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trusting in his own arrogance, came to the soul, assailing the truth through proud thoughts. Which perhaps both knowing, and suffering, and doing, the great David, who more than all had experience of the battle-line of noetic wars, says: "When the sinner rose up against me, I was made dumb and was humbled, and kept silent from good things." And after him, the divine Jeremiah, commanding the people not to go out of the city, because of the sword of the enemies dwelling round about. If the blessed Abel had guarded this, and had not gone out with Cain into the field—that is, into the sea of natural contemplation before impassibility—the law of the flesh, which is and is called Cain, would not have risen up and killed him with guile, stealing him away by a clever use of the contemplation of beings before the perfect state; which the first man Adam first acquired as the fruit of the transgression, according to the meaning of his name; begetting a law of sin, which God did not create for him in paradise. For Cain is interpreted as "acquisition." Likewise also Dinah, the daughter of the great Jacob, if she had not gone out with the daughters of the land, that is, with the sensory fantasies, Shechem the son of Hamor would not have risen up and humbled her. Shechem is interpreted as "back"; and Hamor, "donkey," that is, the body. The back, therefore, that is, Shechem, of Hamor, that is, of the body, is a posterior law, but not an anterior one; that is, later, but not first. For in the beginning, or before, before the transgression of the divine commandment occurred, this human body, that is, Hamor, did not have the law of sin; I mean Shechem, but later the law of sin grew upon the body through disobedience; which the true reason, having considered, because of its later birth, named Shechem, that is, back, which (460) is posterior; for the back by nature clearly signifies the posterior. So it is good, before the perfect state, not to touch natural contemplation, lest, while seeking spiritual reasons from the visible creatures, we be found secretly collecting passions. For in the imperfect, the visible shapes of what is seen have more power over the senses than the reasons of things that have come to be, which are hidden in the shapes, have over the soul.

SCHOLIA. 1. The simple contemplation of beings requires a soul free from passions; which is called Jerusalem, on account of both its perfect virtue and its immaterial knowledge; which comes to be not only by the privation of passions, but also of sensible fantasies, which the word has called the waters of the outer springs.

2. Faith comforts the intellect when it is at war, strengthening it with the hope of help; and hope, bringing the believed-in help into view, repels the assault of the adversaries. And love renders the attack of the enemies dead to the God-loving intellect, being completely obscured by the desire for God.

3. The first resurrection in us, he says, of God who was put to death through ignorance, is faith, well-ordered by the works of the commandments.

4. Things, he says, are in harmony with their names. For without some expectation, whether difficult or easy, a return to the good is never wont to happen to anyone.

5. Nothing like love, he says, gathers the scattered, and creates of them one mind, held together by concord; of which the mark has been established as the good of equality.

6. That without the rational faculty, he says, there is no scientific knowledge; and without knowledge, faith is not established, from which the good offspring proceeds, hope; according to which the believer is joined to future things as if they were present. And without the faculty according to desire, longing is not established, of which the end is love. For to love something, is proper

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πεποιθώς μετά τῆς οἰκείας ἀλαζονείας, ἦλθε πρός τήν ψυχήν, διά τῶν ὑπερηφάνων λογισμῶν τῆς ἀληθείας κατεπαιρόμενος. Ὅπερ τυχόν καί γνούς, καί παθών, καί ποιήσας ὁ μέγας ∆αβίδ, ὁ πάντων μάλιστα πεῖραν ἔχων τῆς τῶν νοητῶν πολέμων παρατάξεως· Ἐν τῷ συστῆναι, φησί, τόν ἁμαρτωλόν ἐναντίον μου, ἐκωφώθην καί ἐταπεινώθην, καί ἐσίγησα ἐξ ἀγαθῶν. Καί μετ' αὐτόν ὁ θεῖος Ἱερεμίας, προστάσσων τῷ λαῷ μή ἐκβῆναι τῆς πόλεως, διά τήν κυκλόθεν παροικοῦσαν τῶν ἐχθρῶν ῥομφαίαν. Τοῦτο εἴπερ ὁ Ἄβελ ὁ μακάριος ἐφυλάξατο, καί μή συνεξῆλθε τῷ Κάϊν ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ· τουτέστιν ἐν τῷ πελάγει τῆς φυσικῆς θεωρίας, πρό τῆς ἀπαθείας, οὐκ ἄν ἐπαναστάς ἀπέκτεινεν αὐτόν μετά δόλου, κλέψας τοῖς δεξιοῖς κατά τήν τῶν ὄντων θεωρίαν, πρό τῆς τελείας ἕξεως, ὁ τῆς σαρκός νόμος, ὁ Κάϊν καί ὤν καί καλούμενος· ὅν πρῶτον ἐκτήσατο καρπόν τῆς παραβάσεως, κατά δύναμιν τῆς αὐτοῦ προσηγορίας ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος Ἀδάμ· γεννήσας νόμον ἁμαρτίας, ὅν κατά τόν παράδεισον αὐτῷ ὁ Θεός οὐκ ἐδημιούργησε. Κτῆσις γάρ ἑρμηνεύεται ὁ Κάϊν. Ὁμοίως καί ἡ ∆ίνα ἡ τοῦ μεγάλου θυγάτηρ Ἰακώβ, εἰ μή συνεξῆλθε ταῖς θυγατράσιν τῶν ἐγχωρίων, τουτέστι, ταῖς αἰσθητικαῖς φαντασίαις, οὐκ ἄν Συχέμ υἱός Ἐμμόρ ἐπαναστάς αὐτήν ἐταπείνωσε. Συχέμ δέ ἑρμηνεύεται νῶτος· Ἐμμόρ δέ, ὄνος, τουτέστι τό σῶμα.Ὁ μέν οὖν νῶτος, τουτέστιν, ὁ Συχέμ, τοῦ Ἐμμόρ, ἤγουν τοῦ σώματος, ὀπίσθιος νόμος ἐστίν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐμπρόσθιος· τουτέστιν, ὕστερος, ἀλλ'οὐ πρῶτος. Κατ᾿ ἀρχάς γάρ ἤτουν ἔμπροσθεν, πρίν γενέσθαι τῆς θείας ἐντολῆς τήν παράβασιν, οὐκ εἶχε τό σῶμα τοῦτο τό ἀνθρώπινον, τουτέστιν ὁ Ἐμμόρ, τόν νόμον τῆς ἁμαρτίας· λέγω δέ τόν Συχέμ, ἀλλ᾿ ὕστερον ἐπεφύη τῷ σώματι διά τήν παρακοήν, τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ νόμος· ὅν ὁ ἀληθής διασκοπήσας λόγος, διά τήν ὕστερον γένεσιν, προσηγόρευσε Συχέμ, τουτέστι, νῶτον, ὅπερ (460) ἐστίν ὀπίσθιος· τόν γάρ ὀπίσθιον δηλοῖ σαφῶς κατά φύσιν ὁ νῶτος. Ὥστε καλόν ἐστι πρό τῆς τελείας ἕξεως, μή ἅπτεσθαι τῆς φυσικῆς θεωρίας, ἵνα μή λόγους ἐπιζητοῦντες πνευματικούς ἐκ τῶν ὁρωμένων κτισμάτων, λάθωμεν πάθη συλλέγοντες. Πλέον γάρ ἐν τοῖς ἀτελέσι δυναστεύει πρός τήν αἴσθησιν τά φαινόμενα σχήματα τῶν ὁρωμένων, ἤ πρός τήν ψυχήν οἱ ἐγκεκρυμμένοι τοῖς σχήμασι λόγοι τῶν γεγονότων.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ. α΄. Ἡ τῶν ὄντων ἁπλῆ θεωρία, παθῶν ἀπηλλαγμένης δεῖται ψυχῆς· ἥτις

Ἱερουσαλήν λέγεται, διά τε τήν ἄρτιον ἀρετήν, καί τήν ἄϋλον γνῶσιν· ἥτις οὐ μόνον κατά στέρησιν παθῶν, ἀλλά καί φαντασιῶν αἰσθητῶν ἐπιγίνεται, ἅσπερ ὕδατα τῶν ἔξω πηγῶν κέκληκεν ὁ λόγος.

β΄. Ἡ πίστις παραμυθεῖται τόν νοῦν πολεμούμενον, βοηθείας ἐλπίδι ῥωννύμενον· ἡ δέ ἐλπίς ὑπ᾿ ὄψιν ἄγουσα τήν πιστευθεῖσαν βοήθειαν, ἀποκρούεται τήν τῶν ἀντικειμένων καταδρομήν. Ἡ δέ ἀγάπη, νεκράν καθίστησι τῷ φιλοθέῳ νῷ τῶν πολεμίων τήν προσβολήν, τῇ πρός Θεόν ἐφέσει παντελῶς ἀμαυρουμένην.

γ΄ . Πρώτη ἐν ἡμῖν ἀνάστασις, φησί, τοῦ διά τῆς ἀγνοίας νεκρωθέντος Θεοῦ, ἡ πίστις ἐστί καλῶς τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν ἐντολῶν οἰκονομουμένη.

δ΄. Συνᾴδει, φησί, τά πράγματα τοῖς ὀνόμασι. Χωρίς γάρ τινος προσδοκίας, ἤ δυσχεροῦς ἤ εὐχεροῦς ἐπιστροφή πρός τό καλόν οὐδενί ποτε πέφυκε γίνεσθαι.

ε΄. Οὐδέν ὡς ἀγάπη, φησί, συνάγει τούς ἐσκορπισμένους, καί μίαν αὐτῶν δημιουργεῖν τήν γνώμην συμπνοίᾳ κρατουμένην· ἧς χαρακτήρ, τό τῆς ἰσοτιμίας καθέστηκε καλόν.

στ΄. Ὅτι δίχα λογικῆς δυνάμεως, φησίν, ἐπιστημονική γνῶσις οὐκ ἔστι· καί γνώσεως χωρίς, οὐ συνίσταται πίστις, ἀφ᾿ ἧς τό καλόν γέννημα πρόεισιν, ἡ ἐλπίς· καθ᾿ ἥν ὡς παροῦσι συγγίνεται τοῖς μέλλουσιν ὁ πιστός. Καί δίχα τῆς κατ᾿ ἐπιθυμίαν δυνάμεως, οὐ συνίσταται πόθος, οὗ τό τέλος ἐστίν ἡ ἀγάπη. Τό γάρ ἐρᾷν τινος, ἴδιον