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the interval of what is conceived; and interval is nothing other than creation. But that good, which we learned to seek and to guard, and to which we were advised to be joined and to cleave, being above creation, is above comprehension. For our intellect, journeying through extensional succession, how could it apprehend the nature without interval? It ascends through time by analysis, always investigating things older than the things 5.413 found. And it has passed by all known things through its busy inquiry, but it finds no device to pass by the concept of the age, so as to place itself outside and transcend the age which is contemplated before existing things. But just as one found on some mountain peak (let it be supposed that there is a certain rock, smooth and precipitous, stretching up from below in an upright and sheer form to an infinite length, and holding up on high that summit which, in the projection of its brow, stoops over some gaping chasm); what, then, is likely to be suffered by one who touches with the tip of his foot the ridge that nods to the chasm and finds no longer any footing for his foot nor handhold for his hand, this is what my soul also suffers, having passed beyond the stable ground in 5.414 interval-based thoughts, in its search for the pre-eternal and interval-less nature. Having nothing it can grasp, no place, no time, no measure, nothing else of that kind which admits the treading of our intellect, but slipping from the ungraspable on all sides, it becomes dizzy and helpless and returns again to what is akin to it, content to know only so much concerning that which is transcendent: to be convinced that it is something other than the nature of things that are known. For this reason, when reason comes to things beyond reason, it is then time to be silent and to hold the wonder of that ineffable power uninterpreted in the secret place of the conscience, knowing that even the great <prophets> spoke of the works of God and not of God, saying: Who will speak of the mighty acts of the Lord? and I will tell of all your works and Generation after generation will praise your works. These things they speak and about these things they go through, and they entrust the declaration of what has come to be to the voice. But when the discourse is about him who is exalted above all conception, they legislate silence outright through what they say. 5.415 For they say that Of the magnificence of the glory of his holiness there is no end. O the wonder! How reason feared to approach the contemplation of the divine nature, seeing that it did not even comprehend the wonder of any of the external things being contemplated. For he did not say that of the essence of God there is no end, judging it altogether rash even to take this into consideration, but he marvels in his discourse at the magnificence contemplated in the glory. Again, he was not able to see the glory of the essence itself, but he was astonished when he perceived the glory of His holiness. How far, then, was he from investigating the nature, what it is, when he was not sufficient to marvel at the last of the things that appear? For he did not marvel at His holiness, nor at the glory of His holiness, but setting out to marvel only at the magnificence of the glory of His holiness, he grew weak even at the wonder of this; for he did not grasp with his intellect the end of what was being marveled at. Therefore he says: Of the magnificence of the glory of his holiness there is no end. Therefore, in discourses concerning God, when the inquiry is about the essence, it is a time for silence, but when it is about some good energy, the knowledge of which also descends to us, then is the time to speak of the mighty acts, to declare the wonders, to recount the works, to use reason up to this point, but in the things beyond not to allow creation to go beyond its own limits, but to be content if it might know itself 5.416. For creation has not yet known itself, according to my account, nor has it comprehended what is the essence of soul, what is the nature of body, from where existing things come, how generations come from one another, how that which is not is brought into being, how that which is is resolved into that which is not, what is the harmony from opposites in this world. If, therefore, creation does not

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τοῦ νοουμένου διάστημα· τὸ δὲ διάστημα οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ κτίσις ἐστίν. ἐκεῖνο δὲ τὸ ἀγαθόν, ὃ ζητεῖν τε καὶ φυλάττειν ἐμά θομεν καὶ ᾧ συνάπτεσθαι καὶ προσκολλᾶσθαι συνεβουλεύθη μεν, ἄνω ὂν τῆς κτίσεως ἄνω ἐστὶ τῆς καταλήψεως. ἡ γὰρ ἡμετέρα διάνοια τῇ διαστηματικῇ παρατάσει ἐνδιο δεύουσα πῶς ἂν καταλάβοι τὴν ἀδιάστατον φύσιν; ἄνεισιν διὰ τοῦ χρόνου κατὰ ἀνάλυσιν ἀεὶ διερευνωμένη τὰ τῶν 5.413 εὑρισκομένων πρεσβύτερα. καὶ τὰ μὲν γινωσκόμενα πάντα διὰ τῆς πολυπραγμοσύνης παρέδραμε, τὴν δὲ τοῦ αἰῶνος ἔννοιαν παραδραμεῖν οὐδεμίαν μηχανὴν ἐξευρίσκει, ὅπως ἂν ἔξω ἑαυτὴν στήσειε καὶ ὑπερθείη τοῦ προθεωρουμένου τῶν ὄντων αἰῶνος. ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ὁ ἐπί τινος εὑρεθεὶς ἀκρω ρείας (ὑποκείσθω δὲ πέτρα τις εἶναι λεία καὶ ἀπότομος, κάτωθεν ἐν ὀρθίῳ τε καὶ περιεξεσμένῳ τῷ σχήματι εἰς ἄπειρον μῆκος ἀνατεινομένη καὶ ἄνωθεν ἐπὶ τοῦ ὕψους τὴν ἄκραν ἐκείνην ἀνέχουσα τὴν ἐν τῇ προβολῇ τῆς ὀφρύος εἴς τι βάθος ἀχανὲς κατακύπτουσαν)· ὅπερ οὖν εἰκὸς παθεῖν τὸν ἄκρῳ τῷ ποδὶ τῆς ἐπινευούσης τῷ βάθει ῥαχίας ἐπιψαύοντα καὶ οὐδεμίαν ἔτι οὔτε τῷ ποδὶ βάσιν οὔτε τῇ χειρὶ ἀντίληψιν ἐξευρίσκοντα, τοῦτό μοι καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ παρελθοῦσα τὸ ἐν τοῖς 5.414 διαστηματικοῖς νοήμασι βάσιμον ἐν τῇ ζητήσει τῆς προαιω νίου τε καὶ ἀδιαστάτου φύσεως πάσχει. οὐκ ἔχουσά τι, οὗ περιδράξηται, οὐ τόπον, οὐ χρόνον, οὐ μέτρον, οὐκ ἄλλο τι τοιοῦτον οὐδέν, ὃ δέχεται τῆς διανοίας ἡμῶν τὴν ἐπίβασιν, ἀλλὰ πανταχόθεν τῶν ἀλήπτων ἀπολισθαίνουσα ἰλιγγιᾷ τε καὶ ἀμηχανεῖ καὶ πάλιν πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς ἐπιστρέφεται, ἀγαπῶσα τοσοῦτον μόνον γνῶναι περὶ τοῦ ὑπερκειμένου, ὅσον πεισθῆναι, ὅτι ἄλλο τι παρὰ τὴν τῶν γινωσκομένων φύσιν ἐστί. διὰ τοῦτο ὅταν ἔλθῃ εἰς τὰ ὑπὲρ λόγον ὁ λόγος, γίνεται τότε καιρὸς τοῦ σιγᾶν καὶ τῆς ἀφράστου ἐκείνης δυνάμεως ἀνερμήνευτον ἐν τῷ ἀπορρήτῳ τῆς συνειδήσεως ἔχειν τὸ θαῦμα, εἰδότα ὅτι καὶ οἱ μεγάλοι <προφῆται> τὰ ἔργα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ οὐ τὸν θεὸν ἐλάλουν λέγοντες· Τίς λαλήσει τὰς δυναστείας τοῦ κυρίου; καὶ ∆ιηγήσομαι πάντα τὰ ἔργα σου καὶ Γενεὰ καὶ γενεὰ ἐπαινέσει τὰ ἔργα σου. ταῦτα λαλοῦσι καὶ περὶ τούτων διεξέρχονται καὶ τὴν τῶν γεγονότων ἐξαγόρευσιν τῇ φωνῇ ἐπιτρέπουσιν. ὅταν δὲ περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὑπερανεστῶτος πάσης ἐννοίας ὁ λόγος ᾖ, σιωπὴν ἄντικρυς, δι' ὧν λέγουσι, νομοθετοῦσι. 5.415 λέγουσι γὰρ ὅτι Τῆς μεγαλοπρεπείας τῆς δόξης τῆς ἁγιω σύνης αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔστι πέρας. ὢ τοῦ θαύματος! πῶς ἐφοβήθη τῇ τῆς θείας φύσεως θεωρίᾳ προσεγγίσαι ὁ λόγος, ὅς γε οὐδὲ τῶν ἔξωθέν τινος ἐπιθεωρουμένων τὸ θαῦμα κατέλαβεν. οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν, ὅτι τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ θεοῦ πέρας οὐκ ἔστι, τολμηρὸν κρίνων ὅλως τὸ καὶ εἰς ἔννοιαν τοῦτο λαβεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐπι θεωρουμένην τῇ δόξῃ μεγαλοπρέπειαν θαυμάζει τῷ λόγῳ. πάλιν δὲ οὐδὲ αὐτῆς τῆς οὐσίας τὴν δόξαν ἰδεῖν ἠδυνήθη, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἁγιωσύνης αὐτοῦ τὴν δόξαν ἐξεπλάγη κατανοήσας. πόσον τοίνυν ἀπέσχε τοῦ τὴν φύσιν, ἥτις ἐστί, περιεργάσασθαι, ὅς γε τὸ ἔσχατον τῶν προφαινομένων θαυμάσαι οὐκ ἤρκεσεν; οὔτε γὰρ τὴν ἁγιωσύνην αὐτοῦ ἐθαύμασεν οὔτε τὴν δόξαν τῆς ἁγιωσύνης, ἀλλὰ τὴν μεγαλοπρέπειαν μόνην τῆς δόξης τῆς ἁγιωσύνης θαυμάσαι προθέμενος καὶ περὶ τὸ ταύτης θαῦμα ἠτόνησεν· οὐ γὰρ διέλαβε τῇ διανοίᾳ τοῦ θαυμαζομένου τὸ πέρας. διό φησι· Τῆς μεγαλοπρεπείας τῆς δόξης τῆς ἁγιωσύνης αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν πέρας. οὐκοῦν ἐν τοῖς περὶ θεοῦ λόγοις, ὅταν μὲν περὶ τῆς οὐσίας ἡ ζήτησις ᾖ, καιρὸς τοῦ σιγᾶν, ὅταν δὲ περί τινος ἀγαθῆς ἐνεργείας, ἧς ἡ γνῶσις καὶ μέχρις ἡμῶν καταβαίνει, τότε λαλεῖν τὰς δυναστείας, ἐξαγγέλλειν τὰ θαύματα, διηγεῖσθαι τὰ ἔργα, μέχρις τούτου κεχρῆσθαι τῷ λόγῳ, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ὑπερέκεινα μὴ ἐφιέναι τῇ κτίσει τοὺς ἰδίους ὅρους ἐκβαίνειν, ἀλλ' ἀγαπᾶν, εἰ ἑαυτὴν 5.416 εἰδείη. οὔπω γὰρ ἔγνω, κατά γε τὸν ἐμὸν λόγον, ἑαυτὴν ἡ κτίσις, οὐδὲ κατέλαβεν τίς ψυχῆς ἡ οὐσία, τίς σώματος ἡ φύσις, πόθεν τὰ ὄντα, πῶς αἱ ἐξ ἀλλήλων γενέσεις, πῶς τὸ μὴ ὂν οὐσιοῦται, πῶς τὸ ὂν εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν ἀναλύεται, τίς ἡ ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων κατὰ τὸν κόσμον τοῦτον εὐαρμοστία. εἰ οὖν ἑαυτὴν ἡ κτίσις οὐκ