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the name of David; who is the Word and Son of God, who for my sake took on the form of a servant, and became a reproach of men disbelieving the truth, and the scorn [Six. a thing of naught] of a people full of sins; the good shepherd who lays down his soul for the sheep; who slew the lion and the bear; I mean he drove out anger and desire from nature; the things that tear apart the form of the divine image in us according to the logos; he who is ruddy because of the passion of death; with beauty of eyes, that is, with the glory of the higher principles of Providence and judgment; for the eyes of the Word would be judgment and providence; through which, also suffering for us, he undertakes the supervision of the universe; the slayer of the intelligible and proud Goliath; I mean, of the devil; who has a stature of five cubits, because of the impassioned state of the fivefold sense in us. For the devil possesses the magnitude of his stature in evil raised up to the extent that the power of sense in us is passionately extended to sensible things; the king of the true Israel and of the one who sees God; even if Saul, the old people according to the law, rages, being consumed by envy because of unbelief. For he does not bear the deprivation of temporary glory; from whom his spear and water flask are taken away, by David, my king, though he is being persecuted; that is, the power of practical virtue and the grace of gnostic contemplation; and (504) again lending these things, he gives them to those who cross over to him according to faith, for the sake of those from the Jews who are to inherit salvation, who receive the preaching of the kingdom.

From whom again, while he was sitting in the cave for the discharge of his excrement, the corner of his cloak is taken away; that is, the height of the decorum according to moral philosophy; or the lofty meaning of the covering of legal symbols and riddles; judging it neither worthy nor just, for corruption by its use, for the people of the Jews sitting as if in a cave in this age, or in the obscure letter of the law; being truly of earthly and body-loving things, and limiting the divine promises of incorruptible things by the corruption of passing things, to have the intelligible comeliness of the mystical legal ordinances, like the corner of a cloak.

This is the intelligible David, the true shepherd and king; and the destroyer of opposing powers; a shepherd, on the one hand, of those who still pursue practical philosophy, and who pasture like grass on natural contemplation; a king, on the other hand, of those who have restored by spiritual laws and principles the beauty of the given image to its archetype; and who stand directly before the great King of the ages in their mind, and who reflect the unapproachable beauty, so to speak.

Therefore, all the saints from the beginning of the age are sons of this David, having been born of him in spirit. And the tombs of these sons are the memorials of their life on earth according to God. And the ascents of these tombs are the height of their knowledge and love of God; where all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bury, establishing in the place worthy of the blessed abode; both the ways according to practice, and the principles of knowledge inhabiting true contemplation; the mind that has laudably died to all existing things; to sensible things, by the putting away of activity according to sense; and to intelligible things, by the cessation of intellectual motion.

Therefore Hezekiah, interpreted as strength of God, as a mind mighty in practice and most brilliant in knowledge, they bury when he has died; that is, having departed from all existing things according to his will, and having gone to him who is beyond existing things; All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; that is to say, his practice according to virtue, and his true contemplation according to knowledge; In the ascent of the tombs of the sons of David; I mean, in the height of the memory of the saints from the beginning of the age; Having given him glory and honor; glory, on the one hand, as

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τοῦ ∆αβίδ τό ὄνομα· ὅς ἐστιν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος καί Υἱός, ὁ δι᾿ ἐμέ τήν δουλικήν μορφήν ὑποδύς, καί γενόμενος ὄνειδος ἀνθρώπων ἀπιστούντων τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, καί ἐξουδένωμα [Six. ἐξουθένημα] λαοῦ πλήρους ἁμαρτιῶν· ὁ ποιμήν ὁ καλός ὁ τιθείς τήν ψυχήν αὐτοῦ ὑπέρ τῶν προβάτων· ὁ ἀποκτείνας τόν λέοντα καί τήν ἄρκον· τόν θυμόν λέγω καί τήν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐξηλώσας τῆς φύσεως· τά σπαράττοντα τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν κατά τόν λόγον θείας εἰκόνος τήν μορφήν· ὁ πυῤῥάκης διά τό πάθημα τοῦ θανάτου· μετά κάλλους ὀφθαλμῶν, τουτέστι, μετά δόξης τῶν κατά Πρόνοιαν καί κρίσιν ὑψηλοτέρων λόγων· ὀφθαλμοί γάρ τοῦ Λόγου, ἡ κρίσις ἄν εἴη καί ἡ πρόνοια· δι᾿ ὧν καί πάσχων ὑπέρ ἡμῶν, ποιεῖται τοῦ παντός τήν ἐπισκοπήν· ὁ τοῦ νοητοῦ Γωλιάθ καί ὑπερηφάνου· φημί δέ τοῦ διαβόλου, σφαγεύς· τοῦ πεντάπηχυν ἔχοντος τήν ἡλικίαν, διά τήν ἐμπάθειαν τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν πενταπλῆς αἰσθήσεως. Ἐπί τοσοῦτον γάρ ἔχει τό μέγεθος τῆς κατά κακίαν ἡλικίας ὑψούμενον ὁ διάβολος, ἐφ᾿ ὅσον τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς ἐμπαθῶς ἐν ἡμῖν ἡ τῆς αἰσθήσεως ἐπεκτείνεται δύναμις· ὁ βασιλεύς τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ Ἰσραήλ καί ὁρῶντος Θεόν· κἄν Σαούλ, ὁ παλαιός κατά τόν νόμον λαός, μαίνεται, φθόνῳ διά τήν ἀπιστίαν τηκόμενος. Οὐ φέρει γάρ τῆς προσκαίρου δόξης τήν στέρησιν· οὗ ἀφαιρεῖται τό δόρυ καί τοῦ ὕδατος τόν φακόν, ∆αβίδ ὁ ἐμός βασιλεύς καί διωκόμενος· τουτέστι, τό κράτος τῆς πρακτικῆς ἀρετῆς, καί τήν χάριν τῆς γνωστικῆς θεωρίας· καί (504) πάλιν ταῦτα κιχρῶν δίδωσι τοῖς πρός αὐτόν κατά τήν πίστιν διαβαίνουσι, διά τούς ἐξ Ἰουδαίων μέλλοντας κληρονομεῖν σωτηρίαν, δεχομένους τῆς βασιλείας τό κήρυγμα.

Οὗπερ πάλιν ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ πρός τήν τῶν περιττωμάτων ἀποβολήν καθημένου, τό τῆς διπλοΐδος ἀφαιρεῖται πτερύγιον· τουτέστι, τό ὕψος τῆς κατά τήν ἠθικήν φιλοσοφίαν εὐσχημοσύνης· ἤ τό ἐν νοήμασιν ὑψηλόν τῆς τῶν νομικῶν συμβόλων καί αἰνιγμάτων περιβολῆς· οὐκ ἄξιον οὔτε μήν δίκαιον κρίνας, εἰς φθοράν τῆ ἀποχρήσει, τόν ὡς ἐν σπηλαίῳ τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ἤ τῷ σκοτεινῷ τοῦ νόμου γράμματι καθήμενον λαόν τῶν Ἰουδαίων· τῆς γηΐνων ὄντως καί φιλοσωμάτων, καί τῇ φθορᾷ τῶν παρερχομένων περιγράφοντα τάς θείας τῶν ἀφθάρτων ἐπαγγελίας, ἔχειν τῆς μυστικῆς τῶν νομικῶν διαταγμάτων, καθάπερ διπλοΐδος πτερύγιον, τήν νοουμένην εὐπρέπειαν.

Οὗτός ἐστιν ∆αβίδ ὁ νοητός, ὁ ἀληθινός ποιμήν καί βασιλεύς· καί τῶν ἀντικειμένων ἀναιρετικός δυνάμεων· ποιμήν μέν, τῶν ἔτι πρακτικήν μετερχομένων φιλοσοφίαν, καί πόας δίκην νεμομένων τήν φυσικήν θεωρίαν· βασιλεύς δέ, τῶν νόμοις καί λόγοις πνευματικοῖς ἀνακαινισάντων πρός τό ἀρχέτυπον τῆς δοθείσης εἰκόνος τό κάλλος· καί αὐτῷ τῷ μεγάλῳ Βασιλεῖ τῶν αἰώνων ἀμέσως κατά νοῦν παρισταμένων, καί τό ἀπρόσιτον κάλλος, ὡς θέμις εἰπεῖν, ἐσοπτριζομένων.

Υἱοί μέν οὖν τούτου ∆αβίδ τυγχάνουσι πάντες οἱ ἀπό τοῦ αἰῶνος ἅγιοι, ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεννηθέντες ἐν πνεύματι. Τάφοι δέ τούτων τῶν υἱῶν εἰσιν, αἱ μνῆμαι τῆς κατά Θεόν αὐτῶν ἐπί γῆς πολιτείας. Ἀναβάσεις δέ τούτων τῶν τάφων εἰσί, τό ὕψος τῆς αὐτῶν περί Θεόν γνώσεως καί ἀγάπης· ἔνθα πᾶς Ἰούδα, καί οἱ κατοικοῦντες Ἱερουσαλήμ θάπτουσιν, ἐνιδρύοντες ἐν τῷ κατ᾿ ἀξίαν τόπῳ τῆς μακαρίας μονῆς· οἵ τε κατά πρᾶξιν τρόποι, καί οἱ τήν ἀληθῆ θεωρίαν οἰκοῦντες λόγοι τῆς γνώσεως· τόν τοῖς οὖσιν ἅπασιν ἐπαινετῶς ἀποθανόντα νοῦν· τοῖς μέν αἰσθητοῖς, τῇ ἀποθέσει τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἐνεργείας· τοῖς δέ νοητοῖς, τῇ τῆς νοερᾶς ἀποπαύσει κινήσεως.

Τόν τοίνυν Ἐζεκίαν κράτος Θεοῦ ἑρμηνευόμενον, ὡς νοῦν κραταιόν περί πρᾶξιν καί περί γνῶσιν λαμπρότατον, θάπτουσιν ἀποθανόντα· τουτέστι, πάντων ὄντων κατά τήν γνώμην ἀπογενόμενον, καί πρός τόν ὑπέρ τά ὄντα γενόμενον· Πᾶς Ἰούδα καί οἱ κατοικοῦντες Ἱερουσαλήμ· ἡ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν πρᾶξις αὐτοῦ δηλονότι, καί ἡ κατά τήν γνῶσιν ἀληθής θεωρία· Ἐν ἀναβάσει τάφων υἱῶν ∆αβίδ· ἐν τῷ ὕψει λέγω τῆς τῶν ἀπ᾿ αἰῶνος ἁγίων μνήμης· ∆εδωκότες αὐτῷ δόξαν καί τιμήν· δόξαν μέν, ὡς