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by the sequence and order of things that seem to be opposite, converging to one and the same end, so also the divine power discovers hope for those beyond hope, and a way for those in hopeless situations. But for the sake of clarity, I thought it good to set forth the argument for you in summary, so that you might have in brief the thesis of the individual arguments of the whole treatise. CHAPTER ONE. In which there is a partial natural philosophy concerning the world, and a more delicate narrative concerning the events preceding the generation of man. This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth, says the Scripture; when all that is visible was completed, and each of the beings, having been separated, withdrew to its own place; when the heavenly body encompassed all things in a circle, and the heavy and downward-tending bodies, earth and water, held together by one another, took the middle region of the universe. And a certain bond and stability of the things that have come into being, the divine art and power, was deposited in the nature of beings, guiding all things with a twofold activity. For by rest and motion it contrived generation for things that are not, and permanence for things that are, driving the swiftest motion of the pole like a wheel in a circle around the heavy and unchangeable part of the motionless nature, as around some fixed axis, and through each other preserving for both their indissolubility? with the circularly moving substance, through its swift motion, binding the solidity of the earth in a circle, and with the firm and unyielding part, through its unchangeable fixedness, unceasingly intensifying the revolution of the things circling around it. And an equal excess was wrought in each of those separated by their activities, in the stationary nature and in the unstable revolution. For neither is the earth displaced from its own base, nor does the heaven ever give way or slacken the vehemence of its motion.

And these things first 129 according to the wisdom of the maker, were pre-established as a kind of beginning of the whole contrivance of beings, as the great Moses shows, I think, by saying that in the beginning the heaven and the earth were made by God, that all things appearing in creation are offspring of motion and rest, brought into being according to the divine will. Therefore, since the heaven and the earth are diametrically opposed to each other according to the contrariety of their activity, the creation between the opposites, partaking in part of what is adjacent to it. mediates through itself to the extremes, so that the connection of the opposites to each other through the mean might become evident. For the air in some way imitates the ever-moving and subtle nature of the fiery substance, both in the lightness of its nature and in its aptitude for motion. However, it is not such as to be alienated from kinship with what is fixed, neither remaining always motionless, nor constantly flowing and being dispersed; but by its affinity for the other it becomes a kind of boundary of the opposition of activities, at once mixing and dividing in itself the things separated by nature. In the same way, the liquid substance also is fitted to each of the opposites by a double quality. For in being both heavy and downward-tending, it has a great kinship with the earthly. But in partaking of a certain flowing and moving activity, it is not entirely alienated from the moving nature, but there is also through this a mixture and conjunction of the opposites, with gravity being transferred into motion, and motion not being shackled in heaviness, so that it happens that things separated by nature to the utmost degree are united to each other through the things mediating between them. Rather, according to the precise account, not even the nature of the opposites itself is in every way unmixed in its properties with respect to the other, so that, I think, all things that appear in the cosmos might incline toward one another, and creation might be in harmony with itself, being found in the properties of the opposites. For motion is understood not only in terms of local displacement, but also is observed in turning and alteration; and again, on the other hand, of the unchangeable nature that which is according to the

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εἱρμῷ καὶ τάξει τῶν ἐναντίως ἔχειν δοκούντων πρὸς ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πέρας συμφερομένων, οὕτω καὶ τῆς θείας δυνά μεως ἐλπίδα τοῖς ὑπὲρ ἐλπίδα, καὶ πόρον τοῖς ἀμη χάνοις ἐφευρισκούσης. Σαφηνείας δὲ χάριν καλῶς ἔχειν ᾠήθην, ἐπὶ κεφαλαίων σοι προθεῖναι τὸν λόγον, ὡς ἂν ἔχοις πάσης τῆς πραγματείας ἐν ὀλίγῳ τῶν καθέκαστον ἐπιχειρημάτων εἰδέναι τὴν ὑπόθεσιν. ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΠΡΩΤΟΝ. Ἐν ᾧ τίς ἐστι μερικὴ περὶ τοῦ κόσμου φυσιολο γία, καί τις ἁβροτέρα διήγησις περὶ τῶν προγε γονότων τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου γενέσεως. Αὕτη ἡ βίβλος γενέσεως οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, φησὶν ἡ Γραφή· ὅτε συνετελέσθη πᾶν τὸ φαινόμενον, καὶ πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν θέσιν ἕκαστον τῶν ὄντων ἀποκριθὲν ἀν εχώρησεν· ὅτε περιέσχεν ἐν κύκλῳ τὰ πάντα τὸ οὐ ράνιον σῶμα, τὴν δὲ μέσην τοῦ παντὸς ἀπέλαβε χώραν τὰ βαρέα καὶ κατωφερῆ τῶν σωμάτων, γῆ τε καὶ ὕδωρ, ἐν ἀλλήλοις διακρατούμενα. Σύνδεσμος δέ τις καὶ βεβαιότης τῶν γεγενημένων ἡ θεία τέχνη καὶ δύ ναμις τῇ φύσει τῶν ὄντων ἐναπετέθη, διπλαῖς ἐνερ γείαις ἡνιοχοῦσα τὰ πάντα. Στάσει γὰρ καὶ κινήσει τὴν γένεσιν τοῖς μὴ οὖσι, καὶ τὴν διαμονὴν τοῖς οὖσιν ἐμηχανήσατο, περὶ τὸ βαρὺ καὶ ἀμετάθετον τῆς ἀκινήτου φύσεως, οἷον περί τινα πάγιον ἄξονα, τὴν ὀξυτάτην τοῦ πόλου κίνησιν τροχοῦ δίκην ἐν κύκλῳ περιελαύνουσα, καὶ δι' ἀλλήλων ἀμφοτέροις συντη ροῦσα τὸ ἀδιάλυτον; τῆς τε κυκλοφορουμένης οὐσίας διὰ τῆς ὀξείας κινήσεως τὸ ναστὸν τῆς γῆς ἐν κύκλῳ περισφιγγούσης, τοῦ τε στεῤῥοῦ καὶ ἀνενδότου διὰ τῆς ἀμεταθέτου παγιότητος ἀδιαλείπτως ἐπιτείνοντος τῶν περὶ αὐτὴν κυκλουμένων τὴν δίνησιν. Ἴση δὲ καθ' ἑκάτερον τῶν ταῖς ἐνεργείαις διεστηκότων ἡ ὑπερβολὴ ἐναπειργάσθη, τῇ τε στασίμῳ φύσει καὶ τῇ ἀστάτῳ περιφορᾷ. Οὔτε γὰρ ἡ γῆ τῆς ἰδίας βάσεως μετατίθεται, οὔτε ὁ οὐρανός ποτε τὸ σφοδρὸν ἐνδί δωσι καὶ ὑποχαλᾷ τῆς κινήσεως.

Ταῦτα δὲ καὶ πρῶτα 129 κατὰ τὴν τοῦ πεποιηκότος σοφίαν, οἷόν τις ἀρχὴ τοῦ παντὸς μηχανήματος προκατεσκευάσθη τῶν ὄντων, δεικνύντος, οἶμαι, τοῦ μεγάλου Μωσέως διὰ τοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ γεγε νῆσθαι εἰπεῖν, ὅτι κινήσεώς τε καὶ στάσεως ἔκγονα τὰ ἐν τῇ κτίσει φαινόμενα πάντα, τὰ κατὰ τὸ θεῖον βούλημα παραχθέντα εἰς γένεσιν. Τοῦ τοίνυν οὐρα νοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς ἐκ διαμέτρου πρὸς ἄλληλα κατὰ τὸ ἐναντίον τῆς ἐνεργείας διεστηκότων, ἡ μεταξὺ τῶν ἐναντίων κτίσις ἐν μέρει τῶν παρακειμένων μετ έχουσα. δι' ἑαυτῆς μεσιτεύει τοῖς ἄκροις, ὡς ἂν ἐπίδη λον γενέσθαι τὴν πρὸς ἄλληλα τῶν ἐναντίων διὰ τοῦ μέσου συνάφειαν. Τὸ γὰρ ἀεικίνητον καὶ λεπτὸν τῆς πυρώδους οὐσίας μιμεῖται μέν πως ὁ ἀήρ, ἔν τε τῷ κούφῳ τῆς φύσεως καὶ τῷ πρὸς τὴν κίνησιν ἐπιτη δείως ἔχειν. Οὐ μὴν τοιοῦτός ἐστιν, οἷος τῆς πρὸς τὰ πάγια συγγενείας ἀλλοτριοῦσθαι, οὔτε ἀεὶ μένων ἀκίνητος, οὔτε διαπαντὸς ῥέων καὶ σκεδαννύμενος· ἀλλὰ τῇ πρὸς ἕτερον οἰκειότητι οἷόν τι μεθόριον τῆς τῶν ἐνεργειῶν ἐναντιότητος γίνεται, μιγνὺς ἅμα καὶ διαι ρῶν ἐν αὐτῷ τὰ διεστῶτα τῇ φύσει. Κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον, καὶ ἡ ὑγρὰ οὐσία διπλαῖς ποιότησι πρὸς ἑκάτερον τῶν ἐναντίων ἁρμόζεται. Τῷ μὲν γὰρ βαρεῖά τε καὶ κατω φερὴς εἶναι, πολλὴν πρὸς τὸ γεῶδες τὴν συγγένειαν ἔχει. Τῷ δὲ μετέχειν ῥοώδους τινὸς καὶ πορευτικῆς ἐνεργείας, οὐ πάντη τῆς κινουμένης ἠλλοτρίωται φύσεως, ἀλλά τίς ἐστι καὶ διὰ τούτου μίξις τῶν ἐναντίων καὶ σύνοδος, τῆς τε βαρύτητος εἰς κίνησιν μετατεθείσης, καὶ τῆς κινήσεως ἐν τῷ βάρει μὴ πεδηθείσης, ὥστε συμβαίνειν πρὸς ἄλληλα τὰ κατὰ τὸ ἀκρότατον τῇ φύσει διεστηκότα διὰ τῶν μεσιτευόντων ἀλλήλοις ἑνούμενα. Μᾶλλον δὲ κατὰ τὸν ἀκριβῆ λόγον οὐδὲ αὐτὴ τῶν ἀντικειμένων ἡ φύσις ἀμίκτως πάντη πρὸς τὴν ἑτέραν τοῖς ἰδιώμασιν ἔχει, ὡς ἂν, οἶμαι, πάντα πρὸς ἄλληλα νεύοι τὰ κατὰ τὸν κόσμον φαινόμενα, καὶ συμπνέοι πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἡ κτί σις ἐν τοῖς τῶν ἀντικειμένων ἰδιώμασιν εὑ ρισκομένη. Τῆς γὰρ κινήσεως οὐ μόνον κατὰ τὴν τοπικὴν μετάστασιν νοουμένης, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τροπῇ καὶ ἀλλοιώσει θεωρουμένης· πάλιν δ' αὖ, τῆς ἀμεταθέτου φύσεως τὴν κατὰ τὸ