it is not easy even for those who have known him to say he is capable in all things. And again, elsewhere: To this common conception of all men there is also another: for all of us men are so naturally attached to the heaven and the gods appearing in it, that even if someone supposed another God besides them, he would have certainly assigned heaven to him as a dwelling place, not by separating him from the earth, but as though seating the king of all in that more honorable part of the universe, supposing him to watch over the things here from there. {CYRIL} See then how those who could not endure the gross and beggarly and, so to speak, vulgar error, and departed from the opinion of the common herd, have not been entirely deprived of the true conception of God, but have inferred the nature and greatness of the superiority of the power inherent in him, so as to subject so great and admirable a creation to the laws of good order. 2.24 But the others, about whom the discourse is, have neither known God through his creations, but indeed were so stupefied, and have become devoid of a mind befitting a human, as not only to choose to worship heaven and earth and the moon and the other stars, but indeed also to set up multiform images in sacred enclosures, and to engrave on them forms not only of humans, but also of irrational animals and birds and reptiles, and to call them gods and saviors. Then how could one not admire the skill of Moses, who spoke nothing over-curious or profound and not easily acceptable to the people of that time, but rather those things through which it was possible for them to pass over to what is right and is able to direct them to a blameless belief, that is, I say, in the God who rules over all? Then one would praise, and very rightly, the teachers of youths for condescending to their understanding, and leading them by the hand little by little towards being able to see something of the secret doctrines, setting before them in the beginning nothing of what is too elaborate and has a somewhat steep approach; but shall we not deem the most holy Moses, who has done this, worthy of all praise? But if it seems to you that he said nothing of what was necessary, do you wish that we take up your favorite studies? Let us examine, as far as possible, the precise details of Hesiod's Theogony. 2.25 For he makes the pretense of being heard by the gods, and has assigned to himself the appearance of being seized by the Muses as some great and enviable thing. Tell (he says) how at the first the gods and earth were born, And rivers, and the boundless sea with its raging swell, The shining stars also and the broad heaven above. Then saying that Chaos and Night came to be, and not adding in what way: But Earth (he says) first bore starry Heaven, equal to herself, to cover her on every side. And after declaring Heaven the child of Earth, that she also bore the seas, having lain with Heaven, Coeus and Crius and Hyperion and Iapetus, and Theia and Rhea and Themis and Mnemosyne, and besides these Phoebe, whom he also calls golden-crowned, and indeed Tethys, and he says that the youngest of all was Cronus; then to these he adds a certain rabble of random and incoherent narratives. But perhaps he will say that Hesiod fabricated these things according to the law of the poet; for perhaps he blushes at his narratives. For what reason, then, does he accuse the hierophant Moses, who composed a clear and most unerring writing of true narratives? For he said that there were made by God both the heaven and the earth, the sun and the moon, stars and light, winged and swimming creatures, and the kinds of irrational animals, and the beauties of plants, edible fruits, and the grasses in the fields. 2.26 But see how through these words he most wisely shears away the error that fell upon the ancients; for do they not indeed call the heaven Zeus, and Demeter

ῥᾴδιον οὔτε τοῖς ἐγνωκόσιν εἰπεῖν εἰς πάντα δυνατόν. Καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα πάλιν· Ταύτῃ δὴ τῇ κοινῇ πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἐννοίᾳ πρόσεστι καὶ ἄλλη· πάντες γὰρ ἄνθρωποι οὐρανῷ καὶ τοῖς ἐν αὐτῷ φαινομένοις θεοῖς οὕτω δή τι φυσικῶς προσηρτήμεθα ὡς καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλον ὑπέλαβε παρ' αὐτοὺς τὸν Θεόν, οἰκητήριον αὐτῷ πάντως τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀπένειμεν, οὐκ ἀποστήσας αὐτὸν τῆς γῆς, ἀλλ' οἷον ὡς εἰς τιμιώτερον τοῦ παντὸς ἐκεῖνο τὸν βασιλέα καθίσας τῶν ὅλων, ἐφορᾶν ἐκεῖθεν ὑπολαμβάνων τὰ τῇδε. {ΚΥΡΙΛΛΟΣ} Ἄθρει δὴ οὖν ὅπως οἱ τὴν παχεῖαν καὶ ἀγυρτώδη καί, ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω, βαναυσικὴν οὐκ ἀνασχόμενοι πλάνην, καὶ τῆς τῶν ἀγελαίων ἀποφοιτήσαντες δόξης, οὐκ ἠμοιρήκασι παντελῶς τῆς ἀληθοῦς ἐννοίας περὶ Θεοῦ, κατετεκμήραντο δὲ τίς τε καὶ ὅση τῆς ἐνούσης αὐτῷ δυνάμεως ἡ ὑπεροχή, ὡς καὶ θεσμοῖς εὐταξίας τὴν οὕτω μεγάλην καὶ ἀξιάγαστον κτίσιν ὑπενεγκεῖν. 2.24 Οἵ γε μὴν ἕτεροι, περὶ ὧν ὁ λόγος, οὔτε Θεὸν ἐγνώκασι διὰ τῶν κτισμάτων, ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἦσαν οὕτως ἐμβρόντητοι, καὶ φρενὸς ἔξω γεγόνασιν ἀνθρωποπρεποῦς, ὡς μὴ μόνον οὐρανῷ καὶ γῇ καὶ σελήνῃ καὶ τοῖς ἑτέροις τῶν ἄστρων ἑλέσθαι προσκυνεῖν, ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ ἐν σηκοῖς εἴδη πολύμορφα καθιδρῦσαι, ἐγχαράξαι τε μορφὰς αὐτοῖς οὐκ ἀνθρωπείας μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ζῴων ἀλόγων καὶ πτηνῶν καὶ ἑρπετῶν, καὶ θεοὺς αὐτὰ καὶ σωτῆρας ἀποκαλεῖν. Εἶτα πῶς οὐκ ἂν ἀγάσαιτό τις τῆς μωσαϊκῆς εὐτεχνίας, περίεργον μὲν ἢ βαθὺ καὶ οὐκ εὐπαράδεκτον τοῖς τὸ τηνικάδε λαλούσης οὐδέν, ἐκεῖνα δὲ μᾶλλον τὰ δι' ὧν ἦν δύνασθαι μεταφοιτᾶν αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὸ ἔχον ὀρθῶς καὶ ἀπευθύνειν εἰδὸς εἰς ἀμώμητον δόξαν, τὴν ἐπί γε, φημί, τῷ πάντων κρατοῦντι Θεῷ; Εἶτα τοὺς μὲν τῶν μειρακίων διδασκάλους ἐπαινέσαι τις ἂν καὶ μάλα εἰκότως συγκαθισταμένους αὐτῶν ταῖς γνώμαις, καὶ χειραγωγοῦντας κατὰ βραχὺ πρὸς τὸ δύνασθαί τι τῶν ἀπορρήτων ἰδεῖν, οὐδὲν δὲ αὐτοῖς τῶν ἄγαν ἐξησκημένων καὶ ἀνάντη πως ἐχόντων τὴν προσβολὴν παρατιθέντας ἐν ἀρχαῖς, πεπραχότα δὲ τοῦτο Μωσέα τὸν ἱερώτατον οὐκ ἐπαίνου παντὸς ἀξιώσομεν; Εἰ δέ σοι δοκεῖ τῶν ἀναγκαίων εἰπεῖν οὐδέν, βούλει τῶν σοι φιλτάτων ἁψώμεθα μαθημάτων; Πολυπραγμονήσωμεν ὡς ἔνι τῆς Ἡσιόδου Θεογονίας τὸ ἀκριβές. 2.25 Σκήπτεται μὲν γὰρ τὸ θεοκλυτεῖν, καὶ τὸ μουσόληπτος εἶναι δοκεῖν προσνενεμηκὼς ἑαυτῷ ὡς μέγα τι χρῆμα καὶ ἀξιέραστον. Εἴπατε (φησί) δ' ὡς τὰ πρῶτα θεοὶ καὶ γαῖα γένοντο, Καὶ ποταμοί, καὶ πόντος ἀπείριτος οἴδματι θύων, Ἄστρα τε λαμπετόωντα καὶ οὐρανὸς εὐρὺς ὕπερθεν. Εἶτα χάος καὶ νύκτα γενέσθαι λέγων καὶ τίνα τρόπον οὐκ ἐπειπών· Γαῖα (φησί) δέ τοι πρῶτον μὲν ἐγείνατο ἶσον ἑαυτῇ Οὐρανὸν ἀστερόενθ', ἵνα μιν περὶ πάντα καλύπτοι. Καὶ Γῆς τέκνον ἀποφήνας τὸν Οὐρανόν, ὅτι καὶ θαλάσσας τέτοκεν Οὐρανῷ παρευνηθεῖσα, Κοῖόν τε καὶ Κρῖόν θ' Ὑπερίονά τ' Ἰαπετόν τε καὶ Θείαν καὶ Ῥεῖαν καὶ Θέμιν καὶ Μνημοσύνην, Φοίβην τε πρὸς ταύταις, ἣν καὶ χρυσοστέφανον ὀνομάζει, καὶ μέντοι τὴν Τηθύν, ὁπλότατον δὲ πάντων γενέσθαι φησὶ τὸν Κρόνον· εἶτα τούτοις ἐπάγει συρφετούς τινας εἰκαίων καὶ ἀσυστάτων διηγημάτων. Ἀλλ' ἴσως ἐρεῖ τὸν ποιητοῦ νόμον μυθοπλαστῆσαι ταυτὶ τὸν Ἡσίοδον· ἐπερυθριᾷ γὰρ ἴσως τοῖς αὐτοῦ διηγήμασιν. Αἰτιᾶται τοιγαροῦν ἀνθ' ὅτου τὸν ἱεροφάντην Μωσέα, σαφῆ καὶ ἀπλανεστάτην καὶ διηγημάτων ἀληθῶν συντεθεικότα συγγραφήν; Πεποιῆσθαι γὰρ ἔφη παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τόν τε οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν, ἥλιόν τε καὶ σελήνην, ἄστρα καὶ φῶς, πτηνὰ καὶ νηκτά, καὶ ζῴων ἀλόγων εἴδη, καὶ κάλλη φυτῶν, καρπούς τε ἐδωδίμους, καὶ πόας τὰς ἐν ἀγροῖς. 2.26 Ἄθρει δὲ ὅπως διὰ τουτωνὶ τῶν λόγων τὴν τοῖς ἀρχαίοις ἐγκατασκήψασαν πλάνην ἀποκείρει πανσόφως· ἦ γὰρ οὐχὶ ∆ία μὲν ὀνομάζουσι τὸν οὐρανόν, ∆ημήτραν δὲ