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For it is possible, truly possible, if at least we wish to be watchful; and not this only, but also to achieve all virtue. For we are governed by a self-determining choice, and we are not subject to the necessity of fate, according to some, with both good and evil being established in our willing and not willing. For because of this God both promised a kingdom and threatened punishment. But he would not have done so to those bound by necessity; for the requital of either kind is for things that come from choice. He would not have established laws, he would not have given exhortations, if we were held in the bonds of fate. But since we are free, and masters of our own choice, and from indolence we become wicked, but from diligence, good, for this reason He prepared these remedies, correcting us by the fear of punishment and the expectation of the kingdom, and teaching us to be wise. And not only from these things, but also from what we ourselves do, it is clear that neither fate, nor fortune, nor nativity, nor the course of the stars governs our affairs. For if all that happens depends on that, and not on the choice of men, for what reason do you flog the servant who has stolen? for what reason do you drag the wife who has committed adultery to court? for what reason are you ashamed when doing unseemly things? for what reason do you not even bear the words when reproached, but if someone calls you an adulterer, or a fornicator, or a drunkard, or any such thing, you call the matter an insult? For if to sin is not of your own will, what happens is neither a crime, nor what is said an insult. But as it is, both by the fact that you do not forgive sinners, and by the fact that you yourself are ashamed when doing evil things, and are eager to conceal them, and by the fact that you consider those who bring these things up against you to be insolent, by all these things you confess that our affairs are not bound by necessity, but are honored with freedom of choice. For at least to those who are constrained by necessity we know to grant pardon. And if someone troubled by a demon either tears our tunic or inflicts blows, not only do we not punish him, but we also pity and pardon him. Why then? Because not the freedom of choice, but the violence of the demon did these things. So that if other sins also happened from the necessity of fate, we would have pardoned them; but since we know that it is not of necessity, for this reason we do not pardon, neither masters servants, nor husbands wives, nor wives husbands, nor 56.283 fathers children, nor teachers pupils, nor rulers the ruled, but we become harsh examiners and punishers of the things dared, and we take them to courts, and we subject them to beatings, and we use rebukes, and we do all things, so that we may deliver them from evils. And for our children we even appoint tutors, and send them to teachers, and add threats, and inflict floggings, and bring many other helps, so that they may become good. What need then of toils and sweats for achieving virtue? For if it is fated for someone to become good, even while sleeping and snoring such a one will be good; or rather, it is not even possible to call such a one good, who becomes so by necessity. What need of toils and sweats for fleeing vice? For if it is fated for someone to become evil, even if he should toil ten thousand times, he will be evil; or rather, it is not even possible to call such a one evil, who is pushed to this by necessity. For just as one who is possessed by a demon, even if he reviles, even if he strikes (for again I have used the same example), we will not call him insolent; for we do not reckon the reviling to him, but to the necessity of the demon; so also the evil man, if he is pushed to this by fate, let us not call him evil, just as we do not call the good man good. For if this were granted, all our affairs will be confounded, and there will be neither any virtue, nor vice, no arts, no laws, nor anything else of the sort. But for what reason

3

∆υνατὸν γὰρ, ὄντως δυνατὸν, εἴ γε βουλόμεθα νήφειν· οὐ τοῦτο δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶσαν κατορθῶσαι τὴν ἀρετήν. Αὐτεξουσίῳ γὰρ προαιρέσει κυβερνώμεθα, καὶ οὐχ εἱμαρμένης ἀνάγκῃ, κατά τινας, ὑποκείμεθα, ἐν τῷ θέλειν καὶ μὴ θέλειν ὁριζόμενοι καὶ τὰ καλὰ κεῖσθαι καὶ τὰ κακά. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς καὶ βασιλείαν ὑπέσχετο, καὶ τιμωρίαν ἠπείλησεν. Οὐκ ἂν δὲ τοῖς ἀνάγκῃ δεδεμένοις οὕτως ἐποίησε· τῶν γὰρ ἀπὸ γνώμης γινομένων ἀντίδοσίς ἐστιν ἑκατέρων. Οὐκ ἂν νόμους ἔθηκεν, οὐκ ἂν παραινέσεις ἔδωκεν, εἰ δεσμοῖς εἱμαρμένης κεκρατημένοι ἦμεν. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἐλεύθεροί ἐσμεν, καὶ τῆς ἰδίας προαιρέσεως κύριοι, καὶ ἀπὸ μὲν ῥᾳθυμίας γινόμεθα φαῦλοι, ἀπὸ δὲ σπουδῆς χρηστοὶ, διὰ τοῦτο ταῦτα κατεσκεύασε τὰ φάρμακα, τῷ φόβῳ τῆς κολάσεως καὶ τῇ προσδοκίᾳ τῆς βασιλείας διορθούμενος ἡμᾶς, καὶ φιλοσοφεῖν παιδεύων. Οὐκ ἐκ τούτων δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξ ὧν ἡμεῖς αὐτοὶ ποιοῦμεν, δῆλον ὅτι οὔτε εἱμαρμένη, οὔτε τύχη, οὔτε γένεσις, οὔτε δρόμος ἀστέρων τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς διοικεῖ. Εἰ γὰρ ἐκεῖθεν ἤρτηται τὰ γινόμενα πάντα, καὶ οὐ τῆς προαιρέσεως τῶν ἀνθρώπων, τίνος ἕνεκεν μαστιγοῖς τὸν οἰκέτην κεκλοφότα; τίνος ἕνεκεν μοιχευθεῖσαν τὴν γυναῖκα εἰς δικαστήριον ἕλκεις; τίνος ἕνεκεν αἰσχύνῃ πράττων τὰ ἄτοπα; τίνος ἕνεκεν οὐδὲ τὰ ῥήματα φέρεις ὀνειδιζόμενος, ἀλλ' ἐάν τίς σε καλέσῃ μοιχὸν, ἢ πόρνον, ἢ μέθυσον, ἤ τι τοιοῦτον, ὕβριν τὸ πρᾶγμα καλεῖς; Εἰ γὰρ μὴ τῆς σῆς γνώμης τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν, οὔτε ἔγκλημα τὸ γινόμενον, οὔτε ὕβρις τὸ λεγόμενον. Νῦν δὲ καὶ δι' ὧν τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν οὐ συγγινώσκεις, καὶ δι' ὧν αὐτὸς αἰσχύνῃ τὰ κακὰ πράττων, καὶ λανθάνειν σπουδάζεις, καὶ δι' ὧν τοὺς ταῦτά σοι προφέροντας ὑβριστὰς νομίζεις, διὰ πάντων ὁμολογεῖς, ὅτι οὐκ ἀνάγκῃ δέδεται τὰ ἡμέτερα, ἀλλὰ προαιρέσεως ἐλευθερίᾳ τετίμηται. Τοῖς γοῦν ἀνάγκῃ κατεχομένοις συγγινώσκειν οἴδαμεν. Κἂν ὑπὸ δαίμονός τις ὀχλούμενος, ἢ τὸν χιτῶνα διαῤῥήξῃ τὸν ἡμέτερον, ἢ πληγὰς ἐπενέγκῃ, οὐ μόνον οὐ κολάζομεν αὐτὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐλεοῦμεν καὶ συγγινώσκομεν. Τί δήποτε; ὅτι οὐχ ἡ τῆς προαιρέσεως ἐλευθερία, ἀλλ' ἡ τοῦ δαίμονος βία ταῦτα εἰργάσατο. Ὥστε εἰ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἁμαρτήματα ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνάγκης τῆς κατὰ τὴν εἱμαρμένην ἐγίνετο, συνέγνωμεν ἄν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἴσμεν, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἀνάγκης, διὰ τοῦτο οὐ συγγινώσκομεν, οὔτε δεσπόται οἰκέταις, οὔτε ἄνδρες γυναιξὶν, οὔτε γυναῖκες ἀνδράσιν, οὔτε 56.283 πατέρες παισὶν, οὔτε διδάσκαλοι μαθηταῖς, οὔτε ἄρχοντες ἀρχομένοις, ἀλλὰ πικροὶ τῶν τετολμημένων ἐξετασταὶ καὶ τιμωροὶ γινόμεθα, καὶ δικαστήρια καταλαμβάνομεν, καὶ πληγαῖς ὑποβάλλομεν, καὶ ἐπιτιμήσεσι χρώμεθα, καὶ πάντα πράττομεν, ὅπως ἀπαλλάξωμεν αὐτοὺς τῶν κακῶν. Τοῖς δὲ παισὶ τοῖς ἡμετέροις καὶ παιδαγωγοὺς ἐφιστῶμεν, καὶ εἰς διδασκάλους πέμπομεν, καὶ ἀπειλὰς προστίθεμεν, καὶ μάστιγας ἐπιτίθεμεν, καὶ πολλὰ ἕτερα βοηθήματα προσάγομεν, ἵνα καλοὶ γένωνται. Τίς οὖν χρεία πόνων καὶ ἱδρώτων πρὸς τὸ κατορθοῦν ἀρετήν; Εἰ γὰρ εἵμαρταί τινι γενέσθαι καλὸν, καὶ καθεύδων ὁ τοιοῦτος καὶ ῥέγχων ἔσται καλός· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ καλὸν τὸν τοιοῦτον ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, τὸν ἐξ ἀνάγκης τοῦτο γινόμενον. Τίς χρεία πόνων καὶ ἱδρώτων πρὸς τὸ φεύγειν κακίαν; Εἰ γὰρ εἵμαρταί τινι γενέσθαι κακὸν, κἂν μυρία ταλαιπωρῇ, κακὸς ἔσται· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ κακὸν τὸν τοιοῦτον ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, τὸν ὑπ' ἀνάγκης πρὸς τοῦτο ὠθούμενον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸν δαιμονῶντα, κἂν λοιδορῇ, κἂν τύπτῃ πάλιν γὰρ τῷ αὐτῷ κέχρημαι παραδείγματι, οὐ προσεροῦμεν ὑβριστήν· οὐ γὰρ αὐτῷ λογιζόμεθα τὴν λοιδορίαν, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἀνάγκῃ τοῦ δαίμονος· οὕτω καὶ τὸν κακὸν, εἰ ὑπὸ τῆς εἱμαρμένης ὠθεῖται πρὸς τοῦτο, μὴ καλῶμεν αὐτὸν κακὸν, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ τὸν καλὸν καλόν. Καὶ γὰρ εἰ τοῦτο δοθείη, πάντα συγχυθήσεται τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς, καὶ οὔτε ἀρετὴ ἔσται τι, οὔτε κακία, οὐ τέχναι, οὐ νόμοι, οὐκ ἄλλο τῶν τοιούτων οὐδέν. Τίνος δὲ ἕνεκεν