XVII.
God made us, having previously no existence. For if we had a previous existence, we must have known where we were, and how and why we came hither. But if we had no pre-existence, then God is the sole author of our creation. As, then, He made us who had no existence; so also, now that we are made, He saves us by His own grace, if we show ourselves worthy and susceptible; if not, He 1 will let us pass to our proper end. For He is Lord both of the living and the dead.
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The reading is, ei me paresei pros to oikeion telos; and the Latin translator renders "si non segnes simus ad finem proprium." It seems better, with Sylburgius, to take ei me as equivalent to ei de me, and to put a comma after me, so as to render as above. ↩
