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to bestow favor; since why does he even seek the beginning? What then? And am I not able, having ceased to scrutinize matters, to spend all my time in praise of a god I do not know? And Peter: You are neither so blessed as to praise him, nor indeed can you do this good thing; for you would be full of him. For so our truthful teacher said: "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Therefore you, abounding in evil choice, because of ignorance speak against the only good God, and you do not yet suffer what you deserve for what you have dared to say. If you think there will be no judgment, perhaps you even think there is no God. Therefore, not perceiving his great long-suffering, you stretch yourself further toward recklessness. And Simon: Do not hope to shame me by fear from seeking from you the truth of the examples. For I desire truth so much that for its sake I do not hesitate to also undertake to be in danger. But as to what was proposed to you by me from the beginning, if you have anything to say, say it now. And Peter: Since you compel us to dare to speak, having precisely discovered the arts of God, and this as men who are not even able to make precise the arts of their fellows, for the sake of those present, at least, instead of a most pious silence I will discourse on what you wish. I agree with you that there is a certain leader of evil, of whose origin Scripture dared to say neither truth nor falsehood. But let us together investigate in many ways how he came to be (if indeed he came to be), and of the seeming options let us choose the more reverent, since this is surely inferred from probabilities—that one must attribute to God what is more reverent—and all the more so in this way, with all [other] suspicions having been cleared away and another sufficient and safer hypothesis being at hand. But I promise you now, before the inquiry, that every path of inquiry is able to show that God alone is blameless. But (as you said), if the evil one is created, then either he was begotten as a living creature, or was projected from him substantially, or was blended from outside, or his choice resulted from the blending, or without blending and God's will he happened to come into being from non-beings, or he was made by God from what is in no way anywhere, or he was outside God, or there was inanimate or animate matter from which he came to be, or he created himself, or having been made by God, or he is one of the relative things, or he always was. For we cannot say that he does not exist; for we have agreed that he does exist. And Simon: You have well laid out all the possibilities concerning him, which is the main point. It is therefore my task, having examined the division, to show you that the creator is under blame. And it is your task to prove him, as you have promised, to be beyond all blame. And I wonder if you will be able to. For in the first place, if the evil one was begotten from God as a living creature, he accordingly partakes of the same evil as the one who projected him. And Peter: Not necessarily. For we see many men who are good begetting evil ones, and others who are evil having good ones, and others who are evil projecting both good <and evil> ones, and others who are good bearing both evil and good children. For example, the first created man begot the unrighteous Cain and the righteous Abel. To these things Simon said: You act foolishly, discussing God while using human examples

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τὸ Χν χαρίζεσθαι· ἐπεὶ τί καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ζητεῖ; τί δέ; καὶ ἐγὼ οὐ δύναμαι, παρεὶς ἀκριβοῦν τὰ πράγματα, εἰς ἐγκώμιον οὗ μὴ ἐπίσταμαι θεοῦ τὸν πάντα μου δαπανᾶν χρόνον. καὶ ὁ Πέτρος· Oὔτε τοσοῦτον εἶ μακάριος αὐτὸν ὑμνεῖν, οὔτε μὴν τὸ ἀγαθὸν τοῦτο ποιῆσαι δύνασαι· αὐτοῦ γὰρ πλήρης ἂν ἦς. οὕτω γὰρ ὁ ἀψευδὴς ἡμῶν εἶπε διδάσκαλος· «Ἐκ περισσεύ- ματος καρδίας στόμα λαλεῖ». ὅθεν σὺ περισσευόμενος προαιρέσει κακῇ ἀγνοίας αἰτίᾳ καταλέγεις τοῦ μόνου ἀγαθοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ μήπω κατ' ἀξίαν πάσχων ὧν ἐτόλμησας λέγειν. εἰ κρίσιν οἴει μὴ ἔσεσθαι, τάχα δὴ μηδὲ εἶναι θεὸν νομίζεις. ὅθεν τῆς τοσαύτης αὐτοῦ μακροθυμίας οὐκ ἀντι- λαμβανόμενος ἐπὶ πλεῖον πρὸς ἀπόνοιαν αὑτὸν ἐκτείνεις. καὶ ὁ Σίμων· Μὴ ἔλπιζε φόβῳ δυσωπήσειν με μὴ ζητεῖν σοι τῶν παραδειγμάτων τὰ ἀληθῆ· ἐγὼ γὰρ τοσοῦτον ἀληθείας ὀρέγομαι ὡς αὐτῆς ἕνεκα μὴ ὀκνῆσαι καὶ τὸ κιν- δυνεύειν ἀναδέχεσθαι. πλὴν πρὸς τὰ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς σοι ὑπ' ἐμοῦ προταθέντα, εἴγε εἰπεῖν ἔχεις, ἤδη λέγε. Καὶ ὁ Πέτρος· Ἐπειδὴ τολμᾶν ἡμᾶς ἀναγκάζεις τὰς τοῦ θεοῦ τέχνας ἀκριβῶς ἐφευρόντας λέγειν, καὶ ταῦτα ἀνθρώπους τοὺς μηδὲ τῶν ὁμοίων τὰς τέχνας ἀκριβῶσαι δυναμένους, διὰ γοῦν τοὺς παρεστῶτας ἀντὶ τῆς εὐσεβεστάτης σιγῆς περὶ ὧν θέλεις διαλεχθήσομαι. συνομολογῶ σοι εἶναί τινα κακίας ἡγεμόνα, οὗ τὴν γένεσιν ἡ γραφὴ οὔτε ἀληθὲς οὔτε ψευ- δὲς εἰπεῖν ἐτόλμησεν. πλὴν συνδιαπορήσωμεν πολλαχῶς τὸ πῶς γέγονεν (εἴπερ γέγονεν) καὶ τῶν δοκούντων τὸ εὐφημότερον ἑλώμεθα, ἐπεὶ ἐκ τῶν εἰκότων λαμβάνεται τοῦτο βεβαίως, ὃ μὲν ὅτι θεῷ τὸ εὐφημότερον δοῦναι πρέπει, ταύτῃ μᾶλλον πασῶν ὑπονοιῶν καθαρθεισῶν καὶ ἄλλης ἱκανῆς καὶ ἀκινδυνοτέρας παρακειμένης ὑποψίας. πλὴν ἤδη σοι πρὸ τῆς ζητήσεως ὑπισχνοῦμαι ὅτι πᾶσα ὁδὸς ζητήσεως ἄμεμπτον αὐτὸν μόνον δύναται δεῖξαι τὸν θεόν. πλήν (ὡς ἔφης) ὁ πονηρὸς εἰ γενητός ἐστιν, ἢ ὡς ζῷον γεγέννηται ἢ οὐσιωδῶς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ προβέβληται ἢ ἔξω κέκραται ἢ τῇ κράσει συμβέβηκεν αὐτοῦ ἡ προαίρεσις ἢ ἄνευ κράσεως καὶ θεοῦ βουλῆς συνέβη γενέσθαι ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ἢ ὑπὸ θεοῦ ἐκ τοῦ μηδαμῆ μηδαμῶς γέγονεν ἢ ἐκτὸς ἦν θεοῦ ἢ ὕλη ἄψυχος οὖσα ἢ ἔμψυχος ὅθεν γέγονεν ἢ ἑαυτὸν δημιουργήσας ἢ ὑπὸ θεοῦ γεγονὼς ἢ τῶν πρὸς τί ἐστιν ἢ αἰεὶ ἦν. εἰπεῖν γὰρ αὐτὸν μὴ εἶναι οὐ δυνάμεθα· συνωμολογήσαμεν γὰρ αὐτὸν ὑπάρχειν. καὶ ὁ Σίμων· Καλῶς πάσας αὐτοῦ τὰς ὁδοὺς διεῖλες, τὸ κεφά- λαιον αὐτοῦ· λοιπὸν ἐμόν ἐστι τὴν διαίρεσιν ἀνακρίναντα δεῖξαί σοι τὸν δημιουργὸν ὑπὸ μέμψιν ὄντα· σοῦ δὲ ἔργον ἀποδεῖξαι αὐτόν, ὡς ὑπέσχησαι, πάσης μέμψεως ἐκτὸς ὄντα· θαυμάζω δὲ εἰ δυνήσῃ. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ὁ πονη- ρός, εἰ ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ζῷον γεγέννηται, ἀκολούθως τῆς αὐτῆς τοῦ προβαλόντος κακίας τυγχάνει. καὶ ὁ Πέτρος· Oὐ πάντως· ὁρῶμεν γὰρ πολλοὺς τῶν ἀν- θρώπων ἀγαθοὺς ὄντας καὶ κακοὺς γεννήσαντας, ἄλλους δὲ κακοὺς ὑπάρχοντας καὶ ἀγαθοὺς ἐσχηκότας, ἑτέρους δὲ κακοὺς ὄντας καὶ ἀγαθούς <τε καὶ κακοὺς> προβαλόντας, ἄλλους δὲ ἀγαθοὺς ὑπάρχοντας καὶ κακούς τε καὶ ἀγαθοὺς τεκνώσαντας. αὐτίκα γοῦν ὁ πρῶτος δημιουργηθεὶς ἄνθρω- πος ἐγέννησεν τὸν ἄδικον Κάιν καὶ τὸν δίκαιον Ἄβελ. πρὸς ταῦτα ὁ Σίμων ἔφη· Ἀνοήτως ποιεῖς περὶ θεοῦ διαλεγόμενος ἀνθρωπίνοις χρώμενος