雜記（八卷） 第 1 章 第 32/42 段

One must, then, engage with music for the ordering and composure of character.

Indeed, even at a drinking party, we pledge one another with singing, thereby charming to rest our concupiscent part, and glorifying God for the ungrudging gift of human enjoyments, and for the nourishments — both for the growth of the body and for the growth of the soul — perpetually supplied.

But superfluous music, which enervates souls and casts them into variability — now mournful, now licentious and given over to soft pleasure, now bacchically frenzied and maddened — is to be rejected.

The same account holds also concerning astronomy:

For this science, after the investigation of things on high concerning the shape of the universe, the movement of the heaven, and the motion of the stars, brings the soul nearer to the creative power, and teaches it to be finely attuned to the yearly seasons, the changes of the air, and the risings of the stars.

Since navigation and agriculture too are fulfilled by the usefulness derived from it, just as architecture and building are fulfilled by geometry.

This study, too, renders the soul as capable of close attention as possible, keen-sighted for the truth and skilled in refuting falsehood, inventive in discovering agreements and proportions, so as to hunt out the similar within the dissimilar; and it leads us on to discover length without breadth, surface without depth, and the point without parts, and transposes us from things perceptible to things intelligible.

The various studies, then, are cooperative aids to philosophy, and philosophy itself is a cooperative aid toward the apprehension of the truth.

For instance, the cloak was at first a fleece; then it was carded and became weft and warp; and then it was woven.

The soul, then, must be prepared beforehand and worked upon in various ways, if it is to be fashioned into the best condition, since of truth one part is contemplative, the other productive — and the productive flows from the contemplative — ... and it requires much exercise, joint training, and experience.

But even of the contemplative part, one aspect is oriented toward one's neighbors, another as toward oneself.

For this very reason, education must be so equipped that it is fitted to both.

It is possible, then, for one who has sufficiently learned the essential elements conducive to knowledge, to remain thereafter at rest in quietude, directing one's actions toward contemplation.

But for the benefit of one's neighbors — of those eager to write, and of those setting out to hand down the teaching — both the rest of education is useful, and the reading of the Lord's Scriptures is necessary for the proof of what is said, especially if those who listen have been brought up on Greek education.

David describes a church of a certain such kind:

'The queen stood at your right hand, in gold-worked raiment, clothed about with embroidered garments' — both the Greek and the superfluous ones.

'In fringed garments of gold, clothed about with embroidered robes.'

...but truth comes through the Lord.

'...has known, unless you have given wisdom and sent your Holy Spirit from on high? And thus the paths of those on earth were made straight, and men were taught the things pleasing to you, and were saved by wisdom.'

For the Gnostic, according to Scripture, knows things ancient and conjectures things to come; he understands the turns of speech and the solutions of riddles; he foreknows signs and wonders, and the outcomes of seasons and times, as we have said before.

Do you see that the source of the sciences springs forth from wisdom? But to those who object — saying, 'What use is it, for example, to know the causes of how the sun and the rest of the stars move, or to have examined geometrical theorems, or dialectic, and each of the other studies, since these are of no benefit toward the rendering of what is fitting, and Greek philosophy is merely human understanding, for it cannot teach the truth' — to these it must be said, first of all, that they themselves stumble concerning the greatest of realities, that is, the moral disposition of the mind.

'For those,' it says, 'who reverently keep the holy things shall be made holy, and those who have been taught them shall find a defense.'

For the Gnostic alone will, with good reason, do all things that are to be done in a holy manner, even as he has learned according to the teaching of the Lord, having received it through men.

Again, moreover, one may hear:

For in his hand—that is, in his power and wisdom—are both we and our words, and all understanding and the knowledge of crafts.

For God loves nothing except him who dwells together with wisdom.

Then again, have they not read what was said by Solomon?

For discoursing about the construction of a ship, he says outright:

'It was wisdom, the craftswoman, that built it;'

'but your providence, O Father, guides its course.'

And how is it not unreasonable to consider philosophy inferior to carpentry and shipbuilding? Perhaps the Lord too fed that multitude who reclined on the grass opposite Tiberias with the two fishes and the five barley loaves, hinting thereby at the preparatory training of both Greeks and Jews prior to the divine wheat, the food cultivated according to the Law.

For barley comes to ripeness for the summer harvest more quickly than wheat.

And the fish signified the Greek philosophy that was born and carried along amid the surge of the nations, given for abundant nourishment to those still lying prostrate on the ground.

They no longer multiplied as did the fragments of the loaves, but having partaken of the Lord's blessing, they were inspired, through the power of the Word, with a resurrection of divinity.

But if you are curious to inquire further, take it that one of the fishes signifies the general, encyclical education, and the other that philosophy which has advanced beyond it—both being, as it were, in accord with the Lord's word.

'And a chorus of voiceless fish came murmuring around'—as the tragic Muse has said somewhere.

'I must decrease,' and now, from this point on, only the Lord's Word must increase, in whom the Law reaches its end—as the prophet John has said.

Understand with me now the mystery of the truth, granting me pardon if I hesitate to proceed further in this elaboration, proclaiming only this one thing:

'All things were made through him, and without him not one thing was made.'

Indeed he is called the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple of God—according to the divine apostle.

I pass over for now the parable in the Gospel which says:

'The kingdom of heaven is like a man who cast a dragnet into the sea, and out of the multitude of fish that were caught, made a selection of the better ones.'

Now our wisdom likewise proclaims outright the four virtues in this manner, so that even the sources of these virtues were given to the Greeks from the Hebrews.

One may learn this from the following:

'And if anyone loves righteousness, her labors are virtues;'

'for she teaches self-control and prudence, righteousness and courage, than which nothing is more useful in life for men.'

Above all, they ought also to know this: that we have come to be by nature disposed toward virtue, yet not so as to possess it from birth, but as suited for acquiring it.

By this reasoning is resolved the difficulty raised against us by the heretics, whether Adam was fashioned perfect or imperfect.

But if imperfect, how could the work of a perfect God—above all a human being—be imperfect? And if perfect, how does he transgress the commandments? For they shall hear from us also that he was not made perfect in his constitution, but was fit for receiving virtue.

For it surely makes a difference to have been made fit for virtue as regards its acquisition, and to already possess it.

But he wishes us to be saved by our own selves.

This, then, is the nature of the soul: to set itself in motion of its own accord.

Then again, being rational beings, and philosophy itself being rational, we have a certain kinship with it.

But fitness is merely an inclination toward virtue, not virtue itself.

All men, then, as I have said, are by nature disposed toward the acquisition of virtue, but one applies himself more, another less, to learning and to practice; hence some have persevered all the way to perfect virtue, while others have advanced only to a certain point, and yet others, being neglected, even though otherwise well-endowed by nature, have been turned aside to the contrary.

Much more, then, is that knowledge which surpasses all learning in greatness and in truth most difficult to acquire, and it is attained only through much labor.

But, as it seems, they did not know the mysteries of God: that God created man for incorruption, and made him an image of his own proper nature, according to which distinctive nature the gnostic, righteous, and holy man hastens, with prudence, to arrive at the measure of a perfect stature.

And that not only actions and thoughts, but also words, are pure for the gnostic, is shown where it says: 'You have tested my heart, you have visited it by night;'

'You have refined me, and no unrighteousness was found in me, that my mouth might not speak of the works of men.'

And what does 'the works of men' mean? It denotes sin itself—not sin that has already been led on to repentance (for this is common also to the rest of the faithful), but what sin is in itself.

For it does not condemn some particular sin, but simply all sin.

Nor does it point to what someone has done wrongly, but establishes what ought not to be done.

Whence repentance also is twofold:

the one common, over having erred; the other, having thoroughly learned the nature of sin, persuades one, by a governing principle, to stand apart from sinning itself—upon which follows the not sinning at all.

Let them not, then, say that the one who does wrong and sins errs by the working of demons—since in that case he would even be innocent—but rather that, by choosing the very things the demons choose in the matter of sinning, an unstable, fickle man, changeable in his desires, becomes, like a demon, a demonic man.

For instance, the man who is evil by nature, having become prone to sin through vice, is established as base, holding that character which he chose of his own will;

and being prone to sin, he also errs in his actions;

whereas, conversely, the earnest man acts rightly.

Wherefore we call not only the virtues but also the good actions themselves 'goods.'

Now of goods we know that some are choiceworthy for their own sake, as knowledge (for we seek nothing else from it, once it is present, than that it be present, and that we ourselves be in unceasing contemplation, and strive toward it and through it), while others are choiceworthy for the sake of something else, as faith, on account of the escape from punishment that results from it and the benefit that comes from its recompense.

For fear is, for most people, the cause of not sinning, while the promise is the occasion for pursuing obedience, through which comes salvation.

Knowledge, then, is the most perfect good, being choiceworthy for its own sake; and, as a consequence, the good things that follow through it are choiceworthy as well.

And punishment is, for the one being punished, a cause of correction, while for those able to discern from afar it becomes an example, by which they check themselves from falling into similar faults.

Let us, then, welcome knowledge, not desiring the results that come from it, but embracing it for the sake of knowing itself.

For the first benefit is the very habit of knowledge, which provides harmless pleasures and exultation, both now and hereafter.

And they say that exultation is gladness, being a reckoning-up of the virtue that accords with truth, through a kind of feasting and expansion of the soul.

And the works that partake of knowledge are the good and noble actions.

For true abundance is that found in the deeds that accord with virtue, while poverty is the lack that pertains to worldly desires.

For the possession and use of necessary things are not harmful in their quality, but in the quantity that exceeds due measure.

Wherefore the gnostic circumscribes his desires both in possession and in use, not overstepping the bounds of what is necessary.

Considering, then, life here to be necessary for the increase of understanding and the acquisition of knowledge, he will value most highly not mere living but living well, preferring neither children nor marriage nor even his parents to the love of God and to the righteousness required in life.

And to such a man, after the begetting of children, his wife is judged a sister, as one of the same father, being reminded of her husband only when she looks upon their children—since she will in reality prove to be a sister also after the laying aside of the flesh, which flesh, by the peculiarity of its forms, separates and marks off the knowledge of spiritual things.

For souls, in themselves, are equally souls, neither male nor female, when they neither marry nor are given in marriage.

And is not the woman thus changed into the man, becoming equally unwomanly, both manly and perfect?

This, then, was the laughter of Sarah when she was told the good news of the birth of a child—not, I think, because she disbelieved the angel, but because she felt shame again at that intercourse through which she was to become the mother of a child.

And is it not from that time that Abraham, when he was in danger before the king of Egypt on account of Sarah's beauty, fittingly called her sister, of the same father, though not yet of the same mother?

To those, then, who have repented of their sins and have not yet believed firmly, God grants their requests through their petitions; but to those who live sinlessly and gnostically, he gives merely upon their conceiving the thought.

For instance, to Hannah, upon her merely conceiving the thought, was given the conception of the child Samuel.

'Ask,' says Scripture, 'and I will do it;'

For we have received the teaching that God is a knower of hearts, judging not from the movement of the soul, as we men do, nor yet from the outcome (for it would be ridiculous to think so), nor, as the architect praises the work once it is completed, did God likewise, having made the light, then see it and afterward call it good;

but rather, knowing even before he made it what it would be, this he praised beforehand.

And 'it came to be' good, by the power of the one who makes it good from above, through his beginningless purpose, so that what was to be became good in actuality.

Indeed he had already foretold that what was to be would be good, the truth being concealed by the inverted order of the phrasing.

The Gnostic, therefore, prays even in his very thought at every hour, being made at home with God through love.

And first he will ask for forgiveness of sins, and after he has ceased sinning, he will further ask to be able to do good and to understand the whole creation and dispensation according to the Lord, in order that, having become pure in heart, he may through the knowledge that comes by the Son of God be initiated into the blessed vision face to face, having heeded the Scripture that says, 'Fasting with prayer is good.'

Now fastings signify abstinence from all evils whatsoever, both in deed and in word and in thought itself.

As it seems, then, righteousness is foursquare, equal and alike on every side—in word, in deed, in abstinence from evil, in well-doing, in gnostic perfection—in no way whatsoever limping, lest it appear unjust and unequal.

Insofar, then, as one is righteous, this man is certainly also faithful; but insofar as he is faithful, he is not yet also righteous—I mean the righteousness that comes by progress and perfection, according to which the Gnostic is called righteous.

For instance, to Abraham, when he became faithful, it was reckoned unto righteousness, since he had advanced to the greater and more perfect degree of faith.

For not he who merely abstains from evil-doing is righteous, unless he also works out further both the doing of good and the knowing of the reason for which some things are to be abstained from and others to be done.

...the righteous man presses on toward the highest inheritance, on the one hand fenced about by abstinences, and on the other also working by good deeds.

For the mere shelter of the whole armor and abstinence from sins is not sufficient for perfection, unless it also takes up the work of righteousness, the activity directed toward well-doing.

Then he who is ambidextrous, our Gnostic, is revealed in righteousness, already glorified even from this present life, like Moses, as to the face of his soul—which we said before is the characteristic property of the righteous soul.

For just as, in the case of wool, the mordant of the dye, once it has set, gives the wool its distinctive quality and difference from the rest, so too in the soul the toil passes away but the good remains; and while what is pleasant is left behind, what is shameful is wiped clean.

For these are the characteristic qualities of each soul, by which the one is known to be glorified, and the other condemned.

Yes indeed, just as upon Moses, from his righteous conduct and his continual converse with God who spoke with him, there settled upon his face a certain glorified radiance, so also upon the righteous soul a certain divine power of goodness, imparted through oversight, through prophecy, and through administrative activity, leaves its imprint—as it were an intellectual effulgence, like the warmth of the sun—a manifest seal of righteousness, a light united to the soul through unceasing love, the soul both God-bearing and borne by God.

Here the assimilation to the Savior God arises for the Gnostic, so far as is lawful for human nature, as he becomes perfect 'as the Father,' he says, 'who is in the heavens.'

'Little children, yet a little while I am with you'—since God too, not simply in that He is good by nature does He remain blessed and incorruptible, without trouble to Himself and without causing trouble to another, but rather by doing good in His own proper way; being truly God and a good Father, both being and becoming so in unceasing acts of well-doing, He remains unswervingly in the sameness of His goodness.

For what benefit is there in a good that neither acts nor does good? He, then, who has first attained moderation of the passions, and has trained himself toward passionlessness, and has grown up into the well-doing of gnostic perfection, is here already equal to the angels.

Already luminous, and shining like the sun in his benefaction, he hastens by righteous knowledge, through love of God, toward the holy abode, even as the apostles—not that they became apostles because they were elect by some exceptional property of nature (since Judas too was chosen along with them), but rather they were of such a sort as to be able to become apostles, chosen by Him who foresees the end as well.

At any rate, Matthias, who was not chosen along with them, having shown himself worthy of becoming an apostle, is set in the place of Judas.

It is possible, then, even now, for those who have exercised themselves in the Lord's commandments, and have lived perfectly and gnostically according to the Gospel, to be enrolled in the election of the apostles.

This man is truly a presbyter of the Church and a genuine minister of the will of God, if he does and teaches the things of the Lord—not being ordained by men, nor considered righteous because he is a presbyter, but rather being enrolled in the presbytery because he is righteous.

And even if here on earth he is not honored with the chief seat, he will sit upon the twenty-four thrones, judging the people, as John says in the Apocalypse.

For there is in truth but one covenant of salvation extending to us from the foundation of the world, though according to different generations and times it is supposed to differ in the manner of its giving.

For it follows that there is one unalterable gift of salvation, from one God through one Lord, benefiting in many ways—for which reason the middle wall is removed that separated the Greek from the Jew, so as to bring both into a people of God's own possession.

And thus both come to the unity of the faith, and the election out of both is one.

'And more elect than the elect,' he says, are those who, by their perfect knowledge, have been culled as the choicest flower even of the Church herself, and honored with the most magnificent glory—judges and administrators, equally from Jews and from Greeks, the twenty-four, their grace being doubled.

And here on earth, the advancements within the Church of bishops, presbyters, and deacons are, I think, imitations of angelic glory, and of that dispensation which the Scriptures say awaits those who have lived, in the footsteps of the apostles, in perfection of righteousness according to the Gospel.

The Apostle writes that these, caught up in the clouds, will first serve as deacons, and then be enrolled in the presbytery according to progress in glory (for glory differs from glory), until they grow up into a perfect man.

Such men, according to David, will rest on the holy mountain of God, the highest Church, in which the philosophers of God are gathered—those who are truly Israelites, pure in heart, in whom is no guile; who did not remain in the seventh-day rest, but by well-doing in divine assimilation have risen above it into the inheritance of the eighth-day benefaction, cleaving with sincere contemplation to an insatiable vision.

'And there are other sheep,' says the Lord, 'which are not of this fold'—counted worthy of another fold and abode, in proportion to their faith.

'But my sheep hear my voice'—understanding the commandments in a gnostic manner.

And this is to receive them with a magnanimous and worthy mind, together with the corresponding recompense and consequence of works.

So that when we hear, 'Your faith has saved you,' we do not understand him to be saying simply that those who have believed in any manner whatsoever will be saved, unless works also follow.

For instance, he spoke this word only to Jews who had lived according to the law and blamelessly, for whom faith in the Lord alone remained wanting.

One could not, then, be faithful while still lacking self-control; rather, even if he has not yet departed from the flesh, he must of necessity lay aside the passions, so as to be able to advance into his proper abode.

But to know is more than to believe, just as, after being saved, to be counted worthy of the highest honor is more than merely to be saved.

Through much discipline, then, having stripped off the passions, the man of faith among us passes on to an abode better than the former one, bearing as the greatest punishment the distinctive mark of repentance for whatever he sinned after baptism.

He is grieved, then, all the more, either because he has not yet attained, or has not attained at all, to those things which he sees others have already partaken of.

And besides, he is ashamed of the offenses he committed, and these are indeed the greatest punishments for the man of faith.

For the righteousness of God is good, and His goodness is righteous.

And even if the punishments should somewhere cease, upon the completion of the payment and each one's purification, those who are found worthy of the other fold still retain the greatest abiding grief—that of not being together with those glorified on account of righteousness.

For instance, Solomon, calling the Gnostic wise, says the following concerning those who marvel at the dignity of his abode:

'For they will see the end of the wise man, and will not understand what the Lord planned concerning him, and for what purpose He made him secure.'

And concerning his glory they will say:

'This was he whom we once held in derision and as a byword of reproach, we fools.'

'We accounted his life madness, and his end dishonorable.'

'How is it that he has been counted among the sons of God, and his lot is among the saints?' Not only the man of faith, then, but also the Gentile is judged most justly.

For since God, being possessed of foreknowledge, knew that this man would not believe, nevertheless, in order that he might undertake such perfection as was possible for him, He gave him philosophy—though prior to faith—and He gave the sun and the moon and the stars for worship, which God made for the nations, as the Law says, lest, becoming utterly godless, they should be completely destroyed.

But those who, even in this commandment, proved thankless, having given heed instead to graven images, are judged, unless they repent—some because, though able, they were not willing to believe God; others because, though willing, they did not strive hard enough to become faithful.

For this was the way given to the nations, to rise up toward God through the worship of the stars.

But those who were not willing to remain content with these, the stars given to them, but fell away even from these into stones and wood, 'were reckoned,' it says, 'as dust,' and 'as a drop from a bucket'—superfluous as regards salvation, the ones cast off from the body.

Just as, then, simply to save is among the indifferent actions, while to do so rightly and fittingly is a right action, so too every act of the Gnostic would be called a right action, whereas that of the merely faithful man would be called an indifferent action—not yet accomplished according to reason, nor achieved as a right action according to correct understanding.

But conversely, every act of the Gentile is sinful.

For it is not simply doing well, but performing actions with a view to some end, and acting according to reason, that the Scriptures present as 'duty.'

Just as, then, those inexperienced in playing the lyre should not touch the lyre, nor those inexperienced in flute-playing touch the flute, so too those who have not received knowledge, nor know how they ought to use things throughout their whole life, should not touch practical affairs at all.

The contest of freedom, at any rate, is fought not only in wars by those who are athletes of war, but also at banquets, and in bed, and in law courts, by those who have anointed themselves with reason, ashamed to become captives of pleasure.

'Never will I exchange virtue for unjust gain.'

And unjust gain, plainly, is pleasure and pain, desire and fear, and, to put it concisely, the passions of the soul, whose immediate delight becomes grievous in what follows.

'For what benefit is it,' he says, 'if you gain the whole world, but lose your soul?' It is clear, then, that those who do not accomplish good deeds also do not know what is beneficial for themselves.

And if this is so, neither are such men able rightly to pray to receive good things from God, being ignorant of what is truly good; nor, even if they should receive it, would they perceive the gift, nor would they enjoy according to its worth that which they did not know—hindered both by inexperience in using well what has been given, and by excessive ignorance, not yet having learned how the divine gifts ought to be used.

And it seems to me to be the boast of a somewhat boastful soul—though of one with a good conscience nonetheless—to utter, in the face of circumstances that befall one, words such as these:

'Against these things let them contrive whatever they must.'

'For the good is with me, and justice will be my ally, and I shall never be caught, since I do what is right.'

And this good conscience preserves both holiness toward God and righteousness toward men, keeping the soul pure through dignified thoughts, chaste words, and righteous deeds.

Thus the soul, having received a power that belongs to the Lord, practices to be god, considering nothing else to be evil except ignorance and activity not according to right reason, and giving thanks always to God for all things through righteous hearing and divine reading, through true inquiry, through holy offering, through blessed prayer—praising, hymning, blessing, singing psalms.

Such a soul is never at any time separated from God.

'And those who trust in Him will understand truth, and the faithful will abide with Him in love.'

You see what things Wisdom discourses concerning the Gnostics.

Correspondingly, then, the abodes are also various, according to the worth of those who have believed.

For to him will be given the choice grace of faith, and a lot in the temple of the Lord that is more pleasing to the heart.

For the comparative degree indicates the lesser degrees within the temple of God, which is the whole Church; but it leaves us also to conceive of the superlative degree, where the Lord Himself is.

These three abiding-places, being chosen ones, are hinted at by the numbers in the Gospel: the thirty, and the sixty, and the hundred.

The perfect inheritance belongs to those who attain to a perfect man according to the image of the Lord; but the 'likeness' is not, as some hold, likeness according to bodily form (for this inference is godless), nor indeed is it likeness according to virtue in relation to the First Cause;

for this interpretation too is impious, held by those who suppose that the virtue of man and of Almighty God is the same;

'You supposed,' it says, 'lawlessness — that I would be like you';

'To become as the teacher' — so says the Teacher.