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to be spoken from the person of the father and from the person of the perfect man, the wise man. But you know that the belch of food previously consumed brings forth its fragrance; for a belch is nothing other than a procession of air from the stomach, revealing the quality of what was previously consumed. If, then, someone eats an apple, he has a belch that bears the quality and fragrance of an apple. When, therefore, a holy man is fed with the "bread of life" and the flesh of Jesus which is true food, and the fruits of "the tree of life," and drinks the wine gathered from "the true vine," he has a belch corresponding to the food he has consumed. The one thus fed and belching is signified: "The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things." And since it is about intelligible things, he did not hesitate to call the heart a treasure instead of a stomach. He, therefore, who has been fed the blessed food and has enjoyed the flesh of Jesus and the "bread of life," the heavenly bread, brings forth words suitable to what he was fed and will say: "My heart has belched forth a good word." For the present, then, we speak concerning man. The sons of Korah, bringing forth their hymns with this same mind and the same spirit, bring them forth in the singular. As in: "As the deer longs for the springs of water, so my soul longs," so also here they speak as one and in the singular: "My heart has belched forth." And this refers to each of the wise; for if the wise man, in teaching, brings forth what he has in his heart and what he was fed, he has belched forth the good word. From which the argument again concludes that if anyone who is not fed wishes to bring forth a word, it is not a good belch. And again, he who is fed with the worst foods has a troublesome and wicked word of instruction then he says 2 I speak of my works to the king. To such an extent are my works filled with confidence and 332 bringing no condemnation against me nor any accusation. I speak to the king himself, to the judge. 2 My tongue is the pen of a swift writer. My word, signified by the tongue. In many places you will find the tongue instead of the word. As when it says: "The Lord will destroy all deceitful lips and the boastful tongue," it means the boastful word. 3 You are beautiful in form beyond the sons of men. And the sons of men, that is, the wise of the world and those who in any way profess to teach, seem to have beauty in their own words. But the beauty of our word is beyond the sons of men; it is sent from God, it is given by God, it is true wisdom. It has something more, then, than the sons of men who speak from their own heart, having gathered together words and lessons from their own diligence and learning. Listen then: the psalm is taken from the person of the Father. And nearly all who speak publicly take it this way. The supernatural and great things, and those that are beyond concepts, are revealed only with difficulty through many examples. Wanting, therefore, often to say that God is one, we say countless things. We say that nothing is paired with him, there is not in him matter and form, he is a monad, he is a henad, and only with difficulty through a multitude of words do we make these things plain. But when I want to speak about wine, it is sufficient to say 'wine'; for it is spoken to those who know what it is; and we signify the concept merely by the word. The same is true concerning earth. We do not need many words. But when we say that God is earth, as he himself says: "Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land left fallow?"; we say countless things in order to show how God is called earth. Again, if we call him a spring, we do not say a few things as when we speak about a perceptible spring. But concerning God we say many things because the attributes of God and the fullness of his good things are not from without, flowing in and being supplied, but he himself is full of good things. The fullness, therefore, of good things, being the fullness of virtues, is called a spring. And therefore the ... from the father of the
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ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ πατρὸς εἰρῆσθαι καὶ ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ τελείου ἀνδρός, τοῦ σοφοῦ. οἶδας δὲ ὅτι ἡ ἐρυγὴ τῆς προκαταβληθείσης τροφῆς τὴν εὐωδίαν προφέρει· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἕτερόν ἐστιν ε᾿̣ρ̣υγὴ ἢ πρόοδος πνεύματος ἀπὸ στομάχου δηλοῦσα τὴν ποιότητα τῶν προκαταβεβλημ̣ένων. ἐάν τις γοῦν τραφῇ μῆλον, τὴν ἐρυγὴν μήλου ποιότητα καὶ εὐωδίαν φέρουσαν ἔχει. ὅταν οὖν ἅγιος τραφῇ τὸν "ἄρτον τῆς ζωῆς" καὶ τὰς Ἰησοῦ σάρκας οὔσας βρῶσιν ἀληθινὴν καὶ τοὺς καρποὺς "τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς" καὶ πίῃ τὸν τρυγώμενον ἀπὸ "τῆς ἀμπέλου τῆς ἀληθινῆς" οἶνον, ἐρυγὴν ἔχει κατάλληλον τοῖς προκαταβεβλημένοις βρώμασιν. ὁ οὕτω τραφεὶς καὶ ἐρυγεὶς σημαίνεται· "ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ θησαυροῦ τῆς καρδίας προφέρει τὸ ἀγαθόν". καὶ ἐπεὶ περὶ νοητῶν ἐστιν, οὐκ ὠ´̣κνησεν ἀντὶ στομάχους θησαυρὸν εἰπεῖν τὴν καρδίαν. ὁ οὖν τραφεὶς τὴν μακαρίαν τροφὴν καὶ ἀπολαύσας τῶν σαρκω῀̣ν Ἰησοῦ καὶ τοῦ "ἄρτου τῆς ζωῆς", τοῦ ἄρτου τοῦ οὐρανίου, προφέρει λόγους καταλλήλους οἷς ἐτράφη καὶ ἐρε̣ῖ· "ἐξηρεύξατο ἡ καρδία μου λόγον ἀγαθόν". τέως οὖν περὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου λέγο̣μ̣εν. οἱ υἱοὶ Κόρε τουτῷ αὐτῷ νοῒ καὶ τῷ αὐτῷ πνεύματι τοὺς ὕμνους προφέροντες ἑνικῶς αὐτοὺς προφέρουσιν. ὡς τό· "ὃν τρόπον ε᾿̣πιποθεῖ ἔλαφος ἐπὶ τὰς πηγὰς τῶν ὑδάτων, οὕτως ἐπιποθεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου", οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα ὡς εἷς καὶ ε῾̣νικῶς λέγουσιν· "ἐξηρεύξατο ἡ καρδία μου". ἀναφέρεται δὲ αὕτη εἰς ἕκαστον τῶν σοφῶν· εἰ γὰρ ὁ σοφὸς ἃ ἔχει ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ καὶ ἃ ἐτράφη, ταῦτα προφέρει παιδεύων, ἐξηρεύξατο τὸν ἀγαθὸν λόγον. ἐξ οὗ πάλιν συνάγει ὁ λόγος, ὅτι εἴ τις μὴ τραφεὶς θέλει προφέρειν λόγον, οὔκ ε᾿̣στιν ἐρυγὴ ἀγαθή. καὶ πάλιν ὁ χειρίστας τροφὰς τραφεὶς μοχθηρὸν καὶ πονηρὸν ἔχει λόγον παιδεύσεω̣ς εἶτα λέγει 2 λέγω ἐγὼ τὰ ἔργα μου τῷ βασιλεῖ. εἰς τοσοῦτόν εἰσιν πεπαρρησιασμέντα τὰ ἔργα μου καὶ 332 κατάγνωσιν μηδεμίαν φέροντά μου μηδὲ ἔνκλημα. λέγω αὐτῷ τῷ βασιλεῖ, τῷ κριτῇ. 2 ἡ γλῶσσά μου κάλαμος γραμματέως ὀξυγράφου. ὁ λόγος μου σημαινόμενος διὰ τῆς γλώττης. πολλαχοῦ εὑρήσεις ἀντὶ τοῦ λόγου τὴν γλῶτταν. ὡς ἐὰν λέγῃ· "ἐξολεθρεύσει κύριος πα´̣ντα τὰ χείλη τὰ δόλια καὶ γλῶσσαν μεγαλορήμονα", τὸν λόγον λέγει μεγαλορήμονα. 3 ὡραῖος κάλλει παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων. καὶ οἱ τῶν ἀνθρώπων υἱοί, τουτέστιν οἱ τοῦ κόσμου σοφοὶ καὶ οἱ ὅπως ποτε`̣ ἐπαγγελλόμενοι διδασκαλίαν, δοκοῦσιν κάλλος ἔχειν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις ἑαυτῶν. τοῦ δε`̣ ἡμετέρου λόγου τὸ κα´̣λλο̣ς παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐστίν, θεό πεμπτόν ἐστιν, θεόδοτόν ἐστιν, ἀληθινὴ σοφία ἐστίν. ἔχ̣ει τι οὖν πλεῖον παρὰ τοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων υἱοὺς τοὺς ἀπὸ καρδίας ἑαυτῶν φθεγγομένους τῆς σπουδῆς κ̣α̣ὶ μαθήσεως ἑαυτῶν λόγους συναγαγόντας καὶ μαθήματα. λοιπὸν ἄκουε· ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ πατρὸς λαμβάνεται ὁ ψαλμός. καὶ σχεδὸν πάντες οἱ εἰς τὸ κοινὸν λέγοντες οὕτω λαμβάνουσιν. τὰ ὑπερφυῆ κ̣αὶ μεγάλα καὶ ὑπέρτερα τῶν νοημάτων μόλις διὰ πολλῶν παραδειγμάτων φανεροῦται. θ̣έλοντες οὖν πολλάκις εἰπεῖν ὅτι εἷς ἐστιν ὁ θεός, μυρία λέγομεν. λέγομεν ὅτι οὐδὲν αὐτῷ συνδυάζει, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ ὕλη καὶ εἶδος, μονάς ἐστιν, ἑνάς ἐστιν, καὶ μόλις διὰ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν λέξεων φανεροῦμεν αὐτά. ὅταν δὲ θέλω περὶ οἴνου εἰπεῖν, ἀρκεῖ εἰπεῖν οἶνος· εἰδόσιν γάρ, τί ἐστιν, λ̣έγετ̣α̣ι· καὶ μόνον τὴν ἔννοιαν διὰ λέξεως σημαίνομεν. περὶ γῆς ταὐτ̣όν. οὐ πολλῶν ἡμῖν χρεία λόγων. ὅταν̣ δὲ λέγωμεν ὅτι ὁ θεὸς γῆ ἐστιν αὐτοῦ λέγοντος· "μὴ ἔρημος ἐγενόμην τῷ Ἰσραὴλ ἢ γῆ κεχερσωμένη"; μυρία ὅσα λέγομεν ἵνα δηλώσωμεν, πῶς ὁ θεὸς λέγεται γῆ. πάλιν ἐὰν λέγωμεν αὐτὸν πηγήν, οὐχ ὁλίγα λέγομεν ὡς ὅταν περὶ αἰσθητῆς πηγῆς ἀπαγγέλλωμεν. περὶ δὲ θεοῦ πολλὰ λέγομεν ὅτι· ἐπεὶ τὰ προσόν̣τα τῷ θεῷ καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα τῶν ἀγαθῶν αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔξωθέν ἐστιν ἐπ̣ιρ̣ε´̣ον καὶ ἐπιχορηγούμενον, ἀλλὰ αὐτὸς πλήρης τῶν ἀγαθῶν. τὸ πλήρωμα οὖν τῶν καλῶν, τὸ πλη´̣ρωμα τυγχάνων τῶν ἀρετω῀̣ν λέγεται πηγή. καὶ ἡ ἐκ πατρὸς τοίνυν τοῦ