of its portion. At any rate, in the case of twins being born, often the interval is instantaneous and of a moment, and many variations in what happens and is done to them are encountered, as those men say, because of the relation of the stars and the degree of the dodecatemorion at the horizon, which is not grasped by those thought to have observed the hour. For no one can say that the interval between the birth of this one and that one is a thirtieth of an hour. But let this be granted to them, regarding the grasping of the hour. Indeed, a theorem is put forward demonstrating that the zodiacal circle, similarly to the planets, moves from west to east one degree every hundred years, and that this, over a long time, changes the position of the dodecatemoria; the intelligible dodecatemorion being one thing; and the, as it were, image from the intelligible zodiac being another, which it is not at all possible to grasp. But let this also be granted, that the intelligible dodecatemorion can be grasped, or that the truth can be taken from the sensible dodecatemorion; but the blending, as it is called by them, of things found in these configurations, even they themselves will admit they are not able to preserve in every case, with the thing signified being obscured—let's say, of the inferior by this one, because it is aspected by this superior one, and being obscured to such and such a degree; often, again, the obscuring of the inferior by the aspect of the superior is prevented, by another being configured in such a way as to signify inferior things. And I think that anyone who pays attention 12.81 to these topics would despair of grasping these things, which are in no way available to men, but if anything, extending only as far as being signified. But if anyone has experience of the matter, he will know more the fallibility in the conjecturing of those who speak, and of those who have written, than the supposed success. And Isaiah, at any rate, as these things cannot be discovered by men, says to the daughter of the Chaldeans, who above all others profess these things: «Let the astrologers of heaven stand up now and save you; let them announce to you what is about to come upon you;» for through these words we are taught that even those most learned in these things cannot foretell what the Lord has willed to bring upon each nation. For now we have taken the prophetic word according to its letter; but if Jacob says he read on the tablets of heaven the things that would happen to his sons, and on this account someone might contradict us, that the opposite of what we have said is declared through the Scripture; for we were saying that man is unable to grasp the signs; but Jacob says he read on the tablets of heaven; we shall defend ourselves, that our wise men, using a spirit more abundant than human nature, are taught the secrets not humanly, but divinely; just as Paul, saying: «I heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter;» for they know the changes of the solstices and the alterations of seasons, the cycles of years, and the positions of stars, not from men, nor through men, but from the spirit revealing them to them, and clearly, as God wills, announcing the divine things. And in other ways too Jacob was greater than a man, supplanting his brother, and confessing in this very book, from which we cited: «I read on the tablets of heaven,» to be a chief captain of the power of the Lord, and having long ago acquired the name Israel; which, while ministering in the body, he recognizes, as the archangel Uriel reminds him. After this, it remains to examine and to present to the faithful, that the luminaries of heaven are set for signs; and it will be inquired by those who are more curiously brought to these topics, what is the reason for God having made these signs in heaven. And it is possible to say, first, that we believe the things of the majesty of the mind of God, which has encompassed all knowledge concerning each of the beings,

ποστημορίου αὐτῆς. Ἐν γοῦν τοῖς διδύμοις γεν νωμένοις πολλάκις τὸ μεταξὺ καὶ ἀκαριαῖον ὥρας ἐστὶ, καὶ πολλαὶ παραλλαγαὶ τῶν συμβαινόντων καὶ τῶν πραττομένων ἐπ' αὐτῶν ἀπαντῶσιν, ὥς φασιν ἐκεῖ νοι, παρὰ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς σχέσεως τῶν ἀστέρων καὶ τὸ μόριον τοῦ δωδεκατημορίου τὸ παρὰ τὸν ὁρίζοντα, οὐ καταλαμβανόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν νομιζομένων τὴν ὥραν τετηρηκέναι. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ δύναται λέγειν, ὅτι τὸ μεταξὺ τοῦδε τῆς γενέσεως πρὸς τὴν τοῦδέ ἐστιν ὥρας τρια κοστόν. Ἀλλ' ἔστω συγκεχωρημένον αὐτοῖς τόδε κατὰ τὸ ἐκλαβεῖν τὴν ὥραν. Φέρεται δὴ θεώρημα ἀπο δεικνύον τὸν ζωδιακὸν κύκλον ὁμοίως τοῖς πλανωμέ νοις φέρεσθαι ἀπὸ δυσμῶν ἐπὶ ἀνατολὰς δι' ἑκατὸν ἐτῶν μοῖραν μίαν, καὶ τοῦτο τῷ πολλῷ χρόνῳ ἐναλ λάττειν τὴν θέσιν τῶν δωδεκατημορίων· ἑτέρου μὲν τυγχάνοντος τοῦ νοητοῦ δωδεκατημορίου· ἑτέρου δὲ τοῦ ὡσανεὶ μορφώματος ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ νοητοῦ ζω δίου, ὅπερ οὐ πάνυ τι δυνατὸν καταλαμβάνεσθαι. Ἔστω δὲ καὶ τοῦτο συγκεχωρημένον τὸ καταλαμ βάνεσθαι τὸ νοητὸν δωδεκατημόριον, ἢ δύνασθαι ἐκ τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ δωδεκατημορίου λαμβάνεσθαι τὸ ἀλη θές· ἀλλὰ τήν γε σύγκρασιν παρ' αὐτοῖς καλουμένην τῶν ἐν τοῖσδε τοῖς σχηματισμοῖς τυγχανόντων, καὶ αὐτοὶ ὁμολογήσουσιν, οὐχ οἷοί τε σῶσαι κατὰ πᾶν, ἀμαυρουμένου τοῦ δηλουμένου, φέρε εἰπεῖν, χείρονος ἀπὸ τοῦδε, διὰ τὸ ἐπιβλέπεσθαι αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τοῦδε τοῦ κρείττονος, καὶ ἐπὶ τοσόνδε, ἢ τοσόνδε ἀμαυρου μένου· πολλάκις πάλιν τῆς ἀμαυρώσεως τῆς τοῦ χεί ρονος ὑπὸ τῆς ἐπιβλέψεως τῆς τοῦ κρείττονος ἐμπο διζομένης, ἐκ τοῦ ἕτερον οὑτωσὶ ἐσχηματίσθαι χει ρόνων ὄντα σημαντικόν. Καὶ οἶμαι, ἐπιστήσαντά τινα 12.81 τοῖς τόποις, ἀπογνῶναι τὴν περὶ τούτων κατάληψιν, οὐδαμῶς ἀνθρώποις ἐκκειμένην, ἀλλ' εἰ ἄρα μέχρι τοῦ σημανθῆναι μόνον φθάνουσαν. Εἰ δέ τις ἐν πείρᾳ γεγένηται τῶν πραγμάτων, μᾶλλον εἴσεται τὸ ἐν τῷ στοχάζεσθαι ἀποπτωτικὸν τῶν λεγόντων, καὶ αὐτῶν συγγραψαμένων, ἤπερ νομιζόμενον ἐπιτευκτικόν. Καὶ Ἡσαΐας γοῦν, ὡς οὐ δυναμένων τούτων εὑρίσκεσθαι ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων, φησὶ πρὸς τὴν θυγατέρα τῶν Χαλδαίων, τῶν ταῦτα μάλιστα παρὰ πάντας ἐπαγ γελλομένων· «Στήτωσαν δὴ καὶ σωσάτωσάν σε οἱ ἀστρολόγοι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ· ἀναγγειλάτωσάν σοι τί μέλ λει ἐπὶ σὲ ἔρχεσθαι·» διὰ γὰρ τούτων διδασκόμεθα μὴ δύνασθαι τοὺς πάνυ περὶ ταῦτα φιλομαθεῖς προ δηλοῦν, ἃ βεβούληται Κύριος ἑκάστῳ ἔθνει ἐπα γαγεῖν. Νῦν γὰρ ὡς πρὸς τὴν λέξιν τὸ προφητικὸν ἐξειλήφαμεν· εἰ δέ φησιν ὁ Ἰακὼβ ἀνεγνωκέναι ἐν ταῖς πλαξὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὰ συμβησόμενα τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὅσον ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἀντιλέγοι τις ἂν ἡμῖν, ὅτι ἐναντία οἷς εἰρήκαμεν δηλοῦται διὰ τῆς Γραφῆς· ἐλέ γομεν γὰρ ἄνθρωπον ἀκαταλήπτως ἔχειν τῶν ση μείων· ὁ δὲ Ἰακώβ φησιν ἀνεγνωκέναι ἐν ταῖς πλαξὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ· ἀπολογησόμεθα, ὅτι οἱ καθ' ἡμᾶς σοφοὶ, πνεύματι περισσοτέρῳ χρησάμενοι τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνως, θείως δὲ διδάσκονται τὰ ἀπόῤῥητα· ὥσπερ ὁ Παῦλος, λέγων· «Ἤκουσα ἄῤ ῥητα ῥήματα, ἂ οὐκ ἐξὸν ἀνθρώπῳ λαλῆσαι·» ἴσασι γὰρ τροπῶν ἀλλαγὰς καὶ μεταβολὰς καιρῶν, ἐνιαυ τῶν κύκλους, καὶ ἀστέρων θέσεις, οὐκ ἀπ' ἀνθρώ πων, οὐδὲ δι' ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πνεύματος ἀπο καλύπτοντος αὐτοῖς, καὶ καθαρῶς, ὡς θέλει ὁ Θεὸς, τὰ θεῖα ἀπαγγέλλοντος. Καὶ ἄλλως δὲ ὁ Ἰακὼβ μεί ζων ἢ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον ἦν, πτερνίζων τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐ τοῦ, καὶ ὁμολογῶν ἐν αὐτῇ ταύτῃ τῇ βίβλῳ, ἀφ' ἧς παρεθέμεθα τό· «Ἀνέγνων ἐν ταῖς πλαξὶ τοῦ οὐρα νοῦ,» εἶναι ἀρχιχιλίαρχος δυνάμεως Κυρίου, καὶ ὄνο μα πάλαι κεκτημένος Ἰσραήλ· ὅπερ ἐν σώματι λει τουργῶν ἀναγνωρίζει, ὑπομιμνήσκοντος αὐτὸν τοῦ ἀρχαγγέλου Οὐριήλ. Μετὰ ταῦτα λείπεται ἐξετάσαι καὶ παραστῆσαι τοῖς πιστεύουσιν, ὅτι εἰς σημεῖα κεῖνται οἱ φωστῆρες τοῦ οὐρανοῦ· σανθήσῃ δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν περιεργότερον φερομέ νων εἰς τοὺς τόπους, τίς ἡ αἰτία τοῦ ταῦτα τὰ ση μεῖα τὸν Θεὸν πεποιηκέναι ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ. Καὶ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν πρῶτον μὲν, ὅτι πιστεύομεν τὰ τῆς μεγαλειό τητος τοῦ νοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ πᾶσαν γνῶσιν τὴν περὶ ἑκά στου τῶν ὄντων ἐμπεριειληφότος,