We know two different kinds of spirits, of which the one is called soul, but the other is greater than the soul and is the image and likeness of God; and both were in the first men, that they might in one respect be material, and in another above matter. And it is thus. One may behold the whole structure of the world, and the entire creation, having come into being out of matter, and matter itself put forth by God, so that one part of it is thought of as formless and shapeless before it received differentiation, while the other is ordered and well-arranged after the division within it. There is, then, in it the heaven made of matter, and the stars in it; and the earth too, and everything conceived as deriving from it, has a like constitution, so that there is a common genesis of all things. And these being so, there are certain differences among things made of matter, so that one is more beautiful, while another, though itself also beautiful, is yet surpassed by something better. For just as the constitution of the body is of a single economy, yet the cause of its having come into being concerns the body itself; and these being so, there are certain differences of repute within it: one part is an eye, another an ear, another the arrangement of hairs and the economy of the inward parts, the compacting of marrow and bones and sinews; and one part, being different from another, is, according to the economy of concord, a harmony—in like manner the world too, possessing according to the power of its maker some parts more radiant, and certain others unlike these, by the will of the spirit that fashioned it has partaken of material spirit. And it is possible to understand the particulars for the one who does not vaingloriously cast away the most divine renderings, which, brought to light through writing in the course of time, have made very dear to God those who attend to them. Nevertheless the demons too (whom you so call), having received their structure out of matter and gained the spirit that is from it, have become dissolute and gluttonous; some of them, indeed, turned toward what is purer, but others chose the inferior part of matter and live according to what is like it. These, O men of Greece, you worship—beings that came into being out of matter, yet were found far from good order. For the aforesaid, turning by their own folly toward vainglory and breaking loose, were eager to become robbers of divinity; but the Lord of all left them to revel until the world, having reached its end, is dissolved, and the judge arrives, and all men, through the rebellion of the demons aspiring to the knowledge of the perfect God, may receive through the contests a more perfect testimony on the day of judgment. There is, then, spirit in the luminaries, spirit in angels, spirit in plants and waters, spirit in men, spirit in animals; and being one and the same, it possesses differences within itself. But while we say these things not from our own tongue, nor from probable conjectures, nor making use of sophistic composition, but employing words of a more divine utterance—you who wish to learn, make haste. And you who do not cast away Anacharsis the Scythian, do not now think it beneath you to be instructed by those who follow a barbarian legislation. Make use of our teachings, even if only as of the Babylonian art of prognostication; give ear to us as we speak, even if only as to an oracular oak. And the things aforesaid are the counter-sophistries of frenzied demons, but the things of our instruction are above worldly comprehension.