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legislative, and apprehensive of arts and sciences; for the soul in man alone is an intellectual and rational substance, of which 7.18.4 the other animals on earth do not partake. Therefore, they serve and provide the place of servants to man, while he, like a master and ruler, enslaves and subjects those which are much stronger in bodily strength, but are lesser by the 7.18.5 privation of intellectual substance. This one, then, they say, came into being in the image of God and after his likeness, by God himself, with a certain distinguishing preeminence. Therefore, he is able to bring conceptions of God into his imagination, to grasp wisdom and justice and all virtue, and to reckon the courses of the sun and moon and stars, and the cycles of days and hours, on account of his kinship with 7.18.6 the things above, which man alone of mortals demonstrates. But that which is formed around him from without is of a different substance and earth-born, but is itself also a work of God, taken from the earth and returning to it. Therefore, it is necessary for the master to care for this as for an irrational beast that has been yoked, and to lead it gently and nourish it like a slave, well-suited for the service of human life, but to honor the inner master, as being noble and of a nature akin to God, in liberal ways, since he has also been honored 7.18.7 by the cause of all things. The oracles say, then, that the Universal King, having adorned the first nature of man with divine powers and the likeness of God, assigned to him as a dwelling place suitable for his gifts, the first 7.18.8 course of life in a paradise of good things, enrolling him in divine choirs. And that the all-good Father had bestowed these things on him in the beginning, but that he, by his own free choice, fell away from what was better and exchanged it for this mortal place 7.18.9 through disregard of a divine command. Therefore it is most fitting to lay claim first of all to piety and to correct the first offense by second, propitious deeds, and to hasten toward the recovery and restoration of what is proper to us. For the end of man's nature is not here on earth nor does it terminate 7.18.10 in corruption and destruction, but there, from whence the first man also fell away. Therefore it is necessary to recover again the purity and the god-likeness of the intellectual substance within us, toward which all men who care for piety and virtue must strive with all their strength to ascend. 7.18.11 Such were the philosophical teachings of the Hebrews from of old concerning the nature of man, before the Greeks even came among men; who being of yesterday and very new, springing up from the earth, and intending to plagiarize the things of the barbarians, did not abstain even from those of the Hebrews, as the argument will very soon show as it proceeds. 7.18.12 But since it was a peculiarity of the Hebrew doctrines that the one God over all was held to be the creator of all things, even of the very substance which underlies bodies, which the Greeks are fond of calling matter, and since countless barbarians and Greeks alike stood in opposition to this, some declaring matter to be the source of evil and to be uncreated, others that by its own nature it is without quality and without form, but by the power of God the world has received its qualities, it must be shown how much better is the opinion of the Hebrews, which approaches the problem with logical demonstration and refutes the contrary argument with right reasoning. 7.18.13 But I shall set down not my own words, but those of men before us who have carefully examined the doctrine, and first of all Dionysius, who in the first of his works written Against Sabellius writes as follows concerning the present subject: 7.19.1 18. THAT MATTER IS NOT UNCREATED «For neither are those men pious who offer matter to God as uncreated and subject to his arrangement; for being passive and mutable, it yields 7.19.2 to the alterations made by God. And let them explain whence comes to God and to matter both the like and the unlike. For of each there must be some

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νομοθετικὸν τεχνῶν τε καὶ ἐπιστημῶν καταληπτικόν· εἶναι γὰρ μόνην τὴν ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ ψυχὴν νοερὰν καὶ λογικὴν οὐσίαν, ἧς 7.18.4 μὴ μετεῖναι τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπὶ γῆς ζῴοις. διὸ τὰ μὲν θητεύειν καὶ χώραν οἰκετῶν παρέχειν ἀνθρώπῳ, τὸν δὲ οἷα δεσπότην καὶ ἡγεμόνα δουλοῦσθαι καὶ ὑποτάττειν τὰ ῥώμῃ μὲν σώματος πολὺ κρείττονα, μείονα δὲ τῇ κατὰ τὴν 7.18.5 νοερὰν οὐσίαν στερήσει. τοῦτον μὲν οὖν κατ' εἰκόνα φασὶ θεοῦ καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν πρὸς αὐτοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ μετά τινος διαφερούσης ὑπεροχῆς ὑποστῆναι. διὸ καὶ θεοῦ ἐννοίας εἰς φαντασίαν ἰέναι σοφίας τε καὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ πάσης ἀρετῆς ἀντιλήψεις ποιεῖσθαι δρόμους τε ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης καὶ ἄστρων ἡμερῶν τε καὶ ὡρῶν κύκλους ἀπαριθμεῖσθαι δυνατῶς ἔχειν, τῆς πρὸς 7.18.6 τὰ ἄνω συγγενείας χάριν, ἣν θνητῶν μόνος ἄνθρωπος ἐπιδείκνυται. τὸ δὲ τούτῳ περιπεπλασμένον ἔξωθεν ἑτερογενὲς μὲν ὑπάρχειν τὴν οὐσίαν καὶ γηγενές, εἶναι δὲ καὶ αὐτὸ θεοῦ ἔργον ἀπὸ γῆς ληφθὲν καὶ εἰς αὐτὴν ὑποστρέφον. διὸ καὶ χρῆναι τούτου μὲν ὅσα καὶ ἀλόγου θρέμματος τὸν δεσπότην ἠχθισμένου φροντίζειν ἄγειν τε πράως αὐτὸ καὶ τρέφειν οἷα δοῦλον, πρὸς ἀνθρωπείου βίου διακονίαν εὖ προσηνωμένον, τὸν δ' εἴσω δεσπότην, ὡς ἂν εὐγενῆ καὶ θεοῦ συγγενῆ τὴν φύσιν, ἐλευθερίοις τρόποις τιμᾶν, ἅτε καὶ 7.18.7 πρὸς τοῦ πάντων αἰτίου τετιμημένον. λέγει δ' οὖν τὰ λόγια ὡς ἄρα τὴν πρώτην ἀνθρώπου φύσιν δυνάμεσι θείαις καὶ ὁμοιώσει θεοῦ κοσμήσας ὁ παμβασιλεὺς ἁρμόδιον οἷς ἐδωρήσατο τὴν πρώτην ἀπεκλήρωσε διατριβὴν 7.18.8 τοῦ βίου ἐν ἀγαθῶν παραδείσῳ, χορείαις συγκαταλέξας θείαις. καὶ τὸν μὲν τάδε ἐν ἀρχαῖς οἷα πανάγαθον αὐτῷ δεδωρῆσθαι πατέρα, τὸν δ' αὐθεκουσίῳ αἱρέσει τῶν κρειττόνων ἀποπεσεῖν καὶ τὸν θνητὸν χῶρον ἀντικαταλλάξα7.18.9 σθαι θείας ἐντολῆς ὀλιγωρίᾳ. διὸ καὶ μάλιστα προσήκειν εὐσεβείας ἐν πρώτοις ἀντιποιεῖσθαι καὶ τὸ πρώτως πλημμεληθὲν δευτέροις αἰσίοις ἐπιδιορθοῦσθαι σπεύδειν τε ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν οἰκείων ἀναδρομήν τε καὶ ἀποκατάστασιν. εἶναι γὰρ τέλος ἀνθρώπου φύσεως οὐχ ὧδε ἐπὶ γῆς οὐδ' εἰς φθορὰν 7.18.10 καταστρέφον καὶ ἀπώλειαν, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖσε ὅθεν καὶ ὁ πρῶτος ἀπέσφηλε. διὸ χρῆναι τὸ καθαρὸν αὖθις καὶ τὸ θεοείκελον ἀνακτήσασθαι τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν νοερᾶς οὐσίας, ἐφ' ἣν προθυμητέον ἀνιέναι παντὶ σθένει πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις εὐσεβείας καὶ ἀρετῆς ἐπιμελομένοις. 7.18.11 Τοιαῦτα καὶ τὰ περὶ ἀνθρώπου φύσεως Ἑβραίοις πεφιλοσοφημένα ἄνωθεν, πρὶν ἢ καὶ εἰς ἀνθρώπους παρελθεῖν Ἕλληνας· οἳ χθιζοί τινες καὶ κομιδῇ νέοι ἀπὸ γῆς ἀνακύψαντες τά τε βαρβάρων ὑποσυλᾶν διανοηθέντες, καὶ τῶν παρ' Ἑβραίοις οὐκ ἀπέσχοντο, ὡς προϊὼν ὁ λόγος αὐτίκα μάλα 7.18.12 ἐπιδείξει. ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ τῶν Ἑβραϊκῶν δογμάτων ἴδιον ἦν τὸ ἕνα τῶν ἁπάντων ποιητὴν νομίζεσθαι τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸν αὐτῆς τε τῆς ὑποκειμένης τοῖς σώμασιν οὐσίας, ἣν ὕλην Ἕλλησι προσαγορεύειν φίλον, τούτῳ δὲ μυρίοι βαρβάρων ὁμοῦ καὶ Ἑλλήνων ἐξ ἐναντίας ἔστησαν, οἱ μὲν κακίας πηγὴν τὴν ὕλην εἶναι ἀποφηνάμενοι ἀγένητόν τε ὑπάρχειν, οἱ δὲ τῇ μὲν οἰκείᾳ φύσει ἄποιον καὶ ἀσχημάτιστον, τῇ δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ δυνάμει τὸν κόσμον αὐταῖς ποιότησι προσειληφέναι, δεικτέον ὡς πολὺ κρεῖττον ἡ Ἑβραίων ἐπέχει δόξα, μετ' ἀποδείξεως λογικῆς παρισταμένη τῷ προβλήματι καὶ τὸν ἐναντίον λογισμοῖς 7.18.13 ὀρθοῖς ἀποσκευαζομένη λόγον. θήσω δὲ οὐκ ἐμὰς φωνάς, τῶν δὲ πρόσθεν ἡμῶν τὸ δόγμα διηκριβωκότων, καὶ πρώτου γε ∆ιονυσίου, ὃς ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Πρὸς Σαβέλλιον αὐτῷ γεγυμνασμένων τάδε περὶ τοῦ προκειμένου γράφει· 7.19.1 ιηʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΜΗ ΑΓΕΝΗΤΟΝ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΤΗΝ ΥΛΗΝ «Οὐδ' ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ ὅσιοι οἱ τὴν ὕλην ὡς ἀγένητον ὑποχείριον εἰς διακόσμησιν διδόντες τῷ θεῷ· παθητὴν γὰρ αὐτὴν καὶ τρεπτὴν ὑπάρχουσαν εἴκειν 7.19.2 ταῖς θεοποιήτοις ἀλλοιώσεσι. καὶ πόθεν γὰρ ὑπάρχει τῷ θεῷ καὶ τῇ ὕλῃ τό τε ὅμοιον καὶ τὸ ἀνόμοιον, διασαφείτωσαν. ἑκατέρου γὰρ δεῖ τινα