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nature is contained, this we call heaven, which becomes the limit of all 2.1.274 visible things. In the same way also in the case of the earth and the dry land, since the downward-tending and heavy nature was divided between these two <the> elements, I mean between the earth and the waters, the name "dry land" is somehow distinctive of the corresponding quality; for by contrast with the wet it was named "dry", when, having stripped off by divine command the water poured around it, it appeared in its own 2.1.275 quality; but the name "earth" no longer indicates the meaning of any one of the qualities concerning it, but encompasses through its inherent emphasis everything that is understood in the element, for example the solid, the dense, the heavy, the resistant, that which is suitable for all nourishment of fruits and animals. Therefore, the dry land was not renamed by the Word with the last name given to it (for through the second name it did not cease to be and be called dry), but with both this and that name remaining, a particular meaning belongs to each of the names, the one being distinctive of the different nature and property, and the other being comprehensive of all the power observed in it. 2.1.276 Thus also in the case of the light and the day, and again in the case of the night and the darkness, we find not a sound of syllables being created for these things by the Maker of all, but we come to know a subsistence of realities through these 2.1.277 names. According to the will of God, the prevailing darkness at the first creation is dispelled by the entrance of the light; and with the earth being encompassed in the middle and sustaining itself by the surrounding of different elements from all sides, as Job says, "Who hangs the earth upon nothing," it was necessary, as the light travels along one part, with the earth blocking it on the opposite side by its own mass, that some portion of darkness be left behind through the shadow, and with the ever-moving revolution of the pole of necessity carrying around with itself also the gloom resulting from the shadow, that God ordained this circular period to become the measure of the extension of time; and this measure is day and 2.1.278 night. For this reason Moses, according to his own wisdom, clarifying for us such doctrines in a more historical manner, named the gloom that comes from the obstruction of the earth the separation of light and darkness, and called the ever-occurring, measured succession of the light to the darkness around the earthly region, day and night. So that the light was not called "day" as a surname, but just as light came to be, and not a bare name of light, so also the measure of time came to be, and the name followed the measure, not coming into being in a sound of words from the one who made it, but the very nature of the thing having drawn to itself the meaning through 2.1.279 the word. And just as if this had been clearly stated by the lawgiver, that everything that appears and is named is not self-generated nor uncreated, but has its subsistence from God, we would have understood from ourselves that God made the entire world and the parts in it, and the order observed in it, and the power by which things are known, so also through what he said he leads us to this thought, to believe that nothing that exists is without a beginning. And looking to this, he goes through the things that follow methodically and in order, enumerating the sequence of the things that have come to be. 2.1.280 And it was not possible for the Word to present these things in any other way, without making the meaning known through distinctive names. Since, therefore, it is written that "God called the light Day," it must be understood that God made day from the light, being something different according to its own definition. For you would not give the same definition for light and day, but light is that which is understood as the opposite of darkness, 2.1.281 while day is a measure of a certain interval in the light. Likewise you will also understand night and darkness according to the same division of reason, defining darkness as that which is understood as the opposite of light, and night as the

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περι κρατεῖται φύσις, οὐρανὸν τοῦτον προσαγορεύομεν τὸν τῶν 2.1.274 ὁρατῶν πάντων ὅρον γινόμενον. τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ τῆς ξηρᾶς, ἐπειδὴ πρὸς δύο ταῦτα <τὰ> στοι χεῖα ἡ κατωφερής τε καὶ βαρεῖα φύσις διεμερίσθη, πρός τε τὴν γῆν φημι καὶ τὰ ὕδατα, ἡ μὲν τῆς ξηρᾶς προσηγορία διασταλτική πως τῆς ἀντιστοιχούσης ποιότητος· τῇ γὰρ πρὸς τὸ ὑγρὸν ἀντιπαραθέσει ξηρὰ κατωνόμασται, ὅτε ἀποδυσα μένη θείῳ προστάγματι τὸ περικεχυμένον ὕδωρ ἐπὶ τῆς 2.1.275 ἰδίας ἐφάνη ποιότητος· τὸ δὲ τῆς γῆς ὄνομα οὐκέτι μιᾶς τινος τῶν περὶ αὐτὴν ποιοτήτων τὴν σημασίαν ἐνδείκνυται, ἀλλὰ πᾶν ἐμπεριλαμβάνει διὰ τῆς ἐγκειμένης ἐμφάσεως τὸ ἐν τῷ στοιχείῳ νοούμενον, οἷον τὸ ναστόν, τὸ πυκνόν, τὸ ἐμβριθές, τὸ ἀντίτυπον, τὸ πρὸς πᾶσαν καρπῶν τε καὶ ζῴων ἀνατροφὴν ἐπιτήδειον. οὔκουν οὐ μετωνομάσθη παρὰ τοῦ λόγου ἡ ξηρὰ πρὸς τὸ τελευταῖον αὐτῇ ἐπιβληθὲν ὄνομα (οὐ γὰρ ἀπέθετο διὰ τοῦ δευτέρου ὀνόματος τὸ ξηρὰ καὶ εἶναι καὶ λέγεσθαι), ἀλλὰ μενούσης τῆς κλήσεως καὶ ταύτης κἀκείνης ἑκατέρῳ τῶν ὀνομάτων ἰδία τις ὕπεστι σημασία, ἡ μὲν ἀντιδιαιρετικὴ τῆς ἑτερογενοῦς φύσεως τε καὶ ἰδιότητος, ἡ δὲ περιεκτικὴ πάσης τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ θεωρου μένης δυνάμεως. 2.1.276 Οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ πάλιν ἐπὶ τῆς νυκτὸς καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ σκότους εὑρίσκομεν οὐ συλλα βῶν ἦχον παρὰ τοῦ ποιητοῦ τῶν ὅλων ἐπὶ τούτων δη μιουργούμενον, ἀλλὰ πραγμάτων ὑπόστασιν διὰ τῶν προση 2.1.277 γοριῶν τούτων ἐπιγινώσκομεν. λύεται κατὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ εἰσόδῳ τοῦ φωτὸς τὸ ἐπικρατοῦν σκότος παρὰ τὴν πρώτην κτίσιν· τῆς δὲ γῆς ἐν τῷ μέσῳ περισχεθείσης καὶ τῇ πανταχόθεν τῶν ἑτεροφυῶν στοιχείων περιβολῇ ἑαυτὴν ἀνεχούσης, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἰὼβ ὅτι Κρεμάζων γῆν ἐπὶ μηδενός, ἐπάναγκες ἦν καθ' ἓν μέρος τοῦ φωτὸς διο δεύοντος ἀντιφραττούσης κατὰ τὸ ἀντικείμενον ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ ὄγκῳ τῆς γῆς ὑπολειφθῆναί τινα διὰ τοῦ ἀποσκιάσματος μοῖραν τοῦ σκότους, τῆς δὲ ἀεικινήτου περιφορᾶς τοῦ πόλου συμπεριαγούσης ἑαυτῇ κατ' ἀνάγκην καὶ τὸν ἐκ τοῦ ἀπο σκιάσματος ἐπισυμβαίνοντα ζόφον τὴν ἐγκύκλιον ταύτην περίοδον τάξαι τὸν θεὸν εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι μέτρον τῆς χρο νικῆς παρατάσεως· τὸ δὲ μέτρον τοῦτο ἡμέρα ἐστὶ καὶ 2.1.278 νύξ. διὰ τοῦτο κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ σοφίαν ἱστορικώτερον τὰ τοιαῦτα τῶν δογμάτων ὁ Μωϋσῆς ἡμῖν σαφηνίζων τὸν ἐξ ἀντιφράξεως τῆς γῆς ἐπεισιόντα ζόφον χωρισμὸν φωτὸς καὶ σκότους ὠνόμασε καὶ τὴν ἀεὶ γινομένην περὶ τὸν περί γειον χῶρον τοῦ φωτὸς πρὸς τὸ σκότος ἔμμετρον διαδοχὴν ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα προσεῖπεν. ὥστε οὐχὶ ἐπίκλητον τὸ φῶς ἡμέρα προσηγορεύθη, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐγένετο φῶς καὶ οὐχὶ ψιλὴ προσηγορία φωτός, οὕτως καὶ τοῦ χρόνου τὸ μέτρον ἐγένετο, ἐπηκολούθησε δὲ τῷ μέτρῳ τὸ ὄνομα, οὐκ ἐν ῥημάτων ψόφῳ παρὰ τοῦ πεποιηκότος γενόμενον, ἀλλ' αὐτῆς τῆς τοῦ πράγματος φύσεως ἐπισπασαμένης τὴν διὰ 2.1.279 τῆς φωνῆς σημασίαν. καὶ ὥσπερ εἰ τοῦτο σαφῶς εἴρητο παρὰ τοῦ νομοθέτου, ὅτι πᾶν τὸ φαινόμενον καὶ ὀνομαζό μενον οὐκ αὐτοφυές ἐστιν οὐδὲ ἀποίητον, ἀλλ' ἐκ θεοῦ τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχει, ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν ἂν συνεθήκαμεν τὸ πάντα τὸν κόσμον καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ μέρη καὶ τὴν ἐνθεωρουμένην τάξιν καὶ τὴν γνωριστικὴν τῶν ὄντων δύναμιν τὸν θεὸν πεποιη κέναι, οὕτως καὶ δι' ὧν εἶπε πρὸς ταύτην ἐνάγει ἡμᾶς τὴν διάνοιαν, εἰς τὸ πιστεύειν τὸ μηδὲν τῶν ὄντων ἄναρχον εἶναι. καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο βλέπων ὁδῷ καὶ τάξει τὰ καθεξῆς διεξέρχεται, τὴν τῶν γεγονότων ἀκολουθίαν ἀπαριθμούμενος. 2.1.280 ταῦτα δὲ οὐκ ἦν ἄλλως παραστήσασθαι τῷ λόγῳ, μὴ διὰ τῶν γνωριστικῶν ὀνομάτων τὴν σημασίαν ποιούμενον. ἐπεὶ οὖν γέγραπται ὅτι Ἐκάλεσεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ φῶς ἡμέραν, νοητέον ὅτι ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τοῦ φωτὸς ἡμέραν ἕτερόν τι οὖσαν κατὰ τὸν ἴδιον λόγον. οὐ γὰρ ἂν τὸν αὐτὸν ἀποδοίης φωτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας λόγον, ἀλλὰ φῶς μὲν τὸ ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου πρὸς τὸ σκότος νοούμενον, ἡμέρα δὲ τὸ τοσόνδε τοῦ ἐν τῷ 2.1.281 φωτὶ διαστήματος μέτρον. ὡσαύτως καὶ νύκτα καὶ σκότος κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν τοῦ λόγου διαίρεσιν κατανοήσεις, σκότος μὲν τὸ ἐξ ἐναντίου πρὸς τὸ φῶς νοούμενον ὁριζόμενος, νύκτα δὲ τὴν