why is it created and invisible? Response. Having the words of the creator of creation that distinguish soul from body, they ought not to demand more trustworthy examples than these for a demonstration of the truth being sought. For to have given to the devil authority over the whole bodily constitution of Job to strike it as he wishes, and to have forbidden him to touch his soul, shows that the incorporeal soul is something other than his afflicted flesh. Likewise also, 'Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul,' this declares that there is something of the slain man that remains in immortality even after the death of the body. So it is absurd to say that blood, which is poured out and corrupted, is the soul. It is therefore manifest that the soul is invisible to men according to its own nature. Question 69. Why does the number seven admit of change? For indeed on the Sabbath the air often changes, and man's progress according to his age receives an increase in this number, with teeth growing in the seventh month, and these changing in the seventh year, and when the sevens are doubled again, they acquire seminal power, and, to speak briefly, the number of seven works the growth and cessation of men, and makes a distinction of diseases, and in law it possesses honor among the other numbers. Response. The fulfillment of the works of nature happens according to the power of nature, and not according to a temporal presentation defined by a group of seven months or years. Therefore, nature often brings the aforementioned works of nature in the question to their own perfection faster or slower than the periods of seven; which would not happen if nature followed the week and not the week nature. The week, therefore, is not the cause of the fulfillment of the works of nature, but the power of nature is the cause of the week, during which nature then undertakes to complete its own works. Likewise also concerning the other numbers of both months and years, through which the work of nature is fulfilled in the other animals and plants, the power of nature is the cause of the equal time, and of the greater and of the lesser. But the number seven is more venerable in the divine scripture than the other numbers, because in it is the whole time of both the creation of the world and of the rest of the one who made it; a hexad for the creation, and a monad for the rest. Therefore, so that the memory of the creation of the world might be preserved among men, for this reason he appointed the number seven to be found more honorable than the others in the divine scripture. Question 70. If to rejoice and be proud in spiritual gifts was forbidden

τι κτίσει καὶ ἀόρατον; Ἀπόκρισις. Ἔχοντες τὰς φωνὰς τοῦ δημιουργοῦ τῆς κτίσεως τὰς δια στελλούσας ψυχὴν σώματος, ἀξιοπιστότερα τούτων ὑποδείγ ματα εἰς παράστασιν τῆς τοῦ ζητουμένου ἀληθείας οὐκ ὀφεί λουσιν ἀπαιτεῖν. Τὸ γὰρ δοῦναι τῷ διαβόλῳ κατὰ πάσης τῆς σωματικῆς τοῦ Ἰὼβ συστάσεως τὴν ἐξουσίαν τοῦ πατάξαι αὐτὴν ὡς βούλεται, καὶ κωλῦσαι αὐτὸν τοῦ ἅψασθαι αὐτοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς, δείκνυσι τὴν ἀσώματον ψυχὴν ἕτερόν τι παρὰ τὴν πε πληγμένην σάρκα αὐτοῦ. Ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τὸ Μὴ φοβεῖσθε ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποκτεινόντων τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν μὴ δυναμένων ἀποκτεῖναι, τοῦτο δηλοῖ τὸ εἶναί τι τοῦ ἀναιρεθέντος ἀνθρώ που τὸ ἐν ἀθανασίᾳ διαμένον καὶ μετὰ τὸν τοῦ σώματος θά νατον. Ὥστε ἄτοπον λέγειν αἷμα τὸ ἐκχυθὲν καὶ φθαρὲν ψυ χήν. Πρόδηλον ἄρα ἐστὶν ὅτι ἡ ψυχὴ ἀόρατον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις κατὰ τὴν οἰκείαν φύσιν. Ἐρώτησις ξθ. ∆ιὰ τί ὁ ἑπτὰ ἀριθμὸς ἐναλλαγὴν δέχεται; Καὶ γὰρ ἐν σαββάτῳ ὡς τὰ πολλὰ ὁ ἀὴρ μεταβάλλεται, καὶ ἡ τοῦ ἀνθρώ που κατὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν προκοπὴ ἐν τούτῳ τῷ ἀριθμῷ λαμβάνει ἐπίδοσιν, ὀδόντων μὲν φυομένων τῷ ἑβδόμῳ μηνί, τῷ δ' αὐτῷ ἔτει ἀλλασσομένων τούτων, διπλασιασθέντων δὲ πάλιν σπερ ματικὴν προσκτωμένων δύναμιν, καί, ἵνα συντόμως εἴπω, ὁ ἀριθμὸς τῶν ἑπτὰ τὴν αὔξησιν καὶ λῆξιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐρ γάζεται, καὶ τῶν νοσημάτων ποιεῖται διάκρισιν, καὶ ἐν νόμῳ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀριθμῶν τὸ αἰδέσιμον κέκτηται. Ἀπόκρισις. Πρὸς τὴν δύναμιν τῆς φύσεως τῶν ἔργων τῆς φύσεως ἡ ἐκπλήρωσις γίνεται, καὶ οὐ πρὸς τὴν χρονικὴν παράστασιν ἑβδομάδι μηνῶν ἢ ἐνιαυτῶν ὡρισμένην. ∆ιὸ τὰ ὀνομασθέντα ἔργα τῆς φύσεως ἐν τῇ ἐρωτήσει πολλάκις θᾶττον ἢ βραδύτε ρον τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀριθμῶν ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκείαν ἄγει ἡ φύσις τελειό τητα· ἅπερ οὐκ ἂν ἐγίνετο, εἰ ἡ φύσις τῇ ἑβδομάδι καὶ μὴ ἡ ἑβδομὰς τῇ φύσει ἠκολούθει. Oὐχ ἡ ἑβδομὰς οὖν ἐστιν αἰτία τῆς ἐκπληρώσεως τῶν ἔργων τῆς φύσεως, ἀλλὰ ἡ δύναμις τῆς φύσεως αἰτία τῆς ἑβδομάδος, καθ' ἣν οὖν λαμβάνει τῇ φύσει τὰ οἰκεῖα ἔργα ἐκτελέσαι. Ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀριθμῶν μηνῶν τε καὶ ἐνιαυτῶν, δι' ὧν ἐκπληροῦται τὸ ἔργον τῆς φύσεως ἐν τοῖς λοιποῖς ζώοις τε καὶ φυτοῖς, ἡ δύναμις τῆς φύσεώς ἐστιν αἰτία τοῦ ἴσου χρόνου, καὶ τοῦ πλείονος καὶ τοῦ ἐλάττονος. Aἰδεσιμώτερος δὲ ἐν τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ ὁ ἑπτὰ ἀριθμὸς παρὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἀριθμούς, ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ ὁ πᾶς χρόνος τῆς τε τοῦ κόσμου ποιήσεως καὶ τῆς τοῦ πεποιηκότος αὐτὸν καταπαύσεως· ἑξὰς μὲν τῆς ποιήσεως, μονὰς δὲ τῆς καταπαύσεως. Ἵνα οὖν φυλαχθῇ ἡ μνήμη τῆς τοῦ κόσμου ποιήσεως ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, διὰ τοῦτο τιμιώτερον τῶν ἄλ λων εὑρίσκειν ἔταξε τὸν ἑπτὰ ἀριθμὸν ἐν τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ. Ἐρώτησις ο. Eἰ τὸ χαίρειν καὶ γαυριᾶν ἐπὶ τοῖς χαρίσμασιν ἀπηγόρευ