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hiding its roots, as I said, it was preserved in place, and that man might rise again no longer having a "root" of "bitterness" springing up. For death was truly taken up by our protector and physician, God, in the manner of an antidote for the uprooting and destruction of sin, so that evil might not be eternal in us, having sprung up immortal as it were in immortals, and we ourselves, having been maimed and having departed from our proper virtue in the manner of the sick, might not continue for long, since we would be nurturing the great disease of sin in ever-existing and immortal bodies. Wherefore God has rightly chosen this, death, in the manner of a medicinal purification for the salvation of both soul and body, so that we might thus be rendered completely blameless and unharmed. 35. For come now, since many examples are needed concerning such matters, let us consider them especially from this point, not desisting until the argument first culminates in a clearer interpretation and proof. Thus, it appears just as if some master craftsman would again melt down a beautiful statue made by him from gold 2.455 or other material, with all its members symmetrically arranged for beauty, upon suddenly seeing it maimed by some most wicked man, who, unable to bear out of malice that the statue was beautiful, damaged it, reaping the vain pleasure of envy. For pay attention, O most wise Aglaophon, that if the craftsman should wish that the work, labored on by him with so much zeal and care, not be damaged at all and blameworthy, he will be prompted to melt it down again and make it such as it was before. But if he should not recast nor refashion it, but should allow it to remain thus, only mending it and correcting it, it is necessary that the statue, being heated in the fire and hammered, can no longer be preserved the same, but will be altered and weakened. For this reason, if he should wish the work to be entirely beautiful and blameless, it must be broken down and recast, so that the disfigurements and all the alterations which happened to it from malice and envy might themselves perish through the refashioning and recasting, and the statue might again be established into its own form, unharmed and unadulterated, most like itself. For it is not possible for the statue to be destroyed, being under the same artist, even if it be resolved again into matter, but it is possible for it to be restored; but for the disfigurements and blemishes, it is possible for them to be destroyed—for they are melted away—but it is not possible for them to be restored, because in every art the best craftsman looks not to the baser thing or to what might happen by chance, 2.456 but to what is symmetrical and right in the thing being crafted. For it seems to me that God has indeed managed the same thing in our case. For when He saw man, his most beautiful handiwork, disfigured by the malicious plots of envy, being benevolent He did not endure to leave him in such a state, so that he might not be flawed for eternity, having immortal blame in himself, but He dissolved him into matter again, so that through the remolding all the flaws in him might melt away and vanish. For what is there the recasting of the statue, is here the dying and dissolving of the body, and what is there the remolding or re-adorning of the matter, is here the resurrection, just as the prophet Jeremiah also—for he himself already vouches for these same things in this way—saying, "And I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he was making a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made in his hands was marred; and he made it again another vessel, as it seemed good in his sight to make it. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 'Am I not able to do this to you as this potter does, O house of Israel? Behold, as the potter's clay, so are you in my hands'." 36. For pay attention how, as I said, after man transgressed, the great hand to leave its own work to be overcome

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κρύπτουσα τὰς ῥίζας ὡς ἔφην ἑαυτῆς διεσῴζετο τόπῳ, ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος αὖθις μηκέτι «ῥίζαν» ἐνθωπεύουσαν «πικρίας» ἔχων ἐξεγερθῇ. ὡσπεροῦν ἀλεξιφαρμάκου γὰρ τρόπον ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀλεξητῆρος ἡμῶν ἀληθῶς καὶ ἰατροῦ θεοῦ πρὸς ἐκρίζωσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας παρελήφθη ὁ θάνατος καὶ ἀφανισμόν, ἵνα μὴ διαιωνίζον ἐν ἡμῖν εἴη τὸ κακόν, ἀθάνατον ἅτε ἐν ἀθανάτοις ἀνατεῖλαν, αὐτοὶ δὲ λελωβημένοι καὶ ἐκστάντες νοσούντων τρόπον τῆς οἰκείας ἀρετῆς ἐπὶ πολὺ διατρίβωμεν, ἅτε ἐν ὑφεστηκόσιν ἀεὶ καὶ ἀθανάτοις σώμασι τὴν κατὰ τὸ ἁμάρτημα μεγάλην τρέφοντες νόσον. διὸ δὴ καλῶς ταύτην πρὸς ἄμφω σωτηρίαν καὶ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος φαρμακευτικῆς τρόπον καθάρσεως τὸν θάνατον ὁ θεὸς ηὕρατο, ἵνα πανάμωμοι καὶ ἀσινεῖς οὕτως ἐξεργασθῶμεν. 35. Φέρε γάρ, ἐπειδὴ πολλῶν δεῖ τῶν περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα παραδειγμάτων, ἐντεῦθεν αὐτὰ μάλιστα σκεπτώμεθα, μὴ ἀφιστάμενοι, πρὶν ἂν πρῶτον εἰς εὐδηλοτέραν ἑρμηνείαν ἀποτελευτήσῃ καὶ ἀπόδειξιν ὁ λόγος. φαίνεται τοίνυν ὡσπερεί τις δημιουργὸς ἄκρος ἄγαλμα καλὸν ἀπὸ χρυσοῦ 2.455 κατεσκευασμένον ἢ ὕλης ἑτέρας αὐτῷ καὶ πάντα τὰ μέλη συμμέτρως εἰς κάλλος διακεκοσμημένον πάλιν χωνεύοι, λελωβημένον ἄφνω θεασάμενος ὑπό τινος ἀνθρώπου πονηροτάτου, ὃς οὐκ ἐνεγκὼν ὑπὸ βασκανίας εὐπρεπὲς εἶναι τὸ ἄγαλμα ἐσίνατο, ματαίαν ἡδονὴν καρπιζόμενος τοῦ φθόνου. πρόσσχες γάρ, ὦ σοφώτατε Ἀγλαοφῶν, ὅτι, εἰ βούλοιτο μὴ εἶναι σεσινωμένον ὅλως ὁ δημιουργὸς καὶ ψεκτὸν τὸ μετὰ τοσαύτης αὐτῷ σπουδῆς τε καὶ φροντίδος πεπονημένον, πάλιν προτραπήσεται συγχωνεύσας αὐτὸ τοιοῦτο ποιεῖν οἷον καὶ πρόσθεν ἦν. εἰ δὲ μὴ ἀναχωνεύοι μηδὲ ἀνασκευάζοι, ἐῴη δὲ οὕτως μένειν, μόνον θεραπεύων αὐτὸ καὶ ἐπανορθούμενος, ἀνάγκη δὴ πυρακτούμενον καὶ χαλκευόμενον τὸ ἄγαλμα μηκέτι δύνασθαι διατηρηθῆναι τὸ αὐτὸ, ἀλλὰ διηλλαγμένον ἔσεσθαι καὶ ὑπεσπασμένον. διὰ τοῦτο εἰ βούλοιτο ὅλον καλὸν αὐτὸ καὶ ἄμωμον εἶναι τὸ ἔργον, ἀναθλᾶσθαι αὐτὸ καὶ ἀναχωνεύεσθαι δεῖ, ὅπως τὰ μὲν αἴσχη καὶ τὰ ἀλλοιώματα πάντα τὰ ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς αὐτῷ καὶ φθόνου ὑπάρξαντα αὐτὰ μὲν διὰ τῆς ἀνασκευῆς καὶ ἀναχωνεύσεως ἀπόληται, τὸ δὲ εἰς τὸ ἑαυτοῦ εἶδος ἀσινὲς καὶ ἀκίβδηλον αὖθις ἄγαλμα ὁμοιότατον ἑαυτῷ κατασταθῇ. τῷ μὲν γὰρ ἀγάλματι ἀπολέσθαι οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπὸ τῷ αὐτῷ τεχνίτῃ ὄντι, κἂν πάλιν εἰς ὕλην λυθῇ, ἀποκατασταθῆναι δὲ ἔστι· τοῖς δὲ αἴσχεσι καὶ λωβήμασιν ἀπολέσθαι μὲν ἔστιν τήκονται γάρ, ἀποκατασταθῆναι δὲ οὐκ ἔστι, διὰ τὸ ἐν πάσῃ τέχνῃ τὸν ἄριστον δημιουργὸν μὴ πρὸς τὸ αἴσχιον ἢ ἐπιτευχθησόμενον ὁρᾶν, 2.456 ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ σύμμετρον καὶ εὐθὲς τοῦ δημιουργουμένου. ταὐτὸν γὰρ φαίνεται δή μοι καὶ ἐφ' ἡμῶν ὁ θεὸς διῳκονομηκέναι. τὸν γὰρ ἄνθρωπον, τὸ εὐπρεπέστατον ἑαυτοῦ τέχνημα, βασκάνοις ἐπιβουλαῖς φθόνου κεκακωμένον ἰδὼν οὐκ ἠνέσχετο τοιοῦτον καταλεῖψαι φιλάνθρωπος ὤν, ὅπως μὴ δι' αἰῶνος εἴη μεμωμημένος, ἀθάνατον ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸν ψόγον, ἀλλὰ διέλυσεν εἰς ὕλην πάλιν, ἵνα διὰ τῆς ἀναπλάσεως ἐκτακῶσι καὶ ἐξαφανισθῶσι πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ μωμήματα. τὸ γὰρ ἐκεῖ ἀναχωνευθῆναι τὸν ἀνδριάντα, τοῦτο ἐνταῦθα τὸ ἀποθανεῖν καὶ διαλυθῆναι τὸ σῶμα, τὸ δὲ ἐκεῖ ἀναμορφοποιηθῆναι τὴν ὕλην ἢ ἀνακοσμηθῆναι, τοῦτο ἐνταῦθα τὸ ἀναστῆναι, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ προφήτης Ἰερεμίας τούτοις γὰρ ἤδη καὶ αὐτὸς ὧδε τὰ αὐτὰ παρεγγυᾷ «καὶ κατέβην» λέγων «εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ κεραμέως, καὶ ἰδού, αὐτὸς ἐποίει ἔργον ἐπὶ τῶν λίθων· καὶ διέπεσε τὸ ἀγγεῖον ὃ αὐτὸς ἐποίει ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτοῦ καὶ πάλιν ἐποίησεν αὐτὸ ἀγγεῖον ἕτερον, καθὼς ἤρεσεν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ ποιῆσαι. καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος κυρίου πρός με λέγων· εἰ καθὼς ὁ κεραμεὺς οὗτος οὐ δυνήσομαι τοῦτο ποιῆσαι ὑμᾶς, οἶκος τοῦ Ἰσραήλ; ἰδού, ὡς ὁ πηλὸς τοῦ κεραμέως ὑμεῖς ἐστε ἐν ταῖς χερσί μου». 36. Πρόσσχες γὰρ ὅπως, ὡς ἔφην, μετὰ τὸ παραβῆναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἡ μεγάλη χεὶρ εἰς νῖκος καταλεῖψαι τὸ ἑαυτῆς ἔργον