Chap. IX.—Of the Word of God.

But the Greeks speak of Him as the Logos,534    λόγος.   more befittingly than we do as the word, or speech: for Logos signifies both speech and reason, inasmuch as He is both the voice and the wisdom of God. And of this divine speech not even the philosophers were ignorant, since Zeno represents the Logos as the arranger of the established order of things, and the framer of the universe: whom also He calls Fate, and the necessity of things, and God, and the soul of Jupiter, in accordance with the custom, indeed, by which they are wont to regard Jupiter as God. But the words are no obstacle, since the sentiment is in agreement with the truth. For it is the spirit of God which he named the soul of Jupiter. For Trismegistus, who by some means or other searched into almost all truth, often described the excellence and majesty of the word, as the instance before mentioned declares, in which he acknowledges that there is an ineffable and sacred speech, the relation of which exceeds the measure of man’s ability. I have spoken briefly, as I have been able, concerning the first nativity. Now I must more fully discuss the second, since this is the subject most controverted, that we may hold forth the light of understanding to those who desire to know the truth.  

CAPUT IX. De Verbo Dei.

Sed melius Graeci λόγον dicunt, quam nos verbum, sive sermonem; λόγος enim et sermonem significat, et rationem, quia ille est, et vox, et sapientia Dei. Hunc sermonem divinum ne philosophi quidem ignoraverunt. Siquidem Zeno rerum naturae dispositorem atque opificem universitatis λόγον praedicat, quem 0469B et fatum, et necessitatem rerum, et Deum, et animum Jovis nuncupat; ea scilicet consuetudine, qua solent Jovem pro Deo accipere. Sed nihil obstant verba, cum sententia congruat veritati. Est enim spiritus Dei, quem ille animum Jovis nominavit. Nam Trismegistus (Trismeg. Pimand. cap. Ascl. 4), qui veritatem pene universam nescio quomodo investigavit, virtutem majestatemque verbi saepe descripsit, sicut declarat superius illud exemplum, quo fatetur esse ineffabilem quemdam sanctumque sermonem, cujus enarratio modum hominis excedat. Dixi de nativitate prima breviter, ut potui. Nunc de secunda, quoniam controversia est in ea maxima, latius disserendum est; ut veritatem scire cupientibus lumen intelligentiae praeferamus.