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to the enemy; and having scandalized both, in the time of temptation he will find them warring against him.

47. When he who is being nourished makes the food of luxury more esteemed, then the grace of tears, having visited him, begins to comfort him and to make him forget every other sweetness, as these have already been swallowed up by an incomparable sweetness.

48. For him who walks the broad way, tears are constrained; but they gush forth for him who has loved the narrow way.

49. Neither the sinner nor the righteous is without sorrow; but the one, because he has not entirely forsaken evil; and the other, because he has not yet attained the truly good.

60. The virtues that are in our power according to our ability are prayer and silence; but those not in our power, but for the most part of the body's constitution, are fasting and vigil. Therefore, whatever is more attainable for the combatant, this he should pursue.

61. The house of prayer is patience; for it is maintained ((1416) within it; its possession is humility; for it is nourished by it.

62. Not enduring words, you will not be honored with praise; but by looking to the pain before the pleasure, you will escape its sorrowful aspect.

63. Be not bound by the small, and you will not serve the greater; for it is not the nature of the greater evil to be formed before the smaller.

64. Looking to the greater things, you will be fearsome to the lesser; but you will be seen by them as easily despised, having given up on those greater things.

65. You will not be able to reach the greater virtues, without having attained the height of those that are within your power.

66. In whom mercy and truth prevail, in them is also everything that is pleasing to God. For the one judges no one without mercy; while the other shows love for man in nothing outside of truth.

67. Having mixed self-control with simplicity, you will be in possession of the blessedness from there.

68. You will not cut off all the passions that war against you, unless you first leave unplowed the earth from which they were nourished.

69. Some hasten to purify only the matter of the body; others, that of the soul as well. For the former received strength only against sin in its active state; the latter, also against the passion; but against desire, very few.

70. Evil matter is passionate attachment for the body, sensual pleasure for the soul, and attachment for the mind. The accuser of the first is touch, of the second the other senses, and of the last an opposing disposition.

71. The one given to sensual pleasure is near to the one with passionate attachment; and the one with attachment is near to the one given to sensual pleasure; but the dispassionate one is far from both.

72. One with passionate attachment is he who has the sinful element of his thought more violent, even if for the time being he does not sin outwardly. One given to sensual pleasure is he who has the activity of sin weaker than his thought, even if he suffers inwardly. One with attachment is he who is devoted to the freedom, or rather the slavery, of intermediate things; while one would be dispassionate who is ignorant of the difference of all these things.

73. Passionate attachment is destroyed from the soul through fasting and prayer, sensual pleasure through vigil and silence, and attachment through stillness and attention; but dispassion consists in the remembrance of God.

74. From the lips of dispassion, honeycombs, (1417) such as the words of eternal life, drip down. Who then would be counted worthy to touch his own lips to those lips, and to rest between her breasts, and to partake of the sweet fragrance of her garments? that is, to be sweetened by the laws of the virtues, which, he says, are above all the fragrances of perceptible discernment.

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ἐχθρῷ· καί ἑκατέρους ὡς σκανδαλίσας, καιρῷ πειρασμοῦ εὑρήσει πολεμοῦντας αὐτόν.

μζ΄. Ὅταν τῆς τρυφῆς τήν τροφήν ὁ τρεφόμενος προτιμοτέραν ποιήσηται, τότε ἡ τῶν δακρύων ἐπιδημήσασα χάρις αὐτῷ, παρακαλεῖν ἄρχεται καί ἄλλης πάσης ἡδύτητος ἐπιλανθάνεσθαι, ὡς ἤδη τούτων καταποθείσης ἀσυγκρίτῳ ἡδύτητι.

νη΄. Τῷ μέν πλατυνομένῳ συνεστάλη τά δάκρυα· ἐξεβλύθη δέ ταῦτα, τῷ τήν στενήν ὁδόν ἀγαπήσαντι.

νθ΄. Οὐκ ἔστιν λύπης ἐκτός, οὔτε ἁμαρτωλός, οὔτε δίκαιος· ἀλλ᾿ ὁ μέν, ὅτι μή πάντη ἀπέλιπεν τό κακόν· ὁ δέ, ὅτι οὔπω κατέλαβε τό ὄντως καλόν.

ξ΄. Τῶν ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν μέν κατά δύναμιν ἀρεταί, εὐχή καί σιωπή· τῶν οὐκ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν δέ, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς τά πολλά τῆς τοῦ σώματος κατασκευῆς, νηστεία καί ἀγρυπνία εἰσίν. Ὅπερ οὖν τῷ ἀγωνιστῇ εὐληπτότερον, τοῦτο μετέρχεσθαι χρή.

ξα΄. Οἶκος μέν εὐχῆς, ἡ ὑπομονή· περικρατεῖται ((1416) γάρ ἐν αὐτῆ· χρῆμα δέ, ἡ πατείνωσις· τρέφεται γάρ δι᾿ αὐτῆς.

ξβ΄. Λόγους μή καρτερῶν, ἐπαίνοις οὐ τιμηθήσῃ· πρό δέ τῆς ἡδονῆς τήν ὀδύνην ἀποσκοπῶν, ἐκφεύξῃ ταύτης τό λυπηρόν.

ξγ΄. Μή δεσμευθῇς τῷ μικρῷ, καί οὐ δουλεύσεις τῷ μείζονι· οὐ γάρ πέφυκε τό μεῖζον κακόν πρό τοῦ μικροῦ διαπλάττεσθαι.

ξδ΄. Ἀφορῶν πρός, τά μείζω, φοβερός ἔσῃ τοῖς ἥττωσιν· εὐκαταφρόνητος δέ τούτοις ὀφθείσῃ, πρός ἐκεῖνα ἀπειρηκώς.

ξε΄. Οὐ δυνήσῃ ἐπί τάς μείζους φθάσαι τῶν ἀρετῶν, μή τῶν κατά δύναμιν καταλαβών τήν ἀκρότητα.

ξστ΄. Ἐν οἷς κρατεῖ ἔλεος καί ἀλήθεια, ἐν ἐκείνοις καί πᾶν εἴ τι θεάρεστον. Ἡ μέν γάρ οὐδένα κρίνει ἐλέους χωρίς· τό δέ φιλανθρωπεύεται ἐν οὐδέν ἀληθείας ἐκτός.

ξζ΄. Τῇ ἁπλότητι κερασάμενος τήν ἐγκράτειαν, ἐν περιλήψει γενήσῃ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν μακαριότητος.

ξη΄. Οὐ κόψῃς πάντα τά πολεμοῦντά σε πάθη, εἰ μή πρότερον τήν γῆν, ἐξ ἧς ἐτρέφοντο, ἐάσῃς ἀνήροτον.

ξθ΄. Οἱ μέν, τήν τοῦ σώματος μόνον ὕλην ἐκκαθάραι σπεύδουσιν· οἱ δέ, καί τήν τῆς ψυχῆς. Οἱ μέν γάρ πρός μόνην τήν κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν ἁμαρτίαν ἰχύν ἔλαβον· οἱ δέ καί πρός τό πάθος· πρός δέ τήν ἐπιθυμίαν πάνυ ἐλάχιστοι.

ο΄. Ὕλην πονηρά, σώματος μέν ἐμπάθεια, ψυχῆς δέ ἡδυπάθεια, προσπάθεια δέ τοῦ νοός. Κατηγορεῖται δέ τῆς μέν ἀφή, τῆς δέ αἱ λοιπαί αἰσθήσεις, τῆς δέ τελευταίας ἐναντία διάθεσις.

οα΄. Ὁ μέν ἡδυπαθής πλησίον ἐστί τοῦ ἐμπαθοῦς· ὁ δέ προσπαθής, τοῦ ἡδυπαθοῦς· μακράν δέ ἀμφοτέρων ὁ ἀπαθής.

οβ΄. Ἐμπαθής ἐστιν ὁ τό ἁμαρτητικόν ἔχων τοῦ λόγισμοῦ βιαιότερον, κἄν τέως μή ἁμαρτάνει ἐκτός. Ἡδυπαθής δέ ὁ τήν ἐνέργειαν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἔχων ἀσθενεστέραν τοῦ λογισμοῦ, κἄν πάσχῃ ἐντός. Προσπαθής δέ ὁ τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ, μᾶλλον δέ τῇ δουλείᾳ τῶν μέσων, προσκείμενος· ἀπαθής δ᾿ ἄν εἴη ὁ τούτων πάντων τήν διαφοράν ἀγνοῶν.

ογ΄. Ἀπόλλυται ἐκ ψυχῆς ἐμπάθεια μέν διά νηστείας καί προσευχῆς, ἡδυπάθεια δέ δι᾿ ἀγρυπνίας καί σιωπῆς, ἡ δέ προσπάθεια διά ἡσυχίας καί προσοχῆς· ἀπάθεια δέ συνίσταται ἐκ μνήμης Θεοῦ.

οδ΄. Τῆς ἀπαθείας ἀπό χειλέων, κηρία μέλιτος, (1417) οἷα οἱ λόγοι τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς ἀποστάζουσι. Τίς οὖν ἀξιωθείη τοῖς χείλεσιν ἐκείνοις προσάψαι τά ἴδια, καί μασθῶν ἀνά μέσον αὐτῆς αὐλισθῆναι, καί ὀσμῆς ἡδείας μεταβαλεῖν ἱματίων ἐκείνης; τουτέστι, νόμοις ἐνηδυνθῆναι τῶν ἀρετῶν, τῶν ὑπέρ πάντα φησί τά ἀρώματα ὄντα τῆς αἰσθητῆς διαγνώσεως.