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The better part of the Godhead, to which might it incline? The greater part of being is inescapable. Second, the great ministers of the highest light, As near to the archetypal good as the ether is to the sun. The third are we, creatures of mist. 443 The nature of God is unchangeable towards all things; but towards evil the angelic nature is hard to turn, and the third, we, are easy to turn, As far as we are from God, so near are we to evil. For this reason the first, Lucifer, lifted up on high (for indeed he hoped for the royal honor of the great God, having exceeding glory), lost his splendor, And fell here dishonored, total darkness instead of God; And though he was light, he slipped down to the low earth, From there he hates the prudent, and bars all from the heavenly road, angered by his own ruin. Nor does he wish the creation of God to come near the divinity from which he fell; for he longed to have a shared, dark transgression with mortals; therefore he cast them out of paradise, 444 the envious one, when they were desiring godlike glory. So then he came, lifted up from the heavenly chariot-rail; But he did not slip alone, for when hubris destroyed him, he fell with many, as many as he taught evil (like some sinner breaking an army away from the King), and through envy of the God-minded chorus of the high-ruler, and having a desire to rule over many evils. From there, then, earthly evils sprouted forth, demons, attendants of the man-slaying evil king, powerless, shadowy, hard-to-face phantoms of the night, liars, and insolent men, teachers of transgressions, wanderers, drinkers of unmixed wine, lovers of laughter, rousers of revelry, oracle-mongers, crooked, strife-loving, bloody, Tartarean, of the inner chambers, shameless, arch-sorcerers, 445 Coming they call, but leading they hate; night, light, so that they may seize, either openly, or lying in ambush. Such is their army, and such is their leader, but Christ neither held him back, destroying him by His will, by which He also made the whole world; and He would have destroyed this one, quickly, if He wished (for hard it is to escape an angry God), nor indeed did He let my enemy go free, but He placed him in the midst alike of good and evil things, and He gave a hard toil upon one another, so that the one might have terrible shame, even in this, fighting against a weaker foe, while those who toil in virtue might always have their own glory, like gold, being purified in the crucibles of life, 446 or perhaps he might afterward pay an unyielding penalty, when the matter is kindled, when there is a fiery exchange, having been subdued much before by his own afflicted agents; for this is the retribution for the begetter of evil. These things the Spirit taught concerning angelic splendor, both the first and the last. And it found a measure here also. And God in turn is the measure. As near as one approaches the Lord, so great is the light, and as great as the light, so is the boast. 8. Concerning the soul. The soul is a breath of God, and the heavenly endured a mixing with the earthly, a light hidden in a cave, 447 but nevertheless both divine and immortal. For it is not fitting for the image of the great God to be dissolved disorderly, like crawling things and witless beasts, even if sin has forced it to be mortal. Neither is its nature of raging fire; for it is not fitting for the consumer to be the heart of the consumed; nor of breathed-out air, or of what is breathed, and never at rest, nor indeed a bloody effusion running through the flesh; But not even a harmony of the body's parts coming into one. For the nature of flesh and of the immortal form is not one. What more do the better have than the worst, whom a mixture has made either bad or excellent? And how is there not also in the irrational a rational nature? For the harmony 448 of the flesh of mortals and of form belongs to the irrational, and all well-tempered men are then better, as the story goes. They indeed say such things; but the cause, which being absent the soul has left the body, their heart has devised these things. But nourishment was never your heart, without which it is altogether incredible for a mortal to live, since food is strength. And I know another argument, which I will never accept, for there could not be a soul common to me and all, divisible, and wandering through the air. Thus it would be the same for all, breathed in and breathed out; and then in all, all, as many as live by breathing in turn, would lie, if indeed the nature of air is poured out at different times in different things. 449 But if it remains, what did it hold, and what in

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Θεότητος ἄρειον Εἰς ὃ μετακλίνοιτο; τὸ δὲ πλέον ὄντος ἄλυξις. ∆εύτερον ἀκροτάτοιο φάους μεγάλοι θεράποντες, Τόσσον πρωτοτύποιο καλοῦ πέλας, ὁσσάτιόν περ Αἰθὴρ ἠελίοιο. Τὸ δὲ τρίτον ἠέρες ἡμεῖς. 443 Εἰς πάντ' ἄτροπός ἐστι Θεοῦ φύσις· εἰς κακίην δὲ ∆ύστροπος ἀγγελικὴ, καὶ τὸ τρίτον εὔτροπος ἡμεῖς, Ὅσσον τῆλε Θεοῖο, τόσον κακίης πελάοντες. Τοὔνεκεν ὁ πρώτιστος Ἑωσφόρος ὑψόσ' ἀερθεὶς (Ἦ γὰρ δὴ μεγάλοιο Θεοῦ βασιληΐδα τιμὴν Ἤλπετο, κῦδος ἔχων περιώσιον), ὤλεσεν αἴγλην, Καὶ πέσεν ἐνθάδ' ἄτιμος, ὅλον σκότος ἀντὶ Θεοῖο· Καὶ κοῦφός περ ἐὼν χθαμαλὴν ἐπὶ γαῖαν ὄλισθεν, Ἔνθεν ἀπεχθαίρει πινυτόφρονας, οὐρανίης δὲ Εἴργει πάντας ὁδοῖο, χολούμενος ἣν διὰ λώβην. Οὐδ' ἐθέλει θεότητος, ὅθεν πέσεν, ἆσσον ἱκέσθαι Πλάσμα Θεοῦ· ξυνὴν γὰρ ἔχειν ἐπόθησε βροτοῖσιν Ἀμπλακίην σκοτίην τε· τῷ ἔκβαλεν ἐκ παραδείσου, 444 Κύδεος ἱμείροντας ὁ βάσκανος ἰσοθέοιο. Ὣς ἄρ' ὅγ' οὐρανίης ἐξ ἄντυγος ἦλθεν ἀερθείς· Ἀλλ' οὐ μοῦνος ὄλισθεν, ἐπεὶ δέ μιν ὤλεσεν ὕβρις, Κάππεσε σὺν πλεόνεσσιν, ὅσους κακίην ἐδίδαξεν (Ὡς στρατὸν ἐκ Βασιλῆος ἀποῤῥήξας τις ἀλιτρὸς), Βασκανίῃ τε χοροῖο θεόφρονος ὑψιμέδοντος, Καὶ πλεόνεσσι κακοῖσιν ἔχων πόθον ἐμβασιλεύειν. Ἔνθεν ἄρ' ἐβλάστησαν ἐπιχθόνιοι κακότητες, ∆αίμονες ἀνδροφόνοιο κακοῦ βασιλῆος ὀπηδοὶ, Ἀδρανέα, σκιόεντα, δυσαντέα φάσματα νυκτὸς, Ψεῦσταί θ', ὑβρισταί τε, διδάσκαλοι ἀμπλακιάων, Πλάγκται, ζωροπόται, φιλομειδέες, ἐγρεσίκωμοι, Χρησμολόγοι, λοξοὶ, φιλοδήριες, αἱματόεντες, Ταρτάρεοι, μυχόεντες, ἀναιδέες, ἀρχιγόητες, 445 Ἐρχόμενοι καλέουσιν, ἀπεχθαίρουσι δ' ἄγοντες· Νὺξ, φάος, ὥς κεν ἕλωσιν, ἢ ἀμφαδὸν, ἢ λοχόωντες. Τοίη μὲν κείνων στρατιὴ, τοῖος δὲ καὶ ἀρχὸς, Χριστὸς δ' οὔτε μιν ἔσχεν ἀϊστώσας ἰότητι, Ἧ καὶ κόσμον ἔτευξεν ὅλον· καὶ τόνδ' ἂν ὄλεσσεν, Αἶψ' ἐθέλων (χαλεπὴ δὲ Θεοῦ κοτέοντος ἄλυξις), Οὐδὲ μὲν οὐδ' ἀνέηκεν ἐλεύθερον ἐχθρὸν ἐμεῖο, Ἀλλὰ μέσον μεθέηκεν ὁμῶς ἀγαθῶν τε κακῶν τε, ∆ῶκε δ' ἐπ' ἀλλήλοισι κακὸν μόθον, ὡς ὁ μὲν αἰνὸν Αἶσχος ἔχῃ, καὶ τῇδε, χερείονί περ πολεμίζων, Οἱ δ' ἀρετῇ μογέοντες ἑὸν κλέος αἰὲν ἔχωσιν, Ὡς χρυσὸς, χοάνοισι καθαιρόμενοι βιότοιο, 446 Ἢ τάχα κεν μετέπειτα δίκας τίσειεν ἀτειρὴς, Ὕλης δ' ἁπτομένης, ὅτε ἔμπυρός ἐστιν ἄμειψις, Πολλὰ πάροιθεν ἑοῖσιν ἐνὶ δρηστῆρσι δαμασθεὶς Τειρομένοις· τὸ γάρ ἐστι κακοῦ γεννήτορι τίσις. Ταῦτα μὲν ἀγγελικῆς αἴγλης πέρι Πνεῦμ' ἐδίδαξε Πρώτης θ', ὑστατίης τε. Μέτρον δέ τε κἀνθάδ' ἀνεῦρε. Μέτρον δ' αὖ Θεός ἐστιν. Ὅσον πελάει τις ἄνακτι, Τοσσάτιον φάος ἐστὶν, ὅσον φάος, εὖχος ὁμοῖον. Ηʹ. Περὶ ψυχῆς. Ψυχὴ δ' ἐστὶν ἄημα Θεοῦ, καὶ μίξιν ἀνέτλη Οὐρανίη χθονίοιο, φάος σπήλυγγι καλυφθὲν, 447 Ἀλλ' ἔμπης θείη τε καὶ ἄφθιτος. Οὐ γὰρ ἔοικεν Εἰκόνα τὴν μεγάλοιο Θεοῦ λύεσθαι ἀκόσμως, Ἑρπυστῆρσιν ὁμοῖα βοτοῖσί τε ἀφραδέεσσιν, Εἰ καί μιν θνητήν γε βιήσατο θεῖναι ἁμαρτάς. Οὔτε πυρὸς μαλεροῖο πέλει φύσις· οὐ γὰρ ἐοικὸς ∆άπτον δαπτομένοιο πέλειν κέαρ· οὔτ' ἀποπνευστοῦ Ἠέρος, ἢ πνευστοῖο, καὶ οὔ ποτε ἱσταμένοιο Οὐδὲ μὲν αἱματόεσσα χύσις διὰ σάρκα θέουσα· Ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἁρμονίη τῶν σώματος εἰς ἓν ἰόντων. Οὐ γὰρ ἴη σαρκῶν τε καὶ εἴδεος ἀθανάτοιο Ἔστι φύσις. Τί δὲ πλεῖον ἀρειοτέροισι κακίστων, Οὓς κράσις ἠὲ κακοὺς τεκτήνατο ἠὲ φερίστους; Πῶς δ' οὐ καὶ ἀλόγοισι λόγου φύσις; Ἁρμονίη γὰρ 448 Ἡ σαρκῶν βροτέων τε καὶ εἴδεός ἐστ' ἀλόγοισιν, Εὐκραέες δ' ἄρα πάντες ἀρείονες, ὡς ὅγε μῦθος. Κεῖνοι μὲν δὴ τοῖα· τὸ δ' αἴτιον, ὧν ἀπεόντων Ψυχὴ σῶμα λέλοιπε, κέαρ τάδε μυθήσαντο. Φορβὴ δ' οὔ ποτέ σοι κέαρ ἔπλετο, ἧς δίχα θνητὸν Ζώειν πάμπαν ἄπιστον, ἐπεὶ σθένος ἐστὶν ἐδητύς. Οἶδα δὲ καὶ λόγον ἄλλον, ὃν οὔ ποτε δέξομ' ἔγωγε, Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν ξυνή τις ἐμοὶ καὶ πᾶσι μεριστὴ Ψυχὴ, πλαζομένη τε δι' ἠέρος. Ὧδ' ἂν ὁμοίη Πᾶσι πέλοι πνευστή τε καὶ ἔκπνοος· ἐν δ' ἄρα πᾶσι, Πάντες, ὅσοι ζώουσι μεταπνείοντες, ἔκειντο, Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἠέρος ἐστὶ χυτὴ φύσις ἄλλοτ' ἐν ἄλλοις. 449 Εἰ δὲ μένει, τί μὲν ἔσχε, τί δ' ἐν