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the body was freed, and neither did pain trouble it, nor sweat defile it, cares did not plot against it, despondencies did not besiege it, nor did any other of such passions grieve it; but since he did not bear his prosperity soberly, but acted insolently toward his benefactor, and considered the deceiving demon to be more trustworthy than the guardian God who had also honored him, and he expected to become a god, and conceived a notion greater than his own worth, then indeed, then, correcting him through the events themselves, God made him corruptible and mortal, and bound him with these many necessities, not hating him, nor turning away, but caring for him, and preventing that wicked and destructive madness from the outset, and not allowing it to proceed further, but teaching him through the very experience of things that he is mortal and perishable, and by this persuading him never to imagine and dream of such things; for the devil said: You will be as gods. Therefore, wishing to uproot this notion, He made his body subject to much suffering and wretched, educating him through his very nature never to entertain such a notion. And that this is true, is most evident both from what happened in his case; for after that expectation he was condemned to this punishment. And consider for me the wisdom of God; He did not let him die first, but permitted his son to suffer this, so that seeing before his eyes the body decaying and corrupting, he might receive from this sight a great lesson of philosophy, and learn what had happened, and being well corrected, thus depart from here. Therefore, as I said, this is most evident from what has already happened, and it will be no less clear from what will be said hereafter. For if, with the body bound by such necessity, and with all dying and corrupting and decaying in the sight of all and being dissolved into dust, and with the pagan philosophers making this a complementary definition of the human race (for when asked what man is, they said, a mortal rational animal); if, then, while all confessed these things, some dared to deify themselves in the opinions of the many, and though sight testified to death, they strove to be proclaimed gods, and were honored as such; if death had not advanced, teaching everyone the perishable and corruptible nature of their being, to what lengths of impiety would many men not have gone? Hear then what the prophet says concerning a certain barbarian king who was mad with such a madness: 49.122 I will set my throne, he says, above the stars of heaven, and I will be like the Most High. Then, mocking him and declaring his end, he says: They will spread decay under you, and your covering will be the worm. What he says is something like this: A man awaiting such an end, you dared to imagine such things? And again concerning another king, I mean of the Tyrians, who contrived such things and wished to be considered a god, he says: But you are not a god, but a man, and those who pierce you will say this. So from the beginning and with superabundance, destroying the hypothesis of idolatry, God made our body such. And why do you wonder if this has happened in the case of the body, when it is possible to see something of this kind has happened also in the case of the soul? For He did not make it mortal, but allowed it to be immortal; but He made it liable to forgetfulness and ignorance and despondency and cares; and He did this, so that looking to its own nobility, it might not conceive a notion greater than its own worth. For if, even with these things being so, some have dared to say that it is of the substance of God; if it had been freed from these passions, to what lengths of madness would these not have gone? Nevertheless, what I said about creation, this I also say about the body, that I likewise marvel at God for both these things, both that He made it corruptible, and that in its corruption He displayed His own strength and wisdom. For that He was able to make it of better matter, He showed from the heavenly body and the

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τὸ σῶμα ἀπήλλακτο, καὶ οὔτε πόνος ἠνώχλει, οὔτε ἱδρὼς ἐλυμαίνετο, οὐ φροντίδες ἐπεβούλευον, οὐκ ἀθυμίαι ἐπολιόρκουν, οὐκ ἄλλο τι τῶν τοιούτων ἐλύπει παθῶν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ σωφρόνως τὴν εὐημερίαν οὐκ ἤνεγκεν, ἀλλ' ἐξύβρισεν εἰς τὸν εὐεργέτην, καὶ τὸν ἀπατεῶνα δαίμονα τοῦ κηδεμόνος Θεοῦ καὶ τιμήσαντος αὐτὸν ἐνόμισεν ἀξιοπιστότερον εἶναι, καὶ θεὸς γενέσθαι προσεδόκησε, καὶ μείζονα τῆς οἰκείας ἀξίας ἔλαβεν ἔννοιαν, τότε δὴ, τότε καὶ διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτῶν σωφρονίζων αὐτὸν ὁ Θεὸς, φθαρτόν τε ἐποίησε καὶ θνητὸν, καὶ ταῖς πολλαῖς ταύταις κατέδησεν ἀνάγκαις, οὐχὶ μισῶν, οὐδὲ ἀποστρεφόμενος, ἀλλὰ κηδόμενος, καὶ τὴν πονηρὰν καὶ ὀλέθριον ἐκείνην ἀπόνοιαν ἐκ προοιμίων κωλύων, καὶ περαιτέρω προελθεῖν οὐκ ἐῶν, ἀλλὰ δι' αὐτῆς τῶν πραγμάτων τῆς πείρας διδάσκων αὐτὸν, ὅτι θνητός τέ ἐστι καὶ ἐπίκηρος, καὶ ταύτῃ πείθων μηδέποτε τοιαῦτα φαντάζεσθαι καὶ ὀνειροπολεῖν· καὶ γὰρ εἶπεν ὁ διάβολος· Ἔσεσθε ὡς θεοί. Πρόῤῥιζον οὖν ταύτην ἀνασπάσαι βουλόμενος τὴν ἔννοιαν, πολυπαθὲς αὐτοῦ καὶ ταλαίπωρον τὸ σῶμα πεποίηκε, δι' αὐτῆς τῆς φύσεως παιδεύων αὐτὸν, μηδέποτε τοιαύτην λαβεῖν ἔννοιαν. Καὶ ὅτι τοῦτό ἐστιν ἀληθὲς, μάλιστα μὲν καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐπ' ἐκείνου γεγενημένων δῆλον· μετὰ γὰρ τὴν προσδοκίαν ἐκείνην ταύτῃ κατεδικάσθη τῇ τιμωρίᾳ. Καὶ σκόπει μοι Θεοῦ σύνεσιν· οὐκ ἀφῆκεν αὐτὸν πρῶτον ἀποθανεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὸν υἱὸν τὸν ἐκείνου συνεχώρησε τοῦτο παθεῖν, ἵνα πρὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἰδὼν τὸ σῶμα σηπόμενον καὶ φθειρόμενον, μεγάλην ἀπὸ τῆς ὄψεως ταύτης δέξηται φιλοσοφίας διδασκαλίαν, καὶ μάθῃ τί γέγονε, καὶ σωφρονισθεὶς καλῶς, οὕτως ἐντεῦθεν ἀπέλθῃ. Μάλιστα μὲν οὖν, ὅπερ ἔφην, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἤδη γεγενημένων τοῦτο δῆλον, οὐκ ἔλαττον δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα ῥηθησομένων ἔσται φανερόν. Εἰ γὰρ ἀνάγκῃ τοιαύτῃ τοῦ σώματος ἐνδεδεμένου, καὶ πάντων ἀποθνησκόντων καὶ φθειρομένων καὶ σηπομένων ἐν ταῖς ἁπάντων ὄψεσι καὶ διαλελυμένων εἰς κόνιν, καὶ τῶν ἔξωθεν φιλοσόφων ἕνα καὶ τοῦτον ποιησαμένων συμπληρωτικὸν ὅρον τοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένους ἐρωτηθέντες γὰρ, τί ποτε ἄνθρωπός ἐστι, ζῶον λογικὸν θνητὸν εἶπον· εἰ τοίνυν πάντων ταῦτα ὁμολογούντων ἐτόλμησαν ἑαυτοὺς ἀπαθανατίσαι τινὲς ἐν ταῖς τῶν πολλῶν ὑπολήψεσι, καὶ τῆς ὅψεως μαρτυρούσης τὸν θάνατον, ἐφιλονείκησαν ἀναῤῥηθῆναι θεοὶ, καὶ ἐτιμήθησαν οὕτως· εἰ μὴ προὐχώρησεν ὁ θάνατος διδάσκων ἅπαντας τὸ τῆς φύσεως ἐπίκηρον καὶ φθαρτὸν, ποῦ οὐκ ἂν ἐξέβησαν ἀσεβείας πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων; Ἄκουσον τοίνυν τί φησιν ὁ προφήτης περί τινος βαρβάρου βασιλέως τοιαύτην μανέντος μανίαν· 49.122 Ἐπάνω τῶν ἄστρων τοῦ οὐρανοῦ θήσω, φησὶ, τὸν θρόνον μου, καὶ ἔσομαι ὅμοιος τῷ Ὑψίστῳ. Εἶτα καταγελῶν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὴν τελευτὴν αὐτοῦ δηλῶν, φησίν· Ὑποκάτω σου στρώσουσι σῆψιν, καὶ τὸ κατακάλυμμά σου σκώληξ. Ὃ δὲ λέγει τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Ἄνθρωπος τοιαύτην ἀναμένων τελευτὴν, τοιαῦτα φαντάζεσθαι ἐτόλμησας; Καὶ περὶ ἑτέρου πάλιν τοῦ βασιλέως, λέγω τῶν Τυρίων, τοιαῦτα κατασκευάζοντος καὶ βουλομένου νομίζεσθαι θεοῦ, φησί· Σὺ δὲ οὐκ εἶ θεὸς, ἀλλ' ἄνθρωπος, καὶ οἱ κατακεντοῦντές σε τοῦτο ἐροῦσιν. Ὥστε ἄνωθεν καὶ μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς ἀναιρῶν τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας τὴν ὑπόθεσιν, τοιοῦτον ἡμῖν τὸ σῶμα ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεός. Καὶ τί θαυμάζεις εἰ ἐπὶ τοῦ σώματος τοῦτο γέγονεν, ὅπου γε καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ἔστιν ἰδεῖν τοιοῦτόν τι γεγενημένον; Θνητὴν μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἐποίησεν, ἀλλ' ἀφῆκεν ἀθάνατον εἶναι· λήθῃ δὲ καὶ ἀγνοίᾳ καὶ ἀθυμίᾳ καὶ φροντίσιν ὑπεύθυνον αὐτὴν κατεσκεύασε· καὶ τοῦτο ἐποίησεν, ἵνα μὴ πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν εὐγένειαν ἰδοῦσα, μείζονα τῆς οἰκείας ἀξίας ἔννοιαν λάβῃ. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τούτων ὄντων ἐτόλμησάν τινες εἰπεῖν, ὅτι τῆς οὐσίας ἐστὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ· εἰ καὶ τούτων ἀπήλλακτο τῶν παθῶν, ποῦ οὐκ ἂν ἦλθον οὗτοι μανίας; Πλὴν ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῆς κτίσεως ἕλεγον, τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ σώματος λέγω, ὅτι ὁμοίως δι' ἀμφότερα ταῦτα θαυμάζω τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ὅτι φθαρτὸν αὐτὸ ἐποίησε, καὶ ὅτι ἐν τῇ φθορᾷ τὴν οἰκείαν ἰσχὺν ἐπεδείξατο καὶ σοφίαν. Ὅτι μὲν γὰρ βελτίονος αὐτὸ ἴσχυε ποιῆσαι ὕλης, ἔδειξεν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανίου τε σώματος καὶ τοῦ