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may take from you what formerly appeared in your breast of this dear life, but looking to the divine word, attend to this, guiding the intellectual vessel of your heart; and tread well the path, and look only to the immortal fashioner of the world. And an ancient saying shines forth concerning this: There is One, self-perfect, and under Him all things are accomplished, and He Himself moves among them, and no mortal soul beholds Him, but He is beheld by the mind. And He Himself from good things does not bring forth evil for mortal men; but with Him follow grace and hatred, and war and pestilence and tearful woes; and there is no other. But you could easily behold all things, if you were to see Him; but before that time, here on earth, my child, I will show you, when I see the tracks and mighty hand of the strong God. But I do not see Him; for a cloud is fixed around the rest for me; and a ten-fold station for men. For no mortal man could see Him who rules, unless a certain only-begotten offshoot from above of the Chaldean race; for he was skilled in the journey of a star and the movement of the sphere, how it revolves around the earth, both circular in equal measure, and according to its own pivot. and he drives the winds both around the air and around the flow of a stream; and he reveals the blaze of mighty fire. He Himself is established again upon the great heaven on a golden throne; and the earth has been placed under His feet; and His right hand He has stretched out to the ends of the Ocean; and the foundation of the mountains trembles in its inmost heart and cannot bear His mighty strength. And He is altogether heavenly and on earth He brings all things to pass, Himself holding the beginning and the middle and the end, as the word of the ancients, as the water-born ordained, having received from God in his mind the twofold law. But it is not right to speak otherwise; for I tremble in my limbs, in my mind; from the highest He rules over all things in order. O child, but you draw near with your mind, controlling your tongue well, and place the divine utterance in your breast. 13.12.6 And Aratus also says the following concerning the same things: Let us begin from God, whom men never leave unspoken; for all streets are full of God, and all marketplaces of men, and the sea is full and the harbors, and in every way we all have need of God. For we are also His offspring; and He, being kind, gives favorable signs to men, and He rouses the people to work, reminding them of their livelihood; and He says when the soil is best for oxen and for mattocks, and He says when the seasons are favorable both to set plants and to sow all seeds. 13.12.7 I think it has been clearly shown that the power of God is through all things. And as is necessary, we have indicated this by taking away the "Dias" and "Zena" from the poems; for their meaning is referred to God, for which reason it has been so stated by us. Not inappropriately, therefore, have we brought these things forward for those who seek them. 13.12.8 For it is agreed by all the philosophers that one must have holy conceptions about God, which our own school especially and rightly exhorts. And the whole structure of our law is ordered concerning piety and justice and self-control and the other true goods.” 13.12.9 Next to these things, after others, he adds: 13.12.9 “And consequently, that God, who fashioned the whole world, has also given us a rest, because life is toilsome for all, the seventh day, which might also naturally be called the first genesis of light, in which 13.12.10 all things are contemplated together. And the same might be transferred also to wisdom; for all light is from it. And some who are from the school of the Peripatos have said that it has the function of a lamp; for by 13.12.11 following it continuously they will be rendered untroubled throughout their whole life. And more clearly and beautifully one of our ancestors, Solomon, said that it existed before heaven and earth; which is indeed in harmony with what was said before. But what is made clear through the legislation, that God has rested on it, this does not mean, as some suppose, that God no longer does anything, but that after having 13.12.12 rested, He has so ordered their arrangement for all time. For it signifies that in six days He made both the heaven and the earth and all things
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σε τὰ πρὶν ἐν στήθεσσι φανέντα φίλης αἰῶνος ἀμέρσῃ, εἰς δὲ λόγον θεῖον βλέψας τούτῳ προσέδρευε, ἰθύνων κραδίης νοερὸν κύτος· εὖ δ' ἐπίβαινε ἀτραπιτοῦ, μοῦνον δ' ἐσόρα κόσμοιο τυπωτὴν ἀθάνατον. παλαιὸς δὲ λόγος περὶ τοῦδε φαείνει· Εἷς ἔστ' αὐτοτελής, αὐτοῦ δ' ὕπο πάντα τελεῖται, ἐν δ' αὐτοῖς αὐτὸς περινίσσεται, οὐδέ τις αὐτὸν εἰσοράᾳ ψυχὴν θνητῶν, νῷ δ' εἰσοράαται. αὐτὸς δ' ἐξ ἀγαθῶν θνητοῖς κακὸν οὐκ ἐπιτέλλει ἀνθρώποις· αὐτῷ δὲ χάρις καὶ μῖσος ὀπηδεῖ· καὶ πόλεμος καὶ λοιμὸς ἰδ' ἄλγεα δακρυόεντα· οὐδέ τίς ἐσθ' ἕτερος. σὺ δέ κεν ῥέα πάντ' ἐσορήσω, αἴ κεν ἴδῃς αὐτόν· πρὶν δή ποτε δεῦρ' ἐπὶ γαῖαν, τέκνον ἐμόν, δείξω σοι, ὁπηνίκα δέρκομαι αὐτοῦ ἴχνια καὶ χεῖρα στιβαρὴν κρατεροῖο θεοῖο. αὐτὸν δ' οὐχ ὁρόω· περὶ γὰρ νέφος ἐστήρικται λοιπὸν ἐμοί· 'στᾶσιν δὲ δεκάπτυχον ἀνθρώποισιν. οὐ γάρ κέν τις ἴδοι θνητῶν μερόπων κραίνοντα, εἰ μὴ μουνογενής τις ἀπορρὼξ φύλου ἄνωθεν Χαλδαίων· ἴδρις γὰρ ἔην ἄστροιο πορείης καὶ σφαίρης κίνημ' ἀμφὶ χθόνα ὡς περιτέλλει κυκλοτερές τ' ἐν ἴσῳ, κατὰ δὲ σφέτερον κνώδακα. πνεύματα δ' ἡνιοχεῖ περί τ' ἠέρα καὶ περὶ χεῦμα νάματος· ἐκφαίνει δὲ πυρὸς σέλας ἰφιγενήτου. αὐτὸς δὴ μέγαν αὖθις ἐπ' οὐρανὸν ἐστήρικται χρυσέῳ εἰνὶ θρόνῳ· γαίη δ' ὑπὸ ποσσὶ βέβηκε· χεῖρα δὲ δεξιτερὴν ἐπὶ τέρμασιν Ὠκεανοῖο ἐκτέτακεν· ὀρέων δὲ τρέμει βάσις ἔνδοθι θυμῷ οὐδὲ φέρειν δύναται κρατερὸν μένος. ἔστι δὲ πάντως αὐτὸς ἐπουράνιος καὶ ἐπὶ χθονὶ πάντα τελευτᾷ, ἀρχὴν αὐτὸς ἔχων καὶ μέσσην ἠδὲ τελευτήν, ὡς λόγος ἀρχαίων, ὡς ὑδογενὴς διέταξεν, ἐκ θεόθεν γνώμῃσι λαβὼν κατὰ δίπλακα θεσμόν. ἄλλως οὐ θεμιτὸν δὲ λέγειν· τρομέω δέ γε γυῖα, ἐν νόῳ· ἐξ ὑπάτου κραίνει περὶ πάντ' ἐνὶ τάξει. ὦ τέκνον, σὺ δὲ τοῖσι νόοισι πελάζευ, γλώσσης εὖ μάλ' ἐπικρατέων, στέρνοισι δὲ ἔνθεο φήμην. 13.12.6 καὶ Ἄρατος δὲ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν φησιν οὕτως· Ἐκ θεοῦ ἀρχώμεσθα, τὸν οὐδέποτ' ἄνδρες ἐῶσιν ἄρρητον· μεσταὶ δὲ θεοῦ πᾶσαι μὲν ἀγυιαί, πᾶσαι δ' ἀνθρώπων ἀγοραί, μεστὴ δὲ θάλασσα καὶ λιμένες, πάντη δὲ θεοῦ κεχρήμεθα πάντες. τοῦ γὰρ καὶ γένος ἐσμέν· ὁ δ' ἤπιος ἀνθρώποισι δεξιὰ σημαίνει, λαοὺς δ' ἐπὶ ἔργον ἐγείρει μιμνήσκων βιότοιο· λέγει δ' ὅτε βῶλος ἀρίστη βουσί τε καὶ μακέλῃσι, λέγει δ' ὅτε δεξιαὶ ὧραι καὶ φυτὰ γυρῶσαι καὶ σπέρματα πάντα βαλέσθαι. 13.12.7 σαφῶς οἴομαι δεδεῖχθαι διότι διὰ πάντων ἐστὶν ἡ δύναμις τοῦ θεοῦ. καθὼς δὲ δεῖ, σεσημάγκαμεν περιαιροῦντες τὸν διὰ τῶν ποιημάτων ∆ία καὶ Ζῆνα· τὸ γὰρ τῆς διανοίας αὐτῶν ἐπὶ θεὸν ἀναπέμπεται, διόπερ οὕτως ἡμῖν εἴρηται. οὐκ ἀπεοικότως οὖν τοῖς ἐπεζητημένοις προενηνέγμεθα ταῦτα. 13.12.8 πᾶσι γὰρ τοῖς φιλοσόφοις ὁμολογεῖται διότι δεῖ περὶ θεοῦ διαλήψεις ὁσίας ἔχειν, ὃ μάλιστα παρακελεύεται καλῶς ἡ καθ' ἡμᾶς αἵρεσις. ἡ δὲ τοῦ νόμου κατασκευὴ πᾶσα τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς περὶ εὐσεβείας τέτακται καὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ ἐγκρατείας καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀγαθῶν τῶν κατὰ ἀλήθειαν.» 13.12.9 Τούτοις ἑξῆς μεθ' ἕτερα ἐπιλέγει· 13.12.9 «Ἐχομένως δ' ἐστὶν ὡς ὁ θεός, ὃς τὸν ὅλον κόσμον κατεσκεύακε, καὶ δέδωκεν ἀνάπαυσιν ἡμῖν, διὰ τὸ κακόπαθον εἶναι πᾶσι τὴν βιοτήν, ἑβδόμην ἡμέραν, ἣ δὴ καὶ πρώτη φυσικῶς ἂν λέγοιτο φωτὸς γένεσις, ἐν ᾧ τὰ 13.12.10 πάντα συνθεωρεῖται. μεταφέροιτο δ' ἂν τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς σοφίας· τὸ γὰρ πᾶν φῶς ἐστιν ἐξ αὐτῆς. καί τινες εἰρήκασι τῶν ἐκ τῆς αἱρέσεως ὄντες τῆς ἐκ τοῦ Περιπάτου λαμπτῆρος αὐτὴν ἔχειν τάξιν· ἀκολουθοῦντες γὰρ 13.12.11 αὐτῇ συνεχῶς ἀτάραχοι καταστήσονται δι' ὅλου τοῦ βίου. σαφέστερον δὲ καὶ κάλλιον τῶν ἡμετέρων προγόνων τις εἶπε Σολομῶν αὐτὴν πρὸ οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς ὑπάρχειν· τὸ δὴ σύμφωνόν ἐστι τῷ προειρημένῳ. τὸ δὲ διασαφού μενον διὰ τῆς νομοθεσίας ἀποπεπαυκέναι τὸν θεὸν ἐν αὐτῇ, τοῦτο οὐχ, ὥς τινες ὑπολαμβάνουσι, μηκέτι ποιεῖν τι τὸν θεὸν καθέστηκεν, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῷ κατα13.12.12 πεπαυκέναι τὴν τάξιν αὐτῶν οὕτως εἰς πάντα τὸν χρόνον τεταχέναι. σημαίνει γὰρ ὡς ἐν ἓξ ἡμέραις ἐποίησε τόν τε οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ πάντα