Chapter XIV.—The Demons Shall Be Punished More Severely Than Men.

And such are you also, O Greeks,—profuse in words, but with minds strangely warped; and you acknowledge the dominion of many rather than the rule of one, accustoming yourselves to follow demons as if they were mighty. For, as the inhuman robber is wont to overpower those like himself by daring; so the demons, going to great lengths in wickedness, have utterly deceived the souls among you which are left to themselves by ignorance and false appearances. These beings do not indeed die easily, for they do not partake of flesh; but while living they practice the ways of death, and die themselves as often as they teach their followers to sin. Therefore, what is now their chief distinction, that they do not die like men, they will retain when about to suffer punishment: they will not partake of everlasting life, so as to receive this instead of death in a blessed immortality. And as we, to whom it now easily happens to die, afterwards receive the immortal with enjoyment, or the painful with immortality, so the demons, who abuse the present life to purposes of wrong-doing, dying continually even while they live, will have hereafter the same immortality, like that which they had during the time they lived, but in its nature like that of men, who voluntarily performed what the demons prescribed to them during their lifetime. And do not fewer kinds of sin break out among men owing to the brevity of their lives,44    [The shortening of human life is a gracious limitation of tarnsgression and of the peril of probation. “Let not our years be multiplied to increase our guilt.”] while on the part of these demons transgression is more abundant owing to their boundless existence?

14.1 Τοιοῦτοί τινές ἐστε καὶ ὑμεῖς, ὦ Ἕλληνες, ῥήμασι μὲν στωμύλοι, γνώμην δὲ ἔχοντες ἀλλόκοτον, καὶ τὴν _π_ο_λ_υ_κ_ο_ι_ρανίην μᾶλλον ἤπερ τὴν μοναρχίαν ἐξησκήσατε καθάπερ ἰσχυροῖς νομίζοντες τοῖς δαίμοσι κατακολουθεῖν. ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ λῃστεύων ἀπάνθρωπος ὢν διὰ τόλμης τῶν ὁμοίων ἐπικρατεῖν εἴωθεν, οὕτω καὶ οἱ δαίμονες εἰς πολλὴν κακίαν ἐξοκείλαντες τὰς μεμονωμένας παρ' ὑμῖν ψυχὰς δι' ἀγνοιῶν καὶ φαντασιῶν ἐξηπατήκασιν. οἳ θνήσκουσι μὲν οὐ ῥᾳδίως, σαρκὸς γὰρ ἀμοιροῦσι· ζῶντες δὲ θανάτου πράττουσιν ἐπιτηδεύματα τοσαυτάκις καὶ αὐτοὶ θνήσκοντες ὁσάκις ἂν τοὺς ἑπομένους αὐτοῖς τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἐκπαιδεύσωσιν, ὥσθ' ὅπερ ἐστὶν αὐτοῖς περιττὸν ἐν τῷ νῦν, μὴ ὁμοίως τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀποθνήσκειν, τοῦθ' ὁπόταν μέλλωσι κολάζεσθαι 14.2 πικρὸν αὐτοῖς *** οὐ μεθέξουσιν ἀιδίου ζωῆς ἀντὶ θανάτου ἐν ἀθανάτῳ μεταλαμβάνοντες. ὥσπερ δὲ ἡμεῖς, οἷς τὸ θνήσκειν ῥᾴδιον ἀποβαίνει νῦν, εἰσαῦθις ἢ μετὰ ἀπολαύσεως τὸ ἀθάνατον ἢ τὸ λυπηρὸν μετὰ ἀθανασίας προσλαμβάνομεν, οὕτω καὶ οἱ δαίμονες τῇ νῦν ζωῇ πρὸς τὸ πλημμελεῖν καταχρώμενοι διὰ παντὸς καὶ διὰ τοῦ ζῆν ἀποθνήσκοντες εἰσαῦθις ἕξουσιν τὴν αὐτὴν ἀθανασίαν ὁμοίαν τῆς παρ' ὃν ἔζων χρόνον κατὰ μὲν τὴν σύστασιν ὁμοίαν ἀνθρώποις τοῖς κατὰ γνώμην διαπραξαμένοις ἅπερ αὐτοῖς παρ' ὃν ἔζων χρόνον νενομοθετήκασι. καὶ μήτι γε τοῖς μὲν ἑπομένοις αὐτοῖς ἐλάττονα τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐξανθοῦσι τὰ εἴδη διὰ τὸ μὴ πολυχρονίως βιοῦν, τοῖς δὲ προειρημένοις δαίμοσιν 14.3 τὸ πλημμελεῖν μεῖζον ἀποβέβηκεν διὰ τὸ ἄπειρον τῆς βιότητος.