46

foolish and impious. Therefore, it is fitting for those possessing a prudent mind to confess that they almost hear with their ears the very heavens crying out in deed, sending up fitting glory to their own maker and creator, God. Thus also the firmament, which Moses presents as having come into being on the second day of the world's creation; and so this firmament, being different from the previously named heavens, proclaims to all and has cried out, teaching that it did not come into existence of its own accord in such a way; but it is also the work of God, the maker of all things; wherefore it is said: And the firmament proclaims the work of his hands. And Moses knows of a heaven that came into being before the establishment of the firmament, saying: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. Next, therefore, after the creation of the first heaven, he introduces the power and genesis of light, and teaches that the light was called day, and says that morning and evening came to be, one day. Then, beginning the second day, 23.189 he introduces the creation of the firmament. And the Scripture knows of more heavens; wherefore it says: Praise the Lord from the heavens; and again: Praise him, you heavens of heavens, and the water that is above the heavens; and elsewhere it is said: The heaven of heaven is the Lord's. And the firmament is called heaven, and the Savior promises the kingdom of the heavens, and in the prayer he teaches to say: Our Father who art in the heavens, and, The powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Day to day utters speech, and night to night proclaims knowledge. Day teaches and night teaches those willing to be instructed, how great is the ineffable wisdom and incomprehensible power of God who measured out for them the intervals of the times. For if there were no one who had arranged for these both hours and times and seasons, but they existed by some unprovidential and irrational motion according to some random chance; surely it would be necessary that the equal intervals of the days should not exist through all of time, or that their seasons should be confused, and that the nights likewise should be borne along randomly and as it happened. For disorder is the sister of irrationality, and confusion follows what is random; just as, conversely, reason leads all good order, and wisdom leads harmony and concord. Therefore, their exchanges and withdrawals with one another—sometimes the days lengthening while the nights themselves withdraw, sometimes the nights receiving back the previously lent debt according to the increase of the hours—almost utter and speak with a great voice, testifying to the all-wise arrangement of God, the maker of all things, and they proclaim to men the knowledge of God; and thus the voices of the days and the nights have cried out by their very deeds to those who are able to hear them, so that their teaching escapes no ear. Indeed, the whole inhabited world of men has been filled with their rhythmic and mutual dance; for which reasons it has been said: There are no speeches nor words, whose voices are not heard. Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world; clearly, that is, of the days and the nights, and of the heavens that declare the glory of God, and of the firmament that proclaims the work of his hands. And having come to this point, it occurs to me to marvel how the holy apostle, in the Epistle to the Romans, applied the words, Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world, to the disciples and evangelists and apostles of our Savior. But having applied my mind to the apostolic saying, I found that he very accurately made the citation in a figurative manner at the right time; for not as he sometimes said: But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, and at another time, as Isaiah has said before; and again: As it is written; and again: 23.192 For the Scripture says; not so also in the case of

46

ἄφρων καὶ ἀσεβής. ∆ιὸ τοὺς ἔμφρονα νοῦν κεκτημένους προσήκει συνομολογεῖν μονονουχὶ φωνῆς ἀκούειν ἔργῳ βοώσης αὐτῶν τῶν οὐρανῶν, τὴν πρέπουσαν δόξαν ἀναπεμπόντων τῷ ἑαυτῶν ποιητῇ καὶ δημιουργῷ Θεῷ. Οὕτω δὲ καὶ τὸ στερέωμα, ὃ δὴ Μωϋσῆς κατὰ τὴν δευτέραν ἡμέραν τῆς κοσμοποιίας γεγονέναι παρίστη· καὶ τοῦτο τοιγαροῦν τὸ στερέωμα, ἕτερον ὂν παρὰ τοὺς προωνομασμένους οὐρανοὺς, κηρύττει τοῖς πᾶσι καὶ κέκραγε διδάσκων, ὅτι μὴ ἐξ αὐτομάτου τοιόνδε ὑπέστη· ἔργον δέ ἐστι καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦ τῶν ὅλων ποιητοῦ Θεοῦ· διὸ εἴρηται· Ποίησιν δὲ χειρῶν αὐτοῦ ἀναγγέλλει τὸ στερέωμα. Οἶδε δὲ Μωϋσῆς πρὸ τῆς τοῦ στερεώματος συστάσεως οὐρανὸν πρότερον τῆς ἡμέρας γεγενημένον, λέγων· Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. Ἑξῆς δ' οὖν μετὰ τὴν ποίησιν τοῦ πρώτου οὐρανοῦ φωτὸς εἰσάγει δύναμιν καὶ γένεσιν, ἡμέραν τε διδάσκει τὸ φῶς κεκλῆσθαι, γεγονέναι τε πρωΐαν φησὶ καὶ ἑσπέραν, ἡμέραν μίαν. Εἶτα δευτέρας ἡμέρας ἀρχόμενος, τὴν τοῦ στερεώματος 23.189 εἰσάγει ποίησιν. Οἶδε δὲ ἡ Γραφὴ καὶ πλείους οὐρανούς· διό φησιν· Αἰνεῖτε τὸν Κύριον ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν· καὶ πάλιν· Αἰνεῖτε αὐτὸν οἱ οὐρανοὶ τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν· καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ εἴρηται· Ὁ οὐρανὸς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ. Καὶ τὸ στερέωμα κέκληται οὐρανὸς, καὶ ὁ Σωτὴρ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐπαγγέλλεται, καὶ ἐν τῇ εὐχῇ διδάσκει εἰπεῖν· Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, καὶ, Αἱ δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν σαλευθήσονται. Ἡμέρα τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐρεύγεται ῥῆμα, καὶ νὺξ νυκτὶ ἀναγγέλλει γνῶσιν. ∆ιδάσκει ἡμέρα καὶ διδάσκει νὺξ τοὺς ἐθέλοντας παιδεύεσθαι, ὅση τίς ἐστιν ἡ σοφία ἡ ἄῤῥητος καὶ ἀπερίληπτος δύναμις τοῦ τὰ διαστήματα τῶν χρόνων καταμετρήσαντος αὐτοῖς Θεοῦ. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ μηδεὶς ἦν ὁ καὶ ταύταις ὥραις καὶ χρόνους καὶ καιροὺς διαταξάμενος, ἀπρονοήτῳ δὲ καὶ ἀλόγῳ κινήσει κατά τι σύμβαμα τυχιμαῖον ὑφεστῶτα ἦν· ἐχρῆν δήπου μὴ τὰ ἴσα διαστήματα τῶν ἡμερῶν διὰ παντὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος ὑφεστάναι, ἢ συγκεχυμένους αὐτῶν εἶναι τοὺς καιροὺς, καὶ τὰς νύκτας δὲ ὡσαύτως εἰκῆ καὶ ὡς ἔτυχεν φέρεσθαι. Ἀλογίας γὰρ ἀδελφὴ ἀταξία, καὶ τῷ τυχιμαίῳ ἕπεται σύγχυσις· ὡς ἔμπαλιν πάσης εὐταξίας ἡγεῖται λόγος, ἁρμονίας τε καὶ συμφωνίας ἡγεῖται σοφία. Αἱ τοίνυν τούτων πρὸς ἀλλήλας ἀμοιβαὶ καὶ ὑποχωρήσεις, ποτὲ μὲν ἡμερῶν μηκυνομένων, ὑποχωρουσῶν δὲ αὐτῶν νυκτῶν, ποτὲ δὲ τῶν νυκτῶν τὸ προδεδανεισμένον χρέος κατὰ τὴν τῶν ὡρῶν αὔξησιν ἀπολαμβανουσῶν, μονονουχὶ φθέγγονται καὶ λαλοῦσι μεγάλῃ φωνῇ τῇ πανσόφῳ διατάξει τοῦ τῶν ὅλων μαρτυροῦσαι Θεοῦ, καὶ κηρύττουσιν ἀνθρώποις τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ γνῶσιν· οὕτω δὲ κεκραγόσιν αὐτοῖς ἔργοις αἱ τῶν ἡμερῶν καὶ τῶν νυκτῶν φωναὶ τοῖς ἐπαΐειν αὐτῶν δυναμένοις, ὡς μηδεμίαν ἀκοὴν λανθάνειν τὴν διδασκαλίαν αὐτῶν. Πεπλήρωται γοῦν ἡ σύμπασα τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἰκουμένη τῆς εὐρύθμου καὶ ἀμοιβαίας αὐτῶν χορείας· δι' ἃ λέλεκται· Οὐκ εἰσὶ λαλιαὶ οὐδὲ λόγοι ὧν οὐχὶ ἀκούονται αἱ φωναὶ αὐτῶν. Εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος αὐτῶν, καὶ εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ ῥήματα αὐτῶν· δῆλον δὲ, ὅτι τῶν ἡμερῶν καὶ τῶν νυκτῶν, τῶν τε διηγουμένων τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ δόξαν οὐρανῶν, καὶ τοῦ τὴν ποίησιν τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ ἐξαγγέλλοντος στερεώματος. Ἔνθα δὲ γενομένῳ μοι θαυμάζειν ἔπεισιν, ὅπως ὁ ἱερὸς ἀπόστολος τό· Εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος αὐτῶν, καὶ εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ ῥήματα αὐτῶν, ἐπὶ τοὺς μαθητὰς καὶ εὐαγγελιστὰς καὶ ἀποστόλους τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἀνήνεγκεν ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους Ἐπιστολῇ. Ἐπιστήσας δὲ τὸν νοῦντῇ ἀποστολικῇ λέξει, σφόδρα ἀκριβῶς εὗρον αὐτὸν καταχρηστικῷ τρόπῳ εὐκαίρως τὴν παράθεσιν πεποιημένον· οὐ γὰρ ὥσπερ ποτὲ μὲν ἔφη· Ἡσαΐας δὲ κράζει ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, ποτὲ δὲ, καθὼς προείρηκεν Ἡσαΐας· καὶ πάλιν· Καθὼς γέγραπται· καὶ αὖθις· 23.192 Λέγει γὰρ ἡ Γραφή· οὐχ οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ