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immortal, but that of the flesh is mortal. The immortal was therefore united to the mortal, so that through it, it might taste death. {ΟΡΘ.} That which is by nature immortal, not even when joined to the mortal, undergoes death; and this is easy to discern. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Prove this, and resolve the dispute. {ΟΡΘ.} Do you say the human soul is immortal or mortal? {ΕΡΑΝ.} Immortal. {ΟΡΘ.} And the body, mortal or immortal? {ΕΡΑΝ.} Clearly mortal. {ΟΡΘ.} And do we say that man is composed of these natures? {ΕΡΑΝ.} So we say. {ΟΡΘ.} Therefore the immortal was joined to the mortal. {ΕΡΑΝ.} True. {ΟΡΘ.} But when the connection, that is, the union, is dissolved, the mortal part accepts the sentence of death, but the soul remains immortal, even though sin brought on death. Or do you not consider death a punishment? {ΕΡΑΝ.} Indeed, the divine scripture teaches this. For we learn from it that God, after forbidding Adam to partake of the tree of knowledge, added: "For on whatever day you eat of it, you shall surely die." {ΟΡΘ.} Death, therefore, is a punishment for those who have sinned. {ΕΡΑΝ.} It is agreed. {ΟΡΘ.} Why then, when both soul and body have sinned, does the body alone undergo the punishment of death? {ΕΡΑΝ.} For it saw the tree wickedly and stretched out its hands and plucked the forbidden fruit. And again, its mouth ground this 191 with its teeth, and pulverized it with its molars. Then again the esophagus, receiving this, sent it to the stomach; and that, having changed it, passed it on to the liver. And the liver changed what it received into the nature of blood, and delivered it to the vena cava; and that to its connected veins, and they through the others to the body; and thus the theft of the forbidden food passed into the whole body. Rightly, therefore, the body alone underwent the punishment for the sin. {ΟΡΘ.} You have explained to us physiologically the matters concerning food, and through how many parts it travels and how many changes it undergoes before it is finally transformed into the nature of the body. However, you were unwilling to see that without the soul, the body does none of these things that have been mentioned. For when it is abandoned by its conjoined soul, it lies breathless, voiceless, and motionless; and neither does the eye see wickedly, nor well for that matter, nor do the ears receive the sound of voices, the hands do not move, the feet do not walk; but it is like an instrument deprived of the musician. How then did you say that the body alone has sinned, which without the soul is not able to breathe at all? {ΕΡΑΝ.} The body receives life from the soul, but it procures for the soul the punishable acquisition of sin. {ΟΡΘ.} How and in what way? {ΕΡΑΝ.} Through the eyes it causes it to see wickedly, and through the ears to hear what is not expedient, and through the tongue to utter what is harmful, and through the other members to do what is not lawful. {ΟΡΘ.} We must, it seems, count the deaf as blessed, and those deprived of sight and lacking other members. For the souls of these do not partake of the wickedness of the body. But why, O most wise one, have you mentioned the blameworthy services of the body, but omitted the praiseworthy ones? For it is possible also to see in a friendly and humane way, and to wipe away a tear of compunction, and to hear divine oracles, and to incline the ear to one in need, and to praise the Creator with the tongue, and to teach one's neighbor what is necessary, and to move one's hands to mercy, and, to speak concisely, to use the members of the body for every acquisition of virtue. {ΕΡΑΝ.} These things are true. 192 {ΟΡΘ.} Therefore, both keeping and transgressing the laws is common to soul and body. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Common. {ΟΡΘ.} It seems to me the soul rules both, using reason before the body. {ΕΡΑΝ.} How do you say this? {ΟΡΘ.} Because first the mind outlines virtue or vice, and then so forms it, using as instruments
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ἀθάνατος, θνητὴ δὲ ἡ τῆς σαρκός. Ἡνώθη τοίνυν τῇ θνητῇ ἡ ἀθάνατος, ἵνα γεύσηται δι' ἐκείνης θανάτου. {ΟΡΘ.} Τὸ φύσει ἀθάνατον οὐδὲ τῷ θνητῷ συναπτόμενον ὑπομένει θάνατον· καὶ τοῦτο ῥᾴδιον διαγνῶναι. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀπόδειξον τοῦτο, καὶ λύσον τὴν ἀμφισβήτησιν. {ΟΡΘ.} Τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν ψυχὴν ἀθάνατον εἶναι φῂς ἢ θνητήν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀθάνατον. {ΟΡΘ.} Τὸ δὲ σῶμα θνητὸν ἢ ἀθάνατον; {ΕΡΑΝ.} ∆ηλονότι θνητόν. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἐκ δὲ τούτων τῶν φύσεών φαμεν συνεστάναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὕτω φαμέν. {ΟΡΘ.} Συνήφθη τοίνυν τὸ ἀθάνατον τῷ θνητῷ. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀληθές. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἀλλὰ τῆς συναφείας ἤγουν ἑνώσεως λυομένης, τὸ μὲν θνητὸν δέχεται τοῦ θανάτου τὸν ὅρον, μένει δὲ ἀθάνατος ἡ ψυχή, καίτοι τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐπενεγκούσης τὸν θάνατον. Ἢ οὐχ ἡγῇ τιμωρίαν εἶναι τὸν θάνατον; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἡ θεία τοίνυν τοῦτο διδάσκει γραφή. Παρ' αὐτῆς γὰρ μανθάνομεν, ὡς ἀπαγορεύσας τῷ Ἀδὰμ ὁ θεὸς τοῦ φυτοῦ τῆς γνώ σεως τὴν μετάληψιν ἐπήγαγεν· "Ἧι δ' ἂν ἡμέρᾳ φάγητε ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖσθε." {ΟΡΘ.} Τιμωρία τοίνυν τῶν ἡμαρτηκότων ὁ θάνατος. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ὡμολόγηται. {ΟΡΘ.} Τί δήποτε τοίνυν, ψυχῆς ὁμοῦ καὶ σώματος ἡμαρτηκότων, τὸ σῶμα μόνον ὑπομένει τοῦ θανάτου τὴν τιμωρίαν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Αὐτὸ γὰρ εἶδε τὸ ξύλον κακῶς καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἐξέτεινε καὶ τὸν ἀπειρημένον καρπὸν ἀπεσύλησε. Καὶ αὐτὸ πάλιν τὸ στόμα τοῦτον 191 τοῖς ὀδοῦσιν ἐλέπτυνεν, καὶ ταῖς μύλαις ἐλέανεν. Εἶτ' αὖθις ὁ οἰσο φάγος τοῦτον ὑποδεξάμενος παρέπεμψε τῇ γαστρί· κἀκείνη δὲ ἀλλοιώσασα τῷ ἥπατι μεταδέδωκε. Τὸ δέ γε ἧπαρ εἰς αἵματος φύσιν μετέβαλεν ὅπερ ἔλαβε, καὶ τῇ κοίλῃ φλεβὶ παραδέδωκεν· ἐκείνη δὲ ταῖς συμφυέσι, κἀκεῖναι διὰ τῶν ἄλλων τῷ σώματι· καὶ οὕτως εἰς ἅπαν διέβη τὸ σῶμα τῆς ἀπειρημένης βρώσεως ἡ λῃστεία. Εἰκότως τοίνυν τὸ σῶμα μόνον τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὑπέμεινε τιμωρίαν. {ΟΡΘ.} Φυσιολογικῶς ἡμῖν τὰ περὶ τῆς τροφῆς διεξελήλυθας, καὶ δι' ὅσων αὕτη μορίων ὁδεύουσα καὶ πόσας ἀλλοιώσεις ὑφισταμένη ὕστερον εἰς τὴν τοῦ σώματος μεταβάλλεται φύσιν. Ἐκεῖνο μέντοι συνιδεῖν οὐκ ἠθέλησας, ὡς δίχα ψυχῆς τούτων οὐδὲν τὸ σῶμα τῶν εἰρημένων ἐργάζεται. Καταλειφθὲν γὰρ ὑπὸ τῆς συνεζευγμένης ψυχῆς κεῖται ἄπνουν καὶ ἄφωνον καὶ ἀκίνητον· καὶ οὔτε ὀφθαλμὸς ὁρᾷ κακῶς οὔτ' αὖ καλῶς, οὔτε τὰ ὦτα εἰσδέχεται τῶν φωνῶν τὴν ἠχήν, οὐ κινοῦνται χεῖρες, οὐ βαδίζουσι πόδες· ἀλλ' ἔοικεν ὀργάνῳ ἐστερημένῳ τοῦ μουσικοῦ. Πῶς οὖν ἔφησθα μόνον ἡμαρτηκέναι τὸ σῶμα τὸ δίχα ψυχῆς μηδὲ ἀναπνεῖν τὸ παράπαν δυνάμενον; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Μεταλαμβάνει μὲν τὸ σῶμα ζωῆς παρὰ τῆς ψυχῆς, προξε νεῖ δὲ τῇ ψυχῇ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὴν ἐπιζήμιον κτῆσιν. {ΟΡΘ.} Πῶς καὶ τίνα τρόπον; {ΕΡΑΝ.} ∆ιὰ μὲν τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ὁρᾶν αὐτὴν παρασκευάζει κακῶς, διὰ δὲ τῶν ἀκοῶν ἀκούειν ἃ μὴ συμφέρει, καὶ διὰ τῆς γλώτ της τὰ λυμαινόμενα φθέγγεσθαι, καὶ διὰ τῶν ἄλλων μορίων ἃ μὴ θέμις ποιεῖν. {ΟΡΘ.} Τοὺς κωφοὺς ἡμῖν, ὡς ἔοικε, μακαριστέον καὶ τοὺς τὸ βλέ πειν ἀφῃρημένους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων μορίων ἐστερημένους. Οὐ γὰρ μεταλαγχάνουσι τούτων αἱ ψυχαὶ τῆς πονηρίας τοῦ σώματος. Τί δήποτε δέ, ὦ σοφώτατε, τῶν μὲν ψεκτῶν τοῦ σώματος ἐμνήσθης ὑπουργιῶν, τὰς ἀξιεπαίνους δὲ παραλέλοιπας; Ἔστι γὰρ καὶ φιλικῶς καὶ φιλανθρώπως ἰδεῖν, καὶ κατανύξεως ἀπομόρξασθαι δάκρυον, καὶ θείων ἀκοῦσαι λογίων, καὶ κλῖναι δεομένῳ τὸ οὖς, καὶ ὑμνῆσαι τῇ γλώττῃ τὸν ποιητήν, καὶ διδάξαι τὸν πέλας ἃ δεῖ, καὶ κινῆσαι τὰς χεῖρας εἰς ἔλεον, καὶ συλλήβδην εἰπεῖν, εἰς ἅπασαν κτῆσιν ἀρετῆς χρήσασθαι τοῖς μορίοις τοῦ σώματος. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀληθῆ ταῦτα. 192 {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκοῦν κοινὸν ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος καὶ τὸ φυλάττειν καὶ τὸ παραβαίνειν τοὺς νόμους. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Κοινόν. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ καὶ ἄρχειν ἑκατέρου τὴν ψυχὴν τῷ λογισμῷ πρὸ τοῦ σώματος κεχρημένην. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Πῶς τοῦτο λέγεις; {ΟΡΘ.} Ὅτι τὸ πρῶτον ὁ νοῦς τὴν ἀρετὴν ἢ τὴν κακίαν σκιογραφεῖ, εἶθ' οὕτως αὐτὴν διαμορφοῖ, ὀργάνοις μὲν κεχρημένος