HE said that each human being is a miniature universe,

ὅτι μικρός τις κόσμος ἐστὶν ὁ ἄνθρωπος

having within himself everything that is in the great universe.

πάντα ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὰ τοῦ μεγάλου κόσμου.

And the ordered array of the  universe

ἡ δὲ τοῦ παντὸς διακόσμησις

is a musical harmony both richly-complex and diverse, 

ἁρμονία τίς ἐστι μουσικὴ πολυειδῶς καὶ ποικίλως

in tune with itself both in order[ed melody] and in rhythm

κατά τινα τάξιν καὶ ῥυθμὸν πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἡρμοσμένη

and is in concord with itself

καὶ ἑαυτῇ συνᾴδουσα

and is never distracted from this symphon[ic accord]

καὶ μηδέποτε τῆς συμφωνίας ταύτης διασπωμένη,

even though we may contemplate essential differences in its various component.

εἰ καὶ πολλή τις ἐν  [31] τοῖς καθ' ἕκαστον ἡ τῶν ὄντων διαφορὰ θεωρεῖται.

I BELIEVE that this is also how the great David was listening when he contemplated the artistic and wisdom-filled movements of the heavens, thereby hearing the heavens declare the glory of the God who accomplishes these things in them .

ὥς μοι δοκεῖ καὶ ὁ μέγας ἀκηκοέναι Δαβίδ, ὅτε διὰ τῆς θεωρουμένης αὐτοῖς τεχνικῆς τε καὶ πανσόφου κινήσεως, τὴν δόξαν τοῦ ἐν αὐτοῖς ταῦτα ἐνεργοῦντος θεοῦ διηγουμένων ἐπηκροάσατο.

    ⁽²⁰⁾ For this is truly a hymn to God's inaccessible and inexpressible glory; and it is produced by this very rhythm: namely, the unison of all creation with itself through the blending together of opposites.

̓Αληθῶς γὰρ τῆς ἀνεφίκτου τε καὶ ἀφράστου θεοῦ δόξης ὕμνος ἐστὶ τῷ τοιούτῳ ῥυθμῷ προαγόμενος ἡ τῆς κτίσεως πάσης πρὸς ἑαυτὴν συνῳδία διὰ τῶν ἐναντίων συγκεκραμένη.

    For rest and motion are opposed to each other. [...] Thus while, on the one hand, everything pertaining to heaven is in perpetual movement, either revolving together in circular orbit[s], or moving in the opposite direction as planets do;

 ἐναντίως γὰρ ἔχει πρὸς ἄλληλα στάσις καὶ κίνησις, [...] κινεῖται μὲν γὰρ τὰ κατ' οὐρανὸν ἀεὶ πάντα ἢ τῷ ἀπλανεῖ συμπεριπολοῦντα κύκλῳ ἢ κατὰ τὸ ἐναντίον διὰ τῶν πλανητῶν ἀνελισσόμενα.

nevertheless,  the sequence and interrelationships [between these heavenly movements] remains stable, never changing from what it is now into something new: staying rather as it is and continuing the same. 

ἕστηκε δὲ πάντοτε καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ταυτότητος μένει ὁ ἐν τούτοις εἱρμὸς  οὐδέποτε ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν ἐφ' ἕτερόν τι καινὸν  [32] μεθιστάμενος,  ἀλλ' ἀεὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχων καὶ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ διαμένων.

⁽²¹⁾ I BELIEVE that the great David having heard this [ineffable hymn], said in one of the psalms that all the other heavenly powers praise God: [namely,] the starlight, the sun and the moon, the heavens of heavens, and the water above the heavens.  For in one place he speaks of water and then sequentially of all the things creation contains. (Ps 148:2-4)

ἧς μοι δοκεῖ καὶ ὁ μέγας Δαβὶδ ἐν ἀκροάσει γενόμενος εἰπεῖν ἔν τινι τῶν ψαλμῶν, ὅτι αἰνοῦσι τὸν θεὸν αἵ τε ἄλλαι δυνάμεις αἱ κατ' οὐρανὸν πᾶσαι καὶ τὸ ἀστρῷον φῶς, ὅ τε ἥλιος καὶ ἡ σελήνη καὶ οἱ τῶν οὐρανῶν οὐρανοὶ καὶ τὸ ὑπερουράνιον ὕδωρ, ὅτι ποτὲ τὸ ὕδωρ λέγει, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς πάντα ὅσα ἡ κτίσις ἔχει.

For the empathy and sympathy of all things with one another, orchestrated in an orderly and sequential way within the universe is the primordial, archetypal, and true music.

 ἡ γὰρ τῶν πάντων πρὸς ἄλληλα σύμπνοιά τε καὶ συμπάθεια τάξει καὶ κόσμῳ καὶ ἀκολουθίᾳ διοικουμένη ἡ πρώτη τε καὶ ἀρχέτυπος καὶ ἀληθής ἐστι μουσική·

    ⁽²²⁾ And so, if the ordered array of the whole universe is a musical harmony ‘whose artisan and creator is God’, (Heb. 11:10) as the apostle says; and if [each] human being is a miniature universe, created as a copy of the composer of the universe, (cf. Ger. 1: 26-7)  

εἰ οὖν ὁ διάκοσμος ὅλος μουσική τις ἁρμονία ἐστίν,Ἧς τεχνίτης καὶ δημιουργὸς ὁ θεός, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, μικρὸς δὲ κόσμος ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς οὗτος καὶ μίμημα τοῦ ἁρμοσαμένου τὸν κόσμον πεποίηται,

then what reason knows [to be true] of the whole universe, this, it probably also sees in  in the miniature: for part of the whole is of the same kind in everything as the whole.

 ὅπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ μεγάλου κόσμου οἶδεν ὁ λόγος, τοῦτο κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς καὶ ἐν τῷ μικρῷ βλέπει· τὸ γὰρ μέρος τοῦ ὅλου ὁμογενές ἐστι πάντως τῷ ὅλῳ.

⁽⁶⁰⁾ FOR there was once a time when there was [only] one choral dance of [all] reasoning nature[s; and the dance] looked to the one leader of the chorus. 

ἦν γὰρ ὅτε μία τῆς λογικῆς φύσεως ἦν ἡ χοροστασία πρὸς ἕνα βλέπουσα τὸν τοῦ χοροῦ κορυφαῖον,  

and in its movements the dance unfolded [lit unrolled, explicated] in choral harmony what it received from the leader's commands.

καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἐνδιδομένην αὐτοῦ τῇ κινήσει διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς ἁρμονίαν τὸν χορὸν ἀνελίσσουσα.

       BUT then the divine unity of the chorus was shattered. 

 ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὴν ἔνθεον ἐκείνην διέλυσε τοῦ χοροῦ συνῳδίαν

     Sin poured the slickness of deceit at the feet of the first human beings who used to sing in the chorus of the angelic powers; and thus it caused the fall, through which human beings were separated from [their] relationship with the angels. 

 παρεμπεσοῦσα ἡ ἁμαρτία καὶ τοῖς ποσὶ τῶν πρώτων ἀνθρώπων τῶν ταῖς ἀγγελικαῖς δυνάμεσι συγχορευόντων τὸν τῆς ἀπάτης ὄλισθον ὑποχέασα πτῶμα ἐποίησεν, ὅθεν διεσπάσθη τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἀγγέλους συναφείας ὁ ἄνθρωπος,  

Because the fall dissolved [their] partnership, the fallen must now be restored by sweat[-drenched practice] and hard labor. 

τοῦ πτώματος τὴν συμβολὴν διαλύσαντος τούτου χάριν πολλῶν ἱδρώτων χρεία τῷ πεπτωκότι καὶ πόνων,

so that, having conquered and overturned the sentence that the fall imposed, they received [again] the divine dance as a prize of victory over the opponent.

 ἵνα τὸν ἐπικείμενον αὐτοῦ τῷ πτώματι καταγωνισάμενός τε καὶ ἀνατρέψας πάλιν ἀνορθωθῇ, γέρας τῆς κατὰ τοῦ παλαίοντος νίκης τὴν θείαν χοροστασίαν δεξάμενος.

     The soul looking towards God is raised to this sublime height as we have observed earlier.  It does not know as it ought, as Paul says [1Cor 8.2], nor does the soul estimate itself to have comprehended, but runs to what lies beyond, stretching forward (epekteinousa) to what is before [Phil 3.13].

Πρὸς τοσοῦτον δὲ μέγεθος ἐπαρθεῖσα διὰ τῶν θεωρηθέντων ἡμῖν ἡ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ὁρῶσα ψυχὴ  Οὔπω, καθώς φησιν ὁ  Παῦλος, οὕτως ἔγνω καθὼς δεῖ γνῶναι, οὐδὲ λογίζεται ἑαυτὴν κατειληφέναι, ἀλλ' ἔτι πρὸς τὸ ὑπερκείμενον τρέχει  Τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἑαυτὴν ἐπεκτείνουσα.

    The Song offers these words of the bride: “Upon the handles of the lock.  I opened to my beloved.”  And she adds, “My beloved was gone. My soul went forth at his word” [5.5-6].  The bride teaches us here that the only way for comprehending that power transcending all understanding is

 ἡ γὰρ ἀκολουθία τῶν ἐφεξῆς λόγων ταῦτα νοεῖν περὶ αὐτῆς ὑποτίθεται· Ἐπὶ χεῖρας τοῦ κλείθρου ἤνοιξα ἐγὼ τῷ ἀδελφιδῷ μου, καὶ ἐπήγαγεν ὅτι Ἀδελφιδός μου παρῆλθεν, ἡ ψυχή μου ἐξῆλθεν ἐν λόγῳ αὐτοῦ. διδάσκει γὰρ διὰ τούτων ἡμᾶς ὅτι ἐπὶ τῆς πάντα νοῦν ὑπερεχούσης δυνάμεως εἷς καταλήψεώς ἐστι τρόπος

 never to remain in any notion of him, but to always move forward and never stand still. . . J.352.6-17

οὐ τὸ στῆναι περὶ τὸ κατειλημμένον ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀεὶ ζητοῦντα τὸ πλεῖον τοῦ καταληφθέντος μὴ ἵστασθαι.

. . . Let us recapitulate the sense of the text.  The soul which looks to God and conceives that desire for incorruptible beauty always has a new desire for the transcendent, and it is never dulled by satiety. 

̓Αλλ' ἐπαναλάβωμεν πάλιν ἀνακεφαλαιωσάμενοι τὴν τῶν εἰρημένων διάνοιαν· ἡ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ὁρῶσα ψυχὴ καὶ τὸν ἀγαθὸν ἐκεῖνον πόθον τοῦ ἀφθάρτου κάλλους ἀναλαμβάνουσα ἀεὶ νέαν τὴν πρὸς τὸ ὑπερκείμενον ἐπιθυμίαν ἔχει οὐδέποτε κόρῳ τὸν πόθον ἀμβλύνουσα.