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did he bestow the power? Therefore, the proof is clear, and why do you contentious ones cause us trouble as if we were expounders of unproven arguments? As one was raised, so also ten, as the ten, also three hundred, as the three hundred, also the many; for the craftsman of one statue will easily be the creator of ten thousand. Have you not seen the engineers, how of great and extraordinary buildings they pre-form the shapes and models in a little bit of wax, and the principle in the small has the same power in the many and great constructions? Great is the heaven, a skillful creation of God; and since God made man a rational animal, 9.258 so that by the comprehension of His works he might glorify the wise and resourceful maker, you will see the astronomer's small sphere, though small, being moved in the hand of the knowledgeable man just as <the> heaven is by God. And the smallest construction becomes an image of the great creation, and in the small things, reason explains the immense things and those which surpass our perception. But why have I gone through these things? So that you may know that even if you ask me how the resurrection of bodies from the beginning of time will be, you will quickly hear in reply: how was the four-day-dead Lazarus raised? For it is manifest that the sensible man will likewise accept the assurance given in the one case for the many as well. When you suppose that God is the one doing it, say nothing is impossible, nor think the wisdom of the incomprehensible to be comprehensible by your own thought; for neither is anything infinite to him, and to you the things of the infinite are unsearchable.

And we shall see this argument well, if in addition to what has been said we also examine the manner of our own generation, not that first and most ancient one from God, about which it has been spoken in the preceding parts, but the one that is accomplished by nature consequently up to now; for this is difficult and inaccessible to human reasoning. For how does the seed, being a substance that is moist and unformed and shapeless, congeal into a head and solidify into shins and ribs, and make a brain that is soft and porous and the bone surrounding it so hard and resistant, and the varied construction of the living being, to speak concisely and not prolong it by going through each detail meticulously? As, therefore, the seed, being formless in the beginning, is molded into a shape and grows into masses, being fashioned by the ineffable art of God, so it is not at all unlikely, 9.259 but entirely consistent, that the matter in the tombs that once had a form should be restored again to its former shaping and that the dust should again become a man, just as indeed it first had its origin from there. Let us grant that God is able to do as much as a potter can. For let us consider what he does: taking formless clay, he gives it the form of a vessel, and this he sets before the sun's ray and dries and makes it solid, and what is molded is a small amphora or a platter or a jar; but if something falls on it disorderly and overturns it, it is shattered by falling and becomes formless earth, but the craftsman, if he wishes, quickly rectifies what has happened and again, having shaped the clay with his art, makes the vessel no worse than it once was. And so the potter is a small creation of God's power, but God is disbelieved when he promises to restore the one who has died. This is of great foolishness. Let us consider also the example of the grain, with which Paul, the all-wise, instructs the foolish, saying: You fool, what you sow, <is not made alive unless it dies, and what you sow,> you do not sow the body that will be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some of the other seeds, but God gives it a body, just as he willed. Let us pay close attention to the generation of the grain, and perhaps we shall be taught the lesson concerning ourselves. The grain is cast into the earth, and having decayed in the moisture and, as one might say, having died, it ends up as a certain milky substance, which, having congealed, becomes a small, sharp, and white 9.260 point, and having grown enough to emerge from the earth from the white

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ἐχαρίσατο δύναμιν; ἔστιν οὖν ἡ ἀπόδειξις ἐναργής, καὶ διὰ τί οἱ φιλόνεικοι πράγ ματα ἡμῖν παρέχετε ὡς ἀναποδείκτων λόγων ἐξηγηταῖς; ὡς εἷς ἠγέρθη, οὕτω καὶ δέκα, ὡς οἱ δέκα καὶ τριακόσιοι, ὡς τριακόσιοι καὶ οἱ πολλοί· ὁ γὰρ ἑνὸς ἀνδριάντος τε χνίτης ἔσται ῥᾳδίως καὶ μυρίων δημιουργός. οὐκ εἴδετε τοὺς μηχανικούς, ὅπως τῶν μεγάλων καὶ ἐξαισίων οἰκοδο μημάτων ἐν ὀλίγῳ κηρῷ τὰς μορφὰς καὶ τοὺς τύπους προαναπλάττουσι καὶ ὁ ἐν τῷ μικρῷ λόγος τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχει δύναμιν ἐν ταῖς πολλαῖς καὶ μεγάλαις κατασκευαῖς; μέγας ὁ οὐρανός, τεχνικὸν τοῦ θεοῦ δημιούργημα· ἐπειδὴ δὲ λογικὸν ζῷον ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐποίησεν, 9.258 ἵνα τῇ καταλήψει τῶν ποιημάτων δοξάσῃ τὸν σοφὸν καὶ εὐμήχανον ποιητήν, ὄψει τὸ τοῦ ἀστρονόμου σφαιρίον μικρὸν μέν, ἐν δὲ τῇ χειρὶ κινούμενον τοῦ ἐπιστήμονος οὕτως ὡς <ὁ> οὐρανὸς παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ. καὶ τὸ ἐλάχιστον κατασκεύα σμα τοῦ μεγάλου δημιουργήματος εἰκὼν γίνεται καὶ ἐν τοῖς μικροῖς ὁ λόγος ἑρμηνεύει τὰ ὑπέρογκα καὶ τὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν ἡμῶν ὑπερβαίνοντα. ταῦτα δὲ πρὸς τί διῆλθον; ἵνα γινώσκῃς, ὅτι κἂν ἐρωτήσῃς με, πῶς ἔσται τῶν ἀπ' αἰῶνος σωμάτων ἡ ἀνάστασις, ἀντακούσῃ ταχέως· πῶς ὁ τετραήμερος ἠγέρθη Λάζαρος; πρόδηλον γὰρ ὡς τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ ἑνὶ πληροφορίαν κἀν τοῖς πολλοῖς ὁμοίως ὁ σωφρονῶν παραδέξεται. θεὸν ὑποτιθέ μενος τὸν ποιοῦντα μηδὲν εἴπῃς ἀδύνατον μηδὲ τῇ σαυτοῦ ἐννοίᾳ καταληπτὴν νομίσῃς τὴν τοῦ ἀκαταλήπτου σοφίαν· οὔτε γὰρ ἐκείνῳ τι ἄπειρον καὶ σοὶ τὰ τοῦ ἀπείρου ἀνεξε ρεύνητα.

Ὀψόμεθα δὲ τοῦτον τὸν λόγον καλῶς, ἂν πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημέ νοις καὶ τὸν τρόπον τῆς γενέσεως ἡμῶν δοκιμάσωμεν, οὐ τὸν πρῶτον καὶ πρεσβύτατον ἐκεῖνον τὸν παρὰ θεοῦ, περὶ οὗ ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν εἴρηται, ἀλλὰ τὸν μέχρι νῦν ἀκολούθως παρὰ τῆς φύσεως ἐκτελούμενον· ἄπορος γὰρ οὗτος καὶ λογισμῷ ἀνθρωπίνῳ ἀπρόσιτος. πῶς γὰρ τὸ σπέρμα οὐσία οὖσα ὑγρὰ καὶ ἄπλαστος καὶ ἀνείδεος εἰς κεφαλὴν πήγνυται καὶ εἰς ἀντικνήμια καὶ πλευρὰς στερεοῦται καὶ ποιεῖ ἐγκέφα λον ἁπαλὸν καὶ μανὸν καὶ τὸ περιέχον αὐτὸν ὀστέον οὕτω σκληρὸν καὶ ἀντιτυπὲς καὶ τὴν ποικίλην τοῦ ζῴου κατασκευήν, ἵνα συντόμως εἴπω καὶ μὴ παρέλκω λεπτομερῶς ἐπεξιὼν τοῖς καθ' ἕκαστα; ὡς οὖν τὸ σπέρμα ὑπάρχον ἄμορφον ἐν ἀρχαῖς εἰς σχῆμα τυποῦται καὶ εἰς ὄγκους ἁδρύνεται τῇ ἀπορρήτῳ τοῦ θεοῦ κατασκευαζόμενον τέχνῃ, οὕτως οὐδὲν ἀπεικός, 9.259 ἀλλὰ καὶ πάνυ ἀκόλουθον, τὴν ἐν τοῖς τάφοις ὕλην τήν ποτε οὖσαν ἐν εἴδει αὖθις εἰς τὴν παλαιὰν ἀνακαινισθῆναι διάπλασιν καὶ πάλιν γενέσθαι τὸν χοῦν ἄνθρωπον, ὥσπερ δὴ καὶ τὸ πρῶτον ἐκεῖθεν ἔσχε τὴν γένεσιν. Συγχωρήσωμεν τῷ θεῷ δύνασθαι τοσοῦτον ὅσον ὁ κεραμεὺς ἰσχύει. τί γὰρ οὗτος ποιεῖ, λογισώμεθα· πηλὸν λαβὼν ἄμορφον εἰς σκεῦος εἰδοποιεῖ καὶ τοῦτο πρὸς τὴν ἀκτῖνα τὴν ἡλιακὴν προθέμενος ξηραίνει καὶ στερεὸν ἀπεργάζεται, ἔστι δὲ ἀμφορίσκος ἢ πίναξ ἢ πίθος τὸ πλαττόμενον· ἀλλ' ἐμπεσόντος τινὸς ἀτάκτως καὶ ἀνατρέψαντος συντρίβεται καταπεσὼν καὶ γίνεται ἀμόρφωτος γῆ, ὁ δὲ τεχνίτης βουληθεὶς ὀξέως ἐπανορθοῖ τὸ συμβὰν καὶ πάλιν πηλὸν σχηματίσας τῇ τέχνῃ οὐδὲν χεῖρον τοῦ ποτε ὄντος ἀπεργάζεται τὸ σκεῦος. καὶ ὁ μὲν κεραμεὺς οὕτως μικρὸν τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ δυνάμεως κτίσμα, ὁ δὲ θεὸς ἀπιστεῖται ὑπισχνούμενος ἀνακαινίζειν τὸν τεθνηκότα. πολλῆς ταῦτα τῆς ἀνοίας ἐστίν. Θεωρήσωμεν καὶ τὸ τοῦ σίτου ὑπόδειγμα, ᾧ Παῦλος ὁ πάνσοφος παιδεύει τοὺς ἄφρονας λέγων· Ἄφρων σύ, ὃ σπείρεις, <οὐ ζωοποιεῖται, ἐὰν μὴ ἀποθάνῃ, καὶ ὃ σπείρεις,> οὐ τὸ σῶμα τὸ γενησόμενον σπείρεις, ἀλλὰ γυμνὸν κόκκον, εἰ τύχοι, σίτου ἤ τινος τῶν λοιπῶν σπερμάτων, ὁ δὲ θεὸς δίδωσιν αὐτῷ σῶμα, καθὼς ἠθέλησεν. ἀκριβῶς προσέχωμεν τῇ γενέσει τοῦ σίτου, καὶ τάχα τὸν περὶ ἡμῶν λόγον διδαχθη σόμεθα. ὁ σῖτος ῥίπτεται εἰς τὴν γῆν, διασαπεὶς δὲ ἐν τῇ νοτίδι καὶ, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, τελευτήσας ἀπολήγει εἴς τινα γαλακτώδη οὐσίαν, ἥτις παγεῖσα μικρὸν ὀξὺ καὶ λευκὸν 9.260 γίνεται κέντρον, αὐξηθεῖσα δὲ ὅσον προκύψαι τῆς γῆς ἐκ τοῦ λευκοῦ