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are cut off from the mountains, and each being split off and coming to a different end, is a most evident token of the mighty work of God?

27 And of the sea, if I had not its magnitude to admire, I would have admired its tameness, and how it stands unbound within its own bounds; but if not its tameness, surely its magnitude. But since I have both, I will praise the power in both. What is it that gathered it? What is it that bound it? How is it lifted up and yet stands still, as if in reverence for the neighboring land? How does it both receive all rivers, and yet remains the same through an abundance of plenty, or I know not what I ought to say? How is sand a boundary for it, for so great an element? The natural philosophers and those wise in vain things have something to say, truly measuring the sea with a cup, such great things with their own conceits? Or shall I philosophize on this briefly from Scripture, both more persuasively and more truly than their long arguments? A command encircled it upon the face of the water. This is the bond of the liquid nature. And how does it carry the land-based sailor with a small piece of wood and a breath of wind, -do you not marvel seeing this? Does your mind not stand in awe? -so that land and sea might be bound together by their needs and by their interactions, and things so separated from each other by nature might come together as one for mankind? And what are the first sources of the springs? Seek, O man, if it is possible for you to trace out or discover any of these things. And who is it that cut plains and mountains for the rivers, and gave them an unimpeded course? And how does the wonder arise from opposites, with neither the sea advancing, nor the rivers standing still? And what is the nourishment of the waters, and what is the difference in this, some being irrigated from above, and others being watered at their roots, so that I myself may revel in the argument, while explaining the delight of God?

28 Come now, leaving the earth and the things of earth, be lifted up to the air on the wings of your thought, so that my discourse may proceed along the way for you; and from there I will lead you up to the heavens, and heaven itself, and the things beyond heaven. And to what follows, my discourse hesitates to ascend, but it will ascend nevertheless, as far as is possible. Who poured out the air, this great and abundant wealth, not measured out by worth or by fortunes, not contained by boundaries, not portioned out by ages, but according to the distribution of the manna, embraced with sufficiency and honored with equal sharing; the vehicle of winged nature, the seat of the winds, the seasonableness of the hours, the cooling of living things, or rather, the preservation of the soul in relation to the body, in which are bodies, and with which is speech, in which are light and that which is illumined, and sight which flows through it? Consider for me also what follows; for I am not permitted to grant to the air the entire dominion over what are considered its own phenomena. What are the storehouses of the winds? And what are the treasures of the snow? And who is it that has begotten the clods of dew, as it is written? And out of whose womb does the ice come forth? Who is it that binds up the water in the clouds, and sets on the clouds—O the wonder!—the flowing nature, held fast by a word, and pours it out upon the face of all the earth, and scatters it seasonably and equally, and neither releasing the entire liquid substance to be free and unrestrained, —for the purification in the time of Noah is sufficient, and He who is most true is not forgetful of His own covenant,— nor holding it back completely, lest we should again need some Elijah to break the drought? If he should shut up the heaven, it says, who will open it? And if he should open the floodgates, who will hold them back? Who will bear the lack of measure on either side from the One who sends rain, unless He directs all things by His own measures and weights? Why will you philosophize to me about lightnings and thunders, O you who thunder from the earth and are not illumined even by the small sparks of truth? What vapors from the earth will you allege as creators of clouds, or some condensation of the air, or a compression or collision of the rarest clouds, so that the compression may produce for you the lightning, and the collision the thunder? And what wind, being straitened and then having no outlet, so that it flashes when compressed, and thunders when it breaks forth? If you have traversed the air with your reasoning, and all that is in the air, touch now with

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τῶν ὀρῶν ἀποτέμνονται, καὶ ἄλλη πρὸς ἄλλο τι πέρας σχιζο μένη καὶ ἀποβαίνουσα, τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ μεγαλουργίας ἐναργέστατόν ἐστι γνώρισμα;

27 Θαλάττης δέ, εἰ μὲν μὴ τὸ μέγεθος εἶχον θαυμάζειν, ἐθαύ μασα ἂν τὸ ἥμερον, καὶ πῶς ἵσταται λελυμένη τῶν ἰδίων ὅρων ἐντός· εἰ δὲ μὴ τὸ ἥμερον, πάντως τὸ μέγεθος. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀμφότερα, τὴν ἐν ἀμφοτέροις δύναμιν ἐπαινέσομαι. τί τὸ συναγαγόν; τί τὸ δῆσαν; πῶς ἐπαίρεταί τε καὶ ἵσταται, ὥσπερ αἰδουμένη τὴν γείτονα γῆν; πῶς καὶ δέχεται ποταμοὺς πάντας, καὶ ἡ αὐτὴ διαμένει διὰ πλήθους περιουσίαν, ἢ οὐκ οἶδ' ὅτι χρὴ λέγειν; πῶς ψάμμος ὅριον αὐτῇ, τηλικούτῳ στοιχείῳ; ἔχουσί τι λέγειν οἱ φυσικοὶ καὶ σοφοὶ τὰ μάταια, καὶ κυάθῳ μετροῦντες ὄντως τὴν θάλασσαν, τὰ τηλι καῦτα ταῖς ἑαυτῶν ἐπινοίαις; ἢ συντόμως ἐγὼ παρὰ τῆς γραφῆς τοῦτο φιλοσοφήσω καὶ τῶν μακρῶν λόγων πιθανώτερόν τε καὶ ἀληθέστερον; Πρόσταγμα ἐγύρωσεν ἐπὶ πρόσωπον ὕδατος. τοῦτο τῆς ὑγρᾶς φύσεως ὁ δεσμός. πῶς δὲ τὸν χερσαῖον ναυτίλον ἄγει ξύλῳ μικρῷ καὶ πνεύματι, -τοῦτο οὐ θαυμάζεις ὁρῶν; οὐδ' ἐξίσταταί σου ἡ διάνοια; -ἵνα γῆ καὶ θάλασσα δεθῶσι ταῖς χρείαις καὶ ταῖς ἐπιμιξίαις, καὶ εἰς ἓν ἔλθῃ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τὰ τοσοῦτον ἀλλήλων διεστηκότα κατὰ τὴν φύσιν; τίνες δὲ πηγῶν αἱ πρῶται πηγαί, ζήτησον, ἄνθρωπε, εἴ τί σοι τούτων ἐξιχνεῦσαι ἢ εὑρεῖν δυνατόν. καὶ τίς ὁ ποταμοῖς σχίσας καὶ πεδία καὶ ὄρη, καὶ δοὺς τὸν δρόμον ἀκώλυτον; καὶ πῶς ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων τὸ θαῦμα, μήτε θαλάσσης ἐπεξιούσης, μήτε ποταμῶν ἱσταμένων; τίς δὲ ἡ τῶν ὑδάτων τροφή, καὶ τί τὸ ταύτης διάφορον, τῶν μὲν ἄνωθεν ἀρδο μένων, τῶν δὲ ταῖς ῥίζαις ποτιζομένων, ἵνα τι καὶ αὐτὸς κατα τρυφήσω τοῦ λόγου, θεοῦ τὴν τρυφὴν ἐξηγούμενος;

28 Ἄγε δὴ γῆν ἀφεὶς καὶ τὰ περὶ γῆν, πρὸς τὸν ἀέρα κουφίσθητι τοῖς τῆς διανοίας πτεροῖς, ἵνα σοι καθ' ὁδὸν ὁ λόγος προίῃ· κἀκεῖθεν ἀνάξω σε πρὸς τὰ οὐράνια, καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν αὐτόν, καὶ τὰ ὑπὲρ οὐρανόν. καὶ τοῖς ἑξῆς ὀκνεῖ μὲν προσβῆναι ὁ λόγος, προσβήσεται δὲ ὅμως ὁπόσον ἔξεστι. τίς ὁ χέας ἀέρα, τὸν πολὺν τοῦτον πλοῦτον καὶ ἄφθονον, οὐκ ἀξίαις, οὐ τύχαις μετρούμενον, οὐχ ὅροις κρατού μενον, οὐχ ἡλικίαις μεριζόμενον, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ μάννα δια νομὴν αὐταρκείᾳ περιλαμβανόμενον καὶ ἰσομοιρίᾳ τιμώμενον· τὸ τῆς πτηνῆς φύσεως ὄχημα, τὴν ἀνέμων ἕδραν, τὴν ὡρῶν εὐκαιρίαν, τὴν ζώων ψύχωσιν, μᾶλλον δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς πρὸς τὸ σῶμα συντήρησιν, ἐν ᾧ σώματα, καὶ μεθ' οὗ λόγος, ἐν ᾧ φῶς καὶ τὸ φωτιζόμενον, καὶ ἡ ὄψις ἡ δι' αὐτοῦ ῥέουσα; σκόπει δέ μοι καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· οὐ γὰρ συγχωροῦμαι τῷ ἀέρι δοῦναι τὴν ἅπασαν· δυναστείαν τῶν τοῦ ἀέρος εἶναι νομιζομένων. τίνα μὲν ἀνέμων ταμιεῖα; τίνες δὲ θησαυροὶ χιόνος; τίς δὲ ὁ τετοκὼς βώλους δρόσου, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον; ἐκ γαστρὸς δὲ τίνος ἐκπορεύεται κρύσταλλος; τίς ὁ δεσμεύων ὕδωρ ἐν νεφέλαις, καὶ τὸ μὲν ἱστὰς ἐπὶ τῶν νεφελῶν-ὢ τοῦ θαύματος- λόγῳ κρατουμένην φύσιν τὴν ῥέουσαν, τὸ δὲ ἐκχέων ἐπὶ πρόσωπον πάσης τῆς γῆς, καὶ σπείρων καιρίως καὶ ὁμοτίμως, καὶ οὔτε ἀφιεὶς ἅπασαν τὴν ὑγρὰν οὐσίαν ἐλευθέραν καὶ ἄσχετον, - ἀρκεῖ γὰρ ἡ ἐπὶ Νῶε κάθαρσις, καὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ διαθήκης οὐκ ἐπιλήσμων ὁ ἀψευδέστατος, -οὔτε ἀνέχων παντάπασιν, ἵνα μὴ πάλιν Ἠλίου τινὸς δεηθῶμεν, τὴν ξηρότητα λύοντος; Ἐὰν κλείσῃ, φησί, τὸν οὐρανόν, τίς ἀνοίξει; ἐὰν δὲ ἀνοίξῃ τοὺς καταράκτας, τίς συνέξει; τίς οἴσει τὴν ἐπ' ἀμφότερα τοῦ ὑετίζοντος ἀμετρίαν, ἐὰν μὴ τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μέτροις καὶ σταθμοῖς διεξαγάγῃ τὰ σύμπαντα; τί μοι φιλοσοφήσεις περὶ ἀστραπῶν καὶ βροντῶν, ὦ βροντῶν ἀπὸ γῆς σὺ καὶ οὐδὲ μικροῖς σπινθῆρσι τῆς ἀληθείας λαμπόμενε; τίνας ἀτμοὺς ἀπὸ γῆς αἰτιάσῃ νέφους δημιουργούς, ἢ ἀέρος πύκνωσίν τινα, ἢ νεφῶν τῶν μανωτάτων θλίψιν ἢ σύρρηξιν, ἵνα ἡ μὲν θλίψις σοι τὴν ἀστραπήν, ἡ δὲ ῥῆξις τὴν βροντὴν ἀπεργάσηται; ποῖον δὲ πνεῦμα στενοχωρούμενον, εἶτα οὐκ ἔχον διέξοδον, ἵνα ἀστράψῃ θλιβόμενον, καὶ βροντήσῃ ῥηγνύμενον; εἰ τὸν ἀέρα διῆλθες τῷ λογισμῷ, καὶ ὅσα περὶ ἀέρα, ψαῦσον ἤδη σὺν