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of those being provided for indicates providence. And seven, the dispassion in one's ways. Therefore, the one who, through his own natural powers, has preserved his own life dispassionately, as providence wills, having seven thousand three hundred and seven sons and daughters, escapes the confusion of the passions.

35. By 'end' he means, both the dispassion here according to practice, and the deification there according to grace.

36. By 'singers' he means, those who live their lives according to practice, crying out the wills of God.

37. He says that 'psalmists' are those who are not only doers of the divine wills, but also interpreters to others of the mysteries within them.

38. The number eight has both stability and motion; stability, on the one hand, when considered in itself; for every even number is motionless, not having a center; motion, on the other hand, when combined with the one before it or the one after it; for it makes an odd number. For every odd number is in itself mobile, according to the equal distance of its extremes from the middle. Therefore, what eight does among the numbers under ten, eighty also does among the numbers under one hundred; and likewise, eight hundred among the numbers arranged under one thousand. Considered in itself, therefore, it has stability, circumscribing the motion of that which is before it. For seven and seventy and seven hundred happen to be indicative of a temporal property. Therefore, since sense perception apprehends more the things under time and generation, it remains for the perfected mind to receive unerring knowledge, that is, science, of eternal and intelligible realities; for they define science as the knowledge of the subject. And the number fifty, bearing an odd monad after the sevenfold multiplication of the hebdomad into itself, indicates the limit of the practice of the virtues in the worthy; for he who has attained the good according to nature, and has found his stability in it, is no longer moved concerning the practice of virtues; for the monad is the beginning and end of all motion. And the number five indicates the science concerning these things; for it contains the principles of intelligible and rational, of sensible and living and existing things; which divine wisdom alone is constituted to circumscribe, which they define as the unerring science of the truth.

39. (572) By 'camels of Midian' he means, interpreted on the one hand as 'of judgment,' the true contemplations of things that come into being and pass away; and on the other, as 'of bloody clay,' he has understood the principles of providence concerning this transitory and unstable life; and as 'of human sweats and of a mother,' the principles of divine judgment concerning the present life, which are brought together by both the thoughts according to the mind, and the imagination of visible things according to sense perception; from which, I mean from thoughts and imagination, the true opinion of beings is gathered, being the fruit of the mind applied to sense perceptions. Therefore, he calls 'human sweats and of a mother,' the thoughts of the mind put forth with labor, and the imaginations from sense perception which nurses us like a mother. And 'camels of Ephah', that is, of the acquisition of the back; and the back is the flesh of the soul, as coming into being for the sake of the soul. If, therefore, we acquire the flesh well, we have it serving the soul for the generation of virtues, and we understand only its divine principles for which it came to be; after which, having also gathered the principles of visible things like camels of Midian, we cover our Jerusalem, the soul, enveloping it with the divine contemplations of beings, and making it unseen and unconsumed by the passions.

40. The number four hundred indicates the nature of the corporeal world. For four elements complete it. And thirty-five signifies the movement in time of the virtuous with reason. For seven composed with itself five times makes the number thirty-five. Therefore, seven is of temporal motion; and five,

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προνοουμένων δηλοῖ πρόνοιαν. Ὁ δέ ἑπτά, τήν ἐν τοῖς τρόποις ἀπάθειαν. Ὁ τοίνυν διά τῶν κατά φύσιν οἰκείων δυνάμεων ἀπαθῆ, καθώς ἡ πρόνοια βούλεται, διατηρήσας τήν οἰκείαν ζωήν, παῖδας ἔχων καί παιδίσκας ἑπτακισχιλίους τριακοσίους ἑπτά, τήν τῶν παθῶν ἐξέρχεται σύγχυσιν.

λε΄. Τέλος λέγει, καί τήν ἐνταῦθα κατά τήν πρᾶξιν ἀπάθειαν, καί τήν ἐκεῖσε κατά χάριν ἐκθέωσιν.

λστ΄. Ψάλτας λέγει, τούς κατά τήν πρᾶξιν τόν βίον ἔχοντας, κράζοντας τοῦ Θεοῦ τά θελήματα.

λζ΄. Ψαλτῳδούς εἶναί φησι, τούς οὐ μόνον ποιητάς τῶν θείων θελημάτων, ἀλλά καί τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς μυστηρίων ἄλλοις γινομένης ἐξηγητάς.

λη΄. Ὁ ὀκτώ ἀριθμός, καί στάσιν ἔχει καί κίνησιν· στάσιν μέν καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν θεωρούμενος· πᾶς γάρ ἄρτιος ἀριθμός ἀκίνητος, κέντρον οὐκ ἔχων· κίνησιν δέ, τῷ πρό αὐτοῦ, ἤ τῷ μετ᾿ αὐτόν συντιθέμενος· ποιεῖ γάρ περιττόν ἀριθμόν. Πᾶς γάρ περιττός καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν κινητός, κατά τήν τῶν ἄκρων αὐτοῦ πρός τό μέσον ἴσην ἀπόστασιν. Ὅπερ οὖν ποιεῖ ἐν τοῖς ὑπό δεκάδα ἀριθμοῖς ὁ ὀκτώ, τοῦτο ποιεῖ καί ὁ ὀγδοήκοντα ἐν τοῖς ὑπό τήν ἑκατοντάδα ἀριθμοῖς· ὡσαύτως δέ καί ὁ ὀκτακόσια ἐν τοῖς ὑπό χιλιάδα διαταττομένοις ἀριθμοῖς. Καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν οὖν θεωρούμενος στάσιν ἔχει, περιγράφων τοῦ πρό αὐτοῦ ὄντος τήν κίνησιν. Ὁ γάρ ἑπτά καί ὁ ἑβδομήκοντα καί ἑπτακόσια, χρονικῆς ἐμφαντικοί τυγχάνουσιν ἰδιότητος. Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδή τῶν ὑπό χρόνον καί γένεσιν ἔχει μᾶλλον ἡ αἴσθησις τήν κατάληψιν, λείπεται τήν τῶν αἰωνίων καί νοητῶν τόν τελειούμενον νοῦν ἄπταιστον ὑποδέχεσθαι γνῶσιν ἤγουν ἐπιστήμην· τήν γάρ ἐπιστήμην ὁρίζονται τοῦ ὑποκειμένου γνῶσιν. Ὁ δέ πεντήκοντα ἀριθμός, μονάδα φέρων περιττήν μετά τόν εἰς ἑαυτόν τῆς ἑβδομάδος ἑπταπλασιασμόν, τό πέρας δηλοῖ τῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐν τοῖς ἀξίοις ποιήσεως· οὐ γάρ ἔτι κινεῖται περί τήν τῶν ἀρετῶν ποίησιν, ὁ κατά φύσιν φθάσας ἀγαθόν, καί ἐν αὐτῷ τήν στάσιν λαβών· ἀρχή γάρ καί τέλος πάσης κινήσεως ἡ μονάς. Ὁ δέ πέντε ἀριθμός, τήν ἐπί τούτοις ἐπιστήμην δηλοῖ· περιέχει γάρ νοητῶν τε καί λογικῶν, αἰσθητικῶν τε καί ζώντων καί ὄντων τούς λόγους· οὕς μόνη περιγράφειν ἡ θεία πέφυκε σοφία, ἥν ἄπταιστον ἐπιστήμην τῆς ἀληθείας ὁρίζονται.

λθ΄. (572) Καμήλους Μαδιάν φησιν, ὡς μέν ἐκκρίσεως ἑρμηνευόμενος, τάς τῶν γινομένων καί ἀπογινομένων ἀληθεῖς θεωρίας· ὡς δέ πηλοῦ αἱματώδους, τούς κατά ταύτην τήν παροδικήν καί ἄστατον ζωήν τῆς προνοίας νενόηκε λόγους· ὡς δέ ἱδρώτων ἀνθρωπίνων καί μητρός, τούς ἐπί τῇ παρούσῃ ζωῇ τῆς θείας κρίσεως λόγους, οὕς συνάγουσιν, οἵ τε κατά διάνοιαν λογισμοί, καί ἡ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν φαντασία τῶν ὁρατῶν· ἐξ ὧν, λογισμῶν φημι καί φαντασίας, ἡ τῶν ὄντων ἀληθής συνάγεται δόξα, τῆς ἐπ᾿ αἰσθήσεσι διανοίας ὑπάρχουσα καρπός. Ἀνθρωπίνους οὖν καί μητρός λέγει ἱδρῶτας, τούς μετά πόνου προβληθέντας τῆς διανοίας λογισμούς, καί τάς φαντασίας, τῆς μητρός δίκην ἡμᾶς τιθηνούσης αἰσθήσεως. Κάμηλοι δέ Γεφάρ, τουτέστι τῆς κτήσεως τοῦ νώτως· νῶτος δέ ἐστι, τῆς ψυχῆς ἡ σάρξ, ὡς διά τήν ψυχήν γινομένη. Ἐάν οὖν κτησώμεθα τήν σάρκα καλῶς, ἔχομεν αὐτήν τῇ ψυχῇ δουλεύουσαν πρός γένεσιν ἀρετῶν, καί μόνους κατανοοῦμεν αὐτῆς τούς ἐφ᾿ οἷς γέγονε θείους λόγους· μεθ᾿ οὕς καί τούς τῶν ὁρατῶν ὡς καμήλους Μαδιάν ἀθροίσαντες λόγους, καλύπτομεν τήν ἡμετέραν Ἱερουσαλήμ, τήν ψυχήν, περιβάλλοντες τοῖς θείοις τῶν ὄντων θεωρήμασι, καί ἀθέατον αὐτήν ποιοῦντες τοῖς πάθεσι καί ἀνάλωτον.

μ΄. Ὁ τετρακόσια ἀριθμός τήν τοῦ σωματικοῦ κόσμου φύσιν δηλοῖ. Τέσσαρα γάρ αὐτήν στοιχεῖα συμπληροῦσιν. Ὁ δέ τριακονταπέντε, τήν κατά χρόνον τῶν ἐναρέτων σύν λόγῳ σημαίνει κίνησιν. Ὁ γάρ ἑπτά πεντάκις εἰς ἑαυτόν συντεθείς, τόν τριακονταπέντε ποιεῖ ἀριθμόν. Ἔστιν οὖν ὁ ἑπτά κινήσεως χρονικῆς· ὁ δέ πέντε,