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this one prepared; for the sake of vainglory, or flattery, or pleasing men, or any other reason, without the divine good pleasure, he practices such ways, this one has not made straight the paths of God; and while he endured the labor of preparing the way, he did not have God walking in his paths.

53. Every valley shall be filled; not simply every one, nor of all people; for not of those who have not prepared the way of the Lord, and made his paths straight. Whenever, therefore, a valley, that is, flesh or soul, of those who have prepared, as I said, the way of the Lord, and have made His paths straight, is filled with both knowledge and virtue through the presence of the Word of God who walks in them through the commandments, all the spirits of falsely-called knowledge and wickedness are humbled, as the Word tramples and subjugates them, and casts down the evil power that is raised up against human nature, and as it were digs down the size and the height of the mountains and the hills; and brings about the filling of the valleys. For the casting off of the passions contrary to nature, and the acquisition of the virtues according to nature, fills up the soul that has become a valley, and humbles the mountainous dominion of evil spirits.

54. The rough ways (that is, the onslaughts of involuntary temptations) shall become smooth roads, especially when the mind, rejoicing and being glad, takes pleasure in weaknesses and afflictions and necessities, removing the whole dominion of the voluntary passions through involuntary labors. For He has called the occurrences of involuntary temptations rough, which turn into smooth roads through endurance in thanksgiving.

55. He who desires the true life, knowing that every labor, whether voluntary or involuntary, becomes the death of pleasure, the mother of death [two Regius manuscripts: of pain], will accept all the rough onslaughts of involuntary (1241) temptations, rejoicing with gladness; through endurance, making the afflictions easy and smooth roads, and which unerringly guide him to the prize of the upward call, as he piously runs the divine race in them. For indeed, pleasure is the mother of death; but the death of pleasure is labor; both the voluntary and the involuntary.

56. Everyone, therefore, who has dissolved through self-control the much-twisted and complex pleasure, which is in many ways intertwined with all sensible things, has made the crooked straight; and he who has trampled the impassable and rough onslaught of labors through patience, has made the rough ways into smooth roads. Wherefore, as a prize for virtue and the labors on its behalf, as one who has contended well and lawfully, and has conquered pleasure by the desire for virtue, and has trampled pain by the love of knowledge, and through both has nobly carried through the divine contests, He shall see, according to what is written, the salvation of God.

57. He who loves virtue voluntarily quenches the furnace of pleasures; but he whose mind has been formed by the knowledge of the truth is not held back by involuntary labors from the perpetual motion that carries him in his desire toward God.

58. He who has made straight the crooked ways of the voluntary passions, that is, the movements of pleasure, through self-control, and has smoothed the rough calamities of involuntary temptations, that is, the modes of pain, through patience, and has established them into smooth roads; such a one will rightly see the salvation of God, having become pure in heart; in which, through the virtues and the pious contemplations, he sees God at the end of the contests, according to, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"; having received in return for the labors on behalf of virtue the grace of dispassion, than which nothing more reveals God to those who possess it.

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οὗτος ἡτοίμασε· κενοδοξίας, ἤ κολακείας, ἤ ἀνθρωπαρεσκίας, ἤ ἄλλης τινός ἕνεκεν αἰτίας, δίχα τῆς θείας εὐαρεστήσεως τούς τοιούτους ἐπιτηδεύει τρόπους, οὗτος οὐκ ἐποίησεν εὐθείας τάς τρίβους τοῦ Θεοῦ· καί τόν μέν τῆς ἑτοιμασίας τῆς ὁδοῦ πόνον ὑπέμεινεν, τόν δέ Θεόν οὐκ ἔσχε ταῖς αὐτοῦ τρίβοις ἐμπεριπατοῦντα.

νγ΄. Πᾶσα φάραγξ πληρωθήσεται· οὐχ ἁπλῶς πᾶσα, οὐδέ πάντων· οὔτε γάρ τῶν μή ἑτοιμασάντωντήν ὁδόν τοῦ Κυρίου, καί εὐθείας ποιησάντων τάς τρίβους αὐτοῦ. Ὁπηνίκα οὖν φάραγξ, ἤγουν σάρξ ἤ ψυχή, τῶν ἑτοιμασάντων, ὡς εἶπον, τήν ὁδόν τοῦ Κυρίου, καί εὐθείας ποιησάντων τάς τρίβους αὐτοῦ, διά τῆς τοῦ περιπατοῦντος ἐν αὐτοῖς διά τῶν ἐντολῶν Θεοῦ Λόγου παρουσίας, πληρωθῇ γνώσεώς τε καί ἀρετῆς, πάντα τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως καί κακίας τά πνεύματα ταπεινοῦται, πατοῦντος αὐτά τοῦ Λόγου καί ὑποτάττοντος, καί τό ἐπαιρόμενον κατά τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, πονηρόν κράτος καταβάλλοντος, καί οἷον τό μέγεθος καί τό ὕψος τῶν ὀρέων καί τῶν βουνῶν κατασκάπτοντος· καί εἰς τήν τῶν φαράγγων ἄγοντος πλήρωσιν. Ἡ γάρ τῶν παρά φύσιν ἀποβολή παθῶν, καί ἡ τῶν κατά φύσιν ἀρετῶν ἐπιβολή, τήν φαραγγωθεῖσαν ψυχήν ἀναπληροῖ, καί τήν ὀρινομένην τῶν πονηρῶν πνευμάτων ταπεινοῖ δυναστείαν.

νδ΄. Αἱ τραχεῖαι (τουτέστιν, αἱ τῶν ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν ἐπιφοραί) ἔσονται εἰς ὁδούς λείας, ὅταν μάλιστα χαίρων καί εὐφραινόμενος ὁ νοῦς, ἐν ἀσθενείαις εὐδοχῇ καί θλίψεσι καί ἀνάγκαις, διά τῶν ἀκουσίων πόνων, τήν ὅλη τῶν ἑκουσίων παθῶν ἀφαιρούμενος δυναστείαν. Τραχείας γάρ κέκλικε, τάς τῶν ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν συμβάσεις, εἰς ὁδούς λείας διά τῆς κατά τῆς εὐχαριστίαν ὑπομονῆς μεταπιπτούσας.

νε΄. Ὁ τῆς ἀληθινῆς ἐφιέμενος ζωῆς, γνούς ὅτι πᾶς πόνος, εἴτε ἑκούσιος, εἴτε ἀκούσιος, τῆς τοῦ θανάτου μητρός ἡδονῆς [Regii duo ὀδύνης] γίνεται θάνατος, πάσας τάς τραχείας τῶν ἀκουσίων (1241) πειρασμῶν ἐπιφοράς δέξεται μετ᾿ εὐφροσύνης χαίρων· διά τῆς ὑπομονῆς, ὁδούς εὐμαρεῖς τε καί λείας, τάς θλίψεις ποιούμενος, καί πρός τό βραβεῖον τῆς ἄνω κλήσεως ἀπλανῶς παραπεμπούσας αὐτόν, εὐσεβῶς ἐν αὐταῖς τόν θεῖον δρόμον ποιούμενον. Καί γάρ, τοῦ μέν θανάτου μήτηρ ἐστίν ἡ ἡδονή· τῆς ἡδονῆς δέ θάνατός ἐστιν, ὁ πόνος· ὅ τε προαιρετικός, καί ὁ παρά προαίρεσιν.

νστ΄. Πᾶς τοιγαροῦν ὁ τήν πολυέλικτόν τε καί πολύπλοκον ἡδονήν, καί πᾶσιν ὁμοῦ τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς πολυτρόπως συμπεπλεγμένην τῇ ἐγκρατείᾳ διαλύσας, τά σκολιά εἰς εὐθείας ἐποίησε· καί ὁ τήν δύσβατον καί τραχεῖαν τῶν πόνων ἐπιφοράν δι᾿ ὑπομονῆς πατήσας, τάς τραχείας ἐποίησεν εἰς ὁδούς λείας. Ὅθεν ὥσπερ ἔπαθλον ἀρετῆς καί τῶν ὑπέρ αὐτῆς καμάτων, οἷα καλῶς τε καί νομίμως ἀθλήσας, καί τήν ἡδονήν νικήσας, τῷ πόθῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς, καί τήν ὀδύνην πατήσας τῷ τῆς γνώσεως ἔρωτι, καί δι᾿ ἀμφοτέρων γενναίως τούς θείους διενέγκας ἀγῶνας, Ὄψεται, κατά τό γεγραμμένον, τό σωτήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ.

νζ΄. Ὁ τήν ἀρετήν ἀγαπῶν, τήν τῶν ἡδονῶν ἑκουσίως ἀπομαραίνει κάμινον· ὁ δέ τῇ γνώσει τῆς ἀληθείας πεποιωμένος τόν νοῦν, ἀκουσίοις οὐκ ἐπέχεται πόνοις, τῆς κατά τήν ἔφεσιν πρός τόν Θεόν φερούσης ἀεικινησίας.

νη΄. Ὁ τά σκολιά τῶν ἑκουσίων παθῶν, ἤγουν τῆς ἡδονῆς τά κινήματα διά τῆς ἐγκρατείας εὐθύνας, καί τά τραχείας, τῶν ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν συμφοράς, ἤγουν τούς τρόπους τῆς ὀδύνης διά τῆς ὑπομονῆς ὁμαλίσας, καί εἰς ὁδούς λείας καταστήσας· ὁ τοιοῦτος εἰκότως ὄψεται τό σωτήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ, καθαρός τῇ καρδίᾳ γενόμενος· καθ᾿ ἥν διά τῶν ἀρετῶν καί τῶν εὐσεβῶν θεωρημάτων, ὁρᾷ τόν Θεόν ἐπί τέλει τῶν ἄθλων, κατά τό, Μακάριοι οἱ καθαροί τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι αὐτοί τόν Θεόν ὄψονται· τῶν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς πόνων, τῆς ἀπαθείας τήν χάριν ἀντιλαβών, ἧς οὐδέν πλέον τόν Θεόν ἐμφανίζει τοῖς ἔχουσι.