§4. The gradual abasement of the Soul from Truth to Falsehood by the abuse of her freedom of Choice.

Having departed from the contemplation of the things of thought, and using to the full the several activities of the body, and being pleased with the contemplation of the body, and seeing that pleasure is good for her, she was misled and abused the name of good, and thought that pleasure was the very essence of good: just as though a man out of his mind and asking for a sword to use against all he met, were to think that soundness of mind. 2. But having fallen in love with pleasure, she began to work it out in various ways. For being by nature mobile, even though she have turned away from what is good, yet she does not lose her mobility. She moves then, no longer according to virtue or so as to see God, but imagining false things, she makes a novel use of her power, abusing it as a means to the pleasures she has devised, since she is after all made with power over herself. 3. For she is able, as on the one hand to incline to what is good, so on the other to reject it; but in rejecting the good she of course entertains the thought of what is opposed to it, for she cannot at all cease from movement, being, as I said before, mobile by nature. And knowing her own power over herself, she sees that she is able to use the members of her body in either direction, both toward what is, or toward what is not. 4. But good is, while evil is not; by what is, then, I mean what is good, inasmuch as it has its pattern in God Who is. But by what is not I mean what is evil, in so far as it consists in a false imagination in the thoughts of men. For though the body has eyes so as to see Creation, and by its entirely harmonious construction to recognise the Creator; and ears to listen to the divine oracles and the laws of God; and hands both to perform works of necessity and to raise to God in prayer; yet the soul, departing from the contemplation of what is good and from moving in its sphere, wanders away and moves toward its contraries. 5. Then seeing, as I said before, and abusing her power, she has perceived that she can move the members of the body also in an opposite way: and so, instead of beholding the Creation, she turns the eye to lusts, shewing that she has this power too; and thinking that by the mere fact of moving she is maintaining her own dignity, and is doing no sin in doing as she pleases; not knowing that she is made not merely to move, but to move in the right direction. For this is why an apostolic utterance assures us “All things are lawful, but not all things are expedient9    1 Cor. x. 23.    Gen. i. 26..”

4 Ἀποστᾶσα τῆς τῶν νοητῶν θεωρίας, καὶ ταῖς κατὰ μέρος τοῦ σώματος ἐνεργείαις καταχρωμένη, καὶ ἡσθεῖσα τῇ τοῦ σώματος θεωρίᾳ καὶ ἰδοῦσα καλὸν ἑαυτῇ εἶναι τὴν ἡδονήν, πλανηθεῖσα κατεχρήσατο τῷ τοῦ καλοῦ ὀνόματι, καὶ ἐνόμισεν εἶναι τὴν ἡδονὴν αὐτὸ τὸ ὄντως καλόν· ὥσπερ εἴ τις, τὴν διάνοιαν παραπληγείς, καὶ ἀπαιτῶν ξίφος κατὰ τῶν ἀπαντώντων, νομίζοι τοῦτο εἶναι τὸ σωφρονεῖν. ἐρασθεῖσα δὲ τῆς ἡδονῆς, ποικίλως αὐτὴν ἐνεργεῖν ἤρξατο. οὖσα γὰρ τὴν φύσιν εὐκίνητος, εἰ καὶ τὰ καλὰ ἀπεστράφη, ἀλλὰ τοῦ κινεῖσθαι οὐ παύεται. κινεῖται οὖν οὐκ ἔτι μὲν κατὰ ἀρετήν, οὐδὲ ὥστε τὸν Θεὸν ὁρᾷν· ἀλλὰ τὰ μὴ ὄντα λογιζομένη, τὸ ἑαυτῆς δυνατὸν μεταποιεῖ, καταχρωμένη τούτῳ εἰς ἃς ἐπενόησεν ἐπιθυμίας, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτεξούσιος γέγονε. δύναται γὰρ ὥσπερ πρὸς τὰ καλὰ νεύειν, οὕτω καὶ τὰ καλὰ ἀποστρέφεσθαι· ἀποστρεφομένη δὲ τὸ καλόν, πάντως τὰ ἐναντία λογίζεται· παύσασθαι γᾶρ καθόλου τοῦ κινεῖσθαι οὐ δύναται, τὴν φύσιν οὖσα, ὡς προεῖπον, εὐκίνητος. καὶ γινώσκουσα τὸ αὐτεξούσιον ἑαυτῆς, ὁρᾷ ἑαυτὴν δύνασθαι κατ' ἀμφότερα τοῖς τοῦ σώματος μέλεσι χρᾶσθαι εἴς τε τὰ ὄντα καὶ τὰ μὴ ὄντα· ὄντα δέ ἐστι τὰ καλά, οὐκ ὄντα δὲ τὰ φαῦλα. ὄντα δέ φημι τὰ καλά, καθότι ἐκ τοῦ ὄντος Θεοῦ τὰ παραδείγματα ἔχει· οὐκ ὄντα δὲ τὰ κακὰ λέγω, καθότι ἐπινοίαις ἀνθρώπων οὐκ ὄντα ἀναπέπλασται. ἔχοντος γὰρ τοῦ σώματος ὀφθαλμοὺς εἰς τὸ τὴν κτίσιν ὁρᾷν, καὶ διὰ τῆς παναρμονίου ταύτης συντάξεως γινώσκειν τὸν ∆ημιουργόν· ἔχοντος δὲ καὶ ἀκοὴν εἰς ἐπακρόασιν τῶν θείων λογίων καὶ τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ νόμων· ἔχοντος δὲ καὶ χεῖρας, εἴς τε τὴν τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐνέργειαν καὶ ἔκτασιν τῆς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν εὐχῆς· ἡ ψυχὴ ἀποστᾶσα τῆς πρὸς τὰ καλὰ θεωρίας, καὶ τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς κινήσεως, λοιπὸν πλανωμένη κινεῖται εἰς τὰ ἐναντία. εἶτα τὸ δυνατὸν ἑαυτῆς, ὡς προεῖπον, ὁρῶσα, καὶ τούτῳ καταχρωμένη, ἐνενόησεν ὅτι καὶ εἰς τὰ ἐναντία δύναται κινεῖν τὰ τοῦ σώματος μέλη· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀντὶ τοῦ τὴν κτίσιν ὁρᾷν, εἰς ἐπιθυμίας τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἀποστρέφει, δεικνύουσα ὅτι καὶ τοῦτο δύναται καὶ νομίζουσα ὅτι, ἅπαξ κινουμένη, σώζει τὴν ἑαυτῆς ἀξίαν, καὶ οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει ποιοῦσα ὃ δύναται· οὐκ εἰδυῖα ὅτι οὐχ ἁπλῶς κινεῖσθαι, ἀλλ' εἰς ἃ δεῖ κινεῖσθαι γέγονε· τούτου γὰρ χάριν καὶ ἀποστολικὴ παρεγγυᾷ φωνή· Πάντα ἔξεστιν, ἀλλ' οὐ πάντα συμφέρει.