to make. Thus, according to Plato, when the creature made from it has been dissolved, it is impossible even for God—who is himself imperishable and has imperishable matter—to fashion it anew and make the same creature such as it was before. But indeed according to the Stoics, since the body comes into being from the mixture of the four elements, and, when this is dissolved into the four, these remaining imperishable, it is possible again for the four elements, having received the same mixture and blending from the God who pervades them, to make the body that he had made before; just as if someone should make a mixture from gold and silver and bronze and tin, and then should wish to dissolve it again, so that each is by itself, and again, if he should wish, having mixed the same things, he would make the mixture that he had made before from them. And according to Epicurus, too, since the atoms and the void are imperishable, by a certain arrangement and position of the atoms having been put together, both other compounds and the body come into being, and being dissolved in time, it is dissolved again into the atoms from which it also came into being. Since these are imperishable, it is in no way impossible, when they have come together again and have taken the same position and arrangement, to make the body that had previously come into being from them, and a similar one; just as if a mosaic-setter should make the form of an animal from tesserae, then when these have been broken up after a time or by the one who made it, having the same tesserae, gathering them when they are scattered, he will not be unable, having collected them and arranged them similarly, to make the same form of the animal. But will God not be able, when the members of the flesh have been separated from each other, to gather them together again and make the same body as the one that had been made before by him? But indeed the argument concerning the possibility of the resurrection of the flesh has been sufficiently demonstrated by me according to the pagans. And if the resurrection of the flesh is not found to be impossible according to the unbelievers, how much more so according to the believers! Next, it must be spoken to those who dishonor the flesh and assert that it is not worthy of the resurrection nor of the heavenly commonwealth; that first its substance is earth, and then also it has become full of all sin, so as even to compel the soul to sin along with it. But these seem to be ignorant of the whole dispensation of God, and the original generation and formation of man, and the things in the world for which he was made. For does not the word say: Let us make man in our image and after our likeness? What kind? It is clear that he means a man of flesh. For the word says: And God took dust from the earth and formed man. It is clear, therefore, that the man being formed in the image of God was of the flesh. Then how is it not absurd to assert that the flesh formed by God in his own image is dishonorable and of no value? And that the flesh is a precious possession in God's sight is clear, first from its having been formed by him, if indeed an image becomes precious to the maker and painter; and also from the rest of the creation of the world

ποιῆσαι. Oὕτως κατὰ Πλάτωνα οὐδὲ τῷ θεῷ, ἀφθάρτῳ ὄντι, ἄφθαρτον ἔχοντι καὶ τὴν ὕλην, τοῦ ἐξ αὐτῆς γενομένου πλάσματος διαλυθέντος, ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν ἀνακαινοποιῆσαι πά λιν αὐτὴν καὶ ποιῆσαι τὸ αὐτὸ πλάσμα ὁποῖον ἦν καὶ τὸ πρό τερον. Ἀλλὰ μὴν κατὰ τοὺς Στωϊκούς, ἐκ τῆς τῶν τεσσάρων στοιχείων κράσεως γινομένου τοῦ σώματος, καί, διαλυομένου τούτου εἰς τὰ τέσσαρα, παραμενόντων τούτων ἀφθάρτων, δυ νατόν ἐστι πάλιν τὰ τέσσαρα στοιχεῖα, τὴν αὐτὴν μῖξιν καὶ κρᾶσιν λαβόντα ἀπὸ τοῦ δι' αὐτῶν διήκοντος θεοῦ, ποιῆσαι ὃ πρότερον πεποιήκει σῶμα· ὥσπερ, εἴ τις ἐκ χρυσοῦ καὶ ἀργύρου καὶ χαλκοῦ καὶ κασσιτήρου ποιήσει μῖγμα, ἔπειτα θελήσει πάλιν διαλῦσαι, ὥστε κατ' ἰδίαν ἕκαστον εἶναι, καὶ πάλιν, εἰ θελήσει, μίξας τὰ αὐτὰ ποιήσει ὃ πρότερον πε ποιήκει ἐξ αὐτῶν μῖγμα. Καὶ κατὰ τὸν Ἐπίκουρον δέ, τῶν ἀτόμων ἀφθάρτων οὐσῶν καὶ τοῦ κενοῦ, παρὰ τὴν ποιὰν τάξιν καὶ θέσιν τῶν ἀτόμων συντεθειμένων γίνεται τά τε ἄλλα συγκρίματα καὶ τὸ σῶμα, χρόνῳ δὲ διαλυόμενον δια λύεται πάλιν εἰς τὰς ἀτόμους, ἐξ ὧν καὶ ἐγένετο. Τούτων μὲν οὐσῶν ἀφθάρτων, οὐδὲν ἀδύνατόν ἐστι, συνελθουσῶν πάλιν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν θέσιν καὶ τάξιν λαβουσῶν, ποιῆσαι ὃ πρότερον ἐγεγόνει ἐξ αὐτῶν σῶμα καὶ ὅμοιον· ὥσπερ, εἴ τις ψηφοθέτης ἐκ ψηφίδων ποιήσει ζώου μορφήν, ἔπειτα τού των ἀπὸ χρόνου διαλυθέντων ἢ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ ποιήσαντος, τὰς αὐτὰς ἔχων ψήφους, ἐσκορπισμένας συνάγων, οὐκ ἀδυνατή σει συλλέξας αὐτὰς καὶ διαθεὶς ὁμοίως ποιῆσαι τὸ αὐτὸ εἶδος τοῦ ζώου. Ὁ δὲ θεὸς ἀναλυθέντα τὰ μέλη τῆς σαρκὸς ἀπ' ἀλλήλων οὐ δυνήσεται πάλιν συναγαγὼν ποιῆσαι τὸ αὐτὸ τῷ πρότερον γεγονότι ὑπ' αὐτοῦ σώματι; Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ὁ μὲν περὶ τοῦ δυνατὴν εἶναι τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς ἀνάστασιν ἱκανῶς ἀπο δέδεικταί μοι λόγος κατὰ τοὺς ἐθνικούς. Eἰ δὲ κατὰ τοὺς ἀπίστους οὐχ εὑρίσκεται ἀδύνατος ἡ ἀνάστασις τῆς σαρκός, πόσῳ μᾶλλον κατὰ τοὺς πιστούς! Ἑξῆς δὲ λεκτέον πρὸς τοὺς ἀτιμάζοντας τὴν σάρκα καὶ φάσκοντας μὴ ἀξίαν εἶναι τῆς ἀναστάσεως μηδὲ τῆς ἐπ ουρανίου πολιτείας· ὅτι πρῶτον αὐτῆς ἐστιν ἡ οὐσία γῆ, μετέ πειτα δὲ καὶ μεστὴ γέγονε πάσης ἁμαρτίας, ὥστε καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀναγκάσαι συναμαρτάνειν. Ἐοίκασι δὲ οὗτοι τὴν ὅλην τοῦ θεοῦ πραγματείαν ἀγνοεῖν, καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς γένεσιν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ πλάσιν, καὶ τὰ ἐν κόσμῳ ὧν ἕνεκα γέγονεν. Ἢ γὰρ οὔ φησιν ὁ λόγος· Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν; Ποῖον; Σαρκικὸν δῆλον ὅτι λέ γει ἄνθρωπον. Φησὶ γὰρ ὁ λόγος· Καὶ ἔλαβεν ὁ θεὸς χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἔπλασε τὸν ἄνθρωπον. ∆ῆλον οὖν ὡς κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ πλασσόμενος ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἦν σαρκικός. Eἶτα πῶς οὐκ ἄτοπον τὴν ὑπὸ θεοῦ σάρκα πλασθεῖσαν κατ' εἰ κόνα τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φάσκειν ἄτιμον εἶναι καὶ οὐδενὸς ἀξίαν; Ὅτι δὲ τίμιον κτῆμα ἡ σὰρξ παρὰ θεῷ δῆλον πρῶτον μὲν ἐκ τοῦ πρὸς αὐτοῦ πεπλᾶσθαι, εἴ γε καὶ εἰκὼν τῷ πλάστῃ καὶ ζω γράφῳ τιμία γινομένη· καὶ ἐκ τῆς λοιπῆς δὲ κοσμοποιΐας