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the vine, My Father the husbandman, you the branches.” Hear what Numenius theologizes concerning the second cause: 11.18.14 “And just as, again, there is a relation of the husbandman to the one who plants, in the same way most especially is the first God to the demiurge. For the one, being the seed of every soul, sows into all things that partake of him; but the lawgiver plants and distributes and transplants into each of us the things that have been sown from there.” 11.18.15 And next again, concerning how the second came to exist from the first cause, he says the following: “But whatever things, having been given, pass over to the one who receives, having departed from the one who has given—and it is service, goods, concave coin, stamped; these things, then, are mortal and human, but divine things are such that, having been imparted from here to there, having come into being, they have not departed from here and, having come into being there, have benefited the one, 11.18.16 and have not harmed the other, and have benefited him besides by the recollection of what he knew. And this good thing is good knowledge, from which the one who received benefited, but the one who gave is not deprived of it. Just as you might see a lamp having light, lit from another lamp, which did not take away from the first, but rather its matter 11.18.17 was kindled by the fire of that other one. Such is the matter of knowledge, which, having been given and received, remains with the one who gave, and is present with the one who re11.18.18 ceived, being the same. But the cause of this, O stranger, is nothing human, but that the state and substance that has the knowledge is the same both with the 11.18.19 God who gave it and with me and you who have received it. Therefore Plato also said that wisdom came to men from Prometheus with a most brilliant fire.” And again, proceeding further, he says: 11.18.20 “And these are lives, the one of the first God, the other of the second God. Evidently, the first God will be standing still, but the second, on the contrary, is in motion; the first, then, 11.18.21 is concerned with the intelligible, but the second with the intelligible and the sensible. But do not be surprised if I said this; for you will hear something much more surprising still. For instead of the motion belonging to the second, I say that the stability belonging to the first is an innate motion, from which the order of the cosmos and the eternal permanence and salvation are poured out into all things.” 11.18.22 In addition to these things, in the sixth book he also adds this: “Since Plato knew that among men only the demiurge was known, but the first mind, which is called Being-itself, was completely unknown among them, for this reason he spoke thus, as if one should say 11.18.23 this: O men, the mind which you suppose is not the first, but there is another mind before this one, older and more divine.” 11.18.24 And after other things he adds: “A pilot, you see, being carried in the middle of the sea, high-thwarted above the rudders, steers the ship, sitting upon the tillers, and his eyes and mind are directed straight to the aether towards the lofty things, and his path goes upward through heaven, as he sails below upon the sea; so also the demiurge, having bound matter together with harmony, so that it might neither strike against something nor be driven off course, is himself established above it, as above a ship on the sea, that is, matter; and he directs the harmony, steering with the ideas, and instead of the heaven he looks to the God above, bringing his eyes to him, and he receives the critical faculty from contemplation, and the impulsive faculty from desire.” 11.18.25 And the saving Word among us: “Nothing,” he says, “can the Son do of Himself, unless He sees the Father doing something.” But Numenius says so much also concerning this. But that he was not explaining his own opinions, but the doctrines of Plato 11.18.26, nothing needs to be added to his own words. But that Plato was not the first to use these concepts, but that the wise men of the Hebrews anticipated him, having received them before, has been shown through the things set forth. Reasonably, then, Amelius, having become distinguished among the modern philosophers, himself also a zealous admirer of Plato's philosophy if anyone ever was, but yet a barbarian

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ἡ ἄμπελος, ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ γεωργός, ὑμεῖς τὰ κλήματα» ὁ Νουμήνιος ἐπάκουσον οἷα περὶ τοῦ δευτέρου αἰτίου θεολογεῖ· 11.18.14 «Ὥσπερ δὲ πάλιν λόγος ἐστὶ γεωργῷ πρὸς τὸν φυτεύοντα ἀναφερόμενος, τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον μάλιστά ἐστιν ὁ πρῶτος θεὸς πρὸς τὸν δημιουργόν. ὁ μέν γε ὢν σπέρμα πάσης ψυχῆς σπείρει εἰς τὰ μεταλαγχάνοντα αὐτοῦ χρήματα ξύμπαντα· ὁ νομοθέτης δὲ φυτεύει καὶ διανέμει καὶ μεταφυτεύει εἰς ἡμᾶς ἑκάστους τὰ ἐκεῖθεν προκαταβεβλημένα.» 11.18.15 Καὶ ἑξῆς δὲ πάλιν περὶ τοῦ πῶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτου αἰτίου τὸ δεύτερον ὑπέστη τοιάδε φησίν· «Ὁπόσα δὲ δοθέντα μέτεισι πρὸς τὸν λαμβάνοντα, ἀπελθόντα ἐκ τοῦ δεδωκότος ἔστι δὲ θεραπεία, χρήματα, νόμισμα κοῖλον, ἐπίσημον· ταυτὶ μὲν οὖν ἐστι θνητὰ καὶ ἀνθρώπινα, τὰ δὲ θεῖά ἐστιν οἷα μεταδοθέντα ἐνθένδ' ἐκεῖθι γεγενημένα ἔνθεν τε οὐκ ἀπελήλυθε κἀκεῖθι γενόμενα τὸν μὲν ὤνησε, 11.18.16 τὸν δ' οὐκ ἔβλαψε καὶ προσώνησε τῇ περὶ ὧν ἠπίστατο ἀναμνήσει. ἔστι δὲ τοῦτο τὸ καλὸν χρῆμα ἐπιστήμη ἡ καλή, ἧς ὤνατο μὲν ὁ λαβών, οὐκ ἀπολείπεται δ' αὐτῆς ὁ δεδωκώς. οἷον ἂν ἴδοις ἐξαφθέντα ἀφ' ἑτέρου λύχνου λύχνον φῶς ἔχοντα, ὃ μὴ τὸν πρότερον ἀφείλατο ἀλλ' ἢ τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ ὕλης 11.18.17 πρὸς τὸ ἐκείνου πῦρ ἐξαφθείσης. τοιοῦτον τὸ χρῆμά ἐστι τὸ τῆς ἐπιστήμης, ἣ δοθεῖσα καὶ ληφθεῖσα παραμένει μὲν τῷ δεδωκότι, σύνεστι δὲ τῷ λα11.18.18 βόντι ἡ αὐτή. τούτου δὲ τὸ αἴτιον, ὦ ξένε, οὐδέν ἐστιν ἀνθρώπινον, ἀλλ' ὅτι ἕξις τε καὶ οὐσία ἡ ἔχουσα τὴν ἐπιστήμην ἡ αὐτή ἐστι παρά τε τῷ 11.18.19 δεδωκότι θεῷ καὶ παρὰ τῷ εἰληφότι ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί. διὸ καὶ ὁ Πλάτων τὴν σοφίαν ὑπὸ Προμηθέως ἐλθεῖν εἰς ἀνθρώπους μετὰ φανοτάτου τινὸς πυρὸς ἔφη.» Καὶ πάλιν ὑποβὰς ἑξῆς φησιν· 11.18.20 «Εἰσὶ δ' οὗτοι βίοι ὁ μὲν πρώτου, ὁ δὲ δευτέρου θεοῦ. δηλονότι ὁ μὲν πρῶτος θεὸς ἔσται ἑστώς, ὁ δὲ δεύτερος ἔμπαλίν ἐστι κινούμενος· ὁ μὲν οὖν 11.18.21 πρῶτος περὶ τὰ νοητά, ὁ δὲ δεύτερος περὶ τὰ νοητὰ καὶ αἰσθητά. μὴ θαυμάσῃς δ' εἰ τοῦτ' ἔφην· πολὺ γὰρ ἔτι θαυμαστότερον ἀκούσῃ. ἀντὶ γὰρ τῆς προσούσης τῷ δευτέρῳ κινήσεως τὴν προσοῦσαν τῷ πρώτῳ στάσιν φημὶ εἶναι κίνησιν σύμφυτον, ἀφ' ἧς ἥ τε τάξις τοῦ κόσμου καὶ ἡ μονὴ ἡ ἀΐδιος καὶ ἡ σωτηρία ἀναχεῖται εἰς τὰ ὅλα.» 11.18.22 Ἔτι τούτοις καὶ ἐν τῷ ἕκτῳ προστίθησι ταῦτα· «Ἐπειδὴ ᾔδει ὁ Πλάτων παρὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὸν μὲν δημιουργὸν γινωσκόμενον μόνον, τὸν μέντοι πρῶτον νοῦν, ὅστις καλεῖται αὐτοόν, παντά πασιν ἀγνοούμενον παρ' αὐτοῖς, διὰ τοῦτο οὕτως εἶπεν, ὥσπερ ἄν τις οὕτω 11.18.23 λέγῃ· Ὦ ἄνθρωποι, ὃν τοπάζετε ὑμεῖς νοῦν οὐκ ἔστι πρῶτος, ἀλλὰ ἕτερος πρὸ τούτου νοῦς πρεσβύτερος καὶ θειότερος.» 11.18.24 Καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα ἐπιλέγει· «Κυβερνήτης μέν που ἐν μέσῳ πελάγει φορούμενος ὑπὲρ πηδαλίων ὑψίζυγος τοῖς οἴαξι διιθύνει τὴν ναῦν ἐφεζόμενος, ὄμματα δ' αὐτοῦ καὶ νοῦς εὐθὺ τοῦ αἰθέρος ξυντέταται πρὸς τὰ μετάρσια καὶ ἡ ὁδὸς αὐτῷ ἄνω δι' οὐρανοῦ ἄπεισι, πλέοντι κάτω κατὰ τὴν θάλασσαν· οὕτω καὶ ὁ δημιουργὸς τὴν ὕλην, τοῦ μήτε διακροῦσαι μήτε ἀποπλαγχθῆναι αὐτήν, ἁρμονίᾳ ξυνδησάμενος αὐτὸς μὲν ὑπὲρ ταύτης ἵδρυται, οἷον ὑπὲρ νεὼς ἐπὶ θαλάττης, τῆς ὕλης· τὴν ἁρμονίαν δὲ ἰθύνει, ταῖς ἰδέαις οἰακίζων, βλέπει τε ἀντὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ εἰς τὸν ἄνω θεὸν προσαγόμενον αὐτοῦ τὰ ὄμματα λαμβάνει τε τὸ μὲν κριτικὸν ἀπὸ τῆς θεωρίας, τὸ δὲ ὁρμητικὸν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐφέσεως.» 11.18.25 Καὶ ὁ σωτήριος παρ' ἡμῖν λόγος· «Οὐδέν,» φησί, «δύναται ὁ υἱὸς ποιεῖν ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ, ἐὰν μή τι βλέπῃ τὸν πατέρα ποιοῦντα.» ἀλλὰ γὰρ τοσαῦτα καὶ περὶ τοῦδε ὁ Νουμήνιος. ὅτι δὲ οὐκ οἰκεῖα, τὰ δὲ Πλάτωνι δοκοῦντα 11.18.26 διεσάφει, οὐδὲν ἐπιλέγειν δεῖ ταῖς αὐτοῦ φωναῖς. ὁ δέ γε Πλάτων ὅτι μὴ πρῶτος ταῖσδε κέχρηται ταῖς ἐπιβολαῖς, φθάνουσι δ' αὐτὸν προειληφότες Ἑβραίων οἱ σοφοί, δέδεικται διὰ τῶν ἐκτεθειμένων. εἰκότως δῆτα καὶ τῶν νέων φιλοσόφων διαφανὴς γεγονὼς Ἀμέλιος, τῆς Πλάτωνος καὶ αὐτὸς εἰ καί τις ἄλλος ζηλωτὴς φιλοσοφίας, πλὴν ἀλλὰ βάρβαρον