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the pain of the flesh; but let us hate its pleasure; for the one brings in and restores to good things; but the other leads out and separates from good things.

24. If God suffers in the flesh, having become man, who that suffers does not rejoice, having God as a sharer in his suffering? (1189) for whom suffering with Him becomes a cause of the kingdom. For true is the one who said: If indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

25. If it is necessary to suffer in any case, on account of the pleasure mixed into our nature through our forefather, let us nobly endure temporary pains, which both blunt for us the sting of pleasure, and free us from the eternal punishments that come through it.

26. The end of all good things is love, as toward God, the summit of good things, and the cause of every good, leading and bringing and gathering together those who walk in it, as faithful and unfailing and abiding. For faith is the foundation of the things after it, I mean hope and love, firmly substantiating the truth. Hope is the strength of the extremes, I mean love and faith, showing through itself both what is believed and what is loved by both, and teaching to make the course toward it through itself. But love is the fulfillment of these, wholly embracing the whole of the final object of desire, and providing to these a cessation of the movement toward it, of believing it to be, and hoping it will be present, introducing instead through itself the enjoyment of what is present.

27. The most perfect work of love, and the limit of its activity, through a relational exchange of those joined by it, is to make their properties and titles befit one another; and to make man god, and to make God be called and appear as man, on account of the one and unchangeable will and motion of both according to the good-pleasure.

28. If we become completely according to the image of God, of ourselves and of God; or rather, of God alone and wholly, and bearing nothing earthly in ourselves, in order that we may draw near to God, and become gods, having received from God the being gods. For thus are the divine gifts honored, and the presence of the divine peace is welcomed.

29. A great good is love, and of good things the first and most excellent good, as it joins God and men through itself to the one who has it (1192) and as it prepares the maker of men to appear as a man, through the exact likeness, as far as is possible for man, of the one being deified to God according to the good; which I take to be the actualization of, To love the Lord God with all your heart, and soul, and strength; and your neighbor as yourself.

30. It must be known that by a maliciously devised deceit through self-love, the devil, having deceived us by an assault of pleasure, separated us from God and from each other in our judgment, having twisted what is straight, and having divided nature in this way, and having cut it up into many opinions and fantasies.

31. There are three greatest and primal evils, and, to speak simply, generative of all evil: ignorance, I say, and self-love and tyranny; dependent on one another and constituted by one another. For from ignorance of God comes self-love; and from this, tyranny toward one's kin. And no argument will contradict, that it is not by the mode of misuse of our own powers, namely reason and desire and anger, that the evil one has established these in us.

32. It is necessary, with reason, instead of ignorance, to be moved solely toward God through knowledge according to seeking; and with desire, pure of the passion of self-love, to be driven by longing toward God alone; and with anger, separated from tyranny, to strive to attain God alone, and that which is from these and for which these things are

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πόνον τῆς σαρκός· μισήσωμεν δέ ταύτης τήν ἡδονήν· ὁ μέν γάρ εἰσάγει καί τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ἀποκαθίστησιν· ἡ δέ ἐξάγει καί τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀποδιίστησιν.

κδ΄. Εἰ Θεός πάσχει σαρκί, γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος τίς πάσχων οὐ γέγηθε Θεόν ἔχων τοῦ πάθους συμμέτοχον; (1189) ᾧ τό συμπάσχειν, βασιλείας πρόξενον γίνεται. Ἀληθής γάρ ὁ εἰπών· Εἴπερ συμπάσχομεν, ἵνα καί συνδοξασθῶμεν.

κε΄. Εἰ πάντως πονῆσαι δεῖ, διά τήν ἐμφυρεῖσαν τῇ φύσει διά τοῦ προπάτορος ἡδονήν, γενναίως τούς προσκαίρους καρτερήσωμεν πόνους, τῆς τε ἡδονῆς τό κέντρον ἡμῖν ἀμβλύνοντας, καί τῶν δι᾿ αὐτῆς ἡμᾶς αἰωνίων ἐλευθεροῦντας κολάσεων.

κστ΄. Πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν τέλος ἐστίν ἡ ἀγάπη, ὡς πρός Θεόν τό τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀκρότατον, καί παντός αἴτιον ἀγαθοῦ, τούς ἐν αὐτῇ περιπατοῦντας ἄγουσα καί προσάγουσα καί συνάγουσα, ὡς πιστή καί ἀδιάπτωτος καί μένουσα. Ἡ πίστις γάρ, βάσις ἐστί τῶν μετ᾿ αὐτήν, ἐλπίδος λέγω καί ἀγάπης, βεβαίως τό ἀληθές ὑφεστῶσα. Ἡ δέ ἐλπίς, τῶν ἄκρων ἐστίν ἰσχύς, ἀγάπης λέγω καί πίστεως, τό πιστόν τε δι᾿ ἑαυτῆς καί τό ἐραστόν ἀμφοῖν ὑποφαίνουσα, καί πρός αὐτό τόν δρόμον δι᾿ ἑαυτῆς ποιεῖσθαι διδάσκουσα. Ἡ δέ ἀγάπη, τούτων ἐστί συμπλήρωσις, τό ἔσχατον ὀρεκτόν ὅλον ὅλη περιπτυσσομένη, καί ταύταις τῆς ἐπ᾿ αὐτό κινήσεως στάσιν παρεχομένη, τοῦ πιστεύειν εἶναι, καί ἐλπίζειν παρέσεσθαι, τό ἀπολαύειν παρόντος δι᾿ ἑαυτῆς ἀντεισάγουσα.

κζ΄. Ἔργον τῆς ἀγάπης τελειότατον, καί τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἐνεργείας πέρας, δι᾿ ἀντιδόσεως σχετικῆς τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτήν συνημμένων, ἀλλήλοις ἐμπρέπειν τά ἰδιώματα, καί τάς κλήσεις παρασκευάζειν· καί θεόν μέν τόν ἄνθρωπον ποιεῖν, ἄνθρωπον δέ τόν Θεόν χρηματίζειν καί φαίνεσθαι, διά τήν μίαν καί ἀπαράλλακτον ἀμφοτέρων κατά τό θέλημα βούλησίν τε καί κίνησιν.

κη΄. Εἰ κατ᾿ εἰκόνα Θεοῦ πάντως ἡμεῖς γενώμεθα ἑαυτῶν καί τοῦ Θεοῦ· μᾶλλον δέ, μόνου καί ὅλου Θεοῦ, καί ὅλοι μηδέν ἐπίγειον ἐν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς φέροντες, ἵνα Θεῶ πλησιάσωμεν, καί θεοί γενώμεθα, ἐκ Θεοῦ τό θεοί εἶναι λαβόντες. Οὕτω γάρ τιμᾶται τά θεῖα δωρήματα, καί ἡ τῆς θείας εἰρήνης φιλοφρονεῖται παρουσία.

κθ΄. Μέγα ἀγαθόν ἡ ἀγάπη, καί τῶν ἀγαθῶν τό πρῶτον καί ἐξαίρετον ἀγαθόν, ὡς Θεόν καί ἀνθρώπους δι᾿ ἑαυτῆς περί τόν αὐτήν ἔχοντα συνάπτουσαν (1192) καί ὡς ἄνθρωπον τόν ποιητήν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φανῆναι παρασκευάζουσα, διά τήν τοῦ θεουμένου πρός τόν Θεόν κατά τό ἀγαθόν ὡς ἐφικτόν ἀνθρώπῳ ἀπαραλλαξίαν· ἥν ἐνεργεῖν ὑπολαμβάνω τό, Ἀγαπῆσαι Κύριον τόν Θεόν ἐξ ὅλης καρδίας, καί ψυχῆς καί δυνάμεως· καί τόν πλησίον ὡς ἑαυτόν.

λ΄. Ἰστέον, ὡς δόλῳ κακούργως μεμηχανημένῳ διά φιλαυτίας, καθ᾿ ἡδονῆς προσβολήν ἀπατήσας ἡμᾶς ὁ διάβολος, Θεοῦ καί ἀλλήλων κατά γνώμην διέστησε, τό εὐθές διαστρέψας, καί τήν φύσιν κατά τόν τρόπον τοῦτον μερίσας, καί κατατεμών εἰς πολλάς δόξας καί φαντασίας.

λα΄. Τρία ἐστί τά μέγιστα καί ἀρχέκακα, καί πάσης ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, κακίας γεννητικά· ἄγνοια, φημί, καί φιλαυτία καί τυραννίς· ἀλλήλων ἐξηρτημένα καί δι᾿ ἀλλήλων συνιστάμενα. Ἐκ γάρ τῆς περί Θεοῦ ἀγνοίας, ἡ φιλαυτία· ἐκ δέ ταύτης, ἡ πρός τό συγγενές τυραννίς ἐστι. Καί οὐδείς ἀντερεῖ λόγος, μή οὐχί τῷ κατά παράχρησιν τρόπῳ τῶν οἰκείων δυνάμεων, λόγου τε καί ἐπιθυμίας καί θυμοῦ, ταύτας ἐν ἡμῖν τόν πονηρόν ὑποστήσασθαι.

λβ΄. ∆έον, λόγῳ μέν, ἀντί τῆς ἀγνοίας, πρός τόν Θεόν διά γνώσεως κατά ζήτησιν μονώτατον κινεῖσθαι· δι᾿ ἐπιθυμίας δέ, τοῦ τῆς φιλαυτίας πάθους καθαρᾶς, κατά πόθον πρός τόν Θεόν μόνον ἐλαύνεσθαι· καί τῷ θυμῷ τυραννίδος κεχωρισμένῳ, πρός τό τοῦ Θεοῦ μόνου τυχεῖν ἀγωνίζεσθαι, καί τήν ἐκ τούτων καί δι᾿ ἥν ταῦτα