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place, in which according to its external position, and (561) its movement towards a beginning, nature exists, but not according to hypostasis; for nature is not from them, but in them it has from without the beginning of its being, and its position. Therefore, when we consider the principles of being alone for genera and species and individuals, we include their constitutive differences with their essential principles; but when we trace their origin, we necessarily include the "where" and "when," that is, time and place, with beings, considering their beginning and position, without which nothing created has any subsistence at all. For no being is free from circumscription according to beginning and position.
7. Jerusalem, and a heavenly dwelling place, is the passionless state according to virtue, and knowledge, which has no thought of error warring against it.
8. The tongue, he says, is a symbol of the gnostic activity of the soul; while the larynx is a sign of natural self-love directed toward the body. He, therefore, who has reprehensibly joined these to one another, is not able to be mindful of the peaceful state according to virtue and knowledge, delighting in the confusion through his zeal for the passions of the body.
9. Darius, he says, is taken as the law of nature; and the law of nature contains both nature and time, as having authority over the use of all things, both those according to nature and those concerning nature. The mind, therefore, that departs as if from Darius, the law of nature, that is, rises above time and nature; being held by no thoughts under nature and time, lest by carrying about the images of corruptible things it become a temple of idols, having instead of the one God many worshipped forms of unclean passions.
10. What mystery does the number twelve hold? 11. He regarded children, though not numbered with them, yet going out with those
who were possessed, as the thoughts of the passions not in our power, of which, even if their origin is in our power, their use is established as never in our power. And women, as the natural appetites which arise from passions not in our power, without censure; which he leads out with himself, striving towards the life according to God, so that they may not be held by the servitude of passions contrary to nature.
12. He states the reason why the account did not number the children and the women with the men.
13. Just as the myriad is the end of a monad that has been moved, and the monad is the beginning of a myriad that has not been moved; for the beginning of every end is established as the clear immobility in relation to it; and the end of every beginning is the fulfillment of the movement according to it; so also (564) faith, being by nature the beginning of virtues, has as its end the fulfillment of the good through them; and the natural good, as the end of virtues having faith as its beginning, is inwardly gathered to it. For faith is an indwelling good, and the good is faith put into action. And God is by nature faithful and good; the one, as the first good; the other, as the ultimate object of desire. But these are established as being in every way identical with each other, divided from each other by no principle at all except by conception, on account of the movement of things coming from him and ending in him. Therefore, the myriad, bearing the type of the ultimate object of desire, describes the perfect longing of those moving towards it; and the monad, bearing the symbol of the first good, brings a perfect foundation for those moving from it. Therefore, there are four myriads, which is the perfect good shown analogously in action according to each general virtue.
14. He who, after the flight from evil, has simply kept the inactivity of sin, he says, the decad of the commandments; and again, having shown the practice of each commandment to be a perfect comprehension of the others, as all are contemplated in each according to the practice of each, has made the decad a hundred; for the perfect fulfillment of each commandment according to
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τόπος, ἐν οἷς κατά τήν ἐξωθεν θέσιν, καί (561) τήν πρός ἀρχήν κίνησιν ἡ φύσις ἐστίν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν· οὐ γάρ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἡ φύσις, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἔξωθεν ἔχει τήν ἀρχήν τοῦ εἶναι, καί τήν θέσιν. Ὅταν οὖν τῶν γενῶν καί εἰδῶν καί ἀτόμων μόνου τοῦ εἶναι σκοπῶμεν τούς λόγους, τάς τούτων συστατικάς τοῖς αὐτῶν κατ᾿ οὐσίαν λόγοις διαφοράς συμπαραλαμβάνομεν· ὅταν δέ γενεαλογῶμεν, τό ποῦ καί πότε πάντως, τουτέστι, χρόνον καί τόπον ἐξ ἀνάγκης τοῖς οὖσι συμπαραλαμβάνομεν, ἀρχήν καί θέσιν σκοποῦντες, ὧν ἄνευ τῶν γενητῶν οὐδέν καθάπαξ ὑφέστηκεν. Τῆς γάρ κατά τήν ἀρχήν καί τήν θέσιν περιγραφῆς οὐδέν ἐστι τῶν ὄντων ἐλεύθερον.
ζ΄. Ἱρουσαλήμ, καί οὐράνιον οἰκητήριόν ἐστιν, ἡ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ἀπαθής ἕξις, καί ἡ μηδέν ἔχουσα πλάνης πολεμοῦν αὐτῇ νόημα, γνῶσις.
η΄. Ἡ γλῶσσα τῆς κατά ψυχήν γνωστικῆς ἐστιν ἐνεργείας, φησί, σύμβολον· ὁ δέ λάρυγξ, τῆς πρός τό σῶμα φυσικῆς φιλαυτίας τεκμήριον. Ὁ γοῦν ταύτας ψεκτῶς κολλήσας ἀλλήλοις, μνησθῆναι τῆς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν καί γνῶσιν εἰρηνικῆς ἕξεως οὐ δύναται, τῇ συγχύσει διά σπουδῆς τῶν σωματικῶν ἡδόμενος παθῶν.
θ΄. Ὁ ∆αρεῖος, φησίν, εἰς τόν νόμον ἐλήφθη τῆς φύσεως· ὁ δέ νόμος τῆς φύσεως περιέχει καί τήν φύσιν καί τόν χρόνον, ὡς πάντων ἔχων τήν ἐξουσίαν τῆς χρήσεως τῶν τε κατά φύσιν καί περί φύσιν. Ὁ τοίνυν ὡς ἀπό ∆αρείου τοῦ νόμου τῆς φύσεως ἐξερχόμενος νοῦς, ὑπεράνω δηλαδή γίνεται χρόνου καί φύσεως· μηδενί τῶν ὑπό φύσιν καί χρόνον νοημάτων κρατούμενος, ἵνα μή τάς τῶν φθαρτῶν εἰκόνας περιφέρων γένηται ναός εἰδώλων, ἀνθ᾿ ἑνός Θεοῦ πολλάς ἔχων παθῶν ἀκαθάρτων προσκυνουμένας μορφάς.
ι΄. Ποῖον μυστήριον ἔχει ὁ δώδεκα ἀριθμός. ια΄. Παῖδας ἐθεώρησε μή συναριθμουμένους μέν, συνεξιόντας δέ τοῖς
κεκτημένοις, τούς τῶν οὐκ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν παθῶν λογισμούς, ὧν κἄν ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν ἡ γένεσις, ἀλλ᾿ ἡ χρῆσις ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν οὐδέποτε οὖσα καθέστηκε. Γυναῖκας δέ, τάς ἐκ τῶν οὐκ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν παθῶν ἐπιγινομένας χωρίς διαβολῆς τῶν κατά φύσιν ὀρέξεις· ἅς ἑαυτῷ συνεξάγει πρός τήν κατά Θεόν ἐλαύνων ζωήν, ἵνα μή γένωνται τῇ τῶν παρά φύσιν δουλείᾳ κατάσχετοι παθῶν.
ιβ΄. Αἰτίαν λέγει, δη᾿ ἥν οὐ συνηρίθμησε τοῖς ἀνδράσιν ὁ λόγος τούς παῖδας καί τάς γυναῖκας.
ιγ΄. Ὥσπερ τέλος κινηθείσης μονάδος ἐστίν ἡ μυριάς, καί ἀρχή μή κινηθείσης μυριάδος ἐστίν ἡ μονάς· ἀρχή γάρ παντός τέλους, ἡ κατ᾿ αὐτό σαφῶς ἀκινησία καθέστηκε· καί τέλος πάσης ἀρχῆς, ἡ τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτήν κινήσεως ὑπάρχει συμπλήρωσις· οὕτω (564) καί ἡ πίστις ἀρετῶν ἀρχή κατά φύσιν ὑπάρχουσα, τέλος ἔχει τοῦ δι᾿ αὐτῶν ἀγαθοῦ τήν συμπλήρωσιν· καί τό κατά φύσιν ἀγαθόν, ὡς ἀρετῶν τέλος ἀρχήν ἔχον τήν πίστιν, πρός αὐτήν ἐνδιαθέτως συνάγεται. Πίστις γάρ ἐστιν ἐνδιάθετον ἀγαθόν· καί ἀγαθόν ἐστιν ἐνεργηθεῖσα πίστις. Πιστός δέ κατά φύσιν καί ἀγαθός ἐστιν ὁ Θεός· τό μέν, ὡς πρῶτον ἀγαθόν· τό δέ, ὡς ἔσχατον ὀρεκτόν. Ταυτόν δέ ταῦτα παντί τρόπῳ καθέστηκεν ἀλλήλοις ὄντα, μηδενί λόγῳ πλήν τοῦ κατ᾿ ἐπίνοιαν ἀλλήλων παντελῶς διαιρούμενα, διά τήν ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ τῶν ἐρχομένων, καί εἰς αὐτόν ληγόντων κίνησιν. Ἄρα ἡ μυριάς ἐσχάτου ὀρεκτοῦ φέρουσα τύπον, τῶν πρός αὐτό κινουμένων τελείαν περιγράφει τήν ἔφεσιν· καί ἡ μονάς πρώτου ἀγαθοῦ φέρουσα σύμβολον, τῶν ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ κινουμένων τελείαν ἐπιφέρεται βάσιν. Οὐκοῦν τέσσαρες μυριάδες εἰσί, τό καθ᾿ ἑκάστην γενικήν ἀρετήν ἀναλόγως κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν δεικνύμενον τέλειον ἀγαθόν.
ιδ΄. Ὁ μετά τήν φυγήν τῆς κακίας ἁπλῶς τήν ἀργίαν τῆς ἁμαρτίας φυλάξας, φησί, τήν δεκάδα τῶν ἐντολῶν· καί πάλιν τήν ἑκάστης πρᾶξιν ἐντολῆς τελείαν τῶν ἄλλων δείξας περίληψιν, ὡς πασῶν ἐν ἑκάστῃ κατά τήν ἑκάστης πρᾶξιν θεωρουμένων, τήν δεκαδα πεποίηκε ἑκατοντάδα· ἡ γάρ ἑκάστης ἐντολῆς τελεία κατ᾿