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and let them understand foolish things, not in the same way as that one, who, when this was revealed to him by God, confesses to him: "My eyes have seen your unformed14.24.6 substance." But when they also say that the fine-spun fabrics are woven from atoms, and say these are self-wrought by them unwisely and insensibly, who can endure hearing of atomic spinners, of whom even the spider is a wiser craftsman from itself?

14.25.1 25. FROM THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNIVERSE

Or that this great house, composed of heaven and earth, and called "cosmos" because of the greatness and abundance of the wisdom apparent in it, has been ordered by atoms moving with no order, and that order14.25.2 has come from disorder? And how can well-ordered movements and paths proceed from a disorderly motion? And how can the all-harmonious chorus of the heavenly bodies sing in concert from unmusical and inharmonious instruments? 14.25.3 And in what way, since there is one and the same substance for all things and the same indestructible nature, except for their sizes, as they say, and their shapes, are some bodies divine and pure and eternal, as they themselves would say, or at least long-lived according to him who so named them, both visible and invisible; the visible being the sun and moon and stars, earth and water, and the invisible being gods and demons and souls; 14.25.4 for not even if they wished could they deny that these exist. And others are very long-lived animals and plants: animals among the birds, as they say, are eagles and crows and phoenixes; and among land animals, stags and elephants and serpents; and among aquatic animals, sea-monsters. And trees are palms and oaks and persea trees. And of the trees, some are evergreen, which someone enumerated and said to be fourteen, while others flower for a season and shed their leaves. But most things that grow and are born are short-lived and brief of purpose, of which man is one, as a certain holy scripture said concerning him: "But a mortal born of a woman is of few days"? 14.25.5 But they will say that the varying bonds of the atoms are the cause of the difference in their permanence. For they say that some things have been condensed and tightened by them, so that they have become completely inseparable masses, while others have a looser and more relaxed connection of atoms, to a lesser or greater degree, so as to be separated from their adhesion either more quickly or after a long time, and that some things are mixed from atoms of such a kind and so shaped, and others from different ones differently disposed. 14.25.6 Who then is it that sorts them by kind, gathering and distributing, and arranging some in this way for the sun, and others in that way so that the moon might come to be, and bringing each together according to its affinity for the light of each star? For neither have the solar atoms, being of such a number and kind and united in such a way, descended to the work of the moon, nor have the weavings of the lunar atoms ever become the sun. Nor indeed would Arcturus, bright though it is, ever presume to have the atoms of the Morning Star, nor the Pleiades those of Orion. For Paul rightly distinguished, saying: "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another 14.25.7 glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory." And if their combination came about imperceptibly, as of inanimate things, they needed a skilled craftsman. But if their concourse was without choice and by necessity, as of irrational things, some wise herdsman driving them together must have presided over them. But if they were drawn together to work voluntarily, some wonderful master-builder assigning them their work must have led them, or like a good general who did not leave the army in confusion and all mixed up, but assigned the cavalry its own place, and the hoplites separately, and the javelin-throwers by themselves, and the archers apart

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καὶ τὰς ἀνοήτους νοείτωσαν, οὐχ ὁμοίως ἐκείνῳ, ὃς φανερωθὲν ἑαυτῷ τοῦτο ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁμολογεῖ· «Τὸ ἀκατ14.24.6 έργαστόν σου εἴδοσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου.» ὅταν δὲ καὶ ἅ φασιν ἐξ ἀτόμων ὑφάσματα γίνεσθαι τὰ εὐήτρια, ταῦθ' ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἀσόφως καὶ ἀναισθήτως αὐτουργεῖσθαι λέγωσι, τίς ἀνέξεται τὰς ἀτόμους ἀκούων ἐρίθους, ὧν καὶ ὁ ἀράχνης ἐστὶ σοφώτερος χειροτεχνῶν ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ;

14.25.1 κεʹ. ΑΠΟ ΤΗΣ ΤΟΥ ΠΑΝΤΟΣ ΣΥΣΤΑΣΕΩΣ

Ἢ τὸν μέγαν τοῦτον οἶκον τὸν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς συνεστῶτα καὶ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος καὶ πλῆθος τῆς ἐπιφαινομένης αὐτῷ σοφίας καλούμενον κόσμον ὑπὸ τῶν σὺν οὐδενὶ κόσμῳ φερομένων ἀτόμων κεκοσμῆσθαι καὶ γεγονέναι 14.25.2 κόσμον ἀκοσμίαν; πῶς δὲ κινήσεις καὶ ὁδοὺς εὐτάκτους ἐξ ἀτάκτου προάγεσθαι φορᾶς; πῶς δὲ τὴν παναρμόνιον τῶν οὐρανίων χορείαν ἐξ ἀμούσων καὶ ἀναρμόστων συνᾴδειν ὀργάνων; 14.25.3 Τίνα δὲ τρόπον, μιᾶς οὔσης καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ἁπασῶν οὐσίας καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ἀφθάρτου φύσεως πλὴν τῶν μεγεθῶν, ὥς φασι, καὶ τῶν σχημάτων, τὰ μέν ἐστι θεῖα καὶ ἀκήρατα καὶ αἰώνια, ὡς αὐτοὶ φήσαιεν ἄν, σώματα ἢ μακραίωνά γε κατὰ τὸν οὕτως ὀνομάσαντα φαινόμενά τε καὶ ἀφανῆ φαινόμενα μὲν ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη καὶ ἀστέρες γῆ τε καὶ ὕδωρ, ἀφανῆ δὲ θεοί τε καὶ δαίμονες καὶ ψυχαί· 14.25.4 ταῦτα γὰρ οὐδὲ θέλοντες ὑπάρχειν ἀρνήσασθαι δύνανται· τὰ δὲ μακροβιώτατα ζῷά τε καὶ φυτά ζῷα μὲν ἔν τε ὄρνισιν, ὥς φασιν, ἀετοὶ κόρακές τε καὶ φοίνικες ἔν τε χερσαίοις ἔλαφοί τε καὶ ἐλέφαντες καὶ δράκοντες, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἐνύδροις τὰ κήτη· δένδρα δὲ φοίνικες καὶ δρύες καὶ περσέαι· καὶ τῶν γε δένδρων τὰ μέν ἐστιν ἀειθαλῆ, ἃ καὶ καταριθμήσας τις εἶπεν εἶναι τεσσαρακαίδεκα, τὰ δὲ πρὸς καιρὸν ἀνθεῖ καὶ φυλλορροεῖ· τὰ δὲ πλεῖστα τῶν τε φυομένων καὶ τῶν γεννωμένων ἐστὶν ὠκύμορα καὶ βραχυτελῆ ὧν ἐστι καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ὡς εἶπέ τις ἁγία περὶ αὐτοῦ γραφή· «Βροτὸς δὲ γεννητὸς γυναικὸς ὀλιγόβιος»; 14.25.5 ἀλλὰ τοὺς συνδέσμους φήσουσι τῶν ἀτόμων διαλλάττοντας αἰτίους γίνεσθαι τῆς περὶ τὴν διαμονὴν διαφορᾶς· τὰ μὲν γὰρ ὑπ' αὐτῶν πεπυκνῶσθαι καὶ κατεσφίγχθαι λέγειν, ὥστ' αὐτὰ παντελῶς δυσαπάλλακτα γεγονέναι πιλήματα, τὰ δὲ μανοτέραν καὶ χαλῶσαν τὴν συνάφειαν τῶν ἀτόμων ἐπ' ἔλαττον ἢ πλέον ἐσχηκέναι, ὡς ἢ θᾶττον ἢ μετὰ πολὺ τῆς κολλήσεως αὐτῶν ἀφίστασθαι, καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐκ τοιῶνδε καὶ ὧδέ πως ἐσχηματισμένων, τὰ δὲ ἐξ ἑτέρων ἑτεροίως διακειμένων συμμεμίχθαι. 14.25.6 Τίς οὖν ὁ φυλοκρινῶν συναγείρων τε καὶ ἀναχέων καὶ τάσδε μὲν οὕτω συντάττων εἰς ἥλιον, τάσδε δὲ ὡδὶ ἵνα ἡ σελήνη γένηται, καὶ ἑκάστας συμφέρων κατὰ τὴν οἰκειότητα πρὸς ἑκάστου φαῦσιν ἀστέρος; οὔτε γὰρ αἱ ἡλιακαὶ τοσαίδε καὶ τοιαίδε καὶ ὧδέ πως ἑνωθεῖσαι πρὸς ἐργασίαν καὶ σελήνης καταβεβήκεσαν οὔτε αἱ τῶν σεληνιακῶν ἀτόμων πλεκτάναι γεγόνασί ποτε ἥλιος· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἀρκτοῦρος, εἰ καὶ λαμπρός ἐστι, τὰς ἑωσφόρου μεγαλοφρονήσαιτό ποτε ἂν ἀτόμους ἔχειν, οὐδὲ τὰς Ὠρίωνος αἱ Πλειάδες. καλῶς γὰρ ὁ Παῦλος διέστειλεν εἰπών· «Ἄλλη δόξα ἡλίου καὶ ἄλλη δόξα σελήνης καὶ ἄλλη 14.25.7 δόξα ἀστέρων· ἀστὴρ γὰρ ἀστέρος διαφέρει ἐν δόξῃ.» καὶ εἰ μὲν ἀνεπαίσθητος αὐτῶν ὡς ἀψύχων ἡ σύμπηξις ἐγένετο, ἐπιστήμονος αὐταῖς ἔδει δημιουργοῦ· εἰ δὲ ἀπροαίρετος καὶ κατ' ἀνάγκην ὡς ἀλόγων ἡ σύνερξις, σοφός τις αὐτὰς ἀγελάρχης συνελαύνων ἐπεστάτησεν· εἰ δὲ ἑκουσίως ἐθελουργῆσαι συγκέκλῃνται, θαυμάσιός τις αὐτῶν ἀρχιτέκτων ἐργοδοτῶν προηγήσατο, ἢ καθάπερ εὔτακτος στρατηγὸς οὐ συγκεχυμένην εἴασε τὴν στρατιὰν καὶ πάντας ἀναμίξ, ἀλλ' ἐν μέρει μὲν τὴν ἵππον, ἰδίᾳ δὲ τοὺς ὁπλίτας τούς τε ἀκοντιστὰς καθ' ἑαυτοὺς καὶ χωρὶς τοὺς τοξότας