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to snatch them for themselves, and to try with divinations and oracles, as with some charms and bulwarks, to entice the simple-minded and to drag them away from looking up to the God of all, and to pull them down into the all-destroying abyss of impious and godless superstition; wherefore, to flee headlong from their deceits was earnestly urged from above from of old only by the Hebrews, who expressly teach that 'all the gods of the nations are dem7.16.11ons'. But now, so to speak, with God's help, through the evangelical teaching of our Savior, all the nations from all parts of the inhabited world, freed from demonic bonds, sing hymns to God, whom indeed we have learned to be the only Savior and King and God of all.

7.17.1 XVII. CONCERNING THE NATURE OF MAN

And here again, the zoogony of the Phoenicians and Egyptians introduced an automatic generation of all animals and men on earth, describing one and the same nature as proceeding similarly from the earth by chance, and supposing that the irrational differs in no way from the rational in soul and subst7.17.2ance. At any rate, the previously quoted words of their writers showed this. But again the children of the Hebrews are rightly preferred by us, having comprehended the matters concerning the first constitution of men most beautifully and wisely and tru7.17.3ly; because indeed they say that one part of us is divine and immortal, incorporeal in nature and bodiless, and that this is the true man, made in the image and likeness of God, and that he is the work of God, but not of chance nor of an automatic nature, but of the very Cause of all things, who willed by divine judgement that even things on earth should not be without intelligent and rational substance, so that through all things—heavenly and ethereal and rational things on earth, capable of apprehending His divinity—the fitting hymn might be sent up to Him. 7.17.4 So then the Hebrew oracles contain this: 'And God said: Let us make man in our image and after our likeness. And God made man, in the image of God he made him.' And again: 'And God took dust from the earth and formed man and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.' And these things again the Hebrew Philo interprets, adding also the following to his quoted words: 7.18.1 'But the others, saying that our mind is a portion of the ethereal nature, have joined the kinship of man to aether. But the great Moses likened the form of the rational soul to none of the created things, but said that it was an approved coin of that divine and invisible Spirit, marked and stamped with the seal of God, whose impress is the eternal Word. "For," he says, "God breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul," so that it is necessary for the one receiving to be made in the likeness of the one who sends it fo7.18.2rth. Wherefore it is also said that man was made in the image of God, but not in the image of any of the created things. It was consistent, therefore, that when the soul of man had been formed in the likeness of the archetypal Word of the Cause, the body also, being raised up, should lift its gaze toward the purest part of the universe, heaven.' 7.18.3 So much for him. Rightly, then, does the divine scripture also say that man did not come to be as the other animals; for some came forth from the earth at one command of the All-King, and others flew up from the watery substance again at his nod; but that only of the animals on earth the most beloved of God, ourselves, was made as to the soul in the image of God and after his likeness; wherefore it is also seen to be ruling and royal in nature, and alone of the things on earth to be rational and creative and judicial and

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ἑαυτοὺς ὑφαρπάζειν μαντείαις τε πειρᾶσθαι καὶ χρησμοῖς, ὥσπερ τισὶ θελγήτροις καὶ προβολίοις, τοὺς εὐχερεῖς δελεάζειν καὶ τῆς μὲν ἐπὶ τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν ἀνανεύσεως ἀποσπᾶν, κατασύρειν δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν πανώλεθρον τῆς δυσσεβοῦς καὶ ἀθέου δεισιδαιμονίας βυθόν· διὸ προτροπάδην φεύγειν αὐτῶν τὰς ἀπάτας μόνοις Ἑβραίοις ἄνωθεν ἐξ αἰῶνος ἐσπουδάζετο διαρρήδην παιδεύουσιν, ὅτι «πάντες οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν δαι7.16.11 μόνια». νυνὶ δέ, σὺν θεῷ φάναι, διὰ τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν εὐαγγελικῆς διδασκαλίας πάντα τὰ πανταχόθεν τῆς οἰκουμένης ἔθνη, δεσμῶν δαιμονικῶν ἀπηλλαγμένα, τὸν θεὸν ἀνυμνεῖ, ὃν δὴ καὶ μόνον ὑπάρχειν σωτῆρα καὶ βασιλέα καὶ θεὸν τῶν ὅλων μεμαθήκαμεν.

7.17.1 ιζʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΤΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΥ ΦΥΣΕΩΣ

Κἀνταῦθα πάλιν ἡ μὲν τῶν Φοινίκων καὶ Αἰγυπτίων ζῳογονία αὐτόματον εἰσῆγε τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ἁπάντων ζῴων τε καὶ ἀνθρώπων τὴν γένεσιν, μίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ὁμοίως φύσιν συντυχικῶς ἀπὸ γῆς προελθεῖν διαγράφουσα κατ' οὐδέν τε τὴν ἄλογον διαφέρειν τῆς λογικῆς ψυχῆς τε καὶ οὐσίας ὑποτιθε7.17.2 μένη. ταῦτα γοῦν ἐδήλουν αἱ προπαρατεθεῖσαι τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς συγγραφέων λέξεις. παῖδες δὲ πάλιν Ἑβραίων εἰκότως ἡμῖν προτετίμηνται, τὰ περὶ τῆς πρώτης ἀνθρώπων συστάσεως παγκάλως καὶ σοφῶς καὶ ἀληθῶς διειλη7.17.3 φότες· ὅτι δὴ τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν τὸ μέν τι φασὶ θεῖον εἶναι καὶ ἀθάνατον, ἄσαρκον τὴν φύσιν καὶ ἀσώματον, τοῦτο δὲ καὶ τὸν ἀληθῆ τυγχάνειν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ καὶ ὁμοίωσιν γεγενημένον, εἶναι δὲ αὐτὸν ἔργον θεοῦ, ἀλλ' οὐ τύχης οὐδ' αὐτομάτου φύσεως, αὐτοῦ δὲ τοῦ τῶν ὅλων αἰτίου, κρίσει θείᾳ βεβουλημένου μηδὲ τὰ κατὰ γῆν νοερᾶς καὶ λογικῆς οὐσίας ἀμοιρεῖν, ὅπως διὰ πάντων αὐτῷ οὐρανίων τε καὶ αἰθερίων τῶν τε ἐπὶ γῆς λογικῶν καὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ θειότητος ἀντιληπτικῶν ὁ προσήκων ὕμνος ἀναπέμποιτο. 7.17.4 οὕτω δ' οὖν περιέχει τὰ Ἑβραίων λόγια· «Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός· ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν· καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ ἐποίησεν αὐτόν.» καὶ πάλιν· «Καὶ ἔλαβεν ὁ θεὸς χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἔπλασε τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ ἐνεφύσησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ πνοὴν ζωῆς, καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν.» καὶ ταῦτα δὲ πάλιν ὁ Ἑβραῖος ἑρμηνεύει Φίλων, ταῖς ἐκτεθείσαις αὐτοῦ φωναῖς ἔτι καὶ τάδε ἐπιλέγων· 7.18.1 «Ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι, τῆς αἰθερίου φύσεως τὸν ἡμέτερον νοῦν μοῖραν εἰπόντες εἶναι, συγγένειαν τὴν ἀνθρώπου πρὸς αἰθέρα συνῆψαν. ὁ δὲ μέγας Μωσῆς οὐδενὶ τῶν γεγονότων τῆς λογικῆς ψυχῆς τὸ εἶδος ὡμοίωσεν, ἀλλ' εἶπεν αὐτὴν τοῦ θείου καὶ ἀοράτου πνεύματος ἐκείνου δόκιμον εἶναι νόμισμα, σημειωθὲν καὶ τυπωθὲν σφραγῖδι θεοῦ, ἧς ὁ χαρακτήρ ἐστιν ὁ ἀΐδιος λόγος. «ἐνέπνευσε», γάρ φησιν, «ὁ θεὸς εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ πνοὴν ζωῆς, καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν», ὥστε ἀνάγκη πρὸς τὸν ἐκπέμποντα τὸν δεχόμενον ἀπει 7.18.2 κονίζεσθαι. διὸ καὶ λέγεται κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ τὸν ἄνθρωπον γενέσθαι, οὐ μὴν κατ' εἰκόνα τινὸς τῶν γεγονότων. ἀκόλουθον οὖν ἦν τῆς ἀνθρώπου ψυχῆς κατὰ τὸν ἀρχέτυπον τοῦ αἰτίου λόγον ἀπεικονισθείσης καὶ τὸ σῶμα ἀνεγερθὲν πρὸς τὴν καθαρωτάτην τοῦ παντὸς μοῖραν, οὐρανόν, τὰς ὄψεις ἀνατεῖναι.» 7.18.3 Ταῦτα μὲν οὗτος. εἰκότως δῆτα καὶ ἡ θεία γραφὴ οὐχ ὡς τὰ λοιπὰ ζῷα γεγονέναι τὸν ἄνθρωπόν φησι· τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἀπὸ γῆς προελθεῖν ἑνὶ κελεύσματι τοῦ παμβασιλέως, τὰ δ' ἐκ τῆς ὑγρᾶς οὐσίας ἀναπτῆναι πάλιν αὐτοῦ νεύματι· μόνον δὲ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ζῴων τὸ θεοφιλέστατον, ἡμᾶς αὐτούς, κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν τὴν ψυχὴν γεγονέναι· παρ' ὃ καὶ ὁρᾶσθαι ἀρχικὸν καὶ βασιλικὸν τὴν φύσιν μόνον τε τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς εἶναι λογικὸν καὶ δημιουργικὸν καὶ κριτικὸν καὶ