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an approach to understanding, to comprehend these things with our knowledge. But he shakes our teacher and drags away the argument, which that one makes concerning conception, and he dances upon what was said, again, as is his custom, with the clatter of petty words, satirizing with his phrases, and he says: 20Of those things whose interpretation he appropriates, of these he is ashamed of the 2.1.196 testimony.20 For having reported a certain part of the things considered by the teacher with respect to conception, in which that one affirmed that the use of conception is not only active in vain things, but also has a certain power toward greater things, 20through the theorem concerning the grain and the seed and the food, he brings on what has been said, accusing him of following external philosophy, and he says that he curtails the providence of God, by not confessing that the names were given to things by Him, and that he allies himself with the atheists and arms himself against providence, and that he marvels at their opinion before the laws and assigns more to them in wisdom, not having considered the first words, that before human beings were brought into existence the name of the fruit and of the seed was named by Scripture.20 2.1.197 These are his accusations against us, the thoughts not so written in his phrases, but the wording has been altered by us only so much as to correct the harsh and ill-sounding syntax of what was said. What then do we, what do we answer to the guardian of divine providence? He says we do wrong because, while we do not deny that man was made rational by God, we trace the inventions of words back to the rational power implanted by God in the nature of human beings. And this is the most grievous of the accusations, through which the teacher of piety is accused of deserting to the opinion of the atheists and 20an heir and advocate of custom by decree20 and is called all the most terrible things. 2.1.198 Let the corrector of our stumblings say, then, did God give the appellations to existing things? For this is what the new interpreter of the mystical doctrines says, that God named shoot and herb and grass and seed and tree and such things before the creation of man, in bringing created things into being by command. 2.1.199 Therefore, if he abides by the bare letter and in this respect Judaizes in his opinion and has not yet been taught that the Christian is a disciple not of the letter but of the spirit (for the letter, it says, kills, but the spirit gives life), and if he puts forward to us the bare reading of the written words as if God spoke these things, and if he has believed this, he will establish nothing other than that God, in the likeness of men, also used discursive speech and 2.1.200 voice and sound to express His thoughts. If, then, he thinks this, he will certainly not deny the things that follow from it; for our speech is uttered through the vocal organs, the windpipe, tongue, teeth, mouth, with the drawing of air and the breath from within cooperating in the utterance. For the windpipe sounds for us from below, fitted to the larynx like some flute; and the palate, through the cavity lying above which passes through the nostrils, like some bridge from above, broadens the sound with an echo 2.1.201. But the cheeks also cooperate with speech, being hollowed and flattened according to the various articulations of the sounds, and again sending the sound forth through a narrow space, according to the many turnings of the tongue, which it makes, at one time in one part of itself, at another in another, either against the teeth or the palate, roughening 2.1.202 or pressing the breath passing through it. And the service of the lips contributes something, in a varied manner of movement, variously touching the sound and helping to form the shape of the words. If, then, God gives the names to things, as the new interpreter of the divine history has made clear, shoot and herb and tree and fruit

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ἔφοδος εἰς κατανόησιν, ταῦτα τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ γνώσει περιλαμβάνειν. Ἀλλὰ διασαλεύει τὸν διδάσκαλον ἡμῶν καὶ περισύρει τὸν λόγον, ὃν περὶ τῆς ἐπινοίας ἐκεῖνός φησι καὶ κατορχεῖται τῶν εἰρημένων, πάλιν συνήθως τῷ κρότῳ τῶν λεξειδίων ἐν σατυρίζων τοῖς ῥήμασι, καί φησιν· 20ὧν σφετερίζεται τὴν ἑρμηνείαν, τούτων ἐπαισχύνεται τὴν μαρ 2.1.196 τυρίαν20. ἀπαγγείλας γάρ τι μέρος τῶν κατ' ἐπίνοιαν θεωρηθέντων τῷ διδασκάλῳ, ἐν οἷς ἐκεῖνος οὐ μόνον ἐπὶ τῶν ματαίων ἐνεργὸν ἔφασκε τῆς ἐπινοίας εἶναι τὴν χρῆσιν, ἀλλ' ἔχειν τινὰ καὶ πρὸς τὰ μείζω δύναμιν, 20διὰ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν σῖτον καὶ τὸ σπέρμα καὶ τὴν τροφὴν θεωρήματος ἐπάγει τὰ εἰρημένα, τῇ ἔξωθεν αὐτὸν φιλοσοφίᾳ κατακολουθεῖν αἰτιώμενος, καὶ περικόπτειν τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ κηδεμονίαν φησί, μὴ ὁμολογοῦντα παρ' ἐκείνου τὰς ὀνο μασίας τεθεῖσθαι τοῖς πράγμασι, καὶ συμμα χεῖν αὐτὸν τοῖς ἀθέοις καὶ κατὰ τῆς προνοίας ὁπλίζεσθαι, καὶ τὴν ἐκείνων γνώμην πρὸ τῶν νόμων θαυμάζειν κἀκείνοις πλεῖον εἰς σοφίαν νέμειν, οὐκ ἐπεσκεμμένον τοὺς πρώτους τῶν λόγων, ὅτι μήπω παραχθέντων τῶν ἀνθρώ πων εἰς γένεσιν ἡ τοῦ καρποῦ καὶ τοῦ σπέρ ματος ἐπωνυμία παρὰ τῆς γραφῆς ὠνομάσθη20. 2.1.197 ταῦτα καθ' ἡμῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ τὰ ἐγκλήματα, οὐχ οὕτως γεγραμμένα τοῖς ἐκείνου ῥήμασι τὰ νοήματα, ἀλλὰ τοσοῦ τον ὑπήλλακται παρ' ἡμῶν ἡ φράσις, ὅσον τὸ τραχύ τε καὶ δύσηχον τῆς συντάξεως τῶν εἰρημένων ἐπανορθώσασθαι. τί οὖν ἡμεῖς, τί πρὸς τὸν κηδεμόνα τῆς θείας προνοίας ἀποκρινόμεθα; ἀδικεῖν ἡμᾶς λέγει ὅτι τὸ μὲν λογικὸν γε γενῆσθαι παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν ἄνθρωπον οὐκ ἀρνούμεθα, τὰς δὲ τῶν ῥημάτων εὑρέσεις εἰς τὴν λογικὴν δύναμιν τὴν ἐντεθεῖσαν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀνά γομεν. καὶ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ χαλεπώτατον τῶν ἐγκλημάτων, δι' οὗ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀθέων γνώμην αὐτομολεῖν ὁ διδά σκαλος τῆς εὐσεβείας κατηγορεῖται καὶ 20συνηθείας ἐκ θέσμου κληρονόμος καὶ συνήγορος20 καὶ πάντα ὀνομάζεται τὰ δεινότατα. 2.1.198 Εἰπάτω τοίνυν ὁ διορθωτὴς τῶν ἡμετέρων πταισμάτων, ὁ θεὸς ἔθετο τὰς προσηγορίας τοῖς οὖσιν; τοῦτο γάρ φησιν ὁ νέος ἐξηγητὴς τῶν μυστικῶν δογμάτων, ὅτι βλάστην καὶ βοτάνην καὶ χόρτον καὶ σπέρμα καὶ ξύλον καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα κατωνόμασε πρὸ τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου κατασκευῆς ὁ θεὸς ἐν τῷ παράγειν εἰς κτίσιν τὰ γεγονότα διὰ προστάγματος. 2.1.199 οὐκοῦν εἰ ψιλῷ παραμένει τῷ γράμματι καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ἰουδαΐζει τῇ γνώμῃ καὶ οὔπω πεπαίδευται ὅτι οὐχὶ γράμματός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστιανὸς μαθητὴς ἀλλὰ πνεύματος (τὸ γὰρ γράμμα, φησίν, ἀποκτέννει, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ζωοποιεῖ), προφέρει δὲ ψιλὴν ἐπὶ ῥήματος ἡμῖν τὴν τῶν γεγραμμένων ἀνάγνωσιν ὡς θεοῦ ταῦτα διεξελθόντος, καὶ εἰ τοῦτο πεπί στευκεν, οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ καθ' ὁμοιότητα τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τὸν θεὸν διεξοδικῷ κεχρῆσθαι λόγῳ κατασκευάσει καὶ 2.1.200 φωνῇ καὶ φθόγγῳ διατυποῦν τὰ νοήματα. εἰ τοίνυν τοῦτο νοεῖ, πάντως ὅτι καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἀκόλουθα οὐκ ἀρνήσεται· ὁ γὰρ παρ' ἡμῶν λόγος διὰ τῶν φωνητικῶν ἐκφωνεῖται μορίων, ἀρτηρίας γλώσσης ὀδόντων στόματος, συνεργούσης πρὸς τὴν ἐκφώνησιν καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀέρος ὁλκῆς καὶ τοῦ ἔν δοθεν πνεύματος. ὑπηχεῖ μὲν γὰρ ἡμῖν ἡ ἀρτηρία κάτωθεν αὐλοῦ τινος δίκην ἐνηρμοσμένη τῇ φάρυγγι· ἡ δὲ ὑπερῴα διὰ τοῦ ὑπερκειμένου κενώματος τοῦ κατὰ τοὺς μυκτῆρας διήκοντος καθάπερ τις μαγὰς ἄνωθεν ἐπιπλατύνει τῷ ἤχῳ 2.1.201 τὸν φθόγγον. ἀλλὰ καὶ αἱ παρειαὶ συνεργοῦσι τῷ λόγῳ, κατὰ τὰς ποιὰς τῶν ἄρθρων τυπώσεις κοιλαινόμεναί τε καὶ πλατυνόμεναι καὶ διὰ στενοῦ πάλιν τὸν φθόγγον προάγουσαι κατὰ τὰς πολυστρόφους τῆς γλώσσης ἀναστροφάς, ἃς ποι εῖται ἄλλοτε κατ' ἄλλο μέρος ἑαυτῆς, ἢ τοῖς ὀδοῦσιν ἢ τῇ ὑπερῴᾳ τὸ δι' αὐτῆς παριὸν πνεῦμα παρατραχύνουσά 2.1.202 πως ἢ παραθλίβουσα. συντελεῖ δέ τι καὶ ἡ τῶν χειλῶν ὑπουργία ἐν διαφόρῳ τῷ τῆς κινήσεως τρόπῳ ποικίλως συνεφαπτομένη τοῦ φθόγγου καὶ τὸν τῶν ῥημάτων τύπον συναπαρτίζουσα. εἰ τοίνυν ὁ θεὸς τὰ ὀνόματα τοῖς πράγ μασι τίθεται, καθὼς ὁ νέος τῆς θείας ἱστορίας ἐξηγητὴς διεσάφησε, βλάστην καὶ βοτάνην καὶ ξύλον καὶ καρπὸν