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the qualities. Therefore, it follows that, just as we believe the power of the divine will is sufficient for the subsistence of things from non-being; so too, by referring the re-constitution of composite things to the same power, we will not receive the faith as anything beyond what is reasonable. And yet perhaps it was possible, by some inventiveness of argument, to persuade those who quibble about matter, not to seem to run down the argument without a defence.

CHAPTER 24.

A refutation of those who say that matter is co-eternal with God. For not even

does the conception concerning matter appear outside of things found according to what is consequent, the one which asserts that this [matter] subsists from the intelligible and the immaterial; for we will find that all matter is composed of certain qualities, and if it were stripped of these, in itself, it would in no way be apprehended by reason. But indeed each form of quality is separated by reason from the underlying subject. And reason is an intelligible, and not a corporeal, concept. For instance, when some animal or wood is set before our consideration, or some other of the things having a material composition, we have perceived many things about the subject by division in thought, of which the rational account of each is 213 unmixed with what is considered along with it. For the rational account of color is one thing, and that of weight is another, and again that of quantity, and that of the quality pertaining to the property of touch. For both softness and the measure of two cubits, and the rest of what has been said, are consistent neither with one another nor with the body, according to reason. For of each of these its own interpretive definition is conceived, according to what it is, having nothing in common with any other quality considered in the subject.

If, therefore, color is intelligible, and resistance is intelligible, and quantity, and the rest of such properties, and if each of these were to be removed from the subject, the whole rational account of the body is dissolved along with it; it would be consequent to suppose that the concurrence of these things, whose absence we found to be the cause of the body's dissolution, brings forth the material nature. For as there is no body to which color, and shape, and resistance and extension, and weight, and the rest of the properties do not belong, and each of these is not a body, but is found to be something other than the body according to its specific characteristic; so, conversely, wherever the aforesaid things concur, it produces a corporeal substance. But if the comprehension of these properties is intelligible, and the Divine is intelligible by nature, it is not at all unlikely that from the incorporeal nature these intellectual principles came into being for the generation of bodies, with the intelligible nature establishing the intelligible powers, and the concurrence of these with one another bringing the material nature into being. But let these things be examined by us as a digression; and for us, the argument must be brought back again to the faith, through which we have accepted that the universe subsisted from non-being, and having been taught by Scripture that it is again transformed into some other state, we do not doubt.

CHAPTER 25.

How one even of those from without might be brought to believe the Scripture teaching about the

resurrection. But perhaps someone, looking at dissolved bodies, and judging the Divine by the measure of his own power, says that the doctrine of the resurrection is impossible, and that things now moving will come to a standstill, and will be raised up; saying that it is not possible for things not now moving. but let such a one first make the greatest proof of the truth concerning the resurrection the credibility of its proclamation; and the faith in what is said has its security from the outcome of the other things that were foretold. For since the divine [Scripture] has set forth many and various sayings

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τὰς ποιότητας. Οὐκοῦν ἀκολούθως, ὡς ἀρκεῖν ἡγούμεθα τοῖς οὖσι πρὸς τὴν ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος ὑπόστασιν, τὴν τοῦ θείου θελήματος δύναμιν· οὕτω καὶ τὴν ἀναστοιχείωσιν τῶν συνεστώτων εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν ἀνάγοντες δύναμιν, εἰς οὐδὲν ἔξω τοῦ εἰ κότος τὴν πίστιν παραληψόμεθα. Καίτοι γε δυνατὸν ἴσως ἦν, εὑρεσιλογίᾳ τινὶ τοὺς περὶ τῆς ὕλης ἐρε σχελοῦντας πεῖσαι, μὴ δοκεῖν ἐρήμην κατατρέχειν τοῦ λόγου.

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Κ∆ʹ.

Ἀντίῤῥησις πρὸς τοὺς λέγοντας, συναΐδιον εἶ ναι τῷ Θεῷ τὴν ὕλην. Οὐδὲ γὰρ

ἔξω τῶν κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον εὑρισκομέ νων ἡ περὶ τῆς ὕλης ὑπόληψις φαίνεται, ἡ ἐκ τοῦ νοητοῦ τε καὶ ἀΰλου ταύτην ὑποστῆναι πρεσβεύουσα· πᾶσαν γὰρ εὑρήσομεν ἐκ ποιοτήτων τινῶν συνεστῶ σαν τὴν ὕλην, ὧν εἰ γυμνωθείη καθ' ἑαυτὴν, οὐ δαμοῦ τῷ λόγῳ καταληφθήσεται. Ἀλλὰ μὴν ἕκαστον ποιότητος εἶδος λόγῳ τοῦ ὑποκειμένου χωρίζεται. Ὁ δὲ λόγος νοητή τίς ἐστι, καὶ οὐχὶ σωματικὴ θεω ρία. Οἷον, προκειμένου ζώου τινὸς ἢ ξύλου τῇ θεω ρίᾳ, ἤ τινος ἄλλου τῶν ὑλικὴν ἐχόντων τὴν σύστασιν, πολλὰ περὶ τὸ ὑποκείμενον τῇ κατ' ἐπίνοιαν διαιρέσει κατενοήσαμεν, ὧν ἑκάστου πρὸς τὸ συνθεωρούμενον 213 ἀμίκτως ὁ λόγος ἔχει. Ἕτερος γὰρ ὁ τοῦ χρώματος, καὶ ἕτερος τοῦ βάρους ὁ λόγος, ὁ τῆς ποσότητος πά λιν, καὶ ὁ τῆς ποιᾶς κατὰ τὴν ἀφὴν ἰδιότητος. Ἤ τε γὰρ μαλακότης καὶ τὸ δίπηχυ, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν εἰρημένων, οὔτε ἀλλήλοις, οὔτε τῷ σώματι κατὰ τὸν λόγον συμφέρεται. Ἑκάστου γὰρ τούτων ἴδιος, καθ' ὅ ἐστιν, ὁ ἑρμηνευτικὸς ὅρος ἐπινοεῖται, οὐδὲν ἐπι κοινωνῶν ἄλλῃ τινὶ τῶν περὶ τὸ ὑποκείμενον θεωρου μένων ποιότητι.

Εἰ τοίνυν νοητὸν μὲν τὸ χρῶμα, νοητὴ δὲ καὶ ἡ ἀντιτυπία, καὶ ἡ ποσότης, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν τοιούτων ἰδιωμάτων, ἕκαστον δὲ τούτων εἰ ὑφαιρεθείη τοῦ ὑποκειμένου, πᾶς ὁ τοῦ σώματος συνδιαλύεται λόγος· ἀκόλουθον ἂν εἴη, ὧν τὴν ἀπ ουσίαν τῆς τοῦ σώματος λύσεως αἰτίαν εὕρομεν, τού των τὴν συνδρομὴν ἀποτίκτειν τὴν ὑλικὴν φύσιν ὑπολαμβάνειν. Ὡς γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι σῶμα, ᾧ τὸ χρῶμα, καὶ τὸ σχῆμα, καὶ ἡ ἀντιτυπία καὶ ἡ διάστασις, καὶ τὸ βάρος, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ἰδιωμάτων οὐ πρόσεστιν, ἕκαστον δὲ τούτων σῶμα οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλ' ἕτερόν τι παρὰ τὸ σῶμα, κατὰ τὸ ἰδιάζον εὑρίσκεται· οὕτω κατὰ τὸ ἀντίστροφον, ὅπου δ' ἂν συνδράμῃ τὰ εἰρη μένα, τὴν σωματικὴν ὑπόστασιν ἀπεργάζεται. Ἀλλὰ μὴν εἰ νοητὴ τῶν ἰδιωμάτων τούτων ἡ κατανόησις, νοητὸν δὲ τῇ φύσει τὸ Θεῖον· οὐδὲν ἀπεικὸς, ἐκ τῆς ἀσωμάτου φύσεως τὰς νοερὰς ταύτας ἀφορμὰς πρὸς τὴν τῶν σωμάτων γένεσιν ὑποστῆναι, τῆς μὲν νοη τῆς φύσεως τὰς νοητὰς ὑφιστώσης δυνάμεις, τῆς δὲ τούτων πρὸς ἄλληλα συνδρομῆς τὴν ὑλώδη φύσιν παρ αγούσης εἰς γένεσιν Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν κατὰ τὸ πάρ εργον ἡμῖν παρεξετάσθω· ἡμῖν δὲ πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν πίστιν ἐπανακτέον τὸν λόγον, δι' ἧς ἐκ τε τοῦ μὴ ὄντος ὑποστῆναι τὸ πᾶν ἐδεξάμεθα, καὶ πάλιν εἰς ἄλλην τινὰ μεταστοιχειοῦσθαι κατάστασιν παρὰ τῆς Γραφῆς διδαχθέντες, οὐκ ἀμφιβάλλομεν.

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΚΕʹ.

Πῶς ἄν τις καὶ τῶν ἔξωθεν προσαχθείη πιστεῦ σαι τῇ Γραφῇ περὶ τῆς

ἀναστάσεως διδα σκούσῃ. Ἀλλ' ἴσως τις πρὸς τὰ διαλυθέντα σώματα βλέ πων, καὶ πρὸς τὸ μέτρον τῆς ἰδίας δυνάμεως τὸ Θεῖον κρίνων, τὸν τῆς ἀναστάσεως λόγον ἀδύνατον εἶναί φησι, καὶ στήσεσθαι τὰ νῦν κινούμενα, καὶ ἀναστήσε σθαι· τὰ νῦν μὴ κινούμενα μὴ ἐνδέχεσθαι λέγων· ἀλλ' ὁ τοιοῦτος πρῶτον μὲν καὶ μέγιστον ποιείσθω τεκμή ριον τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἀληθείας, τὸ τοῦ κηρύ γματος αὐτῆς ἀξιόπιστον· ἡ δὲ τῶν λεγομένων πί στις ἐκ τῆς τῶν λοιπῶν τῶν προῤῥηθέντων ἐκβάσεως τὸ ἀσφαλὲς ἔχει. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πολλούς τε καὶ παντο δαποὺς παρέθετο λόγους ἡ θεία