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name; so that the thing which exists according to its substance is the work of the power of the one who made it, but the sounds which identify beings, through which reason marks each individual thing for precise and unconfused instruction, these are the works and discoveries of the rational power, and this rational power and nature itself is the work of God. And since the rational is in all humans, necessarily according to the differences of the nations, the differences 2.1.247 of names are also observed. If indeed someone should say that "light" or "heaven" or "earth" or "seeds" were spoken by God in a human way, he will certainly establish the argument that it happened according to some one particularity of language. What then is this? Let him show. For it is by no means unreasonable that the one who knows that, 2.1.248 is not ignorant of this either. For both in the Jordan after the descent of the Spirit, and again in the hearing of the Jews, and at the Transfiguration, a voice comes from above, teaching men and some form, not to suppose it is only what appears, but also to believe that the beloved 2.1.249 son of God is true. Such a voice was formed by God in the body of the air for the comprehension of those who heard, having come into being according to the prevailing custom of speech at that time, thus God, who wishes all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth, for the purpose of the salvation of those who heard, articulated the word in the air, just as the Lord also says to the Jews, who thought it was thunder because the sound formed in the air, "This voice has not come for my sake, 2.1.250 but for yours." But before the constitution of the universe, when there was no one to receive the word, nor any corporeal element able to form the articulate voice, how will the one who says God used words give plausibility to his argument? He is incorporeal, creation did not exist, reason does not allow us to conceive of anything material around him, those who would have been benefited through hearing had not yet been constituted. And when humans did not exist, no manner of dialect had been formed at all according to any particularity of a nation. Therefore, with what reasonings does the one who looks at the bare letter present himself to such a thought, as that God uttered these verbs and nouns? 2.1.251 And yet, through these things one might know the futility of those who say such things. For just as the natures of the elements, being the work of the one who made them, appear the same to all, and there is no difference for humans according to perception in the partaking of fire or air or water, but the nature is one and unchanging for all, acting in the same way and not being altered at all by the differences of those who partake, so also the positing of names, if it were fitted to the things by God, would have been the same for all. 2.1.252 But now, while the nature of things, having been fixed by God, remains unchanged, the sounds which signify them have been split into so many differences of languages, that it is not even easy to count the multitude. But if someone should bring up the confusion at the tower-building as opposing what has been said, not even there is God said to make the languages of men, but to confuse the one that exists, so that not 2.1.253 all might hear all. For as long as life was the same for all and they had not yet been divided into many differences of nations, the whole of all mankind lived together with one language; but when according to the divine will it was necessary that the whole earth be inhabited by humans, then being separated according to the community of language, some were scattered one way and some another, and they adapted to another and another character of words and speech, having obtained a common speech as a certain bond of concord with each other, not disagreeing in the knowledge of things, but differing in the type of names. 2.1.254 For a stone or a piece of wood does not seem to be something different among different peoples, but the names of the matter are different among each, so that the argument remains firmly for us, which defines human speech to be the discoveries of our own thought. For neither from the beginning, as long as all humanity was of one speech to itself, the human

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ὄνομα· ὥστε τὸ μὲν καθ' ὑπό στασιν ὂν πρᾶγμα τῆς τοῦ πεποιηκότος δυνάμεως ἔργον εἶναι, τὰς δὲ γνωριστικὰς τῶν ὄντων φωνάς, δι' ὧν τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον πρὸς ἀκριβῆ τε καὶ ἀσύγχυτον διδασκαλίαν ἐπι σημειοῦται ὁ λόγος, ταῦτα τῆς λογικῆς δυνάμεως ἔργα τε καὶ εὑρήματα, αὐτὴν δὲ ταύτην τὴν λογικὴν δύναμίν τε καὶ φύσιν ἔργον θεοῦ. καὶ ἐπειδὴ τὸ λογικὸν ἐν πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, ἀναγκαίως κατὰ τὰς τῶν ἐθνῶν διαφορὰς καὶ 2.1.247 αἱ τῶν ὀνομάτων διαφοραὶ θεωροῦνται. εἰ δή τις ἀνθρω πικῶς τὸ φῶς ἢ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἢ τὴν γῆν ἢ τὰ σπέρματα παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ προσειρῆσθαι λέγοι, πάντως ὅτι κατὰ μίαν τινὰ γλώσσης ἰδιότητα γεγενῆσθαι κατασκευάσει τὸν λόγον. τίς οὖν αὕτη, δειξάτω. τὸν γὰρ ἐκεῖνο γινώσκοντα καὶ 2.1.248 τοῦτο μὴ ἀγνοεῖν πάντως οὐκ ἔξω τοῦ εἰκότος ἐστί. καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ πνεύματος κάθοδον καὶ πάλιν ἐν ἀκοαῖς τῶν Ἰουδαίων καὶ ἐν τῇ μεταμορφώσει φωνὴ γίνεται ἄνωθεν διδάσκουσα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ σχῆμά τι, μὴ τὸ φαινόμενον οἴεσθαι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ἀγαπη 2.1.249 τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ πιστεύειν εἶναι ἀληθῆ. ἡ τοιαύτη φωνὴ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀκουόντων σύνεσιν ἐν τῷ ἀερίῳ σώματι παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ διετυπώθη κατὰ τὴν ἐπικρατοῦσαν τότε τῶν φθεγγομένων συνήθειαν γενομένη, οὕτω τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ πάντας θέλοντος σωθῆναι καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν πρὸς τὸν σκοπὸν τῆς σωτηρίας τῶν ἀκουόντων ἐν τῷ ἀέρι τὸν λόγον ἀρθρώσαντος, καθώς φησι καὶ πρὸς τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ὁ κύριος τοὺς οἰομένους βροντὴν γεγονέναι, διὰ τὸ ἐν ἀέρι συστῆναι τὸν ἦχον, ὅτι Οὐ δι' ἐμὲ ἡ φωνὴ αὕτη γέγονεν, 2.1.250 ἀλλὰ δι' ὑμᾶς. πρὸ δὲ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς συστάσεως οὐδενὸς ὄντος τοῦ ὑποδεχομένου τὸν λόγον ἢ σωματώδους στοιχείου τινὸς τοῦ τυπῶσαι τὴν ἔναρθρον δυναμένου φωνήν, ὁ λέγων ῥήμασι τὸν θεὸν κεχρῆσθαι πῶς ἀποδώσει τὸ εἰκὸς τῷ λόγῳ; αὐτὸς ἀσώματος, ἡ κτίσις οὐκ ἦν, οὐδὲν περὶ αὐτὸν ὑλῶδες ὁ λόγος ἐννοεῖν δίδωσιν, οἱ ὠφεληθέντες ἂν διὰ τῆς ἀκοῆς οὔπω συνέστησαν. ἀνθρώπων δὲ μὴ ὄντων οὐδὲ διαλέκτου τρόπος κατά τινα ἔθνους ἰδιότητα τετύπωτο πάν τως. ὁ τοίνυν πρὸς τὸ γράμμα ψιλὸν βλέπων τίσι λογι σμοῖς τῇ τοιαύτῃ διανοίᾳ παρίσταται ὡς τοῦ θεοῦ ταῦτα φθεγγομένου τὰ ῥήματά τε καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα; 2.1.251 Καίτοι καὶ διὰ τούτων γνοίη τις ἂν τὸ μάταιον τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα λεγόντων. ὥσπερ γὰρ αἱ τῶν στοιχείων φύσεις ἔργον οὖσαι τοῦ πεποιηκότος πᾶσιν ὡσαύτως φαίνονται καὶ οὐδεμία κατὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐστὶ διαφορὰ ἐν τῇ τοῦ πυρὸς ἢ τοῦ ἀέρος ἢ τοῦ ὕδατος μετουσίᾳ, ἀλλὰ μία ἐστὶ καὶ ἀκίνητος ἐπὶ πάντων ἡ φύσις, ὡσαύτως ἐνερ γοῦσα καὶ οὐδὲν πρὸς τὰς διαφορὰς τῶν μετεχόντων ἀλ λοιουμένη, οὕτως καὶ ἡ τῶν ὀνομάτων θέσις, εἴπερ ἦν ἐκ θεοῦ τοῖς πράγμασιν ἐφηρμοσμένη, πᾶσιν ἂν ἦν ἡ αὐτή. 2.1.252 νυνὶ δὲ τῶν μὲν πραγμάτων ἡ φύσις ἅτε δὴ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ πεπηγυῖα μένει ἀκίνητος, αἱ δὲ σημαντικαὶ τούτων φωναὶ πρὸς τοσαύτας γλωσσῶν διαφορὰς διεσχίσθησαν, ὡς μηδὲ ἀριθμήσασθαι τὸ πλῆθος εὔκολον εἶναι. εἰ δέ τις τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς πυργοποιΐας σύγχυσιν ὡς ἐναντιουμένην τοῖς εἰρημένοις προφέρει, οὐδὲ ἐκεῖ ποιεῖν λέγεται γλώσσας ὁ θεὸς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ συγχεῖν τὴν οὖσαν, ὡς ἂν μὴ 2.1.253 πάντες πάντων ἀκούοιεν. ἕως γὰρ ἦν πᾶσι κατὰ ταὐτὸν ἡ ζωὴ καὶ οὔπω πρὸς πολλὰς ἐθνῶν διαφορὰς ἐμερίσθησαν, μιᾷ συνέζων φωνῇ πάντων ἀνθρώπων τὸ πλήρωμα· ἐπεὶ δὲ κατὰ θείαν βούλησιν ἔδει πᾶσαν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατοι κισθῆναι τὴν γῆν, τότε διασπασθέντες κατὰ <τὴν> τῆς φωνῆς κοινωνίαν ἄλλος ἀλλαχῇ διεσπάρησαν καὶ πρὸς ἄλλον καὶ ἄλλον χαρακτῆρα ῥημάτων καὶ φωνῆς μεθηρμόσθησαν συνδετικήν τινα τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὁμονοίας τὴν ὁμο φωνίαν λαχόντες, πρὸς μὲν τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων οὐ διαφω νοῦντες γνῶσιν, πρὸς δὲ τὸν τῶν ὀνομάτων τύπον διαφερό 2.1.254 μενοι. οὐ γὰρ ἄλλο τι παρ' ἄλλοις ὁ λίθος ἢ τὸ ξύλον δοκεῖ, διάφορα δὲ παρ' ἑκάστοις τὰ τῆς ὕλης ὀνόματα, ὥστε μένει παγίως ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος ὁ τὰς ἀνθρωπίνας φωνὰς τῆς ἡμετέρας διανοίας εὑρήματα εἶναι διοριζόμενος. οὔτε γὰρ ἐξ ἀρχῆς, ἕως ὁμόφωνον ἅπαν ἦν ἑαυτῷ τὸ ἀνθρώ