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in a way being displeased, not knowing that the entire constitution of the body is of equal value in relation to itself, and that nothing in it among the things that contribute to the maintenance of life is disparaged as something dishonorable or evil? For the entire arrangement of the organic members has been ordered toward one purpose. And the purpose is that humanity should remain in life. The other organs, then, sustain the present life of men, some being apportioned for one function, some for another, through which the power of sense and of action is administered; but the generative organs have providence for the future, introducing succession to nature through themselves. If, then, you were to look to what is necessary, to which of the things considered honorable would those be second? And to which would they not be judged more honorable according to reason? For our race is not perpetuated forever by the eye and hearing and tongue, or any other of the organs of sense; for these, as has been said, are for present enjoyment; but in those organs immortality is preserved for humanity, so that death, always working against us, is in a way ineffectual and unaccomplished, as nature always introduces itself again to what is lacking through succeeding generations. What, then, that is unseemly does our mystery contain, if God was mingled with human life through these means by which nature fights against death?

29 But moving on from this, they again try to malign the doctrine by other means and say, if what happened was good and fitting for God, why did he postpone the good deed? And why did he not, when evil was in its beginning, cut short its further progress? But to this our answer is brief, that the postponement of our good deed occurred by wisdom and by providence for what is beneficial to our nature. For in the case of bodily diseases, when some corrupted humor spreads through the pores, before all that is unnatural within has been revealed on the surface, those who treat ailments skillfully do not apply remedies that suppress it in the body, but they wait for all that is hidden deep within to come out, and thus they apply the cure to the exposed malady. Since, therefore, the disease of evil had once attacked the nature of humanity, the Healer of all waited for no form of wickedness to be left hidden in our nature. For this reason, he does not bring the cure to man immediately after the envy and fratricide of Cain; for not yet had the wickedness of those who were destroyed in Noah's time broken forth, nor was the grievous disease of Sodomite lawlessness uncovered, nor the Egyptians' opposition to God, nor the arrogance of the Assyrians, nor the murderous pollution of the Jews against the saints of God, nor the lawless infanticide of Herod, nor all the other things, both those that are recorded and those outside of the history that were done in successive generations, as the root of evil sprouted in many ways in the wills of men. Since, then, evil reached its highest measure, and no form of wickedness was any longer unattempted among men, so that the cure might advance through the whole of the sickness, for this reason he cures the disease not at its beginning, but when it was perfected.

30 But if anyone thinks to refute our argument, because even after the cure has been applied human life is still discordant through sin, let him be led to the truth by a familiar example. For just as with a snake, if it receives a mortal blow on the head, its trailing body does not immediately die along with the head, but while the one is dead, the tail is still animated by its own spirit and is not deprived of vital movement, so it is possible to see evil, though struck by a mortal blow, yet in its own remnants still troubling life. But leaving aside this too, to find fault with the doctrine of the mystery, they make it a charge that the faith does not extend through all men. And for what reason, they say, not upon

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τρόπον δυσαρε στούμενοι, οὐκ εἰδότες ὅτι πᾶσα πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἡ κατα σκευὴ τοῦ σώματος ὁμοτίμως ἔχει, καὶ οὐδὲν ἐν ταύτῃ τῶν πρὸς τὴν σύστασιν τῆς ζωῆς συντελούντων ὡς ἄτιμόν τι ἢ πονηρὸν διαβάλλεται; πρὸς ἕνα γὰρ σκοπὸν ἡ τῶν ὀργανικῶν μελῶν διασκευὴ πᾶσα συντέτακται. ὁ δὲ σκοπός ἐστι τὸ διαμένειν ἐν τῇ ζωῇ τὸ ἀνθρώ πινον. τὰ μὲν οὖν λοιπὰ τῶν ὀργάνων τὴν παροῦσαν συνέχει τῶν ἀνθρώπων ζωήν, ἄλλα πρὸς ἄλλην ἐνέργειαν μεμερισμένα, δι' ὧν ἡ αἰσθητική τε καὶ ἐνεργητικὴ δύναμις οἰκονομεῖται· τὰ δὲ γεννητικὰ τοῦ μέλλοντος ἔχει τὴν πρόνοιαν, δι' ἑαυτῶν τῇ φύσει τὴν διαδοχὴν ἀντεισά γοντα. εἰ οὖν πρὸς τὸ χρειῶδες βλέποις, τίνος ἂν εἴη τῶν τιμίων εἶναι νομιζομένων ἐκεῖνα δεύτερα; τίνος δὲ οὐκ ἂν προτιμότερα κατὰ τὸ εὔλογον κρίνοιτο; οὐ γὰρ ὀφθαλμῷ καὶ ἀκοῇ καὶ γλώσσῃ, ἢ ἄλλῳ τινὶ τῶν αἰσθη τηρίων πρὸς τὸ διηνεκὲς τὸ γένος ἡμῶν διεξάγεται· ταῦτα γάρ, καθὼς εἴρηται, τῆς παρούσης ἐστὶν ἀπολαύσεως· ἀλλ' ἐν ἐκείνοις ἡ ἀθανασία συντηρεῖται τῇ ἀνθρωπότητι, ὡς ἀεὶ καθ' ἡμῶν ἐνεργοῦντα τὸν θάνατον ἄπρακτον εἶναι τρόπον τινὰ καὶ ἀνήνυτον, πάντοτε πρὸς τὸ λεῖπον διὰ τῶν ἐπιγινομένων ἑαυτὴν ἀντεισαγούσης τῆς φύσεως. τί οὖν ἀπρεπὲς περιέχει ἡμῶν τὸ μυστήριον, εἰ διὰ τούτων κατεμίχθη ὁ θεὸς τῷ ἀνθρωπίνῳ βίῳ, δι' ὧν ἡ φύσις πρὸς τὸν θάνατον μάχεται;

29 Ἀλλὰ μεταβάντες ἀπὸ τούτου δι' ἑτέρων πάλιν κακίζειν ἐπιχειροῦσι τὸν λόγον καί φασιν, εἰ καλὸν καὶ πρέπον τῷ θεῷ τὸ γενόμενον, τί ἀνεβάλετο τὴν εὐεργε σίαν; τί δὲ οὐκ ἐν ἀρχαῖς οὔσης τῆς κακίας τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ πλέον αὐτῆς πρόοδον ὑπετέμετο; πρὸς δὲ τοῦτο σύντομος ὁ παρ' ἡμῶν ἐστὶ λόγος, ὅτι σοφίᾳ γέγονε καὶ τοῦ λυσιτελοῦντος τῇ φύσει προμηθείᾳ ἡ πρὸς τὴν εὐερ γεσίαν ἡμῶν ἀναβολή. καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν σωματικῶν νοσημάτων, ὅταν τις διεφθορὼς χυμὸς ὑφέρπῃ τοὺς πόρους, πρὶν ἅπαν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν ἐκκαλυφθῆναι τὸ παρὰ φύσιν ἐγκείμενον, οὐ καταφαρμακεύεται τοῖς πυκνοῦσι τὸ σῶμα παρὰ τῶν τεχνικῶς μεθοδευόντων τὰ πάθη, ἀλλ' ἀναμένουσι τὸ ἐνδομυχοῦν ἅπαν ἔξω γενέσθαι, καὶ οὕτω γυμνῷ τῷ πάθει τὴν ἰατρείαν προσά γουσιν. ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ἅπαξ ἐνέσκηψε τῇ φύσει τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος ἡ τῆς κακίας νόσος, ἀνέμεινεν ὁ τοῦ παν τὸς θεραπευτὴς μηδὲν ὑπολειφθῆναι τῆς πονηρίας εἶδος ἐγκεκρυμμένον τῇ φύσει. διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ εὐθὺς μετὰ τὸν φθόνον καὶ τὴν ἀδελφοκτονίαν τοῦ Κάιν προσάγει τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τὴν θεραπείαν· οὔπω γὰρ τῶν ἐπὶ Νῶε καταφθαρέντων ἡ κακία ἐξέλαμψεν, οὐδὲ τῆς Σοδομι τικῆς παρανομίας ἡ χαλεπὴ νόσος ἀνεκαλύφθη, οὐδὲ ἡ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων θεομαχία, οὐδὲ ἡ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ὑπερη φανία, οὐδὲ ἡ τῶν Ἰουδαίων κατὰ τῶν ἁγίων τοῦ θεοῦ μιαιφονία, οὐδὲ ἡ τοῦ Ἡρῴδου παράνομος παιδοφονία, οὐδὲ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα ὅσα τε μνημονεύεται καὶ ὅσα ἔξω τῆς ἱστορίας ἐν ταῖς καθεξῆς γενεαῖς κατεπράχθη, πολυτρόπως τῆς τοῦ κακοῦ ῥίζης ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων προαιρέσεσι βλαστανούσης. ἐπεὶ οὖν πρὸς τὸ ἀκρό τατον ἔφθασε μέτρον ἡ κακία, καὶ οὐδὲν ἔτι πονηρίας εἶδος ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀτόλμητον ἦν, ὡς ἂν διὰ πάσης τῆς ἀρρωστίας προχωρήσειεν ἡ θεραπεία, τούτου χάριν οὐκ ἀρχομένην, ἀλλὰ τελειωθεῖσαν θεραπεύει τὴν νόσον.

30 Εἰ δέ τις ἐλέγχειν οἴεται τὸν ἡμέτερον λόγον, ὅτι καὶ μετὰ τὸ προσαχθῆναι τὴν θεραπείαν ἔτι πλημ μελεῖται διὰ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ὁ ἀνθρώπινος βίος, ὑποδείγματί τινι τῶν γνωρίμων ὁδηγηθήτω πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄφεως, εἰ κατὰ κεφαλῆς τὴν καιρίαν λάβοι, οὐκ εὐθὺς συννεκροῦται τῇ κεφαλῇ καὶ ὁ κατόπιν ὁλκός, ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν τέθνηκε, τὸ δὲ οὐραῖον ἔτι ἐψύχωται τῷ ἰδίῳ θυμῷ καὶ τῆς ζωτικῆς κινήσεως οὐκ ἐστέρηται, οὕτως ἔστι καὶ τὴν κακίαν ἰδεῖν τῷ μὲν καιρίῳ πληγεῖσαν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς λειψάνοις ἑαυτῆς ἔτι διοχλοῦσαν τὸν βίον. ἀλλ' ἀφέντες καὶ τὸ περὶ τούτων τὸν λόγον τοῦ μυστηρίου μέμφεσθαι, τὸ μὴ διὰ πάντων διήκειν τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν πίστιν ἐν αἰτίᾳ ποιοῦνται. καὶ τί δήποτε, φασίν, οὐκ ἐπὶ