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having already clearly known by experience his own worth; how that which is "according to the image" is rendered to the image; how the archetype is honored; what is the power of the mystery of our salvation, and for whom Christ died; and how again we can remain in him, and he in us, as he said; and how the word of the Lord is upright, and all his works are in faith. But let us bring the discourse back to the train of the discourse, being satisfied with these things concerning these matters.

For he was saying that the intellect, moved by wisdom, proceeds to contemplation; and through contemplation, to knowledge; and through knowledge, to unforgettable knowledge; and through unforgettable knowledge, to the truth; around which the intellect receives the limit of its movement, its essence and power, and its state and activity being circumscribed for it.

For he was saying that wisdom is the power of the intellect, and the intellect itself is wisdom in potentiality; and contemplation a state; and knowledge an activity; and unforgettable knowledge, of wisdom and contemplation and knowledge; that is, of power and state and activity; the unceasing and habitual perpetual motion around (677) the knowable that is beyond all knowledge; of which the end is, as an unforgettable known, the truth; which is also worthy of wonder; how the unforgettable ceases, being circumscribed, or is it not rather that it is terminated by God who is the truth? For God is the truth, around whom the intellect, moving unceasingly and unforgettably, can never cease from its movement, not finding a limit where there is no interval. For the wonderful magnitude of the divine infinity is something without quantity and without parts and completely without interval; and it does not have any comprehension that reaches it so as to be known, whatever it is in essence. And that which has no interval or comprehension in any way, cannot be terminated by anything.

And likewise, that reason, moved by prudence, proceeds to action; and through action to virtue; and through virtue to faith, the truly firm and unshakeable full assurance of divine things; which reason first has in potentiality according to prudence, later shows forth in activity according to virtue, through manifestation in works. For faith without works is a dead thing, as it is written; and everything dead and inactive, no one of sound mind would ever dare to say is numbered among good things. And through faith to the good, around which reason receives its end, ceasing from its own activities, its power and state and activity being circumscribed.

For he was saying that prudence is the power of reason; and that reason itself is prudence in potentiality; and a state, action; and an activity, virtue; and faith, the indwelling and unalterable consolidation of prudence and action and virtue, that is, of power and of state and of activity; of which the final end is the good, around which reason, ceasing from its movement, comes to rest. For God is the good, before whom every power of every reason is naturally yielded. And how and in what manner each of these is accomplished, and brought into activity; and what things are contrary to each of these, or are proper to them, and to what extent, to distinguish and to say, is not of the present subject; except to know this much, that when any soul, through the grace of the Holy Spirit and its own love of labor and zeal, is able to join and weave these things together with each other; I mean reason with intellect, and prudence with wisdom, and action with contemplation, and virtue with knowledge, and faith with unforgettable knowledge, with nothing being less than or more than another, every excess and deficiency being cut away from them; and, to speak concisely, to make its own decad a monad; then it too (680) will be united to the God who is true and good, and one and only; having become beautiful and magnificent, and like him [as far as is possible], by the fulfillment of the four general virtues; of the

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γνωρίσας ἤδη κατά τήν πεῖραν ἐναργῶς τό οἰκεῖον ἀξίωμα· πῶς ἀποδίδοται τῇ εἰκόνι τό κατ᾿ εἰκόνα· πῶς τιμᾶται τό ἀρχέτυπον· τίς τοῦ μυστηρίου τῆς ἡμῶν σωτηρίας ἡ δύναμις, καί ὑπέρ τίνος Χριστός ἀπέθανε· πῶς τε πάλιν ἐν αὐτῷ μεῖναι δυνάμεθα, καί αὐτός ἐν ἡμῖν, καθώς εἶπε· καί πῶς Ἐστίν εὐθύς ὁ λόγος τοῦ Κυρίου, καί πάντα τά ἔργα αὐτοῦ ἐν πίστει. Ἀλλ᾿ ἐπανάγωμεν πρός τόν εἱρμόν τοῦ λόγου τόν λόγον, τούτοις περί τούτων ἀρκεσθέντες.

Τόν γάρ νοῦν διά τῆς σοφίας ἔφασκε κινούμενον, εἰς θεωρίαν ἰέναι· διά δέ τῆς θεωρίας, εἰς γνῶσιν· διά δέ τῆς γνώσεως, εἰς τήν ἄληστον γνῶσιν· διά δέ τῆς ἀλήστου γνώσεως, εἰς τήν ἀλήθειαν· περί ἥν ὁ νοῦς ὅρον τῆς κινήσεως δέχεται, περιγραφομένης αὐτῷ τῆς τε οὐσίας καί τῆς δυνάμεως, καί τῆς ἕξεως καί τῆς ἐνεργείας.

Νοῦ γάρ ἔλεγε δύναμιν εἶναι τήν σοφίαν, καί αὐτόν εἶναι τόν νοῦν δυνάμει σοφίαν· τήν δέ θεωρίαν ἕξιν· τήν δέ γνῶσιν ἐνέργειαν· τήν δέ ἄληστον γνῶσιν, σοφίας τε καί θεωρίας καί γνώσεως· ἤγουν δυνάμεως καί ἕξεως καί ἐνεργείας· τήν περί (677) τό γνωστόν τό ὑπέρ πᾶσαν τήν γνῶσιν ἀκατάληκτον καί ἑκτικήν ἀεικινησίαν· ἧς πέρας ἐστίν, ὡς ἀλάθητον γνωστόν, ἡ ἀλήθεια· ὅ καί θαυμάζειν ἄξιον· πῶς τό ἄληστον λήγει περιγραφόμενον, ἤ δηλονότι ὡς Θεῷ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ περατούμενον; Θεός γάρ ἡ ἀλήθεια, περί ὅν ἀκαταλήκτως τε και ἀλήστως κινούμενος ὁ νοῦς, λήγειν οὐκ ἔχει ποτέ τῆς κινήσεως, μή εὑρίσκων πέρας ἔνθα μή ἔστι διάστημα. Τό γάρ θαυμαστόν μέγεθος τῆς θείας ἀπειρίας, ἄποσόν τί ἐστι καί ἀμερές καί παντελῶς ἀδιάστατον· καί τήν οἱανοῦν πρός τό γνωσθῆναι, ὅ τί ποτέ ἐστι κατ᾿ οὐσίαν, φθάνουσαν αὐτόν οὐκ ἔχον κατάληψιν. Τό δέ μή .ἔχον διάστημα ἤ κατάληψιν καθ᾿ ὁτιοῦν, οὐκ ἔστι τινί περατόν.

Τόν δέ λόγον ὡσαύτως διά τῆς φρονήσεως κινούμενον, εἰς τήν πρᾶξιν ἰέναι· διά δέ τῆς πράξεως εἰς ἀρετήν· διά δέ τῆς ἀρετῆς εἰς τήν πίστιν, τήν ὄντως βεβαίαν καί ἄπτωτον τῶν θείων πληροφορίαν· ἥν πρώτην ἔχων δυνάμει κατά τήν φρόνησιν ὁ λόγος, ὕστερον ἐνεργείᾳ κατά τήν ἀρετήν ἐπιδείκνυται, διά τήν ἐπ' ἔργων φανέρωσιν. Ἡ γάρ χωρίς ἔργων πίστις νεκρόν τι, καθώς γέγραπται· πᾶν δέ νεκρόν καί ἀνενέργητον, οὐκ ἄν ποτέ τις εὖ φρονῶν τοῖς καλοῖς εἶναι θαρσήσειεν εἰπεῖν ἐνάριθμον. ∆ιά δέ τῆς πίστεως εἰς τό ἀγαθόν, περί ὅ δέχεται τέλος, παυόμενος τῶν οἰκείων ἐνεργειῶν ὁ λόγος, περιγραφομένης αὐτοῦ τῆς τε δυνάμεως καί τῆς ἕξεως καί τῆς ἐνεργείας.

Λόγου γάρ ἔφασκεν εἶναι δύναμιν τήν φρόνησιν· καί αὐτόν εἶναι δυνάμει τόν λόγον, φρόνησιν· ἕξιν δέ, τήν πρᾶξιν· ἐνέργειαν δέ, τήν ἀρετήν· τήν δέ πίστιν φρονήσεως τε καί πράξεως καί ἀρετῆς, ἤγουν δυνάμεως ἕξεώς τε καί ἐνεργείας ἐνδιάθετον πῆξιν καί ἀναλλοίωτον· ἧς πέρας ἔσχατόν ἐστι τό ἀγαθόν, περί ὅ καταλήγων τῆς κινήσεως ὁ λόγος παύεται. Θεός γάρ ἐστι τό ἀγαθόν, ᾧ πέφυκε πᾶσα καί παντός λόγου παρατοῦσθαι δύναμις. Πῶς δέ καί τίνα τρόπον τούτων ἕκαστον κατορθοῦται, καί εἰς ἐνέργειαν ἄγεται· καί τίνα τούτων ἑκάστῳ ἠναντίωται, ἤ προσῳκείωται, καί ἐπί πόσον, διαιρεῖν τε καί λέγειν, οὐ τῆς παρούσης ἐστίν ὑποθέσεως· πλήν τοῦ, ὅσον γιγνώσκειν, ὅτι πᾶσα ψυχή ἡνίκα διά τῆς χάριτος τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, καί τῆς οἰκείας φιλοπονίας καί σπουδῆς ἀλλήλοις ταῦτα συνάψαι τε καί ἱστουργῆσαι δυνηθῇ· τόν λόγον φημί τῷ νῷ, καί τῇ σοφίᾳ τήν φρόνησιν, καί τῇ θεωρίᾳ τήν πρᾶξιν, καί τῇ γνώσει τήν ἀρετήν, καί τῇ ἀλήστῳ γνώσει τήν πίστιν, οὐδενός ἐλαττουμένου πρός τό ἕτερον ἤ πλεονάζοντος, πάσης αὐτοῖς περικοπείσης ὑπερβολῆς καί ἐλλείψεως· καί, ἵνα συνελών εἴπω, μονάδα τήν ἑαυτῆς δεκάδα ποιῆσαι· τηνικαῦτα καί αὐτή (680) τῷ Θεῷ ἀληθινῷ τε καί ἀγαθῷ, καί ἑνί καί μόνῳ ἑνωθήσεται· καλή τε καί μεγαλοπρεπής, καί αὐτῷ [κατά τό ἐφικτόν] ἐμφερής γενομένῃ, τῇ συμπληρώσει τῶν τεσσάρων γενικῶν ἀρετῶν· τῶν