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of natural appetite. For pleasure is produced according to nature, even when we do not wish it, by any food that consoles a pre-existing want; and by drink that wards off the annoyance of thirst; and by sleep that renews the power spent from being awake; and by whatever other natural things belong to us, which are necessary for the constitution of our nature; but which are also useful for the acquisition of virtue by the zealous; these things, even if they are not numbered among the men, yet accompany every mind that flees the confusion of sin; so that it may not, on account of them, remain held in the slavery of the passions that are in our power, and are calumniated, and are contrary to nature; which have no other beginning in us than the movement of the passions that are according to nature.

But they are not numbered, because the passions that hold nature together for the present life are not constituted to pass over with us to the immortal and long-lasting life. But four myriads are the tetrad of the general virtues; with which the mind, having passed through nature and time, is restored to the blessed end of dispassion. For as the myriad is known only by the element of the monad, being utterly unable to be signified by another letter, since it is the same in its subject-matter as the monad, even if it admits a difference in concept alone, as an end in relation to a beginning. For the end of the monad is the myriad; and the beginning of the myriad is the monad; or, to speak more properly, a monad in motion is the myriad; and a myriad at rest is the monad. So also every general virtue has for its beginning and end the divine and ineffable monad, I mean God, beginning from him and ending in him; and it is the same as God, differing only in the principle of its concept; from whom and to whom every genesis of virtue manifestly subsists.

Or perhaps the discourse says that the four myriads are the four progressions of those advancing in the decade of the divine commandments to the length of contemplation and knowledge. For example, the first progression is, simply, for beginners after the avoidance of evil, the practice of the commandments; making complete the first decade, which is also a monad. The second progression is the inclusion of the rest, actualized through each commandment, making the same decade also a hundred, being completed by the actualization of each commandment through the others; for the decade, actualized tenfold, makes the hundred. The third progression is the tenfold multiplication of this hundred according to the law of nature; for the law of nature is also decimal, as being composed of ten; (544) I mean, of the three powers of the soul, and of the five senses, and of the vocal faculty, and of the natural procreative power; for it uses the rational faculty for the investigation of the cause and of the things around the cause of good things; the desiderative faculty for the longing for the things sought; the irascible faculty for guarding and affection; the senses for discernment, which itself is divided fivefold, from which knowledge is naturally born. For universal discernment is divided into things that are acted upon and things not acted upon; things to be understood and not to be understood; things to be spoken and not to be spoken; things to be done and not to be done; things corruptible and incorruptible. And it uses the vocal faculty for utterance; and the procreative power for the increase of the good things that have been sought, and desired, and cherished, and known, and manifested. Therefore the hundred, being multiplied tenfold according to the law of nature, becomes a thousand. And the fourth progression is the ascent, through contemplation and knowledge of the natural law according to the division given, to the more original principle of each commandment; in which the myriad is seen gathered, being known by the element of the first monad. For he who simply actualized the commandments; and again in each actualization included the others; and again to the inclusion of these yoked the discernment of the natural law; and this again he raised gnostically to the principle of each commandment, has gathered the four myriads; for each

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φυσικῆς ὀρέξεως. Ἡδονήν γάρ ποιεῖ κατά φύσιν καί μή βουλομένων ἡμῶν, καί ἡ τυχοῦσα τροφή, προλαβοῦσαν ἔνδειαν παραμυθουμένη· καί πόσις ἀποκροουμένη τοῦ δίψους τήν ὄχλησιν· καί ὕπνος τήν ἐκ τῆς ἐγρηγόρεσεως δαπανηθεῖσαν ἀνανεούμενος δύναμιν· καί ὅσα τῶν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς φυσικῶν ἕτερα τυγχάνει, πρός μέν σύστασιν φύσεως ἀναγκαῖα· πρός δέ κτῆσιν ἀρετῆς ὑπάρχοντα χρήσιμα τοῖς σπουδαίοις· ἅπερ κἄν μή συναριθμεῖται τοῖς ἀνδράσιν, ἀλλά συνεκβαίνει παντί νοΐ φεύγοντι τῆς ἁμαρτίας τήν σύγχυσιν· ἵνα μή δι᾿ αὐτά μείνῃ κρατούμενος εἰς δουλείαν τῶν ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν καί διαβεβλημένων καί παρά φύσιν παθῶν· οὐκ ἐχόντων ἄλλην ἀρχήν ἐν ἡμῖν πλήν τῆς κινήσεως τῶν κατά φύσιν παθῶν.

Οὐ συναριθμεῖται δέ, ὅτι μή πέφυκε πρός τήν ἀθάνατον καί μακραίωνα ζωήν συμμεταβαίνειν ἡμῖν, τά τήν φύσιν πρός τήν παροῦσαν ζωήν συνέχοντα πάθη. Τέσσαρες δέ μυριάδες εἰσίν, ἡ τετράς τῶν γενικῶν ἀρετῶν· μεθ᾿ ὧν φύσιν καί χρόνον διαβάς ὁ νοῦς, πρός τήν μακαρίαν τῆς ἀπαθείας ἀποκαθίσταται λῆξιν. Ὡς γάρ ἡ μυριάς τῷ τῆς μονάδος στοιχείῳ μόνη γνωρίζεται· παντελῶς δι᾿ ἄλλου γράμματος σημανθῆναι μή δυναμένη, ὡς ταυτόν οὖσα κατά τό ὑποκείμενον τῇ μονάδι, κἄν δέχεται μόνῃ τῆ ἐπινοίᾳ διαφοράν, ὡς πρός ἀρχήν τέλος. Τέλος γάρ μονάδος ἐστίν ἡ μυριάς· καί ἀρχή μυριάδος ἐστίν ἡ μονάς· ἤ, κυριώτερον εἰπεῖν, κινουμένη μονάς, ἐστίν ἡ μυριάς· καί ἀκίνητος μυριάς, ἐστίν ἡ μονάς. Οὕτω καί πᾶσα τῶν γενικῶν ἀρετή, τήν θείαν καί ἄῤῤητον μονάδα φημί τόν Θεόν, ἀρχήν ἔχει καί τέλος, ὡς ἐξ αὐτοῦ καί εἰς αὐτόν ἀρχομένη καί λήγουσα· καί ταυτόν ὑπάρχουσα τῷ Θεῷ, κατά μόνον τῆς ἐπινοίας διαφέρουσα τόν λόγον· παρ᾿ οὗ, καί εἰς ὅν πᾶσα γένεσις ἀρετῆς προδήλως ὑφέστηκεν.

Ἤ τυχόν τάς τέσσαρας προκοπάς τῶν ἐν τῇ δεκάδι τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν, εἰς μῆκος θεωρίας καί γνώσεως προβαινόντων, φησίν εἶναι τάς τέσσαρας μυριάδας ὁ λόγος. Οἷον πρώτη προκοπή ἐστιν, ἡ ἁπλῶς ἐν τοῖς εἰσαγομένοις μετά τήν ἀποφυγήν τῆς κακίας, πρᾶξις τῶν ἐντολῶν· πλήρη ποιοῦσα τήν πρώτην δεκάδα, τήν αὐτήν καί μονάδα. ∆ευτέρα προκοπή ἐστιν, ἡ δι᾿ ἑκάστης ἐντολῆς ἐνεργουμένη τῶν λοιπῶν συμπερίληψις, τήν αὐτήν δεκάδα ποιουμένη καί ἑκατοντάδα, τῇ δι' ἀλλήλων ἑκάστης ἐντολῆς ἐνεργείᾳ συμπληρουμένην· ἡ γάρ δεκάς δεκαχῶς ἐνεργηθεῖσα, ποιεῖ τήν ἑκατοντάδα. Τρίτη προκοπή ἐστιν, ἡ κατά τόν νόμον τῆς φύσεως ταύτης τῆς ἑκατοντάδος δεκάπλωσις· δεκαδικός γάρ καί ὁ τῆς φύσεως νόμος ἐστιν, ὡς ἐκ δέκα συνεστηκώς· (544) λέγω δέ, τῶν τριῶν τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεων, καί τῶν πέντε αἰσθήσεων, καί τῆς φωνητικῆς ἐνεργείας, καί τῆς φυσικῆς γονιμότητος· κέχρηται γάρ, τῷ μέν λογιστικῷ πρός τήν τῆς αἰτίας, καί τῶν περί τήν αἰτίαν τῶν καλῶν ζήτησιν· τῷ ἐπιθυμητικῷ δέ, πρός πόθον τῶν ζητουμένων· τῷ δέ θυμικῷ, πρός φυλακήν καί στοργήν· ταῖς αἰσθήσεσι δέ, πρός διάκρισιν, πενταχῶς καί αὐτήν διαιρουμένην, ἐξ ἧς ἐπιστήμη γενέσθαι πέφυκε. ∆ιαιρεῖται γάρ ἡ καθόλου διάκρισις, τοῖς ἠργμένοις, καί οὐκ ἠργμένοις· τοῖς νοητέοις, καί οὐ νοητέοις· τοῖς ῥητέοις καί οὐ ῥητέοις· τοῖς ποιητέοις, καί οὐ ποιητέοις· τοῖς φθαρτοῖς, καί τοῖς ἀφθάρτοις. Τῷ δέ φωνητικῷ πρός ἐκφώνησιν· καί τῇ γονιμότητι, πρός αὔξησιν τῶν ζητηθέντων καί ἐπιθυμηθέντων καί στερχθέντων καί γνωσθέντων καί ἐκφανθέντων καλῶν. Γίνεται οὖν ἡ ἑκατοντάς, κατά τόν νόμον δεκαπλουμένη τῆς φύσεως, χιλιάς. Τετάρτη δέ προκοπή ἐστιν, ἡ διά θεωρίας καί γνώσεως τοῦ φυσικοῦ νόμου κατά τήν ἀποδοθεῖσαν διαίρεσιν, πρός τόν ἑκάστης ἐντολῆς ἀρχικώτερον λόγον ἀνάβασις· καθ᾿ ἥν ἡ μυριάς συναγομένη θεωρεῖται, τῷ τῆς πρώτης μονάδος στοιχείῳ γνωριζομένη. Ὁ γάρ ἁπλῶς ἐνεργήσας τάς ἐντολάς· καί πάλιν κατά τήν ἑκάστην ἐνέργειαν τάς ἄλλας συμπαραλαβών· καί αὖθις τῇ περιλήψει τούτων, τήν τοῦ φυσικοῦ νόμου συζεύξας διάκρισιν· καί τοῦτον πάλιν πρός τόν ἑκάστης ἐντολῆς λόγον γνωστικῶς ἀναβιβάσας, τάς τέσσαρας μυριάδας συνήγαγε· καθ᾿ ἑκάστην