without God; for it is not right for secondary causes to do what they do otherwise than with their superiors, art with nature and God—for without God, not even motion belongs to men—and nature with God. For if some creations come to be through certain intermediate agents, it is nevertheless clear that the cause of these things is that which provides even to the intermediate causes the power to be causes. God has given to art and to nature the power to be causes. Therefore, the first cause of beings is God, and whatever He brings into being immediately, He creates from non-beings without matter, at the same time implanting a nature in the things that have come to be for their continuation and for the sequence of the things that will come from them, but whatever He works through intermediate art or nature, these He works from existing things. 13. But one says: If the world has come to be from non-beings, it will be resolved back into what in no way is. For things that come to be from non-beings are resolved into non-being, like the shapes imposed by the craftsman on the things he creates and the enmattered forms produced by nature; for these things, not existing before but having come to be again, will proceed to non-existence, being dissolved when they are separated from matter. | So then, if the world has come to be from non-beings, it will proceed again into what in no way is, having undergone corruption. But those who propose these things are ignorant that this argument is true in the case of things that come to be by nature or the art of men, but it is not true in the case of things that have received their being immediately from God; for those things whose generation is beyond nature and art, having been constituted by the infinite power of God, their continuation also will receive what is beyond nature from God, being sustained by Him through everything. Thus also the intellectual powers will not be resolved into non-being, even though they were created from non-beings by the ever-existing God. Thus also the world; and matter itself, having come to be immediately from God, will never proceed into what is in no way <being>; for we await new heavens and a new earth; but indeed also man, even though he subsisted in the flesh from pre-existing matter of the earth, since he has come to be immediately from the self-sufficient God; For God, taking dust from the earth, formed man, not entrusting creation to nature as in the case of the generation of other things, saying, Let the earth bring forth the living soul, and let the waters bring forth, but Himself working the whole man through Himself by His hands and by His breath, man will not hold his alteration unto non-being at some point, but he will be altered for the better. For this corruptible must put on incorruption. And that matter is not unbegotten, which the Manichaeans also say is evil by nature, I think what has been said is sufficient. 14. From this, then, finally arises what is commonly repeated among the atheists: If nothing is outside of God's creation, and God is good, clearly the things that have come to be through him are good. Whence, then, are evils? If they ask this, having supposed that evil is a substance, the question is full of foolishness. For evil does not subsist; for it is a certain activity. And every activity has its being in its becoming, being neither before the motion or action of the agent, nor remaining after the motion. Only the completed result often leaves behind a memory of the action. It is, therefore, either an action or an activity; and every action is the action of some substance, and without substance it is not. How is it a substance which in no way subsists of itself, but needs another for its being? Since, therefore, evil is not a substance, as has been shown, even if the Manichaeans, being hostile to the truth, should dispute it, we must reason about it in this way. 15. Evil has a twofold meaning; for it sometimes signifies affliction, and sometimes sin, and sin is properly evil, while affliction is called evil improperly. For affliction is not entirely evil; but often it is also a cause of salvation

ἄνευ θεοῦ· οὐ γὰρ θέμις τοῖς δευτέροις ἄλλως ἢ μετὰ τῶν ὑπερκει- μένων ποιεῖν ἃ ποιοῦσι, τὴν μὲν τέχνην μετὰ τῆς φύσεως καὶ θεοῦ -ἄνευ γὰρ θεοῦ οὐδὲ τὸ κινεῖσθαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὑπάρχει- τὴν δὲ φύσιν μετὰ τοῦ θεοῦ. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ διὰ μέσων τινῶν γίνεταί τινα τῶν ποιημάτων, ἀλλ' οὖν φανερὸν ὅτι αἴτιον καὶ τούτων ὑπάρχει τὸ καὶ τοῖς μέσοις αἰτίοις τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ εἶναι αἰτίοις παρέχον. Τῇ τέχνῃ δὲ καὶ τῇ φύσει τοῦ εἶναι αἰτίοις ὁ θεὸς δέδωκε δύναμιν. Οὐκοῦν πρῶτον αἴτιον τῶν ὄντων ἐστὶ θεὸς καὶ ὅσα μὲν ἀμέσως εἰς τὸ εἶναι παράγει ἄνευ ὕλης ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων δημιουργεῖ, ἅμα καὶ φύσιν ἐντιθεὶς τοῖς γενομένοις πρὸς διαμονήν τε καὶ ἀκολουθίαν τῶν ἐφεξῆς ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐσομένων, ὅσα δὲ διὰ μέσης τέχνης ἢ φύσεως ταῦτα ἐξ ὄντων ἐργάζεται. 13. Ἀλλά φησιν· Εἰ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων γέγονεν ὁ κόσμος, εἰς τὸ μηδαμῶς ὂν πάλιν ἀναλυθή- σεται. Τὰ γὰρ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων γινόμενα εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν ἀναλύονται, ὡς τὰ σχήματα ὑπὸ τοῦ τεχνίτου τοῖς δημιουργουμένοις ἐπιτιθέμενα καὶ τὰ ἔνυλα εἴδη τὰ ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως παραγόμενα· ταῦτα γὰρ μὴ ὄντα πρότερον, γενόμενα δὲ πάλιν, εἰς ἀνυπαρξίαν χωρήσει διαλυθέντα ἐν τῷ χωρισθῆναι τῆς ὕλης. | Οὕτως οὖν, εἰ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων γέγονεν ὁ κόσμος, εἰς τὸ μηδαμῶς ὂν χωρήσει πάλιν φθορὰν ὑποστάς. Ἀλλ' ἀγνοοῦσιν οἱ ταῦτα προβαλλόμενοι ὅτι ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν ὑπὸ φύσεως ἢ τέχνης ἀνθρώπων γινομένων ἀληθὴς οὗτος ὁ λόγος, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἀμέσως ὑπὸ θεοῦ τὸ εἶναι λαχόντων οὐκ ἀληθής· ὧν γὰρ ἡ γένεσις ὑπὲρ φύσιν τε καὶ τέχνην ἐστί, τῇ ἀπείρῳ τοῦ θεοῦ δυνάμει συστᾶσα, τούτων καὶ ἡ διαμονὴ λήψεται τὸ ὑπὲρ φύσιν ἐκ θεοῦ διακρατουμένη διὰ παντός. Οὕτω καὶ αἱ νοεραὶ δυνάμεις οὐκ εἰς τὸ μὴ εἶναι ἀναλυθήσονται, καὶ ταῦτα ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀεὶ ὄντος δημιουργηθεῖσαι θεοῦ. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ κόσμος· καὶ αὐτὴ δὲ ἡ ὕλη ἀμέσως ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγονυῖα εἰς τὸ μηδαμῇ μηδαμῶς <ὂν> οὐ χωρήσει ποτέ· καινοὺς γὰρ οὐρανοὺς καὶ καινὴν γῆν ἀπεκδεχόμεθα· ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, καὶ ταῦ- τα ἐκ προϋποκειμένης ὕλης τῆς γῆς ὑποστὰς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα, ἐπεί- περ ἀμέσως αὐταρκοῦντος θεοῦ γεγένηται· Χοῦν γὰρ λαβὼν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ὁ θεὸς ἔπλασε τὸν ἄνθρωπον, οὐκ ἐπιτρέψας τῇ φύσει δημιουργεῖν ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν ἄλλων γενέσεως, Ἐξαγαγέτω ἡ γῆ ψυχὴν ζῶσαν καὶ ἐξαγαγέτω τὰ ὕδατα λέγων, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς δι' ἑαυτοῦ ἐργαζόμενος τὸν ὅλον ἄνθρωπον χερσί τε καὶ ἐμφυσή- ματι, οὐκ εἰς τὸ μὴ εἶναί ποτε σχήσει τὴν ἀλλοίωσιν ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον ἀλλοιωθήσεται. ∆εῖ γὰρ τὸ φθαρτὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσασθαι ἀφθαρσίαν. Καὶ ὅτι μὲν οὐκ ἀγένητος ἡ ὕλη ἣν καὶ πονηρὰν εἶναι φύσει φασὶν οἱ Μανιχαῖοι, ἀρκεῖν ἡγοῦμαι τὰ εἰρημένα. 14. Ἐντεῦθεν οὖν λοιπὸν ἀνακύπτει τὸ παρὰ τοῖς ἀθέοις θρυλλούμενον· Εἰ μηδέν ἐστιν ἔξω τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ δημιουργίας, ὁ δὲ θεὸς ἀγαθός, δηλονότι ἀγαθὰ τὰ δι' αὐτοῦ γεγενημένα. Πόθεν οὖν τὰ κακά; Εἰ μὲν οὐσίαν ὑπειληφότες εἶναι τὸ κακὸν τοῦτο πυνθά- νονται, μωρίας ἀνάμεστός ἐστιν ἡ πεῦσις. Οὐ γὰρ ὑφέστηκε τὸ κακόν· ἐνέργεια γάρ τίς ἐστιν. Πᾶσα δὲ ἐνέργεια ἐν τῷ γίνεσθαι ἔχει τὸ εἶναι, οὔτε πρὸ τῆς τοῦ ἐνεργοῦντος κινήσεως ἤτοι πράξεως οὖσα, οὔτε μετὰ τὴν κίνησιν διαμένουσα. Μόνον δὲ τὸ ἀποτελεσθὲν πολλάκις πρὸς μνήμην τῆς πράξεως καταλιμπάνει. Ἢ οὖν πρᾶξίς ἐστιν ἢ ἐνέργεια· πᾶσα δὲ πρᾶξίς τινος οὐσίας ἐστὶ πρᾶξις καὶ ἄνευ οὐσίας οὐκ ἔστιν. Πῶς οὐσία τὸ μηδαμῶς καθ' ἑαυτὸ ὑφεστηκός, ἀλλὰ ἑτέρου δεόμενον εἰς τὸ εἶναι; Ἐπεὶ οὖν οὐκ ἔστιν οὐσία τὸ κακόν, ὡς ἀποδέδεικται, κἂν οἱ Μανιχαῖοι πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀπεχθῶς ἔχοντες διαφιλονεικήσωσιν, οὑτωσὶ περὶ τούτου διαληπτέον. 15. Τὸ κακὸν διττὴν ἔχει τὴν σημασίαν· δηλοῖ γάρ ποτε μὲν τὴν κάκωσιν, ποτὲ δὲ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ κυρίως μὲν κακὸν ἡ ἁμαρτία, καταχρηστικῶς δὲ ἡ κάκωσις κακὸν ὀνομάζεται. Ἡ γὰρ κάκωσις οὐ πάντως κακή· πολλάκις δὲ καὶ σωτηρίας πρόξενος