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32. Just as, he says, tin, when it is blackened, is made bright again; so also the believers, even if they are blackened by sinning, are made bright again by repenting; for which reason faith was perhaps also likened to tin.

QUESTION 55.

"And all those from Israel were from twelve years old and upward, apart from children and women, forty-three thousand three hundred and sixty. Their menservants and maidservants, seven thousand three hundred and seven. Male and female singers, eight hundred and fifty-five. Camels, four hundred and thirty-five. And horses, seven thousand seven hundred and thirty-six. Mules, eight hundred and forty-five; beasts of burden, five thousand five hundred and twenty-five;" Do the kindness of explaining such great and lofty things spoken by the Holy Spirit through the prophet concerning the return from the sixth captivity. What is this great lowliness, and unseasonable narration, and unworthiness of the Spirit, to make mention of camels and horses and mules and donkeys, and this with precise number?

Response. To speak precisely about these things, belongs only to those, who through much

purity of mind, have received from God the entire grace of the Spirit attainable by men; by which, running through the sea of mystical visions with knowledge, they see only the inner meanings of what is written, stripped of the typical symbols upon them; taking no account at all of the symbols which prefigure them; unless they should wish to wisely prefigure them bodily, for those who through childishness of mind are unable to go beyond the senses; so that having first been trained in the types [that is, those being taught] according to the senses, they might long to come to the archetypal meanings which are without sense perception. But to apply oneself by conjecture to the more subtle things because of the power, naturally in us, which yearns for the knowledge of divine things, is not out of place; since two good things are revealed from conjecture for those who possess sincere reverence for divine things. For either one who makes a conjectural approach to divine things attains the truth of the things understood, and joyfully offers the sacrifice of praise, which is thanksgiving, (538) to the one who has given the knowledge of what was sought; or he finds the meaning of what is written to be elusive, and he reveres divine things the more, learning that their comprehension surpasses the power of his own capacity.

Therefore I too, applying myself conjecturally to the matters at hand, call upon God to become a helper in what is to be said, finding the power of my own intellect to be in every way weak before the height of the Scriptural enigmas. For if I succeed, the entire achievement belongs to God, who through comprehension leads me to thanksgiving; and if I do not, even so again the good of incomprehension belongs to God, who providentially cuts off the pride that would likely be born in me from knowledge, and makes incomprehension for me a cause for humility.

Therefore by conjecture, as has been said, approaching the meaning of what is written, I begin from here with the proposed Scripture. In the chapter before this, it is written concerning Zerubbabel: And when the young man went out, lifting up his face to heaven opposite Jerusalem, he blessed the king of heaven. It is clear that after the presentation of the problems that were made before Darius the king, he went out from the presence, clearly, of Darius the king. Now Darius is, as I have already said before these words, the

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λβ΄. Ὥσπερ, φησίν, ὁ κασσίτερος μελαινόμενος λαμπρύνεται πάλιν· οὕτω καί οἱ πιστεύοντες κἄν μελαίνωνται ἁμαρτάνοντες, λαμπρύνονται πάλιν μετανοοῦντες· δι᾿ ἥν αἰτίαν καί κασσιτέρῳ τυχόν ἡ πίστις παρεικάσθη.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΝΕ΄ .

" Οἱ δέ πάντες ἦσαν ἐξ Ἰσραήλ ἀπό δωδεκαετοῦς, καί ἐπάνω, χωρίς παίδων καί γυναικῶν, μυριάδες τέσσαρες τρισχίλιοι τριακόσιοι ἑξήκοντα. Παῖδες τούτων καί παιδίσκαι, ἑπτακισχίλιοι τριακόσιοι ἑπτά. Ψάλται καί ψαλτῳδοί, ὀκτακόσιοι πεντήκοντα πέντε. Κάμηλοι τετρακόσιοι τριάκοντα πέντε. Καί ἵπποι ἑπτακισχίλιοι ἑπτακόσιοι τριάκοντα ἕξ. Ἡμίονοι ὀκτακόσιοι τεσσαράκοντα πέντε· ὑποζύγια πεντακισχίλια πεντακόσια εἴκοσι πέντε·" Ποίησον ἀγάπην τοιούτων μεγάλων καί ὑψηλῶν περί τῆς ἕκτης αἰχμαλωσίας ἐπανόδου ὑπό τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος διά τοῦ προφήτου εἰρημένων. Τίς ἡ τοσαύτη ταπεινότης, καί ἀκαιρόγραφος ἐξήγησις, καί ἀναξιότης τοῦ Πνεύματος, καμήλων μνημονεῦσαι καί ἵππων καί ἡμιόνων καί ὄνων, καί ταῦτα μετ᾿ ἀκριβείας ἀριθμοῦ;

Ἀπόκρισις. Τό μέν δι᾿ ἀκριβείας περί τούτων εἰπεῖν, μόνων ἐκείνων ἐστί, τῶν διά πολλήν

καθαρότητα νοῦ, θεόθεν ὅλην εἰληφότων τήν ἐφικτήν ἀνθρώποις χάριν τοῦ Πνεύματος· καθ᾿ ἥν τῷ πελάγει τῶν μυστικῶν θεαμάτων γνωστικῶς ἐνδιαθέοντες, τούς λόγους μόνον ὁρῶσι τῶν γεγραμμένων γυμνούς τῶν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς τυπικῶν συνθημάτων· μηδενός τό σύνολον ποιούμενοι λόγον, τῶν τυπούντων αὐτούς συμβόλων· εἰ μή που βουληθῶσι σοφῶς αὐτούς τυπῶσαι σωματικῶς, τοῖς διά νηπιότητος νοῦ γενέσθαι μή δυναμένοις ὑπέρ τήν αἴσθησιν· ἵνα τοῖς τύποις πρότερον ἐγγυμνασθέντες [οἱ διδασκόμενοι δηλονότι] κατά τήν αἴσθησιν, πρός τούς ἄνευ αἰσθήσεως ἀρχετύπους ἐλθεῖν ποθήσωσι λόγους. Τῷ δέ στοχασμῷ τοῖς ψιλωτέροις ἐπιβάλλειν διά τήν φυσικῶς ἐν ἡμῖν ἐφιεμένην τῆς τῶν θείων γνώσεως δύναμιν, οὐκ ἄτοπον· δύο καλῶν ἐκ τοῦ στοχασμοῦ τοῖς εἰλικρινές περί τά θεῖα κεκτημένοις τό σέβας ἀναδεικνυμένων. Ἤ γάρ ἐπιτυγχάνει τῆς ἀληθείας τῶν νοουμένων, ὁ στοχαστικήν τήν ἔφοδον τῶν θείων ποιούμενος· καί προσφέρει χαίρων θυσίαν αἰνέσεως τήν εὐχαριστίαν, (538) τῷ δεδωκότι τοῦ ζητουμένου τήν εἴδησιν· ἤ διαφεύγουσαν εὑρίσκει τῶν γεγραμμένων τήν ἔννοιαν· καί τά θεῖα πλέον σεβάζεται, τήν τῆς οἰκείας δυνάμεως ὑπεραίνοντα μανθάνων κατάληψιν.

Τοίνυν κἀγώ στοχαστικῶς ἐπιβάλλων τοῖς προκειμένοις, τόν Θεόν ἐπικαλοῦμαι γενέσθαι τῶν λεχθησομένων συλλήπτορα, κατά πάντα τρόπον πρός τό ὕψος τῶν Γραφικῶν αἰνιγμάτων ἀσθενοῦσαν εὑρίσκων τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ διανοίας τήν δύναμιν. Κἄν τε γάρ ἐπιτύχω, τοῦ Θεοῦ τό πᾶν ὑπάρχει κατόρθωμα, διά τῆς καταλήψεως ἐνάγοντός με πρός εὐχαριστίαν· κἄν τε γάρ μή, καί οὕτως πάλιν τοῦ Θεοῦ τό τῆς ἀκαταληψίας ὑπάρχει καλόν, τόν, ὡς εἰκός, ἐκ τῆς γνώσεως τεχθησόμενόν μοι κατά πρόνοιαν τύφον προανακόπτοντος, καί τήν ἀκαταληψίαν ποιουμένου μοι μετριοφροσύνης ὑπόθεσιν.

Οὐκοῦν στοχασμῷ, καθώς εἴρηται, τήν τῶν γεγραμμένων διάνοιαν ὑπερχόμενος, ἐντεῦθεν ἄρχομαι τῆς τῶν προκειμένων Γραφῆς. Ἐν τῷ πρό τούτου κεφαλαίῳ γέγραπται περί τοῦ Ζοροβάβελ· Καί ὅτε ἐξῆλθεν ὁ νεανίσκος, ἄρας τό πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ εἰς τόν οὐρανόν ἐναντίον Ἱερουσαλήμ, εὐλόγησε τῷ βασιλεῖ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. ∆ῆλόν ἐστιν ὅτι μετά τήν τῶν προβλημάτων τῶν πρός ∆αρεῖον τόν βασιλέα γεγενημένων προσαγωγήν, ἐξῆλθεν ἀπό προσώπου, δῆλον ὅτι ∆αρείου τοῦ βασιλέως. ∆αρεῖος μέν οὖν ἐστιν, ὡς ἤδη φθάσας πρό τούτων ἔφην τῶν λόγων, ὁ