20

or innate and arising from the soul, by which it knows existing things, or from without and more divine, showing to the soul, released from the body, the truth of things that are. But I will add something small. My thought was throbbing within me, wanting to learn what sort of end my father had met. So, in the evening before the vision, having prayed much about this to the Higher Power and having somehow drawn my father's soul to this, and again, as it were, having compelled it to show where it had gone, I went off to take some sleep. So what measure of the night I had slept, I do not know, but at least I thought I looked up suddenly, or if I did not think so, still what was seen was true. At any rate, as if opening my eyes, I had seen my father in the habit in which he was buried, but exceedingly more beautiful than before. He was truly rejoicing and with a pure leap lifted up his soul, and his eyes, certain torches were sent forth from them and the brightness had changed its measure; so it was both, both what was conceived by him and what was seen, transcending both sense and intellect. He approached me, then, more humanly and did not shrink from my touch, but allowed me to touch him. And he himself also took hold of me and addressing me with his accustomed voice: "Child," he said, "longed for both long ago and now even more, take heart concerning me. For as soon as I had died I also saw God—thus indeed he also spoke of his end—and I pleaded much indeed for you and beseeched that ineffable Nature." As for the rest, shall I speak, father, or shall I conceal it? For I myself have indeed chosen to do so—for the account brings honor to me, and especially because it is both divine and from God—but I am ashamed of having falsified the response. For the Divine has wished better things for me, but I always act contrary to its decrees, whence the voice of the Divine is no failure of truth, but my own wickedness; for we are not compelled toward better things, father, just as we are not toward worse things, nor are we forced by foreknowledge toward this or that way of life, nor does foreknowledge alter our character, but what is "in our power" and our choice and the inclination of our will make the difference in our conduct. The Divine, then, is good in every respect, or rather the fount of goodness, and wishes to make all things good, but I am base in judgment and have willingly slipped into wickedness. But if you are jealous for the divine voice, which was moved by my inclination, beseech again and often in this matter the Lord who is jealous for us, and take me away from the senses to the intellect. 21. Let the account concerning my father, then, ending here, have its conclusion, and to my mother what remains of our debt must be paid. For she, even before, had desired the blessed end toward God, but when my father was also released, she was wholly winged toward that life; for she considered it "a terrible thing" if, while living together in the body, they happened to be inseparable from one another, but having later been joined in spirit, they should have a difference, and he should dwell with God, while she should live out her life in the world. She sought, therefore, again the more divine union and often cursed the bond because by this the soul should be held fast, the divine thing by the worse. She therefore added to the loosening of the bond all that is accustomed to loosen, contributing to her goal: tears flowing without cease—for most of their matter had already been exhausted—, abstinence not only from pleasures, but now also from necessities, constriction of the body, sleeping on the ground and the other forms of self-control. Wherefore, having consumed all that was earthly, and having emptied out all that was moist, and having dissipated all that was airy, she had given power to the elemental fire in us; and that which is not wrestled against nor held in balance becomes more burning than itself and transforms its natural power into an unnatural change, and then indeed it becomes a condition for the remaining body. From this she was both parched and consumed and little by little wasted away, and was no longer for the soul

20

ἢ ἔμφυτος καὶ παρὰ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀναδιδόμενος καθ' ὃν οἶδε τὰ ὄντα ἢ ἔξωθεν καὶ θειότερος ὑποδεικνύων τῇ ψυχῇ ἀφιεμένῃ τοῦ σώματος τὴν τῶν ἑστώτων ἀλήθειαν. μικρὸν δέ τι προσλήψομαι. Ἐσφάδαζέ μοι ὁ λογισμὸς μαθεῖν ἐθέλοντι οἵας ὁ πατὴρ τετύχηκε λήξεως. ἑσπέρας γοῦν πρὸ τῆς ὄψεως πολλὰ περὶ τούτου τῷ Κρείττονι προσευξάμενος καί που καὶ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ψυχὴν πρὸς τοῦτο ἐφελκυσάμενος, καὶ αὖθις ὡσανεὶ καταναγκάσας δεῖξαι ὅπῃ κεχώρηκεν, ἀπῄειν ὕπνου μεταληψόμενος. ὁπόσον οὖν μέτρον κατέδαρθον τῆς νυκτὸς ἀγνοῶ, ᾤμην γοῦν ἀναβλέψας ἀθρόον, εἴ γε μὴ ᾤμην, ἀλλ' ἦν ἀληθὲς τὸ ὀφθέν. τέως γοῦν, ὥσπερ ἀνοίξας τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, ἑωράκειν τὸν πατέρα μετὰ τοῦ σχήματος οὖ τέθαπτο, ἐξόχως καλλίονα ἢ τὸ πρότερον. Ἐγεγήθει γοῦν ἀτεχνῶς καὶ σκιρτήματι καθαρῷ ἀνέφερε τὴν ψυχήν, τά τε ὄμματα, πυρσοί τινες ἐκεῖθεν ἐστέλλοντο καὶ ἡ χαροπότης τὸ μέτρον παρήλλακτο· ἦν οὖν ἑκάτερον, καὶ τὸ νοούμενον παρ' αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ ὁρώμενον, ὑπερκείμενα καὶ τῆς αἰσθήσεως καὶ τοῦ νοῦ. προσῄει γοῦν μοι ἀνθρωπικώτερον καὶ τὴν ἐπαφὴν οὐχ ὑπέφευγεν, ἀλλ' ἐδίδου ἐφάπτεσθαι. ὁ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀνθήπτετο καί με τῇ συνήθει προσαγορεύσας φωνῇ· «τέκνον-ἔφη-καὶ πάλαι καὶ νῦν πλέον ποθούμενον, θάρρει δὴ ἐπ' ἐμοί. ὁμοῦ γὰρ ἐτεθνήκειν καὶ τὸν Θεὸν ἑωράκειν-οὕτω δὴ καὶ τὴν λῆξιν εἰπών- καὶ πολλὰ δὴ περὶ σοῦ τὴν ἄρρητον ἐκείνην φύσιν κατεδεήθην καὶ ἐλιπάρησα». Τὰ δ' ἄλλα, πότερον ἐρῶ, πάτερ, ἢ ἀποκρύψομαι; ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ καὶ μάλα προῄρημαι-ἔχει γὰρ φιλοτιμίαν ὁ λόγος ἐμοὶ καὶ μάλισθ' ὅτι καὶ θεῖος καὶ παρὰ Θεοῦ-, αἰσχύνομαι δὲ ψευσάμενος τὴν ἀπόκρισιν. τὸ μὲν γὰρ Θεῖον βεβούληταί μοι καλλίονα, ἐγὼ δὲ μέχρι παντὸς ἀντιπράττω τοῖς δόξασιν, ὅθεν οὐ διαμαρτία τῆς ἀληθείας ἡ τοῦ Θείου φωνή, ἀλλὰ κακία ἐμή· οὐ γὰρ ἠναγκάσμεθα περὶ τὰ κρείττω, πάτερ, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ περὶ τὰ χείρω, οὐδ' ἐκ προγνώσεως παραβεβιάσμεθα πρὸς τόνδε ἢ τόνδε τὸν βίον, οὐδ' ἀλλοιοῖ τὸν τρόπον ἡ πρόγνωσις, ἀλλὰ τὸ «ἐφ' ἡμῖν» καὶ ἡ προαίρεσις καὶ ἡ ῥοπὴ τοῦ θελήματος τῶν πολιτειῶν ποιεῖ τὸ διάφορον. τὸ μὲν οὖν Θεῖον παντὸς ἕνεκα ἀγαθόν, μᾶλλον δὲ πηγὴ ἀγαθότητος, καὶ ἀγαθύνειν πάντα βουλόμενον, ἐγὼ δὲ φαῦλος περὶ τὴν γνώμην καὶ ἑκουσίως εἰς τὴν κακίαν ὠλισθηκώς. εἰ δὲ ζηλοτυπεῖς τὴν θείαν φωνὴν ἐπὶ τῇ ἐμῇ παρακεκινημένην ῥοπῇ, προσλιπάρησον αὖθις καὶ τοῦτο πολλάκις τὸν ζηλωτὴν ἐφ' ἡμῖν Κύριον, καί με τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἐπὶ τὴν νόησιν ἄφελε. 21. Ὁ μὲν οὖν περὶ τοῦ πατρὸς λόγος ἐνταῦθα λήξας τέλος ἐχέτω, τῇ δὲ μητρὶ τὸ λειπόμενον ἡμῖν τοῦ χρέους ἀποδοτέον. ἐκείνη μὲν γὰρ καὶ πρότερον τῆς μακαρίας ἤρα πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν λήξεως, ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἀνελύθη, ὅλη πρὸς ἐκείνην ἐπτέρωτο τὴν ζωήν· «δεινὸν» γὰρ «ἐποιεῖτο» εἰ σώματι μὲν συζῶντες ἀδιαίρετοι ἀλλήλων ὄντες ἐτύγχανον, πνεύματι δὲ συναφθέντες ὕστερον, τὸ διάφορον ἔχοιεν, καὶ ὁ μὲν Θεῷ συνοικοίη, ἡ δὲ τῷ κόσμῳ ἐμβιοτεύοι. ἐζήτει γοῦν αὖθις τὴν θειοτέραν συνάφειαν καὶ πολλὰ τῷ δεσμῷ ἐπηρᾶτο ὅτι τούτου κάτοχος ἡ ψυχὴ γένοιτο, τὸ θεῖον χρῆμα τῷ χείρονι. Προσετίθει γοῦν τῇ τοῦ δεσμοῦ λύσει ὁπόσα εἴωθε λύειν εἰς τὸν σκοπὸν συλλαμβάνουσα, δάκρυον ἀστακτὶ καταρρέον-τὸ γὰρ πολὺ τῆς ὕλης ἤδη κεκένωτο-, ἀποχὴν οὐ τῶν ἡδέων μόνον, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ τῶν ἀναγκαίων, σώματος στένωσιν, χαμευνίαν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἐγκράτειαν. ὅθεν πᾶν μὲν τὸ γεῶδες παραναλώσασα, πᾶν δὲ τὸ ὑγρὸν ἐκκενώσασα, πᾶν δὲ τὸ ἀερῶδες διαφορήσασα, τῷ ἐφ' ἡμῖν στοιχειώδει πυρὶ ἐδεδώκει τὴν ἐξουσίαν· τὸ δὲ μὴ ἀντιπαλαιόμενον μηδὲ ἰσορροπούμενον καυστικώτερον ἑαυτοῦ γίνεται καὶ τὴν φυσικὴν δύναμιν εἰς τὴν παρὰ φύσιν τροπὴν μεθιστᾷ, εἶτα δὴ καὶ εἰς ἕξιν τῷ περιλελειμμένῳ καθίσταται σώματι. Ἐντεῦθεν ἐφρύσσετό τε καὶ κατανήλωτο καὶ ὑπέρρει κατὰ βραχύ, καὶ ἦν οὐκέτι τῇ ψυχῇ