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which will be reckoned sweeter than honey and the honeycomb to your intelligible throat, by the sweetness issuing from them.

118. You will not be able to make the mind superior to the desire for bodies and possessions, and for necessary foods, unless you lead it into the pure region of the righteous; in which the remembrance both of death and of God, having sprouted again, will wipe away every growth of thought from an earthly heart.

119. Nothing is more fearful than the thought of death, nor more wonderful than the remembrance of God. For the one produces salutary grief; and the other bestows gladness. For I remembered God, says the Prophet, and I was gladdened. And the Wise one: Remember your last end, and you will not sin. For it is impossible for anyone to be in possession of the second, without having experienced the astringency of the first.

120. As long as the mind does not see the glory of God with an unveiled face, the soul cannot say in its perception: But I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in his salvation. For the veil of self-love lies upon its heart, so that the foundations of the world are not revealed to it, which are the principles of created things, which is not removed from it, without voluntary and involuntary labors.

121. Not after the flight from Egypt; which is sin in action; nor after the crossing of the sea, I mean the bondage in state; but after the sojourn in the desert, lying between actions and movements of evil, the leader of the people of Israel is able to spy out the land of promise, which is dispassion, sending out his faculty of sight and faculty of observation.

122. Those dwelling in the desert, that is, in the inactivity of evil, by hearing alone the good things of that blessed land. . . but those who have spied out the things in it, have come to be, that is, in contemplation of the soul's thoughts on things seen. But those deemed worthy to enter into it, with the whole sense of the things flowing from it like milk and honey, of the first, I say, and second contemplation, were filled with its principles.

123. He has not yet been crucified with Christ, who still has natural movements of the flesh; nor has he been buried with him, who is drawn along by soulish thoughts; how then shall such a one rise with him, to live in newness of life.

124. (1420) Of the three most comprehensive virtues of the soul's substance, fasting, prayer, and silence, it is necessary for the one about to be released from prayer to rest in contemplation; for the one from silence, in ethical discourse, and for the one fasting, in a second and pleasing nourishment.

125. As long as the mind abides in its own things, it preserves the "according to the likeness," being found to be good and compassionate. But having come to be among the things of sense, if it descends readily and [not] fittingly, giving and receiving trial, growing strong in those things, and again returns to itself, around the time and the need, it will be found like an imprudent general, having much of its power cut away in the fighting. However, not all will be found outside of that, as many as were not strong enough to be within what is contained.

126. The sensible sun makes its own rays foreign from a closed house; but the intelligible sun would not send forth its own rays to the soul that does not have its senses closed from things seen.

127. He is a gnostic, the one who disposes his own descents magnificently; but the ascents of the soul humbly.

128. A bee, for its part, roaming a meadow, procures from there the resources for its honey; but a soul, looking around into the ages, sends forth from there a varied sweetness into the intellect.

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οἵτινες ὑπέρ μέλι καί κηρίον τῷ νοητῷ σου λογισθήσονται λάρυγγι, τῇ ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν ἐκδιδομένῃ ἡδύτητι.

ριη΄. Οὐ δυνήσῃ σωμάτων καί χρημάτων, καί τῆς τῶν ἀναγκαίων βρωμάτων ἐπιθυμίας ὑπέρτερον ποιῆσαι τόν νοῦν, εἰ μή ἐν τῇ καθαρᾷ τῶν δικαίων χώρᾳ εἰσάξῃς αὐτόν· καθ᾿ ἥν, ἥ τε τοῦ θανάτου καί ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ μνήμη ἐπαναβλαστήσασα, ἀπό γηΐνης καρδίας ἀπαλείψει πᾶν ἐνθυμίου ἀνάστημα.

ριθ΄. Οὐδέν οὔτε ἐννοίας θανάτου φοβερώτερον, οὔτε Θεοῦ μνήμης θαυμασιώτερον. Ἡ μέν γάρ ἐστι λύπης σωτηριούδους παρεκτική· ἡ δέ, εὐφροσύνης χαριστική. Ἐμνήσθην γάρ, φησίν ὁ Προφήτης, τοῦ Θεοῦ, καί ηὐφράνθην. Καί ὁ Σοφός· Μιμνήσκου τά ἔσχατά σου, καί οὐχ ἁμαρτήσεις. Ἀδύνατον γάρ τινα τοῦ δευτέρου ἐν κατασχέσει γενέσθαι, μή πεῖραν τῆς τοῦ προτέρου λαβόντα στυφότητος.

ρκ΄. Ἕως ἄν τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ δόξαν ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ οὐκ ἴδῃ ὁ νοῦς, οὐ δύναται ἡ ψυχή λέγειν ἐν αἰσθήσει αὐτῆς· Ἐγώ δέ ἐπί τῷ Κυρίῳ τερφθήσομαι· ἀγαλλιάσομαι ἐπί τῷ σωτηρίῳ αὐτοῦ. Κάλλυμα γάρ κεῖται τό τῆς φιλαυτίας ἐπί τήν καρδίαν αὐτῆς, πρός τό μή ἀνακαλυφθῆναι αὐτῇ τά θεμέλια τῆς οἰκουμένης, ἅτινά εἰσιν οἱ λόγοι τῶν γεγονότων, ὅπερ ἐξ αὐτῆς οὐ περιειρεῖται, ἑκουσίων πόνων καί ἀκουσίων χωρίς.

ρκα΄. Οὐ μετά τήν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου φυγήν· ἥτις ἐστίν ἡ κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν ἁμαρτία· οὐδέ μετά τήν θαλάσσης διάβασιν, τῆς κατά σχέσιν λέγω δουλείας· ἀλλά μετά τήν ἐν ἐρήμῳ διατριβήν, μεταξύ κειμένην ἐνεργημάτων καί κινημάτων κακίας, τοῦ Ἰσραήλ ὁ δημαγωγός κατασκοπεῖν δύναται τήν γῆν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, ἥτις ἐστίν ἡ ἀπάθεια, τήν ὀπτικήν ἀποστέλλων καί ἐποπτικήν αὐτοῦ δύναμιν.

ρκβ΄. Οἱ μέν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καθήμενοι, τουτέστιν, ἐν τῇ τῶν κακῶν ἀνενεργησία, ἀκοῇ μόνῃ τῆς μακαρίας ἐκείνης γῆς τά ἀγαθά. . . οἱ δέ τά ἐν ἐκείνῃ κατασκοπήσαντες, ἐν περινοίᾳ δηλονότι ψυχῆς τῶν ὀρωμένων θεωρίας γεγόνασι. Οἱ δέ καταξιωθέντες ἐν αὐτῇ εἰσελθεῖν, ὅλῃ τῇ αἰσθήσει τῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀποῤῥεόντων ὡς γάλα καί μέλι, τῆς πρώτης φημί καί δευτέρας θεωρίας, λόγων ἐνεφορήθησαν.

ρκγ΄. Οὔπω συνεσταυρώθη Χριστῷ, ὁ ἔτι φυσικάς κινήσεις ἔχων σαρκός· οὐδέ συνετάφη, ὁ ψυχικάς ἐνθυμήσεις ἐπισυρόμενος· πῶς οὖν συναναστῇ αὐτῷ ὁ τοιοῦτος, ἐν καινότητι ζωῆς πολιτεύεσθαι.

ρκδ΄. (1420) Τριῶν οὐσιῶν τῆς ψυχῆς περιεκτικωτέρων ἀρετῶν, νηστείας, εὐχῆς τε καί σιωπῆς, ἀναγκαῖον τόν μέν ἐξ εὐχῆς λύεσθαι μέλλοντα, εἰς τήν θεωρίαν ἐπαναπαύεσθαι· τόν δέ ἐκ σιωπῆς, εἰς ἠθικήν ὁμιλίαν, εἰς δευτέραν καί κεχαρισμένην τροφήν τόν νηστεύοντα.

ρκε΄. Ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις ἕως ὑπάρχει ὁ νοῦς, σώζει τό καθ᾿ ὁμοίωσιν, ἀγαθός τε καί συμπαθῆς εὑρισκόμενος. Ἐν δέ τοῖς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν γεγονώς, εἰ μέν εὐχερῶς καί [μή] προσηκόντως κατέρχεται, πεῖραν διδούς καί λαμβάνων, ἐν ἐκείνοις εὐρωστῶν, αὖθίς τε πρός ἑαυτόν ἐπανέρχεται, περί τόν καιρόν καί τήν χρείαν, ὥς τις στρατηγός ἀπερίσκεπτος εὑρεθήσεται, τό πολύ αὐτοῦ ὑποτεμνόμενος τῆς δυνάμεως ἐν τῷ μάχεσθαι. Πλήν οὐ πάντες ἐκείνου ἐκτός εὑρεθήσονται, ὅσοι ἐντός τοῦ ἐμπεριεχομένου γενέσθαι οὐκ ἴσχυσαν.

ρκστ΄. Ὁ μέν αἰσθητός ἥλιος, ξένας τάς ἑαυτοῦ ἐκτῖνας ἐξ οἰκίας κεκλεισμένης καθίστησι· οὐκ ἄν δέ τάς οἰκείας ὁ νοητός ἐπαφήσει, τῇ μή κεκλεισμένας ἐχούσῃ τάς αἰσθήσεις ἀπό τῶν ὁρωμένων ψυχῇ.

ρκζ΄. Γνωστικός ἐστιν, ὁ τάς μέν καταβάσεις αὐτοῦ μεγαλοπρεπῶς· ταπεινοπρεπῶς δέ τῆς ψυχῆς τάς ἀναβάσεις διατιθέμενος.

ρκη΄. Μέλιττα μέν λειμῶνα περινοστοῦσα, ἐκεῖθεν τῷ μέλιτι τάς ἀφορμάς προσπορίζεται· ψυχή δέ εἰς αἰῶνας περισκοποῦσα, ποικίλον αὐτόθεν τόν γλυκασμόν τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐνίησιν.