A Treatise on the Account of the Creation of the World, as Given by Moses.

 I. (1) Of other lawgivers, some have set forth what they considered to be just and reasonable, in a naked and unadorned manner, while others, investin

 II. (7) For some men, admiring the world itself rather than the Creator of the world, have represented it as existing without any maker, and eternal

 III. (13) And he says that the world was made in six days, not because the Creator stood in need of a length of time (for it is natural that God shoul

 IV. We must mention as much as we can of the matters contained in his account, since to enumerate them all is impossible for he embraces that beautif

 V. (20) As therefore the city, when previously shadowed out in the mind of the man of architectural skill had no external place, but was stamped solel

 VI. (23) And God, not being urged on by any prompter (for who else could there have been to prompt him?) but guided by his own sole will, decided that

 VII. (26) Moses says also In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth: taking the beginning to be, not as some men think, that which is a

 VIII. (30) And air and light he considered worthy of the pre-eminence. For the one he called the breath of God, because it is air, which is the most l

 IX. (32) Moses is right also when he says, that darkness was over the face of the abyss. For the air is in a manner spread above the empty space, si

 X. (36) The incorporeal world then was already completed, having its seat in the Divine Reason and the world, perceptible by the external senses, was

 XI. (38) And after this, as the whole body of water in existence was spread over all the earth, and had penetrated through all its parts, as if it wer

 XII. (40) After this he began to adorn the land, for he bade it bring forth grass, and bear corn, producing every kind of herb, and plains clothed wit

 XIII. (42) But in the first creation of the universe, as I have said already, God produced the whole race of trees out of the earth in full perfection

 XIV. (45) And on the fourth day, after he had embellished the earth, he diversified and adorned the heaven: not giving the precedence to the inferior

 XV. (47) This is the cause why the earth bore fruit and herbs before God proceeded to adorn the heaven. And next the heaven was embellished in the per

 XVI. (49) There is also another power of the number four which is a most wonderful one to speak of and to contemplate. For it was this number that fir

 XVII. (53) The aforesaid number therefore being accounted worthy of such pre-eminence in nature, the Creator of necessity adorned the heaven by the nu

 XVIII. (55) But the Creator having a regard to that idea of light perceptible only by the intellect, which has been spoken of in the mention made of t

 XIX. (58) And they have been created, as Moses tells us, not only that they might send light upon the earth, but also that they might display signs of

 XX. (62) Then when earth and heaven had been adorned with their befitting ornaments, one with a triad, and the other, as has been already said, with a

 XXI. (64) So now when the air and the water had received their appropriate races of animals as an allotment that was their due, God again summoned the

 XXII. (67) So at last all things were created and existing together. But when they all were collected in one place, then some sort of order was necess

 XXIII. (69) So then after all the other things, as has been said before, Moses says that man was made in the image and likeness of God. And he says we

 XXIV. (72) And he would not err who should raise the question why Moses attributed the creation of man alone not to one creator, as he did that of oth

 XXV. (77) And some one may inquire the cause why it was that man was the last work in the creation of the world. For the Creator and Father created hi

 XXVI. (79) This is the first reason on account of which it seems that man was created after all other animals. And there is another not altogether unr

 XXVII. (82) I have now mentioned the second reason. There is also a third, which is as follows:--God, intending to adapt the beginning and the end of

 XXVIII. (83) And besides all this, another is also mentioned among the necessary causes. It was necessary that man should be the last of all created b

 XXIX. (87) And any one who was inclined to dwell upon this subject might bring forward a great many other instances, to prove that there is no animal

 XXX. (89) But after the whole world had been completed according to the perfect nature of the number six, the Father hallowed the day following, the s

 XXXI. (95) And we must also pass on to the other species of the number seven, which is contained in the number ten, and which displays an admirable na

 XXXII. (97) The number seven displays also another beauty which it possesses, and one which is most sacred to think of. For as it consists of three an

 XXXIII. (99) And such great sanctity is there in the number seven, that it has a pre-eminent rank beyond all the other numbers in the first decade. Fo

 XXXIV. (101) Among the things then which are perceptible only by intellect, the number seven is proved to be the only thing free from motion and accid

 XXXV. (103) And besides what has been already said, the growth of men from infancy to old age, when measured by the number seven, displays in a most e

 XXXVI. (105) Solon therefore thus computes the life of man by the aforesaid ten periods of seven years. But Hippocrates the physician says that there

 XXXVII. (107) But this number is not only a perfecter of things, but it is also, so to say, the most harmonious of numbers and in a manner the source

 XXXVIII. (111) Let this then be premised, as of necessity it must, respecting the honourable qualities which this diagram or square has, and the name

 XXXIX. (114) Moreover, the constellation Ursa Major, which men call the guide of mariners, consists of seven stars, which the pilots keeping in view,

 XL. (117) And since all the things on the earth depend upon the heavenly bodies according to a certain natural sympathy, it is in heaven too that the

 XLI. (120) Again, the things which are judged of by the best of the senses, sight, partake of number according to their kind. For the things which are

 XLII. (126) And the power of this number does not exist only in the instances already mentioned, but it also pervades the most excellent of the scienc

 XLIII. (128) These things, and more still are said in a philosophical spirit about the number seven, on account of which it has received the highest h

 XLIV. (129) So Moses, summing up his account of the creation of the world, says in a brief style, This is the book of the creation of the heaven and

 XLV. (131) Then, preserving the natural order of things, and having a regard to the connection between what comes afterwards and what has gone before,

 XLVI. (134) After this, Moses says that God made man, having taken clay from the earth, and he breathed into his face the breath of life. And by thi

 XLVII. (136) But the original man, he who was created out of the clay, the primeval founder of all our race, appears to me to have been most excellent

 XLVIII. (139) And that he is superior to all these animals in regard of his soul, is plain. For God does not seem to have availed himself of any other

 XLIX. (140) The first man, therefore, appears to me to have been such both in his body and in his soul, being very far superior to all those who live

 L. (143) But since every city in which laws are properly established, has a regular constitution, it became necessary for this citizen of the world to

 LI. (145) We have now then set forth the beauty of the first created man in both respects, in body and soul, if in a way much inferior to the reality,

 LII. (148) And with great beauty Moses has attributed the giving of names to the different animals to the first created man, for it is a work of wisdo

 LIII. (151) But since nothing in creation lasts for ever, but all mortal things are liable to inevitable changes and alterations, it was unavoidable t

 LVI. (153) But while man was still living a solitary life, and before woman was created, the history relates that a paradise was planted by God in no

 LV. (155) Therefore, having laid down these to be boundaries as it were in the soul, God then, like a judge, began to consider to which side men would

 LVI. (157) And these things are not mere fabulous inventions, in which the race of poets and sophists delights, but are rather types shadowing forth s

 LVII. (161) Now, the first approaches of the male to the female have a pleasure in them which brings on other pleasures also, and it is through this p

 LVIII. But what has been already said is sufficient to show what the reasons were on account of which the serpent appears to have uttered a human voic

 LIX. (165) But its juggleries and deceits pleasure does not venture to bring directly to the man, but first offers them to the woman, and by her means

 LX. (167) And those who have previously become the slaves of pleasure immediately receive the wages of this miserable and incurable passion. For the w

 LXI. (170) Such is the life of those who originally were men of innocence and simplicity, and also of those who have come to prefer vice to virtue, fr

II. (7) For some men, admiring the world itself rather than the Creator of the world, have represented it as existing without any maker, and eternal; and as impiously as falsely have represented God as existing in a state of complete inactivity, while it would have been right on the other hand to marvel at the might of God as the creator and father of all, and to admire the world in a degree not exceeding the bounds of moderation. (8) But Moses, who had early reached the very summits of philosophy, [this is in accordance with the description of him in the Bible, where he is represented as being learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.] and who had learnt from the oracles of God the most numerous and important of the principles of nature, was well aware that it is indispensable that in all existing things there must be an active cause, and a passive subject; and that the active cause is the intellect of the universe, thoroughly unadulterated and thoroughly unmixed, superior to virtue and superior to science, superior even to abstract good or abstract beauty; (9) while the passive subject is something inanimate and incapable of motion by any intrinsic power of its own, but having been set in motion, and fashioned, and endowed with life by the intellect, became transformed into that most perfect work, this world. And those who describe it as being uncreated, do, without being aware of it, cut off the most useful and necessary of all the qualities which tend to produce piety, namely, providence: (10) for reason proves that the father and creator has a care for that which has been created; for a father is anxious for the life of his children, and a workman aims at the duration of his works, and employs every device imaginable to ward off everything that is pernicious or injurious, and is desirous by every means in his power to provide everything which is useful or profitable for them. But with regard to that which has not been created, there is no feeling of interest as if it were his own in the breast of him who has not created it. (11) It is then a pernicious doctrine, and one for which no one should contend, to establish a system in this world, such as anarchy is in a city, so that it should have no superintendant, or regulator, or judge, by whom everything must be managed and governed. (12) But the great Moses, thinking that a thing which has not been uncreated is as alien as possible from that which is visible before our eyes (for everything which is the subject of our senses exists in birth and in changes, and is not always in the same condition), has attributed eternity to that which is invisible and discerned only by our intellect as a kinsman and a brother, while of that which is the object of our external senses he had predicated generation as an appropriate description. Since, then, this world is visible and the object of our external senses, it follows of necessity that it must have been created; on which account it was not without a wise purpose that he recorded its creation, giving a very venerable account of God.