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having delight; its appearance graceful, its enjoyment unending, its fragrance insatiable, its beautiful color flashing forth. No violence of winds distresses them, no new moons cause them to wither, no frost makes them stiff, no burning of the sun scorches them, but a moderate breeze, providing a light and pleasant breath, blowing upon them lightly and gently, preserves their grace unconquered by time. And the beauties of the plants are themselves worthy of the creation and the planting of the Creator; as many as are brushwood and as many as are shrubs, those with single stems, those with many branches, those with high foliage, those that bloom all around, the deciduous, the evergreen, those that shed their leaves, those that are ever-blooming, the fruitful, the 79 fruitless; some seen † for use, and others contributing to enjoyment; all differing in size and beauty, shady with their branches, flourishing with their foliage, teeming with fruits, made for different use and delight for different creatures at once. For of each of the fruits, its charm is great, but its usefulness is again greater than its delight.

How shall I present to you the excellence of that pleasure? If I compare it with the things here, I rather insult it by the comparison than present to you any clarity from the image. All things are perfect, all things are ripe, not having grown little by little; for it does not grow from blossom to its prime, but is revealed at its own prime, the results of nature, not of human contrivance. There too are kinds of all sorts of birds, providing a certain wondrous enjoyment through both the bloom of their feathers and their natural music; so that man feasted through all his senses, seeing some things, hearing others, touching others, smelling others, tasting yet others. And sights of various animals, all tame, all of like character with one another, and both hearing and speaking with understanding. The serpent was not dreadful then, but gentle and tame, not undulating fearfully on the ground and crawling, but standing tall upon 80 feet. There He placed the man whom He had formed. He formed him elsewhere and brought him in there. As God made the luminaries and placed them in the firmament, so also He formed man from the dust of the earth, and placed him in paradise. But note that it does not say "whom He made," but "Whom He formed." For the one He made is the one according to the image; and this one is incorporeal. But the incorporeal is not circumscribed by place. For the thing made follows the thing formed, that is, the soul follows the body. For the composite being is together, but place primarily belongs to bodies, while the soul is in a place consequentially, through its relation to the body, not being circumscribed in places [in the body] by its own nature. Have I cheered you by the delights in paradise, or have I grieved you more by the handing over of perishable things? For surely in some way the mind, thinking high and lofty and super-cosmic things, as one having its citizenship in heaven and looking to the dignity above, was considering the promise and looking around to hear something of the good things promised [by the promises] to us, 81 which neither eye has seen nor ear has heard, nor have entered into the heart of man. If eye has not seen, who is the one describing it? If ear has not heard, how will yours receive it? If it has not entered into the heart of man, how should our mind grasp it? We neither cast out the bodily things nor fail to seek the spiritual things. For just as in the case of the Law there was the perceptible, but it made a type of the intelligible, so also we understand paradise bodily, but we allegorize it spiritually. God planted a paradise in Eden in the east. The names of the plants are kept silent, but the place in which He planted has been handed down; In Eden, it says, He planted, that is, in delight; for Eden is named delight. Does it therefore name as "delight" the enjoyment through the mouth, delivered to the belly, whose end is the latrine, and has it handed down a perishing delight, and is this the grace from God, a filling of the stomach and a well-being of the body and an effusion producing pleasure? Or is it not even pious to say this? For of intemperance and

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τερπνὸν ἔχον· χαρίεσσαν τὴν ὄψιν, ἀτέλεστον τὴν ἀπό λαυσιν, τὴν εὐωδίαν ἀκόρεστον, τὴν εὔχροιαν ἐξαστράπτου σαν. οὐ βίαι ἀνέμων παραλυποῦσιν, οὐ νεομηνίαι ἀπομαραί νουσιν, οὐ παγετὸς ἀποπήγνυσιν, οὐχ ἡλίου φλόγωσις καταφρύσσει, ἀλλὰ πνεῦμα μέτριον, λεπτὴν καὶ ἡδεῖαν ἀναπνοὴν παρεχόμενον, κούφως αὐτοῖς καὶ προσηνῶς ἐπι πνέον, ἀδάμαστον χρόνῳ τὴν χάριν αὐτῶν διασῴζει. τὰ δὲ τῶν φυτῶν κάλλη ἄξια καὶ αὐτὰ τῆς δημιουργίας καὶ τῆς φυτείας τοῦ κτίσαντος· ὅσα φρυγανικὰ καὶ ὅσα ἔνθαμνα, τὰ μονοστέ λεχα, τὰ πολύκλαδα, τὰ ὑψίκομα, τὰ ἀμφιθαλῆ, τὰ φυλλοβόλα, τὰ ἀείφυλλα, τὰ γυμνούμενα, τὰ ἀειθαλῆ, τὰ κάρπιμα, τὰ 79 ἄκαρπα· τὰ μὲν † τῆς χρείας ὁρώμενα, τὰ δὲ πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν συμβαλλόμενα· πάντα μεγέθει καὶ κάλλει διαφέροντα, κατάσκια τοῖς κλάδοις, ἀμφιθαλῆ ταῖς κόμαις, βρύοντα τοῖς καρποῖς, ἄλλοις ὁμοῦ ἄλλην χρείαν καὶ τέρψιν πεποιημένα. ἑκάστου γὰρ τῶν καρπῶν πολὺ μὲν τὸ χαρίεν, πλέον δὲ πάλιν τοῦ τερπνοῦ τὸ χρειῶδες.

Πῶς σοι παραστήσω τῆς ἡδονῆς ἐκείνης τὸ ὑπερβάλλον; ἐὰν συγκρίνω τοῖς ὧδε, καθυβρίζω μᾶλλον τῇ παραθέσει ἤ τινά σοι ἐνάργειαν ἐκ τῆς εἰκόνος παρίστημι. πάντα τέλεια, πάντα ὥριμα, οὐ κατὰ μικρὸν αὐξηθέντα· οὐ γὰρ ἀπὸ ἄνθους ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκμὴν αὔξεται, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκείας ἀκμῆς ἐκφανέντα, φύσεως ἀποτελέσματα οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνης ἐπιτεχνή σεως. ἐκεῖ καὶ ὀρνίθων παντοδαπῶν γένη τῷ τε τῶν πτερῶν ἄνθει καὶ τῇ ἐκ φύσεως μουσικῇ ἀπόλαυσίν τινα θαυμαστὴν δι' ἑαυτῶν παρεχόμενα· ὥστε διὰ πασῶν τῶν αἰσθήσεων εὐωχεῖσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον τὰ μὲν ὁρῶντα, τῶν δὲ ἀκούοντα, ἄλλων ἁπτόμενον, ἄλλων ὀσφραινόμενον, ἑτέρων ἀπογευό μενον. καὶ ζῴων ποικίλων θεάματα πάντων ἡμέρων, πάντων ὁμοήθων ἀλλήλοις καὶ ἀκουόντων καὶ φθεγγομένων εὐσύνετα. οὐ φρικτὸς ὁ ὄφις τότε, ἀλλὰ προσηνὴς καὶ ἥμερος, οὐχὶ φοβερὸν ἐπικυμαίνων τῇ γῇ καὶ ἐφέρπων, ἀλλ' ὑψηλὸς ἐπὶ 80 ποδῶν βεβηκώς. Ἐκεῖ ἔθετο τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὃν ἔπλασεν. ἀλλαχοῦ ἔπλασε κἀκεῖ εἰσήγαγεν. ὡς τοὺς φωστῆρας ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἔθετο αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ στερεώματι, οὕτω καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἔπλασε μὲν χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, ἔθετο δὲ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ. σημείωσαι δὲ ὅτι οὐκ εἴρηται ὃν ἐποίησεν, ἀλλ' Ὃν ἔπλασεν. ὃν μὲν γὰρ ἐποίησεν, ὁ κατ' εἰκόνα ἐστίν· οὗτος δὲ ἀσώματος. τὸ δὲ ἀσώματον τόπῳ οὐ περιγράφεται. ἀκολουθεῖ μὲν γὰρ τῷ πλάσματι τὸ ποίημα, τουτέστι τῷ σώματι ἡ ψυχή. ὁμοῦ γάρ ἐστι τὸ σύνθετον, ἀλλὰ προηγουμένως μὲν τῶν σωμάτων ὁ τόπος, ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ κατ' ἐπακολούθημά ἐστιν ἐν τόπῳ διὰ τῆς πρὸς τὸ σῶμα σχέσεως, οὐκ ἐκ τῆς οἰκείας φύσεως ἐμπεριγρα φομένη τόποις [τῷ σώματι]. Ἆρά σε εὔφρανα ἐκ τῶν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τερπνῶν ἢ ἐλύπησα πλέον τῇ τῶν φθαρτῶν παραδόσει; πάντως γάρ που ἡ διάνοια ὑψηλὰ καὶ μετέωρα καὶ ὑπερκόσμια φρονοῦσα, οἷα δὴ τὸ πολίτευμα ἔχουσα ἐν οὐρανοῖς καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἄνω βλέπουσα ἀξίαν, τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ἐνενόει καὶ περιεσκόπει ἀκούσεσθαί τι τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων [ταῖς ἐπαγγελίαις] ἡμῖν 81 ἀγαθῶν, Ἃ οὔτε ὀφθαλμὸς εἶδεν οὔτε οὖς ἤκουσεν οὔτε ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου ἀνέβη. εἰ ὀφθαλμὸς οὐκ εἶδεν, τίς ὁ διηγούμενος; εἰ οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσεν, πῶς τὸ σὸν ὑποδέξεται; εἰ ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη, πῶς ἡ διάνοια ἡμῶν λάβῃ; οὔτε τὰ σωματικὰ ἐκβάλλομεν καὶ τὰ πνευματικὰ ἐπιζητοῦμεν. ὡς γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῦ νόμου ἦν μὲν καὶ τὸ αἰσθητόν, ἀλλὰ τύπον ἐποίει τοῦ νοητοῦ, οὕτω καὶ τὸν παράδεισον νοοῦμεν μὲν σωματικῶς, ἀλληγοροῦμεν δὲ πνευματικῶς. Ἐφύτευσεν ὁ θεὸς παράδεισον ἐν Ἐδὲμ κατὰ ἀνατολάς. τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν φυτῶν σεσιώπηται, ὁ δὲ τόπος ἐν ᾧ ἐφύτευσε παραδέδοται· Ἐν Ἐδέμ, φησίν, ἐφύτευσεν, τουτέστιν ἐν τρυφῇ· Ἐδὲμ γὰρ τρυφὴ ὀνομάζεται. ἆρα οὖν τρυφὴν τὴν διὰ στόματος ἀπόλαυσιν ὀνομάζει τῇ κοιλίᾳ παραδεδομένην ἧς τέλος ὁ ἀφεδρών, καὶ τρυφὴν παραδέδωκε τὴν ἀπολλυ μένην καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἡ παρὰ θεοῦ χάρις, γαστρὸς πλήρωσις καὶ εὐπάθεια σώματος καὶ διάχυσις ἡδονὴν ἐμποιοῦσα; ἢ τοῦτο μὲν οὐδὲ εἰπεῖν εὐσεβές. ἀκολασίας γάρ που καὶ