Chapter XL.

But as he asserts that “the Mosaic narrative most impiously represents God as in a state of weakness from the very commencement (of things), and as unable to gain over (to obedience) even one single man whom He Himself had formed,” we say in answer that the objection800    τὸ λεγόμενον. is much the same as if one were to find fault with the existence of evil, which God has not been able to prevent even in the case of a single individual, so that one man might be found from the very beginning of things who was born into the world untainted by sin.  For as those whose business it is to defend the doctrine of providence do so by means of arguments which are not to be despised,801    εὐκαταφρονήτων. so also the subjects of Adam and his son will be philosophically dealt with by those who are aware that in the Hebrew language Adam signifies man; and that in those parts of the narrative which appear to refer to Adam as an individual, Moses is discoursing upon the nature of man in general.802    φυσιολογεῖ Μωϋσῆς τὰ περὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου φύσεως.  For “in Adam” (as the Scripture803    Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 22 with Rom. v. 14. says) “all die,” and were condemned in the likeness of Adam’s transgression, the word of God asserting this not so much of one particular individual as of the whole human race.  For in the connected series of statements which appears to apply as to one particular individual, the curse pronounced upon Adam is regarded as common to all (the members of the race), and what was spoken with reference to the woman is spoken of every woman without exception.804    οὐκ ἔστι καθ᾽ ἧς οὐ λέγεται.  And the expulsion of the man and woman from paradise, and their being clothed with tunics of skins (which God, because of the transgression of men, made for those who had sinned), contain a certain secret and mystical doctrine (far transcending that of Plato) of the souls losing its wings,805    πτεροῤῥυούσης.  This is a correction for πτεροφυούσης, the textual reading in the Benedictine and Spencer’s edd. and being borne downwards to earth, until it can lay hold of some stable resting-place.

Ἐπὰν δὲ φάσκῃ ὡς ἄρα ἀνοσιώτατα τὸν θεόν, εὐθὺς καὶ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ἀσθενοῦντα καὶ μηδ' ἕνα ἄνθρωπον, ὃν αὐτὸς ἔπλασε, πεῖσαι δυνάμενον, εἰσήγαγεν ὁ Μωϋσέως λόγος, καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο φήσομεν ὅτι ὅμοιόν ἐστι τὸ λεγόμενον, ὡς εἴ τις ἐνεκάλει ἐπὶ τῇ τῆς κακίας συστάσει, ἣν οὐδὲ ἀπὸ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου δεδύνηται κωλῦσαι ὁ θεός, ὥστε κἂν ἕνα τινὰ ἄνθρωπον εὑρεθῆναι ἀρχῆθεν ἄγευστον κακίας γεγενη μένον. Ὡς γὰρ περὶ τούτου οἷς μέλει ἀπολογεῖσθαι περὶ προνοίας ἀπολογοῦνται οὐ δι' ὀλίγων οὐδὲ δι' εὐκαταφρο νήτων, οὕτω δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ καὶ περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας αὐτοῦ φιλοσοφήσουσιν οἱ ἐγνωκότες ὅτι καθ' ἑλλάδα φωνὴν ὁ Ἀδὰμ ἄνθρωπός ἐστι, καὶ ἐν τοῖς δοκοῦσι περὶ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ εἶναι φυσιολογεῖ Μωϋσῆς τὰ περὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου φύσεως. Καὶ "γὰρ ἐν τῷ Ἀδάμ", ὥς φησιν ὁ λόγος, "πάντες ἀποθνῄσκουσι", καὶ κατεδικάσθησαν ἐν "τῷ ὁμοιώματι τῆς παραβάσεως Ἀδάμ", οὐχ οὕτως περὶ ἑνός τινος ὡς περὶ ὅλου τοῦ γένους ταῦτα φάσκοντος τοῦ θείου λόγου. Καὶ γὰρ ἐν τῇ τῶν λεγομένων ὡς περὶ ἑνὸς ἀκολουθίᾳ ἡ ἀρὰ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ κοινὴ πάντων ἐστί· καὶ τὰ κατὰ τῆς γυναικὸς οὐκ ἔστι καθ' ἧς οὐ λέγεται. Καὶ ὁ ἐκβαλλόμενος δὲ ἐκ τοῦ παραδείσου ἄνθρωπος μετὰ τῆς γυναικός, τοὺς "δερματίνους" ἠμφιεσμένος "χιτῶνας", οὓς διὰ τὴν παράβασιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐποίησε τοῖς ἁμαρ τήσασιν ὁ θεός, ἀπόρρητόν τινα καὶ μυστικὸν ἔχει λόγον, ὑπὲρ τὴν κατὰ Πλάτωνα κάθοδον τῆς ψυχῆς, πτερορρυού σης καὶ δεῦρο φερομένης, "ἕως ἂν στερεοῦ τινος λάβηται".