13 And what things does he say are evils? For concerning the sun and the moon, he leaves out nothing; but concerning the heaven and the stars, if he says there is anything of such a kind, and what this is, it is reasonable to inquire next. But according to them, disorder is evil, and disorderly motion; but these things are always the same and in the same way, and he will neither accuse any of the wandering stars of ever deigning to remain in a zodiacal sign beyond the appointed time, nor any of the fixed stars of not remaining in the same place and not moving in concert with the revolution of the universe, moving one degree forward in a hundred years. But on earth, if one blames the wildness of some places, or if pilots find fault with the storms at sea, first, according to them, such things are a share of the good. For if nothing grew on the earth, all animals would very quickly perish; and this can send much of the power confined in matter on its way to God, and many moons will need to come into being, so that they might be able to accommodate so many souls approaching all at once. And the same things apply to the sea; for it is a godsend to perish, so that the perishing may most quickly take to the road to God. And the wars on earth and famines and everything destructive is held in the highest honor according to them; for everything that is a cause of good things is to be honored, and these things are causes of a good, because from the resulting destruction they send on its way to God the power that is being separated from the things that are perishing. 14 And we have been ignorant, it seems, that the Egyptians justly honor the crocodile and the lion and the wolf, since these, being mightiest among the other animals, consume them, both feeding on them and destroying them in every way, and also the eagle and the hawk, because these too are destroyers of the weaker animals in the air and on the earth. And perhaps according to them, man is for this reason in highest honor, because most of all he is accustomed by his designs and arts to subdue most animals, so that he himself might not lack a share of this good, he becomes food for others. Again, therefore, generations are absurd according to them, producing something enormous from a small and random seed, and it would be much better according to them for these to have been destroyed by God, so that there would have been a swift release of the divine power from its sojourn here. But what, one might say, will the Manichaean say in response to licentiousness and injustices and anything of the sort? Is not education and law given as a help against these things? Education, on the one hand, taking care that nothing of the sort happens among men, and law, on the other hand, punishing one who is caught in any of the injustices. Then what is the earth’s crime if a farmer neglects to cultivate it, that the rule of God is diminished, which exists according to justice, when some parts are fruitful and others not so, or when, the winds being borne for another reason, it happens that some are benefited and others suffer certain unwanted things? And they ought not to be ignorant of the nature of contingent things and of necessary things, for thus such things would not be made into portents.

15 From where, then, do pleasure and desire come? For these they say are especially evil, and it is for these they have hated matter, and not for other things more. That these things, then, are concerned only with the sentient parts of animals and nothing else partakes of desire and pleasure than things that have sensation, is clear. For what sensation of pleasure and pain is there for a plant, or for earth or water or air? And demons, if indeed they are sentient animals, for this reason perhaps are pleased by the customary things concerning sacrifices and are displeased when they are omitted, since nothing of the sort can be conceived concerning God. Let those who say, “Why do animals feel pleasure and desire?” first ask the reason why these are sentient or why

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13 Τίνα δὲ καὶ τὰ κακὰ εἶναι λέγει; περὶ μὲν γὰρ τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην οὐδὲν ἀπολείπει· περὶ δὲ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας εἴ τι τοιοῦτον εἶναί φησιν, καὶ τί ποτ' ἐστὶν τοῦτο, εὔλογον ἐφεξῆς ζητεῖν. ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν ἀταξία κατ' αὐτούς ἐστι τὸ κακὸν καὶ ἡ ἄτακτος κίνησις· ταῦτα δὲ ἀεὶ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ ὡσαύ τως ἔχει, καὶ οὔτε τινὰ τῶν πλανωμένων αἰτιάσεται ὡς παρὰ τὸν τεταγμένον χρόνον ἐπιμεῖναί ποτε ζῳδίῳ ἀξιώσαντα, οὔτε τῶν ἀπλανῶν ὡς οὐκ ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς μένοντα ἕδρας καὶ μὴ συμπεριπολοῦντα τῇ τοῦ παν τὸς περιφορᾷ ἐν ἑκατὸν ἔτεσιν μίαν μοῖραν ἐπὶ τὰ ἑπόμενα κινούμενον. ἐν γῇ δὲ εἰ τὸ ἀνήμερον ἐνίων χωρίων αἰτιᾶται, ἢ μέμφονται οἱ κυβερνῆται τοὺς ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ χειμῶνας, πρῶτον μὲν κατ' αὐτοὺς τῆς τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ μοίρας τὰ τοιαῦτα. εἰ γοῦν ἐπὶ γῆς μηδὲν φύοιτο, τάχιστα ἂν ἀπόλοιτο πάντα τὰ ζῷα· τοῦτο δὲ πολὺ τῆς ἐναπειλημμένης τῇ ὕλῃ δυνάμεως πρὸς τὸν θεὸν παραπέμψαι δύναται, καὶ πολλὰς σελήνας δεήσει γενέσθαι, ἵνα ἀθρόως χωρῆσαι δυνηθῶσι τοσαύτας προσπελαζούσας ψυχάς. τὰ δὲ αὐτὰ καὶ περὶ τὴν θάλατταν· ἕρμαιον γὰρ ἀπόλλυσθαι, ἵνα τάχιστα τῆς πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ὁδοῦ ἔχωνται οἱ ἀπολλύμενοι. οἱ δὲ πόλεμοι οἱ ἐπὶ γῆς καὶ λιμοὶ καὶ πᾶν ὅ τι φθοροποιὸν ἐν πλείστῃ τιμῇ κατ' αὐτούς· πᾶν γὰρ τὸ ἀγαθῶν αἴτιον τιμητόν, ἀγαθοῦ δὲ αἴτια ταῦτα ἐκ τῆς συμ βαινούσης φθορᾶς πρὸς τὸν θεὸν παραπέμπει τὴν δια κρινομένην ἀπὸ τῶν ἀπολλυμένων δύναμιν. 14 ἠγνοήκαμέν τε, ὡς ἔοικεν, ὅτι ἐν δίκῃ τὸν κροκόδειλον καὶ τὸν λέοντα καὶ τὸν λύκον τιμῶσιν Αἰγύπτιοι, ἐπειδὴ ταῦτα μάλιστα παρὰ τὰ ἄλλα ζῷα καρτερώτατα ὄντα καταναλίσκει σιτούμενά τε αὐτὰ καὶ πάντα τρόπον διαφθείροντα, καὶ τὸν ἀετὸν καὶ τὸν ἱέρακα, ὅτι καὶ ταῦτα τῶν ἐν ἀέρι καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς ἀσθενεστέρων ζῴων ἀναιρετικά. τάχα δὲ κατ' αὐτοὺς ὁ ἄνθρωπος διὰ τοῦτο ἐν πλείστῃ τιμῇ, ὅτι μάλιστα πάντων ταῖς ἐπι νοίαις καὶ ταῖς τέχναις πλεῖστα τῶν ζῴων δαμάζειν εἴωθεν, ἵνα καὶ αὐτὸς μὴ ἀμοιρῇ τούτου τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, βορὰ ἑτέρων γίνεται. πάλιν οὖν αἱ γενέσεις ἄτοποι κατ' αὐτούς, ἐκ μικροῦ καὶ τοῦ τυχόντος σπέρματος πάμμεγά τι ἀποτελοῦσαι, καὶ πολὺ κάλλιον κατ' αὐ τοὺς ἀνῃρῆσθαι ταύτας ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἵνα ἂν σύν τομος ἐγένετο ἀπαλλαγὴ τῆς ἐνταῦθα διατριβῆς τῆς δυνάμεως τῆς θείας. ἀλλὰ τί καὶ πρὸς ἀκολασίας καὶ ἀδικίας καὶ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν τοιοῦτον, φήσειέν τις ἄν, ὁ Μανιχαῖος ἐρεῖ; οὐκοῦν πρὸς ταῦτα βοηθὸς δέδοται ἡ παίδευσις καὶ ὁ νόμος; ἡ μὲν παίδευσις ἐκφροντί ζουσα τοῦ μηδὲ τοιοῦτόν τι περὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους συμβαίνειν, ὁ νόμος δὲ τιμωρούμενος τὸν ἁλόντα ἔν τινι τῶν ἀδικημάτων ὄντα. ἔπειτα δὲ τί τὸ ἔγκλημα τῆς γῆς εἰ γεωργὸς ἀμελήσειεν τοῦ ταύτην ἡμεροῦν ὅτι ἠλάττωται ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀρχή, ἥτις ἐστὶν κατὰ τὸ δίκαιον, ὅταν ᾖ τὰ μὲν καρπῶν γόνιμα τὰ δὲ μὴ τοιαῦτα, ἢ φερομένων τῶν πνευμάτων καθ' ἑτέραν αἰτίαν τοὺς μὲν ὠφελεῖσθαι τοὺς δὲ καὶ ἀβούλητά τινα ὑπομένειν συμβαίνῃ; ἀπείρους τ' οὐκ ἐχρῆν εἶναι τῆς τῶν ἐνδεχομένων φύσεως καὶ τῆς τῶν ἀναγκαίων, οὕτω γὰρ οὐκ ἂν τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐτερατεύοντο.

15 Πόθεν οὖν ἡδονὴ καὶ ἐπιθυμία; ταῦτα γὰρ μάλιστα κακὰ εἶναι λέγουσιν, καὶ δι' ἃ μεμισήκασιν τὴν ὕλην, οὐχ ἕτερα μᾶλλόν ἐστιν. ὅτι μὲν οὖν [οὐ] περὶ τὰ αἰσθητικὰ τῶν ζῴων μόνον ἐστὶ ταῦτα καὶ οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἀντιλαμβάνεται ἐπιθυμίας καὶ ἡδονῆς ἢ τὰ αἰσθανόμενα, φανερόν. ποία γὰρ αἴσθησις ἡδονῆς καὶ λύπης φυτῷ, ποία δὲ γῇ <ἢ> ὕδατι ἢ ἀέρι; οἱ δαίμονές τε εἴπερ εἰσὶν αἰσθητικὰ ζῷα διὰ τοῦτο ἴσως τοῖς νενομισμένοις περὶ τὰς θυσίας ἥδονται καὶ ἀπολειπομένων δυσφοροῦσιν, οὐδενὸς τοιούτου περὶ θεοῦ ἐπινοεῖσθαι δυναμένου. οἱ δὴ λέγοντες «διὰ τί ἥδεται καὶ ἐπιθυμεῖ τὰ ζῷα;» αἰτιάσθωσαν πρότερον, διὰ τί ἐστιν αἰσθητικὰ ταῦτα ἢ διὰ τί

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