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fire. But if they should come together according to the creator's command, each of them remains, preserving its own property.

And the analogies: By analogies he means the fitnesses and symmetries of each nature.

Not off the mark: That is, not outside the scope of Scripture. Supporting: Upholding. Of the maimed: Of the harmed, of those causing injury and uselessness. And all inequality: He does not simply say to banish inequality, but in the particular things, that is, that each of the things that have come to be does not remain equally and alike in its identity according to nature; for which reason he also added 'by privation', since insofar as beings are indifferent and unequal, inequality is not cast out.

Of the equality in each of them: Knowing the two ways in which inequality is spoken of, he clarifies the two, and says that God is called justice in this respect, in that He both measures out the equality of all things (14S_304> and banishes the inequality of all things. But he now calls inequality that which occurs by privation of equality, that is, greed; for to distribute to each what is according to worth, this holds all things together and preserves them. Having said these things, he introduces also the other way in which inequality is spoken of. For he knows of some who have named the intelligible and incorporeal forms, and the first principles of beings—I mean the immortal creation, the unities, that is, the simple substances—equality and identity, but who have called the sensible things—which are divisible and in flux and difference, and are at different times in different states—inequality and otherness. He says, therefore, that even if one should understand this inequality, the difference of sensible things into species, through which the generations of animals and of plants and of the rest subsist, yet God is the guard and protector of this inequality too, not allowing opposites to be mixed into one and, running together through this mingling, to come to destruction. For as He brought all things forth, so He preserves them, and they are as they came to be from the beginning.

For the inequality: Note that he speaks of inequality also as the universal difference of all things in the whole, and that the justice of God guards such an inequality. But note that there is also a natural inequality.

ON CHAPTER 9

§ 1. Of these divine names: He speaks most wisely of "statues of the divine names", transferring the concept from the Greeks to the truth;

for they used to make certain statues, having neither hands nor feet, which they called Herms; and they made them with empty doors, like niches in a wall. Inside them, therefore, they used to place (14S_306> statues of the gods they worshipped, and on the outside they would close up the Herms; so the Herms appeared humble, but inside them they had the adornments of their gods. So, then, here also you should understand that the names in Scripture concerning the one existing and true God are unworthy things to be said about God, such as 'small', and 'to be seated', and so on, but when the names are unfolded and interpreted in a manner worthy of God, they have within them the statues and the divine types of the glory concerning God.

Great, then, is God hymned in the Oracles. God is not great, he says, by comparison with another, as an ox is greater than a sheep, or a bean than a millet-seed, but because of the incomparability and truly incomprehensible nature of the divine majesty; for this is what 'uniquely' signified, that is, saying it is a unique property.

§ 2. Great, then, is God named: Even if he interprets the appellations predicated of God, it is still necessary to clarify them with testimonies from Scripture. Great, then, He is said to be, where it is written, "Great is our Lord, and

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πῦρ. Εἰ δέ καί συνέλθοιεν κατά τήν τοῦ δημιουργοῦ κέλευσιν, μένει ἕκαστον αὐτῶν, σῷζον τήν οἰκείαν ἰδιότητα.

Καί τάς ἀναλογίας: Ἀναλογίας φησί τάς ἁρμοδιότητας ἑκάστης φύσεως καί συμμετρίας.

Οὐκ ἀπό σκοποῦ: Τουτέστιν οὐκ ἔξω τοῦ σκοποῦ τῆς Γραφῆς. Ὑπερείδουσα: Ὑποστηρίζουσα. Τῶν λελωβημένων: Βεβλαμμένων, τῶν λώβην καί ἀχρείωσιν προξενούντων. Καί πᾶσα ἀνισότης: Οὐχ ἁπλῶς φησι τήν ἀνισότητα ἐξορίζειν, ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς

καθ' ἕκαστον, τουτέστι τό μή ἴσως καί ὁμοίως ἕκαστον τῶν γεγονότων ἐν ταυτότητι τῇ κατά φύσιν διαμένειν· διό καί τό κατά στέρησιν προσέθηκεν, ἐπεί κατά τό ἀδιάφορα εἶναι τά ὄντα καί ἄνισα ἡ ἀνισότης οὐκ ἐκβάλλεται.

Τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς ἑκάστοις ἰσότητος: ∆ύο τρόπους καθ' οὕς ἀνισότης λέγεται εἰδώς, τούς δύο τρανοῖ, καί φησιν, ὅτι δικαιοσύνη κατά τοῦτο λέγεται ὁ Θεός, καθ' ὅ καί τήν ἰσότητα πάντων (14S_304> ἐπιμετρεῖ, καί τήν ἀνισότητα πάντων ἐξορίζει. Ἀνισότητα δέ νῦν φησι τήν κατά στέρησιν τῆς ἰσότητος συμβαίνουσαν, τουτέστι τήν πλεονεξίαν· τό γάρ ἴσως νέμειν ἑκάστοις τά κατ' ἀξίαν, τοῦτο συγκρατεῖ πάντα καί σῴζει. Ταῦτα φήσας, ἐπιφέρει καί τόν ἕτερον τρόπον, καθ' ὅν ἀνισότης λέγεται. Καί γάρ οἶδέ τινας, τά μέν νοητά καί ἀσώματα εἴδη, καί τάς πρώτας τῶν ὄντων ἀρχάς, φημί δή τήν ἀθάνατον δημιουργίαν, τάς ἑνάδας, τουτέστι τάς ἁπλᾶς οὐσίας, ἰσότητα καί ταυτότητα ὀνομάσαντας, τά δέ αἰσθητά, ἅ καί μεριστά εἰσι καί ἐν μεταβολῇ καί διαφορᾷ, καί ἄλλοτε ἄλλως ἔχοντα, ἀνισότητα καί ἑτερότητα καλέσαντας. Λέγει οὖν, ὅτι, κἄν ταύτην τήν ἀνισότητα νοήσῃ τις, τήν τῶν αἰσθητῶν εἰς εἴδη διαφοράν, δι' ἧς αἱ τῶν ζώων καί τῶν φυτῶν καί τῶν ἑξῆς γενέσεις ὑφίστανται, ἀλλά καί ταύτης τῆς ἀνισότητος ὁ Θεός φύλαξ καί φρουρός ἐστι, μή ἐῶν τά ἐναντια εἰς ἕν συμμιχθῆναι καί συνδραμόντα διά τῆς φυράσεως εἰς φθοράν ἐλθεῖν. Ὡς γάρ παρήγαγε πάντα, οὕτω συντηρεῖ αὐτά, καί εἰσίν ὡς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐγένοντο.

Τήν γάρ ἀνισότητα: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι τήν ἀνισότητά φησι καί τήν ἐν τῷ ὅλῳ πρός ὅλα διαφοράν τῶν ὅλων, καί ὅτι τήν τοιαύτην ἀνισότητα ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ δικαιοσύνη φρουρεῖ. Σημείωσαι δέ, ὅτι ἐστί καί φυσική ἀνισότης.

ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Θ'

§ 1. Τούτων τῶν θεωνυμικῶν: Σοφώτατά φησι θεωνυμικῶν ἀγαλμάτων, ἐξ

Ἑλλήνων ἐπί τό ἀληθές μετάγων· ἐκεῖνοι γάρ οἷά τινας ἀνδριάντας ἐποίουν, μήτε χεῖρας μήτε πόδας ἔχοντας, οὕς Ἐρμᾶς ἐκάλουν· ἐποίουν δέ αὐτούς διακένους θύρας ἔχοντας, καθάπερ τοιχοπυργίσκους. Ἔσωθεν οὖν αὐτῶν ἐτίθεσαν (14S_306> ἀγάλματα, ὧν ἔσεβον θεῶν, ἔξωθεν δέ ἀπέκλειον τούς Ἑρμᾶς· ἐφαίνοντο οὖν οἱ Ἑρμαῖ εὐτελεῖς, ἔσωθεν δέ τούτων θεῶν αὐτῶν καλλωπισμούς εἶχον. Οὕτως οὖν κἀνταῦθα νοήσεις, τά μέν περί τοῦ ὄντος καί ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ μόνου ἐν τῇ Γραφῇ ὀνόματα ἀνάξια εἶναι περί Θεοῦ λεγόμενα, ὡς τό μικρόν, καί τό καθῆσθαι, καί τά ἑξῆς, ἀναπτυσσόμενα δέ τά ὀνόματα καί ἀξίως Θεοῦ ἑρμηνευόμενα, ἔχουσιν ἔσωθεν τά ἀγάλματα καί τούς θείους τύπους τῆς περί Θεοῦ δόξης.

Μέγας οὖν ὁ Θεός ἐν τοῖς Λογίοις ὑμνεῖται. Οὐ πρός ἀντιπαράθεσιν ὁ Θεός μέγας, φησίν, ἑτέρου, ὥσπερ βοῦς μείζων προβάτου, ἤ κύαμος κέγχρου, ἀλλά διά τό ἀπαράθετον καί ὄντως ἀκατάληπτον τῆς θείας μεγαλειότητος· τοῦτο γάρ ἐσήμανε τό 'ἰδίως', ἤγουν ἰδιότητα εἰπών.

§ 2. Μέγας μέν οὖν ὁ Θεός ὀνομάζεται: Εἰ καί ἑρμηνεύει τῶν ἐπί Θεοῦ κατηγορουμένων τάς προσηγορίας, ἀλλ' ἀνάγκη Γραφικαῖς μαρτυρίαις ταύτας τρανῶσαι. Μέγας μέν οὖν εἴρηται, ἔνθα γέγραπται, «μέγας ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν, καί