Now since the majority of men judge the good to lie in that which gratifies the senses, and there is a certain identity of name between that which is, and that which appears to be "good,"-for this reason that desire which arises towards what is evil, as though towards good, is called by Scripture "the knowledge of good and evil;" "knowledge," as we have said, expressing a certain mixed disposition. It speaks of the fruit of the forbidden tree not as a thing absolutely evil (because it is decked with good), nor as a thing purely good (because evil is latent in it), but as compounded of both, and declares that the tasting of it brings to death those who touch it; almost proclaiming aloud the doctrine that the very actual good is in its nature simple and uniform, alien from all duplicity or conjunction with its opposite, while evil is many-coloured and fairly adorned, being esteemed to be one thing and revealed by experience as another, the knowledge of which (that is, its reception by experience) is the beginning and antecedent of death and destruction.

Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν οἱ πολλοὶ τὸ καλὸν ἐν τῷ τὰς αἰσθήσεις εὐφραίνοντι κρίνουσι͵ καί τίς ἐστιν ὁμωνυμία τοῦ τε ὄντος καὶ τοῦ δοκοῦντος εἶναι καλοῦ, τούτου χάριν ἡ πρὸς τὸ κακὸν ὡς πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν γινομένη ἐπιθυμία͵ καλοῦ καὶ κακοῦ γνῶσις ὑπὸ τῆς Γραφῆς ὠνομάσθη͵ συνδιάθεσίν τινα καὶ ἀνάκρασιν ἑρμηνευούσης τῆς γνώσεως. Οὔτε ἀπολύτως κακόν͵ διότι περιήνθισται τῷ καλῷ͵ οὔτε καθαρῶς ἀγαθόν͵ διότι ὑποκέκρυπται τὸ κακόν, ἀλλὰ σύμμικτον δι' ἑκατέρων τοῦ ἀπηγορευμένου ξύλου τὸν καρπὸν εἶναί φησιν͵ οὗ τὴν γεῦσιν εἰς θάνατον ἄγειν εἶπε τοὺς ἁψαμένους͵ μονονουχὶ φανερῶς τὸ δόγμα βοῶν͵ ὅτι τὸ ὄντως ἀγαθὸν ἁπλοῦν καὶ μονοειδές ἐστι τῇ φύσει͵ πάσης διπλόης καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον συζυγίας ἀλλότριον. Τὸ δὲ κακὸν ποικίλον τε καὶ κατεσχηματισμένον ἐστίν͵ ἄλλο τι νομιζόμενον καὶ ἕτερον διὰ τῆς πείρας ἀνακρινόμενον͵ οὗ τὴν γνῶσιν͵ τουτέστι͵ τὴν διὰ τῆς πείρας ἀνάληψιν͵ θανάτου καὶ διαφθορᾶς ἀρχήν τε καὶ ὑπόθεσιν γίνεσθαι.