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establishes virtue. For nothing is accomplished for God by the proud man, and nothing comes forth according to nature for the vainglorious man.
6. It is a property of pride to deny that God is the begetter of virtue and of nature; and of vainglory, to divide nature for the sake of diminution; of which arrogance is naturally the offspring, being a composite state of vice, having a voluntary denial of God, and an ignorance of the equality according to nature.
7. (1352) Arrogance is a mixture of pride and vainglory; having contempt toward God, by which it is its nature to slander providence blasphemously; and possessing alienation toward nature, by which it handles all things of nature contrary to nature, corrupting the comeliness of nature by a mode of misuse.
8. The spirit of the scorching wind signifies not only temptations, but also the abandonment by God, which takes away from the Jews the provision of divine gifts. But the spiritual kinship of the soul dissolves the will's relation to the flesh, and binds it to God, being nailed fast by desire.
9. The natural law, when sensation does not have an advantage over reason, persuades all to embrace untaught what is akin and of the same nature, having nature itself as a teacher for the relief of those in need, and that all should wish for all [male edita πᾶν] that which each one thinks is pleasing to be done to himself by others. And teaching this, the Lord says, Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do also to them likewise.
10. He says that it is the work of the natural law, the unanimous relation of all to all in will. For of those in whom nature is governed by reason, there is naturally one disposition. And of whom the disposition is the same, the moral character and the course of life are manifestly naturally one. And of whom the moral character and course of life is the same, there is clearly one and the same bond according to the will of their relation to one another, leading all according to one will to the one reason of nature; in which there is absolutely no division of nature through self-love, which now prevails. But the written law, by the fear of penalties restraining the disordered impulses of the more foolish, accustoms them by teaching to look only to the distribution of the equal, by which the power of justice, being confirmed over time, changes into nature, making fear into a disposition, gently and little by little strengthened by the will for the good; and habit into a state, being purified by the forgetfulness of former things, and bringing forth love for one another along with itself.
11. The written law, he says, by preventing injustice through fear, accustoms one to what is just; and over time habit creates a disposition that loves justice, by which a firm state toward the good comes into being, bringing on the forgetfulness of preceding wickedness.
12. But the law of grace immediately teaches those who are led by it to imitate God himself, who so loved us beyond Himself, if one may say so, even though we were enemies because of sin, that He (1353) even came unchangeably into our substance, though He is beyond all substance; and supra-substantially received nature and became man, and willed to be called one of mankind, and did not refuse to make our condemnation His own; and to deify us by grace as much as He Himself became man by economy; so that we might learn not only to hold to one another naturally, and to love one another spiritually as ourselves, but also to care for one another divinely beyond ourselves, and to make this the proof of love for one another, the voluntary [death] for one another according to virtue eagerly
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τήν ἀρετήν καθίστησιν. Οὐδέν γάρ τῷ ὑπερηφάνῳ κατά Θεόν διαπράττεται, καί οὐδέν τῷ κενοδόξῳ κατά φύσιν προέρχεται.
στ΄. Ὑπερηφανίας ἴδιον, τό ἀρνεῖσθαι τόν Θεόν ἀρετῆς εἶναι γενέτην καί φύσεως· κενοδοξίας δέ, τό μερίζειν τήν φύσιν πρός ὕφεσιν· ὧν ὁ τῦφος εἶναι γέννημα πέφυκεν, ἕξις κακίας ὑπάρχων σύνθετος, Θεοῦ ἄρνησιν ἑκούσιον ἔχουσα, καί τῆς κατά φύσιν ἰσοτιμίας ἄγνοιαν.
ζ΄. (1352) Ὑπερηφανίας καί κενοδοξίας μίξις, ὁ τῦφος καθέστηκε· πρός μέν τόν Θεόν ἔχων τήν καταφρόνησιν, καθ᾿ ἥν πέφυκε βλασφήμως διαβάλλειν τήν πρόνοιαν· πρός δέ τήν φύσιν κεκτημένος τήν ἀλλοτρίωσιν, καθ᾿ ἥν πάντα τά τῆς φύσεως παρά τήν φύσιν μεταχειρίζεται, τῷ κατά παράχρησιν τρόπῳ τήν τῆς φύσεως παραφθείρων εὐπρέπειαν.
η΄. Τό πνεῦμα τοῦ καύσωνος, οὐ μόνον τούς πειρασμούς, ἀλλά καί τήν ἐγκατάλειψιν τοῦ Θεοῦ, τήν ἀφαιρουμένην τῶν Ἰουδαίων τήν τῶν θείων χαρισμάτων χορηγίαν, δηλοῖ. Ἡ δέ διά πνεύματος κατά ψυχήν ἀγχιστεία, σαρκός μέν λύει τήν σχέσιν τῆς προαιρέσεως, Θεῷ δέ προσδεσμεῖ κατά πόθον προσηλωθεῖσαν.
θ΄. Ὁ μέν φυσικός νόμος, ὅταν οὐκ ἔχῃ πλεονεκτοῦσαν τόν λόγον τήν αἴσθησιν, ἀδιδάκτως ἀσπάζεσθαι πάντας πείθει τό συγγενές καί ὁμόφυλον, αὐτήν ἔχοντας τήν φύσιν τῆς τῶν δεομένων ἐπικουρίας διδάσκαλον, κἀκεῖνο βούλεσθαι πᾶσιν [male edita πᾶν] ἅπαντας, ὅπερ ἕκαστος ἑαυτῷ παρά τῶν ἄλλων γινόμενον, εἶναι δοκεῖ καταθύμιον. Καί τοῦτο διδάσκων ὁ Κύριος, φησίν, Ὅσα θέλετε ἵνα ποιῶσιν ὑμῖν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ὁμοίως καί ὑμεῖς ποιεῖτε αὐτοῖς.
ι΄. Ἔργον εἶναι τοῦ φυσικοῦ νόμου φησί, τήν γνωμικήν πάντων πρός πάντας ὁμόθυμον σχέσιν. Ἐφ᾿ ὧν γάρ ἡ φύσις λόγῳ βραβεύεται, τούτων μία πέφυκεν εἶναι διάθεσις. Ὧν δέ διάθεσις ἡ αὐτή, καί ὁ κατ᾿ ἦθος τρόπος, καί ὁ τοῦ βίου δρόμος εἷς ὑπάρχειν προδήλως πέφυκεν. Ὧν δέ τρόπος ἠθῶν βίου δρόμος ἐστίν ὁ αὐτός, εἷς δηλονότι καί ὁ αὐτός κατά τήν γνώμην τῆς πρός ἀλλήλους σχέσεως ὑπάρχει δεσμός, κατά μίαν γνώμην ἄγων τούς πάντας πρός τόν ἕνα λόγον τῆς φύσεως· ἐν ᾧ παντελῶς οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ νῦν κρατοῦσα τῆς φύσεως διά τῆς φιλαυτίας διαίρεσις. Ὁ δέ γραπτός νόμος, φόβῳ τῶν ἐπιτιμίων ἐπέχων τάς ἀτάκτους τῶν ἀφρονεστέρων ὁρμάς, ἐθίζει διδάσκων, πρόν μόνην αὐτούς ὁρᾷν τήν τοῦ ἴσου διανομήν, καθ᾿ ἥν τῆς δικαιοσύνης τό κράτος χρόνῳ βεβαιωθέν, εἰς φύσιν μεθίσταται, ποιοῦν, τόν μέν φόβον, διάθεσιν, ἠρέμα κατά μικρόν τῇ περί τό καλόν γνώμῃ συγκρατυνομένην· ἕξιν δέ, τήν συνήθειαν, τῇ λήθῃ τῶν προτέρων καθαιρομένην, καί τό φιλάλληλον ἑαυτῇ συναποτίκτουσαν.
ια΄. Ὁ γραπτός νόμος, φησί, κωλύων φόβῳ τήν ἀδικίαν, ἐθίζει πρός τό δίκαιον· χρόνῳ δέ τό ἔθος ποιεῖ διάθεσιν φιλοδίκαιον, ὑφ᾿ ἧς παγία πρός τό καλόν ἕξις ἐπιγίνεται, λήθην προλαβούσης πονηρίας ἐπάγουσα.
ιβ΄. Ὁ δέ τῆς χάριτος νόμος, αὐτόν ἀμέσως διδάσκει τούς ἀγομένους μιμεῖσθαι τόν Θεόν, ὅς τοσοῦτον ὑπέρ ἑαυτόν ἡμᾶς, εἰ θέμις εἰπεῖν, καί ταῦτα διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν ὄντας ἐχθρούς, ἠγάπησεν, ὥστε καί (1353) εἰς τήν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς οὐσίαν ἐλθεῖν ἀτρέπτως, ὑπέρ πᾶσαν οὐσίαν ὄντα· καί φύσιν ὑπερουσίως καταδέξασθαι καί ἄνθρωπον γενέσθαι, καί τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἕνα χρηματίσαι βούλεσθαι, καί τήν ἡμετέραν κατάκρισιν οἰκείαν ποιῆσαι μή παραιτήσασθαι· καί τοσοῦτον ἡμᾶς θεῶσαι κατά χάριν, ὅσον κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν αὐτός γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος· ἵνα μή μόνον μάθωμεν ἀλλήλων ἀντέχεσθαι φυσικῶς, καί ὡς ἑαυτούς ἀλλήλους ἀγαπᾷν πνευματικῶς, ἀλλά καί ὑπέρ ἑαυτούς ἀλλήλων κήδεσθαι θεϊκῶς, καί ταύτην τῆς εἰς ἀλλήλους ἀγάπης ἀπόδειξιν ποιεῖσθαι, τό κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ὑπέρ ἀλλήλων τόν ἑκούσιον προθύμως