5

they need; and as whiteness is one thing, and a whitened body another, so also these, though different in nature, are united by the power of the one who created them. And let no one think that day and sun are the same. For first the Creator fashioned a simple light, which He indeed also called day, and then the sun, composed of fire and light. For just as we see the earth having fire created within its very breast, so too the sun having light; for light coming together with fire made the brightest sun. But perhaps someone will object: And whence is this clear, since the division is not seen? For the light is not seen separately, nor the fire separately. But let such a one know how many things fire projects from itself: brightness, heat, yellowness, which the all-wise Artisan, by dividing them, hints at their composition. For when He wishes to warm a living creature, He takes the heat of the fire, and it has the heat of this, but does not have the light. But the heat was divided in the living creature from the radiance; again He takes the yellow. And indeed we see the yellow, but no longer the hot and shining. And again He separates the heat, and gives only the brightness, as for example can be seen in lightning, that flashing it only illuminates, but surely does not also heat. And the same example also applies to the moon. For it too becomes more visible when illuminated by the sun, just as the sun by the day. For the form of the moon happens to be charcoal-like, as can be seen during an eclipse; for the sun, by removing its own light from it, renders it dim; but by illuminating it, he makes it full-shining. For, clothed as it were with the sun's light, it becomes brighter; in this same way also the sun, putting on the light of day, happens to be more brilliant, that day neither 720 being, nor again heating, but only illuminating. That the sun is composed of fire is clear from its burning and scorching. To separate between the day and between the night. For example, He appointed the sun for the measures of the day, and the moon for the night. And the night is a shadow of the earth, when the sun is hidden. For just as in the day, when something blocks the way, a shadow is formed, and the light is withdrawn; so the night is formed, when the air around the earth is shadowed. And the sun, which from the beginning received light from the Maker, has this always hidden within itself; but the moon is not so, but continuously sheds it, waxing and waning. And let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years. And sun and moon generate this time. For their courses, being drawn commensurately, generate the ordered departures of the seasons. And it is called time, because as if on a certain cycle it revolves in orderly successive sequences, the first to the second, and the third to the next. And the phrase, 'let them be for signs,' because they always foreshow the presence of winter; for a mist, occurring in the air, dims the rays of the sun, and it appears coal-like and blood-red, being unable to disperse the air thickened by the vapors of the earth; and from this a sign of winter is shown. And when the so-called halos (for they are certain round outlines similar to a threshing-floor, for from this they are so named) surround the sun, a violence of winds is signified; and when also the so-called mock-suns run together with the course of the sun, it becomes a sign of atmospheric phenomena; and again, when things resembling rods in the color of the rainbow are shown appearing in the clouds at dawn, rainstorms, or tempests, or a greater change of the air is signified. And the moon, whenever on the third day it is shown thin and clear in its horns, promises stable fair weather; but appearing thick in the horns, and reddish, it heralds torrential water or a violent south wind.

5

χρῄζουσιν· καὶ ὡς ἕτερόν τι ἡ λευκότης, ἕτερον δὲ τὸ λελευκασμένον σῶμα, οὕτω καὶ ταῦτα διάφορα ὄντα τῇ φύσει ἥνωνται τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ κτίσαντος. Καὶ μηδεὶς νομίσῃ ταυτὸν ἡμέραν εἶναι καὶ ἥλιον. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ὁ δημιουργὸς ἁπλοῦν φῶς κατεσκεύασεν, ὃ δὴ καὶ ἡμέραν ἐκάλεσεν, ἔπειτα τὸν ἥλιον ἐκ τοῦ πυρὸς καὶ φωτὸς συγκείμενον. Ὡς γὰρ τὴν γῆν ὁρῶμεν πῦρ ἐν τοῖς στέρνοις αὐτοῖς δεδημιουργημένον ἔχουσαν, οὕτω καὶ τὸν ἥλιον φῶς ἔχοντα· φῶς γὰρ συνελθὸν μετὰ πυρὸς τὸν φανότατον ἐποίησεν ἥλιον. Ἀλλ' ἴσως ἀντερεῖ τις· Καὶ πόθεν τοῦτο δῆλον, οὐ βλεπομένης τῆς διαιρέσεως; οὐχ ὁρᾶται γὰρ ἰδίως μὲν τὸ φῶς, ἰδίως δὲ τὸ πῦρ. Ἀλλὰ γινωσκέτω ὁ τοιοῦτος, πόσα τὸ πῦρ ἐν ἑαυτῷ προβάλλεται, αὐγὴν, θερμότητα, ξανθότητα, ἅτινα πανσόφως ὁ τεχνίτης διαμερίζων, ὑπεμφαίνει τούτων τὴν σύνθεσιν. Ὅτε γὰρ θέλει θερμᾶναι τὸ ζῶον, λαμβάνει τοῦ πυρὸς τὸ θερμὸν, καὶ τὸ μὲν θερμὸν ἔχει τούτου, τὸ δὲ φῶς οὐκ ἔχει. Ἀλλ' ἐμερίσθη ἐν τῷ ζώῳ ἡ θέρμη ἀπὸ τοῦ φέγγους, πάλιν λαμβάνει τὸ ξανθόν. Καὶ ὁρῶμέν τοι τὸ ξανθὸν, οὐκέτι δὲ τὸ θερμὸν καὶ φαῖνον. Καὶ πάλιν ἀπομερίζει τὴν θέρμην, καὶ δίδωσι μόνην τὴν αὐγὴν, οἷον ὡς ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀστραπῆς, ὅτι ἐκλάμπουσα μόνον φωτίζει, οὐ μὴν δὲ καὶ θερμαίνει. Τὸ δ' αὐτὸ παράδειγμα καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς σελήνης καθέστηκε. Καὶ γὰρ αὕτη ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου φωτιζομένη φανερωτέρα γίνεται, ὥσπερ ὑπὸ τῆς ἡμέρας ὁ ἥλιος. Τὸ γὰρ τῆς σελήνης εἶδος ἀνθρακοειδὲς τυγχάνει, ὡς ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκλείψεως· ἀπάρας γὰρ ἀπ' αὐτῆς τὸ οἰκεῖον φέγγος ὁ ἥλιος ἀμαυρὰν αὐτὴν καθίστησι· φωτίζων δὲ αὐτὴν, πλησιφαῆ ἀπεργάζεται. Ἐνδυομένη γάρ πως τὸ ἡλιακὸν φῶς φαιδροτέρα καθίσταται· τὸν αὐτὸν δὴ τρόπον καὶ ὁ ἥλιος, τῆς ἡμέρας τὸ φῶς ἐνδυόμενος, λαμπρότερος τυγχάνει, τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης μήτε 720 οὔσης, μήτε πάλιν θερμαινούσης, ἀλλὰ μόνον φωτιζούσης. Ὅτι δὲ ἐκ πυρὸς συνέστηκεν ὁ ἥλιος, δῆλον ἐκ τοῦ πυροῦν, καὶ φλέγειν. Τοῦ διαχωρίζειν ἀναμέσον τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ ἀναμέσον τῆς νυκτός. Οἷον τὸν ἥλιον τῆς ἡμέρας τοῖς μέτροις ἔταξε, καὶ τὴν σελήνην τῆς νυκτός. Ἔστι δὲ ἡ νὺξ σκίασμα τῆς γῆς, ἀποκρυπτομένου τοῦ ἡλίου. Ὡς γὰρ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, ἀντιφράσσοντός τινος, σκιὰ γίνεται, καὶ τὸ φῶς παρυφίσταται· οὕτως ἡ νὺξ, σκιαζομένου τοῦ ἀέρος τοῦ περὶ γῆν, συνίσταται. Καὶ ὁ μὲν ἥλιος, ὅσπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς φῶς παρὰ τοῦ ποιητοῦ εἴληφε, τοῦτο ἔχει διὰ παντὸς ἐγκεκρυμμένον ἐν ἑαυτῷ· ἡ δὲ σελήνη οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλὰ συνεχῶς ἀποδύεται, αὔξουσα, καὶ μειουμένη. Ἔστωσαν δὲ εἰς σημεῖα, καὶ εἰς καιροὺς, καὶ εἰς ἡμέρας, καὶ εἰς ἐνιαυτούς. Χρόνον δὲ ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη γεννᾷ τοῦτον. Ἑλκόμεναι συμμέτρως γὰρ αἱ φοραὶ τεταγμένας τῶν καιρῶν τὰς ἐξόδους γεννῶσι. Χρόνος δὲ καλεῖται, ἐπειδὴ ὥσπερ ἐπί τινα κύκλον ἐπαλλήλοις εἱλεῖται εὐτάκτοις διαδοχαῖς, πρῶτος πρὸς δεύτερον, καὶ τρίτος πρὸς τὸν ἑξῆς. Τὸ δὲ, ἔστωσαν εἰς σημεῖα, ἐπειδὴ τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ χειμῶνος ἀεὶ προσημαίνουσιν· ἀχλὺς γὰρ, τῷ ἀέρι ἐγγενομένη, τοῦ ἡλίου τὰς ἀκτῖνας ἀμαυροῖ, καὶ φαίνεται ἀνθρακώδης καὶ ὕφαιμος, μὴ δυνάμενος τὸν ἀέρα ἐκ τῶν ἀτμῶν τῆς γῆς πεπυκνωμένον διαχέαι· κἀκ τούτου σημεῖον χειμῶνος δείκνυται. Ὅταν δὲ αἱ λεγόμεναι ἅλῳ (στρογγύλαι δὲ εἰσί τινες περιγραφαὶ ὅμοιαι ἅλῳ, ἐκ τούτου γὰρ οὕτως ἐπονομάζονται) τὸν ἥλιον περιστοιχίσωσι, σφοδρότης τῶν ἀνέμων σημαίνεται· ἐπὰν δὲ καὶ οἱ καλούμενοι ἀνθήλιοι τῇ τοῦ ἡλίου φορᾷ συντρέχωσι, συμπτωμάτων ἀερίων σημεῖον γίνεται· καὶ πάλιν ἡνίκα ῥάβδοις ἐοικυῖα κατὰ τὴν χρόαν τῆς Ἴριδος εἰς ὄρθρον τοῖς νέφεσιν ἐμφαινόμεναι δειχθῶσιν, ὄμβροι, ἢ χειμῶνες, ἢ μεταβολὴ ἐπιπλεῖον τοῦ ἀέρος σημαίνεται. Ἡ δὲ σελήνη, ἐπειδὰν ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ λεπτὴ καὶ καθαρὰ ταῖς κεραίαις ἀποδειχθῇ, σταθερὰν εὐδίαν κατεπαγγέλλεται· παχεῖα δὲ ταῖς κεραίαις, καὶ ὑπέρυθρος φανεῖσα, ὕδωρ λάβρον ἢ νότον βίαιον εὐαγγελίζεται.