so that in this way, by means of an obstruction, with a solid body intervening, the place lying opposite the light might be shadowed in the absence of the sun's ray. How then have they supposed that the darkness which accompanies created things—I mean body, place, and light—precedes the created things, when no reason allows for that which is made to exist before that which makes it? But if, to subvert the truth, they will contend that light also exists in the absence of darkness, such that on account of the equality in each they mutually yield to and displace one another, reason will refute them by making its proofs through things that happen in every instance. For the light does not give way to the darkness, as it is possible to see from the light produced by fire; for in its presence the darkness gives way, even if it be very dark and gloomy; and when light is present, no intrusion will be made by the darkness. But even if this were granted, and, as they say, the argument were true, that light and darkness mutually yield to one another, not for this reason will the darkness be uncreated. For if perceptible light is created, its opposite, darkness, will also be created; for opposition is found only in created things, not in uncreated things; and light and darkness are opposites. 9. But if they say they are not inquiring about the darkness that occurs in every instance, but about that which existed from the beginning and before the light was formed, about which it is written, 'And darkness was upon the deep,' which one could not say was caused by a body obstructing the brilliance from the light—for the light had not yet been created—we say to them, bypassing what was said by the blessed Basil to well-disposed hearers (for being contentious, they are hostile to our teachers), thus then must we reply to them: Of all bodies, the air alone, when it is in its natural state and not thickened by some vapor, possesses no proper color, which is the peculiar object of the sense of sight; for just as the taste distinguishes the differences of juices, bitter, sweet, and astringent, and the sense of smell perceives odors, and hearing perceives noises and sounds, and touch perceives every resistance, smooth and rough, so also sight is distinctively discerning of colors. Since, therefore, the air is colorless, as I said, it is fittingly and by nature invisible, not only when it is without light—for you will find this to be the case with other bodies that are by nature visible; for without light none of these can be seen—but even when light comes upon the air itself, it is not seen, being colorless, nor does it have the light mingled throughout with its own parts, and God has wisely made this so, in order that, with no naturally inherent color in the air getting in the way, it might transmit our sight instantaneously to the objects seen, through the complete mingling of the light with it. 10. Therefore, Moses called the natural colorlessness of the air, not yet illuminated, darkness. But I do not say this, that he named the not-yet-illuminated and colorless air darkness; for if we said this, someone might suppose that the air is called darkness and will think that darkness has substance, since the air, which we agreed is darkness, has substance. This, therefore, I do not say, but rather that the un-illuminated and colorless quality of the air, which are non-beings, spoken of by way of privation, these he called darkness. And if being colorless and un-illuminated is a privation and happens to be non-being, it is clear that darkness itself is also without substance in itself. for that which is known through things without substance and not in itself, will itself much more be without substance. We say that that darkness, the one upon the deep, was not by the absence of light; for that which comes to be in the absence of something shows that this thing was first, and then departed, and that in its absence the other thing came to be. But the light was not yet; for it had not been made. How then by the absence of that which was not yet

ἵνα οὕτως ἐξ ἀντιφράξεως, στερεμνίου σώματος μεσολα- βοῦντος, ὁ κατ' ἀντίθετον τοῦ φωτὸς κείμενος σκιάζοιτο τόπος ἐν ἀπουσίᾳ τῆς ἡλιακῆς ἀκτῖνος. Πῶς οὖν τὸ παρεπόμενον σκότος τοῖς δημιουργηθεῖσι, φημὶ δὴ σώματι καὶ τόπῳ καὶ φωτί, τῶν δημιουργημάτων πρωτεύειν ὑπειλήφασι, μηδενὸς συγχωροῦντος λόγου τὸ γινόμενον πρὸ τοῦ ποιοῦντος ὑπάρχειν; Εἰ δὲ πρὸς ἀνατροπὴν τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν ἀπουσίᾳ τοῦ σκότους ὑφίστασθαι φιλονεικήσουσιν ὡς διὰ τὴν ἐν ἑκατέροις ἰσότητα ἀλλήλοις ἀντιπαραχωρεῖν καὶ μεθίστασθαι, τούτους ὁ λόγος ἐλέγξει διὰ τῶν παρ' ἕκαστα γινομένων τὰς ἀποδείξεις ποιούμενος. Οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ φῶς ἐξίσταται τῷ σκότει, ὡς ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ἐκ τοῦ διὰ πυρὸς γινομένου φωτός· παρουσίᾳ γὰρ τούτου τὸ σκότος ἐξίσταται, εἰ καὶ λίαν ἀφεγγὲς καὶ ζοφῶδες ὑπάρχοι· φωτὸς δὲ παρόντος, παρείσδυσις οὐδεμία τῷ σκότει γενήσεται. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο δοθείη, καὶ ὡς αὐτοί φασιν ἀληθὴς ὁ λόγος, τὸ ἀντιπαραχωρεῖν ἀλλήλοις τὸ φῶς τε καὶ τὸ σκότος, οὐ παρὰ τοῦτο ἀγένητον ἔσται τὸ σκότος. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ φῶς τὸ αἰσθητὸν γενητὸν ὑπάρχει καὶ τὸ ἀντικείμενον σκότος ἔσται γενητόν· ἐν γὰρ μόνοις γενητοῖς ἡ ἐναντιότης, οὐκ ἐν τοῖς ἀγενήτοις εὑρίσκε- ται· ἐναντίον δὲ τὸ φῶς καὶ τὸ σκότος. 9. Εἰ δέ φασι μὴ περὶ τοῦ παρ' ἕκαστα γινομένου σκότους ζητεῖν, περὶ δὲ τοῦ ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ περὶ τοῦ φωτὸς συστάντος, περὶ οὗ γέγραπται· Καὶ σκότος ἦν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀβύσσου, ὃ οὐκ ἄν τις εἴποι γεγονέναι σώματος ἀντιπράττοντος τὴν ἐκ τοῦ φωτὸς λαμπηδόνα-οὔπω γὰρ τὸ φῶς ἐδεδημιούργητο-φαμὲν πρὸς αὐτούς, ὑπερβάντες τὰ τῷ μακαρίῳ Βασιλείῳ πρὸς εὐγνώμονας εἰρημένα ἀκροατάς· φιλό- νεικοι γὰρ ὄντες τοῖς ἡμετέροις διδασκάλοις ἀπεχθάνονται· οὕτως οὖν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀπαντητέον· Μόνος ὁ ἀὴρ τῶν σωμάτων, κατὰ φύσιν ἔχων καὶ μὴ ἐξ ἀτμίδος τινὸς παχυνθείς, οἰκεῖον οὐ κέκτηται χρῶμα, ὅπερ ἴδιόν ἐστι τῆς ὄψεως αἰσθητόν· ὡς γὰρ ἡ γεῦσις χυμῶν πικρῶν τε καὶ γλυκέων καὶ στυφόντων διακρίνει τὰς διαφοράς, ἡ δὲ ὄσφρησις τῶν ὀδμῶν ἀντιλαμβάνεται καὶ ἡ ἀκοὴ ψόφων τε καὶ ἤχων καὶ ἁφὴ πάσης ἀντιτυπίας λείας τε καὶ τραχείας, οὕτως καὶ ἡ ὄψις ἰδιαζόντως τῶν χρωμάτων ἐστὶ διακριτική. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ὁ ἀὴρ ἀχρωμάτιστός ἐστιν, ὡς ἔφην, εἰ- κότως καὶ ἀόρατος κατὰ φύσιν ὑπάρχει, | οὐ μόνον ἄνευ φωτὸς ὑπάρχων-τοῦτο γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων, τῶν ὁρατῶν φύσει σωμάτων, εὑρήσεις· ἄνευ γὰρ φωτὸς καὶ τούτων οὐδέν ἐστιν ὁρᾶν -ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅταν αὐτῷ τῷ ἀέρι φῶς ἐπιγένηται, οὐχ ὁρᾶται, ἀχρωμάτιστος ὤν, οὐδὲ συγκεκραμμένον δι' ὅλου τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μέρεσιν ἔχει τὸ φῶς, καὶ τοῦτο σοφῶς τοῦ θεοῦ πεποιηκότος, ὅπως, μηδενὸς ἐμποδὼν γινομένου χρώματος τοῦ φυσικῶς ἐνυπάρχοντος τῷ ἀέρι, τὰς ἡμῶν ὄψεις ἀχρόνως παραπέμποι πρὸς τὰ ὁρώμενα διὰ τῆς τοῦ φωτὸς δι' ὅλου πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀνακρά- σεως. 10. Τὸ οὖν ἀχρωμάτιστον φύσει τοῦ ἀέρος καὶ μήπω πεφωτισμένον ὁ Μωϋσῆς σκότος ὠνόμασεν. Οὐ τοῦτο δὲ λέγω ὅτι τὸν ἀέρα τὸν μήπω πεφωτισμένον καὶ ἀχρωμάτιστον σκότος ὠνόμασεν· οὕτω γὰρ ἡμῶν λεγόντων ὑπολήψεταί τις ὡς ὅτι ὁ ἀὴρ σκότος ὠνόμασται καὶ οἰήσεται τὸ σκότος ὑφεστηκός, ἐπείπερ ὑφέστηκεν ὁ ἀήρ, ὃν σκότος εἶναι προσωμολογήσαμεν. Οὐ τοῦτο οὖν φημι, ἀλλ' ὅτι τὸ μὴ πεφωτισμένον καὶ ἀχρωμάτιστον τοῦ ἀέρος, ἅτινα μὴ ὄντα ἐστί, κατὰ στέρησιν εἰρημένα, ταῦτα ἐκάλεσε σκότος. Εἰ δὲ τὸ ἀχρωμάτιστον καὶ μὴ πεφωτισμένον στέρησις καὶ οὐκ ὄντα τυγχάνει, φανερὸν ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ σκότος ἀνυπόστατον καθ' ἑαυτό. τὸ γὰρ δι' ἀνυποστάτων γνωριζόμενον καὶ οὐ καθ' ἑαυτό, πολὺ μᾶλλον αὐτὸ ἀνυπόστατον ἔσται. Οὐκ ἀπουσίᾳ δὲ φωτὸς τὸ σκότος ἐκεῖνο, τὸ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀβύσσου, Φαμέν· τὸ γὰρ ἐν ἀπουσίᾳ τινὸς γινόμενον δείκνυσι τοῦτο πρότερον ὄν, εἶτα ἀφεστηκέναι καὶ τῇ τούτου ἀπουσίᾳ γεγονέναι τὸ γεγονός. Οὔπω δὲ τὸ φῶς ἦν· οὐ γὰρ ἐγεγόνει. Πῶς οὖν ἀπουσίᾳ τοῦ μήπω