But if anyone says that the flesh is the cause of all vices and bad conduct, since the soul lives wickedly only because it is moved by the flesh, it is certain he has not carefully considered the whole nature of man. For “the corruptible body, indeed, weighs down the soul.”⁠a For this reason, too, the apostle, speaking of this corruptible body, of which he had shortly before said, “though our outward man is perishing,” 2 Corinthians 4:16 says, “We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to put on over it our house which is from heaven: if indeed, being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tabernacle groan, being burdened: not because we wish to be unclothed, but further clothed, so that mortality might be swallowed up in life.” 2 Corinthians 5:1-4 We are then burdened with this corruptible body; but knowing that the cause of this burdensomeness is not the nature and substance of the body, but its corruption, we do not desire to be deprived of the body, but to be clothed with its immortality. For then, also, there will be a body, but it will no longer be a burden, being no longer corruptible. For now, then, “the corruptible body presses down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weighs down the mind that muses on many things,” nevertheless those are in error who suppose that all the evils of the soul come from the body. Virgil, indeed, seems to express the views of Plato in the beautiful lines, where he says — A fiery strength inspires their lives, / An essence that from heaven derives, / Though clogged in part by limbs of clay / And the dull 'vesture of decay;' / but though he goes on to mention the four most common mental emotions — desire, fear, joy, sorrow — with the intention of showing that the body is the origin of all sins and vices, saying — / Hence wild desires and grovelling fears, / And human laughter, human tears, / Immured in dungeon-seeming nights / They look abroad, yet see no light, yet we believe quite otherwise. For the corruption of the body, which weighs down the soul, is not the cause but the punishment of the first sin; and it was not the corruptible flesh that made the soul sinful, but the sinful soul that made the flesh corruptible. And though from this corruption of the flesh there arise certain incitements to vice, and indeed vicious desires, yet we must not attribute to the flesh all the vices of a wicked life, or we would clear the devil of all these, for he has no flesh. For though we cannot call the devil a fornicator or drunkard, or ascribe to him any sensual indulgence (though he is the secret instigator and prompter of those who sin in these ways), yet he is exceedingly proud and envious. And this viciousness has so possessed him, that on account of it he is reserved in chains of darkness to everlasting punishment. Now these vices, which have dominion over the devil, the apostle attributes to the flesh, which the devil certainly does not have. For he says “hatred, discord, jealousy, strife, envy” are the works of the flesh; and of all these evils pride is the origin and head, and it rules in the devil though he has no flesh. For who shows more hatred to the saints? Who is more at variance with them? Who more envious, bitter, and jealous? And since he exhibits all these works, though he has no flesh, how are they works of the flesh, if not because they are the works of man, who is, as I said, spoken of under the name of flesh? For it is not by having flesh, which the devil does not have, but by living according to himself — that is, according to man — that man became like the devil. For the devil too, wished to live according to himself when he did not remain in the truth; so that when he lied, this came not from God, but from himself, who is not only a liar, but the father of lies, since he was the first who lied, and the originator of lying as of sin.