73

of waters. “And this is from my command,” he says. 186 38,9b But I swaddled it with mist. For what reason does he say, I swaddled it? Is it that as swaddling clothes are useful to an infant, so also to the sea? Or because this happened from the beginning, or because this restrains it, or it shows the wondrous thing, that he enveloped the fluid with air and that it is restrained not only by earth, but also by air, being unable to be carried out beyond its measure either upwards or sideways. And what is the use? From this comes great philosophy; for it does not simply speak of the surface, but the very body of the water throughout has mist, and especially that of the sea. 38,10a And I set bounds for it, 10b putting around it bars and gates. Again, that it stands so securely as if bound. Through this, he shows the security, and through the next, the ease. 38,11a And I said to it: Thus far shall you come, and you shall not pass over, 11b but within yourself shall your waves be broken. For he restrains it so securely as if with bars, and so easily as if having commanded. For he says, I said. And one cannot contradict that this happens with no necessity pushing it, but even with much force and rush thus lashing it. For because of this he did not allow it to be calm nor gentle, so that it might proclaim the strength of God, with nature fighting against the command and the command everywhere victorious. For if the water were gentle, many would have attributed the good order to the nature of the water. But now, as it is stirred up, lashed, pushed within and unable to pass its bounds through the turmoil, it proclaims the strength of God. But within yourself shall your waves be broken. Again from here he drew him to the heaven, having previously discoursed on the things below; 187 38,12a Have I, he says, for your sake, appointed the morning light? For there is also the nocturnal, the lunar. 38,12b And has the morning star seen its own order? The first of the stars. See the good order there also. You learned from the waters that in heaven also things are not ordered by nature, but by the providence of God. For if in a fluid and disorderly nature there is such good order and such rhythm, when you see this also in heaven, remember the cause of these things. 38,13a To take hold, he says, of the wings of the earth. That is: to go around. What is to take hold? That wherever it may be, the light sends forth everywhere in the world and to those at the ends, so that this is nothing wondrous concerning the sun, where indeed this is also in the stars. And what is the gain? 38,13b And it will shake out the wicked, he says, from it. He speaks concerning robbers and tomb-raiders and all the others who use the night for their own wickedness. Then the greatest of all: 38,14a Or did you, taking clay, fashion a living creature 14b and place it, able to speak, upon the earth? From which it is clear that other creatures did not have this; for he would not have attached it to man as something special. From the soul he has such a rhythmical and harmonious voice. Do you see that he attests this neither to the stars nor to the others? Then he says: 38,15a And have you taken away the light from the wicked 15b and broken the arm of the proud? 38,16a Have you come, he says, to the spring of the sea? Again he moved the discourse to the sea, not as though the sea has a spring, 188 but as though it does not fail, just as if it had a spring. Then its infinitude: 38,16b And in the tracks, he says, of the abyss have you walked about? “I do not say that you can do none of the things I have done, but you do not even know how it has come to be, nor can you know them nor behold them with exactness.” Through these things he teaches him the distance between himself and him. 38,17a And are the gates of death opened to you in fear? These are the unseen things; from the seen things those also are manifest. That is, “I have authority over life and death; Hades is a prison to me.” 38,17b And have the gatekeepers of Hades, seeing you, cowered in fear? 38,18a Have you comprehended the breadth of what is under heaven? 18b Declare to me, how much or what it is. 38,19a And in what land does the light lodge? 19b And of darkness, what is its place? 38,20a If then you should lead me to their boundary, 20b and if you also know their paths, 38,21a I know then that you were born then, 21b and the number of your years is great. “Declare

73

ὑδάτων. «καὶ τοῦτο ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐμοῦ προστάγματος», φησίν. 186 38,9b ὁμίχλῃ δὲ αὐτὴν ἐσπαργάνωσα. τίνος ἕνεκέν φησιν· ἐσπαργάνωσα; ἆρα ὡς τῷ βρέφει χρήσιμα τὰ σπάργανα, οὕτω καὶ τῇ θαλάσσῃ; ἢ ὅτι ἐξ ἀρχῆς τοῦτο γέγονεν, ἢ ὅτι τοῦτο αὐτὴν κατέχει, ἢ τὸ θαυμαστὸν δείκνυσιν, ὅτι τὸ ῥευστὸν περιέβαλεν ἀέρι καὶ ὅτι οὐχ ὑπὸ γῆς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὸ ἀέρος κατέχεται οὔτε πρὸς ὕψος οὔτε πρὸς πλαγίαν ἐξενεχθῆναι παρὰ τὸ μέτρον δυναμένη. τί δὲ τὸ χρήσιμον; μεγάλη ἐντεῦθεν ἡ φιλοσοφία· οὐ γὰρ ἁπλῶς τὴν ἐπιφάνειάν φησιν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ὕδατος διὰ παντὸς ὁμίχλην ἔχει, καὶ μάλιστα τοῦ θαλαττίου. 38,10a ἐθέμην δὲ αὐτῇ ὅρια 10b περιθεὶς κλεῖθρα καὶ πύλας. πάλιν ὅτι οὕτως ἀσφαλῶς ἕστηκεν ὡσανεὶ δεδεμένη. διὰ μὲν τούτου τὸ ἀσφαλές, διὰ δὲ τοῦ ἑξῆς τὸ εὔκολον δείκνυσιν. 38,11a εἶπον δὲ αὐτῇ· μέχρι τούτου ἐλεύσῃ καὶ οὐχ ὑπερβήσῃ, 11b ἀλλ' ἐν σεαυτῇ συντριβήσονταί σου τὰ κύματα. οὕτω μὲν γὰρ ἀσφαλῶς κατέχει αὐτὴν ὡσανεὶ κλείθροις, οὕτω δὲ εὐκόλως ὡσανεὶ ἐπιτάξας. εἶπον, γάρ φησιν. καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἀντειπεῖν, ὅτι μηδεμιᾶς αὐτὴν ἀνάγκης ὠθούσης τοῦτο γίνεται, ἀλλὰ καίτοι πολλῆς τῆς βίας καὶ τῆς ῥύμης οὕτως αὐτὴν μαστιζούσης. διὰ γὰρ τοῦτο οὐκ ἀφῆκεν αὐτὴν εἶναι γαληναίαν οὐδὲ ἥμερον, ἵνα κηρύττῃ τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ἰσχὺν τῆς φύσεως τῷ προστάγματι μαχομένης καὶ τοῦ προστάγματος πανταχοῦ νικῶντος. εἰ γὰρ ἥμερον ἦν τὸ ὕδωρ, τῇ φύσει τοῦ ὕδατος τὴν εὐταξίαν ἂν ἐλογίσαντο πολλοί. νῦν δὲ ταραττομένης, μαστιζομένης, ὠθουμένης ἔνδον καὶ τὰ ὅρια ὑπερβῆναι μὴ δυναμένης διὰ τῆς ταραχῆς κηρύττει τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ἰσχύν. ἀλλ' ἐν σεαυτῇ συντριβήσεταί σου τὰ κύματα. πάλιν ἐντεῦθεν ἐπὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν αὐτὸν εἵλκυσε πρότερον ἐκ τῶν κάτω διαλεχθείς· 187 38,12a ἐπὶ σοῦ, φησίν, τέταχα φέγγος πρωινόν; ἔστι γὰρ καὶ νυκτερινόν, τὸ σεληνιαῖον. 38,12b ἑωσφόρος δὲ ἐπεῖδεν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ τάξιν; τῶν ἀστέρων ὁ πρῶτος. ὅρα καὶ ἐκεῖ τὴν εὐταξίαν. ἀπὸ τῶν ὑδάτων ἔμαθες, ὅτι καὶ ἐν οὐρανῷ οὐ φύσει τὰ πράγματα οἰκονομεῖται, ἀλλὰ προνοίᾳ θεοῦ· εἰ γὰρ ἐν ῥευστῇ φύσει καὶ ἀτάκτῳ τοσαύτη μὲν εὐταξία, τοσοῦτος δὲ ῥυθμός, ὅταν ἴδῃς καὶ ἐν οὐρανῷ τοῦτο, ἀναμνήσθητι τοῦ αἰτίου τούτων γινομένου. 38,13a ἐπιλαβέσθαι, φησίν, πτερύγων γῆς. τουτέστιν· περιπολεῖν. τί ἐστιν ἐπιλαβέσθαι; ὅτι ὅπου ἂν ᾖ, τὸ φῶς πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐκπέμπει καὶ τοῖς εἰς τὰ πέρατα, ὥστε οὐδὲν θαυμαστὸν περὶ τοῦ ἡλίου τοῦτο, ὅπου γε καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄστροις τοῦτό ἐστιν. καὶ τί τὸ κέρδος; 38,13b καὶ ἐκτινάξει ἀσεβεῖς, φησίν, ἀπ' αὐτῆς. περὶ τῶν λῃστῶν καὶ τυμβωρύχων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων λέγει τῶν τῇ νυκτὶ πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν κεχρημένων πονηρίαν. εἶτα τὸ πάντων μεῖζον· 38,14a ἢ σὺ λαβὼν πηλὸν ἔπλασας ζῷον 14b καὶ λαλητὸν ἔθου αὐτὸ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς; ὅθεν δῆλον, ὅτι τὰ ἄλλα οὐκ εἶχε τοῦτο· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ὡς ἐξαίρετον αὐτὸ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ προσῆψεν. ἀπὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἔχει φωνὴν τοιαύτην εὔρυθμον καὶ ἐναρμόνιον. ὁρᾷς, ὅτι οὔτε τοῖς ἄστροις οὔτε τοῖς ἄλλοις μαρτυρεῖ τοῦτο; εἶτά φησιν· 38,15a ἀφείλω δὲ ἀσεβῶν τὸ φῶς 15b καὶ βραχίονα ὑπερηφάνων συνέτριψας; 38,16a ἦλθες δέ, φησίν, ἐπὶ πηγὴν θαλάσσης; πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν τὸν λόγον μετήγαγεν, οὐχ ὡς πηγὴν 188 τῆς θαλάσσης ἐχούσης, ἀλλ' ὡς μὴ ἐκλειπούσης καθάπερ πηγὴν ἐχούσης. εἶτα τὸ ἄπειρον αὐτῆς· 38,16b ἐν δὲ ἴχνεσιν, φησίν, ἀβύσσου περιεπάτησας; «οὐ λέγω, ὅτι οὐδὲν δύνασαι ποιῆσαι ὧν ἐποίησα, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ οἶδας, πῶς γέγονεν, οὐδὲ εἰδέναι αὐτὰ δύνασαι οὐδὲ θεωρῆσαι αὐτὰ μετὰ ἀκριβείας.» διὰ τούτων διδάσκει αὐτὸν τὸ μέσον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκείνου. 38,17a ἀνοίγονται δέ σοι φόβῳ πύλαι θανάτου; ταῦτα τὰ ἀόρατα, ἀπὸ τῶν φαινομένων κἀκεῖνα δῆλα. τουτέστιν, ὅτι «ζωῆς καὶ θανάτου ἐξουσίαν ἔχω, δεσμωτήριόν μοί ἐστιν ὁ ᾅδης.» 38,17b πυλωροὶ δὲ ᾅδου ἰδόντες σε ἔπτηξαν; 38,18a νουθέτησαι δὲ τῆς ὑπ' οὐρανὸν τὸ εὖρος; 18b ἀνάγγειλόν μοι, πόση ἢ τίς ἐστιν. 38,19a ἐν ποίᾳ δὲ γῇ αὐλίζεται τὸ φῶς; 19b σκότους δὲ ποῖός ἐστιν ὁ τόπος; 38,20a εἰ ἄρα ἀγάγοις με εἰς ὅριον αὐτῶν, 20b εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐπίστασαι τρίβους αὐτῶν, 38,21a οἶδα ἄρα, ὅτι τότε γεγένησαι, 21b ἀριθμὸς δὲ ἐτῶν σου πολύς. «ἀνάγγειλόν