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the number twelve is composed and made up of five and seven, and nature is five-fold because of sensation, while time is seven-fold, therefore the number twelve clearly indicates nature and time. Significantly, he spoke of more than twelve myriads of people, so that we might know that this number has been circumscribed and surpassed by the more numerous, who indefinitely make for themselves a quantity beyond the number twelve.

Therefore the all-praised Church of God(23), having those who in virtue and knowledge have surpassed the principles according to time and nature, and have crossed over to the magnificence of eternal and intelligible realities, has more than twelve myriads of men who do not know their right hand or their left. For the man who through lawful virtue forgets the passions in the flesh, as being left things, and through unerring knowledge is not caught by the disease of puffed-up conceit over his accomplishments, as being right things, has become a man not knowing his right hand, as one who does not love a glory that passes away, nor his left, as one who is not aroused by the passions of the flesh.

The Word, therefore, as it seems, called vainglory over supposed accomplishments the right hand, and licentiousness in shameful passions the left. And every soul, illumined by the contemplations of intelligible things, possesses these men who do not know their right hand and their left. For every soul, having withdrawn its intellectual power from the contemplation of nature and time, possesses, like men, the natural reasonings that have surpassed the number twelve, since they are no longer occupied with principles under nature and time, but are engaged in the understanding and knowledge of the divine mysteries, and for this reason do not know (14Γ_324> their right hand or their left hand. For the knowledge of virtues according to reason, that is, the true and active recognition of the cause of the virtues(24), is by nature able to produce a complete ignorance of the excess and deficiency, as of right and left, that lie on either side of the mean of the virtues.

For if nothing irrational(25) is by nature in the Logos, clearly the one who has been raised up to the logos of the virtues will in no way recognize the position of irrational things; for it is not possible to contemplate both opposites at the same time, and with one, at the same time, to know the other which appears with it.

For if there is no account of unbelief in faith(26), nor is light by nature the cause of darkness, nor is the devil accustomed to appear together with Christ, it is clear that nothing irrational at all co-exists with the Logos. But if the irrational is completely unable to be with the Logos, the one who has been raised to the logos of the virtues, as I said, does not know the position of irrational things, knowing virtue only as it is, but not as it is commonly thought to be(27), and for this reason knowing neither the right through excess nor the left through deficiency; for on both of these the irrational is clearly contemplated. For if the Logos is the limit and measure of beings(28), it is equivalent to irrationality, and for this reason irrational, to be moved against the limit and against the measure or again beyond the limit and beyond the measure. For both equally bring about the fall from what truly is for those who are so moved: the one persuading them to make the movement of their course obscure and indefinite(29), not having God as its goal pre-conceived as its end on account of immoderation of mind, as they fashion something more right than the right; the other persuading them to make the movement of their course contrary to the goal, toward sensation alone, on account of weakness of mind, thinking that the pre-conceived end is what is circumscribed for them according to sensation; these things he ignores, not suffering them(30), the one who (14Γ_326> is united to the logos of virtue alone and has circumscribed to it every movement of his own intellectual power(31), and is for this reason able to think nothing beyond the logos or against the logos.

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δώδεκα ἀριθμὸς ἐκ πέντε καὶ ἑπτὰ συντιθέμενος ἀποτελεῖται, ἡ δὲ φύσις ὑπάρχει πενταδικὴ διὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν, ὁ δὲ χρόνος ἐστὶν ἑβδοματικός, ἄρα φύσιν καὶ χρόνον ὁ δώδεκα δηλοῖ σαφῶς ἀριθμός. Σεσημειωμένως δὲ πλείους ἢ δώδεκα μυριάδας εἶπεν ἀνθρώπων, ἵνα γνῶμεν περιγραφέντα τοῦτον τὸν ἀριθμὸν καὶ ὑπερβαθέντα τοῖς πλείοσιν ἀορίστως τὸ ὑπὲρ τὸν δώδεκα ἀριθμὸν δι᾽ ἑαυτῶν ποιουμένοις ποσόν.

Οὐκοῦν ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ πανεύφημος Ἐκκλησία(23), τοὺς κατὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ τὴν γνῶσιν παρελθόντας μὲν τοὺς κατὰ χρόνον καὶ φύσιν λόγους, πρὸς δὲ τὴν τῶν αἰωνίων καὶ νοητῶν διαβάντας μεγαλοπρέπειαν ἔχουσα, πλείους ἢ δώδεκα μυριάδας ἀνδρῶν ἔχει μὴ γινώσκοντας δεξιὰν αὐτῶν ἢ ἀριστεράν. Ὁ γὰρ διὰ τὴν ἔννομον ἀρετὴν τῶν ἐν σαρκὶ παθῶν, ὡς ἀριστερῶν, ποιούμενος λήθην καὶ διὰ τὴν ἄπταιστον γνῶσιν ἐπὶ τοῖς κατορθώμασι τῇ νόσῳ τῆς φυσιούσης οἰήσεως, ὡς δεξιᾶς, οὐχ ἁλισκόμενος ἀνὴρ γέγονε μὴ γινώσκων δεξιὰν αὐτοῦ, ὡς δόξης οὐκ ἐρῶν λυομένης, οὐδὲ ἀριστεράν, ὡς τοῖς σαρκὸς οὐκ ἐρεθιζόμενος πάθεσιν.

∆εξιὰν οὖν, ὡς ἔοικεν, εἶπεν ὁ Λόγος τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς δῆθεν κατορθώμασι κενοδοξίαν, ἀριστερὰν δὲ τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς αἰσχροῖς πάθεσιν ἀκολασίαν. Τούτους δὲ καὶ πᾶσα ψυχὴ ταῖς θεωρίαις τῶν νοητῶν λαμπρυνομένη κέκτηται τοὺς ἄνδρας μὴ γινώσκοντας δεξιὰν αὐτῶν καὶ ἀριστεράν. Πᾶσα γὰρ ψυχὴ τῆς περὶ φύσιν καὶ χρόνον θεωρίας τὴν διανοητικὴν συστείλασα δύναμιν τὸν δώδεκα παρελθόντας ἀριθμὸν ἔχει, καθάπερ ἄνδρας, τοὺς φυσικοὺς λογισμούς, οἷα δὴ λοιπὸν μηκέτι τοῖς ὑπὸ φύσιν καὶ χρόνον πονουμένους λόγοις, πρὸς δὲ τὴν τῶν θείων μυστηρίων κατανόησιν καὶ ἐπιστήμην ἀσχολουμένους καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μὴ γινώσκοντας (14Γ_324> δεξιὰν αὐτῶν ἢ ἀριστερὰν αὐτῶν. Ἡ γὰρ κατὰ λόγον γνῶσις τῶν ἀρετῶν, ἤγουν ἡ κατ᾽ ἐνέργειαν ἀληθὴς τῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν αἰτίας ἐπίγνωσις(24), ἄγνοιαν παντελῆ πέφυκε ποιεῖν τῆς, ὡς δεξιᾶς καὶ ἀριστερᾶς, ἑκατέρωθεν παρακειμένης τῇ μεσότητι τῶν ἀρετῶν ὑπερβολῆς καὶ ἐλλείψεως.

Εἰ γὰρ οὐδὲν ἐν τῷ λόγῳ παντελῶς πέφυκεν εἶναι παράλογον(25), σαφῶς ὁ πρὸς τὸν λόγον τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀναχθεὶς τὴν τῶν παραλόγων οὐδαμῶς ἐπιγνώσεται θέσιν· οὐ γὰρ δυνατὸν ἄμφω κατὰ ταὐτὸν ἅμα καταθρῆσαι τὰ ἀντικείμενα καὶ θατέρῳ ἅμα τὸ ἕτερον γνῶναι συνεμφαινόμενον.

Εἰ γὰρ ἀπιστίας ἐν τῇ πίστει λόγος οὐδείς(26), οὐδὲ σκότους αἰτία κατὰ φύσιν ὑπάρχει τὸ φῶς, οὐδὲ Χριστῷ συνενδείκνυσθαι πέφυκεν ὁ διάβολος, δῆλον ὡς οὐδὲ τῷ λόγῳ τὸ παράπαν συνυπάρχει τι παράλογον. Εἰ δὲ τῷ λόγῳ συνεῖναι παντελῶς οὐ δύναται τὸ παράλογον, ὁ πρὸς τὸν λόγον τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀναχθεὶς τὴν τῶν παραλόγων, ὡς ἔφην, οὐκ ἐπίσταται θέσιν, μόνην ὡς ἔστιν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ὡς νομίζεται, γινώσκων τὴν ἀρετὴν(27) καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μήτε δεξιὰν διὰ τῆς ὑπερβολῆς μήτε ἀριστερὰν διὰ τῆς ἐλλείψεως ἐπιστάμενος· ἐπ᾽ ἀμφοῖν γὰρ θεωρεῖται σαφῶς τὸ παράλογον. Εἰ γὰρ ὅρος ὑπάρχει καὶ μέτρον τῶν ὄντων ὁ λόγος(28), ἴσον πρὸς ἀλογίαν ἐστίν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο παράλογον, τὸ παρὰ τὸν ὅρον καὶ παρὰ τὸ μέτρον ἢ πάλιν ὑπὲρ τὸν ὅρον κινεῖσθαι καὶ ὑπὲρ τὸ μέτρον. Ἐπίσης γὰρ ἄμφω τοῖς οὕτω κινουμένοις τοῦ κυρίως ὄντος φέρει τὴν ἔκπτωσιν, τὸ μὲν ἄδηλον αὐτοὺς ποιεῖσθαι τοῦ δρόμου πεῖθον τὴν κίνησιν καὶ ἀόριστον(29), οὐκ ἔχουσαν σκοπὸν τὸν Θεὸν δι᾽ ἀμετρίαν νοὸς ὡς τέλος αὐτῆς προεπινοούμενον, τοῦ δεξιοῦ δεξιώτερον ἀναπλαττομένους, τὸ δὲ παρὰ τὸν σκοπὸν πρὸς μόνην τὴν αἴσθησιν αὐτοὺς πεῖθον τοῦ δρόμου ποιεῖσθαι τὴν κίνησιν, δι᾽ ἀτονίαν νοὸς προεπινοούμενον τέλος νομίζοντας τὸ κατ᾽ αἴσθησιν αὐτοῖς περιγραφόμενον· ἅπερ ἀγνοεῖ, μὴ πάσχων(30), ὁ (14Γ_326> μόνῳ τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς συνημμένος καὶ πᾶσαν αὐτῷ τῆς κατὰ νοῦν οἰκείας δυνάμεως περιγράψας τὴν κίνησιν(31) καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μηδὲν ὑπὲρ τὸν λόγον ἢ παρὰ τὸν λόγον διανοεῖσθαι δυνάμενος.