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sitting, and guarding the brain like some wealth and treasure in a very strong fortress. For the skull is like a fence and a helmet; for the helmet is named after it, having been constructed in imitation of it; placed around the brain, it wards off, as far as possible, injury coming from without. And lest this, being very soft and altogether spongy, should receive some injury from being pricked by the bones, which are hard and resistant, He placed two membranes around it, which the disciples of physicians call meninges. But the one that is very thin, called the choroid, He fused to it, and made it touch it very closely, being able to hold it together, and having no power to strike on account of its extreme thinness; the other He made thick and strong, and this was allotted the middle space between the brain and the skull, so that it might neither injure the brain, having a harder substance, nor be injured by the bones, having a softer nature than they. The brain, therefore, like a kind of wealth, as I said, is guarded in the head as in an acropolis. And since the mind, the commander of the garrison, needed scouts, to foresee both hostile and friendly things, the Maker gave these also, and He did not entrust this watchtower to one, but set up two guards, and ordained that one should watch and look around for the things on the right, and the other for the things on the left. And since these also needed guards, and battlements, and ramparts and a stockade, the Maker of this city did not neglect these either; but He placed over the eyes, to which He entrusted the sense of sight, like certain battlements and ramparts, the projections of the eyebrows, under which, being hidden, they can safely survey things from afar. And on these battlements, like a sort of roof against the rains sent from above, He implanted certain thin hairs, inclined toward the outside of the face, receiving the sweat that flows down from the forehead, passing it along to each other, and letting it drip down by the temples, and freeing the eyes from this injury. And since the guards also needed full armor, He places around them the tunics of the eyelids, and arranges the eyelashes like spears and arrows, no longer inclined in the same way as the eyebrows, lest instead of ramparts they become treacherous; nor indeed stretched in a straight line, lest they rub against each other in the closing of the eyelids, but inclined a little outwards, so that they might push away the injury of the finest bodies. For when the wind blows more violently, not only fine dust, but also thicker 83.604 is moved, and bits of straw, and other such things; and gnats also approach, and whatever such small creatures, and seeing the eyelashes like stakes, they flee. Thus also the Creator of all things has armed the ears of grain; for by placing awns on the sheaths of the wheat, He does not allow the seed-picking birds to damage the fruit severely; but it is frightened by them as by certain spear points, and He makes it flee. But perhaps, suffering from ingratitude, you might say: What more, then, has been granted to me than to the ears of grain? But even the nature of the ears of grain, you fool, He has made for your need. Why then are you ungrateful, if He has also armed your possessions for your sake with your weapons? You sow the wheat, most ungrateful one; He Himself waters and warms and nourishes and guards and protects it, and sets it before you ripened. But you, having reaped it, and delivered it to the threshing floor, and threshed it by art, and separated it from the chaff, and ground it in a mill, and separated it from the bran, and kneaded it with your hands, and delivered it to an oven or a stove, you luxuriate in the loaves, and are ignorant of the provider. But let us return to the eye. Consider its nature; see how many tunics it has; see the outward beauty; see the thinness of the pupil, the surrounding iris, which we call the crown, the cornea, the uvea, the

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καθημένην, καὶ οἷόν τινα πλοῦτον καὶ θησαυ ρὸν ἐν ἰσχυροτάτῳ φρουρίῳ φυλάττουσαν τὸν ἐγκέ φαλον. Τὸ γὰρ κρανίον οἷον ἕρκος καὶ κράνος· ἐπ ώνυμον γὰρ τούτου τὸ κράνος, πρὸς τὴν τούτου μί μησιν κατεσκευασμένον· τῷ ἐγκεφάλῳ περικείμενον, τὴν ἔξωθεν ἐπερχομένην βλάβην εἰς δύναμιν ἀπείργει. Ἵνα δὲ μὴ ὑπὸ τῶν ὀστῶν, σκληρῶν ὄντων καὶ ἀντι τύπων, μαλακὸς ὢν λίαν οὗτος, καὶ κομιδῇ χαῦνος, λώβην τινὰ νυττόμενος δέξηται, δύο αὐτῷ περιέθηκε χιτῶνας, ἃς μήνιγγας ἰατρῶν ὀνομάζουσι παῖδες. Ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν λεπτοτάτην καὶ χοροειδῆ καλουμέ νην, συνέφυσεν αὐτῷ, καὶ λίαν αὐτῷ προσψαύειν πεποίηκε, καὶ συνέχειν αὐτὸν δυναμένην, καὶ πλη κτικὴν οὐκ ἔχουσαν δύναμιν διὰ τὴν ἄγαν λεπτότητα· τὴν δὲ ἑτέραν στεγανὴν μὲν καὶ ἰσχυρὰν ἐποίησεν, ἐγκεφάλου δὲ αὕτη καὶ κρανίου τὴν μέσην ἀπεκλή ρωσε χώραν, ἵνα μήτε λυπῇ τὸν ἐγκέφαλον σκληρο τέραν ἔχουσα τὴν οὐσίαν, μήτε ὑπὸ τῶν ὀστῶν λυ πῆται, μαλακωτέραν ἐκείνων ἔχουσα φύσιν. Ὁ μὲν οὖν ἐγκέφαλος, οἷόν τις πλοῦτος, ὡς ἔφην, ἐν τῇ κε φαλῇ καθάπερ ἐν ἀκροπόλει φυλάττεται. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἔδει τῷ φρουράρχῳ νῷ καὶ κατασκόπων, τά τε πο λέμια καὶ τὰ φίλια προορώντων, δέδωκε καὶ τούτους ὁ Ποιητὴς, καὶ οὐχ ἑνὶ ταύτην τὴν περιωπὴν ἐνεχεί ρισεν, ἀλλὰ δύο φύλακας ἔστησε, καὶ τῷ μὲν τὰ δεξιὰ, τῷ δὲ τὰ εὐώνυμα καραδοκεῖν καὶ περισκοπεῖν ἐνο μοθέτησεν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ οὗτοι φυλάκων ἐδέοντο, καὶ ἐπάλξεων, καὶ προμαχώνων καὶ χαρακώματος, οὐδὲ τούτων ὁ τῆς πόλεως ταύτης ἠμέλησε Ποιητής· ἀλλ' ἐπέθηκε τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, οἷς τὴν ὀπτικὴν ἐν εχείρισεν αἴσθησιν, οἷόν τινας ἐπάλξεις καὶ προμα χῶνας, τῶν ὀφρύων τὰς προβολὰς, ὑφ' ἃς κρυπτόμε νοι περισκοπεῖν ἀσφαλῶς τὰ πόῤῥωθεν δύνανται. Ταύταις δὲ ταῖς ἐπάλξεσιν, οἷόν τινα ὄροφον τῶν ἄνωθεν ἐπιπεμπομένων ὑετῶν, ἐνέφυσε τρίχας τι νὰς λεπτὰς, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἔξω τοῦ προσώπου νενευκυίας, τὸν ἐκ τοῦ μετώπου καταῤῥεόμενον ἱδρῶτα δεχομένας, ἀλλήλαις δὲ παραπεμπούσας, καὶ διὰ τῶν κροτάφων ἀποσταζούσας, καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλ μοὺς ταύτης ἐλευθερούσας τῆς λώβης. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ πανοπλίας οἱ φύλακες ἐδέοντο, περιτίθησι μὲν αὐτοῖς τοὺς τῶν βλεφάρων χιτῶνας, καθάπερ δὲ δόρατα καὶ βέλη τὰς βλεφαρίδας συντίθησιν, οὐκέτι ὁμοίως ταῖς ὀφρύσι κεκλιμένας, ἵνα μὴ ἀντὶ προμά χων ἐπίβουλοι γίνωνται· οὔτε μὴν κατ' εὐθεῖαν γραμμὴν τεταμένας, ἵνα μὴ ἀλλήλαις ἐν τῇ μύσει τῶν βλεφάρων προστρίβωνται, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸ ἔξω βραχύ τι νενευκυίας, ἵνα τῶν λεπτοτάτων σωμάτων ἀπ ωθῶ[ν]ται τὴν βλάβην. Ἀνέμου γὰρ σφοδρότερον πνέον τος, καὶ κόνις οὐ λεπτὴ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ παχυτέρα 83.604 κινεῖται, καὶ κάρφη, καὶ ἕτερα τοιαῦτα· ἐπίασι δὲ καὶ κώνωπες, καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα ζωΰφια, καὶ τὰς βλεφαρίδας ὁρῶντα καθάπερ σκόλοπας, δραπετεύει. Οὕτω καὶ τοὺς ἀστάχυας καθώπλισεν ὁ τῶν ἁπάν των ∆ημιουργός· ταῖς γὰρ θήκαις τῶν πυρῶν ἐπι θεὶς τοὺς ἀνθέρικας, οὐκ ἐᾷ τὰ σπερμολόγα τῶν ὀρνίθων σφόδρα λυμαίνεσθαι τῷ καρπῷ· ἀλλ' οἷόν τισιν αἰχμαῖς δοράτων δεδίττεται, καὶ δραπετεύειν ποιεῖ. Ἀλλ' ἴσως ἂν εἴποις ἀχαριστίαν νοσῶν· Τί τοίνυν μοι πλέον τῶν ἀσταχύων κεχάρισται; Ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἀσταχύων τὴν φύσιν, ἐμβρόντητε, διὰ τὴν σὴν χρείαν πεποίηκε. Τί τοίνυν ἀχαριστεῖς, εἰ καὶ τὰ σὰ διὰ σὲ τοῖς σοῖς ὅπλοις καθώπλισε; Σὺ σπείρεις τοὺς πυ ροὺς, ἀχαριστότατε· αὐτὸς ἄρδει καὶ θερμαίνει καὶ τρέφει καὶ φρουρεῖ καὶ φυλάττει, καὶ πέπονά σοι προτίθησι. Σὺ δὲ ἀμήσας, καὶ τῇ ἅλῳ πα ραδοὺς, καὶ τεμὼν τῇ τέχνῃ, καὶ τῶν ἀχύρων ἀπο κρίνας, καὶ μύλῃ λεπτύνας, καὶ τῶν πιτύρων χω ρίσας, καὶ ταῖς χερσὶ μάξας, καὶ κλιβάνῳ ἢ ἰπνῷ παραδοὺς, ἐντρυφᾷς τοῖς ἄρτοις, καὶ τὸν χορηγὸν ἀγνοεῖς. Ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἐπανέλθωμεν. Κα τανόησον αὐτοῦ τὴν φύσιν· βλέπε πόσους ἔχει χιτῶ νας· βλέπε τὴν ἔξωθεν εὐμορφίαν· βλέπε τὴν τῆς κόρης λεπτότητα, τὴν περικειμένην ἶριν, ἢν στεφά νην ὀνομάζομεν, τὸν κερατοειδῆ κύκλον, τὸν ῥαγοει δῆ χιτῶνα, τὴν