to use a worse way of life, how is it reasonable? and if the divine power is greater in these things, what use are such things for nourishment, since the nutritive and growth part of the soul is more bodily? And to abstain from marriage and sexual pleasures, fearing that through the succession of the race the divine power might dwell more in matter, I marvel how they even accept their own arguments. For if the providence of God is not sufficient, so as to manage the divine power out of matter both through generations and through things that are always <the same> and in a like state, what can the device of Manichaeus contrive for this? For surely he does not truly say with gigantic spirit that he has become a helper to God for this purpose, so that by abolishing generations he might make the departure of the divine power from matter swift. But what is said by the poets about the Giants is openly a myth. For those who treat of these things in allegories present such matters, hiding the solemnity of the account in the form of a myth; for instance, when the history of the Jews says that angels had sexual union with the daughters of men, for such an expression of the account signifies the nutritive powers of the soul from the things above to the things here <...>. But the poets, saying that these armed men arose from the earth and then immediately rose up against the gods and perished, implying the swift and perishable nature of bodies, thus adorn their poetry for entertainment with the marvelous. But they, knowing none of these things, wherever they can find some fallacy, from whatever source they make that a godsend for themselves, as if contriving to defeat the truth by every artifice.

26 And their fire, which is burning but without light, the one outside the cosmos, where is it situated? For if it is upon the cosmos, what is the cause of the cosmos being unaffected up to the present? For if it will ever destroy it by approaching, it is joined to it even now. But if it is separate, as if suspended in its own place, what will happen that it will later fall upon the cosmos? Or how will it be moved from its own place? By what necessity and force? And what substance of fire can one conceive of without matter, or how moisture is nourishment for it, or whatever is said more physically, is not for the present discussion. But this is surely clear from what has been said, for the fire outside the cosmos is precisely what is called matter by them; since the sun and the moon, being pure parts of the pure divine power, were separated from this fire, leaving no part of themselves in this fire, this was matter in itself, that which is precisely unmixed with the divine power. So that if the cosmos should be emptied of the divine power within it, such a fire will again be left behind. How then will the fire either destroy anything or be destroyed by another? For besides the fact that like is unaffected by like—for like is rather friendly to like—I do not see how the destruction will happen. For what matter will become when separated from the divine power, this it was before it was even mixed with the divine power itself. If, therefore, it will perish when deprived of the divine power, why did it not also perish before the divine power <....> the other creation, so that matter may perish, and will he do this for infinity? And what is the benefit? For what did not happen from the first will, how will it happen from the second? Or what is the reason to attribute to God matters which it is not right to suppose even of a man? For the impossible is added to the willing in such matters, besides the fact that one should not readily speak of willing, even if it is possible; unless they speak of some other god and the one beyond being, just as they introduce some new matter and not that which is supposed by those who have sense, which either not

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δίαιταν χρῆσθαι τῷ χείρονι πῶς εὔλογον; εἴτε πλείων ἐν τούτοις ἡ δύναμις ἡ θεία, τί πρὸς τὴν τροφὴν τὰ τοιαῦτα χρήσιμα, τοῦ θρεπτικοῦ καὶ αὐξητικοῦ μέρους τῆς ψυχῆς ὄντος σωματικωτέρου; Τὸ δὲ ἀπέχεσθαι γάμου καὶ ἀφροδισίων δεδιότας, μὴ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ γένους διαδοχὴν ἐπὶ πλέον ἐνοικήσῃ τῇ ὕλῃ ἡ δύναμις ἡ θεία, θαυμάζω πῶς καὶ αὐτοὶ ἑαυτοὺς ἀποδέχονται. εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἐξαρκεῖ ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ πρόνοια, ὥστε καὶ διὰ γενέσεων καὶ διὰ τῶν ἀεὶ <κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ> καὶ ὡσαύτως ἐχόντων ἀποικονομήσασθαι τῆς ὕλης τὴν θείαν δύναμιν, τί ἡ τοῦ Μανιχαίου ἐπίνοια ὑπὲρ τούτου διαμηχανήσασθαι δύναται; οὐ γὰρ δήπου γιγαντείῳ λήματι ὡς ἀληθῶς φησιν τῷ θεῷ βοηθὸς πρὸς τοῦτο γεγονέναι, ἵνα τὰς γενέσεις ἀναιρῶν σύντομον ποιήσῃ τὴν τῆς θείας δυνάμεως ἀπὸ τῆς ὕλης ἀναχώρησιν. Ἃ δὲ λέγεται ὑπὸ τῶν ποιήσεων περὶ τῶν Γιγάντων, ἄντικρυς μῦθός ἐστιν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ περὶ τούτων διατάττοντες ἐν ἀλληγορίαις τὰ τοιαῦτα προφέρονται τὸ σεμνὸν τοῦ λόγου ἀποκρύπτοντες τῇ τοῦ μύθου ἰδέᾳ· οἷον ὅταν ἡ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἱστορία φῇ τοὺς ἀγγέλους ταῖς θυγατράσι τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἰς ἀφροδισίων συνεληλυθέναι μῖξιν, τὰς γὰρ θρεπτικὰς δυνάμεις τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπὸ τῶν ἄνω ἐπὶ τὰ τῇδε <...> ἡ τοιαύτη προφορὰ τοῦ λόγου σημαίνει. οἱ ποιηταὶ δὲ ἐκ γῆς ἐνόπλους ἀνασχεῖν λέγοντες τούτους εἶτ' εὐθὺς πρὸς θεοὺς ἀντάραντας ἀπολωλέναι, τὸ ταχὺ καὶ ἐπίκηρον τῶν σωμάτων ὑποδηλοῦντες, οὕτω τὴν ποίησιν εἰς ψυχαγωγίαν τῷ θαύματι κατακοσμοῦσιν. οἳ δὲ οὐδὲν εἰδότες τούτων, ἔνθα δἂν παραλογισμοῦ τινος εὐπορῆσαι δύνωνται, ὁπόθεν δήποτε ἐκεῖνο ἕρμαιον ἑαυτῶν ποιοῦνται, ὥσπερ διαπραγματευόμενοι τὸ ἀληθὲς πάσῃ τέχνῃ καταγωνίσασθαι.

26 Τὸ δὲ πῦρ αὐτοῖς τὸ καυστικὸν μὲν ἀφεγγὲς δέ, τὸ ἐκτὸς τοῦ κόσμου, ποῦ ἵδρυται; εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸν κόσμον, τί τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ ἀπαθῆ εἶναι μέχρι τοῦ παρόντος τὸν κόσμον; εἰ γὰρ διαφθείρει ποτὲ αὐτὸν πλησιάσαν, καὶ νῦν πρὸς αὐτὸν συνῆπται. εἰ δὲ χωρίς ἐστιν οἷον ὡς ἐν ἰδίῳ τόπῳ μετέωρον, τί παθὸν ὕστερον ἐπιπεσεῖται τῷ κόσμῳ; ἢ πῶς τοῦ ἰδίου τόπου ἐκστήσεται; ὑπὸ τίνος ἀνάγκης καὶ βίας; τίνα δὲ καὶ ὕλης χωρὶς ἐπινοεῖν τοῦ πυρὸς ὑπόστασιν ἢ πῶς τὸ ὑγρὸν τούτῳ ἐστὶν τροφὴ ἢ ὅσα λέγεται φυσικώτερον, οὐ τοῦ παρόντος λόγου ἐστίν. ἐκεῖνο δὲ πάντως που φανερὸν ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων, τὸ γὰρ πῦρ τὸ τοῦ κόσμου ἐκτὸς ἀκριβῶς ἐστιν ἡ λεγομένη ὑπ' αὐτῶν ὕλη· ἐπειδήπερ ὁ ἥλιος καὶ ἡ σελήνη καθαροὶ καθαρῶν ὄντες τῆς θείας δυνάμεως ἀπεζεύχθησαν τοῦ πυρὸς τούτου οὐδὲν ἑαυτῶν ἐν τῷ πυρὶ τούτῳ ὑπολείψαντες μέρος, τοῦτο ἦν ἡ ὕλη καθ' ἑαυτήν, τὸ ἀκριβῶς ἄμικτον πρὸς τὴν θείαν δύναμιν. ὥστε ἂν κενωθῇ κόσμος τῆς κατ' αὐτοῦ θείας δυνά μεως, πάλιν τοιοῦτον ὑπολειφθήσεται πῦρ. πῶς οὖν τὸ πῦρ ἢ διαφθερεῖ τι ἢ ὑπ' ἄλλου φθαρήσεται; πρὸς γὰρ τῷ τὸ ὅμοιον ὑπὸ τοῦ ὁμοίου ἀπαθὲς εἶναι- φίλον γὰρ μᾶλλον τῷ ὁμοίῳ τὸ ὅμοιον-οὐχ ὁρῶ πῶς γενήσεται ἡ φθορά. ὃ γὰρ γενήσεται ἡ ὕλη τῆς θείας δυνάμεως ἀποζευχθεῖσα, τοῦτ' ἦν πρὶν καὶ μεμῖχθαι πρὸς αὐτὴν τὴν θείαν δύναμιν. εἰ τοίνυν ἀπολεῖται ἐρημωθεῖσα τῆς θείας δυνάμεως, διὰ τί μὴ καὶ ἀπώλετο πρὶν καὶ τὴν θείαν δύναμιν <....> ἡ ἄλλη δημιουργία, ἵνα ἀπόληται ἡ ὕλη, καὶ τοῦτο ποιήσει μέχρις ἀπείρου; καὶ τί τὸ ὄφελος; ὃ γὰρ μὴ ἐγένετο ἐκ τοῦ πρώτου βουλήματος, πῶς ἐκ τοῦ δευτέρου γενήσεται; ἢ τίς ὁ λόγος θεῷ ἀναθεῖναι πράγματα ἃ οὐδ' ἐπ' ἀνθρώπου καλῶς ἔχει ὑπονοεῖν; τὸ γὰρ ἀδύνατον πρόσεστιν τῷ βούλεσθαι ἐπὶ τῶν τοιούτων, πρὸς τῷ μηδὲ τὸ βούλεσθαι, κἂν δυνατὸν ᾖ, προχείρως χρῆναι λέγειν· πλὴν εἰ μή τι ἕτερον θεὸν καὶ τὸν ἐπέκεινα οὐσίας λέγουσιν, ὥσπερ καινήν τινα εἰσάγουσιν ὕλην καὶ οὐχὶ τὴν ὑπειλημμένην παρὰ τοῖς νοῦν ἔχουσιν, ἣν ἢ μὴ

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