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the saying in Proverbs gave its instruction to such people from things concerning the earth, mountains and hills and springs, as from more familiar things, so that beginning as from a foundation, it might lead by the hand those being instructed to better things, and might prepare them to pass from smaller things to more divine things. 3.3.38 These things, then, if one were to investigate nothing beyond the letter; but if one should wish to understand these things more deeply, he will interpret them not so much with reference to the apostles as to all the righteous and God-beloved men who have ever existed, and he will pass from there also to the divine and angelic powers, saying that "mountains" and "hills" signify differences of angels and archangels and divine spirits, both thrones 3.3.39 and dominions and principalities and powers, because indeed the divine apostle taught that these things, "all things were created through him and for him," and that he is "before all" these things, starting from this point, as is likely, because in these passages it is said in the person of the Son of God, "Before the mountains were established, and before all the hills, he begets me." He said, therefore, that the other things were established, but that he alone was begotten before the creation of the things mentioned. 3.3.40 And the same apostle knows the heavenly Jerusalem and the heavenly mountain on which he says it is, saying, "You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven." Therefore, pre-existing all these things, the only-begotten Son of God obscurely hinted at the things of his own ineffable generation through the Proverbs. 3.3.41 And that he was indeed suggesting these things to be understood would be clear from what he connects next, saying, "When he prepared the heaven, I was with him." There the noble interpreter of the scriptures, being shut out, stopped, not proceeding further, because he was not able to smooth out the sequence of the 3.3.42 hypothesis assigned to him concerning the flesh of the savior. For having mentioned the flesh up and down and having declared that all these things were said about the flesh, he reached as far as the mountains and the hills, saying that these were the apostles, but what followed these things he willingly handed over to silence, no longer daring to proceed further with the scripture. 3.3.43 Here, then, he stops his discourse; but after very many things said by him in between, he abandons the interpretation with reference to the flesh, and confesses that it is the Word of God who said these things. So he says in these very words: For before the world was, the Word was in the Father. But when God the almighty purposed to make all things in the heavens and on the earth, the creation of the world required an effective energy; and for this reason, since there was nothing else besides God—for all things are acknowledged to have been made by him—at that time the Word, having come forth, became the maker of the world, he who previously was preparing it within, intelligibly, as the prophet Solomon teaches us, saying, "When he prepared the heaven, I was with him," and, "when he made the springs of what is under heaven secure, when he made the foundations of the earth strong, 3.3.44 I was with him, fitting things together; I was the one in whom he delighted"; for the Father rightly delighted, making all things with wisdom and power through the Word. These things Marcellus. If, then, he has at last with difficulty confessed that these things were spoken in the person of the Word, it is necessary for him to accept that the whole context of the preceding passages refers to the same Word of God. 3.3.45 For he who said, "When he prepared the heaven, I was with him," was himself the one who also said, "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways for his works"; for one and the same person was shown to us at the beginning, who goes through all the preceding passages. Therefore, he himself who said, "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways for his works," added, "Before the age he founded me," and, "in the beginning, before he made the earth," and, "before the mountains were established, and before all 3.3.46 the hills, he begets me"; and the same one also connected, "When he prepared the heaven, I was with him," and the things that follow these. If, then, it was the Word who said these things, how was he within God and,

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ὁ ἐν ταῖς Παροιμίαις λόγος ὡς τοιούτοις ἀπὸ τῶν περὶ γῆν ὀρῶν τε καὶ βουνῶν καὶ πηγῶν ὡς ἀπὸ γνωριμωτέρων τὴν διδασκαλίαν ἐποιεῖτο, ὡς ἐξ ὑποβάθρας ἀρξάμενος ἐπὶ τὰ κρείττω χειραγωγήσειεν τοὺς παιδαγωγουμένους, ἀπό τε τῶν σμικροτέρων ἐπὶ τὰ θειότερα διαβαίνειν πα3.3.38 ρασκευάσειεν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν, εἰ μηδέν τις πέρα τῆς λέξεως περιεργάζοιτο· εἰ δὲ βαθύτερόν τις καὶ ταῦτα νοεῖν ἐθέλοι, οὐ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀποστόλους ἢ ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς πώποτε γενομένους δικαίους καὶ θεοφιλεῖς ἄνδρας αὐτὰ ἐκδέξεται, διαβήσεται δὲ ἐνθένδε καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς θείας καὶ ἀγγελικὰς δυνάμεις, ὄρη λέγων καὶ βουνοὺς αἰνίττεσθαι ἀγγέλων καὶ ἀρχαγγέλων καὶ πνευμάτων θείων διαφοράς, θρόνους 3.3.39 τε καὶ κυριότητας καὶ ἀρχὰς καὶ ἐξουσίας, ὅτι δὴ καὶ ταῦτα «πάντα τὰ δι' αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν» ἐκτίσθαι καὶ «πρὸ πάντων» αὐτὸν εἶναι τούτων ὁ θεῖος ἐδίδαξεν ἀπόστολος, ἔνθεν ὡς εἰκὸς ὁρμώμενος, διὰ τὸ λέγεσθαι ἐν τούτοις ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ «πρὸ τοῦ ὄρη ἑδρασθῆναι, πρὸ δὲ πάντων βουνῶν γεννᾷ με». τὰ μὲν οὖν ἄλλα ἡδράσθαι ἔφη, μόνον δὲ αὑτὸν γεγεννῆσθαι πρὸ τῆς τῶν 3.3.40 δηλωθέντων συστάσεως. οἶδεν δὲ τὴν ἐπουράνιον Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὁ αὐτὸς ἀπόστολος καὶ τὸ οὐράνιον ὄρος ἐφ' ᾧ ταύτην εἶναί φησιν λέγων «προσεληλύθατε Σιὼν ὄρει καὶ πόλει θεοῦ ζῶντος, Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπουρανίῳ, καὶ μυριάσιν ἀγγέλων, πανηγύρει καὶ ἐκκλησίᾳ πρωτοτόκων ἀπογεγραμμένων ἐν οὐρανοῖς». καὶ τούτων τοιγαροῦν ἁπάντων προϋπάρχων ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ μονογενὴς υἱὸς τὰ τῆς οἰκείας ἀπορρήτου γεννήσεως ἐπικεκρυμμένως διὰ τῶν Παροιμιῶν ᾐνίτ3.3.41 τετο. καὶ ὅτι γε ταῦτα ὑπέβαλλε νοεῖν, δῆλον ἂν γένοιτο ἀφ' ὧν συνάπτει ἑξῆς λέγων «ἡνίκα ἡτοίμαζεν τὸν οὐρανὸν συμπαρήμην αὐτῷ». ἔνθα ὁ γενναῖος τῶν γραφῶν ἑρμηνεὺς ἀποκλεισθεὶς ἔστη, μηκέθ' ὑπερβάς, τῷ μὴ δεδυνῆσθαι ἐξομαλίσαι τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τῆς 3.3.42 ἀποδοθείσης αὐτῷ περὶ τῆς σαρκὸς τοῦ σωτῆρος ὑποθέσεως. ἄνω γὰρ καὶ κάτω τῆς σαρκὸς μνημονεύσας καὶ πάντα εἰρῆσθαι περὶ τῆς σαρκὸς ἀποφηνάμενος μέχρι μὲν τῶν ὀρῶν καὶ τῶν βουνῶν ἔφθασεν τοὺς ἀποστόλους ταῦτ' εἰπὼν εἶναι, τὰ δέ γε τούτοις ἀκόλουθα ἑκὼν παρέδωκε σιωπῇ, μηκέτι τῆς γραφῆς περαιτέρω προελ3.3.43 θεῖν τολμήσας. ἐνταῦθα μὲν οὖν ἵστησιν τὸν λόγον· μετὰ πλεῖστα δὲ ὅσα μεταξὺ αὐτῷ λελεγμένα ἀφίσταται μὲν τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν σάρκα ἐκδοχῆς, ὁμολογεῖ δὲ τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγον εἶναι τὸν ταῦτα φήσαντα. λέγει δ' οὖν αὐτοῖς ῥήμασιν πρὸ γὰρ τοῦ τὸν κόσμον εἶναι ἦν ὁ λόγος ἐν τῷ πατρί. ὅτε δὲ ὁ παντοκράτωρ θεὸς πάντα τὰ ἐν οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ποιῆσαι προέθετο, ἐνεργείας ἡ τοῦ κόσμου γένεσις ἐδεῖτο δραστικῆς· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο, μηδενὸς ὄντος ἑτέρου πλὴν θεοῦ πάντα γὰρ ὁμολογεῖται ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γεγενῆσθαι, τότε ὁ λόγος προελθὼν ἐγίνετο τοῦ κόσμου ποιητής, ὁ καὶ πρότερον ἔνδον νοητῶς ἑτοι μάζων αὐτόν, ὡς διδάσκει ἡμᾶς ὁ προφήτης Σολομὼν «ἡνίκα ἡτοίμαζεν τὸν οὐρανόν» λέγων «συμπαρήμην αὐτῷ» καὶ «ὡς ἀσφαλεῖς ἐτίθει πηγὰς τῆς ὑπ' οὐρανόν, ἡνίκα ἰσχυρὰ ἐποίει τὰ 3.3.44 θεμέλια τῆς γῆς, ἤμην παρ' αὐτῷ ἁρμόζουσα· ἐγὼ ἤμην ᾗ προσ έχαιρεν»· ἔχαιρεν γὰρ εἰκότως ὁ πατὴρ μετὰ σοφίας καὶ δυνάμεως διὰ τοῦ λόγου πάντα ποιῶν. ταῦτα Μάρκελλος. εἰ δὴ οὖν ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ λόγου εἰρῆσθαι αὐτὰ μόγις ποτὲ ὡμολόγησεν, ἀνάγκη αὐτὸν παραδέξασθαι πᾶσαν τὴν σύμφρασιν τῶν προκειμένων ἐπὶ τὸν αὐτὸν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγον ἀναφέρε3.3.45 σθαι. ὁ γὰρ εἰπὼν «ἡνίκα ἡτοίμαζεν τὸν οὐρανόν, συμπαρήμην αὐτῷ» αὐτὸς ἦν ὁ καὶ τὸ «κύριος ἔκτισέν με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ» φήσας· ἓν γὰρ καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πρόσωπον ἀρχομένοις ἡμῖν ἐδείχθη τὸ πάντα διεξοδεῦον τὰ προκείμενα. αὐτὸς τοιγαροῦν ὁ εἰπὼν «κύριος ἔκτισέν με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ» ἐπήγαγεν τὸ «πρὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος ἐθεμελίωσέν με» καὶ τὸ «ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸ τοῦ τὴν γῆν ποιῆσαι» καὶ τὸ «πρὸ τοῦ ὄρη ἑδρασθῆναι, πρὸ δὲ πάν3.3.46 των βουνῶν γεννᾷ με»· ὁ αὐτὸς δὲ καὶ τὸ «ἡνίκα ἡτοίμαζεν τὸν οὐρανόν, συμπαρήμην αὐτῷ» συνῆψεν καὶ τὰ ἀκόλουθα τούτοις. εἰ δὴ οὖν ὁ λόγος ἦν ὁ ταῦτα φήσας, πῶς ἔνδον ἦν ἐν τῷ θεῷ καί,