2-6:6
Ὅθεν καὶ ἐπιμένει ὁ θεὸς τὴν σύγχυσιν καὶ κατάλυσιν τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου μὴ ποιῆσαι, ἵνα καὶ οἱ φαῦλοι ἄγγελοι καὶ δαίμονες καὶ ἄνθρωποι μηκέτι ὦσι, διὰ τὸ σπέρμα τῶν Χριστιανῶν, ὃ γινώσκει ἐν τῇ φύσει ὅτι αἴτιόν ἐστιν. Ἐπεὶ εἰ μὴ τοῦτο ἦν, οὐκ ἂν οὐδὲ ὑμῖν ταῦτα ἔτι ποιεῖν καὶ ἐνεργεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν φαύλων δαιμόνων δυνατὸν ἦν, ἀλλὰ τὸ πῦρ τὸ τῆς κρίσεως κατελθὸν ἀνέδην πάντα διέκρινεν, ὡς καὶ πρότερον ὁ κατακλυσμὸς μηδένα λιπὼν ἀλλ ἢ τὸν μόνον σὺν τοῖς ἰδίοις παρ ἡμῖν καλούμενον Νῶε, παρ ὑμῖν δὲ Δευκαλίωνα, ἐξ οὗ πάλιν οἱ τοσοῦτοι γεγόνασιν, ὧν οἱ μὲν φαῦλοι, οἱ δὲ σπουδαῖοι. Οὕτω γὰρ ἡμεῖς τὴν ἐκπύρωσίν φαμεν γενήσεσθαι, ἀλλ οὐχ, ὡς οἱ Στωϊκοί, κατὰ τὸν τῆς εἰς ἄλληλα πάντων μεταβολῆς λόγον, ὃ αἴσχιστον ἐφάνη· ἀλλ οὐδὲ καθ εἱμαρμένην πράττειν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἢ πάσχειν τὰ γινόμενα, ἀλλὰ κατὰ μὲν τὴν προαίρεσιν ἕκαστον κατορθοῦν ἢ ἁμαρτάνειν, καὶ κατὰ τὴν τῶν φαύλων δαιμόνων ἐνέργειαν τοὺς σπουδαίους, οἷον Σωκράτην καὶ τοὺς ὁμοίους, διώκεσθαι καὶ ἐν δεσμοῖς εἶναι, Σαρδανάπαλον δὲ καὶ Ἐπίκουρον καὶ τοὺς ὁμοίους ἐν ἀφθονίᾳ καὶ δόξῃ δοκεῖν εὐδαιμονεῖν.Ὃ μὴ νοήσαντες οἱ Στωϊκοὶ καθ εἱμαρμένης ἀνάγκην πάντα γίνεσθαι ἀπεφήναντο. Ἀλλ ὅτι αὐτεξούσιον τό τε τῶν ἀγγέλων γένος καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐποίησεν ὁ θεός, δικαίως ὑπὲρ ὦν ἂν πλημμελήσωσι τὴν τιμωρίαν ἐν αἰωνίῳ πυρὶ κομίσονται. Γενητοῦ δὲ παντὸς ἥδε ἡ φύσις, κακίας καὶ ἀρετῆς δεκτικὸν εἶναι· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἦν ἐπαινετὸν οὐδὲν αὐτῶν, εἰ οὐκ ἂν ἐπ ἀμφότερα τρέπεσθαι καὶ δύναμιν εἶχε. Δεικνύουσι δὲ τοῦτο καὶ οἱ πανταχοῦ κατά λόγον τὸν ὀρθὸν νομοθετήσαντες καὶ φιλοσοφήσαντες ἄθρωποι ἐκ τοῦ ὑπαγορεύειν τάδε μὲν πράττειν, τῶνδε δὲ ἀπέχεσθαι. Καὶ σι Στωϊκοὶ φιλόσοφοι ἐν τῷ περὶ ἠθῶν λόγῳ τὰ αὐτὰ τιμῶσι καρτερῶς, ὡς δηλοῦσθαι ἐν τῷ περὶ ἀρχῶν καὶ ἀσωμάτων λόγῳ οὐκ εὐοδοῦν αὐτούς. Εἴτε γὰρ καθ εἱμαρμένην φήσουσι τὰ γινόμενα πρὸς ἀνθρώπων γίνεσθαι, ἢ μηδὲν εἶναι θεὸν παρὰ τρεπόμενα καὶ ἀλλοιούμενα καὶ ἀναλυόμενα εἰς τὰ αὐτὰ ἀεί, φθαρτῶν μόνων φανήσονται κατάληψιν ἐσχηκέναι καὶ αὐτὸν θεὸν διά τε τῶν μερῶν καὶ διὰ τοῦ ὅλου ἐν πάσῃ κακίᾳ γινόμενον ἢ μηδὲν εἶναι κακίαν μηδ ἀρετήν· ὅπερ καὶ παρὰ πᾶσαν σώφρονα ἔννοιαν καὶ λόγον καὶ νοῦν ἐστι
Wherefore God also delays bringing about the confusion and dissolution of the whole world, so that the wicked angels and demons and men may no longer exist, on account of the seed of the Christians, which he knows in nature to be the cause of preservation. For if it were not for this, it would not even be possible for you any longer to do these things and to be energized by the wicked demons, but the fire of judgment would come down and dissolve all things without restraint, just as formerly the flood left no one except him alone with his household—the one called among us Noah, and among you Deucalion—from whom again so many came into being, of whom some are wicked and some are good. For thus we say the conflagration will come about, but not, as the Stoics say, according to the doctrine that all things change into one another, which appeared most shameful; nor do men act or suffer what happens according to fate, but each one does right or sins according to his free choice, and it is by the energy of the wicked demons that the earnest, such as Socrates and the like, are persecuted and put in bonds, while a Sardanapalus and an Epicurus and the like seem to be happy in abundance and glory. Not understanding this, the Stoics declared that all things come about according to the necessity of fate. But since God made the race both of angels and of men free from the beginning, they will justly receive the punishment in eternal fire for whatever they have transgressed. And this is the nature of everything created, that it is capable of vice and virtue; for none of them would be praiseworthy if it did not have the power to turn in either direction. And this is shown also by the men everywhere who have legislated and philosophized according to right reason, from their enjoining to do certain things and to abstain from others. And the Stoic philosophers too, in their treatise on morals, strongly honor the same things, so that it becomes evident that in their treatise on first principles and incorporeal things they do not fare well. For if they will say either that what happens among men comes about according to fate, or that there is no God except things turning and altering and being resolved into the same things forever, they will be shown to have grasped only corruptible things, and that God himself, both through his parts and through the whole, comes to be in every vice—or else that there is no vice nor virtue; which is contrary to every sound notion and reason and mind.
因此神也延緩不使全世界混亂解體，免得邪惡的天使、鬼魔與世人不再存在，這是為著基督徒的種子的緣故，神在本性中知道這種子乃是存留之因。因為若非如此，你們便不可能再行這些事、再被邪惡的鬼魔所驅動，而審判的火早就降下，毫無攔阻地解滅萬物，正如從前洪水除了那一人並他的家屬以外，不留一人——這人在我們中間稱為挪亞，在你們中間稱為丟卡利翁——又從他生出這許多人，其中有惡的，也有善的。因為我們所說那火的焚燒就是這樣要來，但不像斯多亞派所說，是照著萬物彼此互變的學說，這學說顯為最可恥的;人也不是照著命定而行或承受所發生的事，乃是各人照自己的自由意志行義或犯罪;乃是由於邪惡鬼魔的驅動，那些殷勤之人，如蘇格拉底之輩，受逼迫、被下在捆鎖中，而像撒丹那帕路斯、伊壁鳩魯之輩卻似乎在豐裕與榮耀中享福。斯多亞派不明白這個，便宣稱萬事都照命定的必然而發生。但因神從起初就造了天使與世人的族類都有自由意志，所以他們無論犯了甚麼過犯，理當在永火中受刑罰。凡受造之物的本性都是這樣：能容惡也能容善;因為它們若沒有能力可向兩面轉，便沒有一樣是值得稱讚的了。各處那些照正理立法、講論哲理的人，從他們吩咐當行某些事、當戒避某些事這一點上，也顯明了這個道理。斯多亞派的哲學家在他們論道德的著作中也堅決尊崇同樣的事，以致顯明他們在論第一因與無形之物的著作中並不通達。因為他們若說人間所發生的事乃是照命定而發生的，或說除了那永遠轉變、更改、又消解歸於本身的事物以外並無神，那便顯明他們只領會了那會朽壞之物，且使神自己藉著祂的各部分並藉著全體都落在一切惡中;否則便是說根本無惡也無善;這都是違反一切清明的觀念、理性與心思的。