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being mastered, but it established the pain of sensation, being deprived of all things sensible according to nature.

7. Since, on the one hand, pleasure according to sensation establishes the pain of the soul, that is, toil (for both are the same as one another); and, on the other hand, pleasure according to the soul is naturally disposed to create the pain of sensation, that is, toil, it is with reason that he who longs for the life in hope of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, through the resurrection of the dead unto an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven, on the one hand has exultation according to the soul, an inexpressible joy, being continually gladdened by the hope of future good things; but on the other hand, according to the flesh and sensation, that is, the toils that come upon it from various temptations, and the pains on account of them. For to every virtue, pleasure and pain are attendant; pain of the flesh, being deprived of its pleasing and smoother sensation; and pleasure of the soul, delighting in the pure principles in the spirit, beyond everything sensible.

8. It is necessary for the mind in the present life (for this is what "now" means to me), though grieving according to the flesh on account of the many toils of the temptations brought upon it for the sake of virtue, to rejoice always according to the soul, and to be pleased on account of the hope of eternal good things, even if it has its sensation worn down. For the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us, says the divine Apostle.

9. The flesh is of the soul, but the soul is not of the flesh; for the lesser, he says, is of the greater, but the greater is not of the lesser. (1308) Therefore, since the law of sin was implanted in the flesh on account of the transgression, which is pleasure according to sensation, on account of which the death of the flesh was condemned through toils, being devised for the abolition of the law of the flesh, he who has discerned that death entered for the abolition of sin, always has a rejoicing soul, seeing through various toils the law of sin being removed from its own flesh, for the reception of the future blessed life in the spirit, which it is not otherwise possible to attain, unless the law of sin has first been emptied from the flesh as from some vessel in the present life, according to the disposition's relation to it.

10. He who grieves in virtue according to the flesh on account of toils, rejoices in virtue itself according to the soul, as seeing the beauty of future things as present; for the sake of which, according to the great David, by the renunciation of the flesh in his disposition, he dies each day, he who is always being renewed according to the birth of the soul in the spirit, since he possesses both a salutary pleasure and a profitable pain. For we speak of pain, not the irrational pain of the many, which torments the soul over the deprivation of passions or material things, as it produces impulses contrary to nature toward what it ought not, and avoidances of what it ought not; but the rational pain, approved by those wise in divine things, and signifying the present evil; for they say that pain is a present evil, being established according to the soul when pleasure according to sensation masters rational discernment; but subsisting according to sensation when the course of the soul according to virtue is accomplished without hindrance; bringing upon sensation as many toils as it produces pleasure and joy in the soul that is brought to God, through the kindred illumination according to both virtue and knowledge.

11. He calls the joy of the soul in virtue a salutary pleasure; and the anguish of the flesh for the sake of virtue a profitable pain. Therefore, he who is attached to passions and things, makes impulses toward what he ought not; and he who does not embrace the circumstances that bring about the deprivation of passions and things, makes avoidances of what he ought not.

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κρατουμένης, τήν δέ τῆς αἰσθήσεως συνεστήσατο λύπην, πάντων κατά φύσιν τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἐστερημένης.

ζ΄. Ἐπειδή τήν μέν τῆς ψυχῆς λύπην, ἤγουν τόν πόνον (ταὐτόν γάρ ἀλλήλοις ἀμφότερα), ἡ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἡδονήν συνίστησι· τήν δέ τῆς αἰσθήσεως λύπην, ἤγουν τόν πόνον, ἡ κατα ψυχήν ποιεῖν ἡδονή πέφυκεν, εἰκότως ὁ τῆς κατ᾿ ἐλπίδα ζωῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι᾿ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν εἰς κληρονομίαν ἄφθαρτον καί ἀμίαντον καί ἀμάραντον τετηρημένην ἐν οὐρανοῖς, ἐφιέμενος, κατά μέν τήν ψυχήν ἀγαλλίασιν ἔχει, χαράν ἀνεκλάλητον, διηνεκῶς τῇ τῶν μελλόντων ἐλπίδι γαννύμενος ἀγαθῶν· κατά δέ τήν σάρκα καί τήν αἴσθησιν, ἤγουν τούς ἐκ τῶν ποικίλων πειρασμῶν ἐπιγινομένους αὐτῇ πόνους, καί τάς ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς ὀδύνας. Πάσῃ γάρ ἀρετῇ, ἡδονή καί πόνος παρέπεται· πόνος μέν σαρκός, ἐστερημένης τῆς προσηνοῦς καί λειοτέρας αἰσθήσεως· ἡδονή δέ ψυχῆς, παντός αἰσθητοῦ καθαροῖς ἐντρυφώσης τοῖς ἐν πνεύματι λόγοις.

η΄. ∆έον ἐστί τόν νοῦν κατά τήν παροῦσαν ζωήν (τοῦτο γάρ μοι νοεῖται, τό νῦν), κατά σάρκα λυπούμενον, διά τούς πολλούς πόνους τῶν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς αὐτῷ προσαγομένων πειρασμῶν, ἀεί χαίρειν κατά ψυχήν, καί ἤδεσθαι διά τήν ἐλπίδα τῶν αἰωνίων ἀγαθῶν, κἄν ἔχῃ καταπονουμένην τήν αἴσθησιν. Οὐ γάρ ἄξια τά παθήματα τοῦ νῦν καιροῦ πρός τήν μέλλουσαν δόξαν ἀποκαλύπτεσθαι εἰς ἡμᾶς, φησίν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος.

θ΄. Ψυχῆς, ἡ σάρξ, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ σαρκός ἡ ψυχή· τοῦ γάρ κρείττονος, φησί, τό ἧττον, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τοῦ ἥττονος τό κρεῖττον. (1308) Οὐκοῦν, ἐπειδή τῇ σαρκί διά τήν παράβασιν ἐνεφύρη τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ νόμος, ὅπερ ἐστίν ἡ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἡδονή, δι᾿ ἥν διά πόνων κατεκρίθη τῆς σαρκός ὁ θάνατος, εἰς τήν τοῦ νόμου τῆς σαρκός ἀναίρεσιν ἐπινενοημένος, ὁ διαγνούς ὅτι διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν εἰς τήν αὐτῆς ἀναίρεσιν ἐπεισῆλθεν ὁ θάνατος, ἀεί χαίρουσαν ἔχει τήν ψυχήν, διά πόνων ποικίλων θεωμένην ἀπογινόμενον τῆς οἰκείας σαρκός τόν νόμον τῆς ἁμαρτίας, πρός ὑποδοχήν τῆς μελλούσης ἐν πνεύματι μακαρίας ζωῆς, ἧς ἄλλως οὐκ ἔστι τυχεῖν, μή πρότερον κενωθέντος ὡς ἐξ ἀγγείου τινός τῆς σαρκός ἐν τῇ παρούσῃ ζωῇ, κατά τήν πρός αὐτήν σχέσιν τῆς γνώμης, τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἁμαρτίας.

ι΄. Ὁ τῇ ἀρετῇ κατά σάρκα διά τούς πόνους λυπούμενος, ἐν αὐτῇ χαίρει τῇ ἀρετῇ κατά ψυχήν, ὡς παροῦσαν θεώμενος τήν τῶν μελλότων εὐπρέπειαν· ὑπέρ ἧς, κατά τόν μέγαν ∆αβίδ, τῇ κατά γνώμην ἀπογενέσει τῆς σαρκός, καθ᾿ ἑκάστην ἀποθνήσκει τήν ἡμέραν, ὁ κατά τήν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐν πνεύματι γένεσιν ἀεί καινιζόμενος, ἅτε δή καί τήν ἡδονήν ἔχων σωτήριον, καί τήν λύπην ὠφέλιμον. Λύπην γάρ φαμεν, οὐ τήν παράλογον καί τῶν πολλῶν, ἐπί στερήσει παθῶν ἤ πραγμάτων ὑλικῶν τήν ψυχήν βασανίζουσαν, ὡς τάς ὁρμάς παρά φύσιν ἐφ᾿ ἅ μή δεῖ, καί τάς ἀποφυγάς ἀφ᾿ ὧν μή δεῖ ποιουμένων· ἀλλά τήν λελογισμένην, καί τοῖς τά θεῖα σοφοῖς ἐγκριθεῖσαν, καί τό παρόν κακόν ὑποσημαίνουσαν· παρόν γάρ κακόν, φασίν εἶναι τήν λύπην, συνισταμένην μέν κατά ψυχήν, ὅταν ἡ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἡδονή τῆς λογικῆς κρατῇ διακρίσεως· ὑφισταμένην δέ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν, ὅταν τῆς ψυχῆς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ἀκωλύτως ὁ δρόμος ἀνύηται· τοσοῦτον ἐπάγων τῇ αἰσθήσει τούς πόνους, ὅσον ἡδονήν ἐμποιεῖ καί χαράν τῇ ψυχῇ, τῷ Θεῷ προσαγομένῃ, διά τῆς συγγενοῦς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν τε καί γνῶσιν ἐλλάμψεως.

ια΄. Ἡδονήν λέγει σωτήριον, τήν ἐπ᾿ ἀρετῇ χαράν τῆς ψυχῆς· ὠφέλιμον δέ λύπην, τήν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς ὀδύνην τῆς σαρκός. Ὁ γοῦν πάθεσι προστετηκώς καί πράγμασιν, ἐφ᾿ ἅ μή δεῖ τάς ὁρμάς ποιεῖται· καί ὁ τάς ποιητικάς τῆς τῶν παθῶν καί τῶν πραγμάτων στερήσεως συμβάσεις οὐκ ἀσπαζόμενος, ἀφ᾿ ὧν μή δεῖ τάς ἀποφυγάς ποιεῖται.