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57. The passion of gluttony, like a sword, by the perfect reasoning of pleasure, has made many virtues childless. For of temperance, through incontinence it kills the seeds; of justice, through greed it corrupts equality; of philanthropy, through self-love, it cuts through the natural continuity. And to speak concisely, the passion of gluttony is destructive of all the offspring of virtue.

58. The passion of gluttony is by nature wont to kill all the divine offspring of the virtues; but it is itself killed by the grace of faith, and by obedience to the divine commandments, through the word that is according to knowledge.

59. (1373) Our Lord is truly a light to the nations, revealing to them through true knowledge, the eyes of the mind which had been closed by the gloom of ignorance, and having prepared himself again as a divine guide for the faithful peoples, a good exemplar of virtue, a model and pattern of the virtuous person for them, looking to whom as the author of our salvation, we achieve the virtues through practice by imitation, as is possible for us.

60. Everyone who out of envy hates and wickedly slanders with calumnies one who is more powerful in the struggles of the virtues and in the abundance of the word of spiritual knowledge, is a Saul choked by an evil spirit, not bearing the glory of the happiness in virtue and knowledge of his superior; and for this reason he rages the more, because he cannot do away with his benefactor. Often he even bitterly dismisses his beloved Jonathan, I mean the innate reasoning according to conscience, which reproves the unjust hatred, and truthfully recounts the achievements of the one who is hated.

61. Let us also call upon the spiritual David, to sound upon the lyre of spiritual contemplation and knowledge, for our mind which is seized by material things, and to drive away the evil spirit of material involvement with sensation, so that we may be able to understand the law spiritually, and to find the mystical word hidden in it, and to make it a lasting possession for the provision of eternal life.

62. Everyone who loves salvation attends either to practice or to contemplation. For without virtue and knowledge, no one has ever been able to attain salvation; since it belongs to virtue, to order the movement of the body, as if checking its impulse towards impropriety with the bridle of right reasoning; and to contemplation, to prudently choose and decide upon what has been well understood and judged.

63. Since that which understands is intellectual, and that which is understood is intelligible, and that which is understood is the food and, as it were, substance of that which understands; it is reasonable that God, since the incorporeal beings are intellects, being Himself understood, and becoming intelligible to them as far as they can attain, illuminates them from within, as the intellect understands and is nourished.

64. Intelligible is one thing, and intellectual another. For the intelligible, is a kind of food, as has been said, for the intellectual; (1376) since that which is understood, which is intelligible, is greater than and preconceived before that which understands, which is intellectual. For those things are called intellectual, which because they are intellect, understand the intelligibles that are beyond them; for the intelligible is that which is understood, which is also the food of the intellectual, that is, of that which understands.

65. It must be known that effects possess the possible images of their causes. For effects are all things that have been brought into creation; and causes, the things that have brought them forth; and there is no resemblance between them, I mean between causes and effects.

66. There is no exact resemblance between effects and causes; but effects do possess the possible images of their causes; but the causes themselves are removed from their effects, and are established above them according to the principle of their own origin. For the properties of the effects pre-exist superabundantly and essentially in the causes.

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νζ΄. Πολλάς τό πάθος τῆς γαστριμαργίας ὡς ἐν μαχαίρᾳ, τῷ τελείῳ τῆς ἡδονῆς λογισμῷ, ἠτέκνωσεν ἀρετάς. Τῆς μέν γάρ σωφροσύνης, διά τῆς ἀκρασίας ἀποκτείνει τά σπέρματα· τῆς δικαιοσύνης δέ, διά τῆς πλεονεξίας διαφθείρει τήν ἰσονομίαν· τῆς φιλανθρωπίας δέ, διά τῆς φιλαυτίας, τήν ἐκ φύσεως διατέμνει συνέχειαν. Καί συντόμως εἰπεῖν, πάντων τῶν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν γεννημάτων ἀναιρετικόν ἐστι τῆς γαστριμαργίας τό πάθος.

νη΄. Τό τῆς γαστριμαργίας πάθος, πάντα τά θεῖα τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀποκτείνει γεννήματα πέφυκεν· αὐτό δέ τῇ τε χάριτι τῆς πίστεως, καί τῇ ὑπακοῇ τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν, διά τοῦ κατα τήν γνῶσιν ἀποκτείνεται λόγου.

νθ΄. (1373) Φῶς ἐστιν ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐθνῶν ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν, ἀποκαλύπτων αὐτοῖς διά τῆς ἀληθοῦς ἐπιγνώσεως, τούς τῷ ζόφῳ τῆς ἀγνοίας ἐπιμεμυκότας ὀφθαλμούς τῆς διανοίας, καί θείας ἀγωγῆς πάλιν ἑτοιμάσας ἑαυτόν τοῖς πιστοῖς λαοῖς, ἀγαθόν ἀρετῆς ἐξεμπλάριον, προσώπου τοῦ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν, ὑπογραμμός αὐτοῖς γενόμενος καί ὑποτύπωσις, πρός ὅν ἀφορῶντες ὡς ἀρχηγόν τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν, τάς ἀρετάς κατά μίμησιν, ὡς ἡμῖν ἐστι δυνατόν, κατορθοῦμεν διά τῆς πράξεως.

ξ΄. Πᾶς ὁ διά φθόνον μισῶν καί κακῶς διαθρυλῶν, ταῖς διαβολαῖς τόν ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσι τῶν ἀρετῶν, καί τῇ περιουσίᾳ τοῦ λόγου τῆς πνευματικῆς γνώσεως δυνατώτερον, Σαούλ ἐστι πονηρῷ καταπνιγόμενος πνεύματι, μή φέρων τό κλέος τῆς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν καί γνῶσιν εὐδαιμονίας τοῦ κρείττονος· καί διά τοῦτο πλέον μαινόμενος, ὅτι μή δύναται τόν εὐεργέτην διαχειρίσασθαι. Πολλάκις δέ καί αὐτόν ἀποπέμπεται πικρῶς τόν φίλτατον Ἰωνάθαν, τόν ἔμφυτον λέγω κατά συνείδησιν λογισμόν, τό ἄδικον μῖσος ἐλέγχοντα, καί τοῦ μισουμένου φιλαλήθως ἀφηγούμενον τά κατορθώματα.

ξα΄. Παρακαλέσωμεν καί ἡμεῖς τόν νοητόν ∆αβίδ, ἐπηχῆσαι τῇ κιθάρᾳ τῆς πνευματικῆς θεωρίας καί γνώσεως, ἐπιληπτευόμενον τοῖς ὑλικοῖς τόν ἡμέτερον νοῦν, καί ἀπελάσαι τό πονηρόν πνεῦμα τῆς πρός αἴσθησιν ὑλικῆς περιπετείας, ἵνα δυνηθῶμεν νοῆσαι τόν νόμον πνευματικῶς, καί τόν ἐν αὐτῷ κεκρυμμένον λόγον μυστικόν εὑρεῖν, καί κτῆμα ποιήσασθαι διαρκές πρός ἐφόδιοιν ζωῆς ἀϊδίου.

ξβ΄. Πᾶς ὁ σωτηρίας ἐρῶν, ἤ πράξει πάντως ἤ θεωρίᾳ προσανέχει. Ἀρετῆς γάρ καί γνώσεως χωρίς, οὐδαμῶς οὐδείς πώποτε τυχεῖν σωτηρίας δεδύνηται· εἴπερ ἀρετῆς μέν, τό τάσσειν τήν τοῦ σώματος κίνησιν, οἷον χαλινῷ τινι τῷ ὀρθῷ λογισμῷ τῆς πρός ἀτοπίαν φορᾶς ἐπιστημόνως ἀναχαιτιζούσης· θεωρίας δέ, τό τά καλῶς νοηθέντα τε καί κριθέντα ἐμφρόνως αἱρεῖσθαι ψηφίζεσθαι.

ξγ΄. Ἐπειδή νοερόν μέν ἐστι τό νοοῦν, νοητόν δέ τό νοούμενον, τροφή δέ καί οἷον σύστασις τοῦ νοοῦντος τό νοούμενον· εἰκότως ὁ Θεός ἅτε νόων ὄντων τῶν ἀσωμάτων, αὐτός νοούμενος, καί νοητός αὐτοῖς καθ᾿ ὅσον ἐφικνοῦνται γινόμενος, ἔσωθεν αὐτούς, ἐλλάμπει, τοῦ νοῦ νοοῦντός τε καί τρεφομένου.

ξδ΄. Ἕτερόν ἐστι νοητόν, καί ἕτερον νοερόν. Τό γάρ νοητόν, τροφή οἷά τις, ὡς εἴρηται, τοῦ νοεροῦ ἐστιν· (1376) εἴπερ τό νοούμενον, ὅ ἐστι νοητόν, μεῖζόν ἐστι καί προεπινοούμενον τοῦ νοοῦντος, ὅ ἐστι νοερόν. Νοερά γάρ λέγεται, ὅσα διά τό νοῦς εἶναι, νοεῖ τά ὑπέρκεινα νοητά· νοητόν γάρ ἐστι τό νοούμενον, ὅπερ καί τροφή ἐστι τοῦ νοεροῦ, ἤτοι τοῦ νοοῦντος.

ξε΄. Ἱστέον ὡς ἔχει τά αἰτιατά, τάς τῶν αἰτίων ἐνδεχομένας εἰκόνας. Αἰτιατά, γάρ ἐστι πάντα τά παραχθέντα εἰς κτίσιν· αἴτια δέ, τά παραγαγόντα· οὐδεμία δέ ἐμφέρεια τούτων πρός ἄλληλα, αἰτίων φημί καί αἰτιατῶν.

ξστ΄. Οὐκ ἔστιν ἀκριβής ἐμφέρεια τοῖς αἰτιατοῖς καί τοῖς αἰτίοις· ἀλλ᾿ ἔχει μέν τά αἰτιατά τάς τῶν αἰτίων ἐνδεχομένας εἰκόνας· αὐτά δέ τά αἴτια, τῶν αἰτιατῶν ἐξῄρηται, καί ὑπερίδρυται κατά τόν τῆς οἰκείας ἀρχῆς λόγον. Καί γάρ περισσῶς καί οὐσιωδῶς προένεστι τά τῶν αἰτιατῶν τοῖς αἰτίοις.