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I think for everyone who has a mind, the argument about these things has no connection with the subject at hand. But since it is likely that some people assent to the argument without examination, 2.1.424 we shall discuss these things briefly. Divine Scripture often knows to apply such expressions to God, so that they seem not at all discordant with our own, such as *The Lord was angry with wrath* and *He repented of their evil* and *He regretted anointing Saul as king* and *The Lord awoke as one who sleeps*, and in addition to these, it speaks of sitting and standing and moving and many such things, which by nature do not belong to God, but are not without use for the economy of those 2.1.425 being instructed. For the indication of wrath restrains the more dissolute by fear, and for those in need of the medicine of repentance, it says the Lord repents along with them of their evil; and again, for those in some prosperity who are carried away toward insolence, it shows beforehand through the regret over Saul that prosperity does not remain with them, even if such a thing seems to be from God; and for those who do not sink deep into the fall of sin, but rather rise up as from some sleep of the futile life, it says God rises with them and awakens with them; and that he stands with those who stand unswervingly in the good, and sits with those established in the good, and again moves and walks among those who have moved 2.1.426 from their firmness in the good; as the story of Adam goes through, depicting God walking in paradise in the evening, signifying by the evening the first-formed man's inclination toward the dark things, and by the movement the man's instability and lack of firmness concerning the good. 2.1.427 But perhaps to many these things will seem far removed from the contemplation we have proposed; but one would not say that the following is discordant with the subject at hand: that many people think what is incomprehensible to themselves is also incomprehensible to God, and whatever escapes their own understanding, they suppose this is beyond 2.1.428 even the divine power. Since, therefore, we have made number the measure of quantity, and number is nothing other than a composition of units, with the unit being increased in various ways into a multitude (for ten is a unit, being completed to this point by a composition of units, and a hundred is again a unit, composed of tens, and likewise a thousand is another unit, and a myriad similarly, analogously from multiplication, the one summed up from thousands, the other from hundreds, all of which we assign to the subjects and make them signs of the quantity of the things being numbered 2.1.429); so that we might be taught by divine Scripture that nothing is unknown to God, it says that the multitude of the stars has been numbered by him, with the numbering not happening in this way (for who is so simple-minded as to suppose that God distinguishes existing things by odd and even and concludes the number through the composition of units to the total of the assembled quantity?); but since in our case precise knowledge of quantity comes from number, so that we might also be taught concerning God that all things are encompassed by the knowledge of his wisdom and nothing escapes his precise understanding, for this reason it decreed that God numbers the stars, advising us to understand this through what it says: not to suppose that the divine apprehends existing things according to the measure of our knowledge, but that all things incomprehensible and inconceivable to us are contained 2.1.430 within the knowledge of the divine wisdom. For since the stars, because of their multitude, escape number as far as human conception is concerned, the word, teaching the whole from the part, by saying that these have been numbered by God, testifies that nothing of the things unknown to us escapes the knowledge of God. For this reason it says, *He who numbers the multitudes of stars*, obviously not being ignorant of the quantity of the stars before numbering them. For how is it likely that he is ignorant of what he made 2.1.431? For the overseer of the universe would not be ignorant of what is contained within the power that contains all things. Why then does he number what he knows? For it is for those who are ignorant to measure quantity by number, but he who

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ἡγοῦμαι παντὶ τῷ νοῦν ἔχοντι τὸν περὶ τούτων λόγον ὡς οὐδεμίαν ἔχει κοινωνίαν πρὸς τὸ προκείμενον. ἐπειδὴ δέ τινας εἰκὸς ἀνεπισκέπτως τῷ λόγῳ προστίθεσθαι, 2.1.424 βραχέα περὶ τούτων διαληψόμεθα. οἶδε πολλάκις ἡ θεία γραφὴ τοιαύτας τῷ θεῷ περιτιθέναι φωνάς, ὡς μηδὲν ἀπᾴδειν αὐτὰς τῶν ἡμετέρων δοκεῖν οἷον τὸ Ὠργίσθη θυμῷ κύριος καὶ Μετενόησεν ἐπὶ τῇ κακίᾳ αὐτῶν καὶ Μετεμελήθη χρίσας τὸν Σαοὺλ εἰς βασιλέα καὶ Ἐξη-γέρθη ὡς ὁ ὑπνῶν κύριος, καὶ ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις καθέδραν καὶ στάσιν καὶ κίνησιν καὶ πολλὰ τοιοῦτα διέξεισιν, ἃ φύσει μὲν περὶ τὸν θεὸν οὐκ ἔστι, πρὸς δὲ τὴν οἰκονομίαν τῶν 2.1.425 παιδευομένων οὐκ ἀχρήστως ἔχει. τούς τε γὰρ ἐκλυτω τέρους ἡ τῆς ὀργῆς ἔνδειξις συστέλλει τῷ φόβῳ καὶ τοῖς δεομένοις τοῦ τῆς μετανοίας φαρμάκου συμμετανοεῖν ἐπὶ τῇ κακίᾳ λέγει τὸν κύριον, τοῖς δ' αὖ ἐν εὐπραγίαις τισὶ πρὸς ὕβριν ἐκφερομένοις τὸ μὴ παραμένειν αὐτοῖς τὴν εὐημερίαν, κἂν ἐκ θεοῦ τὸ τοιοῦτον εἶναι δοκῇ, διὰ τῆς ἐπὶ τοῦ Σαοὺλ μεταμελείας προδείκνυσι, τοῖς τε μὴ ἐμβαθύνουσι τῷ πτώ ματι τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἀλλὰ καθάπερ ἐξ ὕπνου τινὸς τοῦ μα ταίου βίου διαναστᾶσι συνανίστασθαι τὸν θεὸν καὶ συναφ υπνίζεσθαι λέγει, ἑστάναι δὲ τοῖς ἀκλινῶς ἐπὶ τοῦ καλοῦ βεβηκόσι, καὶ καθέζεσθαι τοῖς ἐν τῷ καλῷ καθιδρυμένοις, κινεῖσθαι δ' αὖ πάλιν καὶ περιπατεῖν ἐπὶ τῶν μετακινηθέν 2.1.426 των ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν τῷ καλῷ παγιότητος· ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἡ ἱστορία διέξεισι περιπατοῦντα τὸ δειλινὸν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τὸν θεὸν διαγράφουσα, τῷ μὲν δειλινῷ τὴν πρὸς τὰ σκοτεινὰ τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου ῥοπὴν διασημαίνουσα, τῇ δὲ κινήσει τὸ ἀπαγὲς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου περὶ τὸ καλὸν καὶ τὸ ἄστατον. 2.1.427 Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν τοῖς πολλοῖς πόρρωθεν ἴσως ὡς πρὸς τὴν προτεθεῖσαν ἡμῖν θεωρίαν εἶναι δόξει, ἐκεῖνο δὲ οὐκ ἄν τις ἀπᾴδειν εἴποι τοῦ προκειμένου, ὅτι πολλοὶ τὸ ἑαυτοῖς ἄληπτον οὐδὲ θεῷ ληπτὸν εἶναι νομίζουσιν, καὶ ὅπερ ἂν ἐκφύγῃ τὴν ἑαυτῶν κατανόησιν, περισσότερον εἶναι 2.1.428 τοῦτο καὶ τῆς θείας δυνάμεως οἴονται. ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν τοῦ ποσοῦ μέτρον ἡμεῖς τὸν ἀριθμὸν πεποιήμεθα, ὁ δὲ ἀριθμὸς οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ σύνθεσις μονάδων ἐστί, ποικίλως τῆς μο νάδος εἰς πλῆθος ἐπαυξομένης (μονὰς γὰρ καὶ ἡ δεκὰς κατὰ σύνθεσιν μονάδων πρὸς τοῦτο περαινομένη, μονὰς πάλιν ἡ ἑκατοντὰς ἐκ δεκάδων συντιθεμένη, ὡσαύτως καὶ ἡ χιλιὰς ἄλλη μονὰς καὶ ἡ μυριὰς ὁμοίως ἀναλόγως ἐκ πολλαπλασιασμοῦ, ἡ μὲν ἐκ χιλιάδων, ἡ δὲ ἐξ ἑκατοντάδων πρὸς τοῦτο κεφαλαιουμένη, ἅπερ ἅπαντα τοῖς ὑποκειμένοις ἐπιμερίζοντες σημεῖα τῆς ποσότητος τῶν ἀριθμουμένων 2.1.429 πραγμάτων ποιούμεθα)· ὡς ἂν οὖν παιδευθείημεν παρὰ τῆς θείας γραφῆς τὸ μηδὲν ἄγνωστον εἶναι τῷ θεῷ, ἐξη ριθμῆσθαι παρ' αὐτοῦ λέγει τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἄστρων, οὐ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον γινομένης τῆς ἀριθμήσεως (τίς γὰρ οὕτως εὐήθης ὡς τῷ περιττῷ καὶ ἀρτίῳ τὸν θεὸν οἴεσθαι διαλαμβάνειν τὰ ὄντα καὶ διὰ τῆς τῶν μονάδων συνθέσεως πρὸς τὸ κεφάλαιον τῆς ἀθροιζομένης ποσότητος τὸν ἀριθ μὸν συμπεραίνειν;)· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἐν ἡμῖν ἀκριβὴς τοῦ ποσοῦ γνῶσις ἐκ τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ γίνεται, ὡς ἂν καὶ περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ παιδευθείημεν ὅτι πάντα τῇ γνώσει τῆς σοφίας αὐτοῦ περιείληπται καὶ οὐδὲν ἐκφεύγει τὴν ἀκριβῆ κατανόησιν, τού του χάριν ἀριθμεῖν τὰ ἄστρα τὸν θεὸν διωρίσατο, τοῦτο δι' ὧν λέγει νοεῖν συμβουλεύων, μὴ κατὰ τὸ μέτρον τῆς ἡμετέρας γνώσεως καὶ τὸ θεῖον οἴεσθαι τῶν ὄντων ἐφά πτεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἡμῖν ἄληπτά τε καὶ ἀνεπινόητα πάντα 2.1.430 τῇ γνώσει τῆς θείας σοφίας ἐμπεριείργεσθαι. τῶν γὰρ ἄστρων διὰ τὸ πλῆθος ἐκφευγόντων τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὡς πρὸς ἀνθρωπίνην ἐπίνοιαν, ἀπὸ μέρους τὸ πᾶν ἐκδιδάσκων ὁ λόγος ἐκ τοῦ ταῦτα κατηριθμῆσθαι παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ λέγειν τὸ μηδὲν τῶν ἡμῖν ἀγνώστων ἐκφεύγειν τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν γνῶσιν διαμαρτύρεται. διὰ τοῦτό φησιν Ὁ ἀριθμῶν πλήθη ἄστρων, οὐκ ἀγνοῶν δηλαδὴ πρὶν ἐξαριθμῆσαι τὴν τῶν ἄστρων ποσότητα. πῶς γὰρ εἰκὸς αὐτὸν ἀγνοεῖν ὃ ἐποίη 2.1.431 σεν; ὁ γὰρ τοῦ παντὸς ἐπιστάτης οὐκ ἂν ἀγνοοίη τὸ ἐμ περιειλημμένον τῇ περιεκτικῇ τῶν ὅλων δυνάμει. τί δήποτε οὖν ἀριθμεῖ ὅπερ ἐπίσταται; τῶν γὰρ ἀγνοούντων ἐστὶ τὸ τῷ ἀριθμῷ διαμετρεῖν τὴν ποσότητα, ὁ δὲ τὰ