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returns to glory; and rules the land of Judah, and reigns over Jerusalem; and serves in the holy tabernacle of God, the unadulterated and blameless worship.

But let us return to the number of the mules, of the Jews released from captivity, to contemplate as best we can the spiritual meaning within it. Mules, it says, eight hundred forty-five. Now, this number signifies that of the barren disposition of evil; that is, the disposition not bearing evil, towards both the objects of sense and the senses, perfect dispassion. For eight hundred, taken in a praiseworthy sense, signifies the dispassion characteristic of the age to come; and forty, the objects of sense; and five, the senses.

Five thousand five hundred twenty-five beasts of burden, a beast of burden is the body yoked to the soul for carrying the weight of the toils and labors for virtue in practice; that is, the disposition of the body according to virtue; and perhaps having such asses, the sons of the great Jacob, for their nourishment carried the grain from Egypt to the land of promise; the spiritual knowledge from natural contemplation, shut up like grain from Egypt in the bags of their intellects; placing it on their bodies through practice, and transporting it to the life to come.

And the number of these asses, being entirely spherical, signifies the likewise constant motion of the bodily disposition for virtue concerning practice, and immutably conforming to the principle of knowledge. For they call only the spherical motion immutable, as having a uniformity throughout, unlike the other motions of beings, those who are skilled in these matters.

Let these things be said by us in this manner, not falling short of our power to understand and to speak; but if one wishes to say that in these things the various ranks of the faithful of the (557) Church are prefigured, and, so to speak, their dispositions, men are those who have reached the measure, as far as possible, of the stature of the fullness of Christ, and by love with a free will achieve virtue. Boys and girls are those who, out of fear of the threatened eternal punishments, undergo the burden of practical philosophy. Singers, those who well expound the principle of practice, and heal the passions of others. Chanters, those who through contemplation reveal the beauty of the knowledge of the divine words, and drive out the ignorance of others like a gloom. Camels, those who tame the crookedness of their will with reason toward virtue. Horses, those who run well the course of the life according to God. Mules, those of mixed character, who harmlessly display the philosophical life in the midst of the common. Asses, or beasts of burden, those who have the toil of practice, and receive the word that comes upon them through contemplation. For if one gathers these together, he will assemble the fullness of the holy Church, adorned with the many and various beauties of virtue.

The discourse, then, on the spiritual contemplation of the debated matters, has here, in my opinion, reached its end. But if someone be found boasting in the wealth of the grace of knowledge, and like the great Samuel, intellectually seeing the things before him, he will clearly reveal to us the meaning underlying the letter of the scriptures, flashing forth with knowledge the sublime light of truth in all things; persuading those able to learn that nothing has been written by the Holy Spirit inopportunely or in vain, even if we are not able to comprehend it; but that all things have been written mystically and opportunely, and for the sake of human salvation; of which wisdom is the beginning and the end; which first creates fear at the beginning, and later, being perfected, establishes longing. Rather, it is fear that is providentially produced in us at the beginning, in order to stop the lover of evil; and longing later naturally

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ἐπανέρχεται δόξαν· καί τῆς γῆς κρατεῖ τοῦ Ἰούδα, καί τῆς Ἱερουσαλήμ βασιλεύει· καί τῇ ἁγίᾳ σκηνῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ λατρεύει, τήν ἀκήρατον καί ἄμωμον λατρείαν.

Ἀλλ᾿ ἐπανέλθωμεν πρός τόν ἀριθμόν τῶν ἡμιόνων, τῶν ἀπό τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας ἀπολυθέντων Ἰουδαίων, τόν ἐν αὐτῷ πνευματικόν κατά δύναμιν ἐποψόμενοι λόγον. Ἡμίονοι, φησίν, ὀκτακόσιοι τεσσαράκοντα πέντε. ∆ηλοῖ δέ ὁ παρών ἀριθμός, τήν τοῦ κατά τήν ἄγονον ἕξιν τῆς κακίας· τουτέστι, τήν μή τίκτουσαν κακίαν ἕξιν, πρός τε τά αἰσθητά καί τήν αἴσθησιν τελείαν ἀπάθειαν. Ὁ γάρ ὀκτακόσια, σημαίνει τήν χαρακτηριστικήν τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος ἀπάθειαν ἐπαινετῶς λαμβανόμενος· ὁ δέ τεσσαράκοντα, τά αἰσθητά· καί ὁ πέντε, τάς αἰσθήσεις.

Ὑποζύγια πεντακισχίλια πεντακόσια εἰκοσιπέντε, ὑποζύγιόν ἐστι, τό ὑποζευγμένον τῇ ψυχῇ σῶμα πρός ἀχθοφορίαν τῶν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς κατά τήν πρᾶξιν καμάτων τε καί πόνων· ἤγουν ἡ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν τοῦ σώματος ἕξις· καί τάχα τοιούτους ὄνους ἔχοντες οἱ τοῦ μεγάλου Ἰακώβ υἱοί, πρός ἀποτροφήν τόν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου σῖτον μετέφερον πρός τήν γῆν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας· τήν ἐκ τῆς φυσικῆς θεωρίας, ὡς ἐξ Αἰγύπτου σῖτον τοῖς μαρσίποις τῶν διανοιῶν ἀποκλεισθεῖσαν πνευματικήν γνῶσιν· διά πράξεως ἐπιτιθέντες τοῖς σώμασι, καί πρός τήν μέλλουσαν ζωήν ματακομίζοντες.

Ὁ δέ τούτων ἀριθμός τῶν ὄνων σφαιρικός ὅλος ὑπάρχων, δηλοῖ τήν ὡσαύτως ἔχουσαν κίνησιν τῆς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν περί πρᾶξιν σωματικῆς ἕξεως, καί ἀτρέπτως τῷ λόγῳ τῆς γνώσεως συμφερομένην. Μόνην γάρ καλοῦσιν ἄτρεπτον τήν σφαιρικήν κίνησιν, ὡς ὁμαλότητα διά πάντων παρά τάς λοιπάς τῶν ὄντων κινήσεις ἔχουσαν, οἱ περί ταῦτα δεινοί.

Ταῦτα μέν κατά τόνδε τόν τρόπον ἡμῖν εἰρήσθω, τῆς ἡμῶν κατά τό νοεῖν τε καί λέγειν οὐκ ἀπολειπόμενα δυνάμεως· εἰ δέ τις βούλεται πάλιν τῆς (557) Ἐκκλησίας ἐν τούτοις προδιατυποῦσθαι λέγειν τούς διαφόρους βαθμούς τῶν πιστευόντων, καί οἷον εἰπεῖν, διαθέσεις, ἄνδρες εἰσίν, οἱ τό μέτρον ἐφθακότες, κατά τό ἐφικτόν, τῆς ἡλικίας τοῦ πληρώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καί κατ᾿ ἀγάπην αὐθαιρέτῳ γνώμῃ τήν ἀρετήν κατορθοῦντες. Παῖδές εἰσι καί παιδίσκαι, οἱ φόβῳ τῶν ἠπειλημένων αἰωνίων κολάσεων, ὑπερχόμενοι τό βάρος τῆς πρακτικῆς φιλοσοφίας. Ψάλται δέ, οἱ καλῶς τόν περί πρακτικῆς ἐξηγούμενοι λόγον, καί τά πάθη τῶν ἄλλων ἐξιώμενοι. Ψαλτῳδοί δέ, οἱ τό κάλλος τῆς γνώσεως τῶν θείων λόγων διά θεωρίας ἐκφαίνοντες, καί τῶν ἄλλων ἀπελαύνοντες ὥσπερ ζόφον τήν ἄγνοιαν. Κάμηλοι δέ, οἱ τό σκολιόν τῆς γνώμης ἐξημεροῦντες τῷ λόγῳ πρός ἀρετήν. Ἵπποι δέ, οἱ τό στάδιον τοῦ κατά Θεόν βίου καλῶς διατρέχοντες. Ἡμίονοι δέ, οἱ μιγάδες τό ἦθος, καί ἐν τῷ κοινῷ τό φιλόσοφον ἀβλαβῶς ἐπιδεικνύμενοι. Ὄνοι ἤγουν ὑποζύγια, οἱ κατά τήν πρᾶξιν ἔχοντες τό μοχθεῖν, καί τόν λόγον ἐπιβαίνοντα διά θεωρίας δεχόμενοι. Τούτους γάρ τις συναγαγών, τῆς ἁγίας Ἐκκλησίας ἀθροίσει τό πλήρωμα, πολλοῖς καί διά πολλῶν ἀρετῆς ὡραϊσμένον κάλλεσι.

Τῆς μέν οὖν τῶν ἀπορηθέντων πνευματικῆς θεωρίας ὁ λόγος, ἐνταῦθα, κατ᾿ ἐμέ φάναι, τό πέρας εἴληφεν. Εἰ δέ τις εὑρεθῇ πλούτῳ κομῶν χάριτος γνωστικῆς, καί κατά τόν μέγαν Σαμουήλ, νοητῶς βλέπων τά ἔμπροσθεν, ἀποκαλύψει σαφῶς ἡμῖν τήν τῷ ῥητῷ τῶν γεγραμμένων κατακειμένην διάνοιαν, τό ὑψηλόν φῶς τῆς ἐν ὅλοις ἀληθείας γνωστικῶς ἀπαστράπτουσαν· πείθων τούς μαθεῖν δυναμένους, ὡς οὐδέν ἀκαίρως, οὐδέ μάτην τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι γέγραπται, κἄν ἡμεῖς χωρεῖν οὐ δυνάμεθα· πάντα δέ μυστικῶς καί εὐκαίρως, καί τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἕνεκεν σωτηρίας· ἧς ἀρχή καί τέλος ἐστίν ἡ σοφία· φόβον μέν ἀρχομένην πρῶτον δημιουργοῦσα, καί πόθον ὕστερον τελειουμένη συνιστῶσα. Μᾶλλον δέ φόβος αὐτή κατ᾿ ἀρχάς δι᾿ ἡμᾶς οἰκονομικῶς γινομένη, ἵνα παύσῃ κακίας τόν ἐραστήν· καί πόθος ὕστερον φυσικῶς