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the rising sun might cause. Likewise, they do not accept the creation of two heavens, saying that even if the Apostle mentions a third heaven, the difficulty in this part nonetheless remains; because since one heaven came to be in the beginning, and after this the firmament, another heaven, that is, a second creation, which was not described by Moses, it is indemonstrable to conceive of a third heaven on top of these two, since neither did another come to be after the firmament, nor does the account of the beginning allow us to preconceive anything older. For if heaven came to be in the beginning, it is clear that creation started from then; for it would not have been named a beginning by the account, if it had another beginning set above itself; for that which is second in order neither is nor is called a beginning. But indeed Paul has made mention of a third 65 heaven, which the creation does not have. Therefore, here too the mention of the second is among the things being sought. Those, therefore, who bring forward these and similar things. do not seem to me to have considered the aim of our father's teaching, who, discoursing to so great a populace in a crowded church, of necessity made his discourse suitable for those receiving it. For among so many listeners, there were many who understood the higher discourses; but many times more were those incapable of the more subtle examination of the thoughts, unlearned and vulgar men occupied with manual labor, and the host of women untrained in such studies, and the youth of the children, and those more advanced in age, all these needed such discourses, which with a certain easily grasped delight, through the visible creation and the beautiful things in it, would lead them by the hand to the knowledge of the one who made all things.

So that if one judges what is said according to the aim of the great teacher, nothing is lacking in what has been said. For he did not present a more contentious argument, zealously engaging with the objections of the problems, but was wholly concerned with the simpler explanation of the sayings, so as to set before them a discourse suitable to the simplicity of the hearers, while also having his explanation ascend in a way with the listeners of greater things, displaying the various teachings of pagan philosophy. So that it would be understood by the many, and admired by the eminent. But if you, just as on Mount Sinai, leaving the great crowd below and having elevated your mind above the others, strive to enter with the great Moses into the darkness of the contemplation of the ineffable things, in which he was, and saw the unseen things and heard the unspeakable words, and you seek to know the necessary order of creation, how, when the heaven and the earth had come to be, the light awaits the divine command in order to become light; but the darkness was even without command. And if the light had no need to illuminate the underlying air, and to define time by night and day, what was the need for the creation of the sun? and if in the beginning the earth came to be with the heaven, how is that which has come to be unformed? For to form, and to make, seem to differ in nothing in meaning. If then to make is the same as to form, how is that which has been made unformed? and the questions raised concerning the liquid substance, how it is not possible for the fluid to rest above the heavenly vault in its spherical shape. For how could the liquid be settled on the convex surface, since of all necessity the liquid would flow away from the ever-highest point of the sphere towards the inclined parts of the shape? And how, with the underlying surface being unstable, will it maintain its stability in itself, always slipping from its own base? And how will it not be scattered by the swiftest revolution of the pole, which would certainly thrust away that which rests upon it? But indeed, also the idea that the liquid nature is consumed seems incredible to those who argue against it. Because the bodies 68 of water are always seen to be of the same measure, both in springs and

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ἀνατέλλων ποιή σειεν. Ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τὴν τῶν δύο οὐρανῶν δημιουρ γίαν οὐ παραδέχονται λέγοντες, εἰ καὶ τρίτου μέ μνηται οὐρανοῦ ὁ Ἀπόστολος, οὐδὲν ἧττον μένειν ἐν τῷ μέρει τούτῳ τὸ ἄπορον· διότι ἐν ἀρχῇ γεγονό τος ἑνὸς οὐρανοῦ, μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ τοῦ στερεώματος, ἄλλου δὲ οὐρανοῦ, τοῦτ' ἔστι δευτέρας δημιουργίας, μὴ προσγραφείσης τῷ Μωϋσῇ, ἀναπόδεικτόν ἐστι τὸ καὶ τρίτον οὐρανὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς δύο τούτοις νοεῖν, τῷ μήτε μετὰ τὸ στερέωμα γεγενῆσθαι ἄλλον, μήτε τὸν τῆς ἀρχῆς λόγον συγχωρεῖν προεπινοεῖν τι πρεσβύ τερον. Εἰ γὰρ ἐν ἀρχῇ γέγονεν οὐρανὸς, δῆλον ὅτι ἀπὸ τότε ἡ κτίσις ἤρξατο· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἀρχὴ κατωνο μάσθη ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου, εἰ ἄλλην εἶχεν ἀρχὴν ἑαυτῆς ὑπερκειμένην· τὸ γὰρ δευτερεῦον κατὰ τὴν τάξιν οὔτ' ἔστιν ἀρχὴ, οὔτε λέγεται. Ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τρίτου 65 οὐρανοῦ μνήμην πεποίηται ὁ Παῦλος, ὃν ἡ δημι ουργία οὐκ ἔχει. Ἄρα καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἡ τοῦ δευτέρου μνήμη τῶν ζητουμένων ἐστίν. Οἱ ταῦτα τοίνυν καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα προφέροντες. οὔ μοι δοκοῦσιν ἐπεσκέφθαι τὸν σκοπὸν τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν διδασκαλίας, ὃς δήμῳ τοσούτῳ διαλεγόμενος ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ πολυαν δρούσῃ, κατάλληλον ἐξανάγκης ἐποιεῖτο τοῖς δεχο μένοις τὸν λόγον. Ἐν γὰρ τοσούτοις τοῖς ἀκούουσι, πολλοὶ μὲν ἦσαν καὶ οἱ τῶν ὑψηλοτέρων ἐπαϊόντες λόγων· πολλαπλασίους δὲ οἱ τῆς λεπτοτέρας ἐξετά σεως τῶν νοημάτων οὐκ ἐφικνούμενοι, ἄνδρες ἰδιῶται καὶ βάναυσοι ταῖς ἐπιδιφρίοις ἐργασίαις προσασχο λούμενοι, καὶ ὁ ἐν γυναιξὶ λαὸς τῶν τοιούτων μαθη μάτων ἀγύμναστος, καὶ ἡ νεολαία τῶν παίδων, καὶ οἱ παρηλικέστεροι κατὰ τὸν χρόνον, πάντες οὗτοι τῶν τοιούτων ἐδέοντο λόγων, τῶν μετά τινος εὐλήπτου ψυχαγωγίας διὰ τῆς φαινομένης κτίσεως, καὶ τῶν ἐν ταύτῃ καλῶν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ πεποιηκότος τὰ πάντα γνῶσιν χειραγωγούντων.

Ὥστε εἰ μὲν πρὸς τὸν σκοπὸν τῆς τοῦ μεγάλου διδασκάλου κρίνει τις τὰ λεγό μενα, λείπει τοῖς εἰρημένοις οὐδέν. Οὐ γὰρ ἀγωνι στικώτερον ἐνεστήσατο λόγον πρὸς ταῖς τῶν ζητη μάτων ἐνστάσεις ἐκθύμως διαπλεκόμενος, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἁπλουστέρας τῶν ῥημάτων ἐξηγήσεως ὅλος ἦν, ὥστε πρόσφορον τῇ ἁπλότητι τῶν ἀκουόντων παραθέσθαι τὸν λόγον, μετὰ τοῦ καὶ τοῖς τῶν μειζόνων ἀκροαταῖς συναναβαίνειν πως αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐξήγησιν, τὰ ποικίλα μαθήματα τῆς ἔξω φιλοσοφίας παραδεικνύουσαν. Ὥστε παρὰ μὲν τῶν πολλῶν νοεῖσθαι, παρὰ δὲ τῶν ὑπερεχόντων θαυμάζεσθαι. Εἰ δὲ σὺ, καθάπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ Σιναΐου ὄρους καταλιπὼν κάτω τὸν πολὺν λαὸν, καὶ ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἄλλους ὑψωθεὶς τὴν διάνοιαν, συν εισελθεῖν φιλονεικεῖς τῷ μεγάλῳ Μωϋσῇ, εἰς τὸν γνόφον τῆς τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων θεωρίας, ἐν ᾧ ἐκεῖνος γενόμενος. εἶδέ τε τὰ ἀθέατα καὶ τῶν ἀλαλήτων ἔπη ἠκροάσατο, καὶ ζητεῖς γνῶναι τὴν ἀναγκαίαν τῆς κτίσεως τάξιν, πῶς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ τῆς γῆς γεγονότων, τὸ μὲν φῶς ἀναμένει τὸ θεῖον πρόσταγμα, πρὸς τὸ γενέσθαι φῶς· τὸ δὲ σκότος καὶ ἄνευ προστάγματος ἦν. Καὶ εἰ μηδὲν ἔδει τῷ φωτὶ πρὸς τὸ καταλαμ πρύνειν τὸν ὑποκείμενον ἀέρα, καὶ νυκτὶ καὶ ἡμέ ρᾳ διορίζειν τὸν χρόνον, τίς ἦν χρεία τῆς τοῦ ἡλίου κατασκευῆς; καὶ εἰ καταρχὰς μετὰ τοῦ οὐ ρανοῦ γέγονεν ἡ γῆ, πῶς ἀκατασκεύαστον τὸ γεγενη μένον ἐστί; Τὸ γὰρ κατασκευάσαι, καὶ τὸ ποιῆσαι, οὐδὲν δοκεῖ διαφέρειν κατὰ τὴν ἔννοιαν. Εἰ οὖν ταὐτό ἐστι τὸ ποιῆσαι τῷ κατασκευάσαι, πῶς τὸ πεποιημέ νον ἐστὶν ἀκατασκεύαστον; καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς ὑγρᾶς οὐσίας ἐπαπορούμενα, ὡς οὐ δυνατὸν ὂν ἄνω τῆς οὐ ρανίου ἁψίδος ἐν τῷ σφαιροειδεῖ σχήματι τὸ ῥευστὸν ἐφιζῆσαι. Πῶς γὰρ ἐφιδρυνθείη τῷ κυρτῷ ἡ ὑγρό της, κατὰ πᾶσαν ἀνάγκην ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀεὶ κορυφουμένου τῆς σφαίρας, πρὸς τὰ ἐπικλινῆ τοῦ σχήματος τοῦ ὑγροῦ μεταῤῥέοντος; Πῶς δὲ τοῦ ὑποκειμένου ἀστα τοῦντος, ἐν ἑαυτῇ ἕξει τὸ στάσιμον, ἀεὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἀπο λισθαίνουσα βάσεως; Πῶς δὲ οὐ σκεδασθήσεται τῆς ὀξυτάτης τοῦ πόλου περιφορᾶς τὸ ἐφιζάνον πάντως ἀποκρουούσης; Ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὸ δαπανᾶσθαι τὴν ὑγρὰν φύσιν ἀπίθανον τοῖς ἀντιλέγουσι φαίνεται. ∆ιὰ τὸ πάν 68 τοτε ἐν ἴσῳ τῷ μέτρῳ τὰ τῶν ὑδάτων ὁρᾶσθαι συστή ματα, ἐν πηγαῖς τε καὶ