Chapter IX.

Up to this point, perhaps, one who has followed the course of our argument will agree with it, inasmuch as it does not seem to him that anything has been said which is foreign to the proper conception of the Deity. But towards what follows and constitutes the strongest part of this Revelation of the truth, he will not be similarly disposed; the human birth, I mean, the growth of infancy to maturity, the eating and drinking, the fatigue and sleep, the sorrow and tears, the false accusation and judgment hall, the cross of death and consignment to the tomb. All these things, included as they are in this revelation, to a certain extent blunt the faith of the more narrow-minded, and so they reject the sequel itself in consequence of these antecedents. They will not allow that in the Resurrection from the dead there is anything consistent with the Deity, because of the unseemly circumstances of the Death. Well, I deem it necessary first of all to remove our thoughts for a moment from the grossness of the carnal element, and to fix them on what is morally beautiful in itself, and on what is not, and on the distinguishing marks by which each of them is to be apprehended. No one, I think, who has reflected will challenge the assertion that, in the whole nature of things, one thing only is disgraceful, and that is vicious weakness; while whatever has no connection with vice is a stranger to all disgrace; and whatever has no mixture in it of disgrace is certainly to be found on the side of the beautiful; and what is really beautiful has in it no mixture of its opposite. Now whatever is to be regarded as coming within the sphere of the beautiful becomes the character of God. Either, then, let them show that there was viciousness in His birth, His bringing up, His growth, His progress to the perfection of His nature, His experience of death and return from death; or, if they allow that the aforesaid circumstances of His life remain outside the sphere of viciousness, they will perforce admit that there is nothing of disgrace in this that is foreign to viciousness. Since, then, what is thus removed from every disgraceful and vicious quality is abundantly shown to be morally beautiful, how can one fail to pity the folly of men who give it as their opinion that what is morally beautiful is not becoming in the case of God?

[9] Ἀλλὰ μέχρι μὲν τούτων συνθήσεται τυχὸν τῷ λόγῳ ὁ πρὸς τὸ ἀκόλουθον βλέπων διὰ τὸ μὴ δοκεῖν ἔξω τι τῆς θεοπρεποῦς ἐννοίας τῶν εἰρημένων εἶναι: πρὸς δὲ τὰ ἐφεξῆς οὐχ ὁμοίως ἕξει, δι' ὧν μάλιστα τὸ μυστήριον τῆς ἀληθείας κρατύνεται: γένεσις ἀνθρωπίνη καὶ ἡ ἐκ νηπίου πρὸς τελείωσιν αὔξησις, βρῶσίς τε καὶ πόσις, καὶ κόπος, καὶ ὕπνος, καὶ λύπη, καὶ δάκρυον, συκοφαντία τε καὶ δικαστήριον, καὶ σταυρός, καὶ θάνατος, καὶ ἡ ἐν μνημείῳ θέσις: ταῦτα γὰρ συμπαραλαμβανόμενα τῷ μυστηρίῳ ἀμβλύνει πως τῶν μικροψυχοτέρων τὴν πίστιν, ὡς μηδὲ τὸ ἐφεξῆς τῶν λεγομένων διὰ τὰ προειρημένα συμπαραδέχεσθαι. τὸ γὰρ θεοπρεπὲς τῆς ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάσεως διὰ τὸ περὶ τὸν θάνατον ἀπρεπὲς οὐ προσίενται. ἐγὼ δὲ πρότερον οἶμαι δεῖν μικρὸν τῆς σαρκικῆς παχύτητος τὸν λογισμὸν ἀποστήσαντας, αὐτὸ τὸ καλὸν ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τὸ μὴ τοιοῦτον κατανοῆσαι, ποίοις γνωρίσμασιν ἑκάτερον τούτων καταλαμβάνεται. οὐδένα γὰρ ἀντερεῖν οἶμαι τῶν λελογισμένων, ὅτι ἓν κατὰ φύσιν μόνον τῶν πάντων ἐστὶν αἰσχρὸν τὸ κατὰ κακίαν πάθος, τὸ δὲ κακίας ἐκτὸς παντὸς αἴσχους ἐστὶν ἀλλότριον: ᾧ δὲ μηδὲν αἰσχρὸν καταμέμικται, τοῦτο πάντως ἐν τῇ τοῦ καλοῦ μοίρᾳ καταλαμβάνεται, τὸ δὲ ἀληθῶς καλὸν ἀμιγές ἐστι τοῦ ἐναντίου. πρέπει δὲ θεῷ πᾶν ὅ τι περ ἐν τῇ τοῦ καλοῦ θεωρεῖται χώρᾳ. ἢ τοίνυν δειξάτωσαν κακίαν εἶναι τὴν γέννησιν, τὴν ἀνατροφήν, τὴν αὔξησιν, τὴν πρὸς τὸ τέλειον τῆς φύσεως πρόοδον, τὴν τοῦ θανάτου πεῖραν, τὴν ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου ἐπάνοδον: ἢ εἰ ἔξω κακίας εἶναι τὰ εἰρημένα συντίθενται, οὐδὲν αἰσχρὸν εἶναι τὸ κακίας ἀλλότριον ἐξ ἀνάγκης ὁμολογήσουσι. καλοῦ δὲ πάντως ἀναδεικνυμένου τοῦ πάσης αἰσχρότητος καὶ κακίας ἀπηλλαγμένου, πῶς οὐκ ἐλεεινοὶ τῆς ἀλογίας οἱ τὸ καλὸν μὴ πρέπειν ἐπὶ θεοῦ δογματίζοντες;