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committing adultery, stealing, and in many other ways dishonoring? But it was necessary to do no evil, on account of which a man is grieved; but now you do all things on account of which a man is disheartened; for injustice and despondency come about through being murdered and having one's things taken away and as many other things as you know which you do not wish to suffer. But you, having been deceived unto wickedness by a certain evil-doing serpent by the supposition of polytheistic knowledge, act impiously against the true image (which is man), but seem to be pious towards inanimate things. But some say: If He did not want them to exist, they would not be, but would have been taken away. I also say: This will certainly happen, when all show their own choice towards Him, and thus a change of the present world will come about. However, if you wanted Him to act in this way, so that none of the things worshipped would exist, tell us what of existing things have you not worshipped. Do not some of you worship the sun, and others the moon, and others water, and others the earth, and others the mountains, and others plants, and others seeds, and others even man (as in Egypt)? Therefore it was necessary for God to allow nothing, not even us, so that there would be nothing that is worshipped nor that which worships. Truly this is what the terrible serpent lurking within you, who does not spare you, wants to happen. But it will not be so. For the thing being worshipped does not sin at all; for it suffers violence by the one who wishes to worship it. For if an unjust judgment is made by all men, yet not by God. For it is not just for the one who suffers and the one who inflicts it to receive the same punishment, unless it willingly accepts the honor of the only Most Honorable One. But (he says) it was necessary for the worshippers themselves to be destroyed by the true God, so that another might not do this. But you are not wiser than God, that as one more prudent you should give Him an opinion. He knows what He is doing. For He is long-suffering to all who are in impiety, as a merciful and man-loving father, knowing that even out of the impious the pious come to be. And of those themselves who worship the shameful and senseless things, many having become sober ceased from worshipping them and sinning, but having fled to the true God with prayers ... and Greeks were saved. But from the beginning He ought to have made us not even to think at all about such things. Saying these things, you are ignorant of what free will is and how it is possible to be truly good. Because he who is good by his own choice is truly good, but he who has become good by the necessity of another is not truly so, because he is what he is not by his own choice. Since, therefore, the freedom of each one constitutes the truly good and reveals the truly evil, God has contrived for each to become an enemy or a friend through these principles. "No," he says, "but everything that we think, He Himself makes us to think." Cease! Why do you blaspheme more, you who say this? For if we are actuated by Him in everything that we think, you say He is the cause of fornications, of licentiousness, of covetousness, and of all blasphemy. Cease speaking ill, you who ought to speak well and to assign all honor to Him. And do not say: God does not lay claim to honor. For even if He Himself claims nothing, yet at least it was necessary for us, looking to what is just, to repay with a thankful voice Him who in all things has benefited us. But (he says) it is better

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μοιχεύοντες, κλέπτοντες καὶ κατὰ πολλὰ ἄλλα ἀτιμάζοντες; ἐχρῆν δὲ μηδὲν κακὸν πράττειν, δι' ὃ ἄνθρωπος λυπεῖται· νῦν δὲ πάντα πράττετε, δι' ἃ ἄνθρωπος ἀθυμεῖ· ἀδικία γὰρ καὶ ἀθυμία γίνεται διὰ τοῦ φονεύεσθαι καὶ ἀφαιρεῖσθαι τὰ αὐτοῦ καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα ἴστε ἅπερ παθεῖν οὐ θέλετε. ὑμεῖς δὲ ἑρπετῷ τινι κακούργῳ πρὸς κακίαν ἀπατηθέντες ὑπονοίᾳ πο- λυθέου γνώσεως, εἰς μὲν τὴν ὄντως εἰκόνα (ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἄνθρωπος) ἀσε- βεῖτε, εἰς δὲ τὰ ἀναίσθητα εὐσεβεῖν δοκεῖτε. τινὲς δὲ λέγουσιν· Eἰ μὴ ἤθελεν αὐτὰ εἶναι, οὐκ ἂν ἦν, ἀλλ' ἀνῃρεῖτο ἄν. φημὶ κἀγώ· Τοῦτο πάντως ἔσται, ὅταν πάντες τὴν αὑτῶν πρὸς αὐτὸν δείξωσιν προαίρεσιν, καὶ οὕτως ἀλλαγὴ τοῦ νῦν γενήσεται κόσμου. πλὴν εἰ καὶ οὕτως ἠθέ- λετε αὐτὸν ποιῆσαι, ἵνα μηδὲν τῶν προσκυνουμένων ὑπῆρχεν, εἴπατε ἡμῖν τί τῶν ὄντων οὐκ ἐθρησκεύσατε. οὐχ οἱ μὲν ὑμῶν τὸν ἥλιον, οἱ δὲ σελήνην, οἱ δὲ ὕδωρ, οἱ δὲ γῆν, οἱ δὲ τὰ ὄρη, οἱ δὲ φυτά, οἱ δὲ τὰ σπέρματα, οἱ δὲ καὶ ἄνθρωπον (ὡς ἐν Aἰγύπτῳ) προσκυνοῦσιν; ἐχρῆν οὖν τὸν θεὸν μηδὲν ἐᾶσαι, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ ἡμᾶς, ἵνα μηδὲν ἂν ἦν τὸ προσ- κυνούμενον μήτε τὸ προσκυνοῦν. ἀληθῶς τοῦτο βούλεται γενέσθαι ὁ ἐν ὑμῖν δεινὸς ἐνδομυχῶν ὄφις, ὃς οὐ φείδεται ὑμῶν. ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτως ἔσται. οὐδὲν γὰρ ἁμαρτάνει τὸ προσκυνούμενον· βίαν γὰρ πάσχει ὑπὸ τοῦ προσκυνεῖν αὐτὸ θέλοντος. εἰ γὰρ ὑπὸ πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἄδικος γίνεται κρίσις, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὑπὸ θεοῦ. οὐ γὰρ δίκαιόν ἐστιν τὴν αὐτὴν τι- μωρίαν ἀναδέξασθαι τὸν πάσχοντα καὶ τὸν διαθέμενον, ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς ἑκὼν ἀναδέξηται τὴν τοῦ μόνου τιμιωτάτου τιμήν. ἀλλά (φησίν) ἐχρῆν αὐτοὺς τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας ἀναιρεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ ὄντως θεοῦ, ἵνα ἄλλος τοῦτο μὴ ποιῇ. ἀλλ' οὐκ εἶ σοφώτερος τοῦ θεοῦ, ἵνα αὐτῷ ὡς φρονι- μώτερος γνώμην δῷς. οἶδεν ὃ ποιεῖ. πᾶσιν γὰρ ἐν ἀσεβείᾳ οὖσιν μακροθυμεῖ, ὡς ἐλεήμων καὶ φιλάνθρωπος πατήρ, εἰδὼς ὅτι καὶ ἐξ ἀσεβῶν εὐσεβεῖς γίνονται. καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν σεβόντων τὰ αἰσχρὰ καὶ ἀναίσθητα πολλοὶ νήψαντες τοῦ μὲν αὐτὰ σέβειν καὶ ἁμαρτάνειν ἐπαύ σαντο, τῷ δὲ ὄντως θεῷ προσ<φυγόν>τες εὐχαῖς ... καὶ Ἕλληνες ἐσώ- θησαν. ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔδει ποιῆσαι ἡμᾶς μηδὲ ὅλως περὶ τοιούτων ἐνθυμεῖσθαι. ταῦτα λέγοντες ἀγνοεῖτε τί ἐστιν τὸ αὐτεξούσιον καὶ πῶς δυνατόν ἐστιν ἀγαθοὺς τῷ ὄντι εἶναι. ὅτι ὁ ἰδίᾳ προαιρέσει ὢν ἀγαθὸς ὄντως ἀγαθός ἐστιν, ὁ δὲ ὑφ' ἑτέρου ἀνάγκης ἀγαθὸς γενόμενος ὄντως οὐκ ἔστιν, ὅτι μὴ ἰδίᾳ προαιρέσει ἐστὶν ὅ ἐστιν. ἐπεὶ οὖν τὸ ἑκάστου ἐλεύ- θερον ἀποτελεῖ τὸ ὄντως ἀγαθὸν καὶ δεικνύει τὸ ὄντως κακόν, ἐν ἑκάστῳ γενέσθαι ἐχθρὸν ἢ φίλον διὰ τῶν ὑποθέσεων ὁ θεὸς ἐμηχανήσατο. οὔ φησιν, ἀλλὰ πᾶν ὃ ἐνθυμούμεθα, αὐτὸς ἡμᾶς ποιεῖ νοεῖν. παύσασθε· τί πλεῖον βλασφημεῖτε οἱ τοῦτο λέγοντες; εἰ γὰρ πᾶν, ὅτι ἂν ἐνθυ- μηθῶμεν, ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἐνεργούμεθα, αὐτὸν αἴτιον λέγετε πορνειῶν, ἀσελγειῶν, πλεονεξιῶν καὶ πάσης βλασφημίας. παύσασθε δυσφημοῦν- τες, οἱ εὐφημεῖν καὶ πᾶσαν τιμὴν αὐτῷ ἀπονέμειν ὀφείλοντες. καὶ μὴ λέ- γετε· Oὐκ ἐπιδικάζεται ὁ θεὸς τιμῆς. εἰ γὰρ αὐτὸς οὐδενὸς ἐπιδικάζεται, ἀλλ' οὖν γε ἡμᾶς ἐχρῆν εἰς τὸ δίκαιον ἀφορῶντας τὸν ἐν πᾶσιν ἡμᾶς εὐεργετήσαντα εὐχαρίστῳ ἀμείψασθαι φωνῇ. ἀλλά (φησίν) κρεῖττον