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19. It speaks of a connection of number, the enunciation of the simple numbers within the decad, distinguished by the conjunction "and"; for example, six and five; and it indicates, whether it is set down in scripture for evil or for good, the creative capacity of aptitude for virtue or vice. It speaks of an addition of number, the addition of a simple number from the units to a number multiplied into itself, distinguished by the conjunction "and", for example, sixty and five, or one hundred eighty and five, as the present number has it. And it indicates not only the production in the senses according to aptitude, but also the productive state in the senses of virtue or vice. It speaks of a composition of number, the coming together of numbers multiplied from themselves into themselves with one another, distinguished by the conjunction "and"; for example 60 and 50, or 600 and 500, and suchlike; and it makes clear not only the potential production according to aptitude and the state, but also the activity in the senses according to the state of virtue or vice. He, therefore, who knows the power of each number within the decad; as the monad indicates the unmixed; the dyad, the different; the three is both equal and intelligible; the four, sensible; the five, both sensory and cyclical; the six, both active and perfect; the seven, both peripheral and unmixed; the eight, stable and unmoved; the nine, intermediate between matter and form, that is, of sensible things and sensation; the ten, most complete; will know what each number signifies according to Scripture, whether it is by connection, or by addition, or by composition.

20. Cain is the law of the flesh, which Adam first begets when he transgresses the divine commandment. Abel is the mind of the spirit, whom the same man later begets through repentance, but whom Cain kills before the perfect state, when he has entered upon natural contemplations; having killed him, he loosed seven vengeances, says God. The same one in the Gospels called this an evil spirit, and one that takes along with itself seven spirits more evil than itself. This is perhaps the self-loving, that is, the gluttonous thought, which is always accompanied by the thought of fornication, and that of avarice, and that of grief, and that of anger, and that of acedia, and that of vainglory, and that of pride. Therefore, he who kills Cain according to the divine decree, that is, gluttony, kills along with it the passions that border upon it, according to the saying, *He who kills Cain looses seven vengeances*.

(465) 21. The law, he says, pertaining to the generation and corruption of the body was later imposed upon the nature of men, according to which we beget and are begotten, because of the transgression, since we did not keep the deifying law of the spirit according to the first commandment.

QUESTION 50.

What again is the meaning in the same book of this: "And Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah son of Amoz the prophet, prayed concerning these things; and they cried to heaven. And the Lord sent an angel, and wiped out every mighty man and warrior and ruler and commander in the camp of the king of Assur; and he returned with shame of face to his own land."

Answer. The word of Holy Scripture, even if it accepts circumscription according to the letter, ceasing together with the times of the events being narrated;

yet according to the spirit, it remains forever uncircumscribed in its intelligible contemplations. And let no one be displeased at this and disbelieve, knowing that the God who has spoken is by nature

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ιθ΄. Ἀριθμοῦ συνάφειαν λέγει, τήν τῶν ἁπλῶν ἀριθμῶν τῶν ἐντός δεκάδος ἐκφώνησιν, τῷ, καί, συνδέσμῳ διακρινομένην· οἷον ἕξ καί πέντε· καί δηλοῖ, εἴτ᾿ ἐπί κακῷ κεῖται τῇ γραφῇ, εἴτ᾿ ἐπί καλῷ, τήν δύναμιν ποιητικήν ἐπιτηδειότητα τῆς ἀρετῆς ἤ τῆς κακίας. Ἀριθμοῦ δέ πρόσθεσιν λέγει, τήν τῷ πολυπλασιασθέντι εἰς ἑαυτόν ἀριθμῷ γενομένην τοῦ ἐκ μονάδων ἁπλοῦ ἀριθμοῦ προσθήκην, τῷ, καί, συνδέσμῳ διακρινομένην, οἷον ἑξήκοντα καί πέντε, ἤ ἑκατόν ὀγδοήκοντα καί πέντε, καθώς ὁ παρών ἔχει ἀριθμός. Καί δηλοῖ, οὐ μόνον τήν ἐπ᾿ αἰσθήσεσιν κατ᾿ ἐπιτηδειότητα ποίησιν, ἀλλά καί τήν ἐπ᾿ αἰσθήσεσιν ποιητικήν ἕξιν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἤ τῆς κακίας. Ἀριθμοῦ δέ σύνθεσιν λέγει, τήν τῶν ἐξ ἑαυτῶν εἰς ἑαυτούς πολυπλασιασθεῖσαν τῶν ἐριθμῶν εἰς ἀλλήλους σύνοδον, τῷ, καί, συνδέσμῳ διακρινομένην· οἷον ξ΄καί ν΄, ἤ χ΄ καί φ΄, καί τούς τοιούτους· καί δῆλοι οὐ μόνον τήν κατ᾿ ἐπιτηδειότητα δυνάμει ποίησιν καί τήν ἕξιν, ἀλλά καί τήν ἐπ᾿ αἰσθήσεσι κατά τήν ἕξιν ἐνέργειαν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἤ τῆς κακίας. Ὁ τοίνυν γινώσκων ἑκάστου τῶν ἐντός δεκάδος ἀριθμοῦ τήν δύναμιν· ὡς ἡ μονάς δηλοῖ τό ἀμιγές· ἡ δέ δυάς, τό διάφορον· ὁ δέ τρεῖς, ἔστιν ἴσός τε καί νοητός· ὁ δέ τέσσαρα, αἰσθητός· ὁ δέ πέντε, αἰσθητικός τε καί κυκλικός· ὁ δέ ἕξ, δραστικός τε καί τέλειος· ὁ δέ ἑπτά, περιφερής τε καί ἀμιγής· ὁ δέ ὀκτώ, βάσιμος καί ἀκίνητος· ὁ δέ ἐννέα, μεταίχμιος ὕλης καί εἴδους, ἤγουν αἰσθητῶν καί αἰσθήσεως· ὁ δέ δέκα, πληρέστατος· εἴσεται τί σημαίνει κατά τήν Γραφήν ἕκαστος ἀριθμός, εἴτε κατά συνάφειάν ἐστιν, εἴτε κατά πρόσθεσιν, εἴτε κατά σύνθεσιν.

κ΄. Κάϊν ἐστίν ὁ νόμος τῆς σαρκός, ὅν πρῶτον γεννᾷ παραβάς τήν θείαν ἐντολήν ὁ Ἀδάμ. Ἀβέλ δέ ἐστι τό φρόνημα τοῦ πνεύματος, ὅν ὕστερον γεννᾷ μέν διά μετανοίας ὁ αὐτός, ἀποκτείνει δέ πρό τῆς τελείας ἕξεως τοῖς φυσικοῖς ἐμβάντα θεάμασιν ὁ Κάϊν· ὅν ἀποκτείνας, ἑπτά παρέλυσεν ἐκδικούμενα, φησίν ὁ Θεός. Τοῦτον πνεῦμα πονηρόν ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις ὁ αὐτός προσηγόρευσε, καί τῶν αὐτοῦ πονηροτέρων ἑπτά πνευμάτων συμπαραληπτικόν. Οὗτος δέ τυχόν ἐστιν ὁ φίλαυτος, ἤγουν γαστρίμαργος λογισμός, ᾧ παρέπεται πάντως ὁ τῆς πορνείας λογισμός, καί ὁ τῆς φιλαργυρίας, καί ὁ τῆς λύπης, καί ὁ τῆς ὀργῆς, καί ὁ τῆς ἀκηδίας, καί ὁ τῆς κενοδοξίας καί ὁ τῆς ὑπερηφανίας. Ὁ γοῦν ἀποκτείνας κατά τήν θείαν ψῆφον τόν Κάϊν, τουτέστι τήν γαστριμαργίαν, συναπέκτεινε αὐτῇ καί τά αὐτήν παρυφιστάμενα πάθη, κατά τό, Ὁ ἀποκτείνας Κάϊν, ἑπτά ἐκδικούμενα παρέλυσεν.

(465) κα΄. Ὁ τά πρός γένεσιν καί φθοράν τοῦ σώματος, φησί, νόμος, ὕστερον ἐπεβλήθη τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καθ᾿ ὅν γεννῶμεν καί γεννώμεθα, διά τήν παράβασιν, μή φυλάξαντες τόν κατά τήν πρώτης ἐντολήν θεοποιόν νόμον τοῦ πνεύματος.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Ν΄ .

Τί ἐστι πάλιν τό σημαινόμενον ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ βίβλῳ, τό· "Καί προσηύξατο Ἐζεκίας ὁ βασιλεύς, καί Ἡσαΐας υἱός Ἀμώς ὁ προφήτης περί τούτων· καί ἐβόησαν εἰς τόν οὐρανόν. Καί ἀπέστειλε Κύριος ἄγγελον, καί ἐξέτριψε πάντα δυνατόν καί πολεμιστήν καί ἄρχοντα καί στρατηγόν ἐν τῇ παρεμβολῇ βασιλέως Ἀσσούρ· καί ἀπέστρεψε μετ᾿ αἰσχύνης προσώπου εἰς τήν γῆν αὐτοῦ. "

Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς λόγος, κἄν εἰ δέχεται περιγραφήν κατά τό γράμμα, τοῖς

χρόνοις τῶν ἱστορουμένων πραγμάτων συναπολήγων· ἀλλά κατά τό πνεῦμα, ταῖς τῶν νοουμένων θεωρίαις μένει διά παντός ἀπερίγραφος. Καί μηδείς πρός τοῦτο δυσανασχετῶν ἀπιστήσει, γινώσκων, ὡς ὁ λαλήσας Θεός κατά φύσιν ἐστίν