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of the things said are considered to be shameful and altogether unseemly, of which no one in their right mind would suppose God to be the inventor; so that even if some of our common words are said from the person of God by the divine scripture, it must be known that the Holy Spirit speaks to us from our own things, just as we learned in the history of the Acts that each one received the teaching in his own dialect in which he was born, through words familiar to him, understanding the power of the words. 2.1.239 And that these things are true, one might better learn by examining more studiously the Levitical legislation. For there it mentions names of frying-pan and flat-cake and fine flour and such things in the mystical rites, symbolically and through a riddle suggesting certain doctrines beneficial to the soul, and it names certain measures according to the custom of that time, saying something like an ephah 2.1.240 and a nebel and a hin and many such things; did He then create these appellations and name them, or did He so ordain from the beginning for them to be and to be said, so that one should call such a seed "wheat," and name its inner part "fine flour," and call the superficial, membranous, and flattened parts of cakes "flat-cakes," and command that such a vessel, in which the moist part of the dough is baked and dried out, be called a "frying-pan," and to declare such a quantity of liquid by the name of "hin" or "nebel" and for the drier fruits to be measured by the "gomer"? 2.1.241 This is nonsense and Jewish vanity, having fallen far from the greatness of mind of the Christians, to suppose that the great and highest God, who is above every name and thought, who by the power of His will alone holds all things together and brings them into being and preserves them in being, that He should sit like some grammarian meticulously crafting 2.1.242 these positions of names. But just as for the deaf, by making signs and gesturing with our hands, we indicate what is to be done, not because we ourselves do not have our own voice when we do this, but because instruction through words is utterly useless to those who do not hear, so also, since human nature is in a way deaf and understands none of the high things, we say that the grace of God, speaking in many and various ways in the prophets, forming the tongues of the holy prophets according to what is easily seen and familiar to us, through these things leads us by the hand to the understanding of high things, not making the teaching according to its own greatness of mind (for how could the great be contained in the small?), but condescending to the smallness of 2.1.243 our capacity. And just as God, having given the power of motion to the animal, no longer crafts each individual step (for once nature has received its principle from its maker, it moves and directs itself, activating its motion towards what seems best at any given time, except that it is said by the Lord that a man's steps are directed), so also nature, having received from God the ability to speak and to utter sounds and to declare its will through voice, proceeds on its way through things, imposing certain signs on existing things through the qualitative difference of sounds. 2.1.244 And these are the things called by us verbs and nouns, with which we signify the power of things. And even if it is said by Moses that the fruit existed before the generation of fruits, and the seeds before the seeds, it does not refute our argument, nor does the thought of the lawgiver conflict with what has been said 2.1.245 concerning conception. For what we name the end of the past husbandry, calling it fruit, and call the beginning of the future, addressing it as seed, this thing that underlies the names, whether wheat or anything else of those things that multiply through sowing, teaches that it did not come to be automatically, but sprouted in the will of the maker with this power; so that it becomes the fruit itself and again leads itself, becoming seed, 2.1.246 and with the surplus feeds man. But a thing grows by divine will, not

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τῶν λεγομένων αἰσχρά τε καὶ ἀπρεπῆ παντάπασιν εἶναι νενό μισται, ὧν οὐκ ἄν τις τῶν νοῦν ἐχόντων εὑρετὴν τὸν θεὸν ὑπολάβοι· ὥστε κἂν ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ λέγηταί τινα παρὰ τῆς θείας γραφῆς τῶν ἡμῖν συνήθων ῥημάτων, γνω στέον ὅτι τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐκ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἡμῖν δια λέγεται, καθάπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν Πράξεων ἱστορίας ἐμά θομεν ὅτι ἕκαστος ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλέκτῳ ἐν ᾗ ἐγεννήθη τὴν διδασκαλίαν ἐδέχετο, διὰ τῶν γνωρίμων αὐτῷ ῥημάτων τῆς δυνάμεως ἐπαΐων τῶν λόγων. 2.1.239 Καὶ ὅτι ἀληθῆ ταῦτα, μᾶλλον ἄν τις μάθοι φιλοπονώ τερον τὴν Λεϋιτικὴν νομοθεσίαν κατεξετάζων. τηγάνου γὰρ ἐκεῖ καὶ λαγάνου καὶ σεμιδάλεως καὶ τοιούτων μέμνηται ὀνομάτων ἐν ταῖς μυστικαῖς ἱερουργίαις συμβολικῶς καὶ δι' αἰνίγματος ψυχωφελῆ τινα δόγματα ὑφηγούμενος, καὶ μέτρα τινὰ κατονομάζει κατὰ τὴν τότε συνήθειαν ὕφι τι λέγων 2.1.240 καὶ νέβελ καὶ ἲν καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα· ἆρα ποιήσας τὰς προσηγορίας ταύτας καὶ ὀνομάσας, ἢ τὴν ἀρχὴν οὕτω δια ταξάμενος γίνεσθαί τε καὶ λέγεσθαι, ὥστε τὸ μὲν τοιοῦτον σπέρμα σῖτον εἰπεῖν, τούτου δὲ τὴν ἐντεριώνην ὀνομάσαι σεμίδαλιν, καὶ τὰ ἐπιπόλαια καὶ ὑμενώδη καὶ διηπλωμένα τῶν πεμμάτων λάγανα προσειπεῖν καὶ τὸ τοιόνδε σκεῦος, ἐν ᾧ τὸ ὑγρὸν τοῦ φυράματος ἐξοπτᾶται καὶ ἐξικμάζεται, τή γανον ὀνομασθῆναι προστάξαι τοῦ τε ὑγροῦ τὴν τοσήνδε ποσότητα τῷ τοῦ ἲν ἢ τῷ τοῦ νέβελ ὀνόματι διαγορεύειν καὶ τοὺς ξηροτέρους καρποὺς διαμετρεῖσθαι τῷ γόμορ; 2.1.241 φλυαρία ταῦτα καὶ ματαιότης Ἰουδαϊκὴ πάμπολυ τῆς τῶν Χριστιανῶν μεγαλοφυΐας ἐκπεπτωκυῖα, τὸ οἴεσθαι τὸν μέγαν καὶ ὕψιστον καὶ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομά τε καὶ νόημα θεόν, τὸν μόνῃ τῇ τοῦ βουλήματος δυνάμει τὸ πᾶν διακρατοῦντα καὶ εἰς γένεσιν ἄγοντα καὶ ἐν τῷ εἶναι διατηροῦντα, τοῦτον ὥς τινα γραμματιστὴν τὰς τοιάσδε τῶν ὀνομάτων θέσεις δια 2.1.242 λεπτουργοῦντα καθῆσθαι. ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τοῖς κωφοῖς διασχη ματιζόμενοι καὶ χειρονομοῦντες τὸ πρακτέον ὑποσημαίνομεν, οὐχὶ τῷ μὴ ἔχειν ἰδίαν αὐτοὶ φωνὴν ὅταν τοῦτο ποιῶμεν, ἀλλὰ τῷ παντάπασιν ἄχρηστον εἶναι τοῖς οὐκ ἀκούουσι τὴν διὰ τῶν ῥημάτων ὑφήγησιν, οὕτω καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύ σεως κωφευούσης τρόπον τινὰ καὶ οὐδενὸς τῶν ὑψηλῶν ἐπαϊούσης τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ χάριν φαμὲν πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυ τρόπως ἐν τοῖς προφήταις λαλοῦσαν, κατὰ τὸ ἡμῖν εὐσύν οπτόν τε καὶ σύνηθες τὰς τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν δια σχηματίζουσαν γλώσσας, διὰ τούτων ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν τῶν ὑψηλῶν χειραγωγεῖν κατανόησιν, οὐ κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν μεγα λοφυΐαν ποιουμένην τὴν διδασκαλίαν (πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἐν τῷ μικρῷ χωρηθείη τὸ μέγα;), ἀλλὰ τῇ βραχύτητι τῆς 2.1.243 ἡμετέρας συγκατιοῦσαν δυνάμεως. καὶ ὥσπερ τὴν κινητικὴν τῷ ζῴῳ δύναμιν δοὺς ὁ θεὸς οὐκέτι δημιουργεῖ καὶ τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον διαβήματα (ἅπαξ γὰρ τὴν ἀρχὴν λαβοῦσα παρὰ τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἡ φύσις ἑαυτὴν κινεῖ τε καὶ διεξάγει πρὸς τὸ ἑκάστοτε δοκοῦν ἐνεργοῦσα τὴν κίνησιν, πλὴν παρὰ κυρίου λέγεται τῷ ἀνδρὶ τὰ διαβήματα κατευθύνεσθαι), οὕτως καὶ τὸ δύνασθαι λαλεῖν τε καὶ φθέγγεσθαι καὶ τὸ διὰ φωνῆς ἐξαγγέλλειν τὸ βούλημα παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ λαβοῦσα ὁδῷ πορεύεται διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων ἡ φύσις, σημεῖά τινα τοῖς οὖσι διὰ τῆς ποιᾶς τῶν φθόγγων διαφορᾶς ἐπιβάλλουσα. 2.1.244 καὶ ταῦτά ἐστι τὰ παρ' ἡμῶν λεγόμενα ῥήματά τε καὶ ὀνόματα, οἷς τὴν δύναμιν τῶν πραγμάτων διασημαίνομεν. κἂν λέγηται παρὰ τοῦ Μωϋσέως πρὸ τῆς τῶν καρπῶν γε νέσεως ὁ καρπὸς καὶ πρὸ τῆς τῶν σπερμάτων τὰ σπέρματα, οὐκ ἐλέγχει τὸν ἡμέτερον λόγον, οὐδὲ μάχεται τοῖς περὶ 2.1.245 τῆς ἐπινοίας εἰρημένοις ἡ τοῦ νομοθέτου διάνοια. ὃ γὰρ ἡμεῖς πέρας ὀνομάζομεν τῆς παρελθούσης γεωργίας καρ πὸν λέγοντες, ἀρχὴν δὲ τῆς μελλούσης σπέρμα προσαγορεύ οντες, τοῦτο τὸ πρᾶγμα τὸ τοῖς ὀνόμασιν ὑποκείμενον, εἴτε σῖτον εἴτε τι ἄλλο τῶν διὰ σπορᾶς πληθυνόντων, διδάσκει μὴ αὐτομάτως γενέσθαι, ἀλλ' ἐν θελήματι τοῦ πεποιηκότος μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ταύτης ἀναφυῆναι· ὥστε τὸν αὐτόν τε γίνεσθαι καρπὸν ἑαυτόν τε πάλιν ἄγειν σπέρμα γινόμενον 2.1.246 καὶ τῷ περιττεύοντι τρέφειν τὸν ἄνθρωπον. φύεται δὲ κατὰ θεῖον βούλημα πρᾶγμα, οὐκ