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the law of nature, that is, the passibility of nature (1333) [ unus. Feg. the passive aspect] having overcome, he abolished the state of the unnatural passions in him.

64. When indeed by deceitful guile the evil one plunders the innate knowledge of God from nature, he usurps it for himself, and he is a thief, attempting to transfer reverence from God to himself; that is, leading away the soul's contemplation according to the intellect from the spiritual principles in created things, and circumscribing the intellective power solely by the outward appearance of sensible things. But whenever, beginning from the natural movements, he sophistically drags down the practical faculty to what is contrary to nature, and through things thought to be good, persuasively fastens its desire to worse things, he swears falsely in the name of the Lord, leading the persuaded soul to other things contrary to the promise. And he is a thief, then, inasmuch as he plunders the knowledge of nature for himself; and a perjurer, inasmuch as he persuades the practical faculty of the soul to toil in vain for things contrary to nature.

65. Or again, he is a thief who, for the deception of his hearers, practices the divine words, forsooth, the power of which he has not known through works, making their mere utterance a trade for glory, and with the word of the tongue hunting for the praise of being considered righteous by his audience. And to speak simply, he whose life is inconsistent with his word, and whose intention is contrary to the disposition of his soul, is a thief, making a false show with the goods of others. To whom the word will rightly say, *But to the sinner God said, Why do you declare my statutes, and take up my covenant in your mouth?*

66. Likewise, he is a thief who with visible manners and morals conceals the unseen malice of the soul, veiling his inner disposition with a pretense of gentleness; and stealing, just as the former, with the utterance of the words of knowledge, steals the mind of his hearers, so too this one, by the manner of the hypocrisy of his morals, steals the perception of those who see him, to whom it will similarly be said, *Be ashamed, you who are clothed in others' garments;* and this, *The Lord will uncover their fashion on that day*. For every day in the hidden workshop of the heart, I seem to hear God saying these things to me, as one explicitly condemned on both counts.

67. He is a perjurer, that is, one who swears falsely in the name of the Lord, who promises to God a life according to virtue, and practices other things contrary to the promise of his own profession, and transgresses the covenant of the confession of the venerable life through idleness in the commandments. And to speak concisely, he who has chosen to live according to God (1336) and is not completely dead to the present life, is a liar and a perjurer, having sworn to God, that is, having promised a blameless course in the divine contests, and not having fulfilled it, and for this reason is not praised at all. *For everyone who swears by him will be praised,* that is, everyone who has promised to God a life in God, and through the truth of the works of righteousness fulfills the oaths of his good promise.

68. He who pretends to knowledge only in the utterance of words, for his own glory steals the mind of his hearers; and he who pretends to virtue in his morals, for his own glory steals the sight of those who see him; and both, being thieves through deceit, lead astray, the one, the mind of the soul of his hearers, the other, the bodily perception of those who see him.

69. If he who fulfills his own promises certainly has praise, as one who swears in God and is truthful, it is clear that he who becomes a transgressor of his own covenants will have blame and dishonor, as one who has sworn in God and lied.

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φύσως νόμον, ἤγουν τό τῆς φύσεως παθητόν (1333) [ unus. Feg. παθητικόν] καταπαλαίσας, τήν ἐν αὐτῷ τῶν παρά φύσιν παθῶν σχέσιν κατήργησεν.

ξδ΄. Ἡνίκα μέν δι᾿ ἀπάτης δόλῳ συλῶν τήν περί Θεόν ἔμφυτον γνῶσιν τῆς φύσεως, ταύτην ὁ πονηρός εἰς ἑαυτόν σφετερίζεται, κλέπτης ἐστί, πρός ἑαυτόν ἀπό τοῦ Θεοῦ τό σέβας μεταφέρειν πειρώμενος· ἀπάγων δηλονότι τῶν ἐν τοῖς γεγονόσι πνευματικῶν λόγων, τήν κατά νοῦν τῆς ψυχῆς θεωρίαν, καί μόνῃ περιγράφων τήν νοεράν δύναμιν, τῇ κατά τήν ἐπιφάνειαν προσόψει τῶν αἰσθητῶν. Ὁπηνίκα δέ διά τῶν φυσικῶν ἀπαρχόμενος κινημάτων, πρός τά παρά φύσιν σοφιστικῶς κατασύρῃ τήν πρακτικήν δύναμιν, καί διά τῶν νομιζομένων καλῶν ταῖς χείροσι πιθανῶς προσηλώσῃ ταύτης τήν ἔφεσιν, ἐπί τῷ ὀνόματι Κυρίου ὀμνύει ψευδῶς, πρός ἄλλα παρ᾿ ὑπόσχεσιν ἄγων τήν πειθομένην ψυχήν. Καί ἔστι κλέπτης μέν, ὡς πρός ἑαυτόν συλῶν τήν γνῶσιν τῆς φύσεως· ἐπίορκος δέ, ὡς τό πρακτικόν τῆς ψυχῆς μάτην διαπονεῖσθαι πείθων τοῖς παρά φύσιν.

ξε΄. Ἤ πάλιν, κλέπτης ἐστίν, ὁ πρός ἀπάτην τῶν ἀκουόντων τούς θείους δῆθεν ἀσκούμενος λόγους, ὧν οὐκ ἐπέγνω διά τῶν ἔργων τήν δύναμιν, τήν ψιλήν προφοράν δόξης ἐμπορίαν ποιούμενος, καί τῷ διά γλώσσης λόγῳ τόν τοῦ δίκαιος νομίζεσθαι παρά τῶν ἀκροωμένων θηρώμενος ἔπαινον. Καί ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, ὁ τῷ λόγῳ τόν βίον ἀνάρμοστον, καί τῇ γνώμει τήν διάθεσιν τῆς ψυχῆς ἔχων ἀντικειμένην, κλέπτης ἐστίν, ἐκ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἀγαθῶν οὐ καλῶς διαφαινόμενος. Πρός ὅν ὁ λόγος εἰκότως ἐρεῖ, Τῷ δέ ἁμαρτωλῷ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός, Ἵνα τί σύ ἐκδιηγῇ τά δικαιώματά μου, καί ἀναλαμβάνεις τήν διαθήκην μου διά στόματός σου;

ξστ΄. Κλέπτης ὡσαύτως ἐστί, καί ὁ τοῖς φαινομένοις τρόποις καί ἤθεσι, τήν μή φαινομένην συγκαλύπτων τῆς ψυχῆς κακουργίαν, ἐπιεικείας πλάσματι τήν ἔνδον ἐπικαλύπτων διάθεσιν· καί κλέπτων, ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνος τῇ προφορᾷ τῶν λόγων τῆς γνώσεως, τήν τῶν ἀκουόντων διάνοιαν· οὕτω δή καί αὐτός τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς τῶν ἠθῶν ὑποκρίσεως, τῶν θεομένων τήν αἴσθησιν, πρός ὅν ὁμοίως εἰρήσεται, Αἰσχύνθητε, οἱ ἐνδεδυμένοι ἱμάτια ἀλλότρια· καί τό, Ἀποκαλύψει Κύριος τό σχῆμα αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ καθ᾿ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ. Καθ᾿ ἑκάστην γάρ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ τῆς καρδίας ἐργαστηρίῳ, ταῦτά μοι λέγοντος ἀκούειν δοκῶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τήν ἡμέραν, ὡς ἐπ᾿ ἀμφοῖν διαῤῥήδην κατεγνωσμένος.

ξζ΄. Ἐπίορκός ἐστιν, ἤγουν ὀμνύων ἐπί τῷ ὀνόματι Κυρίου ψευδῶς, ὁ ἐπαγγελλόμενος τῷ Θεῷ τόν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν βίον, καί ἀλλότρια παρά τήν ὑπόσχεσιν τῆς οἰκείας ἐπαγγελίας ἐπιτηδεύων, καί τήν συνθήκην τῆς ὁμολογίας τοῦ σεμνοῦ βίου διά τῆς ἀργίας τῶν ἐντολῶν παραβαίνων. Καί συντόμως εἰπεῖν, ὁ κατά Θεόν ζῇν προελόμενος, (1336) καί μή τελείως τῷ παρόντι βίῳ νεκρούμενος, ψεύστης ἐστί καί ἐπίορκος, ὁμόσας μέν τῷ Θεῷ, τουτέστιν, ἐπαγγειλάμενος τόν ἐν τοῖς θείοις ἀγῶσιν ἄμεμπτον δρόμον, καί μή πληρώσας, καί διά τοῦτο μηδαμῶς ἐπαινούμενος. Ἐπαινεθήσεται γάρ πᾶς ὁ ὀμνύων ἐν αὐτῷ, τουτέστι, πᾶς ὁ τῷ Θεῷ τόν ἔνθεον ἐπαγγειλάμενος βίον, καί διά τῆς ἀληθείας τῶν ἔργων τῆς δικαιοσύνης τούς ὄρκους πληρῶν τῆς καλῆς ὑποσχέσεως.

ξη΄. Ὁ κατά μόνην τήν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις προφοράν, γνῶσιν ὑποκρινόμενος, πρός δόξαν οἰκείαν τήν τῶν ἀκουόντων κλέπτει διάνοιαν· καί ὁ τοῖς ἤθεσι τήν ἀρετήν ὑποκρινόμενος, πρός δόξαν οἰκείαν κλέπτει τῶν θεωμένων τήν ὅρασιν· καί δι᾿ ἀπάτης ἀμφότεροι κλέπτονες, πλανῶσιν, ὁ μέν, διάνοιαν ψυχῆς τῶν ἀκουόντων, ὁ δέ, τῶν θεωμένων σώματος αἴσθησιν.

ξθ΄. Εἰ πάντως ἔπαινον ἔχει ὁ τῶν οἰκείων πληρωτής ἐπαγγελιῶν, ὡς ὀμνύων ἐν τῷ Θεῷ, καί ἀληθεύων· δῆλον ὅτι ψόγον ἕξει καί ἀτιμίαν, ὁ τῶν οἰκείων συνθηκῶν παραβάτης γινόμενος, ὡς ὀμόσας ἐν τῷ Θεῷ, καί ψευσάμενος.