At last the best of artisans ordained that that creature to whom He had been able to give nothing proper to himself should have joint possession of whatever had been peculiar to each of the different kinds of being.

But in its final creation it was not the part of the Father's power to fail as though exhausted. It was not the part of His wisdom to waver in a needful matter through poverty of counsel.

To [man] it is granted to have whatever he chooses, to be whatever he wills.

The Pythagoreans degrade impious men into brutes and, if one is to believe Empedocles, even into plants.

For why should we not admire more the angels themselves and the blessed choirs of heaven?

Admittedly great though these reasons be, they are not the principal grounds, that is, those which may rightfully claim for themselves the privilege of the highest admiration.

On man when he came into life the Father conferred the seeds of all kinds and the germs of every way of life.