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soul, but a human soul, and the soul of a particular human. For even after the body, it has as its form the whole predicated as human according to its relation as a part. Likewise also the body, mortal on account of its nature, but not unyoked on account of its generation. For after separation from the soul, the body is not called simply "body", but "a human body", and "the body of a particular human", even if it decays and is by nature dissolved into the elements from which it is constituted. For even so it has as its form the whole predicated as human according to its relation as a part. Therefore, the relation in both, I mean soul and body, being inseparably understood as parts of the whole human form (14∆_112>, both establishes their simultaneous generation and demonstrates their essential difference from one another, in no way whatsoever harming the essential principles naturally inherent in them. It is not possible, therefore, at all to find or to speak of a body or a soul as unrelated. For with the one, the other is simultaneously introduced as belonging to something; so that if one pre-exists the other, it must be understood as belonging to something. For the relation is unchanging.
And this much concerning these things. And if the account has not fallen away from the truth, thanks be to God, who through your prayers has guided us to a right understanding. But if in any way it falls short of the truth, you would know the precision of the argument, as you are inspired by God with the knowledge of such things.
C (3). "...MATTER FROM ITSELF BRINGS FORTH DISORDER AS IN A STREAM"
From the same discourse, on the text, "Until matter also from itself brings forth disorder as in a stream".
I think that the present aim of the argument also adheres to the thought of the previous
chapter. For having gone through many things against those who love matter and the body, he adds these things, so that from this point 1104 the one piously investigating the purpose of the saint is able to proceed thus. Since man was made resplendent by God with the beauty of incorruptibility and immortality, but having preferred the shame of the material nature concerning him to the intelligible beauty, he had brought about a complete forgetfulness of the eminent dignity of the soul, or rather, of God who had adorned the soul in a God-like manner, he reaped the fruit worthy of his resolve, according to the divine decree that wisely governs our salvation, not only the corruption and death of the body, and its motion and aptitude prone to every passion, but also the instability and unevenness of the external material substance around him, and its being prolific and ready to be altered, whether God at that time (14∆_114> on account of the transgression mixed it together with our body, and the [disposition] towards being altered and itself, just as with the body, the [disposition] toward suffering and being corrupted and being dissolved entirely; as the condition of dead bodies shows, having instilled a power according to what is written, that "Creation itself was subjected to corruption, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope," or whether from the beginning, according to foreknowledge, he created it thus on account of the foreseen transgression; so that by suffering and being afflicted through it, he might come to a consciousness of himself and of his own dignity, and might gladly accept the divestment of it and the body.
For the all-wise provider of our life often allows things to act naturally according to their own impulses for our correction, in some way, for those who handle them madly, through the confusion and disturbance concerning and from them, leading our hitherto irrational love for present things back to what is lovable by nature. For since there are three general ways, by which they say our passions are healed educationally, by each way wisely the disorder of matter in an orderly way
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ψυχή, ἀλλά ἀνθρώπου ψυχή, καί τοῦ τινος ἀνθρώπου ψυχή. Ἔχει γάρ καί μετά τό σῶμα ὡς εἶδος αὐτῆς τό ὅλον κατά τήν σχέσιν ὡς μέρους κατηγορούμενον τό ἀνθρώπινον. Ὡσαύτως δέ καί τό σῶμα, θνητόν μέν διά τήν φύσιν, οὐκ ἄφετον δέ διά τήν γένεσιν. Οὐ γάρ ἁπλῶς λέγεται σῶμα μετά τόν χωρισμόν τῆς ψυχῆς τό σῶμα, ἀλλ᾿ ἀνθρώπου σῶμα, καί τοῦ τινος ἀνθρώπου σῶμα, κἄν εἰ φθείρεται καί εἰς τά ἐξ ὧν ἐστιν ἀναλύεσθαι στοιχεῖα πέφυκεν. Ἔχει γάρ καί οὕτως ὡς εἶδος τό ὅλον αὐτοῦ κατά τήν σχέσιν ὡς μέρους κατηγορούμενον τό ἀνθρώπινον. Ἐπ᾿ ἀμφοῖν τοιγαροῦν ἡ σχέσις, ψυχῆς λέγω καί σώματος, ὡς καί ὅλου εἴδους ἀνθρωπίνου μερῶν (14∆_112> ἀναφαιρέτως νουμένη, παρίστησι καί τήν ἅμα τούτων γένεσιν, καί τήν κατ᾿ οὐσίαν πρός ἄλληλα διαφοράν ἀποδείκνυσιν, οὐδέν καθ᾿ οἷον δήποτε τρόπον τούς κατ' οὐσίαν αὐτοῖς ἐμπεφυκότας παραβλάπτουσα λόγους. Οὐκ ἔστιν οὖν ὅλως σῶμα δυνατόν ἤ ψυχήν εὑρεῖν ἤ λέγειν ἄσχετον. Θατέρῳ γάρ ἅμα συνεισάγεται τό τινος εἶναι θάτερον· ὥστε εἰ προϋπάρχει θατέρου θάτερον, τινός προσυπακουστέον. Ἡ γάρ σχέσις ἀκίνητος.
Καί ταῦτα μέν περί τούτων. Καί εἰ μέν τῆς ἀληθείας ὁ λόγος οὐκ ἀποπέπτωκε, τῷ Θεῷ χάρις, τῷ διά τῶν ὑμετέρων εὐχῶν πρός τό καλῶς νοεῖν ὁδηγήσαντι. Εἰ δέ πού τι τῆς ἀληθείας ἐλλέλοιπεν, ὑμεῖς ἄν εἰδείητε τοῦ λόγου τό ἀκριβές, ὡς ἐκ Θεοῦ τήν τῶν τοιούτων ἐμπνεόμενοι γνῶσιν.
Γ (3). «...ΠΑΡ' ΕΑΥΤΗΣ Η ΥΛΗ ΦΕΡΗ ΤΟ ΑΤΑΚΤΟΝ ΩΣΠΕΡ ΕΝ ΡΕΥΜΑΤΙ»
Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου, εἰς τό, " Ἕως ἄν καί παρ᾿ ἑαυτῆς ἡ ὕλη φέρῃ τό ἄτακτον ὥσπερ ἐν ῥεύματι".
Οἶμαι καί τόν παρόντα τοῦ λόγου σκοπόν τῆς τοῦ προτέρου διανοίας ἔχεσθαι
κεφαλαίου. ∆ιεξελθών γάρ ὅτι πλεῖστα πρός τούς φιλύλους τε καί φιλοσωμάτους ταῦτα ἐπάγει, ὡς ἐντεῦθεν δύνασθαι 1104 τόν εὐσεβῶς τόν σκοπόν τοῦ ἁγίου διερευνώμενον ἐπιβάλλειν οὕτως. Ἐπειδή τῷ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας τε καί ἀθανασίας κάλλει παρά Θεοῦ κατηγλαϊσμένος ὁ ἄνθρωπος γέγονε, τό δέ τῆς περί αὐτόν ὑλικῆς φύσεως αἶσχος τοῦ νοεροῦ κάλλους προτιμήσας λήθην τοῦ κατά ψυχήν ἐκπρεποῦς ἀξιώματος, μᾶλλον δέ Θεοῦ τοῦ καί τήν ψυχήν θεοειδῶς καλλωπίσαντος πάμπαν ἐπεποίητο, τῆς γνώμης ἄξιον κατά θείαν ψῆφον τήν σοφῶς τήν ἡμῶν σωτηρίαν οἰκονομοῦσαν ἐδρέψατο καρπόν, οὐ μόνον τοῦ σώματος τήν φθοράν καί τό θάνατον, καί τήν πρός πᾶν πάθος εὐέμπτωτον κίνησίν τε καί ἐπιτηδειότητα, ἀλλά καί τῆς ἐκτός καί περί αὐτόν ὑλικῆς οὐσίας τό ἄστατον καί ἀνώμαλον, καί πρός τό ἀλλοιοῦσθαι εὔφορόν τε καί εὐχερές, εἴτε τότε αὐτήν (14∆_114> τοῦ Θεοῦ διά τήν παράβασιν τῷ ἡμετέρῳ σώματι συμμετακεράσαντος, καί τήν πρός τό ἀλλοιοῦσθαι καί αὐτῇ, ὥσπερ τῷ σώματι, τήν πρός τό πάσχειν τε καί φθείρεσθαι καί ὅλως λύεσθαι· ὡς δηλοῖ ἡ τῶν νεκρῶν σωμάτων περιβολή, ἐνθεμένου δύναμιν κατά τό γεγραμμένον, ὅτι Καί αὐτή ἡ κτίσις ὑπετάγη τῇ φθορᾷ οὐχ ἑκοῦσα, ἀλλά διά τόν ὑποτάξαντα ἐπ᾿ ἐλπίδι, εἴ τε ἐξ ἀρχῆς κατά πρόγνωσιν οὕτως αὐτήν δημιουργήσαντος διά τήν προοραθεῖσαν παράβασιν· ὥστε τῷ πάσχειν καί κακοῦσθαι δι᾿ αὐτῆς, εἰς συναίσθησιν ἑαυτοῦ καί τοῦ οἰκείου ἀξιώματος ἐλθεῖν, καί ἀσπασίως καταδέξασθαι τήν πρός τό σῶμα καί αὐτήν ἀποδιάθεσιν.
Συγχωρεῖ γάρ ὁ πάνσοφος τῆς ἡμετέρας ζωῆς προνοητής φυσικῶς χρῆσθαι πολλάκις τά πράγματα ταῖς οἰκείαις ὁρμαῖς πρός σωφρονισμόν ἡμῶν, ἔσθ᾿ ὅπη τῶν ἐμμανῶς αὐτά μεταχειριζομένων διά τῆς περί αὐτά καί ἐξ αὐτῶν συγχύσεώς τε καί ταραχῆς, πρός τό κατά φύσιν ἐραστόν ἐπανάγων τόν τέως ἀλόγιστον ἡμῶν πρός τά παρόντα ἔρωτα. Τριῶν γάρ ὄντων καθολικῶν τρόπων, καθ᾿ οὕς φασι παιδευτικῶς τά ἡμέτερα ἐξιᾶσθαι πάθη, δι᾿ ἑκάστου τρόπου σοφῶς τό τῆς ὕλης ἄτακτον εὐτάκτως