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we shall attempt to say something ridiculous according to his own myth-making for his refutation, that if souls happen to be grains of lentil and bean and chickpea and the others, and the soul of a bull is the same, those who eat meat are more praiseworthy according to his argument than those who practice the disciplines. For he is afraid, according to his own rhapsody, lest by partaking of ensouled things, both of animals and the others, he himself should become similar. But rather the opposite; for fifty or even a hundred men coming together will all be nourished from one bull, as according to his vain slander *; nevertheless for the sake of refutation it must be said that the fifty or the hundred become guilty 3.74 of one soul, but he who eats the grains of seeds will rather be the cause of thirty and forty souls in a single mouthful of partaking. And all his arguments are vain and ridiculous. 35. For to everyone who has understanding in the Lord * the proofs of the truth are certainly very clear from the true teaching itself; for indeed nothing is truer than the Savior's for the revelation of the life of men. For this barbarian who has come to us, a Persian and a slave in his mind— for it was no grief that he was a slave in body—says, therefore, that all souls are equal and the one happens to be in all, both in men and cattle and wild beasts and birds and reptiles and winged and aquatic creatures, and in monsters and in the seeds of produce, and in trees and in all other visible things. And our Lord did not teach thus. For, having come to save humanity, did he also undertake the care and healing of cattle and the resurrection of fallen animals, gathering them together *? But he does not narrate thus, nor does he teach thus; may it not be, but he himself knows how to save the souls of men, as having comprehended it summarily, he said through the riddle, 'I came not, but for the lost sheep,' in order to say all human nature. And what does he say? 'He healed all whom they brought to him, those who were moonstruck and afflicted with various diseases'; they brought to him blind, deaf, maimed, paralytic, crippled, and he extended his beneficence and healing to all, but nowhere is it written that they brought animals to him. Then again, 'having come into the region of Gergestha,' as Mark says, or 'in the country of the Gergesenes,' as Luke says, or 'of the Gadarenes,' as Matthew, or Gergesenes, as some copies have—for the place was between the three lots—'and behold, two demoniacs, exceedingly fierce, coming out of the tombs; and they cried out, saying: "Ah, what have we to do with you, Jesus, Son of God, that you have come here to torment us before the time? We know who you are, the Holy One of God." Now there was a herd of swine feeding there and the demons begged him, saying: 'If you cast us out of the men, send us into the swine.' And they rushed into the sea and were lost in the waters. But the herdsmen fled and reported it in the city.' And in Matthew it is said concerning two demoniacs, and it indicates swine 3.75 simply and does not state the number. But Mark also recounted the exact number of the swine, saying that 'he came into the region of Gergestha, and a demoniac met him, who was bound with iron chains and broke the bonds apart, and he lived among the tombs, and cried out: "Ah, what have we to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? You have come to torment us before the time." And Jesus asked him: "What is your name?" And he said that it was Legion, because many demons had entered into him. And they begged him not to be sent out of the country, but to enter into the swine; for there was a herd of swine feeding there, and he permitted them to enter into the swine. And the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea—for there were about two thousand—and were drowned in the sea. And those who tended them fled, and reported it in the city.' Was it then through ignorance that God the Word asked,

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γελοῖόν τι ἐπιχειρήσομεν λέγοντες κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ μυθοποιίαν πρὸς ἔλεγχον αὐτοῦ, ὅτι εἰ ψυχαὶ τυγχάνουσαι κόκκοι φακοῦ καὶ φασηλίου καὶ ἐρεβίνθου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων, ψυχὴ δὲ καὶ ταύρου ἡ αὐτή, ἐπαινετοὶ μᾶλλον οἱ κρεωφαγοῦντες κατὰ τὸν αὐτοῦ λόγον ἤπερ οἱ τὰς πολιτείας ἐξασκοῦντες. δέδιε γὰρ κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ ῥαψῳδοποιίαν, μή πως μεταλαβὼν ἐμψύχων, ζῴων τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων, καὶ αὐτὸς ὅμοιος γένηται. τοὐναντίον δὲ μᾶλλον· συνελθόντες γὰρ ἄνδρες πεντήκοντα ἢ καὶ ἑκατὸν ἐξ ἑνὸς ταύρου οἱ πάντες τραφήσονται, ὡς κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ ματαίαν συκοφαντίαν *· ὅμως πρὸς ἔλεγχον λεκτέον ὅτι οἱ πεντήκοντα ἢ οἱ ἑκατὸν ἔνοχοι γίνονται 3.74 μιᾶς ψυχῆς, ὁ δὲ τοὺς κόκκους τῶν σπερμάτων ἐσθίων μᾶλλον ἐν ἑνὶ βροχισμῷ μεταλήψεως τριάκοντα καὶ τεσσαράκοντα ψυχῶν ἔσται αἴτιος. καὶ πάντα αὐτοῦ μάταια καὶ γελοιώδη. 35. Παντὶ γὰρ τῷ νοῦν ἔχοντι ἐν κυρίῳ * τὰ τῆς ἀληθείας τεκμήρια εὔδηλα δήπουθέν ἐστιν ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς ἀληθινῆς διδασκαλίας· καὶ γὰρ τοῦ σωτῆρος οὐδὲν ἀληθέστερον πρὸς ἀποκάλυψιν ζωῆς ἀνθρώπων. φάσκει γὰρ οὗτος ὁ βάρβαρος ἡμῖν παρελθὼν Πέρσης καὶ δοῦλος τὴν γνώμην- οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐλύπει τὸ δοῦλον αὐτὸν εἶναι κατὰ τὸ σῶμα-φησὶν οὖν ὅτι πᾶσαι αἱ ψυχαὶ ἴσαι εἰσὶν καὶ ἡ μία ἐν ἅπασι τυγχάνει, ἔν τε ἀνθρώποις καὶ κτήνεσι καὶ θηρσὶ καὶ πετεινοῖς καὶ ἑρπετοῖς καὶ ζῴοις πτηνοῖς τε καὶ ἐναλίοις, κνωδάλοις τε καὶ ἐν σπέρμασι γενημάτων, ἐν ξύλοις τε καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις πᾶσιν ὁρατοῖς. καὶ οὐχ οὕτως ὑπέδειξεν ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν. ἦ γάρ, ἐλθὼν σῶσαι τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα, καὶ τὴν τῶν κτηνῶν ἐποιεῖτο τὴν τῆς ἰάσεως ἐπιμέλειάν τε καὶ θεραπείαν καὶ ἀνάστασιν τῶν πεπτωκότων ζῴων συνάγων *; ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτως διηγεῖται οὐδὲ οὕτως διδάσκει· μὴ γένοιτο, ἀλλ' οἶδε μὲν αὐτὸς τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων σῴζειν, ὡς συλλήβδην συνειληφὼς διὰ τοῦ αἰνίγματος ἔφη «οὐκ ἦλθον, εἰ μὴ διὰ τὸ πρόβατον τὸ ἀπολωλός», ἵνα εἴπῃ πᾶσαν φύσιν ἀνθρωπείαν. καὶ τί φησίν; «ἐθεράπευε πάντας, οὓς ἔφερον αὐτῷ, σεληνιαζομένους καὶ κατεχομένους ἐν ποικίλαις νόσοις»· προσέφερον αὐτῷ τυφλούς, κωφούς, κυλλούς, παραλυτικούς, ἀναπήρους, καὶ ἐπὶ πάντας ἥπλου τὴν αὐτοῦ εὐεργεσίαν τε καὶ ἰατρείαν, οὐδαμοῦ δὲ γέγραπται ὅτι προσήνεγκαν αὐτῷ ζῷα. εἶτα πάλιν «ἐλθὼν εἰς τὰ μέρη τῆς Γεργεσθᾶν», ὡς ὁ Μάρκος λέγει, ἢ «ἐν τοῖς ὁρίοις τῶν Γεργεσηνῶν», ὡς ὁ Λουκᾶς φησιν, ἢ «Γαδαρηνῶν», ὡς ὁ Ματθαῖος, ἢ Γεργεσηνῶν, ὡς ἀντίγραφά τινα ἔχει τῶν γὰρ τριῶν κλήρων ὁ τόπος ἀνὰ μέσον ἦν «καὶ ἰδοὺ δύο δαιμονιζόμενοι, χαλεποὶ λίαν, ἐκ τῶν μνημείων ἐξερχόμενοι· καὶ ἔκραζον λέγοντες· ἔα, τί ἡμῖν καὶ σοί, Ἰησοῦ υἱὲ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅτι πρὸ καιροῦ ἦλθες βασανίσαι ἡμᾶς; οἴδαμέν σε τίς εἶ, ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ. ἦν δὲ ἀγέλη χοίρων ἐκεῖ βοσκομένη καὶ παρεκάλουν αὐτὸν οἱ δαίμονες λέγοντες· εἰ ἐκβάλλεις ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀπόστειλον ἡμᾶς εἰς τοὺς χοίρους. καὶ ὥρμησαν εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ ἀπώλοντο ἐν τοῖς ὕδασιν. οἱ δὲ βόσκοντες ἔφυγον καὶ ἀπήγγειλαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν». καὶ ἐν μὲν τῷ Ματθαίῳ περὶ δύο λέγεται δαιμονιζομένων, χοίρους δὲ σημαίνει 3.75 ἁπλῶς καὶ οὐ τὸν ἀριθμὸν δηλοῖ. ὁ δὲ Μάρκος καὶ τὴν ἀκρίβειαν τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ τῶν χοίρων διηγήσατο, εἰπὼν ὅτι «ἦλθε δὲ εἰς τὰ μέρη τῆς Γεργεσθᾶν, καὶ ἀπήντησεν αὐτῷ δαιμονιζόμενος, ὃς ἐδεσμεῖτο ἁλύσεσι σιδηραῖς καὶ διέσπα τὰ δεσμά, καὶ ἐν τοῖς μνημείοις διῆγε, καὶ ἔκραζεν· ἔα, τί ἡμῖν καὶ σοί, Ἰησοῦ υἱὲ τοῦ θεοῦ; ἦλθες πρὸ καιροῦ βασανίσαι ἡμᾶς. καὶ ἠρώτησεν αὐτὸν ὁ Ἰησοῦς· τί σοι ὄνομά ἐστι; καὶ εἶπεν ὅτι λεγεών, ὅτι πολλὰ δαιμόνια εἰσῆλθεν εἰς αὐτόν. καὶ παρεκάλουν αὐτὸν μὴ ἀποσταλῆναι ἔξω τῆς χώρας, ἀλλὰ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τοὺς χοίρους· ἦν γὰρ ἐκεῖ ἀγέλη χοίρων βοσκομένη, καὶ ἐπέτρεψεν αὐτοῖς εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τοὺς χοίρους. καὶ ὥρμησεν ἡ ἀγέλη κατὰ τοῦ κρημνοῦ εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν ἦσαν γὰρ ὡς δισχίλιοι καὶ ἐπνίγησαν ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ. καὶ οἱ βόσκοντες αὐτοὺς ἔφυγον, καὶ ἀνήγγειλαν ἐν τῇ πόλει». ἆρα οὖν δι' ἄγνοιαν ἠρώτα ὁ θεὸς Λόγος ὁ