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with the differences of things that happen or are said, to accept each of the enumerated things in different ways and to assign to it the fitting contemplation according to the place or the time. For the name of each of the things signified in Scripture is polysemous according to the power of the Hebrew language, which we also find clearly here.

For Jonah is interpreted according to various pronunciations(1) (14Γ_302> 'rest' and 'gift of God' and 'healing of God' and 'God's grace to them' and 'pain of God' and 'dove' and 'flight from beauty' and 'their distress'. And he is found in Joppa and in the sea and in the whale and in Nineveh and under the gourd. And Joppa(2) is interpreted as 'watchtower of joy' and 'wondrous beauty' and 'mighty joy'. Therefore, Jonah the prophet(3) bears a type both of Adam and of the common nature and of Christ and of prophetic grace and of the ungrateful people of the Jews, distressed at every good thing and ever envious of the divine graces. For instance, he bears a type of Adam and of the common nature by fleeing from Joppa to the sea, and for this reason, according to the power of his name, he is called 'flight from beauty'. And Joppa signifies, being a type within itself, paradise(4), which is truly a 'watchtower of joy' and is and is named both 'mighty joy' and 'wondrous beauty' on account of the wealth of incorruptibility in it, whatever this paradise might be, which was planted by the hand of God—"for," it says, "the Lord God planted a paradise in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed"—and what the trees in it were, whether considered physically or spiritually, and what the tree of life was in the midst of paradise; of all of which Adam, having received the command to eat, perhaps did not even touch; "for from every tree," it says, "that is in paradise you shall eat freely."

Again, Joppa(5) signifies virtue and knowledge and the wisdom upon them; virtue, when it is interpreted as 'wondrous beauty,' knowledge, when it is taken as 'watchtower of joy,' and wisdom, when it signifies 'mighty joy,' by which man, being perfected, receives unspeakable joy, the mighty and truly cohesive principle of man's divine constitution according to God, since wisdom is a tree of life (14Γ_304> to all who lay hold of her, according to what is written, "and to those who rely on her, as on the Lord, she is secure." For we see the nature of men always fleeing Joppa, that is, the state of virtue and knowledge and the grace of wisdom upon them, just as Adam fled paradise through disobedience, because its thought is diligently set on evil things, and being willingly dragged down into the sea, I mean the brine of sin, just as the forefather Adam, having fallen from paradise, was rolled down into this world, and diligently embracing the unstable and otherwise salty error and confusion of material things, which both bears and is borne; the gain of which for those who hold to it is only so much as to be drowned and swallowed by the whale and to have water poured around them even to the soul and to be encircled by the uttermost abyss and for their head to go down to the clefts of the mountains and to descend into the earth, whose bars are eternal keepers, since it is clearly the bottom of the uttermost abyss, the land truly dark and gloomy, a land of eternal darkness, in which there is no light nor sight of the life of mortals, as says somewhere the great Job, who contended in great contests for the sake of truth.

The prophet, therefore, signifies Adam, or rather the common nature of men, mystically figuring these things in himself, which slipped away from the divine goods as from Joppa and was brought down to the misery of this life, as to a sea, and was drowned in the unstable and loud-roaring sea of passion for material things(6) and by the spiritual whale and

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ταῖς διαφοραῖς τῶν γινομένων ἢ λεγομένων διαφόρως ἐκδέχεσθαι τῶν ἀπηριθμημένων ἕκαστον καὶ τὴν ἁρμόζουσαν αὐτῷ κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἢ τὸν χρόνον δεόντως θεωρίαν προσνέμειν. Πολύσημον γάρ ἐστι ἑκάστου τῶν ἐν τῇ Γραφῇ σημαινομένων τὸ ὄνομα κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν τῆς ἑβραΐδος φωνῆς, ὅπερ κἀνταῦθα σαφῶς εὑρίσκομεν.

Ἑρμηνεύεται γὰρ Ἰωνᾶς κατὰ διαφόρους ἐκφωνήσεις(1) (14Γ_302> 'ἀνάπαυσις' καὶ 'δόμα Θεοῦ' καὶ 'ἴαμα Θεοῦ καὶ 'Θεοῦ χάρις αὐτοῖς' καὶ 'πόνος Θεοῦ' καὶ 'περιστερὰ' καὶ 'φυγὴ κάλλους' καὶ 'διαπόνησις αὐτῶν'. Γίνεται δὲ οὗτος καὶ ἐν Ἰόππῃ καὶ ἐν θαλάσσῃ καὶ ἐν κήτει καὶ ἐν Νινευῇ καὶ ὑπὸ τὴν κολόκυνταν. Ἑρμηνεύεται δὲ Ἰόππη(2) 'κατασκοπὴ χαρᾶς' καὶ 'καλλονὴ θαυμαστὴ' καὶ 'χαρὰ δυνατή'. Οὐκοῦν Ἰωνᾶς ὁ προφήτης(3) τύπον φέρει καὶ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ καὶ τῆς κοινῆς φύσεως καὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τῆς προφητικῆς χάριτος καὶ τοῦ ἀγνώμονος καὶ ἐπὶ παντὶ καλῷ διαπονουμένου καὶ ταῖς θείαις ἀεὶ βασκαίνοντος χάρισι λαοῦ τῶν Ἰουδαίων. Οἷον, τοῦ μὲν Ἀδὰμ φέρει τύπον καὶ τῆς κοινῆς φύσεως φεύγων ἐξ Ἰόππης εἰς θάλασσαν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κατὰ τὴν τῆς προσηγορίας αὐτοῦ δύναμιν 'φυγὴ κάλλους' καλούμενος. Ἰόππη δὲ δηλοῖ, τυπούμενον ἐν αὐτῇ, τὸν παράδεισον(4), τὸν ὄντως 'κατασκοπὴν χαρᾶς' καὶ ὄντα καὶ ὀνομαζόμενον καὶ 'χαρὰν δυνατὴν' καὶ 'καλλονὴν θαυμασίαν' διὰ τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ πλοῦτον τῆς ἀφθαρσίας, ὅστις ποτ᾽ ἂν εἴη ὁ παράδεισος οὖτος, ὁ χειρὶ Θεοῦ φυτευθείς«ἐφύτευσε» γάρ, φησίν, «Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς παράδεισον ἐν Ἐδέμ, καὶ ἔθετο ἐκεῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὃν ἔπλασεν», καὶ τίνα τὰ ξύλα τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ, εἴτε θεωρούμενα εἴτε νοούμενα, καὶ τί τὸ ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ παραδείσου ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς· ὧν πάντων ἐσθίειν πρόσταγμα λαβὼν ὁ Ἀδὰμ τυχὸν οὐδὲ ἥψατο· «ἀπὸ παντὸς γὰρ ξύλου, φησίν, τοῦ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ βρώσει φάγῃ».

Σημαίνει δὲ πάλιν Ἰόππη(5) τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ τὴν γνῶσιν καὶ τὴν ἐπ᾽ αὐταῖς σοφίαν· τὴν ἀρετὴν μέν, ὅταν ἑρμηνεύηται 'καλλονὴ θαυμαστή,' τὴν δὲ γνῶσιν, ὅταν ὡς 'κατασκοπὴ χαρᾶς' λαμβάνηται, τὴν δὲ σοφίαν, ὁπηνίκα τὴν 'δυνατὴν' σημαίνει 'χαράν,' καθ᾽ ἣν τελειούμενος ἄνθρωπος τὴν ἀνεκλάλητον λαμβάνει χαράν, τὴν δυνατὴν καὶ ὄντως συνεκτικὴν τῆς κατὰ Θεὸν καὶ θείας τοῦ ἀνθρώπου συστάσεως, εἴπερ ἡ σοφία ξύλον ζωῆς (14Γ_304> ἐστι πᾶσι τοῖς ἀντεχομένοις αὐτῆς, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, «καὶ τοῖς ἐπερειδομένοις ἐπ᾽ αὐτήν, ὡς ἐπὶ Κύριον, ἀσφαλής». Φεύγουσαν γὰρ ἀεὶ τὴν Ἰόππην, τουτέστι τὴν ἕξιν τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ τῆς γνώσεως καὶ τῆς ἐπ᾽ αὐταῖς σοφίας τὴν χάριν, ὥσπερ ὁ Ἀδὰμ τὸν παράδεισον διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς, ὁρῶμεν τὴν φύσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων διὰ τὸ τὴν διάνοιαν αὐτῆς ἐπιμελῶς ἐγκεῖσθαι τοῖς πονηροῖς, καὶ εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, λέγω δὲ τὴν ἅλμην τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἑκουσίως κατασυρομένην, ὡς πρὸς τοῦτον τὸν κόσμον ἐκπεσὼν τοῦ παραδείσου ὁ προπάτωρ Ἀδὰμ κατεκυλίσθη, καὶ τὴν ἄστατον τῶν ὑλικῶν καὶ ἅλμην ἄλλως φέρουσάν τε καὶ φερομένην πλάνην τε καὶ σύγχυσιν ἐπιμελῶς περιέπουσαν· ἧς τοσοῦτόν ἐστι τὸ κέρδος τοῖς ἀντεχομένοις αὐτῆς ὅσον μόνον ποντισθῆναι καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ κήτους καταποθῆναι καὶ περιχυθῆναι ὕδωρ ἕως ψυχῆς καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ἐσχάτης ἀβύσσου κυκλωθῆναι καὶ δῦναι τὴν κεφαλὴν εἰς σχισμὰς ὀρέων καὶ κατελθεῖν εἰς τὴν γῆν, ἧς οἱ μοχλοὶ αὐτῆς κάτοχοι αἰώνιοι, ὡς πυθμένα δηλονότι τῆς ἐσχάτης ἀβύσσου τυγχάνουσαν, τὴν γῆν τὴν σκοτεινὴν ὄντως καὶ γνοφεράν, γῆν σκότους αἰωνίου, ἐν ᾗ οὐκ ἔστι φέγγος οὐδὲ ὁρᾶν ζωὴν βροτῶν, ὥς πού φησιν ὁ μέγας καὶ τοῖς μεγάλοις ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας ἄθλοις διηγωνισμένος Ἰώβ.

Σημαίνει γοῦν τὸν Ἀδὰμ ὁ προφήτης, ἤτουν τὴν κοινὴν φύσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἐν ἑαυτῷ ταῦτα τυπῶν μυστικῶς, τὴν ὡς ἐξ Ἰόππης τῶν θείων ἐξολισθήσασαν ἀγαθῶν καὶ πρὸς τήνδε τοῦ βίου, καθάπερ θάλασσαν, τὴν ταλαιπωρίαν κατενεχθεῖσαν καὶ τῷ ἀστάτῳ καὶ πολυφλοίσβῳ πελάγει τῆς τῶν ὑλικῶν προσπαθείας καταποντισθεῖσαν(6) καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ κήτους τοῦ νοητοῦ καὶ