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sophists, who choose a wage for their speeches, cheapening wisdom with praises. In the old days, therefore, that which concerned exegesis was very brief, as those of that time were ambitious not to delight, but to benefit those present; but from the time when it was permitted for all to interpret the scriptures at their leisure, and all became dull in doing what is good, being filled with conceit, but advanced in disputation, embellishing themselves, as if they were clever at knowing everything, ashamed to confess they needed to be taught, but rather to be contentious and to rush forward, like the teachers *. Having grown bold from this, therefore, they slipped from what is reverent and meek and from believing that God is able to do all things as He has promised, and have come to empty questions and blasphemies, not understanding that deeds were not pursued for the sake of words, but words for the sake of deeds, just as in medicine, by which the sick must be saved, with words being confirmed by deeds, so that, with all things in us harmonized, our mind might be in accord with the best words, presenting our morals in tune with our tongue like a lyre, and not unmusical and dissonant. For in order to possess it in truth, one must strive to practice what is just and not for appearance, limping upon wisdom and competing for glory rather than for truth, having put on the porches and pretexts and the whole paraphernalia of hypocrisy. 20. For there are, there are those who, by the assaults of tragically adorned words, 2.432 just like women beautified externally for deception skillfully, * unless one of the younger ones looks upon them cautiously and soberly with faith. Therefore one must be careful before securely understanding to admit such a word into the heart; for deceivers often get the better of those who doubt, just as indeed the Sirens get the better of those who flee them, concealing from afar their man-hating nature with their beautiful voices. Or how, O Auxentius, I said, does it seem to you that these things are established? And he answered: Just as to you. Therefore, shall we not say that the sophists of the heterodox are imitators of phantoms of truth, not knowing truth, just like painters? For these also attempt to imitate shipwrights and ships and helmsmen, without knowing how to build ships and steer them. Therefore, if you wish, by scraping away the colors, let us persuade the children who admire such paintings that this ship is not a ship nor the helmsman a helmsman, but a wall externally adorned for pleasure with colors and paintings, and that those who made these things from colors are imitators of an image of a ship and a helmsman, and not of a ship? The introduction is long for one who desires to hear. But it is beneficial, I said, O best of men. For the sayings from the divinely-inspired writings, with which these men color and embellish their own opinion for deception, audaciously calling it justice and truth, while not knowing justice at all—if someone were to take them away, how much do you think they, stripped of such names, would be mocked? Very much, he said. Therefore, O Auxentius, said I, do you wish to lead the way on this path, or shall I lead? It is right, he said, for you to lead; for you also begin the discourse. 2.433 21. Was it not said then—for come, let us examine the mind of Aglaophon part by part in order from the beginning—that the soul took on this body which we wear because of the transgression, having lived blessedly in former times without it. For he said that the coats of skin were bodies into which the souls happened to be enclosed, so that by carrying a corpse they might pay the penalty for what they had done. Or were these not the first things said by you at the beginning, doctor? But come, remind me, if I do not seem to you to remember something. There is no need for reminding on this point now; for these very things were spoken by us first. And what then? Was not this also said many times by you in what followed, that the body is an impediment to our apprehension and knowledge of the things that truly exist because of the

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σοφισταί, οἳ μισθὸν αἱροῦνται τῶν λόγων, ἐπευωνιζόμενοι τὴν σοφίαν ἐπαίνοις. τὸ μὲν οὖν παλαιὸν βραχὺ παντελῶς τὸ περὶ τὴν ἐξήγησιν ἦν, φιλοτιμουμένων μὴ τέρπειν, ἀλλὰ ὠφελεῖν τοὺς παρόντας τῶν τότε· ἀφ' οὗ δὲ λοιπὸν εἰς ῥᾳστώνην ἐπετράπη πᾶσιν ἑρμηνεύειν ἐξεῖναι τὰς γραφάς, καὶ πάντες εἰς τὸ ποιῆσαι μὲν τὸ καλὸν ἠμβλύνθησαν πλησθέντες οἰήματος, περὶ τὸ λογικεύεσθαι δὲ προέκοψαν καλλωπιζόμενοι, ὡς πάντα γινώσκειν ὑπάρχοντες δεινοί, διδάσκεσθαι μὲν ὁμολογεῖν χρῄζειν αἰδεσθέντες, φιλονεικεῖν δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ προπηδᾶν, ὡς οἱ διδάσκαλοι *. θρασυνθέντες γοῦν ἐντεῦθεν τοῦ μὲν εὐλαβοῦς καὶ πρᾴου καὶ πάντα δύνασθαι ποιεῖν τὸν θεὸν ὡς ἐπηγγείλατο πιστεύειν ὠλίσθησαν, εἰς δὲ ζητήσεις κενὰς καὶ βλασφημίας ἥκασι, μὴ νοήσαντες ὡς οὐ τὰ ἔργα τῶν λόγων ἐπετηδεύθη χάριν, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἔργων οἱ λόγοι, ὥσπερ ἐπ' ἰατρικῆς, δι' ἧς τοὺς κάμνοντας σῴζεσθαι δεῖ τῶν λόγων ἔργοις κυρουμένων, ἵν' ἡρμοσμένων ἡμῶν πάντα σύμφωνος ὁ νοῦς εἴη τοῖς ἀρίστοις λόγοις, τὰ ἤθη τῇ γλώσσῃ συνῳδὰ παρέχων δίκην λύρας, ἀλλὰ μὴ ἄμουσα καὶ ἀσύμφωνα. ἐπὶ γὰρ τῷ κτήσασθαι κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ἀγωνίζεσθαι δεῖ τὸ δίκαιον ἀσκεῖν καὶ οὐκ ἐπὶ τῷ δοκεῖν, χωλῶς ἐπιβαίνοντα σοφίας καὶ πρὸς δόξαν μᾶλλον ἢ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ἁμιλλώμενον, πρόθυρα καὶ προσχήματα καὶ πᾶσαν ὑποδυσάμενον τῆς ὑποκρίσεως τὴν σκευήν. 20. Εἰσὶ γάρ, εἰσὶν οἳ λόγων τραγικῶς κεκοσμημένων προσβολαῖς, 2.432 καθάπερ γυναῖκες ἔξωθεν ὡραϊζόμεναι πρὸς ἀπάτην ἐντέχνως, * ἐὰν μή τις πεφυλαγμένως αὐτοῖς τῶν ἔτι νεωτέρων προσβλέψῃ τῇ πίστει καὶ νηπτικῶς. ὅθεν εὐλαβητέον πρὸ τοῦ καταμαθεῖν ἀσφαλῶς εἰς τὴν καρδίαν εἰσδέξασθαι τὸν τοιοῦτον λόγον· καὶ γὰρ φθάνουσιν οἱ ἐξαπατῶντες πολλάκις τοὺς διστάζοντας, καθάπερ δὴ καὶ αἱ Σειρῆνες τοὺς φεύγοντας αὐτάς, κρύπτουσαι μακρόθεν τὸ μισάνθρωπον τῇ καλλιφωνίᾳ. ἢ πῶς, ὦ Αὐξέντιε, ἔφην ἐγώ, δοκεῖ σοὶ ταῦτα τίθεσθαι; καὶ ὃς ἀπεκρίνατο· Οὕτως καθάπερ καὶ σοί. Οὐκοῦν πάντως τῶν ἑτεροδόξων τοὺς σοφιστὰς μιμητὰς εἰδώλων ἀληθείας εἶναι λέγωμεν, ἀλήθειαν μὴ γινώσκοντας, καθάπερ ζωγράφους; καὶ γὰρ οὗτοι μιμεῖσθαι μὲν ναυπηγοὺς καὶ πλοῖα καὶ κυβερνήτας ἐπιχειροῦσι, ναυπηγεῖν καὶ κυβερνᾶν οὐ γινώσκοντες. οὐκοῦν ἀποξέοντες εἰ θέλεις τὰ χρώματα πείθωμεν αὐτῶν τὰ θαυμάζοντα τὰς τοιαύτας γραφὰς παιδία, ὅτι οὔτε τὸ πλοῖον τοῦτο πλοῖόν ἐστιν οὔτε ὁ κυβερνήτης κυβερνήτης, ἀλλὰ τοῖχος ἔξωθεν πρὸς τέρψιν χρώμασι καὶ γραφαῖς κεκοσμημένος καὶ ὅτι μιμηταὶ μὲν εἰδώλου πλοίου καὶ κυβερνήτου οἱ δημιουργήσαντές εἰσιν ἀπὸ τῶν χρωμάτων ταῦτα, καὶ οὐ πλοίου; Μακρὸν τῷ ἀκοῦσαι ποθοῦντι τὸ προοίμιον. Ἀλλ' ὠφέλιμον, ἔφην, ὦ ἄριστε. τὰ γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν θεοπνεύστων γραμμάτων ῥήματα, οἷς ἐπιχρωματίζοντες ποικίλλουσιν ἑαυτῶν πρὸς ἀπάτην οὗτοι τὴν δόξαν, δικαιοσύνην αὐθαδῶς καὶ ἀλήθειαν ὀνομάζοντες, οὐ γινώσκοντες ὅλως δικαιοσύνην, εἴ τις ἀφέλοιτο, πόσον οἴει γυμνωθέντας αὐτοὺς τῶν τοιούτων ὀνομάτων χλευασθήσεσθαι; Πάνυ πολύ, ἔφη. Πότερον οὖν, ὦ Αὐξέντιε, ἦν δὲ ἐγώ, σὺ βούλει ταύτης ἡγεμονεύειν τῆς ὁδοῦ ἢ ἐγὼ ἡγήσωμαι; ∆ίκαιος, ἔφη, σὺ ἡγεῖσθαι· σὺ γὰρ καὶ κατάρχεις τοῦ λόγου. 2.433 21. Οὐκοῦν ἐλέγετο-φέρε γὰρ πρὸς μέρος ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀκολούθως τὸν Ἀγλαοφῶντος ἐξετάσωμεν νοῦν-ἡ ψυχὴ τὸ σῶμα διὰ τὴν παράβασιν ὃ περικείμεθα τοῦτο ἀνειληφέναι, χρόνοις τοῖς ἄνω χωρὶς αὐτοῦ μακαρίως διάξασα. τοὺς γὰρ δερματίνους εἶναι χιτῶνας σώματα ἔφη εἰς ἃ ἐνεῖρχθαι συνέβη τὰς ψυχάς, δίκην ὅπως ὧν ἔδρασαν νεκροφοροῦσαι παράσχωσιν. ἢ οὐ ταῦτα πρῶτον ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ τὰ λεχθέντα ὑπὸ σοῦ, ἰατρέ; ἀλλ' ἴθι, ὑπόμνησον, ἐάν τί σοι μὴ φαίνωμαι μεμνημένος. Οὐδὲν νῦν ὑπομνήσεως εἰς τοῦτο δέῃ· αὐτὰ ταῦτα γὰρ ἦν ἐν πρώτοις ἡμῖν τὰ εἰρημένα. Τί δέ; οὐχὶ καὶ τοῦτο ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς ἐλέγετο πολλαχῶς ὑπὸ σοῦ, ὡς ἐμποδὼν πρὸς τὴν κατάληψιν ἡμῖν τὸ σῶμα τῶν ὄντως ὄντων καὶ γνῶσιν διὰ τὰς