20. Others too, fixed the limits of Providence as far off as the moon³⁹; the company of those too, who were of the school of Aristotle, excluded it from every other portion of the world: which same also, determined the extreme good to be, neither Virtue, nor Philosophy, unless indeed, it happened to be attended by wealth of possession⁴⁰, abundance of gold and of silver, Family, and and the glory which takes with the many ! And, What could hinder such from boasting themselves in these things? — men, who had shut up, as with bolts and doors at the distance of the moon, the Providence which is over all? or, that they should affirm, that the intelligent and

rational soul⁴¹ which is in man, is mortal; and, that it is nothing, but even as the body, or as its colour, or its form ? They usually term it moreover, Entelechia⁴². Nor did they, by any means, place in apposition with the chief good, either the life of Philosophy, or the superiority of rule: on the contrary, they lapsed into the things of accident, riches, greatness, and family: (affirming), that with these existed the superiority that was worthy of reason ; and that, without these things, it was nothing! Nor had the wise man any thing superior, unless he were also rich : nor had he, who was careful about purity of life, any thing good about him, unless he were a person of family! nor, would justice itself, or the complete

beauty of virtue in the person of any one, be sufficient for the life of happiness, unless he happened to have a complete symmetry of bodily limbs! These men then, considered these things as being apart, in a place (removed) from the things pertaining to men, (and) higher than the moon : that a Godhead existed; but affirmed, that the providence of God looked not to the things on earth. Nor did they recognize the common Saviour of all, THE WORD OF GOD, the Preserver of all things; but drew near for the purpose of reverencing those Deities, that were in certain places, and in the cities⁴³: professing themselves to be wise in some things, with those who knew them ; but performing others in their deeds. In their writings and common conversation, they made the oaths of their Gods: but, in their minds, no such thing existed. On the contrary, they submitted to this for the sake of the applause of the many⁴⁴. So that hence these same were Demons, rather than men, (and) to be despised by every sort of sound Philosophy.