Chapter XXIV.

In reply to these, we ask of those who accept such aspersions as are scattered against us, Do you regard all men as a collection of bats, or as frogs, or as worms, in consequence of the pre-eminence of God or do you not include the rest of mankind in this proposed comparison, but on account of their possession of reason, and of the established laws, treat them as men, while you hold cheap702    ἐξευτελίζοντες.Christians and Jews, because their opinions are distasteful to you, and compare them to the animals above mentioned?  And whatever answer you may return to our question, we shall reply by endeavouring to show that such assertions are most unbecoming, whether spoken of all men in general, or of us in particular.  For, let it be supposed that you say justly that all men, as compared with God, are (rightly) likened to these worthless703    εὐτελέσι. animals, since their littleness is not at all to be compared with the superiority of God, what then do you mean by littleness?  Answer me, good sirs.  If you refer to littleness of body, know that superiority and inferiority, if truth is to be judge, are not determined by a bodily standard.704    οὐκ ἐν σώματι κρίνεται.  For, on such a view, vultures705    γύπες:  γρύπες? and elephants would be superior to us men; for they are larger, and stronger, and longer-lived than we.  But no sensible person would maintain that these irrational creatures are superior to rational beings, merely on account of their bodies:  for the possession of reason raises a rational being to a vast superiority over all irrational creatures.  Even the race of virtuous and blessed beings would admit this, whether they are, as ye say, good demons, or, as we are accustomed to call them, the angels of God, or any other natures whatever superior to that of man, since the rational faculty within them has been made perfect, and endowed with all virtuous qualities.706    καὶ κατὰ πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν πεποίωται.

Πρὸς ταῦτα δὴ πυνθανόμεθα τῶν ἀποδεχομένων τὰ οὕτω καθ' ἡμῶν εἰρημένα καί φαμεν· ἆρα πάντας ἀνθρώ πους ὁρμαθὸν εἶναι νυκτερίδων ἢ μύρμηκας ἢ βατράχους ἢ σκώληκας ὑπολαμβάνετε διὰ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ ὑπεροχήν; Ἢ τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους εἰς τὴν προκειμένην εἰκόνα μὴ παραλαμβάνετε ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ λογικὸν καὶ τοὺς καθεστῶτας νόμους τηρεῖτε αὐτοὺς ἀνθρώπους, Χριστιανοὺς δὲ καὶ Ἰουδαίους διὰ τὰ μὴ ἀρέσκοντα ὑμῖν αὐτῶν δόγματα ἐξευτελίζοντες τούτοις τοῖς ζῴοις παραβεβλήκατε; Καὶ ὁπότερόν γε ἂν εἴπητε πρὸς τὴν πεῦσιν ἡμῶν, ἀποκρινούμεθα ἀποδεικνύναι πειρώμενοι οὐ δεόντως λελέχθαι περὶ τῶν πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἢ περὶ ἡμῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα. Ἔστω γὰρ ὑμᾶς πρῶτον λέγειν ὅτι πάντες ἄνθρωποι ὡς πρὸς θεὸν τοῖς εὐτελέσι τούτοις παραβάλλονται ζῴοις, ἐπεὶ μηδαμῶς ἐστιν αὐτῶν ἡ μικρότης συγκριτὴ τῇ ὑπεροχῇ τοῦ θεοῦ. Ποία δὴ μικρότης; Ἀποκρίνασθέ μοι, ὦ οὗτοι. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἡ τῶν σωμάτων, ἀκούσατε ὅτι τὸ ὑπερέχον καὶ τὸ ἐνδέον ὡς πρὸς ἀλήθειαν δικάζουσαν οὐκ ἐν σώματι κρίνεται· οὕτω γὰρ γρῦπες καὶ ἐλέφαντες ἡμῶν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἔσονται κρείττους, καὶ γὰρ μείζους καὶ ἰσχυρότεροι καὶ πολυχρο νιώτεροι οὗτοι· ἀλλ' οὐδεὶς ἂν τῶν εὖ φρονούντων λέγοι κρείττονα εἶναι διὰ τὰ σώματα τάδε τὰ ἄλογα τῶν λογικῶν –πολὺ γὰρ εἰς ὑπεροχὴν ἀνάγει ὁ λόγος τὸ λογικὸν παρὰ πάντα τὰ ἄλογα–ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὰ σπουδαῖα καὶ μακάρια, εἴτε, ὡς ὑμεῖς φατε, οἱ ἀγαθοὶ δαίμονες εἴτε, ὡς ἡμῖν ἔθος ὀνομάζειν, οἱ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄγγελοι ἢ αἱ ὁποιαιδηποτοῦν ὑπερέ χουσαι τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσεις· ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ τὸ ἐν αὐτοῖς λογικὸν τετελείωται καὶ κατὰ πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν πεποίωται.