4. To say that the waters were gathered in one place indicates that previously they were scattered in many places. The mountains, intersected by deep ravines, accumulated water in their valleys, when from every direction the waters betook themselves to the one gathering place. What vast plains, in their extent resembling wide seas, what valleys, what cavities hollowed in many different ways, at that time full of water, must have been emptied by the command of God! But we must not therefore say, that if the water covered the face of the earth, all the basins which have since received the sea were originally full. Where can the gathering of the waters have come from if the basins were already full? These basins, we reply, were only prepared at the moment when the water had to unite in a single mass. At that time the sea which is beyond Gadeira  11  i.e. Cadiz, a corruption of Gadeira, which, like Geder and Gadara, is connected with the Phœnician Gadir, an enclosure. and the vast ocean, so dreaded by navigators, which surrounds the isle of Britain and western Spain, did not exist. But, all of a sudden, God created this vast space, and the mass of waters flowed in.

Now if our explanation of the creation of the world may appear contrary to experience, (because it is evident that all the waters did not flow together in one place,) many answers may be made, all obvious as soon as they are stated. Perhaps it is even ridiculous to reply to such objections. Ought they to bring forward in opposition ponds and accumulations of rain water, and think that this is enough to upset our reasonings? Evidently the chief and most complete affluence of the waters was what received the name of gathering unto one place. For wells are also gathering places for water, made by the hand of man to receive the moisture diffused in the hollow of the earth. This name of gathering does not mean any chance massing of water, but the greatest and most important one, wherein the element is shewn collected together. In the same way that fire, in spite of its being divided into minute particles which are sufficient for our needs here, is spread in a mass in the æther; in the same way that air, in spite of a like minute division, has occupied the region round the earth; so also water, in spite of the small amount spread abroad everywhere, only forms one gathering together, that which separates the whole element from the rest. Without doubt the lakes as well those of the northern regions and those that are to be found in Greece, in Macedonia, in Bithynia and in Palestine, are gatherings together of waters; but here it means the greatest of all, that gathering the extent of which equals that of the earth. The first contain a great quantity of water; no one will deny this. Nevertheless no one could reasonably give them the name of seas, not even if they are like the great sea, charged with salt and sand. They instance for example, the Lacus Asphaltitis in Judæa, and the Serbonian lake which extends between Egypt and Palestine in the Arabian desert. These are lakes, and there is only one sea, as those affirm who have travelled round the earth. Although some authorities think the Hyrcanian and Caspian Seas are enclosed in their own boundaries, if we are to believe the geographers, they communicate with each other and together discharge themselves into the Great Sea.  12  Pliny (vi. 15) shared a common error that the Caspian flowed into a Northern Sea. The eastern part was known as the Hyrcanian, the western as the Caspian. Strabo xi. 507, et sq. It is thus that, according to their account, the Red Sea and that beyond Gadeira only form one. Then why did God call the different masses of water seas? This is the reason; the waters flowed into one place, and their different accumulations, that is to say, the gulfs that the earth embraced in her folds, received from the Lord the name of seas: North Sea, South Sea, Eastern Sea, and Western Sea. The seas have even their own names, the Euxine, the Propontis, the Hellespont, the Ægean, the Ionian, the Sardinian, the Sicilian, the Tyrrhene, and many other names of which an exact enumeration would now be too long, and quite out of place. See why God calls the gathering together of waters seas. But let us return to the point from which the course of my argument has diverted me.

Ἔπειτα ὁ εἰπὼν συναχθῆναι τὰ ὕδατα εἰς συναγωγὴν μίαν, ἔδειξέ σοι, ὅτι πολλὰ ἦν κατὰ πολλοὺς τόπους διῃρημένα τὰ ὕδατα. Αἵ τε γὰρ τῶν ὀρῶν κοιλότητες, φάραγξι βαθείαις ὑπερρηγμέναι, εἶχον τῶν ὑδάτων τὴν συλλογήν. Καὶ προσέτι πεδία πολλά τε καὶ ὕπτια οὐδὲν τῶν μεγίστων πελαγῶν κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος ἀποδέοντα, καὶ αὐλῶνες μυρίοι, καὶ αἱ κοιλάδες κατ' ἄλλα καὶ ἄλλα σχήματα κοιλαινόμεναι, πάντα ὑδάτων τότε πεπληρωμένα, ἀπεκενώθη τῷ θείῳ προστάγματι, πρὸς μίαν συναγωγὴν τοῦ πανταχόθεν ὕδατος συνελασθέντος. Καὶ μηδεὶς λεγέτω, ὅτι εἴπερ ἦν ὕδωρ ἐπάνω τῆς γῆς, πάντως πᾶσαι αἱ κοιλότητες, αἱ νῦν τὴν θάλασσαν ὑποδεξάμεναι, πεπληρωμέναι ὑπῆρχον. Ποῦ τοίνυν ἔμελλον γίνεσθαι τῶν ὑδάτων αἱ συλλογαὶ, προκατειλημμένων τῶν κοίλων; Πρὸς δὴ τοῦτο ἐροῦμεν, ὅτι τότε καὶ τὰ ἀγγεῖα συγκατεσκευάσθη, ὅτι ἔδει μίαν σύστασιν ἀποκριθῆναι τὸ ὕδωρ. Οὐ γὰρ ἦν ἡ ἔξω Γαδείρων θάλασσα: οὐδὲ τὸ μέγα ἐκεῖνο καὶ ἀτόλμητον πλωτῆρσι πέλαγος, τὸ τὴν Βρεττανικὴν νῆσον καὶ τοὺς ἑσπερίους Ἴβηρας περιπτυσσόμενον: ἀλλὰ τότε τῆς εὐρυχωρίας τῷ προστάγματι τοῦ Θεοῦ δημιουργηθείσης, ἐπ' αὐτὴν συνεδόθη τῶν ὑδάτων τὰ πλήθη. Πρὸς δὲ τὸ, ὅτι ὑπεναντίως ἔχει τῇ πείρᾳ ὁ τῆς παρ' ἡμῖν κοσμοποιίας λόγος (οὐ γὰρ εἰς μίαν συναγωγὴν ὑδάτων τὸ ὕδωρ ἅπαν φαίνεται συνδραμόν), πολλὰ μέν ἐστιν εἰπεῖν, καὶ πᾶσιν αὐτόθεν γνώριμα. Μήποτε δὲ καὶ τὸ διαμάχεσθαι τοῖς τοιούτοις γελοῖον. Οὐ δήπου γὰρ καὶ τὰ τελματιαῖα, καὶ τὰ ἐξ ὄμβρων συναθροιζόμενα προφέρειν ἡμῖν ὀφείλουσι, καὶ διὰ τούτων τὸν λόγον ἡμῶν ἐλέγχειν οἴεσθαι; Ἀλλὰ τὴν μεγίστην καὶ τελεωτάτην συνδρομὴν τῶν ὑδάτων ὠνόμασε συναγωγὴν μίαν. Καὶ γὰρ τὰ φρέατα συναγωγαὶ ὑδάτων εἰσὶ χειροποίητοι, ἐπὶ τὸ κοιλανθὲν τῆς γῆς τῆς ἐνεσπαρμένης νοτίδος ἐπιρρεούσης. Οὐ τοίνυν τὰ τυχόντα τῶν ὑδάτων ἀθροίσματα ἡ τῆς συναγωγῆς ἐμφαίνει προσηγορία, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐξέχουσαν καὶ μεγίστην, ἐν ᾗ πᾶν τὸ στοιχεῖον ἀθρόον διαδείκνυται. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸ πῦρ καὶ εἰς μικρὰ κατακεκερματισμένον ἐστὶν ἐπὶ τῆς ὧδε χρείας, καὶ ἀθρόον ἐπὶ τοῦ αἰθέρος κέχυται: καὶ ὁ ἀὴρ διῄρηται μὲν καὶ κατὰ μικρὰ, καὶ ἀθρόως δὲ τὸν περίγειον ἐκπεριείληφε τόπον: οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὕδατος, εἰ καὶ μικραί τινές εἰσι διῃρημέναι συστάσεις, ἀλλὰ μία γέ ἐστι συναγωγὴ ἡ τὸ ὅλον στοιχεῖον τῶν λοιπῶν ἀποκρίνουσα. Αἱ μὲν γὰρ λίμναι, αἵ τε κατὰ τὰ μέρη τῆς ἄρκτου, καὶ ὅσαι περὶ τὸν Ἑλληνικόν εἰσι τόπον, τήν τε Μακεδονίαν, καὶ τὴν Βιθυνῶν χώραν, καὶ τὴν Παλαιστινῶν κατέχουσαι, συναγωγαί εἰσι δηλονότι: ἀλλὰ νῦν περὶ τῆς μεγίστης ἁπασῶν καὶ τῷ μεγέθει τῆς γῆς παρισουμένης ὁ λόγος. Ἃς πλῆθος μὲν ἔχειν ὕδατος οὐδεὶς ἀντερεῖ: οὐ μὴν θαλάσσας γε ἄν τις αὐτὰς κατὰ τὸν εἰκότα λόγον προσείποι: οὐδ' ἂν ὅτι μάλιστα τὸ ἁλμυρὸν καὶ γεῶδές τινες παραπλήσιον ἔχωσι τῇ μεγάλῃ θαλάσσῃ, ὡς ἥ τε Ἀσφαλτῖτις λίμνη ἐπὶ τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ ἡ Σερβωνῖτις ἡ μεταξὺ Αἰγύπτου καὶ Παλαιστίνης τὴν Ἀραβικὴν ἔρημον παρατείνουσα. Λίμναι γάρ εἰσιν αὗται, θάλασσα δὲ μία, ὡς οἱ τὴν γῆν περιοδεύσαντες ἱστοροῦσιν. Εἰ καὶ τὴν Ὑρκανίαν οἴονταί τινες, καὶ τὴν Κασπίαν περιγεγράφθαι καθ' ἑαυτάς: ἀλλ' εἴ γέ τι χρὴ ταῖς τῶν ἱστορησάντων προσέχειν γεωγραφίαις, συντέτρηνται πρὸς ἀλλήλας, καὶ πρὸς τὴν μεγίστην θάλασσαν ἅπασαι συνανεστόμωνται. Ὡς καὶ τὴν ἐρυθρὰν θάλασσάν φασι πρὸς τὴν ἐπέκεινα Γαδείρων συνάπτεσθαι. Πῶς οὖν, φησὶν, ὁ Θεὸς τὰ συστήματα τῶν ὑδάτων ἐκάλεσε θαλάσσας; Ὅτι συνέδραμε μὲν εἰς συναγωγὴν μίαν τὰ ὕδατα: τὰ δὲ συστήματα τῶν ὑδάτων, τουτέστι, τοὺς κόλπους τοὺς κατ' ἴδιον σχῆμα ὑπὸ τῆς περικειμένης γῆς ἀποληφθέντας, θαλάσσας ὁ Κύριος προσηγόρευσε. Θάλασσα βόρειος, θάλασσα νότιος, ἑῴα θάλασσα, καὶ ἑσπερία πάλιν ἑτέρα. Καὶ ὀνόματα τῶν πελαγῶν ἰδιάζοντα: πόντος Εὔξεινος, καὶ Προποντὶς, Ἑλλήσποντος, Αἰγαῖος, καὶ Ἰώνιος, Σαρδονικὸν πέλαγος καὶ Σικελικὸν, καὶ Τυρρηνικὸν ἕτερον. Καὶ μυρία γε ὀνόματα πελαγῶν, ἃ μακρὸν ἂν εἴη νῦν καὶ ἀπειροκαλίας μεστὸν δι' ἀκριβείας ἀπαριθμήσασθαι. Διὰ τοῦτο ὠνόμασεν ὁ Θεὸς τὰ συστήματα τῶν ὑδάτων θαλάσσας. Ἀλλ' εἰς τοῦτο μὲν ἡμᾶς ἐξήνεγκεν ἡ ἀκολουθία τοῦ λόγου, ἡμεῖς δὲ πρὸς τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐπανέλθωμεν.