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62. It is also possible from the activities and the cause and from the places, which you suppose, to expose the absurdity of your impiety. Therefore, from the activity it must be refuted thus: if the natures are contrary, the activities are also contrary. If, therefore, the activity of God is acknowledged to be creative, that of matter will be passive. If this is so, then matter is subject to God and serves him; and if it is subject and serves, then it is not unbegotten. Moreover, either the two create, or the two suffer, or one creates and the other suffers, or they themselves both create and suffer. But if the two create, they will be gods, if indeed creating belongs to God along with conceiving matters. But if both suffer, the two will be matters, and another creator will be sought. If one suffers and the other creates, the one suffering is created, the one creating is uncreated. If the two both suffer and create, insofar as they create, they will be gods, but insofar as they suffer, they will be matters. The same things, therefore, will be gods and matters, created and uncreated. 63. And from the cause you must be refuted. What do you suppose is the cause for matter being evil? Is it because it is unbegotten and a first principle, or because it is matter, or because it is body, or because it is divided and changes? But if it is because it is unbegotten and a first principle, God is also such. If it is because it is matter, and it is called matter because it is the substrate for the generation of things from it, for this reason according to the same hypothesis God is not good; for he is the substrate for the generation of souls and angels from himself, as you Manichaeans dogmatize. If it is because it is body, not it itself is the cause of being body, but God, if indeed before he cast the part of himself into matter it was not a body. If it is because it is divided and changes, God too, according to you, will be involved in the same evils; for if he is divided for the generations of angels and souls, and the things from him are not gods, it is clear that not only was he divided, but he also was changed. But if you say none of these is the cause of matter being evil, but that it sins, it must be known that nothing that happens by nature out of necessity is a sin; for all sin comes from choice. And choice is from the soul, and the soul is the substance of God according to you; therefore, sin is from God and not from matter, according to your most impious dogma. 64. And from the places, which you suppose, assigning one to God and the other to matter, I will refute you as dogmatizing nothing sound. For if God and matter are unbegotten, and each happens to be in a place according to you, and place is other in substance than the things contained in it, it will follow that the places are co-unbegotten with the things in them. And thus you will find not two unbegotten things, but four: God and matter and the place of each. But if you say the places are older than the things in them, God and matter will no longer be unbegotten, but rather their pre-existing places. But if you say that God and matter existed before their places, then God and matter were not separated, but existed in one another; for there was not yet a place to define them. And thus the argument of contrariety among you will be dissolved; for the nature of contraries cannot subsist in one another, so that from every side your fabulous monstrosity has been refuted. 65. Therefore, do not entangle yourselves and others in the dogmas of impiety, but running to the light of truth, cleanse the gloom of ignorance from your souls. For by free will and not by necessity of nature we humans make what seems good our choice.

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62. Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐνεργειῶν καὶ τῆς αἰτίας κἀκ τῶν τόπων, ὧν ὑποτίθεσθε, τῆς ἀσεβείας ὑμῶν ἐλέγξαι τὴν ἀτοπίαν. Ἐκ μὲν οὖν τῆς ἐνεργείας ἀνατρεπτέον οὕτως· εἰ ἐναντίαι αἱ φύσεις, ἐναντίαι καὶ αἱ ἐνέργειαι. Εἰ οὖν ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐνέργεια ποιητικὴ ὁμολογεῖται, ἡ τῆς ὕλης παθητικὴ ἔσται. Εἰ δὲ τοῦτο, ὑπόκειται ἄρα τῷ θεῷ καὶ δουλεύει ἡ ὕλη· εἰ δὲ ὑπόκειται καὶ δουλεύει, οὐκ ἄρα ἀγένητός ἐστιν. Ἄλλως τε ἢ αἱ δύο ποιοῦσιν, ἢ αἱ δύο πάσχουσιν, ἢ ἡ μὲν ποιεῖ, ἡ δὲ πάσχει, ἢ αὐταὶ καὶ ποιοῦσι καὶ πάσχουσιν. Ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν αἱ δύο ποιοῦσιν, θεοὶ ἔσονται, εἴ γε τὸ ποιεῖν θεοῦ μετὰ τοῦ καὶ ὕλας ἐπινοεῖν. Εἰ δὲ πάσχουσιν ἀμφότε- ραι, ὗλαι ἔσονται αἱ δύο, καὶ ἕτερος ὁ ποιητὴς ζητηθήσεται. Εἰ δὲ ἡ μὲν πάσχει, ἡ δὲ ποιεῖ, ἡ μὲν πάσχουσα γενητή, ἡ δὲ ποιοῦσα ἀγένητος. Εἰ δὲ αἱ δύο πάσχουσι καὶ ποιοῦσι, καθὸ μὲν ποιοῦσι, θεοὶ ἔσονται, καθὸ δὲ πάσχουσιν, ὗλαι. Αἱ αὐταὶ οὖν ἔσονται θεοὶ καὶ ὗλαι, γενηταὶ καὶ ἀγένητοι. 63. Κἀκ τῆς αἰτίας δὲ ἐλεγκτέον ὑμᾶς. Τί τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ εἶναι τὴν ὕλην κακὴν ὑποτίθεσθε; Ἢ γὰρ διότι ἀγένητος καὶ ἀρχή, ἢ διότι ὕλη, ἢ διότι σῶμα, ἢ διότι διαιρεῖται καὶ μεταβάλλεται; Ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν διότι ἀγένητος καὶ ἀρχή, καὶ ὁ θεὸς τοιοῦτος. Εἰ δὲ διότι ὕλη, ὕλη δὲ προσαγορεύεται διὰ τὸ ὑποκεῖσθαι εἰς γένεσιν τῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς, διὰ τοῦτο κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ὑπόθεσιν οὐκ ἀγαθὸς ὁ θεός· ὑπόκειται γὰρ εἰς γένεσιν τῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ ψυχῶν καὶ ἀγγέλων, ὡς ὑμεῖς οἱ Μανιχαῖοι δογματίζετε. Εἰ δὲ διότι σῶμα, οὐχὶ αὐτὴ ἡ αἰτία τοῦ εἶναι σῶμα, ἀλλ' ὁ θεός, εἴ γε πρὸ τοῦ ἐμβαλεῖν τὸ ἐξ αὑτοῦ μέρος τῇ ὕλῃ οὐκ ἦν σῶμα. Εἰ δὲ διότι διαιρεῖται καὶ μεταβάλλεται, καὶ ὁ θεὸς καθ' ὑμᾶς τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐνεχόμενος κακοῖς ἔσται· εἰ γὰρ διαιρεῖται εἰς γενέσεις ἀγγέλων καὶ ψυχῶν, τὰ δὲ ἐξ αὐτοῦ οὐ θεοί, δῆλον ὅτι οὐ μόνον διῃρέθη, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετεβλήθη. Εἰ δὲ οὐδὲν τούτων φατὲ αἴτιον εἶναι τοῦ κακὴν ὑπάρχειν τὴν ὕλην, ἀλλὰ τὸ ταύτην ἁμαρτάνειν, ἰστέον ὡς οὐδὲν τῶν κατὰ φύσιν ἐξ ἀνάγκης γινομένων ἁμάρτημα τυγχάνει· πᾶσα γὰρ ἁμαρτία ἐκ προαιρέ-σεως γίνεται. Ἡ δὲ προαίρεσις ἐκ ψυχῆς, ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ οὐσία θεοῦ καθ' ὑμᾶς· ἐκ θεοῦ ἄρα ἡ ἁμαρτία καὶ οὐκ ἐκ τῆς ὕλης, κατὰ τὸ ὑμῶν ἀσεβέστατον δόγμα. 64. Κἀκ τῶν τόπων δέ, ὧν ὑμεῖς ὑποτίθεσθε τὸν μὲν τῷ θεῷ, τὸν δὲ τῇ ὕλῃ προσνέμοντες, ὑμᾶς ἀπελέγξω μηδὲν ὑγιὲς δογμα-τίζοντας. Εἰ γὰρ ἀγένητος ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἡ ὕλη, ἑκάτερος δὲ ἐν τόπῳ τυγχάνει καθ' ὑμᾶς, ὁ δὲ τόπος ἕτερός ἐστι κατ' οὐσίαν τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ περιεχομένων, συμβήσεται τοὺς τόπους συναγενήτους εἶναι τοῖς ἐν αὐτοῖς. Καὶ οὕτως οὐ δύο τὰ ἀγένητα, ἀλλὰ τέσσαρα, θεὸν καὶ ὕλην καὶ ἑκατέρου τὸν τόπον, εὑρήσεις. Εἰ δὲ τοὺς τόπους πρεσβυτέρους φατὲ τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς, οὐκέτι ὁ θεὸς καὶ ὕλη ἀγένητοι ἔσονται, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον οἱ τούτων προϋπάρχοντες τόποι. Εἰ δὲ τὸν θεὸν καὶ τὴν ὕλην πρὸ τῶν τόπων εἶναί φατε, ἄρα οὐκ ἦσαν κεχωρισμένοι θεὸς καὶ ὕλη, ἀλλ' ἐν ἀλλήλοις ὑπῆρχον· οὐ γὰρ ἦν οὔπω τόπος ὁ διορίζων. Καὶ οὕτως ὁ τῆς παρ' ὑμῖν ἐναντιότητος διαλυθήσεται λόγος· οὐ γὰρ ἐν ἀλλήλοις ὑφίστασθαι δύναται τῶν ἐναντίων ἡ φύσις, ὥστε πανταχόθεν ὑμῶν ἀπελήλεκται ἡ μυθώδης τερατολογία. 65. Μὴ οὖν ἑαυτούς τε καὶ ἑτέρους τοῖς τῆς ἀσεβείας περιπεί-ρετε δόγμασιν, ἀλλὰ προσδραμόντες τῷ φωτὶ τῆς ἀληθείας, τὸν ζόφον τῆς ἀγνοίας ἐκκαθάρατε τῶν ψυχῶν. Αὐτεξουσιότητι γὰρ καὶ οὐκ ἀνάγκῃ φύσεως ἄνθρωποι τὸ δοκοῦν ἐν αἱρέσει ποιούμεθα.