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and Isaiah and Jeremiah and the entire choir of the prophets and Matthew and John and Luke and Mark and Peter and Paul and the whole company of the apostles, all teaching all men in harmony 5.50. For it is not possible to hear some saying that men are autochthonous, and others not; nor some declaring the soul to be mortal, and others immortal; nor these calling reason the master of the passions, and those naming it slavish and a servant; for all harmoniously teach that the body was formed from earth and water and the other elements, but that the soul, not pre-existing, was sent down into it, but was created after its formation; "For," he says, "God formed man of dust from the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life; and man became a living 5.51 soul." But this in-breathing must be understood not as some outflow of spirit from a mouth—for the divine is indeed incorporeal and simple and uncompounded—but the very nature of the soul, that it is an intelligible and rational 5.52 spirit. These things, then, the lawgiver wrote in his account of creation; and he teaches similar things also in the laws. For when speaking about a pregnant woman who miscarries from certain blows, he says that the infant is first formed in the womb, and then so animated, with the soul not entering from somewhere outside, nor indeed growing from the seed, but by the divine decree according to the law implanted in nature from the beginning 5.53 receiving its genesis. This also noble Job, in his much-celebrated contests, said when conversing with the arbiter and maker: "Remember that you formed me from clay, and to earth you will return me again. Or did you not milk me like milk, and curdle me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh; and with bones and sinews you wove me together; and you placed life and mercy with me; and your visitation 5.54 has preserved my spirit." And through these things he showed the marital union, and he showed the origins of childbearing and that small seed being transformed into myriad forms, and then the soul being created and joined to the body, and indeed also after the birth-pangs the divine assistance 5.55 guarding and governing. And the divine David also cries out: "Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments." And in the same way, he reminds the maker of his creation and beseeches to receive understanding from him. And all the prophets teach in harmony with these things concerning human nature. But lest anyone suppose that Greeks were made one way, and Romans another, and Egyptians differently, and that Persians and Massagetae and Scythians and Sauromatians partook of another substance, he who wrote our account of creation taught that the maker, having formed one man from the earth and created the woman from his rib, from the union of these two filled the whole inhabited world with men, their children and their descendants having increased the race in 5.56 turn. For it would have been easy for him to command and at once fill all the earth and sea with inhabitants; but so that they might not suppose the natures of men to be different, he commanded the myriad tribes of men to be born from that one pair. For this reason, he did not form the woman from some other source, but took the origins of her genesis from the man, so that she too, not supposing she had a different nature, 5.57 might not walk a path contrary to men. For this very reason, he offers the same laws to both men and women, since the difference is in the form of the body and not in the soul. For she is rational just as he is, and able to understand and knowing what must be done, and knowing similarly what to flee and what to pursue, and sometimes even finding what will be advantageous better than the man and becoming a good counsellor; whence it is accessible not only to men, but also to women into the divine

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καὶ Ἡσαΐαν καὶ Ἱερεμίανκαὶ ἅπαντα τὸν τῶν προφητῶν χορὸν καὶ Ματθαῖον καὶ Ἰωάν νην καὶ Λουκᾶν καὶ Μάρκον καὶ Πέτρον καὶ Παῦλον καὶ πάντα τῶν ἀποστόλων τὸν θίασον ξυνῳδὰ πάντας ἀνθρώπους διδάσκον 5.50 τας. Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ἀκοῦσαι τῶν μὲν τούτους, τῶν δὲ ἐκείνους λεγόντων αὐτόχθονας, οὐδὲ τῶν μὲν θνητὴν ἀποφαινομένων, τῶν δὲ ἀθάνατον τὴν ψυχήν, οὐδὲ τούτων μὲν αὐτοκράτορα τῶν πα θῶν καλούντων τὸν λογισμόν, ἐκείνων δὲ ἀνδραποδώδη καὶ δοῦ λον ὀνομαζόντων· ἅπαντες γὰρ ξυμφώνως διδάσκουσιν, ἀπὸ γῆς μὲν καὶ ὕδατος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων στοιχείων διαπλασθῆναι τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν οὐ προϋπάρχουσαν εἰς τοῦτο καταπεμφθῆναι, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τὴν τούτου δημιουργηθῆναι διάπλασιν· "Ἔπλασε" γάρ φησιν "ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐνεφύσησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ πνοὴν ζωῆς· καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰς 5.51 ψυχὴν ζῶσαν." Νοητέον δὲ τὸ ἐμφύσημα οὐκ ἐκροήν τινα πνεύ ματος ἐκ στόματος γενομένην- ἀσώματον γὰρ δὴ τὸ θεῖον καὶ ἁπλοῦν καὶ ἀξύνθετον-ἀλλὰ τὴν φύσιν αὐτὴς τῆς ψυχῆς, ὅτι 5.52 πνεῦμά ἐστι νοητόν τε καὶ λογικόν. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὁ νομοθέτης ἐν τῇ κοσμογονίᾳ ξυνέγραψε· τὰ παραπλήσια δὲ κἀν τοῖς νόμοις διδάσκει. Περὶ γὰρ δὴ τῆς ἐγκύμονος τῆς ἔκ τινων πληγῶν ἀμβλωσκούσης διαλεγόμενος, διαμορφοῦσθαι πρότερον ἐν τῇ νηδύϊ λέγει τὸ βρέφος, εἶθ' οὕτω ψυχοῦσθαι, οὐ θύραθέν ποθεν τῆς ψυχῆς εἰσκρινομένης, οὐδέ γε ἐκ τῆς γονῆς φυομένης, ἀλλὰ τῷ θείῳ ὅρῳ κατὰ τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐντεθέντα ἐν τῇ φύσει νόμον 5.53 δεχομένης τὴν γένεσιν. Τοῦτο καὶ ὁ γενναῖος Ἰὼβ ἐν τοῖς πολυ θρυλήτοις ἀγῶσι πρὸς τὸν ἀγωνοθέτην καὶ ποιητὴν διαλεγόμενος ἔφη· "Μνήσθητι, ὅτι πηλόν με ἔπλασας, εἰς δὲ γῆν με πάλιν ἀποστρέφεις. Ἢ οὐχ ὥσπερ γάλα με ἤμελξας, ἔπηξας δέ με ἴσα τυρῷ; δέρμα καὶ κρέας ἐνέδυσάς με· ὀστέοις δὲ καὶ νεύροις ἔνειράς με· ζωὴν δὲ καὶ ἔλεον ἔθου παρ' ἐμοί· ἡ δὲ ἐπισκοπή 5.54 σου ἐφύλαττέ μου τὸ πνεῦμα." ∆ιὰ δὲ τούτων ἔδειξε μὲν τὴν γαμικὴν ὁμιλίαν, ἔδειξε δὲ τῆς παιδοποιΐας τὰς ἀφορμὰς καὶ τὸν σμικρὸν ἐκεῖνον θορὸν εἰς μυρίας ἰδέας μεταμορφούμενον καὶ τηνικαῦτα τὴν ψυχὴν δημιουργουμένην τε καὶ ξυναπτομένην τῷ σώματι, καὶ μέντοι καὶ μετὰ τὰς ὠδῖνας τὴν θείαν ἐπικουρίαν 5.55 φρουροῦσαν καὶ κυβερνῶσαν. Βοᾷ δὲ καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος ∆αυίδ· "Αἱ χεῖρές σου ἐποίησάν με καὶ ἔπλασάν με· συνέτισόν με, καὶ μαθή σομαι τὰς ἐντολάς σου." Καὶ κατὰ ταὐτὸν καὶ τῆς ποιήσεως ἀναμιμνήσκει τὸν ποιητὴν καὶ τυχεῖν παρ' αὐτοῦ ξυνέσεως ἱκε τεύει. Καὶ ἅπαντες δὲ οἱ προφῆται ξύμφωνα τούτοις τῆς ἀνθρω πείας πέρι διδάσκουσι φύσεως. Ὡς ἂν δὲ μή τις ὑπολάβῃ ἄλλως μὲν Ἕλληνας φῦναι, ἄλλως δὲ Ῥωμαίους, καὶ Αἰγυπτίους ἑτέρως, καὶ Πέρσας καὶ Μασσαγέτας καὶ Σκύθας καὶ Σαυρο μάτας ἄλλης οὐσίας μετειληχέναι, ἐδίδαξεν ὁ τὴν κοσμογονίαν ξυγγράψας τὴν ἡμετέραν, ὡς ἄνδρα ἕνα ἀπὸ γῆς ὁ ποιητὴς διαπλάσας καὶ ἐκ τῆς τούτου πλευρᾶς τὴν γυναῖκα δημιουργή σας, ἐκ τῆς τούτοιν ὁμιλίας ἅπασαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἀνθρώπων ἐπλήρωσε τῶν παίδων τῶν ἐκείνων καὶ τῶν ἐκγόνων κατὰ μέ 5.56 ρος αὐξησάντων τὸ γένος. Ῥᾷστον μὲν γὰρ ἦν αὐτῷ προστάξαι καὶ αὐτίκα πᾶσαν γῆν καὶ θάλατταν τῶν οἰκητόρων ἐμπλῆσαι· ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ διαφόρους ὑπολάβωσιν εἶναι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὰς φύσεις, ἐκ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἐκείνου ζεύγους τὰ μυρία φῦλα τῶν ἀνθρώ πων γενέσθαι ἐκέλευσεν. Ταύτῃ τοι καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα οὐχ ἑτέ ρωθέν ποθεν διέπλασεν, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τὰς τῆς γενέσεως λαβὼν ἀφορμάς, ἵνα μηδὲ αὐτὴ φύσιν ἔχειν ἑτέραν ὑπολαμβά 5.57 νουσα τὴν ἐναντίαν τοῖς ἀνδράσιν ὁδεύῃ. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο καὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς νόμους καὶ ἀνδράσι προσφέρει καὶ γυναιξίν, ἐπειδήπερ ἐν τῷ τοῦ σώματος σχήματι καὶ οὐκ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ τὸ διάφορον. Λογικὴ γὰρ κἀκείνη ὡς οὗτος καὶ ξυνιέναι δυναμένη καὶ τὸ πρακτέον ἐπισταμένη, καὶ τί μὲν φυγεῖν, τί δὲ μετελθεῖν, πα ραπλησίως εἰδυῖα, ἔστι δὲ ὅτε καὶ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἄμεινον τὸ ξυνοί σειν μέλλον εὑρίσκουσα καὶ ἀγαθὴ ξύμβουλος γινομένη· ὅθεν οὐ μόνον ἀνδράσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ γυναιξὶν εἰσιτητὸν εἰς τοὺς θείους