De Theologia (Orat. 28)

Οὗτοι μὲν δὴ ταῦτα· ἡμᾶς δὲ ὁ λόγος δεξάμενος ἐφιεμένους θεοῦ, καὶ μὴ ἀνεχομένους τὸ ἀνηγεμόνευτόν τε καὶ ἀκυβέρνητον, εἶτα τοῖς ὁρωμένοις προσβάλλων καὶ τοῖς ἀπαρχῆς ἐντυγχάνων, οὔτε μέχρι τούτων ἔστησεν,— οὐ γὰρ ἦν λόγου δοῦναι τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τοῖς ὁμοτίμοις κατὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν,—καὶ διὰ τούτων ἄγει πρὸς τὸ ὑπὲρ ταῦτα, καὶ δι’ οὗ τούτοις τὸ εἶναι περίεστιν. τί γὰρ τὸ τάξαν τὰ οὐράνια καὶ τὰ ἐπίγεια, ὅσα τε δι’ ἀέρος καὶ ὅσα καθ’ ὕδατος, μᾶλλον δὲ τὰ πρὸ τούτων, οὐρανόν, καὶ γῆν, καὶ ἀέρα, καὶ φύσιν ὕδατος; τίς ταῦτα ἔμιξε καὶ ἐμέρισεν; τίς ἢ κοινωνία τούτων πρὸς ἄλληλα, καὶ συμφυία, καὶ σύμπνοια; ἐπαινῶ γὰρ τὸν εἰρηκότα, κἂν ἀλλότριος ᾖ. τί τὸ ταῦτα [*](1 ἔφεσιν] αἴσθησιν e 16. 6 προσβάλλων] προβαλὼν ‘Reg. a, Or. I’ || 8 ἡγεμονίαν] ὁμοτιμίαν b || 13 τις η κοινωνία] om η c) [*](1. ἔφεσιν] ‘desire,’ from ἐφίεσθαι § 13).) [*](16. We, on the other hand, are led by reason to worship, not nature, but the Author of nature and its wonderful order.) [*](4. ὁ λόγος] ‘reason.’ When Rea- son is said to have taken us in hand, Gr. means both the reasonable in- struction given by the Church, and our own reasonable reflexion upon it. It is, of course, contrasted with ὁ πονηρός of the previous section.) [*](6. προσβάλλων] intrans., as in § 6. ib. κ. τοῖς ἀπαρχῆς ἐντ.] Passing over the more ephemeral objects, its attention was arrested by those which are coeval with creation, like sun and moon: but it did not allow us to stop ἔστησεν) there. Μέχρι as in ἑ 9. We should have expected οὐδὲ μ.; if οὔτε is right, Gr. must intend to connect the clause closely with κα διὰ τούτων.) [*](8. κάτα τὴν αἴσθ.] things as much subject to the senses as we are.) [*](10. περίεστιν] ‘they still exist’; or perhaps, ‘they have existence in abundance’; cp. § 25.) [*](11. δι’ ἀέρος] sc. φέρεται. Καθ’ ὕδατος sc. ἐστίν, ’under the water’; like κατὰ γῆς ’underground’: cp. § 24.) [*](13. τίς ἡ κοινωνία] If this is the right reading, of course it is ‘what is this partnership?’ i.e. came it? If we read τίς κ., κοίν’. κ. συμφ. κ. συμπν. must be in ap- position to the τίς before ἔμιξε, ‘who combined and distributed them? what partnership and union and concord between them?) [*](15. τὸν εἰρηκότα] ‘him who said it: There is no reason to think that the words which follow are a direct quotation. Nor indeed are the foregoing, but they seem more likely to have had their origin in a reminiscence of something that Gr. had read than the comparatively colourless words which follow. It is harder, however, to say, whom Gr. means by τὸν εἰρ. Elias refers to Oppian Halieut. i 412 οἵῃ σὺν φιλό- διακρίνας ἐκέδασσας αἰθέρα τε, κτλ. Jahn prefers Plato Tim. 35 A foil. The resemblance is not very close; but in Τἰm. 32 c occur words which come somewhat nearer. The ‘body of the world,’ Plato there says, was formed of the various elements δι’ ἀναλογίας ὁμολογῆσαν, φιλίαν τε ἔσχεν...εἰς ταὐτὸν αὑτῷ ξυνελθόν. Perh. Opp. comes the nearer to Gr's language.)

κεκινηκὸς καὶ ἄγον τὴν ἄληκτον φορὰν καὶ ἀκώλυτον; ἀρ’ οὐχ ὁ τεχνίτης τούτων, καὶ πᾶσι λόγον ἐνθείς, καθ’ ὃν τὸ πᾶν φέρεταί τε καὶ διεξάγεται; τίς δὲ ὁ τεχνίτης τούτων; ἀρ’ οὐχ ὁ πεποιηκὼς ταῦτα καὶ εἰς τὸ εἶναι παραγαγών; οὐ γὰρ δὴ τῷ αὐτομάτῳ δοτέον τοσαύτην δύναμιν. ἔστω γὰρ τὸ γενέσθαι τοῦ αὐτομάτου. τίνος τὸ τάξαι; καὶ τοῦτο, εἰ δοκεῖ, δῶμεν. τίνος τὸ τηρῆσαι καὶ φυλάξαι καθ’ οὓς πρῶτον ὑπέστη λόγους; ἑτέρου τινός, ἢ τοῦ αὐτομάτου; ἑτέρου δηλαδὴ παρὰ τὸ αὐτόματον. τοῦτο δὲ τί ποτε ἄλλο πλὴν θεός; οὕτως ὁ ἐκ θεοῦ λόγος, καὶ πᾶσι σύμφυτος, καὶ πρῶτος ἐν ἡμῖν νόμος, καὶ πᾶσι συνημμένος, ἐπὶ θεὸν ἡμᾶς ἀνήγαγεν ἐκ τῶν ὁρωμένων. καὶ δὴ λέγωμεν ἀρξάμενοι πάλιν.

Θεόν, ὅ τί ποτε μέν ἐστι τὴν φύσιν καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν, οὔτε τις εὗρεν ἀνθρώπων πώποτε, οὔτε μὴ εὕρῃ. ἀλλ’ εἰ μὲν εὑρήσει ποτέ, ζητείσθω τοῦτο καὶ φιλοσοφείσθω παρὰ τῶν βουλομένων. εὑρήσει δέ, ὡς ἐμὸς λόγος, ἐπειδὰν τὸ θεοειδὲς τοῦτο καὶ θεῖον, λέγω δὲ τὸν ἡμέτερον νοῦν τε καὶ λόγον, τῷ οἰκείῳ προσμίξῃ, καὶ ἡ εἰκὼν ἀνέλθῃ πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον, οὗ νῦν ἔχει τὴν ἔφεσιν. καὶ τοῦτο [*](1 αγον...ακωλυτον] ὕπο τὴν ἄληκτον φορὰν καὶ ἀκώλυτον ἄγαγον ‘Reg. Cypr.’ || 10 om συμφυτος...και πάσι b || 12 λέγωμεν] -ομεν be) [*](2. λόγον ἐνθείς] Gr. does not mean (like Plato) that the universe is conscious of the law by which it acts.) [*](3. διεξάγεται] seems simply to mean ‘is conducted.’ Cp. in i 12 διὰ κύκλου τινὸς εὐθύνων καἰ διεφτητι ἄγων τὸν ἀπάντα κόσμον.) [*](5. τῷ αὐτομάτω ‘to chance.’) [*](10. πᾶσι σύμφυτος] notexactly = ἔμφυτος, but ‘naturally bound up with’; like συνημμένος (from τειν) just after.) [*](17. Hereafter we shall know as we are known; here, the most privileged attain to a knowledge which is only relatively great.) [*](15. ἀλλ’ εἰ μέν] but whether man will ever find.’) [*](19. τῷ οἰκείῳ] ‘with that to wh it belongs’: Vaughan's ‘spirits fair kindred ’ Cp. § 12 sub fin.)

εἶναί μοι δοκεῖ τὸ πάνυ φιλοσοφούμενον, ἐπιγνώσεσθαί ποτε ἡμᾶς, ὅσον ἐγνώσμεθα. τὸ δὲ νῦν εἶναι βραχεῖά τις ἀπορροὴ πᾶν τὸ εἰς ἡμᾶς φθάνον, καὶ οἷον μεγάλου φωτὸς μικρὸν ἀπαύγασμα. ὥστε καὶ εἴ τις ἔγνω θεόν, ἢ ἐγνωκέναι μεμαρτύρηται, τοσοῦτον ἔγνω, ὅσον ἄλλου μὴ τὸ ἴσον ἐλλαμφθέντος φανῆναι φωτοειδέστερος. καὶ τὸ ὑπερβάλλον τέλειον ἐνομίσθη, οὐ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, τῇ δὲ τοῦ πλησίον δυνάμει παραμετρούμενον.

Διὰ τοῦτο Ἐνὼς μὲν ἤλπισεν ἐπικαλεῖσθαι τὸν κύριον· ἐλπὶς τὸ κατορθούμενον ἦν, καὶ τοῦτο οὐ γνώσεως, ἀλλ’ ἐπικλήσεως. Ἑνὼχ δὲ μετετέθη μέν, οὔπω δὲ δῆλον, εἰ θεοῦ φύσιν περιλαβών, ἢ περιληψόμενος. τοῦ δὲ Νῶε καλὸν ἡ εὐαρέστησις, τοῦ καὶ κόσμον ὅλον ἐξ ὑδάτων διασώσασθαι πιστευθέντος, ἢ κόσμου σπέρματα, ξύλῳ μικρῷ φεύγοντι τὴν ἐπίκλυσιν. Ἀβραὰμ δὲ ἐδικαιώθη μὲν ἐκ πίστεως, ὁ μέγας πατριάρχης, καὶ θύει θυσίαν ξένην καὶ τῆς μεγάλης ἀντίτυπον· θεὸν δὲ οὐχ ὡς θεὸν εἶδεν, ἀλλ’ ὡς ἄνθρωπον ἔθρεψε, καὶ ἐπῃνέθη, σεβασθεὶς [*](17. 2 εἶναι] γνῶναι ‘Coisl. 3 tres Colb.’ 18. 15 φευγοντι] φυγοντι b || 18 ως] ὡσπερ df) [*](1. τὸ πάνυ φίλος.] ‘the great dictum.’ 1 Cor. xiii 12.) [*](2. τὸ δὲ νῦν εἶναι] ’for being.’ Elias comments on the ’Attic idiom,’ and compares the way in which εἶναι is used with ἑκών.) [*](3. φθάνον εἰς, ‘reaches.’ Enos, Enoch, Noe, Abraham, Facob, though so highly favoured, never saw God ἃς God.) [*](9. ἤλπισεν] Gen. iv 26 (LXX.) οὗτος ἤλπισεν ἐπικ. τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ. Even to call upon His name was beyond the present powers of Enos: he only succeeded τὸ κατορθ.) in hoping to do it. Ἐπικ. is of course active in meaning.) [*](11. μετετέθη] Gen. v 24; cp. Wisd. iv 10. This implied high favour with God μέν), but it did not of itself prove οὔπω) that E. had either attained, or would ever attain, an adequate knowledge the time the divine nature.) [*](13. εὐαρέστησις] Gen. vi9 Kαλόν, constr. like triste lupus stabulis.) [*](14. δίας. πιστευθέντος] ‘entrusted with the duty of saving.’) [*](15. ἐδικαιώθη] Gen. xv 6.) [*](16. θυσίαν θυσίαν Gen. xxii 13. ‘Strange,’ because miraculously supplied. It is prob. that Gr. means the ram, rather than Isaac; for Basil also makes the ram a type of Christ (de Spir. S. 14, p. 319 D).) [*](18. ἔθρεψε] Gen. xviii 8. Although the detail is taken only from ’s history, the restriction is intended to apply also to Noe.) [*](ib. ἐπῃνέθη] Perh. Gen. xviii 17 foil.)

ὅσον κατέλαβεν. Ἰακὼβ δὲ κλίμακα μὲν ὑψηλὴν ἐφαντάσθη τινά, καὶ ἀγγέλων ἄνοδον, καὶ στήλην ἀλείφει μυστικῶς, ἴσως ἵνα τὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀλειφθέντα λίθον παραδηλώσῃ, καὶ Εἶδος Θεοῦ τόπῳ τινὶ προσηγορίαν δίδωσιν εἰς τιμὴν τοῦ ὀφθέντος, καὶ ὡς ἀνθρώπῳ τῷ θεῷ προσπαλαίει, ἥτις ποτέ ἐστιν ἡ πάλη θεοῦ πρὸς ἄνθρωπον, ἢ τάχα τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἀρετῆς πρὸς θεὸν ἀντεξέτασις, καὶ σύμβολα τῆς πάλης ἐπὶ τοῦ σώματος φέρει, τὴν ἧτταν παραδεικνύντα τῆς γενητῆς φύσεως, καὶ ἆθλον εὐσεβείας τὴν μεταβολὴν τῆς προσηγορίας λαμβάνει, μετονομασθεὶς ἀντὶ Ἰακὼβ Ἰσραήλ, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ μέγα καὶ τίμιον ὄνομα· ἐκεῖνο δὲ οὔτε αὐτὸς οὔτε τις ὑπὲρ αὐτὸν μέχρι σήμερον ἐκαυχήσατο τῶν δώδεκα δώδεκα φυλῶν, ὧν πατὴρ ἦν, ὅτι θεοῦ φύσιν ἢ ὄψιν ὅλην ἐχώρησεν.