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to grant. And lest creation, drawing near to God, desiring the glory of the adversary, should lose light and glory (for to observe measure is best, but lack of measure is worst), For this reason, the lofty Word, with kind intent for future beings, cast far away from the all-surrounding light of the Trinity, and from the choirs of angels, the mortal nature; the angelic nature, 423 not very far removed, as an attendant, but our nature very far indeed, since we were born of earth mixed with Divinity; for a simple nature is better. And of the worlds, the one that was earlier was another heaven, a space for the God-bearing, visible only to minds, all-luminous, into which a mortal of God then journeys from here, when he becomes a god, having purified mind and flesh; But this mortal world was fixed for mortals, when the grace of lights and the herald of God was about to be established, in beauty and greatness, and the sovereignty of the image; Both first and last by the words of the great God. 424 5. Concerning Providence. Thus indeed the great Mind established the boundless, well-founded cosmos, bearing all things within, and Himself being above all; but what means to grasp the uncontainable? But when He had made it, He guides it from the first impulse, like a spinning top urged on by the whirls of a stroke, moved by great, unmovable principles. For the nature of so great and such a cosmos is not spontaneous, to which it is not possible to conceive anything similar; do not entrust so much to spontaneous accounts. Who has ever seen a house that hands did not complete? 425 Who a ship, or a swift chariot? Who a shield and helmet? Nor would it have remained for so long a time, if it were without a beginning, and a leaderless chorus, to my mind, would cease. Nor is it likely to have any other commander of all than He who made it. While granting the stars as rulers of our race and of all life at once, tell me, for the stars themselves what other heaven will you make to revolve? And for that one in turn another, and always drivers upon drivers? One king is born under the same stars as many others, of whom one is good, another bad, one an orator, another a merchant, and another a wanderer, while a lofty throne makes another arrogant. And on the sea and in war, the same fate befalls many born under different stars. The stars, which bound them together, did not bind a common end. 426 But those whom they sundered, a common end bound together. If indeed some primary necessity holds for each individual, this is a myth; but if some better common one masters it, then stars are contrary to stars. Who then is the one who mixed them? For he who bound them, also loosed them if he wished. But if it is God, how is that primary which God has shaken off from me? Unless you also make God himself revolve under your stars. But if there is no one in control, how will it stand? For I have not seen it. Let them with such arguments keep God outside. For either it is God, or the stars are the rulers. But I know this, that God governs all these things, the Word of God dispensing here and there all that His thoughts have established both above and below; to some He gave 427 harmony and a course sufficient and ever steadfast, but to others a life that is changeable and bearing many forms; of which He has shown one part to us, but the other He keeps in the secret places of His wisdom, and is willing to refute the empty boast of a mortal. And some things He established here, but others He will meet in the last days. The tiller of the earth reaps all things in their season, just as Christ also is the best judge of my life. This is my discourse, independent of the stars, self-impelled. But you, tell me of the time-setters and the subtle Fates, and the life-bearing circles and the measures of their course; and explain to me the laws of life, and the terror for sinners, and the hope that will meet the good hereafter. 428 For if a circle carries all things, I am swept along in its revolution, and the circle will bring about even the act of willing itself, nor is there for me any inclination leading to what is better, of will or of mind, but the celestial pole rolls me along in this way. Let the star be silent, the great glory and messenger of Christ, which from the east led the Magi to the city, where Christ shone forth, the offspring of a mortal, the timeless Son. For it was not one of those whose explainers are the astrologers, but it was strange and had not appeared before, being seen in the Hebrew books, from which the children of the Chaldeans, whose life is to observe the stars, having learned in advance, alone from among many

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ὀπάζειν. Ὄφρα δὲ μὴ πελάουσα Θεῷ κτίσις ἀντιθέοιο Κύδεος ἱμείρουσα, φάος καὶ κῦδος ὀλέσσῃ (Μέτρα φέρειν γὰρ ἄριστον, ἀμετρίη δὲ κάκιστον), Τοὔνεκεν ἐσσομένοισι φίλα φρονέων Λόγος αἰπὺς Τῆλε βάλε Τριάδος μὲν ὅσον φάος ἀμφιθόωκον, Ἀγγελικῶν τε χορῶν βροτέην φύσιν, ἀγγελικὴν μὲν 423 Οὐ μάλα πολλὸν ἄνευθε παραστάτιν, ἡμετέρην δὲ Καὶ μάλα πολλὸν ἄνευθεν, ἐπεὶ χθονὸς ἐκγενόμεσθα Μιχθείσης Θεότητι· ἁπλῆ δέ τε φύσις ἀρείων. Κόσμων δ' ὃς μὲν ἔην προγενέστερος οὐρανὸς ἄλλος, Θειοφόρων χώρημα, μόνοις τε νόεσσι θεητὸν, Παμφαὲς, εἰς ὃν ἔπειτα Θεοῦ βροτὸς ἔνθεν ὁδεύει, Εὖτε Θεὸς τελέθῃσι, νόον καὶ σάρκα καθήρας· Αὐτὰρ ὅ γε θνητοῖσι πάγη θνατὸς, ἡνίκ' ἔμελλε Στήσεσθαι φαέων τε χάρις κῆρύξ τε Θεοῖο, Κάλλεΐ τε μεγέθει τε, καὶ εἰκόνος ἐμβασίλευμα· Πρῶτος δ' ὑστάτιός τε Θεοῦ μεγάλοιο λόγοισι. 424 Εʹ. Περὶ Προνοίας. Ὧδε μὲν εὐρυθέμεθλον ἐπήξατο κόσμον ἄπειρον Νοῦς μέγας, ἐντὸς ἅπαντα φέρων, καὶ παντὸς ὕπερθεν Αὐτὸς ἐών· τί δὲ μῆχος ἀχωρήτοιο λαβέσθαι; Αὐτὰρ ἐπεί μιν ἔτευξεν, ἄγει πρώτης ὑπὸ ῥιπῆς, Πληγῆς ὡς ὕπο ῥόμβον ἐπειγόμενον στροφάλιγξι, Κιννύμενον μεγάλοισιν ἀκινήτοισι λόγοισιν. Οὔτε γὰρ αὐτομάτη φύσις κόσμοιο τοσούτου Καὶ τοίου, τῷ μηδὲν ὁμοίϊον ἔστι νοῆσαι· Μὴ τόσον αὐτομάτοισιν ἐπιτρέψητε λόγοισι. Τίς δὲ δόμον ποτ' ὄπωπεν, ὃν οὐ χέρες ἐξετέλεσσαν; 425 Τίς ναῦν, ἢ θοὸν ἅρμα; τίς ἀσπίδα καὶ τρυφάλειαν; Οὔτ' ἂν τόσσον ἔμεινεν ἐπὶ χρόνον, εἴπερ ἄναρχος, Καὶ χορὸς ἂν λήξειεν ἀνηγεμόνευτος ἔμοιγε. Οὔτ' ἄλλον τιν' ἐοικὸς ἔχειν σημάντορα παντὸς, Ἠὲ τὸν ὅς μιν ἔτευξεν. Ὁδ' ἀστέρας ἡγεμονῆας Ἡμετέρης γενεῆς τε βίου θ' ἅμα παντὸς ὀπάζων, Αὐτοῖς δ' ἄστρασιν εἰπὲ τίν' οὐρανὸν ἄλλον ἑλίξεις; Καὶ τῷ δ' αὖ πάλιν ἄλλον, ἀεί τ' ἐπ' ἄγουσιν ἄγοντας; Εἷς βασιλεὺς πλεόνεσσι συνάστερος, ὧν ὁ μὲν ἐσθλὸς, Ὃς δὲ κακὸς, ῥητήρ τις, ὁ δ' ἔμπορος, ὃς δ' ἄρ' ἀλήτης, Τὸν δὲ φέρει θρόνος αἰπὺς ὑπέρφρονα. Ἐν δέ τε πόντῳ Καὶ πολέμῳ πλεόνεσσιν ὁμὸς μόρος ἀλλογενέθλοις. Ἀστέρες, οὓς συνέδησαν, ὁμὸν τέλος οὐ συνέδησε. 426 Κείνους δ' οὓς ἐκέασσαν, ὁμὴ συνέδησε τελευτή. Εἰ μὲν δὴ καθ' ἕκαστον ἔχει πρώτη τις ἀνάγκη, Μῦθος ὅδ'· εἰ δ' ἄρα τῆς κρατέει ξυνή τις ἀρείων, Τείρεα τείρεσίν ἐστιν ἐναντία. Τίς δ' ἄρ' ὁ μίξας; Ὃς γὰρ δὴ συνέδησε, καὶ ἢν ἐθέλῃσιν ἔλυσεν. Εἰ δὲ Θεὸς, πῶς πρῶτον, ὅ μοι Θεὸς ἐξετίναξεν; Εἰ μὴ καὶ Θεὸν αὐτὸν ὑπ' ἄστρασι σοῖσιν ἑλίξῃς. Εἰ δ' οὔ τις κρατέων, πῶς στήσεται; Οὐ γὰρ ὄπωπα. Κεῖνοι μὲν τοίοισι λόγοις Θεὸν ἐκτὸς ἔχοιεν. Ἢ γὰρ δὴ Θεός ἐστιν, ἢ ἀστέρες ἡγεμονῆες. Αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ τόδε οἶδα, Θεὸς τάδε πάντα κυβερνᾷ, Νωμῶν ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα Θεοῦ Λόγος ὅσσα θ' ὕπερθεν, Ὅσσα τ' ἔνερθεν ἔθηκε νοήμασι· τοῖς μὲν ἔδωκεν 427 Ἁρμονίην τε δρόμον τε διαρκέα ἔμπεδον αἰεὶ, Τοῖς δὲ βίον στρεπτόν τε, καὶ εἴδεα πολλὰ φέροντα· Ὧν τὸ μὲν ἡμῖν ἔφηνε, τὸδ' ἐν κευθμῶσι φυλάσσει Ἧς σοφίης, θνητοῦ δ' ἐθέλει κενὸν εὖχος ἐλέγχειν. Καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐνθάδ' ἔθηκε, τὰ δ' ἤμασιν ὑστατίοισιν Ἀντήσει. Κείρει δὲ γεημόρος ὥρια πάντα, Ὡς καὶ Χριστὸς ἄριστος ἐμοῦ βιότοιο δικαστής. Οὗτος ἐμὸς λόγος ἐστὶν ἀνάστερος, αὐτοκέλευθος. Ὡροθέτας δὲ σύ μοι καὶ λεπταλέας ἀγόρευε Μοίρας, ζωοφόρους τε κύκλους καὶ μέτρα πορείης· Λῦε δέ μοι ζωῆς τε νόμους, καὶ τάρβος ἀλιτροῖς, Ἐλπωρήν τ' ἀγαθοῖσιν ἐς ὕστερον ἀντιόωσαν. 428 Εἰ γὰρ κύκλος ἅπαντα φέρει, κείνου περιωγῇ Ῥοιζοῦμαι, τὸ θέλειν δὲ καὶ αὐτόγε κύκλος ἐποίσει, Οὐδέ τίς ἐστιν ἔμοιγε ῥοπὴ πρὸς κρεῖσσον ἄγουσα, Βουλῆς ἠδὲ νόοιο, πόλος δέ με τῇδε κυλίνδει. Σιγάσθω Χριστοῖο μέγα κλέος ἄγγελος ἀστὴρ Ἀντολίηθε Μάγοισιν ἐπὶ πτόλιν ἡγεμονεύσας, Ἔνθα Χριστὸς ἔλαμψε βροτοῦ γόνος ἄχρονος Υἱός. Οὐ γὰρ τῶν τις ἔην ὅσσων φραστῆρες ἔασσιν Ἀστρολόγοι, ξεῖνος δὲ καὶ οὐ πάρος ἐξεφαάνθη, Ἑβραϊκῇσι βίβλοισιν ὁρώμενος, ὧν ἄπο παῖδες Χαλδαίων προμαθόντες, ὅσοις βίος ἀστροπολεύειν, Μοῦνον ἀπὸ πλεόνων