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accordingly, he says that each thing thus came to be, having philosophized in the form of a narrative about the doctrines of nature. And ascribing certain commanding voices of God to each of the things that came to be, he does this well and in a manner befitting God. For everything that comes to be from God according to a certain sequence and wisdom, is an express voice. For we do not know what the substance of God is; but having conceived of self-wisdom and self-power in our mind, we believe we have apprehended God with our thought. For this reason, when the whole came to be, before each of the things that complete the whole was shown by itself, gloom was poured over everything; for the gleam of fire had not yet appeared, being hidden in the particles of matter, just as pebbles remain unseen in the darkness, even if they naturally have in themselves the power to illuminate, producing fire through their collision with one another, but when the spark appears from them, they too are revealed together with its brightness; so all things were invisible and unseen, before the illuminating substance came forth into the visible. For just as the whole came into being all at once in a single impulse of the divine will 73 without distinction, and all the elements were mixed in one another, the fire scattered everywhere was obscured, being overshadowed by the excess of matter.

But since its power is sharp and agile, as soon as the impulse for the genesis of the world was given by God to the nature of beings, it leaped out ahead of all heavier nature, and immediately illuminated all things with light. And that which came to be according to the word of wisdom, by the power of the maker, was recorded by Moses as a commanding word of God, namely, "God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." For in the case of God, at least according to our understanding, the deed is word. Because everything that comes to be, comes to be by a word; and nothing irrational, or coincidental, or spontaneous is conceived among the things that subsist from God. But one must believe that in each of the beings there is inherent a certain wise and artful reason, even if it is beyond our sight. What then did God say, since such a voice is representative of a word? We will understand, I think, in a manner befitting God by referring the saying to the reason inherent in creation. For thus also the great David explained such voices to us, saying: 'In wisdom you have made all things.' For the commanding words of the creation of beings, which are recorded by Moses from the divine voice, these David named the wisdom seen in the things that have come to be. Whence also he says the heavens declare the glory of God, that is, of the artful contemplation made manifest in them through their harmonious revolution, which takes the place of speech for those with knowledge. For having said that the heavens declare, and the firmament proclaims, he corrects those who hear what is said more crassly; and who perhaps expect a sound of a voice and articulate speech from the declaration of the heavens, in which he says: that 'There are no speeches, nor words, whose voices are not heard,' to show that the wisdom seen in creation is a word, even if it is not articulate. And again, when Moses said that certain detailed voices of God came to him in the wonder-working of the signs in Egypt, the Psalmist explained it more loftily than according to the conception of the many, saying, 'He set among them the words of His signs, and of His wonders in the land of Ham.' For the Psalmist clearly indicated by this voice that the effective power of each of the things that come to be is brought into operation by a certain reason, as the word does not consist in utterances, but is the power working the signs, so named. Therefore here too the illuminating power ran ahead and was separated from beings in the quickness and agility of its nature, separating itself from things of a different kind, and all that was shone around was illuminated through its radiant power. But by what reason the substance of fire effects these things, it is for God alone to say, who deposited the illuminating reason in the

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ἀκόλουθον, οὕτως ἕκαστα γεγενῆσθαί φησιν ἐν διηγήσεως εἴδει περὶ τῶν φυσικῶν δογμάτων φιλοσοφήσας. Καὶ φωνάς τινας τοῦ Θεοῦ προστακτικὰς ἑκάστου τῶν γινομένων προσγράφων, καλῶς καὶ θεο πρεπῶς καὶ τοῦτο ποιῶν. Πᾶν γὰρ τὸ καθ' εἱρμόν τινα καὶ σοφίαν γινόμενον τοῦ Θεοῦ, τὶς ἄντικρύς ἐστι φωνή. ∆ιότι Θεοῦ μὲν οὐσίαν ἥτις ἐστὶν, οὐ γινώσκομεν· τὴν δὲ αὐτοσοφίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτοδύναμιν ἐν νῷ λαβόντες, τὸν Θεὸν ἀνειληφέναι τῇ διανοίᾳ πιστεύομεν. Τούτου χάριν ὅτε τὸ ὅλον ἐγένετο, πρὶν ἕκαστον τῶν συμπληρούντων τὸ ὅλον ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ δειχθῆναι, ζόφος τῷ παντὶ ἐπεκέ χυτο· οὔπω γὰρ ἐξεφάνη τοῦ πυρὸς ἡ αὐγὴ ὑποκε κρυμμένη τοῖς μορίοις τῆς ὕλης καθάπερ καὶ αἱ ψηφῖδες ἀφανεῖς ἐν τῷ σκότει μένουσιν, εἰ καὶ φυσικῶς ἐν ἑαυταῖς τὴν φωτιστικὴν ἔχουσι δύναμιν, διὰ τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλας συμπτώσεως τὸ πῦρ ἀποτίκτουσαι, τοῦ δὲ σπινθῆρος ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀναφανέν τος, κἀκεῖναι τῇ λαμπηδόνι τούτου συνανεφάνησαν· οὕτως ἀόρατά τε καὶ ἀφανῆ τὰ πάντα ἦν, πρὶν τὴν φωτιστικὴν οὐσίαν εἰς τὸ ἐκφανὲς προελθεῖν. Ἄρτι γὰρ ἀθρόως ἐν τῇ μιᾷ ῥοπῇ τοῦ θείου θελήματος 73 ἀδιακρίτως τοῦ παντὸς ὑποστάντος, καὶ τῶν στοι χείων πάντων ἐν ἀλλήλοις πεφυρμένων, τὸ πανταχοῦ κατεσπαρμένον πῦρ ἐπεσκοτεῖτο, τῷ πλεονάζοντι τῆς ὕλης ἐπιπροσθούμενον.

Ἐπεὶ δὲ ὀξεῖά τίς ἐστιν ἡ δύναμις αὐτοῦ καὶ εὐκίνητος, ὁμοῦ τὸ δοθῆναι τῇ φύσει τῶν ὄντων πρὸς τὴν τοῦ κόσμου γένεσιν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ ἐνδόσιμον, πάσης τῆς βαρυτέρας φύσεως προεξέθορε, καὶ εὐθὺς τῷ φωτὶ τὰ πάντα περιηυγά ζετο. Ὃ δὲ κατὰ τὸν τῆς σοφίας λόγον, τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἐγένετο, ὡς λόγος Θεοῦ προστακτι κὸς, παρὰ τοῦ Μωϋσέως ἐμνημονεύθη, τὸ, «Εἶπεν ὁ Θεὸς, Γενηθήτω φῶς, καὶ ἐγένετο φῶς.» Ἐπὶ γὰρ τοῦ Θεοῦ, κατά γε τὴν ἡμετέραν ὑπόληψιν, τὸ ἔργον λό γος ἐστί. ∆ιότι πᾶν τὸ γινόμενον, λόγῳ γίνεται· καὶ ἄλογόν τι καὶ συντυχικὸν καὶ αὐτόματον ἐν τοῖς θεόθεν ὑφεστῶσι νοεῖται οὐδέν. Ἀλλὰ χρὴ ἑκάστῳ τῶν ὄντων καὶ λόγον τινὰ σοφόν τε καὶ τεχνικὸν ἐγκεῖσθαι πιστεύειν, κἂν κρεῖττον ᾖ τῆς ἡμετέρας ὄψεως. Τί οὖν εἶπεν ὁ Θεὸς, ἐπειδὴ λόγου παραστατική ἐστιν ἡ τοιαύτη φωνὴ, θεοπρεπῶς, ὡς οἶμαι, νοήσο μεν εἰς τὸν ἐγκείμενον τῆς κτίσεως λόγον τὸ ῥητὸν ἀναφέροντες. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ὁ μέγας ∆αβὶδ τὰς τοιαύτας φωνὰς ἡμῖν ἐξηγήσατο εἰπών· «Πάντα ἐν σοφίᾳ ἐποίησας.» Τὰ γὰρ προστακτικὰ τῆς τῶν ὄν των κτίσεως ῥήματα, ἃ παρὰ τοῦ Μωϋσέως ἐκ τῆς θείας φωνῆς ἀναγέγραπται, ταῦτα ὁ ∆αβὶδ τὴν ἐν θεωρουμένην τοῖς γεγονόσι σοφίαν ὠνόμασεν. Ὅθεν καὶ διηγεῖσθαι λέγει τοὺς οὐρανοὺς δόξαν Θεοῦ, δη λαδὴ τῆς ἐμφαινομένης αὐτοῖς τεχνικῆς θεωρίας διὰ τῆς ἐναρμονίου περιφορᾶς, ἀντὶ λόγου γινομένης τοῖς ἐπιστήμοσιν. Εἰπὼν γὰρ διηγεῖσθαι τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, καὶ ἀναγγέλλειν τὸ στερέωμα, διορθοῦται τοὺς παχύ τερον τῶν λεγομένων ἀκούοντας· καὶ ἴσως καὶ φωνῆς ἦχον καὶ λόγον ἔναρθρον ἐκ τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν διηγήσεως προσδεχομένους, ἐν οἷς φησιν. ὅτι Οὐκ εἰσὶ λαλιαὶ, οὐδὲ λόγοι ὧν οὐχὶ ἀκούονται αἱ φωναὶ αὐτῶν, ἵνα δείξῃ ὅτι ἡ ἐν τῇ κτίσει θεωρουμένη σοφία, λόγος ἐστὶ, κἂν μὴ ἔναρθρος ᾗ. Καὶ πάλιν τοῦ Μωϋ σέως διεξοδικάς τινας τοῦ Θεοῦ φωνὰς πρὸς αὐτὸν γεγενῆσθαι εἰπόντος ἐν τῇ θαυματοποιίᾳ τῶν ἐν Αἰ γύπτῳ σημείων, ὑψηλότερον ἢ κατὰ τὴν τῶν πολλῶν ὑπόληψιν ὁ Ψαλμῳδὸς ἐξηγήσατο εἰπὼν, «Ἔθετο ἐν αὐτοῖς τοὺς λόγους τῶν σημείων αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῶν τεράτων αὐτοῦ ἐν γῇ Χάμ.» Τῷ γὰρ λόγῳ τινὶ τὴν ἀπεργαστικὴν ἑκάστου τῶν γινομένων δύναμιν εἰς ἐνέργειαν ἄγεσθαι, σαφῶς διὰ τῆς φωνῆς ταύτης ὁ Ψαλμῳδὸς ὑπῃνίξατο, ὡς οὐκ ἐν ῥήμασιν ὄντος τοῦ λόγου, ἀλλὰ τῆς εἰς τὰ σημεῖα δυνάμεως, οὕτως ὠνο μασμένης. Οὐκοῦν καὶ ἐνταῦθα προέδραμε μὲν καὶ ἀπε κρίθη τῶν ὄντων ἐν τῷ ταχεῖ τε καὶ εὐκινήτῳ τῆς φύσεως ἡ φωτιστικὴ δύναμις, ἑαυτὴν τῶν ἑτεροφυῶν ἀποκρίνουσα, καὶ τὸ περιλαμφθὲν ἄπαν διὰ τῆς ἀπαυγαστικῆς αὐτοῦ δυνάμεως κατεφωτίσθη. Ὧ δὲ λόγῳ ταῦτα ἐνεργεῖ τοῦ πυρὸς ἡ οὐσία, μόνου Θεοῦ ἐστιν εἰπεῖν, τοῦ ἐναποθεμένου τὸν φωτιστικὸν λόγον τῇ