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43

to cover himself; But being inventive and also being prodded by God as a rational being, he invented the art of sewing, stitching fig leaves for himself with thorns of trees; at the same time, being made wise again by God, he was taught to make tunics from the skins of trees. Cain, having invented agriculture, and Abel, the art of shepherding, that is, a science, are attested to by Scripture. Then again, after the fratricide, Cain was cast out from God, as it is written, "And Cain went out from the presence of God, and dwelt in the land of Naid," which is to say that Cain was cast out from God and sent into exile into a wicked land. 3.72 For they supposed paradise to be the dwelling-place of God, as He came forth from there and appeared to them more frequently. Therefore, the sons of Seth, being near paradise, as being under the care of God and speaking more often with God, were continually called sons of God; but those around Cain, as being settled somewhere far from paradise and not always being under the care of God, but dwelling in a very wicked and beast-infested land and caring more for themselves, were called sons of men. Living therefore in fear, both Cain and his descendants invented other arts for their own safety, such as carpentry, stone-cutting, metalworking, and music; carpentry, for making tents and doors and roofs, protecting themselves and their cattle; stone-cutting, for building houses and cities, providing safety and a guard for themselves; 3.73 metalworking, for tilling and cutting the earth with a plow and reaping the seeds with knives, and for making flutes and certain other things; music, for staying awake at night with flutes and lyres and songs and guarding both themselves and their cattle from the harm of wild beasts. Living therefore in fear and being in exile, they contrived every device for their own safety. For thus it is written concerning them, concerning Cain: "And he was building a city, and he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch", and concerning Jabal, the son of Lamech by Adah, it says: "He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have cattle"; and concerning Jubal, the brother of Jabal, it says thus: "He was the one who showed forth the psaltery and the lyre"; and metalworking, as when it says concerning Tubal of Zillah: "He was a hammerer, a smith of bronze and iron." 3.74 Thus, therefore, from the beginning God, having made man wise, caused him to invent the arts; and the first men initially invented them, but those who came after, taking their starting points from the first and being industrious, developed them more precisely. It is good, therefore, to raise an argument against those who are sophists and say that the world is eternal and without beginning, and to remind them how they are mistaken, not understanding from the facts themselves, that is, from the arts, that it is not eternal and without beginning, but recent. 3.75 For if the arts were invented part by part, and every society of men is constituted through art and rational science, how is it possible for a world to be constituted without arts and rational science? For in the absence of stone-cutting and carpentry, how will houses and fortresses and cities be able to come into being for the protection of men and society? Likewise, in the absence of weaving, whence would men have sufficient coverings against the chills and the colds? Likewise, in the absence of metalworking, how could men till and cut the earth with plows and the seeds with knives, so that they might acquire food? Again, in the absence of medicine, how could men treat their incidental afflictions and alleviate their diseases? 3.76 It is very clear, therefore, from all these things that the world is not eternal, but recent, just as are the inventions and the arts and the sciences of men. For where will they themselves find among astronomers one equal to or better than Ptolemy, or among philosophers, than Plato and Aristotle, or Euclid and Archimedes, the only one who discovered the squaring of the circle, geometers and arithmeticians? But if these men became more precise than those before them, how not

43

σκεπάσαι· τεχναζόμενος δὲ καὶ παρὰ Θεοῦ ὡς λογικὸς νυττόμενος ἐφεῦρε τὴν ῥαπτικὴν τέχνην φύλλα συκῆς ἑαυτῷ συρράπτων διὰ σκολόπων δένδρων· ἐν ταὐτῷ δὲ καὶ χιτῶνας πάλιν ὑπὸ Θεοῦ σοφισθεὶς ἐκ δερμάτων ξύλων ποιεῖν ἐδιδάχθη. Κάϊν δὲ γηπονίαν καὶ Ἄβελ ποιμενικὴν τέχνην, ἤτοι ἐπιστήμην, ἐφευρηκότες μαρτυροῦνται παρὰ τῇ Γραφῇ. Εἶτα πάλιν μετὰ τὴν ἀδελφοκτονίαν ὁ Κάϊν ὡς παρὰ Θεοῦ ἐκβληθείς, καθὰ γέγραπται, "ἐξῆλθε δὲ Κάϊν ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ κατῴκησεν ἐν γῇ Ναΐδ", ἵνα εἴπῃ ὅτι ἐξεβλήθη ὁ Κάϊν ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ἐπέμφθη ἐν ἐξορίᾳ εἰς γῆν μοχθηράν. 3.72 Κατοικητήριον γὰρ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑπενόουν εἶναι τὸν παράδεισον, ὡς ἐκεῖθεν ἐξερχομένου καὶ συχνότερον αὐτοῖς ὀπτανομένου. Οἱ ἐγγύθεν οὖν τοῦ παραδείσου ὄντες υἱοὶ τοῦ Σήθ, ὡς ὑπὸ τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν τοῦ Θεοῦ ὄντες καὶ πυκνότερον τῷ Θεῷ ὁμιλοῦντες, διαπαντὸς υἱοὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκαλοῦντο· οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Κάϊν, ὡς μακράν που τοῦ παραδείσου ἀπῳκισμένοι καὶ μὴ ὄντες ἀεὶ ὑπὸ τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλ' ἐν μοχθηρᾷ γῇ πάνυ οἰκοῦντες καὶ τεθηριωμένῃ καὶ ἑαυτῶν μᾶλλον ἐπιμελούμενοι, ἐκαλοῦντο υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Ἐν φόβῳ οὖν διάγοντες ὅ τε Κάϊν καὶ οἱ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐφεῦρον ἑτέρας τέχνας πρὸς ἑαυτῶν ἀσφάλειαν, οἵας εἰπεῖν τεκτονικήν, λαξευτικήν, χαλκευτικήν, μουσικήν· τεκτονικὴν μὲν πρὸς τὸ σκηνὰς ποιεῖν καὶ θύρας καὶ στέγας, ἑαυτοὺς φυλάττοντες καὶ τὰ ἑαυτῶν κτήνη· λαξευτικὴν δὲ πρὸς τὸ οἴκους καὶ πόλεις κτίζειν, ἀσφάλειαν καὶ φρουρὰν ἑαυτοῖς προνοούμενοι· 3.73 χαλκευτικὴν δὲ πρὸς τὸ γηπονεῖν καὶ τέμνειν τὴν γῆν ἀρότρῳ καὶ θερίζειν τὰ σπέρματα μαχαί ραις, καὶ πρὸς τὸ αὐλοὺς καὶ ἕτερά τινα ποιεῖν· μουσικὴν δὲ πρὸς τὸ αὐλοῖς καὶ κιθάραις καὶ ᾠδαῖς ἀγρυπνεῖν νυκτὸς καὶ φυλάττειν ἑαυτούς τε καὶ τὰ ἑαυτῶν κτήνη ἀπὸ βλάβης θηρίων. Ἐν φόβῳ οὖν διάγοντες καὶ ἐν ἐξορίᾳ ὑπάρχοντες πᾶσαν μηχανὴν ἐπενόουν πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀσφάλειαν. Οὕτως γὰρ γέγραπται περὶ αὐτῶν, περὶ μὲν τοῦ Κάϊν· "Καὶ ἦν οἰκοδομῶν πόλιν καὶ ἐπωνόμασε τὸ ὄνομα τῆς πόλεως ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ Ἐνώχ", περὶ δὲ Ἰωβέλ, τοῦ υἱοῦ Λάμεχ τοῦ ἐκ τῆς Ἀδαᾶς, φησίν· "Οὗτος ἦν πατὴρ οἰκούντων ἐν σκηναῖς κτηνοτρόφων"· περὶ δὲ τοῦ Ἰουβάλ, τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ Ἰωβέλ, οὕτως φησίν· "Οὗτος ἦν ὁ καταδείξας ψαλτήριον καὶ κιθάραν"· χαλκευτικὴν δέ, ὡς ὅταν λέγῃ περὶ Θόβελ τοῦ ἐκ τῆς Σελλᾶς· "Οὗτος ἦν σφυροκόπος, χαλκεὺς χαλκοῦ τε καὶ σιδήρου." 3.74 Οὕτως οὖν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὁ Θεὸς σοφίσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐφευρίσκειν πεποίηκε τὰς τέχνας· καὶ οἱ μὲν πρῶτοι ἀρχῇ ἐφεῦρον αὐτάς, οἱ δὲ μετέπειτα ἐκ τῶν πρώτων τὰς ἀφορμὰς λαβόντες καὶ πολυπραγμονοῦντες ἐπέτειναν αὐτὰς ἀκριβέστερον. Καλὸν οὖν συνᾶραι λόγον πρὸς τοὺς σοφιζομένους καὶ λέγοντας ἀΐδιον εἶναι τὸν κόσμον καὶ ἄναρχον καὶ ὑπομνῆσαι ὡς σφάλλονται, μὴ συνιέντες ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων, ἤτοι καὶ τῶν τεχνῶν, ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν ἀΐδιος καὶ ἄναρχος, ἀλλὰ πρόσφατος. 3.75 Εἰ γὰρ αἱ τέχναι κατὰ μέρος ἐφευρέθησαν, πᾶσα δὲ πολιτεία ἀνθρώπων διὰ τέχνης καὶ ἐπιστήμης λογικῆς συνίσταται, πῶς οἷόν τέ ἐστι κόσμον συνίστασθαι ἄνευ τεχνῶν καὶ ἐπιστήμης λογικῆς; Μὴ οὔσης γὰρ λαξευτικῆς καὶ τεκτονικῆς, πῶς δυνήσονται οἶκοι καὶ φρούρια καὶ πόλεις γενέσθαι πρὸς παραφυλακὴν ἀνθρώπων καὶ πολιτείας; Ὁμοίως ὑφαντικῆς μὴ οὔσης, πόθεν ἀρκετὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις σκεπάσματα εἰς τὰ ψύχη καὶ τὰ κρύη; Ὁμοίως χαλκευτικῆς μὴ οὔσης, πόθεν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις γηπονεῖν καὶ τέμνειν ἀρότροις τὴν γῆν καὶ μαχαίραις τὰ σπέρματα, ἵνα τροφὰς περιποιήσωνται; Πάλιν ἰατρικῆς μὴ οὔσης, πόθεν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὰ συμβαίνοντα πάθη θεραπεύειν καὶ τὰς νόσους παραμυθεῖσθαι; 3.76 Εὖ δῆλον τοίνυν ἐκ πάντων τούτων ὡς οὐκ ἀΐδιος ὁ κόσμος, ἀλλὰ πρόσφατος, ὥσπερ καὶ αἱ ἐπίνοιαι καὶ αἱ τέχναι καὶ αἱ ἐπιστῆμαι τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Ποῦ γὰρ καὶ αὐτοὶ εὑρήσουσιν ἐν ἀστρονόμοις ἴσον ἢ κρείττω Πτολεμαίου, ἢ ἐν φιλοσόφοις Πλάτωνος καὶ Ἀριστοτέλους, ἢ Εὐκλείδους καὶ Ἀρχιμήδου, τοῦ μόνου ἐφευρηκότος τὸν τετραγωνισμὸν τοῦ κύκλου, γεωμέτρας καὶ ἀριθμητικούς; Εἰ δὲ οὗτοι ἀκριβέστεροι τῶν πρὸ αὐτῶν ἐγένοντο, πῶς οὐ