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for a clear understanding of the matter being signified, arranges the contemplation of intelligible things in a more corporeal way, just as this doctrine is what David seems to me to declare, teaching this through what he said: none of the things that exist has its substance from some automatic chance, as some have supposed that chance and irrational entanglements of the first elements produced for us the whole cosmos and the things in it, with no providence coming through the things that exist; but there is some cause of the constitution and administration of the universe, on which all the nature of intelligible things depends, and from there it has its beginnings and its causes and toward that 2.1.223 it has inclined and is turned back and in it it remains. And since, as the apostle says, his eternal power and divinity are clearly seen, being understood from the creation of the world, for this reason all creation and, above all, as the Word says, the arrangement in the heavens, through the art appearing in the things that have come to be, points out the wisdom of the one who made them. And wishing to present this, it seems to me, the testimony from the things that appear that beings were constructed wisely and skillfully and always remain in the power 2.1.224 of the one who steers the universe. He says the heavens themselves, through which they show the wisdom of the one who made them, are as it were sending forth a voice to cry out and proclaim the wisdom of the Creator without a voice. For it is possible to hear them teaching these things as with a word, that "looking at us, O men, and at the beauty and magnitude in us and this ever-moving revolution and the well-ordered and harmonious motion which is always in the same respects and in the same way, consider the one who presides over our constitution and through the beauty which is seen, reason by analogy to the original and invisible beauty; for nothing in us is without a master or self-moved or automatic, but everything both seen and understood concerning us depends on the high and ineffable power." 2.1.225 This is not an articulate word, but through the things that appear it puts into souls the knowledge of the divine power more than if the word were proclaimed through a voice. Just as, therefore, the heaven declares and does not speak, and the firmament proclaims the work of God and does not require a voice, and the day utters a saying and there is no speech, and no one would say the prophecy has been falsified, in the same way, since the teacher is one for both Moses and David, I mean the Holy Spirit, who in saying that the command preceded the creation does not propose to us that God is a creator of words, but of things that are made known through the meaning of words. For so that we may not think that creation is masterless and self-generated, he says that it has come to be from the divine nature and he says that it was constituted with a certain order 2.1.226 and sequence. And it would be a long task to philosophize about the order of the things concerning the creation of the world spoken of dogmatically by Moses in the character of a history. For then, rather, through each of the things written, the erroneous and vain nature of the opposing opinion would be clearly refuted. But it is possible for one who wishes, upon encountering our labors on Genesis, to test the more consistent account, both ours and that of our opponents. 2.1.227 But we must bring the discourse back to the task before us, that the word "to say" does not in every case indicate a voice and utterance on God's part, but in showing the power to be concurrent with the will of God, it shows us the intelligible contemplation 2.1.228 in a more perceptible manner. For since all things were constituted by the will of God, and it is customary for men first to signify their will by a word and thus to bring on the work in harmony with the will, and the writing of the genesis of the world is a kind of introduction to the knowledge of God for beginners, presenting the strength of the divine nature through things more ready for comprehension, and apprehension through sense-perception becomes more readily available for the knowledge of intelligible things, for this reason Moses, through God’s “to say” that this should come to be, set forth the impulsive

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ἐναργῆ κατανόησιν τοῦ δηλουμένου πράγματος σωματικώτερον διασκευάζει τὴν τῶν νοητῶν θεωρίαν, οἷον δὴ καὶ τοῦτο τὸ δόγμα ἐστὶν ὅπερ δοκεῖ μοι ὁ ∆αβὶδ ἀποφαίνεσθαι, τοῦτο δι' ὧν εἶπε διδάσκων· οὐδὲν τῶν ὄντων ἔκ τινος αὐτομάτου συντυχίας τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχει, καθάπερ ᾠήθησάν τινες τυχαίας τε καὶ ἀλόγους τῶν πρώτων στοιχείων ἀντεμπλοκὰς τὸν κόσμον ἡμῖν ὅλον καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ κατεργάσασθαι, οὐδεμιᾶς προνοίας διὰ τῶν ὄντων ἡκούσης, ἀλλ' ἔστι τι τῆς τοῦ παντὸς συστάσεως καὶ διοικήσεως αἴτιον, οὗ πᾶσα ἡ τῶν νοητῶν ἐξῆπται φύσις, κἀκεῖθεν τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς αἰτίας ἔχει καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνο 2.1.223 νένευκέ τε καὶ ἐπιστρέφεται καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ διαμένει. καὶ ἐπειδή, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, ἡ ἀΐδιος αὐτοῦ δύναμις καὶ θειότης ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου κτίσεως νοουμένη καθο ρᾶται, διὰ τοῦτο πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις καὶ πρό γε πάντων, καθώς φησιν ὁ λόγος, ἡ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς διακόσμησις διὰ τῆς ἐμφαινομένης τοῖς γεγονόσι τέχνης τὴν τοῦ πεποιηκότος σοφίαν ἐνδείκνυται. καὶ τοῦτό μοι δοκεῖ παραστῆσαι θέλων τὴν ἐκ τῶν φαινομένων μαρτυρίαν τοῦ σοφῶς καὶ ἐντέχνως τὰ ὄντα κατεσκευάσθαι καὶ εἰσαεὶ διαμένειν ἐν τῇ δυνάμει 2.1.224 τοῦ τὸ πᾶν οἰακίζοντος. αὐτούς φησι τοὺς οὐρανούς, δι' ὧν τὴν σοφίαν τοῦ πεποιηκότος δεικνύουσιν, μονονουχὶ φωνὴν ἀφιέντας βοᾶν καὶ διακηρύσσειν τοῦ δημιουργοῦ τὴν σοφίαν δίχα φωνῆς. ἔξεστι γὰρ οἱονεὶ λόγῳ ταῦτα διδασκόντων ἀκούειν ὅτι πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὁρῶντες, ὦ ἄνθρωποι, καὶ τὸ ἐν ἡμῖν κάλλος καὶ μέγεθος καὶ τὴν ἀεικίνητον ταύτην περιφορὰν καὶ τὴν εὔτακτόν τε καὶ ἐναρμόνιον καὶ ἀεὶ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχουσαν κίνησιν ἐννοήσατε τὸν ἐπιστατοῦντα τῆς ἡμετέρας συστάσεως καὶ διὰ τοῦ φαινομένου κάλλους τὸ πρωτότυπον καὶ ἀόρατον κάλλος ἀναλογίσασθε· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐν ἡμῖν ἀδέσποτον ἢ αὐτοκίνητον ἢ αὐτόματον, ἀλλὰ πᾶν τὸ φαινόμενόν τε περὶ ἡμᾶς καὶ νοούμενον τῆς ὑψηλῆς τε καὶ ἀφράστου δυνάμεως ἤρτηται. 2.1.225 ταῦτα λόγος μὲν ἔναρθρος οὐκ ἔστιν, ἐντίθησι δὲ διὰ τῶν φαινομένων ταῖς ψυχαῖς τὴν γνῶσιν τῆς θείας δυνάμεως μᾶλλον ἢ εἰ διὰ φωνῆς ὁ λόγος ἐκήρυσσεν. ὥσπερ τοίνυν διηγεῖται ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ οὐ φθέγγεται, καὶ ἀναγγέλλει τὸ στερέωμα τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ ποίησιν καὶ φωνῆς οὐ προσδέεται, καὶ ῥῆμα προΐεται ἡ ἡμέρα καὶ λαλιὰ οὐκ ἔστιν, καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις εἴποι διεσφάλθαι τὴν προφητείαν, κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἐπειδὴ εἷς ἀμφοτέροις τῷ Μωϋσεῖ καὶ τῷ ∆αβὶδ ὁ διδάσκαλος, τὸ πνεῦμα λέγω τὸ ἅγιον, ὁ τὸ πρόσταγμα καθηγήσασθαι τῆς κτίσεως λέγων οὐ ῥημάτων ἡμῖν δη μιουργὸν τὸν θεὸν ὑποτίθεται, ἀλλὰ πραγμάτων τῶν διὰ τῆς τῶν ῥημάτων σημασίας γνωριζομένων. ἵνα γὰρ μὴ ἀδέσποτόν τινα καὶ αὐτοφυῆ τὴν κτίσιν εἶναι νοήσωμεν, καὶ γεγενῆσθαι ταύτην παρὰ τῆς θείας φύσεως λέγει καὶ τάξει 2.1.226 τινὶ καὶ ἀκολουθίᾳ συστῆναί φησι. καὶ μακρὸν ἂν εἴη περὶ τῆς τάξεως φιλοσοφεῖν τῶν κατὰ τὴν κοσμοποιΐαν ὑπὸ τοῦ Μωϋσέως ἐν ἱστορίας χαρακτῆρι δογματικῶς εἰρημένων. ἦ γὰρ ἂν μᾶλλον δι' ἑκάστου τῶν γεγραμμένων τὸ πεπλανη μένον τε καὶ μάταιον τῆς τῶν ἐναντίων ὑπολήψεως φανερῶς διηλέγχθη. ἔξεστι δὲ τῷ βουλομένῳ τοῖς εἰς τὴν Γένεσιν πεπονημένοις ἡμῖν ἐντυχόντι δοκιμάσαι τῶν τε ἡμετέρων καὶ τῶν ὑπεναντίων τὸν ἀκολουθότερον λόγον. 2.1.227 Ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὴν προκειμένην ἡμῖν σπουδὴν ἐπανακτέον τὸν λόγον, ὅτι οὐ πάντως ἐπὶ θεοῦ φωνὴν καὶ ῥῆμα ἡ τοῦ Εἰπεῖν λέξις ἐνδείκνυται, ἀλλὰ τῷ βουλήματι τοῦ θεοῦ σύν δρομον ἀποφαίνων τὴν δύναμιν αἰσθητικώτερον ἡμῖν τὴν 2.1.228 νοητὴν ὑποδείκνυσι θεωρίαν. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ θελήματι τοῦ θεοῦ συνέστη τὰ πάντα, σύνηθες δὲ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις λόγῳ πρῶτον διασημαίνειν τὸ βούλημα καὶ οὕτως ἐπάγειν τὸ ἔργον συμ φωνοῦν τῷ βουλήματι, ἡ δὲ γραφὴ τῆς κοσμογενείας εἰσ αγωγή πως εἰς θεογνωσίαν τοῖς ἀρχομένοις ἐστί, διὰ τῶν ἑτοιμοτέρων εἰς κατανόησιν τὴν ἰσχὺν τῆς θείας παριστῶσα φύσεως, προχειρότερον δὲ εἰς γνῶσιν τῶν νοουμένων ἡ διὰ τῆς αἰσθήσεως κατάληψις γίνεται, τούτου χάριν ὁ Μωϋσῆς διὰ μὲν τοῦ <τὸ> Εἰπεῖν τὸν θεὸν τόδε γενέσθαι προτάξαι τὴν ὁρμητικὴν