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15Β_138 Since you have commanded that the reason be written for you, for which God, having decreed, deemed it just for men to be ruled by men, although the nature of all is one and the same and declares all who partake of it to be of equal honor by its simple principle, I will speak according to my ability, hiding nothing of what I have received from wise and blessed men, cutting short the many things which might be said on this subject for the sake of brevity. A true account, as they say, mystically dictates that man, who by the grace of God his creator was allotted to rule over the entire visible world, by misusing the innate powers of his intellectual essence within him, turned their motions toward things contrary to nature, and thus brought upon himself and this whole world the alteration and corruption which now holds sway over them, according to a just judgment of God; so that the soul's power, moving contrary to nature, might not be preserved immortal for him for ever; which is not only the ultimate of evil and a manifest fall from man's true being, but also a clear denial of the divine goodness.

For this reason, this laborious and much-lamented life of men, through the great irrationality and disorder of the matter which nurses it, now bearing and now being borne in various ways; and to speak more precisely, in being borne, it bears all men, it makes all partakers of the terrible things within it; and it leaves no one at all free from its confusion. And this was formulated according to 15Β_140 the fitting principle of the wisdom of God, so that at least at some late point, by suffering ill from this present life which is irrationally loved by us in our disposition, according to circumstance, having learned how much the friendship toward it knows how to harm, we might know that separation from it is much more useful to us than union with it; and that we might justly ratify hatred towards it, according to reason; and fleeing the mixture and confusion of visible things, we might soberly transfer our longing to the stable identity of intelligible things.

0452 But since, even though scourged and suffering countless terrible things, we do not endure to loose the bond of friendship toward it, God, being wise and good, according to providence formulated the law of kingship for men; checking from afar the great madness of evil which He foresaw would exist in life on account of license; so that men might not, like the fish of the sea, become the prey of one another; with no one to supervise and to prevent the unjust impulse of the stronger against the subordinate. For this reason, it is likely, I think, that kingship was necessarily introduced to the race of men; having received wisdom and power from God; and the nature of equal honor was permitted to be divided into ruling and being ruled. So that on the one hand, it may order those who lawfully obey the statutes of nature; and on the other hand, it may justly punish those who, through stubbornness of opinion, do not wish to yield to them; and may thence bestow justice upon all, arbitrated by desire and fear; by which the anomaly of each person's opinion having been removed, the equal, calm, and gentle aspect of nature in all is brilliantly displayed. Which would never have happened, if fear did not punish the senseless impulse of the many toward absurdity, and by force, through the threats of the sober, bring them to tranquility. For that which reason is wont to persuade the sober to embrace willingly, fear is accustomed to compel the foolish to accept unwillingly.

For this reason I have learned that kingship was permitted to enter into the life of men, 15Β_142 and I accept the account as true, and as a teacher of the reason. But if some other account is also the reason for this according to the divine Scripture, I believe this to be comprehensible only to those who are pure in mind. Nevertheless, however, not even this is entirely out of harmony with the purpose of the divine Scripture. And that one

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15Β_138 Ἐπειδή τήν αἰτίαν δι᾿ ἥν ὑπ᾿ ἀνθρώπων βασιλεύεσθαι ψηφισάμενος ὁ Θεός ἐδικαίωσε, μιᾶς καί τῆς αὐτῆς πάντων ὑπαρχούσης τῆς φύσεως, καί πάντας τῷ κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἁπλῷ λόγῳ τούς μετέχοντας αὐτῆς ὁμοτίμως ἀποφαινούσης, γραφῆναι ὑμῖν ἐκελεύσατε, ἐρῶ κατά τήν ἐμήν δύναμιν, μηδέν ἀποκρυπτόμενος, ὧν παρά σοφῶν καί μακαρίων ἀνδρῶν παρέλαβον· τά πολλά περικόπτων ὅσα ῥηθῆναι περί τούτου διά τό σύντομον ἐνδέχεται. Λόγος ἀληθής, ὥς φασι, μυστικῶς ὑπαγορεύει, τόν δεσπόζειν κατά χάριν τοῦ πεποιηκότος αὐτόν Θεοῦ, παντός τοῦ ὁρωμένου κόσμου λαχόντα ἄνθρωπον, διά τοῦ κατά παράχρησιν τρόπου, τῶν ἐμφύτων δυνάμεων τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ νοερᾶς οὐσίας, πρός τά παρά φύσιν τρέψαντα τάς κινήσεις, ἑαυτῷ τε καί τῷ παντί τούτῳ κόσμῳ, τήν κρατοῦσαν νῦν αὐτῶν ἀλλοίωσιν καί φθοράν, κατά κρίσιν εἰσενέγκασθαι τοῦ Θεοῦ δικαίαν· ἵνα μή πρός τά παρά φύσιν ἀθάνατος ἐπ᾿ ἄπειρον ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς δύναμις αὐτῷ κινουμένῳ φυλάττοιτο· ὅπερ ἐστίν οὐ μόνον κακίας τό ἔσχατον, καί τῆς αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἀληθοῦς ὀντότης ἀρίδηλος ἔκπτωσις, ἀλλά καί σαφής τῆς θείας ἀγαθότητος ἄρνησις.

∆ιά τοῦτο ὁ πολύμοχθος οὗτος, καί πολυστένακτος τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίος, διά τῆς πολλῆς ἀλογίας καί ἀταξίας τῆς αὐτόν τιθηνούσης ὕλης, ἄλλο τε ἄλλως φέρων τε καί φερόμενος· καί ἀκριβέστερον εἰπεῖν, ἐν τῷ φέρεσθαι φέρων πάντας ἀνθρώπους, τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ δεινῶν μετόχους πάντας καθίστησι· καί οὐδένα παντελῶς ἀφίησι τῆς αὐτοῦ ταραχῆς ἐλεύθερον. Καί τοῦτο κατά 15Β_140 τόν πρέποντα τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφίας διετυπώθη λόγον, ἵνα τόν παρόντα βίον παραλόγως κατά διάθεσιν ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν ἀγαπώμενον, κἄν ὀψέ ποτε τῷ πάσχειν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ κακῶς κατά περίστασιν, ὅσον βλάπτειν οἶδεν ἡ πρός αὐτόν φιλίαν μεταμαθόντες, γνῶμεν ὅτι πολύ τῆς πρός αὐτόν ἑνώσεως ὁ χωρισμός ἐστιν ἡμῖν χρησιμώτερος· καί τό πρός αὐτόν μῖσος, κατά λόγον ἐνδίκως κυρώσωμεν· καί φυγόντες τήν τῶν ὁρωμένων φύρσιν καί ταραχήν, πρός τήν τῶν νοουμένων εὐσταθῆ ταυτότητα σωφρόνως τόν πόθον μεταθώμαθα.

0452 Ἀλλ᾿ ἐπειδή καί μαστιζόμενοι, καί μυρία πάσχοντες δεινά, τῆς πρός αὐτόν φιλίας τόν δεσμόν λύειν οὐκ ἀνεχόμεθα, κατά πρόνοιαν ὡς σοφός καί ἀγαθός, τόν τῆς βασιλείας τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὁ Θεός διετύπωσε νόμον· τήν προγνωσθεῖσαν διά τήν ἄνεσιν ἔσεσθαι κατά τόν βίον πολλήν τῆς κακίας λύσσαν ἀναστέλλων πόῤῥωθεν· ἵνα μή γένωνται κατά τούς ἰχθύας τῆς θαλάσσης, ἀλλήλων οἱ ἄνθρωποι παραναλώματα· μηδενός ἐπιστατοῦντος, καί τήν ἄδικον τοῦ δυνατωτέρου κατά τοῦ ὑποβεβηκότος ὁρμήν κωλύοντος. ∆ιά τοῦτο, κατά τό εἰκός, ὡς οἶμαι, βασιλεία τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῷ γένει ἀναγκαίως ἐπεισήχθη· σοφίαν παρά Θεοῦ λαβοῦσα, καί δυναστείαν· καί ἡ ὁμότιμος φύσις εἰς τό ἄρχειν καί ἄρχεσθαι μερισθῆναι συνεχωρήθη. Ὅπως τῇ μέν, τάσσῃ τούς νομίμως τοῖς θεσμοῖς τῆς φύσεως πειθομένοις· τῇ δέ, κολάζῃ δικαίως τούς εἴκειν τούτοις δι᾿ αὐθάδειαν γνώμης μή βουλομένους· καί τήν δικαιοσύνην ἐντεῦθεν πᾶσι χαρίζηται, πόθῳ καί φόβῳ βραβευομένην· δι᾿ ἧς τό ἀνώμαλον τῆς τοῦ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον γνώμης ἀπογενόμενον, τό ἐν πᾶσι τῆς φύσεως ἴσον γαληνόν τε καί ἥμερον λαμπρῶς διαδείκνυται. Ὅπερ οὐκ ἄν ἐγεγόνει ποτέ, μή τοῦ φόβου κολάζοντος τήν ἄφρονα τῶν πολλῶν πρός ἀτοπίαν ὁρμήν, καί βίᾳ πρός τῶν σωφρόνων δι᾿ ἀπειλῆς ἄγοντες γαληνότητα. Ὅ γάρ πέφυκε λόγος τούς σώφρονας πείθειν ἑκουσίως ἀσπάζεσθαι, τοῦτο στέργειν ὁ φόβος τούς ἄφρονας εἴωθεν ἀκουσίως βιάζεσθαι.

∆ιά ταύτην ἐγώ τήν αἰτίαν τῷ βίῳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων παρεισελθεῖν 15Β_142 τήν βασιλείαν συγχωρηθῆναι μεμάθηκα, καί ἀποδέχομαι τόν λόγον ὡς ἀληθῆ, καί τῆς αἰτίας διδάσκαλον. Εἰ δέ τις καί ἕτερος ταύτης λόγος καθέστηκεν αἴτιος κατά τήν θείαν Γραφήν, τοῦτον εἶναι μόνοις ἡγοῦμαι ληπτόν τοῖς καθαροῖς τήν διάνοιαν. Πλήν δι᾿ ὅμως, οὐδ᾿ οὗτος τοῦ σκοποῦ τῆς θείας ὁλοσχερῶς ἀπᾴδει Γραφῆς. Κἀκείνη