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of the most insignificant animals. For what is smaller and more unsightly than a bee? What is more insignificant than ants and cicadas? But yet even these give forth a brilliant voice on behalf of God's providence and power and wisdom. 7.21 For this reason the prophet, who was counted worthy of so great a Spirit, coming upon the body of creation and going through a few things, cried out with great astonishment that wonderful saying: "How magnificent are your works, O Lord, you have made all things in wisdom." 7.22 And all these things, O man, are for your sake. For indeed the winds also are for you—for we will bring the argument back to the beginning again—that they may fan weary bodies, that they may cleanse the pollution from the mire and the heaviness coming from smoke and furnaces and other vapors, that they may soothe the heat from the sun's ray, that they may make the stifling heat light, that they may nourish the seeds, that they may make the plants grow, that they may travel with you at sea and on land become servants of agriculture, there escorting the ships more swiftly than an arrow, thus making the voyage light and easy, 7.23 here clearing the threshing floors with you and separating the chaff from the grain and lightening the hardship of the labor, that they may make the air light and pleasant for you, that they may delight you in other ways, now whistling sweetly and pleasantly, now gently striking the plants and shaking the leaves of trees, 7.24 that they may make your sleep in the season of summer and spring more pleasant and sweeter than honey, that, what they do to the trees, this also working upon the backs of the seas, and upon the river streams, and raising their surface, they may provide you from this much delight from the sight, and before this delight, also the greatest benefit. 7.25 For they are also useful to the waters in other ways, not allowing the waters standing continually to putrefy, but by continually moving and fanning them, making them fresh and vigorous and more suitable for the nourishment of the animals swimming in them. 7.26 And if you should wish to investigate the night itself, you will see from this also the great providence of the creator. For it gives rest to your weary body and it releases and relaxes your limbs that are strained by the daily labors, transforming and restoring them to vigor again through quiet; 7.27 and not only this, but it also frees you from daily griefs and releases you from untimely cares; and often it has also quenched the fever of one who is sick, bringing on sleep as a remedy and bringing the art of baffled physicians to a fair-weather harbor and delivering from many pains. And so great is its necessity, so great its benefit, that the day is often ruined for those who are deprived of rest in it. 7.28 For if someone were to take away in theory the night's quiet and its relaxation and the respite, through which all things rest and a weary soul and a worn-out body are prepared to take up the work of the next day with a vigorous mind, he will see this animal becoming useless. 7.29 But if someone were to add the nights to the days, staying awake and working or even being idle, and were to do this for too long, he will die immediately, or, if not this, being certainly delivered over to a long illness, he will reap no benefit from the day for the activity of his own need, his strength having been extinguished. 7.30 But if we should also extend our discourse to the boundless populace of fish, those in lakes, those in springs, those in rivers, those in the navigable sea, those in the unnavigable sea, or if we should also observe the unspeakable nations of birds, those in the air, those on land, those in waters and on land together—for there are many amphibians among them—the wild, the tame, the wild which are tamed, those that remain entirely wild, those that are eaten, those that are not eaten, and we should investigate the beauty of each, and its feather, and its song-like voice, 7.31 and if we should learn only their differences both of song and

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εὐτελεστάτων ζῴων. Τί γὰρ μελίττης βραχύτερον καὶ εἰδεχθέστερον; τί δὲ μυρμήκων καὶ τεττίγων εὐτελέστερον; Ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ ταῦτα λαμπρὰν ἀφίησι φωνὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ προνοίας καὶ δυνάμεως καὶ σοφίας. 7.21 ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ προφήτης, ὁ τοσούτου Πνεύματος ἠξιωμένος, ἐπιὼν τῆς κτίσεως τὸ σῶμα καὶ ὀλίγα ἄττα διεξελθὼν, ἀνεβόησε μετ' ἐκπλήξεως πολλῆς τὴν θαυμασίαν ἐκείνην φωνήν· «Ὡς ἐμεγαλύνθη τὰ ἔργα σου, Κύριε, πάντα ἐν σοφίᾳ ἐποίησας.» 7.22 Καὶ ταῦτα πάντα, ἄνθρωπε, διὰ σέ. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἄνεμοι διὰ σὲ-ἐπὶ γὰρ τὴν ἀρχὴν τὸν λόγον ἐπανάξομεν πάλιν-ἵνα τὰ σώματα πεπονηκότα ῥιπίζωσιν, ἵνα τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ βορβόρου μολυσμὸν καὶ τὴν γινομένην βαρύτητα ἀπὸ τοῦ καπνοῦ καὶ τῶν καμίνων καὶ ἑτέρων ἀναθυμιάσεων διακαθαίρωσιν, ἵνα τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἀκτῖνος θερμότητα παραμυθῶνται, ἵνα κοῦφον ποιῶσι τὸ πνῖγος, ἵνα τὰ σπέρματα τρέφωσιν, ἵνα τὰ φυτὰ αὔξωσιν, ἵνα σοι καὶ ἐν θαλάσσῃ συνοδοιπορῶσι καὶ ἐν γῇ τῆς γεωργίας ὑπηρέται γένωνται, ἐκεῖ μὲν βέλους ὀξύτερον τὰ πλοῖα παραπέμποντες, οὕτω τὸν πλοῦν κοῦφον καὶ εὐμαρῆ κατασκευάζοντες, 7.23 ἐνταῦθα δὲ μετὰ σοῦ τὰς ἅλωνας ἀνακαθαίροντες καὶ τὰ ἄχυρα τοῦ καρποῦ διαχωρίζοντες καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἐργασίας ταλαιπωρίαν ἐπικουφίζοντες, ἵνα σοι τὸν ἀέρα κοῦφον καὶ προσηνῆ κατασκευάσωσιν, ἵνα σε καὶ ἑτέρωθεν τέρπωσι, νῦν μὲν γλυκὺ καὶ προσηνὲς συρίζοντες, νῦν δὲ ἠρέμα φυτοῖς προσβάλλοντες καὶ πέταλα δένδρων σείοντες, 7.24 ἵνα σοι τὸν ὕπνον καὶ θέρους καὶ ἔαρος ὥρᾳ ἡδίω καὶ μέλιτος γλυκύτερον ἐργάσωνται, ἵν', ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῶν δένδρων ποιοῦσι, τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν θαλαττίων νώτων ἐργαζόμενοι, ἐπί τε τῶν ποταμίων ναμάτων καὶ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν αὐτῶν μετεωρίζοντες, πολλήν σοι ἐντεῦθεν παρέχωσι τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς θέας τέρψιν καὶ πρὸ τῆς τέρψεως δὲ ταύτης καὶ ὠφέλειαν μεγίστην. 7.25 Καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῖς ὕδασιν οὗτοι καὶ ἄλλως χρήσιμοι, οὐκ ἀφιέντες διηνεκῶς ἑστῶτα τὰ ὕδατα κατασήπεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τῷ συνεχῶς αὐτὰ κινεῖν καὶ ἀναρριπίζειν νεαρὰ καὶ ἀκμάζοντα καθιστῶντες καὶ πρὸς τροφὴν τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς νηχομένων ζῴων ἐπιτηδειότερα. 7.26 Εἰ δὲ καὶ αὐτὴν βουληθείης περιεργάζεσθαι τὴν νύκτα, ὄψει καὶ ἐντεῦθεν πολλὴν τοῦ ποιητοῦ τὴν πρόνοιαν. Καὶ γὰρ ἀναπαύει σοι τὸ σῶμα πεπονηκὸς καὶ τὰ μέλη σοι κατατεινόμενα τοῖς μεθημερινοῖς πόνοις ἀνίησι καὶ χαλᾷ, ἀλλοιοῦσα καὶ πρὸς ἀκμὴν διὰ τῆς ἡσυχίας ἐπανάγουσα πάλιν· 7.27 οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν μεθημερινῶν σε ἀπαλλάττει λυπῶν καὶ τῶν ἀκαίρων ἀνίησι φροντίδων· πολλάκις δὲ καὶ νοσοῦντος πυρετὸν ἔσβεσεν, ἀντιφάρμακον ὕπνον ἐπάξασα καὶ τὴν τῶν ἰατρῶν ἀπορουμένην τέχνην εἰς εὔδιον ὁρμίσασα λιμένα καὶ πολλῶν ἀπαλλάξασα πόνων. Καὶ τοσαύτη αὐτῆς ἡ χρεία, τηλικαύτη ἡ ὠφέλεια ὡς καὶ τὴν ἡμέραν πολλάκις παραπόλλυσθαι τοῖς ἐν αὐτῇ σχολάζειν ἀποστερηθεῖσιν. 7.28 Εἰ γάρ τις ἀνέλοι τῷ λόγῳ τὴν τῆς νυκτὸς ἡσυχίαν καὶ τὴν ἄνεσιν καὶ τὴν ἀνακωχήν, δι' ἧς ἅπαντα ἀναπαύονται καὶ ψυχὴ πεπονηκυῖα καὶ σῶμα ταλαιπωρηθὲν ἀκμαζούσῃ τῇ διανοίᾳ τῆς μεθ' ἡμέραν ἐργασίας ἅπτεσθαι παρασκευάζει, ἄχρηστον ὄψεται τὸ ζῷον τοῦτο γινόμενον. 7.29 Εἰ δέ τις προσθείη τὰς νύκτας ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐγρηγορὼς καὶ ἐργαζόμενος ἢ καὶ ἀργῶν καὶ ἐπὶ πλέον τοῦτο ποιήσειεν, ἀποθανεῖται εὐθέως ἤ, εἰ μὴ τοῦτο, νόσῳ πάντως μακρᾷ παραδοθείς, οὐδὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ἡμέρας καρπώσεται εἰς τὴν τῆς οἰκείας χρείας ἐνέργειαν, τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτῷ κατασβεσθείσης. 7.30 Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν ἄπειρον τῶν ἰχθύων δῆμον ἁπλώσαιμεν τὸν λόγον, τῶν ἐν λίμναις, τῶν ἐν πηγαῖς, τῶν ἐν ποταμοῖς, τῶν ἐν τῇ πλεομένῃ, τῶν ἐν τῇ ἀπλώτῳ θαλάττῃ ἢ καὶ τὰ ἄφατα τῶν ὀρνίθων κατίδοιμεν ἔθνη, τῶν ἐν ἀέρι, τῶν ἐν γῇ, τῶν ἐν ὕδασιν ὁμοῦ καὶ γῇ-καὶ γάρ ἐστιν ἀμφίβια πολλὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς-τῶν ἀγρίων, τῶν ἡμέρων, τῶν ἀγρίων μέν, τιθασσευομένων δέ, τῶν δι' ὅλου μενόντων ἀγρίων, τῶν ἐσθιομένων, τῶν οὐκ ἐσθιομένων καὶ περιεργασαίμεθα ἑκάστου καὶ κάλλος καὶ πτερὸν καὶ φωνὴν ᾠδικήν, 7.31 ἔτι τε τὰς διαφορὰς μόνον αὐτῶν εἰ καταμάθοιμεν καὶ ᾠδῆς καὶ