220

of the example of Moses that we have mentioned. 2.1.285 For who gave Moses himself his name? Was it not Pharaoh's daughter, naming him from what happened? For Moses means water in the Egyptian language. Since, then, according to the tyrant's command, his parents placed the infant in an ark and gave it to the currents (for so some of the historians have related the events concerning him), and it, by the divine will, being washed up from the eddy of the waters, was brought to the bank and became the discovery of the princess, who at that time was bathing to cleanse her body, since the child was obtained by her from the water, it is said that she gave the child the name as a memorial of the event, which God himself did not refuse to use for his servant, nor did he judge it unworthy to allow the barbarian's naming to be 2.1.286 valid for the prophet. Thus, before this, Jacob, having taken hold of his kinsman's heel, was called "supplanter" from the position in which he was born with him; for those who have understood such things teach that the interpretation of Jacob, when translated into the Greek 2.1.287 language, has this meaning. And Perez, again, the midwife named from what happened concerning the birth, and no one, like Eunomius, was jealous of her as having 20more authority20 than the power of God. But also the mothers give the patriarchs their names, Reuben and Simeon and Levi and all the rest in order, in the same way, and no one in those times, like the present writer, appeared as a 20guardian20 of divine providence, so as to prevent the women, through the giving of names, from becoming 20more authoritative20 than God. 2.1.288 And why should one recount the individual cases from the history, the water of contradiction and the place of mourning and the hill of foreskins and the valley of the cluster and the field of blood and all such names, given by men, but remembered often even from the person of God, through which it is possible to learn that neither is the signification of things that happens through words above human worth, nor does the power of the divine nature have its testimony through these. 2.1.289 But the other nonsense, which he has uttered against the truth, since it has no force against the doctrines, I will pass over, judging it to be superfluous to dwell on vanities. For who is so neglectful of more serious concerns, as to waste his effort on foolish arguments and to contend with those who say that "we declare 20the care of men to be more authoritative and sovereign20 than the guardianship of God, and we transfer the neglect that troubles the more careless to20 20his20 2.1.290 20providence20?" These are the verbatim words of the one who slanders us. But I consider it the same to be concerned about such things and to be absorbed in old wives' dreams. For to suppose that the dignity of authority and lordship for the divine nature is preserved in the form of certain sounds and to show in this the great 20guardianship of God20 and again that God is neglectful and disregards the providence that befits him, and to slander us, because men, having received from God their rational faculty, then use words according to their own authority for the indication of things, what else is such a thing than an old wives' tale or the dream of drunken men? 2.1.291 For the true power and authority and rule and lordship of God, according to our account, does not have its being in syllables, or else anyone at all who became an inventor of words would come to be of equal honor with God, but infinite ages and the beauties of the world and the rays of the luminaries and the wonders on land and sea and the armies of angels and super-mundane powers and whatever else we hear from scripture to exist in the upper realm through riddles, these are the things that bear witness to God of a power above all. 2.1.292 But one who bears witness to the sound of a voice for those who are by nature able to speak will commit no impiety against the one who gave the voice. For we do not think this to be a great thing, to discover significant sounds for things. For to whom the scripture according to the historical cosmogony

220

τὸν Μωϋσέα μνημονευθέντος ἡμῖν 2.1.285 ὑποδείγματος. αὐτῷ γὰρ τῷ Μωϋσῇ τίς ἔθετο τὴν προσ ηγορίαν; οὐχ ἡ θυγάτηρ τοῦ Φαραὼ ἐκ τοῦ συμβάντος ἐπονομάσασα; Μωϋσῆς γὰρ τὸ ὕδωρ λέγεται τῇ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων φωνῇ. ἐπεὶ οὖν κατὰ τὸ πρόσταγμα τοῦ τυράννου κιβωτῷ τὸ βρέφος ἐνθέντες οἱ γεννησάμενοι τοῖς ῥείθροις ἔδωκαν (οὕτω γάρ τινες τῶν ἱστορικῶν τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν διη γήσαντο), ἡ δὲ κατὰ θεῖον βούλημα ὑπὸ τῆς δίνης τῶν ὑδάτων ἐκκυμανθεῖσα προσηνέχθη τῇ ὄχθῃ καὶ εὕρημα τῆς βασιλίδος κατ' ἐκεῖνο τῷ λουτρῷ τὸ σῶμα φαιδρυνομένης ἐγένετο, ὡς ἐξ ὕδατος αὐτῇ τοῦ παιδὸς κτηθέντος μνημό συνον τῆς συντυχίας λέγεται τῷ παιδὶ θέσθαι τὸ ὄνομα, ᾧ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς ἐπὶ τοῦ θεράποντος κεχρῆσθαι οὐ παρῃ τήσατο, οὐδὲ ἀνάξιον ἔκρινε τὴν τῆς βαρβάρου κλῆσιν ἐπὶ 2.1.286 τοῦ προφήτου κυρίαν ἐᾶσαι. οὕτω πρὸ τούτου ὁ Ἰακὼβ τῆς τοῦ συγγόνου πτέρνης ἐπειλημμένος πτερνιστὴς ἐκ τοῦ σχήματος ᾧ συναπεκυήθη προσηγορεύθη· εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ φέρειν τοῦ Ἰακὼβ τὴν ἑρμηνείαν εἰς Ἑλλάδα φωνὴν μετα-2.1.287 ληφθεῖσαν οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα νενοηκότες διδάσκουσι. καὶ τὸν Φαρὲς ἡ μαῖα πάλιν ἐκ τοῦ περὶ τὸν τόκον συμβάντος ὠνόμασε, καὶ οὐδεὶς κατὰ Εὐνόμιον ὡς 20ἀρχηγικωτέραν20 αὐτὴν τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐξουσίας ἐζηλοτύπησεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς πατριάρχαις αἱ μητέρες τὰ ὀνόματα τίθενται, Ῥουβὶμ καὶ Συμεὼν καὶ Λευῒ καὶ τοῖς καθεξῆς πᾶσιν ὁμοίως, καὶ οὐδεὶς κατὰ τὸν νῦν λογογράφον ἐν τοῖς τότε χρόνοις τῆς θείας προνοίας 20κηδεμὼν20 ἀνεφάνη, ὥστε κωλῦσαι διὰ τῆς τῶν ὀνομάτων θέσεως 20ἀρχηγικώτερα20 τοῦ θεοῦ 2.1.288 γενέσθαι τὰ γύναια. τί δ' ἄν τις τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον ἐκ τῆς ἱστορίας λέγοι, ὕδωρ ἀντιλογίας καὶ τόπον πένθους καὶ βουνὸν ἀκροβυστιῶν καὶ φάραγγα βότρυος καὶ ἀγρὸν αἵματος καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα πάντα τῶν ὀνομάτων τεθέντα μὲν παρὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, μνημονευόμενα δὲ πολλάκις καὶ ἐκ προσώπου θεοῦ, δι' ὧν ἔστι μαθεῖν ὡς οὔτε ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ἀξίαν ἐστὶν ἡ διὰ ῥημάτων γινομένη κατὰ τῶν πραγμάτων σημείωσις οὔτε ἡ τῆς θείας φύσεως δύναμις διὰ τούτων τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἔχει. 2.1.289 Ἀλλὰ τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους φληνάφους, οὓς κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐλήρησεν, ὡς οὐδεμίαν ἔχοντας κατὰ τῶν δογμά των ἰσχὺν ὑπερβήσομαι, περιττὸν εἶναι κρίνων ἐμφιλοχωρεῖν τοῖς ματαίοις. τίς γὰρ οὕτως ἄφροντις τῶν σπουδαιοτέρων φροντίδων, ὥστε τοῖς ἀνοήτοις τῶν λόγων προσαναλίσκειν τὴν σπουδὴν καὶ διαμάχεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς λέγοντας ὅτι 20ἀρχηγικωτέραν μὲν καὶ κυριωτέραν20 ἀποφαίνομεν 20τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φροντίδα τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ κη δεμονίας, τὴν δὲ τοῖς ἀμελεστέροις ἐνοχλοῦ σαν ὀλιγωρίαν εἰς20 τὴν 20ἐκείνου20 μεταφέρομεν 20πρό 2.1.290 νοιαν20; ταῦτα ἐπὶ λέξεως ἡ τοῦ διαβάλλοντος ἡμᾶς ἔχει φωνή. ἐγὼ δὲ ἴσον ἡγοῦμαι περί τε τὰ τοιαῦτα σπου δάζειν καὶ γρᾳδίων ὀνείροις ἀποσχολάζειν. τὸ γὰρ ἐν τύπῳ φθόγγων τινῶν οἴεσθαι τῇ θείᾳ φύσει τὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ κυριότητος ἀξίωμα διαφολάσσειν καὶ τὴν μεγάλην 20τοῦ θεοῦ κηδεμονίαν20 ἐν τούτῳ δεικνύειν ἀμελεῖν τε πάλιν τὸν θεὸν καὶ ὀλιγωρεῖν τῆς προσηκούσης αὐτῷ προνοίας ἡμᾶς τε διαβάλλειν, ὅτι τὴν λογικὴν δύναμιν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ λαβόντες οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἔπειτα κατ' ἐξουσίαν τοῖς λό γοις πρὸς τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων δήλωσιν κέχρηνται, τί ἄλλο ἢ οὐχὶ γραώδης μῦθος ἢ κραιπαλώντων ὄνειρος τὸ τοιοῦτόν 2.1.291 ἐστιν; ἡ γὰρ ἀληθὴς τοῦ θεοῦ δύναμίς τε καὶ ἐξουσία καὶ ἀρχὴ καὶ κυριότης κατά γε τὸν ἡμέτερον λόγον οὐκ ἐν συλλαβαῖς τὸ εἶναι ἔχει, ἢ οὕτως ἂν εἰς ὁμότιμον ἔλθοι τῷ θεῷ πᾶς ὁστισοῦν εὑρετὴς ῥημάτων γενόμενος, ἀλλ' αἰῶνες ἄπειροι καὶ κόσμου κάλλη καὶ φωστήρων αὐγαὶ καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς καὶ θαλάττης θαύματα ἀγγέλων τε στρα τιαὶ καὶ ὑπερκόσμιοι δυνάμεις καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο κατὰ τὴν ἄνω λῆξιν παρὰ τῆς γραφῆς εἶναι δι' αἰνιγμάτων ἀκούομεν, ταῦτά ἐστι τὰ μαρτυροῦντα τῷ θεῷ ὑπὲρ πάντα δύναμιν. 2.1.292 φωνῆς δὲ ἦχον τοῖς πεφυκόσι φθέγγεσθαι μαρτυρῶν τις οὐδὲν εἰς τὸν δεδωκότα τὴν φωνὴν ἀσεβήσει. οὐδὲ γὰρ μέγα τι τοῦτο οἰόμεθα τὸ σημαντικὰς τῶν πραγμάτων ἐξευρίσκειν φωνάς. ᾧ γὰρ ἡ γραφὴ κατὰ τὴν ἱστορικὴν κοσμογένειαν