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the water and the heaven with a span and all the earth with a handful? Who has weighed the mountains in a balance and the valleys in a scale? For since he asked, who is the one who established these things and who is the one who arranged these things by measure and weight, he consistently responds that it is no one, or the one single mind incomprehensible to all. Therefore he adds: who has known the mind of the Lord, the maker of all the things that have been mentioned, who, needing no counselor nor taking advice from anyone, by his own wisdom brought things that in no way existed “from non-being into being” by his ineffable power. Next he teaches all those from the nations called to the grace of the Gospel, to whom also “the salvation of God” was preached by the one mentioned before, “the voice of one crying in the wilderness,” that “all the nations that have not known God” are nothing. For there are in heaven and in the air and beyond heaven rational spirits and divine powers and an innumerable multitude of ministers of God who attend the King of all. He says that “the nations” on earth “that have not known God” are like a very small drop flowing away from the fullness of the divine rational beings, and that the same are like a scale tilting with the slightest turn of weight because they have been dragged down by the weight of wickedness to godless sin, but also to spit that has been spat out and mixed with the dust of the earth, in that they differ in no way; for they, being rational, have suffered the same thing as spit, being mixed up with “ignorance of God” and all impiety. Therefore he also teaches that all their worship through blood and sacrifices has nothing worthy of God; for not even if one were to offer all the four-footed animals of the earth, nor if all of Lebanon and the wood of the things grown in it were taken for the whole burnt offering of the victims, would it be worthy of God. To which he adds next: and all the nations are as nothing and have been accounted as nothing. And what are these but “those who have not known God,” but have clung to the error of idolatry? which were said to be reckoned as a drop from a bucket and as the turn of a scale and as spit. To these same ones he next rebukes, saying: To whom have you likened the Lord and to what likeness have you likened him? Has a carpenter made an image, or a goldsmith, having melted gold, gilded him, and the rest. which he indeed consistently added after setting forth the theology concerning Christ to be preached to the nations, how great was “he who measured” “the water in his hand and the heaven with a span and all the earth with a handful,” “having established” both “the mountains in a balance and the valleys in a scale.” To these, therefore, he necessarily compares the pre-existing error of the nations, turning them away from it, and calling them to the knowledge of the one of whom theology speaks. In this way indeed the prophetic spirit makes smooth for the gospel proclamation the souls of the nations, wiping them clean as it were and purifying them from their ancestral superstition. Then, having taught what sort of error existed among the nations in lifeless idols, he cries out to the ears of all, saying: Will you not know? Will you not hear? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Even if you were not taught by your fathers, at least now be instructed and benefited, and learn who it is that holds the foundations of the earth. For if you cannot lift your mind up to heaven, he says, then pay attention to the earth, on which you spend your time. Inquire on what it is established, and who is this one who holds such an element firm and unshaken? And speaking physically about the shape of the earth, he recognizes it as spherical; therefore he also called it a circle, saying: he who holds the circle of the earth. But he also exhorts to know the Word of God who holds all things together, who in addition to the others also holds together this great element of the earth so that it does not fall apart nor is moved from its own place. And who, he says, is the one who has scattered so many nations upon the earth that, on account of the smallness of their bodies, they are compared to locusts? Then again ascending in his discourse from the earth to the celestial vault, and what is above the earth

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τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν σπιθαμῇ καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν δρακί; τίς ἔστησε τὰ ὄρη σταθμῷ καὶ τὰς νάπας ζυγῷ; ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἠρώτησε, τίς ὁ ταῦτα ὑποστησάμενος καὶ τίς ὁ μέτρῳ καὶ σταθμῷ ταῦτα διαταξάμενος, ἀκολούθως ἀποδίδωσιν ὡς οὐδεὶς ἢ εἷς μόνος ὁ τοῖς πᾶσιν ἀκατάληπτος νοῦς. διὸ ἐπιλέγει· τίς ἔγνω νοῦν κυρίου τὸν τῶν εἰρημένων ἁπάντων ποιητικόν, ὃς οὔτε συμβούλου δεηθεὶς οὔτε παρά τινος γνώμην λαβὼν τῇ αὐτὸς αὐτοῦ σοφίᾳ τὰ μηδαμῆ μηδαμῶς ὑφεστῶτα ἀρρήτῳ δυνάμει «ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εἶναι» παρήγαγεν. Ἑξῆς διδάσκει πάντας τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐπὶ τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν χάριν ἀνακεκλημένους, οἷς καὶ «τὸ σωτήριον τοῦ θεοῦ» διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν εὐηγγελίζετο «ἡ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ βοῶσα φωνή», ὅτι τὸ μηθέν εἰσι «πάντα τὰ τὸν θεὸν μὴ εἰδότα ἔθνη». ὄντων γοῦν ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐν ἀέρι καὶ ἐπέκεινα οὐρανοῦ λογικῶν πνευμάτων καὶ θείων δυνάμεων καὶ πλήθους ἀναριθμήτου λειτουργῶν θεοῦ τῶν τὸν παμβασιλέα περιπολούντων. «τὰ τὸν θεὸν μὴ εἰδότα» ἐπὶ γῆς «ἔθνη» ἐοικέναι φησὶ σταγόνι βραχυτάτῃ τοῦ τῶν θείων λογικῶν πληρώματος ἀπορρευσάσῃ, τοὺς δ' αὐτοὺς ἐοικέναι ζυγῷ ἑτεροκλινοῦντι βραχυτάτῃ βάρους ῥοπῇ διὰ τὸ καθειλκύσθαι τῷ βάρει τῆς κακίας ἐπὶ τὴν ἄθεον ἁμαρτίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ σιέλου ἀποπτυσθέντος καὶ τῷ χοῒ τῆς γῆς ἐμφυρέντος τῷ μηδὲν διαφέρειν τοὺς αὐτούς· ταὐτὸν γὰρ σιέλῳ πεπονθέναι λογικοὺς μὲν ὄντας, ἀναφυρέντας δὲ «ἀγνωσίᾳ θεοῦ» καὶ δυσσεβείᾳ πάσῃ. διὸ καὶ πᾶσαν αὐτῶν τὴν δι' αἱμάτων καὶ θυσιῶν λατρείαν διδάσκει μηδὲν θεοπρεπὲς ἔχειν· οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰ πάντα τὰ τῆς γῆς τετράποδα προσφέροι τις οὐδ' εἰ πᾶς ὁ Λίβανος καὶ ἡ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ φυέντων ὕλη παραλαμβάνοιτο εἰς τὴν τῶν θυμάτων ὁλοκάρπωσιν ἔχοι ἀντὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄξιον. οἷς ἐπιλέγει ἑξῆς· καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη εἰς οὐδέν εἰσι καὶ εἰς οὐδὲν ἐλογίσθησαν. ποῖα δὲ ταῦτα ἢ «τὰ τὸν θεὸν μὴ εἰδότα», προστετηκότα δὲ τῇ πλάνῃ τῆς εἰδωλολατρίας; ἃ δὲ καὶ ὡς σταγὼν ἀπὸ κάδου καὶ ὡς ῥοπὴ ζυγοῦ καὶ ὡς σίελος λογισθήσεσθαι ἐλέγετο. Τούτοις δ' αὐτοῖς ἑξῆς ἐπιπλήττει λέγων· τίνι ὡμοιώσατε κύριον καὶ τίνι ὁμοιώματι ὡμοιώσατε αὐτόν; μὴ εἰκόνα ἐποίησε τέκτων, ἢ χρυσοχόος χωνεύσας χρυσίον περιεχρύσωσεν αὐτὸν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ἃ δὴ καὶ ἀκολούθως ἐπήγαγε μετὰ τὸ παραθέσθαι τὴν περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ θεολογίαν κηρύξαι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, ὅσος ἦν «ὁ μετρήσας» «τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν σπιθαμῇ καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν δρακί», «τά» τε «ὄρη σταθμῷ καὶ τὰς νάπας ζυγῷ» «συστησάμενος». τούτοις γοῦν ἀναγκαίως παραβάλλει τὴν προκατέχουσαν πλάνην τῶν ἐθνῶν, ἀποστρέφων μὲν αὐτῆς, ἀνακαλούμενος δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν γνῶσιν τοῦ θεολογουμένου. τοῦτον δὴ τὸν τρόπον ἐξομαλίζει τῷ εὐαγγελικῷ κηρύγματι τὰς τῶν ἐθνῶν ψυχὰς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ προφητικὸν ἀποσμῆχον ὥσπερ καὶ ἀποκαθαῖρον αὐτὰς τῆς πατροπαραδότου δεισιδαιμονίας. Εἶτα διδάξας ὁποία τις ἦν ἡ τῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἐν ἀψύχοις ξοάνοις πλάνη, ἐπιβοᾷ ταῖς πάντων ἀκοαῖς λέγων· οὐ γνώσεσθε; οὐκ ἀκούσεσθε; οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὑμῖν; εἰ καὶ μηδὲ ἐκ πατέρων ἐδιδάχθητε, ἀλλὰ νῦν γοῦν σωφρονισθέντες ὠφελήθητε καὶ μάθετε τίς ποτέ ἐστιν ὁ κατέχων τὰ θεμέλια τῆς γῆς. εἰ γὰρ μὴ δύνασθε ἄνω πρὸς οὐρανὸν τὴν διάνοιαν ἐπαίρειν, ἀλλ' ἐπιστήσατέ φησιν τῇ γῇ, ἐν ᾗ ποιεῖσθε τὰς διατριβάς. ἐπὶ τίνος τε ἥδρασται ζητήσατε, καὶ τίς ἐστιν οὗτος ὁ τοσοῦτον στοιχεῖον ἀκλινὲς καὶ ἀσάλευτον διακρατῶν; φυσιολογῶν δὲ περὶ τῆς γῆς σχήματος σφαιροειδὲς αὐτὸ γνωρίζει· διὸ καὶ γῦρον ὠνόμασεν αὐτὸ φήσας· ὁ κατέχων τὸν γῦρον τῆς γῆς. πλὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ γνῶναι παρακελεύεται τὸν τὰ σύμπαντα διακρατοῦντα τοῦ θεοῦ λόγον, ὃς πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ τὸ τοσοῦτο στοιχεῖον τῆς γῆς συνέχει πρὸς τὸ μὴ διαπίπτειν μηδὲ τῆς οἰκείας ἕδρας κινεῖσθαι. τίς δέ φησίν ἐστι καὶ ὁ τοσαῦτα διασπείρας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔθνη ὡς παραβάλλεσθαι αὐτὰ σμικρότητος ἕνεκα τῶν σωμάτων ἀκρίσιν; εἶτα πάλιν ἀναβὰς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς τῷ λόγῳ τὴν ἁψῖδα τὴν οὐράνιον, τό τε ὑπὲρ γῆν