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but they are not held tightly, for even if this very light of the visible sun is understood by nature to be a body, yet it is also indivisible. How then will you bring this into your house, tell me? How will you be able to hold it down, how will you grasp the ungraspable, how will you possess this whole thing, partially or even entirely? How will you take a part of it and hide it in your bosom? You would tell me, in no way at all is it ever possible for this to happen! If then you are not able to describe or investigate at all the nature of this thing, which the Creator by word and command brought forth as a lamp to shine for all those in the world, (176) how is this also a body, for it is surely not incorporeal? How is it graspable in an ungraspable way, how is it also mingled unminglingly, how is it seen by its rays and illuminates you in these, which, if you gaze at it clearly, rather blinds you completely? But you are also at a loss to tell me about the light of your eyes, how without another light it is not able to see at all, and is united with every light, and as light sees all things. But it remains entirely unaffected, being divided from the lights and likewise being united, it is entirely light with light; and the union of these is ineffable, without confusion, and the division likewise is incomprehensible. How do you tell me to investigate at all the nature of the Creator of all things, and again how to interpret His energies, how to speak of them, how to express them, and how to present them in word?

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κρατητῶς οὐ σφίγγονται δέ, εἰ καί σῶμα γάρ τῇ φύσει τοῦτο δή τό φῶς νοεῖται ὁρωμένου τοῦ ἡλίου, πλήν καί ἄτμητον ὑπάρχει. Πῶς οὖν τοῦτον εἰς οἰκίαν εἰσαγάγεις σήν, εἰπέ μοι; Πῶς δέ κατασχεῖν ἰσχύσεις, πῶς τόν ἄληπτον κρατήσεις, πῶς δέ τοῦτον ὅλον κτήσῃ, μερικῶς ἤ καί καθόλου; Πῶς δέ λάβεις τούτου τμῆμα καί ἐν κόλπῳ κατακρύψεις; Πάντως οὐδαμῶς, μοί εἴπῃς, δυνατόν ποτε γενέσθαι! Εἰ οὖν τούτου, ὅνπερ λόγῳ καί προστάγματι ὁ κτίστης ὡς λαμπάδα παρεισῆξε φαίνειν πᾶσι τοῖς ἐν κόσμῳ, ἐξειπεῖν ἤ ἐρευνῆσαι ὅλως φύσιν οὐκ ἰσχύεις, (176) πῶς καί σῶμα οὗτος ἔστιν, οὐκ ἀσώματος γάρ πάντως; Πῶς ληπτός ἐστιν ἀλήπτως, πῶς καί μίγνηται ἀμίκτως, πῶς ἀκτῖσι καθορᾶται καί φωτίζει σε ἐν τούτοις, ὅν εἰ καί τρανῶς προσβλέψεις, ὅλον μᾶλλον ἐκτυφλοῖ σε; Ἀλλά καί τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν σου ἀπορεῖς τό φῶς εἰπεῖν μοι, πῶς φωτός ἑτέρου δίχα ὅλως βλέπειν οὐκ ἰσχύει καί παντί φωτί ἐνοῦται καί ὡς φῶς τά πάντα βλέπει. Ἀπαθές δέ μένει πάντως, διαιρούμενον τῶν φώτων καί ἑνούμενον ὡσαύτως φῶς φωτί ὅλον τυγχάνει˙ καί ἡ ἕνωσις ἀφράστως, ἀσυγχύτως τούτων πέλει, ἡ διαίρεσις δ᾿ ὁμοίως μή καταλαμβανομένη. Πῶς τοῦ κτίστου τῶν ἁπάντων ὅλως φύσιν ἐρευνῆσαι, ἐνεργείας τούτου πάλιν πῶς μοι λέγεις ἑρμηνεῦσαι, πῶς εἰπεῖν μοι, πῶς ἐκφράσαι, πῶς δέ λόγῳ παραστῆσαι;