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ending the end of life with death; and for the restoration of impassible nature, toil and death were devised, both unjust and uncaused; uncaused, as having in no way taken on a prior pleasure for generation; and unjust, as not at all being the successor of an impassioned life, so that, being posited in the middle of unjust pleasure and of most just toil and death, a most unjust toil and death, might completely abolish the most unjust beginning from pleasure, and the most just end of nature through death because of it, and the race of men might again become free of pleasure and pain, nature having received back its original good fortune, not being defiled by any of the characteristics innate in things under generation and corruption. For this reason the Word of God, being perfect God by nature, becomes a perfect man from a rational soul and a body passible by nature, similarly to us, constituted without sin alone; having in no way at all had the pleasure from disobedience preceding his generation from a woman in time; but the pain because of it, which is the end of nature, He willingly accepted out of love for humanity, so that, suffering unjustly, he might abolish the principle of generation that came from unjust pleasure and tyrannized nature; not having the Lord's death paid as a debt on its behalf, as with other men, but rather being set forth against it; and might destroy the just end of nature through death, not having the lawless pleasure on account of which it entered and by which it is justly punished, as the cause of its being.

40. It was truly necessary, it was necessary, that the Lord, being by nature wise and just and powerful, as wise, not be ignorant of the way of healing; as just, not accomplish tyrannically the salvation of man, who was willingly seized by sin; and as all-powerful, not be too weak for the fulfillment of the healing.

41. The wisdom of God is shown in His becoming truly a man by nature; His justice, in His having assumed the passibility of nature at His generation, in a manner like us; His power, in His creating through sufferings and death an eternal life and an immutable impassibility for nature.

42. (1324) The Lord made manifest the principle of wisdom in the manner of healing, by becoming man without change or any alteration whatsoever; and He showed the equity of justice in the greatness of his condescension, willingly entering into the condemnation of nature in its passibility, and making that a weapon for the destruction of sin and the death because of it, that is, of pleasure and the pain because of it, in which existed the power of sin and of death, and the tyranny of sin according to pleasure, and the dominion of death according to pain because of it. For in the passibility of nature manifestly exists the power of pleasure and of pain. For somehow, since the penalty of pain is increasingly intensified by nature, we are eager to comfort it by means of pleasure; for wishing to escape the painful sensation of pain, we flee to pleasure, attempting to comfort nature when it is oppressed by the torment of pain. But in hastening to blunt the movements of pain by means of pleasure, we further ratify the bond against ourselves, being unable to have pleasure freed from pain and toil.

43. And He made manifest the strength of His surpassing power, by establishing for nature an immutable generation from the opposites of what he himself suffered; for by giving impassibility through suffering, and rest through toil, and eternal life through death to nature, he restored it again; renewing the states by His own privations of

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θανάτου τό τῆς ζωῆς καταλήγων τέλος· πρός δέ τήν ἐπανόρθωσιν τῆς ἀπαθοῦς φύσεως, ἐπινοηθῆναι πόνον καί θάνατον, ἄδικον ὁμοῦ καί ἀναίτιον· ἀναίτιον μέν, ὡς οὐδαμῶς προαλαβοῦσαν ἡδονήν ἐσχηκότα πρός γένεσιν· ἄδικον δέ, ὡς οὐδεμιᾶς τοπαράπαν ζωῆς ἐμπαθοῦς ὄντα διάδοχον, ἵνα μέσος διαληφθείς ἡδονῆς ἀδίκου, καί πόνου καί θανάτου δικαιοτάτου, πόνος καί θάνατος ἀδικώτατος, ἀνέλῃ διόλου τήν ἐξ ἡδονῆς ἀδικωτάτην ἀρχήν, καί τό δι᾿ αὐτήν διά θανάτου δικαιότατον τέλος τῆς φύσεως, καί γένηται πάλιν ἡδονῆς καί ὀδύνης ἐλεύθερον τό γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων, τήν ἐξαρχῆς εὐκληρίαν ἀπολαβούσης τῆς φύσεως, μηδενί τῶν ἐμπεφυκότων τοῖς ὑπό γένεσιν καί φθοράν γνωρισμάτων μολυνομένην. ∆ιά τοῦτο Θεός ὑπάρχων τέλειος κατά φύσιν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, γίνεται τέλειος ἄνθρωπος ἐκ ψυχῆς νοερᾶς καί σώματος παθητοῦ κατά φύσιν παραπλησίως ἡμῖν, χωρίς μόνης ἁμαρτίας συνεστώς· τήν μέν ἐκ τῆς παρακοῆς ἡδονήν, οὐδαμῶς τοσύνολον ἐσχηκώς, προηγουμένην αὐτοῦ τῆς ἐκ γυναικός ἐν χρόνῳ γενέσεως· τήν δέ δι᾿ αὐτήν ὀδύνην, ὑπάρχουσαν τέλος τῆς φύσεως, διά φιλανθρωπίαν κατά θέλησιν προσηκάμενος, ἵνα πάσχων ἀδίκως, ἀνέλῃ τήν ἐξ ἡδονῆς ἀδίκου τυραννοῦσαν τήν φύσιν ἀρχήν τῆς γενέσεως· οὐκ ἔχουσαν ὡς χρέος ὑπέρ αὐτῆς ἐκτιννύμενον κατά τούς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους καί τοῦ Κυρίου τόν θάνατον, ἀλλά μᾶλλον κατ᾿ αὐτῆς προβεβλημένον· καί τό διά τοῦ θανάτου δίκαιον τέλος ἐξαφανίσῃ τῆς φύσεως, οὐκ ἔχων τήν δ᾿ ἥν ἐπεισῆλθε, καί ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ δικαίως τιμωρουμένην, ὡς αἰτίαν τοῦ εἶναι παράνομον ἡδονήν.

μ΄. Ἔδει ὡς ἀληθῶς, ἔδει, σοφόν καί δίκαιον καί δυνατόν ὄντα κατά φύσιν τόν Κύριον, ὡς μέν σοφόν, μή ἀγνοῆσαι τόν τρόπος τῆς ἰατρείας· ὡς δίκαιον δέ, μή τυραννικήν ποιήσασθαι τοῦ κατειλημμένου κατά γνώμην ὑπό τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀνθρώπου τήν σωτηρίαν· ὡς δέ πάντα δυνάμενος, μή ἀτονῆσαι πρός τήν τῆς ἰατρείας ἐκπλήρωσιν.

μα΄. Τό μέν σοφόν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐν τῷ γενέσθαι φύσει κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν ἄνθρωπον δείκνυται· τό δέ δίκαιον, ἐν τῷ τό παθητόν κατά τήν γένεσιν ὁμοίως ἡμῖν ἀνειληφέναι τῆς φύσεως· τό δέ δυνατόν, ἐν τῷ διά παθημάτων καί θανάτου, ζωήν ἀΐδιον τῇ φύσει δημιουργῆσαι καί ἀπάθειαν ἄτρεπτον.

μβ΄. (1324) Τό μέν τῆς σοφίας λόγον, ἐν τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς ἰατρείας, φανερόν ὁ Κύριος ἐποίησε, χωρίς τροπῆς καί τῆς οἱασοῦν ἀλλοιώσεως, γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος· τήν ἰσότητα δέ τῆς δικαιοσύνης, ἐν τῷ μεγέθει τῆς συγκαταβάσεως ἔδειξε, τό ἐν τῷ παθητῷ κατάκριμα τῆς φύσεως, κατά θέλησιν ὑποδύς, κἀκεῖνο ποιήσας ὅπλον πρός τήν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀναίρεσιν και τοῦ δι᾿ αὐτήν θανάτου, τουτέστι τῆς ἡδονῆς καί τῆς δι᾿ αὐτήν ὀδύνης, ἐν ᾧ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὑπῆρχε καί τοῦ θανάτου τό κράτος, καί ἡ κατά τήν ἡδονήν τῆς ἁμαρτίας τυραννίς, καί ἡ δι᾿ αὐτήν κατά τήν ὀδύνην τοῦ θανάτου δυναστεία. Ἐν γάρ τῷ παθητῷ προδήλως ὑπάρχει τῆς φύσεως, τό τῆς ἡδονῆς κράτος καί τό τῆς ὀδύνης. Καί γάρ πως τῆς ὀδύνης πλέον τό κατά φύσιν ἐπιτεινόμενον πρόστιμον, διά τῆς ἡδονῆς αὐτήν παραμυθεῖσθαι σπουδάζομεν· θέλοντες γάρ ἐκφυγεῖν τήν κατά τήν ὀδύνην ἐπίπονον αἴσθησιν, πρός τήν ἡδονήν καταφεύγομεν, τῷ τῆς ὀδύνης αἰκισμῷ πιεζομένην τήν φύσιν, ἐπιχειροῦντες παραμυθεῖσθαι. Σπεύδοντες δέ διά τῆς ἡδονῆς τά τῆς ὀδύνης ἀμβλῦναι κινήματα, πλέον αὐτῆς τό καθ᾿ ἑαυτῶν ἐπικυροῦμεν χειρόγραφον, ὀδύνης καί πόνων ἔχειν τήν ἡδονήν ἀπολελυμένην οὐ δυνάμενοι.

μγ΄. Τήν δέ τῆς ὑπερβαλλούσης δυνάμεως ἰσχύν δῆλον κατέστησε, τῶν οἷς αὐτός ἔπασχεν ἐναντίων, ὑποστήσας τῇ φύσει τήν γένεσιν ἄτρεπτον· διά πάθους γάρ τήν ἀπάθειαν, καί διά πόνων τήν ἄνεσιν, καί διά θανάτου τήν ἀΐδιον ζωήν τῇ φύσει δούς, πάλιν ἀποκατέστησε· ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ καταστερήσεσι τάς ἕξεις ἀνακαινίσας τῆς