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For they will say they are subject to the stars, it is clear that the stars bestowed on them this understanding and the demiurge will have suggested, through the motion of the universe, the doctrine concerning the fabricated god above, which they do not 6.11.10 want. But if they should answer that they are outside the laws of the demiurge that concern the stars, so that what they say is not an unproven assertion, let them try to bring us more compellingly, by showing the difference between a mind subject to genesis and fate and another free from these. For it is clear that such men, when asked for an account, 6.11.11 will be in no way able to give it. In addition to what has been said, prayers are also superfluous, being undertaken in vain. For if certain things are compelled to happen and the stars cause them, and nothing can happen contrary to their conjunction with one another, we irrationally ask God to grant us certain things. 6.11.12 And why must one prolong the argument further, by setting forth the impiety of the commonly held and unexamined position among the many concerning fate? For what has been said is sufficient for a sketch. 6.11.13 From what point, then, in examining "let the luminaries be for signs," have we come to these things, let us remind ourselves. Those who learn the truth about certain things either become eyewitnesses of the events and make sound declarations about certain things, having observed the suffering and the action of those who have suffered or acted, or they know certain things by hearing from those who are in no way the cause of what has happened. 6.11.14 But let there be removed for now from the discussion the ability of those who have acted or suffered, by narrating what they have done or suffered, to bring to the knowledge of what has been done 6.11.15 one who was not present. If, then, the one who is taught by someone who is in no way the cause of events that certain things have happened or will happen to certain people does not distinguish that the one teaching about something as having happened or as going to happen is not in every case the cause of the matter being such, he will think that the one who has represented that certain things have happened or that certain things will be has made or will make the things about which 6.11.16 he teaches; and he will clearly think this erroneously. As if someone, having come upon a prophetic book that foretells the things concerning Judas the betrayer, should suppose, having learned what was to be and seeing it fulfilled, that the book is the cause of this certain thing having happened later, since it was from the book that he learned what would be done by Judas; or again, if he should suppose not the book to be the cause, but the one who first wrote 6.11.17 it, or the one who inspired it, let us say, God. And just as in the case of the things prophesied concerning Judas, the words themselves, when examined, show that God was not the author of Judas's betrayal, but only, having foreknown, revealed the things that would be done from his wickedness, apart from His 6.11.18 causality, so if one should go deeply into the doctrine of God's foreknowing all things and into those things in which He has, as it were, imprinted the accounts of his own foreknowledge, one might understand that neither is the one who foreknows in every case the cause of the things foreknown, nor are the things that have received the types of the accounts of the foreknowledge of the one who has foreknown. 6.11.19 That God, then, knows long beforehand that each of the things that will be will happen, is clear even without Scripture, from the very concept of God to one who understands 6.11.20 the axiom of the power of the mind of God. But if it is necessary to establish this also from the Scriptures, the prophecies are full of such examples, and also the story of Susanna, of God knowing all things before their beginning, which says thus: "O eternal God, knower of secrets, who knows all things before their beginning, you know that these men have borne false witness against me." 6.11.21 And most clearly in the third book of Kings both the name of the one who would reign and his deeds were recorded, being prophesied many years before they came to be, thus: "And Jeroboam made a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that was in the land of Judah. And he went up to the altar that was in Bethel, which he had made for the heifers which he had made." Then

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γὰρ φήσουσιν ὑποκεῖσθαι τοῖς ἄστροις, δῆλον ὅτι τὰ ἄστρα τὸ νοῆσαι αὐτοῖς τοῦτο ἐχαρίσατο καὶ ὁ δημιουργὸς ὑποβεβληκὼς ἔσται διὰ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς κινήσεως τὸν λόγον τὸν περὶ τοῦ ἀνωτέρω ἀναπεπλασμένου θεοῦ, ὅπερ οὐ 6.11.10 βούλονται. εἰ δὲ ἀποκρινοῦνται ὅτι ἔξω τυγχάνουσι τῶν νόμων τοῦ δημιουργοῦ τῶν κατὰ τοὺς ἀστέρας, ἵνα μὴ ἀπόφασις ᾖ τὸ λεγόμενον ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἀναπόδεικτος, πειραθήτωσαν ἡμᾶς προσάγειν ἀναγκαστικώτερον, διαφορὰν παριστάντες νοῦ τινος ὑποκειμένου γενέσει καὶ εἱμαρμένῃ καὶ ἑτέρου ἀπὸ τούτων ἐλευθέρου. δῆλον γάρ ἐστι τοὺς τοιούτους ὅτι λόγον ἀπαιτηθέντες 6.11.11 διδόναι αὐτὸν οὐδαμῶς δυνήσονται. πρὸς δὲ τοῖς εἰρημένοις καὶ εὐχαὶ παρέλκουσι μάτην παραλαμβανόμεναι. εἰ γὰρ κατηνάγκασται τάδε τινὰ γενέσθαι καὶ οἱ ἀστέρες ποιοῦσιν, οὐδὲν δὲ παρὰ τὴν τούτων πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐπιπλοκὴν δύναται γενέσθαι, θεὸν ἀλογίστως ἀξιοῦμεν τάδε τινὰ ἡμῖν δωρήσασθαι. 6.11.12 καὶ τί ἐπὶ πλεῖον μηκύνειν τὸν λόγον δεῖ, παριστάντα τὸ ἀσεβὲς τοῦ καθημαξευμένου ἀβασανίστως παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς περὶ εἱμαρμένης τόπου; αὐτάρκη γὰρ εἰς ὑπογραφὴν καὶ τὰ εἰρημένα. 6.11.13 Πόθεν δὴ ἐξετάζοντες τὸ «ἔστωσαν εἰς σημεῖα οἱ φωστῆρες» ἐπὶ ταῦτα ἐληλύθαμεν, ἑαυτοὺς ὑπομνήσωμεν. οἱ μανθάνοντες περί τινων ἀληθῆ ἤτοι αὐτόπται τῶν πραγμάτων γενόμενοι ἀποφαίνονται τάδε τινὰ ὑγιῶς, τὸ πάθος καὶ τὴν ἐνέργειαν τῶν πεπονθότων ἢ ἐνηργηκότων θεασάμενοι, ἢ ἀπαγγελλόντων τῶν οὐδαμῶς αἰτίων τοῖς γεγενημένοις ἀκούσαντες τάδε τινὰ γινώσκουσιν 6.11.14 ὑπεξῃρήσθω δὲ νῦν τοῦ λόγου τὸ δύνασθαι τοὺς δεδρακότας ἢ πεπονθότας, διηγουμένους ἃ δεδράκασιν ἢ πεπόνθασιν, ἐνάγειν εἰς γνῶσιν τῶν πεπραγμέ6.11.15 νων τὸν μὴ παρατετυχηκότα. ἐὰν οὖν ὁ διδασκόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ μηδαμῶς αἰτίου τῶν γινομένων τὸ τάδε τινὰ τοῖσδε γεγονέναι ἢ συμβήσεσθαι μὴ διακρίνῃ ὅτι οὐ πάντως ὁ διδάσκων περί τινος ὡς γενομένου ἢ ἐσομένου αἴτιός ἐστι τοῦ τὸ πρᾶγμα τοιόνδε τι τυγχάνειν, οἰήσεται τὸν παραστήσαντα περὶ τοῦ τάδε τινὰ γεγονέναι ἢ τάδε τινὰ ἔσεσθαι πεποιηκέναι ἢ ποιήσειν τὰ περὶ 6.11.16 ὧν διδάσκει, οἰήσεται δὲ δηλονότι ἐσφαλμένως. ὡς εἴ τις ἐντυχὼν προφητικῇ βίβλῳ προδηλούσῃ τὰ περὶ Ἰούδαν τὸν προδότην νομίσαι, μαθὼν τὸ ἐσόμενον ὁρῶν αὐτὸ ἀποτελούμενον, τὴν βίβλον αἰτίαν εἶναι τοῦ τόδε τι γεγονέναι ὕστερον, ἐπεὶ ἀπὸ τῆς βίβλου μεμάθηκε τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰούδα πραχθησόμενον· ἢ πάλιν μὴ τὴν βίβλον ὑπολάβοι εἶναι αἰτίαν, ἀλλὰ τὸν πρῶτον γράψαντα 6.11.17 αὐτὴν ἢ τὸν ἐνεργήσαντα φέρε εἰπεῖν τὸν θεόν. ὥσπερ δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν περὶ τοῦ Ἰούδα προφητευομένων αὐταὶ αἱ λέξεις ἐξεταζόμεναι ἐμφαίνουσι τὸν θεὸν ποιητὴν μὴ γεγονέναι τῆς τοῦ Ἰούδα προδοσίας, ἀλλὰ μόνον δεδηλωκέναι προεγνωκότα τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς τούτου κακίας πραχθησόμενα παρὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ 6.11.18 αἰτίαν, οὕτως εἴ τις ἐμβαθύναι τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ προειδέναι τὰ πάντα τὸν θεὸν καὶ τοῖς ἐν οἷς οἷον ἐνετύπωσε τῆς ἑαυτοῦ προγνώσεως τοὺς λόγους, κατανοήσαι ἂν ὅτι οὔτε ὁ προγνοὺς πάντως αἴτιος τῶν προεγνωσμένων οὔτε τὰ τοὺς τύπους τῶν λόγων τῆς προγνώσεως τοῦ προεγνωκότος δεξάμενα. 6.11.19 Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἕκαστον τῶν ἐσομένων πρὸ πολλοῦ οἶδεν ὁ θεὸς γενησόμενον, καὶ χωρὶς μὲν γραφῆς αὐτόθεν ἐκ τῆς ἐννοίας τῆς περὶ θεοῦ δῆλον τῷ συνιέντι 6.11.20 ἀξίωμα δυνάμεως νοῦ θεοῦ. εἰ δὲ δεῖ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν γραφῶν τοῦτο παραστῆσαι, πλήρεις μέν εἰσιν αἱ προφητεῖαι τοιούτων παραδειγμάτων καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Σωσάνναν δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ γινώσκοντος τὰ πάντα πρὶν γενέσεως αὐτῶν, οὕτω λέγουσαν· «Ὁ θεὸς ὁ αἰώνιος, ὁ τῶν κρυπτῶν γνώστης, ὁ εἰδὼς τὰ πάντα πρὶν γενέσεως αὐτῶν, σὺ ἐπίστασαι ὅτι ψευδῆ μου κατεμαρτύρησαν 6.11.21 οὗτοι.» σαφέστατα δὲ ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ τῶν Βασιλειῶν καὶ ὄνομα βασιλεύ<σ>οντος καὶ πράξεις ἀνεγράφησαν πρὸ πλειόνων ἐτῶν τοῦ γενέσθαι προφητευόμενα οὕτως· «Καὶ ἐποίησεν Ἱεροβοὰμ ἑορτὴν ἐν τῷ μηνὶ τῷ ὀγδόῳ, ἐν τῇ πέμπτῃ καὶ δεκάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ μηνός, κατὰ τὴν ἑορτὴν τὴν ἐν γῇ Ἰούδα. καὶ ἀνέβη ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον τὸ ἐν Βαιθήλ, ὃ ἐποίησεν ἐν ταῖς δαμάλεσιν αἷς ἐποίησεν». εἶτα