khazarzar-evagrius-ponticus-scholia-in-proverbia

SCHOLIA ON THE PROVERBS. A proverb is a statement that signifies intelligible things through perceptible things. The kingdom of Israel is spiritual knowledge containing the accounts concerning God and incorporeal and corporeal things and judgment and providence, or revealing the contemplation concerning ethics and physics and theology. 3 1, to know wisdom and instruction. For this reason, he says, "he reigned in Israel to know instruction and wisdom." And wisdom is knowledge of bodies and incorporeal things and of the judgment and providence contemplated in them; instruction is moderation of passions, contemplated in the passionate or irrational part of the soul. 4 1, and to direct judgment. To direct judgment indicates that the criterion is right and undistorted. There are three criteria in us: sensation, reason, mind; and sensation is of perceptible things, reason of names and words and things spoken, mind of intelligible things. 5 1, and piety toward God is the beginning of sensation. Just as through the senses the mind applies itself to perceptible things, so too through the virtues it surveys intelligible things. 6 1, but wisdom and instruction the impious will despise. Those who acquire vice will despise wisdom and instruction; but, as I think, no one despises wisdom and instruction by reason. 7 1, for you will receive a crown of graces on your head and a golden collar around your neck. Just as the head and the neck here signify the mind, so too the crown and the collar here signify knowledge.

For this is the habit of the Holy Spirit, to name God and his angels and the mind and virtue and knowledge and evil and ignorance and the devil himself and his angels by many names. But it does not set down the names without reason, as some think; for they are indications of different activities—of God working in us through the angels, and of us in him, and of the demons toward us and of us toward them. 8 1, let us lay hold of his costly possession; and let us fill our houses with spoils. The possession of the righteous is wisdom and understanding and prudence; for "get wisdom," it says, "and get understanding," and "the one who gets prudence loves himself." But the impious lay hold of this possession, persuading the righteous to do something forbidden by God, so that the mind, blinded by sin, may fall away from these holy possessions. Those whom the demons conquer, they despoil, taking from them the whole armor of God—the helmet and the breastplate and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. 10 1, 14.1–2 but cast your lot among us; and let us all have a common purse. These are co-heirs of the adversaries—those who partake of the same wickedness as they. And common is that which does not belong to the one God. 11 1, for not unjustly are nets spread for the winged. A net is eternal punishment brought by the righteous judge upon unclean souls, for the destruction of the wings that have grown badly from them. 12 1, wisdom is hymned in the exits; and in the broad streets she brings boldness.

On the tops of the walls it is proclaimed; and at the gates of rulers it takes its seat. He now calls "exodus" the soul that has gone out from evil and ignorance. Such also is the exodus of the sons of Israel, which came to be after the generation that followed the judgment and teaching of God. He calls the same soul "broad" also: "For enlarge," he says, "your mouth, and I will fill it," and "be enlarged also yourselves," in Paul's words to the Corinthians. And by the soul that thus goes out, wisdom is hymned; but in the soul that is enlarged through the virtues, it brings forth boldness of speech. He calls its "topmost wall" the highest impassibility, since indeed "those who love the law wrap themselves in a wall," and David also prays concerning this wall, saying: "Let the walls of Jerusalem be built," that is, evidently the things of such a soul that have fallen down because of the affair of Uriah. He calls the "gates of rulers" the virtues of the wise: "Open for me," he says, "the gates of righteousness," and "rulers are prone to anger; let them not drink wine, lest having drunk they forget wisdom and are not able to judge the weak rightly." Therefore I also will laugh at your destruction; I will rejoice greatly when destruction comes upon you. How then does Solomon say earlier: "But he who rejoices over one who is perishing will not be held guiltless"? Or perhaps wisdom rejoices in this way, as it rejoiced over the destruction of Matthew the tax collector and over the destruction of the robber who believed in Christ. For wisdom destroyed the one as a robber, and the other as a tax collector.

And if suddenly a tumult comes upon you, and the overthrow likewise comes like a storm, or when tribulation and siege come upon you. A siege is ethical teaching that overthrows the soul that has been badly built. Nor did they wish to attend to my counsels. If the willing to attend to the counsels of wisdom and the not willing to attend are in our power, we have become free in will. Similar to this is also the saying: "If you are willing and hear me, you shall eat the good things of the earth; but if you are not willing and do not hear me, a sword shall devour you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things." For because they wronged the innocent, they shall be slain. Just as the innocent are between the righteous and the unrighteous, so also all human beings are between angels and demons, being neither demons nor reckoned as angels until the consummation of the age. But the one who hears me shall dwell in hope and shall rest without fear from every evil. The one free from passion rests without fear from every evil thought. Son, if, having received the utterance of my commandment, you hide it within yourself, your ear shall heed wisdom. This one hides the commandment of God—the one who does it—since even the demons are said to snatch it away by not permitting us to do it. For if you call upon wisdom and give your voice to understanding. Now he names the soul's freedom from passion "voice," for this is naturally suited to call upon the knowledge of God. So also David says: "With my voice I cried out to the Lord"; and again:

Give heed to the voice of my supplication." 20 2, Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and you will find the knowledge of God. Then you will understand how the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and how it becomes the cause of the knowledge of God. But wisdom and understanding must exist beforehand, so that one is able to understand the fear of the Lord. And we shall apply these things to those who despise wisdom and understanding, but wish to take refuge in fearing God as though it were an easy matter. 21 2, Then you will understand righteousness and judgment, and you will set straight all good axles. He calls the commandments of God "axles," which lead us to the knowledge of God. And David says: "For this cause I was set straight toward all your commandments." 22 2, That it may deliver you from an evil way, and from a man who speaks nothing faithful. The holy angels speak all things faithfully; but men speak some things faithfully and some things unfaithfully; but the devil speaks nothing faithfully, that is, nothing worthy of faith. For he now calls the devil a "man," if indeed a wicked man sowed the tares. 23 2, Son, let not an evil counsel seize you, which forsakes the teaching of youth and forgets the divine covenant. If counsel is a certain movement of the mind, how did it forsake the teaching of youth? And how did it forget the divine covenant? For he speaks to us of evil counsel as of a rational living being.

Or now he calls the devil a wicked counsel. For he counseled wickedly when he said, "I will set my throne above the stars; I will be like the Most High." But he also forgot divine knowledge, abandoning the teaching of his youth, which youth indicates his former state, in which he was also enviable among the trees of paradise. 24 2, All who walk in it will not turn back, nor will they attain straight paths; for they are not overtaken by years of life. "For he loves those who pursue righteousness," and "So run that you may attain." As many as "are overtaken by years of life," these attain straight paths. And "Your mercy," he says, "will pursue me all the days of my life." 26 2, 21.1–2 The good will be inhabitants of the earth; the guileless will be left in it. Those who remained in guilelessness, he says, were left in the earth, that is, in knowledge; but those who fell away through wickedness will come back again through goodness. 27 3, Son, do not forget my laws; but let your heart keep my words. If he who does not live lawfully forgets the law, he who lives according to it remembers the law. And if he who does them keeps the words of God, he who does not wish to practice them destroys them; "for not the hearers of the law," he says, "are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified." 28 3, Be persuaded with your whole heart in God; but do not exalt yourself in your own wisdom. Do not be exalted, he says, having acquired the wisdom of God. And that he here speaks of the wisdom of God and not human wisdom, he shows by what he adds.

For in all your ways," he says, "know her, that she may make straight your paths." Then there will be healing for your body and care for your bones. When the powers of the soul obtain care, then they will say: "Lord, who is like you? For all my bones, he says, will say: Lord, Lord, who is like you?" For the memory-power of the soul, having obtained care, will certainly say: "I remembered God and was glad." Likewise the contemplative power will say: "I considered your works and was amazed." And similarly the desiring power: "Lord, all my desire is before you." And the reasoning power will say: "I reasoned about ancient days." According to these things it will also happen with the other powers. She is more precious than costly stones; nothing evil opposes her. Against wisdom alone are the demons unable to cast thoughts into the heart of the one who has been made wise, not being permitted; for the mind, being occupied with the contemplations of wisdom, becomes unreceptive to impure thoughts. She is well known to all who draw near to her. A pure mind draws near to wisdom; but the impure one will be removed far from her. She is a tree of life to all who hold fast to her. From this tree Adam is prevented from partaking after the transgression, since "from the fruits of righteousness a tree of life grows." But if the tree of life is the wisdom of God, he is justly prevented from touching this tree; for "into a soul that devises evil," he says, "wisdom will not enter." God founded the earth by wisdom; he prepared the heavens by understanding.

In perception the abysses were broken open, and the clouds dripped with dew. What he here called earth, holy Paul named breadth, and what are here called heavens he in Ephesians calls height, and what are figuratively called abysses he names depth, and the dew-laden clouds he calls length. All these are symbols of rational natures, divided among worlds and bodies in proportion to their state. 34 "That your soul may live, and grace be about your neck." He called the soul a neck, the soul that bore the yoke of the Lord. 35 "That you may walk in confidence in peace in all your ways, and your foot shall not stumble." A stumbling block of rational nature is an unclean thought or false knowledge. 36 "If you sit, you shall be without fear; and if you sleep, you shall sleep sweetly; and you shall not fear sudden terror, nor the assaults of the ungodly when they come." From this we learn that almsgiving removes the fearful fantasies that come upon us by night. The same does gentleness and freedom from anger and long-suffering, and all things that are by nature able to calm a troubled temper, since fearful apparitions are wont to arise from the disturbance of the temper. 37 "Do not strive with a man without cause, lest he do you some evil." This enmity toward one's neighbor works some evil. 38 "The curse of God is in the houses of the ungodly, but the dwellings of the righteous are blessed." Ignorance of the Lord is in the souls of the ungodly, but knowledge of God is in the souls of the righteous. 39 "The Lord opposes the proud.

But he gives grace to the humble. Just as the Lord opposes the unjust as righteousness, and the liars as truth, so also he opposes the proud as humility. 40 3, The wise shall inherit glory, but the ungodly have exalted dishonor. The wise shall inherit knowledge, but the ungodly have honored ignorance. 41 4, For I give you a good gift. It must be noted here that he calls the law a good gift because of the one who receives gifts in his bosom unjustly and does not prosper. For there he calls the commandments of the evil one unjust gifts, which the mind, when it receives them, does not prosper in its ways. 42 4, Do not forsake my law. This is the one who forsakes the law: the one who transgresses it. 43 4, Fence it about, and it will exalt you. If it is in our power to fence in wisdom, and the virtues are in our power, then the fences here signify the virtues, which exalt the knowledge of God. 44 4, that she may give to your head a crown of graces; and with a crown of delight she will shield you. The crown of graces and the crown of delight is the knowledge of God, which also shields us, thrusting away every passionate thought and every false knowledge. 45 4, Hear, my son, and receive my words, and the years of your life shall be multiplied for you, that many ways of life may become yours. These many ways lead to one way, the one that said, "I am the way." And he has called the virtues many ways, which lead to the knowledge of Christ. 46 4, In whatever place they encamp, do not go there; but turn aside from them and pass by. The place of this army is wickedness and falsely named knowledge.

47 4, For they do not sleep unless they have done evil; sleep has been taken from them, they do not slumber. If the Lord gives sleep to his beloved, and the ungodly are not his beloved, then the Lord does not give sleep to the ungodly. From this it is possible to show persuasively that demons are not even by nature capable of sleeping. 48 4, For these feed on the bread of ungodliness; and they are drunk with lawless wine. From this we learn by what the army of the opposing power is nourished; for its bread, he says, is ungodliness, and its wine is lawlessness. 49 4, But the ways of the righteous shine like light; they go before and enlighten, until the day is established. Our virtues go before us and enlighten us, until the sun of righteousness shines upon us with his own day. 50 4, But the ways of the ungodly are dark; they do not know how they stumble. The ungodly do not even understand the manner in which they sin, nor do they know the cause from which they stumble; indeed, they do not even know this very thing, that they are transgressing the law, which is the mark of the utmost folly. 51 4, That your springs may not fail you, keep them in your heart. He calls the virtues springs, from which is born the living water, which is the knowledge of Christ. And David says: "The springs of the waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were uncovered," clearly at the coming of our Savior Christ. 52 4, Let your eyes look straight ahead; and let your eyelids nod to what is just. Those who have passionless thoughts and true doctrines, these see what is straight. 53 4, Do not

You should not turn aside to the right nor to the left, but turn your foot away from an evil way. For virtue is a mean; therefore they say that courage is between recklessness and cowardice. Now he calls "right" not the things that are right by nature, but the things that appear right to some because of pleasures; "for the north wind," he says, "is a harsh wind, but by name it is called favorable," calling the evil one "north wind" symbolically, from which all evils on the earth have been kindled. 54 4, b He himself will make your paths straight, and he will lead your ways forward in peace. To these things agree "unless the Lord builds a house" and "guards a city," and so on. 55 5, Do not pay attention to a worthless woman; for honey drips from the lips of a prostitute woman, which for a time makes your throat smooth; 5, afterward, however, you will find it more bitter than gall and sharper than a double-edged sword. The smoothness signifies pleasure, from which impurity is born, whose offspring are vice and ignorance, than which nothing more bitter can be found among things that have come to be. 56 5, 5.1–2 For the feet of folly lead those who use it with death down to Hades. The one he called above a prostitute, he now named folly. David prays on behalf of those who go down to Hades with death, saying: "Let them go down alive into Hades." 58 5, For she does not enter the ways of life; but her paths are slippery and not easily known. If her paths are not easily known, well has it been said: "They do not know how they stumble." 59 5, Make your way far from her; do not come near the doors of her houses. Here he called "way" the mind that journeys toward virtue.

Or perhaps he commands virtue to separate us from evil. 60 5, lest you give your life to others and your livelihood to the merciless. From this we know that the spirited part prevails in the demons; for "merciless is wrath," he says, "and sharp is anger." 61 5, when the flesh of your body is worn away. Through the vices the wicked wear away the flesh of Christ and consume his blood, reckoning it as common; for "he who eats my flesh," he says, "and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." 62 5, I was almost in every evil in the midst of the church and assembly. There was a time when evil was not, and there will be a time when it will not be; but there was no time when virtue was not, nor will there be a time when it will not be; for the seeds of virtue are indelible. And this one too persuades me—he who was almost, and not completely, in every evil, and the rich man in Hades judged for his evil and pitying his brothers. And to show mercy is the fairest seed of virtue. 63 5, drink waters from your own vessels and from your own wells of a spring. Knowledge is both a well and a spring. For to those who have come to the virtues it seems a deep well, but to the impassible and pure, a spring. So too the Savior "sat by the spring; it was about the sixth hour." And the Samaritan woman calls it a well.

For, Lord," it says, "you have no bucket and the well is deep." 64 5, Let your fountain of water be your own, and rejoice with the wife of your youth. If the woman here signifies the knowledge of God, and this was given to us from youth, then the knowledge of God was given to us from the beginning, which Solomon above calls the teaching of youth: "For, son," it says, "let not evil counsel seize you"—speaking of the devil as having counselled evilly—"she who forsakes the teaching of youth and forgets the divine covenant." And forgetfulness and forsaking of knowledge and possession are secondary things, just as sickness is the last state relative to health and death the second relative to life. At the same time this too must be known, that the same knowledge is called both mother and wife and sister. Mother, because he who taught me through it has begotten me, as Paul through the gospel begat the Galatians. Wife, because being with me it brings forth virtues and right doctrines, since indeed "wisdom brings forth prudence for a man." Sister, because I and she have come to be from the one God and Father: "For I said," it says, "that your wisdom is my sister." 65 5, Let the deer of friendship and the foal of your graces converse with you; and let your own lead you and be with you at every time; for in this friendship, being carried along, you will be manifold. If "grace and friendship set free," and virtue and knowledge set free the rational soul, then grace and friendship are virtue and knowledge. And if the deer is from friendship, and the foal is born from grace, the deer is a symbol of contemplation, and the foal of impassibility; for the one naturally comes from virtues, the other from knowledge.

Virtue and the knowledge of God are proper to the rational nature. To be "many" is to have a multitude of thoughts. And a multitude is [a multitude] of those who are benefited. 68 5, Be not much with a strange woman, neither hold [her] in embraces that are not your own. The phrase "Be not much with a strange woman" — some will think it is said concerning external wisdom, with which it is not necessary to linger long because of the deceits hidden within it; but others will take it concerning vice, and will interpret "not to be much with it" thus: that it is not possible for a man to abstain altogether from evil thoughts, yet it is possible not to linger in them; and that he calls "embraces that are not his own" the evil thoughts that hold the soul fast and do not escape the notice of God, who knows the heart. 69 6, Son, if you become surety for your friend, you will deliver your hand to an enemy. Everyone who becomes surety for the friend of the apostles, Christ, delivers his own soul, as righteousness and truth, to the enemies who are accustomed to wage war against men because of friendship toward the Savior; for friendship is spiritual knowledge of God, according to which the saints also are called friends of God. Thus also John the Baptist was a friend of the bridegroom, and Moses, and the apostles; "for no longer," he says, "do I call you servants, but friends." "But provoke," he says, through prayers and supplications, "also your friend for whom you became surety," saying: "Guard me, Lord, from the hand of a sinner," and "from an unjust man deliver me," and "for the sake of my enemies do not deliver me into the hands of those who afflict me," "for for your sake we are put to death all the day long; we were reckoned as sheep for slaughter.

70 6, Give not sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. Sleep is the sin of the soul in act; but slumber is the first impure thought taking form in the soul. Therefore the law also forbids sleep before slumber: "For it was said," he says, "to the ancients, You shall not kill; but I say, You shall not be angry." And here, it seems to me, the law forbids sleep, and the Gospel of Christ forbids slumber, since the one cuts off sin in act, and the other the evil first taking form in thought. 71 6, Go to the ant, you sluggard, and be zealous when you see her ways, and become wiser than she; 6, for she, having no field nor anyone to compel her, nor being under a master, 6, prepares her food in summer. It should be noted here that he calls the ant's natural and harmonious motion wisdom; for the wiser is said to be wiser than the wise. And how is she not under a master, if all things are servants of God? Or perhaps God is called master in two ways, as creator and as known. Therefore Paul also writes: "But now, having been freed from sin and enslaved to God," clearly in virtue and knowledge, "you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal life." But if the ant has no share in such an end, being irrational, clearly she is also free from such slavery; so it is well said that the ant is not under a master in this sense of mastery, and again is under a master, having God as her creator. 72 6, a.1 Or go to the bee... 6, b.1 whose labors

Kings and private individuals are brought to health. By the ant, Solomon seems to sketch out for us the practical way; by the bee, he signifies the contemplation of created things and of the very One who made them, which both pure and impure, both wise and foolish, bring to the health of the soul. And the wax seems to me to hold the place of the account of the things themselves, while the honey stored within it is a symbol of their contemplation. And the wax will pass away—for "heaven and earth," he says, "will pass away"—but the honey will not pass away. For neither will the words of our Savior Christ pass away, concerning which Solomon says: "Good words are honeycombs, and their sweetness is the healing of the soul"; and David says: "How sweet to my throat are your words, beyond honey to my mouth." He called the result of toil toil. How long, sluggard, will you lie there? And when will you arise from sleep? This sleep is naturally inclined to fall upon the rational soul alone; for here it signifies vice and ignorance, from which watchfulness makes one "like a solitary sparrow on a housetop." Then poverty comes upon you like a bad traveler, and want like a good runner. Poverty is the deprivation of knowledge; want is the scarcity of the virtues. The same one winks with the eye, signals with the foot, and teaches with the nods of his fingers. We must take heed here, lest perhaps through such movements of the body the adversaries know the thoughts of ours that are nourished within us, since we have believed that God alone is the knower of hearts.

An eye of the insolent, an unjust tongue, hands that shed righteous blood. Everyone who eats the flesh of Christ and drinks his blood acquires righteous blood, deprived of which the rational soul is said to die; for "the soul that sins, it shall die," he says. And if there is righteous blood, there is evidently also unjust blood, which those gather in themselves who devour the food given to the Ethiopian peoples and feed on the bread of falsehood. And those who sacrifice to foreign gods consume their own righteous blood; but those who offer themselves as a sacrifice to the only God destroy the unjust blood. And the generation of righteous blood will certainly follow the destruction of unjust blood, and the generation of unjust blood the destruction of righteous blood. But this has naturally come to be now, yet from the beginning it was not so; for righteousness did not come into being through the destruction of wickedness, just as health does not come through the destruction of disease, since children are born from the beginning with health. An unjust witness kindles falsehoods and sends judgments between brothers. Brothers are those who have the gift of adoption and are under the same father, Christ, whom the witness of injustice attempts to separate, casting disturbances and judgments among them. And "kindles," as I think, has been added because of the passionate thoughts that set ablaze anger toward wrath and hatred, and desire toward shameful deeds. These thoughts the holy Paul also called the fiery arrows of the evil one, wounding the soul and working death.

79 6, Keep, my son, the laws of your father, and do not thrust away the ordinances of your mother... 6, When you walk, bring her along, and let her be with you. He commands that the mother be brought along, who is the wisdom that begets us according to God. And yet it would have been fitting for him to say the father; for he is more suited to be with the son. But since it is not possible for him to know God before the contemplation of created things, for this reason he commands that the mother and not the father be brought along, so that through the mother the son may see the father; for if she does not give birth to him, he does not see the light, which is the knowledge of God himself. 80 6, For the commandment of the law is a lamp and a light and a way of life, reproof and instruction. For the commandment of the law is a lamp and a light. And perhaps the lamp is the old covenant; "for that one was the lamp burning and shining"; and the light is the new covenant; "for I, he says, am the light of the world." 81 6, For the price of a harlot is as much as one loaf of bread. For the pleasure of evil is as great as one loaf of bread. 82 6, Will anyone bind fire in his bosom, and not burn his garments? 6, Or will anyone walk upon coals of fire, and not burn his feet? This one binds fire in his bosom: the one who allows the unclean thought, lingering in the heart, to corrupt right thoughts. And this one walks upon the coals: the one who through sin in action destroys his own soul. 83 6, Thus he who goes in to a woman married to a husband shall not be held guiltless, nor anyone who touches her. He calls evil a woman married to a husband; for her husband is the devil, who begets with her the lawless sons.

And the Savior also in the Gospels says to the Jews: "You are of your father the devil." 84 6, It is no wonder if someone is caught stealing; for he steals in order to fill a hungry soul. 6, But if he is caught, he will repay sevenfold, and giving all that he has he will ransom himself. But if he is caught by true knowledge, he will thrust away all false knowledge, he who previously, through lack of knowledge, was stealing from the wisdom that was made foolish by our Savior. 85 6, But the adulterer, through lack of understanding, procures destruction for his own soul. Everyone who has shared in wickedness is an adulterer of the devil, who first married wickedness and from the beginning became a murderer of man. 86 6, For the fury of a man full of jealousy for her will not spare in the day of judgment. Here he shows that we shall have the devil as accuser of the things we have done in the day of judgment. And this is what the holy Paul also says: "so that the one who is opposed may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us." 87 7, My son, honor the Lord and you will be strong; but besides him, fear no other. If through transgression of the law someone dishonors God, then clearly through doing the law he honors God. 88 7, Say that wisdom is your sister; and procure prudence as a familiar friend for yourself. Wisdom is our sister, because the Father who made the incorporeal nature has also made this. And by "wisdom" here he does not mean the Son of God, but the contemplation of bodies and incorporeal things and of the judgment and providence in them, of which prudence and knowledge and instruction and understanding are also a form.

89 7, that she may keep you from a strange and evil woman, if she casts at you words that are for favor. The words cast for favor are the passionate thoughts. 90 7, for from the window out of her house, peering into the streets, 7, whomever she sees of the foolish children, a young man lacking in wits, 7, passing by a corner in the byways of her houses 7, and speaking in the evening darkness, whenever there is a nocturnal and gloomy quiet, 7, and the woman meets him, having a harlot's appearance, who makes the hearts of the young fly out. He now calls the flesh of man a window; for through this the evil one works his deceits upon men who wish to walk the broad and spacious way that leads away to destruction. But here one must attend to what Solomon says about wickedness, that it does not in the beginning lead a man away to the broad way, nor compel him to walk in the byways of her houses or to draw near a corner or to speak in the evening darkness, but if it sees someone giving himself over to pleasures, straightway "it meets him, having a harlot's appearance, who makes the hearts of the young fly out." He has named the nocturnal and gloomy quiet the impure condition of the soul, in which, being inflamed, it works out sin through the body. 92 7, for for a time she roams outside, and for a time in the streets, at every corner she lies in wait, 7, then having laid hold of him she kissed him. Those who roam in the streets receive adultery and fornication and theft

thoughts; but those who wander outside these are moved contrary to nature, seeking the bed of males and receiving fantasies of certain other forbidden things. If of the thoughts some are pure and some impure, and if of lines some are called straight and others bent—and an angle is a bent line—then an intelligible angle is an impure thought. That wickedness lies in wait at every angle therefore shows that through all impure thoughts it deceives the soul. And a demonic kiss is a passionate thought calling the soul out to shameful action. 94 7, for this cause I came out to meet you; desiring your face I have found you; 7, I have spread my bed with coverlets; I have strewn it with tapestries from Egypt; 7, I have sprinkled my couch with saffron; and my house with cinnamon. Wickedness seeks to shame the face of our soul through the coverlets and the bed and the tapestries and the saffron and the cinnamon, which signify evil and various passions arising among the inventors of evils. 95 7, for my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey, 7, taking a bundle of silver in his hand; after many days he will return to his house. If "after many days he will return to his house," Paul, gazing very spiritually upon the economy, writes that death, the last enemy, is abolished. 96 7, and he followed her, made foolish. Of herons there are three kinds: the kepphos, the white one, and the one called the starling. Of these the kepphos mates and copulates with difficulty;

For it cries out and, as they say, when mounting it discharges blood from its eyes and gives birth poorly and painfully. These things, then, we have set down from Aristotle's Histories of Animals. And the Scripture seems to have made its expression from the story of the bird called the cepphus, of the man who is persuaded by the harlot woman, being made like the cepphus and becoming like the bird through licentiousness. [As if stirred up.] 97 7, for she has wounded many and cast them down, and countless are those whom she has slain. She wounds us by our thoughts; she slays us by our sins. 98 8, for she is on the high peaks; and in the midst of the paths she stands. Between boldness and cowardice courage stands. 99 8, for she sits beside the gates of rulers; and in the entrances she is hymned. He says that Wisdom is hymned sometimes in the exits, sometimes in the entrances, that is, among those who go out from wickedness and enter into virtue; for he calls the one who goes out and the one who enters an exit and an entrance. And often we have noted this habit of his, that from the states he names those who possess the states, whether the best or the worst. 100 8, understand, you simple ones, cunning; and you who are untaught, take heart to yourselves. Here he has called virtue the heart that comes upon the heart. 101 8, 10.1–2 receive instruction and not silver, and knowledge above gold that has been tested... 8, for wisdom is better than precious stones. Here he has taken wisdom as a kind of instruction and knowledge; for having set instruction and knowledge first, he adds:

For wisdom is better than precious stones, since instruction and knowledge are contained in wisdom, which is first a gift of the Holy Spirit, if indeed "through the Spirit is given the word of wisdom." And this same thing is also called the spirit of adoption. 102 8, 13.1–2 The fear of the Lord hates injustice, both insolence and pride and the ways of the wicked. It should be noted that by injustice and insolence and pride he means the unjust man and the insolent man and the proud man, naming him from his worst disposition. 103 9, 2.1–2 She has slaughtered her own victims, she has mixed her own wine into a mixing bowl. The same food is called both meat and bread and milk and vegetables and wine. Except that the foolish are said to partake of her as of breads and as of mixed wine. But if this is so, how shall we understand "man ate the bread of angels"? A mixing bowl is spiritual knowledge containing the accounts concerning incorporeal and corporeal things and judgment and providence. 105 9, she sent out her own servants. If Paul the apostle is a servant of Christ, and Christ is wisdom, then Paul the apostle is a servant of wisdom. And in the same way also for the remaining apostles and prophets we shall gather the account, having shown them to be servants of wisdom. 106 9, calling together with a lofty proclamation to her mixing bowl, saying. This proclamation alone is lofty, proclaiming places of the knowledge of God. 107 9, Come, eat of my breads and drink wine which I have mixed for you. He did not say "of my meats.

For solid food is for the mature." Do not reprove the wicked, lest they hate you. One must not reprove the wicked who are sinning, but rather speak to them about the fear of God, which persuades them to depart from evil. But to know the law is [the mark] of a good understanding. If "to know the law is [the mark] of a good understanding," then to do the commandment is also [the mark] of a good understanding. Yet doing the commandment comes before knowing the law, since knowledge naturally comes after purification. He who leans upon falsehoods, this one will shepherd winds; and the same man will pursue flying birds. [This means] one who is carried about by every wind of teaching and has suffered shipwreck concerning the faith. For he has abandoned the ways of his own vineyard; and he has wandered from the axles of his own farm. For he abandoned the vine that said, "I am the vine, you are the branches," and, "My Father is the vinedresser." And he gathers barrenness with his hands. Barrenness is wickedness and ignorance. A foolish and shameless woman becomes destitute of a morsel, she who does not know shame. Since shame is something teachable, it has been said, "she does not know shame." And David says that the fear of God is teachable: "Come, he says, children, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord." But if fear and shame are natural passions of the soul, how are they teachable? Or perhaps he calls the fear of the Lord the teaching concerning the fear of the Lord that teaches us how one ought to turn aside from evil, since "by the fear of the Lord everyone turns aside from evil.

And again he calls shame the words concerning repentance and shame that lead us to a consciousness of our own sins. Thus also David says: "I will look upon the heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you founded"—that is, I will look upon the words concerning the heavens and the moon and the stars. 114 9, "Lay hold sweetly of hidden bread and of the sweet water of theft." "The bread of falsehood was sweet to them, and after this their mouth shall be filled with gravel." 115 9, a But leap away, do not linger in the place, nor set your eye upon her. The mind must not linger over wicked thoughts; "for no one will bind fire in his bosom and not burn his garments." 116 9, x But keep away from alien water, and do not drink from an alien spring. Just as there is a spring of life with God, so also with the devil there is a spring of death. And if the spring of God is a spring of virtue and knowledge, the spring of the devil is plainly a spring of wickedness and ignorance. And one must understand the same likewise concerning rivers and wells and waters and rains. 117 10, "Treasures will not profit the lawless; but righteousness shall deliver from death." "Treasures will not profit the lawless," which they have treasured up on earth, "where moth and decay destroy and where thieves break in and steal." 118 10, 3

The Lord will not starve a righteous soul, but he will overthrow the life of the ungodly. If the life of the ungodly is wickedness, and the Lord will overthrow this, then obviously the ungodly will at some point not be ungodly; for after this overthrow the Lord will hand over the kingdom to God and the Father, so that God may become "all in all." 119. Discipline guards the paths of life, but undisciplined discipline wanders. He calls an undisciplined discipline the evil conduct of the soul, which also becomes for it the cause of wandering. 120. Righteous lips cover hatred, but those who bring forth insults are most foolish. He calls wickedness hatred; for through it we become enemies of God. "For if, while we were enemies," says Paul, "we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son." And if hatred is wickedness, then friendship is virtue and the knowledge of God, through which we become friends of God and of the holy powers; for on the basis of this friendship, the friends of the same one are also friends of one another. 121. The desire of a righteous man is acceptable. "O Lord, all my desire is before you," says David. 122. The fear of the Lord adds days, but the years of the ungodly will be made few. If "the fear of the Lord adds days," and "the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord," these days are parts of wisdom, produced by the sun of righteousness, for which David also prays, saying: "Do not bring me up in the midst of my days." And Abraham also, having fulfilled these days, died, concerning whom it is said: "And Abraham died, an old man and full of days." 123. A righteous man will not give way for the age.

But the ungodly shall not inhabit the earth forever, meaning throughout their life. And Paul says, "I will not eat meat forever, lest I cause my brother to stumble," calling "forever" the interval that extends along with the constitution of his life. 124 10, The lips of righteous men drip graces; but the mouth of the ungodly is turned away. Here he has called the mind "mouth." 125 11, Those who have no governance fall like leaves; but salvation exists in much counsel. Being carried about by every wind of teaching and shipwrecked concerning the faith. 126 11, An evil man does evil when he mingles with a righteous man; but he hates the sound of safety. He has called the words concerning salvation "the sound of safety." 127 11, A merciful man does good to his own soul; but the merciless destroys his own body. Here he has called the soul "body" outright. And Christ also in the Gospels calls the soul "body," saying, "The lamp of the body is the eye," calling the mind the lamp—for this is receptive of knowledge—and the body the spirited and desiring part of the soul, which some call the irrational part, and others the passible part.

128 11, He who puts his hands to hands unjustly will not go unpunished; but he who sows righteousness will receive a reward of the faithful. This one puts his hands to hands unjustly: the one who becomes a teacher of evil deeds and doctrines. And this one sows righteousness: the one who sends forth words about virtues and the knowledge of God. 129 11, There are those who sow their own things and make more; and there are those who gather and are diminished. Those who sow their own things and make more are opposed by those who gather and are diminished. But if those who sow their own things are those who sow to the spirit and reap life, those who gather are those who sow to the flesh and gather corruption for themselves. 130 11, He who holds back grain would leave it to the nations; but a blessing is on the head of the one who shares. Similar to this is also what is said by our Savior in the Gospels: "No one, having lit a lamp, puts it under a bushel, but on the lampstand, and it shines for all who are in the house." 131 11, He who devises good things seeks a good favor; but those who seek out evil things, it will overtake them. If the work of a craftsman is a work of good things and is practical

The practice of virtues is the craft of building. 132 11, From the fruit of righteousness grows a tree of life; but the souls of the lawless are taken away before their time. This tree of life is the one planted in the middle of paradise, which Adam is prevented from touching after his sin, having cast away the seeds of righteousness, from which the tree of life grows. 133 12, Better is the man who finds favor with the Lord, but the lawless man will be passed over in silence. "Never be silent toward me," says David, "lest I become like those who go down into the pit." 134 13, The good man will inherit sons of sons; but the wealth of the ungodly is stored up for the righteous. The wealth of the ungodly is wickedness. But the righteous will consume it, clearly through good teaching, either now or also in the age to come, becoming over fifteen cities. And Paul says: "But by your hardness and impenitent heart you store up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God." 135 14, All things are contrary to a foolish man; but wise lips are weapons of perception. For "nothing wicked" opposes wisdom, because it is an invincible weapon; for only the demons are powerless against it. 136 14, The houses of fools will owe purification; but the houses of the righteous are acceptable, so that having become pure they may see God; for this is the blessed end that is kept for every rational nature. 137 14, The bold-hearted man will be filled with his own ways; but a good man with his thoughts. By "thoughts" he now meant the dispositions of the virtues, which he set in contrast to the ways of the bold-hearted man. 138 14, Fools will divide wickedness;

But the unscrupulous will gain mastery of perception. He has set vice in opposition to perception. And if vice is opposed to virtue, then perception here signifies virtue. 139 15, In abundant righteousness there is great strength; but the impious will be destroyed root and branch from the earth. "Unless your righteousness abounds more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." 140 15, The discipline of the guileless is recognized by those who pass by; but those who hate reproofs come to a shameful end. By "reproofs" he now meant the commandments; for these reprove us when we sin. 141 15, At all times the eyes of the wicked await evil things; but the good are at rest throughout. Rest is abstinence from evil. 142 15, The ways of life are the thoughts of the prudent, that by turning aside from Hades he may be saved. He calls "ways of life" the practical virtues that lead to knowledge. 143 15, Acceptable to the Lord are the ways of righteous men; and through them even enemies become friends. As Paul proclaimed: "Those who once were enemies were reconciled to God through the death of his Son." Yet one must consider whether all enemies become friends through the righteous, so that Christ may say to all: "No longer do I call you servants, but friends." 144 16, An oracle is on the lips of the king; and in judgment his mouth will not err. Christ is the knower of hearts, and he will judge the world in righteousness. 145 16, The wrath of a king is a messenger of death; but a wise man will appease him. The messenger who knows the words concerning punishment is called the wrath of God. 146 16, The nestlings of wisdom are more desirable than gold;

Nestlings of understanding are more to be chosen than silver. The knowledge of wisdom is above gold; and the knowledge of understanding is above silver. 147 16, 17.3–4 He who receives instruction shall be among the good; and he who keeps reproofs shall be made wise. He calls the commandments of God reproofs; for these reprove us when we sin. The thought is a fountain of life to those who possess it; but the instruction of fools is evil. The instruction that is not subject to reproof he has now called the instruction of fools. And if vice is the instruction of fools, then the instruction that is not subject to reproof is folly. 149 16, The heart of the wise shall understand the things from his own mouth; and upon his lips he shall carry discernment. He called knowledge discernment, from the fact that it discerns all things. 150 16, A crooked man sends forth evils and kindles a torch of deceit for the wicked and separates friends. The word means that the demons, having learned from the devil to set upon the saints and to try to separate them from the knowledge which by nature joins them in friendship to the heavenly powers. And this same thing, I think, Solomon has indicated through this proverb, calling the devil a crooked man, and the evil demons kindled deceits, that is, those who are taught, and friends the saints who are joined to one another through knowledge.

151 16, He who fixes his eyes calculates crooked things, and with his lips he defines all evils; this man is a furnace of evils. The spirit of dew, blowing gently, scatters the flame of this furnace. 152 16, All things come into the bosom of the unjust; but all just things are from the Lord. It should be noted that here he has called the hearts of the unjust "bosoms." And I think that everywhere "bosom" signifies either the mind or knowledge. But if there is also a blameworthy bosom, it will clearly signify ignorance. 153 17, A prudent servant will rule over foolish masters; and among brothers he will divide portions. If "everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin," then everyone who has departed from evil and through the virtues has ruled over foolish demons has ruled over masters. And such a man will also become a steward of the mysteries of God, giving spiritual knowledge to each of the brothers in proportion to his condition—giving milk to drink to the Corinthian, but feeding the Ephesian with solid food, discoursing on height and length and breadth and depth, and through these dimensions signifying the division of the rational nature, which contains the accounts concerning the judgment and providence of God, being very deep and escaping the human condition. Thus also Joshua the son of Nun divided the land of promise among the twelve tribes, which is a symbol of the knowledge of God and of the things that have come to be by him. Nevertheless, this must be known: that the accounts concerning the incarnation of Christ and his sojourn lie stored up in the knowledge of Judah; for Christ is born in his lot.

I think that the words concerning providence are fitting to the condition of the hidden Judah and Benjamin, names which I consider to be distinguishing marks of different and pure conditions—since Judah, indeed, is interpreted as "confession," and Benjamin as "son of days" or "son of the right hand." 154 17, A wicked man listens to the tongue of the lawless; but the righteous does not pay attention to false lips. This man listens to the tongues of the lawless—the one who receives unjust thoughts from them and hastens to act according to them—to which the righteous man is said not to pay attention, that is, not to nourish them further within himself. 155 17a, To the faithful man the whole world of money belongs; but to the faithless man not even an obol. The faithful man, he says, will see the words of this world, which he has figuratively called the money of the mind; but the faithless man will not know the word even of an ordinary thing, because of the impurity of his soul. And that knowledge of God is the wealth of the soul, Paul teaches through what he writes: "You were enriched in every knowledge and in all wisdom." But if anyone wishes to show that this is not the meaning of this proverb, let him say where those who went about "in sheepskins, in goatskins, being ill-treated, afflicted, destitute" had an abundance of money; and how the faithless man will not have even an obol, when he is clothed with the wealth of many faithless men—I mean of many kings and rulers of this world. 156 17, Faithful lips will not be fitting for a fool, nor false lips for a righteous man. Who

For what participation has righteousness with unrighteousness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? He who hides injustices seeks friendship; but he who hates to hide separates friends and kindred. Through righteousness we hide unrighteousness, and through temperance licentiousness, and again through love hatred, and through love of poverty covetousness. And we hide arrogance through humility, and recklessness through gentleness, seeking spiritual friendship, which signifies holy knowledge. And in Paul certain of the saints are said to have become fellow-citizens and kindred of Jerusalem, "having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets." He who repays evils for goods, evils shall not be moved from his house. If he who repays evils for evils is a transgressor, how much more is he who repays evils for goods more transgressive? Such did Israel become toward God in the wilderness, to whom Moses says in Deuteronomy: "A crooked and perverse generation, do you repay these things to the Lord?" The beginning of righteousness gives authority to words; but sedition and strife precede want. Knowledge follows righteousness; but wickedness precedes ignorance. He who judges the unjust as just, and the just as unjust, is unclean and abominable before God. Like this one is he who says the bitter is sweet and the sweet bitter, and names the light darkness, and the darkness light. Why have riches come to be for a fool? For the heartless will not be able to acquire wisdom. The riches of a fool are his follies concerning his individual affairs.

For through these things, having become heartless, he is unable to acquire wisdom. 162 17, a He who makes his own house high seeks destruction; but he who twists things so as to learn will fall into evils. "But he who twists things so as to learn," because "the Lord opposes the proud," "he will fall into evils." 163 17, 17.1–2 Let a friend exist for you at every season; and let brothers be useful in necessities. If the sons of Christ are brothers of one another, and the angels and the righteous men are sons of Christ, then the angels and the holy men are brothers of one another, being born by the spirit of adoption. 164 17, For this cause they are born "For this cause they are born" by wisdom, so that they might guide men from vice to virtue and from ignorance to the knowledge of God, since indeed "creation itself groans and suffers labor pains with us and was subjected to vanity, not willingly." 165 17, A man changeable in tongue will fall into evils. This is the changeable man who easily changes from virtue to vice. 166 17, For one who takes gifts in his bosom unjustly, his ways do not prosper; but the impious turns aside from the ways of righteousness. For one who takes unjust thoughts in his heart, his ways do not prosper; for he called the passionate thoughts "gifts" offered to us by the demons. Or, the impious will receive gifts in his bosom, so as to turn aside from the ways of judgment. 167 17, But the heart of a fool is grief to the one who possesses it; a father is not gladdened over an uneducated son; but a prudent son gladdens his mother. The prudent man gladdens his mother; but the fool grieves the one who bore him. 168 17, The countenance of a wise man is understanding;

But the eyes of the fool are at the end of the earth, and the heart of a fool is at the extremity of wickedness. 169 17, A foolish son is anger to a father and grief to her who bore him. The prudent son has both her who bore him and a mother; but the foolish son has only her who bore him; for the mother is also she who bore him, but she who bore him is not altogether also a mother. For if the child dies in wickedness and ignorance, she is indeed one who bore him, but she is not a mother, because the child has not partaken of the spirit of adoption. In the same way this will be understood both of perceptible mothers and of perceptible death; for we shall call her a mother and one who bore him, but no longer a mother of the child if the child has died. 170 17, To wrong a just man is not good nor holy, nor to plot against righteous rulers. For they do not seek our goods, but us. 171 17, He who spares to utter a harsh word is understanding; but a man slow to anger is prudent. He called the thought that stirs up anger a harsh word. Or he called the word that stirs up his neighbor's anger a harsh word. 172 17, To a foolish man who asks about wisdom, it will be reckoned as wisdom; but one who makes himself a questioner will seem to be prudent. If this man asks about wisdom—the one who wishes to learn something about wisdom—this man is silent from wisdom—the one who wishes to know nothing about wisdom; therefore the former is said to be more prudent than the latter.

173 18, A man who wishes to separate from friends seeks pretexts; but in every season he will be reproachful. He calls sins pretexts; for "to make pretexts," he says, "for sins." And friends are all the saints with whom he was joined through virtue. 174 18, One lacking in understanding has no need of wisdom; for he is rather led by folly, for he loved the darkness rather than the light. 175 18, To admire the face of the impious is not good, nor is it holy to turn aside from the just in judgment. He who accepts the wickedness that dwells in the devil and acts according to it, this man admires the face of the impious. 176 18, The lips of a fool lead him into evils; but his bold mouth calls upon death. If death is begotten of boldness, and death separates the soul from the true life, then boldness separates us from him who said, "I am the life." And just as death is begotten of boldness, so life is begotten of meekness; for meekness is opposed to boldness. 177 18, Fear casts down the slothful. Fear casts down the slothful—either the fear of the enemy, or the fear of the Lord that separates them from sloth through good works. 178 18, But the souls of the man-woman will hunger. A man-woman is one who is able neither to teach another nor willing to learn from another. 179 18, He who does not heal himself in his works is a brother to him who corrupts himself. And Paul also says, "If therefore anyone purifies himself, he will be a useful vessel to the master." 180 18, From the greatness of strength is the name of the Lord; and the righteous who run to him are exalted. The name of the Lord signifies the knowledge of God.

And through the upright life the righteous run to him; and through contemplation they are exalted. 181 18, Before destruction a man's heart is exalted, and before glory it is humbled. Just as destruction follows upon pride, so glory follows upon humility. 182 18, Whoever answers a word before hearing it, folly is his and reproach. This saying must be applied to those who have not received knowledge from God but attempt to teach others. And David says: "to hear the voice of your praise and" then "to declare" to others "your wonders." And again Solomon says: "what your eyes have seen, tell." 183 18, A prudent servant calms a man's anger; but who will endure a fainthearted man? Just as our Lord is said to become a leopard at a loss against those who transgress and a rock of stumbling against the disobedient, so also is the fainthearted man against those who sin. And he can call fainthearted also the wicked one and every demon that has fallen away from virtue and knowledge. 184 18, A man's gift broadens him and seats him among rulers. The upright life he has now called a man's gift, which broadens him and renders him worthy of the fullness of God, which he names the seat of the holy powers; for the seat of the mind is the best state, keeping the one who sits motionless or hard to move. 185 18, A lot puts an end to disputes; and among rulers it determines. Knowledge puts an end to folly; for this is the lot of the rational nature. 186 18, Death and life are in the hand of the tongue; and those who control it will eat its fruits. Here he says that the soul is of death and

...receptive of life, from which we establish that its free will has come to be. 187 18, He who has found a good wife has found favors... 18, a.2 But he who keeps an adulteress is foolish and impious. "He who has found" wisdom "that is good, has found favors." "But he who keeps" evil "is foolish and impious." 189 19, Wealth adds many friends; but the poor man is left even by the friend he has. Wealth of knowledge and wisdom adds to us many angels; but the impure man is separated even from the angel given to him from childhood. For spiritual friendship is virtue and knowledge of God, through which we are joined in friendship to the holy powers, since repentant men become a cause of joy to the angels. Thus also the Savior calls his servants friends, once he has deemed them worthy of the greater contemplation. Thus also Abraham, having grown wealthy in knowledge, sets out that mystical table for the friends who appeared to him at midday. But Saul is separated even from the friend he had because of his wickedness; for it is written, "And the spirit of God departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord choked Saul," calling the angel the spirit of the Lord; for "he who makes," it says, "his angels spirits and his ministers a flaming fire." And that angels also have been entrusted with men, the Lord teaches in the Gospels: "See," he says, "that you do not despise one of these little ones, for their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven." And again Jacob: "the angel who delivers me from all evils." And Zechariah:

And the angel who spoke in me said. 190 19, A false witness shall not go unpunished; but he who brings an unjust accusation shall not escape. Those who, ignorant of the accounts concerning judgment and providence, blaspheme the Creator, these bring an unjust accusation. And again, those who, troubled by their own passions, think that virtue is unattainable, these bring an unjust accusation against the one who gave the law. 191 19, 7.3–4 A good thought will draw near to those who know it; but a prudent man will find it. He has now called the knowledge of God a thought, and those who know it the pure in heart. 192 19, 7.5–6 He who does many evil things brings wickedness to completion; but he who provokes words shall not be saved. Passionate thoughts provoke the soul to wickedness. 193 19, Luxury is not profitable for a fool. Neither intelligible luxury nor sensible luxury is profitable for the fool. For he will trample the former under his feet, being a pleasure-loving swine; and by sensible luxury his flesh will be stirred. 194 19, A merciful man is long-suffering; but his boast comes upon the lawless. If the one who boasts boasts rightly in the Lord, and our Lord is wisdom, then the one who boasts rightly boasts in wisdom. Therefore the boast of the long-suffering and merciful man, which is his wisdom and knowledge, comes upon the lawless, delivering them from wickedness now in a contingent manner, but necessarily in the age to come. 195 19, The threat of a king is like the gnashing of a lion;

But just as dew upon the grass, so is his cheerfulness. Our Lord becomes a consuming fire and an angry lion toward those who sin, burning up wood, hay, stubble, and consuming the flesh that wars against the spirit; but light and dew toward those who do right, showing them the accounts of things that have come to be, and quenching the fiery darts of the evil one, and cooling the scorching heat that arises from the practical life. 196 19, Prayers are not pure from the wages of a harlot. He called the impure soul a harlot, and he called her wage her condition, from which prayers do not become pure. 197 19, Fathers shall divide house and substance among their children; but a wife is fitted to a man by the Lord. To teach sons about virtue and the knowledge of God belongs to fathers; but to give wisdom to the children belongs to the Lord. For here he calls wisdom a wife; for "Desire wisdom," he says, "and she will keep you; honor her, that she may embrace you." 198 19, He who keeps a commandment keeps his own soul; but he who despises his own ways shall perish. The commandments, in relation to God who commanded them, are called commandments; but in relation to the mind that walks in them, they are called ways. And again, since they were given with heaven and earth as witnesses, the commandments are called testimonies; therefore the mind that receives them is also called a witness, and if it falsifies them, it shall not go unpunished. 199 19, He who has mercy on the poor lends to God; and according to his gift he will repay him. Here he called the purity of the heart a gift; for in proportion to our dispassion we are deemed worthy of knowledge.

A man of evil mind shall be greatly penalized; but if he is a pestilent fellow, he will add his soul also. I think that the great penalty consists in the deprivation of the contemplation of created things, while the addition of the soul is the destruction of the natural concepts concerning God, when the soul has fallen altogether into irrationality. And the Savior also says in the Gospels: "What shall a man be profited, if he gain the whole world, but lose" and "forfeit his soul"? But here the loss indicates ignorance of bodies and incorporeal things, while the forfeiture presents the ultimate irrationality. Hear, my son, the instruction of your father, that you may become wise in your latter end. After right conduct comes knowledge. For "in your latter end" here does not signify time, but the purity that comes after the practical virtues. The fear of the Lord is life to a man; but the fearless one shall lodge in places where knowledge is not visited. If "the fear of the Lord is life to a man," and "the fear of the Lord is instruction and wisdom," then the life of a man is instruction and wisdom. But Christ says: "I am the life"; therefore Christ is instruction and wisdom. So then "to know instruction and wisdom" is to know Christ. The fearless one, therefore, shall be in wickedness and ignorance, in which Christ is not. He who hides his hands unjustly in his bosom shall not bring them to his mouth. He who does not live rightly hides his hands unjustly in his soul, not wishing to work his own earth nor to be filled with bread.

For the practical virtues hold the place of hands, bringing to our mouth the bread that came down from heaven and gives life to the world. 204 19, He who dishonors his father and thrusts away his mother shall be put to shame and shall be held in reproach. Through the transgression of the law he dishonors God, and he thrusts away his mother also, which is discipline, if indeed "a just man is born unto life." And righteousness is constituted from all the virtues. 205 19, A son who forsakes the keeping of his father's discipline will meditate on evil words. Impure thoughts are evil words begotten in the soul of him who has not kept the commandments of the heavenly Father. 206 20, Wine is licentious and drunkenness is insolent. If "the wine of them is the rage of dragons," and wine is licentious, then rage is licentious, making men licentious, and anger is insolent; for this drunkenness is naturally produced from boiling rage. And if the Nazirites abstain from wine according to the law, then it has been legislated that the Nazirites are to be outside of rage. 207 20, The threat of a king does not differ from the rage of a lion; but he who provokes him sins against his own soul. Here he has plainly called Christ a king; for he who provokes him through his sins sins against his own soul. 208 20, The sluggard when reproached is not ashamed; likewise also he who borrows grain at harvest. If it is possible to borrow grain at harvest, it is also possible in the age to come to borrow intelligible grain from those

having worked their own land during the six years and in the seventh year feeding widows and orphans. 209 20, He who conducts himself blamelessly in righteousness will leave his children blessed—those, clearly, whom he has begotten according to virtue. 210 20a, Of one who speaks evil of father or mother his lamp shall be put out, and the daughters of his eyes shall see darkness. The same Christ can, by way of conception, be both father and mother: father of those who have the Spirit of adoption, but mother of those who need milk and not solid food. For indeed the Christ who spoke in Paul became a father to the Ephesians, revealing to them the mysteries of wisdom, and a mother to the Corinthians, giving them milk to drink. 211 20b, A portion eagerly sought after in the first things shall not be blessed in the last things. "For a season" the portion "makes your throat fat; afterward, however, you will find it more bitter than gall." 212 20x, Do not say, "I will repay the enemy," but wait for the Lord, that he may help you. Do not say, moved by pride, "I alone will wage war against the enemies," but wait for the Lord, that he may help you. And David says: "Not in my bow will I hope, and my sword will not save me." And again: "A horse is false for salvation," and "unless the Lord builds the house and guards the city." 213 20, A great weight and a small, and two measures, both are unclean before the Lord. The one called by some a reckless coward I consider to be a great weight and a small; and in general I consider every excess and deficiency to be a great weight and a small; for both are vices.

Whoever wishes to be treated well by another, yet does not himself choose to give rest to others in the same way, has two measures and does not obey the commandment that says: "Whatever you wish that men should do to you, do these things also to them in the same way." 215 20, "The hearing ear and the seeing eye—the Lord has made both." The eye that sees badly is not the Lord's work, but the eye that sees; and the ear that hears badly is not the Lord's work, but the ear that hears; and the same must be said concerning the other members of the body. You will use this passage against those who revile this body of ours and insult its Maker. 216 20, "Do not love to speak against others, lest you be lifted up; but open your eyes and be filled with bread." Through the virtues we open the eyes of the soul; through wisdom we are filled with intelligible bread. 217 20, "A double weight is an abomination to the Lord, and a deceitful balance is not good before him." He calls the balance deceitful when the mind is naturally disposed to judge matters justly, but inclines by the turn of its free will. 218 20, "A man's steps are directed by the Lord; but how shall a mortal understand his ways?" The one who is still mortal and has not died together with Christ cannot understand the ways of the Lord. 219 20, "It is a snare for a man to hasten to consecrate something of his own; for after the vow, to repent becomes his lot." Repentance over good things does not happen to the righteous, but to the unrighteous. And let the unrighteous promise nothing to God without careful thought; "for after the vow, to repent becomes his lot." 20, "A wise king is a winnower of the ungodly, and he will cast a wheel upon them"—separating the chaff from the wheat.

Make them like a wheel." 221 20, The light of the Lord is the breath of men, the lamp that searches the chambers of the belly. If the light of the Lord is the knowledge of the Lord, and the light of the Lord is the breath of men, then the knowledge of the Lord is the breath of men. But the devil, who in ignorance seems to shine, he called a lamp—one that empties the mind of good things and transforms himself into an angel of light. 222 21, To do just things and to speak truth are acceptable to God rather than the blood of sacrifices. This saying casts out the sacrifice through irrational animals; for "a sacrifice to God is a broken spirit." 223 21, To the crooked he will send crooked ways. God will send crooked ways to the crooked; for his works are pure and straight. If the works of God are pure and straight, and one of his works is also the mind, then the mind was created straight and pure by the Lord. 224 21, Better to dwell on a corner of the open air than in whitewashed houses with injustice and in a common house. To the whitewashed and common house he opposed the corner in the open air. And if the whitewashed and common house is evil, the corner in the open air is virtue. A corner in the open air, then, is action that touches contemplation and is illuminated by the sun of righteousness. Well did Paul also call the high priest of the Jews a whitewashed wall, to be struck by God. And the Savior in the Gospels called the Pharisees whitewashed tombs. Well also is the saying "on a corner," where the stone lies that was rejected by the builders and became the head of the corner. And he called "common" that which is not of the one God. 225 21, A secret gift overturns anger.

But the one who spares gifts stirs up strong wrath. A secret gift is one, so that the right hand may not know what it does, nor the left. 226 21, A man wandering from the way of righteousness will rest in the assembly of giants. The assembly of giants is evil and ignorance. 227 21, Better to dwell in a desert land than with a quarrelsome and talkative and irascible woman. And David also says: "In a desert land, impassable and waterless, so I appeared to you in the holy place." A desert land, then, is virtue, which does not have the old men dwelling in it, those corrupted according to the desires of deceit. Therefore the devil finds no rest in it either, since "he passes through waterless places seeking rest and does not find it"; "for he is king of all that is in the waters"; and again from Wisdom: "Narrow," it says, "are the dwellings of her houses." But if this is so, then the quarrelsome and talkative and irascible woman is evil, which makes the one who lives with her quarrelsome and talkative and irascible. 228 21, A desirable treasure will rest on the mouth of a wise man; but foolish men swallow it down. The wisdom of the Lord will rest in the heart of a wise man; but foolish men destroy it. 229 21, A wise man has set foot on fortified cities and has cast down the stronghold in which the impious had trusted. Wisdom is a fortified city, in which the wise dwell, "casting down reasonings and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God." 230 21, He who guards his mouth and keeps his tongue keeps his soul from affliction. Mouth and tongue are soul and mind.

They say the soul is anger and desire, which some call the passionate part of the soul. 231 21, An ungodly man desires evil desires all the day long; but the righteous man shows mercy and compassion unsparingly. It belongs to angels never to desire evil desires; to men, sometimes to desire and sometimes not to desire evil desires; to demons, always to desire evil desires. For "all the day long" means "throughout one's life." Such also is "Be in the fear of the Lord all the day long," meaning "throughout one's life." 232 21, A horse is prepared for the day of war; but help is from the Lord. He calls the mind a horse; for "you shall mount," he says, "upon your horses, and your horsemanship is salvation"; and concerning Paul the Lord says, "to bear my name." 233 22, A good name is more choice than great wealth; and good favor is above silver and gold. He called "good name" the virtue signified by its own name; for that name is good which has the good as its meaning. Thus we shall not praise the unjust woman who is called righteousness, but her who has righteousness, even if she be named injustice. 234 22, The rich man and the poor man met each other; but the Lord made both. The rich man purifies his anger through almsgiving, acquiring love; and the poor man through poverty

He is taught to be humble-minded. 235 22, The fear of the Lord is the generation of wisdom, and wealth and glory and life. "These are the generations of Noah," these are the generations of Abraham. 236 22, Thorns and snares are in crooked ways; but he who guards his own soul will keep away from them. And the Lord says to Adam: "The earth"—that is, the soul—"will bring forth for you thorns and thistles." By thorns and thistles he means sins, from which also the crown of Christ was woven; for he himself bore the sin of the world. 237 22, The rich will rule over the poor, and servants will lend to their own masters. In the age to come, those who have been enriched in all knowledge and all wisdom will rule over the unclean and those deprived of this wealth. But who are the servants and who are the masters, it is not now necessary to publish abroad, because the account concerning them is mystical and deeper. 238 22, God blesses a cheerful and generous man; but he will bring to an end the vanity of his works. The Lord brings the vanity of works to an end through virtue and knowledge. 239 22, He who gives gifts procures victory and honor, yet he takes away the soul of those who possess them. By "gifts of a man" he names the virtues, through which, conquering the devil, a man renders himself honorable to God and takes away his own soul from the demons who possessed it. 240 22, Cast out the pestilence from the council, and strife will go out with it; for when he sits in council, he dishonors all. He called the worst condition a "council," from which the wise Solomon wishes a man to be cast out through spiritual teaching; and "strife" signifies contentiousness.

But "pestilence" can also mean the devil, whom one must drive away from the soul. For if he settles in it, through uncleanness he dishonors all right thoughts. And the apostle shows the soul to be a council, through the things in which he introduces thoughts that accuse and defend: "For between one another," he says, "their thoughts accusing or also defending"; and where there is accusation and defense, there is also a council. 241 22, A king shepherds with his lips; 22, but the eyes of the Lord will preserve perception; but the lawless man despises words. The Lord, who preserves our souls, himself also shepherds us through spiritual knowledge, which knowledge the one who transgresses his law despises. And it is to be noted that Christ, being a king, is said to shepherd us through his condescension: "For I," he says, "am the good shepherd." But if he is a king of kings, and a shepherd of sheep, he will at some time be only a king, when the sheep have passed over to the royal dignity. 242 22, The sluggard makes excuses and says: A lion is in the ways, and murderers in the broad streets. Our enemy the devil goes about like a lion seeking whom he may devour, fearing whom the sluggard shrinks back from the work of the virtues.

A deep pit is the mouth of the lawless; but he who is hated by the Lord will fall into it. Job, not being hated by the Lord, but for the sake of testing, fell into it. Folly is kindled in the heart of a youth; but the rod and discipline are far from him. Far from the heart of the fool is the rod that is from the root of Jesse. He who slanders a poor man does many evils to himself; but he gives to a rich man for less. Just as the devil slanders us, taking from us the virtues that he did not give us, so also we slander him, taking from him the evils that we did not give him. And insofar as we take from him the evils, we take from him as from one poor in virtues; but insofar as we give our virtues to him for our diminishment, we give to one rich in evil. And one of the elders said that we are the slanderers who slander Christ, who became poor for our sake and owes us nothing, and who take much from him and give it to Satan for the humiliation of our souls. Incline your ear to the words of the wise and hear my

...word; but fix your heart, so that you may know that they are good. This man hears the words of God who does what is commanded by them: "For not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified." And you also, write them down for yourself threefold for counsel and knowledge upon the breadth of your heart. He who has broadened his heart through purity will understand the words of God—both the practical and the natural and the theological. For all the business of the Scripture is divided threefold into ethical, natural, and theological. And to the first belongs Proverbs, to the second Ecclesiastes, and to the third the Song of Songs. Do not give yourself as a surety, being ashamed of a face; for if you have not the means to repay, they will take the bed from under your ribs. Those who receive wicked thoughts and in this honor the evil one, let them be zealous with all their power to repay the worse through good thoughts. For if they are not strong to do this, they will receive the bed from under the ribs of the soul, that is, virtue. For this is called the garment of the mind that stands in righteousness; but of the one who has fallen thereafter through wicked thoughts it is called a bedding. Do not remove the eternal boundaries which your fathers set. He who shifts the boundaries of piety shows it to be superstition or impiety; and he who shifts the boundaries of courage makes it out to be recklessness or cowardice. And likewise it must be understood concerning the other virtues and concerning doctrines and concerning faith itself.

But this must especially be observed in the case of the Holy Trinity: for he who does not theologize the Holy Spirit dissolves baptism; but he who also names certain others as gods introduces a multitude of gods. 250 23, If you sit down to dine at the table of a ruler, understand spiritually the things set before you... 23, but if you are more insatiable, do not desire his foods; for these things cling to a false life. For not all can contain the more mystical meaning of the Scripture. The divine Scripture must be understood spiritually and in a spiritual sense; for the perceptible knowledge according to history is not true. 252 23, Do not dine with an envious man, nor desire his foods; 23, for in the manner that one might swallow a hair, so he also eats and drinks; 23, nor bring him in to yourself and eat your morsel with him; for he will vomit it out and will defile your good words. If the envious man eats the bread of impiety and is drunk with lawless wine, and one must not dine with him, then one must not be impious and lawless; for these vices defile spiritual knowledge. 253 23, Say nothing into the ears of a fool, lest he mock your wise words. Say nothing wise, that is, deep and mystical; for one must not cast pearls before swine. 254 23, Do not remove the eternal boundaries which your fathers set; and do not enter into the property of orphans. The property of orphans is vice, through which they were deprived of the Father in the heavens.

255 23, Do not let your heart envy sinners, but be in the fear of the Lord all the day. If "by the fear of the Lord everyone turns away from evil," he rightly exhorts us through the whole of life to turn away from every evil. 256 23, For if you keep these things, you will have offspring, and your hope will not depart. He called right thoughts and spiritual contemplations the offspring of the mind. Therefore the soul is childless that does not have these offspring, which are naturally born from the spiritual bridegroom. 257 23, For every drunkard and fornicator will become poor, and every sleepy person will be clothed in torn and ragged garments. A torn and ragged cloak is not a wedding garment. 258 23, Hear, my son, the father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she has grown old. I heard one of the elders calling the soul the mother of the mind; for she, he says, through the practical virtues brings the mind into the light. And he called "soul" the passible part of the soul, which is divided into anger and desire. For through courage, he says, and temperance we acquire wisdom and the knowledge of God. And courage and temperance are the virtues of anger and desire. 259 23, Are they not among those who linger over wine? Are they not among those who track down where drinking parties take place? These wines are from the vine of Sodom. 260 23, 31.1–2 Do not get drunk with wine, but converse with righteous people and converse in walks. A mind that converses in walks walks worthily of the calling with which it was called. 261 23, For if you give your eyes to the bowls and the cups. The sin according to thought resembles a bowl, but the sin according to action resembles a cup.

262 23, afterward you will walk about more naked than a pestle. A pestle strikes many times and does not open the place it strikes. But to his disciples the Lord says, "Knock, and it will be opened to you." 263 23, your eyes, when they see a strange woman, then your mouth will speak crooked things. A mind that has received a strange thought will meditate evil reasonings; but he who keeps himself will inherit life. 264 23, and you will lie down as in the heart of the sea and as a helmsman in a great surge. Tossed about by every wind of teaching. 265 23, when will dawn be, that I may come and seek those with whom I will gather? Dawn of the soul is the knowledge of sin. 266 24, war is waged with steering, but help is with a counseling heart. Those who suffer shipwreck concerning the faith do not wage war with steering against the spirits that oppose theology. And it is possible to say this same thing about every virtue; for there is shipwreck also concerning chastity and concerning love and concerning freedom from the love of money; and concerning each doctrine of the catholic and apostolic Church a shipwreck likewise occurs. But if one must wage war with steering against those who oppose, our life on earth is like a naval battle. 267 24, wisdom and good understanding in the gates of the wise. The gates of the wise are the practical virtues through which the wisdom of God enters.

268 24, An unclean man will be defiled by a pestilence, 24, in an evil day and in a day of affliction, until it ceases. If vice diminishes virtue, then virtue evidently destroys vice; and this will happen in the age to come, until vice ceases. For he has used "will be defiled" in place of "will be destroyed"; and uncleanness is destroyed either by the practical life or by sharp punishment. 269 24, Rescue those being led to death and ransom those being killed, do not spare. This saying should be used against those who have been deemed worthy of knowledge and neglect teaching, since many are being led to death by vice. 270 24, Eat honey, son, for a honeycomb is good, that your throat may be sweetened. He eats honey who is benefited by the divine Scriptures; but he who brings forth words from the things themselves, from which the holy prophets and apostles also received them, eats a honeycomb. And to eat honey belongs to anyone who wishes it, but the honeycomb to the pure alone. 271 24, Do not bring a godless man to the pasture of the righteous, nor be deceived by the filling of the belly. Do not betray God for the sake of pleasure; for this is the pasture of the righteous, and he will certainly not forsake you. 272 24, If your enemy falls, do not rejoice over him; and at his stumbling do not be lifted up, 24, because the Lord will see and it will not please him, and he will turn away his wrath from him. God turns away his wrath from the one who has fallen, having had mercy on him; but he is angry with the one who is lifted up at the fall of his enemy. For everyone who rejoices over a perishing soul is like the devil, who does not wish all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

But one must note that here he has called the enemy a man, on whose behalf the Lord also legislated in the Gospels that we should pray. 273 24, for the offspring of the wicked shall surely not exist; and the lamp of the ungodly shall be extinguished. The wicked will not bring forth virtues and right doctrines—for these are the offspring of the soul—because they do not fear the Lord; but those who are in the fear of the Lord all the day long will have offspring, and their hope will not depart. 274 24, Fear God, my son, and the king, and disobey neither of them: "that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent." 275 24, for suddenly they will be punished—the ungodly; and who will know the punishments of both? How then does the Savior say in the Gospels: "the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son"? Or is punishment one thing and judgment another? Punishment is the deprivation of impassibility and of the knowledge of God together with bodily pain; but judgment is the generation of an age, distributing bodies to each of the rational beings in proportion. 276 24, a sword is the tongue of the king, and not of flesh; and whoever is handed over will be crushed: "and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God." And "not of flesh" means "not perceptible to the senses." 277 24, for if his anger is sharpened, with sinews it consumes men. The sword of God consumes the old men who are corrupted according to the desires of deceit, so that, having put off the old man, they may put on the new, which was created according to God.

278 24, e.1–2 And it devours the bones of men and burns them up like a flame: "For I came to cast fire upon the earth." 279 24, e.3 so that they are uneaten by the nestlings of eagles. This one is uneaten by the demons—the one purified by the Lord and abstaining from every evil. 280 30, For I am the most foolish of all men, and the prudence of men is not in me. He called himself most foolish by way of privation of human prudence. 281 30, Who has ascended into heaven and come down? "No one has ascended into heaven above except the Son of Man who came down from heaven." 30, 4.2–4 Who has gathered the winds in his bosom? Who has bound up water in a garment? Who has held fast all the ends of the earth? Who by faith, or rather altogether, has gathered those "from the east and the west and the north and the sea" in the knowledge of God and has given them spiritual contemplation to store up in the virtues? And otherwise: Who through true knowledge has hidden false knowledge? Who has stored up true knowledge in the virtues? Who has gathered "from the east and the west and the north and the sea" all the nations, packing them together by the virtues and storing up the heavenly water that flows from the fountain of life? 285 30, Do not add to his words, lest he reprove you and you become false. For to the law of the Lord "there is no adding, and from it there is no taking away." 286 30, Make far from me a vain and false word. Make far from me falsely named knowledge. 30, lest, filled, I become false and say, "Who sees me?

Or having become poor I steal and swear by the name of God. "Lest," he says, "having been filled with the highest knowledge, I become proud and say: no one will recognize my wisdom." Lest, having been filled with inaccessible knowledge, I appear to men as a liar, saying such things as those who are bound in blood and flesh cannot know. And well has the following also been added: "lest having become poor I steal and swear by the name of God"; for someone steals others' contemplations, in order to fill a hungry mind. But this indeed used to happen before the coming of the Savior; but now Paul says: "let the one who steals steal no longer," but rather let him work righteousness, so that having acquired knowledge he may share it also with the one who has need. For what is there that is not ours, that we who have believed in Christ should also steal? For all things are ours, and we are Christ's, through whom all things came to be, and Christ is God's. 288 This one steals knowledge—not the one who receives that of the one who came before, but the one who steals from falsely named knowledge. For all who have believed in Christ, receiving contemplations from the holy prophets and apostles, are not called thieves of others' contemplations, but rather heirs of ancestral treasures. 289 Do not hand over a servant into the hands of his master, lest he curse you and you be destroyed. Do not hand over a mind that has fled from evil again to evil, since indeed "everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin." And sin here is the name for the devil who works sin.

But those who reprove will appear better; and a good blessing will come upon them. The good blessing is the intelligible blessing, which is distinguished in contrast to the sensible blessing. Prepare your works for the departure and make ready for the field. Our Lord in the Gospels called the world a field; but Solomon here has called the contemplation of the world a field. But the field in the Gospels belongs to the human being composed of soul and body; for it is sensible. But the field indicated here belongs to the intellect alone, being intelligible and composed of the principles of this world, into which pure hearts enter. And go behind me and you will rebuild your house. For "a house is built with wisdom"; and "wisdom will not enter a soul skilled in evil." If you let him go, he will become waste and wholly overgrown with grass and become abandoned; and the walls of his stones are thrown down. A wall is the impassibility of a rational soul, constituted from the practical virtues.

The eye that mocks a father and dishonors the old age of a mother—let ravens from the ravines peck it out, and let the nestlings of eagles devour him. These ravens mystically feed the righteous, but punish the unrighteous, gouging out the eyes of their injustice, because they mocked the father of all and God, and dishonored the ancient knowledge that gave them birth. And he called the ravens those that gouge out the eyes of the impious; but those that devour him whole he named eagles, because the former have been entrusted with partial purification, the latter with universal purification. And a he-goat leading the herd. If the kids are the unclean standing on the left by the Savior, and the he-goat leads them, perhaps the he-goat here signifies the devil. Lest, having drunk, they forget wisdom and are unable to judge the weak rightly. They are unable to teach rightly. Give strong drink to those in sorrow, and wine to drink to those in pain, that they may forget their poverty and remember their labors no more. He who is drunk with the fatness of the house of the Lord forgets his pains. Open your mouth and judge righteously; discern the poor and the weak. He calls poor the one deprived of knowledge, and weak the one who is unclean.

The glory of God conceals a word; but the glory of a king honors commandments. He called the one who has the glory of God “the glory of God,” and the one who has the glory of the heavenly king he named “the glory of a king.” For these conceal the word of God within themselves, so that they may not sin, and they honor the commandments by which they perform them. We have often noted this: that those who possess the virtues and the vices are named from the virtues and the vices. Thus “the Lord is righteous and has loved righteousnesses,” instead of “the righteous”; and “the fear of the Lord hates injustice, both insolence and pride,” that is, the unjust man and the insolent man and the proud man. And here too he called the one who has the glory of God “the glory of God,” and the one who has the glory of the king “the glory of a king.” Or perhaps he calls “the glory of God” the one who glorifies God, and “the glory of a king” the one who glorifies the king, so that what is said is this: the one who glorifies God conceals his word, and the one who glorifies the king honors his commandments; for the one who dishonors him through transgression of the law dishonors him. Kill the impious from the face of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness. The one who by the spiritual word puts to death the old man, who is corrupted according to the desires of deceit, establishes his own mind in righteousness—the mind which is said to be the throne of God. For wisdom and knowledge and righteousness are nowhere else naturally seated except in a rational nature; and all these things are Christ. Do not boast before a king, nor stand in the places of the powerful.

For better is it said to you, "Come up to me," than to humble you before a ruler. Do not say, "I will set my throne above the stars; I will be like the Most High." For better is it said concerning you, "Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name." Do not rush into battle quickly, lest you regret it in the end. Through battle he hinted at wickedness. But whenever your friend reproaches you, retreat backward; do not despise him. And the Savior in the Gospels reproaches the cities "in which most of his mighty works were done, because they did not repent," saying, "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!" Grace and friendship set free; keep these for yourself, so that you may not become a reproach. Solomon more frequently mentions a friend and friendship. Therefore it is well now to pay attention to the name—what friendship wishes to signify by it: "For grace," he says, "and friendship set free." And yet the Savior in the Gospels says to the Jews who had believed in him: "If you remain in my word, you are truly my disciples, and the truth will set you free." And Paul again writes: "Christ has set us free from the curse of the law." If, then, friendship sets free, and truth sets free, and the Savior sets free, Christ is the truth and the friendship. Hence also all who have the knowledge of Christ are friends of one another. Thus the Savior also called the disciples friends, and John was a friend of the bridegroom—Moses and all the saints.

And on this friendship alone are the friends of the same person also friends of one another. But guard your ways so as to deal easily with others. He who has been taught about the virtues and acts according to them guards his ways so as to deal easily with others. A golden apple in a setting of sardius, so to speak, is a word fitted to what suits it. Just as a golden apple fits a sardius, so the knowledge of God fits a pure soul. Into a golden earring a precious sardius is bound; a wise word into a hearing ear. Set a precious sardius into a golden earring, and the wisdom of the Lord into a passionless mind. As the going forth of snow in harvest is profitable against the heat, so is a faithful angel to those who sent him. Just as snow cools the burning heat, so the knowledge of the saints dissolves the soul's toil. In long-suffering is prosperity for kings; but a soft tongue breaks bones. Now he has called the irascible soul soft, which breaks the bones that are accustomed to say, "Lord, who is like you?" Bring your foot rarely to your own friend, lest, being filled with you, he hate you. Rarely must one touch on theological questions and not do this frequently, lest we say something of the things not said concerning God and, as being impious, fall away from spiritual knowledge, the mind, through its own weakness—

of one who is unable to gaze continually upon such contemplation. 311 25, The ways of the wicked and the feet of the transgressor shall perish in an evil day. That is, wickedness and transgression shall perish in the day of judgment. 312 25, As vinegar is harmful to a wound, so a passion that falls upon the body grieves the heart. The passions that fall upon the heart are the vices, by whose privation the impassible one is named. 313 25, As a moth to a garment and a worm to wood, so grief harms the heart of a man. Grief is a blameworthy privation of corruptible pleasure; but grief is a praiseworthy privation of virtues and of the knowledge of God. 314 25, If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; 25, for in doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head. By kindness and beneficence cleansing his ruling faculty. 315 25, The north wind stirs up clouds; but a shameless face provokes the tongue. He called the devil a shameless face provoking the soul. And everywhere Solomon calls the mind a tongue. It is not good, then, to be ashamed of this face in judgment. 316 25, As cold water is pleasant to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far land. Thus is the knowledge of God from the land of the meek. 317 25, As if one should stop up a spring and spoil the outflow of water, so is it for an unseemly righteous man to have fallen before the impious. Of the thoughts of the mind, some are called its falls, others its risings, others its seat, others its standing; and others its walking, and certain of them its stumbling-blocks; and others are called hard and soft and fragrant and sweet and bitter and smooth and straight and crooked.

And again, some of them are called thorns and thistles, and others light and darkness and life and death, and others diseases and health; and again others are named falsehood and truth; and Scripture applies many other names both to the soul and to its thoughts. And the names it applies to it, to speak of a few out of many, are these: mind, soul, heart, man, male, female, slave, servant, father, son, spirit, eye, mouth, lips, tongue, throat, belly, bosom, arm, finger, wood, nostril, sheep, kid, shepherd; and there are many more names of the soul, which cannot now be set down because the form of the scholia does not admit of prolixity. Here, then, a righteous mind falls before Satan, having received an unclean thought or a false doctrine. And David also says: "Before him shall fall down all those who go down to the earth"; but this fall contains true knowledge and pure thoughts. 318 25, Like a city whose walls are thrown down and without a wall, so is a man who does nothing with counsel. By "counsel" he means here the inclination of the heart toward the better. 319 26, Like a whip for a horse and a goad for a donkey, so is a rod for a lawless nation. The rod here is a symbol of punishment. 320 26, From his own ways he who sent a word by a foolish messenger brings reproach upon himself. One must not give holy things to dogs nor cast pearls before swine. 321 26, Remove the going of the legs and the lawlessness from the mouth of fools. Remove from the fool the evil way, and put false knowledge far away from him.

Whoever slings a stone in a sling is like one who gives glory to a fool. Knowledge does not fit a fool, nor an unworthy stone in a golden sling. Every flesh of fools is storm-tossed in many ways; for their ecstasy is crushed. If the ecstasy of fools is crushed, by which they stood away from God, again becoming pure they come to God; "for all flesh shall see the salvation of God." And here it must be noted that he called "flesh of fools" the souls grown fat from evil. And so also the Lord says: "My spirit shall not remain in these men, because they are flesh." As a dog, when it returns to its own vomit and becomes hateful, so a fool, by his own evil turning back to his own sin. He who casts off his evil and turns back to it again is like a dog eating its own vomit. The sluggard, having hidden his hand in his bosom, will not be able to bring it to his mouth. If "a tree of life grows from the fruits of righteousness," everyone who hides righteousness by unrighteousness will not eat from this tree. As one who grasps a dog by the tail, so is one who presides over another's judgment. This saying must be used against those who vote for certain unworthy men for the priesthood or for the clergy. In many sticks fire blazes; but where there is no double-minded man, strife is quiet. He called the irascible man double-minded. Smooth lips cover a sorrowful heart. Sorrow will not seize a pure heart; for it has driven corrupt desires away from itself.

329 26. If your enemy entreats you with a loud voice, do not be persuaded by him. Satan entreats us, sometimes tickling us through unclean thoughts and drawing us by the smoothness of pleasure, and sometimes even putting forward a truly articulate voice as though defeated, whom one must not obey, since he holds an implacable war against us. 330 26. For there are seven wickednesses in his heart. These wickednesses are opposed to the seven spirits. 331 27. A soul in abundance mocks honeycombs; but to a needy soul even bitter things seem sweet. A pure soul delights in knowledge; but an impure soul considers even the falsely named knowledge to be true knowledge. 332 27. As a bird when it is flown away from its own nest, so a man is enslaved when he is estranged from his own places. The place of the heart is virtue and knowledge, from which when a man is estranged he falls into vice and ignorance and becomes a slave, since "everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin." 333 27. With myrrh and wines and incense the heart is delighted; but the soul is broken down by misfortunes. A passionless mind delights in wisdom of many forms; but a passionate mind will fall into ignorance. 334 27. Do not abandon your friend and your father's friend. "They abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug for themselves cisterns." 335 27. And do not enter your brother's house when you are unfortunate. Such was the one who entered the wedding and did not have a wedding garment. 336 27. A friend near is better than a brother far from houses. Better is the one joined to me through true knowledge than the one joined to me only through nature.

337 27. Take away his garment, for a mocker has passed by, one who lays waste the things of others. This is what is said in the Gospel: "And from him who does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken away from him." This signifies, I think, the remnants of the virtues and of the knowledge of God in the mind, taken away from men who have used them badly. 338 27. He who plants a fig tree will eat its fruit; and he who guards his own master will be honored. Our master is the fig tree, for its fruit heals leprosy. 339 27. If you scourge a fool in the midst of the council, dishonoring him, you will by no means remove his folly. It is not by dishonoring a fool that you will make him depart from his folly, but by teaching him what kind of dishonor folly brings about. 340 27. You will know well the souls of your flock, and you will set your heart upon your herds. 27. For not forever does a man have power and strength, nor does he hand them down from generation to generation. Attend to yourself and direct your virtues, because men do not always have equal strength in them, nor do they pass soundly from virtue to virtue or from knowledge to knowledge, since the human condition does not easily accept this. And that he calls "generations" the virtues and the knowledges through which the saints are begotten, he shows by what he writes: "The generation of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and wealth and glory and life." And one must use

With this proverb he also addresses the shepherds of the churches, who must attend not to faces but to hearts and shepherd the sheep in a spiritual way. 341 27. Tend the green things in the plain, and you will shear grass and gather mountain hay. He calls the mind a plain, and the green things the virtues existing in it according to capacity; the one who tends them will shear grass, which is a symbol of the knowledge of God, which he again names mountain hay; for mountain hay is the knowledge of holy powers suited to the more irrational condition of souls. It is a custom of Scripture to call the saints mountains. Thus also David lifts up his soul "to the mountains, whence his help will come"; and again: "The mountains skip like rams and the hills like lambs of sheep" at the salvation of Israel. For if the angels rejoice over one who repents, how much more over so great a multitude journeying from vice to virtue. Therefore the knowledge of the holy angels alone nourishes the virtues in us, from which a soul is clothed with bowels of compassion, goodness, long-suffering, humility, faith, self-control, love, and the good things begotten from it. That David also calls rational souls plains, one may learn from this: "For your plains also," he says, "will be filled with fatness"; and again after a little: "And the valleys will abound with grain; for they will cry out and sing hymns"; and hymn and cry are naturally fitting only to the rational nature.

342 28. A man bold in impieties slanders the poor, like a violent and unprofitable rain. If there is one bold in impieties, there is also one bold in virtues; and if the one bold in impieties slanders the poor, the one bold in virtues comforts the poor. Therefore everyone who comforts the poor is bold in piety. 28. Thus those who forsake the law praise impiety, but those who love the law surround themselves with a wall. Everyone who loves the law does the law, and everyone who does the law acquires impassibility and the knowledge of God. And if "those who love the law surround themselves with a wall," the wall now signifies impassibility and the knowledge of God, which alone are by nature able to guard the rational nature. 344 28. A prudent son keeps the law, but he who shepherds prodigality dishonors his father. He calls the mind a shepherd, and the passionate thoughts within it the sheep, which, when he nurtures them in himself, "through transgression of the law he dishonors God." For the prodigality of the soul is passionate thoughts carried out through the body; and the prodigality of the mind is the supposition of false doctrines and speculations. 345 28. He who multiplies his wealth with interest and increase gathers it for him who has mercy on the poor. If the wealth of the impious is wickedness, and wise men will destroy it, clearly the righteous and wise destroy wickedness, leading the impure back to virtue through spiritual teaching. 346 28. He who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. It is not the law that abominates anyone's prayer, but God, who gave the law.

And Paul says: "But the scripture, foreseeing" what was to come—meaning the one who gave the scripture. 347 28. He who covers over his own impiety shall not prosper; but he who expounds reproofs shall be loved. "I said: I will confess against myself my lawlessness to the Lord, and you forgave the impiety of my heart." 348 28. A hungry lion and a thirsty wolf, who tyrannizes though he is poor over a needy nation. If "blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness," then lions and wolves are those who thirst and hunger for unrighteousness. 349 28. A king lacking revenues is a great sycophant; but he who hates injustice shall live a long time. The revenues of the wicked king are vices and false doctrines; for those who are ruled by him pay these in to him. 350 28, 17. He who goes surety for a man involved in a charge of murder shall be a fugitive and shall not be in safety. He who goes surety for Satan goes surety for injustice, promising him that he will render back to him the fruits of injustice. Concerning this the Gospel also speaks, as of one cast into prison for murder and sedition. 351 28, 1. Train a son and he will love you and will give order to your soul; he will surely not obey a lawless nation. A lawless nation is the order of demons, which the trained son does not obey. 352 28. He who works his own land shall be filled with bread; but he who pursues leisure shall be filled with poverty. He who purifies himself shall be filled with knowledge; but the unclean shall be filled with ignorance. 353 28. He who does not respect the persons of the righteous is not good; such a one shall give over a man for a morsel of bread. If the persons of the righteous are the virtues, then he who does not respect the virtues is not good.

And if the faces of sinners are their vices, good is he who is not ashamed of the vices. 28. A grudging man hastens to be rich, and does not know that the merciful man will have dominion over him. Those who are now merciful in the age to come, having been shown mercy by God and having become angels, will rule over the ungodly. And the Lord promised to give such a dignity also to his disciples—to sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And a throne is that in which the mind sits, spiritual knowledge gathering together those who have wandered from the worship of God. And "to judge" here means "to teach," as also "Open your mouth with the word of God and judge all rightly," instead of "teach." And at the same time this also must be known: that the merciful man who has had dominion over the grudging man will not himself become grudging, but will rather make the grudging man merciful. 28. In the places of the ungodly the righteous groan; but in their destruction the righteous will be multiplied. If the ungodly thrust away their being ungodly, they will become righteous; for destruction here means the removal of ungodliness. Thus the Lord also, having destroyed Matthew the tax collector, granted him righteousness.

356 29. A man who reproves is better than a stiff-necked man; for when he is suddenly set on fire, there will be no healing. He did not say that when the flame has ceased there is no healing, but when he is burning there will be no healing, since he evidently still has wood, hay, and stubble, if indeed health can accrue even to those burned after the burner. 357 29. But when a righteous man is praised, the peoples will rejoice; but when the ungodly rule, men groan. All who are under the principalities and authorities and the world-rulers of this darkness, these certainly also groan. 29. A man who loves wisdom makes his father glad; but he who shepherds harlots will destroy wealth. But he who nurtures vices will destroy knowledge. Otherwise: A good shepherd is a mind that possesses dispassionate thoughts, and a wicked shepherd is a mind that possesses passionate thoughts. If this is so, then a passionate thought is a kid, and a dispassionate thought is a sheep. Therefore the Lord sets the kids on the left and the sheep on the right; and he calls kids and sheep those who possess kids and sheep, that is, those who have passionate and dispassionate thoughts. Thus also those who have the tares he called tares, and those who have the wheat he called wheat, naming them from their worst and best disposition. Such is also what is said by Paul, "Love does not behave boastfully," instead of "the one who has love." 359 29. A righteous king raises up a land; but a lawless man overturns it. Christ raises up the rational nature; the antichrist overturns it. 360 29. A righteous man knows how to judge for the poor.

But the impious man will not understand knowledge, and a poor man has no discerning mind. Therefore the poor man is the one who does not have a discerning mind. 361 29. A wise man judges nations; but a worthless man, when angered, is laughed at and will not be terrified. “And at him,” says David, “they will laugh and say: Behold a man who did not set God as his helper.” 362 29. Men who are partakers of bloodshed will seek out a holy man; but the upright will seek out his soul. This man seeks out the soul of the righteous man—the one who wishes to understand the things that have been understood by it. 363 29. A fool brings out his whole anger; but a wise man stores it up in part. This man stores up his anger in part—either the one who is angered at righteous deeds, or the one who through long-suffering consumes his anger in part. And to the simpler sort one must say the former, but to the earnest the latter. 364 29. An interpreter will by no means exist for a lawless nation; but the one who guards the law is most blessed. For those who have guarded the law there will be an interpreter; but for those who have transgressed the law there will not be an interpreter, but a punisher, since if it is not a word, yet a rod is given to a lawless nation. 365 29. A stubborn servant will not be instructed by words; for even if he understands, he will not obey. That no one is stubborn by nature, the phrase “for even if he understands, he will not obey” establishes; for the one who is stubborn by nature would never understand anything right. And I say this because of Pharaoh, who was hardened against Israel and was instructed not by words but by scourges. 366 29. He who lives wantonly from childhood will be a servant;

But in the end he will be grieved over himself. If living in luxury makes one a sinner, and "everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin," then everyone who lives in luxury is a slave of sin. 367 29. Hubris humbles a man, but the Lord supports the humble-minded with glory. Now he calls the vice of the rational soul hubris. 368 29. He who shares with a thief hates his own soul. "The thief," he says, "comes only to steal and to slay and to destroy." 369 29. But if, when an oath has been set before them, they hear and do not report it, 29. having feared and been ashamed before men, they will be tripped up. He called the law an oath; for just as an oath places God in the soul, so also the law introduces God into the soul; and in the same way again, perjury removes God from the soul, so also lawlessness casts God out of it. If, then, he says, when the law has been set, they hear and do not confess their own sins, "having feared and been ashamed before men, they will be tripped up." So also David says: "I swore and I established it, to keep the judgments of your righteousness." And again Solomon says: "He who covers over his own impiety will not prosper; but he who explains and reproves will be loved." And David: "I said," he says, "I will confess against myself my lawlessness to the Lord, and you forgave the impiety of my heart"; and "Speak you first your lawless deeds." 370 29. Many court the persons of rulers, but justice comes to a man from the Lord. In doing right we serve the angels.

For these are our leaders who received us from the beginning, "when the Most High divided the nations" and "he set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of his angels." And the justice that comes from judgment will be ours from the Lord on that day when he will judge the world in righteousness, since the Father has given all judgment to the Son. 371 31, A courageous woman, who will find? Courage is the best disposition of a rational soul, by which it has prevailed over the enemies opposed to it. 372 31, Such a woman will not lack noble spoils. Having conquered the opposing power, we despoil it by learning the principles concerning it. 373 31, She carded wool and flax and made them useful for her hands. A soul cards wool and flax when it exercises the principles concerning living and non-living things, or examines the principles of practical and natural philosophy. And someone said that a soul cards wool and flax when it draws the contemplation of bodies and incorporeal things to itself through practical philosophy. 374 31, 15.1–2 And she rises from the nights and gives food to her household. The [work] from night

The sun of righteousness finds the soul that rises awake, and certainly also praying, so that it may not fall into temptation; for she too hastens to say, "I have watched and become like a solitary sparrow on a housetop." She has tasted that it is good to labor, and her lamp is not quenched the whole night. The lamp is a pure mind filled with spiritual contemplation. She stretches out her hands to things that are profitable; and she sets her forearms upon the spindle. The spindle is a pure mind weaving virtue with virtue and doctrine with doctrine, or it is spoken reason drawing spiritual contemplation from the mind. Her husband does not concern himself with those in the house, when he lingers abroad; for all who are with her are clothed. The mind would not go forth nor come to the contemplation of incorporeal things unless it has first set right what is within; for the disturbance of those at home is accustomed to turn it back to the things from which it has gone out. But having acquired dispassion, it will linger in contemplation and will not concern itself with those in the house; for anger has put on gentleness and humility, and desire has put on chastity and self-control. She made double cloaks for her husband; and for herself garments of fine linen and purple. The reasons of earth and sea are garments of the rational soul, made of fine linen and purple. And another will say that the contemplation of created things and the contemplation of the Holy Trinity is the garment of a pure mind, made of fine linen and purple. She made linen cloths and sold them, and girdles for the Canaanites. The linen cloth seen on the housetop was for Peter a symbol of the sensible world.

For the living creatures contained in it indicated the various characters of human beings, purified by the cross of Christ. If, then, the one linen sheet signified this world, perhaps the many linen sheets contain the contemplation concerning different worlds, which the pure soul, having contemplated, also shared with others. And if the Canaanites are interpreted as "humble," it is well that he did not give the linen sheets to those who are humble in mind, but the linen sheets to the pure, and the girdles to the Canaanites, which are symbols of the practical life, binding round the passionate part of the soul. 380 '31, "her houses are narrow dwellings" If the devil is "king of all that is in the waters" and "finds no rest through dry places," it is well that the dwellings of the pure soul are said to be narrow. 381 '31, "but she did not eat idle bread" They say that idle bread is the vices. 382 '31, 30.2–3 "for a prudent woman is blessed; and let her praise the fear of the Lord" If "the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord," rightly the soul that has obtained wisdom praises the fear of the Lord, which has become for her the cause of such knowledge. 383 11, "he who does not manage his own household will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise" This is a commendation of the fool. Every worthless person is a fool, every fool is a slave, therefore every worthless person is a slave. 384 14, "friends will hate poor friends, but the friends of the rich are many" For the holy angels love the holy because of their virtues; but they hate sinners because of their poverty.