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it changes to something gently greening, then it becomes grass and the hair of the clods, and having spread over them and been moderately dispersed, underneath it nourishes the much-divided root, preparing beforehand the foundation for the coming weight; and just as the masts of ships are stretched on all sides with many ropes, so that they may remain firm, pulled against by balanced tensions, so the rope-like offshoots of the root become supports and props for the ears of corn. And when the grain rises up into a stalk and hastens to its height, God supports it with knees and knots, as if securing a house with bonds because of the expected weight of its head. Then, when its strength has been prepared, splitting the husk, he brings forth the ear of corn. And there again are greater wonders; for the grain grows around it in rows and each of the kernels has its own special storehouse and last of all are put forth the sharp and slender awns, weapons, I think, against the seed-gathering birds, so that, being pricked by their points, they may not damage the fruit. Do you see how much wonderworking power a single kernel has when it has decayed and having fallen alone, with how many it is raised; but man receives nothing more, but what he had, he receives back, and for this reason our renewal appears easier than the cultivation of grain.

From here, pass to the thought of trees, how winter becomes for them each year a substitute for death; for the fruit is lost and the leaf falls and the wood remains dry, deprived of all grace. But when the season of spring arrives, a most graceful blossom grows over them and 9.261 after the blossom comes the shelter of the leaves and then as a beautiful sight it draws the eyes of men and becomes the workshops of songbirds that sit among its leaves, and a certain wondrous grace shines about them, so that many have even left a house adorned with gold and with Thessalian and Laconian marble, and have made their life under the trees more pleasant for themselves. For this reason also the patriarch Abraham pitched his tent under an oak, not at all for want of a house, but exulting in the shelter of the branches. The life of reptiles also leads me to assent to the present argument; for in the season of winter their vital power is deadened and for the period of six months they lie in their dens completely motionless. But when the appointed time comes and a thunderclap resounds from the cosmos, as if receiving the sound as a signal for life, they leap up swiftly and after a long time perform their usual activities. What is this reason? Let the examiner and judge of God's deeds tell me and teach me how he allows snakes, being dead, to be awakened by thunder, but does not grant that men be given life by the trumpet of God sounding from heaven, as the divine word says: For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised; and elsewhere again more clearly: And he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather his elect. Let us not then disbelieve in the changes and the renewals; for the life of both plants and various animals and 9.262 even that of men themselves teaches us, that nothing among things in corruption and generation is in sameness, but in alteration and change. and first, if you please, let us consider the change in our own ages; we know what the nursing infant is like. After a little time has passed, it receives the power of crawling and, supported on four bases, it is no different from little puppies; around the third year it becomes upright and utters a stammering and lisping voice; then it articulates its speech and becomes a charming little boy; from that age it proceeds to a youth and a young man; and when the first down covers the cheek, after a little while a hairy beard, and one thing from another; then a man in his prime, rugged, long-suffering. And when four decades of years have passed, the beginning of the return and grey hair gently whitens the head and strength towards

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πρὸς τὸ ἠρέμα χλοαινόμενον μεταβάλλεται, εἶτα γίνεται πόα καὶ κόμη τῶν βώλων, ἐφαπλωθεῖσα δὲ αὐτοῖς καὶ σκεδασθεῖσα μετρίως πολυσχιδῆ κάτωθεν ὑποτρέ φει τὴν ῥίζαν τῷ μέλλοντι βάρει τὴν ὑποβάθραν προευτρεπί ζουσα· καὶ ὥσπερ οἱ ἱστοὶ τῶν πλοίων πλείστοις πανταχόθεν διατείνονται κάλοις, ἵνα πάγιοι μένωσιν ἰσορρόποις ταῖς ὁλκαῖς ἀντισπώμενοι, οὕτως αἱ σχοινοειδεῖς ἀποφύσεις τῆς ῥίζης ἀντιλαβαὶ τῶν ἀσταχύων γίνονται καὶ ἐρείσματα. ἐπειδὰν δὲ εἰς κάλαμον ὁ σῖτος διαναστῇ καὶ πρὸς τὸ ὕψος ἐπείγηται, γόνασιν αὐτὸν καὶ κόμβοις ὁ θεὸς ὑπερείδει οἷον οἰκίαν τινὰ συνδέσμοις ἀσφαλιζόμενος διὰ τὴν προσδοκωμένην τῆς κόμης βαρύτητα. εἶτα τῆς ἰσχύος ἑτοιμασθείσης τὴν κάλυκα σχίσας προάγει τὸν ἄσταχυν. καὶ πάλιν ἐκεῖ θαύματα κρείττονα· στοιχηδὸν γὰρ ὁ σῖτος αὐτῷ περιφύεται καὶ τῶν κόκκων ἕκαστος ἐξαίρετον ἔχει τὴν ἀποθήκην καὶ τελευταῖοι προβέβληνται οἱ ἀνθέρικες ὀξεῖς καὶ λεπτοί, ὅπλα οἶμαι κατὰ τῶν σπερμολόγων ὀρνίθων, ἵνα ταῖς ἐκείνων ἀκμαῖς νυττόμενοι τῷ καρπῷ μὴ λυμαίνωνται. ὁρᾷς, ὅσην εἷς κόκκος διασαπεὶς θαυματουργίαν ἔχει καὶ μόνος πεσὼν μεθ' ὅσων ἐγείρεται· ἄνθρωπος δὲ οὐδὲν προσλαμβάνει πλέον, ὃ δὲ εἶχεν, ἀπολαμβάνει, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῆς γεωργίας τοῦ σίτου ὁ ἡμέτερος ἀνακαινισμὸς εὐκολώτερος ἀναφαίνεται.

Ἐντεῦθεν μετάβηθι πρὸς τὴν ἔννοιαν τῶν δένδρων, ὅπως ὁ χειμὼν αὐτοῖς καθ' ἕκαστον ἔτος ἀντὶ θανάτου γίνεται· ἀπορρύεται γὰρ ἡ ὀπώρα καὶ τὸ φύλλον πίπτει καὶ ξηρὰ μένει τὰ ξύλα πάσης χάριτος ἐστερημένα. ἐπειδὰν δὲ τοῦ ἔαρος ὁ καιρὸς ἐπιλάβοι, ἄνθος αὐτοῖς χαριέστατον ὑπερφύεται καὶ 9.261 μετὰ τὸ ἄνθος ἐπιγίνεται τῶν φύλλων ἡ σκέπη καὶ τότε ὡς εὐειδὲς θέαμα ἀνθρώπων τε τὰς ὄψεις ἐφέλκεται καὶ ὀρνίθων ᾠδικῶν ἐργαστήρια γίνεται τοῖς πετάλοις ἐγκαθη μένων καὶ θαυμαστή τις περὶ αὐτὰ χάρις ἐκλάμπει, ὥστε πολλοὶ καὶ οἶκον ἀφῆκαν χρυσῷ κεκοσμημένον καὶ λίθῳ τῷ Θεσσαλῷ καὶ Λάκωνι, τερπνὴν δὲ μᾶλλον ἑαυτοῖς ἔθεντο τὴν ὑπὸ δένδρα διαγωγήν. διὸ καὶ ὁ πατριάρχης Ἀβραὰμ ὑπὸ δρυῒ τὴν σκηνὴν ἐπήξατο οὐκ οἰκίας πάντως ἀπορῶν, ἀλλὰ τῇ σκέπῃ τῶν κλάδων ἐπαγαλλόμενος. Ὁδηγεῖ με πρὸς συγκατάθεσιν τοῦ προκειμένου λόγου καὶ τῶν ἑρπετῶν ἡ ζωή· νεκροῦται γὰρ ἐκείνων ὥρᾳ χειμῶνος ἡ ζώπυρος δύναμις καὶ τὸν χρόνον τῶν ἓξ μηνῶν ἐν τοῖς φωλεοῖς κατάκειται παντελῶς ἀκίνητα. ἐπειδὰν δὲ ὁ τεταγ μένος ἔλθῃ καιρὸς καὶ βροντὴ κατηχήσῃ τοῦ κόσμου, ὥσπερ τι σύνθημα τῆς ζωῆς τὸν κτύπον δεχόμενα ὀξέως ἀναπηδᾷ καὶ διὰ μακροῦ τοῦ χρόνου ἐνεργεῖ τὰ συνήθη. τίς ὁ λόγος οὗτος; λεγέτω μοι ὁ τῶν πράξεων τοῦ θεοῦ βασανιστὴς καὶ ἐπιγνώμων καὶ διδασκέτω με, πῶς βροντῇ μὲν τοὺς ὄφεις διεγείρεσθαι συγχωρεῖ νεκροὺς ὑπάρχοντας, ἀνθρώπους δὲ οὐ δίδωσι ψυχοῦσθαι τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ σάλπιγγος ἐξ οὐρανῶν ἐπηχούσης, καθὼς ὁ θεῖος λόγος φησί· Σαλπίσει γὰρ καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἀναστήσονται· καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ πάλιν σαφέστερον· Καὶ ἀποστελεῖ τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ μετὰ σάλπιγγος φωνῆς μεγάλης καὶ ἐπισυνάξει τοὺς ἐκλεκτοὺς αὐτοῦ. Μὴ τοίνυν ταῖς ἀλλοιώσεσι καὶ τοῖς ἀνακαινισμοῖς ἀπιστῶμεν· καὶ γὰρ φυτῶν καὶ ζῴων διαφόρων ὁ βίος καὶ 9.262 αὐτῶν γε τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡμᾶς ἐκπαιδεύει, ὡς οὐδὲν ἐν ταυτότητι τῶν ἐν φθορᾷ καὶ γενέσει, ἐν ἀλλοιώσει δὲ καὶ τροπῇ. καὶ πρῶτόν γε εἰ δοκεῖ τὴν ἐν ταῖς ἡλικίαις ἡμῶν μεταβολὴν καταμάθωμεν· τὸ παιδίον τὸ ὑπομάζιον οἷόν ἐστι γνωρίζομεν. ὀλίγου χρόνου παρελθόντος τὴν ἑρπυστικὴν λαμβάνει δύναμιν καὶ οὐδὲν διαφέρει τῶν μικρῶν σκυλάκων τέτρασιν ἐρειδόμενον βάσεσιν· περὶ τὸν τρίτον ἐνιαυτὸν ὄρθιον γίνεται καὶ φωνὴν ὑποτραυλιζομένην καὶ ψελλιζομένην προΐεται· εἶτα διαρθροῖ τὸν λόγον καὶ χαρίεν ἀποτελεῖται μειράκιον· ἀπ' ἐκείνης τῆς ἡλικίας πρὸς τὸν ἔφηβον καὶ νεανίσκον ἐκβαίνει· ἰούλου δὲ τὴν παρειὰν καλύψαντος γενειὰς λάσιος μετ' ὀλίγον καὶ ἄλλος ἐξ ἄλλου· εἶτα ἀνὴρ ἀκμάζων τραχὺς τληπαθής. ἐπειδὰν δὲ παρέλθωσι τέσσαρες δεκάδες ἐνιαυτῶν, ἀρχὴ τῆς ὑποστροφῆς καὶ πολιὰ ἠρέμα ὑπολευκαίνει τὴν κεφαλὴν καὶ ἡ ῥώμη πρὸς