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incessant; and making true Hebrews according to grace, the foreign slaves.

Singers and Chanters, eight hundred fifty-five. Singers are they who proclaim the divine word by the ways of the virtues without contemplation, according to practice. Chanters are they who initiate others into the divine word by the ways of the virtues with the gnostic delight according to contemplation, and sweeten their spiritual ears.

And their number indicates the knowledge of eternal things attainable by men; so then the eight hundred and the fifty: the one signifies the future principles of knowledge; the other, those of the virtues. And the five represents the knowledge upon these; as we explained concerning the number five a little earlier.

Four hundred thirty-five camels. The camels that go out together with the sons of Israel with much freedom, being released from bitter captivity, are the various natural contemplations of visible things, having, after the manner of a camel, with respect to sensation, like unclean feet, the surfaces of visible things; but with respect to the intellect, like a clean head, the higher spiritual principles within them.

And perhaps concerning these camels, the great Isaiah, prophetically showing beforehand the glory of the spiritual Jerusalem, said: And the camels of Midian and Ephah shall cover you; that is, the spiritual contemplations of the natural passions. For Midian is interpreted as judgment, or bloody clay, or human and maternal sweat. And Ephah as possession of the back, which is contemplation of the passions of the flesh raised on high. And the back of the soul, as its posterior part, is the flesh; with which, as with a holy city, the word says the spiritual attainment of the peaceful and steadfast knowledge of the mystical visions (552) is covered, as if by beasts.

And the number itself also indicates the power that has been given, signifying the rational movement concerning nature and time.

And seven thousand seven hundred thirty-six horses. The horse is that which, in the race of the virtuous in life, possesses the entire vigor of the spirited part of the soul. For they say that the horse’s gall is in the natural hooves of its feet. Therefore, of all other tame animals, and of those yoked by nature to men, it was judged more suited and powerful for running; to which the great prophet Habakkuk, through the Spirit, likened the holy apostles, saying: And you mounted your horses upon the sea, troubling many waters; calling the holy and blessed apostles horses, who bear the saving word of truth before nations and kings in all the world; which he tropologically called the sea; and he likened the nations to waters, being troubled and shaken through the great power in the word of the Spirit, and by the saving earthquake being transferred from unbelief to faith, and from ignorance to full knowledge; and from vice to virtue.

And the number of the horses itself also indicates this, figuring the disposition of practical philosophy according to virtue. For the number seven thousand seven hundred, as temporal, signifies swift movement in the virtues; and the thirty-six, the action of nature that concurs with the virtues.

And eight hundred forty-five mules. The mule, according to the praiseworthy account, is the disposition that is completely barren of vice; for which reason, very suitably and fittingly to the spirit of Scripture, he who was chosen to be king of Israel was commanded to sit not on a horse, but on a mule; the reason indicating that the contemplative intellect, reigning over the concepts and visions among existing things, and over its own movements, must have a disposition barren of vice; that is, neither conceiving vice

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ἄληκτον· καί ἀποτελῶν Ἑβραίους ἀληθινοῦς κατά τήν χάριν, τούς ἀλλοφύλους δούλους.

Ψάλται καί ψαλτῳδοί, ὀκτακόσιοι πεντήκοντα πέντε. Ψάλται εἰσίν, οἱ τόν θεῖον λόγον τοῖς τῶν ἀρετῶν τρόποις ἄνευ θεωρίας κατά τήν πρᾶξιν ἀναφωνοῦντες. Ψαλτῳδοί εἰσίν, οἱ τόν θεῖον λόγον τοῖς τῶν ἀρετῶν τρόποις μετά τῆς κατά τήν θεωρίαν γνωστικῆς τερπνότητος τοῖς ἄλλοις μυσταγωγοῦντες, καί τά νοητά αὐτῶν ὦτα καθηδύνοντες.

Ὁ δέ τούτων ἀριθμός δηλοῖ, τήν ἐφικτήν ἀνθρώποις ἐπιστήμην τῶν αἰωνίων· ὁ γοῦν ὀκτακόσια καί ὁ πεντήκοντα· Ὁ μέν, τούς τῆς γνώσεως· ὁ δέ, τούς τῶν ἀρετῶν μέλλοντας λόγους ὑποφαίνει. Ὁ δέ πέντε, τήν ἐπί τούτοις ἐπιστήμην παρίστησι· καθώς περί τοῦ πέντε μικρῷ πρόσθεν ἀποδεδώκαμεν ἀριθμοῦ.

Κάμηλοι τετρακόσιαι τριάκοντα πέντε. Κάμηλοι συνεξιοῦσαι τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραήλ σύν ἐλευθερίᾳ πολλῇ, τῆς πικρᾶς ἀπολυομένοις αἰχμαλωσίας εἰσίν, αἱ φυσικαί τῶν ὁρωμένων διάφοροι θεωρίαι, κατά τήν κάμηλον ἔχουσαι πρός μέν αἴσθησιν, ὥσπερ πόδας ἀκαθάρτους, τάς ἐπιφανείας τῶν ὁρατῶν· πρός δέ νοῦν, ὥσπερ κεφαλήν καθαρούς, τούς ἐν αὐτοῖς ὑψηλοτέρους ἐν πνεύματι λόγους.

Καί τάχα περί τούτων τῶν καμήλων, τήν δόξαν τῆς νοουμένης Ἱερουσαλήμ προφητικῶς ὁ μέγας προδεικνύς Ἡσαΐας, ἔφη· Καί καλύψουσί σε κάμηλοι Μαδιάν καί Γεφάρ· τουτέστιν, αἱ πνευματικαί θεωρίαι τῶν κατά φύσιν παθῶν. Ἔκκρισις γάρ Μαδιάν ἑρμηνεύεται, ἤ πηλός αἱματώδης· ἤ ἱδρῶτες ἀνθρώπινοι καί μητρός. Γεφάρ δέ, κτῆσις νώτου, ὅπερ ἐστί θεωρία εἰς ὕψος αἰρομένη τῶν περί σάρκα παθῶν. Ψυχῆς δέ νῶτον, ὡς ὀπίσθιον, ἡ σάρξ· οἷς καθάπερ πόλιν ἁγίαν, τήν πνευματικήν τῆς εἰρηνικῆς καί ἀστασιάστου τῶν μυστικῶν θεαμάτων (552) γνώσεως λῆξιν, οἷα κτήνεσι καλύπτεσθαί φησιν ὁ λόγος.

∆ηλοῖ δέ τήν ἀποδοθεῖσαν δύναμιν, καί αὐτός ὁ ἀριθμός, τήν περί φύσιν καί χρόνον λογικήν σημαίνων κίνησιν.

Καί ἵπποι ἑπτακισχίλιοι ἑπτακόσιοι τριάκοντα ἕξ· Ἵππος ἐστίν, ὁ ἐν τῷ δρόμῳ τῶν ἐναρέτων κατά τόν βίον, ἔχων τήν ὅλην τοῦ θυμοῦ τήν εὐτονίαν. Φασί γάρ τοῦ ἵππου τήν χολήν εἰς τάς κατά φύσιν τῶν ποδῶν ὁπλάς εἶναι. ∆ιό καί πάντων τῶν λοιπῶν ἡμέρων ζώων, καί τῶν τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑποζευγμένων, ἐκρίθη μᾶλλον πρός δρόμον ἐπιτηδειότερός τε καί δυνατώτερος· οἷς παρεικάσας τούς ἁγίους ἀποστόλους ὁ μέγας προφήτης Ἀββακούμ διά τοῦ Πνεύματος, φησί· Καί ἐπεβίβασας εἰς θάλασσαν τούς ἵππους σου, ταράσσοντας ὕδατα πολλά· ἵππους καλέσας τούς ἁγίους καί μακαρίους ἀποστόλους, τόν σωτήριον τῆς ἀληθείας λόγον βαστάζοντας ἐνώπιον ἐθνῶν καί βασιλέων ἐν παντί τῷ κόσμῳ· ὅν τροπικῶς ὠνόμασε θάλασσαν· καί τά ἔθνη παρείκασεν ὕδασι, διά τῆς ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ Πνεύματος μεγάλης δυνάμεως ταρασσόμενά τε καί σειόμενα, καί τῷ σωτηρίῳ σεισμῷ μεταβιβαζόμενα πρός πίστιν ἐξ ἀπιστίας, καί πρός ἐπίγνωσιν ἐξ ἀγνωσίας· καί ἀπό κακίας εἰς ἀρετήν.

∆ηλοῖ δέ τοῦτο καί αὐτός τῶν ἵππων ἀριθμός, τήν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν τῆς πρακτικῆς φιλοσοφίας ἕξιν τυπῶν. Ὁ γάρ ἑπτακισχίλια ἑπτακόσια ἀριθμός, ὡς χρονικός σημαίνει τήν ἐν ἀρεταῖς ὀξεῖαν κίνησιν· ὁ δέ τριάκοντα ἕξ, τήν ταῖς ἀρεταῖς συντρέχουσαν τῆς φύσεως πρᾶξιν.

Ἡμίονοι δέ ὀκτασόσιοι τεσσαράκοντα πέντε. Ἡμίονός ἐστι κατά τόν ἐπαινούμενον λόγον, ἡ παντελῶς κατά κακίαν ἄγονος ἕξις· δι᾿ ὅ πάνυ τῷ πνεύματι τῆς Γραφῆς προσφυῶς τε καί πρεπόντος ὁ βασιλεύειν λαχών τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, οὐχ ἵππῳ, ἀλλ᾿ ἡμιόνῳ καθέζεσθαι προσετάγη· τοῦ λόγου δηλοῦντος, ὅτι δεῖ τόν θεωρητικόν νοῦν βασιλεύοντα τῶν ἐν τοῖς οὖσι νοημάτων τε καί θεαμάτων, καί τῶν οἰκείων κινημάτων, ἕξιν ἄγονον ἔχειν κακίας· τουτέστι, κακίαν μήτε συλλαμβάνουσαν