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6. No one is able, he says, to truly bless God, without having sanctified the body with virtues, and having illuminated the soul with knowledge.

7. Victory, he says, is the end of the divine struggles according to the practical part of the soul; which is for the unmixed good. But wisdom, he declares, is the end of the mystical visions according to the gnostic part of the soul; which is simple truth; toward which the intellect leads one who has become pure of sensible fantasy; and reason, having yoked to it the vital part of the soul; of which, he says, both of victory and wisdom, that is, of goodness and truth, the union shows, to whom it may come, one glory flashing forth of the unadulterated according to the likeness.

8. Fr. What we contribute to virtue. 9. For what reason the Master of the Fathers is called God. 10. The spiritual Fathers, he says, through the teaching of willing sons, willingly

become Fathers; forming them according to God by word and by life; and the spiritual sons by their will through learning become sons of voluntary Fathers, voluntary in will, being formed by them in word and in life according to God. For the grace of the Spirit effects a volitional birth of those who beget and are begotten according to it; which fathers according to the flesh do not have, involuntary fathers of involuntary sons; for the formation of those who beget and are begotten physically has become the work of nature, and not of will.

11. The dyad here signifies matter and form; of which the union brings about the generation of a body; but the dissolution is constituted to bring about its corruption. Therefore, things that are from matter and form have an end contrary to the natural beginning, if indeed the differentiation of generation is its abolition. And two powers defend generation and corruption, both the desiderative and the incensive; the one, desiring through itself to maintain generation for being; the other, combatively pushing away the dissolution from corruption. The evil demons become advocates of these powers; some, the soul's ecstasy from divine things according to desire, of which wine is a symbol; others, the tyranny of the incensive power over material things, of which kingdom is the image, proposing to the law of nature, wishing to persuade it to decree a passionate life according to them. But the monad signifies the simple soul according to essence, as an image of the super-natural, tri-hypostatic (529) monad according to essence; of which the intellect, I mean of the soul, exists as one advocate of the one, faith in God through truth, and love for him through the women, proving to be stronger than all to the law of nature; and persuading it to decree for the dominion according to them.

12. That by the pre-eminent negation of the many, truth is constituted to appear as one and only, he says, veiling the cognitive powers of all things able to know or be known, as being super-essential beyond things knowing and things known according to existence, and by infinite power, circumscribing the extremities of beings according to beginning and end, it draws every movement of all things to itself; providing to some a clear knowledge of the grace of which they were deprived; to others granting an ineffable perception of the goodness which they longed for, making the full knowledge manifest by participation.

13. The people in Babylon, allegorically, understand as the thoughts held in the slavery of the passions; and Darius, the natural law; and Zerubbabel, the gnostic intellect; and Judea, virtue; Jerusalem, the state of dispassion; and the temple, the knowledge receptive of wisdom; and the ascent from Babylon to Judea, the transfer from corporeal to spiritual things through repentance.

14. He says the cause of the distribution of divine goods is the measure of each one's faith; for as we believe, so also the increase of readiness for action

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στ΄. Οὐδείς δύναται, φησίν, ἀληθῶς τόν Θεόν εὐλογεῖν, μή τό σῶμα καθαγιάσας ταῖς ἀρεταῖς, καί τήν ψυχήν καταφωτίσας ταῖς γνώσεσι.

ζ΄. Τήν μέν νίκην, τῶν κατά τό πρακτικόν τῆς ψυχῆς θείων ἀγώνων πέρας εἶναί φησιν· ὅπερ ἐπί τό ἀμιγές ἀγαθόν. Τήν δέ σοφίαν, τῶν κατά τό γνωστικόν τῆς ψυχῆς μυστικῶν ὑπάρχειν τέλος ἀποφαίνεται θεαμάτων· ὅπερ ἐστίν ἡ ἁπλῆ ἀλήθεια· πρός ἅπερ νοῦς τόν γενόμενον τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν καθαρόν φαντασίας ἄγει· καί λόγος, ὑποζεύξας αὐτῷ τό τῆς ψυχῆς ζωτικόν· ὧν, νίκης τέ φησι καί σοφίας, ἤγουν ἀγαθότητος καί ἀληθείας ἡ σύνοδος, μίαν δείκνυσιν, οἷς ἄν γένηται, δόξαν τοῦ καθ᾿ ὁμοίωσιν ἀκραιφνοῦς ἀπαστράπτουσαν.

η΄. Fr. Τί πρός ἀρετήν ἡμεῖς συνεισφέρομεν. θ΄. ∆ιά ποίαν αἰτίαν ∆εσπότης Πατέρων Θεός προσαγορεύεται. ι΄. Οἱ κατά πνεῦμα Πατέρες, φησί, διά τῆς διδασκαλίας θελόντων υἱῶν θέλοντες

καθίστανται Πατέρες· λόγῳ καί βίῳ κατά Θεόν αὐτούς διαπλάττοντες· καί οἱ κατά πνεῦμα υἱοί κατά θέλησιν διά τῆς μαθήσεως αὐθαιρέτων υἱοί γίνονται Πατέρων, αὐθαίρετοι γνωμικῶς, κατά Θεόν ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν λόγῳ τε καί βίῳ διαπλαττόμενοι. Ἡ γάρ χάρις τοῦ Πνεύματος γνωμικήν τήν τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτόν γεννώντων καί γεννωμένων ἐργάζεται γέννησιν· ὅπερ οἱ κατά σάρκα πατέρες οὐκ ἔχουσιν, ἀκουσίων υἱῶν πατέρες ἀκούσιοι· φύσεως γάρ, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ γνώμης ἔργον καθέστηκεν, ἡ τῶν φυσικῶς γεννώντων τε καί γεννωμένων διάπλασις.

ια΄. Ἡ δυάς ἐνταῦθα, τήν ὕλην δηλοῖ καί τό εἶδος· ὧν ἡ μέν σύνοδος ποιεῖται σώματος γένεσιν· ἡ δέ διάλυσις, πέφυκε τήν αὐτοῦ ποιεῖσθαι φθοράν. Οὐκοῦν τά ἐξ ὕλης καί εἴδους ὄντα, τῇ ἀρχῇ φυσικῇ ἐναντίον ἔχει τό τέλος, εἴπερ ἡ διαφορά τῆς γενέσεώς ἐστιν ἀναίρεσις. Γενέσεως δέ καί φθορᾶς ὑπερασπίζουσι αἱ δυνάμεις αἱ δύο, ἤ τε κατ᾿ ἐπιθυμίαν καί ἡ θυμική· ἡ μέν, ἐφιεμένη δι᾿ ἑαυτῆς κρατῆσαι πρός τό εἶναι τήν γένεσιν· ἡ δέ, τήν ἐκ τῆς φθορᾶς ἀγωνιστικῶς ἀπωθουμένη διάλυσιν. Τούτων συνήγοροι τῶν δυνάμεων οἱ πονηροί καθίστανται δαίμονες· οἱ μέν, τήν κατ' ἐπιθυμίαν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπό τῶν θείων ἔκστασιν, ἧς ὁ οἶνος ὑπάρχει σύμβολον· οἱ δέ, τήν ἐπί τῶν ὑλικῶν τυραννίδα τῆς θυμικῆς δυνάμεως, ἧς ἡ εἰκών ἡ βασιλεία καθέστηκε, προβαλλόμενοι τῷ νόμῳ τῆς φύσεως, παραπεῖσαι βουλόμενοι τήν κατ᾿ αὐτάς ἐμπαθῆς ψηφίσασθαι ζωήν. Ἡ δέ μονάς, τήν ἁπλῆν σημαίνει κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ψυχήν, ὡς εἰκόνα τῆς κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ὑπερφυοῦς τρισυποστάτου (529) μονάδος· ἧς ὁ νοῦς, φημί δέ τῆς ψυχῆς, ὡς εἷς μιᾶς ὑπάρχει συνήγορος, τήν εἰς τόν Θεόν πίστιν διά τῆς ἀληθείας, καί τήν εἰς αὐτόν ἀγάπην διά τῶν γυναικῶν, πάντων ἰσχυροτέραν ἀποδεικνύς τῷ νόμῳ τῆς φύσεως· καί τό κατ᾿ αὐτάς κράτος πείθων ψηφίσασθαι.

ιβ΄. Ὅτι τῇ καθ᾿ ὑπεροχήν στερήσει τῶν πολλῶν, ὡς ἕν καί μόνον ἡ ἀλήθεια πέφυκεν ἀναφαίνεσθαι, φησί, καλύπτουσα πάντων νοεῖν ἤ νοεῖσθαι δυναμένων τάς γνωστικάς δυνάμεις, ὡς ὑπέρ τά νοοῦντα καί τά νοούμενα καθ᾿ ὕπαρξιν ὑπερούσιον οὖσα, καί ἀπείρῳ δυνάμει, τάς κατά τήν ἀρχήν καί τό τέλος τῶν ὄντων ἀκρότητας περιγράφουσα, πᾶσα πάντων πρός ἑαυτήν συνέλκει κίνησιν· τοῖς μέν παρεχομένη γνῶσιν ἀρίδηλον, ἧς ἐστερήθησαν χάριτος· τοῖς δέ δωρουμένη κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἄῤῥητον, ἧς εἶχον τήν ἔφεσιν ἀγαθότητος, τῇ μεθέξει φανερόν τήν ἐπίγνωσιν.

ιγ΄. Τόν ἐν Βαβυλώνι λαόν ἀλληγορικῶς, νόει, τούς εἰς δουλείαν παθῶν κεκρατημένους λογισμούς· τόν δέ ∆αρεῖον, τόν φυσικόν νόμον· τό δέ Ζοροβάβελ, τόν γνωστικόν νοῦν· τήν Ἰουδαίαν δέ, τήν ἀρετήν· τήν Ἱερουσαλήμ, τήν ἕξιν τῆς ἀπαθείας· τόν δέ ναόν, τήν δεκτικήν τῆς σοφίας γνῶσιν· τήν δέ πρός τήν Ἰουδαίαν ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος ἀνάβασιν, τήν ἀπό τῶν σωματικῶν εἰς τά πνευματικά διά μετανοίας μετάθεσιν.

ιδ΄. Αἴτιον εἶναι λέγει, τῆς τῶν θείων διανομῆς ἀγαθῶν, τό μέτρον τῆς ἑκάστου πίστεως· καθώς γάρ πιστεύομεν, καί τήν ἐπί τό πράττειν τῆς προθυμίας ἐπίδοσιν