the opposite; but both being possible, I know that he will do this; for not as God would say, "It is not possible for this certain man to fly," so 12.68 giving an oracle, for instance, about someone, will he say, that "It is not possible for this man to be temperate." For there is absolutely no power of flying at all in man, but there is a power to be temperate, and to be intemperate. Both of which powers existing, he who does not attend to words of conversion and instruction gives himself over to the worse; but to the better, he who has sought the truth, and has wished to live according to it. But this one does not seek the truth, since he is inclined toward pleasure; but this one examines them, being moved by common notions, and by protreptic reasoning. And again, this one chooses pleasure, not because he is unable to oppose it, but because he does not strive; but this one despises it, seeing the ugliness often found in it. That the foreknowledge of God, however, does not place necessity upon those things which it has comprehended, in addition to what has been said before, this also shall be said, that in many places of the Scriptures God commands the prophets to preach repentance, not pretending to know whether those who hear will turn back, or will remain in their sins; as it is said in Jeremiah: "Perhaps they will hear and repent." For God does not say, being ignorant whether they will hear or not, "perhaps they will hear, and repent;" but as if showing from what is said that the balance of powers should exist; so that His foreknowledge, being announced beforehand, may not cause the hearers to fall, presenting an opinion of necessity, as if it were not in their power to turn back, and as if it itself should become a cause of their sins; or again, for those who, from ignorance of the foreknown good, are able to struggle and resist wickedness and live in virtue, the foreknowledge might become a cause of relaxation, as they would no longer stand vigorously against sin, since what was foretold would certainly come to pass. And thus indeed the foreknowledge of the future good might become a kind of impediment. God, therefore, usefully ordering all things in the world, reasonably blinded us also to future things; for the knowledge of them would have released us from struggling against wickedness, and, seeming to have been comprehended, would have allowed that, by not wrestling against sin, we would more quickly become subject to it. And at the same time it would have been contradictory for someone to become good and virtuous that the foreknowledge should have come to this certain person, that he will certainly be good. For in addition to what we have, there is need of greater intensity and tension in order to become good and virtuous; but the knowledge, being comprehended beforehand, that one will certainly be good and virtuous would have relaxed the discipline. Therefore, advantageously we do not know either if we will be good, or if we will be wicked. 12.69 But since we have said, that God has blinded us to future things, see if we can thus clarify a certain passage in question from Exodus: "Who made the mute, and the deaf, and the seeing, and the blind? Is it not I, the Lord God?" so that He may have made the same person both blind and seeing; seeing with respect to present things, but blind with respect to future things. For what concerns the mute and the deaf is not for the present occasion to explain. That very many things not in our power are causes of many things that are in our power, we too will confess; which if they had not happened, I mean those things not in our power, certain of these things in our power would not have been done; but certain of these things in our power are done consequently to these things that happened before, which are not in our power. it being possible, given the same previous events, also to do other things besides what we do. But if someone seeks for that which is in our power to be detached from everything, so that we do not choose these things on account of certain things that have happened to us, he has forgotten that he is a part of the world, and is contained within the community of men and the surrounding environment. Moderately, then, as in a summary, I think it has been shown that the foreknowledge of God is not in every case coercive of the things foreknown. But come, let us also contend about the fact that the stars are in no way causative of things among men, but only significant. And it is clear that, if this certain configuration

ἐναντίον· ἐνδεχομένων δὲ ἀμφοτέρων, οἶδα, ὅτι τόδε ποιήσει· οὐ γὰρ ὥσπερ ὁ Θεὸς εἴποι ἂν, Οὐκ ἐνδέχεται τόνδε τινὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον πτῆναι, οὕτω 12.68 χρησμὸν, φέρε εἰπεῖν, περί τινος διδοὺς, ἐρεῖ, ὅτι Οὐκ ἐνδέχεται τόνδε σωφρονῆσαι. ∆ύναμις μὲν γὰρ πάντη οὐκ ἔστι τοῦ πτῆναι οὐδαμῶς ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, δύναμις δέ ἐστι τοῦ σωφρονῆσαι, καὶ τοῦ ἀκολαστῆ σαι. Ὧν ἀμφοτέρων δυνάμεων ὑπαρχουσῶν, ὁ μὴ προσέχων λόγοις ἐπιστρεπτικοῖς καὶ παιδευτι κοῖς ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδίδωσι τῇ χειρίστῃ· κρείττονι δὲ ὁ ζητήσας τὸ ἀληθὲς, καὶ βιῶσαι βεβουλημένος κατ' αὐτό. Οὐ ζητεῖ δὲ ὅδε μὲν τἀληθῆ, ἐπεὶ ἐπιῤῥέπει ἐπὶ τὴν ἡδονήν· ὅδε δὲ ἐξετάζει περὶ αὐτῶν, αἱρε θεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν κοινῶν ἐννοιῶν, καὶ λόγου προ τρεπτικοῦ. Πάλιν τε αὖ ὅδε μὲν αἱρεῖται τὴν ἡδονὴν, οὐχὶ οὐ δυνάμενος ἀντιβλέπειν αὐτῇ, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀγω νιζόμενος· ὅδε δὲ καταφρονεῖ αὐτῆς, τὸ ἄσχημον ὁρῶν τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ πολλάκις τυγχάνον. Ὅτι μέντοιγε ἡ πρόγνωσις τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἀνάγκην ἐπιτίθησι τοῖς περὶ ὧν κατείληφε, πρὸς τοῖς προειρημένοις καὶ τοῦτο λελέξεται, ὅτι πολλαχοῦ τῶν Γραφῶν Θεὸς κελεύει τοὺς προφήτας κηρύσσειν μετάνοιαν, οὐ προσποιησάμενος τὸ ἐγνωκέναι πότερον οἱ ἀκούσαν τες ἐπιστρέψουσιν, ἢ τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασιν ἑαυτῶν ἐμ μενοῦσιν· ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ λέγεται· «Ἴσως ἀκούσονται καὶ μετανοήσουσιν.» Οὐ γὰρ ἀγνοῶν ὁ Θεὸς πότερον ἀκούσουσιν, ἢ οὒ, φησὶν, «ἴσως ἀκούσονται, καὶ μετανοήσουσιν·» ἀλλ' οἱονεὶ τὸ ἰσοστάσιον τῶν δυνάμεων γενέσθαι δεικνὺς ἐκ τῶν λεγομένων· ἵνα μὴ προκατηγγελμένη ἡ πρόγνωσις αὐτοῦ, καταπεσεῖν ποιήσῃ τοὺς ἀκούοντας, δό ξαν ἀνάγκης παριστᾶσα, ὡς οὐκ ὄντος ἐπ' αὐτοῖς τοῦ ἐπιστρέψαι, καὶ οἱονεὶ καὶ αὐτὴ αἰτία γένηται τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων· ἢ πάλιν τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ ἀγνοεῖν τὸ προ εγνωσμένον καλὸν, δυναμένοις ἐν τῷ ἀγωνίσασθαι, καὶ ἀντιτείνειν πρὸς τὴν κακίαν ἐν ἀρετῇ βιῶσαι, αἰτία γένηται ἡ πρόγνωσις ἐκλύσεως, οὐκ ἔτι εὐτό νως ἱσταμένοις κατὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ὡς πάντως ἐσο μένου τοῦ προειρημένου. Καὶ οὕτω γὰρ οἷον ἐμ πόδιον γένοιτ' ἂν ἡ πρόγνωσις τοῦ ἐσομένου καλοῦ. Πάντα γοῦν χρησίμως ὁ Θεὸς τὰ κατὰ τὸν κόσμον οἰκονομῶν, εὐλόγως ἡμᾶς καὶ πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα ἐτύ φλωσεν· ἡ γὰρ γνῶσις αὐτῶν ἀνῆκε μὲν ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀθλεῖν κατὰ τῆς κακίας, ἐπέτρεψε δ' ἂν δό ξασα κατειλῆφθαι, πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἀντιπαλαίσαντας ἡμᾶς τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, τάχιον αὐτῇ ὑποχειρίους γενέσθαι. Ἅμα δὲ καὶ μαχόμενον ἐγίνετο τῷ καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν γενέσθαι τινὰ τὸ τὴν πρόγνωσιν ἐληλυθέναι εἰς τόνδε τινὰ, ὅτι πάντως ἔσται ἀγαθός. Πρὸς οἷς γὰρ ἔχομεν, καὶ σφοδρότητος καὶ τάσεως πλείο νος χρεία πρὸς τὸ καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν γενέσθαι· προ καταληφθεῖσα δὲ ἡ γνῶσις, τοῦ πάντως καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν ἔσεσθαι ὑπεκλύειν τὴν ἄσκησιν. ∆ιόπερ συμφερόντως οὐκ ἴσμεν οὔτε εἰ ἀγαθοὶ, οὔτε εἰ πονη ροὶ ἐσόμεθα. 12.69 Ἐπεὶ δὲ εἰρήκαμεν, ὅτι ἀπετύφλωσεν ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα ὁ Θεὸς, ζητούμενόν τι ῥητὸν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἐξόδου ὅρα εἰ δυνάμεθα οὕτω σαφηνίσαι· «Τίς ἐποίησε δύσκωφον, καὶ κωφὸν, καὶ βλέποντα, καὶ τυφλόν; οὐκ ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ Θεός;» ἵνα τὸν αὐτὸν καὶ τυφλὸν καὶ βλέποντα πεποιηκὼς ᾖ· βλέποντα μὲν πρὸς τὰ ἐνεστηκότα, τυφλὸν δὲ πρὸς τὰ μέλ λοντα. Τὸ γὰρ περὶ τοῦ δυσκώφου καὶ κωφοῦ οὐ τοῦ παρόντος καιροῦ διηγήσασθαι. Ὅτι μέντοιγε πολλῶν τῶν ἐφ' ἡμῖν αἴτια πλεῖστα τῶν οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἐστι, καὶ ἡμεῖς ὁμολογήσομεν· ὧν μὴ γενομένων, λέγω δὲ τῶν οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν, οὐκ ἂν τάδε τινὰ τῶν ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἐπράττετο· πράττεται δὲ τάδε τινὰ τῶν ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἀκόλουθα τοῖσδε τοῖς προγενομένοις, οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν. ἐνδεχομένου τοῦ ἐπὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς προγενομένοις, καὶ ἕτερα πρᾶξαι παρ' ἃ πράττομεν. Εἰ δέ τις ζη τεῖ τὸ ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἀπολελυμένον εἶναι τοῦ παντὸς, ὥστε μὴ διὰ τάδε τινὰ συμβεβηκότα ἡμῖν ἡμᾶς αἱ ρεῖσθαι τάδε, ἐπιλέλησται κόσμου μέρος ὢν, καὶ ἐμπεριεχόμενος ἀνθρώπων κοινωνίᾳ καὶ τοῦ περι έχοντος. Μετρίως μὲν οὖν ὡς ἐν ἐπιτομῇ οἶμαι ἀπο δεδεῖχθαι τὸ τὴν πρόγνωσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ μὴ εἶναι κατα ναγκαστικὴν τῶν προεγνωσμένων πάντως. Φέρε δὲ ἀγωνισώμεθα καὶ περὶ τοῦ τοὺς ἀστέ ρας μηδαμῶς εἶναι ποιητικοὺς τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις, σημαντικοὺς δὲ μόνον. Σαφὲς δὲ, ὅτι, εἰ ὅδε τις ὁ σχηματισμὸς