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to come to maturity. When, therefore, he says corn, and wine, and oil, he gives to the wise man an occasion even from a part to understand the whole, opening up a sea of God's providence which is apparent in things perceptible to the senses. 11. For this reason indeed Paul also, speaking publicly somewhere, and discoursing about his providence, began his argument from this, saying: Giving rains and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. But since the Prophet is concise, having omitted to speak of all the other things, fruits, orchard-trees, kinds of plants, kinds of seeds, kinds of herbs, meadows, flowers, gardens, and whatever else there is, he sets down the essential things, which are also necessary for our life, from these making those other things also manifest. Which things he does not give to us simply, but in abundance, and every single year. But if ever he also withholds them, in this too again he shows his own providence, awakening the indolence of the many, and stirring them up to seek these good things from him. But if some should say that it is not God's doing to give rain, but that of idols; we ask them, from where is this clear? Because the poets, he says, have said that it is Zeus who sends the rain. But these same men have said that he is also an adulterer, and a corrupter of boys, and a parricide, and other crimes no less than these. But these things, he says, are not true. Therefore, neither is the raining true. For if you accept this, it is necessary for you to accept those things also; but if you cast those out, then this with them. For we, when we provide witnesses of the power of God, accept all the things said by them about him. Therefore it is necessary for you to accept him as an adulterer, and all the other things said by them about him, and from this to learn that such crimes are far from divine power, and such a one could not be a god. But the myth itself falls into contradiction, and the falsehood is refuted by itself, and even if you are unwilling to accept this, it entirely casts out the poets. And that when they are cast out, all your things will be gone, is clear. For they found their names and applied them; which one of your own philosophers has also said. But if, leaving them 55.57 aside, you should run to allegories, I will ask you this: what ever is Zeus? The seething, he says, substance and the part above the air, and what they call aether, from seething and burning. Therefore it is not some rational and discerning substance, but an irrational one. For that the nature of the air has neither reason nor rationality is surely clear to everyone, and everyone knows this, even if one is more senseless than stones. So for the time being Zeus is done away with, and his substance has vanished. For if Zeus is air, and air is what we have said, from this too the myth will be gone. But if he is air, he neither became the father of anyone, nor begot any substance, such as they invent for the sun, whom they also call Apollo, and say is his son; for neither has the sun any reason, nor intellect and mind, but it itself is a work of nature, being led and carried around by the law which God set for it from the beginning. Besides, raining does not belong to the aether, but to the clouds which receive the water either from the sea, or from the waters that are above the heaven carried from above, just as the prophets say. But if you disbelieve the prophets, we provide signs that are manifest and clear, which most of all show them to have become God-inspired, and to have said nothing to us of their own accord, but to have been inspired by that divine and super-celestial grace. For all the things spoken by them have come to pass, and all have turned out according to the truth of the matters, whether you wish to handle the old things or the new. For all the things spoken to the prophets concerning the Jews have come to pass, the outcome of which has become clear to all; and the things concerning Christ in

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ἀκμὴν ἐλθεῖν. Ὅταν οὖν εἴπῃ σῖτον, καὶ οἶνον, καὶ ἔλαιον, δίδωσι τῷ σοφῷ ἀφορμὴν καὶ ἀπὸ μέρους τὸ πᾶν νοεῖν, πέλαγος ἀναπετάσας τῆς ἐν τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς φαινομένης τοῦ Θεοῦ προνοίας ιαʹ. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Παῦλος δημηγορῶν που, καὶ περὶ τῆς προνοίας αὐτοῦ διαλεγόμενος, ἐντεῦθεν ἐκίνει τὸν λόγον, λέγων· ∆ιδοὺς ὑετοὺς καὶ καιροὺς καρποφόρους, ἐμπιπλῶν τροφῆς καὶ εὐφροσύνης τὰς καρδίας ἡμῶν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀπέριττός ἐστιν ὁ Προφήτης, παρεὶς ἅπαντα τὰ ἄλλα εἰπεῖν, ὀπώρας, ἀκρόδρυα, γένη φυτῶν, γένη σπερμάτων, γένη βοτανῶν, λειμώνων, ἀνθῶν, παραδείσων, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα ἐστὶ, τὰ συνεκτικὰ τίθησι, τὰ καὶ πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν ἡμῖν ἀναγκαῖα, ἀπὸ τούτων κἀκεῖνα ποιῶν κατάδηλα. Ἅπερ οὐδὲ ἁπλῶς ἡμῖν δίδωσιν, ἀλλὰ μετὰ πλήθους, καὶ καθ' ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτόν. Εἰ δέ ποτε καὶ συστέλλει, καὶ ἐν τούτῳ πάλιν τὴν πρόνοιαν ἑαυτοῦ δείκνυσιν, ἀφυπνίζων τὴν ῥᾳθυμίαν τῶν πολλῶν, καὶ διεγείρων αὐτοὺς πρὸς τὸ ἐπιζητῆσαι παρ' αὐτοῦ ταῦτα τὰ ἀγαθά. Εἰ δέ τινες λέγοιεν, ὅτι οὐ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ διδόναι ὑετὸν, ἀλλὰ τῶν εἰδώλων· ἐρώμεθα αὐτοὺς, πόθεν τοῦτο δῆλον; Ὅτι οἱ ποιηταὶ, φησὶν, εἰρήκασιν, ὅτι Ζεύς ἐστιν ὁ ὕων. Ἀλλ' οὗτοι αὐτοὶ εἰρήκασιν, ὅτι καὶ μοιχός ἐστι, καὶ παίδων φθορεὺς, καὶ πατραλοίας, καὶ ἕτερα τούτων οὐκ ἐλάττονα ἐγκλήματα. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔστι, φησὶν, ἀληθῆ. Οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ τὸ ὕειν. Εἰ γὰρ τοῦτο δέχῃ, κἀκεῖνά σε ἀνάγκη δέξασθαι· εἰ δὲ ἐκεῖνα ἐκβάλλεις, καὶ τοῦτο μετ' ἐκείνων. Ἡμεῖς γὰρ, ἐπειδὰν παρεχώμεθα μάρτυρας τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δυνάμεως, πάντα τὰ ὑπ' αὐτῶν λεγόμενα περὶ αὐτοῦ δεχόμεθα. Οὐκοῦν ἀνάγκη σε καὶ μοιχὸν αὐτὸν καταδέξασθαι, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα ὑπ' αὐτῶν λεγόμενα περὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐκ τούτου μανθάνειν, ὅτι πόῤῥω θείας δυνάμεως τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐγκλήματα, καὶ οὐκ ἂν εἴη θεὸς ὁ τοιοῦτος. Ἀλλ' ὁ μῦθος αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ περιπίπτει, καὶ τὸ ψεῦδος ὑφ' ἑαυτοῦ ἐλέγχεται, καὶ μὴ βουλομένων ὑμῶν τοῦτο καταδέξασθαι, καὶ καθόλου τοὺς ποιητὰς ἐκβάλλει. Ὅτι δὲ ἐκβληθέντων ἐκείνων, πάντα οἰχήσεται τὰ ὑμέτερα, δῆλον. Καὶ γὰρ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν ἐκεῖνοι εὑρήκασι, καὶ ἐπέθηκαν· ὃ καί τις τῶν παρ' ὑμῖν φιλοσόφων εἴρηκεν. Εἰ δὲ ἀφεὶς ἐκεί 55.57 νους, ἐπὶ τὰς ἀλληγορίας δράμοις, ἐκεῖνό σε ἐρήσομαι· τί ποτέ ἐστιν ὁ Ζεύς; Ἡ ζέουσα, φησὶν, οὐσία καὶ τὸ ὑπὲρ τὸν ἀέρα μέρος, καὶ ὃ αἰθέρα καλοῦσι, παρὰ τὸ ζέον καὶ καῖον. Οὐκοῦν οὐκ ἔστι λογική τις οὐσία καὶ διακριτικὴ, ἀλλ' ἄλογος. Ὅτι γὰρ ἡ τοῦ ἀέρος φύσις οὔτε λόγον ἔχει, οὔτε λογισμὸν, παντί που δῆλόν ἐστι, καὶ πᾶς τοῦτο οἶδε, κἂν λίθων ἀναισθητότερός τις ᾖ. Ὥστε ἀνῄρηται τέως ὁ Ζεὺς, καὶ ἡ οὐσία αὐτοῦ ἠφάνισται. Εἰ γὰρ ἀήρ ἐστιν ὁ Ζεὺς, ὁ δὲ ἀὴρ τοῦτό ἐστιν, ὅπερ εἰρήκαμεν, κἀντεῦθεν ὁ μῦθος οἰχήσεται. Εἰ δὲ ἀὴρ, οὔτε πατὴρ ἐγένετό τινος, οὔτε ἔτεκέ τινα οὐσίαν, οἵαν ἀναπλάττουσι τὸν ἥλιον, ὃν καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα καλοῦσι, καὶ υἱὸν αὐτοῦ λέγουσιν εἶναι· οὔτε γὰρ ἥλιος λογισμόν τινα ἔχει, οὔτε διάνοιαν καὶ νοῦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸ φυσικόν ἐστιν ἔργον, ἀγόμενον καὶ περιφερόμενον τῷ νόμῳ, ᾧ παρὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν αὐτῷ ἔταξεν ὁ Θεός. Ἄλλως δὲ οὐδὲ τὸ ὕειν τοῦ αἰθέρος ἐστὶν, ἀλλὰ τῶν νεφελῶν δεχομένων τὸ ὕδωρ ἢ ἀπὸ τῆς θαλάσσης, ἢ τῶν ὑδάτων τῶν ὑπὲρ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἄνωθεν φερομένων, καθάπερ οἱ προφῆταί φασιν. Εἰ δὲ ἀπιστεῖς τοῖς προφήταις, σημεῖα φανερὰ καὶ δῆλα παρεχόμεθα, ἃ μάλιστα δείκνυσιν αὐτοὺς θεοπνεύστους γενομένους, καὶ οὐδὲν οἴκοθεν διαλεχθέντας ἡμῖν, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς θείας ἐκείνης καὶ ὑπερουρανίου χάριτος ἐμπνευσθέντας. Πάντα γὰρ τὰ ὑπ' αὐτῶν εἰρημένα τέλος ἔχει, καὶ πάντα πρὸς τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων ἀλήθειαν ἐξέβη, ἄν τε τὰ παλαιὰ, ἄν τε τὰ καινὰ βούλει μεταχειρίζειν. Τά τε γὰρ περὶ Ἰουδαίων εἰρημένα τοῖς προφήταις ἅπαντα τέλος ἔλαβεν, ὧν καὶ ἡ ἔκβασις ἅπασι. δήλη γέγονε· τά τε περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν