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bound it, who bridled it, who holds it for so long a time? For if the body of the world were simple and of a single kind, what is said would not be so impossible; but when there has been so great a battle of the elements from the beginning, who is so foolish as to think that these things came together of their own accord without one bringing them together, and having come together, remained? For if we, who are hostile to one another not by nature but by choice, would not come together of our own accord, as long as we remain enemies and are displeased with each other, but we need another to bring us together, and after bringing us together, to bind us tight, and to persuade us to remain in reconciliation, and not again 49.114 to spring away; how could the elements, which have no share of reason or any perception, and are by nature at war with and hostile to each other, have come together and been joined, and remained with one another, unless there was some unspeakable power, which both brings them together, and after bringing them together, holds them continually with this bond?

γʹ. Do you not see how this body, when the soul has departed, dissolves, and withers, and perishes, and each of the elements returns to its own lot? This very same thing would have happened to this world, if the power that continually governs it had left it destitute of its own providence. For if a ship without a pilot does not hold together, but is easily sunk, how could the world have held together for so long a time with no one governing it? And that I may say no more, consider the world to be a ship, the earth to be the keel lying beneath, the heaven the sails, human beings the passengers, the underlying abyss the sea; how then has it not been shipwrecked for so long a time? Just leave a ship for one day without a pilot and sailors, and you will see it immediately sunk; but the world has suffered nothing of the sort, being now five thousand and many more years old. And why do I say a ship? Someone has set up a small hut in the vineyards, and when the fruit has been gathered, he has left it empty, and often it does not last even for two days, but is quickly broken up and falls down. Then can a hut not stand without someone taking care of it, but a creation so great, so beautiful and wonderful, and the laws of night and day, and the alternating dances of the seasons, and the varied and manifold course of nature on earth and in the sea, and in the air, and in heaven, and in plants, and in animals that fly, swim, walk, creep, and in the race of men which is lord over all of them, how could it have remained for so long a time without falling, without some providence? For besides what has been said, survey with me in your thought the meadows, the parks, the kinds of flowers, all the herbs, their uses, their fragrance, their shapes, their position, their names only; the fruit-bearing trees, the fruitless; the nature of metals; of the animals in the sea, those on the land, those that swim, those that travel the air; the mountains, the glens, the forests, the meadow below, the meadow above—for there is a meadow on the earth and a meadow in the heaven, the varied flowers of the stars, roses below, the rainbow above. Do you want me to show you a meadow also among the birds? observe the varied body of the peacock, surpassing all dye, the purple sparrows. Consider for me the beauty of the heaven, for how long a time it has existed and has not grown dim, but as if it were fashioned today, so it is glittering and bright; the power of the earth, how its womb has not grown weary from bearing for so long a time. Consider for me the springs, how they gush forth, and have not failed since they came to be, flowing continually both day and all night; consider for me the sea, how though it receives so many rivers, it has not overstepped its measure. But how long do we pursue things unattainable? It is worthy to say for each of the things mentioned: How magnified are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you have made them all. But what is the wise argument of the unbelievers, when we go through all these things with them, the magnitude, the beauty of creation, the munificence, the abundance in all things?

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ἔδησε, τίς ἐχαλίνωσε, τίς ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον διακρατεῖ χρόνον; Καὶ γὰρ εἰ μὲν ἁπλοῦν καὶ μονοειδὲς ἦν τοῦ κόσμου τὸ σῶμα, οὐχ οὕτως ἀδύνατον ἦν τὸ λεγόμενον· ὅταν δὲ μάχη τοσαύτη τῶν στοιχείων ἐξ ἀρχῆς ᾖ, τίς οὕτως ἀνόητος ὡς ἐννοῆσαι, ὅτι χωρὶς τοῦ συνάγοντος συνῆλθε ταῦτα αὐτόματα, καὶ συνελθόντα ἔμεινεν; Εἰ γὰρ ἡμεῖς οὐχὶ φύσει, ἀλλὰ προαιρέσει πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐχθρωδῶς ἔχοντες οὐκ ἂν αὐτόματοι συμβαίημεν, ἕως ἂν ἐχθροὶ μένωμεν καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἔχωμεν ἀηδῶς, ἀλλ' ἑτέρου δεόμεθα τοῦ συνάγοντος ἡμᾶς, καὶ μετὰ τὸ συναγαγεῖν ἐπισφίγγοντος, καὶ πείθοντος μένειν ἐπὶ τῆς καταλλαγῆς, καὶ μὴ πά 49.114 λιν ἀποπηδᾷν· πῶς ἂν τὰ μήτε λογισμοῦ μήτε αἰσθήσεώς τινος μετέχοντα στοιχεῖα, καὶ φύσει πολέμια ἀλλήλοις ὄντα καὶ ἐχθρὰ συνῆλθε καὶ συνέβη, καὶ μετ' ἀλλήλων ἔμεινεν, εἰ μὴ δύναμίς τις ἦν ἄῤῥητος, ἡ καὶ συνάγουσα, καὶ μετὰ τὸ συναγαγεῖν διαπαντὸς μετὰ τοῦ δεσμοῦ τούτου κατέχουσα;

γʹ. Οὐχ ὁρᾷς πῶς τοῦτο τὸ σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς ἀποστάσης διαῤῥεῖ, καὶ μαραίνεται, καὶ ἀπόλλυται, καὶ πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν ἕκαστον τῶν στοιχείων ἐπανέρχεται λῆξιν; Τὸ αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦδε ἐγένετο ἂν τοῦ κόσμου, εἰ κατέλιπεν αὐτὸν ἔρημον τῆς οἰκείας προνοίας ἡ διαπαντὸς αὐτὸν κοβερνῶσα δύναμις. Εἰ γὰρ πλοῖον ἄνευ κυβερνήτου οὐ συνίσταται, ἀλλὰ καταποντίζεται εὐκόλως, ὁ κόσμος πῶς ἂν συνέστη ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον χρόνον μηδενὸς αὐτὸν κυβερνῶντος; Καὶ ἵνα μηδὲν εἴπω πλέον, νόμισον εἶναι πλοῖον τὸν κόσμον, τρόπιν ὑποκεῖσθαι τὴν γῆν, ἱστία τὸν οὐρανὸν, ἐπιβάτας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, πέλαγος τὴν ὑποκειμένην ἄβυσσον· πῶς οὖν ἐπὶ τοσούτου χρόνου ναυάγιον οὐκ ἐγένετο; ἔασον γοῦν πλοῖον μίαν ἡμέραν χωρὶς κυβερνήτου καὶ ναυτῶν, καὶ ὄψει καταποντιζόμενον εὐθέως· ἀλλ' ὁ κόσμος οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον ἔπαθε πεντακισχίλια καὶ πολλῷ πλείονα λοιπὸν ἔτη ἔχων. Καὶ τί λέγω πλοῖον; καλύβην μικρὰν ἐπήξατό τις ἐν ταῖς ἀμπέλοις, καὶ τοῦ καρποῦ συναιρεθέντος ἀφῆκεν ἔρημον, καὶ οὐδὲ δύο πολλάκις ἡμέρας διαμένει, ἀλλὰ διαλύεται καὶ καταπίπτει ταχέως. Εἶτα καλύβη μὲν οὐκ ἂν σταίη χωρὶς τοῦ προνοοῦντος, δημιούργημα δὲ τοσοῦτον οὕτω καλὸν καὶ θαυμαστὸν, καὶ νόμοι νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας, καὶ ὡρῶν ἐνηλλαγμέναι χορεῖαι, καὶ φύσεως δρόμος ποικίλος τις καὶ παντοδαπὸς ἐν γῇ καὶ θαλάττῃ, καὶ ἀέρι, καὶ οὐρανῷ, καὶ φυτοῖς, καὶ ζώοις πετομένοις, νηχομένοις, βαδίζουσιν, ἕρπουσι, καὶ ἐν τῷ πάντων ἐκείνων κυριωτέρῳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένει, πῶς ἂν διέμεινεν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἀδιάπτωτος χρόνον χωρὶς προνοίας τινός; Μετὰ γὰρ τῶν εἰρημένων ἔπελθέ μοι τοὺς λειμῶνας τῷ λόγῳ, τοὺς παραδείσους, τὰ γένη τῶν ἀνθῶν, τὰς βοτάνας ἁπάσας, τὰς χρείας αὐτῶν, τὴν εὐωδίαν, τὰ σχήματα, τὴν θέσιν, τὰ ὀνόματα μόνον· τὰ δένδρα τὰ ἔγκαρπα, τὰ ἄκαρπα· τῶν μετάλλων τὴν φύσιν· τῶν ζώων τῶν ἐν θαλάττῃ, τῶν ἐν τῇ γῇ, τῶν νηκτῶν, τῶν ἀεροπόρων· τὰ ὄρη, τὰς νάπας, τοὺς δρυμοὺς, τὸν κάτω λειμῶνα, τὸν ἄνω λειμῶνα καὶ γὰρ ἐν τῇ γῇ λειμὼν καὶ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ λειμὼν, τὰ ποικίλα τῶν ἄστρων ἄνθη, κάτω ῥόδα, ἄνω ἶρις. Βούλει καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρνίθων σοι δείξω λειμῶνα; κατάμαθε τοῦ ταὼ τὸ σῶμα τὸ ποικίλον καὶ πᾶσαν ὑπερβαῖνον βαφὴν, τοὺς πορφυρίζοντας στρουθούς. Ἐννόησόν μοι τὸ κάλλος τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πόσον ἔχει χρόνον καὶ οὐκ ἠμαυρώθη, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ σήμερον κατασκευασθεὶς, οὕτως ἐστὶν ἀποστίλβων καὶ λαμπρός· τῆς γῆς τὴν δύναμιν, πῶς οὐκ ἠτόνησεν αὐτῆς ἡ γαστὴρ τοσοῦτον τίκτουσα χρόνον. Ἐννόησόν μοι τὰς πηγὰς πῶς ἀναβλύζουσι, καὶ οὐκ ἐπέλιπον ἐξ οὗ γεγόνασι διηνεκῶς βρύουσαι καὶ ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα πᾶσαν· ἐννόησόν μοι τὴν θάλατταν, πόσους δεχομένη ποταμοὺς οὐχ ὑπερέβη τὸ μέτρον. Ἀλλὰ μέχρι τίνος διώκομεν ἀκίχητα; Ἄξιον ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν εἰρημένων λέγειν· Ὡς ἐμεγαλύνθη τὰ ἔργα σου, Κύριε! πάντα ἐν σοφίᾳ ἐποίησας. Ἀλλὰ τίς ὁ σοφὸς τῶν ἀπίστων λόγος, ὅταν ἅπαντα ταῦτα διέλθωμεν πρὸς αὐτοὺς, τὸ μέγεθος, τὸ κάλλος τῆς κτίσεως, τὴν δαψίλειαν, τὴν ἀφθονίαν τὴν ἐν ἅπασιν;