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it becomes a source of preoccupation to adorn and care for it, and also the other assaults concerning the desire of the stomach, and further, a cause of blasphemies and all sorts of sins because the soul cannot sin at all by itself, without a body; and for this reason, so that after its departure from here it might be without sin and disobedience in the heavens, where it will also have its abode with the angels, it must remain free and naked of a body, since this body becomes for it an accessory cause and a co-worker in being defiled and sinning? For without a body it is impossible for a soul to sin. Therefore, so that it may be kept sinless for the infinite age, it will no longer receive the body that weighs it down to corruption and injustice below. But this has also been said. What then? And do you think this has been well and rightly said? I asked. And what difference does this make to you? he said. But you are not refuting the argument. Nothing, I said, but because of what you have said, so that the argument may be examined. Well and rightly, he said. Does he seem to you to state things well and rightly who says things contrary and inconsistent with himself? Not at all. 2.434 For does this one seem to you to imitate the truth unskillfully? Most of all, he said. So you do not accept the one who tunes the harmonies toward the false melody of arguments? Not at all. Therefore you will not accept anything at all, even from yourself, if you speak unskillfully. For having granted that souls sinned incorporeally when they failed in the commandment and having stated that on account of their lawlessness God later gave them the tunics of skin, so that they might pay the penalty by carrying a corpse, stating that the tunics are the bodies, as the argument proceeds, forgetting what you first supposed, you say that the soul cannot sin by itself. For it is not its nature at all to do this, but the body has become an accessory cause of all kinds of evils for it. Therefore, so that it may not be incited to injustice again, as happened before because of the body, thus it will be without it for ages, although you first said that in paradise, before the body, the soul, when it was still blessed and without pain, had sinned; for when it transgressed the commandment, sin already having been confirmed through its obedience to the serpent, the body was given to it as a punitive bond. So either the former or the latter is not right. For either it sinned before the body and will sin no less even if it does not receive a body, and the excessive talk about the body not rising is futile; or with a body, and the tunics of skin cannot be considered to be the body. For man is found to have transgressed the divine commandment before they were made; on account of which the tunics are made, to cover the nakedness that came upon them from sin. But do I persuade you, and do you see how you have supposed things that conflict with themselves, and has this become clear to you, or do you not yet understand, O Aglaophon, I said, what I am saying? 2.435 I understand, he said, and I have no need to hear it a second time, but I was unaware that I had spoken incorrectly. For since I have granted that the tunics of skin are the bodies, I must confess that the soul sinned even before it came into the body, since the transgression occurred before they were made, —for the tunics are made for them on account of the transgression, and the transgression does not happen on account of the tunics— and from this confession to agree that this body is not an accessory cause of evil, but the soul itself in itself. Therefore, even if it does not receive the body, it will sin, since it also sinned before without a body. And it is foolish to say that the body cannot live again for this reason, so that it might not become an accessory cause of sinning for the soul. For it will sin, just as it sinned before the body, so also after laying aside the body, even if it does not receive the body again. Therefore, for these reasons, I must accept neither from myself nor from another the statement that the tunics of skin are the bodies. But if I should accept it, it is necessary to confess

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πρὸς τὸ κοσμεῖν ἀσχολίας αὐτὸ καὶ θεραπεύειν γίγνεται καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τὰς περὶ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν τῆς γαστρὸς προσβολάς, ἔτι τε βλασφημιῶν καὶ παντοίων αἴτιον ἁμαρτημάτων διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι καθ' ἑαυτὴν δίχα σώματος ὅλως ἁμαρτῆσαι ψυχήν· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο, μετὰ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἀποδημίαν ἐκτὸς ἁμαρτήματος ὅπως ἔσοιτο καὶ παρακοῆς ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ἔνθα καὶ τὰς διατριβὰς ἕξει μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἐλευθέραν αὐτὴν καὶ γυμνὴν χρῆναι διαμεῖναι σώματος, ἐπειδήπερ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ χραίνεσθαι τοῦτο καὶ ἁμαρτάνειν παραίτιον αὐτῇ καὶ συνεργὸν γίγνεται; ἄνευ γὰρ σώματος ἀμήχανον ἁμαρτῆσαι ψυχήν. ὅθεν ἵνα τὸν ἄπειρον ἀναμάρτητος αἰῶνα τηρηθῇ, οὐκέτι τὸ ταλαντεῦον αὐτὴν εἰς τὴν φθορὰν κάτω καὶ τὴν ἀδικίαν σῶμα λήψεσθαι. Ἀλλ' ἐλέχθη καὶ τοῦτο. Τί δέ; καὶ καλῶς σοι τοῦτο καὶ ὀρθῶς, ἔφην, ἥγησαι λελέχθαι; Καὶ τί σοι, ἔφη, τοῦτο διαφέρει; ἀλλὰ οὐκ ἐξελέγχεις τὸν λόγον. Οὐδέν, ἦν δὲ ἐγώ, ἀλλὰ δι' ἃ εἴρηκας ὅπως ἐξετάζηται ὁ λόγος. Καλῶς καὶ ὀρθῶς, ἔφη. Καλῶς δέ σοι δοκεῖ τίθεσθαι καὶ ὀρθῶς ὁ ἑαυτῷ τἀναντία λέγων καὶ ἀσύμφωνα; Οὐδ' ὁπωστιοῦν. 2.434 Ἀμούσως γὰρ οὗτός σοι φαίνεται τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὑποκρίνεσθαι; Πάντων μάλιστα, ἔφη. Οὐκ ἄρα ἀποδέχῃ τὸν τὰς ἁρμονίας ἐντείνοντα πρὸς τὸ ψευδὲς μέλος τῶν λόγων; Οὐδ' ὁπωστιοῦν. Οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ σεαυτοῦ λέγοντος ἀμούσως οὐδ' ὁτιοῦν ἀποδέξῃ. δοὺς γὰρ ἀσωμάτως ἡμαρτηκέναι τὰς ψυχὰς ἀποσφαλείσας τῆς ἐντολῆς καὶ φράσας διὰ τὴν ἀνομίαν τοὺς χιτῶνας αὐταῖς ὕστερον τοὺς δερματίνους δεδωκέναι τὸν θεόν, ἵνα δίκην νεκροφοροῦσαι παράσχωσι, χιτῶνας τὰ σώματα φράσας, προϊόντος τοῦ λόγου ἐπιλαθόμενος ἃ τὸ πρῶτον ὑπέθου μὴ δύνασθαι καθ' ἑαυτὴν τὴν ψυχὴν ἁμαρτῆσαι λέγεις. οὐ πεφυκέναι γὰρ ὅλως πρὸς τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ παραίτιον αὐτῇ παντοίων κακῶν τὸ σῶμα γεγονέναι. ὅθεν πρὸς τὸ μὴ παρορμηθῆναι πρὸς ἀδικίαν αὐτὴν αὖθις, καθάπερ συνέβη καὶ πρόσθεν ὑπὸ τοῦ σώματος, οὕτως εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας αὐτὴν ἔσεσθαι χωρὶς αὐτοῦ, καίτοι πρῶτον εἰπὼν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ πρὸ τοῦ σώματος τὴν ψυχήν, ὁπότε ἔτι μακαρία καὶ ἀναλγὴς ἦν, ἡμαρτηκέναι· παραβάσῃ γὰρ τὴν ἐντολήν, κεκρατυμμένης ἤδη διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν ὄφιν πειθὼ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, δεσμὸν αὐτῇ τὸ σῶμα δεδόσθαι τιμωρόν. ὥστε ἢ τὸ πρότερον ἢ τὸ ὕστερον οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἔχει. ἤτοι γὰρ πρὸ σώματος ἥμαρτε καὶ οὐδέν τι μᾶλλον κἂν μὴ λάβῃ σῶμα ἁμαρτήσεται, καὶ μάταιος ἡ περὶ τοῦ μὴ ἀνίστασθαι τὸ σῶμα περισσολογία· ἢ μετὰ σώματος, καὶ οὐ δύνανται σῶμα οἱ χιτῶνες νομίζεσθαι εἶναι οἱ δερμάτινοι. εὑρίσκεται γὰρ πρὸ τῆς κατασκευῆς αὐτῶν ἀθετήσας ὁ ἄνθρωπος τὴν θείαν ἐντολήν· οὗ καὶ χάριν οἱ χιτῶνες κατασκευάζονται, τὴν γύμνωσιν τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν προσγενομένην καλύψοντες. ἀλλὰ πότερον πείθω σε καὶ ὁρᾷς ὡς ἑαυτῷ μαχόμενα ὑπέθου καὶ σοὶ τοῦτο γεγένηται σαφὲς ἢ οὐδέπω μανθάνεις, ὦ Ἀγλαοφῶν, ἔφην, ὃ λέγω; 2.435 Μανθάνω, ἔφη, καὶ οὐδέν τι δέομαι δεύτερον ἀκοῦσαι, ἀλλὰ ἔλαθον ἐμαυτὸν οὐκ ὀρθῶς εἰπών. ἀνάγκη γάρ μοι δεδωκότι τοὺς δερματίνους χιτῶνας εἶναι τὰ σώματα ὁμολογεῖν, καὶ πρὶν εἰς τὸ σῶμα τὴν ψυχὴν ἐληλυθέναι ἡμαρτηκέναι, ἀνθ' ὧν πρὸ τῆς κατασκευῆς αὐτῶν ἡ παράβασις ἐγένετο, -διὰ τὴν παράβασιν γὰρ οἱ χιτῶνες αὐτοῖς κατασκευάζονται καὶ οὐχ ἡ παράβασις διὰ τοὺς χιτῶνας γίγνεται-καὶ ἐκ ταύτης τῆς ὁμολογίας συγκατατίθεσθαι ὡς οὐ τὸ σῶμα τοῦτο παραίτιον κακίας ἐστίν, ἀλλ' αὐτὴ ἡ ψυχὴ ἐν ἑαυτῇ. διὸ κἂν μὴ λάβῃ τὸ σῶμα, ἁμαρτήσεται, ἐπειδήπερ καὶ πρόσθεν ἥμαρτεν χωρὶς σώματος. καὶ ἀνόητον τὸ λέγειν ἀναβιῶναι μὴ δύνασθαι τὸ σῶμα διὰ τοῦτο, ἵνα μὴ παραίτιον τῇ ψυχῇ τοῦ ἁμαρτῆσαι γενηθῇ. ἁμαρτήσεται γάρ, ὥσπερ καὶ πρὸ τοῦ σώματος ἥμαρτεν, οὕτως καὶ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἀπόθεσιν, κἂν μὴ αὖθις τὸ σῶμα ἀπολάβῃ. ὅθεν ἀνάγκη μοι διὰ ταῦτα μήτε ἐμαυτοῦ μήτε ἄλλου ἀποδέχεσθαι λέγοντος τοὺς δερματίνους χιτῶνας εἶναι τὰ σώματα. εἰ δὲ ἀποδεξαίμην, ὁμολογεῖν χρή