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of sins being committed) nor the body alone (for this by itself is not subject to judgment of law and justice), but the man resulting from these receives for himself the judgment for each of the things he has done, but reason finds that this does not happen in this life (for what is according to merit is not preserved in the present life, because many who are godless and who practice every lawlessness and vice continue until the end without experience of evils, and conversely those who have shown their own life to be examined according to every virtue live in pains, in insults, in slanders, and in tortures and all sorts of hardships) nor after death (for the composite of both no longer exists, with the soul being separated from the body, and the body itself being scattered back into those things from which it was brought together and preserving nothing anymore of its former nature or form, much less the memory of things done), what remains is perfectly clear to everyone, that, according to the apostle, it is necessary for this corruptible and scattered thing to put on incorruption, so that, when those who have been put to death are made alive again by resurrection and those who have been separated or even completely dissolved are united again, each one may justly receive what he has done through the body, whether good or evil. Now against those who confess providence and have accepted the same principles as we have, and then, I know not how, fall away from their own propositions, one might use such arguments and many more than these, if one wished to expand upon what has been said concisely and cursorily. but against those who disagree about the first principles, perhaps it would be well to lay down another principle before these, raising difficulties with them concerning what they believe and considering such things together with them: Is the life of men and their whole existence completely and utterly overlooked, and has a deep darkness been poured over the earth, hiding in ignorance and silence both men themselves and their deeds, or is it much safer than these things to believe that the maker presides over his own creations, an overseer of all things that in any way are or come to be, a judge of both deeds and counsels. For if there were no judgment anywhere of the things done by men, men will have nothing more than irrational animals; rather, those who bring their passions into subjection and care for piety and justice or any other virtue will fare more wretchedly than those animals, and the brutish or beastly life is best, and virtue is senseless, and the threat of justice is broad laughter, and to serve every pleasure is the greatest of goods, and the common doctrine of all these things and their one law is what is dear to the intemperate and lewd: "Let us eat [and] drink, for tomorrow we die." For the end of such a life, according to some, is not even pleasure, but complete senselessness. But if he who made men has some care for his own creations, and a just judgment is preserved somewhere for those who have lived well or badly, either in the present life while those who have lived according to virtue or vice are still living, or after

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γινομένων πλημμελημάτων) μήτε τὸ σῶμα μόνον (ἄκριτον γὰρ τοῦτο καθ' ἑαυτὸ νόμου καὶ δίκης), ὁ δὲ ἐκ τούτων ἄνθρωπος τὴν ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν εἰργασμένων αὑτῷ δέχεται κρίσιν, τοῦτο δὲ οὔτε κατὰ τήνδε τὴν ζωὴν εὑρίσκει συμβαῖνον ὁ λόγος (οὐ γὰρ σῴζεται τὸ κατ' ἀξίαν ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ διὰ τὸ πολλοὺς μὲν ἀθέους καὶ πᾶσαν ἀνομίαν καὶ κακίαν ἐπιτηδεύοντας μέχρι τελευτῆς διατελεῖν κακῶν ἀπειράτους καὶ τοὐναντίον τοὺς κατὰ πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν ἐξητασ- μένον τὸν ἑαυτῶν βίον ἐπιδειξαμένους ἐν ὀδύναις ζῆν, ἐν ἐπηρείαις, ἐν συκοφαντίαις, αἰκίαις τε καὶ παντοίαις κακοπαθείαις) οὔτε δὲ μετὰ θάνατον (οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔστιν ἔτι τὸ συναμφότερον χωριζομένης μὲν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος, σκεδαννυμένου δὲ καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ σώματος εἰς ἐκεῖνα πάλιν ἐξ ὧν συνεφορήθη καὶ μηδὲν ἔτι σῴζοντος τῆς προτέρας φυῆς ἢ μορφῆς, ἦ πού γε τὴν μνήμην τῶν πεπραγμένων), εὔδηλον παντὶ τὸ λειπόμενον, ὅτι δεῖ κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον τὸ φθαρτὸν τοῦτο καὶ σκεδαστὸν ἐνδύσασθαι ἀφθαρσίαν, ἵνα ζῳο- ποιηθέντων ἐξ ἀναστάσεως τῶν νεκρωθέντων καὶ πάλιν ἑνωθέντων τῶν κεχωρισμένων ἢ καὶ πάντῃ διαλελυμένων, ἕκαστος κομίσηται δικαίως ἃ διὰ τοῦ σώματος ἔπραξεν εἴτε ἀγαθὰ εἴτε κακά. Πρὸς μὲν οὖν τοὺς ὁμολογοῦντας τὴν πρόνοιαν καὶ τὰς αὐτὰς ἡμῖν παραδεξαμένους ἀρχάς, εἶτα τῶν οἰκείων ὑποθέσεων οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως ἐκπίπτοντας, τοιούτοις χρήσαιτ' ἄν τις λόγοις καὶ πολλῷ πλείοσι τούτων, εἴ γε πλατύνειν ἐθέλοι τὰ συντόμως καὶ κατ' ἐπιδρομὴν εἰρημένα. πρὸς δέ γε τοὺς περὶ τῶν πρώτων δια- φερομένους ἴσως ἂν ἔχοι καλῶς ἑτέραν ὑποθέσθαι πρὸ τούτων ἀρχήν, συνδιαποροῦντας αὐτοῖς περὶ ὧν δοξάζουσιν καὶ τοιαῦτα συνδια- σκεπτομένους· ἆρά γε πάντῃ καθάπαξ ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων παρῶπται ζωὴ καὶ σύμπας ὁ βίος, ζόφος δέ τις βαθὺς κατακέχυται τῆς γῆς ἀγνοίᾳ καὶ σιγῇ κρύπτων αὐτούς τε τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ τὰς τούτων πράξεις, ἢ πολὺ τούτων ἀσφαλέστερον τὸ δοξάζειν ὅτι τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ ποιήμασιν ἐφέστηκεν ὁ ποιήσας, πάντων τῶν ὁπωσοῦν ὄντων ἢ γινομένων ἔφορος, ἔργων τε καὶ βουλευμάτων κριτής. εἰ μὲν γὰρ μηδεμία μηδαμοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώποις πεπραγμένων γίνοιτο κρίσις, οὐδὲν ἕξουσι πλεῖον τῶν ἀλόγων ἄνθρωποι· μᾶλλον δὲ κἀκείνων πράξουσιν ἀθλιώτερον οἱ τὰ πάθη δουλαγωγοῦντες καὶ φροντίζοντες εὐσεβείας καὶ δικαιοσύνης ἢ τῆς ἄλλης ἀρετῆς, ὁ δὲ κτηνώδης ἢ θηριώδης βίος ἄριστος, ἀρετὴ δὲ ἀνόητος, δίκης δὲ ἀπειλὴ γέλως πλατύς, τὸ δὲ πᾶσαν θεραπεύειν ἡδονὴν ἀγαθῶν τὸ μέγιστον, δόγμα δὲ κοινὸν τούτων ἁπάντων καὶ νόμος εἷς τὸ τοῖς ἀκολάστοις καὶ λάγνοις φίλον "φάγωμεν [δὲ] καὶ πίωμεν, αὔριον γὰρ ἀποθνῄσκομεν". τοῦ γὰρ τοιούτου βίου τέλος οὐδὲ ἡδονὴ κατά τινας, ἀλλ' ἀναισθησία παντελής. εἰ δὲ ἔστι τις τῷ ποιήσαντι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τῶν ἰδίων ποιημάτων φροντὶς καὶ σῴζεταί που τῶν εὖ ἢ κακῶς βεβιωμένων ἡ δικαία κρίσις, ἤτοι κατὰ τὸν παρόντα βίον ζώντων ἔτι τῶν κατ' ἀρετὴν ἢ κακίαν βεβιωκότων ἢ μετὰ