Chapter XVII.—Of the Sixth Day.

And on the sixth day, God having made the quadrupeds, and wild beasts, and the land reptiles, pronounced no blessing upon them, reserving His blessing for man, whom He was about to create on the sixth day. The quadrupeds, too, and wild beasts, were made for a type of some men, who neither know nor worship God, but mind earthly things, and repent not. For those who turn from their iniquities and live righteously, in spirit fly upwards like birds, and mind the things that are above, and are well-pleasing to the will of God. But those who do not know nor worship God, are like birds which have wings, but cannot fly nor soar to the high things of God. Thus, too, though such persons are called men, yet being pressed down with sins, they mind grovelling and earthly things. And the animals are named wild beasts [θηρία], from their being hunted [θηρεύεσθαι], not as if they had been made evil or venomous from the first—for nothing was made evil by God,63    [Note the solid truth that God is not the author of evil, and the probable suggestion that all nature sympathized with man’s transgression. Rom. viii. 22.] but all things good, yea, very good,—but the sin in which man was concerned brought evil upon them. For when man transgressed, they also transgressed with him. For as, if the master of the house himself acts rightly, the domestics also of necessity conduct themselves well; but if the master sins, the servants also sin with him; so in like manner it came to pass, that in the case of man’s sin, he being master, all that was subject to him sinned with him. When, therefore, man again shall have made his way back to his natural condition, and no longer does evil, those also shall be restored to their original gentleness.

Ἕκτῃ δὲ ἡμέρᾳ ὁ θεὸς ποιήσας τὰ τετράποδα καὶ τὰ θηρία καὶ ἑρπετὰ τὰ χερσαῖα τὴν πρὸς αὐτὰ εὐλογίαν παρασιωπᾷ, τηρῶν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τὴν εὐλογίαν, ὃν ἤμελλεν ἐν τῇ ἕκτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ποιεῖν. Ἅμα καὶ εἰς τύπον ἐγένοντο τά τε τετράποδα καὶ θηρία ἐνίων ἀνθρώπων τῶν τὸν θεὸν ἀγνοούντων καὶ ἀσεβούντων καὶ τὰ ἐπίγεια φρονούντων καὶ μὴ μετανοούντων. οἱ γὰρ ἐπιστρέφοντες ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνομιῶν καὶ δικαίως ζῶντες ὥσπερ πετεινὰ ἀνίπτανται τῇ ψυχῇ, τὰ ἄνω φρονοῦντες καὶ εὐαρεστοῦντες τῷ θελήματι τοῦ θεοῦ. οἱ δὲ τὸν θεὸν ἀγνοοῦντες καὶ ἀσεβοῦντες ὅμοιοί εἰσιν ὀρνέοις τὰ πτερὰ μὲν ἔχουσιν, μὴ δυναμένοις δὲ ἀνίπτασθαι καὶ τὰ ἄνω τρέχειν τῆς θειότητος. οὕτως καὶ οἱ τοιοῦτοι ἄνθρωποι μὲν λέγονται, τὰ δὲ χαμαιφερῆ καὶ τὰ ἐπίγεια φρονοῦσιν, καταβαρούμενοι ὑπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν. Θηρία δὲ ὠνόμασται τὰ ζῶα ἀπὸ τοῦ θηρεύεσθαι, οὐχ ὡς κακὰ ἀρχῆθεν γεγενημένα ἢ ἰοβόλα, οὐ γάρ τι κακὸν ἀρχῆθεν γέγονεν ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἀλλὰ τὰ πάντα καλὰ καὶ καλὰ λίαν, ἡ δὲ ἁμαρτία ἡ περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον κεκάκωκεν αὐτά· τοῦ γὰρ ἀνθρώπου παραβάντος καὶ αὐτὰ συμπαρέβη. ὥσπερ γὰρ δεσπότης οἰκίας ἐὰν αὐτὸς εὖ πράσσῃ, ἀναγκαίως καὶ οἱ οἰκέται εὐτάκτως ζῶσιν, ἐὰν δὲ ὁ κύριος ἁμαρτάνῃ, καὶ οἱ δοῦλοι συναμαρτάνουσιν, τῷ αὐτῷ τρόπῳ γέγονεν καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον κύριον ὄντα ἁμαρτῆσαι, καὶ τὰ δοῦλα συνήμαρτεν. ὁπόταν οὖν πάλιν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἀναδράμῃ εἰς τὸ κατὰ φύσιν μηκέτι κακοποιῶν, κἀκεῖνα ἀποκατασταθήσεται εἰς τὴν ἀρχῆθεν ἡμερότητα.