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we are not clothed, nor do we marry, nor are we rich, nor does envy have power, nor any of the forms of sin. Therefore, desiring and not having the objects of their desire, they are consumed by desire as if by fire. But those who desire the good, that is, God alone, who is and is forever, rejoice upon attaining it in proportion to their desire, by which they attain what is desired. The truly good, therefore, is the good by nature, and to participate in some way in the very being of the good. But what seems good is not good by nature, but evil. To prefer the enjoyment of created things to the enjoyment of the Creator and one's own will to the will of the Maker is not the act of a just or good person, to prefer what seems good to us, which has rather been shown to be evil, to that which is by nature good, but rather for him to come into being and have some, even the smallest, share of the truly good than, because of evil—that is, unjust desire and pain—to be deprived even of this small share of the good. For God does not judge according to our irrational judgment, but according to what is truly good and just, nor does He follow our passions, nor for the sake of a supposed sympathy—which is truly a passion—does He betray the principle of justice. 37 And again: God calls things that are not yet as though they are and He beholds and judges future things as though they have already happened. Just as, therefore, a judge justly punishes one who has already sinned—and if he does not punish, he is unjust—and he himself is not the cause of the sin or punishment of the one being punished, but the choice of the one who sinned, so God, seeing what is to be as having already happened, judged that it should come to be and, if it should become evil, that it should be punished by Him. Therefore He also made him and made him good; but he himself by his own choice became evil and became the cause of his own punishment, or rather he punishes himself by desiring things that are not. But that God's foreknowledge was not the cause for the devil himself of his becoming evil, is clear; for neither is a physician who foreknows a future disease the cause of the disease, but the cause of the disease is disorder, while the foreknowledge is a mark of the physician's knowledge, and the cause of the foreknowledge is that it is going to happen thus. And that it is so, the apostle says: He "who calls the things that are not as things that are." And one must also know this, that, as the soul departs from the body, so it remains unchangeable for the rest of time, whether desiring the good or the evil. 38 And in addition to all this, we say this is good, which God wills; for just as light is defined by the sun, so also is the good by God. Therefore, all that the Good One wills is good, and that is good, which He wills. God is judge, we are not judges of God. Why then do we question Him? Does God dread and cower and fear? A God who fears would not be God. 39 If the sun and the moon have become ships for the purpose of carrying the portion, which matter seized from God, before this there was no sun nor moon, and man was in darkness. 40 If, according to you, affliction is evil, then certainly pleasure and enjoyment are good, and, if this is so, fornication and gluttony are good and whatever delights and pleases the one doing them, but whatever causes pain, self-control, fasting, vigils, and such things, are evil. 41 If you accuse God for the utter destruction of the flood and the conflagration of the Sodomites and the drowning of Pharaoh as He disciplines for a beneficial end, you should rather accuse Him for punishing eternally. 42 To bring forth from His own substance is not a creation, but to bring forth from nothing is a creation. If, therefore, evil creates, it produces from nothing, and no longer from matter

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ἐνδυόμεθα οὐδὲ γαμοῦμεν οὐδὲ πλουτοῦμεν οὐδὲ φθόνος ἰσχύει οὐδέ τι τῶν τῆς ἁμαρτίας εἰδῶν. Ἐπιθυμοῦντες οὖν καὶ μὴ ἔχοντες τὰ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας πυρὸς δίκην ὑπὸ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας καταφλέγονται. Οἱ δὲ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, τουτέστι μόνου τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐπιθυμοῦντες, τοῦ ὄντος καὶ ἀεὶ ὄντος, καὶ τυγχάνοντες εὐφραίνονται κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς ἐπιθυμίας αὐτῶν, καθ' ἣν τυγχάνουσι τοῦ ἐπιθυμουμένου. Τὸ μὲν οὖν ὄντως ἀγαθὸν τὸ φύσει ἐστὶν ἀγαθόν, κἂν ποσῶς μετέχειν κατ' αὐτὸ τὸ εἶναι τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ. Τὸ δὲ δοκοῦν ἀγαθὸν οὐ φύσει ἀγαθόν ἐστι, ἀλλὰ κακόν. Τὸ προκρίνειν τὴν τῶν κτισμάτων ἀπόλαυσιν τῆς τοῦ κτίστου ἀπολαύσεως καὶ τὸ οἰκεῖον θέλημα τοῦ θελήματος τοῦ δημιουργοῦ οὐκ ἔστι δικαίου οὐδὲ ἀγαθοῦ, προκρίνειν τὸ ἡμῖν δοκοῦν ἀγαθόν, ὅπερ κακὸν μᾶλλον ἐδείχθη, τοῦ ὄντος φύσει ἀγαθοῦ, ἀλλὰ γενέσθαι μὲν αὐτὸν καὶ ἔχειν μοῖράν τινα καὶ σμικροτάτην τοῦ ὄντως ἀγαθοῦ ἤπερ διὰ τὸ κακόν, τουτέστι τὴν ἄδικον ἔφεσιν καὶ λύπην, στερηθῆναι καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς μικρᾶς μοίρας τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ. Ὁ γὰρ θεὸς οὐ κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν κρίσιν τὴν ἄλογον κρίνει, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ ὄντως ἀγαθὸν καὶ δίκαιον, οὐδὲ τοῖς πάθεσιν ἡμῶν ἐξακολουθεῖ οὐδὲ διὰ νομιζομένην συμπάθειαν, τὴν ὄντως ἐμπάθειαν, τὸν τοῦ δικαίου λόγον προδίδωσι. 37 Καὶ πάλιν· Ὁ θεὸς τὰ μήπω ὄντα ὡς ὄντα καλεῖ καὶ τὰ ἐσόμενα ὡς ἤδη γεγενημένα θεωρεῖ καὶ κρίνει. Ὥσπερ οὖν τὸν ἤδη ἁμαρτήσαντα ὁ κριτὴς δικαίως κολάζει-κἂν μὴ κολάσῃ, ἄδικός ἐστι-καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτὸς αἴτιος τῆς τοῦ κολαζομένου ἁμαρτίας ἢ τιμωρίας, ἀλλ' ἡ τοῦ ἁμαρτήσαντος προαίρεσις, οὕτως ὁ θεὸς ὡς ἤδη γεγενημένον τὸ ἐσόμενον βλέπων ἔκρινεν γενέσθαι καί, εἰ κακὸς γένοιτο, ἐξ αὐτοῦ κολασθῆναι. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἐποίησεν αὐτὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν ἐποίησεν αὐτόν· αὐτὸς δὲ ἐξ οἰκείας προαιρέσεως γέγονε κακὸς καὶ ἑαυτῷ γέγονε τῆς τιμωρίας αἴτιος, μᾶλλον δὲ ἑαυτὸν τιμωρεῖται τῶν μὴ ὄντων ἐφιέμενος. Ὅτι δὲ οὐχ ἡ πρόγνωσις τοῦ θεοῦ γέγονεν αἰτία αὐτῷ τῷ διαβόλῳ τοῦ κακὸν ἔσεσθαι, δῆλον· οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ προγινώσκων ἰατρὸς τὴν ἐσομένην νόσον αἴτιός ἐστι τῆς νόσου, ἀλλ' αἴτιον μὲν τῆς νόσου ἡ ἀταξία, ἡ δὲ πρόγνωσις τῆς τοῦ ἰατροῦ ἐπιστήμης γνώρισμα καὶ αἴτιον τῆς προγνώσεως τὸ οὕτως μέλλειν ἔσεσθαι. Ὅτι δὲ οὕτως ἐστί, φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστολος· Ὁ «καλῶν τὰ μὴ ὄντα ὡς ὄντα». Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ εἰδέναι χρή, ὅτι, καθὼς ἐξέλθῃ ἡ ψυχὴ ἐκ τοῦ σώματος, οὕτως διαμένει ἄτρεπτος τοῦ λοιποῦ εἴτε τὸ ἀγαθὸν ποθοῦσα, εἴτε τὸ πονηρόν. 38 Ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ τούτοις τοῦτό φαμεν ἀγαθόν, ὅπερ θέλει ὁ θεός· ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸ φῶς ἐκ τοῦ ἡλίου ὁρίζεται, οὕτω καὶ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ. Πᾶν οὖν, ὃ θέλει ὁ ἀγαθός, ἀγαθόν ἐστι, καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἀγαθόν, ὃ θέλει. Κριτής ἐστιν ὁ θεός, οὐχ ἡμεῖς κριταὶ τοῦ θεοῦ. Τί οὖν αὐτὸν ἀνακρίνομεν; Θεὸς ὀρρωδεῖ καὶ δειλιᾷ καὶ δέδοικε; Θεὸς φοβούμενος μὴ εἴη θεός. 39 Εἰ ὁ ἥλιος καὶ ἡ σελήνη πλοῖα γεγόνασι διὰ τὸ ἀγαγεῖν τὴν μοῖραν, ἣν ἥρπασεν ἡ ὕλη ἀπὸ θεοῦ, οὐκ ἦν πρὸ τούτου ἥλιος οὐδὲ σελήνη, καὶ σκότῳ ἦν ὁ ἄνθρωπος. 40 Εἰ καθ' ὑμᾶς ἡ θλῖψις κακή, πάντως ἡ ἡδονὴ καὶ ἡ ἀπόλαυσις ἀγαθή, καί, εἰ τοῦτο, ἀγαθὸν ἡ πορνεία καὶ ἡ γαστριμαργία καὶ ὅσα τέρπει καὶ ἥδει τὸν πράττοντα, ὅσα δὲ λυπεῖ, ἐγκράτεια, νηστεία, ἀγρυπνία καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, κακά. 41 Εἰ ἐγκαλεῖτε θεῷ τὴν τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ πανολεθρίαν καὶ τῶν Σοδομιτῶν τὴν ἐκφλόγωσιν καὶ τοῦ Φαραὼ τὸν ποντισμὸν πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον παιδεύοντι, ἐγκαλέσατε μᾶλλον αἰωνίως κολάζοντι. 42 Τὸ ἐκ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ οὐσίας προφέρειν οὐ δημιούργημα, τὸ δὲ ἐκ μὴ ὄντων δημιούργημα. Εἰ οὖν δημιουργεῖ ἡ κακία, ἐκ μὴ ὄντων παράγει, καὶ οὐκέτι ἐκ τῆς ὕλης