Recognitions

To you, Gaudentius, distinguished ornament of our teachers, belongs such vigor of intellect, or rather such grace of the Spirit, that whatever you say even in the manner of everyday speech, whatever you deliver in church, ought to be kept in books and handed down to posterity for instruction. We, however, whom slenderness of talent makes less ready and old age now makes slow and sluggish, have at last, though after many delays, rendered the work which the virgin Silvia of venerable memory once enjoined on us, that we should put Clement into our language, and which you afterwards claimed by right of inheritance. And we are bringing in for the use and benefit of our people a booty, I think, not small, snatched from the libraries of the Greeks, so that we may nourish with foreign food those whom we cannot nourish with our own. For foreign things usually seem sweeter, and sometimes also more useful. Indeed, almost everything that brings healing to bodies, that counters diseases, that drives off poisons, is foreign. Judaea sends the tear of balsam, Crete the leafy head of dittany, Arabia the flowers of spices, and India reaps the harvest of spikenard; and though these reach us somewhat more broken than what our own field has produced, they keep entire the charm of their fragrance and their power to heal. Receive, then, my soul, our Clement returning to you; receive him now a Roman. And do not wonder if perhaps the face of eloquence appears less florid in him than usual. It makes no difference, provided the sense savors the same. So we carry foreign wares into our homeland with much sweat. And I do not know how gratefully the faces of my fellow citizens will receive me as I bring them great spoils from Greece and unlock the hidden treasures of wisdom with the key of our language. But may God favor your prayers, that no ill-omened eye and no envious look of anyone may meet us, lest by the last kind of portent, while those from whom he is taken feel no envy, those on whom he is conferred should yet turn livid with it.

It is only fair to explain the plan of our translation to you, who have read these things also in Greek, lest you think that in some places the order of the translation has been insufficiently kept by us. I suppose you are aware that in Greek there are two editions of this work of Clement, the Anagnōseis, that is, the Recognitions, and two bodies of books, differing in some points but in many containing the same narrative. Indeed, the last part of this work, which tells of the transformation of Simon, is found in one body and is entirely absent from the other. There are also in both bodies certain discussions about the unbegotten and the begotten God, and about some other matters, which, to say no more, went beyond our understanding. These, therefore, as being beyond my powers, I preferred to reserve for others rather than to present them imperfectly. In the rest, however, we have taken pains, as far as we could, to depart not only not from the sense but not even from the words and expressions. This makes the style of the narrative less ornate, but more faithful. The letter, indeed, in which this same Clement, writing to James the brother of the Lord, reports the death of Peter, and that Peter left him as successor of his chair and his teaching, and in which the whole order of the church is also set out, I have not now prefixed to this work, both because it is later in time and because I translated and published it some time ago. But since something in it may perhaps seem inconsistent to some, I think it not absurd to explain it here. For some ask how, since Linus and Cletus were bishops in the city of Rome before this Clement, Clement himself, writing to James, says that the chair of teaching was handed over to him by Peter. We have received this as the explanation: Linus and Cletus were indeed bishops in the city of Rome before Clement, but while Peter was still living, namely so that they bore the care of the episcopate while he himself fulfilled the office of apostleship; just as he is found to have done at Caesarea also, where, though he himself was present, he nevertheless had Zacchaeus, ordained by himself, as bishop. In this way both will be seen to be true: that those men are counted as bishops before Clement, and that Clement nevertheless received the seat of teaching after Peter's death. But now let us see how Clement himself, writing to James the brother of the Lord, begins his narrative.

I, Clement, born in the city of Rome, pursued chastity from my earliest age, while from boyhood an intentness of mind held me bound as if by chains of anxiety and grief. For there was in me a train of thought (whence it took its beginning I do not know) that kept bringing to my mind the condition of mortality, and at the same time debated: whether there is any life for me after death, or whether I shall be nothing at all afterwards; whether I did not exist before I was born; or whether there will be no remembrance at all of this life after death, and so the immensity of time will consign all things to oblivion and silence, so that not only shall we not exist, but it will not even be remembered that we existed. And this too turned over in my breast: when the world was made, or what there was before it was made, or whether it has always existed. For it seemed certain that if it had been made, it would surely also be dissolved; and if it is dissolved, what will there be afterwards? Unless perhaps oblivion and silence will cover all things, or perhaps there will be something which the mind of mortals cannot now perceive.

Turning these and similar things over in my mind unceasingly, I know not whence, I wasted away incredibly from excess of grief; and, what is worse, whenever I thought of rejecting such cares as useless, stronger waves of anxiety rose up within me. For I had within me an excellent companion who would not let me rest: the desire of immortality. For as the outcome of things afterwards taught, and the grace of almighty God showed, this intentness of mind led me to the search for truth and the knowledge of the true light. From this it came about that I afterwards mourned for those whom earlier, in my ignorance, I had believed blessed.

So, while from my earliest age I was occupied with such intentness of mind, wishing to learn something, I frequented the schools of the philosophers, where I saw nothing else going on but the assertion and refutation of doctrines without end, contests, and the arts and subtleties of syllogisms and conclusions being plied. And whenever the argument prevailed that the soul was immortal, I rejoiced; whenever it was argued to be mortal, I went away sad. Yet neither view held the firmness of truth in my heart; I understood only this, that opinions and definitions of things were thought true or false, not according to their own nature and the truth of the matters, but according to the talents of those who defended them. And I was tormented all the more deeply in my breast because I could neither hold anything of what was said as firm nor cast away the desire of inquiring; but the more I tried to neglect and spurn it, the more ardently, as I said above, this kind of thought, creeping in secretly as if with a certain pleasure, possessed my mind and soul.

Being thus hemmed in in the discovery of things, I said to myself: Why do we labor in vain, since the end of things is plain? For if after death I shall not exist, I am tormented needlessly now; but if there will be life for me after death, let us keep for that life the impulses that belong to its time, lest perhaps sadder things than those I now suffer await me there, unless I have lived piously and soberly, and, according to the opinions of some philosophers, I be handed over to the river Pyriphlegethon or to Tartarus, like Sisyphus and Tityus, and like Ixion and Tantalus, to eternal punishments in the underworld. And again I answered myself: But these things are fables; or, if it is so, in doubtful matters it is better to live piously. But again I reckoned with myself: How could I restrain myself from the lust of sin while the reward of righteousness is uncertain? Especially since even what righteousness itself is, the righteousness that pleases God, is uncertain to me; and I neither know whether the soul is immortal and is such as can hope for anything, nor do I know what will certainly come. And yet I cannot rest from such thoughts.

What then shall I do? I will go to Egypt, and there become friendly with the hierophants or prophets who preside over the shrines; and I will entreat a magician, hired from among them with money, to bring up a soul for me from the underworld by what they call necromancy, as though I wished to consult it about some business. But my consultation will be this: whether the soul is immortal. And the proof that the soul is immortal will be certain to me not from its speaking, or from what I hear, but from what I see; so that, beholding it with my own eyes, I may hold for the future the most certain conviction of its immortality. For then neither the deceitfulness of words nor uncertain hearing will be able to disturb the truth of sight. However, I referred this very plan of mine to a certain philosopher who was my friend, and he advised me not to dare to do it. “For if,” he said, “the soul does not obey the magician who summons it, you will afterwards live more hopelessly, thinking there is nothing after death, since you will also have attempted unlawful things. But if you seem to yourself to see something there, what religion or what piety will be handed on to you from unlawful and impious things? For they say that such business is hateful to the Deity, and that God sets himself against those who trouble souls after their release from bodies.” When I heard this I became slower about what I was preparing; yet I could by no means either lay aside my desire or cast off the trouble of my thought.

To be brief: while I was being tossed by these surges of thought, a certain report, which began in the regions of the East in the reign of Tiberius Caesar, gradually reached us, and, gaining strength from place to place like a good messenger sent from God, it was filling the whole world and would not allow the divine will to be hidden in silence. It spread, then, through every place, announcing that there was someone in Judaea who, beginning in the springtime, was preaching the kingdom of God to the Jews, and said that those would receive it who kept the ordinances of his commandments and teaching. And so that his word might be believed worthy of credit and full of divinity, he was said to perform many mighty works, and wonderful signs and portents, by his command alone, so that, as one having power from God, he made the deaf hear and the blind see, raised up the lame, drove away every infirmity and all demons from people, even raised the dead who were brought to him, and healed lepers, looking on them from a distance; and there was nothing at all that seemed impossible to him. These and similar things were confirmed in the course of time, no longer by frequent rumors but by the plain reports, so to speak, of people coming from those parts, and the truth of the matter became clearer day by day.

At last gatherings began to be held in various places in the city, this report to be discussed, and the question to be pondered with wonder: who this might be who had appeared, and what message from God he had brought to men. Then in the same year a certain man, standing in the most crowded place of the city, proclaimed to the people: “Hear me, citizens of Rome. The Son of God is now in the regions of Judaea, promising eternal life to all who are willing to hear him, provided they direct their actions according to the will of God the Father, by whom he was sent. Therefore turn from evil things to good, from temporal things to eternal. Acknowledge that there is one God, ruler of heaven and earth, in whose righteous sight you, being unrighteous, inhabit his world. But if you turn and act according to his will, you will come to the world to come, be made eternal, and enjoy his unspeakable good things and rewards.” Now this man who was saying these things to the people was from the regions of the East, by nation a Hebrew, by name Barnabas, who said that he was himself one of his disciples and had been sent for this purpose, to declare these things to those who were willing. When I heard this, I began with the rest of the crowd to follow him and hear what he said. I perceived, indeed, that there was nothing of the dialectical art in the man, but that he set forth simply, without any coloring of speech, what he had heard or seen from the Son of God. For he did not fortify his assertions by force of argument, but produced from the very people standing around many witnesses of the words and wonders he announced.

But since the people began to assent gladly to what was said sincerely and to embrace the simple speech, those who seemed to themselves learned, or philosophers, began to laugh at the man and despise him, and to bring out against him the snares of syllogisms as though they were the strongest weapons. But he, undaunted, regarding their subtleties as ravings, did not even judge them worthy of an answer, but went on fearlessly with what he had set out to say. At length, when someone put to him, as he was speaking, the question why the gnat was so made that, though it is a tiny animal and has six feet, wings were added to it besides, whereas the elephant, though it is a huge animal and has no wings, has only four feet, he, without even looking at the question, went on with unbroken attention with the discourse that the untimely question had interrupted, adding at each interruption only this admonition: “We have it in charge to announce to you the words and wonderful deeds of him who sent us, and to confirm the truth of what we say, not by arguments sought out by art, but by witnesses produced from among yourselves. For I recognize many standing in your midst who, I remember, heard with us what we heard and saw what we saw. But let it be in your power either to receive or to reject what we announce. For we cannot keep silent about what we know to be for your good, because for us, if we keep silent, there is loss; but for you, if you do not receive what we say, destruction. I could indeed very easily answer your foolish questions—I mean about the difference between the gnat and the elephant—if you asked them for the sake of learning the truth; but now it is absurd to say anything to you about creatures, when the very Creator and Founder of all is unknown to you.”

When he had said this, all, as if with one accord, burst out laughing together with undisciplined mouths, wishing to put him to shame and impose silence on him, and crying out that he was a barbarian and not of sound mind. But when I saw these things being done, filled with a certain zeal (I know not whence) and kindled with religious fervor, I could not keep silent, but cried out with all boldness: “Most rightly,” I said, “has almighty God hidden his will from you, whom he foresaw to be unworthy of the knowledge of himself, as is plain to the right-minded from what you are now doing. For when you see that preachers of the will of God have come, you laugh at the ministers and messengers of your salvation because their speech professes no knowledge of the grammatical art, and they bring the divine commandments to you in simple and unpolished words, so that all who hear can follow and understand what is said. You do not know that it is your condemnation—you who seem to yourselves skilled and eloquent—that the knowledge of the truth is found among rustics and barbarians. When it comes to you, it is not received even as a guest, though, had your intemperance and lust not stood in the way, it ought to have been a citizen and a native. So you are convicted of being not friends of truth and philosophers, but followers of boastfulness and vain talkers, who believe that truth dwells not in simple words but in crafty and cunning ones, and who pour out countless words not worth the price of a single word. What then do you think will become of you, all you crowd of Greeks, if there is to be a judgment of God, as this man says? But now leave off laughing at this man to your own ruin, and let any of you who wishes answer me; for by your mere barking you disturb even the ears of those who wish to be saved, and by your disturbances you turn aside to the fall of unbelief minds that are prepared for faith. What pardon will there ever be for you, who laugh at and insult the messenger of the Deity who promises you the knowledge of God? Even if he brought nothing of truth, yet for his very purpose of kindness toward you, you ought to hold him welcome and acceptable.”

While I was pursuing these and similar things, a great uproar arose among the people standing by, some being moved with pity, as toward a stranger, and approving my speech as consistent with that, while others, petulant and stupid, roused the anger of their unbridled minds against me too, as against Barnabas. But as the day was now declining toward evening, I took Barnabas by the right hand and, though he resisted, brought him to my house and made him stay there, lest anyone of the unruly mob should lay hands on him. So, being together for some days, I gladly heard him discourse the word of truth; yet he pressed for his departure, saying that he must by all means celebrate in Judaea a festival of his religion that was approaching, and remain there thereafter with his fellow citizens and brethren, plainly showing that he was struck with horror at the injury done him.

Then I said: “Only set out for me the teaching of that man who you say has appeared, and I, putting your sayings into my own words, will preach the kingdom and righteousness of almighty God; and after that, if you wish, I will even sail with you, for I very much desire to see Judaea, and perhaps to remain with you permanently.” To this he answered: “If indeed you wish to see our country and learn what you desire, sail with me right now; but if something keeps you, I will leave you directions to our dwelling, so that when you wish to come you may easily find us; for tomorrow I set out on my journey.” When I saw that he was immovable, I went down with him to the harbor, carefully received from him the directions to the dwelling he had spoken of, and told him that, were it not that I had to recover some money from debtors, I would not delay at all, but would quickly follow him. Having said this, and having commended him very earnestly to those in charge of the ship, I returned sad; for the memory of my association with a good guest and the best of friends held me.

After remaining a few days and settling part of what was owed to me (for in my eagerness to hasten I neglected much, so as not to be hindered from my purpose), I sailed straight for Judaea, and after fifteen days landed at Caesarea Stratonis, the largest city of Palestine. When I had left the ship and was looking for lodging, I learned from common talk that a certain Peter, a most approved disciple of him who appeared in Judaea and showed many signs and wonders divinely performed among men, was to hold a debate of words and questions the next day with a certain Simon, a Samaritan from the village of Gitthae. When I heard this, I asked to be shown his lodging; and when I had found it and stood before the door, I told the doorkeeper who I was and whence I came. And behold, Barnabas came out, and as soon as he saw me he ran into my embrace, weeping for joy, and taking me by the hand led me in to Peter. Pointing him out to me from a distance, he said: “This is Peter, whom I told you was greatest in the wisdom of God, and to whom I in turn have spoken of you without ceasing. Go in, then, as one well known to him. For he has learned most truly all the good that is in you, and has carefully understood your religious purpose; hence he is moved with the greatest desire to see you. So today I present you to him from my hands as a great gift.” And at the same time, presenting me, he said: “This is Clement, Peter.”

But the most kind Peter, hearing my name, ran to me at once and kissed me, and after making me sit down, he said: “You did well to receive Barnabas, a preacher of the truth, as your guest, in no way fearing the fury of the frenzied people; you will be blessed. For as you have counted the ambassador of the truth worthy of every honor, so the truth itself will receive you as a stranger and guest and enroll you as a citizen of its own city; and then you will have great joy, because by bestowing a small kindness now you are being written down as heir of eternal goods. Now, then, do not trouble to explain your mind to me; for Barnabas has told me everything about you and your character in a faithful account, recalling the memory of your good qualities almost daily and without ceasing. And, to tell you briefly, as to a friend already of one mind with us, what I would advise: if nothing hinders you, journey with us and hear the word of truth which we shall speak in each place until we reach the very city of Rome; and now, if you wish anything, say it.”

When I had explained to him what purpose I had formed from the beginning, and how I had been worn out by empty questions (and all those things which I told you, my lord James, at the beginning, so that I need not repeat them), I gladly promised that I would travel with him; “for this,” I said, “is what I was most eagerly waiting for. But first I want the account of the truth explained to me, so that I may know whether the soul is mortal or immortal, and, if immortal, whether it will be brought to judgment for what it does here. I also want to know what righteousness is, the righteousness that pleases God. Then besides, whether the world was made, and why it was made, or whether it is to be dissolved, or renewed for the better, or whether after this there will be no world at all; and, not to go through every point, I want to learn how these and similar things stand.” To this Peter said: “Briefly, Clement, I will impart to you the knowledge of these things; listen now.”

“The will and counsel of God have been hidden from men for many reasons. First, indeed, because of bad upbringing, very evil companionships, wicked habits, conversations that are not good, and presumptions that are not right. Because of all these, I say, first error, then contempt, then unbelief and malice, avarice too and vain boasting, and other evils like these, have filled the whole house of this world like a vast smoke, and have not allowed those who dwell inside a free view to behold their Founder, nor to perceive what is pleasing to him. What then befits those who are inside, except to raise a cry from their inmost hearts and call for the help of him whom alone the smoke-filled house does not shut in, that he may come and open the door of the house, so that the smoke that is inside may be let out, and the light of the sun that shines outside may be let in?”

“He, then, whose help is sought for the house filled with the darkness of ignorance and the smoke of vices is, we say, the one who is called the true Prophet, who alone can enlighten the souls of men, so that they see the way of salvation plainly with their own eyes. For otherwise it is impossible to gain knowledge of divine and eternal things, unless one has learned from that true Prophet; because, as you yourself mentioned a little while ago, belief about things and opinions about causes are weighed rather according to the talents of those who defend them. Hence the same cause is thought now just, now unjust, and what seemed true a moment ago seems false on the assertion of another. For this reason faith in religion and piety required the presence of the true Prophet, that he himself might tell us about each thing as the truth itself stands, and teach how one ought to believe about each. And therefore before everything the credibility of the prophet must be tested with all examination; and once you have recognized that he is truly a prophet, you must believe him in everything thereafter, and no longer discuss point by point what he teaches, but hold what he says as firm and sacred; and these things, though they seem to be received by faith, are nevertheless believed on the strength of the proof already made. For once the truth of the prophet has been established by examination at the start, the rest is to be heard and held by the faith by which it is already established that he is a teacher of truth. And as it is certain that all things that pertain to divine knowledge must be held according to the rule of truth, so it is beyond doubt that what is true can be known from no one else but from him alone.”

Having said this, he explained to me so openly and so clearly who that Prophet was and how he might be found, that I seemed to have before my eyes and to handle with my hand the proofs he had produced concerning the prophetic truth; and I was fixed in great astonishment that no one sees what all are seeking, though it is placed before their eyes. Then, at his command, arranging in order what he had said to me, I wrote a book about the true Prophet and, at his command, sent it to you from Caesarea. For he said that he had received an instruction from you to send you each year, written out, whatever he had said and done. Meanwhile, at the beginning of the discourse that he held with me on the first day about the true Prophet and very many other things, when he had instructed me most fully, he added this also: “See to it,” he said, “from now on, that you are present at my discussions, which I shall hold, whenever necessity requires, with those who oppose us. In disputing against them, even if I should perhaps seem to be worsted, I shall not fear that you will come to doubt what I have handed on to you; because even if I seem to be beaten, the things the true Prophet has handed on to us will not on that account seem weak. Yet I hope that we shall not be beaten in disputations either, provided the hearers are reasonable and friends of truth, able to discern the force and appearance of words, and to recognize which speech comes from the sophistic art, containing not truth but an image of truth, and which, uttered simply and without coloring, has all its force not in appearance and ornament but in truth and reason.”

To this I said: “I give thanks to almighty God that I have been instructed as I desired. Yet you may be so far assured about me that I cannot come to doubt what I have learned from you, so that even if you yourself should at some time wish to transfer my faith from the true Prophet, you could not do it at all; with so full a spirit have I drunk in what you have handed on. And lest you think I am promising you something great in saying that I cannot be moved from this faith: it is certain to me that whoever among men has received this account of the true Prophet can never again doubt the truth in any way. And therefore I am confident, having grown together with this divine teaching, in which every art of malice is overcome. For against prophecy no art will be able to stand, nor the cunning of sophisms and syllogisms. Everyone who has heard of the true Prophet must at once conceive a desire for the truth itself, and will no longer, on the pretext of seeking the truth, endure various errors. Therefore, my lord Peter, I do not want you to be anxious any more, as about one who does not know what he has received and how great a gift has been entrusted to him. Be sure that you have bestowed a favor on one who knows and understands, and I cannot easily be deceived because I seem to have quickly obtained what I long desired. For it can happen that one man who desires obtains quickly, while another does not reach his desires even slowly.”

And Peter, hearing this from me, said: “I give thanks to my God both for your salvation and for my own peace; for I am greatly delighted because I see that you have understood how great is the power of prophecy, and because, as you say, not even I myself, if I wished (which God forbid!), could turn you to another faith. From now on begin to be with us, and tomorrow be present at our disputations; for I am to have a contest with Simon Magus.” When he had said this, he withdrew to take food with his own people, but told me to eat apart. And after the meal, when he had given praise and thanks to God, he also gave me the reason for this very practice, and added: “May the Lord grant you to be made like us in all things, so that, having received baptism, you may come to the same table with us.” Having said this, he told me to rest; for by now both the nature of the body and the hour invited to sleep.

Early next day Zacchaeus came in to us and, after greeting us, said to Peter: “Simon postpones the day of the contest to the eleventh of the present month, which is seven days from now; for he says he will then have more free time for disputing. And to me his adjournment seems necessary for us too, so that more may gather to be either hearers or judges of our disputation. However, if it seems good to you, let us in the meantime discuss among ourselves first the things we think may come into controversy, so that each of us, knowing what is to be proposed and what answered, may consider with himself whether they are sound, or whether the adversary can find anything to object or by which to frustrate our objections. And if it becomes clear that what we are to say is fortified on every side, then at last let the inquiry be begun with confidence. My opinion is this: that before everything we should ask what is first of all, or what is immediate, which must also be shown to be the cause of all things that are; then, concerning all things that are, whether they were made, and by whom, and through whom or for whom; whether they received their substance from one, or from two, or from many; and whether they were taken and fashioned from nothing existing, or from some things; then whether there is any power in the highest things or in the lowest; whether there is something better than all, or inferior to all; whether there are any motions, or none; whether these things that are seen always were and always will be; whether they came into being with no one at work, and will pass away with no one dissolving them. If, I say, the disputation begins from these, I think that the questions inquired into, discussed with careful examination, will easily become clear. And when these have become clear, the knowledge of what follows will be readily found. I have put forward what I think; do not hesitate to say what seems right to you as well.”

To this Peter said: “Tell Simon meanwhile to do as he pleases, sure that, by the gift of divine Providence, he will always find us ready.” And Zacchaeus went out to report to Simon what he had heard. But Peter, looking at us and perceiving that I was saddened by the postponement of the contest, said: “One who believes that the world is governed by the providence of the supreme God ought not, my friend Clement, to take amiss any particular thing that happens in whatever way, being sure that the justice of God directs to a timely and fitting outcome even what seems superfluous or contrary in any affair, especially toward those who worship him more intimately. And therefore one who is sure of these things, as I said, if anything happens contrary to his expectation, knows how to drive grief from his mind on that account, holding it plain by his better judgment that by the governance of the good God even what is thought contrary is turned to the better. Therefore, Clement, do not let even this postponement by Simon Magus sadden you. For I believe it has been brought about by the providence of God for your benefit, so that in this seven days' adjournment I may set out to you without any disturbance, in order and consecutively, the account of our faith according to the tradition of the true Prophet, who alone knows the things that have happened as they happened, the things that are happening as they happen, and the things that will be as they will be. These things were indeed spoken plainly but not written plainly, so much so that when they are read they cannot be understood without an interpreter, because of the sin that has grown up with men, as we said above. For this reason, then, everything will be explained to you by me, so that in what has been written you may clearly recognize what is the mind of the lawgiver.”

When he had said this, he began to explain to me one by one the chapters of the law that seemed to be in question, from the beginning of creation up to the time when I came to him at Caesarea, telling me that Simon's postponement had made it possible for me to learn everything in order. “At other times,” he said, “as the occasion of the discourse brings them up, we shall discuss more broadly each of the things we have now spoken of more briefly, so that, as I promised you, you may learn about everything more fully and perfectly. Since, then, today still remains to us of the days granted by the delay, I wish to go over briefly again what has been said, so that it may be better recalled to your memory.” And thereupon he began in this way to renew in my mind what he had said: “Do you remember, my friend Clement, the account I gave you of the eternal age that knows no end?” Then I said: “I shall never retain anything, Peter, if I can omit or forget that.”

And Peter, gladly receiving this answer of mine, said: “I congratulate you on answering so, and on declaring, not that you can easily speak of those things themselves, but that you remember them; for the highest things wish to be honored with silence. Yet, to give proof of what you remember about the ineffable things, tell what you retain of what we said in the second place, which can easily be uttered, so that, seeing the tenacity of your memory, I may readily point out to you the things I wish, and gladly open them.” Then I, when I noticed that he rejoiced in the memory of his hearers, said: “I remember not only your definition, but also that preface which was placed before the definition; and of nearly everything you expounded I keep the sense entire, even if not all the words, because what you said has become as it were native and inborn to my soul. For you held out a most sweet cup to me when I was exceedingly thirsty. And lest you think that I am occupying you with words while forgetful of the matter, I will now recall what was said; in this the order of your disputation helps me greatly. For because what you say proceeds consecutively and is arranged in balance, it is easily recalled to memory along the lines of its order. The order of what is said helps much toward remembering; for when you begin to recall each thing in sequence, wherever something is missing, the mind at once searches for it, and when it finds it keeps it, or at least, if it cannot track it down, it will not be reluctant to ask the teacher. But so as not to delay in giving back what you ask of me, I will briefly go over again what you taught about the definition of truth.”

“There always was, and is, and will be that from which the first will, begotten from everlasting, subsists; and from the first will, again a will. After this, the world; from the world, time; from this, the multitude of men; from the multitude, the choice of friends, from whose unanimity the peaceful kingdom of God is built up. The rest, which ought to follow this, you promised to tell me another time. After this, when you had explained the creation of the world, you made known the decree of God which he declared of his own will in the presence of all the first angels, and which he established as an eternal law for all; and that he set up two kingdoms, I mean that of the present time and that of the future, and appointed times for both, and determined that a day of judgment, which he himself has fixed, should be awaited, on which a separation of things and of souls is to be made, so that the wicked will be handed over to eternal fire for their sins, but those who have lived according to the will of God the Creator, having received a blessing for their good works, shining with brightest light, brought into the eternal abode, and continuing in incorruption, will receive the eternal gifts of ineffable good things.”

As I was going through these things, Peter, filled with joy and exulting as if over a son, and lest I should perhaps falter in remembering the rest and be put to shame before those who were present, said: “Enough, Clement; for you have set these things out more clearly than I myself had expounded them.” And I said: “A liberal education has given me the ability to narrate in order and to set out more lucidly what the matter requires. If we use it in the errors of antiquity, we fall into the ruin of life through the beauty and sweetness of words; but if we bring the learning and grace of speech to the assertion of truth, I think that no little benefit is gained from it. But, my lord Peter, how great a joy, do you think, lifted me up, both in everything else and especially at the statement of that teaching in which you say: There is one God, whose work the world is, and who, because he is righteous in every way, will repay each according to his deeds. And after this you added: For the assertion of this doctrine countless thousands of words are brought forward; but in those to whom the knowledge of the true Prophet has been granted, that whole forest of words has been cut down. And for this reason, by handing on to me the discourse about the true Prophet, you strengthened me with all firmness of assertion.” Then at last, when I had noticed that the sum of all religion and piety consists in this, I at once answered: “You have set it out excellently, Peter; therefore from now on, as to one who knows what the foundations of faith and piety are, expound without hesitation the traditions of the true Prophet, who alone, it has been plainly proved, must be believed. But keep that exposition which needs assertions and arguments for unbelievers, to whom you have not yet judged it right to entrust the undoubting faith of prophetic grace.” And when I had said this, I said: “You promised both: to hand on to me in due time both this simple exposition, free of all error, and that which is unfolded through each of the questions that will be raised. And after this you set out in order the sequence of events from the beginning of the world to the present time; and if you please, I can go over it all again from memory.”

To this Peter said: “I am greatly delighted, Clement, that I entrust words to so safe a heart; for to remember what is said is a sign of having the faith of works at hand. But the one from whom the evil demon steals the words of salvation and snatches them from memory cannot be saved even if he wishes; for he loses the way by which one comes to life. Therefore let us all the more repeat what has been said and confirm it in your heart: that is, how and by whom the world was made, so that we may strive for the friendship of the Creator. And friendship is gained by living well and obeying his will, and that will is the law of all living beings. So let us briefly go over these same things again for the sake of firmer memory.”

“In the beginning, when God had made heaven and earth as one house, the shadow cast by the bodies of the world gave darkness from itself to the things that had been shut inside. But when the will of God had brought in light, that darkness which had been made from the shadow of the bodies was at once swallowed up; then the light is assigned to the day, the darkness to the night. Now the water which was within the world, in the middle of the space of that first heaven and earth, is spread out as if congealed by frost and made solid as crystal; and by such a firmament the middle spaces of heaven and earth are, as it were, shut off; and the Creator called this firmament heaven, naming it with the word for that older one. And thus he divides the whole fabric of the world, though it was one house, into two regions. The reason for the division was this: that the upper region should provide a dwelling for angels, and the lower for men. After this, at the command of the eternal will, the place of the sea and the chaos that had been made received what remained of the waters below; and as they flowed down into the deep and hollow places, the dry land appeared, and the gatherings of the waters became seas. And after this the earth that had appeared brought forth various kinds of plants and shrubs; it also produced springs and rivers, not only on the plains but on the mountains too; and so all things were prepared, so that the men who would dwell on it might be able to use all these things at their discretion, that is, whether they wish to use them for good or for evil.”

“After this he adorns this visible heaven with stars. He also places in it the sun and the moon, so that the day might enjoy the light of the one and the night that of the other, and at the same time that they might be signs of things past, present, and future. For they were made for signs of seasons and of days; they are seen indeed by all, but understood only by the learned and intelligent. And when after this he had commanded living creatures to be brought forth from the earth and the waters, he made paradise, which he also named a place of delights. After this … granted for his service and given over to the uses of his dwelling.”

“So, when all things in heaven and on earth and in the waters had been completed, and the human race too had multiplied, in the eighth generation righteous men who had lived the life of angels, enticed by the beauty of women, turned aside to promiscuous and unlawful intercourse; and from then on, doing everything indiscriminately and against order, they changed the state of human affairs and the order of life handed down by God, so that they compelled all men, by persuasion or by force, to sin against God their Creator. Then in the ninth generation the giants are born, those whom the fables of the Greeks tell of … but produced with immense bodies, whose bones of immense size are still shown in some places as evidence. But against them the just providence of God brought a flood upon the world, so that the earth might be washed clean of their contagion, and every place turned into sea by the destruction of the wicked. Yet one righteous man was found then, by name Noah, who, delivered in the ark with his three sons and their wives, after the waters … and with the seeds, became the inhabitant of the world.”

“In the twelfth generation, when God had blessed men and they had begun to multiply, they received a commandment not to taste blood; for it was on account of this too that the flood had come. In the thirteenth generation, when the middle one of Noah's three sons had done his father an injury, he brought upon his posterity, through the curse, the condition of slavery. Meanwhile his elder brother received as his lot the dwelling in the middle of the earth, in which is the region of Judaea; the younger obtained the eastern quarter, and he himself received the western. In the fourteenth generation someone of the cursed progeny first set up an altar to demons for the sake of the magic art, offering the honor of blood. In the fifteenth generation men for the first time set up an idol and worshiped it; and until that time the Hebrew language, given to the human race by God, held sole sway. In the sixteenth generation the sons of men moved from the east, and, coming to the lands of their fathers, each marked the place of his lot with his own name. In the seventeenth generation Nimrod first reigned in Babylonia and built a city, and from there migrated to the Persians and taught them to worship fire.”

“In the eighteenth generation walled cities were made, armies organized and armed, judges and laws established, temples built, and the princes of nations were worshiped as gods. In the nineteenth generation the descendants of the one who was cursed after the flood, going beyond their own borders, which they had received by lot in the western parts, drove those who had been allotted the middle of the earth into the eastern lands, chased them as far as Persia, and themselves wrongfully took over the places of those expelled. In the twentieth generation, on account of the crime of incest, a son for the first time died before his father.”

“In the twenty-first generation there arose a certain wise man, of the race of those who had been expelled, of the seed of the firstborn of Noah's sons, by name Abraham, from whom our Hebrew race is descended. When the whole world was again oppressed by various errors, and on account of the enormity of its crimes a speedy destruction was being prepared for it, no longer by water but by fire, and the stroke, beginning from Sodom, was already threatening the whole earth, he, because of the friendship by which he was intimate with God, whom he had pleased well, rescued the whole world from perishing likewise. From the beginning, however, while all others were in error, he, being an astrologer by art, was able from the reckoning and order of the stars to recognize the Creator, and understood that all things are governed by his providence. Hence also an angel, standing by him in a vision, taught him more fully about the things he was beginning to perceive. He also showed him what was due to his race and posterity, and promised that these lands were not so much to be given to them as restored.”

“So when Abraham desired to know the causes of things and was pondering this intently in his mind, the true Prophet appeared to him, who alone knows the hearts and purposes of men, and opened to him all that he desired. He taught him the knowledge of the Godhead, made known the origin and likewise the end of the world, showed him the immortality of the soul and the rules of life by which God is pleased, and declared that the dead will rise, that there will be a judgment to come, the reward of the good and the punishment of the wicked, all governed by just judgment; and when he had taught him all things duly and sufficiently, he withdrew again to the invisible abodes. But while Abraham was still in ignorance, as we told you before, two sons were born to him, of whom one was called Ishmael, the other Eliezer. From the one descend the barbarous nations, from the other the peoples of the Persians. Some of these followed the way of life and the institutions of their neighbors the Brahmans; others settled in Arabia, and of their descendants some were dispersed even into Egypt. From these, indeed, some of the Indians and of the Egyptians learned to be circumcised and to keep a purer observance than the rest, though in the course of time very many of them turned what was the proof and sign of chastity into impiety.”

“Yet, since he had received these two sons at the time when he was still living in ignorance of things, after he had gained the knowledge of God he asked of him, because he was righteous, that he might be found worthy to have offspring from Sarah, who was his lawful wife, though she was barren; and he received a son, whom he named Isaac, from whom was born Jacob, and from Jacob the twelve patriarchs, and from these twelve, seventy-two. When famine arose, these came into Egypt with all their household, and within four hundred years, multiplied by the blessing and promise of God, they were afflicted by the Egyptians. And when they were afflicted, the true Prophet appeared to Moses, and struck the Egyptians, who resisted the departure of the Hebrew people and their return to their native land, with ten plagues from heaven; and he led the people of God out of Egypt. But those of the Egyptians who survived, conspiring with the animosity of their king, pursued the Hebrews; and when they had overtaken them on the seashore and were planning to kill and destroy them all, Moses poured out prayer to God and divided the sea into two parts, so that the water was held on the right and on the left as if congealed by frost, and the people of God passed through as on a dry road, while the Egyptians who rashly entered in pursuit of them were killed. For when the last of the Hebrew people came up, the last of the Egyptians went down into the sea; and at once the waters of the sea, which had been held bound as if by frost, released by the command of him who had bound them, regained the freedom of their nature and took vengeance on the wicked people.”

“After this Moses, at the command of God who foresees all things, led the Hebrew people into the desert; and leaving the shortest road, which leads from Egypt to Judaea, he led the people through long windings of the wilderness, so that by the discipline of forty years he might abolish, through the novelty of a changed way of life, the evils that had grown into them by long custom from the habits of the Egyptians. Meanwhile they come to Mount Sinai, and there the law is given to them with heavenly voices and visions, written in ten commandments, of which the first and greatest was that they should worship God himself alone, and set up for themselves no other likeness or form to worship. But when Moses had gone up the mountain and was staying there forty days, the people—though they had seen Egypt struck with ten plagues, the sea split and crossed on foot, manna given them from heaven for bread, and drink supplied from the rock that followed them (and that kind of food was turned by the power of God into whatever flavor each desired), and though, being placed under the hotter quarter of the sky, they were shaded by a cloud by day lest they be scorched by the heat, and by night were lit by a pillar of fire, lest the horror of darkness be added to the vastness of the wilderness—while Moses, I say, was delaying, they made a golden calf's head after the likeness of Apis, whom they had seen worshiped in Egypt, and worshiped it; and after so many and such great wonders as they had seen, they could not file away and wipe off from themselves the filth of old custom. And for this reason Moses, leaving the short road that leads from Egypt to Judaea, drove them about through the immense circuit of the wilderness, to see whether he could, as we mentioned above, shake off the evils of old custom by the change of a new way of life.”

“Meanwhile Moses, that faithful and wise steward, seeing that the vice of sacrificing to idols had grown deeply into the people from their association with the Egyptians, and that the root of this evil could not be cut out of them, allowed them indeed to sacrifice, but permitted this to be done to God alone, so that he might cut away, as it were, one half of the deeply ingrained vice, and reserve the other half to be corrected by another and at another time—namely by him of whom he himself said: ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me; hear him in all things that he says to you. Whoever does not hear that prophet, his soul shall be destroyed from among his people.’”

“Besides this he also appointed a place in which alone it was lawful for them to sacrifice to God. All this was done with this in view: that when the fit time had come and they had learned through the Prophet that God desires mercy and not sacrifice, they might see him who would teach them that the place chosen by God, in which it is fitting that victims be offered to God, is his Wisdom; and might hear that this place, which seemed chosen for a time, often troubled by enemy incursions and destructions, was at last to be utterly destroyed. And in proof of this, even before the coming of the true Prophet, who was to reject the sacrifices together with the place, it was often plundered by enemies and burned with fire, and the people were carried into captivity among foreign nations and then, when they took refuge in the mercy of God, were brought back, so that they might be taught by this that a people offering sacrifices is driven out and delivered into the hands of enemies, but one doing mercy and righteousness is freed from captivity without sacrifices and restored to its native land. But very few happened to understand this. For most, even if they could perceive and notice these things, were nevertheless held by the irrational opinion of the crowd. For right judgment with freedom belongs to few.”

“So Moses, having arranged these things and having set a certain man named Auses over the people to bring them back to their native land, himself went up a certain mountain at the command of the living God and died there; yet his death was such that to this day no one has found his burial place. When, then, the people reached their native soil, by the providence of God the inhabitants of the wicked nations were put to flight at their very first entrance, and they received their ancestral inheritance with the lot as judge. Then for some time, governed by judges, not kings, they continued in a quieter state. But when they sought for themselves tyrants rather than kings, then also, in the place which had been destined for them for prayer, they built a temple out of royal ambition; and so, as wicked kings succeeded one another in turn, the people too sank into greater impieties.”

“But when the time began to be at hand for what we said was lacking in the institutions of Moses to be fulfilled, and for the Prophet whom he had foretold to appear, who would first warn them, through the mercy of God, to cease from sacrifices, then, lest they should perhaps think that with the cessation of victims there was no remission of sins for them, he instituted for them baptism by water, in which, at the invocation of his name, they would be set free from all sins, and, following a perfect life thereafter, would continue in immortality, purified not by the blood of cattle but by the cleansing of the Wisdom of God. Finally, this too is set forth as a clear sign of this great mystery: that everyone who, believing in this Prophet foretold by Moses, is baptized in his name will be kept unharmed from the destruction of the war that threatens the unbelieving nation and the place itself, while those who do not believe will be made exiles from their place and kingdom, so that even against their will they may understand and obey the will of God.”

“These things being thus foreordained, he who was expected is present, bringing signs and wonders as marks by which he would be made manifest. But not even so did the people believe, though they had been trained for so many ages to believe these things; and not only did they not believe, but they added blasphemy to unbelief, saying that he who had come for their salvation was a glutton and a slave to his belly, and was driven by a demon. So strong is wickedness through the ministry of the evil ones that, had the Wisdom of God not been present to those who love the truth, impious error would have enveloped almost all at once. So he first chose us twelve, who believed in him, whom he named apostles, and afterwards seventy-two other most approved disciples, so that, at least in this way, recognizing the image of Moses, the multitude might believe that this is he whom Moses foretold as the prophet to come.”

“But perhaps someone may say that anyone can imitate a number; and what will he say of the signs and miracles which this one did? For Moses had done miracles and cures in Egypt. He too, whom Moses foretold would rise up as a prophet like himself, though he healed every disease and every infirmity among the people, worked innumerable miracles, and preached eternal life, was driven to the cross by the wicked; yet this deed was turned to good by his power. Indeed, when he suffered, the whole world suffered with him; for the sun was darkened, the mountains were split, the graves were opened, and the veil of the temple was torn, as if lamenting the destruction threatening the place. And yet, though the whole world was moved, they themselves are even now in no way moved to inquire into such great things.”

“But since it was necessary that the Gentiles should be called in place of those who remained unbelieving, so that the number which had been shown to Abraham might be filled up, the saving preaching of the kingdom of God is sent into the whole world. On this account the worldly spirits are disturbed, who always oppose those who seek freedom, and who look for engines of error to destroy God's building; so that those who strive toward the glory of salvation and freedom, resisting them and sweating out no small contests against them, are made stronger and come to the crown of salvation not without the palm of victory. Meanwhile, when he had suffered, and darkness had pressed upon the world from the sixth hour to the ninth, as soon as the sun was restored and things were set back in order, even the wicked, their fear ceasing, returned to themselves and to their own ways. For some of them, who had guarded the place with every precaution, called him a magician, since they could not prevent him from rising again; others pretended that he had been stolen.”

“Nevertheless the truth prevailed everywhere. For as a sign that these things were being done by divine power, we who had been very few became in the course of days, with God's help, far more numerous than they, so that the priests at one time were afraid lest perhaps, by the providence of God and to their confusion, the whole people should come over to our faith. They frequently sent to us and asked us to discourse to them about Jesus, whether he was the Prophet whom Moses foretold, who is the eternal Christ. For on this point alone does there seem to be a difference between us who have believed in Jesus and the unbelieving Jews. But while they frequently asked about this, and we were looking for a fitting time, a week of years from the passion of the Lord was being completed; and the church of the Lord established in Jerusalem was growing, multiplied most abundantly, governed with most upright administration by James, who was ordained bishop in it by the Lord.”

“When we twelve apostles had come together on the day of the Passover with a vast multitude and had entered the church of the brethren, each of us, at James's request, briefly set out in the hearing of the people what had been done by us in each place. Meanwhile Caiaphas the high priest sent priests to us and asked us to come to him, so that either we might teach him by reasoning that Jesus is the eternal Christ, or he might teach us that he is not, and so the whole people might agree on one faith or the other; and he frequently entreated us to do this. But we often put it off, always looking for a more fitting time.” And I, Clement, answered to this: “I think that this very question, whether he is the Christ, contributes much to the grounding of faith; otherwise the high priest would never ask so often to learn or to teach about Christ.” And Peter said: “You answered rightly, Clement. For as no one can see without eyes, nor receive hearing without ears, or smell without nostrils, nor take taste without a tongue, or handle anything without hands, so it is impossible without the true Prophet to know what pleases God.” And I answered: “That the true Prophet is himself the Christ I have already learned from your teaching; but what this very word 'Christ' means, or why he is so called, I should like to learn, so that my knowledge of so great a matter may not be vague and uncertain.”

Then Peter began to teach me in this way: “When God had made the world, as Lord of the universe he appointed rulers over each of the creatures, even over the trees, the mountains and springs, the rivers, and all the things, as we said, that he had made; for it would be long to go through them one by one. So he appointed an angel as ruler over the angels, a spirit over the spirits, a star over the stars, a demon over the demons, a bird over the birds, a beast over the beasts, a serpent over the serpents, a fish over the fishes, and over men a man, who is Christ Jesus. He is called Christ by a certain special rite of religion; for as there are certain names common to kings, as Arsaces among the Persians, Caesar among the Romans, Pharaoh among the Egyptians, so among the Jews a king is called by the common name Christ. The reason for this title is this: although he was the Son of God and the beginning of all things, he became man; him first the Father anointed with oil that had been taken from the tree of life. From that ointment, then, he is called Christ. Hence, finally, he himself also, according to the Father's predestination, will anoint with similar oil all the godly when they come to his kingdom, as those who have overcome a rough road, for refreshment from their labors, so that their light too may shine, and that, filled with the Holy Spirit, they may be endowed with immortality. I remember that I have sufficiently explained to you the whole nature of the plant from which this ointment was taken.”

“But now too I will recall all this to your memory by a very brief outline. In the present life Aaron, the first high priest, anointed with a compound of chrism which was made after the pattern of that spiritual ointment of which we spoke above, was prince of the people, and as a king received first fruits and a poll tribute from the people; and having received by lot the judging of the people, he judged concerning clean and unclean. And if anyone else was anointed with the same ointment, as if receiving power from it, he became a king, or a prophet, or a high priest. If, then, this temporal grace compounded by men could do so much, understand now how great is that ointment which was brought forth by God from the plant of life, when this which was made by men confers such excellent dignities among men. For what in the present age is more glorious than a prophet, more illustrious than a high priest, more exalted than a king?”

And I answered to this: “I remember, Peter, that you said of the first man that he was a prophet; but that he was anointed you did not say. If, then, there is no prophet without ointment, how was the first man a prophet when he was not anointed?” Then Peter, smiling, said: “If the first man prophesied, it is certain that he was also anointed. For although he who set down the law in writing was silent about his anointing, he plainly left these things for us to understand. For as, if he had said that he was anointed, it would not be doubted that he was also a prophet, even if that were not written in the law, so, since it is certain that he was a prophet, it is likewise certain that he was anointed, because he could not prophesy without the ointment. But you ought rather to have said this: if the chrism was compounded by Aaron with the perfumer's art, how could the first man be anointed with ointment before the arts of compounding had been discovered?” And I answered: “Do not misrepresent me, Peter; I am not speaking of the compounded ointment and temporal oil, but of that simple and eternal one which you taught was made by God, and after whose likeness, you say, this one was compounded by men.”

And Peter, seemingly indignant at this, said: “What, Clement? Do you think that we can all know everything before the time? But now, so as not to depart from the subject of our discourse, we will explain these things to you more openly another time, when your progress has become manifest. At that time, then, the high priest or prophet anointed with the compounded ointment, kindling the altar of God, was held illustrious in all the world. But after Aaron, who was high priest, another is taken from the waters—I do not mean Moses, but him who in the waters of baptism was called Son by God. For it is Jesus who by the grace of baptism put out that fire which the high priest kindled for sins; for from the time that he appeared, the chrism ceased by which the priesthood, or prophecy, or kingship was conferred.”

“This one, then, Moses foretold would come, he who handed down the law of God to men; and another before him did so too, as I have already told you. He indicated, then, that he would come humble in his first coming, but glorious in his second. And the first has already been fulfilled, when he came and taught, and he, the judge of all, was judged and put to death. But at his second coming he will come to judge, and he will condemn the wicked, but receive the godly into the fellowship and society of the kingdom. Faith in the second coming rests on the first. For the prophets spoke of the first, especially Jacob and Moses, though some spoke also of the second. But the greatness of prophecy is proved most of all in this, that they said nothing about the future according to the natural sequence of things; otherwise they would seem rather to be wise men who had guessed what the sequence of things dictated.”

“What I mean is this: it was to be expected that Christ would be received by the Jews, to whom he had come, and that he who was expected for the salvation of the people according to the traditions of the fathers would be believed; but that the foreign nations would be estranged from him, since nothing had been promised or announced to them about him, and indeed he had never been known to them even by name. And yet the prophets, against the order and sequence of things, said that he would be the expectation of the nations, and not of the Jews. And so indeed it came about. For when he came, he was not at all recognized by those who seemed to expect him from the tradition of their ancestors; but those who had heard nothing at all of him both believe that he has come and hope that he will come. And thus in everything the prophecy proved faithful which said that he is the expectation of the nations. The Jews, then, erred about the first coming of the Lord; and between us and them there is disagreement on this point alone. For they too know and expect that Christ will come; but that he has already come in humility, this one who is called Jesus, they do not know. And his coming is confirmed most of all by this, that not all believe in him.”

“God, then, appointed him at the end of the world, because it was impossible for the evils of mortals to be purged by anyone else, so long as the nature of the human race remained intact, that is, with freedom of choice preserved. Keeping this condition unimpaired, then, he came to invite to the kingdom all the righteous and those who have striven to please him, for whom he has prepared ineffable good things and the heavenly city Jerusalem, which will shine above the brightness of the sun as the dwelling of the saints. But the unrighteous and wicked, those who have held God as nothing, have spent the life entrusted to them on various crimes, and have made the time for righteous work an exercise of malice, he will hand over to fitting punishments that they deserve. The rest of what will be done there it is not lawful for angels or men to utter or declare; but it is enough for us to know this, that God will confer on the good an eternal possession of good things.”

When he had said this, I answered: “If those whom his coming finds righteous will enjoy the kingdom of Christ, will those who died before his coming, then, be wholly deprived of the kingdom?” Then Peter said: “You compel me, Clement, to make known some things about matters that are ineffable. Yet, as far as it is lawful to declare them, I will not be reluctant. Christ, who was from the beginning and always, was always present to the godly in every generation, though secretly, and especially to those by whom he was expected, and to whom he frequently appeared. But it was not then the time for the resurrection to take place for bodies that had been dissolved; rather this seemed to be a reward from God, that whoever was found righteous should remain longer in the body, or indeed, as is plainly related of a certain righteous man in the writings of the law, that God translated him. In a similar way it has been done with others who pleased his will, so that, translated to paradise, they are kept for the kingdom. But as for those who could not fulfill the rule of righteousness completely, but had some remains of wickedness in their flesh, their bodies were indeed dissolved, but their souls are kept in good and happy regions, so that at the resurrection of the dead, when they have received back their own, purified by the very dissolution, they may obtain an eternal inheritance for the good they did. And therefore blessed are all who attain the kingdom of Christ, because not only will they escape the punishments of hell, but they will also remain incorruptible, will be the first to see God the Father, and will obtain a rank of honor among the first with God.”

“For this reason no small question is raised about Christ, and all the unbelievers among the Jews are stirred against us with immense madness, fearing lest perhaps he is the one against whom they sinned; and their fear grows all the more because they know that as soon as they fastened him to the cross the whole world suffered with him, that his body, though kept under careful guard, was nowhere to be found, and that countless multitudes are coming to faith in his name. Hence they, together with the high priest Caiaphas, were compelled to send to us more often, so that the truth of his name might be inquired into. And when they repeatedly demanded either to learn or to teach about Jesus, whether he was the Christ, it seemed good to us to go up to the temple and bear witness concerning him before all the people, and at the same time to reprove the Jews for many things that were being done by them absurdly. For the people was already being split into many parties, beginning from John the Baptist.”

“For when the rising of Christ was already at hand, to restrain sacrifices and to bestow the grace of baptism, the enemy, understanding from what had been foretold that the time was at hand, worked various schisms among the people, so that, if perhaps the former sin could be abolished, the second fault might not be corrected. The first schism, then, was that of those called Sadducees, which began almost in the time of John. These, as being more righteous than the rest, began to separate themselves from the assembly of the people and to deny the resurrection of the dead, asserting this by an argument of unbelief: they said it was not fitting that God should be worshiped as if for a reward set before them. The first author of this opinion was Dositheus, the second Simon. Another schism is that of the Samaritans; for they deny the resurrection of the dead and assert that God is to be worshiped not in Jerusalem but on Mount Gerizim. Yet, though they rightly expect the one true Prophet from the prophecies of Moses, they were prevented by the depravity of Dositheus from believing that the one they expected is Jesus. The scribes and Pharisees, too, are drawn off into another schism. But these, baptized by John and holding as the key of the kingdom of heaven the word of truth received from the tradition of Moses, hid it from the ears of the people. And some of the disciples of John, who seemed to be great, separated themselves from the people and proclaimed their master as if he were the Christ. All these schisms were prepared so that by them both faith in Christ and baptism might be hindered.”

“Nevertheless, as we had begun to say, when the high priest had frequently asked us through the priests that a discussion about Jesus be held between us, when it seemed opportune and the whole church agreed, we went up to the temple; and standing on the steps together with our faithful brethren, when the people had fallen completely silent, the high priest first began to exhort the people to listen patiently and quietly, and at the same time to become witnesses and judges of what was to be said. Then, extolling with many praises the rite of sacrifices, which had been granted by God to the human race for the remission of sins, he complained of the baptism of our Jesus as recently introduced in opposition to them. But Matthew, meeting his propositions, showed clearly that if anyone did not obtain the baptism of Jesus, he will not only be deprived of the kingdom of heaven, but will not be without danger at the resurrection of the dead, even if he is fortified by the advantage of a good life and an upright mind. Having gone through these and similar things, Matthew fell silent.”

“But the party of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection of the dead, were indignant, so that one of them cried out from the midst of the people that those greatly err who think that the dead will ever rise. Against him my brother Andrew replied, and taught that it is not an error but a most certain faith that the dead rise, according to what was taught by him whom Moses foretold as the prophet to come; ‘or if he does not seem to you to be the one whom Moses foretold,’ he said, ‘let this first be inquired into, so that, once he has been clearly proved to be so, there may be no further doubt about what he taught.’ Having testified these and many similar things, Andrew fell silent.”

“But a certain Samaritan, speaking against the people and against God, and asserting neither that the dead will rise nor that the worship of God in Jerusalem should be kept, but that Mount Gerizim should be revered, added this too against us, that our Jesus was not the one whom Moses foretold as the prophet to come. Against him and another who was pursuing the same things with him James and John, the sons of Zebedee, strove vigorously; and although they had a command not to enter their cities nor bring the word of preaching to them, yet, lest their talk, if not refuted, should harm the faith of others, they answered so prudently and boldly that they reduced them to perpetual silence. For James spoke on the resurrection of the dead with the approval of the whole people, while John showed that if they ceased from the error of Mount Gerizim, they would consequently recognize that Jesus is the one who, according to the prophecy of Moses, was expected to come; since, as Moses did signs and wonders, so did Jesus also, and there is no doubt that the likeness of the signs testifies that he is the one who Moses said would come like himself. Having testified these and many other similar things, they fell silent.”

“And behold, one of the scribes cried out from the midst of the people: ‘The signs and wonders your Jesus did, he did as a magician, not as a prophet.’ Philip met him vigorously, showing that on this reasoning he would accuse Moses too. For since Moses did signs and wonders in Egypt, and likewise Jesus in Judaea, there could be no doubt that what was said of Jesus would seem to be said of Moses also. Having testified these and many similar things, Philip fell silent.”

“But a certain Pharisee, hearing this, charged Philip with making Moses equal to Jesus. Bartholomew answered him and steadfastly taught that we do not say that Jesus is only equal to Moses, but greater; because Moses was indeed a prophet, as Jesus also was, but what Jesus was, Moses was not, that is, the Christ; and therefore he who is both prophet and Christ is without doubt greater than he who is only a prophet. Having gone through these and many similar things, he fell silent. After him James the son of Alphaeus addressed the people, to show that we should not believe in Jesus because the prophets foretold him, but rather believe the prophets to be truly prophets because Christ bears witness to them. For the presence and coming of Christ shows that they were truly prophets. For he said that the testimony of faith is given not by inferiors to the greater, but by the greater to inferiors. Having gone through these and many similar things, James too fell silent. After him Lebbaeus began vehemently to reproach the people for not believing in Jesus, who had done them so much good, teaching the things of God, comforting the afflicted, healing the sick, consoling the poor, and for all these good things they had returned hatred and death. When he had testified these and many similar things to the people, he fell silent.”

“And behold, one of John's disciples asserted that John had been the Christ, and not Jesus; ‘so much so,’ he said, ‘that Jesus himself declared John to be greater than all men and prophets. If, then,’ he said, ‘he is greater than all, he must without doubt be held greater than Moses and than Jesus himself. And if he is the greatest of all, he is the Christ.’ To this Simon the Canaanite replied, asserting that John was indeed greater than all the prophets and all who are sons of women, yet not greater than the Son of Man. And therefore Jesus is also the Christ, whereas John is only a prophet; and there is as much difference between him and Jesus as between the forerunner and him before whom he runs, and as between him who gives the law and him who keeps the law. Having gone through these and similar things, the Canaanite too fell silent. After him Barnabas, who is also Matthias, who was substituted as an apostle in place of Judas, began to admonish the people not to hate Jesus nor blaspheme him. For it is much more right, even for one who is ignorant of Jesus or in doubt about him, to love him than to hate him. For God has set a reward for love, and punishment for hatred. ‘For this very fact,’ he said, ‘that he took a Jewish body and was born among the Jews—how has it not kindled in all of you the incentives of love for him?’ When he had spoken these and similar things, he made an end of speaking.”

“Then Caiaphas tried to find fault with the teaching of Jesus, saying that he had spoken vain things: for he called the poor blessed, promised earthly rewards, placed the chief reward in an earthly inheritance, and promised that those who kept righteousness would be filled with food and drink; and he is found to have taught many things like these. Thomas, answering him, showed that he was finding fault in vain, pointing out that it was rather the prophets, whom he himself believes, who taught so, and yet did not show how these things will be or how they are to be received, whereas Jesus showed in what way they ought to be understood. And when he had said these and many similar things, Thomas too fell silent.”

“After this Caiaphas, looking at me again, now as if warning, now as if blaming, said that I ought henceforth to cease from preaching Christ Jesus, lest I do this to my own ruin, and lest, being deceived by error myself, I should also deceive others by my error. Then besides he charged me with rashness, because, though I was myself unlearned, a fisherman and a rustic, I dared to take up the office of teacher. When he said these and many similar things, I too answered in these words: that there was less danger for me if, as he said, this man is not the Christ, because I had received a teacher of the law; but for him the risk was enormous if this man is the Christ, as he certainly is. ‘For I believe in him who has appeared; but for what other, who has never appeared, does he think he is keeping his faith? But if I, an unlettered man, as you say, unskilled, a fisherman and a rustic, have more understanding than wise elders, this,’ I said, ‘ought to strike you with more fear. For if by disputing from some learning I prevailed over you, wise and learned men, it would surely seem that long study, and not the grace of divine power, had given me this; but now, when, as I said, we unskilled men convince and overcome you wise men, to whom that has sense is it not plain that this is not the work of human cleverness, but of the divine will and gift?’”

“Going through these and other such things, then, we unskilled men and fishermen testified and taught in turn: the priests concerning the one only God of heaven; the Sadducees concerning the resurrection of the dead; the Samaritans concerning the sanctity of Jerusalem (not entering their city, however, but disputing in public); the scribes and Pharisees concerning the kingdom of heaven; the disciples of John, that they should not stumble over John; and all the people, that Jesus is the eternal Christ. Last of all I admonished them that, before we went out to the Gentiles to preach to them the knowledge of God the Father, they themselves should be reconciled to God by receiving his Son. For I showed that they could in no other way be saved than by hastening, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, to be washed in baptism with the threefold invocation, and by receiving the Eucharist of Christ the Lord, whom alone they ought to believe concerning what he taught, so that thus they might be found worthy to attain eternal salvation; but that otherwise it is altogether impossible for them to be reconciled to God, even if they kindle a thousand altars and a thousand high altars to him.”

“‘For we have learned for certain,’ I said, ‘that God is much more provoked by the sacrifices you offer, now that the time of sacrifices has been completed. And because you do not wish to acknowledge that the time for offering victims has already run out, for this reason the temple too will be destroyed, and the abomination of desolation will be set up in the holy place; and then the gospel will be preached to the Gentiles as a testimony against you, so that your unbelief may be judged by their faith. For the whole world at different times suffers different diseases of wickedness, either in all generally or in individuals specially, and therefore needs a physician to visit it for its healing. So we testify to you and announce what has been hidden from each of you. It is for you to deliberate what is profitable for you.’”

“When I had said this, the whole multitude of priests groaned because I had foretold to them the overthrow of the temple. When Gamaliel, a ruler of the people, who was secretly our brother in the faith but by our counsel remained among them, saw that they were raging greatly and were moved with enormous fury against us, he rose and said: ‘Be quiet for a little, men of Israel; for you do not perceive the trial that hangs over you. Therefore refrain from these men; and if what they are doing is of human counsel, it will soon cease; but if it is from God, why do you sin without cause and gain nothing? For who can overcome the will of God? Now, then, since the day is declining toward evening, tomorrow, in this very place and in your hearing, I myself will dispute with them, so as to refute all error openly and confute it clearly.’ By these words their fury was somewhat checked, especially by the hope that on the next day we would be publicly convicted of error. And so he dismissed the people in peace.”

“We, then, when we had come to our James and set out all that had been said and done, took food with him and stayed there, praying to almighty God through the whole night that the discourse of the coming disputation might show the undoubted truth of our faith. So on the following day James the bishop went up to the temple with us and with the whole church, where we found a vast multitude that had been waiting for us since midnight. We stood, then, in the same places as before, so that, standing higher, we might be seen by all the people. And when there was complete silence, Gamaliel—who, as we said above, was of our faith, but by arrangement remained among them, so that if ever they plotted anything unjust or impious against us, he might either restrain them by counsel prudently adapted or warn us, so that we could either guard against it or avoid it—he, then, as if acting against us, looking first of all at James the bishop, addressed him in this way:”

“‘If I, Gamaliel, consider it no disgrace either to my learning or to my old age to learn something from little ones and the unlearned, if perhaps there is something of profit or salvation to be gained (for one who lives reasonably knows that nothing is more precious than the soul), how should it not be lovable to all and desired by all to learn what they do not know and to teach what they have learned? For it is most certain that neither friendship, nor kinship, nor the height of royal power ought to be more precious to a man than the truth. You too, then, brethren, if you know anything more, do not hesitate to set it before the people of God who are present, and likewise before your brethren, while the whole people hears what you say gladly and in all quiet. For how should the people not do this, when they see me myself wishing, together with them, to learn from you, if perhaps God has revealed something more to you? But if you are lacking in anything, likewise do not hesitate to be taught by us, so that God may fill up whatever is lacking on either side. And if perhaps some fear troubles you now because of some of our people who bear prejudiced minds against you, and, fearing their plots, you do not dare to say more openly what you think, then, to free you from this occasion of fear also, I swear to you by almighty God, who lives forever, that I will allow no one to lay hands on you. Having, then, all this people as witness of this oath of mine, and holding the covenant of our oath as a fit pledge, let each one of you without any hesitation set forth what he has learned, and let us, brethren, listen attentively and in silence.’”

“As Gamaliel said this, he did not greatly please Caiaphas; and, holding him suspect, as it seemed, Caiaphas began to insert himself more subtly into the disputations. For, smiling at what Gamaliel had said, the chief of the priests asked James, the chief of the bishops, that the discussion about Christ should be drawn from no other source than the Scriptures, ‘so that we may know,’ he said, ‘whether Jesus is the Christ or not.’ Then James said: ‘First let us inquire from which Scriptures especially the disputation ought to be held.’ And he, scarcely at last overcome by reason itself, answered that it must be held from the law, and after this added mention of the prophets too.”

“Our James began to show him that the prophets too took what they say from the law and spoke in harmony with the law. He also discussed something of the books of the Kingdoms: how, when, and by whom they were written, and how they ought to be used. And when he had discussed the law most fully, and by the clearest exposition had brought to light everything in it concerning Christ, he showed by the most abundant proofs that Jesus is the Christ, and that in him all that had been foretold of his humble coming is fulfilled. For he taught that two comings of his had been foretold: one of humility, which he has fulfilled; the other of glory, which is hoped to be fulfilled when he comes to give the kingdom to those who believe in him and keep all that he has commanded. And when he had clearly taught the people about these things, he added this too: that unless someone has been baptized in water under the name of the threefold blessedness, as the true Prophet taught, he will neither receive remission of sins nor enter the kingdom of heaven; and he affirmed that this is the decree of the unbegotten God. To this he also added: ‘Do not think that we speak of two unbegotten gods, or that one is divided into two, or, as the impious say, that the same became male and female of himself; but we say that the only-begotten Son of God was born ineffably, not from another beginning, but from him himself. And we say likewise concerning the Paraclete.’ And when he had said some things also about baptism, through seven continuous days he persuaded all the people and the high priest to hasten at once to receive baptism.”

“And when matters had come to this point, that they should come and be baptized, a certain hostile man, entering the temple at that time with very few others, began to shout and say: ‘What are you doing, men of Israel? Why are you so easily carried away? Why are you led headlong by most wretched men, deceived by Simon, a magician?’ And when he was saying this and adding more, and was being overcome by James the bishop, he began to stir up the people and raise riots, so that the people could not hear what was being said. So he began to throw everything into confusion with shouts, to overturn what had been arranged with much labor, and at the same time to accuse the priests and inflame them with reproaches and rebukes, and like a madman to rouse each one to slaughter, saying: ‘What are you doing? Why do you hesitate? You sluggish and idle men, why do we not lay hands on all these and tear them to pieces?’ When he had said this, he was the first to snatch a strong brand from the altar and to begin the slaughter. Then the rest too, seeing him, were carried away with like madness; a shout goes up from all, from those striking and those struck alike; much blood is shed; there is confused flight; and meanwhile that hostile man attacked James and threw him headlong from the top of the steps, and, believing him dead, took no care to beat him further.”

“But our people took him up and carried him off; for they were both more numerous and stronger than the others, but out of reverence for God they preferred to let themselves be killed by fewer men rather than to kill others. When evening came, the priests shut the temple; and we, returning to the house of James and spending the night there in prayer, went down before dawn to Jericho, about five thousand men. After three days one of the brethren came to us from Gamaliel, whom we mentioned above, bringing us secret news that that hostile man had received a commission from Caiaphas the high priest to persecute all who believed in Jesus, and to go to Damascus with his letters, so that there too, using the help of the unbelievers, he might bring destruction on the faithful; and that he was hastening to Damascus especially because he believed Peter had fled there. And after about thirty days he passed through Jericho on his way to Damascus, at the time when we had gone out to the tombs of two of the brethren, which were whitened of their own accord every year; by this miracle the fury of many against us was checked, as they saw that our brethren were held in remembrance before God.”

“While we were staying at Jericho, devoting ourselves to prayers and fasts, James the bishop sent for me and sent me from there here to Caesarea, saying that Zacchaeus had written to him from Caesarea that a certain Simon, a Samaritan magician, was subverting very many of our people, asserting that he was a certain ‘Standing One’, that is, by another name, the Christ, and the supreme power of the high God, who is above the creator of the world; and that by showing many marvels he had made some doubt and others turn aside to him. He reported everything, carefully learned from those who had earlier been his companions or disciples and had afterwards been converted to Zacchaeus. ‘There are many, then,’ said James, ‘Peter, for whose salvation you must set out, refute the magician, and teach the word of truth. Do not delay, and do not be saddened that you set out alone, knowing that God is your companion and helper through Jesus, and that soon, by his grace, you will have many companions of one mind with you. Take care, however, to send me in writing each year the chief of your sayings and doings, and especially every seven years.’ Dismissed by him with these words, I arrived at Caesarea in six days.”

“As I was entering, Zacchaeus, our dearly beloved brother, met me and, embracing me, brought me to this lodging in which he was staying, asking me about each of the brethren, but especially about our honored brother James. And when he heard from me that he was still lame in one foot, he at once asked the reason, and I related to him all these things that we have now set out to you: how we had been summoned by the priests and the high priest Caiaphas to the temple, and how James the archbishop, standing on the top steps, for seven continuous days demonstrated to all the people from the Lord's Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ, and how, when all were now consenting to be baptized by him in the name of Jesus, the hostile man brought about all those things that we mentioned above, so that we need not say them again.”

“When he had learned this, Zacchaeus in turn told me what Simon was doing; and meanwhile Simon himself, having somehow learned of my arrival, sends word to me: ‘Let us dispute tomorrow in the hearing of the people.’ To him I said: ‘Let it be as you please.’ And this promise of mine became known to the whole city, so that you too, who had arrived that very day, learned that I was to hold a contest with Simon the next day, and, having asked for our lodging according to the directions you had received from Barnabas, came to us. I rejoiced so much at your coming that, moved I know not how, my mind hastened to set out everything to you quickly, but especially what is greatest in the faith, concerning the true Prophet, which alone, I do not doubt, can suffice as the foundation of the whole teaching; and then I also disclosed to you the more secret meaning of the written law, chapter by chapter as the reasoning required, not hiding from you the good things of the traditions either. What remains you will hear day by day, beginning tomorrow, from what will be raised in the questions with Simon, until, God favoring, we arrive at the very city to which we believe our journey must be directed, Rome.” And when, in reply to what he had said, I professed that I owed him all thanks and promised that I would most readily do all that he commanded, after taking food he told us to rest, and himself took rest.

When the day appointed for the debate with Simon was dawning, Peter, rising at the first cockcrow, woke us too; for we were all sleeping in the same room, thirteen in all: first after Peter was Zacchaeus, then Sophonias, Joseph and Michaeas, Eliesdros and Phinees, Lazarus and Eliseus; after these I, Clement, and Nicodemus; then Niceta and Aquila, who had formerly been disciples of Simon and had been converted to the faith of Christ by the teaching of Zacchaeus. Of women there was none at all present. While the evening lamp was still burning, we all sat up; and Peter, seeing that we were awake and attentive to him, greeted us and at once began to speak: “I confess, brethren, that I wonder at the power of human nature, which I see to be fitted and adapted to everything. It comes to my mind to say this from what I have experienced in fact. For as soon as midnight has passed, I wake of my own accord, and sleep no longer comes to me at all. This happens to me because I made it my habit to recall to memory the words of my Lord which I had heard from him, and out of longing for them I commanded my mind and thoughts to be roused, so that, waking to them and recalling and going over each one, I might keep them in memory. From this, then, since I desire to turn over the Lord's sayings in my heart with all sweetness, the habit of waking has taken hold, even if there is nothing I want to think about. So in an inexpressible way, when another habit is introduced, the old habit is changed—provided you do not force it beyond measure, but only as far as the measure of nature allows. For it is not possible to go wholly without sleep; otherwise night would not have been made for rest.”

When I heard this, I said: “You have spoken excellently, Peter, in saying that one habit is changed by another. For I too, when I first went to sea, was upset, and everything within me was turned over, so that I seemed to be bruised and could not bear the roaring and discomfort of the sea; but after a few days, when I had grown used to it, I began to bear it tolerably, so that I was glad to take food with the sailors early in the morning, whereas before I had not been accustomed to take food before the seventh hour. Now, then, from that habit alone, around the time I used to eat with the sailors, hunger reminds me; yet I hope to drive it away again when another habit has been taken up. I believe, then, that your habit of waking was also formed as you say; and you were right to want to explain this, so that we too may not be reluctant to cast off and drive away a little of our sleep, in order to receive the instructions of the living teaching. For when food has been digested and the mind has received the silence of night, what is taught settles in most fittingly.”

And Peter, glad that I had understood the reason for his preface as offered for our benefit, praised me—no doubt to encourage and spur me on—and began to set out the next part of his discourse: “It seems to me fitting and necessary now to discuss some things about what lies ahead, that is, about Simon. For I should like to know his character and conduct; if anyone knows, let him not hesitate to tell me, for it matters to know these things beforehand. For if we have it among our commands that when we come to a city we should first learn who in it is worthy for us to take food with him, how much more is it fitting to know who and what sort of man he is to whom the words of immortality are to be entrusted? For we must be careful, very careful, not to cast our pearls before swine.”

“But it is useful for me to know about this man for other reasons too. For if I know that in those things which cannot be doubted to be good he is reformed and blameless—that is, if he is sober, merciful, just, gentle, and humane, which no one doubts are good—then it will seem to follow that one who possesses the goods of the virtues should also be given what is lacking of faith and knowledge, and that his life, praiseworthy in other respects, should be corrected where it seems to be stained. But if he remains entangled and defiled in sins that are manifest, I ought not to tell him anything of the more secret and hidden things of divine knowledge, but rather testify to him and confront him, that he may cease from sinning and correct his conduct from vices. And if he thrusts himself forward and provokes us to say what a man who acts wrongly ought not to hear, we must parry him prudently; for to answer nothing at all does not seem useful, for the hearers' sake, lest they think we are avoiding the contest for lack of an answer, and their faith be harmed because they do not understand our purpose.”

When Peter had said this to us, Niceta asked permission to say something, and when Peter granted it, he said respectfully: “I beg you, my lord Peter, hear me, for I am very anxious for you and afraid that in your contest with Simon you may seem to be overcome. For it often happens that one who defends the truth does not always prevail, when either the hearers are prejudiced in some respect, or they take no great care for the better opinion. Above all this, Simon himself is a most forceful speaker, trained in the dialectical art and the snares of syllogisms, and, what is most serious of all, very practiced in the magic art too; and therefore I fear that, so strongly fortified on every side, he may be thought by those who do not know him to be defending the truth while he alleges falsehoods. For not even we ourselves could have escaped him and been converted to the Lord, had we not recognized, while we were his helpers and companions in error, that he was a deceiver and a magician.”

When Niceta had said this, Aquila too asked to be given leave to speak, and went on in this way: “Accept, I pray, the care that comes of my love for you also, excellent Peter; for I too am very anxious for you. And do not blame us for this, for caring for someone comes from affection, while neglecting him is no less than hating him. I call God to witness that I do not fear for you as knowing you to be weaker in debate—indeed I have never been present when you disputed—but because I know his impieties well, I am thinking at once of your reputation, of the minds of the hearers, and above all of the state of the truth itself. For this magician is forceful in whatever he wishes, and wicked beyond measure; we have come to know him thoroughly in everything, since from boyhood we have been hearers and ministers of his evils, and had not the love of God torn us away from him, we would still be engaged with him in the same evils. But a certain inborn affection toward God made his crimes hateful to us and the worship of God lovable. Hence I think it was the work of divine providence that we, having first become his intimates, should learn how, or by what art, he performs the wonders he seems to do. For who is there who is not amazed at the marvels he does, so as to think that he is God come down from heaven for the salvation of men? I confess of myself that, had I not known him inwardly and been present at his doings, I could easily have been carried away; hence it was no great thing for us to separate from his company, knowing that he relies on magic arts and criminal devices. And if you too wish to learn everything about him—who he is, what sort of man, where he comes from, and how what he does is accomplished—listen.”

“This Simon was born of a father Antonius and a mother Rachel, a Samaritan by race from the village of Gitthae, a magician by art, yet highly educated in Greek liberal letters, and desirous of glory and boasting above all humankind, so that he wishes to be believed to be the exalted power which is above God the creator, to be thought the Christ, and to be called the Standing One. He uses this title as one who denies that he can ever be dissolved, asserting that his flesh is so compacted by the power of his divinity that it can endure forever. Hence, then, he is called the Standing One, as one who cannot fall through any corruption.”

“For after John the Baptist had been killed, as you yourself know, when Dositheus had begun his heresy with thirty other chief disciples and one woman who was called Luna (so that those thirty seemed to be set in number according to the days of the moon's course), this Simon, eager, as we said, for evil glory, approaches Dositheus and with feigned friendship begs that whenever any of those thirty died, he might at once be substituted in the dead man's place. For it was not lawful among them to exceed the fixed number, nor to admit anyone unknown or not yet proved; hence the others too, striving to become worthy of the place and number, are eager to please in everything according to the rules of their sect, so that each of those who aspire to that number may seem worthy, when someone, as we said, has died, to be substituted in the dead man's place. So Dositheus, much entreated by him, brought Simon in when a place in the number fell vacant.”

“But not long after he fell in love with that woman whom they call Luna, and he confided everything to us as his intimates: that he was a magician, that he loved Luna, and that, being desirous of glory, he did not want to enjoy her ingloriously, but to wait patiently until he could have her honorably—provided we too conspired with him in all he wished. And he promised to give us as the reward for this service that we would be raised to the highest honors and believed by men to be gods, ‘only provided,’ he said, ‘that you grant the first place to me, Simon, who can show many signs and wonders by magic art, through which both my glory and our sect may be established. For I can make myself invisible to those who wish to seize me, and again, when I wish to be seen, be in plain view; if I wish to flee, I bore through mountains and pass through rocks as if through clay; if I throw myself headlong from a high mountain, I shall be carried down to earth unharmed as if borne up; when bound, I shall loose myself and bind those who put the bonds on me; shut up in prison, I shall make the bars open of their own accord; I shall make statues alive, so that those who see them think they are men; I shall make new trees spring up suddenly and produce sudden shoots; I shall throw myself into fire and not burn. I change my face so as not to be recognized, and I can even show men that I have two faces. I shall become a sheep or a goat; I shall make a beard grow on little boys; I shall fly up into the air; I shall show much gold; I shall make kings and depose them. I shall be worshiped as God and publicly endowed with divine honors, so that men will set up an image of me and worship and adore me as God. And what need to say much? Whatever I wish to do, I shall be able to do. For many things have already been accomplished by me by way of experiment. Once, indeed,’ he said, ‘when my mother Rachel told me to go out to the field to reap, I saw a sickle lying there and commanded it to go and reap, and it reaped ten times more than the others. I have already produced many new shoots from the earth and made them grow strong and appear in a moment of time, and I bored through the nearest mountain.’”

“But when he said this about producing shoots and boring through the mountain, I was dumbfounded that he wished to deceive even us, to whom he seemed to commend and entrust himself; for we knew that the things he claimed to have done recently had been there since our ancestors' time. Hearing these crimes from him, and worse, we nevertheless followed his wickedness ourselves and allowed others to be deceived by him, even telling many lies on his behalf, and this before he did any of the things he had promised, so that, though nothing had yet been done, he was already thought by some to be God.”

“Meanwhile, at the beginning, while he was still counted among the thirty disciples of Dositheus, he began to disparage Dositheus himself as one who did not teach soundly or perfectly, saying that he did so not from envy but from ignorance. But when Dositheus perceived that Simon was disparaging him, fearing that his reputation might be obscured among men who thought he himself was the Standing One, he was moved with fury; and when they had met at the school as usual, he seized a rod and began to beat Simon; and suddenly the rod was seen to pass through his body as if through smoke. Astonished at this, Dositheus said to him: ‘Tell me if you are the Standing One, that I may worship you.’ And when Simon answered, ‘I am,’ Dositheus, seeing that he himself was not the Standing One, fell down and worshiped him, yielded his leadership to Simon, and ordered the whole rank of thirty men to obey him; he put himself in Simon's place, and not long after he died.”

“So after the death of Dositheus Simon took Luna, with whom he goes about to the present day, as you see, deceiving the crowds and asserting that he himself is a certain power which is above God the creator, and that Luna, who is with him, has been brought down from the higher heavens; and he asserts that she is Wisdom, the mother of all, for whom, he says, the Greeks and barbarians fought, and were able to see her image in some part, but were wholly ignorant of her as she is, since she dwelt with that first and only God of all. Uttering these and other similar things with pomp of words, he has deceived many. But I must also point out this, which I remember seeing myself: once, when that Luna of his was in a certain tower, a vast crowd had gathered to see her and stood all around the tower; and she was seen by all the people to lean out and look out through every window of that tower. And he has done and does many other marvels, so that men, amazed by them, think that he himself is the supreme God.”

“For once, when Niceta and I asked him to explain how these things could be done by magic art and what the nature of the matter was, Simon began to explain it thus, as to his intimates: ‘I have made the soul of a boy, undefiled and violently slain, summoned by ineffable adjurations, stand by me, and through it everything I command is done.’ And I said: ‘Is it possible for a soul to do these things?’ He answered: ‘I want you to know this, that the soul of a man holds the second place after God once it has been stripped of the darkness of its body. Indeed, it at once has foreknowledge too, which is why it is summoned for necromancy.’ And I answered: ‘Why, then, do the souls of the slain not take vengeance on their slayers?’ And he said: ‘Do you not remember that I said that when it has left the body it also has foreknowledge?’ ‘I remember,’ I said. ‘For this reason, then,’ he said, ‘when it leaves the body it at once foreknows that there will be a judgment, and that each will pay penalties for the evils he did here; and therefore they do not wish to take vengeance on their slayers, because they themselves too suffer torments for the evils they committed here, and they know that heavier punishments await the others in the judgment. Above all this, they are not permitted by the angels who are set over them to go out or do anything.’ And I answered: ‘If they are not permitted by the angels to come here or to do what they wish, how do the souls obey a magician who summons them?’ ‘When the souls themselves wish to come,’ he said, ‘the angels do not permit it; but when the angels set over them have been adjured by their superior, they have the excuse of our violence, we who adjure them, to let out the souls we summon; for those who suffer force do not sin, but we who impose the necessity.’ At this Niceta, no longer able to bear it, answered too hastily—as I too was going to do, but I wished first to draw him out on each point; but, as I said, Niceta, forestalling me, said: ‘And do you not fear the day of judgment, you who do violence to angels, summon souls, deceive men, and buy divine honor for yourself from men? And how do you persuade us that there will be no judgment, as some of the Jews profess, and that souls are not immortal, as many think, when you see them with your own eyes and receive from them the proof of the divine judgment?’”

“When he had said this, Simon turned pale; yet after a little, recollecting himself, he answered thus: ‘Do not think that I am a man of your race. I am neither a magician, nor a lover of Luna, nor the son of Antonius. For before my mother Rachel came together with him, she conceived me while still a virgin, since it was in my power to be either small or great and to appear as a man among men. For the sake of testing you, then, I took you first as friends, so that, when I have proved you, I may place you first in my heavenly and ineffable places. So I told lies about myself as a man, in order to prove more clearly whether you keep your affection toward me intact.’ But I, hearing this, judged him wretched indeed, yet wondered at his impudence and blushed for him; and at the same time, fearing that he might contrive some evil against us, I signaled to Niceta to pretend with me for a little, and said to him: ‘Do not be angry with us corruptible men, you incorruptible God; rather accept our affection and our mind that wishes to know who God is; for we did not yet know who you were, nor did we perceive that you are the one we were seeking.’”

“As we went through these and similar things with faces suited to the occasion, that vainest of men believed we had been deceived, and, all the more elated, added this too: ‘I am now gracious to you, for the affection you bear toward me as God; for you loved me without knowing me, and sought me without recognizing me. But I do not want you to doubt that this is truly to be God: to be able to become small or great as one wishes; for I could appear to men in any way. Now, then, I will begin to open to you what is true. Once by my power I turned air into water, and water again into blood, and solidifying it into flesh I formed a new human being, a boy, and produced a work far nobler than God the creator. For he created man from earth, but I, what is more difficult, from air; and dissolving him again I returned him to the air, but I placed his likeness and painted image in an inner chamber as a proof and memorial of my work.’ We understood him to be speaking of that boy whose soul, after he had been slain by violence, he was using for the services he wished.”

Peter, hearing this, said with tears: “I greatly wonder at the immense patience of God, and on the other hand at the audacity of human rashness in some people. For what reason can any longer be found to persuade Simon that God judges the wicked, when he persuades himself that he uses the obedience of souls for the service of his crimes? In reality he is mocked by demons. Yet, since he is certain from these very things that souls are immortal and are judged for what they have done, and since he thinks he sees in fact what we believe by faith—though, as I said, he is mocked by demons, he yet thinks he sees the very substance of the soul—when, I say, will this man confess either that he acts wickedly, placed in so great an evil, or that he is to be judged for what he has done, he who, knowing God's judgment, despises it, shows himself God's enemy, and dares to commit such abominable things? Hence it is certain, my brethren, that some oppose the truth and the religion of God not because the reasoning of faith seems to them in no way established, but because they are either entangled in an excess of sins, or prejudiced by their evils and puffed up with pride of heart, so that they do not believe even what they think they see with their own eyes.”

“But since the inborn affection toward God the creator seemed sufficient for salvation to those who loved him, the enemy strives to pervert this affection in men and to make them enemies of their Creator and ungrateful to him. I call heaven and earth to witness that if the enemy were permitted by God to rage as much as he desires, all men would long ago have perished; but for mercy's sake God does not allow it. And if men turned their affection to God, all would without doubt be saved, even if they seemed to be chastised for some offenses for justice's sake. But now very many men have become enemies of God; the evil one has entered their hearts and turned toward himself the affection which God the creator had implanted in them to have toward him. Others, who seemed to be somewhat watchful, he has nonetheless made to wander in mind and soul from the true God, appearing to them in a fantasy of glory and splendor and promising great and immense things; yet he is permitted to do these things for a certain just reason.”

To this Aquila answered: “What fault, then, do men commit, if the evil one, transforming himself into the brightness of light, promises men greater things than God the creator himself?” And Peter said: “I think nothing is more unjust than this; and hear how unjust it is. If your son, whom you have carefully educated and brought up and led to manhood, were ungrateful to you, and, leaving you, went to another whom he perhaps saw to be richer, showed him the honor he owed you, and in hope of greater gain denied nature and fled from his father's rights, does it seem right to you, or impious?” Aquila answered: “It is plain to all that it is impious.” And Peter: “If, then, you call this impious among men, how much more toward God, who deserves honor from men above all men? Not only do we enjoy his benefits, but by his help and power we began to be when we were not; and if we please him, we shall deserve from him to be eternal in good things. So, in order that the unfaithful may be distinguished from the faithful and the godly from the ungodly, the evil one is permitted to use these arts, by which each one's affection toward the true parent may be proved. And even if there really were some other god, would it be right to leave the one who had created us and had been our father and creator, and go over to another?” And Aquila said: “Far from it!” Then Peter: “How, then, shall we say that the evil one is the cause of our sin, when this happens by God's permission, so that through him those may be proved, and convicted in the day of judgment, who, enticed by greater promises, have abandoned devotion to their true father and creator, while those who have kept faith and love toward their own father, even in poverty, if it befalls, and in tribulation, may enjoy heavenly gifts and immortal rewards in his kingdom? But we will explain these things more carefully another time. Now I wish to know what Simon did after this.”

And Niceta answered: “When we perceived that he understood that we had found him out, we talked among ourselves about his crimes, left him, and came to Zacchaeus, telling him these very things which we have now told you. And he received us most kindly, instructed us in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, and added us to the number of the faithful.” When Niceta had said this, Zacchaeus, who had gone out a little earlier, came in, saying: “It is time for you to go out to the debate, Peter; for a great crowd gathered in the court of the house is waiting for you, and in their midst stands Simon, supported by many followers.” Then Peter, hearing this, told me to withdraw for the sake of prayer (for I had not yet been washed from the sins I had committed in ignorance), and said to the rest: “Let us pray, brethren, that God through his Christ, of his ineffable mercy, may help me as I go out for the salvation of men, who were created by him.” When he had said this and had prayed, he went out to the court of the house, in which a very great multitude of people had gathered; and when he saw them all attentive to him in deepest silence, and Simon the magician standing in their midst like a standard-bearer, he began thus:

“Peace be to you all who are ready to give your right hands to the truth; for all who obey it seem to themselves to confer some favor on God, but in fact they themselves obtain from him the gift of the highest reward, walking in the paths of his righteousness. Therefore the first of all things is to seek the righteousness of God and his kingdom: his righteousness, that we may be taught to act rightly; his kingdom, that we may know what reward is set for labor and patience, in which there is for the good a recompense of eternal goods, but for those who have acted against the will of God a fitting requital of punishments according to each one's deeds. Here, then, that is, while you are placed in the present life, you must recognize the will of God, where there is also room for action. For if anyone wishes, before correcting his actions, to inquire into things he cannot find, such an inquiry will be foolish and ineffective. For the time is short, and the judgment of God will be held on account of deeds, not questions. And therefore before everything let us seek this: what we ought to do, and how, so that we may be found worthy to attain eternal life.”

“For if we spend this short time of life on empty and useless questions, we shall without doubt go to God empty and void of good works, where, as I said, the judgment of our works will take place. For each thing has its own time and place. This is the place of works, and this the time; the world to come is the time of reward. So that we may not be hindered by confusing the order of places and times, let us first inquire what the righteousness of God is, so that, like those about to make a journey, we may be filled with good works as with abundant provisions, by which we may arrive at the kingdom of God as at a very great city. For God is manifest to those who think rightly through the very works of the world that he made, using the testimony of his own creation; and therefore, since there ought to be no doubt about God, let us now inquire only about his righteousness and his kingdom. And if our mind suggests that we inquire into something secret and hidden before we inquire about the works of righteousness, we ought to give ourselves this account: that if by acting well we are found worthy to attain salvation, then, going to God chaste and pure, we shall be filled with the Holy Spirit and shall know all that is secret and hidden without any quibbling of questions; whereas now, even if someone spends the whole time of his life inquiring, he not only will not be able to find them, but will entangle himself in greater errors, because he strives to reach the harbor of life without first walking the way of righteousness.”

“And therefore I advise that his righteousness be sought first, so that, journeying by it and placed on the way of truth, we may be able to find the true Prophet, running not with speed of feet but with goodness of works, so that, with him as our guide, we may not go astray on this way. For if, following him, we are found worthy to enter that city to which we desire to come, we shall then see with our eyes all the things now inquired into, having become heirs of all things. Understand, then, that the way is this course of our life; the travelers are those who do good works; the gate is the true Prophet of whom we speak; the city is the kingdom, in which the almighty Father dwells, whom only the pure in heart can see. So let not the labor of this journey seem hard to us, because at its end there will be rest; for the true Prophet himself also, running through the ages from the beginning of the world, hastens to rest. For he is present with us every day, and whenever it is necessary he appears and corrects us, so that he may lead those who obey him to eternal life. This, then, is my judgment, as it also seemed good to the true Prophet: that inquiry should first be made about righteousness, especially by those who profess to know God. If, then, anyone has something he thinks more correct, let him say it, and when he has said it, let him listen, but with patience and quiet. For this reason I prayed for peace for all at the beginning, in the form of a greeting.”

To this Simon answered: “We have no need of your peace; for if there is peace and concord, we shall achieve nothing toward finding the truth. Robbers and fornicators, too, have peace among themselves, and every wickedness agrees with itself. And so if we have met for this, that for peace's sake we should assent to everything that is said, we shall confer nothing on the hearers; on the contrary, having deceived them, we shall depart as friends. Therefore do not invoke peace, but rather battle, its mother, and, if you can, overcome errors. And do not seek friendship gained by unjust flatteries; for I want you to know this above all, that when two fight each other, there will be peace when one has fallen, overcome. And therefore fight as best you can, and do not seek peace without war, which is impossible; or, if it can be done, show how.”

To this Peter said: “Listen more attentively, men, to what we say. Let us suppose that this world is some great plain, and that from two cities whose kings are opposed to each other a general has been sent from each to fight; and that the general of the good king advises that both armies, without shedding blood, should come under the rule of the better king, so that all may be saved without danger, while the other says: ‘No, let there be a battle, so that not he who is worthy, but he who is stronger, may reign with those who survive.’ I ask you, which would you choose? I do not doubt that you would give yourselves up to the better king, with the safety of all. And I now wish, not, as Simon says, that assent be given for peace's sake to what is wrongly said, but that the truth be sought with quiet and order.”

“For some, in the contest of disputations, when they perceive that their error is being refuted, at once begin to make confusion as a refuge and to stir up quarrels, so that it may not become plain to all that they are overcome; and therefore I frequently entreat that the inquiry be held with all patience and quiet, so that if something perhaps seems to have been said less correctly, it may be permitted to repeat it and explain it more openly. For sometimes a thing is said one way and heard another, when it is either uttered less lucidly or attended to less carefully; and for this reason I wish the discourse to be held patiently, so that neither may one take advantage of the other, nor the untimely speech of the opponent interrupt the speech of the speaker, nor we indulge a zeal for finding fault; but, as I said, it may be permitted to repeat what was said less plainly, so that by the most just examination the knowledge of truth may shine forth. For we ought to know that if anyone is overcome by the truth, it is not he who is overcome, but the ignorance that is in him, which is the worst demon; and whoever can drive it away receives the palm of salvation. For our purpose is to benefit the hearers, not to conquer wrongly, but to be well conquered for the sake of knowing the truth. For if the discourse is moved by zeal for seeking the truth, even if we say something less fully because of human frailty, God in his ineffable goodness will secretly fill up what is lacking in the minds of the hearers. For he is just, and according to each one's purpose he makes what is sought ready to hand for some, but for others makes obscure even what is set in plain view. Since, then, the way of God is the way of peace, let us seek the things of God with peace. If anyone has anything to set out on this, there is room; but if no one wishes to answer, I will begin to speak, and the objections that can be made to me by another I will myself bring forward and resolve.”

When, then, Peter had begun to continue his discourse, Simon interrupted him: “Why,” he said, “do you hasten to say for yourself what seems right to you? I understand your tricks; for you want to put to yourself those questions whose solution you have well rehearsed, so that to the ignorant crowds you may seem to say something right; but with me there will be no room for this. Now, then, since like a brave man you promise to answer anyone who wishes to propose anything, answer me first.” And Peter said: “I am ready, provided the discussion is in peace.” Then Simon said: “Do you not see, most ignorant man, that you act contrary to your master in demanding peace, which certainly does not befit one who promises to overcome ignorance? Or, if you are right to ask peace of the hearers, your master was not right to say: ‘I came not to send peace on earth, but a sword.’ For either you speak well and he not well, or, if your master spoke well, you speak very badly, not understanding that you put forward things contrary to him whose disciple you profess to be.”

To this Peter said: “Neither did he who sent me do wrong to send a sword on earth, nor do I act contrary to him in seeking the peace of the hearers. But you ignorantly and rashly find fault with what you do not understand; for you have heard that the master did not come to send peace on earth, but you have not heard that he said: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.’ Therefore I do not think differently from the master in urging peace, to which he assigned blessedness for those who keep it.” And Simon said: “In wishing to answer for your master, Peter, you have accused him much more gravely, if, though he himself did not come to make peace, he commanded others to keep it. And how will that other saying of his stand: ‘It is enough for the disciple to be as his master’?”

To this Peter said: “Our master, who was the true Prophet and consistent with himself in all things, neither spoke against himself nor commanded us anything different from what he himself did. For his saying, ‘I came not to send peace on earth, but a sword; and from this you will see father separated from son, son from father, husband from wife and wife from husband, mother from daughter, daughter from mother, brother from brother, mother-in-law from daughter-in-law, friend from friend’—all this contains the teaching of peace; and hear how. At the beginning of his preaching, as one who wished to invite and lead all to salvation and to persuade them to bear labors and temptations patiently, he called the poor blessed and promised that for their endurance of want they would obtain the kingdom of heaven, so that with so great a hope they might bear the weight of poverty with equanimity, despising covetousness. For covetousness is one, and the greatest, of the most destructive sins. He also promised that the hungry and thirsty would be filled with the eternal goods of righteousness, so that, bearing want tolerably, they might attempt no unjust deed on its account. Likewise he called the pure in heart blessed, saying that through this they would see God, so that each one, desiring to obtain so great a good, might keep himself from evil and polluted thoughts.”

“So our master, inviting his disciples to patience, urged that the good of peace be kept even with the labor of patience. On the other hand, he mourned over those who lived in riches and luxury and gave nothing to the poor, declaring that they would render an account, because they had not pitied even in want their neighbors, whom they ought to have loved as themselves. By saying these things he made some obey and others become enemies. To those who believe and obey, then, he commands to have peace with one another, and to them he says: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.’ But to those who not only did not believe but also became adversaries of his teaching, he declares a war of word and refutation, and says: ‘From this you will see son separated from father, husband from wife, daughter from mother, brother from brother, daughter-in-law from mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be those of his own household.’ For in each house, when a difference begins between believer and unbeliever, a fight necessarily arises, the unbelievers fighting against the faith, the faithful refuting in them their old error and the vices of their sins.”

“Likewise also toward the scribes and Pharisees, in the last period of his teaching, he wages war, reproving them for deeds that were not good and teaching that was not right, and because they hid the key of knowledge which they had received as handed down from Moses, by which the gate of the heavenly kingdom could be opened. And our Lord, sending us out to preach, commanded us that into whatever city or house we enter, we should say: ‘Peace to this house’; ‘and if,’ he said, ‘a son of peace is there, your peace will come upon him; but if not, your peace will return to you’; and that when we go out of that house or city, we should shake off upon them even the dust that clings to our feet. ‘And it will be more tolerable for the land of the Sodomites and Gomorrhaeans in the day of judgment than for that city or house.’ This he commanded to be done only if the word of truth has first been preached in the city or house, so that either those receiving the faith of the truth may become sons of peace and sons of God, or those not receiving it may be convicted as enemies of peace and of God.”

“So we too, keeping our master's instructions, first offer peace to the hearers, so that the way of salvation may be recognized without any disturbance. But if anyone does not receive the words of peace nor yield to the truth, we know how to stir up the battle of the word against him and to reprove him more sharply, refuting his ignorance and convicting his sins. Necessarily, then, we offer peace, so that if anyone is a son of peace, our peace may come upon him; but from him who has made himself a stranger to peace, our peace will return to us. So we do not offer peace, as you say, by consenting to evils; for then we would certainly have given you our right hand at once; but so that, as we discuss with quiet and patience, the hearers may more easily discern which is the true word. But if you disagree and are at variance with yourself, how will you stand? He who is divided against himself must fall. For every kingdom divided against itself will not stand. If it seems good to you, speak to this.”

And Simon said: “I wonder at your folly. You set before us your master's words as though it were certain that he is a prophet, whereas I can very easily show that he said many things contrary to himself. Indeed, I will convict you from what you yourself have brought forward. For you say that he said that every kingdom or every city divided against itself will not stand. And elsewhere again you say that he said that he himself sent a sword to separate those who are in a house, so that son is divided from father, daughter from mother, brother from brother, so that if there are five in one house, three are divided against two and two against three. If, then, everything that is divided falls, he who makes divisions has furnished the causes of falling; and if he is such, he is certainly evil. Answer this if you can.”

And Peter said: “Do not rashly disparage, Simon, what you do not understand. First, then, let me answer your saying that I put forward my master's words and resolve from them the points in doubt. Our Lord, sending us apostles to preach, commanded us to teach all nations the things that have been commanded us. So we cannot simply say them as they were said by him. For we have it in our commands not merely to say them but to teach them, and to show from them how each of them rests on truth. Nor again is it permitted to us to say anything of our own. For we are sent, and one who is sent necessarily announces what he has been ordered and sets out the will of the sender. For if I say anything other than what he who sent me commanded me, I shall be a false apostle, since I do not say what I was ordered to say, but what seems good to me. One who does this certainly wishes to show himself better than him by whom he was sent, and is without doubt a transgressor. But if he goes through what he has been ordered and brings forward the clearest proofs of them, he will be seen to perform the work of an apostle; and because I strive to fulfill this now, I do not please you. So do not blame me for bringing forward the words of him who sent me; but if there is anything in them that is not soundly said, you may convict me on that point—which, however, can in no way happen. (For he is a prophet, and cannot be contrary to himself.) Or, if you do not think he is a prophet, let this first be inquired into.”

And Simon said: “I have no need to say this at your bidding; but I want to know how these sayings agree with each other; for if they are shown to be inconsistent, at the same time he will be shown not to be a prophet.” Then Peter said: “But if I first show that he is a prophet, what seems inconsistent will not be so. For no one is proved to be a prophet by consistency, since many can achieve that; and if consistency does not make a prophet, much less does inconsistency. Since, then, there are many things which seem inconsistent to some, yet by a deeper reason have consistency within themselves, just as other things that seem consistent are found, when examined more carefully, to be inconsistent, for this reason I do not think there is a more correct way of judging these things than first to learn whether he who said the things that seem inconsistent is a prophet. For if he is found to be a prophet, it is established that all the things that seem contrary to each other are consistent, but are not understood. Proofs, then, will more rightly be sought on this point. For we apostles were sent to expound the words of him who sent us and to affirm his teachings; we have no commandment to say anything of our own, but, as I said, to open the truth of his words.”

And Simon said: “Teach us, then, how it can be fitting that he who makes divisions—divisions that make those who are divided fall—should either seem good or have come for the salvation of men.” And Peter: “Hear how our master said that every kingdom and every house divided against itself cannot stand. And when he himself did this, see how it turns to salvation. By the word of truth he divides the kingdom of the world, set in error, or each house in it, no doubt so that error may fall and truth reign. But if it happens to any house that error, brought in by someone, divides the truth, then, when error has prevailed, it is certain that truth cannot stand.” And Simon: “But it is uncertain whether your master divides error or truth.” And Peter: “That belongs to another question. But if you agree that everything that has been divided falls, it remains for me to show, if only you will listen in peace, that our Jesus divided and dissolved error by teaching the truth.”

Then Simon said: “Stop repeating so often your talk of peace, and set out briefly what you think or believe.” And Peter said: “Why are you afraid to hear often of peace? Or do you not know that peace is the perfection of the law? For wars and contests are born from sins; but where no sin is committed, there is peace of soul; and where there is peace, truth is found in disputations and righteousness in works.” And Simon: “You seem to me unable to profess what you think.” And Peter: “I will say it, but of my own will, not forced by your tricks. For I desire that what is saving and useful be brought to the knowledge of all, and therefore I will not delay to set it out as briefly as possible. There is one God, and he is the creator of the world, a just judge, who will one day render to each according to his deeds. For the assertion of these things, I know, countless thousands of words can be stirred up.”

And Simon said: “I wonder indeed at the quickness of your wit, yet I do not embrace the error of your faith. For you prudently foresaw what could be said against you, and elegantly professed it yourself: that countless thousands of words will be stirred up for the assertion of these things. For your profession of faith agrees with no one. Indeed, that there is one God, whose work the world is—who will accept this first point? I think none of the pagans, however uneducated; none at all of the philosophers; not even the most ignorant and wretched of the Jews; nor I myself, who know their law well.” And Peter said: “Leave aside the opinions of the absent; say face to face what seems right to you.” Then Simon said: “I can set out what I truly think, but this consideration makes me slower: if I say what neither agrees with you nor seems right to this ignorant crowd, you, as if struck dumb, will at once stop your ears, as though to keep them from being polluted by blasphemy, and will turn to flight, because you will find nothing to answer; and the irrational people, agreeing with you, will embrace you as one who teaches what they are used to, but will curse me as one who professes new and unheard-of things and brings his error into the minds of others.”

Then Peter said: “Are you not yourself using the evasions you accused us of, having nothing of truth to bring forward? Or, if you have, begin without circumlocutions, if only you are confident; and if what you say does not please any of the hearers, he will leave, but those who remain will be compelled by your assertions to approve what is true. Begin, then, to set out what seems right to you.”

And Simon said: “I say that there are many gods, but that one is incomprehensible and unknown to all, and is the God of all these gods.” Then Peter said: “This God whom you say is incomprehensible and unknown to all—can you prove him from the Scriptures of the Jews, which are held in authority, or from some others which none of us know, or from Greek authors, or from your own scriptures? Say from whichever you wish, provided you first show that they are prophetic; for so their authority will be held beyond doubt.” And Simon said: “I will use proofs from the law of the Jews alone. For it is plain to all who care for religion that this law is of complete authority, yet that each one takes the meaning of this law according to his own sense. For it was so written by him who founded the world that belief in things should rest on it. Hence, whether one wishes to bring forward true things or false, no assertion will be received apart from this law. Since, then, my knowledge agrees most fully with the law, I rightly declared that there are many gods, of whom one is more eminent and incomprehensible, he who is the God of gods. That there are many gods the law itself has taught me. First, where it is said in the person of the serpent to Eve, the first woman: ‘On whatever day you eat of the tree of knowing good and evil, you will be as gods,’ that is, as those who made man. For after they had tasted of the tree, God himself testifies, saying to the other gods: ‘Behold, Adam has become as one of us.’ So it is established that there are many gods who made man, because at the beginning too God speaks thus to the other gods: ‘Let us make man in our image and likeness.’ And also his saying: ‘Let us cast him out.’ And again: ‘Come, let us go down and confound their tongues.’ All these indicate that there are many gods. And this too is written: ‘You shall not curse the gods, and you shall not curse the ruler of your people.’ And again what is written: ‘The Lord alone led them, and there was no foreign god with them,’ shows that there are many gods. There are also very many other testimonies that can be brought from the law, not only obscure but also plain, by which it is taught that there are many gods. Of these, one was chosen by lot to be God of the Jewish people. But I do not assert this one, but him who is the God of this one too, whom not even the Jews themselves know. For he is not their God, but the God of those who have come to know him.”

Hearing this, Peter said: “Fear nothing, Simon; for see, we have neither stopped our ears nor fled, but we answer with words of truth what you have falsely set out, asserting this first: that there is one God, this same God of the Jews, who alone is God, creator of heaven and earth, and who is also the God of all those whom you call gods. If, then, I show that there is none higher than he, but that he himself is above all, you will confess that your error is above all.” And Simon said: “Why, even if I were unwilling to confess it, would not the hearers who stand by convict me of being unwilling to profess what is true?”

“Listen, then,” said Peter, “that you may know first that even if there are many gods, as you say, they are subject to the God of the Jews, to whom no one can be equal or greater. For it is written that Moses the prophet speaks thus to the Jews: ‘The Lord your God, he is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God.’ So even if there are many who are called gods, the God of the Jews is nevertheless the one God of all, and he is called the God of gods. For not everyone who has been called god is therefore God. Indeed Moses too is called the god of Pharaoh, and it is certain that he was a man. And judges have been called gods, and it is agreed that they were mortal. The idols of the nations, too, are called gods, and we all know that they are not; but this was given to the impious as a kind of punishment: that because they would not know the true God, whatever form and image presented itself to them should be held by them as god. Since, as I said, they refused to receive the knowledge of the one who is God of all, it is therefore granted to them to have as gods those who can furnish nothing to those who pray to them. For what can lifeless images or living creatures confer on men, when power over all things belongs to him?”

“In three ways, then, someone is called god: either because he truly is; or because he ministers to him who truly is—and, for the honor of the sender and that his authority may be full, the one sent is called what the sender is, as has often happened with angels; yet when they appear to a man, if he is prudent and learned, he asks the name of the one who appeared, so that he may recognize at once the honor of the one sent and the authority of the sender. For each nation has an angel, to whom the government of that nation has been entrusted by God; and when he appears, though he is thought and called god by those over whom he is set, yet when questioned he will not give himself such a testimony. For the most high God, who alone holds power over all, divided the nations of the whole earth into seventy-two parts and appointed angels as princes over them. But to one who was the greatest among the archangels was given by lot the government of those who, above all others, received the worship and knowledge of the most high God. And holy men too, as we said, are made gods of the impious, as having received power of life and death over them, as we mentioned above concerning Moses and the judges. For this reason it is written of them: ‘You shall not curse the gods, and you shall not curse the ruler of your people.’ The princes of the individual nations, then, are called gods. But the God of the princes is Christ, who is the judge of all. So in truth neither angels, nor men, nor any creature can be gods, since they are placed under power, as created and changeable: angels as those who once were not and now are, men as mortal, and every creature as that which can be dissolved—but only if he who made it dissolves it. And therefore he alone is the true God who not only lives himself, but also gives life to others, which he can also take away when he wills.”

“For this reason, then, Scripture cries out in the person of the God of the Jews: ‘See, see, that I am God, and there is no other besides me. I will kill, and I will make alive; I will strike, and I will heal; and there is none who can deliver from my hands.’ You see, then, how by a certain ineffable power Scripture, forestalling the future errors of those who would affirm another God, either in heaven or on earth, besides him who is the God of the Jews, declares: ‘The Lord your God is one God, in heaven above and on earth below, and besides him there is no other.’ How, then, have you dared to say that there is another God besides him who is the God of the Jews? And again Scripture says: ‘Behold, the heaven of the Lord your God, and the heaven of heaven, the earth and all that is in them. Yet I chose your fathers to love them, and you after them.’ So on every side this judgment is fortified by Scripture: that he who created the world is the true and only God.”

“And even if there are others, as we said, who are called gods, they are under the power of the God of the Jews, for Scripture spoke thus to the Jews: ‘The Lord our God, he is God of gods and Lord of lords.’ Scripture also warns that he alone is to be worshiped, saying: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ And: ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord your God is one God.’ Indeed the saints too, filled with the Spirit of God and sprinkled with the drops of his mercy, cried out: ‘Who is like you among the gods, Lord, who is like you?’ And again: ‘Who is God besides the Lord, and who is God besides our Lord?’ So Moses, when he saw the people making progress, gradually initiated them into the understanding of the monarchy and faith in one God, as he says in what follows: ‘You shall not mention the names of other gods,’ remembering, no doubt, the punishment with which the serpent was condemned, who first named gods. He was condemned to eat earth, and judged worthy of such food because he first of all brought the name of gods into the world. And if you too wish to introduce many gods, see that you do not meet an end like the serpent's.”

“Be sure, then, that you will not have us as partners in this audacity, nor shall we let ourselves be deceived by you. For it will not help us as an excuse in the judgment if we say that you deceived us, since it could not excuse the first woman either that she wrongly believed the serpent; but because she wrongly believed, she was condemned to death. For this reason Moses too, commending to the people faith in one God, says: ‘Take heed to yourself, lest you be seduced from the Lord your God.’ See that he uses the same word which the first woman used in her excuse, saying that she was seduced; but it profited her nothing. Above all, even if some true prophet were to arise who did signs and wonders, but wished to persuade us to worship other gods besides the God of the Jews, we could never believe him. For so the divine law has taught us, commending a secret saying more purely by tradition. It says: ‘If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of a dream, and he gives signs or wonders, and those signs or wonders come to pass, and he says to you, Let us go and worship other gods whom you do not know, you shall not hear the words of that prophet nor the dream of that dreamer, because he is testing you, to see whether you love the Lord your God.’”

“For this reason, then, our Lord too, while doing signs and wonders, preached the God of the Jews, and therefore his preaching is rightly believed. But you, even if you were truly a prophet and did signs and wonders, as you promise, and proclaimed other gods besides him who is the true God, it would be plain that you had been raised up as a test for the people of God, and therefore you cannot be believed at all. For there is one true God, who is the God of the Jews; and for this reason our Lord Jesus Christ taught that what must be sought is not God, whom they knew well, but his kingdom and righteousness, which the scribes and Pharisees, having received the key of knowledge, had not shut in but shut out. For if they had been ignorant of the true God, he would surely never have passed over the knowledge of this matter, which was the head of all, to blame them for small and least things—that they enlarged their fringes, claimed the first places at banquets, prayed standing at the crossroads, and other such things—which certainly, compared with this great charge, ignorance of God, seem slight and small.”

And Simon said to this: “From your master's words I will convince you that he too introduces a certain God unknown to all. For though Adam knew God, his creator and the founder of the world, and Enoch, as one translated by him, and Noah, as one commanded by him to build the ark, and with them Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and all, every people and all nations, knew the founder of the world and confess him as God, your Jesus, who appeared long after the fathers, says: ‘No one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.’ So your Jesus too confesses that there is another God, incomprehensible and unknown to all.”

Then Peter said: “You do not perceive that you are putting forward things contrary to yourself. For if our Jesus too knows this God whom you call unknown, then he is no longer known by you alone. Indeed, if our Jesus knew him, then Moses too, who prophesied that Jesus would come, was without doubt not ignorant of him either; for he was a prophet, and one who prophesied of the Son had without doubt known the Father. For if it is in the will of the Son to reveal the Father to whom he wishes, then the Son, who from the beginning and always was with the Father through every generation, revealed the Father to Moses, and likewise to the other prophets; and if this is so, it is established that the Father was unknown to no one. But to you, who do not believe the Son, how could the Father be revealed, who is known to no one except the one to whom the Son wishes to reveal him? The Son reveals the Father to those who honor the Son as they honor the Father.”

Then Simon said: “Remember that you said God has a son, which is an insult; for how can he have a son unless he undergoes things like men or animals? But now is not the time to refute your profound folly on these matters; for I am hastening to speak of the immensity of the highest light; listen now. I think there is a certain power of immense and ineffable light, whose greatness is held to be incomprehensible, a power of which even the creator of the world is ignorant, and Moses the lawgiver, and your master Jesus.”

Then Peter said: “Does it not seem to you a mark of madness that anyone should wish to assert that there is another God than the God of all, and say, ‘I think there is a certain power,’ and before he himself is certain of what he says, should want to confirm it to others? Is anyone so headlong as to believe your words, in which he sees you yourself doubting, and to admit that there is some power unknown to God the creator, to Moses, to the prophets, to the law, and even to Jesus our master—a power so good that it wishes to be known to no one but one only, and that one such as you? Then, if this power is new, why does it not give us some new sense besides these five that we have, so that by the new sense granted us by it we might grasp and understand that which is new? Or, if it cannot grant this, how did it grant it to you? Or, if it revealed itself to you, why not to us too? But if you understood by yourself what not even the prophets could perceive or understand, come, tell us now what each of us is thinking. For if there is so great a spirit in you that you know the things above the heavens, unknown to all and incomprehensible to all, much more easily do you know human thoughts, which are on earth. But if you cannot know the thoughts of us who stand here, how do you say you know things which you affirm are known to no one?”

“But believe me that you would never know what light is, had you not received from light itself both sight and the understanding of seeing; and so too with the rest. Having received understanding from this source, you devise something greater and more sublime, like a dream, yet taking the occasion from these five senses, to whose giver you are ungrateful. Be sure, however, that until you find some new sense beyond these five which we all use, you will not be able to assert a new God.” And Simon said: “Since all things that exist are grasped by the five senses, that power more eminent than all can add nothing new.” And Peter said: “That is false. For there is another, sixth sense, that of foreknowing; these five senses are capable of knowledge, but the sixth is of foreknowledge, which the prophets had. How, then, can you know a God unknown to all, you who have not known even the prophetic sense, which is that of foreknowledge?” Then Simon began to say: “This power which I call incomprehensible and more eminent than all, even than the God who founded the world, none of the angels knows, nor of the demons, nor of the Jews, nor any creature at all that has come into being from God the creator. For how could the law of the Creator himself teach me what the Creator himself did not know, since the law itself did not know what it should teach?”

And Peter said: “I wonder how you could learn more from the law than the law could teach or know, and how you say you bring from the law proofs of what you wish to assert, when you assert that neither the law knows the things you speak of, nor he who gave the law, that is, the creator of the world. And I wonder at this too: how you, who alone know these things, are standing here now with everyone, enclosed within the narrow bounds of this court.” And Simon, seeing Peter laughing with all the people, said: “Do you laugh, Peter, when the discussion concerns such great and eminent matters?” Then Peter said: “Do not be angry, Simon; for we are doing nothing beyond our promise: we have not stopped our ears, as you said, nor turned to flight as soon as we heard you bring forward ineffable things; we have not even moved from our place. For you bring forward nothing even plausible that could frighten us at all. Or at least open to us the meaning of this saying: how you learned from the law of a God whom the law itself does not know, and of whom he who gave the law is ignorant.” And Simon said: “If you have stopped laughing, I will prove it by clear assertions.” And Peter said: “Why, I will stop, so that I may learn from you how you learned from the law what the law does not know and what the God of the law himself is ignorant of.”

And Simon said: “Listen. It is plain to all, and discovered by a certain ineffable reasoning, that there is one God who is better than all, from whom everything that is took its beginning; hence also all things that are after him are necessarily subject to him, as to the chief and most eminent of all. So when I had learned that this God who had created the world is, according to what the law teaches, weak in many respects—and weakness is far removed from the perfect God—and saw that he is not perfect, I necessarily understood that there is another who is perfect. For this one, as I said, according to what the Scripture of the law teaches, is found to be weak in many respects. First, because the man whom he formed could not remain such as he himself had wished; and because he is not good either, he who gave the first man a law that he should eat of all the trees of paradise but not touch the tree of knowledge, and that if he tasted it he would die. For why should he forbid him to eat and to know what is good and what evil, so that, knowing, he might avoid evil and choose good? But he did not grant this; and because the man tasted contrary to the command and learned what is good, and learned for honor's sake to cover his private parts (for he felt it unseemly to stand before his Creator with them uncovered), he condemns to death the one who had learned to show honor to God, and curses the serpent who had shown him these things. But surely, if man was to be harmed by this, why did he place the cause of harm in paradise at all? And if what he placed in paradise was good, it is not the part of a good being to forbid another from good.”

“So, since he who made man and the world is, according to what the law relates, imperfect, he without doubt gives us to understand another who is perfect. For there must be someone more excellent than all, on whose account every creature keeps its order. Hence I too, knowing that there must by all means be someone kinder and more powerful than him who gave the law, an imperfect god, and understanding from comparison with the imperfect what the perfect is, understood from the Scripture itself that God of whom nothing had been written. And in this way, Peter, I was able to learn from the law what the law did not know. And even if the law had not given indications from which it could be gathered that the God who founded the world is imperfect, it was possible for me to gather it even from the evils that are done in this world and are not corrected: either that its creator is powerless, since he does not correct what is done wrongly, if he cannot; or, if he does not wish to take away evils, that he himself is evil; and if he neither can nor will, that he is neither powerful nor good. And from these it must be gathered that there is another God more excellent and more powerful than all. If you have anything to say to this, do not delay.”

Peter answered: “Such absurdities against God, Simon, are usually devised by those who read the law without teachers handing it on, but have themselves as teachers and think they can understand the law, though it has not been expounded to them by one who learned it from a teacher. Nevertheless now, so that we too may seem to follow the Scripture of the law according to your sense: since you say that the creator of the world is shown to be both powerless and not good, how did you not see that this power of yours too, which you say is more eminent than all, falls under and is liable to the very same reproaches? For it can be said of it in the same way, concerning all the things that are done wrongly here, that either it is powerless, since it does not correct them, or, if it can and will not, it is evil; and if it neither can nor will, it is both powerless and imperfect. Hence this new power of yours is found liable not only to the same fault but to a worse one, if, on top of all this, it is believed to exist when it does not. For as to him who created the world, the very fact that he exists is plain from the work by which he founded the world, as you yourself also confess. But this power, which you say you alone know, offers no indication of itself through which we could perceive even this, that it is and subsists.”

“What sort of thing would it be, then, that we should forsake God, in whose world we live and enjoy everything necessary for life, and follow I know not whom, from whom we not only obtain nothing good, but cannot even know whether he exists—since in fact he does not exist? For whether you call him light, and brighter than this light that we see, you borrow the very name from the creator of the world; or if you call him a substance above all, you take the idea from here with an enlargement of speech; or if you speak of mind, or goodness, or life, or anything else, you borrow the words from here. Since, then, you have nothing new about that power you speak of, not only for understanding it but not even for naming it, how do you introduce a new God, for whom you cannot find even a new name? For not only is the creator of the world called ‘power’, but also the ministers of his glory and the whole heavenly host. Does it not then seem better to you that we follow God our maker, as a father who trains and instructs us as he himself knows? And even if there is, as you say, some God kinder than all, it is certain that he is not angry with us; and if he is angry, he is evil. But our God, if he is angry and punishes, is not evil but just; for he chastises and corrects his own sons. But he who has nothing to do with us—if he should wish to punish us, how will he be good, taking vengeance on us because we did not forsake our father to follow him, drawn by empty suspicions? How, then, can such a one be asserted by you to be good, when he cannot even be understood to be just?”

Then Simon said: “Are you so far astray, Peter, as not to know that our souls are from that good God, more excellent than all, but have been led captive into this world?” And Peter: “Then he is not unknown to all, as you said a little earlier. And yet how did the good God allow the captivity of his souls to take place, if he was a power more powerful than all?” And Simon: “He himself sent the creator God to found the world; but he, when the world had been founded, proclaimed himself God.” And Peter: “Then he is not unknown to him who founded the world, as you said above; nor are the souls ignorant of him, since they were led away from him. To whom, then, will he now be unknown, if both the creator of the world knows him, as one sent by him, according to what you say, and all souls know him, as violently dragged here from him? Then I would like you to tell me: did he who sent the founder of the world not know that the one he sent would not keep faith? If he did not know, he was not foreknowing; but if he foreknew and allowed it, he himself is guilty of this deed, since he did not prevent it; and if he could not, he is not almighty. But if he did not forbid it, knowing it to be good, then the one who presumed to do what the sender did not know to be good is found to be better.”

And Simon said: “He receives those who wish to come to him and does good to them.” And Peter: “Nor is this new; for the one whom you confess as creator of the world does this too.” And Simon: “But the good God grants salvation only if he is known, whereas the founder of the world also requires the law to be fulfilled.” And Peter: “Then he saves even adulterers and murderers if they know him, but the good, the sober, or the merciful, if they receive no indication of him and so do not know him, he does not save! A great and good God you preach, who does not so much save the wicked as show no mercy to the good.” And Simon: “It is indeed a great labor for a man placed in the flesh to know him. For this body by which the soul is surrounded is darker than all darkness and heavier than all clay.” And Peter: “Then this good God of yours seeks what is difficult; but he who is truly God asks what is easier. So let him, as a good God, leave us with our Father and Creator; and when we have departed from the body and left behind this darkness you speak of, then we shall know him more easily, and then the soul will better understand that its creator is God, and will remain with him, and will no longer be wearied by diverse thoughts, nor wish to take refuge in another power, which is known to no one but Simon alone, and which is of such goodness that no one can come to it unless he has first been impious toward his own parent. I do not know how this power can be called either good or just, which no one can please unless he has acted impiously toward him by whom he was made.”

And Simon said: “It is not impious, for the sake of profit and greater gain, to take refuge with him who is of richer glory.” And Peter: “If, as you say, it is not impious to take refuge with a stranger, it is much more pious to remain with one's own father, even if he is poor. Or if you do not think it impious that we should leave our father and take refuge with another as better, and believe that our creator is not angry at this, much more will the good God not be angry that, when we were strangers to him, we did not take refuge with him but remained with our creator. And I think he will praise us the more for this, because we keep faith with God our creator, considering that if we had been his own, we could never have left him and been seduced by others' enticements. For if someone, enticed by richer promises, leaves his own parent and takes refuge with a stranger, it may happen that he will leave him in turn and go to another who has promised greater things, all the more because he was not his own son, since he could leave even the one who was his father by nature.” And Simon: “What if souls are from him, and do not know him, and he is truly their father?”

And Peter said: “You show clearly enough that he is weak. For if, as you say, he is more powerful than all, the weaker must never be believed to have taken spoils from the more powerful. Or, if the creator God could lead souls by force from him into this world, how will the good God call them to punishment when they have been sent out of the body and freed from the bonds of captivity—souls which, through his own negligence or weakness, could be dragged to this place and wrapped in the body as in the darkness of ignorance? You seem to me not to know what Father and God means. I could also tell you whence souls are, and when and how they were made; but it is not lawful to open these things to you now, placed as you are in so great an error about the knowledge of God.” Then Simon said: “There will be a time when you will repent that you did not understand me when I spoke of the ineffable power.” And Peter: “Give us, then, as I have often said, as a new God or as one who has come down from him, some new sense through which we may know the new God you speak of; for these five senses, which God the creator gave us, keep faith with their Creator and do not perceive any other to be God, their very nature affording them this.”

To this Simon said: “Turn your mind to what I am about to say, and make it go by invisible paths to reach the things I shall show you. Listen now: have you never, absorbed in thought, stretched your mind into regions or islands placed far off, and remained so fixed there in spirit that you could not even see those present or know where you were sitting, for the delight of the things before your eyes?” And Peter said: “It is true, Simon; this has often happened to me.” And Simon said: “So now stretch your sense into the heaven, and again above the heaven, and see that there must be some place beyond the world or outside the world, in which there is neither heaven nor earth, nor does any shadow of them produce darkness there; and therefore, since there are no bodies in it and no darkness from bodies, there must necessarily be immense light. And consider what kind of light that can be which no darkness succeeds. For if the light of this sun fills this whole world, how great do you reckon that incorporeal and infinite light to be? So great, without doubt, that this light of the sun seems darkness and not light in comparison with it.”

When Simon said this, Peter answered: “Listen patiently, then, on both points, that is, on the example of stretching out the mind and on the immensity of the light. I know, Simon, that I myself have sometimes, absorbed in thought, stretched my mind into regions, as you say, and islands placed far off, and viewed them with my mind no less than with my eyes. When I was at Capernaum, engaged in fishing, and was sitting on a rock, holding in my hand a hook tied to a line and fitted for deceiving fish, I did not feel the fish that had caught on it, while my mind ran about through Jerusalem, which I longed for, and to which indeed I had often gone up, keeping vigil, for the sake of offerings and prayers. I also used to admire this Caesarea, hearing others speak of it, and to long for it; and I seemed to see it, though I had not yet been in it, and I thought about it what it is fitting to think about a great city—gates, walls, baths, streets, lanes, markets, and the like—according, namely, to what I had seen in other cities; and I so delighted in the intentness of such gazing that truly, as you yourself said, I neither saw the one who was present and standing by, nor knew where I myself was sitting.” And Simon said: “Now you speak rightly.”

And Peter said: “So, occupied in mind, I did not at all feel that I had the very large fish that had caught on the hook, even when it violently snatched the line from my hands; and my brother Andrew, who was sitting with me, seeing me dazed and almost falling, poked my side with his elbow as if waking me from sleep and said: ‘Do you not see, Peter, what a big fish you have caught? Have you gone out of your mind, that you are so dazed and stunned? What is the matter with you? Tell me.’ But I, a little annoyed with him for drawing me away from the sweetness of what I was gazing at, answered that nothing was wrong with me, but that in spirit I was gazing at Jerusalem, which I longed for, and at Caesarea too, and that in body I was with him, but in mind wholly carried away there. But he, inspired I know not whence, uttered a hidden and secret word of truth.”

“‘Stop, Peter,’ he said; ‘what are you doing? For those who begin to be filled with a demon or moved in mind have beginnings of this kind: first they are carried by fantasies to whatever is pleasant and delightful; then they are poured out in vain and empty movements toward things that do not exist. This happens from a certain sickness of the soul, by which they do not see the things that are, but desire to bring before their sight the things that are not. So too it happens to those who suffer from frenzy and seem to themselves to see many images, because their soul, convulsed and moved from its places by excess of cold or heat, suffers a disorder of its natural function. And those who suffer from thirst, when they fall asleep, seem to themselves to see rivers and springs and to drink; this they suffer because they labor under the dryness of an ill-tempered body. Hence it is certain that these things come about from some fault either of soul or of body.’”

“Finally, that you may believe the matter: about Jerusalem, which I had often seen, I told my brother what places and gatherings I had seemed to myself to see. And about Caesarea, which I had never seen, I nonetheless maintained that it was such as I had conceived it in mind and thought. But when I came here and saw nothing at all like the things I had seen in fantasy, I reproached and blamed myself greatly, because I had given it gates and walls and other buildings from others I had seen, really taking the likeness from them. For no one can think of anything new, whose form has never existed. Even if someone wishes to form in his thought bulls with five heads each, he fashions those with five heads from the ones he has seen with one head each. And you too now, if you think you truly see something in your thought and gaze above the heavens, there is no doubt that you consider those things from the ones you see placed on earth. Or if you think your mind has easy access above the heavens, and that you can consider what is there and grasp the knowledge of that immense light, I think it is easier for one who can comprehend those things to cast his mind, which knows how to ascend there, into the heart and breast of one of us standing by, and say what thoughts he has in him. If, then, you can declare the thoughts of the heart of any of us—provided he is not inclined in your favor—we may perhaps believe you that you could also know the things above the heavens, though they are far loftier.”

To this Simon said: “You who have woven many trifles, listen now. It is impossible that anything which has come into a man's thought should not also subsist in fact and truth; for things that do not subsist have no form either, and things that have no form cannot occur to thought.” And Peter said: “If everything that can come into thought subsists, then as to that place of immensity which you say is outside the world: if one man thinks in his heart that it is light, and another that it is darkness, how can one and the same place be both light and darkness, according to those who thought differently about it?” And Simon said: “Leave aside now these things I have said; tell me what you think is above the heavens.”

And Peter said: “If you believed concerning the true source of light, I could teach you what that which is immense is and in what way it is, and I would give not a vain fantasy but a consistent and necessary account of the truth, using not sophistical assertions but the testimonies of the law and of nature, so that you would know that the law especially contains the belief concerning immensity. And if the account of immensity is not hidden from the law, nothing else at all can be hidden from it; and therefore your supposition that there is something the law does not know is false. Much more will nothing be hidden from him who gave the law. Yet I cannot speak to you about immensity and the things that are without end unless you have first either received our account of the heavens, which are bounded by a fixed end, or brought forward your own. But if you cannot understand the things enclosed by fixed bounds, much less will you be able to know or learn anything about the things that are without end.”

To this Simon said: “It seems better to me simply to believe that God exists, and that this heaven which we see is the only heaven in the whole universe.” And Peter said: “Not so; but it is fitting to confess one God who truly is, and that there are heavens made by him, as the law also says, of which one heaven is higher, by which the visible firmament also is contained; that that one is perpetual and eternal, with those who dwell there; but that this visible one is to be dissolved and to pass away at the consummation of the age, so that that heaven which is older and higher may appear after the judgment to the saints and the worthy.” To this Simon answered: “That these things are as you say may seem so to believers; but for one who looks for the reasons of these things, it is impossible to bring them forward from the law, and especially concerning the immensity of light.”

And Peter said: “Do not think that we say these things are to be received by faith alone; they are also to be asserted by reason. For it is not safe to commit these things to bare faith without reason, since the truth certainly does not lack reason. And therefore he who has received these things fortified by reason can never lose them; but he who receives them without proofs, by assent to a simple statement, can neither keep them safely nor be certain whether they are true; for he who believes easily also departs easily. But he who has sought and received the reason for the things he has believed, bound as it were by the chains of reason itself, can never be torn away or separated from what he has believed. And therefore the more eager one is in seeking reason, the firmer he will be in keeping the faith.”

To this Simon said: “It is a great thing that you promise, that the eternity of the immense light can be shown from the law.” And when Peter had said, “Whenever you wish,” Simon said: “Since the hour is now late, tomorrow, with me present and resisting, if you can prove that this world was made and that souls are immortal, you will have me as a helper in your preaching.” When he had said this, he went out; and of all the people who had come with him, a third part followed him, about a thousand men; but the rest, bending their knees, prostrated themselves before Peter. And he, invoking the name of God over them, cured some who had demons and healed others who were sick, and so dismissed the people rejoicing, charging them to gather earlier the next day. But Peter, when the crowds had withdrawn, had places spread on the ground in the open air of the court where the disputation had taken place, and reclined with those eleven; but I took food reclining with certain others who had also received the beginnings of hearing the word of God and were very dear.

But the most kind Peter, considering that this separation might perhaps cause me sadness, said to me: “It is not from pride, Clement, that I do not share a meal with those who have not yet been purified. But I fear that I might harm myself and do them no good. For I want you to know this for certain: everyone who has at some time worshiped idols and adored those whom the pagans call gods, or has tasted of what was sacrificed to them, is not free of an unclean spirit; for he has become a table companion of demons, and has taken a share with that demon whose likeness he formed in his mind, either by fear or by love. And because of these things he is not clean of the unclean spirit, and therefore needs the purification of baptism, so that the unclean spirit may go out of him, which has settled in the inner affections of his soul; and, what is worse, it does not reveal that it lies hidden within, lest, being exposed, it be put to flight.”

“For these unclean spirits love to cling to the bodies of men, so that through their ministry they may fulfil their own desires, and, inclining the movements of the soul toward what they themselves desire, may compel them to obey their lusts, so that they become wholly vessels of demons. One of these is this Simon, who, seized by such a disease, can no longer be healed, because he is sick by will and purpose. Nor does the demon dwell in him against his will; and therefore, if anyone wished to put it to flight and expel it from him, since it is inseparable and, so to speak, has now become his soul, he would seem rather to kill him and incur the crime of murder. Let none of you, then, be saddened at being separated from our table; for each one must observe this for a time, as long as he himself chooses. He who wishes to be baptized quickly is separated for a short time, but he who wishes it later, for a long time. Each one, then, has it in his own power to make the time of his repentance short or long; and therefore it lies with you, when you wish, to come to our table, and not with us, to whom it is not permitted to take food with anyone unless he has been baptized. It is you, then, who rather keep us from your table, if you delay purification and are baptized later.” Having said this, he blessed and took food. And after this, when he had given thanks to God, he went in and rested, and likewise all of us; for it was now night.

Meanwhile Peter, rising at cockcrow and wishing to wake us, found us awake, with the evening lamp still burning; and when he had greeted us as usual and we had all sat down, he began thus: “Nothing is more difficult, my brethren, than to dispute about the truth before a mixed multitude of people. For what is may not be told to all as it is, because of those who listen maliciously and treacherously; yet it is not right to deceive, because of those who sincerely desire to hear the truth. What, then, shall one do who addresses an undiscriminating crowd? Conceal what is true? And how will he instruct those who are worthy? But if he sets forth the pure truth to those who do not desire to obtain salvation, he wrongs him by whom he was sent and from whom he received the command not to cast the pearls of his words before swine and dogs, who, struggling against them with arguments and sophisms, roll them in the mud of carnal understanding, and with their barking and filthy answers break and weary the preachers of the word of God. For this reason I too, in most matters, using a certain circumlocution, strove not to publish the principal understanding concerning the supreme Divinity to less worthy ears.” And after this, beginning with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, he set it out to us briefly and clearly, so that all of us who heard wondered how men, forsaking the truth, have turned to vanity.

As Peter was saying this, Aquila said: “You have spoken rightly; tell us, then, the things that belong to the truth.” And Peter said: “Ask me about whatever you wish.” And Aquila said: “Discuss the principle and the principles, and that which Simon censured as unfitting: that Christ is called the Son of God, lest God be thought to suffer things like plants and other inanimate things …”

Peter, seeing that all wished to hear this very thing, set out the whole account thus: “The name ‘principle’ is applied to many and diverse things, namely sensible and intelligible. But lest we seem to turn to intelligible things before experience of sensible ones, it is fitting to begin first from visible things, so that, taking an example from what is near, we may then come to the comprehension of intelligible things. Thus the sun, for example, was established as the principle or rule of the day, and the moon, on the other hand, of the night; these were established to hold rule, and received from him that they should be at the beginning. And he who composed these first founded heaven and earth, and besides these composed the land, water, and winged animals, trees too and plants, and after these man—not only giving them a beginning so that they might exist, but also that they might live according to the command of God. So there can indeed be many principles, but for him who is there are no principles. For there is one principle, and one principle without principle; the things after these are improperly called principles, if they are called so at all. I set out beforehand the reason for this example, from sensible to intelligible things, so that, using this way, we may possess a firm and certain safeguard in the teaching about intelligible things. We say, then, that God is without beginning, as ineffable providence shows, who was neither made by himself nor begotten by himself; for he is without beginning and unbegotten. The name ‘unbegotten’ does not give us to understand what he is, but that he was not made. But those who called that which is unbegotten ‘self-father’ and ‘self-begotten’, that is, father of himself and son of himself, tried to do it insult, serving doubtful reasonings. For, understanding like little children, they thought that what was before it was born needed birth; and, taking ‘that which was’ for ‘that it came to be’, they raved with madness in saying that it was made as if by itself, and dared, like men possessed, to compare what is unbegotten to plants. All these things, being set in impiety, have ignorance as their consequence. For they did not understand that in saying this very thing they say that he both was and was not. For inasmuch as he begot, he was; but inasmuch as he was born, he was not. It is established, then, that he was not insofar as he was born, and that he was insofar as he begot. But the profession of piety does not allow us to say that the same underwent both at once.”

“Then also our common notions carefully repel so great a blasphemy, paying due honor to the unbegotten. What, then, would any of those who used the impious names say if questioned? Only that he was before he was, father to himself, having being before he had furnished himself with being. By what reasoning could he be called ‘self-’, father of himself and son of himself, when what he would be did not yet exist—a sign of an understanding existing before? Do you dare to say that what is unmade was made by itself? They thought they said this with learning, like drunkards who take shadows for pits. Therefore, before all things, we who make inquiry into immortal things must begin from the traditions of the Lord, where, separating the condition of mortal things from immortal, he taught us to endure dangers and temptations even to death itself for the hope of the good things of the kingdom, saying: ‘Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill souls; but fear him who can destroy body and soul in Gehenna.’ And truly, if the soul does not die with the body, it is certainly not divided, nor does it suffer anything else of what the body suffers, for example influx or efflux, thinness or thickness, health or sickness, severing or joining. And even in the very procreation of men the soul contributes nothing by way of efflux; in every movement its substance stands unchangeable, but by its diverse movement it stirs one body and another to be affected. The body, then, flows and is affected in its substance, as is known by experience, when after the forming of those born the womb is emptied, through the growth of the infant, pushing and pushed as if in a struggle, by the word of the Creator: for what has been formed hastens to come out, and what formed it desires to put it forth. This cause carries the passions themselves over to the succession of the same thing; and when the passion has occurred, a common danger occurs more often than a particular one.”

“And everything that serves the desires for women is advanced and prepared naturally according to each one's age—for example, in one way in the boy, in another in the youth, in another in the man. For the infant has the working of these in potency, but does not yet have in potency the movements of the soul as well; the youth is ready for the appointed end, but does not yet have the use of discernment; the man, consenting, possesses the purpose of completion. And it must be said that the soul is immortal and the body flowing not only from these things, but also from the commandments which apply to it as the common person, which the Lord speaks: ‘It was said to those of old, You shall not commit adultery; but I say, Do not serve desire even in looking’—speaking very carefully. For if the body is naturally bound to intercourse with women, and is rather compelled to serve what it has received, so that it might exist and have it in its form—which is also the chief part of carnal procreation—how could anyone suppose that it was said to the body, ‘You shall not commit adultery; but I say, Do not serve desire,’ and not rather that the commandment of the better thing is intimated here to the soul, which is a free substance, having power to loosen or rein in such passions as the body works? So too, hoping for the things to come, we are not angry, we restrain wrath, and we disdain women, raising our minds by the hope of things to come; not, as I said, having all that we are servile to female operations, but one part serving by nature, which is the body, as we showed, and another free, the mind, which is the movement of the immortal soul.”

“These things being so, we have found the best track toward the comprehension of intelligible things, with God speaking. Let us go by it, then, without danger, using the immortal soul as our helm, no longer allowing carnal passion to rush upon that immortal and intelligible substance, and assigning to each of the intelligible beings only so much honor as God, who is established to be and to rule, permits it. For there is a first, which is unbegotten, to which the prophet also bears witness: ‘I God am first, and I after these, and besides me there is no God’; and by this is understood that he is without beginning and unbegotten.”

Clement and the others asked what this ‘Unbegotten’ is, wishing to hear. And Peter, noticing, said: “There is no small danger in speaking or hearing about that which is without beginning; but you, from desire for what has been said, risk rushing upon immensity; and you are trying, as I see, to make me suffer this, thinking you can steal from me something about that which is ineffable. I warn you, brethren and fellow servants, not to seek what he is, but only to desire to hear that he is. And more than this must not be said about it. The Unbegotten is to be honored not by the name alone, for it is also without beginning; and this which is without beginning and unbegotten is God, who is proclaimed only by the opinion of the things that have been made, but is comprehended by himself. For he will not find that something of him was first and see something of him made afterwards, since it is established that he is without beginning; that is the condition of the things that have been made. Therefore that which is ineffable has no interval for inquiring into itself, to foresee what it was before it was; for no curiosity follows upon him who is his own essence. He knows himself, then, who does not question himself about himself. But we have said even more of these things than is fitting; for that which is unbegotten loves to be honored by silence alone. You have received, then, without danger, as far as we could perceive it, that this substance is without beginning.”

“This God, then, who did not begin to be, begot the firstborn of all creation, as befitted God: not changing himself, not turning himself, not dividing himself, not flowing out, not extending anything. For remember that these are passions of bodies, which we avoid attributing even to the soul, for fear that its immortality be taken away by these attributes. God, then, begot that which we have also learned to call a thing made; and to call it both begotten and made, and the other words of this kind, allows us to posit that which, being without form, is the likeness of the begetter. For in those that differ in form, the begotten and the made must be distinguished. Remaining, then, God begot, suffering no division. For that which is is not more honorable to God and to this Unbegotten than that which is not, as if begotten. For when he willed, he did not have a power slow toward what he willed, nor did his power exceed his will; but such as was the measure he willed, such did he beget. For if bodies, remaining and not suffering, subject to the necessity of their thickness, make shadows exist, how much more shall we grant that the Only-begotten, proceeding by will, follows upon the unbegotten power. And as bodies are understood before shadows, so much more is the unbegotten substance understood before the begotten, even if he received from him who was that he should be. For this reason, then, he is truly and fittingly called begotten and made and created, because he is not the unbegotten substance. I remember indeed that Simon accused us of blasphemy because we said that Christ is the Son of God, as if we made God equal to men and plants; but you, from desire to learn, hasten on.”

When all gladly agreed, Peter said: “The way of this unbelief is plain, Aquila and the rest. For one who does not know for certain, but has received an opinion only as far as hearing, is afraid to believe; whereas he could easily cast off the excuse of his unbelief for joy at what is promised, and, carried away by the desire to learn, he does not hesitate to make public the unbelief he had about what is being sought. But discussion of this matter belongs to a second occasion, lest an uncertain hope of faith, drawing you away, be accepted in place of faith in the inquiry. Everywhere let God and the thought of him come first for us. God, being unbegotten, remains of his own nature inviolable, and he kept his operation by will in a virgin manner. But that which is not unbegotten cannot of its own nature be virgin; for it was made, as brought under the touch of its begetter and maker. Let it be understood how it befitted God to beget the Only-begotten and firstborn of all creation, but not as from some material; for that is the servitude of animate and inanimate things. Nor, coming into operation, did he beget something of himself; for he would not remain inviolable and impassible if he worked upon himself. It is full of impiety to suspect these things of the unbegotten; for we, sons of the impious, are in danger, thinking that we understand piously, of bringing a great blasphemy upon the Unbegotten by supposing him male-female. I remember indeed him who warned us, brethren.”

“Remaining, then, God begot, his will going before, as was said before. For this reason he is truly called Only-begotten; for he has what he is from the unbegotten, and he is truly called Son, for he was born of the unborn. Yet we gently and gradually loosen, by will, the harmful controversy of those who dare to say that the unmade differs from the made by name alone, and to affirm that what is distinguished as begotten is, over against the unborn, an unbegotten substance. If it is said so, what is said is not, and what is, is not said. For the unmade is substance; and if it is called made, it rejects what it was not called. Especially since God is of himself rational and of himself without beginning, which is not impossible; but it is more impious that that which is of itself rational and of itself unbegotten should not rather wish to be at one with itself than to submit to the order of duality, thinking birth more honorable than unborn permanence. For it is not one, nor does he command himself, saying: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ Nor does he contend against himself, so that some part of him should remain unbegotten and some part be subjected to birth; nor know and foreknow unbegottenly that some part of himself would be born and some part would beget; not at all unaware that he would be more honorable than himself, one part giving commands and the other receiving them—for example, what was said: ‘Sit at my right hand’; or what pertains to sending; or that he praised himself, preferring himself, saying: ‘And God saw that they were good,’ after the things which are known to have been made had been completed by the Only-begotten in six days, seeing his will unchanged in the completed works of the Only-begotten's divine operation.”

“But if the unbegotten Father was not made, nor is the maker of himself, as we have shown, how indeed would he make or beget from himself something that did not admit birth and making even in name? For what is does not have its being through these; and to say these things of God is impious. For to those who can see even a little, that unbegotten, impassible, unborn substance is manifest. And if even after the birth the substance never rose up to dissension, though distinct in number—for he is not Autopator, that is, father to himself—how would he not rather love, in an unborn agreement, that which was unbegotten in substance, but by begetting numbered into a duality? For of this incongruity the mother is ignorance about God, and its fellow worker and sister is negligence about the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit, a pledge for the keeping of the things given us by the Lord (whom we received not many days after his ascension), has what he is from the Only-begotten, the fullest declaration of his power; just as the Only-begotten and firstborn of all is the unchangeable image of the unbegotten power—an image indeed unique, remaining spotless, which, being visible, affords the vision of the unbegotten to intelligible and sensible beings. It is as if someone wishing to show the sun, for example, or something else, to those who cannot see it by themselves, while they need to see the sun, tempering that necessity to their sight, hastens to show the sun by a mirror, and, bringing not the sun itself, casts it on the mirror; so too the Only-begotten himself is not unbegotten, but shows in himself the whole unbegotten power, since he is such and so great in deity. By those who did not inquire carefully he was suspected to be unbegotten; but those among whom the inquiry itself proceeds with the fear of God not only refuse to say any such thing but take care not even to think it. Since, then, there is one unbegotten and one begotten, the Holy Spirit cannot be called Son, nor firstborn; for he was made through the one who was made, and he is numbered beneath the Father and the Son, as the first seal of the power of the second, through the one who was made. For he, bearing by will the Father's equal weight, the working of unborn permanence in an image, is rightly numbered next after the unbegotten.” And he set out to us briefly and clearly many other things about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, so that all of us who heard wondered how men, forsaking the truth, have turned to vanity.

But when day had dawned, someone came in saying: “A very great multitude is waiting in the court, and in their midst stands Simon, wishing to preoccupy the ears of the people with very wicked persuasions.” And Peter at once went out and stood in the place where he had disputed the day before, and all the people turned to him and attended to him with joy. But when Simon perceived that the people rejoiced at the sight of Peter and were moved to affection for him, he said in confusion: “I wonder at the folly of men, who call me a magician and love Peter, though, having long known me, they ought rather to love me. And therefore from this sign those who have sense can understand that Peter may rather seem to be the magician, since affection is not paid to me, to whom it is almost due from long acquaintance, but is lavished on him, to whom it is due by no familiarity.”

And when Simon was saying many such things, Peter, having greeted the people as usual, answered thus: “Each one's own conscience is enough, Simon, to refute him; but if you wonder at this, that those who know you not only do not love you but even hate you, learn the reason from me. Though you are a seducer, you profess to preach the truth; for this reason you had many friends who desired to learn the truth. But when they saw in you things contrary to what you professed, since, as I said, they were lovers of truth, they began not only not to love you but to hate you. Yet you were not at once deserted by them, because you still promised that you could show them what is true. So as long as no one was present who could show it, they put up with you; but when the hope of better teaching smiled on them, they despised you and desire to know what they understand to be better. And you, acting by wicked arts, believed at first that you could escape notice; but you do not; for you are pressed and, against your hope, exposed, because you not only did not know the truth but would not even hear it from those who knew it. For if you had been willing to hear, that saying of his would surely have become known to you, who said that nothing is hidden that will not be known, nor covered that will not be revealed.”

While Peter was saying these and similar things, Simon answered: “I do not want you to keep me busy with words, Peter; I demand from you what you promised yesterday. For you said you could show that the law teaches about the immensity of the eternal light, and that there are only two heavens, and these created, but that the higher is the seat of that light, in which the ineffable Father alone dwells forever; and that after the likeness of that heaven this visible heaven too was made, which you also affirmed will pass away. You said, then, that the Father of all is one, because there cannot be two immense beings; otherwise neither of them will be immense, because in that in which the one subsists he sets a limit to the subsistence of the other. If, then, you not only promise these things but can also show them from the law, leave off saying more and begin from here.” And Peter said: “If I were asked to speak about these things for your sake, who come only to contradict, you would never hear even one word from me; but since a farmer who wishes to sow good ground must lose some seeds, either on rocky places, or on places to be trodden by men, or in thorny places full of briers—as our Master too explained, indicating by these the different dispositions of each soul—I will not delay.”

Then Simon said: “You seem to me to be angry; and if so, there is no need to enter into the contest.” And Peter said: “I see that you perceive that you are going to be refuted, and you wish politely to escape the contest. For what have you seen that should have made me angry with you—a man who wishes to deceive so great a people and, when he has nothing to say, feigns moderation, and who also commands by his own authority that the controversy be conducted as he himself wishes and not as order demands?” And Simon said: “I will command myself to be patient with your ignorance, so as to show that you wish to seduce the people, but that I teach what is true. But now I leave off discussing the immense light; answer me what I ask you: since God made all things, as you say, whence is evil?” And Peter said: “To ask in this way is not the part of an opponent but of a learner. If, then, you wish to learn, confess it, and I will first teach you how you ought to learn; and when you have learned to listen, then I will begin to teach you in order. But if you do not wish to learn, as one who knows everything, I will first set out the faith I preach; you too set out what seems true to you; and when the profession of each of us has been made plain, let the hearers judge whose discourse rests on truth.” And Simon answered to this: “That is a joke: here is one who promises to teach me! Nevertheless I will put up with you and bear your ignorance and arrogance. I confess it: I wish to learn; let us see how you can teach me.”

And Peter said: “If you truly wish to learn, learn this first: how ignorantly you have asked. For you say, ‘Since God created all things, whence is evil?’ But before you asked this, three kinds of question should have come first: first, whether evil exists; second, what evil is; third, to whom it belongs, and whence it comes.” To this Simon said: “O most ignorant and most uneducated man, is there anyone who does not confess that there is evil in this life? Hence I, thinking that you had at least the common sense of all men, asked whence evil is—not wishing to learn, I who know everything, least of all from you, who know nothing, but to show you ignorant of everything. And lest you think that I speak to you so harshly because I am angry: I am moved by pity for those present, whom you are trying to deceive.” And Peter said: “You are very wicked if you do such great wrongs without being angry; but it is impossible for smoke not to rise where there is fire. Nevertheless I will speak, lest I seem to keep you busy with words so as to avoid answering what you have said unfittingly. You say that all confess that evil exists, which is certainly false; for, first of all, the whole nation of the Hebrews denies that evil subsists.”

And Simon, interrupting him, said: “They do rightly who say that there is no evil.” And Peter said: “We did not now propose to speak of this, but only that not all say there is evil. The second thing was to ask you what evil is: a substance, an accident, or an act? And many other things of this kind. And after this, in respect of what and how it is, or to whom evil belongs: to God or to angels or to men, to the godly or the ungodly, to all or to some, to itself or to none. And then you might ask whence it is: from God or from nothing; whether it always was, or began in time; whether it is useful or useless; and many other things that such a question requires.” To this Simon answered: “Forgive me; I erred in the first question. But suppose that I now ask first: does evil exist or not?”

And Peter said: “How do you ask—as one wishing to learn, or to teach, or for the sake of raising a question? If as one wishing to learn, I have something to teach you first, so that, coming through the sequence and order of teaching, you may understand of yourself what evil is. But if you put it forward as one teaching, I have no need to be taught by you; for I have a master from whom I have learned everything. But if for the sake of raising a question and disputing, let each of us first set out what seems right to him, and so let the contest be held. For it is not right that you should ask as one wishing to learn and contradict as one teaching, so that after my answer it should be up to your judgment to say whether I have spoken well or badly. Therefore you cannot stand in the place of one who contradicts and be judge of what we say; and so, as I said, if there is to be a contest, let each of us set out what he thinks, and while we are engaged in the conflict, these devout hearers will be just judges.”

And Simon said: “Does it not seem absurd to you that an ignorant crowd should judge our words?” And Peter said: “It is not so; for what is perhaps less clear to one person can be investigated by many; indeed, even popular rumor often has the appearance of prophecy. Above all this, all this people present stands here bound by the love of God and for the sake of knowing the truth; and therefore all of them are to be regarded as one, because of one and the same affection toward the love of truth, just as, on the contrary, two who disagree with each other are many and diverse. And if you wish to take a sign of how all this people standing here is like one man, consider it from their very silence and quiet—how, with all patience, as you see, they pay honor to the truth of God even before they learn it; for they have not yet learned the greater worship they owe it. I hope, then, from the clemency of God, that he will embrace the devout purpose of their mind toward him, and will give the palm of victory to the one who preaches the truth, so as to make the herald of truth manifest to them.”

Then Simon said: “On what do you wish the contest to be held? Say, so that I too may define what seems right to me, and so the inquiry may begin.” And Peter answered: “If you wish to do as seems right to me, I wish it to be done according to the precept of my master, who first of all commanded the Hebrew nation—which he knew had knowledge of God and knew that he was the one who made the world—not to seek him whom they knew, but, knowing him, to search out his will and righteousness, because it is placed in men's choice that, seeking these, they may find, and do, and keep the things on which they are to be judged. And therefore he commanded us to seek not whence evil is, as you were asking a little earlier, but the righteousness of the good God and his kingdom; ‘and all these things,’ he said, ‘will be added to you.’” And Simon said: “Since these things are commanded to the Hebrews, as rightly knowing God and thinking that each has it in his own choice to do the things on which he is to be judged, while my opinion differs from theirs, where do you wish me to begin?”

Then Peter said: “I advise that we first ask whether it is in our power to know on what we are to be judged.” And Simon said: “Not so, but about God, which is also what all who are present wish to hear.” And Peter said: “You agree, then, that something is in the power of choice; only confess this, if it is so, and let us inquire, as you say, about God.” Simon answered: “By no means.” And Peter said: “If, then, nothing is in our power, it is superfluous for us to inquire anything about God, since it is not in the power of those who seek to find. Hence I rightly said that this should be asked first, whether anything is in the power of choice.” Then Simon said: “We cannot understand even this very thing that you say, whether anything is in the power of choice.” But Peter, seeing that he was turning to the more contentious side, and that, for fear of being overcome, he was confusing everything as uncertain, answered: “How, then, do you know that it is not in man's power to know anything, since you know this very thing?”

And Simon said: “I do not know whether I know even this; for each one, as it is decreed for him by fate, either does or understands or suffers something.” Then Peter said: “See, brethren, into what absurdities Simon has fallen, who before my arrival taught that men had it in their power both to know and to do what they wished, and now, driven into a corner by the necessity of words, denies that it is in man's power either to perceive or to do anything; and yet he dares to profess himself a teacher. But tell me: how, then, does God judge each one according to truth for his deeds, if he did not have it in his power to do anything? If this is held, everything is overturned; the effort to pursue better things will be in vain; the judges of this world, too, preside over the laws in vain and punish those who do evil, for they did not have it in their own power not to sin. The laws of peoples which set penalties for evil deeds will also be vain; wretched will be those who keep righteousness with labor, and blessed those who, set in pleasures, living in luxury and crime, hold tyranny. According to this, then, there will be neither righteousness, nor goodness, nor any virtue, nor, as you would have it, God. But I know why you said this, Simon: surely because you wish to escape the questions, so that you cannot be refuted more plainly; and so you say that it is not in man's power to perceive or discover anything. For if you had truly thought so, you would certainly not have professed yourself a teacher among the people before my arrival. I say, then, that man is of free choice.” And Simon said: “What is free choice? Tell us.” Peter answered: “If nothing can be learned, why do you wish to hear?” And Simon said: “Have you nothing to answer to this?”

Then Peter said: “I will speak, not compelled by you, but asked by the hearers. The power of choice is a faculty of the soul, having a power by which it can be inclined toward whatever acts it wishes.” Then Simon, praising Peter for what he had said, said: “Truly you have explained it magnificently and incomparably; for I owe you testimony when you speak well. But if you now explain to me what I ask you, I will obey you in everything else. What I wish to learn is this: if what God wills to be, is, and what he does not will to be, is not? Answer me on this.” And Peter said: “If you do not know how absurd and unfitting your question is, I will forgive you and explain it to you myself; but if you know that you are asking inconsistently, you do not act rightly.” Then Simon said: “I swear by that supreme Divinity, whatever it is, which judges and punishes those who sin, that I do not know what I said unfittingly, or what is absurd in my words, at least in what I have put forward.”

To this Peter said: “Since you have confessed that you do not know, learn. Your question demanded one answer for two things contrary to each other. For every motion is divided into two kinds, so that some things are moved by necessity and some by will; and the things which necessity moves are always in motion, but those which will moves are not always. To give an example: the motion of the sun is driven by necessity to complete its appointed course, and every state and service of heaven consists of necessary motions. But man conducts the motions of his acts voluntarily. And therefore there are some things which were created for this purpose, to serve in their ministries by necessity, and they can do nothing other than what has been appointed for them; and when they have fulfilled their ministry, the Creator of all, who so arranged them, preserves them as he wills. But there are other things in which there is power of will and free choice to do what they wish. These, as I said, do not always remain in the order in which they were created, but according as the will leads and the judgment of the mind inclines, they pursue either good or evil; and therefore he has set rewards for those who do well and penalties for those who do evil.”

“You say, then, ‘If God wills something to be, it is; and if he does not will it, it is not’—evidently so that, if I answered that what he wills is and what he does not will is not, you would say: ‘Then he himself wills the evils that are done in this world to be, since everything he wills is, and what he does not will is not.’ But if I had answered that it is not so—that what God wills is, and what he does not will is not—then, turning the argument round, you would say: ‘Then God is powerless, if he cannot do what he wills’; and you would become more insolent, believing you had won, though you had said nothing right. And therefore you do not know, Simon, you greatly do not know, how the will of God works in each thing. For some things, as we said, he willed to be such that they could be nothing other than what they were established by him to be, and for these he set neither rewards nor punishments; but those which he willed to be such that they have it in their power to do what they wish, he appointed, according to their acts and wills, to deserve either rewards or punishments. Since, then, all things that are moved are divided into two kinds, as I have taught, according to the distinction we made above, everything that God wills is, and what he does not will is not.”

And Simon said to this: “Could he not have made us all such that we were good and could be nothing else?” Peter answered: “This too you ask absurdly. For if he had made us of an unchangeable nature, immovable from the good, we would not truly be good, because we could be nothing else; our being good would not come from our purpose, and what we did would not be ours, but of the necessity of nature. How, then, can that be called good which is not done by purpose? For this reason, too, this world needed long periods of time, until the number of souls predestined to fill it should be completed; and then this visible heaven would be rolled up like a scroll and that which is higher would appear; the souls of the blessed, restored to their bodies, would be brought into the light; while the souls of the wicked, surrounded for their unclean deeds by a fiery spirit, would be plunged into the depth of unquenchable fire, to pay its punishments through the age. That these things are so the true Prophet has testified to us; and if you wish to recognize that he is a prophet, I will teach you by innumerable proofs. For of the things he said, each one is even now being fulfilled; and the things he said would come are believed to be going to be fulfilled, since belief in future things is given by those which have already been done.”

But Simon, who knew that Peter was clearly giving an account from the head of prophecy, by which every question is resolved, declined to have the discussion turn to this, and answering said: “Answer me on what I wish, and tell me: if this visible heaven, as you say, will be dissolved, why was it made in the beginning?” Peter answered: “It was made on account of this present life of men, so that there might be a certain partition and division, lest perhaps someone unworthy should see the dwelling of the heavenly ones and the seat of God himself, which are prepared to be seen only by those who are pure in heart. But now, that is, in the time of contest, it has pleased him that the things destined as a prize for the victors should be invisible.” And Simon said: “If the creator is good and the world is good, how will the good one one day dissolve good things? And if he dissolves what is good, how will he himself seem good? But if he dissolves and destroys it as evil, how will he not seem evil, who made what is evil?”

Peter answered: “Since we promised you not to flee from you when you blaspheme—for you yourself will render account for what you say—we bear it patiently. Hear, then, now: if this heaven which is visible and passes away had been made for its own sake, what you say would perhaps have some reason, that it ought not to be dissolved. But if it was made for the sake of something else and not for itself, it must necessarily be dissolved, so that that for which it seems to have been made may appear. As, for example, the shell of an egg, however beautifully made and carefully formed it seems, must nevertheless be broken and opened, so that the chick may come forth from it and that for which the form of the whole egg seems to have been shaped may appear. So also the state of this world must pass away, so that that loftier state of the heavenly kingdom may shine forth.”

And Simon said: “It does not seem to me that the heaven made by God can be dissolved. For eternal things are made by the eternal one, temporal and perishable things by a corruptible one.” And Peter said: “It is not so. By mortal beings, indeed, things wholly corruptible and temporal are made; but by the eternal one, things are made neither always corruptible nor always incorruptible, but as God the creator wills, so will the things he creates be. For the power of God is not under law, but his will is law to his creatures.” Simon answered: “I call you back to the first question. You said that God is now visible to no one, but that when this heaven has been dissolved and that higher state of the heavenly kingdom has shone forth, then those who are pure in heart will see God. This opinion is contrary to the law; for there it is written that God said: ‘No one shall see my face and live.’”

And Peter answered: “To those who read the law not according to the tradition of Moses, my word seems contrary; but hear how it is not contrary. God is seen by the mind, not by the body; by the spirit, not by the flesh. Hence the angels too, who are spirits, see God; and therefore men, as long as they are men, cannot see God. But after the resurrection of the dead, when they have become like the angels, they will be able to see God. And in this way my word is not contrary to the law, nor is what my master said: ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ For he points to a future time in which angels will be made out of men, who will see God in the spirit of the mind.” After these words and many others like them, Simon began to affirm with many oaths: “Give me an account of this one thing only, whether the soul is immortal, and I will comply with your will in everything; but tomorrow,” he said, “for today it is already late.” So when Peter began to speak, Simon went out, and with him very few of his companions, and that out of shame. But all the rest turned to Peter and, bending their knees, prostrated themselves before him; and some of them, bound by various sicknesses or assailed by demons, were healed by Peter's prayer and went away rejoicing, as having obtained both the teaching and the mercy of the true God. When the crowds had gone and only we, his intimates, remained with him, the places on the ground having been laid out again, we reclined, each recognizing his usual place; and having taken food and given thanks to God, we rested.

On the following day Peter, rising before dawn as usual, found us already awake and ready to listen, and began thus: “I entreat you, brethren and fellow servants, that if any of you perhaps cannot stay awake, he should not force himself out of embarrassment at my presence; for a sudden change is difficult, but if one grows accustomed gradually over a long time, what comes from habit will not be a labor. We were not all brought up in the same way, though in course of time we shall be able to be shaped into one habit; for they say that habit holds the place of a second nature. I call God to witness that I am not displeased if anyone perhaps cannot stay awake, but rather if someone sleeps the whole night and does not make up by day what he omitted in the night. For we must give attention to the study of doctrine intently and unceasingly, so that our mind may be filled with the remembrance of God alone; because in the mind which the remembrance of God has filled, no room will be given to the evil one.”

As Peter was saying this to us, each of us eagerly assured him that we had long been awake, satisfied with a short sleep, but had been afraid to wake him, because it would not be fitting for disciples to command their master; “and yet, Peter, we had almost dared to presume it, while our heart, leaping with excessive desire for your words, drove sleep entirely from our eyes. But again our affection for you stood in the way and would not let you be roused by us forcibly.” Then Peter said: “Since, then, you declare that you gladly stay awake out of desire to hear, I wish to repeat to you more carefully and to explain in their order the things that were said in a scattered way yesterday. I intend to do this after each day's disputation, so that at night, when privacy of place and time is given, if anything was perhaps said less fully, as happens in a contest, I may open it in complete order and along a straight line of explanation.” And after this he began to show us how yesterday's disputation ought to have been conducted and could not be, because of the contentiousness or ignorance of his opponent; and that therefore he had used only a profession of faith and had merely destroyed what the adversary said, but had set out his own views neither completely nor plainly; and, repeating each point, he discussed them with us in complete order and with full reasoning.

When day was now dawning, going out to the crowds after prayer, he stood in the usual place for disputing; and seeing Simon standing in the midst of the crowds, having first greeted the people as usual, he said: “I confess that I am grieved about some men who come to us as if to learn something, but when we have begun to teach them, profess in turn that they themselves are teachers, and ask indeed as ignorant men but contradict as men who know. But perhaps someone may say that he who asks does ask in order to learn, but when what he has heard does not seem to him rightly said, he must answer, and this seems to be contradiction, though it is not contradiction but asking again.”

“Let him hear this, then: the discipline of all teaching has a fixed order, and there are some things that must be handed on first, others in the second place, others in the third, and so each thing in order; and if they are handed on in sequence, they become plain, but if they are brought forward out of order, they will seem to be said even against reason. And therefore order must be kept above all, if indeed we seek with the purpose of finding what we seek. For he who has received the right beginning of the way will also grasp the second stage in sequence, and from the second will more easily find the third; and the further he proceeds, the more open the way of knowledge will become to him, until he reaches the very city of truth to which he is heading and which he desires. But he who is unskilled and does not know the way of inquiry is like a traveler in a foreign land, ignorant and wandering: if he will not use a citizen and native as guide, he will without doubt stray from the way of truth and remain outside the gates of life, and so, wrapped in the darkness of black night, will walk the paths of perdition. Since, then, the things to be sought can be found most easily if inquired into in order, and the unskilled man does not know the order of inquiry, it is right that the ignorant should yield to the one who knows and first learn the order of inquiry, so that he may then find the discipline of asking and answering.”

And Simon said to this: “Then truth is not for all, but only for those who know the art of disputing; which is certainly absurd—that, while God is equally the God of all, not all should be equally able to know his will.” And Peter said: “All were made equal by him, and he gave to all equally to be capable of truth. But that none of those who are born was born educated, and that education comes after birth, no one doubts. Since, then, the birth of men holds equality in this, that all are alike capable of receiving instruction, the difference is not in nature but in education. Or who does not know that what each has learned he did not know before he learned it?” And Simon said: “You speak truly.” Then Peter said: “If, then, in the arts that are in common use one first learns and then teaches, how much more ought those who profess to be educators of souls first to learn and then to teach, lest, being unskilled themselves, they seem ridiculous in promising to furnish knowledge to others.” Then Simon said: “In the arts that are in common use it is true that no one knows unless he has learned; but in the word of knowledge, as soon as one has heard, he has learned.”

And Peter said: “If indeed one hears in order and in sequence, he can know what is true; but he who refuses to take up the rule of a more amended life and purer conduct, which certainly follows from the knowledge of truth, will not confess that he knows what he knows. So too we see some who, having abandoned the arts they had learned from boyhood, betake themselves to other occupations, and, to excuse their idleness, begin to blame the art as unfruitful.” And Simon said: “Ought all who hear to believe that what they hear is true?” Then Peter said: “Those who have heard the word of truth in order cannot contradict it at all, but know that what is said is true, provided they also willingly take up its rules of life. But those who, when they hear, are reluctant to devote themselves to good works are not allowed by their lust for doing evil to acquiesce in what they judge right. From this it is shown that it is placed in the hearers' power to choose which they prefer. For if all who hear obeyed, it would rather be a necessity of nature, driving all along one way. For as no one can be persuaded to become shorter or taller, because the force of nature does not allow it, so too with regard to the truth: if all were converted by the word, or all were not converted, it would be a force of nature that compelled all to be converted by the word, or none at all to be converted.”

And Simon said: “Teach us, then, what one who desires to know the truth ought to learn first.” And Peter said: “Before everything one must ask what it is possible for a man who seeks to find. For the judgment of God must turn on this: whether a man could do good and did not. And therefore men must ask whether they have it in their power, by seeking, to find what is good, and when they have found it, to do it; for this is that for which they are to be judged. Beyond this it is lawful for the prophet alone to know, and rightly; for what need have men to know how the world was made? This would seem necessary to learn if we had to undertake a similar work of craftsmanship. But as it is, it suffices us for the worship of God to know that he made the world; but how he made it need not be inquired into, because, as I said, it is not incumbent on us to learn the knowledge of that art as if we were going to make something similar. Nor are we to be judged for not having learned how the world was made, but only if we are ignorant of its founder. And we shall know the founder of the world as a just and good God if we seek him in the paths of righteousness. For if we know of him only that he is good, such knowledge does not suffice for salvation; for in the present time not only the worthy but also the unworthy enjoy his goodness and benefits. But if we believe him to be not only good but also just, and, according to what we believe of God, keep righteousness throughout our life, we shall also enjoy his goodness forever. Indeed, to the Hebrews, who thought of God that he was only good, our Master said that they should seek also his righteousness; that is, that they should know that in the present time he is good, so that all may live in his goodness, but that he will be just in the day of judgment, to render eternal rewards to the worthy, from which he will exclude the unworthy.”

And Simon said: “How can one and the same being be both good and just?” Peter said: “Because without justice the good would in a way seem unjust. For it belongs to the good to give his sun and rain equally to the just and the unjust; but this would seem unjust if he always treated the good and the wicked with an equal lot, and if he did not do it for the sake of the crops, which all who are born in this world should enjoy equally. But as the rain given by God nourishes equally both the crops and the darnel, while at harvest time the grain is gathered into the barn and the chaff or darnel is consumed by fire, so in the day of judgment, when the just are brought into the kingdom of God and the unjust are cast out, then the justice of God too will be shown. For if he remained forever equal toward the wicked and the good, this would not only not be good, but would also seem unjust and inequitable, that the just and the unjust should be held by him in one rank of merit.”

And Simon said: “There is one thing on which I would like to be satisfied: whether the soul is immortal. For I cannot take up the burden of righteousness unless I first know about the immortality of the soul; and if it is not immortal, the profession of your preaching cannot stand either.” Then Peter said: “Let us first inquire whether God is just; if this becomes clear, the order of religion will certainly stand entire.” And Simon said: “You who boast that you know the order of disputing seem to me now to have answered against order; for when I ask you to show whether the soul is immortal, you say that we must first inquire whether God is just.” And Peter said: “That is quite consistent and right.” Simon said: “I would like to learn how.”

Peter said: “Listen: some men, blaspheming God and spending their whole life in injustice and pleasure, have died in their beds, reaching the end of life among their own and receiving an honorable burial; while others, worshiping God and keeping their life frugal with all righteousness and sobriety, have perished in deserts for their observance of righteousness, so that they were not even thought worthy of burial. Where, then, is the justice of God, if the soul is not immortal, so as to receive punishments in the future if it has acted impiously, or rewards if it has acted piously and justly?” And Simon said: “This is precisely what makes us unbelievers: that many who do well perish miserably, and again many who act impiously end a long life in happiness.”

And Peter said: “This very thing that draws you into unbelief gives us certain faith that there will be a judgment. For since it is certain that God is just, it is necessary and consequent that there be another age, in which each one, receiving according to his deserts, will prove the justice of God. For if all men now received according to their deserts, we would truly seem to deceive when we say that there will be a judgment; and therefore this very fact, that in the present life each one is not repaid according to his deeds, gives undoubted faith, to those who know that God is just, that there will be a judgment.” And Simon said: “Why, then, am I not persuaded?” Peter said: “Because you have not heard the true Prophet saying: ‘Seek first his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.’” And Simon said: “Bear with me if I am unwilling to seek righteousness first, before I know whether the soul is immortal.” And Peter said: “And you bear with me in this one thing, that I cannot do otherwise than the Prophet of truth has taught me.” Then Simon said: “It is certain that you cannot assert that the soul is immortal, and therefore you quibble, knowing that if it is proved mortal, the whole profession of this religion which you are trying to assert is torn up by the roots. And so I praise your prudence, but do not approve your persuasion; for you persuade many to take up religion and submit to restraint of their desires in the hope of future goods; and it happens to them that they neither enjoy the present and are deceived about the future. For as soon as they have died, the soul too will be extinguished together with them.”

Peter, hearing this, gnashing his teeth, rubbing his forehead with his hand, and sighing from deep grief, said: “You stand armed with the cunning of the ancient serpent to deceive the souls of men; and therefore, like the serpent, wiser than the other beasts, from the beginning you have professed yourself a teacher. And again, like the serpent, you wished to introduce many gods; and, refuted on this, you now assert that there is no God at all. For on the pretext of some unknown god you denied that the creator of the world is God, and affirmed that he was either evil, or had many equals, or, as we said, was not God at all. After this, when you had been overcome on this too, you now assert that the soul is mortal, so that men may not live rightly and justly in the hope of things to come. For surely, if the future is despaired of, why should mercy not be cut off and luxury and pleasures be indulged, from which it is agreed that all injustice arises? And while you introduce the teaching of so great an impiety into this wretched life of mortals, you call yourself pious and me impious, as one who does not allow men, under the hope of future goods, to take up arms and attack one another, to plunder and overturn everything, and to attempt all that lust dictates. And what will be the state of this life that you introduce, in which men attack and are attacked, are angry and disturbed, and always live in fear? For those who inflict evils on others must expect the like themselves. Do you see that you are a leader of disturbance and not of peace, of iniquity and not of equity? But I did not feign anger as one who cannot show that the soul is immortal; I pity the souls of men whom you are trying to deceive. I will speak, then, but not as compelled by you; for I know how I shall speak, and you alone will be one who needs on this matter not so much persuasion as admonition; but those who are truly ignorant of it I will teach as is fitting.”

Then Simon said: “If you are angry, I will neither ask questions nor listen.” And Peter said: “If you are now looking for an excuse to escape, you are free to go, even without anyone's pretext. For all have heard that you have said nothing right and could prove nothing, but asked only in order to contradict, which anyone can do. For what is difficult about answering, after clear proofs, ‘You have said nothing’? But that you may know that I can show you in a single sentence that the soul is immortal, I will ask you something that everyone knows; answer me, and in a single sentence I will prove that it is immortal.” Then Simon, who had thought he had found in Peter's anger an excuse to leave, stayed because something wonderful was being promised him, and said: “Ask me, that I may answer you what all know, and let me hear, as you promised, in a single sentence, how the soul is immortal.”

And Peter said: “I will speak so that it may be proved to you above all others. Answer me, then: which can better persuade an unbeliever, sight or hearing?” And Simon said: “Sight.” Then Peter said: “Why, then, do you wish to learn from me by words what is proved to you by the fact itself and by sight?” And Simon said: “I do not know what you mean.” And Peter said: “If you do not know, go now to your house, and entering the inner chamber you will see an image set up there, containing the likeness of a boy violently slain, covered with purple; question him, and he will teach you either by answer or by sight. For what need is there to hear from him whether the soul is immortal, when you see it standing present? For if it did not exist, it certainly could not be seen. But if you do not know what image I mean, let us go from here at once to your house, with ten other men of those who are present.”

But Simon, hearing this and struck in conscience, changed color and turned pale; for he feared that if he denied it his house would be searched, or that Peter, angered, would betray him more plainly and make known to all who he was. So he answered thus: “I beseech you, Peter, by that good God who is in you, overcome the malice that is in me: receive me to repentance, and you will have me as a helper in your preaching. For now I have truly learned by the facts themselves that you are a prophet of the true God, and therefore you alone know the secrets and hidden things of men.” And Peter said: “You see, brethren, Simon seeking repentance; a little later you will see him return again to his unbelief. For, thinking me a prophet because I made public his evil deeds, which he kept secret and hidden, he has promised to repent; but it is not lawful for me to lie, nor ought I to deceive, whether this unbeliever is saved or not. For I call heaven and earth to witness that I did not speak prophetically what I said, or what, as far as was possible, I indicated in the hearing of the crowds; but I learned what he had done in secret from some who were then his associates in his works but have now been converted to our faith. So I spoke things known, not foreknown.”

But Simon, when he heard this, attacked Peter with curses and abuse, saying: “O most abominable and most deceitful of all men, to whom fortune, not truth, has given the victory! I did not ask for repentance for lack of knowledge, but so that you, thinking that by repentance I would become your disciple, might entrust to me all the secrets of your profession, and so at last, having learned everything, I might refute you. But you, being cunning, understood why I had feigned repentance, and acquiesced as if you did not understand my trick, so as first to expose me before the people as unskilled; then, foreseeing that, once thus exposed to the people, I would have to be indignant and confess that I was not truly repentant, you forestalled me by saying that I would return to my unbelief after repentance, so that you might seem to have won on every side, whether I remained in the repentance I had professed or not; and so that you might be believed wise, as having foreseen these things, while I would seem deceived because I did not foresee your trick; but you, foreseeing mine, used craft and circumvented me. But, as I said, this victory is of fortune, not of truth. Yet I know why I did not foresee these things: because, standing by you, I spoke to you out of my goodness and dealt patiently with you. But now I will show you the power of my divinity, so that you may suddenly fall down and worship me.”

“I am the first power, who am always and without beginning. But having entered the womb of Rachel, I was born of her as a man, so that I might be seen by men. I have flown through the air; mingled with fire, I have become one body with it; I have made statues move; I have given life to lifeless things; I have made stones into bread; I have flown from mountain to mountain and crossed over, and come down to earth upheld by the hands of angels. I have not only done these things, but can do them now too, so as to prove to all by the facts themselves that I am the Son of God, standing forever, and that I will make those who believe in me likewise stand forever. But your words are all vain, and you can show no work of truth, just like that magician who sent you, who could not even free himself from the punishment of the cross.”

When Simon had said this, Peter answered: “Do not meddle with what is not yours; for you have confessed, and been shown, that you are a magician by the very things you have done; but our master, who is the Son of God and of man, is plainly good; and that he is truly the Son of God has been told, and will be told, to those to whom it was fitting. But if you will not confess that you are a magician, let us go with all this crowd to your house, and then it will appear who is the magician.” While Peter was saying this, Simon began to rail with blasphemies and curses, so that, with a riot raised and everyone thrown into confusion, he could not be convicted, and Peter, withdrawing as if because of the blasphemy, would seem to be beaten. But Peter stood firm and began to reprove him more vehemently.

Then the people, indignant, drove Simon out of the court and beyond the door of the house, and only one man followed him when he was driven out. When silence had been made, Peter began to address the people thus: “Brethren, you ought to bear the wicked patiently, knowing that God, though he could cut them off, nevertheless suffers them to continue until the appointed day on which judgment will be held concerning all. How, then, shall we not bear those whom God bears? And why do we not endure with strong mind the injuries they inflict, when he who can do all things does not avenge his own, so that both his goodness and the impiety of the wicked may be known? But if the evil one had not found Simon as his minister, he would without doubt have found another; for it is necessary that offenses come into this world, but woe to him through whom they come. And therefore Simon is the more to be lamented, because he has become a chosen vessel of the evil one; which certainly would not have happened unless the evil one had received power over him because of earlier sins. For why should I speak of the fact that he had once believed in our Jesus, and had persuaded himself that souls are immortal? Although he is mocked by demons in this, yet he has persuaded himself that he has the soul of a boy violently slain ministering to him for whatever he wishes; in which, truly, as I said, he is mocked by demons. And therefore I spoke to him according to what seemed true to him; for he also learned from the Jews that there is a judgment and vengeance to be brought against those who oppose the true faith and do not repent. But these are the men to whom the evil one appears as to men perfect in crime, to deceive them, so that they may never turn to repentance.”

“You, then, who are turning to the Lord through repentance, bend your knees to him.” When he had said this, the whole multitude bent their knees to God. And Peter, looking up to heaven, prayed with tears over them, that God of his goodness would deign to receive them as they fled to him. And after he had prayed and charged them to gather earlier the next day, he dismissed the multitude. Then, as usual, having taken food, we rested.

So Peter, rising at the usual hour of the night, found us awake; and when he had greeted us as usual and sat down, Niceta was the first to speak: “If you permit, my lord Peter, I have something to ask.” And Peter said: “I permit it not only to you but to all, and not only now but always: let each confess what troubles him and the part of his mind that is in pain, so that he may obtain healing. For things that are covered in silence and not made known to us are cured with difficulty, like long-standing diseases; and therefore, since the remedy of timely and necessary discourse cannot easily be applied to those who keep silent, each must bring forward that in which his mind is sick through ignorance. To give a remedy to one who keeps silent belongs to God alone; we too can do it, but only by the long way round. For the discourse of teaching must run in order from the beginning, meet each question, open everything and resolve everything, and come even to what each one is asking in his own mind; but this, as I said, can be done only over a long time. Now, then, ask what you desire.”

And Niceta said: “I give you abundant thanks, most kind Peter; but this is what I desire to learn: why could Simon, who opposes God, do such great things as these? For he lied in none of the things he professed to have done.” To this the blessed Peter answered thus: “God, who is one and true, resolved to prepare good and faithful friends for his Firstborn. But knowing that they cannot be good unless they have in their power the faculty by which they become good, so that by their own purpose they may be what they wish—otherwise they could not truly be good, if they were held in goodness not by purpose but by necessity—he gave each the power of his own choice, so that he can be what he wishes. And again, foreseeing that this power of choice would make some choose good and others evil, and that through this the human race would necessarily be divided into two orders, he granted to each order both a place and a king, whom it might wish to choose; for a good king rejoices in the good, and the evil one in the evil. And although I have explained these things to you more fully, Clement, in the treatise in which I discussed predestination and the end, yet now too, since Niceta asks, it is fitting for me to make plain the reason why Simon, who thinks against God, could do such great wonders.”

“First of all, then, he is judged evil before God who will not seek what is profitable for himself. For how will such a man love another, who does not love himself? Or to whom will he not be an enemy, who could not be a friend to himself? So, in order that those who choose good and those who choose evil might be distinguished, God hid from men what is profitable, that is, the possession of the kingdom of heaven, and laid it up and concealed it like a secret treasure, so that no one could easily reach it by his own strength and knowledge. Yet he brought its fame, under various names and opinions, through every generation to the hearing of all, so that any who were lovers of good, hearing of what was profitable and saving for them, might seek and find it—seek it not from themselves, but from him who hid it, and pray to be given access and the way of knowledge, which is opened only to those who love it above all the goods of this world; nor can anyone understand it on any other terms, even if he seemed most prudent—while those who neglected to inquire into what was profitable and saving for them, as hating themselves and being their own enemies, would be deprived of its goods, as lovers of evil.”

“One must therefore love it above all things, that is, above riches, glory, rest, parents, relatives, friends, and everything that is in this world. And he who perfectly loves this possession of the kingdom of heaven will without doubt cast off every practice of bad habit: negligence, sloth, malice, anger, and all things like these. For if you prefer any of these to it, as one who loves the vices of his own lust more than God, you will not be able to attain the possession of the heavenly kingdom; for it is truly foolish to love anything more than God. For parents die; relatives do not remain; friends change. God alone is eternal and remains unchangeable. He, then, who will not seek what is profitable to himself is evil, so much so that by his malice he surpasses the very prince of impiety. For the latter abuses the goodness of God for the purpose of his own malice, and pleases himself; but this man neglects the goods of his own salvation, so as to please the evil one by his own perdition.”

“For the sake of these, then—those who please the evil one by neglecting their salvation, and those who desire to please the good by zeal for their own benefit—certain pairs, ten in number, have been established in this present age as a test, according to the number of the ten plagues that were brought on Egypt. For when Moses, according to the command of God, asked Pharaoh to let the people go, and showed signs as testimony of the heavenly command, his rod, thrown on the ground, was turned into a serpent. And when Pharaoh would not yield on this account, as having freedom of choice, the magicians in turn seemed to do similar signs, by God's permission, so that the king's purpose might be proved through his freedom of choice: whether he would rather believe the signs of Moses, who was sent by God, than those which the magicians seemed to do rather than actually did. He certainly ought to have understood from their very name that they were not workers of truth, since they were called not messengers of God but magicians, as tradition also indicates. Indeed, up to a certain point they seemed to hold a contest, and after this, confessing about themselves, they yielded to the better. The last plague, then, is brought on, the death of the firstborn; and then Moses is ordered to consecrate the people by the sprinkling of blood; and so, with great entreaty, and with gifts offered, he is asked to depart with the people.”

“In a similar way I see the same thing being done now through me. For as then, when Moses was urging the king to believe God, the magicians resisted with a show of similar signs and kept the unbelieving from salvation, so now too, when I have gone out to teach all nations to believe the true God, Simon Magus resists, doing against me the same things that they then did against Moses, so that those of the Gentiles who do not use right judgment may be made manifest, while those who have a right discernment of signs may be saved.” As Peter was saying this, Niceta answered: “I beg you, if anything comes to mind, let me bring it forward.” Then Peter, delighted at the zeal of his disciples, said: “Say what you wish.”

And Niceta said: “What sin did the Egyptians commit if they did not believe Moses, since the magicians also did similar signs, even if these seemed to be done rather than were truly done? For if I had been there then, would I not, from the fact that the magicians did similar things, either have believed Moses a magician, or thought that the magicians did by divine power what they showed? For it would not have seemed likely to me that magicians could produce, even by illusion, the same things that he who was sent by God was performing. And now too, then, what sin do those commit who believe Simon, when they see him do such great wonders? Or is it not wonderful to fly through the air, to be mingled with fire into one body, to make statues walk, to make bronze dogs bark, and other such things, which are certainly wonderful enough to those who do not know how to discern? He was even seen to make bread from stones. But if one sins who believes those who do signs, how will he not seem to have sinned too who believed in our Lord because of his signs and mighty works?”

And Peter said: “I gladly accept that you inquire exactly into the truth and do not allow hindrances to faith to lie hidden in your soul; so you can easily obtain healing too. Do you remember that I said the worst of all is when someone neglects to learn what is profitable for him?” And Niceta answered: “I remember.” Peter said: “And again, that God has hidden his truth so as to open it to those who follow him faithfully?” And Niceta said: “I have not forgotten that either.” Then Peter said: “What, then, do you think—that God has hidden the truth buried in the earth and put mountains over it, so that it can be found only by those who are able to dig deep? It is not so; but as he has surrounded the mountains and the earth with the circuit of heaven, so he has covered the truth with the veil of his love, so that he alone can reach it who has first knocked at the door of divine love.”

“For, as I had begun to say before, God has appointed certain pairs for this world: the one who comes first of the pair is from the evil one, the second from the good. And in this way occasion of a just judgment is given to every man, whether he is simple or prudent. For if he is simple and has believed the one who came first, being moved by signs and wonders, he must by the same reasoning believe the one who comes second too; for he will be persuaded by signs and wonders now, as before. And when he has believed this second one, he will learn from him that he ought not to believe the first, who came from the evil one; and so the error about the first is corrected by the amendment of the second. But if, because he believed the first, he will not receive the second, he will rightly be condemned as unjust; for it is unjust that, having believed the first because of signs, he should not believe the second, who brings the same or even greater signs. But if he did not believe the first, it follows that he may at least be moved to believe by the second; for his mind has not been so obstinate that it cannot be roused by redoubled wonders. But if he is prudent, he can grasp the discernment of signs. And if he believed the first, he will be moved to the second by the increase of mighty works, and by comparison will discover which are better—although clear indications are plain to all the learned, as we have shown by the sequence of our order. But if, as one who is sound and needs no physician, he was not moved by the first, he will be roused to the second by the very persistence of the matter, and will make the distinction of signs and wonders in this way: the signs which he who is from the evil one does benefit no one; but those which the good one does benefit men.”

“For tell me, I pray, what use is it to show statues walking, bronze or stone dogs barking, mountains leaping, flying through the air, and other such things that you say Simon did? But the signs that are from the good are directed to the salvation of men, like those our Lord did, who made the blind see and the deaf hear, raised up the feeble and the lame, drove away sicknesses and demons, made the dead rise, and did other such things, which you see done through me as well. These signs, then, which serve the salvation of men and confer some good on them, the evil one cannot do, except only at the end of the world. For then he will be permitted to mix in some of the right-hand signs too, that is, to drive out demons or heal sicknesses; and because of this, as one who has exceeded his bounds and is divided against himself and fights against himself, he will be destroyed. And for this reason the Lord foretold that in the last times there would be such a temptation that even the elect would be deceived, if possible; that is, with the marks of the signs confused, even those who seem learned in discerning spirits and distinguishing mighty works must be disturbed.”

“So the ten pairs we spoke of were appointed for this world from the beginning of the age. Cain and Abel were one pair; the second, the giants and Noah; the third, Pharaoh and Abraham; the fourth, the Philistines and Isaac; the fifth, Esau and Jacob; the sixth, the magicians and Moses the lawgiver; the seventh, the tempter and the Son of Man; the eighth, Simon and I, Peter; the ninth, all the nations and him who will be sent to sow the word among the nations; the tenth, Antichrist and Christ. We will explain these pairs to you one by one more fully another time.” When Peter said this, Aquila said: “Truly constant teaching is needed for one to know the reason for each thing.”

But Peter said: “Who is constant in teaching and studiously inquires into each thing, except one who loves his soul unto salvation and renounces all the business of this world, so as to be free for the word of God alone? Him alone the true Prophet judges prudent: one who sells all that he has and buys the one true pearl, and understands the difference between temporal things and eternal, small and great, men and God. For he understands what the eternal hope with the true and good God is. But who loves God, except one who has come to know his wisdom? And how can anyone come to know the wisdom of God unless he is constant in hearing his word? From this it comes about that he conceives love for him and venerates him with due honor, pouring out hymns and prayers to him and resting in these most gladly, and reckoning it the greatest loss if he ever says or does anything else even for a moment; because truly the soul that is filled with the love of God can look at nothing else but what pertains to God, nor, for love of him, can it have enough of meditating on what it knows pleases him. But those who have not conceived affection for him, nor bear his love illumined in their mind, cannot see the light, as if placed in darkness. And therefore, even before they begin to inquire about God, they at once give up as if crushed by labor, and, filled with weariness, are swept off by their habit to the talk in which they delight. For to such people it is wearisome and burdensome to hear anything about God, because, as I said, their mind has received no sweetness of divine love.”

As Peter was saying this, day broke; and behold, one of Simon's disciples came crying out: “I beseech you, Peter, receive me, a wretch deceived by Simon Magus, to whom I gave heed as to a heavenly God because of the wonders I saw him do. But when I heard your words, he began to seem to me a man, and a wicked one at that. Nevertheless, when he went out from here, I alone followed him, for I had not yet clearly recognized his impieties. When he saw me following, he called me blessed and took me to his house; and about midnight he said to me: ‘I will make you better than all men if you will persevere with me to the end.’ When I had promised him this, he demanded an oath of perseverance from me; and having received it, he put on my shoulders certain polluted and accursed secret things of his to carry, and ordered me to follow him. When we came to the sea, he went aboard a boat that happened to be there and took from my neck what he had ordered me to carry. A little later he came out bringing nothing; certainly he had thrown it into the sea. And he asked me to set out with him, saying that he was going to Rome, for there he would please so much that he would be thought a god and be publicly endowed with divine honors. ‘Then,’ he said, ‘if you wish to return here, I will send you back filled with all riches and supported by many servants.’ Hearing this, and seeing nothing in him in keeping with this profession, but understanding that he was a magician and a deceiver, I answered: ‘I beg you, forgive me; my feet hurt, and therefore I cannot leave Caesarea; besides, I have a wife and little children whom I cannot leave at all.’ But he, hearing this and charging me with cowardice, set out toward Dora, saying: ‘When you hear how great glory I shall have in the city of Rome, you will regret it.’ And after this he went, as he said, to Rome; but I returned here at once, praying that you will receive me to repentance, because I was deceived by him.”

When the man who had returned from Simon had said this, Peter told him to sit in the court. And going out himself and seeing great crowds, far more than in the previous days, he stood in the usual place and, pointing to the man who had come, began to speak thus: “This man, brethren, whom I show you, came to me a little while ago with news of Simon's evil arts: how he threw the very workshop of his crime into the deep, not led by repentance, but fearing that if he were caught he would fall under the public laws. And he asked this man, as he says, promising immense gifts, to stay with him; and when he could not persuade him, he left him, rebuking him as cowardly, and himself set out for Rome.” And when Peter had told these things to the crowds, the man who had returned from Simon, standing in public, began to set out to the people each of Simon's crimes. And when they were indignant at what they heard Simon had done by magic arts, Peter said:

“Do not be indignant, brethren, at what has happened, but be watchful about the future; for what has passed is already over, but what threatens is dangerous for those who run into it. For offenses will never be lacking in this world as long as the enemy is permitted to act according to his will, so that all who are prudent and understand his cunning may overcome the contests he raises against them, while those who neglect to learn what pertains to the salvation of their soul may be caught by his deceptions, as they deserve. Since, then, as you yourselves have heard, Simon has gone out to preoccupy the ears of the Gentiles who are called to salvation, I too must follow his tracks, so that whatever he argues may be corrected by us. But it is right that greater care be taken for you, who are already within the walls of life; for if what has been acquired is lost, it brings loss, while what has not yet been acquired is gain if it can be found, and if not, the only loss is that no gain was made. So, in order that you may be more and more strengthened in the truth, and that the Gentiles who are called to salvation may not be wholly preoccupied by Simon's wickedness, I have decided to ordain Zacchaeus as your shepherd, and myself to remain with you three months and then to set out to the Gentiles, lest, if we delay longer while Simon's crimes spread everywhere, they become incurable.”

As he was saying this, all the people wept, hearing that he was going to depart. And Peter, sympathizing with them, himself also shed tears, and looking up to heaven he said: “To you, O God, who made heaven and earth and all that is in them, we pour out suppliant prayer, that you may comfort those who flee to you in their tribulation; for because of the affection they have toward you, they love me, who announced your truth to them. Therefore guard them with the right hand of your compassion; for neither Zacchaeus nor any other man can be a fit guardian for them.” When Peter had said these and similar things, he laid his hands on Zacchaeus and prayed that he might keep the office of his episcopate blamelessly. After this he ordained twelve presbyters and four deacons, and said: “I have ordained this Zacchaeus as your bishop, knowing that he has the fear of God and is learned in the Scriptures. You ought to honor him as holding the place of Christ, obeying him for your salvation, and knowing that whatever honor or injury is offered to him redounds to Christ, and from Christ to God. Hear him, then, attentively, and receive from him the teaching of the faith; from the presbyters, admonitions for life; and from the deacons, the order of discipline. Take devout care of widows, help orphans earnestly, show mercy to the poor, teach the young chastity, and, to say it all briefly, support one another in whatever the occasion demands. Worship God who created heaven and earth, believe in Christ, love one another, be merciful to all, fulfilling love not in word only but in deed.”

And when he had given these and similar instructions, he made an announcement to the people: “Since I have decided to spend three months with you, if any of you desires it, let him be baptized, so that, stripped of his former evils, he may for the rest become by his own deeds an heir of heavenly goods in return for good actions. Let whoever wishes, then, come to Zacchaeus and give him his name, and hear from him the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Let him devote himself to frequent fasts and prove himself in all things, so that when these three months are completed he may be baptized on the festival day. Each of you will be baptized in ever-flowing waters, with the name of the threefold blessedness invoked over him, having first been anointed with oil sanctified by prayer, so that, consecrated by these things, he may at last partake of the holy things.”

And when he had said much about the meaning of baptism, he dismissed the crowds and withdrew to his usual lodging; and there, with twelve standing by him—Zacchaeus and Sophonias, Joseph and Michaeas, Eleazar and Phinees, Lazarus and Eliseus, I Clement and Nicodemus, Niceta and Aquila—he spoke thus: “Let us consider, brethren, what is right; for we ought to bring some help to the Gentiles who are called to salvation. You yourselves have heard that Simon has set out, wishing to go ahead of us on our journey; and we ought to follow his tracks at once, so that wherever he tried to subvert any, he might be refuted by us immediately. But since it seems unjust to me to abandon those who have already been converted to God and to care for those who are still far off, I think it right that I remain three months with those in this city who have been converted to the faith and make them firmer; and yet not wholly neglect those who are still far off, lest, if they are long steeped in the poison of his teaching, they be recalled with greater difficulty. And therefore I wish, if it seems right to you too, that in place of Zacchaeus, whom we have ordained bishop here, Benjamin the son of Saba be put into the number; in place of Clement, whom I have decided to have always with me, because, coming from the Gentiles, he has a great desire to hear the word of God, Ananias the son of Safra; and in place of Niceta and Aquila, who have lately been converted to the faith of Christ, Rubelus the brother of Zacchaeus and Zacharias the builder. With these four substituted for those four, I wish the number of twelve to be completed, so that Simon may feel that I am always with him in them.”

Having set apart, then, me Clement, Niceta, and Aquila, he said to those twelve: “I wish you, the day after tomorrow, to set out to the Gentiles and follow Simon's tracks, so as to make known to me all that he does. Also inquire carefully into the disposition of each person, and announce that I will come to them without delay; and, not to say more, instruct the Gentiles in every way to await my coming.” And when he had said these and similar things, he said: “You too, brethren, if anything seems good to you on this, say it, lest what pleases me alone should not be right.” Then all, praising him with one voice, said: “We rather ask you to arrange everything at your discretion and command what seems good to you; for we think this the whole work of piety, if we fulfil what you command.”

So on the appointed day, when they stood before Peter, they said: “Do not think, Peter, that it is a small grief laid on us to be deprived of hearing you for three months; but since it is good to do what you command, we will obey most readily. Keeping your face always in our hearts, then, we set out eagerly, as you have commanded.” And he, having poured out prayer to the Lord for them, sent them away. When those twelve who were sent ahead had set out, Peter went in as usual and stood in the place of disputation. A multitude of people had gathered, larger than usual, and all looked at him with tears, because they had heard from him the day before that he would set out on Simon's account. And he himself, seeing them weeping, was affected in the same way, though he tried to hide and hold back his tears; yet the trembling of his voice and the breaking off of his speech betrayed that he was distressed by the same feeling.

Yet, rubbing his forehead with his hand, he said: “Be of good courage, brethren, and comfort your compassionate souls with reasoned counsel, referring all things to God, whose will alone is to be fulfilled and preferred in all things. For suppose, for example, that out of the affection we have toward you we were to stay with you against his will: could he not, by sending death upon me, impose on me a longer departure from you? And therefore it is better that we carry out this shorter one with his will, as those who are resolved to obey God in all things; and so you too ought to obey him with like obedience, since you love me for no other reason than for love of him. As friends of God, then, comply with his will; but judge for yourselves too what is right. Would it not have seemed impious if, when Simon was deceiving you, I had not come to you, held back by the brethren who were in Jerusalem—and that though you had Zacchaeus with you, a good man and ready in speech? So now too judge it impious if, when Simon has gone out to attack the Gentiles, who have no defender at all, I do not follow him, held back by you. Therefore let us take care lest by an unjust affection we do the will of the evil one.”

“Meanwhile, as I said, I will stay with you three months. Be constant in hearing the word; and when these are completed, any who can and wish to follow us are permitted to do so, saving piety. What I mean by ‘saving piety’ is this: that no one should, by his departure, grieve one who ought not to be grieved, as by leaving parents whom he ought not to leave, or a faithful wife, or any persons of this kind to whom it is fitting to give comfort for God's sake.” Meanwhile, disputing and teaching day by day, he filled the appointed time with the labor of teaching. And when the festival day had come, more than ten thousand were baptized.

In those days a letter was sent by the brethren who had gone ahead, describing Simon's crimes: how he was deceiving the crowds from city to city and tearing Peter apart on every point, so that when he arrived no one would lend him an ear. For he asserted that Peter was a magician and godless, insolent, cunning, ignorant, and professing impossible things. “For he asserts,” Simon said, “that the dead will rise, which is impossible. And if anyone wishes to refute him, he is killed by secret plots through his henchmen. That is why I too,” he said, “when I had overcome and triumphed over him, fled for fear of his plots, lest he kill me by sorceries or contrive my death by plots.” They reported that he was staying chiefly at Tripolis.

So Peter had the letter read to the people, and after the reading he addressed them and instructed them most fully about everything, especially that they should obey Zacchaeus, whom he had ordained bishop for them. He also commended the presbyters and deacons to the people, and the people no less to them. And at the same time, announcing that he would spend the winter at Tripolis, he said: “I commend you to the grace of God, as I am to set out tomorrow, by the will of the Lord.” Through all the three months that we spent at Caesarea for the sake of teaching, whatever he discoursed to the people by day he explained more fully and perfectly to us in private as we sat up with him at night, as to men more faithful and clearly proved by him. At the same time he commanded me, because he saw that I committed what I heard to memory with special care, to set down in books whatever seemed worth remembering and to send them to you, my lord James; and I have done so, obeying his commands.

The first book, then, of those which I sent you earlier contains the account of the true Prophet and of the proper understanding of the law, according to what the tradition of Moses teaches. The second contains the account of the principle: whether there is one principle or many, and that the law of the Hebrews is not ignorant of what immensity is. The third, of God and the things established by him. The fourth, that though many are called gods, there is one true God, according to the testimonies of the Scriptures. The fifth, that there are two heavens, of which one is this visible firmament, which will also pass away, and the other eternal and invisible. The sixth, of good and evil: that all things are made subject to the good by the Father; why, how, and whence evil is; that it works together with the good, but not with a good purpose; what the signs of the good are and what those of the evil; and what the difference is between duality and conjunction. The seventh, what the twelve apostles set out before the people in the temple. The eighth, of the words of the Lord which seem contrary to each other but are not, and what their solution is. The ninth, that the law laid down by God is just and perfect, and that it alone can make peace. The tenth, of the carnal birth of men and of the generation that is through baptism; what the succession of carnal seed in man is; what the nature of his soul is; and how freedom of choice is in it, which, since it is not unbegotten but was made, could not be immovable from the good. Of all these things, then, which Peter discussed at Caesarea, I have, at his command, as I said, written ten volumes and sent them to you. And on the next day, as had been arranged, we set out from Caesarea with some faithful men who had decided to follow Peter.

Setting out from Caesarea to go to Tripolis, we made our first halt at Dora, a small town, because it was not far off. Almost all who had believed through Peter's preaching took it very hard to be parted from him; they walked along with us, glad to see him again, to embrace him again, to talk with him again, until we reached the lodging. On the following day we came to Ptolemais, and stayed there ten days. When a good number had received the word of God, we told some of them who seemed more attentive and wanted to keep us longer for the sake of instruction that they might follow us to Tripolis if they wished. We did the same at Tyre, Sidon, and Berytus, and announced to those who wanted to hear the teaching more fully that we were to spend the winter at Tripolis. So, since from each city all the eager ones accompanied Peter, a very great multitude of the elect entered Tripolis. Right before the gates of the city the brothers who had been sent ahead met us, received us, and took us to the lodgings they had prepared. There was a great stir and running together in the city of people wanting to see Peter.

When we had come to the house of Maro, where lodging had been prepared for Peter, he turned to the crowds and promised that he would speak to them the day after next. Then the brothers who had been sent ahead assigned lodgings to all who had come with us. Peter went into Maro's house, and when he was asked to take food, he answered that he would by no means do so until he knew whether all who had accompanied him were resting in lodgings. He learned from the brothers who had been sent ahead that, because of the longing the citizens had conceived for Peter, they had been received not only with lodging but with every kindness, so much so that some were even saddened because there was no one left for them to receive. For all were so ready that, if many more had come, there would still have been hosts to spare rather than guests.

Peter was greatly delighted at this; he praised and blessed them and told them to stay with him. He himself bathed in the sea, took food, and rested in the evening. Rising as usual at cockcrow, while the evening light still lasted, he found everyone awake. There were sixteen of us in all with him: Peter and I, Clement, Niceta and Aquila, and the twelve who had gone ahead. Greeting us as he used to, Peter said: “Today, since we are not taken up with other business, let us have time for ourselves. I will tell you what was done at Caesarea after you left, and you tell me what has been done here by Simon.” While these things were being told on both sides, at daybreak some of the household came in and told Peter that Simon, on learning that he had arrived, had set out during the night, making for Syria. “But the crowds,” they said, “think this day you have put between yourself and them a very long time, because of their longing for you. In fact they cannot bear it, and are standing before the door, talking among themselves about what they want to hear, and they fully hope to see you before the appointed time. The brighter the day grows, the more the multitudes gather, and they are quite confident—who knows on what ground—that they will hear you speak. So now tell us what you think we should say to them. It would be unfitting for so great a multitude to have come together and to go away in sorrow, if no answer is given them. For they will not think that it was they who did not wait for the appointed day, but rather that they have been slighted by you.”

Then Peter, in wonder, said: “You see, brothers, how each word of the Lord spoken prophetically is fulfilled. For I remember that he said: ‘The harvest is great, but the workers are few; ask therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.’ See, then, what was foretold in a mystery is now being fulfilled. And what he said, ‘Many will come from east and west, from north and south, and will recline in the bosom of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob,’ this too, as you see, is likewise being fulfilled. Therefore I beg you, my fellow servants and helpers, to learn more attentively the order of preaching and the ways of release, so that you may be able to save the souls of men, which by the hidden power of God recognize whom they ought to love even before they are taught. For you see them, like good servants, longing for him who they hope will announce to them the coming of their Lord, so that when they have learned his will they may fulfill it. The desire, then, to hear the word of God and to seek his will they have from God; and this is the beginning of the gift of God that is given to the nations, that through it they may be able to receive the teaching of the truth.

“For so it was given from the beginning to the people of the Hebrews, that they should love Moses and believe his word. (Whence also it is written: ‘The people believed God and Moses his servant.’) What, then, was the special gift from God toward the nation of the Hebrews, this we now see given also to those who are called to the faith from the nations. But the matter of works is left to the power and choice of each person, and this is their own; (but to have a desire toward the teacher of truth) this is given by the heavenly Father. Yet salvation lies in this, that you do the will of him whose love and longing you have conceived by God's gift, so that that saying of his may not be said to you: ‘Why do you say to me, Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?’ It is, then, a special gift granted by God to the Hebrews that they believe Moses, and to the nations that they love Jesus. This is what the Master indicated when he said: ‘I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to little ones.’ By this it is plainly declared that the people of the Hebrews, who were instructed out of the law, did not know him, but the people of the nations has recognized Jesus and venerates him; for this reason it will also be saved, not only recognizing him but also doing his will. But one who is from the nations and has it from God to love Jesus ought, by his own purpose, also to believe Moses. And again a Hebrew who has it from God to believe Moses ought also, by his own purpose, to believe in Jesus; so that each of them, having in himself one thing from the divine gift and another from his own diligence, may be made perfect from both. For of such a one our Lord spoke, as of a rich man ‘who brings out of his treasures things new and old.’”

“But enough has been said of these things; for time presses, and the devout zeal of the people invites us to speak to them.” When he had said this, he asked where there was a suitable place for the discourse. Maro said: “I have a very large hall, which holds more than five hundred men, and there is also a garden within the house. Or if a public place is preferred, that is what everyone would rather; for there is no one who does not long just to see your face.” Peter said: “Show me the hall or the garden.” When he had seen the hall, he went in to look over the garden as well; and suddenly the whole multitude, as if summoned by someone, rushed into the house and from there burst into the garden, where Peter was already standing, considering which place was fit for the discourse.

When he saw that the crowds, like a mighty river, had flooded the gentle channel, he climbed onto a pedestal that happened to stand by the garden wall, and first greeted the people in the manner of religion. Some of those present, who had long been tormented by demons, fell to the ground, the unclean spirits begging that they might be allowed to remain in the bodies they possessed for just one day. Peter rebuked them and ordered them to depart, and they left without delay. After these, others afflicted with long illnesses begged Peter that they might recover their health, and he promised to pray to the Lord for them once the discourse of teaching was finished. But as soon as he promised, they were freed from their illnesses; and he told them to sit apart with those who had been cured of demons, as if after the weariness of toil. Meanwhile, while this was going on, a very great multitude gathered, drawn not only by longing for Peter but by the report of the healings that had been done. Peter, motioning with his hand for the people to be quiet and settling the crowds into calm, began in this way:

“As I begin to speak about the true worship of God, it seems necessary to me first of all to teach those who have not yet gained any knowledge of it that divine Providence, by which the world is ruled and governed, must be held blameless in all things. The subject of the present matter, and the occasion of those whom the power of God has healed, has given us this heading for our opening: to show that it is by just reason that very many are held by various demons, so that the justice of God may thereby appear. For ignorance will be found to be the mother of nearly all evils. But now let us come to the matter.

“When God had made man in his own image and likeness, he implanted in his work a kind of breath and fragrance of his divinity, so that mortals, made partakers of his Only-begotten, might through him also become friends of God and sons of adoption. Hence he himself, the true Prophet, taught them by what way they could attain this, knowing in what actions of men the Father delights. At that time, then, there was among men one worship of God: a pure mind and an uncorrupted spirit. And for this reason the whole creation kept an inviolable covenant with the human race. For out of reverence for the Creator, no disease, no bodily illness, no corruption from food had dominion; and so it came about that an age of a thousand years did not fall into the frailty of old age.

“But when, living a life free of toil, they came to think that the continuance of good things was granted them not by divine bounty but by the chance of things, and to enjoy without any sweat the delights of the divine pleasantness, they took as a debt of nature what was a gift of God's goodness. From this men came, idleness teaching them, into contrary and impious thoughts, supposing that the life of gods had been born to them without any labors or merits. From there they went on to worse, so that they believed neither that the world is ruled by the providence of God nor that there is any place for virtues, since they knew that they themselves held the fullness of ease and delights without any good works first being credited to them, and were counted friends of God without any labors.

“By a most just judgment of God, therefore, toils and afflictions are applied as a remedy to those languishing in the vanity of such thoughts. When toil and tribulation came, they were shut out of the place of delights and pleasantness. The earth began to produce nothing for them without toil; and then men's thinking was turned, and they were reminded to seek the help of their Creator, and to invite divine protection by prayers and vows. And so it came about that the worship of God which they had neglected in good times they recovered in bad, and affliction corrected the thoughts toward God that indulgence had perverted. So divine Providence, seeing that this was more useful to men, withdrew from men the ways of kindness and abundance, as things that harmed them, and brought in the road of hardship and tribulation.

“But to show that these things were done because of the ungrateful, he took one of those who were first created mortal—because he saw that he was not unmindful of the grace given him, and because he hoped to call on the name of the Lord—and translated him among the immortals; while the rest, who proved so ungrateful that they could not be amended and corrected even by toils and tribulations, were condemned to a most grievous death. Yet among them too he found one man, righteous with his household, whom he preserved, giving him the command to build an ark, so that in it, when all things were destroyed by the flood, he with those who had been rescued might escape; so that, the impious being destroyed by the flood of waters, the world might receive purification, and he who had been preserved for the continuance of the race, himself cleansed through the water, might restore the world anew.

“But when all these things had been done, men turned again to impiety; and for this reason a law was given by God to teach them the manner of living. But in the course of time the worship of God and justice were corrupted by the unbelieving and impious, as we shall show more clearly a little later. Perverse and wandering religions were brought in, to which the greater part of men gave themselves on the occasion of feasts and festivals, taking up drinking bouts and banquets, pipes and flutes and lyres and various kinds of music, and gratifying themselves in every way with drunkenness and luxury. From this all error took its beginning; from this they invented groves and altars, garlands and victims, and after drunkenness were driven as if by frenzied impulses. From this, power was given to demons to enter minds of this kind, so that they seemed to lead mad dances and to rave like Bacchus. From this came the gnashing of teeth and bellowing from the depths of the bowels; from this the terrible face and savage look in men, so that one whom drunkenness had overthrown and a demon had incited was believed by the deceived and erring to be filled with a deity.

“Since, then, so many false and wandering religions have been brought into this world, we have been sent, bringing to you like good merchants the worship of God handed down from the fathers and preserved; and we sprinkle these words of it like seeds, and place it before your judgment to choose what seems right. For if you receive what is ours, you will not only escape the attacks of the demon yourselves but also be able to drive them out of others, and at the same time you will obtain the rewards of eternal good things. But those who disdain to receive what we say will in the present life be subject to various demons and to the vices of diseases, and after leaving the body their souls also will be tormented forever. For God is not only good but also just. For if he were always good and never just, so as to render to each according to his deeds, his goodness would be found unjust. For it is unjust if the impious is held by him in the same esteem as the pious.

“So the demons, as we said a little before, when they have seized occasions and been able to thrust themselves into human bodies through evil and shameful acts, if they remain in them a long time through the people's own negligence—because they do not seek what is useful for their soul—necessarily compel them thereafter to do the will of the demons dwelling in them. And what is worst of all, at the consummation of the age, when that demon is handed over to eternal fire, the soul that obeyed him will necessarily be tormented with him in eternal fires, together with its body, which it has polluted.

“The reason demons desire to plunge themselves into human bodies is this. They are spirits whose purpose is turned to wickedness; so through immoderate food and drink and lust they urge men on to sin—yet only those who have the purpose of sinning, who, while they seem to want only to satisfy the necessities of nature, do not keep measure and by excess make room for the demons to enter them. As long as the measure of nature is kept and lawful moderation observed, God's mercy does not give them the ability to enter into people. But when either the mind has turned aside to impiety or the body is filled with immoderate food and drink, then, as though invited by the will and purpose of those who so neglect themselves, they receive power over those who have broken the law laid down by God.

“You see, then, how much the knowledge of God and the observance of divine religion avail: it not only defends believers from the attacks of the demon but also makes them command those who rule over others. And so it is necessary for you who are from the nations to flee to God and keep yourselves from all uncleanness, so that the demons may be driven out and God may make his dwelling in you. At the same time commend yourselves to God by prayers, and appeal to him against the shamelessness of the demons; for ‘whatever you ask, believing, you will receive.’ But the demons themselves flee from a person the more they see faith growing in him, remaining only in that part in which some unbelief still lingers; but from those who believe with full faith they depart without any delay. For when the soul has come to faith in God, it obtains the power of heavenly water, by which it may quench the demon like a spark of fire.

“There is therefore a measure of faith: if it is whole, it drives the demon wholly out of the soul; but if it lacks something, some of the demon's portion still remains in the portion of unbelief, and it is a very great labor for the soul to understand when or how, whether fully or less fully, the demon has been driven from it. For if he remains in any part, when he finds the time he puts thoughts into people's hearts; and they, not knowing where these come from, trust the suggestions of the demons as though they were the perceptions of their own soul. So to some they suggest following pleasures on the pretext of bodily necessity; for others they excuse anger by an abundance of bile; others' madness they color as the violence of black bile; and even the folly of some they excuse as a quantity of phlegm. Even if this were so, still none of these things could harm the body except from excess of food and drink; for when these are taken more than is right, their abundance, which the natural heat is not enough to digest, turns raw into a kind of poison, and overflowing like bilgewater into the bowels and all the veins it makes the body's motions mad and shameful. Therefore moderation must be maintained in all things, so that neither is room given to demons, nor is the soul possessed by them handed over with them to eternal fire to be tormented.

“There is another error of the demons, which they insinuate into people's minds: that they think they suffer what they suffer from those who are called gods, so that by offering sacrifices and gifts to them, as if appeasing them, they establish the worship of false religion and flee from us who are working for their salvation, that they may be freed from error. But, as I said, they do this not knowing that the demons suggest these things to them so that they may not be saved. It is, then, in each one's power—since man was made with free will—whether he wishes to listen to us unto life or to demons unto destruction. To some the demons also appear in visions in various forms, sometimes threatening, sometimes promising cures for ailments, so that they may still plant in those they deceive the belief that they are gods, and it may not be known that they are demons. But they do not escape us, for we know the mystery of creation and why demons are permitted to do these things in the present age: to transform themselves into whatever shapes they wish, or to suggest evil thoughts, or to insinuate themselves, through food and drink consecrated to them, into the minds or bodies of those who partake of it, or to invent empty dreams for the veneration of some idol.

“And yet who is found so senseless as to be persuaded to worship an idol, whether it is made of gold or of any other metal? To whom is it not plain that it is the metal the craftsman wished? How then is divinity to be thought present in what would not exist at all if the craftsman had not wished it? Or how do they hope to have the future announced to them from where there is no understanding even of the present? Even if they divined something, they could not at once be held gods, for divination is one thing and divinity another. For the Pythons seem to divine, yet they are not therefore gods; indeed they are put to flight by Christian men. And how is he God who is put to flight by a man? But perhaps you say: ‘What of the fact that they effect cures and show how one may be healed?’ By that reasoning physicians too should be worshiped as gods, for they heal many, and the more skillful one is, the more he will heal.

“Hence it is clear that these, being demonic spirits, know some things much faster and much more perfectly; for they are not weighed down in learning by the slowness of a body. And so what physicians attain by long time and very great labor, they, as spirits, learn without any delay and without difficulty. It is no wonder, then, if they know something more than men; but this must be observed, that what they know they bring forward not for the salvation but for the deception of souls, so as to teach them by this the worship of false religion. But God, so that the error of such deception might not be hidden and he himself might not seem to be the cause for those who err—since he permitted them so much as to be able to deceive people through divinations, cures, and dreams—in his mercy provided a remedy for men and set out openly the distinction between false and true for those who wish to know it. This, then, is the distinction: what is said by the true God, whether through prophets or through various visions, is always true; but what is foretold by demons is not always true. It is therefore a plain sign that those things are not said by the true God in which there is sometimes a lie; for in the truth there is never a lie, but among those who lie something of the truth may sometimes be mixed in, by which the lies are seasoned.

“But if someone should say, ‘What need was there for this very thing, that they be permitted sometimes to tell the truth, and so to bring such great error upon mortals?’, let him hear in reply: if they had never been allowed to say anything true, they would not foretell anything at all; and if they did not foretell, it would not be known that they are demons. And if it were not known that there are demons in this world, the cause of our struggle and contest would have been hidden from us, and we would suffer openly what is done in secret—that is, if they were seen to have been granted only the power to act against us, and none to speak. But now, since things are said sometimes true and sometimes false, we ought to recognize, as I said above, that the answers are from demons and not from God, with whom there is never a lie.

“But if someone, going further out of curiosity, should say, ‘What need was there for such evil beings to be made by God, with such great determination to overthrow human minds?’, we shall answer one who puts this forward: we must first of all ask whether anything is evil in its substance. And although it would be enough to say to him that it is not fitting for the creature to judge the Creator—rather, it belongs to one who has similar skill or similar power to judge another's work—yet, so as not to use roundabout ways, we say absolutely that nothing is evil in substance. And if this is so, is not the maker of substances blamed in vain?

“But you will confront me and say: ‘Even if it came to this through freedom of choice, did not he who created them know that those he was creating would turn aside to evil? Then those whom he foresaw would stray from the path of justice ought not to have been created.’ Let those who argue so hear in reply that by such a course he wished to show why the wickedness of those who did not yet exist should not overcome the goodness of the Creator. For if, wishing to fill up the number and measure of his creation, he had feared the wickedness of those who were to be, and—as one who could find no other way of remedy and cure except this only—had drawn back from his purpose of creating, so that the wickedness of those who were to be might not be ascribed to him, what else would this teach but an unworthy weakness and unseemly frailty of the Maker, who so dreaded the acts of those who did not yet exist that he ceased from the creation he had purposed?

“But putting these things far away, let us consider this in our mind: that God, the maker of the universe, foreseeing the future differences in his creation, provided and foresaw for each creature, according to its own movements, which it would put forth from freedom of choice, different ranks and different offices; so that although all were of one substance according to the nature of creation, there would yet be diversity in ranks and offices according to the souls' own movements, put forth from freedom of choice. He foresaw, then, that there would be faults in his creatures, and the logic of his justice required that punishment should follow faults for the sake of correction. There had, then, to be ministers of punishments, whom freedom of choice would nevertheless draw into this rank; and besides, there had also to be those whom they might conquer who had undertaken the contests for heavenly rewards. So even the things thought evil are not without usefulness, since the conquered, though against their will, gain eternal rewards for those by whom they are conquered. But let these things suffice on this subject; for in the course of time even more secret things will be disclosed.

“Now then, since you do not yet understand how great a darkness of ignorance surrounds you, I wish meanwhile to explain to you how the worship of idols first came into this world. By idols I mean the lifeless images that you worship, whether of wood or clay or stone or bronze, or made from any other metals. Their beginning was this. Certain angels, leaving the course of their proper rank, began to favor the vices of men and in a way to render an unworthy service to their lust, so that by that service the men might the more indulge their own pleasures. And so that they might not seem to have stooped to unworthy services of their own accord, they taught men that demons could be made to obey mortals by certain arts, that is, by magical invocations; and as from a furnace and workshop of wickedness they filled the whole world with the smoke of impiety, the light of piety being withdrawn.

“For these and some other reasons the flood was brought upon the world, as has already been said elsewhere and as we shall say again; and all who were on the earth were destroyed, except the family of Noah, who survived with his three sons and their wives. One of them, named Ham, handed down the wickedly discovered discipline of the magic art to one of his sons, called Mesraim, from whom the race of the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Persians is descended. The nations of that time called him Zoroaster, admiring him as the first author of the magic art; under his name there are also very many books on this subject. He, then, being much and often intent on the stars, and wishing to be thought a god among men, began to draw out, as it were, sparks from the stars and to show them to men, so that the rude and ignorant might be drawn into amazement at the marvel; and wishing to increase this opinion of himself, he attempted these things more often, until he was set on fire and burned up by the very demon whom he troubled too insistently.

“But the foolish men of that time, when they ought certainly to have thrown away the opinion they had formed of him, since they had seen it refuted by his penal death, exalted him all the more. Building a tomb in his honor, they dared to worship him as a friend of God, carried up to heaven on a chariot of lightning, and to venerate him as a living star. For from this, after his death, he was called by the name Zoroaster, that is, ‘living star,’ by those who, after one generation, had been filled with the speech of the Greek language. By this example, even now many honor with tombs those who have died by lightning and worship them as friends of God. He, then, began in the fourteenth generation and died in the fifteenth, in which the tower was built and the languages of men were divided many ways.

“Among these, the first to be called king, the magic art having likewise conferred it on him as by a flash, was one Nimrod, whom the Greeks also called Ninus, and from whose name the city of Nineveh took its name. So, then, the various and wandering superstitions took their beginning from the magic art. For since it was difficult to draw the human race away from the love of God and lead it to deaf and lifeless images, the magi used loftier contrivances, so that, by the signs and movements of the stars, presented as if brought down from heaven and by the will of God, men might be won over to wandering cults. And those who were first deceived collected the ashes of the pyre of the man of whom we spoke above, who had been burned up by the wrath of the demon to whom he had been too troublesome, as relics of the fire of lightning, and carried them to the Persians, so that they might keep them with perpetual watches as divine fire fallen from heaven, and worship it as a heavenly god.

“By a similar example the rest of men in other places also eagerly built temples, set up images, instituted mysteries, ceremonies, and sacrifices to those whom they had admired either in some arts or in virtue, or at least had held in very great love; and in every way they strove to hand down to posterity the fame of these as gods—chiefly because, as we said above, they seemed to be supported by certain phantasms of the magic art, so that by the invocation of demons something seemed to be done and moved by them for the deception of men. To these they added certain festivals and drunken banquets, in which men would indulge more willingly, and in which demons, carried in on surfeits as on vehicles, might mingle with their very bowels; and settled there, they would bend the acts and thoughts of men to their own will. So when errors of this kind had been introduced from the beginning, and were helped by lust and drunkenness, in which carnal men take the greatest delight, the religion of God, which consisted in self-control and sobriety, began to grow rare among men and almost to be abolished.

“For when from the beginning men worshiped God as just and seeing all things, they dared neither to sin nor to do injury to their neighbors, being sure that God saw the acts and movements of each one. But when the worship of religion was turned to lifeless images—about which they were sure that they neither saw nor heard nor moved at all—they began to sin freely and to go on to every crime, since they feared to suffer nothing from those they worshiped as gods. From this the madness of wars blazed up; from this came plunder, robbery, captivity, and freedom reduced to slavery, as each one could satisfy his lust and greed—although no power can satisfy greed. For as fire, the more wood it receives, the more it is kindled and grows strong, so the madness of greed is made greater and fiercer by what it obtains.

“Therefore begin now, with a better understanding, to resist yourselves in the things you wrongly desire, if by any means you may repair and restore in yourselves that purity of religion and innocence of life which was given to mortals by God from the beginning, so that through it the hope of immortal goods may also be restored to you; and give thanks to the Father, the giver of all things, through him whom he appointed King of peace and treasury of unspeakable honors; so that in the present time your sins may be washed away by the water of a spring or a river or even the sea, the threefold name of blessedness being invoked over you; so that by this not only may evil spirits be put to flight, if they dwell within you, but also, when you have ceased from sins and have believed God with full faith and full purity of mind, you may also put evil spirits and demons to flight from others and be able to free others from sufferings and illnesses. For the demons themselves know and recognize those who have given themselves to God, and sometimes they are driven away by their mere presence, as you saw a little earlier: when we had only spoken our greeting to you, at once the demons began to cry out because of the honor of our religion, and could not bear our presence for even a little time.

“Are we of another nature, some higher one, and is that why the demons fear us? We are of one and the same nature with you, but we differ in religion. And if you wish to be so too, we do not begrudge it; rather we urge you, and we want you to be sure, that when there is in you the same faith and religion and innocence of life that is in us, God rewarding your faith, you will have equal and the same power and strength against the demons. For as one who has soldiers under him, even if he is inferior and they superior in strength, nevertheless says to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to another, ‘Do this,’ and he does it—and he is able to do this not by his own strength but by fear of Caesar—so each believer commands demons, even if they seem to be far stronger than men, not because of his own strength but because of the power of God who has subjected them. For what we said, that Caesar is feared among all soldiers and in all camps and in every kingdom though he is one man and perhaps of slight strength, is brought about only by the power of God, who gives fear to all so that they obey one.

“This we certainly want you to know: that the demon has no power against a man unless he has willingly submitted himself to the demon's wishes. Hence even he who is the prince of wickedness approached that King of peace whom we spoke of, appointed by God, tempting him, and began to promise him all the glory of the world; for he knew that when he had offered this to others to deceive them, he had been worshiped. Impious and forgetful of himself—which is the proper mark of wickedness—he presumed that he would be worshiped by him by whom he knew he was to be destroyed. So our Lord, confirming the worship of the one God, answered him: ‘It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ Terrified by this answer, and afraid that the true religion of the one true God might be restored, he immediately hastens to send into this world false prophets and false apostles and false teachers, who would speak indeed in the name of Christ but do the will of the demon.

“Therefore take great care to believe no teacher unless he brings from Jerusalem the testimony of James the Lord's brother, or of whoever comes after him. For unless someone has gone up there and been approved there as a fit and faithful teacher for preaching the word of Christ—unless, I say, he brings testimony from there—he is not to be received at all. Nor should any prophet or apostle be expected by you at this time other than us. For there is one true Prophet, whose words we twelve apostles preach. For he is the acceptable year of God, having us apostles as his twelve months. But for what cause the world itself was made, or why the diversities in it have occurred, and why our Lord, coming to restore it, chose and sent us twelve apostles, will be explained more fully elsewhere. Meanwhile he ordered us to go out to preach and to invite you to the supper of the heavenly King, which the Father has prepared for the wedding of his Son, and to give you wedding garments, that is, the grace of baptism. Whoever has obtained it must keep it as a clean garment, with which he is to enter the King's supper, so that it may not be stained in any part by sin and he be cast out on this account as unworthy and reprobate.

“The causes by which this garment is stained are these: if anyone withdraws from God, the Father and maker of all, receiving another teacher besides Christ, who alone is the faithful and true Prophet and who sent us twelve apostles to preach the word; and if anyone thinks otherwise than is worthy about the substance of the Godhead, which surpasses all things—these are the things that stain the garment of baptism even unto death. Those that stain by deeds are these: murders, adulteries, hatreds, avarice, evil desire. And those that stain soul and body at once are these: to share the table of demons, that is, to taste things sacrificed, or blood, or a carcass that has been strangled, and anything else that has been offered to demons. Let this, then, be for you the first step of three, which step produces from itself thirty commandments; the second, sixty; the third, a hundred, as we shall explain to you more fully elsewhere.

When he had said this, and had told them to come together early the next day to the same place, he dismissed the crowds. When they did not want to leave, Peter said: “Grant me this favor because of the labors of yesterday's journey; go away now and come together early tomorrow.” And so they went away with joy. Peter, telling me to withdraw a little for prayer, afterwards ordered couches to be spread in a part of the garden covered by shade; and each of us, recognizing the place of his own rank as usual, we took food. Then, since some of the day still remained, he talked with us about the wonders of the Lord, and when evening came he went into his chamber and rested.

On the following day Peter, rising a little earlier than usual, found us asleep. When he noticed it, he ordered silence to be kept for him, as though he himself wished to sleep longer, so as to give us the chance to rest. When we had got up refreshed by sleep, we found him, his prayer finished, waiting for us in his chamber. As it was already twilight, he greeted us as usual and spoke briefly, and at once went out to the usual place to teach. When he saw that very many had gathered to hear, he first invoked peace on them according to the rite of religion and began to speak in this way:

“God, the creator of all, made man from the beginning in his own image, and gave him dominion over the earth and the sea and the air itself, as the true Prophet has told us and as the very nature of things teaches; for man alone is rational, and it follows that reason should rule over the irrational. So from the beginning, while he was still righteous, he was superior to all vices and all frailty; but when he sinned, as we taught yesterday, and became the slave of sin, he was at the same time made liable to frailty. This was written so that men might know that as they became subject to suffering through impiety, so through piety they can become free from suffering—and not only free from suffering, but able, by even a little faith in God, to heal the sufferings of others. For so the true Prophet promised us, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here, and it will move.’ Of this saying you yourselves have received proofs; for yesterday you saw how, while we stood by, the demons, together with the sufferings they had brought on men, moved away and were put to flight.

“Since, then, some men suffer and others heal those who suffer, the cause both of suffering and of healing must certainly be understood; and it is shown to be nothing other than unbelief in those who suffer and faith in those who heal. For unbelief, while it does not believe in the coming judgment of God, gives license to sin, and sin makes a man liable to sufferings. But faith, believing that the judgment of God is to come, keeps men from sin; and those who do not sin are not only free from demons and sufferings but can also put to flight the demons and sufferings of others.

“From all this it is gathered that the origin of all evil comes down from ignorance, and that it is the mother of all evils. It is begotten by carelessness and sloth, fed and increased by negligence, and rooted in men's minds; and if anyone teaches that it should be driven out, it is torn away with annoyance and indignation, as if from ancient and hereditary seats. So we must labor a little, tracking down the presumptions of ignorance and cutting them away by the reasoning of knowledge, especially in those who have been preoccupied by some less correct opinions, through which ignorance has rooted itself more strongly in them under the appearance, as it were, of some knowledge. For nothing is worse than when someone believes he knows what he does not know, and defends as true what is false. That is as if a drunk man thought himself sober: he does everything as a drunk man, yet thinks himself sober and wants to be called so by others. So too are those who, not knowing what is true, yet hold the appearance of some knowledge, do evil as if it were good, and hasten to ruin as if to salvation.

“Therefore above all we must hasten to the knowledge of the truth, so that, a light being kindled for us from it, we may drive away the darkness of errors. For ignorance, as we said, is a great evil; but since it has no substance, it is easily driven away by those who are diligent. For ignorance is nothing other than not having recognized what is profitable; and once you have recognized it, ignorance perishes. The knowledge of the truth, then, must be sought earnestly, and no one else can assign it except the true Prophet. For this is the gate of life for those who wish to enter, and the road of good works for those going to the city of salvation.

“If anyone hears the word of the true Prophet, it is in his own power whether he wishes to receive it or not, and to embrace his burden, that is, the commandments of life; for we are free in choice. For if it were the case that those who heard him no longer had it in their power to do otherwise than they had heard, there would be a kind of force of nature by which it would not be free to pass over to another view. Or again, if none of the hearers at all received it, this too would be a force of nature, compelling one thing to happen and giving no room to the other side. But now, since the mind is free to incline its judgment to whichever side it wishes and to choose the way it approves, it is plainly established that freedom of choice is present in men.

“So before anyone hears what is profitable for him, it is certain that he is ignorant, and in ignorance he wishes and desires to do what is not profitable; therefore he is not judged for this. But when he has heard the causes of his error and has received the account of the truth, then, if he remains in the errors by which he had long been possessed, he will rightly be called to judgment to pay the penalty, because he spent in the mockeries of errors the span of life he received for living well. But one who hears these things gladly receives them, rejoices that the teaching of good things has been brought to him, inquires more intently, and does not stop learning until he knows whether there truly is another age in which rewards are prepared for the good. And when he is sure of this, giving thanks to God for having shown him the light of truth, he directs his actions thereafter in all good works, whose reward he is sure is prepared for him in the future; wondering and astonished at the errors of other men in every respect, and that no one sees the truth set before their eyes. Yet he himself, rejoicing over the riches of wisdom he has found, longs to enjoy them insatiably and delights in the practice of good works, hastening to reach the age to come with a clean heart and a pure conscience, where he may also see God, the King of all.

“Ignorance alone causes us to lack and be cheated of all these things. For while men do not know how much good knowledge holds, they do not allow the evil of ignorance to be shut out of them; for they do not know how great a difference there is in exchanging the one for the other. Therefore I give this advice to each of the learners: lend your ear gladly to the word of God, and hear what we say with love of the truth, so that the mind, having received the best seed, may bring forth joyful fruits through good actions. For if, while I teach the things that pertain to salvation, anyone refuses to receive them and, with a mind occupied by perverse opinions, strives to resist, he will have the cause of his perishing not from us but from himself. For he ought to examine what we say with a just judgment and understand that we speak words of truth, so that, knowing things as they are and directing his life in good actions, he may be found a partaker of the kingdom of heaven, subjecting the desires of the flesh to himself and becoming their master, so that thus at last he himself may become the pleasing possession of the Ruler of all.

“For one who remains in evil and is the slave of evil cannot become a portion of the good while he remains in evil; because from the beginning, as we said before, God established two kingdoms, and gave each man the power to become a portion of that kingdom to which he has subjected himself in obedience. And since it is determined with God that one man cannot be the slave of both kingdoms, strive with all zeal to run together into the covenant and laws of the good King. For this reason, indeed, the true Prophet, when he was present with us and saw some of the rich negligent of the worship of God, disclosed the truth of this matter thus: ‘No one,’ he said, ‘can serve two masters; you cannot serve God and mammon’—calling riches ‘mammon’ in their native tongue.

“This, then, is the true Prophet who appeared to us in Judea, as you have heard; who, standing in public, by his command alone made the blind see and the deaf hear, drove out demons, gave health to the sick and life to the dead. And since nothing was impossible for him, he also saw through the thoughts of men, which is possible for no one but God alone. He proclaimed the kingdom of God; and we believe him in all that he said as the true Prophet, taking the firmness of our faith not only from his words but also from his works. For the sayings of the law, which had set forth his coming many generations before, were sealed in him; and the figures of the deeds of Moses, and before him of the patriarch Jacob, bore his type in every respect. The time of his coming, too—that is, the very time at which he came—is shown to have been foretold by them; and above all, that he was to be awaited by the nations is contained in the sacred writings. All these things have likewise been fulfilled in him.

“That the prophet of the Jews foretold that he would be awaited by the nations confirms faith in his truth beyond measure. For if he had said that he would be awaited by the Jews, he would not seem to have prophesied anything remarkable—that he whose coming had been promised for the salvation of the world should be hoped for by a kindred people and by his own nation; it would seem rather the logic of consequence that this should happen than prophetic grandeur. But now, since the prophets say that all that hope which is promised concerning the salvation of the world, and the newness of the kingdom which is to be established through Christ, and all that is declared concerning him, are to be transferred to the nations, the grandeur of prophecy is confirmed not according to the sequence of events but by an incredible outcome of the prediction. For the Jews had received by a most true tradition from the beginning that this man would one day come through whom all things would be restored; and meditating daily and looking out for when his coming would take place, when they saw that he had come and was fulfilling signs and wonders as had been written of him, blinded by envy they could not recognize as present the one in the hope of whose coming they had rejoiced while he was absent. Yet we few, who have been chosen by him, understood.

“This happened by the providence of God, so that the knowledge of this good might be handed on to the nations as well, and those who had never heard of him nor learned from the prophets might recognize him, while those who had known him by daily meditation would not. For see, through you who are now present and desire to hear the teaching of faith in him and to know who he is, and how, and of what kind his coming is, the prophetic truth is being fulfilled. For this is what the prophets foretold: that he would be sought by you who have never heard of him. And so, seeing the prophetic sayings fulfilled in yourselves, you rightly believe this one alone, rightly await him, rightly inquire about him, so that you may not only await him but, believing, may also obtain the inheritance of his kingdom—according to what he himself said, that each one is the servant of him to whom he has subjected himself.

“Therefore wake up, and enroll yourselves under our Lord and God—the Lord who is Lord of heaven and earth—and reshape yourselves to his image and likeness, as the true Prophet himself teaches, saying: ‘Be merciful, as your heavenly Father also is merciful, who makes his sun rise on the good and the evil, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.’ Imitate him, then, and fear him, as the commandment is given to men: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ For it is profitable for you to serve this one Lord, so that, knowing the one God through him, you may be freed from the many whom you feared to no purpose. For one who does not fear God, the creator of all, but fears those whom he himself made with his own hands, what does he do but subject himself to a vain and useless fear? And he makes himself baser and more abject than the very things whose fear he has conceived in his mind. Rather, through the goodness of him who invites you, return to your former nobility, and show by good actions that you bear the image of your creator himself, so that from the sight of his likeness you may be believed to be his sons as well.

“Begin, then, to cast out of your minds the empty images of idols and useless and vain fears, so that at the same time you may also escape the condition of unjust slavery. For those have become your masters who could not even have been useful slaves to you. For how could lifeless images seem fit even for slavery to you, when they neither hear nor see nor perceive anything? Except that at least the material from which they are made—gold or silver, or bronze or wood—could serve you for necessary uses, and you, by forming gods out of it, have made it wholly idle and useless. We, then, proclaim to you the true worship of God, and at the same time we warn and exhort the worshipers to imitate by good actions him whom they worship, and to hasten to return to his image and likeness, as we said above.

“I wish those who worship idols would tell me whether they want to become like those they worship. Does any of you want to see as they see, and to hear as they hear, and to have perception as they have? Far be this from each of the hearers; for this should be thought rather a curse and an insult to a man, who bears in himself the image of God even if he has lost the likeness. What kind of gods, then, are these to be held, whom it would be execrable for their worshipers to imitate, and whose likeness it is an insult to have? What then? Melt down the useless images and make useful vessels; melt down the idle and sluggish material and make implements fit for human use. ‘But human laws,’ someone says, ‘do not allow it.’ Good—it is human laws, and not their own power. How then are they gods who are defended by human laws and not by their own strength? So too they are guarded from thieves by watchdogs and the protection of locks—and this if they are of silver or gold or even bronze; for those of stone and clay are protected by their very cheapness, since no one steals a god of stone or clay. Hence those seem more wretched for whom a more precious metal procures nearer dangers. Should those, then, who can be stolen, who are guarded by men, who can be melted and weighed and struck with hammers—should these seem to be gods to men who have perception?

“O into what misery the understanding of mortals has fallen! For if fearing the dead is counted the height of folly, what shall we judge of those who fear something worse than the dead? For these images are not even to be counted among the dead, since they never lived. Even the tombs of the dead are to be preferred to them, since, though they are now dead, they once had life; but these whom you worship never even lived that life which is the foulest of all, the life of frogs and owls. But what need is there to say more about them, when it is enough to say to one who adores them: ‘Do you not see that what you adore does not see? Hear that what you adore does not hear, and understand that it does not understand.’ For it is the work of a mortal hand, and necessarily lacks perception. You, then, adore what has no perception, when everyone who has perception does not believe that even the things made by God that have perception are to be adored—that is, the sun and moon or stars, and all that are in heaven and on earth. For they think it right to venerate not the things made for the service of the world, but the Creator of them and of the whole world. For these too rejoice when he is adored and worshiped, and they do not gladly accept that the honor of the Creator should be paid to a creature. For the worship of God alone is set apart, for he alone is uncreated, and all other things are his making. As, then, it is proper to him who alone was not made to be God, so whatever has been made is not truly God.

“Above all, then, you ought to understand the deception of the ancient serpent and his crafty suggestions; he deceives you as if by prudence, and creeps through your minds as if by some reasoning, and beginning from the very crown of the head glides down through the inner marrow, counting your deception a great gain. So he plants in your minds opinions of any gods whatever, so long as he may call you back from faith in the one God, knowing that your sin is his comfort. For because of his wickedness he was condemned from the beginning to eat earth, because of him who was taken from the earth and whom he caused to be dissolved again into earth, until the time when your souls, having been brought through fire, are restored, as we shall teach more fully about this elsewhere. From him, then, come all the errors and doubts by which you are disturbed from faith and belief in the one God.

“First of all he suggests to men's thoughts that they should not hear the words of truth by which they might put to flight the ignorance of evils. And he does this under the pretext, as it were, of another kind of knowledge, asserting to them the opinion that most people hold: that they think they will not be guilty if they have been in ignorance, nor will they have to give an account for things they have not heard; and so he persuades them to turn their hearing away from the word. But hear against this: ignorance by itself is a most powerful poison, sufficient to destroy the soul without any addition sought from outside. And so there is no one who, being ignorant, escapes because he is ignorant; rather it is certain that he perishes. For the force of sins naturally destroys the sinner. But since the judgment will be rational, the cause and origin both of ignorance and of each sin will be inquired into. He, then, who did not wish to know how he could come to life, but preferred to be ignorant so as not to seem guilty on that account, is by that very fact judged as one who knew and had knowledge. For he recognized what it was that he did not wish to hear, and the craftiness sought from the serpent's artifice will contribute nothing to his excuse; for he will have to give account to him from whom the heart is not hidden. And so that you may know that ignorance by itself produces destruction: when the soul departs from the body, if it goes out such that it does not know him by whom it was created, from whom it received in this world everything necessary for its use, it is cast out from the light of his kingdom as ungrateful and unfaithful.

“Again the most wicked serpent suggests to men another opinion, which many of you are accustomed to put forward: ‘We too say that there is one God, who is Lord of all; but these also,’ they say, ‘are gods. For as there is one Caesar, and he has under him many judges—for example, prefects, consuls, tribunes, and the other authorities—in a similar way we think that, while there is one God greater than all, these also have been appointed gods in this world after the likeness of the authorities we mentioned, subject indeed to that greater one, yet administering us and the things in this world.’ Hear, then, in reply, how you are refuted by the reasons of truth in the very things you put forward to deceive. You say that God holds the place of Caesar, and that those called gods keep the appearance of his judges and authorities. Keep, then, the example of Caesar as you proposed it, and know that, just as it is lawful for none of Caesar's judges or administrators—that is, prefects or proconsuls or generals or tribunes—to have the name of Caesar given to him (otherwise both he who accepted it and those who conferred it will perish alike), so you ought to observe concerning this too: if anyone gives the name of God to any other than him, and the other accepts it, they will share one and the same destruction, with a far worse lot than the ministers of Caesar. For one who offends against Caesar will receive a temporal destruction; but one who offends against the one who alone is true God will pay the penalty forever—and rightly, as one who has violated by an injurious condition the name that is unique.

“Yet this very word, God, is not the name of God; rather, this word has meanwhile been granted to men as if in place of his name. Nevertheless, as I said, when it is treated insultingly, it reflects an injury to his true name. Indeed the ancient Egyptians, who thought they had found out the account of the heavenly course and the nature of the stars, with a demon besieging their minds, nonetheless subjected the incommunicable name to every insult. For some of them handed down that the ox called Apis should be worshiped, others the goat, others cats, some the ibis, some a serpent; and they taught that a fish too, and onions, and sewers, and the breaking of wind are to be held as divinities, and countless other things which it is shameful even to name.

When Peter said this, all of us who were listening laughed. Peter said: “You laugh at the disgraces of others, because through long habit you do not see your own. You rightly laugh at the folly of the Egyptians, who, though rational themselves, worship dumb animals. But hear how they in turn laugh at you; for they say: ‘We worship living animals, even if they are going to die; but you worship and adore things that never lived at all.’ They add besides that these are figures and allegories of certain powers by whose help the human race is ruled. But by stringing together these and similar things as a refuge for their shame, they try to veil their error. But this is not the time to answer the Egyptians and, leaving aside the care of those present, to treat the illnesses of those absent. For it is a sure sign that you are free of this kind of sickness, that you have not grieved over it as your own but laughed at it as someone else's.”

“But let us return to you who like to hold God as Caesar and the gods as Caesar's ministers and agents. Follow me more attentively, and I will show you the lurking places of the serpent, set in the winding turns of this argument. It must be certain and undoubted for all that nothing among his works can be made equal to God, since he was made by no one but himself made all things; for no one can be found so irrational as to think that a work can be compared with its maker. If, then, the human mind, not only by reason but by a kind of natural impulse, rightly holds this opinion—that God is the name for that to which nothing can be compared or equaled, but which stands above all and surpasses all—how is that name, which is believed to be above all things, rightly believed to be given to those whom you think have been appointed for the service and administration of human life? And we will add this as well: this world was without doubt made and is corruptible, as we shall show more fully later; meanwhile it is agreed that it is both made and corruptible. If, then, the world cannot be called God—and rightly it cannot, because it is corruptible—how shall parts of the world receive the name of God? For what the whole world cannot be, much less will a part of it be. So if we return to the example of Caesar, see how far you err. It is not lawful to compare anyone with Caesar, even though he is a man of the same nature as Caesar; and do you believe that anyone ought to be compared with God, who surpasses all things by the very fact that he was made by no one but himself made all things? You do not dare to give Caesar's name to anyone else, because he punishes the offender at once; but do you dare to give God's, because he puts off punishing the offender for the sake of repentance?

“Through others, again, that serpent is accustomed to put forth words like these: ‘We worship visible images in honor of the invisible God.’ This is most certainly false. For if you truly wished to worship the image of God, you would worship the true image of God in man by doing good to man. For in every man there is the image of God, but the likeness is not in all, only where there is a kindly soul and a pure mind. If, then, you truly wish to honor the image of God, we disclose to you what is true: that you should do good to man, who was made in the image of God, and pay him honor and reverence; give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, care to the sick, hospitality to the stranger, and minister what is necessary to one in prison; and this is what will be reckoned as truly given to God. These things count so much toward the honor of God's image that one who has not done them is believed to have insulted the divine image. What kind of honor of God is it, then, to run about among forms of stone and wood and venerate empty and lifeless figures as divinities, and to despise man, in whom the image of God truly is? Rather, be sure that whoever commits murder or adultery, or whatever is done to the punishment or injury of men, in all these the image of God is violated. For it is great impiety toward God to harm a man. So whatever you would not wish to suffer yourself, when you do it to another, you defile the image of God with unjust griefs. Understand, then, that this is the suggestion of the serpent lurking within, which persuades you that you can seem pious when you worship senseless things, and not seem impious when you injure beings who have sense and reason.

“But to this the serpent answers us through another mouth and says: ‘If God did not wish these things to exist, they certainly would not exist.’ I do not yet tell you how many contrary things are permitted to exist in this world for the testing of each mind; but this is what it is fitting to say meanwhile: if, according to you, everything that was going to be adored ought not to have existed, almost nothing would have existed in this world. For what have you left that you have not adored? Sun, moon, stars, water, earth, mountains, trees, stones, men—there is none of these that you have not adored. According to your saying, then, none of these ought to have been made by God, so that you would have nothing to adore; indeed, not even men themselves ought to have existed to do the adoring. Truly this is what that serpent lurking within you desires; he spares none of you and wants none to escape destruction. But it will not be so. For hear: it is not what is adored that sins, but he who adores. For the judgment with God is just, and he judges the one who suffers injury differently from the one who inflicts it.

“But you say: ‘Then those who adore what may not be adored ought to have been destroyed by God at once, so that no one else would do it.’ But are you wiser than God, that you should suggest plans to him? He knows what he is doing. For he shows patience to all who are in ignorance, because he is merciful and kind, and he foresees that many of the impious become pious, and that some even of those who venerate impure figments and polluted images turn to God, call themselves back from sins, do good works, and reach salvation. ‘But,’ he says, ‘we ought not even to have come to the thought of doing these things.’ You do not know what freedom of choice is, and it escapes you that he is truly good who is good by his own purpose; but one who is held in the good by necessity cannot be called good, because what he is is not his own. Since, then, there is freedom in each person in the choice of good or evil, he seeks for himself either rewards or destruction. ‘No,’ he says, ‘whatever we think, God brings to our mind.’ What are you doing, O men? You blaspheme. For if he brings to our mind everything we think, does he then suggest to us thoughts of adultery and avarice and blasphemy and every luxury? Stop, I beg you, from blasphemies of this kind, and understand what honor is worthy of God. And do not say, as some of you are accustomed to, that God does not need the honor of mortals. He truly needs nothing; but you ought to recognize that the honor you pay to God benefits you. For what is so execrable as a man who does not know how to give thanks to his own creator?

“‘But we do better,’ someone says, ‘who give thanks both to him and to all with him.’ In this you do not understand the overthrow of your salvation. For this is as if a sick man should invite to his cure a physician and poisoners alike, though they can harm but cannot heal, while the true physician refuses to mix his medicines with their poisons, so that neither ruin should be ascribed to the good one nor healing to the harmful ones. You say: ‘Is God then indignant or envious if, when he himself does good, thanks are given to others?’ Even if he is not indignant, he does not wish to be the author of error, so that credit for the benefit of his work should be given to an empty idol. What, surely, is so impious, so ungrateful, as to obtain a benefit from God and give thanks to wood and stones? Therefore wake up and understand your salvation. For God needs nothing, requires nothing, and is harmed in nothing; it is we who are either helped or harmed in being grateful or ungrateful. For what is conferred on God by our praises, or what is taken away by blasphemies? Only this: that God makes the soul that gives him thanks near and familiar to himself, while the evil demon possesses the ungrateful one.

“But I also want you to know this: against souls of this kind God does not himself bring vengeance by himself, but his whole creation rises up and exacts punishment from the impious. And although in the present age the goodness of God grants the light of the world and the services of the earth equally to the pious and the impious, yet the sun gives its light to the impious not without grief of its own, and the other elements render their service likewise. Indeed, sometimes even against the goodness of the Creator, the elements, wearied by the crimes of the impious, are overcome; and this is why either the fruit of the earth is spoiled, or the mildness of the air is violated, or the heat of the sun is kindled beyond measure, or an immense force of rains and cold is poured out. From this come plague and famine, and the various faces of death run through the world; for the creation hastens to take vengeance on the impious. Yet the goodness of God restrains it, reins it in from its indignation against the impious, and compels it to obey his mercy rather than be inflamed by the sins and crimes of men; for the patience of God awaits the conversion of men while they are in this body.

“But if any persist in impiety to the end of life, then the departing soul, which is immortal, will pay the penalty for its persistence in impiety. For the souls even of the impious are immortal—souls which they themselves would perhaps wish to be ended together with their bodies. But it is not so; for they endure the punishments of eternal fire without end, and to their own ruin they do not have a nature that can die. But perhaps you will say to me: ‘You frighten us, Peter.’ And how shall we tell you what is so in reality? Can we proclaim the truth while keeping silent? We do not know how to present things otherwise than as they are. If we keep silent, we shall give you the cause of a ruinous ignorance, and shall satisfy the serpent who lurks within you and besieges your minds, who cunningly suggests these things to you so as to make you always enemies of God. But we have been sent for this: to expose his lurking places to you, and, dissolving the enmity, to reconcile you to God, so that you may turn to him and please him in good works. For enmity toward God in a man is an irrational and impious mind and a perverse purpose, especially when it seems to itself to know something and is in ignorance. But when, these things cast away, the same things begin to please you that please God, and the same things to displease you, and you begin to will what God wills, then you will truly be called his friends.

“But perhaps some of you will say: ‘God has nothing to do with human affairs; and how shall we come to the friendship of one we cannot even come to know?’ That God cares for human affairs, the government of the world itself bears witness: the sun serves it daily, the rains minister to it, springs, rivers, winds, and all the elements serve it; and the better known these seem to men, the more they show God's care for men. For unless by the power of the Most High, the greater would never serve the lesser; and by this God is shown to have not only care for men but a great affection, since he has made such splendid elements subject to their service. And that men also come to the friendship of God, we have as examples those to whose prayers he granted so much that he shut the heaven against rain when they wished, and opened it again when they asked; and he granted many other things to those who did his will, which would be granted only to his closest friends. But you will say: ‘What harm is done to God if we worship these things too?’ If any of you gave the honor due to a father, from whom he had received very many benefits, to another, and honored a stranger and outsider as father, would he not seem to you impious toward his father and most deserving of disinheritance?

“Others say: ‘It is impious if we do not worship what has been handed down to us by our fathers, and if we transgress the religion given by our ancestors.’ By this reasoning, if someone's father was a robber, or someone's father a pimp, he ought not to change the custom handed down to him by his fathers, nor be called back from his fathers' errors to a better way; and it is counted impious if someone does not sin with his parents or does not persist in impiety with them. Others say: ‘We ought not to be troublesome to God and always burden him either with complaints of our miseries or with the needs of our petitions.’ What a foolish and utterly witless answer! Do you think it troublesome to God if you give him thanks for his benefits, and do you not think it troublesome to him if you give thanks to wood and stones for his gifts? And how is it that when rain is held back by a long drought we all lift our eyes to heaven and beg the gift of rains from the almighty God, and all, with our little ones, pour out prayers to God and implore his mercies? But truly, ungrateful souls quickly forget when they have obtained it; for when the harvests or vintages are gathered, they at once bring the first fruits of the crops to deaf and dumb images, and for what God has granted they pay vows in temples or groves, and offer sacrifices there to demons, and exchange the giver of the grace for the grace received.

“But some say: ‘These things were instituted for the sake of gladness and to refresh minds, and were invented so that the human mind might be relieved a little from cares and griefs.’ See how you yourselves are the accusers of what you do. If these things were invented to relieve grief and to gain gladness, how is it that invocations of demons take place in groves and woods? How is it that there are the mad whirlings of men, the gashing of limbs, and the cutting off of private parts? How is it that raging fury is conceived in them? How is madness invited? How are women tossed about in frenzy with disheveled hair? Where does the grinding and gnashing of teeth come from? Where the bellowing from the heart and bowels, and all those things which, whether feigned or put together by the agency of demons, are displayed to terrify foolish and ignorant men? Are these done to relieve the mind, or rather to crush it? Do you not yet perceive and understand that these are the counsels of the serpent lurking within you? He leads you away from the reason of truth by irrational suggestions of errors, so as to keep you slaves and servants of lust and desire and all disgrace.

“But I solemnly testify to you all with the clear voice of preaching that, on the contrary, the religion of God calls you back to sobriety and chastity, commands you to refrain from luxury and frenzy, and to cut off the slips of anger by patience and gentleness; to be content with your own, and by the virtue of frugality not to plunder what belongs to others even when compelled by poverty, but to keep justice in all things; and to remove yourselves entirely from sacrifice to idols. For by these you invite demons into yourselves and willingly give them a way in, and from this you receive the causes either of frenzy or of unlawful love.

“From this descends the origin of all impiety; from this are conceived murders, adulteries, thefts, and the seedbed of all evils and crimes, while you indulge in profane libations and odors and give evil spirits room to rule over you and, in a way, a right to possess you. For once they have entered your minds, what do they work but what belongs to lust, injustice, and cruelty, and compel you to obey in all things in which they themselves delight? God indeed permits you to suffer this from them by a just judgment, so that from the very disgrace of your acts and thoughts you may understand how unworthy it is to be subject to demons and not to God. From this, through friendship with demons, people come to unseemly and foul acts; from this they come even to the destruction of life itself, either through the flame of lust or through the rage of anger or excess of sadness, so that, as is often known, some have even laid hands on themselves. This, as we said, by a just sentence of God is not prevented from being done by them, so that they may understand to whom they have subjected themselves, and recognize whom they have deserted.

“But someone will say: ‘These sufferings sometimes befall even those who worship God.’ It is not true. For we say that he is a worshiper of God who does the will of God and keeps the precepts of the law. For with God, he who is called a Jew among men is not a Jew, nor is he a Gentile who is called a Gentile, but he who, believing God, has fulfilled the law and done his will, even if he is not circumcised. He is a true worshiper of God who not only is free from sufferings himself but also makes others free from them, even if they are so heavy as to equal mountains; through the faith by which he believes God he removes them—and indeed, if it is necessary, he truly removes mountains with their trees by faith. But one who seems to worship God, yet is fortified neither by full faith nor by works of the commandments, but is a sinner, has because of his sins given room in himself to sufferings, which have been appointed by God for the punishment of sinners, so that by the penalties they inflict they may exact the debts of sins and lead them, more purified, to that general judgment of all—if only faith does not abandon their chastisement. For the chastisement of unbelievers in the present life is a judgment, by which they begin to be strangers to the good things to come; but the chastisement of those who worship God, when it is inflicted on them for sins that have occurred, exacts the debt of what they have committed, so that, anticipating the judgment, they may pay the debt of sin in the present age and be freed, at least by half, from the eternal punishments that are prepared there.

“But one who does not believe that the judgment of God is to come does not accept that this is so; and for this reason, bound to the pleasures of the present age, he is shut out from eternal goods. And so we do not neglect to preach to you what we know is necessary for your salvation, and to show what the true worship of God is, so that, believing God, you may through good works become heirs of the age to come together with us. And if it is not yet certain to you that what we say is true, meanwhile you ought not on this account to take it ill and be hostile because we announce to you what we think good, and do not begrudge sharing with you what we believe to be saving for ourselves, laboring, as I said, with every effort to have you as fellow heirs of the goods that we believe will come to us. But whether what we announce to you is certainly true, you can know in no other way than by obeying what is commanded and being taught by the very outcome of things and the most certain end of blessedness.

“And so, even if the serpent lurking within occupies your minds with a thousand arts of corruption and puts a thousand obstacles in the way to turn your hearing aside from saving teaching, you ought all the more to resist him, and, despising his suggestions, to come together more often to hear the word from us and to receive the teaching; for no one can learn anything who is not taught.” When he had said this, he ordered those oppressed by illnesses or demons to be brought to him, laid his hands on them with prayer, and so dismissed the crowds, urging them to come often to hear the word on the days he would be staying there. When the crowd had gone, Peter washed his body in the waters that flowed in the garden, together with the others who wished, and ordered couches to be spread on the ground under a tree that gave much shade, and told us to recline according to the order established at Caesarea. And so, having taken food and given thanks to God after the manner of the Hebrews, since some of the day still remained, he told us to ask about whatever we wished. As there were twenty of us with him in all, he explained to each what he wished to ask about; and each of these things I have already sent to you, set down in books. When evening had come, we went into the lodging with him and rested, each in his own place.

When, as the darkness thinned, the day first began to bring forth the dawn, Peter went into the garden to pray; and coming out and going in, he seemed to be excusing himself to us for having woken later than usual and come to us late. So he said: “When the season of spring has made the day longer, the night must become shorter. If, then, anyone wishes to take some part of the night for study, he ought not to keep the same hours for waking at every season, but should spend the same length of time in sleeping whether the night is shorter or longer, and take great care not to encroach on the hours he usually has for study, adding to his sleep and shortening his time of waking. For this too must be observed: that if sleep is interrupted while the food is not yet digested, the undigested body may weigh down the mind, and, breathing out still-raw vapors, make the inner sense confused and turbid. It is right, then, that this part too be cherished with suitable rest, so that the body, having had sufficiently what is owed to it, may render due service to the mind in everything else.”

When he had said this, since very many had already gathered to hear at the usual place in the garden, Peter went out, greeted the crowds as usual, and began to speak in this way: “As earth neglected by the farmer necessarily produces thorns and thistles, so your mind, through long neglect, has sprouted many harmful opinions about things and notions of false knowledge. There is need now of much diligence to cultivate the field of your mind, so that the word of truth, which is the true and diligent farmer of the heart, may cultivate it with constant discipline. It is your part, then, to give it obedience and to cut off superfluous occupations and anxieties, so that a harmful growth may not choke the good seed of the word. For it can happen that a brief but constant diligence makes up for the neglect of a long time; for the length of each one's life is uncertain, and therefore we must hasten to salvation, lest sudden death overtake one who delays.

“And for this reason we must strive the more keenly, while there is time, to cut away the vices of evil habit that have accumulated. You will not be able to do this otherwise than by being angry in a way with yourselves for what you have done uselessly and shamefully. For this is a just and necessary anger, by which each one is indignant at the things in which he has erred and done wrong, and accuses himself. From this indignation a kind of fire is kindled in us, which, like fire set into a barren field, burns up and roasts the roots of the worst pleasure and prepares a more fertile soil of the heart for the good seed of the word of God. I think you have causes enough for anger, from which this most just fire may grow, if you consider into what great errors the evil of ignorance has led you, what great lapses and precipices of sin it has given you, from what great goods it has drawn you away and into what evils it has hurled you, and—what is heavier than all—that it has made you liable to eternal punishments in the age to come. When the light of truth has shone on you, is not the fire of most just indignation kindled on account of all these things, and does not a blaze of anger pleasing to God rise up within you, by which every shoot of evil desire that may have sprung up within you is consumed and dies at the root?

“Hence also he who sent us, when he had come and seen the whole world turned aside to wickedness, did not at once give it peace while it lay in errors, lest he should confirm it in evils, but opposed the knowledge of truth to the ruin of its ignorance, so that, if they should come to their senses and look on the light of truth, they might rightly grieve that they had been deceived and drawn off into the precipices of error, and might conceive the fire of saving anger against the ignorance that had deceived them. For this reason he said: ‘I have come to cast fire on the earth, and how I wish that it were kindled!’ There is, then, a kind of battle that we must wage in this life. For the word of truth and knowledge necessarily separates men from error and ignorance, as we have often seen putrid and dead flesh of the body separated by the cutting knife from its connection with the living members. Something of this kind is what the knowledge of truth does. For it is necessary, for the sake of salvation, that a son, for example, who has received the word of truth be separated from unbelieving parents, or again that a father be separated from his son, or a daughter from her mother. And in this way, among relatives and kin, believers and unbelievers, there arises a battle of knowledge and ignorance, of truth and error. For this reason, again, he who sent us said: ‘I have not come to send peace on the earth, but a sword.’

“But if anyone says, ‘And how does it seem just to be separated from parents?’, hear how: because if they remain with them in error, they will not help them, and they themselves will perish together with them. It is just, then, and very just, that one who wishes to be saved be separated from one who does not. But notice this too: this separation does not come from those who understand more rightly; for they wish to be with them and to help them and teach them better things. But it is the proper vice of ignorance that it cannot bear to have the light of truth that refutes it close at hand; and so the separation arises from them. For those who receive the knowledge of truth, because it is full of goodness, desire, as a gift from the good God, to have it in common with all if possible, even with those who hate and persecute them; for they know that the cause of their sin is ignorance. For this reason, indeed, the Master himself, when he was being led to the cross by those who did not know him, prayed to the Father for his killers and said: ‘Father, forgive them their sin, for they do not know what they are doing.’ The disciples also, imitating their Master, when they themselves suffered, likewise prayed for their killers. And if it is our discipline to pray even for our killers and persecutors, how ought we not also to bear the persecutions of parents and relatives and pray for their conversion?

“Then let us also consider more carefully what reason we have for loving our parents. ‘Because,’ someone says, ‘they seem to be the authors of our life.’ Parents are not the authors of our life but its ministers; for they do not provide life, but render us the service of entering into this life. The author of life is one and only God. If, then, we wish to love the author of life, let us know that it is he whom we must love. ‘But him we have not been able to know, whereas these we know and hold in affection.’ Granted, you could not know what God is; yet you could very easily have known what God is not. For how could it escape a man that wood or stone or bronze or any other material of this kind is not God? And since you could have grasped this in things ready to hand, but would not apply your mind to examine it, it is certain that you were hindered in the knowledge of God not by impossibility but by the vice of sloth. For if you had wished, you would surely have received from these very useless images a way to understanding.

“For it is certain that images are made by iron, and iron is worked by fire, which fire is quenched by water; and water is moved by spirit, and spirit has its beginning from God. For so says Moses the prophet: ‘In the beginning God made heaven and earth; but the earth was invisible and unformed, and darkness was over the abyss, and the Spirit of God was over the waters.’ This Spirit, at God's command, like the very hand of the Maker, separated light from darkness, and after that invisible heaven produced this visible one, so as to make the upper regions a dwelling for angels and the lower ones for men. For your sake, then, at God's command the water that was on the face of the earth withdrew, so that the earth might produce fruits for you; and he secretly put veins of moisture in it, so that springs and rivers might flow from it for you. For your sake it was commanded to bring forth living creatures and everything that would serve your use and will. Or do not the winds blow for your sake, so that the earth, conceiving from them, may bear fruits for you? Do not the rains flow and the seasons change their turns for your sake? Does not the sun rise and set for your sake, and the moon undergo its changes? For your sake the sea offers its service, so that all things may be subject to you, ungrateful as you are. Will there not be a just penalty of vengeance for all these things, because you alone, beyond all others, have not known the giver of all these things, whom you ought to have known and venerated before all things?

“But even now I lead you to understanding by the same ways. For you see that all things are born from the waters; and water was made in the beginning through the Only-begotten; and the almighty God is the head of the Only-begotten, through whom, in the order we described above, one comes to the Father. And when you have come to the Father, you will recognize that this is his will: that you be born anew through the waters that were first created. For one who has been regenerated through water, when he has fulfilled good works, is made heir of him by whom he has been regenerated in incorruption. Therefore come with ready minds, as sons to a father, so that your sins may be washed away and their cause may be proved before God to have been ignorance alone. For if after learning these things you remain in unbelief, the cause of your perdition will be counted to you, and not to ignorance. And do not think that even if you practice all piety and all justice, but do not receive baptism, you can have hope with God. Rather, he will deserve greater punishment who does good works not well. For merit comes to a man from good deeds, but only if they are done as God commands. And God has commanded everyone who worships him to be sealed with baptism. If you resist, and obey your own will rather than God's, you are without doubt contrary and hostile to his will.

“But perhaps you will say: ‘What does the baptism of water contribute to the worship of God?’ First, that what has pleased God is fulfilled; second, that when you have been regenerated from the waters and born again to God, the frailty of your former birth, which came to you through man, is cut off, and so at last you will be able to reach salvation; otherwise it is impossible. For so the true Prophet has testified to us with an oath, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, unless one is born again of water, he will not enter the kingdom of heaven.’ And therefore make haste; for there is in these waters a certain power of mercy, which from the beginning was borne over them, and it recognizes those who are baptized under the invocation of the threefold sacrament, and rescues them from future punishments, offering to God as a kind of gift the souls consecrated through baptism. Flee, then, to these waters; for they alone can quench the force of the fire to come. Whoever delays to come to them, it is clear that the idol of unbelief still remains in him and that he is prevented by it from hastening to the waters that confer salvation. For whether you are just or unjust, baptism is in every way necessary for you: for the just, so that perfection may be fulfilled in him and he may be regenerated to God; for the unjust, so that remission may be granted of the sins he committed in ignorance. All, therefore, must hasten without delay to be born again to God, because the end of each one's life is uncertain.

“And when you have been regenerated through water, show in yourself by good works the likeness of him who begot you, the Father. For you have come to know God; honor your father. And his honor is that you live as he wishes. He wishes you to live so that you know nothing of murder or adultery, flee hatred and avarice, reject anger, pride, and boasting, abhor envy, and put all things like these far from you. There is indeed a certain observance proper to our religion, which is not so much imposed on men as it is sought out by each one who worships God, for the sake of purity. I mean for the sake of chastity, of which there are many kinds; but first, that each one take care not to have intercourse with a menstruating woman, for the law of God has held this abominable. Even if the law had given no warning about these things, should we, like dung beetles, gladly roll in filth? We ought to have something more than the animals, being rational men and capable of heavenly perceptions, whose highest concern ought to be to guard the conscience from every defilement of heart.

“It is good also, and fitting for purity, to wash the body with water. I call it good not as though it were the principal thing, in which the mind is purified, but because the washing of the flesh is a consequence of that good. For so our Master rebuked some of the Pharisees and scribes, who seemed to be better than the rest and separated from the common people, calling them hypocrites because they purified only what was seen by men, but left defiled and filthy their hearts, which God alone sees. So to some of them—not to all—he said: ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of filth. Blind Pharisee, first clean what is inside, and what is outside will be clean.’ For truly, if the mind is cleansed by the light of knowledge, when it has become clean and bright, then it necessarily takes care also of the outer man, that is, of its flesh, so that it too may be purified. But where this outward purification of the flesh is neglected, it is certain that no care is taken there for purity of mind and cleanness of heart. So it comes about that he who is clean inwardly is without doubt cleansed outwardly too; but not always is he who is cleansed outwardly also clean inwardly—namely, when he does these things to please everyone.

“That kind of chastity also must be observed, that intercourse with women be not indiscriminate and for the sake of lust alone, but for the sake of continuing posterity. Since this observance is found even in some animals, it is a shame if it is not observed by men who are rational and worship God. Chastity must be kept by those who hold the true worship of God, through the kinds we have mentioned above and others like them, so much the more because it is observed attentively even among those who are still held in errors by the devil; for there is among them some observance of chastity. What then? What you kept while erring, will you not observe now that you have been corrected?

“But perhaps one of you will say: ‘Must we then keep everything we did while we worshiped idols?’ Not everything; but whatever was done well, this it is fitting to observe now too. For if anything is done rightly by those who are in error, it is certain that it was taken from the truth; and if anything is done wrongly in the true religion, there is no doubt that it was borrowed from error. For good, even if done by those who err, is good; and evil, even if done by those who follow the truth, is evil. Or shall we be so foolish that, if we see an idol worshiper sober, we who worship God refuse to be sober, so as not to seem to do the same as the idol worshiper? It is not so. Rather let our aim be that, if those who err do not commit murder, we do not even become angry; and if they do not commit adultery, we do not even desire another's wife; if they love their neighbors, we love even our enemies; if they lend to those who have the means to repay, we give even to those from whom we do not hope to receive. And in all things we who hope for the inheritance of the eternal age ought to excel those who know only the present age, knowing that if their works, compared with ours on the day of judgment, are found similar and equal, it will be a shame to us that we are found equal in works to those who are condemned for their ignorance and had no hope of the age to come.

“And truly it is a fitting shame when we have done nothing more than those than whom we understood more. And if it will be a shame to us to be found equal to them in good works, what will become of us if the coming examination finds us inferior and worse? Hear, then, how the true Prophet himself taught us about these things. To those who neglect to hear the words of wisdom he says: ‘The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here, and they do not listen.’ And to those who refused to repent of their evil deeds he says: ‘The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.’ You see, then, how he condemns those who were instructed out of the law simply by comparison, bringing forward as examples those who came from Gentile ignorance and showing that they were not even equal to those who seemed to be in error. From all this the point we proposed is proved: that chastity, which is kept to some extent even by those in error, should be held much more purely and attentively in each of its kinds, as we showed above, by us who follow the truth, all the more because with us eternal rewards are set before its observance.”

When he had said these and similar things, he dismissed the crowds, and, having taken food as usual with his intimates, he rested. In this way, after he had taught the word of God for three continuous months and converted very many to the faith, at last he told me to fast, and after the fast he gave me baptism in the springs of perennial water that lie next to the sea. And when we had kept a joyful holiday with the brothers for the grace of regeneration divinely conferred on me, Peter ordered those who had been appointed to go ahead to set out for Antioch and wait there another three months. When they had gone, he himself led those who had fully received the faith of the Lord to the springs next to the sea that we mentioned above and baptized them; and breaking the Eucharist with them, he appointed Maro, who had received him as guest and was now perfected in all things, as their bishop, and ordained twelve presbyters with him, and deacons at the same time. He also instituted the order of widows and arranged all the ministries of the church, and admonished all to obey Maro the bishop in everything he commanded. And so, when everything had been suitably arranged and the period of three months was completed, we bade farewell to those at Tripolis and set out for Antioch.

At last we left Tripolis, a city of Phoenicia, and made our first halt at Orthosias, not far from Tripolis. We stayed there the following day as well, because almost all who had believed in the Lord, unable to tear themselves from Peter, had followed him that far. From there we came to Antaradus. But since many were accompanying us, Peter said to Niceta and Aquila together: “Since a very great crowd of brothers is with us, and as we enter each city we draw no little envy, it seems to me we must take care both that it is not unwelcome to them if they are prevented from following, and that the malignant one does not stir up envy against us on account of a kind of pomp. So I think that you, Niceta and Aquila, should go ahead of us with them, and that you should lead the multitude divided into two parts, so that we may enter each of the cities of the Gentiles travelling in scattered groups rather than in one assembly.

“I know that it seems sad to you to be separated from me even for the space of two days. Believe me, in whatever measure you love me, my affection toward you is ten times greater. But if, for the sake of the affection we bear one another, we do not do what is fitting and honorable, such love will seem irrational. So, without lessening the claim of love in any way, let us see to what seems useful and necessary—especially since no day can pass on which you cannot be present at my discourses. For I have proposed, as you also know, to stay three months for teaching in each of the more notable cities of the provinces. Now, then, go ahead of me to Laodicea, which is the nearest city, and I will follow you after two or three days, as far as my plan is concerned. Wait for me at the inn nearest the gate of the city; and from there again, likewise, when we have spent some days there, you will go ahead of me to the cities farther on. I want you to do this in each city, so far as we can, for the sake of avoiding envy, and so that the brothers who are with us, finding lodgings prepared in each city by your foresight, may seem less like wanderers.”

When Peter said this, they acquiesced, as they had to, saying: “It does not grieve us much to do this, since we are ordered by you, who have been chosen by the providence of Christ both to do all things well and to give good counsel. Besides, not to see our lord Peter for one day, or at most two, though it is a great deal, is still bearable in all this time. For we consider what those twelve brothers of ours suffer who go ahead of us, and are deprived of so great a good as hearing and seeing you for almost a whole month out of the three months you stay in each city. So we will not delay to do what you order, since all your orders are right.” With these words they went ahead, having received instructions to speak to the brothers travelling with them outside the city, so that they would enter the cities not crowded together and as if in a tumult, but scattered and divided in pairs.

When they had set out, I, Clement, was very glad that he had kept me with him, and I said to him: “I thank God that you did not send me ahead with the others, for I would have died of sadness.” Then Peter said: “And what will happen if necessity requires you to be sent somewhere for the sake of teaching? Separated from me for a useful purpose, will you die? Will you not command yourself to bear patiently what necessity imposes? Or do you not know that friends are always together, and though separated in body, they are joined in memory—just as, on the contrary, some who are placed together in body are divided in soul?”

I answered: “Do not think, my lord, that I feel this irrationally; there is a definite cause and reason for this affection of mine toward you. For I have you alone in place of all my affections: for father, for mother, for brothers. And above all this, you alone are to me the cause of salvation and of knowing the truth. Nor do I count it least that the youthful age that is in me lies open to the snares of desires, and I fear to be without you, whose presence alone makes all luxury blush, though it lacks reason—although I trust in the mercy of God that my mind, from what it has conceived through your teaching, can no longer admit anything else into its thoughts. Besides, I remember you said at Caesarea, ‘Whoever wishes to accompany me with piety unimpaired, let him accompany me.’ By ‘with piety unimpaired’ you meant that he should grieve no one to whom he owes consideration according to God—for example, that he should not leave a believing wife, or parents, or other persons of this kind. From these I am entirely free, and therefore fit to follow you. And I wish you would allow me even to render you the service of a slave.”

Then Peter laughed at this and said: “And what do you think, Clement—will not necessity itself make you my slave? For who else will be able to spread my linen sheets and arrange beautiful coverlets? Who will keep my rings and get ready the clothes that I must change constantly? Who will command the cooks and provide various choice dishes, prepared with the most skilful and varied art, and all those things that are gathered at unjust expense for men brought up softly—or rather for their greed, as for some most savage beast? But perhaps, though you seem to be with me, you have not come to know my life. Bread alone with olives, and rarely even with vegetables, is what I use; and my clothing is what you see, a tunic with a cloak; and having these, I require nothing else. This is enough for me, because my mind looks not to these present things but to those that are eternal, and therefore nothing of present and visible things delights me. So I embrace and admire your good will toward me, and praise you the more because, though you are a man coming from a habit of great abundance, you have so quickly been able to transfer and adapt yourself to this life of ours, which uses only necessities. For from boyhood—I and my own brother Andrew—we grew up not only orphans but very poor, and were accustomed by necessity to be laborers; so now too we easily bear the hardships of journeys. Rather, if you would agree and allow me, I, being more of a working man, could more easily fulfill the service of a slave for you.”

When I heard this I trembled, and tears burst from me at once, that so great a man, to whom the whole world is inferior, should have said such a thing to me. Seeing me weeping, he asked the reason. I answered him: “How have I sinned so much against you that you should burden me with such words?” Peter said: “If what I said, that I should serve you, is wrong, you sinned first by saying it to me.” I said: “It is not the same. It is fitting for me to do this for you; but for you, who have been sent as herald of the most high God to save the souls of men, it is a grievous thing to say this to me.” Peter said: “I would agree with you, if our Lord, who came for the salvation of the whole world and was nobler than all creation, had not submitted to serve, in order to persuade us not to be ashamed to render the service of slaves to our brothers.” Then I said: “If I think I can win against you, I am very foolish. But give thanks to the providence of God that I have been counted worthy to have you in place of parents.”

Then Peter said: “Is no one of your family really left to you?” I answered: “There are indeed many powerful men descended from the line of Caesar. For Caesar himself joined to my father, as his kinsman and one brought up with him, a wife from an equally noble family, by whom he had twin sons before me, not very much alike, as my father said; for I did not know them well. Nor do I even remember my mother much, but I recall the appearance of her face faintly, as if in a dream. My mother was called Mattidia, my father Faustinianus, and of my brothers one was called Faustinus and the other Faustus. Meanwhile, when I was barely five years old, my mother, as I learned from my father, saw a dream warning that unless she left the city at once with her two twin sons and stayed away for ten years, she would perish together with her children by a terrible death.

“Then my father, who loved his sons tenderly, gave them male and female slaves and provided sufficient means, put the sons with their mother on a ship, and sent them to Athens to be educated, keeping me, his only son, with him for comfort—and giving thanks for this at least, that the dream had not ordered me too to leave with my mother. When a year had passed, my father sent men and money to them at Athens, wishing at the same time to know how they were doing; but those who were sent did not return. Again in the third year my father, in great sorrow, sent others with money, who came back in the fourth year and reported that they had seen neither my mother nor my brothers, that they had not reached Athens at all, and that no trace had been found anywhere of any of those who had been with them.

“When my father heard this, stunned with great sadness and not knowing where to turn or where to search, he went down with me to the harbor and began to ask the sailors whether any of them had seen or heard of the body of a woman with two little children being cast ashore at any time in the last four years. Though many said many things, and nothing became clear to us as we searched so immense a sea, my father, because of the great affection he bore his family, fed on vain hopes, until he decided to leave me at Rome under guardians, since I was twelve years old, and go himself to search. So he went down to the harbor weeping, boarded a ship, and set out. From then until today I have received no letter from him, nor do I know whether he is alive or dead. But I rather suspect that he too has died, either overcome by sadness or by shipwreck; for twenty years have passed since these things happened, and not even a messenger has come to me about him.”

When Peter heard this he shed tears out of compassion, and said to the companions who were present: “If someone engaged in the worship of God had endured what this man's father has endured, men would at once ascribe the cause of his troubles to religion; but when these things happen to wretched Gentiles, they ascribe the cause of their evils to fate. I call them wretched because they are both tormented by errors here and cheated of the hope to come. When worshipers of God suffer these things, what they bear patiently serves for the purging of their sins.”

After these words, one of those standing by began to ask Peter that early the next day we should go to the nearby island called Aradus, not more than six stadia away, to see a remarkable work there: columns of vine-wood of immense size. Peter, most kind as he was, agreed, but warned us when we had gone down to the ship not all to rush together to look; “for I do not want you,” he said, “to be noticed by the crowd.” So when on the next day we had come to the island by ship within the space of an hour, we at once hurried to the place where the marvelous columns were. They were placed in a certain temple, in which there were very magnificent works of Phidias, and each of us was held fixed in gazing at them.

But Peter, having admired only the vine-wood columns and not at all carried away by the charm of the paintings, went out and saw before the doors a poor woman begging alms from those going in. Looking at her more attentively, he said: “Tell me, woman, what limb of your body is missing, that you have subjected yourself to this indignity of begging alms, instead of seeking food by working with the hands you received from God?” She sighed and said: “Would that I had hands that could move! Now only the appearance of hands is kept, for they are dead, made weak and without feeling by my own biting.” Peter said: “What was the reason that you brought so great an evil on yourself?” “Weakness of spirit,” she said, “and nothing else. For if there had been any courage in me, I could have thrown myself from a cliff or into the depth of the sea and put an end to my griefs.”

Then Peter said: “Do you really think, woman, that those who destroy themselves are freed from punishments? Rather, the souls of those who lay hands on themselves are subject to greater penalties.” She said: “If only it were made certain to me that souls live in the underworld, I would gladly embrace even the penalties of a self-inflicted death, if only I might see my sweet children for at least one hour.” Peter said: “I should like to know what it is that afflicts you with so heavy a sadness. For if you would tell me the cause, I too could show you plainly, woman, that souls live in the underworld; and instead of the cliff or the deep, I could give you some remedy so that you might end your life without torment.”

Then the woman, gladly accepting this promise, began to say: “What my family and country are, I think is neither easily believed nor necessary to say; it is enough to explain the cause of my grief, why I made my own hands weak by biting them. Born of noble parents and married to an equally powerful man, I bore two twin children, and after them one other. But my husband's brother burned violently with unlawful love for me. Since chastity was my care above all, and I was willing neither to consent to so great a crime nor to reveal his brother's wickedness to my husband, I considered how I might escape undefiled and not make the brother an enemy and foe to his brother, so as not to bring the whole race of a noble family into disgrace. So I decided to leave my country and city with my two twins until the incestuous love should subside, which perhaps my presence was fostering and inflaming; the other son, I thought, should remain for his father's comfort.

“But so that this might be done, I invented a dream, as if some divinity stood by me in a vision and told me to leave the city at once with my twins and stay away until he himself told me to return; and that if I did not do so, I would perish together with all my children. And so it was done. For as soon as I told the dream to my husband, he was alarmed, and, joining to me the two sons, with male and female slaves, and giving abundant money, he ordered me to sail to Athens, where I could also educate the children—‘to stay there,’ he said, ‘until it seems good to him who ordered you to leave that you should return to us.’ Meanwhile, sailing with my children, I was driven, unhappy woman, to these places by the violence of the winds in a shipwreck by night; and when all had perished, a stronger wave seized me, cruelly preserved, and threw me on a rock. Sitting there, only in the hope that I might perhaps find my children, I did not throw myself into the deep—then, when my soul, still distraught and drunk with griefs, both dared and was able to do it.

“But when day had risen, and I, with cries and wailing, was looking around for my unhappy children, to see whether I could at least see their bodies cast ashore, some of those who had seen me were moved by pity and searched first over the sea and then along the shores, in case they might find any of my children. But when none was found anywhere, the women of the place, pitying me, began to comfort me, each telling her own miseries, so that I might take comfort from the likeness of calamities. This saddened me the more, for I was not of such a disposition as to count the evils of others a comfort for my own. And when many wished to receive me as a guest, one poor woman who lives here prevailed on me to come into her hut, saying that she had had a husband, a sailor, who died young at sea, and that from that day, though many wished to take her in marriage, widowhood had been dearer to her out of love for her husband. ‘So,’ she said, ‘whatever we can earn by working with our hands shall be common to us.’

“And not to use a long and unprofitable story, I gladly lived with her because of the faithful affection she had kept for her husband. But not long after, my hands, unhappy as I am, long torn by biting, became powerless; and she who had taken me in fell into paralysis and lies in bed at home. The affection of those women who had pitied me before has grown cold. We are both helpless; I, as you see, sit begging alms, and whatever I happen to get becomes the one meal of two unhappy women. See, you have now heard enough of my affairs; why do you delay to fulfill what you promised, and to give a remedy by which each of us may end her miserable life without torment, as you say?”

While she was saying this, Peter, distracted by much thought, stood as if thunderstruck. And I, Clement, coming up, said: “I have long been running everywhere looking for you; and now what are we to do?” He told me to go ahead to the boat. “Wait for me there,” he said. And because he could not be contradicted, I did what he ordered. But he, as he afterwards told me everything, struck by a certain suspicion, asked the woman her family and country and the names of her sons. “If you tell me these,” he said, “I will give you the remedy at once.” She, as though under compulsion—because she did not want to confess these things and yet desired the remedy—invented one thing after another, and said that she was an Ephesian and her husband a Sicilian, and likewise changed the names of her sons. Then Peter, thinking she had answered truly, said: “Alas, woman! I thought some great joy would arise for us today; for I suspected you were a certain woman about whom I recently learned some similar things on good faith.” But she adjured him, saying: “I beg you to tell me who she is, so that I may know whether there is any woman more unhappy than I.”

Then Peter, who did not know how to deceive, and moved by pity, began to say: “There is a certain young man among those who follow me for the sake of religion and of the way, a Roman citizen, who told me that he had a father and two twin brothers, of whom none is left to him. ‘My mother,’ he said, ‘as I learned from my father, saw a dream that she should leave the city of Rome for a time with her two twin children, lest they perish by a deadly destruction; and when she had left, she never appeared again anywhere on earth. And my father, after this, set out to search for his wife and sons, and he too is not found.’”

When Peter had said this, the woman, struck with amazement, collapsed. Peter began to hold her and comfort her, and to ask what was the matter or what she was suffering. Scarcely at last recovering her breath, and gathering herself for the greatness of the joy she hoped for, and at the same time rubbing her face, she said: “Where is this young man you speak of?” When Peter understood the matter, he said: “You tell me first; otherwise you cannot see him.” Then she said: “I am the young man's mother.” Peter said: “What is his name?” She said: “Clement.” Peter said: “It is he, and he it was who was speaking with me a little while ago, and whom I told to go ahead to the ship.” Then she fell at Peter's feet and began to beg him to hurry to the ship. Peter said: “If you will keep faith with me and do what I say.” She said: “I will do everything; only show me my only son, for I think that through him I shall see my twins too.” Peter said: “When you see him, just conceal it a little meanwhile, until we have left the island.” “I will do so,” she said.

Holding her hand, Peter led her to the ship. When I saw him giving his hand to a woman, I began to laugh; yet, coming up out of respect for him, I wanted to put my hand under hers in his place and support the woman. But as soon as I touched her hand, she gave a great cry, rushed into my arms, and began to cover me with a mother's kisses. I, knowing nothing of the whole affair, pushed her away as a madwoman, and at the same time, though with respect, I was somewhat indignant with Peter.

But he said: “Stop! What are you doing, my son Clement? Do not push away your mother.” When I heard this, at once bathed in tears I fell upon my mother lying there and began to kiss her. For as soon as I heard it, I gradually recalled her face to memory, and the more I looked, the more familiar it became to me. Meanwhile a very great crowd gathered, hearing that the woman who used to sit begging alms had been recognized by her son, a good man. And when we wished to sail at once from the island, my mother said to me: “Sweetest son, it is right that I say farewell to the poor woman who took me in; for she is needy and paralyzed, lying in her bed.” When Peter and all who were present heard this, they admired the goodness and prudence of the woman, and Peter at once ordered some to go and bring the woman on the bed where she lay. When she had been brought and placed in the middle of the crowd standing by, Peter said in the sight of all: “If I am a herald of the truth, to confirm the faith of all these who stand by, so that they may know and believe that there is one God who made heaven and earth, in the name of Jesus Christ his Son let this woman rise.” As soon as he had said this, she rose healed and fell at Peter's feet; and, kissing her friend and companion, she asked her what all this meant. She briefly told her the whole course of the recognition, so that the crowds standing by also marveled.

Then Peter, having spoken to the crowds about faith in God and the institutions of religion, as far as it concerned him and as much as time allowed, added this as well: if anyone wished to know these things more thoroughly, let him come to Antioch, “where,” he said, “we have decided to stay three months and teach what pertains to salvation. For if men leave their country and parents for the sake of trade or military service, and do not fear to undertake long journeys abroad, why should it seem burdensome and difficult to go abroad for at least three months for eternal life?” When he had said this and other things like it, I gave a thousand drachmas to the woman who had taken in my mother and had received health through Peter, and in the presence of all I commended her to a good man, a leading citizen of that town, who promised that he would gladly do what we asked. I also distributed some money to certain others, and to those women who were said to have once comforted my mother in her miseries, and I thanked them. After this we sailed with my mother to Antaradus.

When we had come to the lodging, my mother began to ask me what had become of my father. I said to her: “He set out to look for you and never came back.” When she heard this she only sighed; for having great joy on my account, she consoled her other griefs. On the following day she travelled with us, sitting together with Peter's wife, and we came to Balaneae, where we stayed three days; from there we went to Paltus, and after that to Gabala, and so we reached Laodicea. Before the gates Niceta and Aquila met us, kissed us, and took us to the lodging. Peter, seeing the large and splendid city, said: “It is worthwhile for us to stay in it ten days or even more.” Then Niceta and Aquila asked me who this unknown woman was. I answered: “She is my mother, whom God has given back to me through my lord Peter.”

When I had said this, Peter began to explain everything to them in order, and said: “When we had come to Aradus and I had told you to go ahead, after you left, that same day, when an occasion for conversation arose, Clement told me his family and household: that he had been bereaved of his parents and had had two twin brothers older than himself. ‘And as my father told me,’ he said, ‘my mother once saw a dream in which she was ordered to leave the city of Rome with her twins, lest they suddenly perish together. When she told the dream to my father, he, who loved his sons with tender affection, so that they might not suffer some harm, put his wife and sons on a ship with all necessities and sent them to Athens to be educated. After this he sent once and again to inquire, and found not even a trace of her anywhere. At last my father himself set out to search, and up to the present he too is nowhere.’ When Clement had told me this, someone came to us asking us to go to the nearby island of Aradus to see vine-wood columns of wonderful size. I agreed; we came to the place; all the others went into the inner part of the temple, but I, for some reason I do not know, had no wish to go further in.

“But while I waited for them outside, I began to observe this woman, in what part of her limbs she was disabled, that she did not seek a living by the labor of her hands but submitted to the shame of begging. So I asked her the reasons. She confessed that she was born of a noble family and joined in marriage to a husband no less noble, ‘whose brother,’ she said, ‘inflamed with unlawful love for me, wished to defile his brother's bed. I abhorred this, and yet did not dare to reveal so great a crime to my husband, lest I should bring war upon the brothers and disgrace upon the family; so I judged it better to leave my country with my two twin sons, leaving the younger boy to comfort his father. And so that this might be done with an honorable appearance,’ she said, ‘I thought of inventing a dream and telling my husband that some divinity had stood by me in a vision and told me to leave the city at once with my two twins until I should hear from him when I ought to return.’ She said that when her husband heard this he believed it and sent her with the twins to Athens to have them educated there; but they had been driven by a severe storm to this island, where, the ship being broken up, she was cast by a wave onto a rock, and she had put off death only ‘until,’ she said, ‘I might embrace at least the dead limbs of my unhappy children and commit them to burial. But when day had risen and crowds had gathered, moved by pity they threw me a garment. And I, unhappy, with many tears begged them to search, in case they could find the little bodies of my unhappy children anywhere. And tearing my whole body with my teeth, with laments and wailings I cried out nothing else but: Where is my Faustus, unhappy woman that I am? Where is Faustinus?’”

While Peter was saying this, Niceta and Aquila suddenly stood up and, astounded, began to be agitated, saying: “Lord and Ruler, God of all, are these things true, or is what is happening a dream?” Then Peter said: “Unless we are mad, these things are true.” After a short pause, rubbing their faces, they said: “We are Faustinus and Faustus. From the beginning, when you began to tell the story, we at once suspected that what was being said might concern us; yet again, considering that many similar things happen in men's lives, we kept silent, though our heart was beating with some hope. So we were waiting for the end of the story, so that if it were clearly established that it was wholly about us, we might then declare it.” When they had said this, they went in weeping to their mother. When they found her asleep and wanted to embrace her, Peter prevented them, saying: “Let me first prepare your mother's mind and so present you to her, lest by great and sudden joy she lose her mind and her senses be disturbed, especially since she is now still dazed with sleep.”

So when the mother rose from sleep, Peter began to speak to her, saying: “I want you to know, woman, the observance of our religion. We worship one God, who made the world, and we keep his law, which commands first of all that he be worshiped and his name venerated, parents honored, and chastity and justice kept. We also observe this: not to share a table with Gentiles unless they have believed and, having received the truth, have been baptized and consecrated by a certain threefold invocation of the blessed name; and then we take food with them. Otherwise, even if they are father or mother, or wife or children or brothers, we cannot share a table with them. Since, then, we do this chiefly for the sake of religion, do not think it an injury that your son cannot take food with you until you hold the same conviction of faith as he.”

When she heard this, she said: “And what prevents me from being baptized today? Even before I saw you, I had wholly turned away from those they call gods, because, though I sacrificed to them often and almost daily, they could do nothing for me. And what shall I say of chastity? Neither did luxuries deceive me then, nor has poverty compelled me to sin now. I think you have been sufficiently informed how great my love of chastity has been from the start, since, to escape the snares of unlawful love, I invented a dream so as to go abroad with my two twins, and left this my only son Clement to comfort his father. For if two were scarcely enough for me, how much more would it have saddened his father if he had had none at all? For the poor man had great affection for his sons, so that the authority of the dream scarcely wrung from him the concession of Faustinus and Faustus, the brothers of this Clement, to me, while he himself was content with Clement alone.”

As she was saying this, my brothers, unable to bear it any longer, rushed into their mother's embrace with many tears and kissed her. She said: “What does this mean?” Then Peter said: “Do not be troubled, woman; be steady. These are Faustinus and Faustus, your sons, whom you said had perished in the deep. How they are alive, and how they escaped from the deep on that dreadful night, and how one of them is called Niceta and the other Aquila, they themselves will be able to tell you, and we too will hear it together with you.” When Peter said this, the mother, overcome by excessive joy, collapsed; and when at last she had recovered and come to herself, she said: “I beg you, my sweetest sons, tell me what happened to you after that deadly and most cruel night.”

Then Niceta began to say: “On that night, mother, when the ship had broken up and we, clinging to a piece of the planks, were being tossed about the sea, some men whose trade is robbery on the deep found us and put us in their boat; and overcoming the eddies of the waves with their oars, they brought us by various routes to Caesarea Stratonis. There they afflicted us with hunger, beatings, and fear, so that we would not betray the truth, and changing our names they sold us to a widow, a very honorable woman named Justa. When she had bought us, she held us in the place of sons, so that she even educated us most attentively in Greek letters and the liberal arts. When we grew up we also devoted ourselves to the studies of the philosophers, so that by philosophical disputations we might refute the Gentiles while asserting the doctrines of the divine religion.

“We attached ourselves to a certain Simon, a magician, who was brought up with us, out of friendship and childhood companionship, so that we were almost deceived by him. For there is a report in our religion about a certain prophet, whose coming was hoped for by all who serve this religion, through whom immortal and blessed life is promised to be given to believers. We thought, then, that this was Simon. But these things will be explained to you, mother, more fittingly later. Meanwhile, when we were almost deceived by Simon, a colleague of my lord Peter, named Zacchaeus, warned us not to be misled by the magician, and presented us to Peter when he arrived, so that we might be taught by him what was sound and perfect. We wish this to happen to you too, as God has granted it to us, so that we may also share food and table. This, then, is why you, mother, believed that we who had been carried off by pirates had died in the sea.”

When Niceta had said this, our mother fell at Peter's feet, asking and begging him to send for her hostess and herself without delay and baptize them, “so that,” she said, “I may not suffer the loss of the companionship and fellowship of my children even for one day.” Likewise we her sons also asked Peter. But he said: “What do you think—that I alone am unmerciful and do not want you to share a meal with your mother? But she must first fast at least one day and so be baptized. And this is because I heard a certain word from her by which her faith became clear to me and which gave evidence of her belief; otherwise she would have had to be instructed and taught for many days beforehand.”

I said: “I beg you, my lord Peter, tell me what this word is that you say has given you evidence of her faith.” Peter said: “It is the word by which she asked that her hostess too, whose kindnesses she desires to repay, be baptized together with her. She would not ask that this grace be given to one she loves unless she believed that there is some great gift in baptism. Hence I also blame very many who, though they themselves are baptized and believe, yet do nothing worthy of faith toward those they love—that is, wives or children or friends—whom they do not urge to what they themselves have obtained, if indeed they truly believe that eternal life is given through it. For if they see them sick or exposed to some bodily danger, they grieve and mourn, because in this they are sure that ruin threatens them. So, if they were also sure of this, that the punishment of eternal fire awaits those who do not worship God, when would they stop warning and exhorting? Or if they resisted, how would they not mourn and lament them, being sure that punishments threaten them? Now, then, we will send for that woman afterward and see whether she loves the faith of our religion, and we will act as follows from that. But this woman, since she has thought faithfully about baptism, let her fast at least one day before baptism.”

But she gave assurance with an oath, in the presence of the wife of my lord Peter, that from the time she recognized her son she had been wholly unable to take food for great joy, except that yesterday she had drunk only a cup of water. Peter's wife also testified, saying that it was so. Aquila said: “What then prevents her from being baptized?” Then Peter, smiling, said: “But this is not a fast of baptism, since it was not fasted for the sake of baptism.” Niceta said: “But perhaps God, not wishing our mother to be separated from the fellowship of our table even for one day after recognizing us, preordained this, that she should fast beforehand. For as she kept chastity in ignorance so that it might profit her for the grace of baptism, so she fasted before she knew the reason for fasting, so that it might profit her for baptism, and she might enjoy fellowship at table with us from the very beginning of our recognition.”

Then Peter said: “Let not the evil one overcome us, seizing the occasion through affection for your mother; rather, let you and I with you fast today along with her, and tomorrow she will be baptized. For it is not right that the precepts of truth be relaxed and weakened for the sake of anyone's person and friendship. So let us not be reluctant to labor more with her, because to pass over any commandment is sin. Let us teach our bodily senses, which are outward, to serve the inward senses, and not compel the inward senses, which savor the things of God, to follow the outward ones, which savor the things of the flesh. For this reason the Lord also gave a commandment, saying: ‘Whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’ And to this he added: ‘If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is better for you that one of your members perish than that your whole body be thrown into the gehenna of fire.’ He did not say ‘has caused you to stumble,’ as though you should cast away the cause of sin after you have sinned, but ‘if it causes you to stumble,’ that is, so that before you sin you may cut off the cause of the sin that provokes and incites you. But let none of you think, brothers, that the Lord commanded the cutting off of members. He wishes the purpose to be cut off, not the members—and the causes that entice to sin—so that our thought, carried on the vehicle of sight, may strive toward the love of God, unseen by the bodily senses, and may not slacken the reins and give free rein to the carnal eyes, like wanton horses eager to turn the chariot aside from the way of the commandments; but may call back the sight of the body to the judgment of the mind, and not allow our eyes, which God willed to be the observers and witnesses of his work, to become the panders of evil desire. And so let both the bodily senses and the inner thought yield to the law of God, and serve the will of him whose work they understand themselves to be.”

So, as the order and reason of the mystery required, on the following day she was baptized in the sea, and, returning to the lodging, she was instructed in turn in all the mysteries of religion. We her sons were present, Niceta and Aquila and I, Clement. After this we dined with her and together glorified God, giving thanks for the zeal and teaching of Peter, who showed us, on the occasion of our mother, how the good of chastity does not perish before God; “just as, on the contrary,” he said, “unchastity, even if not at once, nevertheless, though late, does not escape punishment. So pleasing to God,” he said, “is chastity, that it confers some grace in the present life even on those who are in error. For future blessedness is reserved only for those who through the grace of baptism have kept chastity and justice. Indeed what was done for your mother is an example of this: all this salvation has been restored to her as the reward of chastity. To guard and preserve it, continence alone is not enough; but when someone perceives that snares and deception are being prepared, let him flee at once as from the onrush of fire or the attack of a mad dog, and not trust that anyone can easily restrain snares of this kind by philosophizing or by coaxing. Rather, as I said, one must flee and go far away, as your mother did, truly and wholly loving the good of chastity. For this reason she was preserved for you and you for her, and besides she has been given the knowledge of eternal life.” When he had said these and many other similar things, evening came and we rested.

On the next day, early in the morning, Peter took my brothers and me and went down to the harbor so that we might bathe in the sea, and after this we withdrew to a more secluded place to pray. A certain poor old man, a workman as appeared from his dress, began to watch us curiously from hiding, to see what we were doing in that secluded place. When he had seen us praying, he waited until we came out, and greeting us said: “If you do not take it ill and do not mark me as inquisitive or intrusive, I should like to have a word with you. For I pity you, and would not want you to go astray under the appearance of truth and to be afraid of things that do not exist; or if you think there is something true in them, pass it on to me as well. If, then, you will take it patiently, I can teach you in a few words what is right; but if it is troublesome, I will go on and do my own business.” Peter answered him: “Come, say what seems good to you, and we will gladly receive it, whether it is true or false. For you are to be embraced, because, like a father anxious for his sons, you have wished to warn us of what seems good to you.”

Then the old man began to say: “I saw you bathing in the sea, and after that withdrawing to a secluded place. So, watching from hiding what you were doing in secret, I saw you praying. Pitying your error, I began to wait until I could speak to you when you came out and teach you not to go astray in an observance of this kind. For there is neither God nor any worship, nor providence in the world, but chance and birth-fate do everything, as I have found out most clearly from my own case, being trained above others in the discipline of astrology. Do not go astray, then; for whether you pray or do not pray, what your birth-fate holds, this will happen to you.” And I, Clement, was somehow stirred in heart, recalling many things in him as if familiar to me. For someone has well said that what is born of another, even if it has been away for a long time, yet the spark of kinship is never extinguished. So I began to ask him who he was and where he came from, or how he was born. But he, unwilling to answer this, said: “What has this to do with what I said to you? But first, if you please, let us have the discussion on what we proposed; and after that, if the matter requires, we can disclose to one another as friends to friends our name and family and country and the rest that follows.” Yet we all admired the man's eloquence, and the gravity of his bearing and the calmness of his speech.

Peter, walking slowly as we talked, looked out for a suitable place for conversation. When he had found a secluded recess near the harbor, he had us sit down, and so he himself began first; nor did he treat the old man with contempt or look down on him because his clothing was cheap and dirty. He said: “Since you seem to me to be a learned man and a kind one, in that you came to us and did not want to hide from us what seemed good to you, we too wish to set out for you what we believe good and right. If it seems to you less true, accept our good intention toward you gladly, as we accept yours.” While Peter was saying this, a very great crowd gathered. Then the old man said: “Perhaps the presence of the crowd troubles you.” Peter said: “Not at all, except that I fear this alone: that perhaps, when in our discussion the truth has been made plain, you may feel ashamed, because of the presence of the crowd, to yield and assent to what you have understood to be said truly.” To this the old man said: “I have not grown old so foolish as to refuse what I understand to be true for the sake of popular favor.”

So Peter began to say: “Those who speak the word of truth and enlighten the souls of men seem to me like the rays of the sun, which, once they have gone forth and appeared to the world, can no longer be concealed or hidden in any way, since they are not so much seen by men as they enable all to see. Hence it was well said by someone to the heralds of truth: ‘You are the light of the world, and a city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor do they light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a lampstand, so that it may give light to all who are in the house.’” The old man said: “Whoever he is, he spoke very well. But let one of you set out what he thinks must be followed, so that we may direct our speeches toward a definite goal. For to find the truth it is not enough to destroy what is said on the other side; one must also bring forward oneself something that the opponent can attack. So that the contest of the parties may be equal, it seems right to me that each of us first state what he defends; and, if you please, I will begin first. I say that the world is not governed according to the providence of God, because we see many things done in it unjustly and without order; but I say it is birth-fate that does and holds all things.”

When Peter wished to answer this, Niceta forestalled him and said: “Let my lord Peter allow me to answer this, and let it not seem impudent that I, a young man, should have a contest with an old one; rather, let me converse as a son with a father.” The old man said: “Not only do I wish you, my son, to pursue what you think, but also if any of your companions, or any of the bystanders, seems to know something, let him bring it forward without hesitation; we will gladly receive it. For the comparing of many views will more easily find what is not known.” Then Niceta answered: “Do not think, father, that I acted rashly in putting myself into the discourse of my lord Peter; rather I thought I was doing this out of respect for him. For he is a man of God, full of all knowledge, from whom not even Greek learning is hidden, because he is filled with the Spirit of God, from whom nothing is hidden. But since it befits him to speak of heavenly things, I will answer concerning those that belong to the talkativeness of the Greeks. Afterwards, when we have disputed in the manner of the Greeks and have come to the point where no way out appears, then he, as one filled with the knowledge of God, will openly and clearly disclose to us the truth of all things, so that not only we but all the hearers who are present may recognize the way of truth. And so let him now sit as arbiter, so that when one of us gives way, he may then take it up and pronounce an undoubted verdict.”

When Niceta had said this, those who had gathered said among themselves: “Is this the Peter we used to hear of, the most approved disciple of him who appeared in Judea and did very many signs and mighty works?” And gazing at him they stood with fear and great veneration, like good servants paying honor to their master. When Peter perceived this, he said to them: “Let us listen more attentively, keeping a right judgment about what will be said by each; and after their contest, we too will add what seems necessary.” When Peter had said this, the crowds rejoiced. Niceta began to speak in this way: “You have defined, father, that the world is not ruled by the providence of God, but that all things are subject to birth-fate, whether those that pertain to each one's character or those that pertain to his deeds. I could have answered this at once; but since it is right to keep order, let us also define what we hold, as you yourself asked to be done. I say that the world is governed by the providence of God, at least in those things that need his government. For there is one who holds all things, who also made the world, the just God, who will one day render to each according to his deeds. See, you have our definition too. Now pursue what you wish, either destroying mine or asserting yours, so that I may meet what you set forth. Or if you wish me to speak first, I will not delay.”

The old man answered: “Whether you prefer to speak first, my son, or prefer that I should speak, makes no difference, especially among those who dispute with good will. But you speak first; I accept it gladly. And I wish you could also set out what I am to say, and object to it what is contrary, and show the truth from the comparison of both.” Niceta answered: “If you wish, I can also state your side and answer it.” The old man said: “Show me first how you can know what I have not yet said, and then I will believe you that you can set out my side.” Niceta said: “Your school and the view you have defined are plain to those who are trained in disciplines of this kind, and its consequences are certain. And since I am not ignorant of what the definitions of the philosophers are, from what you have proposed I recognize what follows; especially since, more than the other philosophers, I attended the schools of Epicurus. My brother Aquila followed the Pyrrhonists more, and our other brother the Platonists and Aristotelians; so you are speaking with educated hearers.” Then the old man said: “You have shown well and logically how you would notice from the definitions proposed what follows from them. But I have professed something more than Epicurus holds, for I have introduced birth-fate and made it the cause of all men's deeds.”

When the old man had said this, I, Clement, said to him: “Listen, father: if my brother Niceta wins against you that the world is not run without the providence of God, I shall be able to answer you on the part that remains, about birth-fate; for I have knowledge of this science.” When I had said this, my brother Aquila said: “What need is there for us to call him father, when we have it among the commandments to call no one on earth father?” And after this, looking at the old man, he said: “Do not take it as an insult, father, that I blamed my brother for calling you father; for we have such a commandment, not to call anyone by that name.” When Aquila had said this, the whole company of bystanders laughed, together with the old man and Peter. When Aquila asked why everyone had laughed, I said to him: “Because you yourself are doing what you blame others for, since you have called the old man father.” But he denied it, saying: “Truly I do not know whether I called him father.” Meanwhile Peter was stirred by certain suspicions, as he himself told us afterwards; and looking at Niceta he said: “Carry out what you proposed.”

Then Niceta began in this way: “Everything that exists is either simple or composite. What is simple lacks number, division, color, difference, roughness, smoothness, weight, lightness, quality, quantity, and therefore also limit. What is composite is composed of two or three or even four things, or certainly of more; and what is composed can necessarily also be divided.” Hearing this, the old man said: “You speak excellently and most learnedly, my son.” Niceta said: “So that which is simple, and lacks all these things by which what subsists can be dissolved, is without doubt incomprehensible and immeasurable, knowing neither any beginning nor end; and therefore it is one and alone, and subsists without an author. But what is composite, and subject to number and diversity and division, has necessarily been composed by some author, and diversity gathered into one form. That which is immeasurable, then, is father in goodness, founder in power. Neither could the power of founding cease in the immeasurable one, nor his goodness be idle; but he is moved by goodness to bring into being the things that are, and by power to compose and establish them. So some things are brought into being and composed, as we said, of two or of three, some of four, others of more. But since we are now inquiring about the plan of the world and its substance, which is agreed to be composed of four elements, to which all those ten differences we listed above belong, we will begin from these lower steps and come to the higher. For a way to the intellectual and invisible things is given us from those we see and handle, as is contained in the arithmetical disciplines, where, when divine things are inquired into, one ascends from lower to higher numbers, but when the account of present and visible things is set out, the order is directed from higher to lower numbers. Or is it not so?”

The old man said: “You are proceeding very well.” Niceta said: “Now, then, we must proceed to the plan of the world, the first question about which is divided into two parts. For it is asked whether it was made or not. If it was not made, it will itself be that unbegotten from which all things come. But if it was made, the question about it is again split into two parts: whether it was made of itself or by another. If of itself, Providence is without doubt excluded. If Providence is not accepted, the soul is urged to virtue in vain, justice is kept in vain, since there is no one to repay the just one day according to his merits. Nor will the soul itself seem immortal, if after its release from the body no dispensation of providence receives it.

“Now if it is shown that there is Providence, and that the world was made through it, other questions to be discussed arise again. For it will be asked how Providence exists: whether generally over all things, or specially over parts, or generally over parts, or both generally over all and specially over parts. It is understood as general in this way: as if God, making the world in the beginning, gave things their order and fixed their course, and thereafter ceased to care for what happens. It is special over parts in this way: that he exercises providence over some men or places but not over others. And it is at once general over all and special over parts in this way: as if God both made all things in the beginning and exercises providence over each one until the end, and renders to each according to his acts.

“That first proposition, then, which says that God made all things in the beginning and, having imposed a course and order on things, calls nothing back to himself thereafter, confirms that all things are done according to birth-fate. We shall answer this first, and especially those who worship the gods and defend birth-fate. When they sacrifice to the gods and entreat them, they certainly hope to obtain something against birth-fate, and by this they undo birth-fate. But when they laugh at those who urge to virtue and exhort to self-control, and say that no one can do or suffer anything except what has been decreed for him by fate, they surely cut away all worship of divinity. For why should you worship those from whom you can obtain nothing that the logic of the decree does not permit? So much meanwhile against them. But I say that the world was made by God and will one day be dissolved by him, so that that world may appear which is eternal and was made for this, that it may exist forever and receive those who are worthy of it by the judgment of God. And that there is another invisible world which contains this visible one within itself, we shall come to that also after we have discussed the visible world.

“Now meanwhile, that this visible world was made, very many wise men among the philosophers also testify. But so that we may not seem, as if lacking proofs, to have wished to use witnesses, let us, if you please, inquire about its first principles. That this visible world is bodily is sufficiently clear from the very fact that it is visible. Every body admits two distinctions: either it is joined and solid, or divided and separated. If the body from which the world was made was joined and solid, and that body was parted and divided into various forms and parts according to its differences, it must be understood that there was someone who separated the body that was joined and solid and drew it out into many parts and various forms. Or if this whole mass of the world was composed and fitted together from various and scattered parts of bodies, it must equally be understood that there was someone who gathered the scattered parts into one and clothed things with various forms.

“And I know that most of the philosophers held rather this: that God the founder made divisions and distinctions out of one body, which they call matter, which nevertheless consisted of four simple elements mixed into one by a certain tempering of divine Providence. For I think it was said superfluously by some that the body of the world is simple, that is, without any combination, since it is clear that what is simple cannot be a body, nor be mixed or propagated or dissolved—all of which we certainly see happening to the bodies of the world. For how would it be dissolved if it were simple and had nothing within it by which it could be resolved and divided? But if bodies are seen to consist of two or three or even four things, to whom with even a little sense is it not plain that there was someone who gathered many into one and, keeping the moderation of the tempering, made a solid body out of various parts? This one, then, we call God the founder of the world; this one we acknowledge as the author of the universe.

“For the philosophers of the Greeks, inquiring about the first principles of the world, went each his own way. Pythagoras says that numbers are the elements of the first principles; Callistratus, qualities; Alcmaeon, contrarieties; Anaximander, the boundless; Anaxagoras, equality of parts; Epicurus, atoms; Diodorus, partless things, that is, things in which there are no parts; Asclepiades, onkoi, which we may call swellings or masses; the geometers, lines; Democritus, ideas; Thales, water; Heraclitus, fire; Diogenes, air; Parmenides, earth; Zeno, Empedocles, and Plato, fire, water, air, and earth. Aristotle also introduces a fifth element, which he called akatonomaston, that is, ‘unnameable’—without doubt indicating him who made the world by joining the four elements into one. Whether, then, there are two or three or four or even more or innumerable things from which the world consists, in every case God is shown to be the one who gathered many into one and again led what was gathered into various forms; and it is proved by this that the fabric of the world could not have existed without a maker and provider.

“And by the very fact that, in the combination of the elements, when one is lacking or in excess the rest are dissolved and collapse, it is shown that they received their beginning from nothing. For example, if moisture is lacking in anything, the dry will not stand either; for the dry is nourished by moisture, as cold is by heat; and in these, as we said, if one is lacking, all are wholly dissolved, and in this the signs of their origin, by which they were made from nothing, are betrayed. And if matter itself is proved to have been made, how will its parts and forms, of which the world consists, seem unmade? But this is not the place to speak of matter and qualities; let it suffice to have shown only this, that God is the founder of all things, because neither, if the body from which the world consists was solid and joined, could it have been separated and distinguished without a founder, nor, if it was collected into one from various and distinct parts, could it have been gathered and mixed without a craftsman. If, then, God is shown so plainly to be the founder of the world, what room will there be for Epicurus to introduce atoms, and to assert that from insensible particles not only sensible bodies but intellectual and rational minds come into being?”

“But you will say, as Epicurus held: ‘Solid bodies are produced by the joinings of atoms coming in an unceasing stream, mingling through immense and endless ages and gathering into one mass.’ I do not go on to call this a fabulous and foolishly composed thing; let us rather see whether what is said, such as it is, can stand. For they say that these very particles which they call atoms are of different qualities: some moist and therefore heavy and tending downward; others dry and earthy, and therefore also heavy; others fiery and therefore always striving upward; and others cold and therefore sluggish and always in the middle. How then, since some always tend upward, being fiery, and others always downward, being moist and dry, while others are in the middle and do not move with equal course, could they come together and make one body? For if someone threw down from a height, for example, very fine chaff and particles of very fine lead of the same size, could the light chaff overtake the particles of lead, though they are equal in size? The heavier reach the bottom far more swiftly. So too the atoms, even if they are equal in size, yet being unequal in weight, the light ones will never be able to overtake the heavier; and if they cannot overtake them, without doubt they can neither be mixed nor make a body.

“Then again, if they are borne along unceasingly and always keep coming and are added to things whose measure is already complete, how can the universe stand, when new weights are always heaped on such immense weights? And I ask this too: if this circuit of heaven that we see was built up by particles gradually coming together, how did it not collapse at once as it rose, since the top of its gaping structure was held together by no supports? For as those who build the domes of buildings in a circle find that, unless they bind together the closing of the central crown, the whole falls apart at once, so too the circle of the world, which we see gathered in so beautiful a form—if it was not made suddenly and at once by the turning of divine power, by the might of the founder, but by atoms gradually running together and building, not as reason required but as chance fell out—how did it not slip apart and dissolve before it could be gathered and closed? I ask this too: what is the support on which the foundations of so immense a mass have been laid? And again, on what does that very support you name rest? And that other, on what? And I will go on asking until the answer comes to nothing and emptiness.

“And if someone should say that atoms of fiery quality joined together made one body, and that, since the quality of fire tends not downward but upward, the nature of fire, always striving upward, bears up the mass of the world placed on it, we will answer this: how could atoms of fiery quality, which always strive upward, descend downward and be found in the depth, in a place sunk beneath all things? For certainly the heavier ones, that is, the earthy or moist qualities, outrun the lighter, as we said. Hence they assert that the heaven too, as the structure of the upper regions, was built of fiery atoms, which are lighter and always flee upward. So the world can have no foundations of fire or of anything else, nor can there be any fellowship or fitting together of heavier atoms with lighter, that is, of those that always plunge downward with those that always flee upward. That it is impossible, then, for the bodies of the world to be made solid from the joining of atoms has been sufficiently said; and also that insensible bodies, even if they could by any means have come together and been joined, could not give forms and measures to bodies, shape limbs, produce qualities, or express quantities—all of which, by their harmony, testify to the hand of a craftsman and show the work of reason; and that reason I call the Word and God.”

“But someone will say that these things are done by nature. Then this is a dispute about a name. For since it is agreed that this is the work of mind and reason, what you call nature I call God the founder. It is agreed that neither the forms of bodies, established with such necessary distinctions, nor the senses of souls could have been, or can be, produced by an irrational work that lacks sense. And if the philosophers seem suitable witnesses to you, Plato testifies about these things in the Timaeus, where, discussing the making of the world, he asks whether it always existed or took a beginning, and declares that it was made: ‘For it is visible,’ he says, ‘and tangible and bodily; and all such things are agreed to have been made; and what has been made has without doubt some author by whom it was made. This maker and parent of all things,’ he says, ‘is both hard to find, and, when found, impossible to declare to the many.’ This Plato says. But even if he and the other philosophers of the Greeks had chosen to be silent about the making of the world, would it not be plain to all who have understanding? For who is the man of even slight sense who, seeing a house that has everything necessary for use, whose vault he sees gathered into the round of a sphere, painted with varied splendor and various images, and adorned with special and very great lights—who, I ask, seeing such a building, would not at once declare that it was built by a most wise and powerful craftsman? And who will be found so foolish that, when he looks on the work of heaven and sees the splendor of the sun and moon, and sees the courses and forms and paths of the stars fixed by sure reasons and times, he would not cry out that these were made not so much by a wise and rational craftsman as by wisdom and reason itself?

“And if you wish to hear it according to other philosophers of the Greeks, and are trained in the mechanical disciplines, what is taught about the heavens is surely not unknown to you. For they posit a sphere gathered equally on every side and facing all parts alike, standing at equal distances from the center of the earth, and so stable by its very equality that the equality gathered on all sides allows it to incline in no direction; and so the sphere is sustained, borne up by no prop. If the fabric of the world truly has this form, the divine work in it is evident. But if, as others have held, the sphere is set on waters and either borne on them or revolves in them, even so the work of a great craftsman is declared in it.

“But so that the assertion may not seem uncertain because it concerns things not plain to all, let us come to what is hidden from no one. Who arranged the courses of the stars with such reason, established their risings and settings, and gave each to keep its circuit of heaven in fixed and measured times? Who permitted some always to tend toward the west, and others to return to the east as well? Who set a limit to the courses of the sun, so that by its various movements it marks hours and days and months and the changes of the seasons, and now winter, then spring, summer, and afterwards autumn, it distinguishes by the fixed measure of its course, and always binds the circle of the year in the same turns with unconfused variety? Who, I say, would not declare that the governess of so great an order is the very wisdom of God? Let these things be said by us according to what the Greeks teach in the disciplines concerning the heavens.

“And what of the things we see on land or in the sea? Are we not plainly taught that there is in them not only the work of God but also his providence? For high mountains are placed in certain fixed places on the earth, so that the air, as if compressed and constricted by them, is forced by God's ordering and pressed out into winds, from which the fruits conceive their growth and the summer heat is tempered when the Pleiades glow with the fiery heats of the sun. But you will say: ‘Why the heat of the sun at all, that tempering should be needed?’ And how would the crops necessary for human use ripen? Notice this too: toward the southern pole, where there is more heat, there is no great massing of clouds and no abundant supply of rains, lest disease arise among the inhabitants; for moist clouds, if cooked by fierce heat, make the air corrupt and pestilential. And the earth, receiving a hot rain, gives not nourishment but ruin to the crops. Who doubts that in this there is the work of divine Providence? Indeed Egypt, because it burns with the heats of neighboring Ethiopia, so as not to receive incurable corruptions of the air through the necessity of rains, has fields that receive not rain supplied by clouds but, in a way, an earthly rain from the flooding Nile.

“What shall we say of the springs and rivers that flow into the sea with perennial course? By divine Providence their abundant stream does not fail, nor does the sea, receiving such great quantities of waters, feel any increase; but both the elements that contribute and those that are brought together there continue in the same measure. But you say to me: ‘Salt water naturally consumes the fresh stream that is poured into it.’ Then in this too the work of Providence is plain, that it made salt that element into which it turned the course of all the waters it had provided for men's use, so that through such long ages the filled bed of the sea might not cause a ruinous flood for lands and men. Nor will anyone be so foolish as to think that so great a reason and so great a providence was arranged by irrational nature.

“And what shall I say of shrubs and of animals? Was it not done by providence that, when they were dissolved by old age, the shrubs should be renewed by the shoots or seeds they themselves produced, and the animals by offspring? And by a wonderful dispensation of Providence, milk is prepared in the udders for the animal about to be born, and as soon as it is born, with no one teaching it, it knows where to seek the storehouses of its nourishment. And not only males but also females are born, so that from both posterity may again exist. But so that these things might not seem, as men suppose, to be done by some order of nature and not by the dispensation of the Founder, he ordered a few kinds to keep their kind on earth with the order changed, as an indication and proof of his providence: for example, that the raven should conceive through its mouth and the weasel give birth through its ear; that some birds, such as the hen, should sometimes lay eggs conceived by wind or dust; that certain other animals should turn male into female by turns and change sex every year, such as hares and hyenas, which they call beasts; that others should spring from the earth and take their flesh from it, such as moles; others from ashes, such as vipers; others from rotting flesh—wasps from horses' and bees from cattle's; others from the dung of oxen, such as beetles; others from herbs, as the scorpion from basil; and again herbs from animals, as celery and asparagus from the horn of a stag or a goat.

“And what need is there to list more cases in which divine Providence, changing the order that is thought to be given by nature, willed the birth of animals to take place in many different ways, so that from them might be taught not an irrational course of things but its own dispensing reason? Or is not the work of divine Providence most fully shown in this too, that seeds cast into the earth and water are renewed for the life of men? When they have been committed to the earth, by the will of God the clod milks into the seeds, as from its breasts, the moisture it has received. For there is in the waters a certain power of spirit given by God from the beginning, by whose working the form of the future body begins to be shaped at once in the seed itself and is restored through stalk and ear. For when the grain of the seed is swollen by moisture, that power of spirit given to be in the waters, being incorporeal, runs through narrow channels of veins, rouses the seeds to growth, and shapes the forms of the growing things. So by the ministry of the moist element, in which that vital spirit is always implanted and inborn, it is brought about that not only is the seed renewed, but a form and shape in every way like the seeds that were cast returns. To whom with even a little sense will this reason seem to exist through irrational nature and not through divine wisdom? Indeed these things too are formed after the likeness of human birth; for the earth seems to hold the place of the womb, in which the seed cast is both formed and nourished through the power of water and spirit, as we said above.

“And in this too divine Providence is to be admired: that it makes us see and recognize what things come into being, but how and in what manner they come into being it has placed in secret and hidden, so that they may not lie open to the knowledge of the unworthy but may be disclosed to the worthy and faithful when they have deserved it. And so that we may prove by facts and examples that nothing at all is given to the seeds from the substance of the earth, but that the whole consists of the element of water and the power of the spirit that is in it: suppose, for example, that a hundred talents of earth are put into some very large vessel, and various kinds of seeds of vegetables or even shrubs are sown in it; let enough water be supplied to irrigate them, and let this care be kept up for many years; and let the seeds that are gathered—of wheat, for example, or barley and other kinds—be collected separately each year until the heap of each seed rises to the weight of a hundred talents; then let the trees too be pulled up by the roots and weighed; and when all these have been taken out of the vessel, let the earth be weighed: it will still give back its hundred talents intact. From where, then, shall we say that all that weight and all that quantity of various seeds and trees arose? Is it not plainly evident that it came from the waters? For the earth keeps what is its own intact, but the water poured in for each is nowhere at all, because of the mighty power of the divine creation, which through the one form of water both renews the substances of so many seeds and shrubs, shapes their forms, and preserves their kind with multiplied increase.

“From all this I think it is abundantly clear that all things are effected and the universe exists by a craftsman's intelligence and not by the work of irrational nature. But let us come further, if you please, to our own substance, that is, to man, who is a small world within another, and consider with how great reason he is composed; and from this especially you will understand the wisdom of the Founder. For though man consists of different substances, mortal and immortal, through the craftsmanlike providence of the Founder the diversity does not shun fellowship—and that of substances far removed from each other (foreign and different). For one is taken from the earth and formed by the Founder, the other is given from immortal substances; yet by such a union the honor of immortality is not impaired. Nor, as some think, (does the soul consist of a rational, a desiring, and an irascible part; rather, there seem to be in it certain) affections by which it can be moved to each of these. For the body, which consists of bones and flesh, takes its beginning from the seed of the man, which heat draws out from the marrow and deposits in the womb as in the earth; clinging to it and gradually watered from the fountain of blood, it is brought forth into flesh and bones and reshaped into the likeness of the author of the seed sown.

“And see in this the Craftsman's work: how he inserted the bones like columns by which the flesh might be supported and carried. Then an equal measure is kept on both sides, right and left, so that foot matches foot and hand hand, finger also finger, so that each corresponds to each in complete equality; and eye to eye and ear to ear, which are formed not only consonant and agreeing with each other but fit for necessary uses. The hands are formed to be convenient for work, the feet for walking, the eyes to serve sight, guarded by the sentinels of the eyebrows; the ears are so formed for hearing that, like a cymbal, they give back the sound of the word received more loudly and send it on to the perception of the heart. The tongue, striking against the teeth, performs the office of a plectrum for speaking. Of the teeth themselves, some cut and divide the food and pass it to the inner ones, and the inner ones grind and crush it like a mill, so that, passed to the stomach, it may be digested more suitably; whence they are also called molars.

“The nostrils too were made for the passage of breath, for giving it out and taking it in, so that by renewal of the breath the natural heat in the heart may be either kindled or cooled as the case requires, by the office of the lung, which has been set to cling to the breast, so that by its softness it may caress and cherish the vigor of the heart, in which life seems to reside—life, I say, not the soul. And what shall I say of the substance of the blood, which, like a river proceeding from its source, carried first in one channel and then diverted through innumerable veins as through plots of ground, waters the whole earth of the human body with life-giving streams, supplied by the work of the liver, which lies on the right side to effect the digestion of food and its change into blood? On the left side is the place of the spleen, which can draw to itself and in a way purge the impurities of the blood.

“And how great is the plan of the intestines! They are arranged in long coils in the manner of circles so that they may gradually expel the digested food they have received, so as neither to make their places suddenly empty nor be hindered by the food that is added on top. And the membranes are made in such a way that from them the outer parts may gradually receive moisture, which, if poured out suddenly, would not empty the inner parts, and, if held back by too thick a skin, would not leave the outer parts dry and disturb the whole fabric of man by the necessity of thirst.

“Further, the female arrangement and the hollow of the womb, most suited to receiving the seed and cherishing and quickening it—whom will it not persuade that what has been made was effected by reason and prudence, since the woman differs from the male form only in that part of the members by which the posterity sown is received and cherished, and again the male form is changed only in that part of the members in which lies the power of sowing and begetting man? In this a great testimony of Providence is given by the necessary diversity of members; but a greater one where, with likeness of form, there is found a diversity of use and variety of function. For men have breasts just as women do, but only women's are filled with the gift of milk, so that as soon as they have given birth, the little one may find nourishment suited to it. If, then, we see the members in man arranged with such reason that in all the rest there appears a similar form, and they differ only in those in which use requires diversity, and we see nothing superfluous or lacking in the man, nor anything wanting or excessive in the woman, who from all this does not plainly recognize the work of reason and the wisdom of the Founder?”

“This is confirmed also by the rational diversity of the other animals, each suited to its own use and service. This the variety of trees and the diversity of herbs attest, varied as much in form as in juices. This the change of seasons asserts, distinguished into four turns, closing the circle of the year in fixed hours, days, and months, and not exceeding by even one hour the appointed reason. Hence, indeed, even the age of the world itself is reckoned by a sure and stable reason, the number of years being computed.

“But you will say: ‘When was the world made, and why so late?’ You could put this forward even if it had been made earlier; for you would say, ‘Why not before that?’ And so, passing beyond immense ages, you could always ask, ‘Why not before that?’ But our discussion now is not about (why it was not made before it was made), but whether it was made at all. For if it is agreed that it was made, it is necessarily the work of a powerful and supreme craftsman; and if this is agreed, when he chose to make it must be left to the will and judgment of the wise craftsman. Unless it seems to you that all this wisdom, which built so immense a fabric of the world and gave forms and appearances to each and every thing, whose condition it made not only fitting for beauty but most apt and necessary for future uses, missed only this—when to choose the opportune time for so magnificent a creation. With him there is certainly a sure reason, there are evident causes, why and when and how he made the world; and it was certainly not right for these to be opened to men who were too lazy to inquire into and understand these things set before their eyes, which bear witness to his providence. For what is kept hidden and stored within the mind of wisdom, as in royal treasuries, lies open to no one except those who have learned from him with whom these things are sealed and laid up. It is God, then, who made all things, and he himself was made by no one. But those who name nature in place of God, and testify that all things were made by nature, do not see the error of their naming. For if they think nature irrational, it is most foolish that a rational work should proceed from an irrational maker. But if it is reason, that is, logos, through which all things are agreed to have been made, they change the name superfluously when they are professing the reason of the Founder. If you have anything against this, father, go on.”

When Niceta had said this, the old man answered thus: “You, my son, have argued prudently and strongly, so much so that I do not think anything better could be said about Providence. But since the hour is already late, tomorrow I wish to answer some things to what you have argued; and if you satisfy me about them, I confess myself in your debt.” When the old man had said this, Peter rose. One of the bystanders, the leading man of the Laodiceans, asked Peter and us to let him change the old man's clothes, which were dirty and torn. Peter and we embraced him, and, praising him for his honorable and excellent goodwill, said: “We are not so foolish and impious that, having entrusted such precious words to him, we would not much more provide also what is necessary for bodily uses; and we believe he will gladly accept them, as a father from his sons; indeed we believe that we shall share a roof and a common life.” While we were saying this, and that leading man of the city wished with all his might and with many coaxings to take the old man away from us, while we held on to him all the more strongly, the whole people cried out that what pleased the old man should rather be done. When silence had been made, the old man forestalled them with an oath, saying: “Today I will stay with no one and accept nothing from anyone, so that one man's love may not become another's sadness. These things can be done later, if it seems good.”

When the old man had said this, Peter said to the leading man of the city: “Since you have shown your goodwill in our presence, you must not go away sad; we will accept a favor from you in return for a favor. Show us your house and prepare it, so that the discussion that is to take place tomorrow may be held there, and let any who wish to be present to listen be admitted.” When the leading man of the city heard this he was very glad, and the whole people heard it gladly too. When the crowds had dispersed, he showed us his house; and the old man also began to leave. But I ordered one of my attendants to follow the old man's footsteps secretly and learn where he was staying. When we had returned to the lodging, we told the brothers everything we had had with the old man, and so, having taken food as usual, we rested.

On the next day Peter rose early, woke us, and we went together to the secluded place where we had been for prayer the day before. From there, after prayer, as we were coming to the appointed house, he admonished us on the way, saying: “Listen to me, dearest fellow servants. It is good that each of you, as far as he can, should help those who come to the faith of our religion. So do not be reluctant to instruct and teach the ignorant, discoursing according to the wisdom conferred on you by God's providence—but in such a way that you add only the eloquence of your own speech to what you have heard from me and what has been handed down to you. Do not utter anything of your own that has not been handed down to you, even if it seems plausible to you; but, as I said, set forth what I myself received from the true Prophet and handed down to you, even if it seems less fully argued. For it often happens that some turn aside from the truth because they believe that by their own thoughts they have found the appearance of a truer and stronger truth.”

We gladly agreed to what Peter said, telling him that we would do nothing except what seemed good to him. Then he said: “So that you may be exercised without danger, dispute one by one in my presence, so that one succeeds another and each unfolds his own questions. Now, since Niceta argued sufficiently yesterday, let Aquila make the discourse today, and after Aquila, Clement, and then I, if the matter requires me also to add something.” While we were exchanging such words, we came to the house, where the master of the household received us and brought us into a place built in the form of a theater and beautifully constructed, in which we found very great crowds who had been waiting for us since the night; among them was the old man who had disputed with us the day before. So we went in, with Peter in our midst, looking around to see the old man somewhere. Peter saw him first, hiding in the middle of the crowd, and called him to himself, saying: “Possessing a soul brighter than many, why do you hide in obscurity and cover yourself with modesty? Come here instead and set out what you think.”

When Peter said this, at once the crowds began to make room for the old man. When he had come forward, he began thus: “Of what the young man argued yesterday, even if I do not remember the words, I hold the sense and the order; and so I think it necessary, for the sake of those who were not present yesterday, to make a recapitulation of what was said and repeat it all briefly, so that if anything has escaped me I may be reminded by him who argued it, since he is present. This, then, was the sense of yesterday's discussion: that all things that are seen, since they consist in fixed measure and art, form and appearance, (are to be believed) without doubt to have been made by a wise power; (and that if it is mind and reason that founded them, it follows) that the world is ruled by the providence of reason itself, even if the things done in the world seem to us to be done less rightly. And it follows that if God, the creator of all, is also mind, he is also just; and if he is just, he necessarily judges; if he judges, men must be judged for their acts; and if each one is judged for his acts, there will one day be a just distinction between the just and sinners. This, I think, was the content of the whole discourse.

“If, then, it can be shown that mind and reason founded all things, it follows that what comes after is also conducted by reason and providence. But if a nature without foresight and blind begets all things, the reason for judgment is without doubt destroyed, and no examination of sins nor reward of good deeds will be hoped for where there is no judge. Since, then, everything depends on this and hangs on this head, do not be indignant if I wish to discuss and handle these things a little more fully. For in this point, as it were, the first door to everything proposed is closed to me, and so I want this opened to me before everything. Now, then, hear what I put forward, and let any of you who wishes answer me; for I will not be ashamed to learn, if I hear what is true, and to agree with one who speaks rightly. The discourse you gave yesterday, then, which asserted that all things consist by art and measure and reason, does not much persuade me that it was mind and reason that made the world; for I have many things that I can show consist in suitable measure and form and appearance, yet were not founded by mind and reason. Besides, I see many things done in the world confusedly, inconsistently, unjustly, and that nothing can happen without the course of birth-fate; which, after all else, I will prove most clearly from my own case.”

When the old man had said this, Aquila answered: “Since you yourself proposed that whoever wishes should have the opportunity to answer what you say, my brother Niceta grants me to make the discourse today.” The old man said: “Proceed as you wish, my son.” Aquila answered: “You promised that you would show that there are many things in the world which bear a form and appearance gathered with equal reason, which nevertheless are agreed not to be made by God the founder. Now show what you promised.” The old man said: “See, we see a bow in the sky holding a circle gathered with every measure and having the appearance of a true one, which perhaps neither mind could found nor reason describe; yet it is not made by any mind. There—I have put the whole in brief; answer this.”

Then Aquila said: “If something is impressed from a mold and form, it is not directly that thing which is understood to be from reason and unable to come about without mind; it is the mold itself, which impresses figures and forms, that was not made without mind. For example, if wax is pressed with an engraved ring, it takes its image and figure from the ring, which certainly lacks sense; but the ring that impresses the likeness was engraved by the hand of a craftsman, and it was mind and reason that gave the ring its mold. So too the bow is impressed on the air. For the sun, impressing its rays on thinning clouds and fixing the mold of its orb on the cloudy moisture as on soft wax, produces the appearance of the bow; and this, as I said, is effected by the reflection of the sun's splendor in the clouds, giving back from them the brightness of its circle. This does not happen always, but when the moist clouds, by thinning, provide the opportunity. Hence, again, when the clouds thicken and come together, the form of the bow dissolves and fades. Indeed the bow never appears without sun and clouds, just as an image is not impressed without a mold and wax or some other such material. It is no wonder, then, if God the founder made molds in the beginning, from which forms and appearances are now impressed. This is like the fact that God created insensible elements in the beginning, to use them for forming and unfolding all the rest. Those who form statues also first fashion a mold of clay or wax, and from it the likeness of the statue is produced; then a shadow too is cast by the statue, which shadow bears in every respect the form and likeness of the statue. What then shall we say—that the insensible statue forms a shadow gathered with as careful a reason as the statue itself? Or will the gathering of the shadow be ascribed without doubt to him who also fashioned the statue?”

“If, then, it seems to you that this is so and what has been said about it is enough, let us come to other inquiries; or if you think something is still lacking, let us go over it again.” The old man said: “I want you to go over it again; for there are many other things that I see come about in a similar way. For the fruits of trees are produced in a similar manner, beautifully formed and wonderfully gathered into roundness; and the appearance of leaves is formed with great beauty, and the green membrane is woven with exquisite art. And besides, fleas, mice, lizards, and things like these—shall we say that these too are made by God? So from these baser things one may conjecture about the better, that they are by no means formed by the art of a mind.” “You argue well,” said Aquila, “from the texture of leaves and from small animals, that faith should be withdrawn even from the better things on account of them. But do not let these things deceive you into thinking that God, working as it were with two hands only, cannot accomplish all that is made. Remember how my brother Niceta answered you yesterday, and opened a mystery before its time, truly as one speaking with his father, and explained why and how these things that seem useless are made.”

The old man said: “I should like to hear from you why these useless things are made by the will of that supreme mind.” Aquila said: “If it is clearly established for you that the work of mind and reason is in them, then you will not be reluctant to say why they were made, and to teach that they were justly made.” To this the old man answered: “I cannot, my son, say that the things that appear formed by art are made by mind, because of the other things we see done unjustly and without order in the world.” “If,” said Aquila, “the things done without order do not allow you to say that they were made by the providence of God, why do not the things done in order compel you to say that they were made by God, and that irrational nature cannot produce a rational work? For it is certain, and we do not at all deny it, that in this world some things are done in order and some without order. Believe, then, that the things done rationally are done by Providence, but that those done irrationally and without order happen naturally and occur by chance. But I wonder that men do not notice that where there is sense, things can be done both in order and without order, but where there is no sense, neither can be done at all. For reason makes order; but the course of order, if something contrary happens that disturbs the order, necessarily produces something disordered.” The old man said: “This very thing I want you to show me.”

“I will not delay,” said Aquila. “Two visible signs are shown in the sky, one of the sun, the other of the moon; and five other stars follow these, each unfolding its own different course. These, then, God placed in the sky, so that by them the temperature of the air might be regulated according to the reason of the seasons and the order of turns and changes kept. And by the ministry of these same bodies, whenever for the sins of men a plague and corruption is sent on the earth, the air is disturbed: pestilence on animals, blight on crops, a year pestilent in every way is brought on mortals; and so it comes about that by one and the same ministry order is both kept and corrupted. For even to unbelievers and the unskilled it is plain that the course of the sun, useful and necessary to the world and given by Providence, is always held in order; but the moon's course, compared with the sun's course, in its waxing and waning, seems to the unskilled disordered and irregular. For the sun moves by fixed and ordered distinctions: from it are the hours, from it the day when it rises, from it also night when it sets; by it months and years are numbered; by it the changes of seasons come about, as, climbing to the higher regions, it tempers spring, and when it has come to the height of heaven it kindles the summer heats; descending again it brings back the mildness of autumn; and when it has returned to the lower circle, it leaves us the stiffness of wintry cold from the icy framework of heaven.

“But we shall discuss these things more fully elsewhere. Now meanwhile, though the sun is a good minister for regulating the changes of the seasons, yet when, according to the will of God, correction is given to mortals, it glows more fiercely and burns the world with more violent flames. Similarly the course of the moon, and that change which seems disordered to the unskilled, is beneficial to the growth of crops and herds and all living things; for by its waxings and wanings, by a wonderful art of Providence, everything that is begotten is nourished and grows. We could pursue these things more fully and set out the reason of each, if the order of the proposed question did not call us back. Yet by these very same ministries by which all things are begotten, nourished, and increased, when for some just cause the tempering of the established order has been changed, corruption and intemperance arise, so that, as we said above, chastisement proceeds against men by the will of God.

“But perhaps you will say: ‘What of the fact that in this common chastisement the impious and the pious suffer alike?’ It is true; we too confess it. But for the pious, chastisement turns to their progress, so that, afflicted in the present life, they may come more purified to the future life, in which perpetual rest is prepared for them; and at the same time, so that the impious may profit a little from their chastisement, or else the sentence of the future judgment may be justly passed on them, when in the same chastisements the just have given thanks to God and the unjust have blasphemed. Since, then, opinion about things is divided into two parts—that some things happen in order and others against order—from the things that are according to order one ought to have believed that there is Providence; but of the things done against order one ought to seek the causes from those who have learned them through prophetic teaching. For those to whom the prophetic word has been able to become known know when and for what cause mildew, hail, pestilence, and the like have arisen in each generation, and for what sins these have been given as punishment; whence the cause of sadness came to the human race, whence groans and griefs, whence also the weakness of trembling came, and that this was from the beginning the punishment of fratricide.

“For from the origin of the world there was nothing of these things; but these evils took their beginning from the impiety of men, and from then on, as iniquities always increased, the number of evils also grew. But divine Providence has appointed a judgment for all because the present age was not such that each could be dealt with according to his merits. So we must not, from the evils that have befallen the world because of men's sins, judge those things which from the beginning, when no cause of evil existed, were well and orderly established. Indeed, as a sign of what was from the beginning, some nations are found free from evils of this kind. For the Seres, because they live chastely, are held to be exempt from all these things; for among them it is not lawful for a woman to be approached after conception, nor while she is being purified. No one there eats unclean flesh, no one knows sacrifices; all become judges of themselves according to justice. Therefore they are not chastised by those plagues we spoke of above, and, living a very long time, they end their life without sickness. But we wretched ones, living as it were with the worst serpents—with wicked men, I mean—necessarily endure with them the plagues of afflictions in this world, but we bear hope from the consolation of the good things to come.

“If,” said the old man, “the just too are tormented because of the iniquities of others, God, as a provider, ought to have commanded men not to do the things from which the just must needs be afflicted along with the unjust; or, if they did them, he ought to have applied some correction or purification to the world.” “God did command these things,” said Aquila, “and gave precepts through the prophets about how men ought to live. But they despised these too; indeed, if any wished to keep them, they afflicted them with various injuries, until they cast even them down from the observance they had purposed, and turned them likewise to the crowd of unbelief and made them like themselves.

“For this reason, indeed, when in the beginning the whole earth had been stained with sins, God brought a flood on the world—which you say happened under Deucalion—and then preserved one righteous man with his sons in an ark, and with him the kind of all seeds and all living things. Yet even those who were born of them, as time went on, again did the same things as those before; for what had happened was given over to forgetfulness, so that their descendants did not even believe that a flood had happened. Hence God decreed that in the present age there should be no more flood; otherwise, by the logic of those who would sin, it would have had to happen in every generation because of unbelief. Rather, he allowed certain angels who rejoice in evil to exercise rule over each nation; yet power was given them over each mortal only on this condition, that he had first made himself liable to them by sinning; until he should come who rejoices in the good, and the number of the righteous should be completed through him, and as the multitude of the pious grew throughout the world, impiety might be checked in some measure and it might become known to all that everything good is done by God.

“By freedom of choice each man, while he does not believe in what is to come, falls into evils through evil acts. And these are the things that seem to be done in the world against order, whose causes for existing unbelief has given. Wonderful, then, in every way is the dispensation of divine Providence, which gave to those who were in the beginning, as they walked the good way of life, to enjoy incorruptible goods. But when they sinned (evils took their origin, sin giving them birth), and to each good, as by a kind of marriage bond, evil was joined on the side of sin; since the earth was polluted with human blood and altars were kindled for demons, and they defiled the very air with the unholy smoke of sacrifices. And so at last the elements, first corrupted, passed on the vice of corruption to men, as roots to branches and fruits.

“See, then, in this, as I said, how justly divine Providence came to the aid of things that had been corrupted. Since evils that had taken their origin from sin had been joined to the good things of God, it set two princes over these two parts. To him who rejoices in good things it assigned the order of good things, that he might lead believers to faith in its providence; to him who rejoices in evils, the things done against order and uselessly, by which without doubt faith in providence also comes into doubt. And by this a just division was made by the just God. Hence it is that, while the ordered course of the stars makes one believe that the world was founded by a craftsman's hand, again the disturbance of the air, the pestilent breeze, the wandering fires of lightning, seem to refute the work of Providence. For, as we said, each good thing has evils contrary and joined to it: as hail is the enemy of fertile rains, as the corruption of mildew is joined to the gentle dew, as whirlwinds of storms are joined to gentle winds, unfruitful trees to fruitful, harmful herbs to useful, savage and destructive animals to gentle ones. All these things were set by God because the will of men's free choice departed from the purpose of good things and turned aside to evils.

“So in all the things of the world this division holds; and as there are pious, so there are impious; as there are prophets, so also false prophets. Among the Gentiles too there are philosophers, and there are also false philosophers. The Arab nations and very many others have imitated the circumcision of the Jews for the service of their impiety. So too the worship of demons is contrary to divine worship, baptism to baptism, laws to the law, false apostles to apostles, and false teachers to teachers. And this is why among philosophers some assert providence, others deny it; some defend one God, others many. Indeed the matter has come to this, that since demons are put to flight by the word of God, by which it is declared that there is Providence, the magic art, to confirm unbelief, has found how to imitate even this from the contrary side. So it was invented to soothe the venom of serpents by incantations, and to bring in cures contrary to the word and power of God. The magic art has also found ministries contrary to the angels of God, setting against them the raising of souls and the figments of demons. And not to drag out the discourse by listing many things: there is absolutely nothing that produces faith in Providence that does not have, on the contrary side, something else ready for unbelief. And so those who do not know this division of things do not think there is Providence, because of the things in the world that are at odds with themselves. But you, father, as a wise man, choose from this division the part that keeps order and produces faith in providence, and do not follow only that part which runs against order and takes away faith in Providence.”

To this the old man answered: “Give me a way, my son, by which I can confirm in my mind one of these two orders, of which one asserts and the other refutes Providence.” “For one who has right judgment,” said Aquila, “the distinction is easy. For this very thing you speak of, order and disorder, can be produced by a craftsman, but cannot be produced by insensible nature. For example, let us suppose that a stone broken off from a high rock is carried down headlong and, dashed on the ground, is shattered into many fragments; can it happen in any way that in that multitude of fragments there is found even one fragment in which some perfect shape and form is had in every respect?” The old man answered: “It cannot.” “But if,” said Aquila, “a maker of statues is present, he can form a stone cut from the mountain into whatever shape he wishes by a craftsman's hand and rational intelligence.” The old man said: “That is true.” “So,” said Aquila, “where there is no rational intelligence, no form can be wholly formed; but where there is a craftsman's intelligence, there can be both form and formlessness. For example, if a craftsman cuts from the mountain a stone to which he wishes to give a form, it must first fall shapeless and rough; then, gradually hewing it and carving it to the measure of his art, he expresses the form he has conceived in his mind. So from formlessness or deformity one comes to form by the craftsman's hand, and both proceed from the craftsman. In a similar way, then, the things done in the world are done by the providence of the craftsman, even if they seem less ordered. And therefore, since these two ways have become known to you and you have received their divisions, flee the way of unbelief, lest it lead you to that prince who rejoices in evils; follow the way of faith, so that you may reach that King who rejoices in good men.”

To this the old man answered: “But why was that prince who rejoices in evils made, and from where was he made, or was he not made?” Aquila said: “That treatise belongs to another time; but so that you may not go away without any answer to this, I will suggest a few things to you on it too. God, foreknowing all things before the foundation of the world, knowing that of future men some would turn aside to good and others to the contrary, joined those who would choose good to his own rule and care, and named them his own inheritance; but those who would turn aside to evil he permitted to be ruled by those angels who, not by substance but by choice, refused to remain with God, corrupted by the vice of envy and pride. So he made the worthy rulers of the worthy. Yet he so handed them over that they have no power to do what they wish to them unless they cross the boundary set for them from the beginning. And this is the boundary set: that unless someone has first done the will of the demons, the demons have no power over him.”

The old man said: “You have argued magnificently, my son. It remains now for you to say where the substance of evil comes from. For if it was made by God, the evil fruit shows a culpable root, for the nature itself seems evil; but if this substance was coeternal with God, how can what is equally unbegotten and coeternal be subject to the other?” “It did not always exist,” said Aquila. “But even if it was made from God, it does not at once follow that its founder should seem to be of the same kind as what was made by him. For God made the substances of all things; but if a rational mind made by God does not acquiesce in its founder's laws and exceeds the measure of the temperance set for it, what has this to do with the founder? Or if there is some reason higher than this, we do not know it. For we cannot know everything perfectly, especially about things for which we shall not be judged if we are ignorant of them. But the things for which we shall be judged are very easy to understand and are settled almost in one sentence. For almost the whole observance of our actions is summed up in this: that what we ourselves do not wish to suffer, we should not inflict on others. For as you do not wish to be killed yourself, you must take care not to kill another; and as you do not wish your marriage to be violated, do not you defile another's bed; you do not wish to suffer theft, do not commit it yourself. And within this rule each and every human action falls.”

Then the old man said: “Do not take it ill, my son, what I am about to say: your words, though they are strong, cannot bend me to believe that anything can happen outside birth-fate. For I know that everything has happened to me by the necessity of birth-fate; and so I cannot be persuaded that it is in our power to act either well or badly. And if we do not have our actions in our power, it cannot be believed that there will be a judgment through which punishment is given to the evil or rewards to the good. Since I see that you are trained in disciplines of this kind, I will bring forward a few things to you from the art itself.” “If,” said Aquila, “you wish to build something from that discipline, my brother Clement will answer you more carefully, since he has gained a fuller knowledge of astrology. I can assert by other ways that our actions are placed in our power; but the things I have not learned I ought not to presume.”

When Aquila had said this, I, Clement, said: “Tomorrow, father, you shall speak as you wish, and we will listen gladly; for I think you too will be pleased that you will be speaking with those who are not without experience of the discipline you have put forward.” So when it had been agreed between me and the old man that on the following day we would hold a discussion about the theory of birth-fate—whether everything happens by it, or whether there is something in us which not birth-fate but the judgment of the mind directs—Peter rose and began to speak in this way: “It is very surprising to me that men, by elaborate thoughts and words, make difficult things that can easily be found—and especially those who think themselves wise, who, wishing to comprehend the will of God, treat God as if he were a man, or even something less. For no one can know a man's counsel or thought unless he who thought it reveals it; nor can anyone learn an art unless he has been trained for a long time by a master. How much more can no one know either the mind or the work of the invisible and incomprehensible God, unless he himself sends a prophet to tell his counsel and set out the way of creation, as far as it is lawful for men to learn it. Hence I think it ridiculous when men judge the power of God by natural ways, and think this possible for him and that impossible, or this greater and that less—ignorant of everything—who, being unjust men, judge the just God; unskilled, the craftsman; corrupt, the incorruptible; the work, its maker.

“And I do not want you to think that in saying this I am destroying the ability to judge about things; rather, I give counsel that no one, walking by byways, should run into errors without end. And therefore I urge not only the wise but all men who have the desire to know what is profitable for them to seek the true Prophet, because he alone knows all things and knows what and how each one seeks. For he is within the mind of each one of us; but in those who have no desire for the knowledge of God and his righteousness he is idle, while in those who seek what is profitable for their soul he works and kindles the light of knowledge. Therefore seek him first of all; and if you do not find him, do not hope to learn anything from another. He is quickly found by those who search for him with love of truth, and whose soul is not preoccupied and held in wickedness. For he is present to those who desire him in the innocence of their spirit, who wait with patience and bring forth sighs from the depth of the heart out of love of truth; but he flees malevolent minds, because as a prophet he knows the thoughts of each. And so let no one think that he can find him by his own prudence, unless, as we said above, he has made his mind empty of all wickedness and has conceived a pure and faithful desire for knowledge of him. For when someone has prepared himself so, he, as a prophet, seeing the mind prepared, offers himself of his own accord to be known.

“If, then, someone wishes to learn all things, let him not do so by discussing each; for he will not be able, being mortal, to search out the counsel of God and explore his very immensity. But if he desires, as we said, to learn all things, let him seek the true Prophet. When he has found him, let him not deal with him by questions and disputations and arguments; but whatever he answers, whatever he declares, this cannot be doubted to be certain. And therefore let the true Prophet be sought before all things, and his words be held. In them each one need only examine this, so as to satisfy himself whether his words are truly prophetic: that is, whether they contain undoubted faith about things to come, whether they mark out fixed times, whether they keep the order of things, whether they have not narrated as last what is first and as first what was done last, whether they contain nothing crafty, nothing composed by magic art to deceive, or whether he has not transferred to himself, with lies mixed in, what was revealed to others. And when, all these things having been examined with right judgment, the words are established to be prophetic, then at last he ought to be believed in everything he has said and answered.

“For let us consider more carefully the work of divine Providence. Since the philosophers introduced certain subtle and difficult words, so that not even the very terms of their discourses could be known and intelligible to all, God showed those who thought themselves craftsmen of words to be in every way unskilled in the knowledge of the truth. For the knowledge of things which is handed down by the true Prophet is simple, plain, and brief; and they, walking by byways and the rough difficulties of words, have not known it at all. So for modest and simple minds, when they see happen what was foretold, it is enough and more than enough that they should take the most certain knowledge from the most certain foreknowledge, and thereafter rest, having taken up an evident knowledge of the truth. All other things are handled by conjecture, in which nothing can be firm. For what statement is there that does not admit contradiction? And what argument is there that cannot be overturned by another argument? And that is why men can reach no end of knowledge and understanding by disputation of this kind, and they find the end of life sooner than the end of their questions.

“And therefore, since in these things everything is held uncertain, one must come to the true Prophet. God the Father, wishing him to be loved by all, willed wholly to extinguish these things that men have introduced, in which nothing can be grasped, so that he might be sought all the more, and that he might open to men the way of truth which they had shut. For on his account God also made the world, and by him the world is filled; hence he is present everywhere to those who seek him, even if they are at the furthest ends of the earth. But if someone does not seek him purely, holily, and faithfully, he is indeed within him, since he is everywhere and is found within the minds of all; but, as we said above, he sleeps for the unbelieving and is held absent by those by whom he is not believed to exist.” When Peter had set out these and other such things about the true Prophet, he dismissed the crowds. When he had asked the old man earnestly to stay with us, he could not prevail; the old man also left, to return on another day as had been agreed. After this we went into the lodging with Peter and took food and rest as usual.

On the following day Peter hurried early with us to the place where the discussion had been held the day before; and there, seeing that very great crowds had already gathered to listen and the old man with them, he said to him: “Yesterday, old man, it was agreed with Clement that the discussion should take place today, and that either you should show that nothing happens outside birth-fate, or Clement should teach that there is no birth-fate (but that what we do is in us and in our power).” To this the old man answered: “I remember what was agreed, and I hold the words you spoke after the agreement, in which you taught that it is impossible for a man to know anything unless he has learned it from the true Prophet.” Peter said: “You do not know how I said it; but now I will remind you. I spoke of the will and counsel of God, which he had before the world was, and by what counsel he made the world, appointed times, gave the law, promised the age to come to the just as the reward of good things, and appointed punishments for the unjust by the sentence of judgment. This counsel and this will of God, I said, cannot be found out by men, because no man can gather the mind of God by conjectures and estimation unless a prophet sent by him announces it. I did not say, then, that any disciplines or studies whatever cannot be found or known without a prophet; for I know that arts and disciplines are known and practiced by men, which they have learned not from the true Prophet but from human teachers.”

“Since, then, you have professed to know the position of the constellations and the courses of the stars, by which you might convince Clement that all things are subject to birth-fate, or learn from him that all things are ruled by Providence and that there is something in us, it is fitting that you settle this.” To this the old man answered: “There would be no need now to raise questions of this kind, if it were possible for us to learn and hear from the true Prophet a definite pronouncement that there is something in us and placed in the freedom of choice. For your discourse yesterday, in which you discussed prophetic power, moved me greatly. Hence I agree and confirm your opinion, that nothing certain and undoubted can be known by a man, who has but a short span of life and a brief and slender breath by which he seems to be held in life. Yet since, before I heard anything about prophetic power, I seem to have promised Clement that I would show that all things are subject to birth-fate, or learn from him that there is something in us too, let him do me this favor: let him begin first and propose and resolve the objections that can be raised. For since I heard from you a little about the power of prophecy, considering the greatness of foreknowledge, I confess I have been astounded, and I think nothing at all should be accepted that is gathered by conjecture and estimation.”

When the old man had said this, I, Clement, began to speak thus: “God through his Son created the world like a double house, divided by the interposition of this firmament which is called heaven; and he gave the angelic powers to dwell in the upper part, and granted that a multitude of men be born in this visible world, from whom he might choose friends for his Son, with whom he might rejoice, and who might be prepared for him as a beloved bride for the bridegroom. But until the time of the wedding, which is the presence of the age to come, he appointed a certain power to choose and guard the better ones from among those born in this world, and to keep them set apart for his Son in a certain place of the world which is outside sin, in which there are already some who are being prepared there, as a bride adorned, as I said, for the bridegroom's presence. For the prince of this world and of the present time is like an adulterer, who corrupts and violates the minds of men, and, leading them away from desire for the true Bridegroom, entices them to alien desires.

“But someone will say: ‘What need was there, then, for this prince to come into being, to turn men's minds aside from the true prince?’ Because God, who, as I said, wished to prepare friends for his Son, did not want them to be such that by necessity of nature they could not be anything else, but such as would desire to be good by their own choice and will. For what is not desirable is not praiseworthy, and what is not sought by purpose is not judged good; for there is no praise in being what the necessity of nature does not allow you to change from. So the providence of God willed a multitude of men to be born in this world, so that from many those might be chosen who would love a just life. And since he foresaw that the present world could exist only by diversity and inequality, he gave each mind freedom of movement according to the diversities of present things, and set this prince, so that, while he stirs up things that seem contrary, the choice of the better might consist in the work of virtue.

“But so that what we say may become clearer, we will explain it point by point. Should all in this world, for example, be kings, or princes, or masters, or tutors, or lawyers, or geometers, or goldsmiths, or bakers, or smiths, or grammarians, or rich men, or farmers, or gardeners, or fishermen, or poor? It is certain that all could not be these. Yet the present life of men requires all these offices and many more, and cannot be carried on without them. Inequality, then, is necessary in this world. For there cannot be a king unless he has those whom he rules and commands, nor can there be a master unless he has someone to master, and so on.

“So the Founder, knowing that no one would come willingly to the contest while toil is shunned—that is, to practicing those arts we mentioned above, through which either the justice or the mercy of each can be shown—made for man a body that would feel hunger and thirst and cold, so that men, compelled for the sake of sustaining the body, might come down by the necessity of livelihood to all the arts we set out above. For we are taught to seek each art for the sake of food and drink and clothing. And here now the purpose of each mind is declared: whether it makes up the need of hunger and cold by thefts and murders and perjuries and other crimes of this kind, or, keeping justice, mercy, and self-control, fulfills the service of the pressing need by the study of an art and the labor of the hands. For if one gets through the body's need with justice, piety, and mercy, he departs, as victor in the contest set before him, a friend of the Son of God and chosen; but if through frauds, iniquities, and crimes he serves bodily desires, he becomes a friend of the prince of this world and of all the demons, by whom he is also taught to ascribe to the courses of the stars the errors of his evils, which he chose only by purpose and will. For the arts, as we said, are learned and practiced under the compulsion of the pleasure of food and drink; and this pleasure, when the knowledge of the truth comes to each one, is weakened as frugality takes its place. For how great an expense is there for those who use water and bread and hope for it from God?

“There is, then, as we said, a certain necessary inequality in the ordering of the world, since all men cannot know or carry out all crafts, yet almost all need the use and service of all; and for this reason it is necessary that one work and another pay the worker his wage, one serve and another be master, one be ruled and another rule. But this inequality, which has necessarily followed the life of mortals, divine Providence has turned into an occasion of justice, mercy, and kindness; so that while these things are carried on among men, each has cause to act justly with one to whom the wage for work must be paid, and to show mercy to one who, perhaps through weakness or poverty, cannot pay a debt; and also to act humanely with those who seem bound by their condition, to keep gentleness toward subordinates, and to do everything altogether according to the law of God. For he gave the law, helping human minds by it, so that they might more easily notice how they ought to act toward each person, by what way they might escape evil and by what way tend toward future goods, and so that, regenerated in water through good works, they might extinguish the fire of their old birth. For our first birth comes down through the fire of desire; and therefore by divine dispensation this second birth through water is introduced, to quench the nature of fire, so that the soul, enlightened by the heavenly Spirit, may cast off the fear of the first birth—provided that thereafter it so lives as to seek no pleasures of this world at all, but is as a stranger and sojourner and a citizen of another city.

“But perhaps you may say that in those things in which natural necessity demands the service of arts and works, each one can have it in his power to keep justice and to impose what measure he wishes on his desires and acts; but what shall we say of the sicknesses and infirmities that befall men—that some are oppressed by demons and by fevers and chills, some are even driven by madness and lose their minds—and all those things which press on the race of mortals by countless mishaps? To this we shall say that if anyone considers the reason of the whole mystery, he will declare these things even more just than those we set out above. For God gave men a nature by which they can both be taught the good and resist evil—that is, so that they can both learn arts and resist pleasures and prefer the law of God in everything; and for this reason he permitted certain contrary powers to wander about this world and wrestle with us, for the reasons already stated above, so that from contest with them the palm of victory and the merit of rewards may arise for the just.

“From these, then, it sometimes happens that if some have acted without self-control, and have chosen not so much to resist as to yield and give them room in themselves, an intemperate and faulty offspring is begotten by their harmful breath. For while everything is given over to lust and no observance of intercourse is kept, the untimely generation without doubt takes on the vices and frailties of those demons at whose urging these things are done. And so the parents will be answerable for such defects in their children, since they would not keep the law of intercourse—though there are also other, more secret causes by which souls are made liable to these evils, which it is not the time to bring forward now. Yet each one ought to know the law of God, so as to take from it the observance of begetting and avoid the causes of uncleanness, so that what is begotten may be clean. For it is not right that in planting shrubs or sowing crops a suitable time should be sought, the earth cleaned, and everything suitable prepared, lest the seed sown be harmed and perish, and that in man alone, who is above all these, there should be no observance of sowing, no caution.

“‘But what of the fact,’ someone says, ‘that some, though they were without bodily defect in their early years, fall into these evils as time goes on, so that some are even hurled violently to death?’ About these too the reason is close and almost the same. For those powers we called hostile to the human race are in a way invited to each one's heart through many and various desires and receive room to enter; and their force and power is such that it only urges and incites, not such as to compel and accomplish. If, then, someone agrees with them so far as to do what he wickedly desires, he will find as the wage of his consent and act perdition and the worst death. But if, thinking of the coming judgment, he is restrained by that very fear and calls himself back so as not to fulfill in act what he conceived in evil thought, he will escape not only present ruin but also future punishments. For every cause of sin seems like tow smeared with pitch, which catches fire at once when it receives the heat of fire; and the blaze of this fire is understood to be the works of demons. If, then, someone is found smeared with sins and desires as with pitch, fire masters him most easily. But if the tow is soaked not with the pitch of sin but with the water of purification and regeneration, the fire of the demons will not be able to kindle in it.

“But someone will say: ‘And what shall we do now, who happen to be smeared with sins as with pitch?’ I will answer: nothing else but hasten to be washed, so that the material of the fire may be purged from you by the invocation of the holy name; and thereafter restrain your desires by fear of the coming judgment, and drive out the adverse powers with all firmness whenever they approach your minds. But you say: ‘If someone has fallen in love, how will he be able to restrain himself, even if he saw before his eyes that very river of fire they call Pyriphlegethon?’ This is the excuse of those who do not wish to turn to repentance. Well then, I do not want you to bring Pyriphlegethon into the middle now; set before yourself the punishments of men, and see how much fear avails. Can anyone, when he is led to punishment for a crime of love and tied to the stake to be burned, at that moment either feel desire for the woman he loved or set her beauty before his eyes? ‘By no means,’ you will say. You see, then, that present fear cuts off wicked desires. And if those who believe God, and confess the coming judgment and the punishment of eternal fire, do not restrain themselves from sin, it is certain that they do not believe with full faith. For if faith is sure, fear also is sure; but if something is lacking in faith, fear too is relaxed, and then the hostile powers find room to enter; and when they have agreed with their persuasions, they must also become subject to their power and be driven by their persuasions to the precipices of sin.

“So the astrologers, ignorant of mysteries of this kind, think these things happen by the courses of the stars; and hence, answering those who come to them to consult about the future, they are mistaken in very many things. No wonder, for they are not prophets; but by the practice of a long time, these authors of errors find a kind of refuge in the things in which they were deceived, and introduce certain ‘climacterics,’ so as to feign knowledge about uncertain things. For they call a climacteric a time of danger, as it were, in which someone is sometimes killed and sometimes not; not knowing that it is not the course of the stars that does these things but the working of the demons, who, serving to confirm the error of astrology, deceive men into sinning by the calculations of astrology, so that when, either by God's permission or by the demand of the laws, they have paid the penalty of sin, the astrologer may seem to have told the truth. Yet they are deceived even in this; for if they have quickly turned to repentance and conceived remembrance and fear of the punishment to come, the penalty of death is dissolved for those turned to God through the grace of baptism.

“But someone will say: ‘Many have committed murder and adultery and other crimes and suffered no harm.’ This indeed rarely happens to men, though to those who do not know the counsel of God it seems to happen often. But God, who knows all things, knows how and why the sinner sins, and what cause leads each to sin. This, however, must be recognized generally: if some are not as evil in mind as in acts, and do not fall into sin driven by purpose, to them punishment is rendered more quickly and rather in the present life; for everywhere and always God renders to each according to his acts as he judges fitting. But of those who practice wickedness by purpose, so that sometimes they even rage against those from whom they have received benefits, and take no thought for repentance, he defers the punishments to the future. For these do not deserve, like those of whom we spoke above, to end the vengeance of their crimes in the present life; but they are permitted to fill up the present time as they wish, because their correction is no longer such as needs temporal chastisements, but such as demands the punishments of eternal fire in the underworld, where their souls will seek repentance where they cannot find it.

“But if, while placed in this life, they had set before their eyes those punishments they will suffer there, they would surely have restrained their desires and in no way fallen into sin. For understanding in the soul can do much to cut off all its desires, especially when it has received the knowledge of heavenly things, through which, having received the light of truth, it will turn away from all the darkness of evil acts. For as the sun dulls and covers all the stars with the splendor of its brightness, so the mind, through the light of knowledge, makes all the desires of the soul ineffective and idle, sending out over them like its rays the remembrance of the coming judgment, so that they can no longer even appear in the soul.

“That the fear of God avails much to restrain desires, take the example of human fear. How few are there among men who do not desire what belongs to others? Yet by fear of the punishment established by the laws they are restrained and act with more self-control. Nations are subject to a king through fear, and an armed army obeys. Slaves, though stronger than their masters, yet endure their masters' commands because of fear. Even wild beasts are tamed by fear; the strongest bulls submit their necks to the yoke, and huge elephants obey their trainers through fear. But why use human examples, when divine ones are not lacking? Does not the earth itself remain under fear of the command, which it testifies to even by its movement and trembling? The sea keeps its appointed boundary, the angels keep peace, the stars hold their order and the rivers their courses; and it is certain that demons too are put to flight by fear. And not to extend the discourse further by going through each thing, see how the fear of God, holding each thing, keeps all in its own harmony and the framework of its order. How much more, then, ought you to be sure that the desires of demons which arise in your hearts can be extinguished and wholly abolished by the admonition of the fear of God, since even the instigators of desire themselves flee when fear masters them? Knowing that this is so, if you think anything should be answered, begin.”

Then the old man said: “My son Clement has fitted his argument together so wisely that he has left us nothing to say to it. But the whole discourse he gave about the nature of man has this content: that besides the freedom of choice that is within, there is also some cause of evil from outside, by which men are incited through various desires, yet not compelled to sin; because, he says, fear is far stronger than these, resisting and restraining the impulses of desires, so that when natural movements occur, the demons who incite and inflame them being put to flight, sin cannot be committed. But these things do not bring me to belief; for I am aware of certain things from which I know well that by the configuration of the stars men become murderers or adulterers and commit other evils. And likewise honorable and chaste women are compelled by it to act well.

“For instance, when Mars, holding a cardinal point, in his own house, regards Saturn in square aspect together with Mercury at a cardinal point, with the full Moon coming upon him, in a daytime nativity, he produces murderers and those who will fall by the sword, the bloodthirsty, drunkards, the lustful, the demon-possessed, prying searchers into secrets, sorcerers, the sacrilegious, and whatever else is like these, especially when none of the benign stars regards them. And again Mars himself, having the square figure toward Venus, partly toward a cardinal point, with none of the benign stars regarding, makes adulterers, and leads men to marry sisters and daughters and mothers. Venus with the Moon in the terms and houses of Saturn, if she is with Saturn, with Mars bearing witness, makes women mannish, ready for farming, building, and every man's work, to have intercourse with whomever they wish and not be reproached by their husbands for adultery, to use no softness, no ointments, no women's clothes or shoes, but living after the manner of men; and makes men to be like women and do nothing manly, if the maleficent Venus is with Mars in Aries; and on the contrary she makes women, if she is in Capricorn or Aquarius.”

When the old man had set out much about these things, and listed each astrological figure and also the positions of the stars, wishing to show by them that fear is not enough to restrain desires, I answered again: “Truly, father, you have argued most learnedly and expertly, and reason itself invites me to answer something to what you have discussed, since the science of astrology is known to me and I gladly converse with a learned man. Hear, then, in answer to what you have said, so that you may clearly recognize that birth-fate from the stars does not exist at all, and that those who flee to God can resist the attack of demons; and, as I said before, that natural desires can be restrained not only by the fear of God but also by the fear of men, as we shall now teach.

“In every region or kingdom there are laws laid down by men, whether in writing or lasting by custom, which no one easily transgresses. First, the Seres, who dwell at the beginning of the world, have a law not to know murder or adultery or harlotry, not to commit theft, and not to worship idols. And in all that region, which is very large, neither a temple nor an image is found, nor a harlot, nor an adulteress, nor is a thief brought to trial; nor is a man ever reported to have been killed there. Yet no one's freedom of choice was compelled, according to you, by the fiery star of Mars to use the sword for a man's slaying, nor did Venus placed with Mars compel another's marriage to be violated, though certainly among them Mars holds the middle circle of heaven every day. But among the Seres the fear of the laws is stronger than the constellation of birth-fate.

“Likewise among the Bactrians, in the regions of the Indians, there are immense multitudes of Brahmans, who also, from the tradition of their ancestors, with harmonious customs and laws, commit neither murder nor adultery, nor worship images, nor are accustomed to eat living things; they are never drunk, never do anything maliciously, but always fear God. And they do this while the rest of the Indians commit murders and adulteries, worship images, get drunk, and practice other such crimes. And in the western parts of India itself there is a certain region where strangers, when they happen upon it, are seized, sacrificed, and eaten; and neither did the good stars prevent these from such crimes and accursed foods, nor did the evil stars compel the Brahmans to do anything evil. Again, there is a custom among the Persians of taking mothers and sisters and daughters in marriage, and under all that sky the Persians contract incestuous marriages.

“And lest those who follow astrology be allowed to use the refuge in which they say that there are certain zones of the sky to which it is granted to have certain properties of their own: some of that very nation of the Persians have gone abroad, who are called Magusaeans, of whom to this day some are in Media, some in Parthia, some also in Egypt, but more in Galatia and Phrygia; and all of these keep the unswerving form of this incestuous tradition and hand it down to their descendants to be kept, even when they have changed their zone of the sky. Yet Venus with the Moon in the terms and houses of Saturn, with Saturn, Mars also bearing witness, did not compel them to have a birth-fate among the rest.

“Among the Geli also there is a custom that the women farm, build, and do every man's work, and they are also allowed to have intercourse with whomever they wish, and are not accused by their husbands or called adulteresses; for they have intercourse indiscriminately, and especially with strangers. They know nothing of ointments, are not dressed in dyed clothing or shoes. On the contrary, the men of the Geli are adorned and combed, dressed in soft and varied garments, decked with gold and smeared with ointments; and this not from any weakness of strength, for they are most warlike and keenest hunters. Yet not all the women of the Geli had, at their birth, the maleficent Venus in Capricorn or Aquarius, nor their men Venus placed with Mars in Aries, by which figure the Chaldean discipline asserts that men are born effeminate and dissolute.

“Further, in Susa the women use ointments, and the best ones, are adorned with ornaments of precious stones, and go out attended by maidservants with much greater display than the men; yet they do not cultivate chastity, but have indifferent intercourse with whomever they wish, both slaves and strangers, such license being allowed by their husbands; and not only are they not blamed for this, but they even rule over their husbands. Yet the birth-fate of all the women of Susa does not have Venus in the middle of heaven with Jupiter and Mars in the houses of Jupiter. In the farther parts of the East, if a boy submits himself to the womanly outrage, when it is known he is killed by his brothers or parents or any relatives, and is not given burial. And again, among the Gauls an ancient law established that boys are given in marriage publicly, and no reproach is held to come of it. Is it possible that all who so shamefully submit among the Gauls had Lucifer with Mercury in the houses of Saturn and the terms of Mars?

“In parts of Britain several men have one wife; in Parthia many women have one man; and each part of the world follows its own customs and institutions. The Amazons all have no husbands, but like animals, once a year about the spring equinox, going out beyond their own borders, they have intercourse with the men of a neighboring nation, observing a kind of festival by it; and when they have conceived by them they return, and if they bear a male they cast it away, while they rear the females. And since the birth of all of them falls at one time, it is absurd that among the males Mars should be thought to be with Saturn in equal portions at that time, but never in the birth of the females. Nor did they have Mercury placed with Venus in his own houses, so as to produce painters or sculptors or bankers there, or in the houses of Venus, so as to bring forth perfumers or singers or poets. Among the Saracens, the upper Libyans and the Moors, and those who live about the shore of the Ocean, and in the farthest parts of Germany, among the Sarmatians and Scythians and all the nations of the Pontic shore that lie under the northern pole, and in the island of Chryse, there is never found a banker or sculptor or painter or architect or geometer or tragic actor or poet. Therefore the constellation of Mercury and Venus is lacking among them!

“Of all the world, the Medes alone, with the greatest care, cast out men while still breathing to be devoured by dogs; and not for that reason do they have Mars with the Moon placed in Cancer in a daytime nativity. The Indians burn their dead, and with them the wives of the dead, offering themselves willingly, are burned. But not for that reason do all the women of the Indians who are burned alive have, in a night nativity, the Sun below the earth with Mars in the portions of Mars. Very many of the Germans end their life by the noose; yet not for that reason do they all have the Moon with the hour hemmed in by Saturn and Mars. Are not men born in every nation and on every day under every diversity of birth-fate? From all this it appears that the fear of the laws rules in each region, and the freedom of choice that is implanted in men by the spirit obeys the laws; and birth-fate cannot compel either the Seres to commit murder, or the Brahmans to eat flesh, or the Persians to avoid incest, or the Indians not to be burned, or the Medes not to be devoured by dogs, or the Parthians not to have several wives, or the women of Mesopotamia not to keep chastity, or the Greeks not to exercise in the wrestling schools, or the boys of the Gauls not to suffer womanly treatment, or the barbarian nations to be trained in the studies of the Greeks; but, as we said, each nation uses its own laws according to the freedom of choice, and drives away the decrees of birth-fate by the severity of the laws.

“But someone of those learned in the discipline of astrology will say that birth-fate is divided into seven parts, which they call climes, and that one of the seven stars rules each clime; and that these diverse laws we have set out were laid down not by men but by these rulers according to the will of each, and what the star decided became a law observed by men. To this, then, we shall answer: first, the world is not divided into seven parts; then, even if it were so, in one part and in one region we find many differences of laws. And so they are neither seven according to the number of the stars, nor twelve according to the number of the signs, nor thirty-six according to the number of the decans, but innumerable.

“We must remember what was listed above: that in one region of India there are both those who eat human flesh and those who abstain even from cattle and birds and all living things; and that the Magusaeans take mothers and daughters in marriage not only in Persia but in every nation wherever they live, keeping the incestuous institutions of their wickedness. Besides, we mentioned innumerable nations which know nothing at all of the study of letters. And some wise men have changed the laws themselves in some places, while other laws have been abandoned of their own accord because of their impracticability or dishonor. Certainly, as is easy to know, how many emperors have changed the laws and institutions of the nations they conquered and subjected them to their own laws! This is plainly shown to have been done by the Romans, who turned almost the whole world and all nations, which at first lived by their own and various laws and institutions, to Roman law and civil decrees. It remains, then, that the stars of the nations conquered by the Romans have lost their climes and parts!”

“I will add yet another matter that can satisfy even the very incredulous. All the Jews who live under the law of Moses circumcise their sons on the eighth day without any delay and shed the blood of the tender infant; but from the beginning of the age none of the Gentiles has undergone this on the eighth day, and on the other hand none of the Jews has omitted it. How, then, will the theory of birth-fate stand in this, when the Jews live mixed among the Gentiles throughout all parts of the world, and endure the knife on the eighth day in the place of one member, and none of the Gentiles but they alone, as I said, do this, not compelled by a star nor driven by the shedding of blood, but led by the law of religion; and in whatever place in the world they are, this is their native mark. And that they all have one name wherever they are—has this too come by birth-fate? And that among them an infant once born is never exposed, and that every seventh day all, wherever they are, keep rest, neither go on a journey nor use fire? Why is it, then, that birth-fate compels none of the Jews on that day either to make a journey, or to build, or to sell or buy anything?

“Indeed, I will give still greater proof from present things. For see, since the coming of the just and true Prophet scarcely seven years have passed, in which men from all nations coming to Judea, moved by the signs and mighty works they had seen and by the majesty of his teaching, when they received faith in him, went back to their own regions and despised the unlawful rites of the Gentiles and incestuous marriages. Indeed among the Parthians, as Thomas, who preaches the gospel among them, has written to us, not many any longer spread themselves among many marriages; nor do many among the Medes cast their dead to the dogs; nor do the Persians delight in marriages with their mothers or incestuous marriages with their daughters; nor do the women of Susa practice the adulteries once lawful; nor could birth-fate compel to crimes those whom the teaching of religion forbade.

“See, from this very thing make a guess, and take a conjecture from these places where we are, how, when only report brought to men's ears that a Prophet had appeared in Judea who by signs and mighty works taught men to worship one God, all were waiting with ready and attentive minds, even before the coming of my lord Peter, for someone to announce to them what he who appeared had taught. But not to seem to list many things, I will say how all should be concluded. Since God is just and himself made the nature of men, how could it be that he himself should set a birth-fate contrary to us, which would compel us to sin, and then himself punish sinners? Hence it is certain that God punishes the sinner, whether in the present or in the future age, for no other reason than that he knows he could have conquered but neglected the victory. For he inflicts vengeance on men in the present age too, as he did on those who perished in the flood, who were all destroyed in one day, indeed in one hour, though it is certain that they were not all born in one hour according to the order of birth-fate. And it is most absurd to say that we suffer evils by nature, if sins have not gone before.

“And therefore, if we care for salvation, we must above all devote ourselves to knowledge, sure that if our mind remains in ignorance, we shall endure not only the evils of birth-fate but also whatever else from outside seems good to the demons—unless fear of the laws and of the coming judgment resists all desires and curbs the impulse to sin. For human fear too does many good things and also many evil things, which birth-fate does not know, as we showed above. Our mind, then, is subject to errors in a threefold way: from things that come through evil habit, or from those that the body naturally suggests by desires, or from those that the hostile powers urge. But the mind has it in its nature to resist and fight against each of these, when the knowledge of truth has shone on it; through this knowledge the fear of the coming judgment is given, which is a fit pilot of the soul and can call it back from the precipices of desires. That these things are in our power, then, has been sufficiently said.

“Now you too, old man, if you have anything to answer to this, begin.” The old man said to this: “You have shown it most fully, my son. But I, as I said from the beginning, am prevented by my own knowledge from giving assent to this whole incomparable argument of yours. For I know my own birth-fate and my wife's, and I know that what birth-fate dictated for each of us has happened; and from what I have found out by facts and deeds I cannot now be moved by words. Indeed, since I see you thoroughly trained in disciplines of this kind, hear my wife's horoscope, and you will find the figure whose outcome took place. She had Mars with Venus above the cardinal point, and the Moon setting in the houses of Mars and the terms of Saturn—a figure that makes women adulteresses and lovers of their own slaves, and makes them die abroad and in the waters. And so it happened. For she fell in love with a slave, and fearing danger and disgrace alike, fled with him; and having gone abroad, where she satisfied her love, she perished in the sea.”

I answered: “How do you know that she was joined to her slave abroad and died in his company?” The old man said: “I know it most certainly—not indeed that she married the slave, for I did not even know that she loved him; but after she had gone, my brother told me, saying that first she had fallen in love with him; but he, being honorable, as a brother, would not pollute his brother's bed with the stain of incest. But she, unhappy woman, fearing both me and the disgrace that she could not bear (for it is not to be imputed to her, since birth-fate compelled her to do it), invented a dream and said to me: ‘Someone stood by me in a vision and ordered me to leave the city without delay with my two twins.’ When I heard this, anxious for her safety and the children's, I at once had her and the children leave; one, who was the younger, I kept with me, for she said that he who had given the answers in dreams had permitted this.”

Then I, Clement, understanding that he was perhaps my father, was filled with tears. My brothers also wanted to leap up and reveal the matter, but Peter prevented them, saying: “Be quiet until I see fit.” Then Peter answered and said to the old man: “What was the name of your younger son?” He said: “Clement.” Peter said: “If today I hand over to you your most chaste wife with your three sons, do you believe that a chaste mind can overcome irrational impulses, and that all we have said is true and birth-fate is nothing?” The old man said: “As it is impossible for you to produce what you have promised, so it is impossible for anything to happen outside birth-fate.” Then Peter said: “I want to have as witnesses all these who are present, that today I will deliver to you your wife, who has lived most chastely, with your three children. And now take proof of the matter from this, that I know the whole affair much more accurately than you, and I will tell you in order everything that happened, so that you may know and those present may learn.”

When he had said this, he turned to the crowds and began thus: “This man whom you see, men, in this very poor garment, is a citizen of the city of Rome, descended from the family of Caesar himself; his name is Faustinianus, and he married a most noble wife named Mattidia, by whom he had three sons, of whom two were twins, and the one who was younger, named Clement, is this man.” And when he had said this, he pointed to me with his finger. “And his twin sons are these, Niceta and Aquila, of whom one was formerly called Faustinus and the other Faustus.” As soon as Peter pronounced our names, the old man, all his limbs failing, collapsed as if struck down. We his sons rushed upon him, embraced and kissed him, fearing at the same time that he might not be able to recover his breath. While this was happening, the people were stunned with amazement.

Peter told us to rise from our father's embraces, lest we kill him; and he himself, taking his hand, raised him as if from a deep sleep, revived him a little, and began to set out truthfully everything that had happened: how his brother had fallen in love with Mattidia, and she, being most chaste, would not reveal his brother's unlawful love to her husband, lest she bring war upon the brothers or disgrace upon the family, but wisely invented a dream by which she was ordered to leave the city with her twin sons, the younger being left with his father; how, sailing, they suffered shipwreck by the violence of a storm and were cast upon the island called Antaradus; how Mattidia was thrown by the tossing waves onto a rock, while the twin children were seized by pirates, taken to Caesarea, and sold to a religious woman, who held them in place of sons, brought them up liberally, and had them educated; how the pirates changed their names and called one Niceta and the other Aquila; how after this, for the sake of their studies and companionship, they attached themselves to Simon, and when they saw he was a magician and deceiver, turned from him and came to Zacchaeus; and how after this they joined Peter. Also how Clement set out from the city to know the truth, came to Caesarea through acquaintance with Barnabas, became known to Peter and attached himself to him, and was taught by him the faith of religion; and how at Antaradus he found and recognized his mother begging, and how the whole island rejoiced at her recognition; of her life with her most chaste hostess and of the healing granted her through Peter himself; and of Clement's generosity to those who had been kind to his mother; and how after this Niceta and Aquila, asking who the strange woman was, when they had heard the whole matter from Clement, cried out that they were her twin sons Faustinus and Faustus and disclosed the whole story of what had happened to them; and how after this, at Peter's own suggestion, they were presented to their mother cautiously, lest she be overcome by sudden joy.

While Peter was setting these things out to the crowds in a narrative most welcome to the old man's ears, so that the hearers wept at the wonder of the events and in compassion, my mother, hearing from somewhere of the recognition of my father, rushed with hurried steps into our midst, crying out: “Where is my husband, my lord Faustinianus, who has been afflicted so many years, going about through each city looking for me?” As she was crying this out, as if beside herself, and looking around, the old man ran to her with many tears and began to embrace and hold her tight. While this was happening, Peter asked the crowds to leave, saying it was unseemly to stay any longer, but that room should be given them to see one another more intimately; “but tomorrow,” he said, “let any of you who wish come together here to hear the word.”

When Peter had said this, the crowds withdrew. And when we too wished to go to the lodging, the master of the house said to us: “It is shameful and impious for such and so great men to stay at an inn, when I have almost the whole house empty, and very many beds spread, and everything necessary prepared.” But when Peter declined, the wife of the master of the house with her children prostrated herself before him and begged him, saying: “I beg you, stay with us.” But even so Peter did not agree, until the daughter of those who were asking, who had been tormented for a long time by an unclean spirit and bound with chains, and had been shut within a chamber, the demon having been driven from her and the doors thrown open, came with her chains, fell at Peter's feet, and said: “It is right, my lord, that you should keep here today the feast of my deliverance, and not grieve either me or my parents.” When Peter asked the reason for her chains and her words, the parents, made joyful beyond hope at their daughter's healing, were themselves unable to speak, as if stunned; but the servants standing by said: “She was seized by a demon in the seventh year of her age, and she never ceased to tear, to rend with her teeth, even to break apart all who tried to approach her; and she did this for twenty years until now, and could not be cured by anyone; nor could anyone even approach her. For she made many useless and killed others; for she was stronger than all men, relying without doubt on the strength of the demon. But now, as you see, at your presence the demon has fled, the doors that had been shut with the strongest fastening are opened, and she herself stands healed before you, asking you to make the day of her deliverance joyful for her and for her parents and to stay with them.” When one of the servants had told this, and the chains themselves had fallen of their own accord from her hands and feet, Peter, sure that this healing had been given to the girl through him, agreed to stay with them. He also ordered those who had remained at the lodging, together with his wife, to come over; and each of us received separate rooms and stayed there; and having taken food as usual and given praise to God, we each rested in our places.

In the morning, at sunrise, I, Clement, and Niceta and Aquila came with Peter to the place where my father was resting together with my mother; and finding them still asleep, we sat down before the doors, where Peter used such words with us: “Listen to me, dearest fellow servants. I know that you have great affection for your father; so I fear that you may press him before the time to take up the yoke of religion when he is not yet ready for it, though perhaps for your sake he may seem to agree. But this is not firm; for what is done because of men is not approved and quickly falls away. And so it seems to me that you should allow him to live one year as he chooses, during which, travelling with us while we teach others, he can also simply listen; and listening, if he has an upright purpose of knowing the truth, he himself will ask to take up the yoke of religion; or if he does not wish to accept it, let him remain a friend. For those who do not take it up from the heart, when they begin to be unable to bear it, not only cast off what they had taken up, but, as if to excuse their own weakness, begin to blaspheme the way of religion and speak ill of those whom they could by no means follow or imitate.”

To this Niceta answered: “I do not contradict your right and good counsels, my lord Peter, but I want to say something, so as to learn by it what I do not know. What if within this year for which you tell us to put him off our father should die? He will go down to the underworld empty, to be tormented forever.” Then Peter said: “I embrace your kind purpose toward your father, and I pardon you for what you do not know. For do you think that if someone is thought to have lived justly, he will at once be saved? Do you not think that he must be examined by him who knows the hidden things of men as to how he lived justly—whether perhaps after the manner of the Gentiles, obeying their institutions and laws, or for the sake of friendships with men, or from mere habit or for any other cause or necessity, and not for the sake of justice itself nor for God? For those who have lived justly for the sake of God alone and his justice will come to eternal rest and receive the perpetuity of the heavenly kingdom. For salvation is acquired not by force but by freedom, not through the favor of men but through faith in God. Besides, you ought to consider that God foreknows and knows whether this man is his; and if he knows he is not, what shall we do against what was established by him from the beginning? But as far as I can, I give counsel: when he has woken and we have sat down, propose, as if wishing to learn something, only those things that it is profitable for him to learn; and while we talk among ourselves, he will be instructed. But first keep quiet, in case he seems to ask something; if he does, the occasion for discourse will be more suitable. But if he asks nothing, let us, as I said, ask one another in turn, as if wishing to learn something. This is how it seems to me; you too say what you think.”

When we had praised his right counsel, I, Clement, said: “In all things the end looks for the most part to the beginning, and the outcome of things is given like their beginnings. So I hope that for our father too, since God has given good beginnings through you, he will grant an end fitting and worthy of them. But I also suggest this: if, as you said, in our father's presence we begin to talk among ourselves as if to discuss or learn something, you, my lord Peter, ought not to play the part of one who needs to learn something. For if he sees this, he will perhaps be more offended, for he is sure that you know everything thoroughly, as is truly the case. What will it be like, then, if he sees you feigning ignorance? This, as I said, could hurt him more, not knowing your plan. But let us brothers converse among ourselves, and if we are in doubt about anything, let a fitting conclusion to our question be given by you. For if he sees you hesitating or doubting, then he will truly think that the knowledge of truth will be with no one.”

Peter answered this: “Let us leave this. If it is fitting that he should enter the door of life, God will give a suitable occasion, and the beginning will be from God and not from man. And so, as I said before, let him travel with us and hear us discussing something. But since I saw you in a hurry, I said that an opportunity must be sought; and when God gives it, you too must obey me in what I say.” While we were talking thus, a servant came saying that our father was now awake; and when we wished to go in to him, he himself came to us, greeted us with a kiss, and when we had sat down said: “Is it permitted to ask, if one wishes, or must one always keep silent, like the Pythagoreans?” Peter said: “We neither compel those who come to us always to be silent nor to ask, but leave it to their freedom to do as they wish, knowing that one who cares for his salvation, if he feels pain in any part of his soul, does not endure to keep silent; but one who neglects his salvation, if he is compelled to ask, gains no benefit from it except this only, that he seems studious and diligent. So if you wish to learn anything, ask.”

The old man said: “There is a very forceful saying among the philosophers of the Greeks, which says that in the life of men there is in reality nothing either good or evil, but that men, preoccupied by the use and custom of life, call things evil or good as they appear to them. For not even murder is really an evil, since it frees the soul from the bonds of the flesh; indeed, they say, even just judges put sinners to death—and if they knew murder to be an evil, the just would not do it. Nor do they say that adultery is an evil; for if the husband does not know or does not care, there is, they say, no evil in it. Nor is theft an evil: for one who lacks something takes it from another who has it—which indeed ought to be taken freely and publicly; but because it is done secretly, in this rather the inhumanity of the one from whom it is secretly taken is exposed. For the common use of all things in this world ought to have belonged to all men; but through iniquity one calls this his own and another that, and so division was made among mortals. Indeed one of the wisest of the Greeks, knowing this to be so, said that all things of friends ought to be common—and among ‘all things’ wives are no doubt included. And as the air, he says, cannot be divided, nor the brightness of the sun, so neither should the other things given in common in this world to all to possess be divided, but they should be held in common. This I wished to say; and I cannot act well unless I first learn what the good is; and if I can understand that, I will notice from it what evil is, that is, its contrary.

“But to what I have said I want one of you to answer, not Peter. For it is not fitting to take words and teaching from him by way of questions; rather, whatever he pronounces should be held without any reconsideration. So let him be kept for us as arbiter, so that wherever our discussion finds no outcome, he may pronounce what he thinks and put an undoubted end to doubtful matters. And even now I could believe, content with his opinion alone, whatever he thought—which I shall do in the end; but I want first to see whether it is possible to find by disputation what is sought. So let Clement begin first, and show whether anything is good or evil in substance and in acts.”

To this I answered: “Since you wish to learn from me whether anything is good or evil by nature or by act, or rather whether some things seem good and others evil to men preoccupied by custom, because they made a division among themselves of things that ought, as you say, to be common like the air and the brightness of the sun, I think I should not bring you proofs from elsewhere but from those disciplines which you yourself use and which you yourself confirm, so that what is said may be undoubted for you. You set fixed limits for all the elements and stars, and you say that some stars come together in certain cases without harm, as in marriages, but in others mix harmfully, as in adulteries. And you say that some things are general to all, and others neither belong to all nor are general. But so that the discussion may not be long, I will speak briefly and to the point. The earth, which is dry, needs union and mixture with water in order to produce the fruits without which there is no life for men; this, then, is a lawful union. On the contrary, if the cold of frost is mixed with the earth, or heat with the waters, such a union causes corruption; and in such things this is adultery.

My father answered: “But as the harm of a discordant union of elements or stars is at once betrayed, so it ought also to be shown at once how evil adultery is.” I said: “First confirm this for me: whether, as you yourself admitted, evils are produced from an unsuitable and discordant mixture; and that other point will be inquired into in what follows.” My father said: “As the nature of the thing is, so you say, my son.” Then I answered: “Since you wish to learn about these things, see how many things there are that no one doubts to be evils: do not fever, fire, sedition, collapse, slaughter, chains, punishments, pains, mourning, and things like these seem to you to be evil?” My father said: “It is true, my son, that these are evils, and very great evils; or at any rate let him who denies these are evils suffer them.”

I answered: “Since I am speaking with one who is learned in the astrological discipline, I will deal with you according to it, so that receiving the account from things familiar to you, you may agree the more quickly. Hear now, then. You have admitted that the things we mentioned above are evils, that is, fevers, fires, and the like. These, according to you, are said to be caused by malicious stars, that is, by moist Saturn and hot Mars; and their opposites by benign stars, that is, by temperate Jupiter and moist Venus. Or is it not so?” My father answered: “It is so, my son, and it cannot be otherwise.” Then I said: “Since, then, you say that good things are caused by the good stars, I mean Jupiter and Venus, let us see what each of the evil stars produces when it is mixed with the good; and let us understand that to be evil. For you hold that Venus makes marriages; and if she has Jupiter in her figure, she makes chaste women; but if Jupiter does not regard her and Mars is present, you declare that marriages are corrupted by adultery.” My father said: “So it is.” I answered: “Then adultery is evil, since it is committed by the mixture of evil stars. And to explain more briefly: all the things you say the good stars suffer from the mixture of evil stars must without doubt be declared evil. Those stars, then, by whose mixture we said evils are produced—fevers, fires, and the rest like them—are the very ones that, according to you, also work murders, adulteries, thefts, and make men insolent and stupid.”

My father said: “Truly you have shown briefly and incomparably that there are evils in acts. But I should still like to learn this: how does God judge justly those who sin, as you say, if birth-fate compels them to sin?” Then I answered: “I am afraid to say something to you, father, because it is fitting that you be held in all honor by me; otherwise there is something I could say, if it were fitting.” My father said: “Say what occurs to you, my son, even if it seems insulting; for it is not you but the logic of the question that does the injury—as a chaste woman to an intemperate husband, if she is indignant for her salvation and honor.” I answered: “If we do not keep well what has been first confirmed and admitted between us, but what has been defined is always undone through forgetfulness, we shall seem to be weaving the web of Penelope, undoing what we have woven. And so we ought either not to agree easily before the proposed statement is carefully examined, or, if we have already agreed and the opinion is confirmed, always to keep what has once been defined, so that we may also inquire about other things.” My father said: “You speak well, my son, and I know why you say it: because yesterday, discussing natural causes, you showed that a certain malignant power, transforming itself into the order of the stars, stirs up human desires, provoking to sin in various ways, yet not compelling or effecting sin.” I answered him: “Good—you have both remembered, and, while remembering, gone astray.” My father said: “Forgive me, my son; I do not yet have much practice in these things. For your words yesterday shut me in by their very truth so that I agreed with you; yet in my conscience there remain, as it were, some remnants of fevers, which draw me back a little from faith as from health. For I am tormented because I know that many things, indeed almost all things, have happened to me according to birth-fate.”

I answered: “Hear, then, father, what the nature of astrology is, and do as I tell you. Go to an astrologer and say to him first: ‘Such and such evils happened to me at that time; I want to learn, then, from where or how or through which stars they happened to me.’ He will without doubt answer you that malicious Mars or Saturn took over your times, or one of them was in apocatastasis, or one regarded your year from the diameter, or in conjunction, or at a cardinal point; or he will answer other such things, adding that in all these one was either unconnected with the malefic, or invisible, or in figure, or outside its sect, or waning, or not in contact, or among obscure stars; and he will answer many other such things according to his own reasons and assign them in each case. After him go to another astrologer and say the opposite: ‘Such and such good happened to me at that time’—but name the same time—and ask from what parts of the birth-fate this good came to you; and keep, as I said, the same times you asked about for the evils. And when you have deceived him about the times, see how many figures he will find for you, by which he will show that good things must have come to you at those very times. For it is impossible for those who handle men's birth-fate not always to find, in every region of the stars they speak of, some stars well placed and some badly. For the circle, according to astrology, is gathered equally on every side, admitting diverse and varied causes, from which they take occasion to say what they wish.

“For as usually happens when men have seen ambiguous dreams and understand nothing certain: when some outcome of events occurs, they then fit the vision of the dream to what has happened. So it is with astrology: before anything happens, nothing certain is declared; but after something has happened, they gather the causes of the thing already done. Indeed, when they have often erred and the thing has turned out otherwise, they reproach themselves, saying that it was such and such a star that hindered, that intervened, and we did not see it—not knowing that their error comes not from lack of skill in the art but from the unsuitability of the whole system. For they do not know what the things are which we desire to do, yet do not indulge our desires. But we who have learned the reason of this mystery also know the cause: that, having freedom of choice, we sometimes resist desires and sometimes yield; and therefore the outcome of human actions is uncertain, because it hangs on freedom of choice. For the astrologer can indicate the desire which the malignant power works; but whether the act or outcome of this desire can be fulfilled or not, since it lies in freedom of choice, can be known by no one before the event. And this is why the astrologers, in their ignorance, invented for themselves the talk of climacterics—refuges, of course, for an uncertain matter—as we showed most fully yesterday.

“If you think anything should be said to this, say it.” My father said: “Nothing is truer, my son, than what you have set out.” While we were talking thus among ourselves, someone announced that a very great crowd was standing outside, who had gathered to listen; and Peter ordered that they be allowed to come in, for the place was suitable and spacious. When they had come in, Peter said to us: “If any of you wishes, let him address the people and speak about idolatry.” I, Clement, answered him: “Your great kindness, and your gentleness and patience toward all, allow us to dare to speak in your presence and to ask what we wish. And therefore, as I said, the mildness of your character invites all and encourages them to receive the precepts of saving teaching. Until now I have seen this in no one else but you alone, in whom there is no envy or indignation. Or what do you think?”

Peter said: “These things do not come only from envy or indignation; sometimes there is in some a shame lest they be unable to answer fully about the things proposed, and they flee the mark of ignorance. But no one ought to feel shame for this, because there is no man who ought to profess that he knows everything. For there is one who knows all things, he who also made all things. For if our Master professed that he did not know the day and the hour, whose signs he even foretold, so as to refer everything to the Father, how shall we think it shameful if we admit that we are ignorant of some things, when we have the example of the Master in this? This one thing, however, we profess: that we know what we have learned from the true Prophet, and that those things were handed down to us by the true Prophet which he judged sufficient for human knowledge.”

Then I, Clement, began to speak thus: “At Tripolis, when you were disputing against the Gentiles, my lord Peter, I greatly marveled how you, who were brought up by your fathers in the Hebrew rite and the observances of your own law, and in no way defiled by the studies of Greek learning, argued so magnificently and incomparably that you even touched on some of the stories of the gods which are usually sung in the theaters. But since I perceived that their very fables and blasphemies are less known to you, I will, if you please, discuss some of them in your hearing, repeating them from their very origin.” Peter said: “Speak; you do well to help our preaching.” Then I said: “Since you order it, I will speak, not as teaching, but bringing into the open what foolish opinions the Gentiles have about their gods.”

When I wished to speak, Niceta, biting his lip, signaled to me to be silent. When Peter saw him he said: “Why do you want to hurt a liberal mind and a noble nature, wishing him to keep silent in honor of me, who am nothing? Or do you not know that if all the nations, after they have heard the preaching of truth from me and believed, wish to devote themselves to teaching, they bring me greater glory—if indeed you think me desirous of glory? For what is so glorious as to have prepared disciples for Christ, not who keep silent and alone are saved, but who speak what they have learned and help many? I wish that you too, Niceta, and you also, sweetest Aquila, would help me to preach the word of God, all the more because the things in which the Gentiles err are well known to you. And not only you, but all who hear me, I wish so to hear and learn that they may also be able to teach; for the world needs many helpers by whom men may be called back from error.” When he had said this, he said to me: “You, then, Clement, carry out what you have begun.”

And I at once added: “Since,” I said, “when disputing at Tripolis you discussed many things usefully and necessarily about the gods of the nations, I wish to set out in your presence their ridiculous origin, so that neither the fabrication of this vain superstition may escape you, nor the hearers present fail to recognize the disgrace of their error. Those, then, who are wiser among the Gentiles say that first of all there was Chaos; that this, solidifying its outer parts over a long time, made for itself boundaries and a kind of bottom, gathered in the manner and shape of an immense egg; and that within it, likewise over a long time, as within the shell of an egg, a certain living creature was cherished and quickened; and that after this, that immense globe having burst, there came forth a certain form of a man of double shape, which they call male-female. Him they also named Phanes, from appearing, because, they say, when he appeared, then light also shone forth. And from him, they say, were begotten substance, prudence, motion, intercourse; from these were made heaven and earth. From heaven six males were begotten, whom they call Titans; likewise from earth six females, whom they called Titanesses. And the names of those born from heaven are these: Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Cronus, who among us is called Saturn. Likewise the names of those born from earth are these: Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Tethys, Hebe.

“Of all these, he who was born first from heaven took the first daughter of earth as wife, the second the second, and the rest likewise in order. The first, who had married the first, was led down below on her account; the second, on account of him whom she had married, went up above; and so, each doing likewise in order, they remained in the places that had fallen to them by the lot of marriage. From their unions they assert that countless others were also begotten. But of those six males, one, who is called Saturn, took Rhea in marriage; and having been warned by an oracle that one born of her would be stronger than he and drive him from his kingdom, he resolved to devour all the sons who were born to him. So his first son is born, whom they called Aides, who among us is named Orcus; and for the reasons we stated above, the father took him and devoured him. After him he begot a second, whom they call Neptune, and devoured him in the same way. Last he begot the one they call Jupiter; but his mother Rhea, pitying him, by a trick withdrew him from the father who was about to devour him; and first, so that the child's crying might not become known, she had certain Corybantes beat cymbals and drums, so that the infant's crying might not be heard over the noise.

“But when the father understood from the shrinking of her womb that the child had been born, he demanded it to devour it. Then Rhea, offering him a large stone, said: ‘This is what I bore.’ He took it and swallowed it; and the swallowed stone pushed out and forced to come forth the sons he had first swallowed. The first to come out, Orcus, went down and occupies the lower, that is the infernal, regions. The second, as being above him, is thrust down upon the waters—he whom they call Neptune. The third, who survived through the art of his mother Rhea, was set upon a goat by her and sent up into heaven.

“So far let the old wives' fable and genealogy of the Gentiles go; for there would be no end if I wished to set out all the generations of those they call gods and their impious deeds. But by way of example, leaving out the others, I will recount the shameful deeds of the one whom they hold greatest and chief, whom they name Jupiter. For they say that he holds heaven as better than the rest. As soon as he grew up, he took his own sister, whom they call Juno, as wife—in which he at once becomes like a beast. Juno bore Vulcan, but, as they relate, not conceived by Jupiter. By Jupiter himself she bore Medea; and he, having received an oracle that one born of her would be stronger than he and drive him from his kingdom, himself also took her and devoured her; and again he begot Minerva from his brain, and Liber from his thigh. After this, when he had fallen in love with Thetis, they say Prometheus declared to him that if he lay with her, the one born of her would be stronger than his father; and fearing this he gave her in marriage to one Peleus. Next he has intercourse with Persephone, who had been born to him from Ceres, and by her begot Dionysus, who was torn apart by the Titans. But remembering, it says, lest his father Saturn should beget another son who would be born stronger even than he and drive him from his kingdom, he set about attacking his father together with his brothers the Titans; and when they had been overcome, at last he also threw his father into chains, cut off his genitals, and threw them into the sea. But the blood that flowed from the wound, received by the waves and turned into foam by frequent dashing, produced her whom they call Aphrodite, whom among us they call Venus. From intercourse with her, who was certainly his sister, they relate that this same Jupiter begot Cypris, from whom they say Cupid was also born.

“So much for his incests; hear now about his adulteries. He violates Europa, wife of Oceanus, from whom Dodonaeus is born; Helen, daughter of Pandion, from whom Musaeus is born; Eurynome, daughter of Asopus, from whom Ogygias is born; Hermione, daughter of Oceanus, from whom the Graces are born, Thalia, Euphrosyne, Aglaia; Themis his sister, from whom the Hours are born, Eurynomia, Dike, Irene; Themisto, daughter of Inachus, from whom Arcas is born; Idaea, daughter of Minos, from whom Asterion is born; Phoenissa, daughter of Alphion, from whom Endymion is born; Io, daughter of Inachus, from whom Epaphus is born; Hippodamia and Isione, daughters of Danaus, of whom Olenus had the one, Hippodamia, and Orchomenus or Chryses had Isione; Carme, daughter of Phoenix, from whom is born Britomartis, who was a companion of Diana; Callisto, daughter of Lycaon, from whom Orcas is born; Libye, daughter of Munantus, from whom Belus is born; Latona, from whom Apollo and Diana are born; Leanida, daughter of Eurymedon, from whom Coron is born; Lysithea, daughter of Evenus, from whom Helenus is born; Hippodamia, daughter of Bellerophon, from whom Sarpedon is born; Megaclite, daughter of Macareus, from whom Thebe and Locrus are born; Niobe, daughter of Phoroneus, from whom Argus and Pelasgus are born; Olympias, daughter of Neoptolemus, from whom Alexander is born; Pyrrha, daughter of Prometheus, from whom Helmetheus is born; Protogenia and Pandora, daughters of Deucalion, from whom he begot Aethlius and Dorus and Melera and Pandorus; Thaicrucia, daughter of Proteus, from whom Nympheus is born; Salamis, daughter of Asopus, from whom Saracon is born; Taygete, Electra, Maia, Plutis, daughters of Atlas, from whom he begot—from Taygete, Lacedaemon; from Electra, Dardanus; from Maia, Mercury; from Plutis, Tantalus; Phthia, daughter of Phoroneus, from whom he begot Achaeus; (Choniane, daughter of Aramnus, from whom he begot Laco;) Chalcea, a nymph, from whom Olympus is born; Charidia, a nymph, from whom Alchanus is born; Chloris, who was the wife of Ampycus, from whom Mopsus is born; Cotonia, daughter of Lesbus, from whom Polymedes is born; Hippodamia, daughter of Anicetus; Chrysogenia, daughter of Peneus, from whom Thessalus is born.

“And there are very many other adulteries of his, from which he received no offspring, which it would take too long to list. But of all those we have listed, he violated some after transforming himself, as a magician. Indeed he corrupted Antiope, daughter of Nycteus, turned into a satyr, from whom Amphion and Zethus are born; Alcmene, changed into her husband Amphitryon, from whom Hercules is born; Aegina, daughter of Asopus, changed into an eagle, from whom Aeacus is born. He also debauches Ganymede, son of Dardanus, likewise changed into an eagle; Manthea, daughter of Phocus, changed into a bear, from whom Arctos is born; Danae, daughter of Acrisius, changed into gold, from whom Perseus is born; Europa, daughter of Phoenix, changed into a bull, from whom Minos and Rhadamanthus and Sarpedon are born; Eurymedusa, daughter of Achelous, changed into an ant, from whom Myrmidon is born; Thalia (Aetna), a nymph, changed into a vulture, from whom the Palici in Sicily are born; Imandra, daughter of Geneanus, at Rhodes, changed into a shower; Cassiopeia, changed into her husband Phoenix, from whom Anchinus is born; Leda, daughter of Thestius, changed into a swan, from whom Helen is born; and again the same, changed into a star, from whom Castor and Pollux are born; Lamia, changed into a hoopoe; Mnemosyne, changed into a shepherd, from whom the nine Muses are born; Nemesis, changed into a goose; Semele, daughter of Cadmus, changed into fire, from whom Dionysus is born. And from his daughter Ceres he begot Persephone, whom he also corrupted, changed into a serpent.

“He also commits adultery with Europa, the wife of his uncle Oceanus, and with her sister Eurynome, and punishes the father; and he commits adultery with Plute, the daughter of his son Atlas, and condemns Tantalus, the son born to him from her. From Larissa, daughter of Orchomenus, he also begot Tityus, whom he too handed over to punishments. Snatching Dia, the wife of his son Ixion, he subjects Ixion himself to everlasting punishments; and almost all the sons he begot from adulteries he condemned to the lot of a violent death, and the tombs of almost all of them are well known. Finally, the tomb of this parricide himself, who both killed his uncles and violated their wives, who debauched his sisters, the many-shaped magician, is plain to see among the Cretans; who nevertheless, knowing and confessing his unspeakable and incestuous deeds and telling them to everyone, are not ashamed to confess him a god. Hence it seems to me a wonder, and a great wonder, how he who stands above all mortals in crime and wickedness received the holy name, which is above every good, so as to be called father of gods and men—unless perhaps he who rejoices in men's evils persuaded unhappy souls to confer on him, whom he saw standing above the rest in crimes, honor above the rest, so as to invite all to imitate evil.

“The tombs of his sons too, who are thought gods among them, are shown most plainly in their several places: Mercury's at Hermopolis, Cyprian Venus's in Cyprus, Mars's in Thrace, Liber's at Thebes, where he is said to have been torn apart, Hercules's at Tyre, where he was burned in fire, Aesculapius's in Epidaurus. All of these are shown to have died not only as men, but to have been punished as wicked men for their crimes; and yet they are worshiped as gods by foolish men.

“And if they wish to argue and assert that these places are rather of their birth than of their burial or death, they will be refuted from neighboring and still recent events concerning earlier and older ones, when we show that they worship those whom they themselves admit were men and died, or rather were punished: for example, the Syrians Adonis, the Egyptians Osiris, the people of Ilium Hector, Achilles at Leuconesus, Patroclus in Pontus, Alexander of Macedon at Rhodes; and each worships and adores as gods many others in various places, whom they do not doubt were dead men. Hence it follows that the earlier ones too, slipping into a similar error, conferred divine honor on dead men who perhaps had had some power or art, and especially if they had brought foolish men into amazement by magical phantasms.

“Then to this was added that the poets adorned the fabrications of error with elegance of words, and by sweetness of speech persuaded that mortals had been made immortals. Indeed they say even more: that from men stars come to be, and trees and animals and flowers and birds, springs and rivers. And if it did not seem wordy, I could list almost all the stars that they assert were made from men, or trees or springs and rivers; but by way of example I will mention at least one from each kind. They say Andromeda, daughter of Cepheus, was turned into a star; Daphne, daughter of the river Ladon, changed into a tree; Hyacinthus, the beloved of Apollo, into a flower; Callisto into the constellation they call the Bear; Procne and Philomela with Tereus into birds; Thisbe in Cilicia into a spring, and Pyramus there dissolved into a river; and almost all, as I said, whether stars or trees, springs and rivers, flowers and animals, or birds, they affirm were once men.

When Peter heard this he said: “Then according to them, before men were changed into stars or the other things you list, heaven was without stars and earth without trees and animals, and there were neither springs nor rivers nor birds. And how did men themselves live without these things into which they were afterwards changed, since it is clear that men could not have lived on earth at all without them?” I answered: “But they do not even know how to observe the worship of their own gods consistently. For each of those they worship has something dedicated to him, from which the worshipers ought to abstain: they say the olive is dedicated to Minerva, the goat to Jupiter, seeds to Ceres, wine to Liber, water to Osiris, the ram to Ammon, the deer to Diana, the fish and the dove to the demon of the Syrians, fire to Vulcan; and to each, as I said, something is properly dedicated, from which the worshipers ought to abstain in honor of those to whom they are dedicated. But now each, keeping away from some one thing, has all the others angry with him for the sake of honoring one. Surely if they wished to placate them, they ought, in honor of all, to abstain from everything—so that before the day of judgment, condemned by a just sentence of their own, they would perish by a most miserable death from starvation.”

“But let us return to the subject. What evil reason is it, or rather what madness possesses the minds of mortals, that a man whom they not only know to be impious, monstrous, profane—Jupiter, I mean—incestuous, a parricide, an adulterer, but even sing of him publicly in the theaters, they should worship and adore as a god? Or if he deserved to be a god for these deeds, then even now they ought to adore as gods any murderers, adulterers, parricides, and incestuous persons they hear of. But why they venerate in him what they execrate in others, I cannot know at all.” Peter answered: “Since you say you do not know, learn from me why they venerate criminal deeds in him. First, so that when they themselves do similar things, they may know they are acceptable to him, as one whom they imitate in shameful acts; second, because the ancients left these things skillfully stored in writings and elegantly woven into verses. And now, under the pretext of a boy's education, since knowledge of them has clung to tender and simple minds, it can hardly be torn out and cast away.”

When Peter had said this, Niceta answered: “Do not think, my lord Peter, that the learned among the Gentiles do not have certain plausible arguments by which they support these things that seem blameworthy and shameful. I say this not as confirming their errors—far be it from me that this should even come into my thought—but yet I know that among the more prudent of them there are certain defenses by which they are accustomed to support and color these things that seem absurd. And if it pleases you that I bring forward some of these, which I partly remember, I will do as you command.” When Peter had permitted it, Niceta began in this way:

“All writing among the Greeks that is composed about the origin of antiquity has many authors, but two especially: Orpheus and Hesiod. Their writings are divided into two parts of understanding, that is, according to the letter and according to allegory; and the ignoble crowd of the common people has flocked to what is according to the letter, but all the talkativeness of philosophers and learned men has been devoted to what consists in allegory. It is Orpheus, then, who says that first there was chaos, eternal, immeasurable, unbegotten, from which all things were made. This chaos he said was neither darkness nor light, neither moist nor dry, neither hot nor cold, but all things mixed together, and was always one formless thing; yet at some time, as if after the manner of an immense egg, brought to completion through immeasurable ages, it brought forth and produced from itself a kind of double form, which they call male-female, a form compacted from the contrary mixture of such diversity. And this, he says, is the beginning of all things, which first proceeded from purer matter, and which, proceeding, produced the separation of the four elements, and made heaven from the two elements that are first, and earth from the others; from which he says that all things are now born and begotten by mutual participation. This is what Orpheus says.

“Hesiod adds to this, saying that immediately after chaos heaven and earth were made, from which, he says, were begotten those eleven, whom he sometimes also calls twelve; of these he sets six as males and five as females. He gives these names to the males: Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Cronus, who is also Saturn; and to the females: Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Tethys. These names they interpret by allegory in this way: the number eleven or twelve, they say, is nature itself, the first, which they also want to be called Rhea from flowing; the other ten they call its accidents, which they also call qualities; and they add a twelfth, Cronus, whom among us they call Saturn, and take him for time. Saturn and Rhea, then, they set down as time and matter, which, when they are mixed with moist and dry and hot and cold over time, generate all things.

“This, then, he says, first of all, over a long time, brought forth a kind of compacted bubble, which, gradually gathered from the spirit that was in the waters, swelled up; and, carried round for some time over the surface of matter, from which it had come forth as from a womb, hardened by the stiffness of cold and always growing by icy accretions, at last broke off and sank into the depth; and drawn by its very weight it went down to the underworld; and because it became invisible it was called Aides, who is also named Orcus or Pluto. And when it sank from the upper regions into the lower, it gave the moist element room to flow together, and the denser part, which is earth, was laid bare as the waters gave way. This freedom of the waters, then, which had previously been pressed down by the covering bubble, after the bubble had obtained the place of the underworld, was called Neptune. After this, when the cold element had been absorbed into the lower regions through the congealing of the icy bubble, and the dry had been separated from the moist, with nothing now hindering, the hot element of fire, by its vigor and lightness, flew up to the upper regions of the air, borne up by wind and storm. This storm, then, which is called kataigis in Greek, they called a goat, and the fire which ascended to the heights, Jupiter; and therefore they say he ascended Olympus borne up by a goat.

“Jupiter himself the Greeks want to be named from living or giving life, our people from helping. This, then, they say, is the living substance, which, placed in the upper regions, drawing all things to itself by the force of heat as by the circuit of a brain, and composing them by the moderation of a certain tempering, is said to have begotten from his head wisdom, whom they call Minerva, who is named Athena by the Greeks because of her immortality. Because the father of all made all things through his wisdom, she is said to have been born from his very head, the chief place of all, and is held to have formed and adorned the whole world by the tempered mixture of the elements. So the forms that have been put into matter so that the world might come to be, since they are bound together by the force of heat, are said to be held by the strength of Jupiter. And since these are sufficiently arranged and need nothing new added to them, but each is renewed by the posterity of its own seed, the hands of Saturn are said to have been bound by Jupiter; because time no longer produces anything new from matter, as I said, but the heat of the seeds restores all things according to their kind, and the offspring of Rhea, that is, the propagation of flowing matter, no longer increases. And therefore they call the first division of the elements itself the castration of Saturn, as of one who can no longer generate a world.”

“Of Venus they hand down the allegory in this way. When, they say, the sea lay beneath the ether, and the brightness of heaven reflected by the waters shone more pleasingly, the loveliness of things, which appeared more beautiful from the waters, was named Venus; and she, joined to the ether as to her brother, is recorded to have begotten Cupid, because she produced a desirable beauty. In this way, then, by allegory they hand down that Cronus, who is Saturn, is time, as we said; Rhea is matter; Aides, that is Orcus, the depth of the underworld; Neptune, water; Jupiter, the air, that is, the element of heat; Venus, the loveliness of things; Cupid, the desire that is in all things, by which posterity is renewed, or else the reason of things which, wisely contemplated, gives delight. Hera, that is Juno, is set down as this middle air which comes down from heaven to earth. Diana, whom they say is also Proserpina, they hand down as the lower air. Apollo himself they also call the sun, going round the pole; Mercury, the word, by which an account of each thing is given; Mars, intemperate fire, which consumes all things. But not to dwell on listing each, according to this form of allegory those who have more secret skill in such things think they give honorable and just accounts of each of those they worship.”

When Niceta had said this, Aquila answered: “It seems to me that whoever is the author and inventor of these things was very impious, if he hid these things that seem pleasing and honorable, and placed the rite of his superstition in disgraceful and shameful observances, since what is written according to the letter is plainly dishonorable and shameful, and the whole observance of their religion consists in these things, so that by such crimes and impieties they teach men to imitate the gods they worship. For what use will these allegories be to them? Though they are made up as honorable, yet no use for worship comes from them, nor any amendment of morals.

“Hence it is rather clear that prudent men, seeing that the common superstition was so disgraceful, so shameful, and yet not having learned any way or knowledge of correcting it, tried by whatever arguments and interpretations they could to veil dishonorable things with honorable words—and not, as they say, to hide honorable reasons in dishonorable fables. If that were so, their images and paintings of them would never be made with their vices and crimes. The swan would not be shaped as Leda's adulterer, nor the bull for Europa, nor would they turn him whom they think better than all into a thousand monsters. If the great and wise men among them knew this was fiction and not truth, would they not convict of impiety and sacrilege those who set up such paintings or carved such images to the insult of the gods? Indeed, let them paint the king of their time in the form of an ox or a goose or an ant or a vulture, write their king's name above it, and set up such a statue or image: they will feel the insult of the deed and the greatness of the vengeance.

“But since the things that public shame bears witness to are rather the true ones, and the veils were sought out and composed with honorable words by prudent men for an excuse, therefore they are not only not forbidden, but in the very mysteries images are displayed of Saturn devouring his sons and of the boy hidden by the Corybantes with cymbals and the sound of drums. And as for the castration of Saturn, what greater proof of its truth will there be than that, in honor of their god, the worshipers too are castrated with a like unhappy lot? Since, then, these things are plainly seen, who will be found of so little sense, or rather so stupid, to whom it is not plain that these things are rather true of the unhappy gods, which their more unhappy worshipers attest even by the wounds and mutilation of their bodies?”

“But if, as they say, these things were done so honorably and piously, and are served by so dishonorable and impious a rite, then surely he is sacrilegious, whoever handed them down from the beginning or still persists in carrying out what was wrongly handed down. And what shall we say of the books of the poets? If they defamed the honorable and pious deeds of the gods with shameful fables, ought they not at once to have been cast away and given to the fire, so that they might not persuade the still tender age of boys that Jupiter himself, the chief of the gods, was a parricide toward his parents, incestuous toward his sisters and daughters, impure even toward boys, that Venus and Mars were adulterers, and all those things already mentioned above? Or what do you think, my lord Peter?”

Then he answered: “Be sure, sweetest Aquila, that all things have been done by the good providence of God, so that the cause which was to be contrary to the truth should be not only weak and frail but also shameful. For if the assertion of error had been stronger and more plausible, hardly anyone deceived by it would easily return to the road of truth. For if now, when so many disgraces and shames are brought forward about the gods of the Gentiles, scarcely anyone abandons the shameful error, how much less if there were something honorable and plausible in it? For the mind is with difficulty moved from things with which it has been preoccupied from earliest age; and for this reason, as I said, it came about by divine providence that the substance of error should be both weak and shameful. And divine Providence arranges all other things likewise fittingly and suitably, though the reason of the good and excellent divine dispensation is not clear to us who do not know the causes of things.”

When Peter had said this, I, Clement, asked Niceta to set out, for the sake of knowledge, some of the allegories of the Gentiles, which he had carefully studied; for it is useful that, when we dispute with the Gentiles, these things too should not be unknown to us. Niceta said: “If my lord Peter permits, I can speak.” Then Peter said: “Today I have permitted you to speak against the Gentiles, as you know.” And Niceta said: “Tell me, then, Clement, what you wish to hear about.” I said to him: “How do the Gentiles explain the banquet of the gods which they held at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis; whom do they say the shepherd Paris is; whom do they make Juno, Minerva, and Venus, who were judged before him; whom Mercury, or what the apple, and the rest that follows in order?”

Then Niceta said: “The matter of the banquet stands in this way. They hand down that the banquet is the world, and the order of the gods reclining is the position of the stars; those whom Hesiod names the first children of heaven and earth, among whom there are six males and six females, they refer to the number of the twelve signs, which go round the whole world. The dishes of the banquet they hand down to be the reasons and causes of things, sweet and desirable, which are gathered from the position of the signs and the courses of the stars, as to how this world is ruled and governed. They say that these things are set out in the manner of the freedom of a banquet, because each mind has the power to taste something of this knowledge if it wishes, or not; and as at a banquet no one is compelled but each has freedom to eat, so the practice of philosophizing depends on the choice of the will. Discord they say is the desire of the flesh, which rises up against the purpose of the mind and hinders the pursuit of philosophizing; and that, indeed, is why they say it was the time when a wedding was being celebrated. Peleus and the nymph Thetis they set down as the dry and moist element, from whose mixture the substance of bodies is composed. Mercury they hand down to be the word, through which teaching is conferred on the mind; Juno they call chastity, Minerva fortitude, Venus lust, Paris the mind. If, then, they say, it happens that a man's mind is barbarous and unskilled, and does not know right judgment, despising chastity and virtue it will give the palm to lust—which is the evil—through which overthrow and ruin will come not only to himself but to his fellow citizens and the whole nation. Though they have chosen to compose these things from whatever material, they can be applied to every man: for if someone has a shepherd's and rustic and unskilled mind and does not wish to be educated, when the heat of the body suggests the sweetness of lust, at once, despising the virtues of study and the goods of knowledge, he turns his mind to the pleasures of the body. And from this it is that implacable wars arise, cities fall, countries collapse, just as Paris, by carrying off Helen, armed Greeks and barbarians for mutual destruction.”

Peter, praising his exposition, said: “Clever men, as I see, draw many plausibilities from what they read; and therefore we must be careful that when the law of God is read, it is not read according to the understanding of one's own cleverness. For there are many words in the divine Scriptures which can be drawn to whatever sense each one has presumed for himself; and this ought not to be done. For you ought not to seek a foreign and alien sense brought in from outside, which you then confirm by the authority of the Scriptures, but to take the sense of truth from the Scriptures themselves. And therefore one must learn the understanding of the Scriptures from him who keeps it as handed down to him from his elders according to the truth, so that he too may fittingly assert what he has rightly received. For when someone has received from the divine Scriptures a whole and firm rule of truth, it will not be absurd if he also brings something from common education and the liberal studies, which he perhaps touched in boyhood, to the assertion of true doctrine—yet in such a way that where he has learned the truth, he avoids what is false and feigned.”

And when he had said this, looking at our father, he said: “You, then, old man, if you care for the salvation of your soul, that when it is released from the body it may find everlasting rest in return for this brief conversion, inquire about whatever you wish and consult, so that you may cast off any doubt that is in you. For the time of life is uncertain even for the young, but for the old it is no longer even uncertain; for there is no doubt that however much is thought to remain is short. And therefore both young and old must be very anxious about conversion and repentance, and strive thereafter to adorn their soul with the worthiest ornaments, that is, with the doctrines of truth, the beauty of chastity, the splendor of justice, the brightness of piety, and all the other things with which it befits a rational mind to be adorned; and besides, to avoid dishonorable and unbelieving company, and to keep the society of believers and frequent those assemblies in which chastity, justice, and piety are discussed; to pray to God always from the heart and ask of him what it is fitting to ask of God; to give him thanks, to have true repentance for past deeds; and also, if possible, to help repentance somewhat by mercies to the poor. For through these, pardon will be given more easily, and he who has been indulgent will be indulged more quickly.”

“And if he who comes to repentance is of more advanced age, he ought all the more to give thanks to God that, since every impulse of carnal desire has been broken, having received the knowledge of truth, no battle of the contest threatens him by which he must repress the pleasures of the body rising up against the mind. It remains, then, for him to be exercised in the knowledge of truth and in works of mercy, so that he may bring forth fruits worthy of repentance; and let him not think that the proof of conversion is shown in length of time, and not in the firmness of devotion and purpose. For minds are manifest to God, who reckons not the account of times but of souls. For he approves if someone, having recognized the preaching of truth, has not delayed nor spent time in neglect, but at once, and if it can be said in the same moment, shuddering at the past, has begun to desire the things to come and burned with love of the heavenly kingdom.

“Therefore let none of you any longer pretend or look back, but come gladly to the gospel of the kingdom of God. Let not the poor man say: ‘When I have become rich, then I will be converted.’ God does not require money of you, but a merciful spirit and a pious mind. Nor let the rich man put off his conversion because of worldly anxiety, while he considers how to dispose of the abundance of his crops; nor let him say within himself, ‘What shall I do, where shall I store my fruits?’ Nor let him say to his soul, ‘You have many goods laid up for many years; feast, be merry’; for it will be said to him: ‘Fool, this night your soul will be taken from you, and what you have prepared, whose will it be?’ So let every age, every sex, every condition hasten to repentance, so that they may obtain eternal life. Let the young be pleasing in this, that in the very rush of desires they submit their necks to the yoke of discipline. The old too are praiseworthy, because for the fear of God they change the habit of a long time in which they had been wrongly occupied.

“Let no one, then, delay, let no one hesitate; for what cause is there for hesitating to do well? Or do you fear that when you have done well, you may not find the reward there as you thought? And what loss will you feel if you have done well for nothing? Would not conscience alone suffice in these things? But if you find it as you presume, will you not receive great things for small, and eternal for temporal? But I have said this for the sake of unbelievers. What we preach is so, for the things promised by the prophetic voice cannot be otherwise.

“But if anyone wishes to know exactly the truth of our preaching, let him come to hear, and learn what the true Prophet is; and then at last all ambiguity will cease in him—provided that he does not resist with obstinate mind what he has found to be true. For there are some who in whatever way look only to winning, and seek praise for it rather than salvation; to such let not anything even be said, lest the noble word suffer injury and condemn the one guilty of its injury to eternal death. For in what should anyone oppose our preaching? Or in what is the word of our preaching found to be against the faith of what is true and honorable? It says that God, the Father and maker of all, must be honored, and his Son, who alone knows him and his will, and who alone must be believed in everything he has commanded; for he alone is law and lawgiver and just judge. His law decrees that God, the Lord of all, must be honored by a sober, chaste, just, and merciful life, and that all hope must be placed in him alone.

“But someone will say that precepts of this kind are given by the philosophers too. Nothing is alike. For they do give commands about justice and sobriety, but they do not know God as the rewarder of good and evil deeds; and therefore their laws and precepts avoid only the public accuser, but cannot purify the conscience. For why should one fear to sin in secret who does not know that there is an arbiter and judge of secret things? Besides, the philosophers add in their precepts that the gods, who are demons, must also be honored; and this alone, even if they seemed commendable in other things, can convict them of the gravest impiety and condemn them by their own sentences: they declare that there is one God, yet, flattering human error, they command many to be worshiped. The philosophers also say that God is not angry, not knowing what they say. For anger is evil when it disturbs the mind so that it loses right counsel; but the anger that punishes the wicked brings no disturbance to the mind; it is, so to speak, one and the same affection that gives rewards to the good and renders punishment to the wicked. For if he gave good things to the good and the wicked alike, and used a like reward toward the pious and the impious, he would seem unjust rather than good.

“But you say: ‘Then God ought not to have made evil.’ You speak truly; nor did he make it. But those who were created by him, not believing that they are to be judged, indulging their pleasures, fell away from piety and justice. But you will say: ‘If it is just to punish the wicked, they ought to be punished as soon as they do evil.’ You indeed are in a hurry; but he who is eternal and from whom nothing is hidden, as he has no end, so his patience is long, and he looks not to the speed of vengeance but to the causes of salvation; for he takes pleasure not so much in the death of the sinner as in his conversion. For this reason, indeed, he has also given men holy baptism; and if anyone hastens to come to it and remains amended thereafter, all the sins committed through ignorance are blotted out from him.

“For what did the philosophers contribute to the life of mortals by telling men that God is not angry? Surely to teach them to have no fear of any vengeance or judgment, and so to loosen all reins for sinners. Or how did those help the human race who said that there is no God, but that all things are done by chance and accident? Was it not so that men hearing this and thinking that there is no judge, no provider of things, might be driven headlong, fearing no one, to every crime that rage or avarice or lust dictated? And those truly helped the life of mortals a great deal who said that nothing can happen without birth-fate!—so that each, ascribing to birth-fate the cause of his misdeeds, might declare himself innocent in his crimes, while he does not wash away his guilt by repenting but doubles it by blaming fate. And what shall I say of those philosophers who introduced the worship of gods, and of such gods as you heard a little before? What was it but to decree that vices, crimes, and shameful deeds be worshiped? I am ashamed and sorry for you if you believe these things were unworthy, impious, and execrable, and yet either did not detect it until now, or, having detected and understood the evils, worshiped them as good and excellent.

“Besides, what kind of thing is it that some philosophers presumed to speak even about God, though they are mortal, and by opinion alone about invisible things, or about the origin of the world, when they were not present when it came to be, or about its end, or about the dispensation and judgment of souls in the underworld—not knowing that present and visible things are within the reach of man's reason, but that to know past and future and invisible things belongs to prophetic foreknowledge alone? These things, then, are not to be gathered by conjectures and opinions, by which men are greatly deceived, but by faith in prophetic truth, as this teaching of ours holds. For we speak nothing of ourselves, nor do we announce things gathered by human estimation—for that is to deceive the hearers—but we preach what has been handed down and made manifest to us by the authority of the true Prophet. Of his foreknowledge and prophetic power, if anyone, as I said, wishes to receive clear proofs, let him come carefully and be unwearied in listening, and we will give evident proofs, by which he will believe that he not only hears with his ears but also sees with his eyes and handles with his hand the power of prophetic foreknowledge. And when he has conceived a sure faith about this, he will take up the yoke of justice and piety without any labor, and will feel such sweetness in it that he will not only not complain of any labor in it, but will even desire that something more be added and laid upon him.”

When he had said these and similar things, and had healed some of those present who were sick and possessed by demons, he dismissed the crowds rejoicing and praising God, instructing them to come together at the same place on the following days too for the sake of hearing. When we were now at home among ourselves and preparing to eat, someone came in and announced that Appion Pleistonices had recently come from Antioch with Anubion and was lodging with Simon. When my father heard this he was glad and said to Peter: “If you permit, I want to go and greet Appion and Anubion, because they are great friends of mine; and perhaps I may even be able to persuade Anubion to dispute with Clement about birth-fate.” Peter said: “I permit it, and I praise you for cherishing your friends. But consider how by the providence of God everything is falling out for you as you wish: for see, not only has your own family been restored to you by God's gift, but the presence of your friends too is provided.” My father said: “Truly I notice that it is as you say.” And when he had said this he went off to Anubion.

We, staying with Peter, remained awake through the whole night, asking about various things and learning from him, out of the very delight of his teaching and the sweetness of his words. And when it was already dawning, Peter, looking at me and my brothers, said: “I wonder what has happened to your father.” As he was saying this, my father arrived and found Peter speaking to us about him. When he had greeted us, he began to apologize and explain the reason why he had stayed out. But we, looking at him, were terrified, seeing in him the face of Simon, though we heard our father's voice. And when we fled from him and cursed him, my father was astonished that we treated him so harshly and barbarously. Peter alone saw his natural face, and he said to us: “Why do you curse your father?” We, together with our mother, answered him: “He seems to us to be Simon, though he has our father's voice.” Peter said: “To you only his voice is known, which has not been changed by sorcery; but to me his face too, which appears to others changed by Simon's art, is known as that of your father Faustinianus.” And looking at my father he said: “The cause that troubles your wife and sons is this: the appearance of your face is not seen in you as it was, but the face of the accursed Simon appears in you.”

As he was saying this, one of those who had gone ahead to Antioch returned and said to Peter: “I want you to know, my lord Peter, that Simon at Antioch, doing many signs and wonders publicly, has persuaded the people of nothing but what tends to hatred of you, calling you a magician, a sorcerer, a murderer; and he has stirred up such hatred against you in them that they greatly desire, if they can find you anywhere, even to devour your flesh. And for this reason we who were sent ahead, seeing the city greatly stirred against you, met together secretly and considered what ought to be done.

“And when we saw no way out of the matter, Cornelius the centurion arrived, sent by Caesar to the governor of Caesarea on public business. We sent for him alone and explained to him the reason for our sadness, and urged him to help if he could. Then he very readily promised that he would put him to flight at once, if only we too would support his plan. When we promised that we would do everything diligently, he said: ‘Caesar has ordered sorcerers to be sought out and put to death in the city of Rome and throughout the provinces, and very many of them have already been put to death. I will therefore spread it about through friends that I have come to seize this magician and have been sent by Caesar for this purpose, so that he too may be punished with the rest of his associates. Let your people who are with him, then, as if they had heard it from somewhere, secretly tell him that I have been sent to seize him; and it is certain that when he hears it he will flee. Or if you see anything better, say so.’ What more? It was done so by our people who were with him, pretending to be his for the sake of spying. When Simon learned that someone had come for him, accepting it as a great favor done him by them, he took to flight. So, leaving Antioch, he came here with Athenodorus, as we have heard.

“So it seemed good to all of us who went ahead that for the present you should not go up to Antioch, until we see whether, now that he has left, the hatred he sowed against you among the people may be emptied out in some degree.” When the man who had come from Antioch had reported this, Peter, looking at our father, said: “Faustinianus, your face has been transformed by Simon Magus, as is evident. For, thinking that he was being sought by Caesar for punishment, he fled in terror and put his own face on you, in case you might be seized in his place and could be led to death, so as to cause grief to your sons.” When my father heard this, he cried out with tears: “You have judged rightly, Peter; for Anubion, being a great friend of mine, had begun to hint to me in secret about his plots, but, unhappy man, I did not believe it, because I had done him no wrong.”

While all of us, together with our father, were given over to sadness and tears, Anubion meanwhile came to us, telling us that Simon had fled by night, making for Judea. And seeing our father mourning and lamenting himself and saying: “Unhappy me, who heard he was a magician and did not believe it! What has happened to me, wretch that I am, that on one day, recognized by my wife and sons, I could not rejoice with them, but have been rolled back into the former miseries I endured in error?” Our mother lamented far more grievously, with disheveled and torn hair; and we too, stunned at the change in our father's face, were as if thunderstruck and out of our minds, and could not understand what the matter was. And Anubion, seeing us all so afflicted, stood as if dumb. Then Peter, looking at us his sons, said: “Believe me that this is your father himself; and therefore I warn you to keep him as your father. For God will give some occasion by which, laying aside Simon's face, he may recover the evident likeness of your father, that is, his own.”

And turning to my father, he said: “I had permitted you to greet Appion and Anubion, who you said had been your friends from boyhood, but not to talk with Simon.” My father said: “I have sinned, I confess.” Then Anubion said: “And I, together with him, ask and beg you to pardon the old man, a good and noble man; the unhappy man was led astray and made a laughingstock by the magician I named. For I will tell how it happened. When he came to greet us, it happened that at that very hour we were standing around Simon, hearing him say that he wanted to flee that very night; for he had heard that some had come even to this city of Laodicea to arrest him by the emperor's order; and that he wanted to turn all the fury on this Faustinianus who had recently arrived. And he said to us: ‘Only make him dine with us, and I will compose an ointment with which, when he has dined, he will anoint his face, so that from it he will seem to all to have my face. But you, anoint your faces first with the juice of a certain herb, so that you may not be deceived by the change of his face; so that, except for you, he will seem to all others to be Simon.’

“And when he said this, I said to him: ‘And what profit comes to you from this deed?’ Then Simon said: ‘First, that those who are seeking me may seize him and stop seeking me. And if he is punished by Caesar, that his sons may have the greatest grief, who, having abandoned me, fled to Peter and are now his helpers.’ And I confess the truth to you, Peter: I was afraid then to tell Faustinianus this; nor did Simon himself give us the time to speak more privately and disclose Simon's plan to him more fully. Meanwhile, about midnight, Simon fled, making for Judea. Athenodorus and Appion escorted him; but I pretended a bodily illness so that, staying at home, I might make this man return to you more quickly, in case he might somehow be hidden among you, lest he be seized by those who are seeking Simon, be brought to Caesar, and perish for nothing. And now, anxious for him, I came to see him and to return before those who escorted Simon come back.” And turning to us, Anubion said: “I, Anubion, truly see your father's true face, because I was anointed beforehand by Simon himself, as I told you, so that the true face of Faustinianus might appear to my eyes. Hence I am quite stunned and amazed at the art of Simon Magus, that you, standing here, do not recognize your father.” As our father and mother and all of us wept for what had happened, Anubion too, moved by pity, wept.

Then Peter, moved with compassion, promised that he would restore our father's face, saying to him: “Listen, Faustinianus: when this error of the transformation of your face has first brought us some benefit and served what we wish, then I will give you back the true image of your face, provided you carry out what I command you.” And when my father had promised that he would fulfill everything he ordered, Peter said: “You have heard what one of those sent ahead reported on returning from Antioch: how Simon, while there, stirred up the crowds against me and inflamed the whole city with hatred of me, declaring me a magician, a murderer, and a deceiver, so much so that they desire, if they see me, even to devour my flesh. Do, then, what I tell you: leaving Clement with me, go ahead of us to Antioch with your wife and your sons Faustus and Faustinus. And I will send others with you, whom I see fit, to carry out what I shall command.

“So when you have come to Antioch with them, since you are seen as Simon, stand in public, proclaim your repentance, and say: ‘I, Simon, declare to you and confess that I lied about Peter in everything; for he is neither a seducer nor a magician nor a murderer, nor any of the things I said against him; but I said all those things moved by rage. I myself, then, who formerly gave you causes of hatred against him, beg you to think nothing of the kind about him; but lay aside your hatred, cease from your indignation, because he is truly sent by God for the salvation of the world, the disciple and apostle of the true Prophet. Therefore I advise, exhort, and warn you to hear him and believe him as he preaches the truth to you, lest perhaps, if you despise him, your very city suddenly perish. And I will tell you why I confess these things to you now. This night an angel of God rebuked me, impious as I am, and flogged me most severely because I was an enemy of the herald of truth. I beg you, then, that even if I myself, coming to you after this, attempt to say anything against Peter, you do not receive or believe it. For I confess to you: I was a magician, I a seducer, I a deceiver; but I repent, for it is possible to blot out former evil deeds by repentance.’

When Peter was explaining this to my father, he answered: “I know what you want; trouble yourself no further. For I have understood and know what I must carry out when I come to the place.” And Peter again advised him, saying: “When you come to the place and see the people converted by your word, and, laying aside their hatred, coming to desire us, send and let me know, and I will come at once. And when I come, I will without delay drive away from you this face that is not yours and restore your own, which is known to all your family.” And when he had said this, he ordered my brothers to set out with him, and Mattidia our mother and some of our companions as well. But my mother refused to set out with him, and said: “I seem to myself to be like an adulteress, if I am joined to the face of Simon. Even if I am compelled to go with him, it is still impossible for me to lie in the same bed with him; and I do not know whether I can even agree to set out with him.” And when she strongly refused, Anubion began to urge her, saying: “Believe me and Peter; and does not his very voice persuade you that he is Faustinianus your husband, whom truly I love no less than you do? Indeed I myself will come with you.” And when Anubion had said this, my mother promised that she would set out with him.

Then I said: “God arranges our affairs fittingly; for we have with us also Anubion the astrologer, with whom, if we come to Antioch, we will dispute more attentively about birth-fate.” And when after midnight our father had set out with those whom Peter had appointed and with Anubion, in the morning, before Peter went out to dispute, those who had escorted Simon, that is, Appion and Athenodorus, returned and came to us asking for my father. When Peter learned of it, he ordered them to come in. And when they had sat down, they said: “Where is Faustinianus?” Peter answered: “We do not know; for since he came to you in the evening, he has not been seen by any of his family. But yesterday morning Simon came looking for him; and because we gave him no answer, I do not know what came over him: he said he was Faustinianus. When no one believed him, weeping and grieving, he threatened to kill himself, and after that went off toward the sea.”

When Appion and those with him heard this, they gave a great wail, saying: “Why did you do this? Why did you not receive him?” And when Athenodorus wanted to tell me that he was Faustinianus your father, Appion forestalled him and said: “We learned from someone who set out with Simon that Faustinianus himself had begged him, because he did not wish to see his sons, since they were Jews. So when we heard this, we came here to look for him; but since he is not here, it is evident that he who reported that he had set out with Simon spoke the truth. This, then, we report to you.” But I, Clement, when I understood Peter's plan—that he wished to give them the suspicion that the old man would be sought from them, so that they would be afraid and flee—began to help his plan, and said to Appion: “Listen, dearest Appion: what we believe to be good we wish to pass on to our father too; but if he does not wish to receive it, but rather, as you say, shudders at us and flees, it may perhaps sound harsh, but we do not care about him either.” And when I had said this, they went away as if cursing my cruelty, following Simon's tracks, as we learned the next day.

Meanwhile, as Peter taught the people daily as usual and performed many mighty works and healings, after ten days one of our people came from Antioch, sent by my father, telling us how my father was standing in public accusing Simon, whom he appeared to be in face, and extolling Peter with immense praises, commending him to all the people and making them long for him, so that all, changed by his words, desired to see him; and that many had come into such love of Peter that they raged against my father as against Simon and wanted to lay hands on him, as one who had committed so great an evil against Peter. “Therefore,” he said, “hurry, lest he be killed. For in great fear he sent me quickly, that you might come without delay, so as to find him alive and at the same time appear opportunely to the city, whose longing for you is growing.” He also told how, as soon as my father entered the city of Antioch, the whole people gathered to him as to Simon, and he began to confess publicly to all according to what the restoration of the people required; for when all had come together, nobles and others, rich and poor alike, hoping that some wonders might be done by him as usual, he addressed them all with these words:

“‘Divine patience has long borne with me, Simon, the most unhappy of men. For whatever you admired in me was done not by the ministry of truth but by the lies and arts of demons, so that I might overturn your faith and condemn my own soul. I confess that I lied about Peter in everything; for he was never a magician or a murderer, but was sent by God for the salvation of you all; and if from this hour you think he should be despised, be sure that your city itself may suddenly perish. And the reason why I confess these things to you of my own accord is this: I was severely rebuked by an angel of God this night, and most severely flogged because I had been his enemy. I beg you, then, that if from this hour I open my mouth against him, you cast me out of your sight; for that unclean demon, the enemy of men's salvation, speaks through my mouth against him, so that you may not reach life through him. For what power could the magic art show you through me? I made bronze dogs bark and statues move, changed the shapes of men and suddenly vanished from men's sight; and by these things you ought to have abhorred the magic art, which, to show you an empty marvel, was entangling your souls in devilish snares, so that you would not believe Peter, who cures the sick in the name of him by whom he was sent, puts demons to flight, gives light to the blind, restores health to paralytics, and raises the dead.’

As he set out these and many similar things, the people began to curse him, and they wept and groaned because they had sinned against Peter, believing him to be a magician and impious. On the same day, toward evening, his own face was restored to Faustinianus, and the appearance of Simon Magus departed from him. When Simon heard that his face on Faustinianus had turned to Peter's glory, he hurried to get ahead of Peter, wishing to bring it about by his art that his likeness should leave Faustinianus—when Christ, according to the word of his apostle, had already accomplished this. When Niceta and Aquila saw that, after the necessary preaching, their father's face had been restored, they gave thanks to God and did not allow him to address the people any further.

But Simon began, though secretly, to go about through his friends and intimates and to disparage Peter more than before. Then all, spitting in his face, drove him out of the city, saying: “You will be guilty of your own death if, after speaking against Peter, you think you may come here again.” When this was known, Peter ordered the people to gather on the following day; and having ordained as their bishop one of those who followed him, and others as presbyters, having also baptized very many, and having restored to health all who were troubled by illnesses or demons, he stayed there another three days; and having arranged everything properly, he bade them farewell and set out from Laodicea, greatly longed for by the people of Antioch. And through Niceta and Aquila the whole city began to hear that Peter was coming. And all the people of the city of Antioch, hearing that Peter was coming, ran out to meet him, and almost all the elders and nobles, with ashes sprinkled on their heads, doing penance because they had received Simon the magician in opposition to his preaching.

Saying these and similar things, they brought to him those troubled by illnesses and wearied by demons, paralytics also and those suffering various dangers; and there was an endless multitude of the sick together. When Peter saw that they not only repented of having thought ill of him through Simon, but also showed such complete faith that all suffering from various sicknesses believed they could be saved through him, he spread out his hands to heaven, and, pouring out a prayer with tears, giving thanks to God, he said: “Blessed are you, Father, worthy of all praise, who deign to fulfill every word and promise of your Son, so that all creation may know that you alone are God in heaven and on earth.”

Saying these and similar things, he went up to a higher place and ordered the whole multitude of the sick to be placed before him, and addressed them all with these words: “Seeing that I am a man like you, do not think that you can recover your health from me, but through him who, coming down from heaven, offers to those who believe in him complete healing of soul and body. Therefore let your voice have this whole people as witness that you believe with your whole heart in the Lord Jesus Christ, so that they too may know that they can be saved by him.” And when the whole multitude of the sick cried out with one voice that he is the true God whom Peter proclaims, suddenly an immense light of the grace of God appeared in the midst of the people, and the paralytics began to run healed to Peter's feet, the blind, their sight recovered, to cry out, the lame, their walk restored, to give thanks, the sick, their health received, to rejoice; some too who were living by breath alone, already without sense and voice, were restored; and all the lunatics and those full of demons were set free.

So great a grace of his power did the Holy Spirit show on that day that all, from the least to the greatest, confessed the Lord with one voice. And not to dwell on many things: within seven days more than ten thousand men, believing God, were baptized and consecrated by sanctification, so that Theophilus, who was more exalted than all the powerful men in the city, with all eagerness of desire consecrated the great hall of his house under the name of a church; in it a chair was set up for the apostle Peter by all the people; and the whole multitude, gathering daily to hear the word, believed the sound teaching, which the efficacy of the healings confirmed.

Then I, Clement, with my brothers and mother, asked our father whether any remnants of unbelief remained in him. He said: “Come, and you will see in Peter's presence how great an increase of faith has grown in me.” Then Faustinianus came forward and fell at Peter's feet, saying: “The seeds of your word which the field of my mind received have now sprung up and have advanced to such fruitful ripeness that nothing is lacking except that you cut me off from the chaff with that spiritual sickle of yours and lay me up in the Lord's barn, making me a partaker of the divine table.” Then Peter, with all eagerness, took his hand and handed him over to me, Clement, and my brothers, saying: “As God has restored the sons to you, the father, so the sons restore the father to God.” And he proclaimed a fast for all the people, and when the Lord's day came he baptized him; and taking occasion from his conversion in the midst of the people, he set out all his misfortunes, so that the whole city received him like an angel and showed him no less favor than the apostle. (When this was known, Peter ordered the people to gather on the following day; and having ordained one of those who followed him as bishop, and others as presbyters, he also baptized a great number of people, and restored to health all who were troubled by illnesses.)