125

by the movement of bodies, but choice, 6.6.37 with a desire for virtue, embraced the laborious and harsh life. And there are some who, having turned to the worse, "exchanged the natural use for that which is 6.6.38 contrary to nature, men with men committing what is shameful." Thus, then, reason does not yield in all things to nature, but prevails in most things, just as it is also prevailed upon; and sometimes it leads, and sometimes it is led, so that it is even possible in some way to bring on the release from the body with one's own hands before the appointed time, 6.6.39 whenever living should be judged by it not to be advantageous. If, then, its whole struggle were against only the proper nature of the body, this would have been a moderate one; but since God has established for it its constitution and life among men in the midst of many things, so that it passes its time with wild beasts and venomous reptiles and in the midst of fire and water and the surrounding air and of the altered and different natures in all these, reasonably its conflict and opposition is not only against the proper nature of the body which is joined to it, but also against countless external accidents, in the midst of which one lives who is going through mortal life, 6.6.40 so as to stoutly resist these things also. For indeed many natures of such foods and such mixtures of the surrounding element, both attacks of frost and outbursts of flame, and very many other things which are moved naturally according to certain proper principles, but befall us by chance, have provided no ordinary disturbance to our free will, because of the connection with the body, since the nature of our bodies does not withstand the attacks from without, but is overcome and conquered by external things accomplished according to their own 6.6.41 nature. And again, since we spend our time with very many men, and they themselves, having obtained the same essence as us, carry off what is in our own power in their own power, using their own free choice, for this reason again it is likely that we will also be subject to the decisions of others, their own free will being used in some way against our body or 6.6.42 concerning our soul. For just as the nature of our body is often conquered by things that fall upon it from without, so there are times when choice also, being troubled by countless choices from without, being persuaded by a free decision, gives itself up to things from without and is made sometimes better, sometimes worse. For base association knows how to corrupt, just as, on the contrary, the company of the good makes men better. "For evil communications corrupt good manners," 6.6.43 just as, therefore, the associations of the good also save by making them better. And by reason, then, the rational power of the soul is carried this way and that by the things that happen from without; but again it is strong, the proper virtue of a rational substance, and it displays a truly divine and godlike power, when, resisting all things from without and overcoming all things with a free spirit, yielding in nothing of its own virtue, it is prepared to philosophize. But when it is neglectful, it is brought to the worst state by the worse things, just as, therefore, it is also improved when it receives care from without. 6.6.44 What must be said about these things, how also the fertility and barrenness of such souls and bodies, by some chance being accomplished appropriately to the administration of the universe and being well and rightly disposed for the whole, have produced the greatest possible abundance for particular things, and indeed also for the things in our power, of all kinds of motion? 6.6.45 But over all existing things universally, both those happening by us and by our cause and those coming from without by accident and those operating naturally, one all-powerful and omnipotent providence of God, passing through all things, presides, which also administers most things by principles more divine and ineffable to us, skillfully governing the whole, and re-shaping many of the things according to nature to what is fitting for the times, and cooperating and acting with the things in our power, and again with the things that happen from without, assigning the necessary order. 6.6.46 These things being divided in this manner into three, both into the things in our power and the things that happen according to nature and the things according to

125

σωμάτων κινήσει, ἡ δὲ προαί6.6.37 ρεσις ἀρετῆς ἐπιθυμίᾳ τὸν ἐπίπονον καὶ τραχὺν ἠσπάσατο βίον. εἰσὶ δὲ οἳ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον τραπέντες «μετήλλαξαν τὴν φυσικὴν χρῆσιν εἰς τὴν 6.6.38 παρὰ φύσιν, ἄρσενες ἐν ἄρσεσι τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην κατεργαζόμενοι.» οὕτως ἄρα καὶ τῇ φύσει οὐ κατὰ πάντα ἐνδίδωσιν ὁ λογισμός, κρατεῖ δὲ ἐν πλείστοις, ὡς καὶ κρατεῖται, καὶ τοτὲ μὲν αὐτὸς ἄγει, τοτὲ δὲ αὐτὸς ἄγεται, ὡς καὶ πρὸ ὥρας ἔσθ' ὅπη χερσὶν ἐπισπᾶσθαι τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν τοῦ σώματος, 6.6.39 ὅτε τὸ ζῆν αὐτῷ μὴ λυσιτελὲς κριθείη. εἰ μὲν οὖν πρὸς μόνην τὴν οἰκείαν τοῦ σώματος φύσιν ὁ πᾶς ἀγὼν ἦν αὐτῷ, μέτριος ἂν ἦν οὗτος· ἐπεὶ δὲ τὴν πολιτείαν καὶ τὸν ἐν ἀνθρώποις βίον ὁ θεὸς αὐτῷ μεταξὺ πολλῶν καταβέβληται, ὡς μετὰ θηρίων καὶ ἑρπετῶν ἰοβόλων ἐν μέσῳ τε πυρὸς καὶ ὕδατος ἀέρος τε τοῦ περιέχοντος καὶ τῶν ἐν τούτοις ἅπασι παρηλλαγμένων καὶ διαφόρων φύσεων τὰς διατριβὰς ποιεῖσθαι, εἰκότως αὐτῷ ἡ διαμάχη καὶ ἡ ἔνστασις οὐ πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν ἐστὶ καὶ συνημμένην αὐτῷ μόνον φύσιν τοῦ σώματος, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς μυρία τὰ ἐκτὸς συμβεβηκότα, ὧν ἐν μέσῳ ζῇ ὁ τὸν θνητὸν βίον 6.6.40 διεξάγων, ὥστε καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα καρτερῶς ἀντέχειν. πολλαὶ γοῦν ἤδη καὶ τοιῶνδε τροφῶν φύσεις καὶ τοιαίδε συγκράσεις τοῦ περιέχοντος, κρυμῶν τε ἐπιφοραὶ καὶ φλογμῶν ἐκκαύσεις, πλεῖστά τε ἄλλα κατά τινας οἰκείους λόγους φυσικῶς μὲν κινούμενα, συμβατικῶς δὲ ἡμῖν προσπίπτοντα τάραχον οὐ τὸν τυχόντα τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς αὐτεξουσίῳ διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸ σῶμα συμπλοκὴν παρέσχηκεν, τῆς τῶν ἡμετέρων σωμάτων φύσεως τὰς τῶν ἔξωθεν ἐπιφορὰς οὐχ ὑπομενούσης, κρατουμένης δὲ καὶ νικωμένης ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκτὸς κατὰ φύσιν 6.6.41 οἰκείαν ἐπιτελουμένων. πάλιν τε αὖ, ἐπειδὴ μετὰ πλείστων ἀνδρῶν ποιούμεθα τὰς διατριβάς, οἱ δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ τῆς ἴσης ἡμῖν λαχόντες οὐσίας τὸ ἐφ' ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἐξουσίας ἀποφέρονται, ἐλευθέρᾳ τῇ σφῶν χρώμενοι προαιρέσει, ταύτη πάλιν εἰκότως καὶ ταῖς ἑτέρων γνώμαις ὑποκεισόμεθα, τοῦ αὐτῶν ἐκείνων αὐτεξουσίου ὧδέ πως ἡμῖν κατὰ τοῦ σώματος ἢ 6.6.42 περὶ τὴν ψυχὴν χρωμένου. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν φύσις νικᾶται πολλάκις πρὸς τῶν ἔξωθεν ὑποπιπτόντων, οὕτως ἔστιν ὅτε καὶ προαίρεσις ὑπὸ μυρίων ἔξωθεν ἐνοχλουμένη προαιρέσεων, αὐτεξουσίῳ γνώμῃ πεισθεῖσα, ἑαυτὴν τοῖς ἔξωθεν ἐπιδίδωσι καὶ τοτὲ μὲν βελτίων, τοτὲ δὲ χείρων ἀποτελεῖται. οἶδε γὰρ συνουσία φαύλη κακύνειν, ὥσπερ αὖ τοὐναντίον ποιεῖν ἀμείνους τῶν καλῶν ὁμιλία. «φθείρουσι γὰρ ἤθη χρηστὰ ὁμιλίαι κακαί,» 6.6.43 ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ σῴζουσι βελτιοῦσαι τῶν ἀγαθῶν αἱ συνουσίαι. καὶ λόγοις μὲν ἡ λογικὴ τῆς ψυχῆς δύναμις τῶν ἔξωθεν ἐπισυμβαινόντων ὧδέ πως καὶ τῇδε φέρεται· ἰσχύει δὲ πάλιν οἰκεία καὶ λογικῆς οὐσίας ἀρετὴ καὶ θείαν ὡς ἀληθῶς καὶ θεοειδῆ τὴν δύναμιν ἐπιδείκνυται, ὅτε πρὸς πάντα τὰ ἐκτὸς ἀντέχουσα καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐλευθέρῳ φρονήματι ὑπερνικῶσα, πρὸς οὐδὲν τῆς οἰκείας ἀρετῆς ὑφιεμένη φιλοσοφεῖν παρεσκεύασται. ὅτε γε μὴν ὀλιγωρεῖ, ὑπὸ τῶν χειρόνων τὰ χείριστα διατίθεται, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ βελτιοῦται τῆς ἔξωθεν 6.6.44 τυγχάνουσα ἐπιμελείας. τί χρὴ λέγειν ἐπὶ τούτοις, ὡς καὶ φοραὶ καὶ ἀφορίαι τοιῶνδε ψυχῶν καὶ σωμάτων, κατά τινα περίπτωσιν οἰκείως τῇ τοῦ παντὸς διοικήσει συντελούμεναι εὖ τε καὶ ὀρθῶς ἔχουσαι τῷ παντί, πλείστην ὅσην τοῖς κατὰ μέρος καὶ δὴ καὶ τοῖς ἐφ' ἡμῖν παντοίας κινήσεως πε6.6.45 ριουσίαν ἀπειργάσαντο; πᾶσι δὲ καθόλου τοῖς οὖσι, τοῖς τε παρ' ἡμᾶς γινομένοις καὶ παρὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν αἰτίαν καὶ τοῖς ἔξωθεν κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς ἐπιοῦσι τοῖς τε φυσικῶς ἐνεργουμένοις, μία παναλκὴς καὶ παντοδύναμος ἐπιστατεῖ ἡ διὰ πάντων ἐπιπορευομένη τοῦ θεοῦ πρόνοια, ἣ καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα θειοτέροις ἡμῖν τε ἀρρήτοις οἰκονομεῖ λόγοις, εὐηνίως τὸ πᾶν διακυβερνῶσα πολλά τε καὶ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν ἐπὶ τὸ προσῆκον τοῖς καιροῖς μετασκευάζουσα συνεργοῦσά τε καὶ συμπράττουσα τοῖς ἐφ' ἡμῖν καὶ τοῖς ἐκτὸς πάλιν συμβαίνουσι τὴν δέουσαν τάξιν ἀπονέμουσα. 6.6.46 Τούτων εἰς τρία τοῦτον διῃρημένων τὸν τρόπον, εἴς τε τὰ ἐφ' ἡμῖν καὶ τὰ κατὰ φύσιν γινόμενα τά τε κατὰ