417

The faithful one is united with things to come. And without the faculty of desire, longing, whose end is love, cannot exist; for to love something intensely is a property of desire. And without the incensive power which strengthens desire for union with what is pleasant, peace cannot in any way come to be; if indeed peace is truly the undisturbed and complete possession of what is desired.

75. He who has not first been cleansed of the passions ought not to take up the contemplation of nature, on account of the images of sensible things, which are able to impress the intellect of one not completely freed from passions towards passion. For the intellect that, through sense-perception, lingers in imagination upon the appearances of sensible things, becomes a creator of impure passions, not being able to pass over through contemplation to kindred intelligible realities.

76. He who in time of the uprising of the passions (1249) courageously closes his senses, and completely pushes away the imagination and memory of sensible things, and in every way restrains the natural movements of the intellect concerning the investigation of external things, has, by conquering through the divine hand, put to shame the wicked and tyrannical dominion that rose up against him.

77. When reason becomes devoid of intellect, and the incensive power becomes rash, and desire irrational, and ignorance and tyranny and licentiousness prevail in the soul, then the habit of evil is naturally put into practice, entangled with the manifold pleasure of the senses.

78. The intellect that knows how to escape with knowledge the invisible conflicts, ought not to pursue the contemplation of nature, nor do anything else in time of attack by the wicked powers, except only to pray, and to subdue the body with labors, and to effect with all diligence the purification of the earthly mindset, and to guard the walls of the city; I mean the guarding virtues of the soul, or the methods for guarding the virtues: I mean self-control and patience; lest by deceiving through things on the right hand, he may lead it away from God, having stolen its longing, he who gives the soul a muddy subversion to drink, and through things thought to be good, may drag down to worse things the mind that seeks good things.

79. He who has courageously closed his senses through rational and comprehensive self-control and patience, and through the powers of the soul has walled off the entrances of the forms of sensible things to the intellect, easily destroys the wicked machinations of the devil, turning him back with shame by the way he came. And the way by which the devil comes is the material things that seem to be for the constitution of the body.

80. The intellect, having joined sense-perception to itself naturally through the medium of reason, gathers the true knowledge that comes from the contemplation of nature.

81. The springs are outside the city, that is, of the soul, which Hezekiah stops up: all sensible things. And the waters of these springs happen to be the concepts of sensible things. And the river flowing through the middle of the city is the knowledge gathered from the (1252) concepts of sensible things according to the contemplation of nature, passing through the middle of the soul, as it is a borderland of intellect and sense-perception. For the knowledge of sensible things is neither entirely alienated from the intellectual faculty, nor wholly assigned to the activity of sense-perception; but being, as it were, in the middle of the congress of the intellect with sense-perception, and of sense-perception with the intellect, it creates through itself the connection of these with one another; according to sense-perception, being formally impressed with the shapes of sensible things; but according to the intellect, transferring the impressions into principles of the shapes. Therefore the knowledge of visible things was fittingly called a river flowing through the middle of the city, as being a borderland between the extremities, I mean of intellect and of sense-perception.

82. He who at the time of the uprising of temptations refrains from contemplation of nature, but holds fast to prayer according to the withdrawal of the intellect from all things to itself and to God, kills the habit that produces evil, and

417

συγγίνεται τοῖς μέλλουσιν ὁ πιστός. Καί δίχα τῆς κατ᾿ ἐπιθυμίαν δυνάμεως, οὐ συνίστατι πόθος, οὗ τέλος ἐστίν ἡ ἀγάπη· τό γάρ ἐρᾷν τινος, ἴδιόν ἐστιν ἐπιθυμίας. Καί δίχα θυμικῆς δυνάμεως νευρούσης τήν ἐπιθυμίαν πρός τήν τοῦ ἡδέος ἕνωσιν, οὐδαμῶς γίνεσθαι πέφυκεν εἰρήνη· εἴπερ ἀληθῶς εἰρήνη ἐστίν ἡ ἀνενόχλητος καί παντελής τοῦ καταθυμίου κατάσχεσις.

οε΄. Οὐ δεῖ τόν μή πρότερον καθαρθέντα παθῶν, φυσικῆς ἅπτεσθαι θεωρίας, διά τάς εἰκόνας τῶν αἰσθητῶν, δυναμένας τυπῶσαι πρός πάθος τόν νοῦν τοῦ μή τελείως ἀπαλλαγέντος παθῶν. Ὁ γάρ κατά φαντασίαν ταῖς ἐπιφανείαις τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἐναπομένων διά τήν αἴσθησιν νοῦς, ἀκαθάρτων γίνεται παθῶν δημιουργός, διά θεωρίας πρός τά συγγενῆ νοητά μή δυνάμενος διαβῆναι.

οστ΄. Ὁ ἐν καιρῷ τῆς τῶν παθῶν ἐπανστάσεως (1249) γενναίως μύσας τάς αἰσθήσεις, καί τήν τῶν αἰσθητῶν φαντασίαν τε καί μνήμην παντελῶς ἀπωσάμενος, καί συστείλας πάντη τάς τοῦ νοῦ περί τήν τῶν ἐκτός ἔρευναν φυσικάς κινήσεις, κατῄσχυνε νικήσας διά τῆς θείας χειρός, τήν ἐπαναστᾶσαν αὐτῷ πονηράν καί τυραννικήν δυναστείαν.

οζ΄. Ὅταν ἄνους ὁ λόγος γένηται, καί προπετής ὁ θυμός καί ἄλογος ἡ ἐπιθυμία, καί ἄγνοια καί τυραννίς καί ἀκολασία κρατῶσι τῆς ψυχῆς, τότε ἡ τῆς κακίας ἕξις ἔμπρακτος γίνεσθαι πέφυκε, συμπλακεῖσα τῇ διαφόρῳ τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἡδονῇ.

οη΄. Χρή τόν γνωστικῶς τάς ἀοράτους συμπλοκάς, ὑπαλύσκειν ἐπιστάμενον νοῦν, μήτε φυσικήν μετιέναι θεωρίαν, μηδ᾿ ἄλλο τι ποιεῖν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς τῶν πονηρῶν δυνάμεων προσβολῆς, ἤ μόνον προσεύχεσθαι, καί τό σῶμα πόνοις δαμάζειν, καί τήν τοῦ χοϊκοῦ φρονήματος διά πάσης σπουδῆς ποιεῖσθαι καθαίρεσιν, καί φυλάττειν τά τείχη τῆς πόλεως· λέγω δέ τάς φρουρητικάς τῆς ψυχῆς ἀρετάς, ἤ τάς τῶν ἀρετῶν φυλακτικάς μεθόδους· ἐγκράτειαν λέγω καί ὑπομονήν· μήπως διά τῶν δεξιῶν ἀπατήσας, ἀποστήσῃ Θεοῦ κλέψας τήν ἔφεσιν, ὁ τήν ψυχήν ποτίζων ἀνατραπήν θολεράν, καί διά τῶν νομιζομένων καλῶν, πρός τά χείρονα τήν τά καλά ζητοῦσαν ὑποσύρῃ διάνοιαν.

οθ΄. Ὁ γενναίως διά τῆς λελογισμένης καί περιεκτικῆς ἐγκρατείας καί ὑπομονῆς μύσας τάς αἰσθήσεις, καί διά τῶν κατά ψυχήν δυνάμεων τάς πρός τόν νοῦν τῶν αἰσθητῶν σχημάτων ἀποτειχίσας εἰσόδους, εὐχερῶς τοῦ διαβόλου τάς πονηράς διόλλυσι μηχανάς, ὑποστρέφων αὐτόν μετ᾿ αἰσχύνης τῇ ὁδῷ ᾗ ἦλθεν. Ὁδός δέ δι᾿ ἧς ὁ διάβολος ἔρχεται, ἐστί τά πρός σύστασιν τοῦ σώματος εἶναι δοκοῦντα ὑλικά.

π΄. Νοῦς ἑαυτῷ κατά φύσιν διά μέσου λόγου συνάψας τήν αἴσθησιν, τήν ἐκ τῆς φυσικῆς θεωρίας ἀληθῆ συλλέγεται γνῶσιν.

πα΄. Πηγαί εἰσιν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως· τουτέστι τῆς ψυχῆς· ἅς Ἐζεκίας ἐμφράττει· τά αἰσθητά πάντα· ὕδατα δέ τούτων τυγχάνουσι τῶν πηγῶν, τά τῶν αἰσθητῶν νοήματα· ποταμός δέ διορίζων διά μέσης τῆς πόλεώς ἐστιν, ἡ κατά φυσικήν θεωρίαν ἐκ τῶν (1252) αἰσθητῶν νοημάτων συναγομένη γνῶσις, διά μέσης διερχομένη τῆς ψυχῆς, ὡς νοῦ καί αἰσθήσεως οὖσα μεθόριος. Ἡ γάρ γνῶσις τῶν αἰσθητῶν, οὔτε πάντη νοερᾶς ἀπεξένωται δυνάμεως, οὔτε διόλου προσνενέμηται τῇ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἐνεργείᾳ· ἀλλ᾿ οἷον τῆς τε τοῦ νοῦ πρός τήν αἴσθησιν, καί πρός τόν νοῦν τῆς αἰσθήσεως συνόδου, μέση τυγχάνουσα, δι᾿ ἑαυτῆς ποιεῖται τήν πρός ἄλληλα τούτων συνάφειαν· κατά μέν τήν αἴσθησιν, κατ᾿ εἶδος τυπουμένη τοῖς σχήμασι τῶν αἰσθητῶν· κατά δέ τόν νοῦν, εἰς λόγους τῶν σχημάτων τούς τύπους μεταβιβάζουσα. ∆ιό ποταμός διορίζων διά μέσης τῆς πόλεως, εἰκότως προσηγορεύθη τῶν ὁρωμένων ἡ γνῶσις, ὡς τῶν ἄκρων, λέγω δέ νοῦ καί αἰσθήσεως, οὖσα μεταίχμιος.

πβ΄. Ὁ κατά τόν καιρόν τῆς τῶν πειρασμῶν ἐπαναστάσεως, τῆς μετά φυσικῆς ἀπεχόμενος θεωρίας, τῆς δέ προσευχῆς κατά τήν ἐκ πάντων πρός ἑαυτόν τε καί τόν Θεόν τοῦ νοῦ συστολήν ἀντεχόμενος, ἀποκτείνει τήν ποιητικήν τῆς κακίας ἕξιν, καί