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τέσσ. ἀνοικ. θ΄. He calls unbelief the denial of the commandments; and faith, their acceptance; and darkness, the ignorance of the good; and light, the discernment of it. He has called Christ the essence of the good and its hypostasis; and the devil, the most evil state that generates all evils.

100. If the logos is the boundary and measure of beings, it is equal to irrationality, and for this reason irrational, to be moved contrary to the boundary and contrary to the measure, or again beyond the boundary and beyond the measure. For both equally bring about for those thus moved a falling away from that which truly is; the one, persuading them to make the movement of their course uncertain and indefinite, not having God as its goal on account of the mind's lack of measure, as a pre-conceived end for them; fashioning for themselves something more to the right of what is right; the other, persuading them to make the movement of their course contrary to the goal, toward sense-perception alone, on account of the mind's weakness, believing the pre-conceived end to be what is described for them according to sense-perception; all of which one who does not suffer them ignores, who is united to the logos of virtue alone, and has circumscribed for it every movement of his own power according to the mind, and for this reason is able to think nothing beyond the logos or contrary to the logos.

FIFTH CENTURY. 1. The natural logos, through the medium of the virtues, (1349) to lead up the mind

is constituted for one who practices diligently; but the mind introduces to wisdom through contemplation one who yearns for knowledge. But the irrational passion persuades one who neglects the commandments to be brought down to sense-perception, whose end is for the mind to be nailed to pleasure.

2. He calls virtue the most dispassionate and stable state with respect to the good, on either side of which stands nothing, since it bears the character of God, to whom nothing is opposed. And the cause of the virtues is God; and knowledge of Him according to activity is the alteration toward the spirit, according to state, of one who has truly come to know God.

3. If the logos has defined the genesis of each thing as it is by nature, then nothing among beings has naturally either gone beyond or fallen short of itself. Therefore the boundary of beings is the knowledge of the cause according to desire; and the measure is the imitation of the cause that is possible for beings according to activity. But for the desire of those in motion to be carried beyond the boundary and the measure makes their course fruitless, since they do not arrive at God, in whom the movement of all things according to desire comes to rest, receiving as its self-subsistent end the enjoyment of God. And for the desire of those in motion to be carried contrary to the boundary and the measure makes their course fruitless, since instead of God they arrive at sense-perception, in which the insubstantial enjoyment of the passions stands firm according to pleasure.

4. The one who unreservedly commits his mind to the cause of beings will be completely ignorant, contemplating no logos in God, who in essence is beyond every logos according to every cause; toward whom, having withdrawn from all beings, he knows none of the logoi from which he has departed, but only Him toward whom he has come by grace, contemplating inexpressibly. For the mind that has ascended to God in ecstasy leaves behind the logoi both of incorporeal and of corporeal things. For it is not in the nature of anything that is after God to be contemplated at the same time as God.

5. Pride is truly an accursed passion, and is composed of two evils by synthesis, I mean arrogance and vainglory; of which arrogance denies the cause of virtue and of nature; while vainglory, both nature, and it spurious

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τέσσ. ἀνοικ. θ΄. Ἀπιστίαν λέγει, τήν ἄρνησιν τῶν ἐντολῶν· πίστιν δέ, τήν αὐτῶν συγκατάθεσιν· τό δέ σκότος, τοῦ καλοῦ τήν ἄγνοιαν· τό δέ φῶς, τήν τούτου διάγνωσιν. Χριστόν δέ κέκληκε, τήν οὐσίαν τοῦ καλοῦ καί τήν ὑπόστασιν· τόν διάβολον δέ, τήν πάντων γεννητικήν τῶν κακῶν χειρίστην ἕξιν.

ρ΄. Εἰ ὅρος ὑπάρχει καί μέτρον τῶν ὄντων ὁ λόγος, ἴσον πρός ἀλογίαν ἐστί, καί διά τοῦτο παράλογον, τό παρά τόν ὅρον καί παρά τό μέτρον, ἤ πάλιν ὑπέρ τόν ὅρον κινεῖσθαι καί ὑπέρ τό μέτρον. Ἐπίσης γάρ ἄμφω τοῖς οὕτω κινουμένοις τοῦ κυρίως ὄντος φέρει τήν ἔκπτωσιν· τό μέν, ἄδηλον αὐτοῖς ποιεῖσθαι τοῦ δρόμου πεῖθον τήν κίνησιν καί ἀόριστον, οὐκ ἔχουσαν σκοπόν τόν Θεόν δι᾿ ἀμετρίαν νοός, ὡς τέλος αὐτοῖς προεπινοούμενον· τοῦ δεξιοῦ, δεξιώτερον ἀναπλαττομένοις· τό δέ, παρά τόν σκοπόν, πρός μόνην τήν αἴσθησιν αὐτούς πεῖθον, τοῦ δρόμου ποιεῖσθαι τήν κίνησιν, δι᾿ ἀτονίας νοός, προεπινοούμενον τέλος νομίζοντας, τό κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν αὐτοῖς περιγραφόμενον· ἅπερ ἀγνοεῖ μή πάσχων, ὁ μόνῳ τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς συνημμένος, καί πᾶσαν αὐτῷ τῆς κατά νοῦν οἰκείας δυνάμεως περιγράψας τήν κίνησιν, καί διατοῦτο μηδέν ὑπέρ τόν λόγον ἤ παρά τόν λόγον διανοεῖσθαι δυνάμενος.

ΕΚΑΤΟΝΤΑΣ ΠΕΜΠΤΗ. α΄. Ὁ κατά φύσιν λόγος, διά μέσων τῶν ἀρετῶν, (1349) πρός τόν νοῦν ἀνάγειν

πέφυκε τόν ἐπιμελούμενον πράξεως· ὁ δέ νοῦς πρός τήν σοφίαν εἰσάγει διά θεωρίας τόν ἐφιέμενον γνώσεως. Τό δέ παράλογον πάθος, πρός τήν αἴσθησιν πείθει καταφέρεσθαι τόν ἀμελοῦντα τῶν ἐντολῶν, ἧς τέλος ἐστί, τό πρός τήν ἡδονήν καθηλωθῆναι τόν νοῦν.

β΄. Ἀρετήν καλεῖ, τήν ἀπαθεστάτην καί παγίαν περί τό καλόν ἕξιν, ἧς ἐφ᾿ ἑκάτερα καθέστηκεν οὐδέν, Θεοῦ φερούσης χαρακτῆρα, ᾧ οὐδέν ἐστιν ἐναντίον. Αἰτία δέ τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐστιν ὁ Θεός· τούτου δέ κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν γνῶσις, ἡ τοῦ κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν ἐπεγνωκότος τόν Θεόν πρός τό πνεῦμα κατά τήν ἕξιν ἀλλοίωσις.

γ΄. Εἰ ὁ λόγος διώρισεν ὡς πέφυκεν ἑκάστου τήν γένεσιν, οὐδέν τῶν ὄντων ἑαυτό φυσικῶς ἤ ὑπερβέβηκεν ἤ ὑποβέβηκεν. Οὐκοῦν ὅρος μέν τῶν ὄντων ἐστίν, ἡ κατ᾿ ἔφεσιν τῆς αἰτίας ἐπίγνωσις· μέτρον δέ, ἡ ἐφικτή τοῖς οὖσι κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν τῆς αἰτίας ἐκμίμησις. Τό δέ ὑπέρ τόν ὅρον φέρεσθαι καί τό μέτρον τῶν κινουμένων τήν ἔφεσιν, ἀνόνητον ποιεῖ τόν δρόμον, μή καταντώντων εἰς Θεόν, ἐν ᾧ ἡ κατ᾿ ἔφεσιν πάντων ἵσταται κίνησις, αὐθυπόστατον δεχομένη τέλος τοῦ Θεοῦ τήν ἀπόλαυσιν. Τό δέ παρά τόν ὄρον φέρεσθαι καί τό μέτρον τῶν κινουμένων τήν ἔφεσιν, ἀνόνητον ποιεῖ τόν δρόμον, ἀντί Θεοῦ καταντώντων πρός τήν αἴσθησιν, ἐν ᾗ καθ᾿ ἡδονήν βέβηκεν ἡ τῶν παθῶν ἀνυπόστατος ἀπόλαυσις.

δ΄. Ὁ πρός τήν αἰτίαν τῶν ὄντων ἀσχέτως ἀνατιθείς νοῦν, ἀγνοήσει παντελῶς, μηδένα θεωρῶν λόγον, ἐν τῷ κατά πᾶσαν αἰτίαν ὑπέρ πάντα λόγον ὄντι κατ᾿ οὐσίαν Θεῷ· πρός ὅν ἀπό τῶν ὄντων ἁπάντων συσταλείς, οὐδένα τῶν ἀφ᾿ ὧν ἀπέστη λόγων, ἐπίσταται μόνον τόν πρός ὅν γέγονε κατά χάριν, ἀνερμηνεύτως θεώμενος. Καί γάρ καί τούς τῶν ἀσωμάτων καί τούς τῶν σωμάτων ἀφίησι λόγους, ὁ πρός τόν Θεόν ἀναδραμών κατ᾿ ἔκστασιν νοῦς. Οὐ γάρ πέφυκέ τι Θεῷ τῶν μετά Θεόν, ἅμα συγκατοπτεύεσθαι.

ε΄. Ἐπάρατον ὄντως πάθος ὁ τῦφος, καί ἐκ δύο κακῶν κατά σύνθεσιν συνιστάμενον, ὑπερηφανίας φημί καί κενοδοξίας· ὧν ἡ μέν ὑπερηφανία, τήν αἰτίαν ἀρνεῖται τῆς ἀρετῆς καί τῆς φύσεως· ἡ δέ κενοδοξία, τήν τε φύσιν, καί αὐτήν νόθον