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of the solar body I say is possible for me and for you, but that what is separable for us in thought, this can also be separated in actual operation by the creator of their nature. Since for you too it is impossible to separate the burning power of fire from its brightness; but God, wishing to convert His servant by a wonderful sight, put fire on the bush that was active only in its brightness, but had its power of burning at rest. As the psalmist also testifies, saying, *The voice of the Lord dividing the flame of fire*. Whence also in the retributions for our lives a certain teaching instructs us in secret, that the nature of fire will be divided, and the light will be assigned for the enjoyment of the righteous, but the pain of its burning for those who are punished. Then, moreover, also from the phenomena concerning the moon, it is possible for us to find confirmation of what we are seeking. For when it wanes and diminishes, it is not consumed in its whole body, but by laying aside and taking up again the light that surrounds it, it provides us with the appearances of decrease and increase. And that its body itself is not consumed when it wanes, the visible phenomena are a clear testimony. For it is possible for you, even in a clear air and one free from all mist, when it happens to be crescent-shaped, by watching carefully to see its un-shining and unlit part, outlined by an arc as great as that which fills its whole orb at the full moon. So that the circle is seen clearly completed, the sight tracing the shadowy and air-like hollow along with the part that is lit up. And do not tell me that the light of the moon is adventitious, because it decreases when moving towards the sun, and increases again when moving away. For it is not our present purpose to examine that, but that its body is one thing, and that which illuminates it is another. Understand something of this sort for me in the case of the sun also. Except that the one, having received the light once and having it mixed in with itself, does not lay it aside; but the other, continuously as it were stripping off and clothing itself again with the light, confirms through itself what has been said about the sun. These were also appointed to divide between the day and between the night. For above God divided between the light and between the darkness; then He set their nature in opposition, so that they should be unmixed with each other, and there should be no communion of light with darkness. For what the shadow is in the day, this one must think is the nature of darkness in the night. For if every shadow, when some radiance shines through, falls from bodies in opposition to the light; and in the morning it is stretched out to the west, but in the evening it inclines to the east, and at midday it becomes northern; then night recedes in opposition to the rays, being nothing other in its nature than the shadow of the earth. For as in the day the shadow exists alongside that which blocks the radiance, so night is naturally formed by the shadowing of the air around the earth. This, then, is what was said, that *God divided between the light and between the darkness*; since darkness flees the incursions of light, a natural alienation from each other having been established for them in the first creation. But now He commanded the sun for the measures of the day; and the moon, whenever it is completed in its own circle, He made the ruler of the night. For then the luminaries are almost set diametrically opposite to each other. For when the sun is rising, at the full moon the moon is carried down into invisibility; and again when the sun is setting, this one often rises in opposition from the east. But if in its other phases the light of the moon does not complete the night, that is nothing to the present argument. Except that when it happens to be at its fullest, it begins the night with its own light, outshining the stars and illuminating the earth; and the measures of time are divided equally with the sun. 6.4 And let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for

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ἡλιακοῦ σώματος ἐμοὶ καὶ σοὶ δυνατὴν εἶναί φημι, ἀλλ' ὅτι ἃ ἡμῖν τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ ἐστὶ χωριστὰ, ταῦτα δύναται καὶ αὐτῇ τῇ ἐνεργείᾳ παρὰ τοῦ ποιητοῦ τῆς φύσεως αὐτῶν διαστῆναι. Ἐπεὶ καὶ σοὶ τὴν καυστικὴν δύναμιν τοῦ πυρὸς ἀπὸ τῆς λαμπρότητος χωρίσαι ἀμήχανον· ὁ δὲ Θεὸς παραδόξῳ θεάματι τὸν ἑαυτοῦ θερά ποντα ἐπιστρέψαι βουλόμενος, πῦρ ἐπέθηκε τῇ βάτῳ ἀπὸ μόνης τῆς λαμπρότητος ἐνεργοῦν, τὴν δὲ τοῦ καίειν δύναμιν σχολάζουσαν ἔχον. Ὡς καὶ ὁ ψαλμῳδὸς μαρτυρεῖ λέ γων, Φωνὴ Κυρίου διακόπτοντος φλόγα πυρός. Ὅθεν καὶ ἐν ταῖς τῶν βεβιωμένων ἡμῖν ἀνταποδόσεσι λόγος τις ἡμᾶς ἐν ἀπορρήτῳ παιδεύει, διαιρεθήσεσθαι τοῦ πυρὸς τὴν φύσιν, καὶ τὸ μὲν φῶς, εἰς ἀπόλαυσιν τοῖς δικαίοις, τὸ δὲ τῆς καύσεως ὀδυνηρὸν, τοῖς κολαζομένοις ἀποταχθήσεσθαι. Ἔπειτα μέντοι καὶ ἐκ τῶν περὶ σελήνην παθῶν, δυνατὸν ἡμᾶς τὴν πίστιν τῶν ζητουμένων εὕρασθαι. Λήγουσα γὰρ, καὶ μειουμένη, οὐχὶ τῷ παντὶ ἑαυτῆς σώματι δαπανᾶται, ἀλλὰ τὸ περικείμενον φῶς ἀποτιθεμένη καὶ προσλαμβάνουσα πάλιν, ἐλαττώσεως ἡμῖν καὶ αὐξήσεως τὰς φαντασίας παρέχεται. Τοῦ δὲ μὴ αὐτὸ τὸ σῶμα αὐτῆς ληγούσης ἀπαναλίσκεσθαι ἐναργὲς μαρτύριον τὰ ὁρώμενα. Ἔξεστι γάρ σοι καὶ ἐν καθαρῷ τῷ ἀέρι καὶ πάσης ἀχλύος ἀπηλ λαγμένῳ, ὅταν μάλιστα μηνοειδὴς τυγχάνῃ κατὰ τὸ σχῆμα, ἐπιτηρήσαντι κατιδεῖν τὸ ἀλαμπὲς αὐτῆς καὶ ἀφώτιστον ὑπὸ τηλικαύτης ἁψῖδος περιγραφόμενον, ἡλίκον ἐν ταῖς πανσελήνοις τὴν πᾶσαν αὐτὴν ἐκπληροῖ. Ὥστε τηλαυ γῶς ἀπηρτισμένον καθορᾶσθαι τὸν κύκλον τῷ περιλαμπομένῳ μέρει τὸν σκιερὸν καὶ ἀερώδη κόλπον συναναφερούσης τῆς ὄψεως. Καὶ μή μοι λέγε ἐπείσακτον εἶναι τῆς σελήνης τὸ φῶς, διότι μειοῦται μὲν πρὸς ἥλιον φερομένη, αὔξεται δὲ πάλιν ἀφισταμένη. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκεῖνο ἡμῖν ἐξετάζειν ἐν τῷ παρόντι πρόκειται, ἀλλ' ὅτι ἕτερον μὲν αὐτῆς τὸ σῶμα, ἕτερον δὲ τὸ φωτίζον. Τοιοῦτον δή τί μοι νόει καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἡλίου. Πλὴν ὅτι ὁ μὲν λαβὼν ἅπαξ καὶ ἐγκεκραμένον ἑαυτῷ τὸ φῶς ἔχων, οὐκ ἀποτίθεται· ἡ δὲ συνεχῶς οἷον ἀποδυομένη καὶ πάλιν ἐπαμφιαζομένη τὸ φῶς, δι' ἑαυτῆς καὶ τὰ περὶ τοῦ ἡλίου εἰρημένα πιστοῦται. Οὗτοι καὶ διαχωρίζειν ἐτάχθησαν ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς νυκτός. Ἄνω μὲν γὰρ διεχώρισεν ὁ Θεὸς ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ σκότους· τότε δὲ τὴν φύσιν αὐτῶν πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον ἀπέστησεν, ὥστε ἀμίκτως ἔχειν πρὸς ἄλληλα, καὶ φωτὶ πρὸς σκότος μηδεμίαν εἶναι κοινό τητα. Ὃ γὰρ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἐστὶν ἡ σκιὰ, τοῦτο οἴεσθαι χρὴ ἐν νυκτὶ τοῦ σκότους εἶναι τὴν φύσιν. Εἰ γὰρ πᾶσα σκιὰ αὐγῆς τινος διαφαινούσης ἀντικειμένως τῷ φωτὶ ἀπὸ τῶν σωμάτων ἐκπίπτει· καὶ ἕωθεν μὲν πρὸς δυσμὰς τέταται, ἑσπέρας δὲ πρὸς ἀνατολὴν ἀποκλίνει, ἐν δὲ τῇ μεσημβρίᾳ ἀρκτῴα γίνεται· καὶ ἡ νὺξ ἐπὶ τὸ ἐναντίον ταῖς ἀκτῖσιν ὑποχωρεῖ, οὐδὲν ἕτερον οὖσα κατὰ τὴν φύσιν ἢ σκίασμα γῆς. Ὡς γὰρ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἡ σκιὰ τῷ ἀντιφράσσοντι τὴν αὐγὴν παρυφίσταται, οὕτως ἡ νὺξ σκιαζομένου τοῦ περὶ γῆν ἀέρος συνίστασθαι πέφυκε. Τοῦτο τοίνυν ἐστὶ τὸ εἰρημένον, ὅτι ∆ιεχώρισεν ὁ Θεὸς ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ σκότους· ἐπειδὴ τὸ σκότος ὑποφεύγει τοῦ φωτὸς τὰς ἐπιδρομὰς, ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ δημιουργίᾳ φυσικῆς αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀλλοτριώσεως κατασκευασθείσης πρὸς ἄλληλα. Νῦν δὲ ἥλιον ἐπέταξε τοῖς μέτροις τῆς ἡμέρας· καὶ σελήνην, ὅταν ποτὲ πρὸς τὸν ἴδιον κύκλον ἀπαρτισθῇ, ἀρχηγὸν ἐποίησε τῆς νυκτός. Σχεδὸν γὰρ τότε κατὰ διάμετρον οἱ φωστῆρες ἀλλήλοις ἀντικαθίστανται. Ἀνατέλλοντος μὲν γὰρ τοῦ ἡλίου, ἐν ταῖς πανσελήνοις καταφέρεται πρὸς τὸ ἀφανὲς ἡ σελήνη· δυομένου δὲ πάλιν τοῦ ἡλίου, αὕτη πολλάκις ἐξ ἀνατολῶν ἀντανίσχει. Εἰ δὲ κατὰ τὰ ἄλλα σχήματα οὐ συναπαρτίζεται τῇ νυκτὶ τὸ σεληναῖον φῶς, οὐδὲν πρὸς τὸν προκείμενον λόγον. Πλὴν ὅτι ὅταν ἑαυτῆς τε λειοτάτη τυγχάνῃ, κατάρχει μὲν τῆς νυκτὸς τῷ ἰδίῳ φωτὶ τὰ ἄστρα ὑπεραυγάζουσα καὶ τὴν γῆν περιλάμπουσα· ἐξίσου δὲ πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον τοῦ χρόνου διαιρεῖται τὰ μέτρα. 6.4 Καὶ ἔστωσαν εἰς σημεῖα, καὶ εἰς καιροὺς, καὶ εἰς