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leadership; for in reality this appears to me to be an art of arts, and a science of sciences, to lead man, the most complex and varied of creatures. And one might learn this by comparing the healing of souls with the treatment of bodies; and by observing how laborious the one is, and further considering how much more laborious is ours, and more precious, both in the nature of its material, and in the power of its science, and in the end of its action. For the one labors upon bodies, and upon perishable and downward-flowing matter, which will in any case be dissolved and suffer its fate, even if for now it overcomes its internal state with the help of art; for either disease or time will dissolve it, yielding to nature, and not overstepping its own bounds.

17. But our concern is for the soul, which is from God and divine, and partakes of the nobility from above, and hastens towards it, even if it has been bound to what is worse; perhaps for other reasons too, which God who bound them together alone knows, and anyone who has been initiated by God into such mysteries; but as far as I and those like me know, it is for two reasons: first, that through contest and struggle with things below, it might inherit the glory above, like gold in a fire, being tested by things here, and that the things hoped for might be a prize for virtue, and not only a gift of God; and this, it seems, was an act of supreme goodness, to make the good 35.428 our own as well, not only sown by nature, but also cultivated by choice, and by the movements of free will in both directions; and second, that it might draw what is worse to itself and raise it up, gradually freeing it from its grossness; so that what God is to the soul, this the soul may become to the body, training its servant matter through itself, and making its fellow-servant kin to God.

18. The physician will consider regions, and seasons, and ages, and times, and such things; he will apply medicines and diet, and guard against harmful things, so that the desires of the illness may not oppose his art; and somewhere he will even use cauteries, and cuttings, and the more severe forms of treatment, at certain times and on certain patients; yet none of these, even if they seem exceedingly painful and difficult, is as great as to observe and heal characters, and passions, and lives, and choices, and anything else of that sort within us, and having banished all that is bestial and savage from our union, to introduce and establish in its place all that is gentle and dear to God, and to judge justly between soul and body; not allowing the better to be ruled by the worse, which is the greatest of injustices; but subordinating to the ruling and leading part that which is by nature secondary; just as is the divine law, which holds most beautifully in all of His creation, both that which is visible, and that which is beyond perception.

19. I consider this also, that each of those things which I have enumerated as being observed by the physician according to its nature, so remains and does not cunningly devise any counter-art of its own, nor does it use counter-sophistry against what is applied by the art; but medicine rather manages the material; unless perhaps some small disorder of the sick person should intervene, which is not difficult to guard against and check. But for us, our understanding and self-love, and our reluctance to readily know or endure defeat, is the greatest impediment to virtue, and becomes a kind of battle-line 35.429 against our allies; and just as much effort as we ought to apply to exposing the disease to those who treat it, we apply that much to fleeing the treatment, and we are brave against ourselves, and knowledgeable against our own health.

20. For we either slavishly conceal our sin, covering up some treacherous and malignant passion in the depth of our soul, as if we shall escape the great eye of God and of justice, if we escape the notice of men; or we make excuses in our sins, inventing arguments to advocate for our passions; or the

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προστασίαν· τῷ ὄντι γὰρ αὕτη μοι φαίνεται τέχνη τις εἶναι τεχνῶν, καὶ ἐπιστήμη ἐπιστημῶν, ἄνθρω πον ἄγειν, τὸ πολυτροπώτατον ζῶον καὶ ποικι λώτατον. Γνοίη δ' ἄν τις τῇ τῶν σωμάτων θεραπείᾳ, τὴν τῶν ψυχῶν ἰατρείαν ἀντεξετάσας· καὶ ὅσῳ μὲν ἐργώδης ἐκείνη καταμαθὼν, ὅσῳ δὲ ἡ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐργωδεστέρα προσεξετάσας, καὶ τῇ φύσει τῆς ὕλης, καὶ τῇ δυνάμει τῆς ἐπιστήμης, καὶ τῷ τέλει τῆς ἐν εργείας τιμιωτέρα. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ περὶ σώματα πονεῖται, καὶ τὴν ἐπίκηρον ὕλην καὶ κάτω ῥέουσαν, πάντως λυθησομένην καὶ πεισομένην τὸ ἑαυτῆς, κἂν νῦν τῇ συμμαχίᾳ τῆς τέχνης κατακρατήσῃ τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ στάσεως· ἢ γὰρ νόσος ἢ χρόνος ἔλυσεν, εἴξασαν τῇ φύσει, καὶ τοὺς ἰδίους ὅρους οὐχ ὑπερ βαίνουσαν.

ΙΖʹ. Τῇ δὲ περὶ ψυχὴν ἡ σπουδὴ, τὴν ἐκ Θεοῦ καὶ θείαν, καὶ τῆς ἄνωθεν εὐγενείας μετέχουσαν, καὶ πρὸς ἐκείνην ἐπειγομένην, εἰ καὶ τῷ χείρονι συνεδέθη· τάχα μὲν καὶ δι' ἄλλας αἰτίας, ἃς μόνος οἶδεν ὁ συνδήσας Θεὸς, καὶ εἴ τις ἐκ Θεοῦ τὰ τοι αῦτα ἐσοφίσθη μυστήρια· ὅσον δ' οὖν ἐμὲ γινώσκειν καὶ τοὺς κατ' ἐμὲ, δυοῖν ἕνεκεν· ἑνὸς μὲν, ἵνα δι' ἀγῶνος καὶ πάλης, τῆς πρὸς τὰ κάτω, τῆς ἄνω δό ξης κληρονομήσειεν, ὥσπερ χρυσὸς πυρὶ, τοῖς τῇδε βασανισθεῖσα, καὶ ἀρετῆς ἆθλον, ἀλλὰ μὴ Θεοῦ δῶρον μόνον ἔχῃ τὰ ἐλπιζόμενα· καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ἦν ἄρα τῆς ἄκρας ἀγαθότητος, ποιῆσαι τὸ ἀγαθὸν 35.428 καὶ ἡμέτερον, οὐ φύσει μόνον κατασπειρόμενον, ἀλλὰ καὶ προαιρέσει γεωργούμενον, καὶ τοῖς ἐπ' ἄμφω τοῦ αὐτεξουσίου κινήμασιν· ἑτέρου δὲ ὡς ἂν καὶ τὸ χεῖρον ἑλκύσειε πρὸς ἑαυτὴν καὶ ἄνω θείη, λύσασα κατὰ μικρὸν τῆς παχύτητος· ἵν', ὅπερ ἐστὶ Θεὸς ψυχῇ, τοῦτο ψυχὴ σώματι γένηται παιδαγωγή σασα δι' ἑαυτῆς τὴν ὑπηρέτιν ὕλην, καὶ οἰκειώ σασα Θεῷ τὸ ὁμόδουλον.

ΙΗʹ. Χώρας, καὶ καιροὺς, καὶ ἡλικίας, καὶ ὥρας, καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ὁ ἰατρὸς ἐπισκέψεται· φαρμακεύσει τε καὶ διαιτήσει, καὶ τηρήσει τὰ βλαβερὰ, ὡς ἂν μὴ ἀντιβῆναι τῇ τέχνῃ τὰς τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας ἐπιθυμίας· καί που καὶ καύσεσι, καὶ τομαῖς, καὶ τοῖς αὐστηροτέροις τῆς θεραπείας, ἔστιν ὅτε καὶ ἐφ' ὧν χρήσεται· ὧν οὔπω τοσοῦτον οὐδὲν, κἂν ἐπίπονα σφόδρα καὶ χαλεπὰ φαίνηται, ὅσον ἤθη, καὶ πάθη, καὶ βίους, καὶ προαιρέσεις, καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο τοιοῦτο τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν, κατοπτεῦσαί τε καὶ ἰατρεῦσαι, καὶ πᾶν ὅσον θηριῶδες καὶ ἄγριον ἐξορίσαντας τῆς συζυγίας τῆς ἡμετέρας, πᾶν ὅσον ἥμερον καὶ Θεῷ φίλον ἀντεισ αγαγεῖν τε καὶ βεβαιώσασθαι, καὶ βραβεῦσαι δι καίως ψυχῇ τε καὶ σώματι· μὴ τῷ χείρονι τὸ κρεῖτ τον δυναστεύεσθαι συγχωρήσαντας, ἥπερ ἀδικιῶν ἡ μεγίστη· τῷ δὲ ἄρχοντι καὶ ἡγεμονικῷ τὸ τῇ φύσει δεύτερον ὑποτάξαντας· ὥσπερ δὴ νόμος θεῖος, καὶ κάλλιστα ἔχων ἐπὶ πάσης αὐτοῦ τῆς κτίσεως, ὅση τε ὁρατὴ, καὶ ὅση ὑπὲρ τὴν αἴσθησιν.

ΙΘʹ. Σκοπῶ δὲ κἀκεῖνο, ὅτι ἐκείνων μὲν ἕκαστον ὧν ἀπηριθμησάμην ὡς τῷ θεραπευτῇ τηρου μένων ὅπως ἔχει φύσεως, οὕτω μένει καὶ οὐδὲν ἀντιτεχνᾶται παρ' ἑαυτοῦ πανούργως, οὐδ' ἀντισοφίζεται τοῖς παρὰ τῆς τέχνης προσαγομέ νοις· ἀλλὰ καὶ περιΐστησι μᾶλλον τὴν ὕλην ἡ ἰατρεία· πλὴν εἴ που βραχεῖά τις παρεμπέσοι τοῦ κάμ νοντος ἀταξία, ἣν καὶ φυλάξαι καὶ ἀνακόψαι οὐ χαλε πόν. Ἡμῖν δὲ ἡ σύνεσις καὶ τὸ φίλαυτον, καὶ τὸ νικᾶσθαι ῥᾳδίως μήτ' εἰδέναι, μήτ' ἀνέχεσθαι, μέ γιστον πρὸς ἀρετήν ἐστιν ἐμπόδιον, καὶ οἷόν τις παρά 35.429 ταξις κατὰ τῶν συμμαχούντων γίνεται· καὶ ὅσην εἰσφέ ρειν ἔδει σπουδὴν γυμνοῦν τὴν νόσον τοῖς θεραπεύου σι, τοσαύτην ὥστε τὴν ἰατρείαν φεύγειν εἰσφερό μεθα, καί ἐσμεν ἀνδρεῖοι καθ' ἑαυτῶν, καὶ κατὰ τῆς ὑγείας ἡμῶν ἐπιστήμονες.

Κʹ. Ἢ γὰρ δουλοπρεπῶς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐκλέψαμεν, ὥσπερ τι πάθος ὕπουλον καὶ κακόηθες ἐν τῷ βάθει τῆς ψυχῆς συγκαλύπτοντες, ὡς καὶ τὸν μέγαν λήσοντες ὀφθαλμὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τῆς δίκης, ἂν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους λάθωμεν· ἢ προφασιζόμεθα προφά σεις ἐν ἁμαρτίαις, λόγους συνηγόρους τοῖς πά θεσιν ἀνευρίσκοντες· ἢ τὰς