It was because he saw this that the serpent points out the evil fruit of sin, not showing the evil manifestly in its own nature (for man would not have been deceived by manifest evil), but giving to what the woman beheld the glamour of a certain beauty, and conjuring into its taste the spell of a sensual pleasure, he appeared to her to speak convincingly: "and the woman saw," it says, "that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes to behold, and fair to see; and she took of the fruit thereof and did eat ," and that eating became the mother of death to men. This, then, is that fruit-bearing of mixed character, where the passage clearly expresses the sense in which the tree was called "capable of the knowledge of good and evil," because, like the evil nature of poisons that are prepared with honey, it appears to be good in so far as it affects the senses with sweetness: but in so far as it destroys him who touches it, it is the worst of all evil. Thus when the evil poison worked its effect against man's life, then man, that noble thing and name, the image of God's nature, was made, as the prophet says, "like unto vanity ."

The image, therefore, properly belongs to the better part of our attributes; but all in our life that is painful and miserable is far removed from the likeness to the Divine.

Διὰ τοῦτο προδείκνυσιν ὁ ὄφις τὸν πονηρὸν τῆς ἁμαρτίας καρπόν͵ οὐχ ὡς εἶχε φύσεως τὸ κακὸν ἐκ τοῦ προφανοῦς ἐπιδείξας, οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἠπατήθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῷ προδήλῳ κακῷ, ἀλλὰ διά τινος ὥρας τὸ φαινόμενον ἀγλαΐσας καί τινα κατὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν ἡδονὴν ἐγγοητεύσας τῇ γεύσει͵ πιθανὸς ἐφάνη τῇ γυναικί͵ καθώς φησιν ἡ Γραφή, Καὶ εἶδε γὰρ ἡ γυνή͵ φησίν͵ ὅτι καλὸν τὸ ξύλον εἰς βρῶσιν καὶ ὅτι ἀρεστὸν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἰδεῖν καὶ ὡραῖόν ἐστι τοῦ κατανοῆσαι, καὶ λαβοῦσα τοῦ καρποῦ αὐτοῦ ἔφαγεν. Ἡ δὲ βρῶσις ἐκείνη θανάτου μήτηρ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις γέγονεν. Αὕτη τοίνυν ἡ σύμμικτός ἐστι καρποφορία͵ σαφῶς τοῦ λόγου τὸν νοῦν ἑρμηνεύοντος͵ καθ' ὃν καλοῦ τε καὶ κακοῦ γνωστὸν ὠνομάσθη τὸ ξύλον ἐκεῖνο͵ ὅτι κατὰ τὴν τῶν δηλητηρίων κακίαν τῶν παραρτυθέντων τῷ μέλιτι͵ καθὸ μὲν καταγλυκαίνει τὴν αἴσθησιν͵ καλὸν εἶναι δοκεῖ͵ καθὸ δὲ φθείρει τὸν προσαπτόμενον͵ κακοῦ παντὸς ἔσχατον γίνεται. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐνήργησε κατὰ τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ζωῆς τὸ πονηρὸν δηλητήριον, τότε ὁ ἄνθρωπος͵ [201] τὸ μέγα καὶ πρᾶγμα καὶ ὄνομα͵ τὸ τῆς θείας φύσεως ἀπεικόνισμα͵ τῇ ματαιότητι͵ καθώς φησιν ὁ Προφήτης͵ ὡμοιώθη.

Οὐκοῦν ἡ μὲν εἰκὼν πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν νοουμένων ᾠκείωται, τὰ δὲ ὅσα περὶ τὸν βίον λυπηρά τε καὶ ἄθλια͵ πόῤῥω τῆς πρὸς τὸ Θεῖόν ἐστιν ὁμοιώσεως.