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»For 'whatsoever the Lord pleased, that he did'»-, and this we say is good, which he wills; for the creations do not judge the creator. But neither do we know the reason of His providence; «for who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?» If His counsel and His will were known, He would not be God nor wonderful. For just as His essence is incomprehensible, so also is His will and His providence. For if no one knows the things of men except the spirit of each man that is in him, but not even does each of men know all of his own things-for he does not know the future, nor does he know what he counsels or what he will will and counsel tomorrow-, how then will he know the will of God and His counsel, who often even comes to forget what he has counseled? 78 God provides for all things according to His foreknowledge. And to us who know neither the future nor the past nor all present things, His governance seems uneven, but in reality it is even and good and just. For foreknowing the things that are up to us as if they were already the future, He justly judges as He Himself wills and counsels; for God will not see as man sees. «For man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.» We often see even what is judged by all to be just as unjust because of a prejudice of evil and because the same thing is not pleasing to all; for the same thing is not pleasing to all, but one thing to one person, another to another. But God judges not from repentance or subsequent knowledge, but from foreknowledge. For having foreknown all things before their beginning, God justly and providentially and profitably predestined for each one things that are not up to us, in correspondence with the things that are up to us. For knowledge is one thing, and foreknowledge another, and subsequent knowledge another, and determination another, and predestination another. For knowledge is to know things that exist or are happening, and foreknowledge is to know future things before their beginning, and subsequent knowledge is the true knowledge that comes after false knowledge; and determination is judgment and decision on things that have happened, but predestination is judgment and decision on things that will happen. 79 Therefore God, foreseeing the things that will be done by us voluntarily, that is, the things up to us, I mean virtue and vice, predestines the things that are not up to us. And the foreknowing power of God does not have its cause from us, but the foreknowing of what we are going to do is from us; for if we were not going to do it, neither would He have foreknown what was not going to be. And the foreknowledge of God is true and unalterable, but it is not itself the cause of the future thing happening by all means, but, because we are going to do this or that, He foreknows it. And He foreknows many things that are not pleasing to Him, and He is not the cause of these. Just as a physician is not the cause of the disease, if he foreknows that someone is going to be sick, but the being sick is from another cause which produces the disease, while the foreknowledge of the physician is from the art in him; so also that which will be done by us does not have its cause from God, but our free will; and free will is not a bad thing, if we use it as it was given to us and for what it was given. But God's foreknowing is from His foreknowing power. But neither do our punishments have God as their cause. For the judge is not the cause of the punishment of the wicked, even if he judges willingly, but the one who has transgressed is the cause of his own punishment, while the judge is the cause of justice; and justice is a good thing. For though He judges willingly, it is not according to an antecedent will, but according to a consequent one. An antecedent will, then, is what one wills from oneself, while a consequent one is what comes from the cause of things that happen; for antecedently, from Himself, «God wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth». But when we sin, He wills that we be disciplined for our benefit. And the antecedent will of God is of His goodness, but the

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»πάντα γάρ, ὅσα ἠθέλησεν, ἐποίησεν ὁ κύριος»-, καὶ τοῦτο ἀγαθόν φαμεν, ὃ θέλει· οὐ γὰρ τὰ ποιήματα κρίνει τὸν ποιήσαντα. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἴσμεν τὸν λόγον τῆς προνοίας αὐτοῦ· «τίς γὰρ ἔγνω νοῦν κυρίου ἢ τίς σύμβουλος αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο;» Εἰ ἔγνωστο ἡ βουλὴ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ, οὐκ ἦν θεὸς οὐδὲ θαυμαστός. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ οὐσία αὐτοῦ ἀκατάληπτος, οὕτω καὶ ἡ θέλησις καὶ ἡ πρόνοια αὐτοῦ. Εἰ γὰρ τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων οὐδεὶς ἐπίσταται εἰ μὴ τὸ πνεῦμα ἑκάστου τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ πάντα τὰ ἑαυτοῦ ἕκαστος τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπίσταται-οὐ γὰρ τὸ μέλλον γινώσκει οὐδέ, τί βούλεται ἢ τί θελήσει καὶ βουληθῇ αὔριον, ἐπίσταται-, πῶς οὖν τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ θέλημα καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ βουλὴν γνώσεται, ὃς πολλάκις καί, ὧν ἐβουλεύσατο, εἰς λήθην ἔρχεται; 78 Προνοεῖται ὁ θεὸς κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ πρόγνωσιν τῶν ἁπάντων. Καὶ δοκεῖ μὲν ἡμῖν τοῖς μὴ εἰδόσι μηδὲ τὰ μέλλοντα μηδὲ τὰ προγεγονότα μηδὲ πάντα τὰ ἐνεστῶτα ἀνώμαλος ἡ κυβέρνησις αὐτοῦ, ὁμαλὴ δέ ἐστι καὶ ἀγαθὴ καὶ δικαία τῷ ὄντι. Προγινώσκων γὰρ τὰ ἐφ' ἡμῖν ὡς ὄντα τὰ ἐσόμενα δικαίως, ὡς αὐτὸς θέλει καὶ βούλεται, κρίνει· οὐ γάρ, ὡς ὁρᾷ ἄνθρωπος, ὄψεται ὁ θεός. «Ἄνθρωπος γὰρ εἰς πρόσωπον ὁρᾷ, θεὸς δὲ εἰς καρδίαν.» Ἡμεῖς καὶ τὸ ὑπὸ πάντων κρινόμενον δίκαιον πολλάκις ἄδικον ὁρῶμεν διὰ πρόληψιν κακίας καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ τὸ αὐτὸ πᾶσιν ἀρεστὸν εἶναι· οὐ γὰρ τὸ αὐτὸ πᾶσιν ἀρεστόν, ἀλλ' ἕτερον ἑτέρῳ. Κρίνει δὲ ὁ θεὸς οὐκ ἐκ μεταμελείας ἢ ἐπιγνώσεως, ἀλλ' ἐκ προγνώσεως. Προεγνωκὼς γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τὰ πάντα πρὶν γενέσεως αὐτῶν προώρισεν ἑκάστῳ δικαίως καὶ προνοητικῶς καὶ συμφερόντως κατάλληλα τοῖς ἐφ' ἡμῖν τὰ οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν. Ἄλλο γάρ ἐστι γνῶσις καὶ ἄλλο πρόγνωσις καὶ ἄλλο ἐπίγνωσις καὶ ἄλλο ὁρισμὸς καὶ ἄλλο προορισμός. Γνῶσις μὲν γάρ ἐστι τὸ εἰδέναι τὰ ὄντα ἢ τὰ γινόμενα, πρόγνωσις δὲ τὸ εἰδέναι τὰ ἐσόμενα πρὶν γενέσεως αὐτῶν, ἐπίγνωσις δέ ἐστιν ἡ μετὰ ψευδῆ γνῶσιν ἐπιγινομένη ἀληθὴς γνῶσις· καὶ ὁρισμὸς μέν ἐστι κρίσις καὶ ἀπόφασις ἐπὶ τοῖς γεγενημένοις, προορισμὸς δὲ κρίσις καὶ ἀπόφασις ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐσομένοις. 79 Προειδὼς οὖν ὁ θεὸς τὰ ἐσόμενα ὑφ' ἡμῶν ἑκουσίως ἤγουν τὰ ἐφ' ἡμῖν, ἀρετήν φημι καὶ κακίαν, προορίζει τὰ οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν. Καὶ ἡ μὲν προγνωστικὴ δύναμις τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἐξ ἡμῶν ἔχει τὴν αἰτίαν, τὸ δὲ προγνῶναι, ἃ μέλλομεν ποιεῖν, ἐξ ἡμῶν· εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἐμέλλομεν ποιεῖν, οὐδὲ αὐτὸς προεγίνωσκε τὸ μὴ ἐσόμενον. Καὶ ἡ μὲν πρόγνωσις τοῦ θεοῦ ἀληθής ἐστι καὶ ἀπαράβατος, ἀλλ' οὐκ αὐτή ἐστιν ἡ αἰτία τοῦ γενέσθαι πάντως τὸ ἐσόμενον, ἀλλ', ὅτι μέλλομεν ποιεῖν τόδε ἢ τόδε, προγινώσκει. Προγινώσκει δὲ πολλά, ἃ οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτῷ ἀρεστά, καὶ οὐκ αὐτὸς αἴτιος τούτων. Ὡς οὐδὲ ἰατρὸς αἴτιος τῆς νόσου, εἰ προγνῶ, ὅτι μέλλει τις νοσεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν νοσῆσαι ἄλλης αἰτίας τῆς ποιούσης τὴν νόσον, ἡ δὲ πρόγνωσις τοῦ ἰατροῦ τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ τέχνης· οὕτω καὶ τὸ ἐσόμενον ὑφ' ἡμῶν οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν αἰτίαν ἔχει, ἀλλὰ τὸ αὐτεξούσιον ἡμῶν θέλημα· οὐ κακὸν δὲ τὸ αὐτεξούσιον, εἰ, ὡς ἐδόθη ἡμῖν καὶ ἐφ' ᾧ ἐδόθη, χρησόμεθα αὐτῷ. Τὸ δὲ προγνῶναι τὸν θεὸν τῆς προγνωστικῆς αὐτοῦ δυνάμεως. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ αἱ τιμωρίαι ἡμῶν τὸν θεὸν ἔχουσιν αἴτιον. Οὐ γὰρ ὁ κριτής ἐστι τῆς τιμωρίας τοῦ πονηροῦ αἴτιος, εἰ καὶ αὐτὸς θέλων κρίνει, ἀλλ' αἴτιος μέν ἐστιν ὁ πταίσας τῆς ἑαυτοῦ τιμωρίας, ὁ δὲ κριτὴς τῆς δικαιοσύνης αἴτιος· ἀγαθὸν δὲ ἡ δικαιοσύνη. Εἰ γὰρ θέλων κρίνει, ἀλλ' οὐ κατὰ προηγούμενον θέλημα, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ ἑπόμενον. Προηγούμενον οὖν ἐστι θέλημα, ὅπερ τις ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ θέλει, ἑπόμενον δέ, ὅπερ ἐκ τῆς τῶν γινομένων αἰτίας· προηγουμένως γὰρ ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ «θέλει ὁ θεὸς πάντας ἀνθρώπους σωθῆναι καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν». Ἁμαρτανόντων δὲ ἡμῶν θέλει παιδεύεσθαι ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον. Καὶ τὸ μὲν προηγούμενον θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ τῆς ἀγαθότητός ἐστι, τὸ δὲ