having governed.” And the same thing seems to me to be represented by the destruction of Sodom and of their land, of which “a testimony of their wickedness still stands smoking 20.4.28 a wasteland, and plants bearing fruit in unfulfilled seasons.” And it was the work of a good God indeed to destroy the land of Sodom and to dry up from it every last drop of moisture, so that there might no longer be a vine of Sodom, nor a branch of Gomorrah, nor a grape of gall, nor a cluster of bitterness, nor wine, the fury of dragons and the incurable fury of asps. 20.4.29 And you will say the same about the Egyptians, concerning whom it is said: “He killed with hail <the> vine of theirs, and their sycamores with frost”; for it is of a good God to kill the vines 20.4.30 of the Egyptians and the sycamores of the ungodly. These things have been said by us, set forth for the examination of the argument about the seeds of Abraham or of one of the righteous, in order to show how and in what manner it was said to them by the Savior, “I know that you are the seed of Abraham” and, “If 20.4.31 you are children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham.” However, concerning the children of Abraham who do the works of Abraham, God granting, we will speak at a more opportune time, when we have arrived at the examination of that saying. 20.5.32 It is possible, therefore, for one who happens to be the seed of Abraham to become his child also through diligence, and it is possible also through neglect and lack of cultivation to lose even being his seed. However, those to whom the word was addressed were still of hope, since Jesus knew that they were still the seed of Abraham and saw that they had not yet lost the ability to become children of Abraham; 20.5.33 for as it was possible for them to become children of Abraham in addition to being his seed, he says to them: “If you are children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham.” And just as some are the seed of Abraham, so others are, as Daniel says, “Seed of Canaan and not of Judah,” and 20.5.34 others, as Wisdom <says:> “A seed accursed from the beginning.” And to these things we will say that just as in corporeal matters, from many seeds, sometimes one of the seeds, being better able to be effective, comes forth, so it is to be seen also in the case of spiritual seeds. 20.5.35 And what I am saying will be clear from what will be said; for since the sower has in 20.5.35 himself ancestral and kindred principles, sometimes his own principle prevails, and what is born is like the sower, but at other times it is the principle of the sower's brother, or of the sower's father, or of the sower's uncle, and sometimes even of the sower's grandfather; 20.5.36 whence those who are born become like these or those. And one can see prevailing also the principle of the woman, or of the woman's father, or of her brother, or of her grandfather, according to the fermentations in the unions, with all being shaken together, 20.5.37 until one of the spermatic principles <might> prevail. Let these things now be transferred to the soul filled with intelligible seeds, which have come from certain ones called its fathers, and on account of the great or easy mobility of the ruling faculty and its attention to such and such mental images, let certain quasi-spermatic principles of the fathers come forth; by the cultivation of which someone will be a child, this one of Abraham, it being clear that he is also the same as of Noah, but another of Noah, but not so as to be also of Abraham, and another of Canaan, and another of one of the 20.5.38 righteous or of the unrighteous. However, we have not all come with like and the same seeds, but neither has anyone come empty of saving and holy seeds; unless perhaps someone should put us to shame, and at the same time for this purpose adducing the help from God which does not despair even of the worst and of those who have entered life without the best seeds, and should put us to shame with, “God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” 20.5.39 And all the things that have been said about the seed of Abraham and of those things analogous to it we would reasonably accept, if indeed we accepted that it was not said in a corporeal sense: “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” and, “Not even in Israel have I found such faith,” and whatever is similar to these things

κυβερνήσασα». τὸ αὐτὸ δέ μοι δοκεῖ παριστάνειν καὶ ὁ Σοδόμων ἐξαφανισμὸς καὶ τῆς γῆς αὐτῶν, ὧν «ἔτι μαρτύριον τῆς πονηρίας καπνιζομένη καθέστηκε 20.4.28 «χέρσος, καὶ ἀτελέσιν ὥραις καρποφοροῦντα φυτά». καὶ ἀγαθοῦ γε θεοῦ ἔργον ἦν Σοδόμων ἐξαφανίσαι τὴν γῆν καὶ πᾶν ὅπερ ὑπελεί πετο νοτίδος ξηρᾶναι ἀπ' αὐτῆς, ἵνα μηκέτι γίνηται ἄμπελος Σο δόμων, μηδὲ κληματὶς Γομόρρας, μηδὲ σταφυλὴ χολῆς, μηδὲ βότρυς πικρίας, μηδὲ οἶνος, θυμὸς δρακόντων καὶ θυμὸς ἀσπίδων ἀνίατος. 20.4.29 τὸ δ' ὅμοιον ἐρεῖς καὶ περὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, περὶ ὧν εἴρηται· «Ἀπέκτεινεν ἐν χαλάζῃ <τὴν> ἄμπελον αὐτῶν, καὶ τὰς συκαμίνους «αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ πάχνῃ»· ἀγαθοῦ γὰρ θεοῦ ἀποκτείνειν ἀμπέλους 20.4.30 Αἰγυπτίων καὶ συκαμίνους τῶν ἀσεβῶν. ταῦτα προκείμενα τῇ ἐξε τάσει τοῦ περὶ σπερμάτων λόγου Ἀβραὰμ ἤ τινος τῶν δικαίων ἡμῖν εἴρηται, ὑπὲρ τοῦ φανῆναι πῶς καὶ τίνα τρόπον εἴρηται τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος τὸ «Οἶδα ὅτι σπέρμα Ἀβραάμ ἐστε» καὶ τὸ «Εἰ 20.4.31 «τέκνα τοῦ Ἀβραάμ ἐστε, τὰ ἔργα τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ποιεῖτε». περὶ μέντοι γε τέκνων Ἀβραὰμ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ποιούντων, θεοῦ διδόντος, εὐκαιρότερον ἐροῦμεν, φθάσαντες ἐπὶ τὴν βάσανον ἐκείνης τῆς λέξεως. 20.5.32 Ἔξεστι τοίνυν σπέρμα τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ τυγχάνοντα γενέσθαι αὐτοῦ δι' ἐπιμελείας καὶ τέκνον, δυνατὸν δὲ καὶ ἐξ ἀμελείας καὶ ἀγεωργησίας ἀπολέσαι καὶ τὸ εἶναι αὐτοῦ σπέρμα. οὗτοι μέντοι γε ἔτι ἐλπίδων ἦσαν πρὸς οὓς ὁ λόγος, εἰδότος τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ὅτι σπέρμα ἔτι ἦσαν τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ θεωροῦντος ὅτι οὐδέπω ἀπολωλέκεισαν τὸ δύνασθαι γενέσθαι τέκνα τοῦ Ἀβραάμ· ὡς γὰρ δυνατοῦ ὄντος τοῦ αὐτοὺς γενέσθαι τέκνα τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ πρὸς τῷ εἶναι· αὐτοὺς σπέρμα, φησὶν αὐτοῖς· «Εἰ τέκνα τοῦ Ἀβραάμ ἐστε, τὰ ἔργα τοῦ 20.5.33 «Ἀβραὰμ ποιεῖτε». ὡς δέ εἰσίν τινες σπέρμα τοῦ Ἀβραάμ, οὕτως ἄλλοι, ὡς ὁ ∆ανιήλ φησι, «Σπέρμα Χαναὰν καὶ οὐκ Ἰούδα», καὶ 20.5.34 ἄλλοι, ὡς ἡ Σοφία <φησίν·> «Σπέρμα κατηραμένον ἀπ' ἀρχῆς». καὶ εἰς ταῦτα δὲ φήσομεν ὅτι ὥσπερ κατὰ τὰ σωματικὰ ἀπὸ πολλῶν σπερμάτων προκύπτει μᾶλλον ἐνεργῆσαι δυνηθὲν ἔσθ' ὅτε ἓν τῶν σπερμάτων, οὕτως ἔστιν ἰδεῖν καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν πνευματικῶν σπερμάτων. 20.5.35 ὃ δὲ λέγω ἔσται σαφὲς ἐκ τῶν λεχθησομένων· ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἔχει ἐν 20.5.35 ἑαυτῷ προγονικούς τε καὶ συγγενικοὺς λόγους ὁ σπείρων, ὁτὲ μὲν κρατεῖ ὁ αὐτοῦ λόγος, καὶ ἀποτίκτεται τὸ γεννώμενον τῷ σπείραντι ὅμοιον, ὁτὲ δὲ ὁ λόγος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τοῦ σπείραντος, ἢ τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ σπείραντος, ἢ τοῦ θείου τοῦ σπείραντος, ἐνίοτε καὶ πάππου τοῦ σπείραντος· παρ' ὃ γίνονται οἱ ἀποτικτόμενοι ὅμοιοι τοῖσδε ἢ 20.5.36 τοῖσδε. ἔστιν δὲ ἰδεῖν ἐπικρατοῦντα καὶ τὸν λόγον τῆς γυναικὸς ἢ τοῦ πατρὸς τῆς γυναικὸς ἢ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτῆς ἢ τοῦ πάππου αὐτῆς, κατὰ τοὺς ἐν ταῖς μίξεσι βρασμοὺς ἅμα πάντων σειομένων, 20.5.37 ἕως <ἂν> ἐπικρατήσῃ τις τῶν σπερματικῶν λόγων. ταῦτα δὴ μεταγέσθω ἐπὶ τὴν πεπληρωμένην ψυχὴν νοητῶν σπερμάτων, ἐληλυθότων ἀπό τινων ὀνομαζομένων πατέρων αὐτῆς, καὶ [τὸ] παρὰ τὸ πολυκίνητον ἢ εὐκίνητον τοῦ ἡγεμονικοῦ καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τοιάσδε φαντασίας ἐπί στασιν προκυπτέτωσαν οἱονεὶ σπερματικοί τινες τῶν πατέρων λόγοι· ὧν γεωργουμένων ἔσται τις τέκνον ὅδε μὲν τοῦ Ἀβραάμ, δῆλον δ' ὅτι ὁ αὐτὸς ὢν καὶ τοῦ Νῶε, ἄλλος δὲ τοῦ Νῶε, οὐχ ὥστε δὲ εἶναι καὶ τοῦ Ἀβραάμ, καὶ ἄλλος τοῦ Χαναάν, καὶ ἄλλος τινὸς τῶν δι 20.5.38 καίων ἢ τῶν ἀδίκων. πλὴν οὐ μετὰ ὁμοίων καὶ τῶν αὐτῶν ἐληλύ θαμεν πάντες σπερμάτων, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἐλήλυθέν τις κενὸς σωτηρίων καὶ ἁγίων σπερμάτων· εἰ μὴ ἄρα δυσωπήσαι τις ἡμᾶς, καὶ εἰς τοῦτο ἅμα παρατιθέμενος τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ βοήθειαν οὐκ ἀπογινώσκουσαν καὶ τοὺς κακίστους καὶ χωρὶς ἀρίστων σπερμάτων εἰσεληλυθότας εἰς τὸν βίον, καὶ δυσωπήσαι ἀπὸ τοῦ «∆ύναται ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τῶν λίθων «τούτων ἐγεῖραι τέκνα τῷ Ἀβραάμ». 20.5.39 Τὰ δὲ εἰρημένα πάντα περὶ σπέρματος Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τῶν ἀνά λογον τούτῳ ἐχόντων εὐλόγως ἂν παραδεξαίμεθα, εἴπερ παρεδεξά μεθα οὐ κατὰ τὸ σωματικὸν εἰρῆσθαι τὸ «Οὐκ ἀπεστάλην εἰ μὴ εἰς «τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα οἴκου Ἰσραὴλ» καὶ τὸ «Οὐδὲ ἐν τῷ «Ἰσραὴλ τοσαύτην πίστιν εὗρον», καὶ ὅσα τούτοις