42.  The nature of God, my mother, is not the same as that of men; indeed, to speak generally, the nature of divine things is not the same as that of earthly things.  They possess unchangeableness and immortality, and absolute being with its consequences, for sure are the properties of things sure.  But how is it with what is ours?  It is in a state of flux and corruption, constantly undergoing some fresh change.  Life and death, as they are called, apparently so different, are in a sense resolved into, and successive to, each other.  For the one takes its rise from the corruption which is our mother, runs its course through the corruption which is the displacement of all that is present, and comes to an end in the corruption which is the dissolution of this life; while the other, which is able to set us free from the ills of this life, and oftentimes translates us to the life above, is not in my opinion accurately called death, and is more dreadful in name than in reality; so that we are in danger of irrationally being afraid of what is not fearful, and courting as preferable what we really ought to fear.  There is one life, to look to life.  There is one death, sin, for it is the destruction of the soul.  But all else, of which some are proud, is a dream-vision, making sport of realities, and a series of phantasms which lead the soul astray.  If this be our condition, mother, we shall neither be proud of life, nor greatly hurt, by death.  What grievance can we find in being transferred hence to the true life?  In being freed from the vicissitudes, the agitation, the disgust, and all the vile tribute we must pay to this life, to find ourselves, amid stable things, which know no flux, while as lesser lights, we circle round the great light?87    Gen. i. 16.

ΜΒʹ. Οὐχ ἡ αὐτὴ φύσις, ὦ μῆτερ, Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων: μᾶλλον δὲ ὅλως τῶν θείων καὶ τῶν ἐπιγείων. Παρ' ἐκείνοις μὲν τὸ ἄτρεπτον καὶ ἀθάνατον, αὐτοῦ τε τοῦ εἶναι, καὶ τῶν ὅσα τοῦ εἶναι: τῶν γὰρ παγίων τὰ πάγια. Τὰ δὲ ἡμέτερα πῶς ἔχει; Ῥεῖ τε καὶ φθείρεται, καὶ ἄλλοτε ἄλλην λαμβάνει μεταβολήν. Ζωὴ γοῦν καὶ θάνατος, ταῦθ' ἅπερ λέγεται, πλεῖστον ἀλλήλων διαφέρειν δοκοῦντα, εἰς ἄλληλα περιχωρεῖ πως καὶ ἀντικαθίσταται. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐκ φθορᾶς ἀρχομένη τῆς μητρὸς ἡμῶν, καὶ διὰ φθορᾶς ὁδεύουσα τῆς ἀεὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἐκστάσεως, εἰς φθορὰν καταστρέφει τὴν τοῦ βίου τούτου κατάλυσιν: ὁ δὲ τῶν ἐνταῦθα κακῶν ἀπαλλαγὴν ἔχων, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἄνω πολλάκις μετάγων ζωὴν, οὐκ οἶδα εἰ κυρίως προσαγορεύοιτο θάνατος, ἐν ὀνόματι μᾶλλον ἢ πράγματι τὸ φοβερὸν ἔχων: καὶ κινδυνεύομεν πάσχειν πως ἄλογον πάθος, ἃ μὲν ἔστιν οὐ φοβερὰ δεδοικότες, ἃ δὲ φοβεῖσθαι ἄξιον ὡς αἱρετώτερα περιέποντες. Μία ζωὴ, πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν βλέπειν: εἷς θάνατος, ἡ ἁμαρτία: ψυχῆς γὰρ ὄλεθρος. Τἄλλα δὲ, οἷς μέγα φρονοῦσί τινες, ὀνειράτων ὄψις ἐστὶ κατὰ τῶν ὄντων παίζουσα, καὶ ψυχῆς ἀπατηλὰ φάσματα. Ἂν οὕτως ἔχωμεν, ὦ μῆτερ, οὔτε τῇ ζωῇ μέγα φρονήσομεν, οὔτε τῷ θανάτῳ λίαν ἀνιασόμεθα. Τί τοίνυν δεινὸν πεπόνθαμεν, εἰ πρὸς τὴν ἀληθινὴν ζωὴν ἐνθένδε μεταβεβήκαμεν; εἰ στροφῶν, καὶ ἰλίγγων, καὶ κόρων, καὶ τῆς αἰσχρᾶς φορολογίας ἀπηλλαγμένοι, μετὰ τῶν ἑστώτων καὶ οὐ ῥεόντων ἐσόμεθα φῶτα μικρὰ, φῶς τὸ μέγα περιχορεύοντες;