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being produced, which the breath makes, being pushed through the windpipe to the mouth, and speech bringing the tongue harmoniously to the teeth, and lips folding, and air being struck, and producing the resistance, 83.608 no one among us has ever heard from men. But appearing and showing both its size and its beauty, and providing men with the use of a roof, in silence it proclaims the Maker, and moves the tongues of all to hymnody; and just as, seeing a house very skillfully made, and resting on a firm foundation, and fitted together with right angles, having both breadth and length, and height, preserving the proportion in relation to these, and windows made in rhythm and order, and the other things that are accustomed to adorn such houses, we immediately admire the artisan, and we picture in our mind the one who is not present, and we refer all the beauty of that comeliness to his skill; so seeing the heaven, and the useful dance of the luminaries in heaven, we do not worship these, but we honor their Maker with powerful hymns, and from the greatness and beauty of created things we contemplate their Author proportionately. For we reason rightly and justly: If the greatness of the works is so vast, how great is the Maker? and if such is the beauty of created things, what must be the beauty of the Master Artisan and Maker of all? Thus, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands;” thus, “Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge;” not emitting a voice, nor speaking through a tongue, but continually succeeding one another, and for the need of men yielding to each other; and they cry out so loudly, that the whole race of men hears their voice. “For there are no speeches,” he says, “nor words, whose voices are not heard.” For every nation and every tongue hears the proclamations of the day and of the night. For tongues have their difference, but one nature reaps the same use from them. So again he who said these things, praising the Creator in another psalm, said: “Your knowledge has been too wonderful for me; it is mighty, I cannot attain to it.” For having turned to myself, he says, and come to be in myself, and having been freed from all external disturbances, I wished to be in contemplation of my own nature, and to perceive accurately the rational power of the soul, the knowledge of which it is receptive, the arts with which it has filled life, through which it lives more pleasantly and cheerfully, the multitude of words which it travails to bring forth, whose immensity it receives; how it stores these things up, and guards them distinctly; how it easily brings forth what it wishes from the things stored up; how it directs the body, and to the eyes, it entrusts the discernment of sizes and colors; and to the tongue, it has entrusted the judging of tastes, and has appointed it minister of its own travails, and it has declared the nostrils to be the judge of smells, and has opened the ears to words brought from without; 83.609 and to the rest of the body it has handed over the power of touch; and it provides to these the activity of perception, and in return receives from them both pain and pleasure; considering these things and such as these, he says, and seeing the concurrence of these opposites in the construction of one living being, and the natural union and yoking together of the mortal and the immortal, I am overcome with wonder, and not attaining to the contemplation, I confess defeat, and proclaiming the victory of the Creator's wisdom, and hymning the Maker, I cry out: “Your knowledge has been too wonderful for me; it is mighty, I cannot attain to it.” And these words are also fitting for us in the present case, we who have indeed wished to perceive the wisdom that appears in the parts of the human body, but have been taught our weakness by the attempt. Nevertheless, we have gained no small thing from this dim contemplation;

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φερομένης, ἣν ποιεῖ πνεῦμα διὰ τῆς ἀρτηρίας ὠθούμενον ἐπὶ τὸ στόμα, καὶ λόγος γλῶτ ταν ἐναρμονίως τοῖς ὀδοῦσι προσφέρων, καὶ χείλη πτυσσόμενα, καὶ ἀὴρ πλησσόμενος, καὶ τὴν ἀντιτυ 83.608 πίαν ἐργαζόμενος, οὐδεὶς τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἀκήκοε πώποτε ἀνθρώπων. Φαινόμενος δὲ καὶ τό τε μέγεθος, τό τε κάλλος ὑποδεικνὺς, καὶ τῆς ὀροφῆς τοῖς ἀνθρώ ποις παρέχων τὴν χρείαν, σιγῶν κηρύττει τὸν Ποιη τὴν, καὶ τὰς ἁπάντων γλώττας εἰς ὑμνῳδίαν κινεῖ· καὶ καθάπερ οἰκίαν ὁρῶντες τεχνικῶς μάλα γεγε νημένην, καὶ ἐπὶ στεῤῥᾶς κρηπῖδος ἐρηρεισμέ νην, καὶ γωνίαις εὐθείαις συνηρμοσμένην, εὖρός τε καὶ μῆκος ἔχουσαν, καὶ ὕψος, τὴν πρὸς ταῦτα δια σῶζον ἀναλογίαν, καὶ φωταγωγοὺς ἐν ῥυθμῷ καὶ τάξει γεγενημένας, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα τὰς τοιαύτας οἰκίας λαμ πρύνειν φιλεῖ, εὐθὺς τὸν τεχνίτην θαυμάζομεν, καὶ τὸν οὐ παρόντα ζωγραφοῦμεν τῇ διανοίᾳ, καὶ εἰς τὴν ἐκείνου τέχνην πᾶσαν ἐκείνης τῆς εὐπρεπείας ἀναφέ ρομεν τὴν εὐμορφίαν· οὕτως οὐρανὸν ὁρῶντες, καὶ τῶν κατ' οὐρανὸν φωστήρων τὴν χρειώδη χορείαν, οὐ ταῦτα προσκυνοῦμεν, ἀλλὰ τὸν τούτων Ποιητὴν ταῖς δυναταῖς ὑμνῳδίαις γεραίρομεν, καὶ ἐκ μεγέθους καὶ καλλονῆς κτισμάτων ἀναλόγως τὸν Γενεσιουρ γὸν θεωροῦμεν. Λογιζόμεθα γὰρ ὀρθῶς καὶ δικαίως· Εἰ τηλικοῦτον τῶν ποιημάτων τὸ μέγεθος, πηλίκος ὁ Ποιητής; καὶ εἰ τοιαύτη τῶν γενητῶν ἡ ὥρα, οἷον τοῦ ἀριστοτέχνου καὶ Ποιητοῦ τῶν ὅλων τὸ κάλλος; Οὕτως, «Οἱ οὐρανοὶ διηγοῦνται δόξαν Θεοῦ, ποίησιν δὲ χειρῶν αὐτοῦ ἀναγγέλλει τὸ στερέωμα·» οὕτως, «Ἡμέρα τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐρεύγεται ῥῆμα, καὶ νὺξ νυκτὶ ἀναγγέλλει γνῶσιν·» οὐ φωνὴν ἀφιεῖσαι, οὐδὲ διὰ γλώττης φθεγγόμεναι, ἀλλὰ διηνεκῶς ἀλλήλας διαδεχόμεναι, καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων χρείαν ὑπ' ἀλλήλων πλεονεκτούμεναι· καὶ τοσοῦτόν πως ἐκβοῶσιν, ὡς ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων τὸ γένος τῆς τού των ἐπαΐειν φωνῆς. «Οὐκ εἰσὶ γὰρ, φησὶ, λαλιαὶ, οὐδὲ λόγοι, ὧν οὐχὶ ἀκούονται αἱ φωναὶ αὐ τῶν.» Ἅπαν γὰρ ἔθνος, καὶ ἅπασα γλῶσσα τῶν τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς κηρυγμάτων ἀκούει. Αἱ μὲν γὰρ γλῶτται τὸ διάφορον ἔχουσι, μία δὲ φύσις τὴν αὐτὴν παρὰ τούτων δρέπεται χρείαν. Οὕτω πάλιν ὁ ταῦτα εἰρηκὼς, ἐν ἑτέρῳ ψαλμῷ τὸν ∆ημιουργὸν ἀνυμνῶν, ἔλεγεν· «Ἐθαυμαστώθη ἡ γνῶσίς σου ἐξ ἐμοῦ, ἐκραταιώθη, οὐ μὴ δύνωμαι πρὸς αὐτήν.» Εἰς ἐμαυτὸν γὰρ, φησὶ, στραφεὶς, καὶ ἐν ἐμαυτῷ γενόμενος, καὶ τῶν ἔξωθεν ἁπάντων θορύβων ἀπαλ λαγεὶς, ἐν θεωρίᾳ τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ γενέσθαι φύσεως ἠβουλήθην, καὶ τὴν λογικὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀκριβῶς δύ ναμιν κατιδεῖν, τὰς ἐπιστήμας, ὧν ἐστι δεκτι κὴ, τὰς τέχνας, ὧν τὸν βίον ἐνέπλησε, δι' ὧν ἥδιον καὶ θυμηρέστερον βιοτεύει, ὧν ὠδίνει λό γων τὸ πλῆθος, ὧν δέχεται τὴν ἀμετρίαν· πῶς ἀπο τίθεται ταῦτα, καὶ διακεκριμένως φυλάττει· πῶς προφέρει ῥᾳδίως τῶν ἀποκειμένων ὃ βούλεται· πῶς ἰθύνει τὸ σῶμα, καὶ ὀφθαλμοῖς μὲν, ὄγκων καὶ χρωμάτων ἐγχειρίζει διάκρισιν· γλώττῃ δὲ, χυμοὺς δικάζειν ἐπίστευσε, καὶ διάκονον τῶν οἰκείων ὠδίνων ἐχειροτόνησεν, ὀσμῶν δὲ κριτήριον ἀπέφηνε τὰς ῥῖ νας, καὶ λόγοις ἔξωθεν φερομένοις τὰς ἀκοὰς ἀνεπέ 83.609 τασε· τῷ δὲ λοιπῷ σώματι τὴν ἁπτὴν ἐνεχείρισε δύναμιν· καὶ παρέχει μὲν τούτοις τὴν αἰσθητικὴν ἐνέργειαν, ἀντιλαμβάνει δὲ παρὰ τούτων καὶ λύπην καὶ εὐφροσύνην· ταῦτα καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτά φησι λογι ζόμενος, καὶ ὁρῶν τὴν τῶν ἐναντίων τούτων συνδρο μὴν εἰς ἑνὸς ζώου κατασκευὴν, καὶ τοῦ θνητοῦ καὶ ἀθανάτου συμφυΐαν καὶ συζυγίαν, νικῶμαι τῷ θαύματι, καὶ τῆς θεωρίας οὐκ ἐφικνούμενος, τὴν ἧτταν ὁμολογῶ, καὶ τῆς τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ σοφίας ἀνα κηρύττων τὴν νίκην, καὶ τὸν Ποιητὴν ἀνυμνῶν, βοῶ· «Ἐθαυμαστώθη ἡ γνῶσίς σου ἐξ ἐμοῦ, ἐκρα ταιώθη, οὐ μὴ δύνωμαι πρὸς αὐτήν.» Καὶ ταῦτα καὶ ἡμῖν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἁρμόττει τὰ ῥήμα τα, τὴν φαινομένην ἐν τοῖς τοῦ ἀνθρωπείου σώματος μορίοις σοφίαν κατιδεῖν ἐθελήσασι μὲν, τῇ δὲ πείρᾳ τὴν ἀσθένειαν διδαχθεῖσιν. Οὐ μικρὰ δὲ ὅμως ἐκ τῆς ἀμυδρᾶς κεκερδήκαμεν θεωρίας·