4. One day, doubtless, their terrible condemnation will be the greater for all this worldly wisdom, since, seeing so clearly into vain sciences, they have wilfully shut their eyes to the knowledge of the truth. These men who measure the distances of the stars and describe them, both those of the North, always shining brilliantly in our view, and those of the southern pole visible to the inhabitants of the South, but unknown to us; who divide the Northern zone and the circle of the Zodiac into an infinity of parts, who observe with exactitude the course of the stars, their fixed places, their declensions, their return and the time that each takes to make its revolution; these men, I say, have discovered all except one thing: the fact that God is the Creator of the universe, and the just Judge who rewards all the actions of life according to their merit. They have not known how to raise themselves to the idea of the consummation of all things, the consequence of the doctrine of judgment, and to see that the world must change if souls pass from this life to a new life. In reality, as the nature of the present life presents an affinity to this world, so in the future life our souls will enjoy a lot conformable to their new condition. But they are so far from applying these truths, that they do but laugh when we announce to them the end of all things and the regeneration of the age. Since the beginning naturally precedes that which is derived from it, the writer, of necessity, when speaking to us of things which had their origin in time, puts at the head of his narrative these words—“In the beginning God created.”

Ἦπου αὐτοῖς ἡ περιουσία τῆς τοῦ κόσμου σοφίας προσθήκην οἴσει ποτὲ τῆς χαλεπῆς κατακρίσεως, ὅτι οὕτως ὀξὺ περὶ τὰ μάταια βλέποντες, ἑκόντες πρὸς τὴν σύνεσιν τῆς ἀληθείας ἀπετυφλώθησαν. Ἀλλ' οἱ τῶν ἄστρων τὰ διαστήματα καταμετροῦντες, καὶ τοὺς ἀειφανεῖς αὐτῶν καὶ ἀρκτῴους ἀπογραφόμενοι, καὶ ὅσοι περὶ τὸν νότιον πόλον κείμενοι τοῖς μέν εἰσι φανεροὶ, ἡμῖν δὲ ἄγνωστοι: καὶ βόρειον πλάτος, καὶ ζῳδιακὸν κύκλον μυρίοις διαστήμασι διαιροῦντες: καὶ ἐπαναφορὰς ἄστρων, καὶ στηριγμοὺς, καὶ ἀποκλίσεις, καὶ πάντων τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ προηγούμενα κίνησιν δι' ἀκριβείας τηρήσαντες: καὶ διὰ πόσου χρόνου τῶν πλανωμένων ἕκαστος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ περίοδον ἐκπληροῖ: μίαν τῶν πασῶν μηχανὴν οὐκ ἐξεῦρον πρὸς τὸ τὸν Θεὸν ἐννοῆσαι ποιητὴν τοῦ παντὸς, καὶ κριτὴν δίκαιον, τὴν ἀξίαν ἀντίδοσιν τοῖς βεβιωμένοις ἐπάγοντα: οὐδὲ τῷ περὶ τῆς κρίσεως λόγῳ τὴν ἀκόλουθον τῆς συντελείας ἔννοιαν ἐπιγνῶναι, ὅτι ἀνάγκη μεταποιηθῆναι τὸν κόσμον, εἰ μέλλοι καὶ ἡ τῶν ψυχῶν κατάστασις πρὸς ἕτερον εἶδος ζωῆς μεταβάλλειν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ παροῦσα ζωὴ συγγενῆ ἔσχε τοῦ κόσμου τούτου τὴν φύσιν: οὕτω καὶ ἡ μέλλουσα τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν διαγωγὴ οἰκείαν τῇ καταστάσει ὑποδέξεται τὴν λῆξιν. Οἱ δὲ τοσοῦτον ἀπέχουσιν ὡς ἀληθέσι τούτοις προσέχειν, ὥστε καὶ πλατὺν γέλωτα καταχέουσιν ἡμῶν περὶ συντελείας τοῦ κόσμου τούτου καὶ παλιγγενεσίας αἰῶνος ἀπαγγελλόντων. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἡ ἀρχὴ κατὰ φύσιν προτέτακται τῶν ἀπ' αὐτῆς, ἀναγκαίως περὶ τῶν ἀπὸ χρόνου τὸ εἶναι ἐχόντων διαλεγόμενος, ταύτην ἁπάντων προέταξε τὴν φωνὴν, εἰπὼν, Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν.