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is taught to make from the virtues two more general virtues by composition, I mean wisdom and meekness, wisdom, as being the limit of things knowable, and of things practicable, meekness; for instance, from prudence and justice it makes wisdom, as being the cohesive cause of the knowledge according to prudence and the science according to justice, and for this reason being, as I said, the limit of things knowable; and from courage and temperance, meekness, being nothing other than the complete stillness of the irascible and concupiscible powers toward things contrary to nature, which some have called dispassion, and for this reason being the end of things practicable. And these again it brings together into the most general virtue of all, I mean love, which is ecstatic for those proceeding from it, and draws near those proceeding through it, and unifies those that have begun and been moved and ended in it, and preeminently above all, is deifying. Thus, therefore, the soul, being wisely moved and acting according to the God-perfected reason by which it both is and has come to be, usefully apprehends perceptible things through the senses, appropriating the spiritual principles in them; and the senses themselves, having now been rationalized by the abundance of reason, it receives like a rational vehicle of its own powers; and it joins the powers themselves to the virtues, and itself through the virtues to the more divine principles in them, and the more divine principles of the virtues to the spiritual mind invisibly hidden in them, and the spiritual mind of the more divine principles in the virtues, thrusting aside every natural and volitional relation which the soul has to present things, gives it wholly and simply to the whole God; and God, having wholly embraced it together with the body that is connate with it, analogously makes it like unto Himself, so that through it as a whole He can appear wholly and indescribably, He Who by nature can in no way whatsoever appear from Himself to any of the beings. And perhaps this is what this blessed and great teacher had in mind when he spoke of the resurrection in the Funeral Oration for his brother Caesarius, saying, "And a little later, receiving back its kindred flesh (speaking, clearly, of the soul) with which it pursued philosophy concerning the things there, from the earth which both gave it and was entrusted with it, in a way that God, Who bound and loosed these things, knows, with it, it becomes a joint-heir of the glory there, and just as it partook of its hardships because of their union, so also it imparts to it of its own delights, having consumed it wholly into itself, and becoming with it one, and spirit, and mind, and God, the mortal (1252) and transient having been swallowed up by life." For just as on account of sin the flesh was swallowed up by corruption, and by the flesh the soul (being known by its activities), and by the soul through complete ignorance the knowledge of God, so that it was not even known if God exists, so certainly at the time of the resurrection, according to the good reversal that will take place in the Holy Spirit through the grace of the incarnate God, the flesh will be swallowed up by the soul in spirit, and the soul by God, the truly existing life, as it wholly has Him alone wholly appearing through all things; and, to put it simply, in reverse to present things, in which we now exist and are occupied, the God-befitting grace of the resurrection will show all our affairs in the future, so that just as here death, being strong, swallowed up on account of sin, so there, being weakened, it will be justly swallowed up on account of grace. These things happen if, as has been said, it should use its powers well, and according to the purpose of God, the soul, having wisely traversed the perceptible world by means of the spiritual principles within it, may come to God with understanding; but if it should use them badly, having passed through the present world contrary to the proper reason, it is not unclear how, falling into passions of dishonor, it will also reasonably be cast away from the divine glory in the future, having received a fearful for endless ages

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ἀρετῶν δύο γενικωτέρας κατά σύνθεσιν ἀρετάς ποιεῖν ἐκδιδάσκεται, τήν σοφίαν φημί καί τήν πραότητα, τήν μέν σοφίαν, ὡς πέρας οὖσαν τῶν γνωστῶν, τῶν δέ πρακτῶν, τήν πραότητα· οἶον ἐκ μέν τῆς φρονήσεως καί τῆς δικαιοσύνης ποιεῖ τήν σοφίαν, ὡς γνώσεως τῆς κατά τήν φρόνησιν καί τῆς κατά τήν δικαιοσύνην ἐπιστήμης ὑπάρχουσαν συνεκτικήν αἰτίαν, καί διά τοῦτο πέρας τῶν γνωστῶν, ὡς εἶπον, τυγχάνουσαν· ἐκ δέ τῆς ἀνδρείας καί τῆς σωφροσύνης τήν πραότητα, μηδέν ἄλλο τυγχάνουσαν ἤ θυμοῦ καί ἐπιθυμίας παντελῆ πρός τά παρά φύσιν ἀκινησίαν, ἥν τινες ἐκάλεσαν ἀπάθειαν, καί διά τοῦτο τῶν πρακτῶν τέλος ὑπάρχουσαν. Ταύτας δέ πάλιν εἰς τήν τῶν πασῶν γενικωτάτην ἀρετήν, φημί δέ τήν ἀγάπην, συνάγει, ἐκστατικήν οὖσαν τῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς καί προσαγωγικήν τῶν δι᾿ αὐτῆς καί ἑνοποιητικήν τῶν εἰς αὐτήν ἀρξαμένων τε καί κινηθέντων καί ληξάντων, καί διαφερόντως ἐπί πᾶσι θεοποιητικήν. Οὕτω μέν οὖν ἡ ψυχή κινουμένη τε σοφῶς καί ἐνεργοῦσα καθ᾿ ὅν καί ἔστι καί γεγένηται θεοτελῆ λόγον τῶν μέν αἰσθητῶν χρησίμως διά τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἀντιλαμβάνεται, τούς ἐν αὐτοῖς πνευματική λόγους οἰκειουμένη, τάς δέ αἰσθήσεις αὐτάς, λογισθείσας ἤδη τῇ τοῦ λόγου περιουσίᾳ, ὥσπερ ὀχήματι λογικά προσίεται τῶν αὐτῆς δυνάμεων, αὐτάς δέ τάς δυνάμεις ταῖς ἀρεταῖς συνάπτει, καί ἑαυτήν διά τῶν ἀρετῶν τοῖς ἐν αὐταῖς θειοτέροις λόγοις, οἱ δέ θειότεροι τῶν ἀρετῶν λόγοι τῷ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀφανῶς κεκρυμμένῳ πνευματικῷ νῷ, ὁ δέ πνευματικός νοῦς τῶν ἐν ἀρεταῖς θειοτέρων λόγων, πᾶσαν τῆς ψυχῆς ἥν ἔχει πρός τά παρόντα φυσικήν τε καί προαιρετικήν σχέσιν διωθούμενος, ἁπλῆν ὅλην ὅλῳ δίδωσι τῷ Θεῷ, ὁ δέ Θεός ταύτην δι᾿ ὅλου περιλαβών μετά τοῦ συμπεφυκότος αὐτῇ σώματος ἀναλόγως αὐτά ἐξομοιοῖ ἑαυτῷ, ὥστε δι᾿ αὐτῆς ὅλης ἀπεριγράφως ὅλον φαίνεσθαι δύνασθαι, τόν μηδαμῶς τινι τῶν ὄντων καθ᾿ ὁτιοῦν ἐξ αὐτοῦ φαίνεσθαι φύσιν ἔχοντα. Καί τοῦτο τυχόν ἐστιν ὅπερ νοήσας ὁ μακάριος οὖτος καί μέγας διδάσκαλος ἐν τῷ εἰς Καισάριον τόν ἀδελφόν Ἐπιταφίῳ ἀναστάσεως ἔφη, "Μικρόν δέ ὕστερον καί τό συγγενές σαρκίον ἀπολαβοῦσα (περί τῆς φυχῆς δηλονότι φάσκων) ᾧ τά ἐκεῖθεν συνεφιλοσόφησε, παρά τῆς καί δούσης καί πιστευθείσης γῆς, τρόπον ὅν οἶδεν ὁ ταῦτα συνδήσας καί διαλύσας Θεός, τούτῳ συγκληρονομεῖ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν δόξης, καί καθάπερ τῶν μοχθηρῶν αὐτοῦ μετέσχε διά τήν συμφυΐαν, οὕτω καί τῶν τερπνῶν ἑαυτῆς μεταδίδωσιν, ὅλον εἰς ἑαυτήν ἀναλώσασα, καί γενομένη σύν τούτῳ ἕν, καί πνεῦμα, καί νοῦς, καί Θεός, καταποθέντος ὑπό τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ θνητοῦ τε (1252) καί ῥέοντος." Ὡς γάρ κατεπόθη διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν ἡ σάρξ ὑπό τῆς φθορᾶς, ὑπό δέ τῆς σαρκός ἡ ψυχή γνωσθεῖσα ταῖς ἐνεργείαις, ὑπό δέ τῆς ψυχῆς διά τῆς παντελοῦς ἀγνωσίας ἡ ἐπίγνωσις τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς μηδέ εἰ ἔστι Θεός γινώσκεσθαι, οὕτω δή πάντως τῷ καιρῷ τῆς ἀναστάσεως κατά τήν καλῶς γενησομένην ἀντιστροφήν ἐν Πνεύματι ἁγίω διά τήν χάριν τοῦ σαρκωθέντος Θεοῦ καταποθήσεται ἡ σάρξ ὑπό τῆς ψυχῆς ἐν πνεύματι, ἡ δέ ψυχή ὑπό τοῦ Θεοῦ, τῆς ὄντως οὔσης ζωῆς, ὡς αὐτόν μονώτατον διά πάντων ὅλον ὅλη προφαινόμενον ἔχουσα, καί ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, ἀντιστρόφως τοῖς παροῦσι, περί ἅ νῦν ἐσμέν τε καί διεξαγόμεθα, πάντα κατά τό μέλλον δείξει τά ἡμέτερα ἡ θεοπρεπής τῆς ἀναστάσεως χάρις, ἵνα ὥσπερ διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν ἐνταῦθα κατέπιεν ὁ θάνατος ἰσχύσας, οὕτω καταποθήσεται δικαίως ἀσθενήσας ἐκεῖ διά τήν χάριν. Ταῦτα μέν εἰ καλῶς, ὡς εἴρηται, χρήσαιτο ταῖς αὐτῆς δυνάμεσι, καί κατά τόν σκοπόν τοῦ Θεοῦ, τόν αἰσθητόν κόσμον διά τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ πνευματικῶν λόγων ἡ ψυχή σοφῶς διοδεύσασα πρός Θεόν ἔλθῃ μετά συνέσεως· εἰ δέ κακῶς χρήσαιτο, παρά τόν δέοντα λόγον τόν παρόντα διαθρήσασα κόσμον, οὐκ ἄδηλόν πῶς εἰς πάθη ἀτιμίας ἐκπίπτουσα, καί τῆς θείας δόξης εἰκότως κατά τό μέλλον ἀποριφήσεται, φοβεράν ἐπ᾿ αἰῶσιν ἀπείροις λαβοῦσα