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God making a perfect creation brought it into existence in a perfect first number, not so that we should say in every case that with the sun circling six times six days passed—for the sun had not yet come into being in the first three—but that for the sake of reason and harmony the number six was adopted. 35 And Moses himself presents this idea precisely when making a recapitulation of the events, saying: "This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth when it came to be, in the day that God made the heaven and the earth." For heaven and earth did not come to be in a day at all, but "in the beginning", nor did all things come into existence in one day, but it is clear that, with all things having come into being at once, this number was adopted for the sake of order and harmony, as has been said, and in addition to this, on account of our weakness and not being able to understand otherwise [than in a way] suitable to us. And let what is said be clear from an example. Our body, at the same time as its existence, has both color and size, and they did not come into being separated from one another in a different time, and except in thought, one of them is earlier and the other later. So also the world which came into being in order was completed not by time but by harmony. For neither will one be able to conceive of a part of the world not running together with the other parts as long as the rest exist. And the luminaries, having come into being on the fourth day, since they are honorable, show that on account of the principle concerning them they are said to have come into being on this day. For the tetrad, being ten in potential, is for honor; for through all of scripture the decad is praised. But that, if some number is signified in the divine writings, it does not in every case indicate quantity, but a principle, it is possible to understand from what was said by God: "I have left for myself seven thousand men who have not bent the knee to Baal." For if they were so many, neither would the prophet have said: "I am left all alone", nor would they have kept unmixed from one another; for they did not flee themselves. An honorable principle concerning the number seven—for this is without mother and without father—suggests the thought that the saints are of the same power, even if they are one, 36 being something divine and superhuman in theory and life. But also in the Apocalypse, John, saying that 144 thousand men follow the Lamb, who is the Savior, and these being virgins not defiled with women, shows that some honorable principle is concerning this number; for neither so great a multitude of virgins, while John was still alive, would anyone say had been gathered from among the believers, perhaps there not even being that many of them. We say therefore that the world came to be in six for the aforementioned reason, and on the fourth the luminaries for the aforementioned reason, that the tetrad, being a decad in potential, has honor. For Moses has also given ten commandments and tithes are offered; and one might find other privileges of the decad. "Let there be" therefore "luminaries in the firmament of heaven." And this teaches that they are not gods, as seemed to the deceived Egyptians. And well is it said 'in the firmament' and not 'above the firmament'; for these are of the things that are seen. And he says their work is both to shine upon the earth and "to separate between the day and between the night"; for the rising makes the day, and the setting the night. And another work of theirs is for them to be for signs; for the stars and the sun itself signify many things; but they signify not as causing but as revealing. But those who introduce fate consider them makers, saying that if this one should coincide with that one, it does these things, but not so, but so that they may signify seasons, months, years; for that which signifies is not a cause. "And let them be", it says, "for signs and for seasons and for years", which signify the yearly seasons, the spring, the winter 37 and the others; for the sun, being in this or that climate, does these things. But if those concerned with astrology should say, agreeing that they are for signs, that even so that of fate is introduced

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Θεὸν τέλειον δημιούργημα ποιοῦντα ἐν τελείῳ πρώτῳ ἀριθμῷ εἰς ὑπόστασιν αὐτὸ ἀγαγ̣εῖν, οὐχ ἵνα πάντως εἴπωμεν ὅτι ἑξάκις τοῦ ἡλίου κυκλεύοντος ἡμέραι ἓξ διεγένοντο, -οὔπω γὰρ ἦν γενόμενος ἥλιος ἐν ταῖς πρώταις τρισίν, -ἀλλ' ὅτι λόγου καὶ ἁρμονίας χάριν ὁ ἓξ ἀριθμὸς παρει̣λ̣η´̣μφθη. 35 Παρίστησιν δὲ τὴν ἔννοιαν ταύτην ἀκριβῶς αὐτὸς Μωσῆς τὴν ἐπανακεφαλαίωσιν ποιούμενος τῶν γεγονότων λέγων· "6Αὕτη ἡ βίβλος γενέσεως οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς ὁ´̣τε ἐγένετο ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν."6 Ὅλως γὰρ οὔτε ἐν ἡμέρᾳ γέγονεν ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ, ἀλλ' "6ἐν ἀρχῇ"6, οὔτε τὰ πάντα ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ ὑπέστησαν, ἀλλὰ δῆλον ὡς, ἅμα τῶν πάντων γεγενημένων, τάξεως ἕνεκα και`̣ ἁρμονίας ὁ ἀριθμὸς οὗτος, ὡς εἴρηται, παρεί- λημπται, καὶ π[ρὸ]ς [τ]ο̣[ύ]τῳ διὰ τὸ ἡμῶν ἀσθενὲς καὶ μὴ ἑτέρας δύνασθαι νοεῖν [ἢ τρόπῳ] τινὶ ἡμῖν καταλλήλῳ. Καὶ ἔστω ἀπὸ παραδείγματος σαφὲ[ς τὸ λ]εγόμενον. Τὸ σῶμα ἡμῶν ἅμα τῇ ὑποστάσει καὶ χρῶμ[α κ]αὶ μέγεθος ἔχει, καὶ οὐκ ἐν χρόνῳ διεστῶτι ἀλλήλων κεχωρισμένα ὑπέστη καὶ πλὴν τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ τὸ μὲν αὐτῶν πρότερον, τὸ δὲ ὕστερόν ἐστιν. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ ἐν τάξει γενόμενος κόσμος οὐ χρόνῳ ἀλλὰ τ[ῇ] ἁρμονίᾳ συντετέλεσται. Οὐδὲ γὰρ μέρος κόσμου τις δυνήσεται ἐννοεῖν πρὸς τὰ ἄλλα μὴ συντρέχον ἕως τὰ λοιπὰ ὑπάρχῃ. Καὶ οἱ φωστῆρες δὲ ἐν τετάρτῃ ἡμέρᾳ γε̣νόμενοι ἅτε τίμιοι δεικνύουσιν ὅτι διὰ τὸν περὶ αὐτοὺς λόγον ἐν ταύτῃ εἴρηνται γεγενῆσθαι. Ἡ γὰρ τετρὰς δυνάμει οὖσα δέκα ἐπὶ τιμίας ὑπάρχει· διὰ πάσης γὰρ γραφῆς ἡ δεκὰς ὑμνεῖται. Ὅτι δὲ οὐκ, ἐὰν ἀριθμός τις ἐν τοῖς θείοις γράμμασιν σημαίνητα̣ι̣, τὸ πλῆθος δηλ̣ο̣ι῀̣ πάντως, ἀλλὰ λόγον, ἐκ τοῦ ε̣ι᾿̣ρημένου πρὸς τ̣ο̣υ῀̣ Θεοῦ ἔστιν νοῆσαι· "6Κατέλιπον ἐμαυτῷ ἑπτακισχιλίους ἄνδ̣ρ̣ας οἵτινες οὐκ ἔκαμψαν γόνυ τῇ Βαάλ."6 Εἰ γὰρ τοσοῦτοι ἐτύγ̣χ̣α̣νον, οὔτ' ἂν ὁ προφήτης εἶπεν· "6Ἐγὼ ὑπολέλειμμαι μονώ- τατος̣"6, ο̣ὐ´̣τε πρὸς ἀλλήλους εἶχον τὸ ἀμιγές· οὐ γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς ἔφευγον. Λ̣ο´̣γος τίμιος ὁ περὶ τὴν ἑβδομάδα ὤν- ἀμήτωρ γὰρ αὕτη καὶ ἀπάτω̣ρ̣-ὑποβάλλει νόη̣σιν ὅτι τῆς αὐτῆς εἰσι τῆς δυνάμεως οἱ ἅγιοι, κἂν ε̣ἱ῀̣ς ὑπάρχωσιν, 36 θεῖόν τι καθεστῶτες καὶ ὑπεράνθρωπον θεω̣ρ̣ίᾳ καὶ βίῳ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἀποκαλύψει ὁ Ἰωάννης λέγων ˉρˉμˉδχιλιάδας ἀνδρῶν ἕπεσθαι τῷ ἀρνίῳ, ὅ ἐστιν ὁ Σωτήρ, καὶ ταῦτα παρθένων μετὰ γυναικῶν μὴ μολυνθέντων, δείκνυσιν ὅτι λόγος τις περὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦτον τίμιός ἐστιν· οὐδὲ γὰρ οὕτω τοσοῦτο πλῆθος παρθένων ἔτι τοῦ Ἰωάννου ἐν βίῳ ὄντος εἴποι τις ἂν ἐκ τῶν πεπιστευκότων συνῆχθαι, τάχα μηδὲ αὐτῶν τοσ[ούτων] ὄντων. Λέγομεν οὖν ὅτι ἐν ἑξάδι ὁ κόσμος γέγονεν δι[ὰ τὴν π]ροειρημένην αἰτίαν, καὶ τῇ τετάρτῃ οἱ φωστῆρες διὰ τ[ὸ πρ]οειρημένον, ὅτι ἡ τετρὰς δυνάμει δεκὰς οὔσα ἔχει τὸ τί[μιο]ν. Καὶ γὰρ δέκα λόγους Μωσῆς δέδωκεν καὶ δέκαται παρέχονται· καὶ ἄλλα δὲ προνόμια τῆς δεκάδος εὕροι τις. "6Γενηθήτωσαν"6 οὖν "6φωστῆρες ἐν τῷ στερεώματι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ."6 Καὶ τοῦτο παιδεύει πρὸς τὸ μὴ θεοὺς αὐτοὺς εἶναι, καθὰ Αἰγυπτίοις ἠπατημένοις ἔδοξεν. Καλῶς δὲ ἐν τῷ στερεώματι καὶ οὐχ ὑπὲρ τὸ στερέωμα· τῶν γὰρ̣ ὁρωμένων ταῦτα. Καὶ ἔργον δὲ αὐτῶν φησιν τό τε ἐπὶ γῆς φαίνειν καὶ τὸ "6διαχωρίζειν ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς νυκτός"6· ἡ γὰρ ἀνατολὴ τὴν ἡμέραν, ἡ δὲ δύσις τὴν νύκτα ποιεῖ. Ἕτερον δὲ αὐτῶν ἔργον τὸ εἶναι αὐτοὺς εἰς σημεῖα· πολλὰ γὰρ σημαίνουσιν οἱ ἀστέρες καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ ἥλιος· σημαίνουσιν δὲ οὐχ ὡς ποιοῦντες ἀλλ' ὡς φανε- ροῦντες. Οἱ δὲ τὴν εἱμαρμένην εἰσηγούμενοι ποιητὰς αὐτοὺς τίθενται λέγοντες ὅτι εἰ ὅδε πρὸς τόνδε συνδράμοι τάδε ποιεῖ, ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλ' ἵνα σημαίνωσιν ὥρας, μῆνας, ἐνιαυτούς· οὐ τὸ σημαῖνον δὲ ποιητικόν. "6Καὶ ἔστωσαν"6 γάρ φησιν "6εἰς σημεῖα καὶ εἰς καιροὺς καὶ εἰς ἐνιαυτούς"6, ἅπερ σημαίνει τὰς ἐτησίους ὥρας, τὴν ἐαρινήν, τὴν χειμε- 37 ρινὴν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας· ἐν γὰρ τῷδε τῷ κλίματι ὢν ὁ ἥλιος ἢ τῷδε ταῦτα ποιεῖ. Εἰ δὲ λέγοιεν οἱ περὶ τὰ μαθήματα, συντρέχοντες τῷ εἰς σημεῖα αὐτὰ εἶναι, ὅτι καὶ οὕτως ὁ τῆς εἱμαρμένης εἰσάγεται