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he made lands both uninhabited, and the inhabited ends of the world under heaven. When he prepared the heaven, I was present with him, when he set apart his own throne upon the winds. When he made the clouds above strong, and as he set the fountains under heaven secure, in his setting a measure for the sea, and waters shall not pass his mouth; when he made strong the foundations of the earth, I was with him, fitting things together; I was she in whom he delighted daily, and I rejoiced in his presence at all times; when he rejoiced having completed the inhabited world, and rejoiced in the sons of men. These things, then, Wisdom teaches about herself; but who she is, the holy apostle instructs, saying, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God; and again, who became for us wisdom from God. Christ, therefore, is the one who says the aforementioned things; she is the Wisdom and Word of God, through whom all things were made; For in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him; and, in him all things were created, things in the heavens and things on the earth, whether visible or invisible, according to the apostle; And in the same way that by a certain conception he is called the Word of God 100, and by another, life, and again, truth and true light, and the rest of whatever the divine scriptures say he is, in that very same way he has also been named Wisdom, being a minister of the Father for the providence and economy of all things. Ψ. Of the Proverbs 2. In the light of the king's son is life; and those who are acceptable to him are like a latter-day cloud. And in the light of what other king's son is there life, than in the Word of God, who is the son of God, the king of all; for he is the true light which enlightens every man coming into the world; in which light there is life according to the one who spoke the word of the gospel, in him was life, and the life was the light of men; and those acceptable to him, whom we believe to be his apostles and disciples, have become like a latter-day cloud at the end of days and at the consummation of the age, watering the once desert and waterless land, that is, the church of the gentiles, with the spiritual rain of his pious teaching. Ψ. Of the Proverbs 3. Thus says a man to those who believe in God, and I cease. For I am the most foolish of all men, and the wisdom of men is not in me. But God has taught me wisdom, and I have known the knowledge of the saints. Who has ascended into heaven and descended? who has gathered the winds in his bosom? who has wrapped up the water in a garment? who has held the ends of the 101 earth? what is his name; or what is the name of his children? And who else could be the man who says these things, than our Lord who became man, either on account of our follies, which he took upon himself, or on account of the foolishness of the preaching which is wiser and stronger than the wisdom of men; here indeed saying, for I am the most foolish of all men; but in the 68th psalm, you have known my foolishness; and he says that the wisdom of men is not in me, as if exulting in a great deed for having no wisdom of those men who are compared to senseless beasts, and have been made like them; or of those whose wisdom God has made foolish, who mind nothing more than the things on the earth, as many things as are by nature proper to flesh and matter; whence indeed they are also testified in their generation to be wise, because from their youth they seek only the things on earth and devise evil things still; human wisdom, then, was in no way in the aforementioned man, but it is clear that divine and superhuman wisdom was; for which reason he also adds, saying, But God has taught me wisdom, and I have known the knowledge of the saints; then he says interrogatively, who has ascended into heaven and descended? as if rousing us to the search for the one who teaches such great things about himself, concerning whom also the things that follow have been said, requiring their own study. Therefore, the divine apostle teaching us about him says, he who descended into the lower parts of the earth, is himself also the one who ascended far above the heavens; having placed before it that he had descended

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ἐποίησε χώρας καὶ ἀοικήτους, καὶ ἄκρα οἰκούμενα τῆς ὑπ' οὐρανόν. Ἡνίκα ἡτοίμαζε τὸν οὐρανὸν, συμπαρήμην αὐτῷ, ἡνίκα ἀφώριζε τὸν ἑαυτοῦ θρόνον ἐπ' ἀνέμων. Ἡνίκα ἰσχυρὰ ἐποίει τὰ ἄνω νέφη, καὶ ὡς ἀσφαλεῖς ἐτίθει πηγὰς τῆς ὑπ' οὐρανὸν, ἐν τῷ τιθέναι αὐτὸν τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἀκριβασμὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὕδατα οὐ παρελεύσονται στόμα αὐτοῦ· ἡνίκα ἰσχυρὰ ἐποίει τὰ θεμέλια τῆς γῆς, ἤμην παρ' αὐτῷ ἁρμόζουσα· ἐγὼ ἤμην, ᾗ προσέχαιρε καθ' ἡμέραν, εὐφραινόμην δὲ ἐν προσώπῳ αὐτοῦ ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ· ὅτε εὐφραίνετο τὴν οἰκουμένην συντελέσας, καὶ εὐφραίνετο ἐν υἱοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν διδάσκει περὶ ἑαυτῆς ἡ Σοφία· τίς δέ ἐστιν αὕτη, ὁ ἱερὸς ἀπόστολος παιδεύει λέγων, Χριστὸς Θεοῦ δύναμις καὶ Θεοῦ σοφία· καὶ πάλιν, ὃς ἐγενήθη σοφία ἡμῖν ἀπὸ Θεοῦ. Χριστὸς οὖν ἐστιν ὁ τὰ προειρημένα φάσκων· ἡ Σοφία καὶ Λόγος ἐστὶ Θεοῦ, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα γεγένηται· Ἐν ἀρχῇ γὰρ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. Πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο· καὶ, ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα, τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, εἴτε ὁρατὰ εἴτε ἀόρατα, κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον· ὅνπερ δὲ τρόπον κατά τινα ἐπίνοιαν Λόγος Θεοῦ 100 χρηματίζει, καὶ καθ' ἑτέραν ζωὴ, καὶ πάλιν, ἀλήθεια καὶ φῶς ἀληθινὸν, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ὁπόσα φασὶν αὐτὸν αἱ θεῖαι γραφαὶ, τὸν αὐτὸν δὴ τρόπον καὶ Σοφία προσηγόρευται, ὑπηρέτης τυγχάνουσα τοῦ Πατρὸς εἰς τὴν ὅλων πρόνοιάν τε καὶ οἰκονομίαν. Ψ. Τῶν παροιμιῶν Βʹ. Ἐν φωτὶ υἱοῦ βασιλέως ζωή· οἱ δὲ προσδεκτοὶ αὐτῷ ὥσπερ νέφος ὄψιμον. Καὶ τίνος ἄλλου βασιλέως υἱοῦ ἐν φωτὶ ζωὴ τυγχάνει, ἢ ἐν τῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγῳ, υἱοῦ τυγχάνοντος τοῦ πάντων βασιλέως Θεοῦ· αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον· ἐν ᾧ φωτὶ ζωὴ τυγχάνει κατὰ τὸν φήσαντα τοῦ εὐαγγελίου λόγον, ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων· τούτου δὲ καὶ οἱ προσδεκτοὶ, οὓς ἡγούμεθα εἶναι τοὺς ἀποστόλους αὐτοῦ καὶ μαθητὰς, γεγόνασιν ὥσπερ νέφος ὄψιμον ἐπ' ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν καὶ ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τοῦ αἰῶνος, τὴν ἔρημον ποτὲ γῆν καὶ ἄνυδρον, τουτέστι τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐκκλησίαν, ἀρδεύσαντες τῷ πνευματικῷ τῆς εὐσεβοῦς διδασκαλίας αὐτῷ ὑετῷ. Ψ. Τῶν παροιμιῶν Γʹ. Τάδε λέγει ἀνὴρ τοῖς πιστεύουσι Θεῷ, καὶ παύομαι. Ἀφρονέστατος γάρ εἰμι πάντων ἀνθρώπων, καὶ φρόνησις ἀνθρώπων οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἐμοί. Θεὸς δ' ἐδίδαξέν με σοφίαν, καὶ γνῶσιν ἁγίων ἐγὼ ἔγνωκα. Τίς ἀνέβη εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ κατέβη; τίς συνήγαγεν ἀνέμους ἐν κόλπῳ; τίς συνέστρεψεν ὕδωρ ἐν ἱματίῳ; τίς ἐκράτησε τῶν ἄκρων τῆς 101 γῆς; τί ὄνομα αὐτῷ· ἢ τί ὄνομα τοῖς τέκνοις αὐτοῦ; Καὶ τίς ἂν εἴη ἄλλος ἀνὴρ ὁ ταῦτα φάσκων, ἢ ὁ ἐνανθρωπήσας Κύριος ἡμῶν, ἤτοι διὰ τὰς ἡμῶν ἀφροσύνας, ἃς εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀνεδέξατο, ἢ διὰ τὴν μωρίαν τοῦ κηρύγματος σοφωτέραν καὶ ἰσχυροτέραν οὖσαν τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων σοφίας· ἐνθάδε μὲν φάσκων, ἀφρονέστατος γάρ εἰμι πάντων ἀνθρώπων· ἐν δὲ ξηʹ ψαλμῷ, σὺ ἔγνως τὴν ἀφροσύνην μου· φησὶν δὲ ὅτι καὶ φρόνησις ἀνθρώπων οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἐμοὶ, ὥσπερ ἐπ' ἀνδραγαθήματι λαμπρυνάμενος ἐπὶ τῷ μηδεμίαν ἐσχηκέναι φρόνησιν τῶν παρασυμβληθέντων τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις, καὶ ὁμοιωθέντων αὐτοῖς ἀνθρώπων· ἢ ὧν τὴν σοφίαν ἐμώρανεν ὁ Θεὸς μηδὲν πλέον φρονούντων τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅσα πέφυκεν σαρκῶν τε καὶ ὕλης οἰκεῖα· ὅθεν δὴ καὶ μεμαρτύρηνται ἐν τῇ γενεᾷ αὐτῶν φρόνιμοι εἶναι, τὸ τῷ μόνα τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς ζητεῖν καὶ διανοεῖσθαι ἐκ νεότητος ἐπὶ ἔτι τὰ πονηρά· ἀνθρωπεία μὲν οὐδαμῶς ἦν ἐν τῷ προειρημένῳ ἀνδρὶ φρόνησις, δῆλον δ' ὅτι καὶ θεία ὑπεράνθρωπος· δι' ὃ καὶ ἐπιφέρει λέγων, Θεὸς δ' ἐδίδαξέ με σοφίαν, καὶ γνῶσιν ἁγίων ἐγὼ ἔγνωκα· εἶτα ἐρωτηματικῶς φησὶν, τίς ἀνέβη εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ κατέβη; οἱονεὶ διεγείρων ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ ζήτησιν τοῦ τὰ τηλικαῦτα περὶ ἑαυτοῦ διδάσκοντος, περὶ οὗ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς εἴρηται ἰδίας δεόμενα σχολῆς. Ὁ μὲν οὖν θεῖος ἀπόστολος περὶ αὐτοῦ διδάσκων ἡμᾶς φησὶν, ὁ καταβὰς εἰς τὰ κατώτερα μέρη τῆς γῆς, αὐτός ἐστιν καὶ ὁ ἀναβὰς ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν· προτάξας τὸ κατεληλυθέναι