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a fine, light, and ever-moving body), but of the earth, which is indeed the last of perceptible things, not having a nature suitable and appropriate for the life of intelligible beings in it (for what communion could there be between that which is upward-moving and light and that which is heavy and weighty?), so that the earth might not be completely without a share and inheritance in the intellectual and incorporeal life, for this reason, by a superior providence, the human race was constituted, the intellectual and divine essence of the soul being molded around an earthly portion, so that by its connaturality with what is weighty and corporeal, the soul might suitably live in the element of the earth, having something akin and of the same nature with the substance of the flesh. But the purpose of these things that come to be is that in all creation, through the intellectual nature, the power that is over all should be glorified, both the heavenly and the earthly beings joined to one another for the same purpose through the same activity (I mean, by looking to 79 God). And the activity of looking to God is nothing other than the life that is like and suitable to the intellectual nature. For just as bodies, being earthly, are sustained by earthly nourishment, and we apprehend in them a certain corporeal form of life, operating similarly in both irrational and rational beings; so too we must suppose that there is a certain intelligible life, through which nature is preserved in being. If the nourishment of the flesh, being something that flows in and flows away, by its very passage deposits a certain life-giving power in those things into which it enters, how much more does participation in that which truly is, which always remains and is ever the same, preserve in being the one who partakes. If, therefore, this is the life that is proper and suitable to the intellectual nature, to partake of God, participation would not come about through contraries, unless in some way that which is partaken of is akin to that which desires. For just as the eye enjoys light by having a natural light in itself for the perception of that which is of the same kind, and neither a finger nor any other member of the body performs the act of seeing, because no natural light has been placed by nature in any other of the members, so too in the participation of God, there is every necessity that there be something akin to that which is partaken of in the nature of the one who enjoys it. For this reason Scripture says that man has been made In the image of God, so that, I think, like might see like. But to 80 see God is the life of the soul, as has been said in the preceding. But since, somehow, the ignorance of the truly good has darkened the perceptive faculty of the soul like a mist, and the mist, having thickened, became a cloud, so that through the depth of ignorance the ray of truth could not penetrate, necessarily with the separation from the light its life also failed; for it has been said that the true life of the soul is actualized in participation of the good, and since ignorance hinders the comprehension of the divine, the soul, not partaking of God, has fallen away from life. But let no one compel us to trace the genealogy of ignorance, asking whence it is and from what, but let him understand from the very meaning of the name that knowledge and ignorance indicate that the soul is in a certain relation. But nothing that is thought of or spoken of in terms of relation represents a substance; for the definition of a relation is one thing, and the definition of a substance is another. If, therefore, knowledge is not a substance, but an activity of the mind concerning something, much more is ignorance acknowledged to be far from being substantial. But that which is not substantial does not exist at all. It would be futile, therefore, to inquire curiously about the origin of that which is not.

Since, therefore, the argument states that the life of the soul is participation in God, and participation is knowledge, as far as is possible, and ignorance is not the existence of something, but the negation of the activity of knowing, and since participation in God is not actualized, alienation from life has necessarily followed (and this would be the last of evils), 81 consequently the maker of all good works the cure of evil in us; for the cure is a good. But the manner of the

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σῶμα λεπτόν τε καὶ κοῦφον καὶ ἀεικίνητον), τῆς δὲ γῆς ὃ δὴ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἐστιν ἔσχατον, οἰκείως τε καὶ καταλλήλως πρὸς τὴν τῶν νοητῶν ἐν αὐτῇ διαγωγὴν οὐκ ἐχούσης (τίς γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο τοῦ ἀνωφεροῦς τε καὶ κούφου πρὸς τὸ βαρύ τε καὶ ἐμβριθὲς κοινωνία;), ὡς ἂν μὴ τελείως ἄμοιρός τε καὶ ἀπόκληρος ἡ γῆ τῆς νοερᾶς τε καὶ ἀσωμάτου διαγωγῆς εἴη, τούτου χάριν προμηθείᾳ κρείττονι τὴν ἀν θρωπίνην συστῆναι γένεσιν, τῇ νοερᾷ τε καὶ θείᾳ τῆς ψυχῆς οὐσίᾳ τῆς γηΐνης μοίρας περιπλασθείσης, ὡς ἂν τῇ πρὸς τὸ ἐμ βριθές τε καὶ σωματῶδες συμφυΐᾳ καταλλήλως ἡ ψυχὴ τῷ στοιχείῳ τῆς γῆς ἐμβιοτεύοι ἐχούσης τι πρὸς τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς οὐσίαν συγγενὲς καὶ ὁμόφυλον. σκοπὸς δὲ τῶν γινομένων ἐστὶ τὸ ἐν πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει διὰ τῆς νοερᾶς φύσεως τὴν τοῦ παντὸς ὑπερκειμένην δοξάζεσθαι δύναμιν, τῶν τε ἐπουρανίων καὶ τῶν ἐπιχθονίων διὰ τῆς αὐτῆς ἐνεργείας (λέγω δὲ διὰ τοῦ πρὸς τὸν 79 θεὸν βλέπειν) ἀλλήλοις πρὸς τὸν αὐτὸν σκοπὸν συν απτομένων. ἡ δὲ τοῦ βλέπειν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἐνέργεια οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἐστὶν ἢ ζωὴ τῇ νοερᾷ φύσει ἐοικυῖά τε καὶ κατάλληλος. ὥσπερ γὰρ τὰ σώματα γήϊνα ὄντα ταῖς γηΐναις διακρατεῖται τροφαῖς καί τι σωματῶδες ζωῆς εἶδος ἐν τούτοις κατα λαμβάνομεν, ὁμοίως ἐν ἀλόγοις τε καὶ λογικοῖς ἐνεργού μενον· οὕτως εἶναί τινα χρὴ καὶ νοητὴν ζωὴν ὑποτίθε σθαι, δι' ἦς ἐν τῷ ὄντι συντηρεῖται ἡ φύσις. εἰ δὲ ἡ τῆς σαρκὸς τροφή, ἐπίρρυτός τις οὖσα καὶ ἀπορρέουσα, δι' αὐτῆς τῆς παρόδου δύναμίν τινα ζωτικὴν ἐναποτίθεται οἷς ἂν ἐγ γένηται, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ἡ μετουσία τοῦ ὄντως ὄντος, τοῦ ἀεὶ μένοντος καὶ πάντοτε ὡσαύτως ἔχοντος, ἐν τῷ εἶναι φυλάσσει τὸν μετασχόντα. εἰ οὖν αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ οἰκεία τε καὶ κατάλληλος τῇ νοερᾷ φύσει ζωή, τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ μετέχειν, οὐκ ἂν διὰ τῶν ἐναντίων γένοιτο ἡ μετουσία, εἰ μὴ τρόπον τινὰ συγγενὲς εἴη τῷ ὀρεγομένῳ τὸ μετεχόμενον. ὡς γὰρ ὀφθαλμῷ γίνεται τῆς αὐγῆς ἡ ἀπόλαυσις τῷ φυσικὴν αὐγὴν ἐν ἑαυτῷ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ὁμογενοῦς ἀντίληψιν ἔχειν καὶ οὔτε δάκτυλος οὔτε ἄλλο τι τῶν μελῶν τοῦ σώματος ἐνεργεῖ τὴν ὅρασιν διὰ τὸ μηδεμίαν ἐκ φύσεως αὐγὴν ἐν ἄλλῳ τινὶ τῶν μελῶν κατεσκευάσθαι, οὕτως ἀνάγκη πᾶσα καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ μετουσίας εἶναί τι συγγενὲς πρὸς τὸ μετεχόμενον ἐν τῇ φύσει τοῦ ἀπολαύοντος. διὰ τοῦτό φησιν ἡ γραφὴ Κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ γεγενῆσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ὡς ἄν, οἶμαι, τῷ ὁμοίῳ βλέποι τὸ ὅμοιον. Τὸ δὲ 80 βλέπειν τὸν θεόν ἐστιν ἡ ζωὴ τῆς ψυχῆς, καθὼς ἐν τοῖς φθάσασιν εἴρηται. ἐπεὶ δέ πως ἡ τοῦ ἀληθῶς ἀγαθοῦ ἄγνοια καθάπερ τις ὀμίχλη τῷ διορατικῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπεσκότισεν, παχυνθεῖσα δὲ ἡ ὀμίχλη νέφος ἐγένετο, ὥστε διὰ τοῦ βάθους τῆς ἀγνοίας τὴν ἀκτῖνα τῆς ἀληθείας μὴ διαδύεσθαι, ἀναγκαίως τῷ χωρισμῷ τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ ἡ ζωὴ αὐτῆς συνεξέλιπεν· εἴρηται γὰρ τὴν ἀληθῆ ζωὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐν τῇ μετουσίᾳ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἐνεργεῖσθαι, τῆς δὲ ἀγνοίας πρὸς τὴν θείαν κατανόησιν ἐμποδιζούσης ἐκπεσεῖν τῆς ζωῆς τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ μὴ μετέχουσαν. Μηδεὶς δὲ γενεαλογεῖν ἡμᾶς ἀναγκαζέτω τὴν ἄγνοιαν, πόθεν αὕτη λέγων καὶ ἀπὸ τίνος, ἀλλ' ἐξ αὐτῆς νοείτω τῆς τοῦ ὀνόματος σημασίας, ὅτι ἡ γνῶσις καὶ ἡ ἄγνοια τὸ πρός τί πως ἔχειν τὴν ψυχὴν ἐνδείκνυται. οὐδὲν δὲ τῶν πρός τι νοουμένων τε καὶ λεγομένων οὐσίαν παρίστησιν· ἄλλος γὰρ ὁ τοῦ πρός τι καὶ ἕτερος ὁ τῆς οὐσίας λόγος. εἰ οὖν ἡ γνῶσις οὐσία οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλὰ περί τι τῆς διανοίας ἐνέργεια, πολὺ μᾶλλον ἡ ἄγνοια πόρρω τοῦ κατ' οὐσίαν εἶναι ὡμολόγηται. τὸ δὲ μὴ κατ' οὐσίαν ὂν οὐδὲ ἔστιν ὅλως. μάταιον τοίνυν ἂν εἴη περὶ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος τὸ ὅθεν ἐστὶ περιεργάζεσθαι.

Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ζωὴν μὲν ψυχῆς τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ μετουσίαν ὁ λόγος εἶναί φησι, γνῶσις δὲ κατὰ τὸ ἐγχωροῦν ἐστιν ἡ μετουσία, ἡ δὲ ἄγνοια οὐχί τινός ἐστιν ὕπαρξις, ἀλλὰ τῆς κατὰ τὴν γνῶσιν ἐνεργείας ἀναίρεσις, τῷ δὲ μὴ ἐνεργεῖσθαι τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν μετουσίαν ἡ τῆς ζωῆς ἀλλοτρίωσις ἀναγκαίως ἐπηκολούθησεν (τοῦτο δ' ἂν εἴη τῶν κακῶν τὸ ἔσχατον), 81 ἀκολούθως ὁ παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ ποιητὴς τὴν τοῦ κακοῦ θεραπείαν ἐν ἡμῖν κατεργάζεται· ἀγαθὸν γὰρ ἡ θεραπεία. τὸν δὲ τρόπον τῆς