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More simply, it is clear that "evil" is applied to the wickedness of morals; and they define "beautiful" as a praiseworthy good. Again, darkness is air deprived of light; and light, a substance that dispels darkness. Again, sweet is a smoothness of juice or humor that pleases the sense of taste; and bitter is a taste that roughens the tongue. According to the simpler understanding, then, these things are so far distant from one another. Who then is so senseless as to stand in deep night and call the darkness light, and, with his eyes confused in the darkness, to feel as if he were being illuminated by light? Who, being pained by the taste of bitter things, feels as if in the pleasure of sweetness? And perceptible beauty—to whom of those who have eyes is it not easily known? That in the symmetry of the parts to one another, along with the apparent good color, it wins over those who encounter it with a certain automatic and natural attraction; and indeed ugliness immediately causes aversion in those who see it. 5.174 But it seems the argument is not about things known by the senses, but if *the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes*, and *a lamp to the feet* of the righteous, is the word of God, he who does not live according to virtue but wallows in material passions, this would be the one who embraces the life in wickedness as if it were some light, but turns away from the life according to the commandment of the Lord as if it were some darkness. And he who turns away from the oracles of God, which are *sweet to the throat* of the righteous man, being sweeter *than honey* to his intelligible taste, because of the arduousness of the commandments, but consents to the smoothness of pleasure, this man would say that the bitter is sweet, and the sweet bitter. In the same way, one must also think about the beautiful, that what is truly beautiful is the symmetry in the soul which is disposed according to virtue; for virtue is a mean and a kind of symmetry; but the excesses and deficiencies on either side that transgress virtue are disproportion and ugliness. For example, courage is a mean; its excess is rashness, and its deficiency, cowardice. Therefore, the beauty of the soul is the symmetry according to virtue; but ugliness is the disproportions that arise from vice. The Word, then, pronounces a woe upon these, those who choose vice as a good, and shun virtue as wickedness. And the reason must be examined why in the case of the beautiful it says *saying*, but in the case of light and the sweet it no longer says *saying*, but *putting*. For *Woe to those who say that the beautiful is evil*, and *Woe to those who put darkness for light*; and *Woe to those who put the sweet for bitter*. Does the Word perhaps indicate, then, that in the first choices of life we err by word alone, but when we are engaged in actions and do not desist from evil even after experience, we as it were set boundaries for ourselves for our deeds, making the works of wickedness immovable? For he who does not turn from licentiousness and love of pleasure to self-control, puts for himself the bitter as sweet. And he who shuns the life according to the Gospel, but chooses the brutish and irrational life, puts for himself the light as darkness. But he who advocates for these things and speaks boldly in favor of absurd actions, this is the one who says the beautiful is evil, according to the Apostle, who blames those who not only do them, but also approve of those who practice them. And he puts light for darkness who puts the lamp under the bushel, or covers it with a vessel and does not place it on the lampstand. Therefore, *to say the beautiful is evil* is taken to refer to dogmatizing; but *to put light for darkness* refers to the habituation through actions. 5.175 Woe, then, to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight. And these things pertain not only to those who err in their actions, but also to those who are held in unbelief and in the ignorance concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who does not believe in the true light, but makes himself a son of the devil, this one says light is darkness, and darkness light. Therefore, just as the Lord is light, so also he is sweetness to those who taste him with knowledge, providing a pleasant and full of all delight

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ἁπλούστερον, σαφὲς ὅτι τὸ πονηρὸν ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν ἠθῶν μοχθηρίας τέτακται· καλὸν δὲ ὁρίζονται ἀγαθὸν ἐπαινετόν· πάλιν σκότος μὲν ἀὴρ ἐστερημένος φωτός· φῶς δὲ, οὐσία διαλυτικὴ σκότους. Πάλιν γλυκὺ μέν ἐστι λειότης χυμοῦ ἢ χυλοῦ τὴν γευστικὴν ἡδύνουσα αἴσθησιν· πικρὸν δέ ἐστι γευστὸν ἐκτραχύνον τὴν γεῦσιν. Κατὰ μὲν οὖν τὴν ἁπλουστέραν νόησιν, τοσοῦτον διέστηκε ταῦτα ἀλλήλων. Τίς οὖν οὕτως ἔκφρων, ὡς ἐν νυκτὶ βαθείᾳ ἑστὼς, φῶς ὀνομάζειν τὸ σκότος, καὶ συγκεχυμένων αὐτῷ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἐν τῷ σκότει, ὡς ὑπὸ φωτὸς καταλαμπόμενος διακεῖσθαι; Τίς δὲ τῇ γεύσει τῶν πικρῶν ἀλγυνόμενος, ὡς ἐπὶ γλυκύτητος ἡδονῇ διάκειται; Τὸ δὲ αἰσθητὸν κάλλος τίνι τῶν ὀφθαλ μοὺς ἐχόντων οὐκ εὔγνωστον; Ὅτι ἐν τῇ πρὸς ἄλληλα τῶν μερῶν συμμετρίᾳ μετὰ τῆς ἐπιφαινομένης εὐχροίας αὐτομάτῳ τινὶ καὶ φυσικῇ ὁλκῇ προσοικειοῦται τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας· καὶ μέντοι καὶ τὸ αἰσχρὸν αὐτόθεν ποιεῖ τὴν ἀποστροφὴν τοῖς ὁρῶσιν. 5.174 Ἀλλ' ἔοικεν οὐ περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν γνω ρίμων ὁ λόγος εἶναι, ἀλλ' εἴπερ Ἡ ἐντολὴ Κυρίου τηλαυ γὴς, φωτίζουσα ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ λύχνος τοῖς ποσὶ τοῦ δικαίου, ὁ λόγος ἐστὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ μὴ κατὰ ἀρετὴν ζῶν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ὑλικοῖς πάθεσιν ἐγκυλιόμενος, οὗτος ἂν εἴη ὁ τὸν ἐν κακίᾳ βίον, ὥσπερ τι φῶς, ὑπερασπαζόμενος, τὸν δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἐντολὴν τοῦ Κυρίου οἷόν τι σκότος ἀποστρεφόμενος. Καὶ ὁ τὰ γλυκέα τῷ λάρυγγι τοῦ δικαίου λόγια τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὑπὲρ μέλι ὄντα τῇ νοητῇ αὐτοῦ γεύσει, διὰ τὸ ἐπίπονον τῶν προσ ταγμάτων ἀποστρεφόμενος, συγκατατιθέμενος δὲ τῷ λείῳ τῆς ἡδονῆς, οὗτος ἂν λέγοι τὸ πικρὸν γλυκὺ, καὶ τὸ γλυκὺ πικρόν. Κατὰ ταῦτα δὴ καὶ περὶ τοῦ καλοῦ ἐστι διανοεῖσθαι, ὅτι τὸ ἀληθινῶς καλὸν τὸ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ σύμμετρόν ἐστι κατ' ἀ ρετὴν διακειμένῃ· μεσότης γὰρ καὶ συμμετρία τις ἡ ἀρετή· αἱ δὲ ἐφ' ἑκάτερα τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐκβαίνουσαι ὑπερβολαὶ καὶ ἐλλείψεις, ἀμετρία καὶ αἶσχος. Οἷον ἡ μὲν ἀνδρεία μεσότης· ὑπερβολὴ δὲ περὶ ταύτην θρασύτης, καὶ ἔνδεια ταύτης δειλία. Οὐκοῦν κάλλος μὲν ψυχῆς, τὸ κατ' ἀρετὴν σύμμετρον· αἶσχος δὲ, αἱ ἀπὸ κακίας ἐγγινόμεναι ἀμετρίαι. Τούτους οὖν ταλανίζει ὁ λόγος, τοὺς τὴν μὲν κακίαν ὡς ἀγαθὸν αἱρουμέ νους, τὴν δὲ ἀρετὴν ὡς πονηρίαν ἀποφεύγοντας. Ἐξεταστέον δὲ καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν δι' ἣν ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ καλοῦ τὸ Λέγοντες εἴρηται, ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ τοῦ γλυκέος οὐκέτι Λέγοντες, ἀλλὰ Τιθέντες. Οὐαὶ γὰρ οἱ λέγοντες τὸ καλὸν πονηρόν, καὶ οὐαὶ οἱ τιθέντες τὸ σκότος φῶς· καὶ Οὐαὶ οἱ τιθέντες τὸ γλυκὺ πικρόν. Μήποτε οὖν ὁ λόγος ἐνδείκνυ ται, ὅτι παρὰ τὰς πρώτας τοῦ βίου αἱρέσεις διὰ τοῦ λόγου μόνου σφαλλόμεθα, γενόμενοι δὲ ἐν ταῖς πράξεσι καὶ μηδὲ μετὰ τὴν πεῖραν ἀφιστάμενοι τοῦ κακοῦ, οἷον ὅρους ἑαυτοῖς τῶν ἔργων τιθέμεθα, ἀκίνητα τιθέντες τῆς κακίας τὰ ἔργα; Ὁ γὰρ ἀπὸ ἀκολασίας καὶ φιληδονίας μὴ μετατιθέμενος εἰς σωφροσύνην, τίθησιν ἑαυτῷ τὸ πικρὸν γλυκύ. Καὶ ὁ φεύγων μὲν τὴν κατὰ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον ζωὴν, τὸν δὲ κτηνώδη καὶ ἄλογον βίον αἱρούμενος, τίθησιν ἑαυτῷ τὸ φῶς σκότος. Ὁ μέντοι συνηγορῶν τούτοις καὶ ἐμπαῤῥησιαζόμενος ταῖς ἀτόποις πράξεσιν, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ λέγων τὸ καλὸν πονηρόν, κατὰ τὸν Ἀπόστολον, μεμφόμενον τοῖς οὐ μόνον ποιοῦσιν αὐτὰ, ἀλλὰ καὶ συνευδοκοῦσι τοῖς πράττουσι. Τίθησι δὲ τὸ φῶς σκότος ὁ τὸν λύχνον τιθεὶς ὑπὸ τὸν μόδιον, ἢ καλύπτων τῷ σκεύει καὶ μὴ τιθεὶς αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν λυχνίαν. Τὸ μὲν οὖν, λέγειν τὸ καλὸν πονηρὸν, ἐπὶ τοῦ δογματίζειν παρείληπται· τὸ δὲ τιθέναι φῶς σκότος, ἐπὶ τοῦ διὰ τῶν πράξεων ἐθι σμοῦ. 5.175 Οὐαὶ οὖν οἱ συνετοὶ ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, καὶ ἐνώπιον ἑαυτῶν ἐπιστήμονες. Ἅπτεται δὲ ταῦτα οὐ μόνον τῶν κατὰ πράξεις σφαλλο μένων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἐν ἀπιστίᾳ καὶ τῇ ἀγνωσίᾳ, τῇ εἰς τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν κατεχομένων. Ὁ γὰρ μὴ πιστεύων εἰς τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν, ἀλλὰ ποιῶν ἑαυτὸν υἱὸν τοῦ διαβόλου, οὗτος λέγει τὸ φῶς σκότος, καὶ τὸ σκότος φῶς. Ὥσπερ οὖν φῶς ἐστιν ὁ Κύριος, οὕτω καὶ γλυκύτης ἐστὶ τοῖς ἐπιστημόνως αὐτοῦ γευομένοις, ἡδεῖαν παρέχων καὶ πάσης θυμηδίας γέμουσαν