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He who does not look to the evangelical mystery is entirely ignorant of the cure. Since, therefore, alienation from God, who is life, has been shown to be an evil, the cure for such an ailment was to be reconciled again to God and to come to be in life. Since this life, therefore, is set before human nature in hope, one cannot properly say that the participation in life is a reward for those who have lived well, and its opposite a punishment. But what is being said is similar to the example concerning the eyes; for we do not say that for the one whose sight is cleansed the perception of visible things is some prize and reward, or for the one who is sick, the opposite, not to partake of the activity of sight, is some condemnation and punitive sentence. But just as it necessarily follows for one disposed according to nature to see, and for one whose nature is distorted by an affliction to not have active sight, in the same way blessed life also is congenital and proper to those who have had the senses of their soul cleansed. But for those on whom, like some rheum, the affliction of ignorance becomes an obstacle to participation in the true light, it necessarily follows that they do not partake of that whose participation we say is the life of the one who partakes.

Since these things have been thus distinguished by us, it would be time to examine in our discourse the problem set before us. And what was said was something like this: if the recompense for good things happens justly, in what state will be the one who ended his life as an infant, having accomplished neither 82 anything good nor evil in this life, so that through these he might receive a recompense according to his worth? To which, looking to the consequence of what has been examined, we will respond that the expected good is indeed proper by nature to the human race, but in a certain sense the same thing is also called a recompense. This idea will be clarified again by the same example. For let two men be supposed in our discourse to have been afflicted with some disease of the eyes. Of these, let the one more diligently apply himself to the cure, enduring all things prescribed by the medical art, even if they are painful; but let the other be more intemperately disposed toward baths and drunkenness, accepting no advice from the physician for the health of his eyes. We say, therefore, looking to the end of each, that each worthily received the fruits of his choice, the one, the deprivation of light, the other, its enjoyment. For that which necessarily follows we call a recompense by an extension of the term. These things can also be said concerning the questions about the infant, that the enjoyment of that life is indeed proper to human nature, but since the disease of ignorance prevails over almost all who live in the flesh, the one who has cleansed himself with the appropriate cures and has washed away ignorance, like some rheum from the perceptive part of the soul, has a gain worthy of his diligence, having come to be in the life that is according to nature; but he who flees the purifications that come through virtue and makes the disease of ignorance hard to cure for himself through deceitful pleasures, having been disposed contrary to nature, is alienated from that which is according to nature and becomes a non-participant in the life that is proper and suitable for us; but the infant, innocent of evil, with no disease 83 of the soul's eyes obstructing participation in the light, is in a state according to nature, not needing the health that comes from being purified, because it did not even receive the disease into its soul in the first place. And it seems to me that through a certain analogy the present mode of life is fittingly related to the expected life. For just as the first age of infants, being nursed, is nourished by the breast and milk, then this is succeeded by another suitable nourishment for the subject, being proper and fitting for the one being nourished, until it should reach perfection; so I think the soul too, through things always suitable for it, in a certain order and sequence, partakes of the life according to nature, as it has capacity and is able, partaking of the things set forth in blessedness, just as we also learned such a thing from Paul, who feeds in one way the one who has already grown through virtue and in another way

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θεραπείας ἀγνοεῖ πάντως ὁ μὴ πρὸς τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν βλέπων μυστήριον. κακοῦ τοίνυν ἀποδειχθέντος τοῦ ἀλλοτριωθῆναι θεοῦ, ὅστις ἐστὶν ἡ ζωή, ἡ θεραπεία τοῦ τοιούτου ἀρρωστήματος ἦν τὸ πάλιν οἰκειωθῆναι θεῷ καὶ ἐν τῇ ζωῇ γενέσθαι. ταύτης οὖν τῆς ζωῆς κατ' ἐλπίδα προκειμένης τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει, οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν κυρίως ἀντίδοσιν τῶν εὖ βεβιωκότων γενέσθαι τὴν τῆς ζωῆς μετουσίαν καὶ τιμωρίαν τὸ ἔμπαλιν· ἀλλ' ὅμοιόν ἐστι τῷ κατὰ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑποδείγματι τὸ λεγόμενον· οὐδὲ γὰρ τῷ κεκαθαρμένῳ τὰς ὄψεις ἔπαθλόν τί φαμεν εἶναι καὶ πρεσβεῖον τὴν τῶν ὁρατῶν κατανόησιν ἢ τῷ νοσοῦντι τὸ ἔμπαλιν καταδίκην τινὰ καὶ τιμωρητικὴν ἀπόφασιν τὸ μὴ μετέχειν τῆς ὁρατικῆς ἐνεργείας. ἀλλ' ὡς ἀναγκαίως ἕπεται τῷ κατὰ φύσιν διακειμένῳ τὸ βλέπειν τῷ τε ἀπὸ πάθους παρενεχθέντι τῆς φύσεως τὸ μὴ ἐνεργὸν ἔχειν τὴν ὅρασιν, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ἡ μακαρία ζωὴ συμφυής ἐστι καὶ οἰκεία τοῖς κεκαθαρμένοις τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς αἰσθητήρια, ἐφ' ὧν δὲ καθάπερ τις λήμη τὸ κατὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν πάθος ἐμπόδιον πρὸς τὴν μετουσίαν τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς γίνεται, ἀναγκαίως ἕπεται τὸ μὴ μετέχειν ἐκείνου, οὖ τὴν μετουσίαν ζωὴν εἶναί φαμεν τοῦ μετέχοντος.

Τούτων τοίνυν οὕτως ἡμῖν διῃρημένων καιρὸς ἂν εἴη διεξετάσαι τῷ λόγῳ τὸ προτεθὲν ἡμῖν πρόβλημα. τοιοῦτον δέ τι τὸ λεγόμενον ἦν· εἰ κατὰ τὸ δίκαιον γίνεται τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἡ ἀντίδοσις, ἐν τίσιν ἔσται ὁ ἐν νηπίῳ τελευτήσας τὸν βίον μήτε 82 ἀγαθόν τι μήτε κακὸν ἐν τῇ ζωῇ ταύτῃ καταβαλόμενος, ὥστε διὰ τούτων γενέσθαι αὐτῷ τὴν κατ' ἀξίαν ἀντίδοσιν; ᾧ πρὸς τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τῶν ἐξητασμένων ὁρῶντες ἀποκρινούμεθα, ὅτι τὸ προσδοκώμενον ἀγαθὸν οἰκεῖον μέν ἐστι κατὰ φύσιν τῷ ἀνθρωπίνῳ γένει, λέγεται δὲ κατά τινα διάνοιαν τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ ἀντίδοσις. τῷ δὲ αὐτῷ ὑποδείγματι πάλιν τὸ νόημα τοῦτο σαφηνισθήσεται· δύο γάρ τινες ὑποκείσθωσαν τῷ λόγῳ ἀρ ρωστήματί τινι κατὰ τὰς ὄψεις συνενεχθέντες. τούτων δὲ ὁ μὲν σπουδαιότερον ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδιδότω τῇ θεραπείᾳ, πάντα ὑπομένων τὰ παρὰ τῆς ἰατρικῆς προσαγόμενα, κἂν ἐπίπονα ᾗ· ὁ δὲ πρὸς λουτρά τε καὶ οἰνοφλυγίας ἀκρατέστερον διακείσθω, μηδεμίαν τοῦ ἰατρεύοντος συμβουλὴν πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ὑγίειαν παραδεξάμενος. φαμὲν τοίνυν πρὸς τὸ πέρας ἑκατέρου βλέποντες ἀξίως ἀντιλαβεῖν ἑκάτερον τῆς προαιρέσεως αὐτοῦ τοὺς καρπούς, τὸν μὲν τὴν στέρησιν τοῦ φωτός, τὸν δὲ τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν. τὸ γὰρ ἀναγκαίως ἑπόμενον ἀντίδοσιν ἐκ καταχρήσεως ὀνομάζομεν. ταῦτα καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ τὸ νήπιον ζητουμένων ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι ἡ τῆς ζωῆς ἐκείνης ἀπόλαυσις οἰκεία μέν ἐστι τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει, τῆς δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν νόσου πάντων σχεδὸν τῶν ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ ζώντων ἐπικρατούσης, ὁ μὲν ταῖς καθηκούσαις θεραπείαις ἑαυτὸν ἐκκαθάρας καὶ οἶόν τινα λήμην τοῦ διορατικοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀποκλύσας τὴν ἄγνοιαν ἄξιον τῆς σπουδῆς ἔχει τὸ κέρδος ἐν τῇ ζωῇ τῇ κατὰ φύσιν γενόμενος, ὁ δὲ τὰ διὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς φεύγων καθάρσια καὶ δυσίατον ἑαυτῷ διὰ τῶν ἀπατηλῶν ἡδονῶν κατασκευάζων τῆς ἀγνοίας τὴν νόσον, παρὰ φύσιν διατεθεὶς ἠλλοτρίωται τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν καὶ ἀμέτοχος γίνεται τῆς οἰκείας ἡμῖν καὶ καταλλήλου ζωῆς· τὸ δὲ ἀπειρόκακον νήπιον, μηδεμιᾶς νόσου 83 τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς ὀμμάτων πρὸς τὴν τοῦ φωτὸς μετουσίαν ἐπιπροσθούσης, ἐν τῷ κατὰ φύσιν γίνεται μὴ δεόμενον τῆς ἐκ τοῦ καθαρθῆναι ὑγιείας, ὅτι μηδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν τὴν νόσον τῇ ψυχῇ παρεδέξατο. καί μοι δοκεῖ διό· τινος ἀναλογίας οἰκείως ἔχειν ὁ παρὼν τοῦ βίου τρόπος τῇ προσδοκωμένῃ ζωῇ. καθάπερ γὰρ θηλῇ καὶ γάλακτι ἡ πρώτη τῶν νηπίων ἡλικία τιθηνουμένη ἐκτρέφεται, εἶτα διαδέχεται ταύτην κατάλληλος ἑτέρα τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ τροφή, οἰκείως τε καὶ ἐπιτηδείως πρὸς τὸ τρεφόμενον ἔχουσα, ἕως ἂν ἐπὶ τὸ τέλειον φθάσῃ· οὕτως οἶμαι καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν διὰ τῶν ἀεὶ καταλλήλων αὐτῇ τάξει τινὶ καὶ ἀκολουθίᾳ μετέχειν τῆς κατὰ φύσιν ζωῆς, ὡς χωρεῖ καὶ δύναται τῶν ἐν τῇ μακαριότητι προκειμένων μεταλαμβάνουσα, καθὼς καὶ παρὰ τοῦ Παύλου τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐμάθομεν, ἄλλως τρέφοντος τὸν ἤδη διὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς αὐξηθέν τα καὶ ἑτέρως