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Three persons are brought under blame here: the man, the woman, the serpent. And the man had the excuse that the woman was the cause for him of eating from the forbidden tree, from which he knew that he was naked, but the woman accuses the serpent, saying: "The serpent deceived me and I ate"; for God demanded from them the cause of the transgression; but such a question is not brought to the serpent. For he could not attribute the cause of the evil to another, being himself its begetter. For the Lord teaches this very thing also in the gospels, saying about him: "When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it", that is, the father of the lie; for the devil does not have a father, according to those who mythically supposed it. But all who practice evil, except for him, come to this not from their own resources, but from his malice, as he hears from the word: "But you said in your mind: I will ascend into heaven" and what follows. For no one else suggested pride to him, 95 but he himself to himself; wherefore also no word of defense is given to him. Why then, he says, did you do this? For you were not put in place for this, to become a cause of transgression for the man? And she said: "The serpent deceived me". For this happened by deceit. For when she brought forth the things of the commandment, he used the command in a contrary way, along with promising them something boastful and able to entice: "For God knew," he says, "that on whatever day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil." And now she reasonably confesses the deceit; for having perceived God, she recognizes what has happened. For this is the custom for those who are deceived: to perceive the evil after the outcome; for at the beginning, when pleasure conceals perception, there is no recognition. But the "said" must be stated again thus, that a conversation of God took place in the mind of the woman, and this is not unclear; for when we are sinning, a thought that overthrows the sin occurs, God must be considered to be present in the mind and to be speaking. And there we allegorize the order according to what was said before; for pleasure, which is the serpent, first enters the sense, which we called the woman, then in this way it serves the intellect, which has also been called the man. iii, 14. And the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle and above all the beasts of the earth; on your breast and on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. What God said to both Adam and Eve, saying to each of them: "Why did you do this?", from whom He also heard the one responsible for the evil—Adam blaming the woman, and the woman the 96 serpent—He no longer said to the serpent: for this one is the author of evil and unable to attribute the cause to another. Therefore, immediately instead of "why have you done this?" He brings on the penalty, saying: "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle and above all the beasts of the earth," But it is clear that God does not direct the penalty to this reptile; for it does not have the nature to bring forth a word of deceit, from which it would call upon God to bring a penalty upon itself. Paul, at any rate, writing to the Corinthians, knowing that it was not an irrational animal about which he wrote, says: "I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be corrupted from <simplicity>". For Paul compares a deceit being worked by malevolent and cunning men, who had arisen, saying that there is no resurrection of the dead nor that the Savior was born of a virgin, who also were deceiving the infants in Christ in Corinth, not having the senses of the heart trained for the discernment of good and evil, to the deceit by the serpent against Eve, which shows it to be not a reptile, but an opposing power, which it is the custom of Scripture to call devil

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Τρία πρόσωπα εἰσάγεται ὑπὸ μέμψιν ἐνταῦθα· ὁ ἀνήρ, ἡ γυνή, ὁ ὄφις. Καὶ ὁ μὲν ἀνὴρ ἔσχεν ἀπολογήσασθαι ὅτι ἡ γυνὴ αὐτῷ παραιτία γέγονεν τοῦ φαγεῖν τοῦ ἀπηγορευμένου ξύλου, ἐξ οὗ ἔγνω ὅτι γυμνός ἐστιν, ἡ δὲ γ̣υνὴ αἰτιᾶται τὸν ὄφιν λέγουσα· "6Ὁ ὄφις ἠπάτησέν με καὶ ἔφα̣γ̣ο̣ν"6· καὶ γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς ἀπῄτησεν παρ' αὐτῶν τοῦ σφάλματος αἰτίαν· οὐ φέρεται δὲ τοιαύτη πρὸς τὸν ὄφιν ἐρώτησις. Οὐ γὰρ εἶχεν τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς κακίας ἐπ' ἄλλον ἀνενεγκεῖν, αὐτὸς αὐτῆς γεννήτωρ ὑπάρξας. Τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτὸ καὶ ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις ὁ Κύριος διδάσκει λέγων περὶ αὐτοῦ· "6Ὅταν λαλῇ τὸ ψεῦδος, ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων λαλεῖ, ὅτι ψεύστης ἐστὶν καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ"6, ὅ ἐστιν ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ ψεύδους· οὐ γὰρ ὁ διάβολος πατέρα ἔχει κατὰ τοὺς μυθωδῶς οἰηθέντας. Πάντες δ' οἱ κακίᾳ χρώμενοι πλὴν αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς αὐτοῦ κακεντρεχείας, ἐπὶ τοῦτο ἔρχονται, αὐτοῦ ἀκούοντος πρὸς τοῦ λόγου· "6Σὺ δὲ εἶπας ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ σου· Εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβή- σομαι"6 καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Οὐ γὰρ ἄλλος αὐτῷ τὴν ὑπερηφανίαν 95 ὑπέβαλεν, ἀλλὰ αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ· διὸ καὶ οὐδὲ λόγος [ἀ]πο- λογίας αὐτῷ δίδοται. Τί οὖν, φησίν, τοῦτο ἐποίησας; Μὴ γὰρ εἰς τοῦτο ἐτέθης ἐπὶ τῷ αἰτία καταστῆναι τῷ ἀνδρὶ σφάλματος; Καὶ εἶπεν· "6Ὁ ὄφις ἠπάτησέν με"6. Ἀπάτῃ γὰρ τοῦτογέγονεν. Αὐτῆς γὰρ τὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς προενεγκαμένης, αὐτὸς ἀντιστρόφως ἐχρήσατο τῇ προστάξει μετὰ τοῦ καὶ ὑπισχνεῖσθαί τι αὐτοῖς κομπῶδες καὶ δελεάσαι δυνάμενον· "6Ἤδει γάρ"6 φησιν "6ὁ Θεὸς ὅτι ᾗ δ' ἂν ἡμέρᾳ φάγητε ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, διανοιχθήσονται ὑμῶν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ καὶ ἔσεσθε ὡς θεοί, γιγνώσκοντες καλὸν καὶ πονηρόν."6 Ὁμολογεῖ δὲ νῦν τὴν ἀπάτην εἰκότως· Θεοῦ γὰρ αἰσθομένη ἐπιγιγνώσκει τὸ γεγενημένον. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἔθος τοῖς ἀπατωμένοις μετὰ τὴν ἔκβασιν ἐπαισ̣θ̣άνεσθαι τοῦ κακοῦ· κατὰ γὰρ τὴν ἀρχήν, τῆς ἡδο̣ν̣ῆς ἐπικρυπτούσης τὴν αἴσθησιν, οὐ γίνεται ἐπίγνωσις. Τὸ δὲ "6εἶπεν"6 οὕτως πάλιν λεκτέον, ὅτι ὁμιλία ἐν διανοίᾳ τῆς γυναικὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ γέγονεν, καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἄδηλον· ὅτε γάρ, ἁμαρτανόντων ἡμῶν, λογισμὸς ἀνατρεπτικὸς τῆς ἁμαρτίας γίνεται, Θεὸν ἡγητέον ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ παρεῖναι καὶ λαλεῖν. Ἐκεῖ δὲ καὶ τάξιν κατὰ τὰ πρότερον ἀλληγοροῦμεν· ἡ γὰρ ἡδονή, ἥτις ὁ ὄφις ἐστίν, πρότερον τῇ αἰσθήσει, ἣν γυναῖκα ἐλέγομεν, ἐγγίνεται, εἶθ' οὕτως τῷ νῷ αὕτη διακονεῖ, ὅστις καὶ ὁ ἀνὴρ εἴρηται. ιιι, 14. Καὶ εἶπεν Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς τῷ ὄφει· Ὅτι ἐποίησας τοῦτο, ἐπικατάρατος σὺ ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν κτηνῶν καὶ ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν θηρίων τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· ἐπὶ τῷ στήθει σου καὶ τῇ κοιλίᾳ πορεύσῃ καὶ γῆν φάγῃ πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ζωῆς σου. Ὅπερ πρός τε τὸν Ἀδὰμ καὶ τὴν Εὕαν εἶπεν ὁ Θεός, ἑκάστῳ αὐτῶν [λ]έγων· "6Τί ἐποίησας τοῦτο;"6, ἀφ' ὧν καὶ τὸν αἴτιον τῆς κακίας [ἤ]κουσεν, τοῦ μὲν Ἀδὰμ τὴν γυναῖκα αἰτιωμένου, τῆς δὲ γ̣υν̣α̣ι̣κὸς τὸν 96 ὄφιν, οὐκέτι εἶπεν πρὸς τὸν ὄφιν· ἀρχέκακος γὰρ οὗτος καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ἐπ' ἄλλον ἀνενεγκεῖν οὐκ ἔχων. ∆ιόπερ εὐθὺς ἀντὶ τοῦ "6τί ὅτι ἐποίησας τοῦτο;"6 ἐπάγει τὴν ἐπιτιμίαν εἰπών· "6Ὅτι τοῦτο ἐποίησας, ἐπικα<τά>ρατος σὺ ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν κτηνῶν καὶ ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν θηρίων τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς,"6 ∆ῆλον δὲ ὡς οὐ τῷ ἑρπετῷ τούτῳ τὴν ἐπιτιμίαν προσάγει Θεός· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔχει φύσιν τοῦ τὸν ἀπάτης προαγαγεῖν λόγον, ἐξ οὗ τὴν καθ' ἑαυτοῦ ἐπιτιμίαν ἐκκαλέσεται τὸν Θεὸν ποιήσασθαι. Παῦλος γοῦν γράφων Κορινθίοις, ἐπιστάμενος ὡς οὐ ζῷον ἄλογον ὑπῆρχεν, περὶ οὗ ἔγραφεν, φησίν· "6Φοβοῦμαι μήπως, ὡς ὄφις ἐξηπάτησεν Εὕαν ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτοῦ, φθαρῇ τὰ νοήματα ὑμῶν ἀπὸ τῆς <ἁπλότητος>"6. Παραβάλλει γὰρ ὁ Παῦλος ἀπάτην γινομένην ὑπὸ κακοήθων ἀνθρώπων καὶ πανούργων, οἵτινες ἐπιφυέντες ἦσαν, λέγοντες μὴ εἶναι ἀνάστασιν νεκρῶν μηδὲ ἐκ παρθένου τὸν Σωτῆρα γεγεννῆσθαι, οἳ καὶ ἠπάτων τοὺς ἐν Κορίνθῳ νηπίους ἐν Χριστῷ, οὐκ ἔχοντας τὰ αἰσθητήρια τῆς καρδίας γεγυμνασ- μένα πρὸς διάκρισιν καλοῦ καὶ κακοῦ, τῇ ὑπὸ τοῦ ὄφεως κατὰ τῆς Εὕας ἀπάτῃ, ὅπερ δείκνυσιν αὐτὸν οὐχ ἑρπετόν, ἀλλὰ ἀντικειμένην ἐνέργειαν, ἣν διάβολον ἔθος τῇ γραφῇ