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forming the tongues of the holy prophets, through these to guide us to the understanding of high things, making its teaching not according to its own greatness of genius (for how could the great be contained in the small?), but condescending to the smallness of 2.1.243 our capacity. And just as God, having given the power of motion to the living creature, no longer creates each individual step (for once nature has received its principle from its maker, it moves and directs itself, activating its motion towards whatever seems best at each moment, except that it is said that a man's steps are directed by the Lord), so too nature, having received from God the ability to speak and utter sounds and to declare its will through the voice, proceeds on its way through things, imposing certain signs upon things that exist through the qualitative difference of sounds. 2.1.244 And these are what are called by us verbs and nouns, by which we signify the power of things. And if it is said by Moses that the fruit exists before the generation of fruits, and the seeds before the seeds, it does not refute our argument, nor does the thought of the lawgiver conflict with what has been said about 2.1.245 conception. For what we call the end of the past cultivation, speaking of it as fruit, and what we call the beginning of the future cultivation, addressing it as seed, this thing, which underlies the names, whether grain or anything else that multiplies through sowing, teaches that it did not come to be automatically, but sprouted in the will of the maker with this power: so that the same thing becomes fruit and again leads itself, becoming seed, 2.1.246 and with the surplus feeds man. But it is a thing that grows according to the divine will, not a name; so that the thing which exists in substance is the work of the maker's power, but the sounds that identify existing things, through which reason marks each thing for precise and unconfused teaching, these are the works and discoveries of the rational faculty, and this rational faculty and nature itself is the work of God. And since the rational faculty is in all men, necessarily the differences in names are also observed according to the differences of the nations. 2.1.247 If, then, anyone were to say that the light or the heaven or the earth or the seeds were named by God in a human way, he will certainly construct the argument that this happened according to some one particular quality of a language. What then is this, let him show. For it is not at all outside of what is likely that the one who knows that would also not be ignorant of 2.1.248 this. For indeed, both at the Jordan after the descent of the spirit and again in the hearing of the Jews and at the transfiguration, a voice comes from above teaching men and a certain form, not to think only of what is apparent, but also to believe that the beloved 2.1.249 son of God is true. Such a voice was formed by God in the airy body for the comprehension of those hearing, being made according to the then prevailing custom of those who speak, thus God, who wishes all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, articulated the word in the air for the purpose of the salvation of those hearing, just as the Lord also says to the Jews, who thought it was thunder because the sound was formed in the air, that "This voice has not come for my sake, 2.1.250 but for yours." But before the constitution of the universe, when there was no one to receive the word, nor any corporeal element able to form the articulate voice, how will the one who says God used words render his account plausible? He Himself is incorporeal, the creation did not exist, reason does not permit us to think of anything material around Him, those who would have been benefited by hearing had not yet been constituted. And with no men existing, no manner of dialect had certainly been formed according to the particularity of any nation. He, therefore, who looks to the bare letter, by what reasonings does he adhere to such a thought, that God uttered these verbs and these nouns? 2.1.251 And yet even through these things one might know the futility of those who say such things. For just as the

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τὰς τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν δια σχηματίζουσαν γλώσσας, διὰ τούτων ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν τῶν ὑψηλῶν χειραγωγεῖν κατανόησιν, οὐ κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν μεγα λοφυΐαν ποιουμένην τὴν διδασκαλίαν (πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἐν τῷ μικρῷ χωρηθείη τὸ μέγα;), ἀλλὰ τῇ βραχύτητι τῆς 2.1.243 ἡμετέρας συγκατιοῦσαν δυνάμεως. καὶ ὥσπερ τὴν κινητικὴν τῷ ζῴῳ δύναμιν δοὺς ὁ θεὸς οὐκέτι δημιουργεῖ καὶ τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον διαβήματα (ἅπαξ γὰρ τὴν ἀρχὴν λαβοῦσα παρὰ τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἡ φύσις ἑαυτὴν κινεῖ τε καὶ διεξάγει πρὸς τὸ ἑκάστοτε δοκοῦν ἐνεργοῦσα τὴν κίνησιν, πλὴν παρὰ κυρίου λέγεται τῷ ἀνδρὶ τὰ διαβήματα κατευθύνεσθαι), οὕτως καὶ τὸ δύνασθαι λαλεῖν τε καὶ φθέγγεσθαι καὶ τὸ διὰ φωνῆς ἐξαγγέλλειν τὸ βούλημα παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ λαβοῦσα ὁδῷ πορεύεται διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων ἡ φύσις, σημεῖά τινα τοῖς οὖσι διὰ τῆς ποιᾶς τῶν φθόγγων διαφορᾶς ἐπιβάλλουσα. 2.1.244 καὶ ταῦτά ἐστι τὰ παρ' ἡμῶν λεγόμενα ῥήματά τε καὶ ὀνόματα, οἷς τὴν δύναμιν τῶν πραγμάτων διασημαίνομεν. κἂν λέγηται παρὰ τοῦ Μωϋσέως πρὸ τῆς τῶν καρπῶν γε νέσεως ὁ καρπὸς καὶ πρὸ τῆς τῶν σπερμάτων τὰ σπέρματα, οὐκ ἐλέγχει τὸν ἡμέτερον λόγον, οὐδὲ μάχεται τοῖς περὶ 2.1.245 τῆς ἐπινοίας εἰρημένοις ἡ τοῦ νομοθέτου διάνοια. ὃ γὰρ ἡμεῖς πέρας ὀνομάζομεν τῆς παρελθούσης γεωργίας καρ πὸν λέγοντες, ἀρχὴν δὲ τῆς μελλούσης σπέρμα προσαγορεύ οντες, τοῦτο τὸ πρᾶγμα τὸ τοῖς ὀνόμασιν ὑποκείμενον, εἴτε σῖτον εἴτε τι ἄλλο τῶν διὰ σπορᾶς πληθυνόντων, διδάσκει μὴ αὐτομάτως γενέσθαι, ἀλλ' ἐν θελήματι τοῦ πεποιηκότος μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ταύτης ἀναφυῆναι· ὥστε τὸν αὐτόν τε γίνεσθαι καρπὸν ἑαυτόν τε πάλιν ἄγειν σπέρμα γινόμενον 2.1.246 καὶ τῷ περιττεύοντι τρέφειν τὸν ἄνθρωπον. φύεται δὲ κατὰ θεῖον βούλημα πρᾶγμα, οὐκ ὄνομα· ὥστε τὸ μὲν καθ' ὑπό στασιν ὂν πρᾶγμα τῆς τοῦ πεποιηκότος δυνάμεως ἔργον εἶναι, τὰς δὲ γνωριστικὰς τῶν ὄντων φωνάς, δι' ὧν τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον πρὸς ἀκριβῆ τε καὶ ἀσύγχυτον διδασκαλίαν ἐπι σημειοῦται ὁ λόγος, ταῦτα τῆς λογικῆς δυνάμεως ἔργα τε καὶ εὑρήματα, αὐτὴν δὲ ταύτην τὴν λογικὴν δύναμίν τε καὶ φύσιν ἔργον θεοῦ. καὶ ἐπειδὴ τὸ λογικὸν ἐν πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, ἀναγκαίως κατὰ τὰς τῶν ἐθνῶν διαφορὰς καὶ 2.1.247 αἱ τῶν ὀνομάτων διαφοραὶ θεωροῦνται. εἰ δή τις ἀνθρω πικῶς τὸ φῶς ἢ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἢ τὴν γῆν ἢ τὰ σπέρματα παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ προσειρῆσθαι λέγοι, πάντως ὅτι κατὰ μίαν τινὰ γλώσσης ἰδιότητα γεγενῆσθαι κατασκευάσει τὸν λόγον. τίς οὖν αὕτη, δειξάτω. τὸν γὰρ ἐκεῖνο γινώσκοντα καὶ 2.1.248 τοῦτο μὴ ἀγνοεῖν πάντως οὐκ ἔξω τοῦ εἰκότος ἐστί. καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ πνεύματος κάθοδον καὶ πάλιν ἐν ἀκοαῖς τῶν Ἰουδαίων καὶ ἐν τῇ μεταμορφώσει φωνὴ γίνεται ἄνωθεν διδάσκουσα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ σχῆμά τι, μὴ τὸ φαινόμενον οἴεσθαι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ἀγαπη 2.1.249 τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ πιστεύειν εἶναι ἀληθῆ. ἡ τοιαύτη φωνὴ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀκουόντων σύνεσιν ἐν τῷ ἀερίῳ σώματι παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ διετυπώθη κατὰ τὴν ἐπικρατοῦσαν τότε τῶν φθεγγομένων συνήθειαν γενομένη, οὕτω τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ πάντας θέλοντος σωθῆναι καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν πρὸς τὸν σκοπὸν τῆς σωτηρίας τῶν ἀκουόντων ἐν τῷ ἀέρι τὸν λόγον ἀρθρώσαντος, καθώς φησι καὶ πρὸς τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ὁ κύριος τοὺς οἰομένους βροντὴν γεγονέναι, διὰ τὸ ἐν ἀέρι συστῆναι τὸν ἦχον, ὅτι Οὐ δι' ἐμὲ ἡ φωνὴ αὕτη γέγονεν, 2.1.250 ἀλλὰ δι' ὑμᾶς. πρὸ δὲ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς συστάσεως οὐδενὸς ὄντος τοῦ ὑποδεχομένου τὸν λόγον ἢ σωματώδους στοιχείου τινὸς τοῦ τυπῶσαι τὴν ἔναρθρον δυναμένου φωνήν, ὁ λέγων ῥήμασι τὸν θεὸν κεχρῆσθαι πῶς ἀποδώσει τὸ εἰκὸς τῷ λόγῳ; αὐτὸς ἀσώματος, ἡ κτίσις οὐκ ἦν, οὐδὲν περὶ αὐτὸν ὑλῶδες ὁ λόγος ἐννοεῖν δίδωσιν, οἱ ὠφεληθέντες ἂν διὰ τῆς ἀκοῆς οὔπω συνέστησαν. ἀνθρώπων δὲ μὴ ὄντων οὐδὲ διαλέκτου τρόπος κατά τινα ἔθνους ἰδιότητα τετύπωτο πάν τως. ὁ τοίνυν πρὸς τὸ γράμμα ψιλὸν βλέπων τίσι λογι σμοῖς τῇ τοιαύτῃ διανοίᾳ παρίσταται ὡς τοῦ θεοῦ ταῦτα φθεγγομένου τὰ ῥήματά τε καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα; 2.1.251 Καίτοι καὶ διὰ τούτων γνοίη τις ἂν τὸ μάταιον τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα λεγόντων. ὥσπερ γὰρ αἱ τῶν