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the argument of those who have supposed thus is true. Therefore, by consequence, irrationality will be shown to be preferable to reason, and virtue will be revealed through these things to be of no value; for if there was no loss with respect to participation in good things for the one who did not partake of virtue, it would be vain and unprofitable to labor for it, since the irrational state takes precedence in the judgment of God. Considering all these things and things like them, you ordered me to examine the argument concerning this matter, so that through a consecutive 76 investigation our thought about it might be established on some firm understanding. But I, looking to the difficulty of contemplating the subject proposed to us, think that the voice of the Apostle is also fitting for the present argument, which he uttered concerning things unattainable, saying, “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord?” But since the Apostle again says that it is characteristic of the spiritual man to examine all things, and approves those who have been enriched by divine grace “in all speech and all knowledge,” I say that it is well not to neglect the possible examination, nor to overlook the subject of inquiry in these matters as unsearched and unexamined, so that, in a way similar to the hypothesis of the problem, the argument about it might not disappear incomplete and untimely, just like some newborn infant before it comes forth into the light and matures, being destroyed, as by a kind of death, through the sloth of those who are too weak for the search for truth. Therefore I say that it is well not to engage with the objections immediately, face to face, in a rhetorical and contentious manner, but, having imposed a certain order on the argument, to advance the consideration of the problem consecutively. What then is the order? To know first whence human nature is and for what purpose it came into being; for if we do not err in these things, we will not have erred in the consideration before us either. Now, to establish by argument that everything that exists 77 after God among existing things, both perceived by the mind and seen, has its being from God would be superfluous, since no one, I think, of those who have in any way examined the truth of existing things objects to such a supposition; for it is agreed by all that the universe depends on one cause and that nothing among existing things has its being from itself, nor is its own origin and cause, but that there is one nature that is uncreated and eternal, always existing in the same way and manner, transcending every concept of interval, incapable of increase or decrease, and seen as beyond every limit, whose work is also time and space and all things in them, and whatever the mind grasps before these things, both intelligible and supramundane. And we say that human nature is one of the things that have come into being, using for this a certain account from divinely-inspired teaching as our guide, which says that after all things were brought into being by God, man also was shown forth upon the earth, his nature blended from heterogeneous elements, with the divine and intellectual essence mixed with the portion contributed to him from each of the elements, and that he was made by the Creator in order that he might be a living likeness of the divine and transcendent power. But it would be better to set forth the text itself, which runs thus: “And God made,” it says, “man; in the image of God he made him.” Some of those before us have given this reason for the creation 78 of this living being, that since all of creation is divided in two, as the Apostle says, into the visible and the invisible (by the invisible is meant the intelligible and incorporeal, and by the visible, the perceptible and corporeal); since all existing things, then, are divided into these two (I mean, into the perceptible and that which is contemplated by thought) and since the angelic and incorporeal nature, which is of the invisible things, dwells in the supramundane and super-celestial regions because its dwelling place is suitable to its nature (for the intellectual nature is something subtle and pure and weightless and easily moved, and the celestial

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ἀληθεύει τῶν οὕτως ὑπειληφότων ὁ λόγος. οὐκοῦν ἐκ τοῦ ἀκολούθου καὶ τοῦ λόγου προτιμοτέρα δειχθήσεται ἡ ἀλογία καὶ ἡ ἀρετὴ οὐδενὸς ἀξία διὰ τούτων ἀναφανήσεται· εἰ γὰρ μηδεμία γέγονε ζημία πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀγαθῶν μετουσίαν τῷ μὴ μετασχόντι τῆς ἀρετῆς, μάταιον ἂν εἴη τὸ περὶ ταύτην πονεῖν καὶ ἀνόνητον, τῆς ἀλόγου καταστάσεως ἐν τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ κρίσει προτερευούσης. Ταῦτα σὺ πάντα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα διανοούμενος ἐξετάσαι τὸν περὶ τούτου λόγον διεκελεύσω, ὡς ἂν ἡμῖν διὰ τῆς ἀκολούθου 76 ζητήσεως ἐπί τινος βεβαίου νοήματος ἡ περὶ αὐτοῦ ἱδρυθείη διάνοια. ἐγὼ δὲ πρὸς τὸ δυσθεώρητον τοῦ προτεθέντος ἡμῖν σκέμματος βλέπων ἁρμόζειν μὲν οἶμαι καὶ τὴν τοῦ ἀποστόλου φωνὴν τῷ παρόντι λόγῳ, ἣν ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνεφίκτων ἐκεῖνος πεποίηται λέγων Ὦ βάθος πλούτου καὶ σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως θεοῦ· ὡς ἀνεξερεύνητα τὰ κρίματα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστοι αἱ ὁδοὶ αὐτοῦ. τίς γὰρ ἔγνω νοῦν κυρίου; ἐπεὶ δὲ πάλιν ὁ ἀπόστολος ἴδιον τοῦ πνευματικοῦ φησι τὸ ἀνακρίνειν τὰ πάντα καὶ ἀποδέχεται τοὺς παρὰ τῆς θείας χάριτος πλουτισθέντας Ἐν παντὶ λόγῳ καὶ πάσῃ γνώσει, καλῶς ἔχειν φημὶ μὴ κατολιγωρῆσαι τῆς δυνατῆς ἐξετάσεως μηδὲ περιιδεῖν τὸ ζητούμενον ἐν τούτοις ἀνερεύνητόν τε καὶ ἀθεώρητον, ὡς ἂν μὴ καθ' ὁμοιότητα τῆς τοῦ προβλήματος ὑποθέσεως καὶ ὁ περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγος ἀτελὴς ἀφανισθείη καὶ ἄωρος, καθάπερ τι νήπιον τῶν ἀρτιτόκων πρὶν εἰς φῶς προελθεῖν καὶ ἁδρυνθῆναι, οἷόν τινι θανάτῳ τῇ ῥαθυμίᾳ τῶν πρὸς τὴν ζήτησιν τῆς ἀληθείας ἀτονούντων διαφθειρόμενος. Φημὶ τοίνυν καλῶς ἔχειν μὴ ῥητορικῶς τε καὶ ἀγωνιστικῶς εὐθὺς κατὰ στόμα πρὸς τὰς ἀντιθέσεις συμπλέκεσθαι, ἀλλά τινα τάξιν ἐπιθέντας τῷ λόγῳ δι' ἀκολούθου προάγειν τὴν περὶ τοῦ προβλήματος θεωρίαν. τίς οὖν ἡ τάξις; τὸ γνῶναι πρῶτον ὅθεν ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις καὶ ὅτου χάριν ἦλθεν εἰς γένεσιν· εἰ γὰρ τούτων μὴ διαμάρτοιμεν, οὐδὲ τῆς προκειμένης ἡμῖν θεωρίας ἡμαρτηκότες ἐσόμεθα. τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐκ θεοῦ πᾶν, ὅ τί πέρ ἐστι μετ' αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν 77 νοούμενόν τε καὶ ὁρώμενον, τὸ εἶναι ἔχειν περιττὸν ἂν εἴη λόγῳ κατασκευάζεσθαι, οὐδενός, οἶμαι, τῶν ὁπωσοῦν ἐπεσκεμμένων τὴν τῶν ὄντων ἀλήθειαν πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην ὑπόληψιν ἐνισταμένου· ὁμολογεῖται γὰρ παρὰ πάντων μιᾶς αἰτίας ἐξῆφθαι τὸ πᾶν καὶ οὐδὲν τῶν ὄντων αὐτὸ ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ τὸ εἶναι ἔχειν οὐδὲ ἑαυτοῦ εἶναι ἀρχὴν καὶ αἰτίαν, ἀλλὰ μίαν μὲν φύσιν εἶναι ἄκτιστον καὶ ἀΐδιον, ἀεὶ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχουσαν, παντὸς διαστηματικοῦ νοήματος ὑπερκειμένην, ἀναυξῆ τινα καὶ ἀμείωτον καὶ παντὸς ὅρου ἐπέκεινα θεωρουμένην, ἦς ἔργον καὶ χρόνος καὶ τόπος καὶ τὰ ἐν τούτοις πάντα καὶ εἴ τι πρὸ τούτων καταλαμβάνει ἡ ἔννοια νοητόν τε καὶ ὑπερκόσμιον. ἓν δὲ τῶν γεγονότων καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν εἶναί φαμεν, λόγῳ τινὶ τῆς θεοπνεύστου διδασκαλίας ὁδηγῷ πρὸς τοῦτο συγχρώμενοι, ὅς φησι πάντων παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ παραχθέντων εἰς γένεσιν καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀναδειχθῆναι ἐξ ἑτερογενῶν συγκεκραμένον τὴν φύσιν, τῆς θείας τε καὶ νοερᾶς οὐσίας πρὸς τὴν ἀφ' ἑκάστου τῶν στοιχείων αὐτῷ συνερανισθεῖσαν μοῖραν καταμιχθείσης, γενέσθαι δὲ τοῦτον παρὰ τοῦ πεποιηκότος, ἐφ' ᾧτε εἶναι τῆς θείας τε καὶ ὑπερκειμένης δυνάμεως ἔμψυχόν τι ὁμοίωμα. βέλτιον δ' ἂν εἴη καὶ αὐτὴν παραθέσθαι τὴν λέξιν ἔχουσαν οὕτως· Καὶ ἐποίησε, φησίν, ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον· κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ ἐποίησεν αὐτόν. τὴν δὲ αἰτίαν τῆς τοῦ ζῴου τούτου 78 κατασκευῆς τῶν πρὸ ἡμῶν τινες ταύτην ἀποδεδώκασιν, ὅτι διχῇ διῃρημένης τῆς κτίσεως πάσης, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, εἰς τὸ ὁρατόν τε καὶ ἀόρατον (σημαίνεται δὲ διὰ μὲν τοῦ ἀοράτου τὸ νοητὸν καὶ ἀσώματον, διὰ δὲ τοῦ ὁρατοῦ τὸ αἰσθητόν τε καὶ σωματῶδες)· εἰς δύο τοίνυν ταῦτα διῃρημένων πάντων τῶν ὄντων (εἴς τε τὸ αἰσθητόν, λέγω, καὶ εἰς τὸ κατ' ἔννοιαν θεωρούμενον) καὶ τῆς μὲν ἀγγελικῆς τε καὶ ἀσωμάτου φύσεως, ἥτις τῶν ἀοράτων ἐστίν, ἐν τοῖς ὑπερκοσμίοις τε καὶ ὑπερουρανίοις διαιτωμένης διὰ τὸ κατάλληλον εἶναι τῇ φύσει τὸ ἐνδιαίτημα (ἥ τε γὰρ νοερὰ φύσις λεπτή τις καὶ καθαρὰ καὶ ἀβαρὴς καὶ εὐκίνητος τό τε οὐράνιον