§60τοῦ ἀγαθὸν ἡγουμένου τὸ καλὸν μόνον ἔσταλται καὶ συνῆκται τὸ τέλος — ἑνὶ γὰρ μυρίων ὄντων τῶν περὶ ἡμᾶς τῷ ἡγεμόνι νῷ συνέζευκται —, τοῦ δὲ τρισὶν ἐφαρμόζοντος αὐτὸ γένεσιν, τῷ περὶ ψυχήν, τῷ περὶ σῶμα, τῷ περὶ τὰ ἐκτός, ἅτ’ εἰς πολλὰ καὶ ἀνόμοια κατακερματιζόμενον εὐρύνεται.
For him who deems the beautiful alone to be good, the end is contracted and drawn together—for it is coupled with the one ruling mind, though the things around us are countless—but for him who applies it to three genera, that of the soul, that of the body, and that of external things, it is widened, being cut up into many and dissimilar parts.
§61διόπερ οἰκείως εὔχεται τούτῳ προσγενέσθαι πλάτος, ὅπως καὶ ταῖς περὶ ψυχὴν ἀρεταῖς, φρονήσει καὶ σωφροσύνῃ καὶ ἑκάστῃ τῶν ἄλλων, χρῆσθαι δύναιτο καὶ ταῖς σώματος, ὑγείᾳ κὶ εὐαισθησίᾳ δυνάμει τε καὶ ῥώμῃ καὶ ταῖς τούτων συrίενέσιν, ἔτι μέντοι καὶ τοῖς ἐκτὸς πλεονεκτήμασιν, ὅσα εἰς πλοῦτον καὶ δόξαν ἀπόλαυσίν τε καὶ χρῆσιν τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἡδονῶν ἄγεται.
Therefore, he appropriately prays that "enlargement" may be added to this one (Japheth), so that he might be able to use the virtues of the soul—prudence, temperance, and each of the others—and those of the body—health, keen perception, strength, and vigor, and their kindred qualities—and further indeed, the external advantages, as many as lead to wealth, glory, and the enjoyment and use of necessary pleasures.
§62περὶ μὲν τοῦ πλάτους ταύτα.
Concerning enlargement, these things.
τίνα δὲ ἐν τοῖς οἴκοις εὔχεται τοῦ Σὴμ κατοικήσαι, σκεπτέον· σαφῶς γὰρ οὐ μεμήνυκεν.
But whom he prays to dwell in the tents of Shem, we must consider; for he has not clearly declared it.
ἔνεστι μὲν δὴ φάναι, ὅτι τὸν ἡγεμόν τοῦ παντός.
Indeed, it is possible to say: the ruler of the universe.
τίς γὰρ οἶκος παρὰ γενέσει δύναιτ’ ἂν ἀξιοπρεπέστερος εὑρεθῆναι θεῷ πλὴν ψυχῆς τελείως κεκαθαρμένης καὶ μόνον τὸ καλὸν ἡγουμένης ἀγαθόν, τὰ δὲ ἅγλα ὅσα νενόμισται ἐν δορυφόρων καὶ ὑπηκόων λόί̀ῳ ταττούσης;
For what house among created things could be found more worthy of God than a soul perfectly purified and deeming the beautiful alone to be good, while assigning all other things that are commonly regarded so to the rank of bodyguards and subjects?
§63κτοικεῖν δὲ ἐν οἴκῳ λέγεται ὁ θεὸς οὐχ ὡς ἐν τόπῳ — περιέχει γὰρ τὰ πάντα πρὸς μηδενὸς περιεχόμενος —, ἀλλ ὡς πρόνοιαν καὶ ἐπιμέλειαν ἐκείνου τοῦ χωρίου διαφερόντως ποιούμενος· παντὶ γὰρ τῷ δεσπόζοντι οἰκίας ἡ ταύτης κατὰ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον ἀνῆπιαι φρονιίς.
But God is said to dwell in a house, not as in a place—for he contains all things and is contained by none—but as exercising providence and care for that place in an extraordinary way; for to everyone who masters a house, the care of it is by necessity attached.
§64εὐχέσθω δὴ πᾶς θεῷ, ὅτῳ τὸ θεοφὲς ὤμβρησεν ἀγαθόν, οἰκήτορος λαχεῖν τοῦ πανηγεμόνος, ὃς τὸ βραχὺ τοῦτο οἰκοδόμημα, τὸν νοῦν, ἐξαίρων εἰς ὕψος ἀπὸ ἧς τοῖς οὐρανοῦ συνάψει πέρασι.
Let everyone, therefore, upon whom the god-beloved good has rained down, pray to God to obtain the Ruler of all as an inhabitant, who, raising this small building, the mind, to a height, will connect it from the earth with the boundaries of heaven.
§65καὶ τὸ ῥητὸν μέντοι συνᾴδειν ἔοικεν· ὁ γὰρ Σὴμ ὡσανεὶ ῥίζα κλλοκἀγαθίας ὑποβέβληται, δένδρον δ’ ἡμροτοκοῦν ἐκ ταύτης ὁ σοφὸς Ἀβραὰμ ἀνέδραμεν, οὗ τὸ αὐτήκοον καὶ αὐτομαθὲς γένος, Ἰσαάκ, ὁ καρπὸς ἦν, ἀφ’ οὗ πάλιν αἱ διὰ πόνων ἀρεταὶ κατασπείρονται, ὧν ἀθλητῆής ἐστιν ὁ τὴν πρὸς πάθη πάλην γεγυμνασμένος Ἰακώβ, ἀγγέλοις ἀλείπταις, λόγοις, χρώμενος.
And indeed the literal text seems to agree; for Shem is laid down as a kind of root of nobility, and a cultivated tree, the wise Abraham, grew up from this, whose fruit was Isaac, the self-hearing and self-taught race, from whom again the virtues through toil are sown, of which the athlete is Jacob, who was trained in the struggle against passions, employing angels, that is, words, as trainers.
§66οὗτος τῶν δώσεκα κατάρχει φυλῶν, ἅς οἱ χρησμοὶ „βασίλειον καὶ ἱεράτευμα θεοῦ" (Exod. 19, 6) φασιν εἶναι κατὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν πρῶτον Σὴμ εὐλογίαν, οὗ τοῖς οἴκοις ἦν εὐχὴ τὸν θεὸν ἐν οικῆσαι· βασίλειον γὰρ ὁ βασιλέως δήπουθεν οἶκος, ἱερὸς ὄντως καὶ μόνος ἄσυλος.
This man is the founder of the twelve tribes, which the oracles say are "a kingdom and a priesthood of God", in accordance with the blessing given to the first Shem, in whose houses it was the prayer that God should dwell; for a kingdom is surely the house of a king, truly holy and alone inviolable.
§67ἴσως μέντοι τὰ τῆς εὐχῆς καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν’1άφεθ ἀναφέρεται, ὅπως ἐν τοῖς οἴκοις τοῦ Σὴμ ποιῆται τὰς διατριβάς· τῷ γὰρ καὶ τὰ σώματος καὶ τὰ ἐκτὸς πλεονεκτήματα ἀγαθὰ ἡγουμένῳ καλὸν εὔξασθαι πρὸς μόνον τὸ ψυχῆς ἀναδραμεῖν καὶ μὴ μέχρι τοῦ παντὸς αἰῶνος ἀληθοῦς δόξης διαμαρτεῖν, ἃ κοινὰ καὶ τῶν ἐπαρατοτάτων καὶ κακίστων ἐστίν, ὑγίειαν ἢ πολυχρηματίαν ἢ ὅσα ὁμοιότροπα, νομίσαντα εἶναι ἀγαθά, τῆς ἀψευδοῦς τῶν ἀγαθῶν μερίδος οὐδενὶ φαύλῳ συνταττομένης· ἀκοινώνητον γὰρ φύσει κακῷ τὸ ἀγαθόν.
Perhaps, however, the words of the prayer are also referred to Japheth, that he should make his stay in the houses of Shem; for to him who deems both bodily and external advantages to be goods, it is well to pray to run back to the good of the soul alone, and not to miss true opinion until the end of time, by deeming to be goods those things which are common even to the most cursed and worst of men, such as health or abundant wealth or whatever is of like kind, since the unadulterated portion of goods is not assigned to any worthless man; for the good is by nature unshared with the bad.
§68διὰ τοῦτ’ ἐν ψυχὴ μόνῃ τεθησαύρισται, ἧς τοῦ κάλλους οὐδενὶ μέτεστι τῶν ἀφρόνων· τοῦτο ὅ γε προ φητικὸς λόγος τὸν σπουδαῖον ἔγραψεν εὐχεσθαί τινι τῶν ἑαυτοῦ γνωρίμων λέγοντα „πρὸς μὲ ἀνάστρεψον“(Gen. 49, 22), ἵνα ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ γνώμην ἐπανελθών, τὸ καλὸν ὡς ἀγαθὸν μόνον δεξιωσάμενος, τὰς τῶν ἑπροδόξων παραδράμῃ περὶ τἀγαθοῦ φήμας.
For this reason, it is treasured in the soul alone, of whose beauty none of the foolish has a share; this indeed the prophetic word wrote that the virtuous man prays for one of his acquaintances, saying: "Return to me", so that, returning to his opinion, and welcoming the beautiful as the only good, he may pass by the rumors of those of other opinions concerning the good.
ἐν οὖν τοῖς οἴκοις τῆς ψυχῆς τοῦ λέγοντος μόνον εἶναι τὸ καλὸν ἀγαθὸν κατοικησάτω, παροικήσας ἐν τοῖς τῶν ἑτέρων, οἷς καὶ τὰ σωματικὰ καὶ τὰ ἐκτὸς τετίμηται.
In the houses, then, of the soul of him who says that the beautiful alone is good, let him dwell, having only temporarily resided in those of the others, by whom both bodily and external things are honored.
§69εἰκότως μέντοι καὶ δοῦλον τὸν ἄφρονα τῶν ἀρετῆς μεταποιουμένων ἀνέγραψεν, ἵν’ ἢ κρείττονος ἐπιστασίας ἀξιωθεὶς ἀμείνονι βίῳ χρήσητι ἢ ἐπιμένων τῷ ἀδικεῖν μετ’ εὐμαρείας αὐτοκράτορι ἡγεμόνων ἀρχῇ τῶν δεσποτῶν κολάζηται.
And indeed he reasonably recorded the foolish man as a slave of those who lay claim to virtue, so that either, having been deemed worthy of better supervision, he may enjoy a better life, or, persisting in wrongdoing, he may be easily punished by the absolute authority of his masters.