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in the bowels of she who gave birth, still living, if she had torn me out when I was outside? But if you were to make her a mother of more children, you would honor her with still more souls being devoured. This is not the tale of wise men, the vain playthings of books, Who gave to the soul many bodies, like to former lives, both good and bad, to change always, Either as an honor for virtue, or some penalty for sin; As if unseemly clothing some man, or changing his clothes, toiling in vain, Carrying him on the wheels of the most sinful Ixion, They made him a beast, a plant, a mortal, a bird, a snake, a dog, a fish. Often, and twice each, whenever the circle commands. 450 Until when? I have never seen the speech of a wise beast, nor a speaking bush. The crow is always chattering; And the speechless fish always swims through the wet brine. And if there is also a final punishment for the soul, as those men say, of whom this refutation is vain. If, on the one hand, of a fleshless soul, a great wonder. But if with the flesh, which of the many bodies will you give to the fire? And then the greatest wonder, since you bound me in many bodies, and the bond made me knowledgeable of many, How has this one thing alone escaped my mind, what skin held me before? What then? In how many have I died? for my binder was not rich in souls, as if in sacks. Or is this too part of a long wandering, that I suffered forgetfulness of a former life. 451 But hear our excellent tale concerning the soul. Taking it from thence, we shall mix a little delight into the song. There was a time, there was, when the lofty Word of the Mind established the world, which was not before, following the mind of the great Father. He spoke, and as much as He wished was accomplished. And when all things were a cosmos, both earth and heaven and sea, He sought also a witness of the wisdom of the mother of all, and a God-fearing king of earthly things, and He said this: "Now indeed pure and ever-living servants, holy minds, good angels, have the broad heaven, Hymn-writers singing my never-ceasing glory; But the earth still glories in mindless living things. But it has pleased me to create a race common to both, 452 of mortals and immortals, an intelligent man in between, Delighting in my works, and a prudent initiate of heavenly things, a great power of the earth, another angel From the earth, a hymnist of my desires and of my mind." Thus he spoke, and taking a portion of newly-made earth, with immortal hands he established my form, And to it he apportioned a share of his own life. For he sent in a Spirit, which indeed is an off-shoot of the unseen Godhead. And from dust and breath a mortal was fixed, the image of the immortal; for the ruling nature of the mind is in both. For this reason I love this life because of the earth, but I have a longing in my breast for the other because of my divine portion. This then is the bond of the first-born mortal. But afterwards 453 The body from flesh, and the soul is mingled unseen, falling from without into the clay model. He who mixed them knows how He first breathed, and bound the image to the earth. Unless someone, helping my words, should boldly propose this account, and following the majority; That as the first body was mixed for us from the earth, afterwards it became a human stream, and does not cease Producing one mortal after another from the fashioned root; And the soul, breathed from God, from thence afterwards comes together with human forms, newly born, Being divided from the first seed among many, having a form that always abides in mortal limbs. For this reason it obtained intellectual leadership. And as in small flutes a great breath sounds constricted and devious, 454 even of a very skilled man, but when wide-bored instruments come into his hands, then they pour forth a more perfect sound, So it, being inactive in human joints, shone forth together with them as they were being fixed, and revealed the whole mind. But when the immortal Son had fashioned his mortal, so that he might have a new glory, and having left the earth in the last days, he might journey from thence as a god to God, He neither left him free, nor bound him at all; but having placed a law in his nature, and having engraved good things in his heart, in the groves of the ever-blooming paradise He placed him wavering, watching which way he might incline, Naked, without evil and without an outer form. And heavenly life is a paradise to me. Within it He placed him as a worker and cultivator of the commandments. 455 From the one more perfect plant He kept him away, which had within it the perfect discernment of good and evil. For perfect

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σπλάγχνοισι τεκούσης Ζωὸν ἔτ', εἰ κείνη με προέσπασεν ἐκτὸς ἐόντα; Εἰ δὲ πλειοτέρων τεκέων σύ γε μητέρα θείης, Ψυχαῖς δαπτομένῃσιν ἔτι πλεόνεσσι γέρηρας. Οὐ πινυτῶν ὅδε μῦθος, ἐτώσια παίγνια βίβλων, Οἳ καὶ σώματα πολλὰ βίοις προτέροισιν ὅμοια Ἐσθλοῖς ἠδὲ κακοῖς, ψυχῇ δόσαν αἰὲν ἀμείβειν, Ἢ τιμὴν ἀρετῆς, ἢ ἀμπλακίης τινὰ ποινήν· Εἵμασιν ὥς τινα φῶτα κατενδύοντες ἀκόσμως, Ἠὲ μετεκδύοντες, ἐτώσια μοχθίζοντες, Ἰξίονος κύκλοισιν ἀλιτροτάτοιο φέροντες, Θῆρα, φυτὸν, βροτὸν, ὄρνιν, ὄφιν, κύνα, ἰχθὺν ἔτευξαν. Πολλάκι καὶ δὶς ἕκαστον, ἐπὴν τὸ δὲ κύκλος ἀνώγῃ. 450 Μέχρι τίνος; Θηρὸς δὲ σοφοῦ λόγον οὔποτ' ὄπωπα, Οὐδὲ θάμνον λαλέουσαν. Ἀεὶ λακέρυζα κορώνη· Αἰεὶ δ' ἰχθὺς ἄναυδος ὑγρὴν διανήχεται ἅλμην. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ὑστατίη ψυχῆς τίσις, ὡς ἐνέπουσι Κεῖνοι, τῶν ὅδ' ἐλεγμὸς ἐτώσιος. Εἰ μὲν ἀσάρκου, Θαῦμα μέγ'. Εἰ δ' ἅμα σαρκὶ, τίν' ἐκ πλεόνων πυρὶ δώσεις; Καὶ τότε θαῦμα μέγιστον, ἐπεὶ πλεόνεσσιν ἔδησας Σώμασι, καὶ πλεόνων με δαήμονα θήκατο δεσμὸς, Πῶς τόδε μοῦνον ἄλυξεν ἐμὴν φρένα, τίς με πάροιθεν Εἶχε δορή; τίς ἔπειτα; πόσοις θάνον; οὐ γὰρ ἐπλούτει Ψυχαῖς, ὡς θυλάκοισι, δέτης ἐμός. Ἢ ἄρα μακρῆς Καὶ τόδ' ἄλης, λήθην με παθεῖν προτέρης βιότητος. 451 Ἡμέτερον δ' ἀΐοις ψυχῆς πέρι μῦθον ἄριστον. Ἔνθεν ἑλὼν, τέρψιν δὲ μικρὴν ἀναμίξομεν οἴμῃ. Ἦν ποτε ἦν ὅτε κόσμον ἐπήξατο νοῦ Λόγος αἰπὺς, Ἑσπόμενος μεγάλοιο νόῳ Πατρὸς, οὐ πρὶν ἐόντα. Εἶπεν ὅδ', ἐκτετέλεστο ὅσον θέλεν. Ὡς δὲ τὰ πάντα Κόσμος ἔην, γαίη τε καὶ οὐρανὸς ἠδὲ θάλασσα, ∆ίζετο καὶ σοφίης ἐπιίστορα μητρὸς ἁπάντων, Καὶ χθονίων βασιλῆα θεουδέα, καὶ τόδ' ἔειπεν· «Ἤδη μὲν καθαροὶ καὶ ἀείζωοι θεράποντες Οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἔχουσιν ἁγνοὶ νόες, ἄγγελοι ἐσθλοὶ, Ὑμνοπόλοι μέλποντες ἐμὸν κλέος οὔποτε λῆγον· Γαῖα δ' ἔτι ζώοισιν ἀγάλλεται ἀφραδέεσσι. Ξυνὸν δ' ἀμφοτέρωθεν ἐμοὶ γένος εὔαδε πῆξαι 452 Θνητῶν τ' ἀθανάτων τε νοήμονα φῶτα μεσηγὺ, Τερπόμενόν τ' ἔργοισιν ἐμοῖς, καὶ ἐχέφρονα μύστην Οὐρανίων, γαίης τε μέγα κράτος, ἄγγελον ἄλλον Ἐκ χθονὸς, ὑμνητῆρα ἐμῶν μενέων τε, νόου τε.» Ὣς ἄρ' ἔφη, καὶ μοῖραν ἑλὼν νεοπηγέος αἴης, Χείρεσιν ἀθανάτῃσιν ἐμὴν ἐστήσατο μορφὴν, Τῇ δ' ἄρ' ἑῆς ζωῆς μοιρήσατο. Ἐν γὰρ ἕηκε Πνεῦμα, τὸ δὴ θεότητος ἀειδέος ἐστὶν ἀποῤῥώξ. Ἐκ δὲ χοὸς πνοιῆς τε πάγην βροτὸς ἀθανάτοιο Εἰκών· ἢ γὰρ ἄνασσα νόου φύσις ἀμφοτέροισι. Τοὔνεκα καὶ βίοτον τὸν μὲν στέργω διὰ γαῖαν, Τοῦ δ' ἔρον ἐν στήθεσσιν ἔχω θείαν διὰ μοῖραν. Ἥδε μὲν ἀρχεγόνοιο βροτοῦ δέσις. Αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα 453 Σῶμα μὲν ἐκ σαρκῶν, ψυχὴ δ' ἐπιμίσγετ' ἀΐστως, Ἔκτοθεν εἰσπίπτουσα πλάσει χοός. Οἶδεν ὁ μίξας Πῶς πρῶτόν τ' ἔπνευσε, καὶ εἰκόνα δήσατο γαίῃ Εἰ μὴ τόνδε λόγον τις, ἐμοῖς ἐπέεσσιν ἀρήγων, Θήσει θαρσαλέως τε, καὶ ἑσπόμενος πλεόνεσσιν· Ὡς καὶ σῶμα τὸ πρῶτον ἀπὸ χθονὸς ἄμμι κερασθὲν, Ὕστερον ἀνδρομέη ῥύσις ἔπλετο, οὐδ' ἀπολήγει Ἄλλοτε ἄλλον ἔχουσα βροτὸν πλαστῆς ἀπὸ ῥίζης· Καὶ ψυχὴ πνευσθεῖσα Θεοῦ πάρα, κεῖθεν ἔπειτα Ἀνδρομέοισι τύποισι συνέρχεται ἀρτιγένεθλος, Σπέρματος ἐκ πρώτοιο μεριζομένη πλεόνεσσι, Θνητοῖς ἐν μελέεσσιν ἀεὶ μένον εἶδος ἔχουσα. Τοὔνεκεν ἡγεσίην νοερὴν λάχεν. Ὡς δ' ἐνὶ τυτθοῖς Πνεῦμα μέγα στεινόν τε καὶ ἔκτροπον ἴαχεν αὐλοῖς, 454 Καὶ μάλα ἴδριος ἀνδρὸς, ἐπὴν δ' εἰς χεῖρας ἵκωνται Εὐρύποροι, τημόσδε τελειοτέρην χέον ἠχὴν, Ὣς ἥγ' ἀνδρανέεσσιν ἐν ἅψεσιν ἀδρανέουσα, Πηγνυμένοις συνέλαμψε, νόον δέ τε πάντ' ἀνέφηνεν. Αὐτὰρ ἐπειδὴ τεῦξεν ἑὸν βροτὸν ἄφθιτος Υἱὸς, Ὄφρα κε κῦδος ἔχῃσι νέον, καὶ γαῖαν ἀμείψας Ἤμασιν ὑστατίοισι Θεῷ Θεὸς ἔνθεν ὁδεύσῃ, Οὔτε μιν οὔτ' ἀνέηκεν ἐλεύθερον, οὔτε τι πάμπαν ∆ήσατο· θεὶς δὲ νόμον τε φύσει, καὶ ἐσθλὰ χαράξας Ἐν κραδίῃ, γυάλοισιν ἀειθαλέος παραδείσου Θῆκέ μιν ἀμφιτάλαντον, ὅπη ῥέψειε δοκεύων, Γυμνὸν ἄτερ κακίης τε καὶ εἴδεος ἀμφιθέτοιο. Ζωὴ δ' οὐρανίη πέλεται παράδεισος ἔμοιγε. Τοῦ ῥά μιν ἐντὸς ἔθηκε λόγων δρηστῆρα γεωργόν. 455 Οἴου μιν ἀπέεργε τελειοτέροιο φυτοῖο, Ἐσθλοῦ τ' ἠδὲ κακοῖο διάκρισιν ἐντὸς ἔχοντος Τὴν τελέην. Τελέη γὰρ