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from this you came forth, so also into this after not long will you be dissolved, and the now throbbing members and the irrational desire and the tickling of the flesh tomorrow will not be, when the members have been deadened and the appetite has flown away. Thus the continuous inclination and acknowledgement towards the earth our mother becomes the cause of abstinence and freedom from all the difficult and hard-to-cure passions that trouble us at every moment. Dust, it says, taking from the earth. If 63a we had been formed from heaven, since we would not be able to always look at it, we would not be continuously reminded of our own nature; but now the reminder of our own worthlessness and weakness is ready at hand and unceasing for us from what we tread upon, from what we touch, from what we behold, from what we are nourished, from what we are continuously mixed with. What is more loathsome and more to be rejected than earth and clay, from which you have been fashioned? What greater cause is there for us to be of a humble mind and to consider ourselves worthy of nothing? Whenever, then, you see someone thinking great things of himself, clothed in flowery garments, his hand gleaming with a ring, wearing a band of precious stones, dragging along numerous servants, wearing long and flowing hair, and this both blond and curled, and swaggering with affectations, wearing golden necklaces, established upon a golden chair, putting on a grave face, speaking gravely, thinking lofty thoughts, 64a swaggering in the multitude of his escorts, his followers, the flatterers whom he drags along, the parasites around his luxurious tables, in the acclamations and greetings which all bring to him in the marketplace, some rising from their seats, others meeting him beforehand, others escorting him, each displaying something different for his honor and glory; whenever you see these rulers being led forth by a herald, with a loud voice swaggering at one man, scraping another, confiscating the property of another and delivering that one to death, do not consider what you see to be great, do not let your mind be cast down nor let the spectacle astonish you. remember that "God formed man, taking dust from the earth." And if what is seen is something other than a man, fear and marvel at what is being done, but if he who displays these things is dust from the earth, despise it. And God formed man. The word "He formed" at once suggests a certain skillful activity of God concerning man. 65a But did he himself also contrive our formation in the same way as those who form clay things or prepare plaster ones or forge bronze statues or finish some other artificial thing, for whom the things of imitation are confined to the surface, just as we often see a man who has been formed and displaying a character outwardly, either of anger perhaps and courage or of fear and cowardice, and again a woman either in love or ashamed, or has the former, by identifying it, wrought some other passion attendant on her nature? But the formation of God is not such, but the creative energy, having gone to the depth, organized within each one those very archetypal characters of man, having accomplished in an instant a mixing and blending into one of many and all sorts of and different passions and thoughts. If only I had so much leisure, as to show you in detail and with precision the constitution of man. For you would have learned from yourself the wisdom and economy of God concerning you.

For in reality man is a small world and they rightly conjectured who dignified him with this name. How many treatises then, and by how many people from of old, have been expended 66a concerning this wonderful creation. the physiologies of the physicians, the observations of the trainers, that concerning proportion, that concerning the symmetry of the members to one another, that concerning the amount of fleshiness; all these things enter into the formation of man. and whence for me is there such an account, so as to be able to say with precision, how many things are contained in the one word "He formed"? the

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ταύτης προῆλθες, οὕτω καὶ εἰς ταύτην μετ' οὐ πολὺ ἀναλυθήσῃ, καὶ τὰ νῦν σφύζοντα μέλη καὶ ἡ ἄλογος ἐπιθυμία καὶ ὁ γαργαλισμὸς τῆς σαρκὸς αὔριον οὐκ ἔσται τῶν μελῶν ἀπονεκρωθέντων καὶ τῆς ὀρέξεως ἀποπτάσης. οὕτως ἡ πρὸς τὴν γῆν τὴν μητέρα ἡμῶν διηνεκὴς σύννευσις καὶ ἐπίγνωσις αἰτία καθίσταται ἀποχῆς καὶ ἐλευθερίας πάντων τῶν ἐνοχλούντων ἡμῖν ἑκά στοτε χαλεπῶν καὶ δυσιάτων παθῶν. Χοῦν, εἶπε, λαβὼν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς. εἰ 63aἀπ' οὐρανοῦ ἐπλάσθημεν, ὡς μὴ δυνάμενοι ἀεὶ βλέπειν ἐκεῖνον οὐκ ἂν συνεχῶς τῆς οἰκείας ὑπεμιμνησκόμεθα φύσεως· νῦν δὲ ἐκ τοῦ προχείρου πάρεστιν ἡμῖν καὶ ἀδιάλειπτον τὸ τῆς ἡμετέ ρας καὶ εὐτελείας καὶ ἀσθενείας ὑπόμνημα ἐξ ὧν πατοῦμεν, ἐξ ὧν ἁπτόμεθα, ἐξ ὧν θεώμεθα, ἐξ ὧν τρεφόμεθα, ἐξ ὧν διηνεκῶς συμφυρόμεθα. τί τῆς γῆς καὶ τοῦ πηλοῦ βδελυκτότερον καὶ ἀποβλη τότερον, ὅθεν σὺ ἐκμεμόρφωσαι; τί μεῖζον αἴτιον τοῦ μετριοφρονεῖν ἡμᾶς καὶ τοῦ μηδενὸς ἀξίους νομίζειν ἑαυτούς; Ὁπόταν οὖν ἴδῃς τινὰ μέγα φρονοῦντα ἐφ' ἑαυτῷ, ἐσθῆτα ἀνθηρὰν περιβεβλημένον, δακτυλίῳ τὴν χεῖρα περιλαμπόμενον, σφενδόνην τὴν τῶν πολυτίμων φέροντα, οἰκέτας ἐφελκόμενον περισσούς, κόμην περιβεβλημένον μεγάλην καὶ ἀνειμένην καὶ ταύτην ξανθήν τε καὶ ἑλικτὴν καὶ σοβοῦντα κατεπιτηδεύμασιν, μανιάκας χρυσοῦς περιφέροντα, ἐπὶ χρυσῆς καθέδρας ἐνιδρυόμενον, σεμνοπροσωποῦντα, σεμνολογούμενον, ὑψηλοφρονοῦντα, 64aσοβαρευόμενον ἐπὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν προπομπῶν, τῶν ἀκολούθων, τῶν κολάκων οὓς ἐπισύρεται, τῶν περὶ τὰς πολυτελεῖς τραπέζας παρασίτων, ἐπὶ ταῖς εὐφημίαις καὶ τοῖς ἀσπασμοῖς, οὓς πάντες αὐτῷ προσάγουσι περὶ τὴν ἀγοράν, οἱ μὲν ἐξανιστάμενοι τῶν βάθρων οἱ δὲ προϋπαντῶντες, οἱ δὲ προπομπεύοντες, ἄλλος ἄλλο τι τῶν εἰς τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν ἐκείνου ἐπιδεικνύμενοι· ὅταν ἴδῃς τοὺς ἄρχοντας τούτους τοὺς ὑπὸ κήρυκι προαγομένους ὑψηλῇ τῇ φωνῇ τὸν δεῖνα μὲν σοβοῦντας τὸν δεῖνα δὲ ξέοντας, ἄλλον δημεύοντας κἀκεῖνον θανάτῳ παραδιδόντας, μὴ μεγάλα ἡγήσῃ τὰ ὁρώμενα, μὴ καταπέ σῃς τὴν διάνοιαν μηδὲ ξενίσῃ σε ἡ φαντασία. ἐνθυμήθητι ὅτι Ἔπλασεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον χοῦν λαβὼν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς. κἂν μὲν ἄλλο τί ἐστι τὸ ὁρώμενον παρὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, φοβήθητι καὶ θαύμασον τὰ πραττόμενα, εἰ δὲ χοῦς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ὁ ταῦτα ἐπιδεικνύμενος, καταφρόνησον. Καὶ ἔπλασεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον. ἡ μὲν φωνὴ τοῦ Ἔπλασε τεχνικήν τινα ὑποφαίνει εὐθὺς ἐνέργειαν τοῦ θεοῦ περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον. 65a ἆρα δὲ οὕτω καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν ἡμετέραν ἐτεχνήσατο πλάσιν ὡς οἱ τὰ πήλινα πλάσσοντες ἢ τὰ γύψινα διασκευάζοντες ἢ τοὺς ἀνδριάντας χαλκεύοντες ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν τεχνητῶν ἀποτελοῦντες, οἷς ἄχρι τῆς ἐπιφανείας τὰ τῆς μιμήσεως περιίσταται, ὥσπερ ὁρῶμεν πολλάκις ἄνδρα μὲν πεπλασμένον καὶ ἦθος ἔξω ἐμφαίνοντα ἢ θυμοῦ τυχὸν καὶ ἀνδρείας ἢ φόβου καὶ δειλίας, γυναῖκα δὲ πάλιν ἢ ἐρωτιῶσαν ἢ αἰδουμένην, ἢ ἄλλο τι παρεπόμενον τῇ ταύτης φύσει πάθος ὁ πλάστης γνωρίζων ἐξειργάσατο; θεοῦ δὲ πλάσις οὐ τοιαύτη, ἀλλ' αὐτὰ ἐκεῖνα τὰ πρωτότυπα ἤθη τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἡ δημιουργικὴ ἐνέργεια ἐπὶ τὸ βάθος χωρήσασα ἔνδον ἕκαστα διωργάνωσε πολλῶν καὶ παντοδαπῶν καὶ διαφόρων παθῶν καὶ γνωμῶν εἰς ταὐτὸν μίξιν καὶ σύγκρασιν ἐν ἀκαρεῖ ἐκτελέσασα. εἴθε μοι τοσοῦτον σχολῆς, ὥστε κατὰ λεπτὸν καὶ ἠκριβολογημένως ὑποδεῖξαί σοι τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου κατασκευήν. ἔμαθες γὰρ ἂν ἀπὸ σεαυτοῦ τὴν περὶ σὲ σοφίαν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ οἰκονομίαν.

Τῷ ὄντι γὰρ μικρὸς διάκοσμός ἐστιν ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ ὀρθῶς ἐστοχάσαντο οἱ τούτῳ τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτὸν ἀποσεμνύναντες. πόσαι γοῦν καὶ παρὰ πόσων ἐκ παλαιοῦ περὶ τὸ θαυμαστὸν τοῦτο πλάσμα πραγματεῖαι 66aκατηναλώθησαν. αἱ φυσιολογίαι τῶν ἰατρῶν, τῶν γυμναστῶν αἱ παρατηρήσεις, ἡ περὶ ἀναλογίας, ἡ περὶ τῆς τῶν μελῶν πρὸς ἄλληλα συμμετρίας, ἡ περὶ πλήθους πολυσαρκίας· ταῦτα πάντα περὶ τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου διάπλασιν συνεισέρχεται. καὶ πόθεν ἐμοὶ λόγος τοσοῦτος, ὥστε δυνηθῆναι εἰπεῖν μετὰ ἀκριβείας, ὅσα ἐν μιᾷ φωνῇ τοῦ Ἔπλασε περιέχεται; τὰ