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to turn; For it to shine in the darkness, and grant a second day. And under the earth you set my seat, and the sea you bound in the arms of the Earth, and the earth by the sea surrounded by the gulfs of Ocean. And so all things 528 were a Cosmos, both earth, and heaven, and sea, Heaven exulting in the heavenly lights, and the Sea in things that swim, and the vast earth in things that walk. Then looking upon them and perceiving all things were fitting, He was delighted at the works of the like-minded King, the Son. And he sought for a witness of wisdom, the mother of all, and a god-fearing king of earthly things, and said this: "Already pure and ever-living servants possess the wide Heaven, pure minds, goodly angels, hymn-makers, singing my glory that never ceases; but Earth still exults in senseless living things. It pleased me yet to fashion a mixed race from both, a mindful man midway between mortals and immortals, 529 one who delights in my works, and a prudent initiate of heavenly things, and the great power of earthly things, another angel from the earth, and a singer of my might and my mind." So he spoke, and taking a portion of newly-made earth, with immortal hands he fashioned my form. And to it he gave a portion of his own life; for he sent into it a Spirit, which is indeed an offshoot of the invisible Godhead. And from dust and breath a mortal was made, the Image of the immortal; for the queenly nature of mind is in both. For this reason I both love this life because of the earth, and have a desire in my breast for that one because of my divine portion. 530 But when the divine creation appeared upon the earth, and of the earth, in the glens of an ever-flowering paradise, and there was not yet for him any like helper for his life, then indeed the all-wise Word wrought this greatest wonder: the mortal, whom he had made to be a spectator of his cosmos, my root, and the seed of a much-divided life, having divided him in two with his great life-giving hand, he took a single rib from his side, which indeed he fashioned a woman, and having mixed a love-potion in their breasts, he let both be drawn to one another; not all for all, but he set a limit to their desires, which they call marriage, the curb of immoderate matter, 531 so that it might not, rushing madly and raging uncontrollably, while they willingly go to each other in herds, break the sacred race of mortals through unyoked love, and a frenzy, borne on unmarked follies, stir up wars and enmities for all. While, then, the earth still lacked the mother of mortals, and did not have the highest order, as it was destined to, but also the very first man, through his own follies and the malice of the bitter serpent, from paradise being cast out because of the sinful taste of the man-slaying plant, weighed down his own earth with garments of skin; so long was the dyad the best thing among men, and marriage, the nature of the human race, a defense against destruction. 532 So that of those perishing and of those coming after the changeable race of mortals might be drawn on, like a stream, unstable from death, and established by children. But when the folds and the wide ends of the earth, both East, and West, the side of the South, and of the North were filled with mortals, and the slime boiled forth with insolence, and the creation, though subdued before by many lessons, by divided tongues, and by waters, and by rains of fire, and by the teachings of the written law, and by prophets, would not shake off the bonds of its first evil, but was always held in the firm knots of the flesh, raging with lewdness, and drunkenness, and idols, 533 at last the beloved race obtained such honor by the nods of the immortal Father, and the deeds of the Son. Christ, seeing how much of the heavenly portion he had placed in a mortal body being devoured by soul-devouring evil, and the crooked serpent ruling mortals, so that he might raise up his own portion, he no longer sent the disease to other helpers, (for a small cure is not sufficient for great sufferings;) but emptying his own glory, the heavenly and unchanging Image of the heavenly one, by human and not mortal laws, having been made flesh in the holy womb of a woman who had not known marriage, O wonder unbelievable to the weakest, God came as both mortal, gathering two natures into one, 534 the one hidden, the other manifest to mortals, of which the one was God, and the other was lately made for us, at that time, when God was mingled with a human womb;

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ἑλίσσειν· Τῇ δὲ κνέφας σελάειν, καὶ δεύτερον ἦμαρ ὀπάζειν. Τῷ δ' ὑπὸ γαῖαν ἔθηκας ἐμὸν ἕδος, ἐν δὲ θάλασσαν Γαίης ἀγκαλίδεσσιν ἔδησας, γῆν δὲ θαλάσσῃ Ὠκεανοῦ κόλποισι περίῤῥυτον. Ὣς δὲ τὰ πάντα 528 Κόσμος ἔην, γαίη τε, καὶ οὐρανὸς, ἠδὲ θάλασσα, Οὐρανὸς οὐρανίοισιν ἀγαλλόμενος φαέεσσι, Πόντος δὲ πλωτοῖς, πεζοῖς δέ τε γαῖα πελώρη. Ἀθρήσας τότ' ἔπειτα καὶ ἄρμενα πάντα νοήσας, Τέρπετο Παιδὸς ἄνακτος ὁμοφρονέουσιν ἐπ' ἔργοις. ∆ίζετο καὶ σοφίης ἐπιΐστορα μητρὸς ἁπάντων, Καὶ χθονίων βασιλῆα θεουδέα, καὶ τόδ' ἔειπεν· Ἤδη μὲν καθαροὶ καὶ ἀείζωοι θεράποντες Οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἔχουσιν, ἁγνοὶ νόες, ἄγγελοι ἐσθλοὶ, Ὑμνοπόλοι, μέλποντες ἐμὸν κλέος οὔποτε λῆγον· Γαῖα δ' ἔτι ζώοισιν ἀγάλλεται ἀφραδέουσι. Μικτὸν ἔτ' ἀμφοτέρωθεν ἐμοὶ γένος εὔαδε πῆξαι Θνητῶν τ' ἀθανάτων τε νοήμονα φῶτα μεσηγὺ, 529 Τερπόμενόν τ' ἔργοισιν ἐμοῖς, καὶ ἐχέφρονα μύστην Οὐρανίων, χθονίων τε μέγα κράτος, ἄγγελον ἄλλον Ἐκ χθονὸς, ὑμνητῆρά τ' ἐμῶν μενέων τε νόου τε. Ὣς ἄρ' ἔφη, καὶ μοῖραν ἑλὼν νεοπηγέος αἴης, Χείρεσιν ἀθανάτῃσιν ἐμὴν ἐστήσατο μορφήν. Τῇ δ' ἄρ' ἑῆς ζωῆς μοιρήσατο· ἐν γὰρ ἕηκε Πνεῦμα, τὸ δὴ θεότητος ἀειδέος ἐστὶν ἀποῤῥώξ. Ἐκ δὲ χοὸς πνοιῆς τε βροτὸς γένετ', ἀθανάτοιο Εἰκών· ἡ γὰρ ἄνασσα νόου φύσις ἀμφοτέροισι. Τοὔνεκα καὶ βίοτον τὸν μὲν στέργω διὰ γαῖαν, Τοῦ δ' ἔρον ἐν στήθεσσιν ἔχω θείην διὰ μοῖραν. 530 Αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ θεῖον μὲν ἐπὶ χθονὶ πλάσμα φαάνθη, Καὶ χθονὸς, ἐν γυάλοισιν ἀειθαλέος παραδείσου, Τῷ δ' οὔπω τις ἀρωγὸς ὁμοίϊος ἔσκε βίοιο, ∆ὴ τότε μητιέταο Λόγου τόδε θαῦμα μέγιστον· Τὸν βροτὸν, ὅνπερ ἔτευξεν ἑοῦ θηήτορα κόσμου, Ῥίζαν ἐμὴν, καὶ σπέρμα πολυσχιδέος βιότοιο, Ἄνδιχα μοιρήσας μεγάλῃ ζωαρκέϊ χειρὶ, Πλευρὴν ἐκ λαγόνων μούνην ἕλε, τήν ῥα γυναῖκα ∆ειμάμενος, καὶ φίλτρον ἐνὶ στέρνοισι κεράσσας, Ἀμφοτέροις ἐφέηκεν ἐπ' ἀλλήλοισι φέρεσθαι· Οὐ πᾶσ' οὐδ' ἐπὶ πάντας, ὅρον δ' ἐπέθηκε πόθοισιν, Ὅν ῥα γάμον καλέουσ', ὕλης ἀμέτροιο χαλινὸν, 531 Ὡς μὴ μαιμώωσα, καὶ ἄσχετα μαργαίνουσα, Προφρονέως ἀγεληδὸν ἐπ' ἀλλήλοισιν ἰόντων, Ῥήξειεν μερόπων ἱερὸν γένος ἐκ φιλότητος Ἀζυγέος, πολέμους δὲ καὶ ἔχθεα πᾶσιν ὀρίνῃ Οἶστρος ἀσημάντοισι φορεύμενος ἀφραδίῃσιν. Ὄφρα μὲν οὖν μήτειρα βροτῶν ἐπεδεύετο γαῖα, Οὐδ' εἶχεν κόσμον τὸν ὑπέρτατον, ὥσπερ ἔμελλεν, Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ πρώτιστος ἀτασθαλίῃσιν ἑῇσι, Βασκανίῃ τε δράκοντος ἀδευκέος ἐκ παραδείσου Βληθεὶς ἀνδροφόνοιο φυτοῦ διὰ γεῦσιν ἀλιτρὴν, ∆ερματίνοισι χιτῶσιν ἑὴν ἔβρισ' ἐπὶ γαῖαν· Τόφρα δὲ καὶ δυὰς ἦεν ἐν ἀνθρώποισιν ἀρίστη, Καὶ γάμος, ἀνδρομέης γενεῆς φύσις, ἄλκαρ ὀλέθρου. 532 Ὥς κεν ἀπολλυμένων τε καὶ ἐρχομένων μετόπισθεν Ἕλκηται μερόπων τρεπτὸν γένος, οἷα ῥέεθρον, Ἄστατον ἐκ θανάτοιο, καὶ ἱστάμενον τεκέεσσιν. Αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ κόλποι τε καὶ εὐρέα πείρατα γαίης, Ἀντολίη τε, δύσις τε, νότου πλευρὴ, βορέου τε Πλῆσθεν ἐφημερίων, ὕβριν δ' ἐξέζεσεν ἰλὺς, Καὶ πολλοῖσι πάρος παιδεύμασι πλάσμα δαμασθὲν Γλώσσαις τεμνομένῃσι, καὶ ὕδασι, καὶ πυρὸς ὄμβροις, Καὶ γραπτοῖο νόμοιο διδάγμασιν, ἠδὲ προφήταις, Οὐκ ἔθελε πρώτης κακίης ἀπὸ δεσμὰ τινάξαι, Ἀλλ' αἰεὶ στερεοῖσιν ἐν ἅμμασιν εἴχετο σαρκὸς, Μαχλοσύναις τε, μέθαις τε καὶ εἰδώλοισι μεμῃνὸς, 533 Ὑστάτιον τοιῆσδε φίλον γένος ἔμμορε τιμῆς Νεύμασιν ἀθανάτοιο Πατρὸς, καὶ ἔργμασι Παιδός. Χριστὸς, ὅσον βροτέῳ ἐνὶ σώματι κάτθετο μοίρης Οὐρανίης, λεύσσων κακίης ὕπο θυμοβόροιο ∆απτόμενον, σκολιόν τε βροτῶν μεδέοντα δράκοντα, Ὥς κεν ἀναστήσειεν ἑὸν λάχος, οὐκέτι νοῦσον Ἄλλοισιν ἐφέηκεν ἀρηγόσιν, (οὐ γὰρ ἐπαρκὲς Τοῖς μεγάλοις παθέεσσι μικρὸν ἄκος·) ἀλλὰ κενώσας Ὃν κλέος, οὐράνιός τε καὶ ἄτροπος οὐρανίοιο Εἰκὼν, ἀνδρομέοις τε καὶ οὐ βροτέοισι νόμοισι, Σεμνοῖς ἐν σπλάγχνοισιν ἀπειρογάμοιο γυναικὸς Σαρκωθεὶς, ὦ θάμβος ἀφαυροτάτοισιν ἄπιστον, Ἦλθε Θεὸς θνητός τε, φύσεις δύο εἰς ἓν ἀγείρας, 534 Τὴν μὲν κευθομένην, τὴν δ' ἀμφαδίην μερόπεσσιν, Ὧν Θεὸς ἡ μὲν ἔην, ἡ δ' ὕστατον ἄμμιν ἐτύχθη, Τῆμος, ὅτ' ἐν σπλάγχνοισι μίγη Θεὸς ἀνδρομέοισιν·