολον.

Καλῶς οὖν καί πάνυ σοφῶς κατά νοούμενον τῆς Γραφῆς Ἐζεκίας πεποίηκεν, ἐμφράξας τά ὕδατα τῶν πηγῶν, ἅ ἦν ἔξω Ἱερουσαλήμ, διά Σενναχειρίμ βασιλέα τῶν Ἀσσυρίων. Πηγαί οὖν εἰσιν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως, τουτέστι, τῆς ψυχῆς, τά αἰσθητά πάντα· ὕδατα δέ τούτων τυγχάνουσι τῶν πηγῶν, τά τῶν αἰσθητῶν νοήματα. Ποταμός δέ διορίζων διά μέσου τῆς πόλεώς ἐστιν ἡ κατά τήν φυσικήν θεωρίαν ἐκ τῶν αἰσθητῶν νοημάτων συναγομένη γνῶσις, διά μέσης διερχομένης τῆς ψυχῆς, ὡς νοῦ καί αἰσθήσεως οὖσα μεθόριος. Ἡ γάρ γνῶσις τῶν αἰσθητῶν, οὔτε πάντη τῆς νοερᾶς ἀπεξένωται δυνάμεως, οὔτε δι᾿ ὅλου μόνῃ προσνενέμηται τῇ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἐνεργείᾳ· ἀλλ᾿ οἷον τῆς τε τοῦ νοῦ πρός τήν αἴσθησιν, καί πρός τόν νοῦν τῆς αἰσθήσεως συνόδου μέση τυγχάνουσα, δι᾿ ἑαυτῆς ποιεῖται τήν πρός ἄλληλα τούτων συνάφειαν· κατά μέν τήν αἴσθησιν, κατ᾿ εἶδος τυπουμένη τοῖς σχήμασι τῶν αἰσθητῶν· κατά δέ τόν νοῦν, εἰς λόγους τῶν σχημάτων τούς τύπους μεταβιβάζουσα· διό ποταμός διορίζων διά μέσης τῆς πόλεως εἰκότως προσηγορεύθη τῶν ὁρωμένων ἡ γνῶσις, ὡς τῶν ἄκρων, λέγω δέ νοῦ καί αἰσθήσεως, οὖσα μεταίχμιος. Ταύτην ἐμφράττων ἐν καιρῷ τῆς τῶν παθῶν διοχλήσεως, διά τήν ἐπήρειαν τῆς πρός τόν νοῦν τῶν ὑλικῶν σχημάτων ἐμπτώσεως, ὁ μετά γνώσεως τάς ἀφανεῖς τῶν πονηρῶν δαιμόνων συμπλοκάς διαλύων, ἀποκτείνει τάς ἑκατόν καί ὀγδοήκοντα καί πέντε χιλιάδας· λέγω τήν ποιητικήν τῆς κακίας ἕξιν, τήν παραλόγως, ὡς ἔφην, ταῖς τρισί τῆς ψυχῆς διά τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἐπιφυομένην δυνάμεσι δύναμιν, καί τήν ἐπ᾿ αὐταῖς ἐνέργειαν τῶν αἰσθήσεων, ἤτοι τήν τῶν φυσικῶν δυνάμεων ἐπ᾿ αἰσθήσεσι παράλογον ἐνέργειαν. Ὁ γάρ ἑξαδικός ἀριθμός, εἴτε ἐκ μονάδων ἔχει τήν σύνθεσιν, εἴτε ἐκ δεκάδων, εἴτε ἐξ ἑκατοντάδων, εἴτε ἐξ ἑτέρου τινός ἀριθμοῦ, τήν ποιητικήν ἕξιν δηλοῖ τῆς ἀρετῆς καί τῆς κακίας, κατά τήν ἀναλογίαν τοῦ πολυπλασιασμοῦ τῆς συνθέσεως, τήν ἀπαρτίζουσαν τήνδε ἤ τήνδε τήν ἕξιν διάθεσιν, τοῖς μετ᾿ ἐπιστήμης τοῖς ἀριθμοῖς ἐπιβάλλουσι παριστῶν· ᾧτινι ἑξαδικῷ ἀριθμῷ συναφθείς ἤ προστεθείς, ἤ συντεθείς ὁ πέντε ἀριθμός, παραδηλοῖ τάς αἰσθήσεις, ἤγουν τήν τῶν αἰσθητῶν δύναμιν, ἤ ἕξιν ἤ ἐνέργειαν, παρακειμένην, ἤ ἐπικειμένην, ἤ συγκειμένην ταῖς κατά φύσιν τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεσιν. Οἷον, εἰ μέν συνῆπται κατά τάς μονάδας, ὡς ἁπλοῦς ἁπλῷ ὁ πέντε ἀρθμός τῷ ἕξ, τήν ἐπ᾿ αἰσθήσεσι μόνῃ δυνάμει ποιητικήν ἐπιτηδειότητα παρίστησιν. Εἰ δέ προστέθειται συνθέτῳ ἐκ πολλῶν τῷ ἕξ ἀριθμῷ ὁ ἁπλοῦς ἐκ μονάδων πέντε ἀριθμός, τήν ἐπ᾿ αἰσθήσεσι κατά δύναμιν ποιητικήν ἕξιν δηλοῖ. Εἰ δέ συντέθειται συνθέτῳ τῷ ἐκ πολλῶν ἑξ ἀριθμῶν, ὁ ἐκ πολλῶν πέντε σύνθετος, τήν ἐπ᾿ αἰσθήσεσι κατά τε τήν δύναμιν καί τήν ἕξιν καί τήν ἐνέργειαν ἀποτελεστικήν σημαίνει ποιήσιν, ἤγουν περαίωσιν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἤ τῆς κακίας. Ὡς δ᾿ ἄν ὁ ἀριθμός ἔχων τύχοι, (457) εἴτε ψεκτῶς, εἴτε ἐπαινετῶς κατά τόν θεωρούμενον τῆς Γραφῆς, ἤγουν ἐξεταζόμενον τόπον, ὁ μέν ἑξαδικός ἀριθμός ἐκ δεκάδων συντεθείς, ποιεῖ τόν ἑκατόν καί ὀγδοήκοντα καί πέντε ἀριθμόν, καί δηλοῖ τήν ἐπ᾿ αἰσθήσεσι τῶν κατά φύσιν δυνάμεων ποιητικήν τῆς κακίας ἕξιν, ἐπειδή ψεκτῶς κεῖται κατά τοῦτον τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς τόν τόπον οὗτος ὁ ἀριθμός· ἥν ἀποκτείνει ὡς δι᾿ ἀγγέλου τινός τοῦ θείου λόγου τῆς γνώσεως, ὁ τῆς οἰκείας δυνάμεως τῇ προσευχῇ πλέον ἐπερειδόμενος νοῦς, καί παντός κατορθώματος, καί πάσης κατά δαιμόνων νίκης αἴτιον τόν Θεόν μόνον ἐπιγραφόμενος.

Ὁ τοίνυν κατά τόν καιρόν τῆς τῶν πειρασμῶν ἐπαναστάσεως, τῆς μέν φυσικῆς ἀπεχόμενος θεωρίας, τῆς δέ προσευχῆς κατά τήν ἐκ πάντων πρός ἑαυτόν τε καί τόν Θεόν τοῦ νοῦ συστολήν ἀντεχόμενος, ἀποκτείνει τήν ἐπ᾿ αἰσθήσεσι τῶν φυσικῶν τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεων παρά φύσιν κινουμένων ποιητικήν τῆς κακίας ἕξιν, καί ἀποστρέφει μετ᾿ αἰσχύνης τόν διάβολον, ἀποβαλόμενον τήν εἰρημένην ἕξιν, ἐφ᾿ ᾗ