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the law of heaven, he receives gifts, preserving in himself the smoothest and ever same motion of virtue and of knowledge, steadfastly bearing like stars the luminous and most transparent principles of beings.

And imitating the natural law of the sun, which exchanges one place for another for the needs of the universe, he receives another gift, the understanding to adapt himself fittingly with wisdom to all that happens, yielding nothing of his illuminating identity in virtue and knowledge.

He receives again from the eagle the straight gaze of the eyes toward the divine flashing of the undefiled light, (481) his noetic pupil in no way being pained by the all-brilliant ray.

He imitates also the stag, pursuing the heights of divine contemplations as if they were mountains; and destroying with the word of discernment the passions that lie hidden in the nature of beings, as if they were venomous creatures; and extinguishing with the many and various springs of knowledge the venom of wickedness received into the memory through circumstance.

He imitates also the sharp-sightedness of the gazelle and the security of the bird, leaping and bounding over the snares of the demons who war against virtue like a gazelle; and flying over the traps of the spirits who fight against knowledge like a bird.

Some say that the bones of a lion, when struck against each other, emit fire. The gnostic and God-loving mind also imitates this natural property, through discussion according to the truth, striking pious thoughts against each other like bones, and kindling the fire of knowledge.

He becomes wise as the serpent, and innocent as the dove, preserving faith through all things inviolate as the head; and clearly putting away from himself the bitterness of anger like the dove, so as not to know how to bear a grudge against those who afflict and strive to insult him.

He receives also from the turtledove, as a gift, the imitation of chastity; making all things that by necessity belong to natures into works of the will.

Thus therefore, the most philosophical mind, having with knowledge approached the generation of beings according to the principle and mode of each one's nature; as gnostic, he receives the spiritual principles of beings like gifts offered to God by creation; and as a man of action, imitating in his ways the natural laws of beings, he receives gifts, uncovering in himself throughout his life all the magnificence of the divine wisdom invisibly borne in beings.

But if someone should also say this, that the Word, when he spoke, appointed that gifts be offered to God in order to show the infinity of the divine goodness—how it receives from us its gifts as presents, though it has contributed nothing beforehand, reckoning the contribution as entirely ours—he who says this has not spoken improperly, having shown that the goodness of God towards us is great and ineffable; since He receives as ours His own things that are offered to Him from us, and confesses the debt for them as if they belonged to another.

And Hezekiah, it says, was exalted in the sight of all the nations. He who through practice and contemplation has perfected virtue and knowledge to the highest degree, after the manner of Hezekiah, is fittingly exalted above all the nations; becoming in practice superior to the carnal and slanderous passions, ( 484) and to the so-called natural bodies. And simply, to speak concisely, of all the forms under sensation, having in contemplation gnostically passed through all the principles within them; which are themselves also tropologically called “nations” in Scripture, because of the

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οὐρανοῦ νόμον, δόματα λαμβάνει, ὀμαλωτάτην καί ὡσαύτως ἔχουσαν ἀεί τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐν ἑαυτῷ καί τῆς γνώσεως διαφυλάττων τήν κίνησιν, παγίως φέρουσαν καθάπερ ἀστέρας, τούς περί τῶν ὄντων φωτεινούς καί διαυγεστάτους λόγους.

Μιμούμενος δέ τοῦ ἡλίου τόν κατά φύσιν νόμον, ἄλλους ἐξ ἄλλων πρός τάς χρείας τοῦ παντός ἀμειβομένου τόπους, ἕτερον δόμα λαμβάνει, τήν πρός τό πᾶσι τοῖς συμβαίνουσι, δεόντως μετά σοφίας ἁρμόζεσθαι σύνεσιν, μηδέν ὑφιείς ἑαυτοῦ τῆς φωτιστικῆς κατά τήν ἀρετήν καί τήν γνῶσιν ταυτότητος.

Λαμβάνειν δέ πάλιν καί τοῦ ἀετοῦ, τό πρός τήν θείαν τοῦ ἀκηράτου φωτός μαρμαρυγήν εὐθυτενές τῶν ὀμμάτων, (481) κατά μηδέν ὑπό τῆς παμφαοῦς ἀκτῖνος τήν νοεράν δριμυσσόμενος κόρην.

Μιμεῖται καί τήν ἔλαφον, καθάπερ ὄρη τά ὕψη τῶν θείων θεωρημάτων μεταδιώκων· καί τά ἐμφωλεύοντα τῇ φύσει τῶν ὄντων πάθη, ἰοβόλων δίκην τῷ λόγῳ διαφθείρων τῆς διακρίσεως· καί τόν τῇ μνήμῃ κατά περίστασιν ἐναπολαμβανόμενον τῆς κακίας ἰόν, ταῖς πολλαῖς καί διαφόροις πηγαῖς κατασβεννύων τῆς γνώσεως.

Μιμεῖται καί τῆς δορκάδος τήν ὀξυωπίαν, καί τοῦ ὀρνέου τήν ἀσφάλειαν, τούς βρόχους τῶν πολεμούντων τῇ ἀρετῇ δαιμόνων, ὡς δορκάς ὑπερπηδῶν καί διαλλόμενος· καί τάς παγίδας τῶν τῇ γνώσει μαχομένων πνευμάτων, ὡς ὄρνεον ὑπεριπτάμενος.

Φασί τινες τοῦ λέοντος ἀλλήλοις τά ὀστᾶ συγκρουόμενα, πῦρ ἀποβάλλειν. Μιμεῖται καί τοῦτο τό φύσει πεφυκός ὁ γνωστικός νοῦς καί θεοφιλής, διά τῆς κατά τήν ἀλήθειαν συζητήσεως, ἀλλήλοις τούς εὐσεβεῖς ὀστέων δίκην συγκρούων λογισμούς, καί τό πῦρ ἐξάπτων τῆς γνώσεως.

Γίνεται φρόνιμος ὡς ὁ ὄφις, καί ἀκέραιος ὡς ἡ περιστερά, διά πάντων ἄθλαστον ὡς κεφαλήν τήν πίστιν συντηρῶν· καί τοῦ θυμοῦ τήν πικρίαν ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ σαφῶς κατά τήν περιστεράν ἀποθέμενος· ὡς τοῖς θλίβουσι καί ἐπηρεάζειν σπουδάζουσι μνησικακεῖν οὐκ εἰδώς.

∆έχεται κἀκ τῆς τρυγόνος καθάπερ δόμα, τήν τῆς σωφροσύνης ἐκμίμησιν· γνώμης ἔργα ποιούμενος, πάντα τά ἐξ ἀνάγκης προσόντα ταῖς φύσεσιν.

Οὕτω μέν οὖν κατά τόν ἑκάστου λόγον τε καί τρόπον τῆς φύσεως, μετά γνώσεως ἐπελθών τήν τῶν ὄντων γένεσιν ὁ φιλοσοφώτατος νοῦς· ὡς μέν γνωστικός, τούς τῶν ὄντων πνευματικούς λόγους καθάπερ δῶρα δέχεται τῷ Θεῷ προσφερομένους παρά τῆς κτίσεως· ὡς δέ πρακτικός, τούς τῶν ὄντων φυσικούς νόμους τοῖς τρόποις μιμούμενος, δόματα δέχεται, πᾶσαν ἐκκαλύπτων ἐν ἑαυτῷ κατά τόν βίον τῆς ἐμφερομένης ἀοράτως τοῖς οὖσι θείας σοφίας τήν μεγαλοπρέπειαν.

Εἰ δέ καί τοῦτο φαίη τις, ὅτι δῶρα τῷ Θεῷ προσφέρεσθαι διωρίσατο φήσας ὁ Λόγος, ἵνα παραστήσῃ τό τῆς θείας ἀγαθότητος ἄπειρον· ὡς μηδέν προεισενεγκούσης, δέχεσθαι παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ὡς δῶρα τά δόματα, τό πᾶν ἡμῖν λογιζομένης τῆς εἰσφορᾶς, οὐκ ἔξω τοῦ πρέποντος γέγονε τοῦτο φήσας, πολλήν καί ἄφατον εἶναι περί ἡμᾶς τοῦ Θεοῦ δείξας τήν ἀγαθότητα· δεχομένου ὡς ἡμῶν τά ἑαυτοῦ ἐξ ἡμῶν αὐτῷ προσφερόμενα· καί τήν ὑπέρ αὐτῶν ὡς ἀλλοτρίων ὀφειλήν ὁμολογοῦντος.

Καί ὑπερήρθη, φησίν, Ἐζεκίας κατ᾿ ὀφθαλμούς πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν. Ὁ διά πράξεως καί θεωρίας κατορθώσας εἰς ἄκρον τήν ἀρετήν καί τήν γνῶσιν κατά τόν Ἐζεκίαν, εἰκότως ὑπεραίρεται πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν· τῶν τε σαρκικῶν καί διαβεβλημένων λέγω παθῶν ὑπεράνω κατά τήν πρᾶξιν γενόμενος, ( 484) καί τῶν φυσικῶν λεγομένων σωμάτων. Καί ἁπλῶς, ἵνα συνελών εἴπω, πάντων τῶν ὑπό αἴσθησιν εἰδῶν, κατά τήν θεωρίαν τούς ἐν αὐτοῖς πάντας γνωστικῶς διαπεράσας λόγους· ἐθνῶν καί αὐτῶν τῇ Γραφῇ τροπικῶς ὀνομαζομένων, διά τό πρός τήν