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The beasts and the quadrupeds and the reptiles were of one voice 1.10 with man before the transgression, because, it says, the serpent spoke to Eve with a human voice. But every rational nature is in the image of God, but these are not in the image of God; for we confess that the serpent spoke to Eve, having become a mouth for the spiritual serpent, in whom he, acting as one familiar to man beyond the other beasts, deceived the first parents through it, who after this also spoke in inanimate idols to the idolaters enticed by him in many ways. But that the serpent was a quadruped before and a reptile after the wicked suggestion, and that venom was placed on its tongue, we do not disbelieve. The serpent was called wise, because it was about to deceive the rational animal, man, who differs from the others in shrewdness. Others say that the serpent did not use uttered speech; but the first-formed, since they were unmixed with evil, had the most precise senses, very different from ours, so that their hearing was receptive of every voice. For since man was brought forth in the world like a king, he was reasonably born in the image of God; for it was necessary for the one who was to rule the others to be like a living image of the likeness of the universal king, displaying his worth not in purple and scepter and diadem, since the archetype is not in these things, but in being adorned with incorruptibility and immortality and virtue; for being honored with these things, man preserves the image and likeness to the prototype. 1.11 Moreover, free will most clearly shows what is royal and exalted in man's nature and resembles the divine image. According to this account, man is also the work of God's hands on account of the honor of his creation; for the whole is the work of counsel. The "let us make for him a helper according to him" he says because of the future of childbearing; for the female cooperates with the male for the increase and continuation of the race. But when the woman was formed, when Adam saw her, he was not affected as looking upon a woman, but was gladdened spiritually as seeing himself, seeing her similar and having this construction. Likewise, the woman also, seeing the man, greatly rejoiced, considering herself to be according to him. The "you shall die by death" means you shall be mortal, as Symmachus also interpreted. To work and to keep means, to work thanksgiving and praise to the provider of so many and so great goods, and to keep and to guard, lest somehow becoming desperate and taking on forgetfulness of the benefactor he should fall away from the blessedness and good life in his hands. And Adam is interpreted as earthly, and Eve as life; for they are in reality named leaders and fathers of earthly and carnal life, just as Jesus Christ, the new Adam, and she who bore him without knowing a man, are the first-fruit and cause for all the children of God.

1.12 That some from tradition say Adam spent one hundred years in paradise. Others, however, that he was formed at the third hour, transgressed at the sixth, and was cast out at the ninth, setting forth as proof that Jesus was crucified at the sixth hour, and that he died for us at the ninth. Perhaps, because the Lord also came to them in the evening, they were brought to this supposition. But the three-hour interval of the first parent's stay in paradise is exceedingly narrow, and very improbable as unworthy of the magnificence of the one who orders all things by the inscrutable judgments of wisdom. For when in three hours did he have time to give names to all land animals and birds? And when, having partaken of the other fruits in paradise, and having had his fill of their partaking, did he come to a desire for the taste of the forbidden wood? not to mention the insolence of envy and the serpent's attack and counsel to the woman; for this itself required more of the time

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Τὰ θηρία καὶ τὰ τετράποδα καὶ τὰ ἑρπετὰ ὁμόφωνα ἦσαν 1.10 πρὸ τῆς παραβάσεως τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, διότι, φησίν, ὁ ὄφις ἀνθρω πίνῃ φωνῇ ἐλάλησε τῇ Εὔᾳ. πᾶσα δὲ λογικὴ φύσις κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ, ταῦτα δὲ οὐκ εἰσὶ κατὰ εἰκόνα θεοῦ· τὸν γὰρ ὄφιν ὁμο λογοῦμεν λελαληκέναι τῇ Εὔᾳ, στόμα γενόμενον τῷ νοητῷ ὄφει, ἐν ᾧ ἐνεργήσας ὡς συνήθει ὄντι τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ παρὰ τὰ λοιπὰ θηρία δι' αὐτοῦ ἠπάτησε τοὺς προπάτορας, ὁ μετὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἐν ἀψύχοις εἰδώλοις λαλήσας τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ δελεασθεῖσι πολυτρόπως εἰδωλολάτραις. τὸ δὲ εἶναι τὸν ὄφιν τετράπουν τὸ πρὶν καὶ μετὰ τὴν πονηρὰν εἰσήγησιν ἑρπυστικόν, καὶ ἰὸν αὐτῷ ἐπὶ τὴν γλῶσσαν ἐντεθῆναι, οὐκ ἀπιστοῦμεν. φρόνιμος δὲ ὁ ὄφις ἐκλήθη, ὅτι τὸ λογικὸν ζῷον τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀγχινοίᾳ διαφέρον, ἐξαπατᾶν ἔμελλεν. ἄλλοι δέ φασιν ὅτι οὐ τῷ κατὰ προφορὰν λόγῳ ὁ ὄφις ἐχρήσατο· ἀλλ' οἱ πρωτόπλαστοι, ἅτε κακίας ὄντες ἀμι γεῖς, ἀκριβεστάτας εἶχον τὰς αἰσθήσεις καὶ πολὺ τῶν ἡμετέρων διαλλαττούσας, ὥστε τὴν ἀκοὴν αὐτῶν πάσης ὑπάρχειν φωνῆς ἀκουστικήν. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ βασιλεὺς ὥσπερ προήχθη ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, εἰκότως κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ γεγέννηται· ἔδει γὰρ τὸν μέλλοντα ἄρχειν τῶν ἄλλων ὥσπερ τινὰ εἰκόνα εἶναι ἔμψυχον τῆς τοῦ παμβασιλέως ὁμοιότητος, οὐκ ἐν πορφυρίδι καὶ σκήπτρῳ καὶ διαδήματι τὴν ἀξίαν ἐμφαίνοντα, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ τὸ ἀρχέτυπον ἐν τού τοις ἐστίν, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ κεκοσμῆσθαι τῇ ἀφθαρσίᾳ καὶ ἀθανασίᾳ καὶ ἀρετῇ· τούτοις γὰρ τιμηθεὶς ὁ ἄνθρωπος τὴν πρὸς τὸ πρωτό 1.11 τυπον εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοιότητα διασώζει. ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἡ αὐτεξουσιότης τὸ βασιλικὸν καὶ ἐπῃρμένον τῆς φύσεως τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ πρὸς τὴν θείαν εἰκόνα ἐμφερὲς προφανέστατα δείκνυσι. κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν λόγον καὶ χειρῶν θεοῦ ἔργον ὁ ἄνθρωπος διὰ τὴν τιμὴν τῆς κατασκευῆς· καὶ γὰρ βουλῆς ἐνέργεια τὸ πᾶν. τὸ "ποιήσωμεν αὐτῷ βοηθὸν κατ' αὐτόν" διὰ τὸ μέλλον τῆς παιδογονίας λέγει· συνεργεῖ γὰρ τὸ θῆλυ τῷ ἀνδρὶ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ γένους αὔξησίν τε καὶ διαμονήν. πλασθείσης δὲ τῆς γυναικός, ὡς ἑώρα αὐτὴν ὁ Ἀδάμ, οὐχ ὡς γυναῖκα θεώμενος ἔπασχεν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἑαυτὸν ὁρῶν πνευ ματικῶς ηὐφραίνετο, τὴν ὁμοίαν βλέπων καὶ ταύτην ἔχουσαν κα τασκευήν. ὡσαύτως καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ὁρῶσα τὸν ἄνδρα μεγάλως ἠγάλ λετο, κατ' αὐτὸν οὖσαν ἑαυτὴν ἐννοοῦσα. τὸ δὲ "θανάτῳ ἀπο θανεῖσθε" θνητοὶ ἔσεσθε σημαίνει, ὡς καὶ ὁ Σύμμαχος ἡρμή νευσεν. ἐργάζεσθαι καὶ φυλάσσειν σημαίνει, ἐργάζεσθαι μὲν τὴν εὐχαριστίαν καὶ τὴν αἴνεσιν τῷ τοσούτων καὶ τηλικούτων ἀγαθῶν παροχεῖ, φυλάσσειν δὲ καὶ τηρεῖν, μή πως ἀπονοηθεὶς καὶ λήθην τοῦ εὐεργέτου λαβὼν τῆς ἐν χερσὶν ἀποπέσῃ μακαριότητος καὶ εὐ ζωΐας. Ἀδὰμ δὲ ἑρμηνεύεται γήϊνος, Εὔα δὲ ζωή· καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὶ τῆς γηΐνης καὶ σαρκικῆς ζωῆς ἀρχηγοὶ καὶ πατέρες τῷ ὄντι χρημα τίζουσιν, ὥσπερ τῆς οὐρανίας καὶ πνευματικῆς Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ νέος Ἀδάμ, καὶ ἡ ἀπειράνδρως αὐτὸν τεκοῦσα, ἀπαρχὴ καὶ αἰτία τοῖς πᾶσι τοῦ θεοῦ τέκνοις εἰσίν.

1.12 Ὅτι τινὲς ἐκ παραδόσεως ἑκατὸν ἔτη τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ φασὶ πεποιηκέναι. ἄλλοι δὲ τρίτην μὲν ὥραν πεπλάσθαι, ἕκτην δὲ παραβῆναι, ἐννάτην δὲ ἐκβεβλῆσθαι, τὸ ἐν ἕκτῃ μὲν ὥρᾳ ἐσταυρῶσθαι τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ἐννάτῃ δὲ τοῦτον ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀποθανεῖν τεκμήριον τιθέμενοι. ἴσως δέ, ὅτι καὶ τὸ δειλινὸν ἦλθεν ὁ κύριος πρὸς αὐτούς, εἰς ταύτην ὑπενεχθῆναι τὴν ὑπόνοιαν. στενὸν δὲ κομιδῇ τὸ τρίωρον τῆς ἐν παραδείσῳ διατριβῆς τοῦ προπάτορος διάστημα, καὶ λίαν ἀπίθανον ὡς τῆς μεγαλοπρεπείας τοῦ τὰ πάντα δυσθεωρήτοις σοφίας κρίμασιν οἰκονομοῦντος ἀνάξιον. πότε γὰρ ἐν τρισὶν ὥραις χερσαίοις τε καὶ πτηνοῖς πᾶσιν ὀνόματα καλεῖν εἶχε καιρόν; πότε δὲ τῶν ἄλλων ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ καρπῶν μετασχών, καὶ τῆς αὐτῶν μεταλήψεως κόρον λαβών, εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν τῆς τοῦ ἀπηγορευμένου ξύλου γεύσεως ἐλήλυθεν; ἵνα μὴ λέγω τὴν ἐπή ρειαν τῆς βασκανίας καὶ τῆς τοῦ ὄφεως πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα προσβο λῆς καὶ συμβουλίας· καὶ γὰρ αὐτὴ πλείονος ἐδεῖτο τῆς τοῦ χρόνου