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may not be seen. For God did not misuse His invisible nature; let no one use this as a pretext; and leave Himself completely unknown to men; but, as I said before, He so ordered creation, that although He is not seen in His nature, He is nevertheless known from His works. And this I do not say on my own authority, but from what I learned from theological men, one of whom is Paul, who writes thus to the Romans: For His invisible attributes, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood from His works. But speaking boldly to the Lycaonians and saying: We also are men of like nature with you, preaching the good news to you to turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, who in past generations allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. And yet He did not leave Himself without witness, doing good, giving us rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. For who, seeing the circle of heaven and the course of the sun and moon, and the positions and revolutions of the other stars, which are contrary and different, but in their difference the same order is preserved by all of them together, does not consider that it is not they themselves, but another who is their creator and orderer? And who, seeing the sun rising by day, and the moon shining by night, and waning, and waxing again without variation according to the same exact number of days, and some of the stars running their course and variously changing their paths, while others move without deviation, would not conceive the thought that there is surely a creator who governs them?

36 Who, seeing things contrary by nature joined together, and having a concordant harmony, for instance, who, having seen fire mixed with cold, and dry with moist, and these not opposing one another, but forming one body as if from one source, would not consider that the one who joined these things is external to them? Who, seeing winter giving way to spring, and spring to summer, and summer to autumn, and that these are contrary by nature; for the one chills, the other burns, the one nourishes, the other causes to decay; yet all of them result in an equal and harmless utility for men; would not understand that there is someone greater than these, who provides equality to all and governs all things, even if he does not see him? Who, seeing the clouds being supported in the air, and in the clouds the bound weight of the waters, does not conceive of the one who bound these things and commanded them to be? Or who, seeing the earth itself, being by nature most heavy, established upon the water and remaining motionless upon that which by nature is moved, will not reason that there is someone who ordered and made these things, a God? Who, seeing the seasonable fruitfulness of the earth, and rains from heaven, and the flowings of rivers, and the gushings of springs, and the generations of animals from dissimilar parents, and these things happening not always but at appointed seasons; and in short who, contemplating in dissimilar and contrary things the equal and same order resulting from them, would not consider that there is one power that has ordered and directs these things, remaining rightly as seems best to it? For these things by themselves could not subsist nor ever be able to appear because of the contrariety of their nature to one another. For water is by nature heavy and flows downward, but the clouds are light and happen to be of the light and upward-bearing things; and yet we see the heavier water being carried in the clouds. And again the earth is most heavy, but water in turn is lighter than it; and yet the heavier is supported by the lighter, and is not borne down, but the earth stands motionless. And the male is not the same as the female, and yet they are brought together into one, and one generation of a like animal is produced from both. And to sum up, the cold is contrary to the hot, and the moist conflicts with the dry; and yet

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μὴ θεωρῆται. οὐ γὰρ κατεχρήσατο τῇ ἀοράτῳ φύσει αὐτοῦ ὁ Θεός· μή τις τοῦτο προφασιζέσθω· καὶ παντελῶς ἑαυτὸν ἄγνωστον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀφῆκεν· ἀλλ' ὡς προεῖπον, οὕτω διεκόσμησε τὴν κτίσιν, ὥστε καὶ μὴ ὁρώμενον αὐτὸν τῇ φύσει, ὅμως ἐκ τῶν ἔργων γινώ σκεσθαι. καὶ τοῦτο οὐ παρ' ἐμαυτοῦ φημι, ἀλλ' ἀφ' ὧν παρὰ τῶν θεολόγων ἀνδρῶν ἔμαθον, ὧν εἷς ἐστιν ὁ Παῦλος, Ῥωμαίοις μὲν γράφων οὕτω· Τὰ γὰρ ἀόρατα αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου τοῖς ποιήμασι νοούμενα καθορᾶται. Λυκάοσι δὲ παρρησιαζό μενος καὶ λέγων· Καὶ ἡμεῖς ὁμοιοπαθεῖς ἐσμεν ὑμῖν ἄνθρω ποι, εὐαγγελιζόμενοι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τῶν ματαίων ἐπιστρέφειν ἐπὶ Θεὸν ζῶντα, ὃς ἐποίησε τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς, ὃς ἐν ταῖς παρῳχη μέναις γενεαῖς εἴασε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη πορεύεσθαι ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτῶν. καίτοι γε οὐκ ἀμάρτυρον ἑαυτὸν ἀφῆκεν ἀγαθουρ γῶν, οὐρανόθεν ἡμῖν ὑετοὺς διδοὺς καὶ καιροὺς καρπο φόρους, ἐμπιπλῶν τροφῆς καὶ εὐφροσύνης τὰς καρδίας ἡμῶν. τίς γάρ, ὁρῶν τὸν οὐρανοῦ κύκλον καὶ τὸν δρόμον ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀστέρων τὰς θέσεις καὶ τὰς περιπολή σεις, ἐναντίας μὲν καὶ διαφόρους γιγνομένας, ἐν δὲ τῇ διαφορᾷ ὁμοίαν τὴν τάξιν παρὰ πάντων ὁμοῦ σωζομένην, οὐκ ἐνθυμεῖται ὅτι οὐκ αὐτὰ ἑαυτά, ἀλλ' ἕτερός ἐστιν ὁ διακοσμῶν αὐτὰ ποιητής; τίς δέ, ὁρῶν ἥλιον μὲν ἀνατέλλοντα μεθ' ἡμέραν, σελήνην δὲ φαίνουσαν κατὰ νύκτα, καὶ φθίνουσαν, καὶ πληρουμένην ἀπαραλλάκτως κατὰ τὸν τῶν ἡμερῶν ἴσον πάντως ἀριθμόν, καὶ τῶν ἄστρων τὰ μὲν διατρέχοντα καὶ ποικίλως ἐναλλάττοντα τοὺς δρόμους, τὰ δὲ ἀπλανῶς κινούμενα, οὐκ ἂν ἔννοιαν λάβοι ὅτι πάντως ἐστὶν ὁ κυβερνῶν αὐτὰ δημιουργός;

36 Τίς, ὁρῶν τὰ ἐναντία τῇ φύσει συνημμένα, καὶ σύμφωνον ἔχοντα τὴν ἁρμονίαν, οἷον, τίς, ἰδὼν πῦρ ψυχρῷ, καὶ ξηρὸν ὑγρῷ κεκραμμένον, καὶ ταῦτα μὴ ἀντιστατοῦντα πρὸς ἄλληλα, ἀλλ' ἓν ἀποτελοῦντα ὡς ἐξ ἑνὸς τὸ σῶμα, οὐκ ἂν ἐνθυμηθείη ἔξωθεν εἶναι τούτων τὸν ταῦτα συνάψαντα; τίς, ἰδὼν χειμῶνα παραχωροῦντα ἔαρι, καὶ ἔαρ θέρει, καὶ θέρος μετοπώρῳ, καὶ ὅτι ἐναντία ὄντα ταῦτα τῇ φύσει· τὸν μὲν γὰρ ψύχει, τὸ δὲ καίει, τὸ δὲ τρέφει, τὸ δὲ φθίνει· ὅμως τὰ πάντα ἴσην καὶ ἀβλαβῆ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀποτελοῦντα τὴν χρῆσιν· οὐκ ἂν ἐννοήσειεν ὅτι ἐστί τις κρείττων τούτων, ὁ τὴν ἰσότητα παρέχων πᾶσι καὶ κυβερνῶν τὰ πάντα, κἂν μὴ βλέπῃ τοῦ τον; τίς, ὁρῶν ἐν ἀέρι τὰς νεφέλας ὑποβασταζομένας, καὶ ἐν νεφέλαις τὴν τῶν ὑδάτων δεθεῖσαν βαρύτητα, οὐκ ἔννοιαν λαμβάνει τοῦ ταῦτα δήσαντος καὶ προστάξαντος γενέσθαι; ἢ τίς, ὁρῶν αὐτὴν τὴν γῆν βαρυτάτην οὖσαν τῇ φύσει, ἐπὶ τὸ ὕδωρ ἑδρασθεῖσαν καὶ ἀκίνητον μένουσαν ἐπὶ τὸ φύσει κινούμενον, οὐ διανοηθήσεται εἶναί τινα τὸν ταῦτα διαταξάμενον καὶ ποιήσαντα Θεόν; τίς, ἰδὼν τὴν κατὰ καιρὸν τῆς γῆς καρποφορίαν, καὶ οὐρανόθεν ὑετούς, καὶ ποταμῶν ἐπιρροίας, καὶ πηγῶν ἀναβλύσεις, καὶ ζώων ἐξ ἀνομοίων γονάς, καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἀεὶ ἀλλὰ κατὰ καιροὺς ὡρισμένους γινόμενα· καὶ ὅλως τίς, κατανοή σας ἐν ἀνομοίοις καὶ ἐναντίοις τὴν ἴσην καὶ ὁμοίαν παρ' αὐτῶν ἀποτελουμένην τάξιν, οὐκ ἂν ἐνθυμηθείη ὅτι ἐστὶ μία δύναμις ἡ ταῦτα διακοσμησαμένη καὶ διέπουσα, ὡς ἂν αὐτῇ δοκῇ, μένουσα καλῶς; αὐτὰ μὲν γὰρ καθ' ἑαυτὰ οὐκ ἂν συσταίη καὶ φανῆναί ποτε δυνηθείη διὰ τὴν πρὸς ἄλληλα τῆς φύσεως ἐναντιότητα. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ὕδωρ φύσει βαρὺ καὶ κάτω ῥέον ἐστίν, αἱ δὲ νεφέλαι κοῦφαι καὶ τῶν ἐλαφρῶν καὶ τῶν ἀνωφερῶν τυγχάνουσι· καὶ ὅμως τὸ βαρύ τερον ὕδωρ ὁρῶμεν ἐν ταῖς νεφέλαις βασταζόμενον. καὶ πάλιν ἡ μὲν γῆ βαρυτάτη ἐστί, τὸ δ' αὖ πάλιν ὕδωρ κουφότερόν ἐστι ταύτης· καὶ ὅμως ὑπὸ τῶν ἐλαφροτέρων τὸ βαρύτερον βαστάζεται, καὶ οὐ καταφέρεται, ἀλλ' ἕστηκεν ἀκίνητος ἡ γῆ. καὶ τὸ μὲν ἄρρεν οὐ ταὐτόν ἐστι τῷ θήλει, καὶ ὅμως εἰς ἓν συνάγεται, καὶ μία παρ' ἀμφο τέρων ἀποτελεῖται γένεσις τοῦ ὁμοίου ζώου. καὶ συνελόντι φάναι, τὸ ψυχρὸν τῷ θερμῷ ἐναντίον ἐστί, καὶ τὸ ὑγρὸν τῷ ξηρῷ μάχεται· καὶ ὅμως