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attempting, how and from what things each individual is constituted for us, both those for living, and those for living well, and if we have understood anything else with these according to the first division. For the subject at hand was to show the seminal cause of our constitution, that the soul is not incorporeal, nor the body soulless, but that from ensouled and living bodies a living and ensouled animal is generated from the first; and that human nature, having received it, like some nurse, nurtures it with its own powers; and that it is nourished in both respects, and fittingly has its growth evident in each part. For immediately through this skillful and scientific formation it displays the power of the soul interwoven with it, appearing more dimly at first, but shining forth in succession with the perfection of the instrument. It is possible to see something like this in the case of stone-carvers. For the artisan sets out to reveal the form of some animal in stone; and having set this before him, first he broke the stone from its native material; then having chipped away its superfluous parts, he advanced it somehow through the first shape to the intended imitation, so that even the unskilled person could guess the purpose of the art from what appears. Working on it again, he brought it nearer to the likeness of what was desired. Then having wrought the perfect and precise form upon the material, he brought the art to its conclusion; and what was a little before an unformed stone is a lion, or whatever it may happen to have become by the hand of the artisan; not because the matter was changed into the form, but because the form was skillfully applied to the matter.

He who reasons something of this sort about the soul will not miss what is probable. For we say that the nature which crafts all things, having taken into itself the part from the human being out of the homogeneous matter, fashions a statue. Just as the form followed the gradual working of the stone, more dimly at first, but more perfectly after the completion of the work; so too in the carving of the instrument the form of the soul appears in proportion to the subject, imperfect in the imperfect, and perfect in the perfect. But it would have been perfect from the beginning, if nature had not been maimed by evil. For this reason, the communion with the 256 passible and animal generation did not immediately cause the divine image to shine forth in the creation, but by a certain way and sequence through the material and more animal-like properties of the soul it leads man to perfection. And the great Apostle also teaches such a doctrine in his letter to the Corinthians, saying: ‘When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things.’ It is not that another soul enters the man, different from the one understood to be in the youth, that the more childish way of thinking is abolished, and the manly way comes into being; but that the same soul displays in the one its imperfection, and in the other its perfection. For just as we say that things that grow and increase live, and all things that partake of life and natural motion, no one would say they are soulless, yet it cannot be said that such life partakes of a perfect soul. For a certain psychic energy, having come to be in plants, did not reach as far as motions according to sense.

Again, in addition, a certain psychic power coming to be in irrational animals did not itself reach the end, not containing in itself the grace of reason and intellect. For this reason we say that the true and perfect soul is the human soul, known through every energy. But if anything else partakes of life, we call it ensouled in a certain improper use of the term, not because the soul in these is perfect, but because they have some parts of psychic energy, which we have learned have also been superadded in man according to the mystical anthropogony of Moses, on account of his affinity with the passible. For this reason Paul, advising those who wish to hear to hold to perfection, also suggests the way in which they might attain what they desire, saying, that they must put off

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ἐπιχειρῶν, ὅπως ἡμῖν καὶ ἐξ ὁποίων συνέστηκε τὰ καθέκαστον, τά τε πρὸς τὸ ζῇν, καὶ τὰ πρὸς τὸ εὖ ζῇν, καὶ εἴ τι μετὰ τούτων ἕτερον κατὰ τὴν πρώτην διαίρεσιν ἐνοήσαμεν. Τὸ γὰρ προκείμενον ἦν δεῖξαι τὴν σπερματικὴν τῆς συστάσεως ἡμῶν αἰτίαν, μήτε ἀσώματον εἶναι ψυχὴν, μήτε ἄψυχον σῶμα, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἐμψύχων τε καὶ ζώντων σωμάτων ζῶν καὶ ἔμψυχον παρὰ τὴν πρώτην ἀπογεννᾶσθαι ζῶον· ἐκδεξαμένην δὲ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν, καθάπερ τινὰ τροφὸν ταῖς οἰκείαις δυνάμεσιν αὐτὴν τιθηνήσασθαι· τὴν δὲ τρέ φεσθαι κατ' ἀμφότερα, καὶ καταλλήλως ἐν ἑκατέρῳ μέρει τὴν αὔξησιν ἐπίδηλον ἔχειν. Εὐθὺς μὲν γὰρ διὰ τῆς τεχνικῆς ταύτης καὶ ἐπιστημονικῆς διαπλά σεως τὴν συμπεπλεγμένην αὐτῇ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐνδεί κνυται δύναμιν, ἀμυδρότερον μὲν κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ἐκφαινομένην, καθεξῆς δὲ τῇ τοῦ ὀργάνου τελειώσει συναναλάμπουσαν. Οἷον δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν λιθογλύφων ἔστιν ἰδεῖν. Πρόκειται μὲν γὰρ τῷ τεχνίτῃ ζώου τινὸς εἶ δος ἐν λίθῳ δεῖξαι· τοῦτο δὲ προθέμενος, πρῶτον μὲν τὸν λίθον τῆς συμφυοῦς ὕλης ἀπέῤῥηξεν· εἶτα περι κόψας αὐτοῦ τὰ περιττὰ, προήγαγέ πως διὰ τοῦ πρώ του σχήματος τῇ μιμήσει τῇ κατὰ πρόθεσιν, ὥστε καὶ τὸν ἄπειρον διὰ τῶν φαινομένων τοῦ σκοποῦ τῆς τέχνης καταστοχάσασθαι. Πάλιν ἐπεργασάμενος, προσήγγισε πλέον τῇ ὁμοιότητι τοῦ σπουδαζομένου. Εἶτα τὸ τέλειον καὶ ἀκριβὲς εἶδος ἐγχειρουργήσας τῇ ὕλῃ, εἰς πέρας τὴν τέχνην προήγαγε· καὶ ἔστι λέων, ἢ ὅ τι ἂν τύχῃ παρὰ τοῦ τεχνίτου γενόμενον, ὁ πρὸ βραχέος ἄσημος λίθος· οὐ τῆς ὕλης πρὸς τὸ εἶδος ὑπαμειφθείσης, ἀλλὰ τοῦ εἴδους ἐπιτεχνηθέντος τῇ ὕλῃ.

Τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ὁ λογισάμενος, τοῦ εἰκότος οὐχ ἁμαρτήσεται. Τὴν γὰρ πάντα τεχνιτεύου σαν φύσιν ἐκ τῆς ὁμογενοῦς ὕλης λαβοῦσαν ἐν ἑαυτῇ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου μέρος, δημιουργεῖν ἀνδριάντα φαμέν. Ὥσπερ δὲ τῇ κατ' ὀλίγον ἐργασίᾳ τοῦ λίθου τὸ εἶδος ἐπηκολούθησεν, ἀμυδρότερον μὲν παρὰ τὴν πρώτην, τελειότερον δὲ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ ἔργου συμπλή ρωσιν· οὕτω καὶ ἐν τῇ τοῦ ὀργάνου γλυφῇ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς εἶδος κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τοῦ ὑποκειμένου προφαίνεται, ἀτελὲς ἐν τῷ ἀτελεῖ, καὶ ἐν τῷ τελείῳ τέλειον. Ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἂν τέλειον ἦν, εἰ μὴ διὰ τῆς κακίας ἡ φύσις ἐκολοβώθη. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἡ πρὸς τὴν 256 ἐμπαθῆ καὶ ζωώδη γένεσιν κοινωνία, οὐκ εὐθὺς ἐκ λάμπειν τὴν θείαν εἰκόνα ἐν τῷ πλάσματι ἐποίησεν, ἀλλ' ὁδῷ τινι καὶ ἀκολουθίᾳ διὰ τῶν ὑλικῶν καὶ ζωω δεστέρων τῆς ψυχῆς ἰδιωμάτων ἐπὶ τὸ τέλειον ἄγει τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Τὸ δὲ τοιοῦτον δόγμα καὶ ὁ μέγας Ἀπόστολος ἐν τῇ πρὸς Κορινθίους διδάσκει, λέγων· «Ὅτε ἤμην νήπιος, ἐλάλουν ὡς νήπιος, ἐλογιζό μην ὡς νήπιος. Ὅτε δὲ γέγονα ἀνὴρ, κατήργησα τὰ τοῦ νηπίου.» Οὐκ ἄλλης ἐν τῷ ἀνδρὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπεισελθούσης, παρὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ μειρακίῳ νοουμένην, ἡ νηπιωδεστέρα καταργεῖται διάνοια, καὶ ἡ ἀνδρώδης ἐγγίνεται· ἀλλὰ τῆς αὐτῆς ἐν ἐκείνῳ μὲν τὸ ἀτελὲς, ἐν τούτῳ δὲ διαδεικνυούσης τὸ τέλειον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὰ φυόμενά τε καὶ αὐξάνοντα ζῇν λέγομεν, πάντα τε τὰ ἐν μετουσίᾳ ζωῆς καὶ φυσικῆς ὄντα κινήσεως, οὐκ ἄν τις ἄψυχα φήσειεν, οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ τελείας ψυχῆς μετέχειν τὴν τοιαύτην ζωὴν ἔστιν εἰπεῖν. Γενομένη γὰρ ἐν τοῖς φυτοῖς ψυχική τις ἐνέργεια, μέχρι τῶν κατ' αἴσθησιν κινημάτων οὐκ ἔφθασε.

Πάλιν δὲ κατὰ προσθήκην δύναμίς τις ψυχικὴ τοῖς ἀλόγοις ἐγγινομένη, οὐδὲ αὐτὴ τοῦ τέλους ἐφίκετο, λόγου τε καὶ διανοίας χάριν ἐν ἑαυτῇ μὴ χωρήσασα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φαμεν τὴν μὲν ἀληθῆ καὶ τελείαν ψυχὴν ἀνθρωπίνην εἶναι, διὰ πάσης ἐνεργείας γνωριζομένην. Εἰ δέ τι ἄλλο μετέχει ζωῆς, ἐν καταχρήσει τινὶ συνηθείας ἔμψυχον λέγομεν, μὴ ὅτι τελεία ἐν τούτοις ἐστὶν ἡ ψυχὴ, ἀλλά τινα μέρη ψυχικῆς ἐνεργείας, ἃ καὶ ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ κατὰ τὴν μυστικὴν τοῦ Μωϋσέως ἀνθρωπογονίαν ἐπιγεγενῆσθαι, διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἐμπαθὲς οἰκειότητα μεμαθήκαμεν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο συμβουλεύων ὁ Παῦλος τοῖς ἀκούειν βουλομένοις τῆς τελειότητος ἔχεσθαι, καὶ τὸν τρόπον ὅπως ἂν τοῦ σπουδαζομένου τύχοιεν ὑποτίθεται, λέγων, ἀπεκδύσασθαι δεῖν