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the soul, but not independent because of its generation, but with the relation of when and where and to something. For the soul after the death of the body is not simply called soul, but the soul of a man, and the soul of a particular man. For even after the body it has as its form the whole predicated according to its relation as a part: the human. Likewise also the body, mortal on account of its nature, but not independent on account of its generation. For the body after the separation of the soul is not simply called body, but the body of a man, and the body of a particular man, even if it is corrupted and is by nature dissolved into the elements from which it is composed. For even so it has as its form the whole predicated of it according to its relation as a part: the human. Therefore on both, I mean of soul and of body, the relation, being inseparably conceived as of parts of the whole human species, both presents their simultaneous generation, and demonstrates their essential difference from one another, in no way whatsoever injuring the essential principles innate to them. It is therefore not possible at all to find or to speak of a body or a soul without relation. For with the one is simultaneously introduced the fact that the other belongs to something; so that if the one pre-exists the other, it must be understood as belonging to something. For the relation is unchanging. And so much for these things. And if my discourse has not fallen away from the truth, thanks be to God, who through your prayers has guided me to understand rightly. But if it has in any way fallen short of the truth, you would know the precision of the argument, since you are inspired by God with the knowledge of such things.

From the same discourse, on the text, "Until matter also of itself should bear its disorder as in a stream."

I think that the present aim of the argument also pertains to the chief point of the previous thought. For having gone through how he brings very many of these things against those who love matter and the body, so that from here (1104) one who piously investigates the aim of the saint is able to infer as follows. Since man was made resplendent by God with the beauty of incorruptibility and immortality, but preferring the shame of the material nature about him to the intelligible beauty, he had become utterly forgetful of the preeminent dignity of the soul, or rather of God who had also beautified the soul in a godlike manner, he reaped the worthy fruit of his judgment according to the divine decree which wisely orders our salvation: not only the corruption and death of the body, and its motion and aptitude susceptible to every passion, but also the instability and irregularity of the external material substance around it, and its propensity and readiness for alteration—whether because God then, on account of the transgression, mixed it with our body, and instilled in it the power to be altered and, just as in the body, to suffer and be corrupted and completely dissolved (as the envelopment of dead bodies shows), according to what is written, that Even creation itself was subjected to corruption, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope; or because from the beginning, according to foreknowledge, he created it thus on account of the foreseen transgression; so that by suffering and being afflicted through it, he might come to an awareness of himself and of his own dignity, and gladly accept the disaffection towards the body and it. For the all-wise provider of our life often allows things to use their own natural impulses for our correction, somehow, for those who handle them madly, leading back our hitherto irrational love for present things, through the confusion and disturbance concerning and from them, to that which is lovable by nature. For there being three universal modes,

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ἡ ψυχή, οὐκ ἄφετος δέ διά τήν γένεσιν, ἀλλά μετά τῆς σχέσεως τοῦ ποτε καί που καί πρός τι . Οὐχ ἁπλῶς γάρ λέγεται ψυχή μετά τόν τοῦ σώματος θάνατον ἡ ψυχή, ἀλλά ἀνθρώπου ψυχή, καί τοῦ τινος ἀνθρώπου ψυχή. Ἔχει γάρ καί μετά τό σῶμα ὡς εἶδος αὐτῆς τό ὅλον κατά τήν σχέσιν ὡς μέρους κατηγορούμενον τό ἀνθρώπινον. Ὡσαύτως δέ καί τό σῶμα, θνητόν μέν διά τήν φύσιν, οὐκ ἄφετον δέ διά τήν γένεσιν. Οὐ γάρ ἁπλῶς λέγεται σῶμα μετά τόν χωρισμόν τῆς ψυχῆς τό σῶμα, ἀλλ᾿ ἀνθρώπου σῶμα, καί τοῦ τινος ἀνθρώπου σῶμα, κἄν εἰ φθείρεται καί εἰς τά ἐξ ὧν ἐστιν ἀναλύεσθαι στοιχεῖα πέφυκεν. Ἔχει γάρ καί οὕτως ὡς εἶδος τό ὅλον αὐτοῦ κατά τήν σχέσιν ὡς μέρους κατηγορούμενον τό ἀνθρώπινον. Ἐπ᾿ ἀμφοῖν τοιγαροῦν ἡ σχέσις, ψυχῆς λέγω καί σώματος, ὡς καί ὅλου εἴδους ἀνθρωπίνου μερῶν ἀναφαιρέτως νουμένη, παρίστησι καί τήν ἅμα τούτων γένεσιν, καί τήν κατ᾿ οὐσίαν πρός ἄλληλα διαφοράν ἀποδείκνυσιν, οὐδέν καθ᾿ οἷον δήποτε τρόπον τούς κατ'οὐσίαν αὐτοῖς ἐμπεφυκότας παραβλάπτουσα λόγους. Οὐκ ἔστιν οὖν ὅλως σῶμα δυνατόν ἤ ψυχήν εὑρεῖν ἤ λέγειν ἄσχετον. Θατέρῳ γάρ ἅμα συνεισάγεται τό τινος εἶναι θάτερον· ὥστε εἰ προϋπάρχει θατέρου θάτερον, τινός προσυπακουστέον. Ἡ γάρ σχέσις ἀκίνητος. Καί ταῦτα μέν περί τούτων. Καί εἰ μέν τῆς ἀληθείας ὁ λόγος οὐκ ἀποπέπτωκε, τῷ Θεῷ χάρις, τῷ διά τῶν ὑμετέρων εὐχῶν πρός τό καλῶς νοεῖν ὁδηγήσαντι. Εἰ δέ πού τι τῆς ἀληθείας ἐλλέλοιπεν, ὑμεῖς ἄν εἰδείητε τοῦ λόγου τό ἀκριβές, ὡς ἐκ Θεοῦ τήν τῶν τοιούτων ἐμπνεόμενοι γνῶσιν.

Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου, εἰς τό, " Ἕως ἄν καί παρ᾿ ἑαυτῆς ἡ ὕλη φέρῃ τό ἄτακτον ὥσπερ ἐν ῥεύματι."

Οἶμαι καί τόν παρόντα τοῦ λόγου σκοπόν τῆς τοῦ προτέρου διανοίας ἔχεσθαι κεφαλαίου. ∆ιεξελθών γάρ ὅτι πλεῖστα πρός τούς φιλύλους τε καί φιλοσωμάτους ταῦτα ἐπάγει, ὡς ἐντεῦθεν δύνασθαι (1104) τόν εὐσεβῶς τόν σκοπόν τοῦ ἁγίου διερευνώμενον ἐπιβάλλειν οὕτως. Ἐπειδή τῷ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας τε καί ἀθανασίας κάλλει παρά θεοῦ κατηγλαϊσμένος ὁ ἄνθρωπος γέγονε, τό δέ τῆς περί αὐτόν ὑλικῆς φύσεως αἶσχος τοῦ νοεροῦ κάλλους προτιμήσας λήθην τοῦ κατά ψυχήν ἐκπρεποῦς ἀξιώματος, μᾶλλον δέ θεοῦ τοῦ καί τήν ψυχήν θεοειδῶς καλλωπίσαντος πάμπαν ἐπεποίητο, τῆς γνώμης ἄξιον κατά θείαν ψῆφον τήν σοφῶς τήν ἡμῶν σωτηρίαν οἰκονομοῦσαν ἐδρέψατο καρπόν, οὐ μόνον τοῦ σώματος τήν φθοράν καί τό θάνατον, καί τήν πρός πᾶν πάθος εὐέμπτωτον κίνησίν τε καί ἐπιτηδειότητα, ἀλλά καί τῆς ἐκτός καί περί αὐτόν ὑλικῆς οὐσίας τό ἄστατον καί ἀνώμαλον, καί πρός τό ἀλλοιοῦσθαι εὔφορόν τε καί εὐχερές, εἴτε τότε αὐτήν τοῦ Θεοῦ διά τήν παράβασιν τῷ ἡμετέρῳ σώματι συμμετακεράσαντος, καί τήν πρός τό ἀλλοιοῦσθαι καί αὐτῇ, ὥσπερ τῷ σώματι, τήν πρός τό πάσχειν τε καί φθείρεσθαι καί ὅλως λύεσθαι· ὡς δηλοῖ ἡ τῶν νεκρῶν σωμάτων περιβολή, ἐνθεμένου δύναμιν κατά τό γεγραμμένον, ὅτι Καί αὐτή ἡ κτίσις ὑπετάγη τῇ φθορᾷ οὐχ ἑκοῦσα, ἀλλά διά τόν ὑποτάξαντα ἐπ᾿ ἐλπίδι, εἴ τε ἐξ ἀρχῆς κατά πρόγνωσιν οὕτως αὐτήν δημιουργήσαντος διά τήν προοραθεῖσαν παράβασιν· ὥστε τῷ πάσχειν καί κακοῦσθαι δι᾿ αὐτῆς, εἰς συναίσθησιν ἑαυτοῦ καί τοῦ οἰκείου ἀξιώματος ἐλθεῖν, καί ἀσπασίως καταδέξασθαι τήν πρός τό σῶμα καί αὐτήν ἀποδιάθεσιν. Συγχωρεῖ γάρ ὁ πάνσοφος τῆς ἡμετέρας ζωῆς προνοητής φυσικῶς χρῆσθαι πολλάκις τά πράγματα ταῖς οἰκείαις ὁρμαῖς πρός σωφρονισμόν ἡμῶν, ἔσθ᾿ ὅπη τῶν ἐμμανῶς αὐτά μεταχειριζομένων διά τῆς περί αὐτά καί ἐξ αὐτῶν συγχύσεώς τε καί ταραχῆς, πρός τό κατά φύσιν ἐραστόν ἐπανάγων τόν τέως ἀλόγιστον ἡμῶν πρός τά παρόντα ἔρωτα. Τριῶν γάρ ὄντων καθολικῶν τρόπων,