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sends him on, but what could day and night have to show us of such a kind? Nothing of that kind, but other things no less than these: their rhythm, their order with all exactness. For when you consider how they have divided up the entire year, and just as with a yoke and a scale they have distributed the length of the whole period, you will be amazed at the one who ordered it. For just as some sisters who have divided their paternal inheritance with great love, not harming each other in the slightest; so indeed day and night with all precision have divided the year in such equal measure, and they keep their own boundaries, and never has one pushed out the other; therefore, never in winter has the day become long, just as never in summer has the night become long, though so many generations have passed; but in such a period and length of time, not for an instant, not for half an hour, not for a blink of an eye has one taken advantage of the other.

3. For these reasons also the psalmist, amazed at their equality, cried out, saying: Night unto night declares knowledge. If you know how to contemplate these things, you will marvel at the one who thus from the beginning set these immovable boundaries. Let the greedy and those who desire others' money hear these things, and imitate the equality of day and night; let the puffed-up and arrogant hear, and those unwilling to yield the first place to others. The day yields to the night, and does not encroach upon its foreign boundaries; but you, always enjoying honor, do you not bear to share it with your brothers? And consider 49.107 for me the lawgiver's wisdom. In winter he ordained 49.107 the night to be long, when the seeds are more tender and in need of more cooling, and cannot bear a hotter ray; but when it grows, the day grows again along with it, and then becomes longer, when the fruit is finally ripening. This is suitable not only for seeds, but also for our bodies. For since in winter the sailor, and the pilot, and the traveler, and the soldier, and the farmer mostly sit at home, bound by the cold, and winter is a time of idleness, God caused the greater part of the time to be spent in night, so that the length of the day might not be superfluous, when men can do nothing. What might one say of the good order of the seasons? how they also, just like virgins dancing in a circle, succeed one another with great order, and how the intermediate seasons, little by little and without a sound, do not cease to bring us over to the opposite seasons? For this reason, summer does not follow winter for us, nor winter immediately from there, but spring is inserted in the middle, so that by receiving it gently and little by little, we may bring our hardened bodies to summer without pain. For since sudden changes to the opposite produce extreme sickness and harm, God has so arranged that from winter we receive spring, from spring summer, from summer autumn, and so be sent on to winter, so that the changes from the opposite seasons happen to us harmlessly and little by little through the intermediate ones. Who then is so wretched and miserable, who, seeing the sky, and seeing the sea and land, and seeing such an exact, good temperament of seasons, and the unfailing order of day and night, would think these things happen by chance, and not worship the one who arranged all these things with fitting wisdom? I have something even more to say than these things; for indeed not only the size and beauty, but also the very manner of creation reveals the God who holds all things together. For since we were not present with the one who was founding and creating all things from the beginning, nor, if we had been present, would we have seen how it happened, as his invisible power was fashioning them, he made the very manner of creation to be our best teacher, having composed all created things in a sequence beyond nature. Perhaps what I have said is rather unclear; therefore it is necessary to make this clearer again

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αὐτὸν παραπέμπει, ἡ δὲ ἡμέρα καὶ ἡ νὺξ τί τοιοῦτον ἂν ἔχοιεν ἡμῖν ἐπιδείξασθαι; Τοιοῦτον μὲν οὐδὲν, ἕτερα δὲ οὐκ ἐλάττονα τούτων, τὸν ῥυθμὸν, τὴν τάξιν τὴν μετ' ἀκριβείας ἁπάσης. Ὅταν γὰρ ἐννοήσῃς πῶς τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἅπαντα διενείμαντο, καὶ καθάπερ ἐν ζυγῷ καὶ πλάστιγγι τοῦ παντὸς διαστήματος τὸ μῆκος διείλαντο, ἐκπλαγήσῃ τὸν τάξαντα. Καθάπερ γάρ τινες ἀδελφαὶ τὸν πατρῷον διανειμάμεναι κλῆρον μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἀγάπης, οὐδὲ τὸ τυχὸν ἀλλήλαις ἐπηρεάζουσαι· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἡ ἡμέρα καὶ ἡ νὺξ μετὰ ἀκριβείας πάσης τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἐν ἰσομοιρίᾳ τοσαύτῃ διενείμαντο, καὶ τοὺς οἰκείους διατηροῦσιν ὅρους, καὶ οὐδέποτε ἑτέρα τὴν ἑτέραν ἐξώθησεν· οὐδέποτε οὖν ἐν χειμῶνι μακρὰ γέγονεν ἡ ἡμέρα, ὥσπερ οὐδέποτε ἐν θέρει μακρὰ γέγονεν ἡ νὺξ, τοσούτων παρελθουσῶν γενεῶν· ἀλλ' ἐν τοσούτῳ διαστήματι καὶ μήκει, οὐδὲ ἀκαριαῖον, οὐχ ἡμιώριον, οὐ ῥιπὴν ὀφθαλμοῦ ἡ ἑτέρα τὴν ἑτέραν ἐπλεονέκτησε.

γʹ. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα καὶ ὁ ψαλμῳδὸς ἐκπλαγεὶς αὐτῶν τὴν ἰσότητα, ἐβόα λέγων· Νὺξ νυκτὶ ἀναγγέλλει γνῶσιν. Ἂν ταῦτα εἰδῇς φιλοσοφεῖν, θαυμάσεις τὸν οὕτω παρὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν τάξαντα τοὺς ἀκινήτους τούτους ὅρους. Ἀκουέτωσαν τούτων οἱ πλεονέκται καὶ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἐφιέμενοι χρημάτων, καὶ μιμείσθωσαν ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς τὴν ἰσότητα· ἀκουέτωσαν οἱ πεφυσιωμένοι καὶ μεγαλοφρονοῦντες, καὶ μὴ βουλόμενοι τῶν πρωτείων ἑτέροις παραχωρεῖν. Ἡ ἡμέρα τῇ νυκτὶ παραχωρεῖ, καὶ οὐκ ἐπιβαίνει τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις ὅροις· σὺ δὲ ἀεὶ τιμῆς ἀπολαύων οὐκ ἀνέχῃ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μεταδοῦναι ταύτης; Καὶ σκόπει 49.107 μοι νομοθέτου σοφίαν. Ἐν χειμῶνι μακρὰν ἔταξεν εἶναι 49.107 τὴν νύκτα, ὅτε ἁπαλώτερα τὰ σπέρματα καὶ καταψύχεσθαι δεόμενα μᾶλλον, καὶ θερμοτέρας οὐκ ἀνέχεται τῆς ἀκτῖνος· ἐπειδὰν δὲ αὐξηθῇ, συναύξεται πάλιν αὐτοῖς ἡ ἡμέρα, καὶ τότε γίνεται μακροτέρα, ὅταν ὁ καρπὸς ἀκμάζῃ λοιπόν. Οὐ τοῖς σπέρμασι δὲ τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς σώμασιν ἐπιτήδειον. Ἐπειδὰν γὰρ τοῦ χειμῶνος καὶ ναύτης, καὶ κυβερνήτης, καὶ ὁδοιπόρος, καὶ στρατιώτης, καὶ γεωργὸς τὰ πολλὰ οἴκοι κάθηνται τῷ κρυμῷ συνδεδεμένοι, καὶ ἀργίας καιρὸς ὁ τοῦ χειμῶνός ἐστι, τὸ πλέον τοῦ χρόνου εἰς νύκτα ἀναλίσκεσθαι ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς, ἵνα μὴ περιττὸν ᾖ τῆς ἡμέρας τὸ μῆκος, οὐδὲν δυναμένων ποιεῖν τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Τί ἄν τις εἴποι τῶν ὡρῶν τὴν εὐταξίαν; πῶς καὶ αὗται καθάπερ παρθένοι τινὲς χορεύουσαι ἐν κύκλῳ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς εὐταξίας ἀλλήλας διαδέχονται, καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν καὶ ἀψοφητὶ πρὸς τὰς ἐναντίας αἱ μέσαι διαβιβάζουσαι οὐ παύονται; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὔτε ἀπὸ χειμῶνος ἡμᾶς διαδέχεται θέρος, οὔτε ἐκεῖθεν χειμὼν εὐθέως, ἀλλὰ μέσον παρεμβέβληται τὸ ἔαρ, ὥστε ἠρέμα καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν διαδεχομένων ἡμῶν, πεπυκνωμένα τὰ σώματα ἀλύπως προσάγειν τῷ θέρει. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ αἱ ἀθρόαι πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον μεταβολαὶ νόσον καὶ βλάβην τίκτουσι τὴν ἐσχάτην, ᾠκοδόμησεν ὁ Θεὸς ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ χειμῶνος ἡμᾶς τὸ ἔαρ διαδέχεσθαι, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ ἔαρος τὸ θέρος, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ θέρους τὸ μετόπωρον, καὶ οὕτω τῷ χειμῶνι παραπέμπειν, ὥστε ἀβλαβεῖς καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν τὰς μεταβολὰς τὰς ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων ὡρῶν διὰ τῶν μέσων ἡμῖν ἐγγίνεσθαι. Τίς οὖν οὕτως ἄθλιος καὶ ταλαίπωρος, ὃς ὁρῶν μὲν οὐρανὸν, ὁρῶν δὲ θάλατταν καὶ γῆν, ὁρῶν δὲ τοσαύτην ὡρῶν εὐκρασίαν οὕτως ἀκριβῆ, καὶ ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς ἀδιάπτωτον τάξιν, νομίζειν αὐτομάτως ταῦτα γενέσθαι, ἀλλὰ μὴ προσκυνεῖν τὸν ἅπαντα ταῦτα μετὰ σοφίας τῆς προσηκούσης διαταξάμενον; Ἔχω τι καὶ πλέον τούτων εἰπεῖν· οὐ γὰρ δὴ μόνον τὸ μέγεθος καὶ κάλλος, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ τρόπος τῆς δημιουργίας ἐμφαίνει τὸν συγκροτοῦντα τὰ πάντα Θεόν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ κτίζοντι καὶ δημιουργοῦντι πάντα παρὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν οὐ παρῆμεν, οὐδὲ εἰ παρῆμεν, εἴδομεν ἂν πῶς ἐγένετο, τῆς ἀοράτου δυνάμεως αὐτὰ κατασκευαζούσης, αὐτὸν τὸν τρόπον τῆς δημιουργίας ἡμῖν ἄριστον ἐποίησεν ἐγγενέσθαι διδάσκαλον, ὑπὲρ φύσεως ἀκολουθίαν συνθεὶς ἅπαντα τὰ γενόμενα. Τάχα ἀσαφέστερόν ἐστιν ὅπερ εἶπον· οὐκοῦν ἀνάγκη σαφέστερον τοῦτο πάλιν