of Plato from his being a man into his becoming an ant, for God also to be changed from being what He is. But if Plato is transformed, but God is not transformed from being what He is, how does God make men by being and not by willing? 22. If the work of God is not destroyed, but man is destroyed, then man is not the work of God, according to those who say this. 23. If our race is brought into being through birth, and is led out of being through corruption, how is it possible for God to be the cause of being and of not being, not by willing but by His being? 24. If the things from the elements are again elements, what seems absurd or impossible for the things from the elements to be again? 25. If God is not under the law, but is master of every law, how is it that God is master of men being born and perishing, but is not master of us being born and not perishing? 20. If God, in re-creating us for incorruption, does this out of repentance, according to you, how did He not rather out of repentance permit us to exist forever? 27. If the gifts of God are irrevocable, and He bestowed on us our being, how does God not fulfill His original purpose for us, by re-creating us for incorruption? 28. According to those who believe in the resurrection of the dead, by the just judgment of God we both die and are brought to life again, the former by the disobedience of man, the latter by the obedience of man. Therefore, among those for whom the cause of death is unknown, among them the creator of man's nature is also unknown. And since they are ignorant of the cause of death and the creator of man's nature, how do they not say out of ignorance that there is no resurrection of the dead? 29. A thing that is completely non-existent is one thing, and a thing that is non-existent in a particular sense is another; for example, it is one thing for a man never to have been born in the first place, and another for him to have perished after being born. And since for God no work is more laborious than another work, how is it not illogical to believe God in the creation of things completely non-existent, but to disbelieve Him in the re-fashioning of things that have perished? 30. If, just as before man was born man was potentially in the elements from which he has come to be, so also after he has perished he is potentially in the elements, how do the Greeks disbelieve God, Who promised to raise the dead, as if it were an impossible matter, since man is potentially in the elements, just as he was formerly created, so also now being re-created? 31. If God was not able from the beginning to make men incorruptible, it is clear that He is not able now either. But if He also had the power from the beginning to make us incorruptible and did not

Πλάτωνος ἐκ τοῦ εἶναι αὐτὸν ἄνθρωπον εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι αὐτὸν μύρμηκα, μεταγενέσθαι καὶ τὸν θεὸν τοῦ εἶναι ὅ ἐστιν. Eἰ δὲ ὁ Πλάτων μὲν μεταφέρεται, ὁ δὲ θεὸς τοῦ εἶναι ὅ ἐστιν οὐ μεταφέρεται, πῶς τῷ εἶναι καὶ οὐ τῷ βούλεσθαι ὁ θεὸς ποιεῖ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους; κβ. Eἰ τὸ ἔργον τοῦ θεοῦ οὐ φθείρεται, ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος φθείρεται, οὐκ ἄρα ἐστὶν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἔργον τοῦ θεοῦ κατὰ τοὺς τοῦτο λέγοντας. κγ. Eἰ τὸ γένος ἡμῶν εἰς τὸ εἶναι εἰσάγεται διὰ τῆς γε νέσεως, καὶ τοῦ εἶναι ἐξάγεται διὰ τῆς φθορᾶς, πῶς ἐνδέχεται τὸν θεὸν τοῦ εἶναι καὶ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι αἴτιον εἶναι, οὐ τῷ βού λεσθαι ἀλλὰ τῷ εἶναι αὐτόν; κδ. Eἰ τὰ ἐκ τῶν στοιχείων πάλιν στοιχεῖα, τί ἄτοπον ἢ ἀδύνατον φαίνεται τὸ πάλιν εἶναι τὰ ἐκ τῶν στοιχείων; κε. Eἰ οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπὸ τὸν ὅρον ὁ θεός, ἀλλὰ παντὸς ὅρου ὑπάρχει δεσπότης, πῶς τοῦ μὲν γίνεσθαι καὶ φθείρεσθαι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους δεσπόζει θεός, τοῦ δὲ γίνεσθαι καὶ μὴ φθεί ρεσθαι ἡμᾶς οὐ δεσπόζει; κ. Eἰ ἀνακτίζων ἡμᾶς ὁ θεὸς εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν ἐκ μετα μελείας καθ' ὑμᾶς τοῦτο ποιεῖ, πῶς οὐ μᾶλλον ἐκ μεταμελείας συνεχώρει εἶναι ἀεί; κζ. Eἰ ἀμεταμέλητα τὰ χαρίσματα τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐχαρίσατο δὲ ἡμῖν τὸ εἶναι ἡμᾶς, πῶς οὐ τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς περὶ ἡμᾶς πληροῖ σκοπὸν ὁ θεός, ἀνακτίζων ἡμᾶς εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν; κη. Κατὰ τοὺς πιστεύοντας τῶν νεκρῶν τὴν ἀνάστασιν τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ δικαιοκρισίᾳ καὶ ἀποθνήσκομεν καὶ ἀναζωοποιού μεθα, ἐκεῖνο μὲν τῇ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου παρακοῇ, τοῦτο δὲ τῇ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὑπακοῇ. Παρ' οἷς οὖν ἄγνωστον τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ θανάτου, παρὰ τούτοις καὶ ὁ τῆς φύσεως τοῦ ἀνθρώπου δη μιουργός ἐστιν ἄγνωστος. Ἀγνοούντων δὲ αὐτῶν τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τὸν δημιουργὸν τῆς φύσεως ἀνθρώπου, πῶς οὐκ ἐξ ἀγνοίας λέγουσι τὸ μὴ εἶναι τῶν νεκρῶν τὴν ἀνά στασιν; κθ. Ἄλλο τὸ πάντη μὴ ὄν, καὶ ἄλλο τὸ τοιόνδε μὴ ὄν· οἷον ἄλλο τὸ τὴν ἀρχὴν μὴ γενέσθαι ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ἄλλο τὸ μετὰ τὸ γενέσθαι αὐτὸν φθαρῆναι. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἔστι τῷ θεῷ ἔργον ἔργου ἐργωδέστερον, πῶς οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλογον τὸ πι στεύειν μὲν θεῷ ἐπὶ τῇ ποιήσει τῶν πάντη οὐκ ὄντων, ἀπιστεῖν δὲ αὐτῷ ἐπὶ τῇ μεταποιήσει τῶν φθαρέντων; λ. Eἰ, ὥσπερ πρὸ τοῦ γενέσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὁ ἄν θρωπος δυνάμει ἦν ἐν τοῖς στοιχείοις ἐξ ὧν γέγονεν, οὕτως καὶ μετὰ τὸ φθαρῆναι αὐτὸν ἔστι δυνάμει ἐν τοῖς στοιχείοις, πῶς ἀπιστοῦσιν οἱ Ἕλληνες θεῷ, ἐπαγγειλαμένῳ ἀνιστᾶν τοὺς νεκρούς, ὡς ἐπ' ἀδυνάτῳ πράγματι, τοῦ ἀνθρώπου δυνάμει ὄντος ἐν τοῖς στοιχείοις, ὥσπερ πάλαι κτιζομένου, οὕτως καὶ νῦν ἀνακτιζομένου; λα. Eἰ οὐκ ἠδύνατο ὁ θεὸς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀφθάρτους ποιεῖν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, δῆλον ὅτι οὐδὲ νῦν δύναται. Eἰ δὲ καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔσχε δύναμιν τοῦ ποιῆσαι ἡμᾶς ἀφθάρτους καὶ οὐκ