Οὐ πνεῦμα καὶ πῦρ καὶ φῶς, ἀγάπη τε καὶ σοφία
καὶ δικαιοσύνη, καὶ νοῦς καὶ λόγος, καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, αἱ
προσηγορίαι τῆς πρώτης φύσεως; τί οὖν; ἢ πνεῦμα
νοήσεις δίχα φορᾶς καὶ χύσεως; ἢ πῦρ ἔξω τῆς ὕλης, καὶ
τῆς ἄνω φορᾶς, καὶ τοῦ ἰδίου χρώματός τε καὶ σχήματος; ἢ 
φῶς οὐκ ἀέρι σύγκρατόν τε καὶ ἄφετόν τοῦ οἷον γεννῶντός
 4 om ο θεῖος c II 5 προβεβλημένοις cde || 6 υπερβηναι] ἐστιν υπερβαινειν
‘Reg. Cypr.’ ΙΙ 10 σωμασι] -τι e 13. 18 πρωτης] θείας df ||
19 χυσεως] συγχύσεως d 
 7. οἷς ἐπιμελές] ‘who make it
their business.’ i.e.
 ἐκεῖνο] viz. what follows.
ib. τοῖς δ. τῆς γῆς] Lam. iii 34.
 τὸ π. τ σαρκίον] Cp. § 4.
ib. περιβεβλημένοις] The read-
ing προβ., though perh. less strongly
by the MSS., has in its
favour Gr.'s characteristic use of
πρόβλημα; see iv 6. 
 7. φθάνει κτλ.] ‘it always anti-
cipates your movement by just the
step you take to catch it.’ 
 9. τῶν ὑδάτων ἀῶ] Ἔξω comes
after its case. Νηκτήν from νήχω
‘to swim’; ν. φύσις, ’the
kind,’ i.e. fish Διολισθ. to glide
along.’ Cp. § 24. 
 13. The most abstract conceptions
have to be conveyed in language of a
concrete nature, through which the
mind, in its longing after God, strugsupported
gles with difficulty. 
 18. τῆς πρ. φύσεως] Cp. § 3, 7, 14. 
 19. φορᾶς κ. χύσεως] ‘movement
and effusion: χύσις seems to refer
to the source, from which the breath
(wind) isemitted. Cp. χεόμενον below. 
 21. σύγκρατόν τε] a curioua use
of τε, which is here attached to the
whole phrase οὐκ ἁ. σύγκρατον, not
merely to σύγκρ., unless we are to
suppose that Gr. at first intended to
say instead of ἄφετόν τ. οἷον γ., ‘detached
from that which generates it,
so to speak? some word like σύνδετον,
‘connected with.’ 

 
τε καὶ φωτίζοντος; νοῦν δὲ τίνα; μὴ τὸν ἐν ἄλλῳ, καὶ
οὗ κινήματα τὰ διανοήματα, ἠρεμοῦντα ἢ προβαλλόμενα;
λόγον δὲ τίνα παρὰ τὸν ἡσυχάζοντα ἐν ἡμῖν, ἢ
χεόμενον; ὀκνῶ γὰρ εἰπεῖν, λυόμενον. εἰ δὲ καὶ σοφίαν,
 τίνα παρὰ τὴν ἕξιν, καὶ τὴν ἐν τοῖς θεωρήμασιν, εἴτε
θείοις, εἴτε καὶ ἀνθρωπίνοις; δικαιοσύνην τε καὶ ἀγάπην,
οὐ διαθέσεις ἐπαινουμένας, καὶ τὴν μὲν τῆς ἀδικίας, τὴν
δὲ τοῦ μίσους ἀντίπαλον, ἐπιτεινομένας τε καὶ ἀνιεμένας,
προσγινομένας τε καὶ ἀπογινομένας, καὶ ὅλως ποιούσας
 ἡμᾶς καὶ ἀλλοιούσας, ὥσπερ αἱ χρόαι τὰ σώματα; ἢ δεῖ
τούτων ἀποστάντας ἡμᾶς αὐτὸ καθ’ ἑαυτὸ τὸ θεῖον ἐκ τούτων
ἰδεῖν, ὡς οἷόν τε, μερικήν τινα φαντασίαν ἐκ τῶν εἰκασμάτων
 1 μὴ] η c: εἰ μὴ d || ἐν] ἐπ’ e || 2 om τὰ διανοήματα f ǁ 5 ἐν τοῖς] + νοήμασι
καὶ ’Reg. a’ ΙΙ 8 ἀνιεμένας] ἀνειμένας b ‘aliique’ || 9 om
ἀπογινομένας e: προγινομένας f ǁ 11 om ἐκ τούτων def 
 1. μὴ τὸν ἐν ἄλλῳ] Μῆ here expects
the affirmative answer: ‘is it
not?’ We cannot think of νοῦς
existing independently, but as a
faculty of something or some one. 
 2. οὗ κινήμ. τὰ δ.] not ‘whose
movements are thoughts,’ but
movements thoughts are.’ The
is that we cannot imagine thoughts,
uttered or unuttered, without some
kind of movement, which involves
a change, in the mind which thinks
them. 
 4. χεόμενον] The word is often
used of producing a sound. Gr.
uses it here to bring out the notion
of dissipation inseparable from
utterance. He shrinks however
from saying ‘dissolved,’ ‘persihsing’
λυόμ.), because, although the sound
comes to an end, there is a sense in
which the ‘word’ remains. What
Gr. means by λυόμενον is made clear
by iv 17 λυομένη φωνῇ. 
 5. τὴν ἕξιν, κ. τ. ἐν τ. θεωρ.]
Wisdom can only be conceived of
as a ‘habit’ (the Aristotelian word)
of some personal subject, and occupied
upon some object. It cannot
be conceived of as isolated and self-
existent. 
 7. διαθέσεις] In the same way
‘righteousness,’ ‘love,’ are ‘dispositions’
of a person, not abstract
things; and for us they derive their
meaning from a contrast with their
opposites. Tey are, moreover,
constantly changing, and the subject
in which they reside varies ac-
cordingly. 
 11. τούτων ἀποστ.] The ταῦτα
must mean the relative notions which
Gr. has shewn to be inseparable
from the προσηγορίαι which he has
discussed. He cannot mean the
προσηγ. themselves, because he goes
on to use them as εἰκάσματα. In
the next sentence τούτων = τῶν εἰκασ-
μάτων. 

 
συλλεγομένους; τίς οὖν ἡ μηχανὴ ἐκ τούτων τε καὶ μὴ
ταῦτα; ἢ πῶς ταῦτα πάντα, καὶ τελείως ἕκαστον, τὸ ἓν
τῇ φύσει ἀσύνθετον καὶ ἀνείκαστον; οὕτω κάμνει ἐκβῆναι
τὰ σωματικὰ ὁ ἡμέτερος νοῦς, καὶ γυμνοῖς ὁμιλῆσαι τοῖς
ἀσωμάτοις, ἕως σκοπεῖ μετὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀσθενείας τὰ ὑπὲρ 
δύναμιν. ἐπεὶ ἐφίεται μὲν πᾶσα λογικὴ φύσις θεοῦ καὶ
τῆς πρώτης αἰτίας· καταλαβεῖν δὲ ἀδυνατεῖ, δι’ ἃς εἶπον
αἰτίας. κάμνουσα δὲ τῷ πόθῳ, καὶ οἷον σφαδάζουσα, καὶ
τὴν ζημίαν οὐ φέρουσα, δεύτερον ποιεῖται πλοῦν, ἢ πρὸς
τὰ ὁρώμενα βλέψαι, καὶ τούτων τι ποιῆσαι θεόν, κακῶς 
εἰδυῖα,—τί γὰρ τῶν ὁρατῶν τοῦ ὁρῶντος καὶ πόσον ἐστὶν
ὑψηλότερόν τε καὶ θεοειδέστερον, ἵν ἦ τὸ μὲν προσκυνοῦν,
τὸ δὲ προσκυνούμενον;—ἢ διὰ τοῦ κάλλους τῶν ὁρωμένων
καὶ τῆς εὐταξίας θεὸν γνωρίσαι, καὶ ὁδηγῷ τῇ ὄψει τῶν
ὑπὲρ τὴν ὄψιν χρήσασθαι, ἀλλὰ μὴ ζημιωθῆναι θεὸν διὰ 
τῆς μεγαλοπρεπείας τῶν ὁρωμένων.