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this being compact and its limbs not articulated. But its nourishment, as we said, its proboscis conveys from the ground up to its height, being somewhat serpent-like and rather moist in its nature. Thus the saying is true, that it is possible to find nothing superfluous nor lacking in the things that were created. Yet this creature, being so great in size, God has made subject to us (so that it both understands when taught, and submits when struck), clearly teaching us that He has subjected all things to us, because we have been made in the image of the Creator. It is possible to see the unsearchable wisdom not only in the great animals, but also to gather no less wonder from the very small ones. For just as I do not marvel more at the great mountain peaks, which, by being near the clouds, preserve the winter chill with the constant breeze, than at the hollow in the ravines, which not only escapes the ill wind of the heights but also always contains warm air; so also in the constitutions of animals I do not admire the elephant for its size more than the mouse, because it is fearsome to the elephant; or the very fine stinger of the scorpion, how the craftsman hollowed it out like a pipe, so that through it the venom is injected into those who are wounded. And let no one on this account blame the Maker, because He introduced venomous animals, and destructive and hostile to our life; or in this way one might also blame a tutor who brings the heedlessness of youth into order, and corrects its intemperance with blows and whips. 9.6 Wild beasts are a test of faith. Do you trust in the Lord? You will tread upon the asp and the basilisk, and you will trample the lion and the dragon. And you have through faith the power to tread upon serpents and scorpions. Or do you not see that when Paul was gathering sticks, the viper that fastened on him did him no harm at all, because the saint was found to be full of faith? But if you are faithless, fear not the beast so much as your own faithlessness, through which you have made yourself vulnerable to every kind of destruction. But I have long perceived that I am being asked for the things concerning the generation of man, and I seem almost to hear the audience crying out in their hearts, that we are being taught what sort of nature our possessions have, but we are ignorant of ourselves. It is necessary, therefore, to speak, having pushed aside the hesitation that holds us. For it seems truly to be the most difficult of all things to know oneself. For not only does the eye, seeing external things, not use its sight upon itself, but also our own mind, while keenly observing another's fault, is slow to the recognition of its own failings. For this reason now also the discourse, having quickly gone over other things, is sluggish and full of hesitation towards the examination of our own; and yet it is not more possible to know God from heaven and earth than also from our own constitution, for one who has examined himself with understanding; as the prophet says: Your knowledge has become wonderful from me; that is, having understood myself, I was taught the exceeding greatness of the wisdom in you. And God said, Let us make man. Where is the Jew for me, who, in the things that followed, when the light of theology was shining through as if through certain windows, and a second person was being indicated mystically, but not yet clearly manifested, fought against the truth, saying that God was speaking to himself? For he himself said, he says, and he himself did it. Let there be light, and there was light. Now, even then the absurdity was plain in the things said by them. For what blacksmith, or carpenter, or shoemaker, sitting alone at the instruments of his trade, with no one working with him, says to himself, Let us make the knife, or Let us join together the plow, or Let us finish the shoe; but does he not in silence carry out the appropriate task? For it is truly a terrible foolishness, for someone to sit as his own ruler and overseer, despotically and vehemently urging himself on. But nevertheless, those who did not hesitate to slander the Lord himself, what would they not say, having a tongue practiced in falsehood? However

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τοῦτο συμπεπηγὸς καὶ οὐ διηρθρωμένον τὰ κῶλα. Τὴν δὲ τροφὴν, ὥσπερ ἔφαμεν, ἡ προνομαία χαμόθεν ἐπὶ τὸ ὕψος διακομίζει, ὀφιώδης τις οὖσα καὶ ὑγροτέρα τὴν φύσιν. Οὕτως ἀληθὴς ὁ λόγος, ὅτι οὐδὲν περιττὸν οὐδὲ ἐλλεῖπον ἐν τοῖς κτισθεῖσι δυνατὸν εὑρεθῆναι. Τοῦτο μέντοι τοσοῦτον ὂν τῷ μεγέθει ὑποχείριον ἡμῖν κατέστησεν ὁ Θεὸς (ὥστε καὶ διδασκόμενον συνιέναι, καὶ τυπτόμενον καταδέχεσθαι), ἐναργῶς ἡμᾶς ἐκδιδάσκων, ὅτι πάντα ὑπέταξεν ἡμῖν, διὰ τὸ κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμᾶς πεποιῆσθαι τοῦ κτίσαντος. Οὐ μόνον δὲ ἐν τοῖς μεγάλοις τῶν ζῴων τὴν ἀνεξιχνίαστον σοφίαν ἔξεστι κατιδεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς μικροτάτοις οὐδὲν ἔλαττον συναγεῖραι τὸ θαῦμα. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐ μᾶλλον θαυμάζω τὰς μεγάλας τῶν ὀρῶν κορυφὰς, αἳ τῷ πλησίον εἶναι τῶν νεφῶν τῇ συνεχεῖ περιπνοίᾳ διασώζουσι τὸ χειμέριον, ἢ τὴν ἐν ταῖς φάραγξι κοιλότητα, οὐ μόνον τὸ δυσήνεμον τῶν ὑψηλῶν διαφεύγουσαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀλεεινὸν ἀεὶ τὸν ἀέρα συνέχουσαν· οὕτως καὶ ἐν ταῖς τῶν ζῴων κατασκευαῖς οὐ μᾶλλον ἄγαμαι τὸν ἐλέφαντα τοῦ μεγέθους, ἢ τὸν μῦν, ὅτι φοβερός ἐστι τῷ ἐλέφαντι· ἢ τὸ λεπτότατον τοῦ σκορπίου κέντρον, πῶς ἐκοίλανεν ὥσπερ αὐλὸν ὁ τεχνίτης, ὥστε δι' αὐτοῦ τὸν ἰὸν τοῖς τρωθεῖσιν ἐνίεσθαι. Καὶ μηδεὶς ἐγκαλείτω τούτου ἕνεκεν τῷ ποιητῇ, ὅτι ἰοβόλα ζῷα καὶ φθαρτικὰ καὶ πολέμια τῇ ζωῇ ἡμῶν ἐπεισήγαγεν· ἢ οὕτω δ' ἄν τις καὶ παιδαγωγῷ ἐγκαλοίη εἰς τάξιν ἄγοντι τὴν εὐκολίαν τῆς νεότητος, καὶ πληγαῖς καὶ μάστιξι τὸ ἀκόλαστον σωφρονίζοντι. 9.6 Πίστεώς ἐστιν ἀπόδειξις τὰ θηρία. Πέποιθας ἐπὶ Κύριον; Ἐπὶ ἀσπίδα καὶ βασιλίσκον ἐπιβήσῃ, καὶ καταπατήσεις λέοντα καὶ δράκοντα. Καὶ ἔχεις τὴν διὰ πίστεως ἐξουσίαν πατεῖν ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων. Ἢ οὐχ ὁρᾷς ὅτι φρυγανιζομένῳ τῷ Παύλῳ ἐνάψας ὁ ἔχις οὐδεμίαν προσετρίψατο βλάβην, διὰ τὸ πλήρη πίστεως εὑρεθῆναι τὸν ἅγιον; Εἰ δὲ ἄπιστος εἶ, φοβοῦ μὴ μᾶλλον τὸ θηρίον ἢ τὴν σεαυτοῦ ἀπιστίαν, δι' ἧς πάσῃ φθορᾷ σεαυτὸν εὐάλωτον κατεσκεύασας. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ αἰσθάνομαι πάλαι τὰ περὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου γενέσεως ἀπαιτούμενος, καὶ μονονουχὶ ἀκούειν δοκῶ μοι τῶν ἀκροατῶν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις καταβοώντων, ὅτι τὰ μὲν ἡμέτερα ὁποῖά τινά ἐστι τὴν φύσιν διδασκόμεθα, ἡμᾶς δὲ αὐτοὺς ἀγνοοῦμεν. Ἀνάγκη οὖν εἰπεῖν, τὸν κατέχοντα ἡμᾶς ὄκνον παρωσαμένους. Τῷ ὄντι γὰρ ἔοικε πάντων εἶναι χαλεπώτατον ἑαυτὸν ἐπιγνῶναι. Οὐ γὰρ μόνον ὀφθαλμὸς τὰ ἔξω βλέπων ἐφ' ἑαυτὸν οὐ κέχρηται τῷ ὁρᾶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ἡμῶν ὁ νοῦς, ὀξέως τὸ ἀλλότριον ἁμάρτημα καταβλέπων, βραδύς ἐστι πρὸς τὴν τῶν οἰκείων ἐλαττωμάτων ἐπίγνωσιν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ νῦν ὁ λόγος, ὀξέως ἐπελθὼν τὰ ἀλλότρια, νωθρός ἐστι καὶ ὄκνου πλήρης πρὸς τὴν τῶν οἰκείων ἐξέτασιν· καίτοι οὐ μᾶλλον ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς τὸν Θεὸν ἔστιν ἐπιγνῶναι, ἢ καὶ ἐκ τῆς οἰκείας ἡμῶν κατασκευῆς, τόν γε συνετῶς ἑαυτὸν ἐξετάσαντα· ὥς φησιν ὁ προφήτης· Ἐθαυμαστώθη ἡ γνῶσίς σου ἐξ ἐμοῦ· τουτέστιν, ἐμαυτὸν καταμαθὼν, τὸ ὑπερβάλλον τῆς ἐν σοὶ σοφίας ἐξεδιδάχθην. Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεὸς, ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον. Ποῦ μοι ὁ Ἰουδαῖος, ὃς, ἐν τοῖς κατόπιν, ὥσπερ διὰ θυρίδων τινῶν, τοῦ τῆς θεολογίας φωτὸς διαλάμποντος, καὶ δευτέρου προσώπου τοῦ ὑποδεικνυμένου μὲν μυστικῶς, οὔπω δὲ ἐναργῶς ἐκφανέντος, πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀπεμάχετο, αὐτὸν ἑαυτῷ λέγων τὸν Θεὸν διαλέγεσθαι; Αὐτὸς γὰρ εἶπε, φησὶ, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐποίησε. Γενηθήτω φῶς, καὶ ἐγένετο φῶς. Ἦν μὲν οὖν καὶ τότε πρόχειρος ἐν τοῖς παρ' αὐτῶν λεγομένοις ἡ ἀτοπία. Τίς γὰρ χαλκεὺς, ἢ τέκτων, ἢ σκυτοτόμος, ἐπὶ τῶν ὀργάνων τῆς τέχνης μόνος καθήμενος, οὐδενὸς αὐτῷ συνεργοῦντος, λέγει αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ, ποιήσωμεν τὴν μάχαιραν, ἢ συμπήξωμεν τὸ ἄροτρον, ἢ ἀπεργασώμεθα τὸ ὑπόδημα· ἀλλ' οὐχὶ σιωπῇ τὴν ἐπιβάλλουσαν ἐνέργειαν ἐκτελεῖ; Φλυαρία γὰρ τῷ ὄντι δεινὴ, ἄρχοντά τινα ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἐπιστάτην καθῆσθαι, δεσποτικῶς ἑαυτοῦ καὶ σφοδρῶς κατασπεύδοντα. Ἀλλ' ὅμως οἱ αὐτὸν τὸν Κύριον συκοφαντῆσαι μὴ κατοκνήσαντες, τί οὐκ ἂν εἴποιεν γεγυμνασμένην πρὸς τὸ ψεῦδος τὴν γλῶσσαν ἔχοντες; Ἡ μέντοι