From God, the
constructor, the world received all that is good in him, but from a
previous state came elements of evil and unrighteousness, which, thence
derived, first of all passed into the world, and were then transmitted to
the animals. While the world was aided by the pilot in nurturing the
animals, the evil was small, and great the good which he produced, but
after the separation, when the world was let go, at first all proceeded
well enough; but, as time went on, there was more and more forgetting, and
the old discord again held sway and burst forth in full glory; and at last
small was the good, and great was the admixture of evil, and there was a
danger of universal ruin to the world, and to the things contained in him.
Wherefore God, the orderer of all, in his tender care, seeing that the
world was in great straits, and fearing that all might be dissolved in the
storm and disappear in infinite chaos, again seated himself at the helm;
and bringing back the elements which had fallen into dissolution and
disorder to the motion which had prevailed under his dispensation, he set
them in order and restored them, and made the world imperishable and
immortal. And this is the whole tale, of which the first part will suffice
to illustrate the nature of the king. For when the world turned towards
the present cycle of generation, the age of man again stood still, and a
change opposite to the previous one was the result.
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