Τί τοῦτο ἔπαθον, ὦ φίλοι καὶ μύσται καὶ τῆς
ἀληθείας συνερασταί; ἔτρεχον μὲν ὡς θεὸν καταληψόμενος,
 μένος, καὶ οὕτως ἀνῆλθον ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος, καὶ τὴν νεφέλην
διέσχον, εἴσω γενόμενος ἀπὸ τῆς ὕλης καὶ τῶν ὑλικῶν, καὶ
εἰς ἐμαυτὸν ὡς οἷόν τε συστραφείς. ῥαφείς. ἐπεὶ δὲ προσέβλεψα,
μόλις εἶδον θεοῦ τὰ ὀπίσθια· καὶ τοῦτο τῆ πέτρᾳ σκεπασθείς,
 3. 8 om μύσται καὶ d || 9 ἔτρεχον] εἶχον ac ‘ Reg. a tres Colb. Or. I ’ ǁ
10 ἀνῆλθον] ἀπῆλθον e 
 1. ὠμοβόρων] = ὠμηστής ‘devouring
raw flesh,’ The Law does
expressly forbid the eating of such
animals on that ground; but it appears
to be the reason for the prohibition
of most of the birds enumerated
in Lev. xi, Deut. xiv. 
 4. οὕτω] resumes the preceding
clause—like sic demum; ’not
it has got rid of these.’ 
 ib. πλαξὶ...λιθίναις] Ex. xxiv 12.
Α somewhat difficult turn in the
application of the narrative. Gr.,
or rather his λόγος as identified with
him, has ascended the mountain,
with a view to having impressed upon
him, or upon it, the teaching of God,
as the Commandments were upon
the tables of stone. The epithets
στερραῖς κ. θ. are intended to convey
the thought of something —
no transient impression. 
 5. ἀμφοτέρωθεν] Ex. xxxii 15.
Again a somewhat fantastic application.
One side of the tables is
seen—one part of the λόγος is
—by every one; but there is a
reverse which only few can read,
viz. those who succeed in reaching
the mountain top φθάνουσιν). This
use of φθάνειν is familiar in the
Ν. T. 
 3. When he has reached the appointed
spot, he can only see the ‘back
parts’ of God. 
 8. μύσται] Those who are initiated
into the mysteries. 
 9. καταληψόμενος] ‘as if I were
about to apprehend God.’ 
 11. διέσχον] ‘penetrated’: cf. Horn.
Il. v 99 ἀντικρὺ δὲ διέσχε. Gr. uses
it § 31 of penetrating through the
veil of the Tabernacle. 
 ib. ὕλης] ’matter.’ 
 12. συστραφείς] ‘having gathered
myself up’: cp. Plat. Rep. 1 p. 336
συστρέψας ἑαυτὸν ὥσπερ θηρίον ἧκεν
ἐφ’ ἡμᾶς. 
 13. τὰ ὀπίσθια] Ex. xxxiii 23. 
 ib. τῇ πέτρᾳ σκεπασθείς] Ex.
xxxiii 23 σκ. τῇ χειρί μου. This interpretation
of the ‘ cleft in the rock,’
made familiar to Englishmen by
’s hymn, is very ancient.
Cp. Iren. IV xx 9 ‘uidebit...in altitudine
petrae, hoc est, in eo qui est
secundum hominem eius aduentu,’
The Incarnation gives an assured
point from which we may observe
and study God, without being overwelmed
by the greatness of the
revelation. The glories of the Divine
Nature are tempered for us, as it
were, by the Human Life which
encompasses us as we look out from
it to the Divine. By the Incarnation,
our field of contemplation is at once
restricted and made clear. 

 
τῷ σαρκωθέντι δι’ ἡμᾶς θεῷ Λόγῳ· καὶ μικρὸν διακύψας,
οὐ τὴν πρώτην τε καὶ ἀκήρατον φύσιν, καὶ ἑαυτῇ, λέγω δὴ
τῆ τριάδι, γινωσκομένην, καὶ ὅση τοῦ πρώτου καταπετάσματος
εἴσω μένει καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν Χερουβὶμ συγκαλύπτεται,
ἀλλ’ ὅση τελευταία καὶ εἰς ἡμᾶς φθάνουσα. ἡ δέ ἐστιν, 
ὅσα ἐμὲ γινώσκειν, ἡ ἐν τοῖς κτίσμασι καὶ τοῖς ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ
προβεβλημένοις καὶ διοικουμένοις μεγαλειότης, ἤ, ὡς ὁ
θεῖος Δαβὶδ ὀνομάζει, μεγαλοπρέπεια. ταῦτα γὰρ θεοῦ
τὰ ὀπίσθια, ὅσα μετ’ ἐκεῖνον ἐκείνου γνωρίσματα, ὥσπερ
αἱ καθ’ ὑδάτων ἡλίου σκιαὶ καὶ εἰκόνες ταῖς σαθραῖς ὄψεσι 
 1 om θέω acd ǁ 6 ὅσα] ὡς ‘Reg. a’ 
 1. διακύψας] ‘peering through
the aperture,’ Εἶδον must be
again before φύσιν. 
 2. τὴν πρώτην] In ref. to Ex.
xxxiii 20 οὐ δυνήσῃ ἰδεῖν μου τὸ πρόσωπον.
Ἀκήρατος practically, if not
etymologically, = ἀκέραιος ‘pure,’
‘unmixed.’ Cp. Arist. de Mundo
ii 5 στοιχεῖον ἅκ. τε καὶ θεῖον. Gr.
adds λ. δ. τῇ τριάδι lest he should
suggest the Sabellian notion of a
self-conscious Nature distinct from
the Persons in whom it resides. 
 3. τ. πρώτου καταπ.] i.e. as reckoned
from the seat of the Divine
Presence, not as in Heb. ix 3 in the
order of human approach. 
 4. ὁ. τ. χερουβὶμ σηκ.] It seems
more natural to suppose that Gr.
refers to the Cherubim covering the
Mercy Seat (Ex. xxv 20 [19]), than
to the decoration of the veil (Ex.
xxvi 31). Cp. Ezek. xxviii 14, 16,
where, however, there is nothing in
most texts of the LXX. to represent
’covering.’ 
 5. τελευταία] to recall τὰ ὀπίσθια.
Φθάνουσα as above. 
 id. ἢ δέ] Gr. does not of course
mean to distinguish sharply between
the πρώτη and τελευταία φύσις, as
if they were separate natures. He
means the expressed and unexpressed
parts or aspects of the same nature.
The danger of misunderstanding is
not felt in Greek, where words like
πρῶτος, μέσος and the like, are commonly
monly used in a partitive sense; e.g.
ὁ πρῶτος ποὺς ’the front of the foot.’ 
 6. ὅσα ἐμὲ γινώσκειν] sc. πάρεστι.
ib. ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ] sc. τοῦ θεοῦ, to be
supplied from θεοῦ τὰ ὀπίσθια above. 
 8. μεγαλοπρέπεια] used of God
nine times in the Pss.; μεγαλειότης is
not. Prob. Gr. refers esp. to Ps.
viii 2 (1), ciii (civ) 1 (in some texts),
cx (cxi) 3, or cxliv (cxlv) 5, 12, where
the word is used in connexion with
God's works. Gr. prefers the word
because it expresses Dot the abstract
quality, like μεγαλειότης, but the impression
produced by its manifesta-
tion. 
 9. ὅσα μετ’ ἐκεῖνον ἐκ. γνωρ.] ‘all
the indications of Himself which He
has lift behind Him,’ Elias
pares Wisd. xiii 5. 
 10. σαθραῖς ὄψεσι] Cp. i 3. 

 
παραδεικνῦσαι τὸν ἥλιον, ἐπεὶ μὴ αὐτὸν προσβλέπειν οἷόν
τε, τῷ ἀκραιφνεῖ τοῦ φωτὸς νικῶντα τὴν αἴσθησιν. οὕτως
οὖν θεολογήσεις, κἂν ἦς Μωυσῆς καὶ Φαραὼ θεός, κἂν
μέχρι τρίτου κατὰ τὸν Παῦλον οὐρανοῦ φθάσῃς, καὶ
 ἀκούσῃς ἄρρητα ῥήματα· κἂν ὑπὲρ ἐκεῖνον γένη, ἀγγελικῆς
τινὸς ἢ ἀρχαγγελικῆς στάσεως τε καὶ τάξεως ἠξιωμένος.
κἂν γὰρ οὐράνιον ἅπαν, κἂν ὑπερουράνιόν τι, καὶ πολὺ τὴν
φύσιν ὑψηλότερον ἡμῶν ἦ, καὶ ἐγγυτέρω θεοῦ, πλέον
ἀπέχει θεοῦ καὶ τῆς τελείας καταλήψεως, ἢ ὅσον ἡμῶν
 ὑπεραίρει τοῦ συνθέτου καὶ ταπεινοῦ καὶ κάτω βρίθοντος
κράματος.