412

sense-perception, in which the movement of irrationality clearly exists, (1233) which by experience man, having received the divine commandment not to touch through activity, did not keep.

33. Both the trees, according to the Scripture, are discerning of certain things, that is, the mind and sense-perception. For instance, the mind has a discerning power of intelligible and sensible things, of temporal and eternal things; or rather, being a discerning power of the soul, it persuades it to hold fast to the one, and to rise above the other. But sense-perception has a discerning power of bodily pleasure and pain; or rather, being a power of ensouled and sensible bodies, it persuades one to be drawn to pleasure, and to send away pain.

34. Man, if he becomes one of only the sensible discernment of bodies according to pleasure and pain, having transgressed the divine commandment, eats of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; that is, irrationality according to sense-perception; having only the discernment constitutive of bodies, according to which, he holds fast to pleasure as good, and abstains from pain as evil. But if he becomes one wholly of the intellectual discernment which distinguishes eternal things from temporal, having kept the divine commandment, he eats of the tree of life; I mean the wisdom constituted according to the mind; having only the discernment constitutive of the soul; according to which, he holds fast to the glory of eternal things as good, and abstains from the corruption of temporal things as evil.

35. The good of the mind is the dispassionate disposition toward the spirit; and its evil, the passionate relation to sense-perception. The good of sense-perception is the passionate movement toward the body according to pleasure; and its evil, the disposition that results from the privation of this.

36. He who persuaded his conscience to regard what is worst as being by nature good when practiced, this one, having stretched out his practical faculty like a hand, reprehensibly took of the tree of life, considering what is worst to be by nature immortal. Wherefore God, having naturally placed in man the accusation of evil by the conscience, separated him from life, having become evil by choice; so that in doing evil, he might not be able to persuade his own conscience that what is worst is by nature good.

37. The vine makes wine; wine, intoxication; intoxication, ecstasy. Therefore, the active word, which is the vine, being cultivated by the virtues, begets knowledge; and knowledge begets good ecstasy, which makes the mind stand apart from its relation to sense-perception.

38. To the thoughts of sensible things the evil one is accustomed to maliciously add the forms and shapes of sensible things, through which the passions are naturally crafted concerning the surfaces of visible things, the passage of the rational activity in us toward intelligible things (1236) taking a stand by means of intermediate sense-perception. For this reason he prevails in sacking the soul, and drags it down into the confusion of the passions.

39. A lamp and at the same time a light is the word of God, both as illuminating the natural thoughts of the faithful, and as burning up the unnatural ones; and as dispelling the gloom of the life according to sense-perception for those hastening through the commandments toward the hoped-for life, and as punishing with the burning of judgment those who by their own judgment cling to this dark night of life out of love for the flesh.

40. He who is not first led up to himself, he says, through the casting off of the unnatural passions, to his own cause, that is, God, through the acquisition in grace of the supernatural goods, will not be led up. For the mind of him who is truly gathered to God must also be separated from created things.

41. The work of the written law is deliverance from the passions; of the natural law, equal honor toward all men according to equality of law; the perfection of the spiritual law, likeness to God, as far as is possible for man.

412

αἴσθησις, ἐν ᾗ τῆς ἀλογίας ὑπάρχει σαφῶς ἡ κίνησις, (1233) ἧς κατά τήν πεῖραν, μή ἅψασθαι δι᾿ ἐνεργείας ὁ ἄνθρωπος τήν θείαν λαβών ἐντολήν, οὐκ ἐφύλαξεν.

λγ΄. Ἀμφότερα τά ξύλα κατά τήν Γραφήν,τινῶν εἰσι διακριτικά, ἤγουν ὁ νοῦς καί ἡ αἴσθησις· οἷον, ὁ μέν νοῦς, ἔχει δύναμιν διακριτικήν, νοητῶν καί αἰσθητῶν, προσκαίρων καί αἰωνίων· μᾶλλον δέ ψυχῆς ὑπάρχων δύναμις διακριτική, τῶν μέν, αὐτήν ἀντέχεσθα πείθει· τῶν δέ, ὑπεραίρεσθαι. Ἡ δέ αἴσθησις ἔχει δύναμιν διακριτικήν ἡδονῆς σωμάτων καί ὀδύνης· μᾶλλον δέ δύναμις ὑπάρχουσα ἐμψύχων καί αἰσθητικῶν σωμάτων, τήν μέν ἡδονήν ἐπισπᾶσθαι πείθει, τήν δέ ὀδύνην ἀποπέμπεσθαι.

λδ΄. Ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἐάν μέν μόνης τῆς καθ᾿ ἡδονήν καί ὀδύνην αἰσθητικῆς τῶν σωμάτων γένηται διακρίσεως, τήν θείαν παραβάς ἐντολήν, ἐσθίει τό ξύλον τό γνωστόν καλοῦ καί πονηροῦ· τουτέστι, τήν κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἀλογίαν· ἔχων μόνην τήν συστατικήν τῶν σωμάτων διάκρισιν, καθ᾿ ἥν, ὡς μέν καλοῦ, τῆς ἡδονῆς ἀντέχεται· ὡς δέ κακοῦ, τῆς ὀδύνης ἀπέχεται. Ἐάν δέ μόνης τῆς τῶν αἰωνίων διακρινούσης τά πρόσκαιρα δι᾿ ὅλου γένηται νοερᾶς διακρίσεως,τήν θείαν φυλάξας ἐντολήν, ἐσθίει τό ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς· τήν κατά νοῦν λέγω συνισταμένην σοφίαν· μόνης ἔχων τήν συστατικήν τῆς ψυχῆς διάκρισιν· καθ᾿ ἥν, ὡς μέν καλοῦ, τῆς τῶν αἰωνίων ἀντέχεται δόξης· ὡς δέ κακοῦ, τῆς τῶν προσκαίρων ἀπέχεται φθορᾶς.

λε΄. Νοῦ μέν καλόν ἐστιν, ἡ ἀπαθής πρός τό πνεῦμα διάθεσις· κακόν δέ, ἡ ἐμπαθής πρός τήν αἴσθησιν σχέσις· αἰσθήσεως δέ καλόν ἐστιν, ἡ καθ᾿ ἡδονήν ἐμπαθής πρός σῶμα κίνησις· κακόν δέ, ἡ κατά στέρησιν ταύτης ἐπιγινομένη διάθεσις.

λστ΄. Ὁ πείσας τό συνειδός ὡς φύσει καλόν, πραττόμενον ἔχειν τό κάκιστον, οὗτος χειρός δίκην ἐκτείνας τό πρακτικόν, ἔλαβε ψεκτῶς τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς, ἀθάνατον ἡγησάμενος φύσει τό κάκιστον. ∆ιόπερ τήν κατά τό συνειδός τοῦ κακοῦ διαβολήν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ φυσικῶς ἐνθέμενος ὁ Θεός, διέκρινεν αὐτόν τῆς ζωῆς, κακόν τῇ προαιρέσει γεγενημένον· ἵνα μή τό κακόν πράττων, δύνηται πεῖσαι τήν ἰδίαν συνείδησιν, ὅτι φύσει καλόν ὑπάρχει τό κάκιστον.

λζ΄. Ἡ ἄμπελος, οἶνον ποιεῖ· ὁ οἶνος, μέθην· ἡ μέθη, ἔκστασιν. Οὐκοῦν ὁ ἐνεργής λόγος, ὅπερ ἐστίν ἡ ἄμπελος, γεωργούμενος ταῖς ἀρεταῖς, γεννᾷ τήν γνῶσιν· ἡ δέ γνῶσις, γεννᾷ τήν καλήν ἔκστασιν, τήν τόν νοῦν τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν σχέσεως ἐξιστῶσαν.

λη΄. Τοῖς τῶν αἰσθητῶν νοήμασιν εἴωθε κακούργως ὁ πονηρός συμβάλλειν τά τῶν αἰσθητῶν εἴδη καί σχήματα, δι᾿ ὧν πέφυκε τά πάθη δημιουργεῖσθαι περί τάς ἐπιφανείας τῶν ὁρατῶν, στάσιν λαμβανούσης διά τῆς μέσης αἰσθήσεως τῆς περί τά νοητά (1236) διαβάσεως, τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν λογικῆς ἐνεργείας. ∆ιό καί κατισχύει πορθεῖν τήν ψυχήν, καί εἰς τήν τῶν παθῶν σύγχυσιν κατασύρειν.

λθ΄. Λύχνος ἐστί, κατά ταυτόν ὁμοῦ καί φῶς, ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος, καί ὡς φωτίζων τούς κατά φύσιν λογισμούς τῶν πιστῶν, καί ὡς καίων τούς παρά φύσιν· καί ὡς λύων τόν ζόφον τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ζωῆς, τοῖς διά τῶν ἐντολῶν πρός τήν ἐλπιζομένην ἐπειγομένοις ζωήν, καί ὡς κολάζων τῇ καύσει τῆς κρίσεως τούς ταύτης τῆς σκοτεινῆς τοῦ βίου νυκτός κατά γνώμην διά φιλίαν σαρκός ἐντεχομένους.

μ΄. Ὁ μή πρός ἑαυτόν, φησί, πρότερον ἀναχθείς διά τῆς ἀποβολῆς τῶν παρά φύσιν παθῶν, πρός τήν ἰδίαν αἰτίαν, ἤγουν τόν Θεόν, διά τῆς ἐν χάριτι τῶν ὑπέρ φύσιν ἀγαθῶν ἐπικτήσεως, οὐκ ἀναχθήσεται. Τῶν γάρ πεποιημένων χωρισθῆναι δεῖ καί διάνοιαν, τόν πρός Θεόν ἀληθῶς συναγόμενον.

μα΄. Τοῦ μέν γραπτοῦ νόμου ἔργον ἐστίν, ἡ τῶν παθῶν ἀπαλλαγή· φυσικοῦ δέ νόμου, ἡ κατ᾿ ἰσονομίαν πρός πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἰσοτιμία· πνευματικοῦ δέ νόμου τελείωσις, ἡ πρός τόν Θεόν, ὡς ἔστιν ἀνθρώπῳ δυνατόν ἐξομοίωσις.