And in the Oracles it is thus: I adjure you, Heaven, the wise work of the great God, I adjure you, Voice of the Father, which He first uttered, When He established the whole world by His counsels. What does he mean by saying, I adjure you, Voice of the Father, which He first uttered? Here he calls the Word of God "Voice," through whom heaven and earth and all creation came into being, as the divine prophecies of holy men teach us, to which he himself, having partly paid attention in Egypt, knew that all creation came into being by the Word of God. For this reason, after saying, I adjure you, Voice of the Father, which He first uttered, he immediately adds, saying: When He established the whole world by His counsels. Here he calls the Word "Voice" because of the poetic meter. That this is so is clear from the fact that a little before, when the meter allowed it, he called it "Word." For he said: But looking to the divine Word, attend to this. But it is necessary to remind you what the ancient and very old Sibyl, whom Plato and Aristophanes and many others mention as an oracle-giver, happens to teach you through oracles about the one and only God. She speaks thus: There is one God alone, exceedingly great, unbegotten, Almighty, invisible, Himself seeing all things, But He Himself is not seen by any mortal flesh. Then somewhere else thus: But we have been led astray from the path of the immortal, And with a senseless spirit we reverence works made by hands, Idols and wooden images of men who have perished. And again somewhere else thus: Blessed shall those men be on the earth, All who will love the great God, blessing Him Before eating and drinking, trusting in their piety; Who will renounce all temples when they see them And altars, useless erections of deaf stones, Polluted with the blood of living things and sacrifices Of four-footed beasts, and will look to the great glory of the one God. These things, then, the Sibyl says. But the poet Homer, making use of his poetic license and emulating the opinion of Orpheus concerning the origin of polytheism, speaks mythically of many gods, so that he might not seem to be at variance with the poetry of Orpheus, which he so set himself to emulate that even by the first verse of his poem he indicated his relationship to him. For since Orpheus at the beginning of his poem said, Sing, O goddess, the wrath of Demeter of glorious fruit, he himself wrote, Sing, O goddess, the wrath of Achilles, son of Peleus, choosing, as it seems to me, at the beginning also of the

Καὶ ἐν τοῖς Ὅρκοις δὲ οὕτως· Oὐρανὸν ὁρκίζω σε, θεοῦ μεγάλου σοφὸν ἔργον, Aὐδὴν ὁρκίζω σε πατρός, τὴν φθέγξατο πρῶτον, Ἡνίκα κόσμον ἅπαντα ἑαῖς στηρίξατο βουλαῖς. Τί βούλεται τὸ λέγειν αὐτὸν Aὐδὴν ὁρκίζω σε πατρός, τὴν φθέγξατο πρῶτον; Aὐδὴν ἐνταῦθα τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ὀνομάζει λόγον, δι' οὗ οὐρανὸς καὶ γῆ καὶ ἡ πᾶσα ἐγένετο κτίσις, ὡς διδάσκουσιν ἡμᾶς αἱ θεῖαι τῶν ἁγίων ἀνδρῶν προφητεῖαι, αἷς ἐν μέρει καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῇ Aἰγύπτῳ προσχὼν ἔγνω ὅτι τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ θεοῦ πᾶσα ἐγένετο κτίσις. ∆ιὸ καὶ μετὰ τὸ φῆσαι· Aὐδὴν ὁρκίζω σε πατρός, ἣν φθέγξατο πρῶτον, παραυτὰ συνάπτει λέγων· Ἡνίκα κόσμον ἅπαντα ἑαῖς στηρίξατο βουλαῖς. Ἐνταῦθα τὸν λόγον αὐδὴν διὰ τὸ ποιητικὸν ὀνομάζει μέτρον. Ὅτι δὲ τοῦθ' οὕτως ἔχει, δῆλον ἀπὸ τοῦ μικρῷ πρόσθεν τοῦ μέτρου συγχωροῦντος αὐτῷ λόγον αὐτὸν ὀνομάζειν. Ἔφη γάρ· Eἰς δὲ λόγον θεῖον βλέψας τούτῳ προσέδρευε. Τίνα δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀρχαίαν καὶ σφόδρα παλαιὰν Σί βυλλαν, ἧς καὶ Πλάτων καὶ Ἀριστοφάνης καὶ ἕτεροι πλείους ὡς χρησμῳδοῦ μέμνηνται, διὰ χρησμῶν ὑμᾶς διδάσκειν περὶ ἑνὸς καὶ μόνου θεοῦ συμβαίνει, ἀναγκαῖον ὑπομνῆσαι. Λέγει δὲ οὕτως· Eἷς δὲ θεὸς μόνος ἔστιν, ὑπερμεγέθης, ἀγένητος, Παντοκράτωρ, ἀόρατος, ὁρώμενος αὐτὸς ἅπαντα, Aὐτὸς δ' οὐ βλέπεται θνητῆς ὑπὸ σαρκὸς ἁπάσης. Eἶτ' ἀλλαχοῦ που οὕτως· Ἡμεῖς δ' ἀθανάτοιο τρίβους πεπλανημένοι εἰμέν, Ἔργα δὲ χειροποίητα γεραίρομεν ἄφρονι θυμῷ, Eἴδωλα ξόανά τε καταφθιμένων ἀνθρώπων. Καὶ πάλιν ἀλλαχοῦ που οὕτως· Ὄλβιοι ἄνθρωποι κεῖνοι κατὰ γαῖαν ἔσονται, Ὅσσοι δὴ στέρξουσι μέγαν θεόν, εὐλογέοντες Πρὶν φαγέειν πιέειν τε, πεποιθότες εὐσεβίῃσιν· Oἳ νηοὺς μὲν ἅπαντας ἀπαρνήσονται ἰδόντες Καὶ βωμούς, εἰκαῖα λίθων ἀφιδρύματα κωφῶν, Aἵμασιν ἐμψύχων μεμιασμένα καὶ θυσίῃσι Τετραπόδων, βλέψουσι δ' ἑνὸς θεοῦ ἐς μέγα κῦδος. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἡ Σίβυλλα. Ὁ δὲ ποιητὴς Ὅμηρος, τῇ τῆς ποιήσεως ἀποχρώμενος ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ τὴν ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς πολυθεότητος Ὀρφέως ζηλώσας δόξαν, μυθωδῶς μὲν πλειόνων θεῶν μέμνηται, ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ τῆς Ὀρφέως ἀπᾴδειν ποιήσεως, ἣν οὕτως ζηλῶσαι προὔθετο, ὡς καὶ διὰ τοῦ πρώτου τῆς ποιήσεως ἔπους τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν σημῆναι σχέσιν. Τοῦ γὰρ Ὀρφέως Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, ∆ημήτερος ἀγλαοκάρπου ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς ποιήσεως εἰρηκότος, αὐτὸς Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος γέγραφεν, ἑλόμενος, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, ἐν ἀρχῇ καὶ τοῦ κατὰ