But let us leave this aside; but I would add, telling you, 'Cast away not only the ideas, but also the theories and the falsely named lights of this man, through which he was yoked with the deceitful demons and through which he was initiated, not only that there are evil demons but also good ones, and a soul of the aether and cycles of souls and the not-good loves for them through beautiful bodies'. And what of the first and second gods, and those even lesser than these in nature and in power, of whom some travel over the convex surface of the celestial sphere, while others wander about beneath the concave part, and others are terrestrial and subterranean, being rulers no longer of mortals, but of the dead? For all things have been divided in three, to speak according to them, who are both poets and inheritors of their own gods. And what of the (p. 504) elaborate sacrifices, the soul-conjuring and god-conjuring and theurgies and the praise of madmen and, to put it simply, the extensive nonsense about such things, which is plain rather than mystical? Are these things, then, about those who have fallen from above and those who are illuminated by them, that is, those whose intellect of the soul is darkened, and which has come into being from the view below, or about those above us and from the view above.

And why, so that we may again, from the true and aptly-named and sacred and genuine voice for theology, disparage the falsely named and illegitimate things, "what then of Aristotle's petty providence and his mortal discourses about the soul and the human element of his doctrines?". Is it of one 'who has understood the pre-eminence of God; and who has discovered a term more worthy than any for the divine nature, this 'beyond proof'? Or is this too a clear error of the human mind, and one that is darkened and opposed to God and that hunts for glory as if attaining it, but tries to escape the refutation of its falsehood, as being unable to prove and to impart to others the supernatural and wondrous knowledge, and by seeming to exalt it, drags down that incomprehensible and unhumbled height? But if we should grant that the teacher, having put on this act, does not hold this opinion, although this might have some reason, let it be granted nevertheless; but he himself also clearly esteems a multitude of gods and by no means gives universal sovereignty to the first of the gods, as he himself says, and he attempts to list the powers that move the bodies he considers divine, and he places the entire race of demons above us, and he bestows this 'beyond proof', the thing most august and befitting of God alone, on such divine beings, and on account of this he considers these things to be above us.

We would indeed have done a great thing, and a common and graceful one for those of our lot, if according to Aristotle (p. 506) and his teacher we should consider the divine to be beyond proof, which very thing their knowledge and theory also attribute to the demons; and you yourself would not say otherwise, just as we would not, as long as we should choose to live under teachers like Aristotle and Plato. But our proof and that of our teachers shows not only that the entire race of demons is fallen and lowest and wicked, wicked, on the one hand, because of its flight from the good and its cooperation with us toward deficiency and a falling away from it, lowest, on the other, because it is furthest from the highest, and fallen as having been above us before, then to such an extent thrust away from this dignity and thus having become more attached to matter than we are so as to have its return to the supercosmic and angel-like rank altogether hopeless, which rank has been promised to us, not only does it show this race to be these things, but also to be wallowing at our feet to be trampled on by us; and she who hunts for true glory in the case of the last and lowest rational beings, will also be an unfailing teacher concerning the highest and those above us; for of opposites the same

Ἀλλά τοῦτο μέν ἀφῶμεν˙ ἐγώ δ᾿ ἄν σοι προσθείην εἰπών ὡς 'βάλλε μή τάς ἰδέας μόνον, ἀλλά καί τάς θεωρίας καί τά ψευδώνυμα τούτου φῶτα, δι᾿ ὧν ἐκεῖνος τοῖς ἀπατηλοῖς δαίμοσι συνεζύγη καί δι᾿ ὧν ἐμυήθη, μή ὅτι κακούς ἀλλά καί ἀγαθούς εἶναι δαίμονας, καί ψυχήν αἰθέρος καί ψυχῶν περιόδους καί τούς ἐπ᾿ αὐτάς διά τῶν καλῶν σωμάτων οὐ καλούς ἔρωτας'. Τί δ᾿ οἱ πρῶτοι θεοί καί δεύτεροι καί τούτων ἔτι μείους τήν φύσιν τε καί τήν δύναμιν, ὧν οἱ μέν τό κυρτόν τῆς οὐρανίου σφαίρας ἐπιπορεύονται, οἱ δ᾿ ὑπό τό κοῖλον περινοστοῦσιν, οἱ δ᾿ ἔγγειοι καί ὑπόγειοι, μηκέθ᾿ οὗτοι θνητῶν, ἀλλά τεθνηκότων αὐτοκράτορες ὄντες; Τριχθά γάρ πάντα δέδασται κατ᾿ αὐτούς φάναι, τούς καί ποιητάς καί κληροδότας τῶν οἰκείων θεῶν. Τί δ᾿ αἱ (σελ. 504) περίεργοι θυσίαι, ψυχαγωγίαι τε καί θεαγωγίαι καί θεουργίαι καί ὁ τῶν μαινομένων ἔπαινος καί, τό σύμπαν εἰπεῖν, ὁ περί τά τοιαῦτα πλατύς λῆρος καί σαφής μᾶλλον ἤ μυστικός; Ταῦτ᾿ ἄρα περί τῶν διαπεπτωκότων ἄνωθεν καί τῶν ἀπό τούτων ἐλλαμπομένων, τουτέστι σκοτιζομένων τό τῆς ψυχῆς νοερόν, καί ἀπό τῆς κάτωθεν θέας παραγεγενημένης, ἤ περί τῶν ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς καί ἀπό τῆς ἄνωθεν.

Τί δ᾿ ἵνα πάλιν ἀπό τῆς ἀληθοῦς καί φερωνύμου καί ἱερᾶς καί γνησίας τῇ θεολογίᾳ φωνῆς τά ψευδώνυμα καί νόθα φαυλίσωμεν, «τί τοίνυν Ἀριστοτέλους ἡ μικρόλογος πρόνοια καί οἱ θνητοί περί ψυχῆς λόγοι καί τἀνθρωπικόν τῶν δογμάτων;». Ἆρα 'κατανενοηκότος τήν ὑπεροχήν τοῦ Θεοῦ˙ καί τήν ἀξίαν ἐξευρηκότος παντός μᾶλλον τῇ θείᾳ φύσει φωνήν τό ὑπέρ ἀπόδειξιν τοῦτο; Ἤ καί τοῦτο πλάνη σαφής ἀνθρωπίνης διανοίας τυγχάνον, καί ταύτης ἐσκοτισμένης καί ἀντιθέου καί θηρωμένης μέν δόξαν ὡς ἐφικνουμένης, πειρωμένης δέ διαφυγεῖν τοῦ ψεύδους τόν ἔλεγχον, ὡς ἀποδεῖξαι μή δυναμένης καί τοῖς ἄλλοις μεταδιδόναι τῆς ὑπερφυοῦς καί θαυμαστῆς ἐπιστήμης καί τῷ δοκεῖν ἐξαίρειν κατασπώσης τό ἀπερινόητον ὕψος ἐκεῖκνο καί ἀταπείνωτον; Εἰ δέ τῷ διδασκάλῳ τοῦθ᾿ ὑποκριναμένῳ μή συμβαίνειν τοῦτον τήν γνώμην δοίημεν, καίτοι τινά ἄν ἔχοι τουτί τόν λόγον, δεδόσθω δ᾿ ὅμως˙ ἀλλά θεῶν πλῆθος σαφῶς καί αὐτός πρεσβεύει καί τῷ τῶν θεῶν, ὡς αὐτός φησι, πρώτῳ τῆς κυρείας ἥκιστα τό πᾶν δίδωσι, καί τάς δυνάμεις ἐπιχειρεῖ καταλέγειν, αἵ κινοῦσι τά θεῖα δοκοῦντά οἱ σώματα, καί τό δαιμόνιον φῦλον ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς ἅπαν τίθεται, καί τό ὑπέρσεμνον καί θεοπρεπές μόνον, τό ὑπέρ ἀπόδειξιν τοῦτο, τοῖς τοιούτοις θείοις δωρεῖται, καί παρά τοῦτο ταῦθ᾿ ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς λογίζεται.

Μέγα μέντ᾿ ἄν εἴημεν πεποιηκότες καί τοῖς ἡμετέρας μοίρας ὡς κοινόν τε καί χάριεν, εἰ κατ᾿ Ἀριστοτέλην (σελ. 506) καί τόν τούτου διδάσκαλον ὑπέρ ἀπόδειξιν τό θεῖον νομίσαιμεν, ὅπερ ἡ κατ᾿ αὐτούς ἐπιστήμη τε καί θεωρία καί τοῖς δαίμοσιν ἀποδίδωσι˙ καί σέ γε αὐτός οὐκ ἄν ἄλλως φαίης, ὥσπερ οὐδ᾿ ἡμεῖς, ἕως ἄν ὑπό διδασκάλοις Ἀριστοτέλεσί τε καί Πλάτωσι προαιροίμεθα ζῆν. Ἀλλ᾿ ἡ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἀπόδειξις καί τῶν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς διδασκάλων οὐ μόνον ἔκπτωτόν τε καί ἔσχατον καί πονηρόν τό δαιμόνιον ἅπαν ἀποδείκνυσι γένος, πονηρόν μέν διά τήν ἐκ τἀγαθοῦ φυγήν καί τήν εἰς ἡμᾶς συνεργίαν πρός ἔλλειψίν τε καί ἀπολίσθησιν τήν ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ, ἔσχατον δέ διά τό πορρωτάτω εἶναι τοῦ ἀνωτάτω, ἔκπτωτον δέ ὡς ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς ὄν πρότερον, εἶτ᾿ ἐπί τοσοῦτο τῆς ἀξίας ταύτης ἀπωσμένον καί οὕτω πρόσυλον μᾶλλον γεγονός ἡμῶν ὡς ἀνέλπιδα τήν εἰς ὑπερκόσμιον καί ἰσάγγελον τάξιν ἐπάνοδον παντάπασιν ἴσχειν, ἥτις ἡμῖν ἐπηγγελμένη καθέστηκεν, οὐ ταῦτα μόνον τουτί τό γένος δείκνυσιν ὄν, ἀλλά καί τοῖς ποσίν ἡμῶν ἐγκαλινδούμενον εἰς τό καταπατεῖσθαι παρ᾿ ἡμῶν˙ ἡ δ᾿ ἐπί τῶν ἐσχάτων καί κατωτάτω λογικῶν οὐσιῶν τήν ἀληθῆ θηρωμένη δόξαν, καί περί τῶν ἀνωτάτω καί ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς ἀψευδής διδάσκαλος ἔσται˙ τῶν γάρ ἐναντίων τήν αὐτήν