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what has been said by philosophers or writers and poets is trustworthy, on account of its being embellished in phrasing; but their speech is shown to be foolish and empty, because their babbling is a great multitude, and not a chance bit of truth is found in them. For even if anything true seems to have been uttered by them, it has an admixture of error. Just as some deadly poison mixed with honey or wine or something else makes the whole thing harmful and useless, so also their verbosity is found to be a useless labor and rather a harm to those who are persuaded by it. Moreover, also concerning the seventh day, which all men indeed name, but most are ignorant of; that among the Hebrews what is called sabbath is interpreted in Greek as seventh, which is indeed named among every race of men, but for what reason they call it so they do not understand. But for the poet Hesiod to say that from Chaos were born Erebus and the Earth and Eros, who rules over the gods and men of his time, his saying is shown to be vain and frigid and alien to all truth; for it is not right for a god to be overcome by pleasure, when indeed even temperate men abstain from all shameful pleasure and evil desire. But also, to say that the creation of things that have come into being began from earthly things below is a human and lowly and very weak notion of his concerning God. For a man, being below, begins to build from the earth, and he is not able in order to make the roof unless he lays the foundation. But the power of God is shown in this, that He first makes what comes to be from things that are not, and as He wills. For the things impossible with men are possible with God. Wherefore the prophet also said first that the creation of the heaven came to be, holding the place of a roof, saying, 'In the beginning God made the heaven,' that is, that through the beginning the heaven came to be, as we have already shown. And by Earth he means, in effect, the ground and foundation; and by abyss, the multitude of waters; and by darkness, because the heaven, having been made by God, had covered the waters along with the earth like a lid, and by spirit that was borne over the water, that which God gave for the generation of life to creation, just as a soul for man, mixing the subtle with the subtle (for the spirit is subtle and the water is subtle), so that the spirit might nourish the water, and the water with the spirit might nourish creation, penetrating everywhere. The one spirit, holding the place of light, was between the water and the heaven, so that in a certain way the darkness might not have communion with the heaven, which was nearer to God, before God said, 'Let there be light.' Therefore, the heaven, being like a vault, contained the matter, which was like a clod. For another prophet, by the name of Isaiah, has also spoken concerning the heaven, saying, 'This is God who made the heaven as a vault and stretched it out as a tent to be inhabited.' The ordinance of God, therefore, that is, His Word, shining like a lamp in a confined chamber, illumined that which is under heaven,

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φιλοσόφων ἢ συγγραφέων καὶ ποιητῶν εἰρημένα ἀξιόπιστα μὲν εἶναι, παρὰ τὸ φράσει κεκαλλιωπίσθαι· μωρὸς δὲ καὶ κενὸς ὁ λόγος αὐτῶν δείκνυται, ὅτι πολλὴ μὲν πληθὺς τῆς φλυαρίας αὐτῶν ἐστιν, τὸ τυχὸν δὲ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐν αὐτοῖς οὐχ εὑρίσκεται. καὶ γὰρ εἴ τι δοκεῖ ἀληθὲς δι' αὐτῶν ἐκπεφωνῆσθαι, σύγκρασιν ἔχει τῇ πλάνῃ. καθάπερ φάρμακόν τι δηλητήριον συγκραθὲν μέλιτι ἢ οἴνῳ ἢ ἑτέρῳ τινὶ τὸ πᾶν ποιεῖ βλαβερὸν καὶ ἄχρηστον, οὕτως καὶ ἡ ἐν αὐτοῖς πολυλογία εὑρίσκεται ματαιοπονία καὶ βλάβη μᾶλλον τοῖς πειθο- μένοις αὐτῇ. ἔτι μὴν καὶ περὶ τῆς ἑβδόμης ἡμέρας, ἣν πάντες μὲν ἄνθρωποι ὀνομάζουσιν, οἱ δὲ πλείους ἀγνοοῦσιν· ὅτι παρ' Ἑβραίοις ὃ καλεῖται σάββατον ἑλληνιστὶ ἑρμηνεύεται ἑβδομάς, ἥτις εἰς πᾶν γένος ἀνθρώπων ὀνομάζεται μέν, δι' ἣν δὲ αἰτίαν καλοῦσιν αὐτὴν οὐκ ἐπίστανται. Τὸ δὲ εἰπεῖν Ἡσίοδον τὸν ποιητὴν ἐκ Χάους γεγενῆσθαι Ἔρεβος καὶ τὴν Γῆν καὶ Ἔρωτα κυριεύοντα τῶν κατ' αὐτόν τε θεῶν καὶ ἀνθρώπων, μάταιον καὶ ψυχρὸν τὸ ῥῆμα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀλλότριον πάσης ἀληθείας δείκνυται· θεὸν γὰρ οὐ χρὴ ὑφ' ἡδονῆς νικᾶσθαι, ὅπου γε καὶ οἱ σώφρονες ἄνθρωποι ἀπέχονται πάσης αἰσχρᾶς ἡδονῆς καὶ ἐπιθυμίας κακῆς. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἐκ τῶν ἐπιγείων κάτωθεν ἄρξασθαι λέγειν τὴν ποίησιν τῶν γεγενημένων ἀνθρώπινον καὶ ταπεινὸν καὶ πάνυ ἀσθενὲς τὸ ἐννόημα αὐτοῦ ὡς πρὸς θεόν ἐστιν. ἄνθρωπος γὰρ κάτω ὢν ἄρχεται ἐκ τῆς γῆς οἰκοδομεῖν, καὶ οὐ πρὸς τάξιν δύναται καὶ τὴν ὀροφὴν ποιῆσαι ἐὰν μὴ τὸν θεμέλιον ὑπόθηται. θεοῦ δὲ τὸ δυνατὸν ἐν τούτῳ δείκνυται ἵνα πρῶτον μὲν ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ποιῇ τὰ γινόμενα, καὶ ὡς βούλεται. τὰ γὰρ παρὰ ἀνθρώποις ἀδύνατα δυνατά ἐστιν παρὰ θεῷ. διὸ καὶ ὁ προφήτης πρῶτον εἴρηκεν τὴν ποίησιν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ γεγενῆσθαι τρόπον ἐπέχοντα ὀροφῆς, λέγων· "Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανόν", τουτέστιν διὰ τῆς ἀρχῆς γεγενῆσθαι τὸν οὐρανόν, καθὼς ἔφθημεν δεδηλωκέναι. Γῆν δὲ λέγει δυνάμει ἔδαφος καὶ θεμέλιον, ἄβυσσον δὲ τὴν πληθὺν τῶν ὑδάτων, καὶ σκότος διὰ τὸ τὸν οὐρανὸν γεγονότα ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐσκεπακέναι καθαπερεὶ πῶμα τὰ ὕδατα σὺν τῇ γῇ, πνεῦμα δὲ τὸ ἐπιφερόμενον ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος ὃ ἔδωκεν ὁ θεὸς εἰς ζωογόνησιν τῇ κτίσει, καθάπερ ἀνθρώπῳ ψυχήν, τῷ λεπτῷ τὸ λεπτὸν συγ- κεράσας (τὸ γὰρ πνεῦμα λεπτὸν καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ λεπτόν), ὅπως τὸ μὲν πνεῦμα τρέφῃ τὸ ὕδωρ, τὸ δὲ ὕδωρ σὺν τῷ πνεύματι τρέφῃ τὴν κτίσιν διϊκνούμενον πανταχόσε. ἓν μὲν τὸ πνεῦμα φωτὸς τόπον ἐπέχον ἐμεσίτευεν τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἵνα τρόπῳ τινὶ μὴ κοινωνῇ τὸ σκότος τῷ οὐρανῷ ἐγγυτέρῳ ὄντι τοῦ θεοῦ, πρὸ τοῦ εἰπεῖν τὸν θεόν· "Γενηθήτω φῶς." ὥσπερ οὖν καμάρα ὁ οὐρανὸς ὢν συνεῖχε τὴν ὕλην βώλῳ ἐοικυῖαν. καὶ γὰρ εἴρηκεν περὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἕτερος προφήτης ὀνόματι Ἠσαΐας, λέγων· "Θεὸς οὗτος ὁ ποιήσας τὸν οὐρανὸν ὡς καμάραν καὶ διατείνας ὡς σκηνὴν κατοικεῖσθαι." Ἡ διάταξις οὖν τοῦ θεοῦ, τοῦτό ἐστιν ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ, φαίνων ὥσπερ λύχνος ἐν οἰκήματι συνεχομένῳ, ἐφώτισεν τὴν ὑπ' οὐρανόν,