Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit

And I marvel also at that sacred word which runs on with zeal, in one continued course, without taking breath, "In order to stand in the midst between the dead and the living; and immediately," says Moses, "the plague was stayed." [*](Numbers xvi. 48. ) But the evils which grind down and break to pieces and crush our souls were not likely either to be stayed or lightened, unless the reasoning, dear to God, had separated off the holy men who live in sincerity, from the unholy who in real truth are dead;

for, owing to the mere fact of being near those who are sick, it has often happened that those who were in perfect health have caught their disease, and have been at the point of death: and it was impossible for them any longer to be exposed to this affliction if they once separated by a strong boundary fixed in the middle between them, which will preserve the better part by keeping off the inroads and attacks of the worse.

And I marvel still more, when listening to the sacred oracles I learn from them in what manner "a cloud came in the midst" [*](Exodus xiv. 19. ) between the army of the Egyptians and the company of the children of Israel; for the cloud no longer permitted the race, which is temperate and beloved by God, to be persecuted by that which was devoted to the passions and a foe to God; being a covering and a protection to its friends, but a weapon of vengeance and chastisement against its enemies;

for it gently showers down wisdom on the minds which study virtue—wisdom which cannot be visited by any evil. But on those minds which are ill-disposed and [*](Numbers xvi. 48. ) [*](Exodus xiv. 19. )

And the Father who created the universe has given to his archangelic and most ancient Word a preeminent gift, to stand on the confines of both, and separated that which had been created from the Creator. And this same Word is continually a suppliant to the immortal God on behalf of the mortal race, which is exposed to affliction and misery; and is also the ambassador, sent by the Ruler of all, to the subject race.

And the Word rejoices in the gift, and, exulting in it, announces it and boasts of it, saying, "And I stood in the midst, between the Lord and you;" [*](Numbers xvi. 48. ) neither being uncreate as God, nor yet created as you, but being in the midst between these two extremities, like a hostage, as it were, to both parties: a hostage to the Creator, as a pledge and security that the whole race would never fly off and revolt entirely, choosing disorder rather than order; and to the creature, to lead it to entertain a confident hope that the merciful God would not overlook his own work. For I will proclaim peaceful intelligence to the creation from him who has determined to destroy wars, namely God, who is ever the guardian of peace.

Therefore the sacred Word, having given us instruction respecting the division into equal parts, leads us also to the knowledge of opposites, saying that God placed the divisions "opposite to one another;" [*](Genesis xv. 10. ) for in fact nearly all the things that exist in the world, are by nature opposite to one another. And we must begin with the first.

Hot is opposite to cold, and dry to wet, and light to heavy, and darkness to light, and night to day; also in heaven that which is fixed is opposite to the wandering planetary motion, and in the air a clear sky is opposite to clouds, winter to summer, autumn to spring, for the one is blooming and the other fading.

Again, of things on earth, sweet water is opposite to bitter, and barren to fertile land. Again, there are other things contrary to one another, as visible bodies to incorporeal, things endowed with vitality to things inanimate, rational to irrational, mortal to immortal, things discernible by the outward sense to things perceptible only by the intellect; [*](Numbers xvi. 48. ) [*](Genesis xv. 10. )

Again, grammatical knowledge is contrary to ignorance of the same subject, musical science to unacquaintance with music, an educated to an illiterate condition; and, in short, skill in art to want of skill. Again, in the different arts there are vocal elements and mute elements, there are sharp and flat sounds, there are straight and circular lines.

Once more, in animals and plants, there are some barren and some productive; some very prolific, others which yield but small increase; animals oviparous and animals viviparous; animals with soft skins, and others with hard shells; some wild and some tractable creatures; some fond of solitude, and others gregarious.

To go on further: poverty is opposite to wealth, glory to want of reputation, baseness of birth to nobility, want to abundance, war to peace, law to lawlessness, a bad to a good disposition, inactivity to labour, youth to old age, power to want of power, weakness to strength. And why need I enumerate every class separately, when these are unlimited and indescribable by reason of their multitude?

Very beautifully, therefore, has the interpreter of the writings of nature, taking pity upon our idleness and want of consideration, taught every one of us in an invisible manner, as he does now, to arrange everything in such a way as to produce an exact opposition, not arranging them in wholes, but in equal divisions; for one thing consists of the two opposite parts; and when that one thing is bisected then the opposite parts are easily known.

Is not this the thing which the Greeks say that Heraclitus, that great philosopher who is so celebrated among them, put forth as the leading principle of his whole philosophy, and boasted of it as if it were a new discovery? For it is in reality an ancient discovery of Moses, that out of the same thing opposite things are produced having the ratio of parts to the whole, as has here been shown.

These matters then we will examine into accurately

And a thing very similar to this appears to me to be very clearly shown in the matter of the sacred candlestick; for that also was made having six branches, three on each side, and the main candlestick itself in the middle made the seventh, dividing and separating the two triads; for it is made of carved work, a divine work of exquisite skill and highly admired, being made of one solid piece of pure gold. For the unit, being one and single and pure, begot the number seven, which had no mother but is born of itself alone, without taking any additional material whatever to aid him.

But those who praise gold say a great many other things by way of panegyric on it, but dwell on two especial points as most particularly important and excellent; one that it does not receive poison, the other that it can be beaten out or melted out into the thinnest possible plates, while still remaining unbroken. Therefore it is very naturally taken as an emblem of that greater nature, which, being extended and diffused every where so as to penetrate in every direction, is wholly full of everything, and also connects all other things with the most admirable arrangement.

Concerning the candlestick above mentioned, the artist speaks again a second time and says, that from its different branches there are three arms projecting out on each side, equals in all respects to one another, and having on the top lamps like nuts, in the shape of flowers supporting the lights; [*](Exodus xxv. 33. ) the seventh flower being fashioned on the top of the candlestick of solid gold, and having seven golden places for lights above them;

so that in many accounts it has been believed to be fashioned in such a manner because the number six is divided into two triads by the Word, making the seventh and being placed in the midst of them; as indeed is the case now. For the entire candlestick with its six most entire and principal parts was made so as to consist of seven lamps, and seven flowers, and seven lights; and the six lights are divided by the seventh. [*](Exodus xxv. 33. )

And in like manner the flowers are divided by that which comes in the middle; and in the same manner also the lamps are divided by the seventh which comes in the middle. But the six branches, and the equal number of arms which shoot out are divided by the main trunk itself which makes up the number seven.