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of the projections of the good? 56 That which is from the substance of the unoriginate and uncreated is unoriginate and uncreated. How then do you say that all things are from the substance of your principles? For if all things are from their substance, they are unoriginate principles and nothing. But if they are created things, they are not from their substance. 57 Evil is corruption and death. Therefore, if evil is evil to others, but good to itself, it constitutes itself, and is not completely evil; for it constitutes itself, and in this respect it is not evil. But if it is completely evil, it is also evil to itself and destructive of itself and non-existent. But if in the corruption of one thing the generation of other things occurs, it is not the corruption that is the cause of generation, but the good, through an excess of goodness, works out the generation of another thing even from the corruption of another. For matter, having been made subject to the good by it, is good; for indeed from non-being into being in the beginning it brought forth all things. 58 The same thing is not in the same respect good and evil, nor is the corruption and generation of the same thing the same power in the same respect, nor is it self-power or self-corruption. Therefore, that which is evil-in-itself is neither being nor good nor generative nor productive of beings or goods; but the good, in those things in which it is completely present, renders them perfectly good, and in those in which it is partially present, partially so; and in those in which it is not present at all, they neither exist and are called completely evil. 59 Fornication, insofar as it is a desire and affection and union, is good, but insofar as it is a desire for that which is not due and that which is forbidden, it is evil; for that which is not commanded, but forbidden, is non-being as not being due. Therefore, the desire for that which is non-being and ought not to be is evil. 60 Evil is twofold. The one is evil in truth, such as the falling away from natural states. “For God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.” But another is called evil in respect to perception, such as the afflictions in times of temptations; for the name of evil is homonymous. For it signifies two things: for sometimes it signifies the privation of virtue, and sometimes the privation of joy, that is, of what is desired. For fornication is nothing other than a privation of chastity and a bad use; for instead of loving and being united with his own vessel, that is, his own wife, he loves and is united with another's. Unbelief, instead of believing and loving the God by nature, believes in the god that is not. This then is wickedness, to use that which is not as if it were, not to render to each his own; to each his own are the things defined by God. God's own are the glory and honor befitting a creator, but the creatures' own is the measure which the one who gave them being has defined for each. And it is up to us either to use the things given to us by God for the purpose for which he has given them to us, and it is up to us to use them not for the purpose for which he has given them, for example, he gave us the desiring faculty, that we might desire him, the only good. If we use our desire for this purpose, it is virtue and good; but if we love something else besides him, it is not use, but misuse. For he made us for this very purpose, that by desiring we might partake of him. 61 Matter was, he says, without beginning, ungenerated, within its own bounds, always moving disorderly, always fighting with itself and consuming itself. And God was also, he says, within his own bounds, without beginning, ungenerated, eternal, incorporeal, all light, but matter, he says, moving disorderly and irrationally, came to the bounds of God. And marveling at the light of God, it ceased its fight against itself, and attacked the light, fighting so as to seize a part of it for itself; for they also affirm that matter has rulers as over a hidden kingdom, whom they also call “world-rulers of this darkness” and “spiritual forces of evil”

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τῶν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ προβλημάτων; 56 Τὸ ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ ἀνάρχου καὶ ἀκτίστου ἄναρχον καὶ ἄκτιστόν ἐστι. Πῶς οὖν τὰ πάντα ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τῶν καθ' ὑμᾶς ἀρχῶν λέγετε; Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας αὐτῶν εἰσι τὰ πάντα, ἀρχαὶ ἄναρχοι εἰσι καὶ οὐδέν. Εἰ δὲ κτίσματά εἰσιν, οὐκ ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας αὐτῶν εἰσι. 57 Τὸ κακὸν φθορὰ καὶ θάνατος. Τὸ οὖν κακόν, εἰ μὲν ἄλλοις κακόν, ἑαυτῷ δὲ ἀγαθόν, συνιστᾷ μὲν ἑαυτό, οὐ παντελῶς δὲ κακόν· συνιστᾷ γὰρ ἑαυτό, καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔστι κακόν. Εἰ δὲ παντελῶς κακόν, καὶ ἑαυτῷ κακὸν καὶ ἑαυτοῦ ἀναιρετικὸν καὶ ἀνύπαρκτον. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐν τῇ ἑτέρου φθορᾷ ἑτέρων γένεσις γίνεται, οὐχ ἡ φθορὰ γενέσεώς ἐστιν αἴτιον, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀγαθὸν δι' ὑπερβολὴν ἀγαθότητος καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἑτέρου φθορᾶς ἑτέρου κατεργάζεται γένεσιν. Ἡ γὰρ ὕλη ὑποχείριος τῷ ἀγαθῷ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γενομένη, ἀγαθή· καὶ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εἶναι ἐν ἀρχῇ τὰ πάντα παρήγαγεν. 58 Οὐκ ἔστι τὸ αὐτὸ κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ κακὸν οὐδὲ τοῦ αὐτοῦ φθορὰ καὶ γένεσις, ἡ αὐτὴ κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ δύναμις οὔτε αὐτοδύναμις ἢ αὐτοφθορά. Τὸ μὲν οὖν αὐτοκακὸν οὔτε ὂν οὔτε ἀγαθὸν οὔτε γενεσιουργὸν οὔτε ὄντων ἢ ἀγαθῶν ποιητικόν· τὸ δὲ ἀγαθόν, ἐν οἷς μὲν ἂν τελέως ἐγγένηται, τέλεια ἀγαθὰ ἀποδείκνυσιν, ἐν οἷς δὲ μερικῶς, μερικά· ἐν οἷς δὲ μηδόλως, οὔτε εἰσὶ καὶ κακὰ λέγονται παντελῶς. 59 Ἡ πορνεία καθὸ μὲν ἔφεσις καὶ φιλία καὶ ἕνωσις ἀγαθόν, καθὸ δὲ τοῦ μὴ ὀφείλοντος καὶ τοῦ ἀπηγορευμένου ἔφεσις κακόν· τὸ γὰρ μὴ ἐντεταλμένον, ἀλλ' ἀπηγορευμένον οὐκ ὂν ὡς μὴ ὀφεῖλον. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἡ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος μηδὲ ὀφείλοντος γενέσθαι ἔφεσις κακόν. 60 Τὸ κακὸν διττόν. Τὸ μὲν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ κακὸν ὡς ἡ τῶν φυσικῶν ἕξεων ἀπόπτωσις. «Ὁ γὰρ θεὸς ἐποίησε τὸν ἄνθρωπον εὐθῆ, αὐτοὶ δὲ ἐζήτησαν λογισμοὺς πολλούς.» Ἕτερον δὲ κακὸν λέγεται τὸ κατ' αἴσθησιν ὡς αἱ θλίψεις αἱ κατὰ τοὺς πειρασμούς· τὸ γὰρ τῆς κακίας ὄνομα ὁμώνυμόν ἐστι. ∆ύο γὰρ σημαίνει· ποτὲ μὲν γὰρ σημαίνει τὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς στέρησιν, ποτὲ δὲ τὴν τῆς χαρᾶς, τουτέστι τοῦ ἐπιθυμουμένου. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ πορνεία οὐδὲν ἕτερόν ἐστιν εἰ μὴ σωφροσύνης στέρησις καὶ κακὴ χρῆσις· ἀντὶ γὰρ τοῦ ἀγαπῆσαι καὶ μιγῆναι τὸ ἴδιον σκεῦος, τουτέστι τὴν ἰδίαν γυναῖκα, ἀγαπᾷ καὶ μίγνυται τῇ ἀλλοτρίᾳ. Ἡ ἀπιστία ἀντὶ τοῦ πιστεῦσαι καὶ ἀγαπῆσαι τὸν φύσει θεὸν πιστεύει τῷ μὴ ὄντι θεῷ. Τοῦτο οὖν ἐστι κακία τὸ τῷ μὴ ὄντι ὡς ὄντι χρήσασθαι, τὸ μὴ παρέχειν ἑκάστῳ τὰ ἴδια· ἴδια ἑκάστῳ τὰ ὑπὸ θεοῦ ὁριζόμενα. Ἴδιον μὲν θεοῦ ἡ δόξα καὶ ἡ τιμὴ ὡς δημιουργῷ πρέπουσα, ἴδιον δὲ τῶν κτισμάτων τὸ μέτρον, ὃ ἑκάστῳ ὥρισεν ὁ τὸ εἶναι δούς. Ἐφ' ἡμῖν δέ ἐστιν ἢ χρήσασθαι τοῖς δοθεῖσιν ἡμῖν ὑπὸ θεοῦ, ἐφ' ᾧ δέδωκεν ἡμῖν αὐτά, καὶ ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἐστι χρήσασθαι οὐκ ἐφ' ᾧ δέδωκεν, οἷον ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν τὸ ἐπιθυμητικόν, ἵνα ἐπιθυμῶμεν αὐτοῦ τοῦ μόνου ἀγαθοῦ. Ἐὰν ἐπὶ τούτῳ χρησώμεθα τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἀρετὴ καὶ καλόν· εἰ δὲ ἕτερόν τι παρ' αὐτὸν ἀγαπήσωμεν, οὐκ ἔστι χρῆσις, ἀλλὰ παράχρησις. Εἰς αὐτὸ γὰρ τοῦτο ἐποίησεν ἡμᾶς, ἵνα μετέχωμεν αὐτοῦ ἐπιθυμοῦντες. 61 Ἦν, φησίν, ἡ ὕλη ἄναρχος, ἀγένητος, ἐν ἰδίοις ὅροις, ἀεὶ ἀτάκτως κινουμένη, ἀεὶ ἑαυτῇ μαχομένη καὶ ἑαυτὴν ἀναλίσκουσα. Ἦν δέ, φησί, καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἐν ἰδίοις ὅροις, ἄναρχος, ἀγένητος, ἀίδιος, ἀσώματος, ὅλος φῶς, ἀλλ' ἡ ὕλη, φησίν, ἀτάκτως καὶ ἀλόγως κινουμένη ἐπὶ τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ὅρια ἦλθε. Καὶ θαυμάσασα τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ φῶς τῆς μὲν πρὸς ἑαυτὴν μάχης ἐπαύσατο, τῷ δὲ φωτὶ ἐπέθετο μαχομένη ὡς καὶ μέρος αὐτοῦ ἁρπάσαι εἰς ἑαυτήν· καὶ γὰρ ἄρχοντας ὡς ἐπὶ κεκρυμμένου βασιλείου τὴν ὕλην ἔχειν διαβεβαιοῦνται, οὓς καὶ «κοσμοκράτορας τοῦ σκότους» καὶ «πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας»