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11.30.1 31. CONCERNING THE LUMINARIES IN HEAVEN

Again, Moses having taught that these also are created, through what he said: "And God said: Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years. And God made the two great lights and the stars; and He set them in the firmament of the heaven," 11.30.2 similarly Plato: "From this reasoning, he says, and design of God of such a kind for the generation of time, in order that time might be generated, the sun and moon and five other stars, having the name of planets, came into being for the defining and guarding of the numbers of time. And God, having made their bodies, placed them in their orbits." 11.30.3 But observe if what was said by Plato, "from this reasoning and design of God," is not similar to that which among the Hebrews says, "By the word of the Lord were the heavens established, and by the spirit of His mouth all their powers." But also, when Moses said "and he set them in the firmament," Plato also uses the similar expression "he placed," saying "And God, having made their bodies, placed them in their orbits."

11.31.1 32. THAT ALL THE WORKS OF GOD ARE GOOD The Hebrew scripture exclaiming upon each of the created works: "And God saw that it was good," and upon the summing up of all things, saying: "And God saw all things, and behold, they were very good," hear what Plato says: "If then this cosmos is beautiful and the craftsman good, it is clear that he looked to the eternal." And again: "For it is the most beautiful of the things that have come to be, and He is the best of the causes."

33. CONCERNING THE ALTERATION AND CHANGE OF THE COSMOS And concerning this, all the Hebrew scripture discoursing, at one time through what it says: "And the heaven shall be rolled together as a scroll," and at another time through what it adds: "And there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, which I make to remain before me, says the Lord," and again at another time through what it says: "For the fashion of this 11.32.2 world passes away," hear also how Plato establishes the doctrine, saying in the Timaeus: "And he constructed a heaven visible and tangible. And for these reasons and from such things, being four in number, the body of the cosmos came to be, brought into harmony by proportion, and from these it had friendship, so that coming together with itself it became indissoluble by any other than by him who bound it." 11.32.3 Then next he says: "Time, then, came into being with heaven, so that being generated together, they might also be dissolved together, if ever any dissolution of them should come to be." 11.32.4 And again, having said: "Gods of gods, of whom I am craftsman and father of works, indissoluble so long as I do not will it," he adds, saying next: "Now everything that has been bound is soluble, but to be willing to dissolve that which is beautifully harmonized and in a good state is the mark of an evil one. For which reason, and since you have been generated, you are not immortal nor altogether indissoluble. Yet you shall not be dissolved, nor shall you meet with the fate of death, having obtained my will as a still greater and more sovereign bond than those with which you were bound when you came into being." 11.32.5 And in the Statesman the same author says these things: "For this whole universe at one time the god himself guides in its journeying and helps to roll, but at another time he lets it go, when its periods have received the measure of their fitting time, and then it revolves back again of its own accord in the opposite direction, being a living creature and having received intelligence from him who harmonized it at the beginning. This back again

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11.30.1 λαʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΚΑΤ' ΟΥΡΑΝΟΝ ΦΩΣΤΗΡΩΝ

Πάλιν Μωσέως καὶ τούτους εἶναι γενητοὺς διδάξαντος δι' ὧν ἔφησε· «Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός· Γενηθήτωσαν φωστῆρες ἐν τῷ στερεώματι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὥστε φαίνειν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· καὶ ἔστωσαν εἰς σημεῖα καὶ εἰς καιροὺς καὶ εἰς ἡμέρας καὶ εἰς ἐνιαυτούς. καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τοὺς δύο φωστῆρας τοὺς μεγάλους καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας· καὶ ἔθετο αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ στερεώματι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ,» 11.30.2 ὁμοίως ὁ Πλάτων· «Ἐξ οὖν λόγου φησί καὶ διανοίας θεοῦ τοιαύτης πρὸς χρόνου γένεσιν, ἵνα γενηθῇ χρόνος, ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη καὶ πέντε ἄλλα ἄστρα, ἐπίκλην ἔχοντα πλάνητες, εἰς διορισμὸν καὶ φυλακὴν ἀριθμῶν χρόνου γέγονε. σώματα δὲ αὐτῶν ποιήσας ὁ θεὸς ἔθηκεν εἰς τὰς περιφοράς.» 11.30.3 Ἐπιτήρει δὲ εἰ μὴ τὸ «ἐξ οὖν λόγου καὶ διανοίας θεοῦ» εἰρημένον τῷ Πλάτωνι ὅμοιον ἂν εἴη τῷ παρ' Ἑβραίοις φάσκοντι «τῷ λόγῳ κυρίου οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσαι αἱ δυνάμεις αὐτῶν.» ἀλλὰ καὶ Μωσέως εἰπόντος «καὶ ἔθετο αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ στερεώματι» ὁμοίᾳ κέχρηται καὶ ὁ Πλάτων φωνῇ τῇ «ἔθηκεν,» εἰπὼν «σώματα δὲ αὐτῶν ποιήσας ὁ θεὸς ἔθηκεν εἰς τὰς περιφοράς.»

11.31.1 λβʹ. ΟΤΙ ΠΑΝΤΑ ΚΑΛΑ ΤΑ ΕΡΓΑ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ Τῆς Ἑβραίων γραφῆς ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν δημιουργημάτων ἐπιφωνούσης· «Καὶ εἶδεν ὁ θεὸς ὅτι καλόν» καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ πάντων συγκεφαλαιώσει φασκούσης· «Καὶ εἶδεν ὁ θεὸς τὰ πάντα, καὶ ἰδοὺ καλὰ λίαν,» ἄκουε τοῦ Πλάτωνος ὥς φησιν· «Εἰ μὲν δὴ καλός ἐστιν ὅδε ὁ κόσμος ὅ τε δημιουργὸς ἀγαθός, δῆλον ὡς πρὸς τὸ ἀΐδιον ἔβλεπε.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Ὁ μὲν γὰρ κάλλιστος τῶν γεγονότων, ὁ δ' ἄριστος τῶν αἰτίων.»

λγʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΑΛΛΟΙΩΣΕΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΜΕΤΑΒΟΛΗΣ ΤΟΥ ΚΟΣΜΟΥ Καὶ περὶ τούτου πάσης Ἑβραίων γραφῆς διαλαλούσης, τοτὲ μὲν δι' ὧν φησι· «Καὶ εἱλιγήσεται ὁ οὐρανὸς ὡς βιβλίον» τοτὲ δὲ δι' ὧν ἐπιλέγει· «Καὶ ἔσται ὁ οὐρανὸς καινὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ καινή, ἃ ἐγὼ ποιῶ μένειν ἐνώπιόν μου, λέγει κύριος» καὶ πάλιν ἄλλοτε δι' ὧν φησι· «Παράγει γὰρ τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ 11.32.2 κόσμου τούτου,» καὶ ὁ Πλάτων ἄκουε ὅπως τὸ δόγμα συνίστησι λέγων ἐν Τιμαίῳ· «Καὶ ξυνεστήσατο οὐρανὸν ὁρατὸν καὶ ἁπτόν· καὶ διὰ ταῦτα ἔκ τε δὴ τούτων τοιούτων καὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τεττάρων τὸ τοῦ κόσμου σῶμα ἐγενήθη δι' ἀναλογίας ὁμολογῆσαν φιλίαν τε ἔσχεν ἐκ τούτων, ὡς εἰς ταὐτὸν αὑτῷ ξυνελθὸν ἄλυτον ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων πλὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ ξυνδήσαντος γενέσθαι.» 11.32.3 Εἶθ' ἑξῆς φησι· «Χρόνος δ' οὖν μετὰ οὐρανοῦ γέγονεν, ἵνα ἅμα γεννηθέντες ἅμα καὶ λυθῶσιν, ἄν ποτε λύσις τις αὐτῶν γίγνηται.» 11.32.4 Καὶ πάλιν εἰπών· «Θεοὶ θεῶν, ὧν ἐγὼ δημιουργὸς πατήρ τε ἔργων, ἄλυτα ἐμοῦ μὴ θέλοντος,» ἐπάγει λέγων ἑξῆς· «Τὸ μὲν οὖν δὴ δεθὲν πᾶν λυτόν, τό γε μὴν καλῶς ἁρμοσθὲν καὶ ἔχον εὖ λύειν ἐθέλειν κακοῦ. διὸ καὶ ἐπείπερ γεγένησθε, ἀθάνατοι μὲν οὐκ ἐστὲ οὐδ' ἄλυτοι τὸ πάμπαν. οὔ τι μὲν δὴ λυθήσεσθέ γε οὐδὲ τεύξεσθε θανάτου μοίρας, τῆς ἐμῆς βουλήσεως μείζονος ἔτι δεσμοῦ καὶ κυριωτέρου λαχόντες ἐκείνων οἷς ὅτε ἐγίγνεσθε ξυνεδεῖσθε.» 11.32.5 Καὶ ἐν τῷ Πολιτικῷ δὲ τάδε ὁ αὐτός φησι· «Τὸ γὰρ πᾶν τόδε τοτὲ μὲν αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς ξυμποδηγεῖ πορευόμενον καὶ ξυγκυκλεῖ, τοτὲ δ' ἀνῆκεν, ὅταν αἱ περίοδοι τοῦ προσήκοντος αὐτῷ μέτρον εἰλήφωσιν ἤδη χρόνου, τὸ δὲ πάλιν αὐτόματον εἰς τἀναντία περιάγεται, ζῷον ὂν καὶ φρόνησιν εἰληφὸς ἐκ τοῦ ξυναρμόσαντος αὐτὸ κατ' ἀρχάς. τοῦτο δὲ αὐτῷ τὸ πάλιν