Chapter LXIX.

He continues to say that “neither have visible things904    τὰ ὁρώμενα. been given to man (by God), but each individual thing comes into existence and perishes for the sake of the safety of the whole passing agreeably to the change, which I have already mentioned, from one thing to another.”  It is unnecessary, however, to linger over the refutation of these statements, which have been already refuted to the best of my ability.  And the following, too, has been answered, viz., that “there will neither be more nor less good and evil among mortals.”  This point also has been referred to, viz., that “God does not need to amend His work afresh.”905    οὔτε τῷ Θεῷ καινοτέρας δεῖ διορθώσεως.  But it is not as a man who has imperfectly designed some piece of workmanship, and executed it unskilfully, that God administers correction to the world, in purifying it by a flood or by a conflagration, but in order to prevent the tide of evil from rising to a greater height; and, moreover, I am of opinion that it is at periods which are precisely determined beforehand that He sweeps wickedness away, so as to contribute to the good of the whole world.906    ὅτι καὶ πάντη τεταγμένως αὐτὴν ἀφανίζων συμφερόντως τῷ παντί.  If, however, he should assert that, after the disappearance of evil, it again comes into existence, such questions will have to be examined in a special treatise.907    [See note supra, p. 524.  S.]  It is, then, always in order to repair what has become faulty908    τὰ σφάλματα ἀναλαμβάνειν. that God desires to amend His work afresh.  For although, in the creation of the world, all things had been arranged by Him in the most beautiful and stable manner, He nevertheless needed to exercise some healing power upon those who were labouring under the disease of wickedness, and upon a whole world, which was polluted as it were thereby.  But nothing has been neglected by God, or will be neglected by Him; for He does at each particular juncture what it becomes Him to do in a perverted and changed world.  And as a husbandman performs different acts of husbandry upon the soil and its productions, according to the varying seasons of the year, so God administers entire ages of time, as if they were, so to speak, so many individual years, performing during each one of them what is requisite with a reasonable regard to the care of the world; and this, as it is truly understood by God alone, so also is it accomplished by Him.

Μετὰ ταῦτα λέγει ὅτι οὔτε τὰ ὁρώμενα ἀνθρώπῳ δέδοται, ἀλλ' ἕκαστα [τῆς] τοῦ ὅλου σωτηρίας εἵνεκα γίνεταί τε καὶ ἀπόλλυται καθ' ἣν προεῖπον ἀμοιβὴν ἐξ ἀλλήλων εἰς ἄλληλα· περισσὸν δὲ τὸ προσδιατρίβειν τῇ τούτων ἀνατροπῇ, κατὰ δύναμιν ἡμῖν προεκτεθείσῃ. Εἴρηται δὲ καὶ εἰς τοῦτο· Οὔτε δὲ τὰ ἀγαθὰ οὔτε τὰ κακὰ ἐν τοῖς θνητοῖς ἐλάττω ἢ πλείω γένοιτ' ἄν. Λέλεκται καὶ εἰς τό· Οὔτε τῷ θεῷ καινοτέρας δεῖ διορθώσεως. Ἀλλ' οὐδ' ὡς ἄνθρωπος τεκτηνάμενός τι ἐνδεῶς καὶ ἀτεχνότερον δημιου ργήσας ὁ θεὸς προσάγει διόρθωσιν τῷ κόσμῳ, καθαίρων αὐτὸν κατακλυσμῷ ἢ ἐκπυρώσει, ἀλλὰ τὴν χύσιν τῆς κακίας κωλύων ἐπὶ πλεῖον νέμεσθαι, ἐγὼ δ' οἶμαι ὅτι καὶ πάντῃ τεταγμένως αὐτὴν ἀφανίζων συμφερόντως τῷ παντί. Εἰ δὲ μετὰ τὸν ἀφανισμὸν τῆς κακίας λόγον ἔχει τὸ πάλιν αὐτὴν ὑφίστασθαι ἢ μή, ἐν προηγουμένῳ λόγῳ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐξετασθήσεται. Θέλει οὖν διὰ καινοτέρας διορθώσεως ἀεὶ ὁ θεὸς τὰ σφάλματα ἀναλαμβάνειν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τέτακται αὐτῷ πάντα κάλλιστα καὶ ἀσφαλέστατα κατὰ τὴν τῶν ὅλων δημιουργίαν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲν ἧττον ἰατρικῆς τινος αὐτῷ ἐδέησε τοῖς τὴν κακίαν νοσοῦσι καὶ παντὶ τῷ κόσμῳ, ὑπ' αὐτῆς ὡσπερεὶ μολυνομένῳ. Καὶ οὐδέν γε ἠμέληται τῷ θεῷ ἢ ἀμεληθήσεται, ποιοῦντι καθ' ἕκαστον καιρὸν ὅπερ ἔπρεπεν αὐτὸν ποιεῖν ἐν τρεπτῷ καὶ μεταβλητῷ κόσμῳ. Καὶ ὥσπερ γεωργὸς κατὰ τὰς διαφόρους τῶν τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ὡρῶν διάφορα ἔργα γεωργικὰ ποιεῖ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὰ ἐπ' αὐτῆς φυόμενα, οὕτως ὁ θεὸς οἱονεὶ ἐνιαυτούς τινας, ἵν' οὕτως ὀνομάσω, οἰκονομεῖ ὅλους τοὺς αἰῶνας, καθ' ἕκαστον αὐτῶν ποιῶν ὅσα ἀπαιτεῖ αὐτὸ τὸ περὶ τὰ ὅλα εὔλογον, ὑπὸ μόνου θεοῦ ὡς ἀληθείας ἔχει τρανότατα καταλαμβανόμενον καὶ ἐπιτε λούμενον.