Eustathius, Bishop of Antioch and Confessor

yet when he heard that the man had ascended upright, did he then worship and submit? ^A And yet, as Origen asserted too audaciously, if those were angels or choirs of prophets, they themselves, as being superior, ought to have been worshipped. Therefore, from all these deeds taken together, it is easy to see that Saul’s ruling mind was blinded, being driven by the demon, while the devil, shifting himself into various forms, was contriving to be worshipped by the ruler, so that by this he might deceive as many as possible, who were unwittingly submitting to him. And yet, it is not strange to say that, even where he saw the person of Christ, whom he saw inwardly by deed and action as God, and by nature the genuine Son of God, yet surrounded by a man who was pure, undefiled, and spotless, ^B and he beheld him as a most fair, consecrated, and inviolable temple, he nonetheless, approaching, incorrectly tempted him, intending a fight with God after his own fashion and manner. But when he was defeated again and again, having provoked him to battle, he was miserably shattered; and adopting a new guise, he dared to display to him all the circuit of this world and its kingdoms, and emboldened by madness and falsehood, he boasted: "All these things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Such were the voices the impious one uttered here, thinking to provoke to wrath the character of forbearance, and under such guises to seem to gain a hold. But the Lord, as was worthy of God, silenced the wicked one by his long-suffering; for it would be proper to God to bear all things patiently. If, therefore, it was of little concern to him to utter such things to the Lord himself, how is it not clear that, wishing to be worshipped as God, he was doing these things? This, I think, is manifest to all of sound mind: that through a frenzied woman he deceived the mindless ruler into submitting to him contrary to what was right.

XI

^A at Philippi; and how, when he had enlightened a certain damsel in the knowledge of piety, she came to meet him, as he says, having a spirit of Python, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. Therefore, she followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying thus: "These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation." And she did this for many days; but the demon, being scourged by an invisible lash, was forced against his will to utter such cries; but Paul, regarding testimony from such a source as not to be trusted—and most rightly—being grieved, said to the spirit, "I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." Then the author, narrating the deed, adds: "And he came out the same hour." When, therefore, the masters of the handmaid saw that the hope of their gain had vanished utterly, they caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers; and through outrages and stripes they caused them to be badly handled, stirring up a sedition ^B by their slanderous accusations. If, therefore, Paul, by rebuking the spirit, drove out the pythoness at once in that very moment, and the spirit fled by the power of the word, being unable to sustain the sound of the tongue, then let him who approves that opinion—whereby the demon, by the power of authority, brought up Samuel against his will, who was of the same mind as Paul—come forward into the open and say: By what excellence of power did the demon bring up Samuel from Hades against his will, calling him forth? But he would not be able to demonstrate that any of these things is true. So that even from these things, it is very easy to see that it was the deceiver who, having transformed himself, spoke to Saul, saying: "Why hast thou disquieted me?" ^C For he hinted that he had ascended against his will, not desiring it, but by necessity and force, as if he had been ordered to be sent by him who is superior. But the king, answering him, said: "I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God," he says, "is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: and now I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do." Again, therefore, it must be answered: If that illustrious Samuel had been a prophet, would he not have brought the man to a better way of life with his admonitions? Would he not have said to him first: Tell me, most miserable of all men, if the strangers compass you about, preparing to join battle in firm array, if God hath departed from thee and hath not answered thee at all, and the prophets, while they undertake mediation for thee, perceive nothing, ^D and thou art not admonished as to what must be done, whether sleeping or waking; oughtest thou not rather to have fallen to the ground there and rendered God propitious to thee, and to have washed away the causes of thy sins by the distribution of alms to the poor, rather than to have fled to a ventriloquist soothsayer and to have exchanged the marks of piety for a frantic divination, and to have added to thy own woe twofold? For is it not to be understood that such pollutions are expressly

^A forbidden by God in Leviticus through Moses, when He said: "Ye shall not follow after them that have familiar spirits, neither shall ye cleave to the wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God"? But dost thou think that these abominations, which are contrary to God, are not impious, when thou attemptest to create a drama out of them? ^B Hear, furthermore, what God also proclaims concerning such an act of daring: "And the soul," He says, "that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, or after wizards, to go a-whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people." If, then, God, having from the beginning established the law with rigorous decrees, sent forth such as entangle themselves in these sorceries or divinations, and threatens in a terrible manner grievous and murky places of torment against those caught in them—ought not one who had been consecrated to God from the tenderest years, as they say, and was a firm observer of the laws, have been the first to denounce these things? ^C But why did not he who had been instructed in the laws from childhood, and was able to know the legal scriptures most exactly, search out this error, lest through it some, miserably deceived by fraud, might be snatched away into frantic divinations? But he said or sought nothing of this; for it was not Samuel, but he who had been contriving such dramas from the beginning. To these things, moreover, he answers, having assumed the guise of the prophet, saying: "Why askest thou of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? And the Lord hath done to thee, as He spake by my hand." These things, therefore, he brings in as an enemy, while simultaneously simulating a departure, and he reads the records of the accusation.

XII.

and thought that he ought to offer up to the Lord the burnt offerings from these things as first-fruits. But if one should inquire with more accurate precision and knowledge, he would find that Samuel had indeed foretold all these words at that time, word for word. For he said, "The Lord hath rent the kingdom from thy hand," ^A at the time when the ruler grasped and tore the hem of his cloak; and further, he predicted to him that the kingdom was to be given to his neighbor, who was better than he, and he prophesied also in what manner Israel ought, on account of this, to be divided and never again return. Having made these statements, he confirmed what was to be said with deeds as well; for not long after, having been sent by divine judgment, he anointed David as king. Did then the one who is said to have been raised up through the engastrimyth ^B declare anything strange? Rather, he was mimicking, with deceptive guile and a plausible artifice of tautology, those things which had been spoken by Samuel before, pretending to speak prophetically. But just as itinerant soothsayers, hastening to go to the doors of the wealthy, stealthily and sedulously inquire into the affairs of each person that have happened long ago, and, appearing to speak of events that occurred much earlier on the spur of the moment, they immediately strike their hearers with amazement, and, having led them into a foolish belief, they fabricate whatever they wish regarding the future: so too, the specter of the engastrimyth, assuming a new form, uttered those same prophetic oracles of Samuel, ^C and yet to all appearances it thought it was prophesying, although it knew nothing. But it set forth the words of another as its own and terrified that miserable man, and through these things it easily misled him and stole away his mind. What else, then, was added after this? "And thou," he says, "tomorrow, and thy son Jonathan shall be with me, and the Lord shall deliver the host of Israel into the hands of the Philistines." ^D But the demon claimed even these things as if they were its own.

XIII. Whether he truly foretold, as he thought; and whether he uttered it by design or by chance and accident; and furthermore, whether he was able to presage anything at all.

XIII. It must be investigated whether he predicted truly, as he supposed; and whether he spoke by design or by mere chance and coincidence; and furthermore, whether he was able to possess foreknowledge of anything. In the first place, it does not appear that Saul was destroyed on the following day, as the speaking specter claimed. For if, having heard these words, he did not eat bread all that day and all that night due to overwhelming grief, as the divine Scripture testifies, and after this the woman again exhorted and advised him to taste food, since he had a journey ahead of him—it is manifest that on the second day, after that daily and nightly fast, she persuaded him to rise from his prostrate position on the ground and sit more decently on the seat. While she promptly took the calf she had, which was still nursing, she slaughtered it; and, kneading unleavened bread and preparing the meal, she served it. When she had offered it, excellently prepared and arranged, to the king and those with him, the king, softened by her admonitions, partook of the food. It must then be understood, if he rushed out from there at night, that he returned to his station at other hours of the night. So that now...

^A the demon is clearly detected in his lying. For it did not happen as he had said, "Tomorrow you shall be with me," since he remained there the following day without food; and then, on the second day, having tasted food, he made his way to the camp. Nor is he convicted of lying and reporting things differently than they turned out only by this, but he also said that Jonathan alone was to perish together with his father; yet, on the contrary, the narrative voice of the Scripture declares that Saul was slaughtered along with his three sons, and not by himself alone, as that one had said. Therefore, for lack of foreknowledge, the demon spoke nothing true; for he would not have reported things contrary to what occurred; but having stolen, as I said, the things spoken earlier by Samuel, he added a few items to these, interweaving things similar to the probabilities. Thus, then, he threatened the ruler with death, abusing the words of that man; moreover, he promised that he would deliver the camp of Israel, because the prophet had said with weight that "the people shall be scattered." Seeing, therefore, the machines of war drawn up, and the leader of the people terrified, and moreover also abandoned by God himself (from which things the ruler, guessing, acknowledged that the prophecy of the prophet was coming to pass there), he feigned to deliver ^B oracles regarding the present stirrings. Whatever he added of his own, however, he was clearly caught lying; for he was able to predict neither the day of death nor the slaughter of the sons of Saul, whose names the Scripture recorded. From these things it would not be hard to fathom that the spirit reported nothing own and nothing true; but when he stole the footsteps of Samuel, he thought that by appropriating these he was prophesying. But even more, it is not possible to say that he prophesied this without lying; and if he did indeed proclaim the origin of war and the incurable streams of bloodshed, who is the cause of all wars? Is it not the devil himself? Did he not demand Job for himself? Did he not incite an inexorable war against him? Did he not, having frequently changed himself into various forms, exist as at once messenger and witness and the tribune of soldiers, ^C penetrating into the vitals of men?

XIV. But this form and figure seems obscure to many; one must therefore proceed accordingly into the traces of the Third Book of Kings. It appears, then, how the prophet Micaiah is questioned by Ahab; but since he was compelled to speak the truth openly, he said that he had seen the Lord sitting upon His throne, and then that the heavenly armies were standing around Him simultaneously on the right and on the left; and together with the history of the vision, he also said that he heard a voice of this kind: "Who will deceive Ahab, and he will ascend into Ramoth-gilead, and he will fall there?" Then he says (so that, passing over the things in the middle, I might speak the required part): "A spirit came forth and stood before the Lord, and said: I will deceive him." And when the Lord, having countered, asked, "By what?" he counters in return: "I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets." To these things, the ^D Better One said: "You will deceive and you will prevail. And now, go forth and do so." When the prophet had recounted these things to the king, he immediately adds:

"The Lord has given a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has spoken evil against you" (3 Kings 22:23). Therefore, since it is necessary to understand this spirit that was the author of the lie as being not good but evil, it follows that this must also be believed to have been an instrument of the devil. But since it is evident that this happened in reality, it is clear that he had previously heard how the most wicked Ahab, in proceeding to battle, would fall. For he wished to thrust a lie upon him in place of the truth, so that he might provoke a cause for war and destroy the unjust man more shamefully. Thus, by these events, it is manifest that the devil has ^A foreseen the evils that are brought upon the wicked, since he himself is the craftsman of all the worst things. Regarding Saul, however, whatever he added from his own nature and mingled with the oracles of Samuel, he not only lied convincingly, but spoke impiously and irreligiously. From this point, his first act of blasphemy is exposed: first, because in imitation—as the Lord said to the thief who had confessed the power of His kingdom, "Today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43)—in the same way, the deceitful artisan, having finished his magical divinations for Saul, said: "Tomorrow you will be with me, and Jonathan your son" (1 Kings 28:19). Second, he wishes to show through these things that the just man differs in no way from the unjust, cleverly trying to suppress the endeavors and impulses of the pious. No one, it seems, is unaware that there is no communion between a believer and an ^B infidel, nor, again, how he who had wasted away in the feasts of abundant riches was separated and kept far from the company of Lazarus, although he had dared nothing against him. Indeed, he had exhibited no leavings or crumbs falling to the ground, but neither had he afflicted the man with blows, nor had he banished him further to another part of the earth after having tortured him with scourges. But when both had departed from here and exchanged life with death, the latter rested in the bosom of Abraham, the ancestor of the race, while the former was seized by perennial and inextinguishable flames. While he was being cremated and tortured in the underworld, he sees his progenitor from afar, and also sees Lazarus in his bosom; and being burned by the fire, he vehemently asked Abraham that he might send the beggar to him. For he was earnestly imploring that Lazarus, upon coming to him, might dip the tip of his finger in water and thereby ^C cool his tongue, touched by the moisture of the dew; thus, the wretched man, badly vexed by fiery torments, was making these supplications. And since the progenitor, in answering his requests, had replied that each person in their respective place had received just rewards in lieu of merit, he then added: "And in all these things, a great chaos is fixed between us and you, so that those who wish to cross from here to you cannot, nor can those from there cross to us" (Luke 16:26). If, therefore, there is a great chaos that separates the just from the unjust, so that those who are there cannot be transported here, nor those who dwell here be brought there, it is clearly manifest that Saul, who was unjust, does not dwell together with the prophet Samuel. For if the rich man and the poor man cannot together ^D

reach us. If, therefore, there is a gulf ^A separating the just from the unjust, in such a way that those on one side cannot cross over to the other, nor those from the other side arrive here, it follows that Saul, being unjust, is not with the prophet Samuel. For if the rich man cannot be with the poor man, even though he had done him no wrong and had not persecuted him, but had merely failed to share with him readily from what he had, how much more is the miserable man unworthy to enjoy the communion of the saints?

XV.

XVI.

^A studied to inquire into what was right with the due respect, but rather, while professing that the drama of the woman with the familiar spirit touched upon matters of universal concern, and invoking the truth for a necessary examination, he openly combats the truth itself. Afterwards, running through the praises of Samuel, as many as the divine Scriptures recount concerning him, he then again places him under the power of the demon, and expresses the matter in these very words and syllables: "Was, then, so great a man under the earth? And did the woman with the familiar spirit bring him up? Does a demon have power over a prophetic soul?" But these things, as if doubting or perhaps even questioning, he seems to others to say at times. But in order to confirm later through his perorations that these things are so, he adds with a certain louder clamor and shouting ^B and eloquence, "Are these things written? Verily, are they true or are they not true?" To say that they are not true leads to infidelity, which, as he himself says, will come upon the heads of those who speak it; but if they are true, they present to us a question and a difficulty. After this, again confirming what he introduces without investigation, and setting forth the opinions of those who differ with him, he adds: "And yet we know some of our own brothers who have looked against the Scripture, and say: 'I do not believe the woman with the familiar spirit. The woman with the familiar spirit says she saw Samuel; she lies.'" Many other things besides he intersperses, by which he openly rebukes all who pronounce the divinations of the woman with the familiar spirit to be false, and heaps curses upon the heads of those who do not believe her; and, thinking that he will easily persuade fickle minds with no trouble ^C, he strikes the narration upon the Scripture itself, saying: “Are these things written, or are they not written?” And by the force of his reasoning he repeats these same things: “Are these things true, or are they not true?” Yet he interjects for us a doubt and a scruple that the soul of the prophet had by no means been summoned. But to concede such things to a demon, what sin will that be? What impiety? He does not yet hesitate, nor, depraved by pure and mere madness, does he observe the mind. For no one else except God has the power of recalling and bringing up souls from the netherworld. Therefore, it must be answered here again: these things are indeed contained in the sacred Scriptures, but the author does not predict that it was done by his own person. For the book would not heap together many things at once that conflict with prophetic discourses, as we have shown before, and will show a little later, which was designating ^D the words of the woman with the familiar spirit and the furious knowledge of the king, detected as being full of the works of ignorance. For it will be neither fitting nor congruous to treat divine letters in this way. For since they themselves confess that the devil openly declares himself to be God, must we therefore believe him, and must everything be deferred to him on the sole account of the series of that narration, as Origen himself asserts? For that is written in the sacred letters. Or, again, when, puffed up with immoderate pride, he [seeks to overturn] the whole machine of this world all at once...

and its kingdoms belongs to him, should one from this perhaps conclude that he is the creator of all things? By no means, one would say; for the narrative voice has indeed delineated his boastful claims, but it does not declare them to be true; nor is there anyone who could ever prove this. ^A But there are countless such things to observe in addition to these; yet it is not possible to bring them all forward, lest by a long circumlocution we seem to evade the crux of the question.

XVII. Since, therefore, he appeared to have insulted those who think most correctly in no small measure, he again, not without obscurity, jumped to another opinion, and rhetorically inflating his discourse, among other things says that it is truly a horrible thing to conceive that the glorious Samuel, who is honored with a preeminent prophetic dignity, was among the inhabitants of Hades. ^B He repeats this quite like an old woman, over and over, driving his hearers from one point to another, because he tries to act against those deceived by his fraud. But we do not disagree about those things which all universally acknowledge, but about those which we know can truly be called into question. For it is not the point in dispute whether it was Samuel, but whether a demon has such power, namely, to call forth the souls of the just from Hades and send them back again. Since, therefore, he was caught red-handed pouring forth blasphemies, he deflects the ears of his listeners with deceitful art, and flees, as it were, to the person of Christ, ^C in order that, by collating Him with the holy men, he might demonstrate that Christ Himself also descended into Hades along with all the others. But, as he was proving this, he even chided the man individually, saying, "Why do you fear to say that every place needs both Christ Himself and the prophets?" Interjecting a few things in between, he weaves another blasphemy, revealing that even while Christ was happening to be below—to speak in this way—he says that while being in the lower place, by His volition He was above. For as if speaking of a man only, and no longer taking thought for His divine nature, he said that He had arrived in the lowest parts, but by volition had supposedly ascended above, just as, no doubt, all other men also do. ^D For so, he said, both the prophets and Samuel, even if they descend where the souls are—that is, the ones below—they are indeed able to be in the lower place, but they are not below by volition. And having resounded with frivolous talk to the infinite, he does not even understand this, that every person, even if he is very wretched, when he has descended into Hades, remains above by volition; for there would be no one, whether of the just or the unjust, who does not yearn to pass his time at the highest parts, and to be delivered from those subterranean places. If therefore all alike who have been led down into Hades desire the things above by volition, and some have not pursued a very righteous life, what kind of dignity was he clarifying for the prophetic choir? And what great thing did he proclaim concerning the Lord, rendering Him equal to everyone?

^A But he uttered the voice so ignorantly, not understanding that the Word was God; He is present everywhere all at once, not so much by choice as by the virtue of His divinity. And if He did permit His own visible temple to be dissolved, He immediately raised it up again on the third day in a new manner. His soul, coming down into the lowest parts of the earth, opened the gates there with a sudden impulse and brought out the souls held there; and it was so strengthened by divine power, through its communion with God and the Word, that it possessed all-encompassing authority.

XVIII. But indeed, I am persuaded that this conjecture of his is not at all light. For when He reached the subterranean places, at the same time He brought the thief’s soul into paradise that very day. For if salvation came to all mortals through one man, it is manifest that the soul redeemed souls of the same kind, both by entering into the subterranean parts of the abyss and by restoring to the most ancient station of paradise the one who was entering into the power of the unconquerable kingdom. Consistent with these things, the Son of God was testifying before they occurred, foretelling that *No one has ascended into heaven but He who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven*. Therefore, if He was declaring that the one originating from the human race had ascended into heaven alone out of all men, and from there had descended again hither, and after living here was journeying into heaven, it is evident that He accomplished these things by the power and a certain excellence of the soul. For the holy soul of Christ, living with God and the Word, illuminates all things at once and has ascended into that very highest heaven, into which no other of men has ascended; yet these things are imputed to the human form itself, which God and the Word sustained. But that the Son of God is present everywhere and suddenly, John himself also testified, having heard Christ Himself, and he cries out in a great voice regarding the Word: *No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known*. And yet, when Christ was living here, He was walking in the body while John was delivering these words; and he, having received His words, was preaching that He was in the bosom of the Father while He was living upon the earth together with that body. How then is it not to be understood that He was then also ^C ascending the heavens, and while He was living in the bosom of the Father, He walked upon the earth as it befitted God, and was present to all at once, as God?

XIX. But if anyone, suffering from Jewish blindness, does not accept the evangelical words, we must bring forward to him the oracles of Solomon, and we must frame our speech in this wise: *For while quiet silence held all things, and night in its own swiftness was in the middle of its course, Your all-powerful Word leaped from heaven out of royal thrones, a sharp sword, ^D bringing your unfeigned command, standing

^A and filling everything with death; and he touched the heaven, but his feet walked upon the earth. If, therefore, the only-begotten Son of God is proclaimed as the Word and God, of the same glory and company, through whom the angels, the heavens, the earth, the sea, the depths, and the star-wandering lights, and to comprise it in a word, the whole constitution of created things, have been made; and he, by a just judgment, temperately holding in his own possession the throne of the eternal kingdom from above, punishes the unjust with a sharp justice; indeed, being omnipotent in work and action, as God and Word of God, he touched the heaven, yet at the same time walked upon the earth — plainly, by the power of his divinity, he fills all things everywhere. If, then, he possesses such a nature, they are impious who inconsiderately think that the divine nature is circumscribed by a lack of will, or by some specific, limited part of a place; and Origen speaks ^B more out of ignorance than from a well-ordered mind, saying that when Christ had gone down to the lowest parts of the earth, he remained above in his intention. For he did not understand that, being God, he was present above by the desire of his will in such a way—insofar as the energy of his divinity fills all things to the greatest extent possible—that he satisfies all things everywhere.

XX. But let us concede that it is fitting for one to think these things about Christ who determines that prophetic souls are called up by a demon. The pythoness, as she gazed upon the demons that were inside her—exalting them as if they were brothers from the same womb and of the same mother—cries out that she has seen gods ascending from the earth. But the grandiose Origen did not fear to say that the demon did not only bring up the soul of the prophet, but, "Did not," he said, "other holy souls of prophets also ^C ascend with him?" And not satisfied with such madness, he even determined that the angels ascended along with their spirits; for he said that they came down there for the sake of the salvation of those in need. Thus, as it appears, Origen proposes great hopes for the angels and prophets—or rather, for the whole choir of saints—first by introducing them as being under the power of a demon, and then by declaring that they were brought up here by a raving woman to heal those who were suffering, as if they were led forth like captives. It does not seem to me that he speaks any less insanely than she did. For let it be so: he treated the holy men as if they were nothing, nor was he ashamed to insult the order of the angels who fly through the heavens. Let him who supports such an opinion ^D clearly show from where he took it, that he said that the angels who feast in the heavens ascend from the earth. For they have not come down into Hades bringing releases to the captives; rather, Christ, since he also set up a trophy against the enemy as a victor, and having snatched away the spoils of the captives, himself ascended in his body on high into the heavens. But the angels always stand before God, hastening to perform the worship that is due, but they do not dwell in Hades.

^A XXI. But, as it seems, Origen pretends not to understand, that he may inculcate superstitious deceits; then, having undertaken to allegorize all the Scriptures, he is not ashamed to interpret this passage strictly according to the letter, determining as if from an oracle, nor does he even judge rightly concerning the body itself. Indeed, while speaking of the paradise which God had planted in Eden, and while attempting to explain the manner in which the fruit-bearing trees sprouted, he adds, among other things: "When we, reading, ascend from the myths and the interpretation which is according to the letter, and ask what those trees are, he says, which God cultivates, we say that there are no sensible trees in that place." While he explains these things through interpretation, he does not shudder to call "myths" all the things which God is recorded to have created, and which Moses, the most faithful servant of God, consigned to writing. And, on the contrary, he establishes with dogmatic pronouncements those things which the myth, shape-shifting in the belly, obscurely suggests—representing them as if they were true doctrines. Contending that the words of the ventriloquist were dictated by the Holy Spirit, he wishes to attribute them to Scripture and have them remain unshaken, by ascribing to them the appearance of truth. But he calls the divine messages handed down through Moses "myths," inverts their meaning, and does not think it right that any should attend to the interpretation of the letter. ^B Does he not also allegorize the wells dug by Abraham and other things pertaining to them, and with such a great abundance of words, drawn out into the vast, resolve the whole business concerning them by transferring it to another sense, even though those wells may still be seen by the eyes in that region to this very day? Did he not distort the accounts of Isaac and Rebecca, saying that the earrings and bracelets were golden words, and finally, having distorted the whole argument by force, did he not corrupt them with his cavils, moving them to things that are perceived by the mind and understood by reason? Furthermore, in composing commentaries on Job, who suffered many things, he does not admire his tolerance, he does not extol his labors, he does not commend his virtue, he does not prove his faith, he does not describe examples of strength of mind, he does not exhort young soldiers to virtue by the greatness of his soul and the vigor of his prudence, and he does not arm the combatants to fight bravely for piety; but, having passed over all these things, he spent many words, in an old-womanish fashion, ^C on explaining the names of the daughters in a lofty manner. But as to the trifles he rambled on with regarding the name of Day, and Cassia, that is, the horn of Amalthea, it is not even possible to recount them; for they teem with every kind of mockery. Regarding Lazarus, I write ^D: instead of glorifying the great work of Christ and through these things clearly demonstrating that He is God, who by His authority summoned the corpse—already stinking—from the tombs, and by the emission of His word gave life to bodies already swollen with decay, he says nothing concerning this; but [he represents] Lazarus, the friend of the Lord, whom He not without reason loved for his virtue, as laboring in sins and dead. And no one has said these things against the just man,

^A nor did he commit such things to writing; for the Lord would not have followed him with such strong love, unless the manner of life which he professed had been divine.

Nor is it any less the case that, while considering the event of the stoning, since he endeavors to allegorize even this, he speaks falsely regarding the evangelical text. "We have not," he says, "upon examining the preceding passages, found that the Jews took up stones to cast at Him." And after a few words he adds: "For if they took them up again, they had taken them up before." He wishes, however, both in the preceding and in the following context, to prove that nothing of the sort had occurred, so that he may establish that they took up mere words, and not stones, carelessly against Him; even though the evangelist had said beforehand: "They took up therefore stones that they might cast at Him." ^B And when he had written these things, having interjected some one hundred and thirty-five verses, he adds: "The Jews therefore took up stones to stone Him." These things indeed are recorded in two places, and appear to have occurred at different times, because they do not have the same sequence or conjunction of words. But Origen himself, who imagines that he understands all the Scriptures, while writing these things, failed to recognize that the whole of that evangelical writing is to be taken literally.

XXII.

^A wrote sufficiently upon this theory, and showed clearly that he gave an opening to heretics unintentionally by defining the resurrection in terms of form, and not of the body itself. ^B But that he overturned everything with tropology, and sowed the seeds of his evil doctrine everywhere, is easy to see; and by tautologizing up and down, he filled the whole world with measureless babbling. By such a method, usually allegorizing everything in every way, he was not able to interpret the words of the Engastrimuthos merely in a figurative way, nor clearly to relate them from the sequence of the events themselves.

XXIII. What, furthermore, did he bring forward by inventing subterfuges for himself? Since the specter ^B appeared to have said to Saul, *The Lord shall rend the kingdom from thy hand*; ^C attempting to make this plausible, he added that there was no need to understand the demon as having prophesied concerning the Israelite kingdom. We said already above that the demon had stolen the words spoken previously by Samuel, so that, by deceiving the mindless Saul, he might seem to weave a discourse out of his own observations. But this man pretends not to be aware of such tricks of the devil. As, therefore, he seemed to predict that the kingdom of the madman would be rent away, he then added: *And he will give it to thy neighbor, David*. The polyhistor Origen, however, moved here, said: "As for the demon, he cannot know the kingdom of David, which was appointed by the Lord." But I am moved to wonder here in what way he has gained among many a reputation for sound judgment, as if he were at once wise and best in rendering opinions. For if the kingdom were obscure, perhaps he might not inaptly have dissembled that he in some way did not know it: but since God had testified concerning it, and David had been anointed by Samuel, and, always holding the first place in war, he had been made the king’s son-in-law, so that to him the dancing myriads sang, but to Saul they assigned only thousands; and if these things and such as these were manifest, what is strange or unexpected if the demon recognized the kingdom secured by divine suffrage through the prophet? For if we wish to speak the truth, we must not understand that he perceives only corporeal things, just as the use of oil has the application of touch, which the sense perceives. But no one will doubt that these things are known clearly to all. I will add, however, what exceeds the rest. If these things were not manifest, which is greater, let us compare: to recognize the kingdom of David through the unction of oil, or to have led up the souls of prophets from hades? And yet that was demonstrated concerning the better Person. ^D For demons, tormented by Christ, cry out unwillingly with these words: *What have we to do with thee, Son of God? Hast thou come to destroy us before the time?* But to send for souls from hades, and to call together in that same place the choirs of angels that fly through the sky, only God and his most divine Son has the power to do, and no one else at all. If, therefore, the invisible kingdom of God, anointed by the Holy Spirit...

they knew, could they not have known much better the kingdom of David through a visible anointing and a visible change? But the wicked one did not see the deeds which had taken place and were written down in the Scriptures concerning David, he who even approached the Lord when He was clothed in a body and said boldly: "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you do not strike your foot against a stone." (Matt. IV, 6). Therefore, if he pretends to converse from the holy Scriptures, he knows what is written, though in a warped way; if he was aware of these things, then he was certainly not ignorant of the kingdom of David, which was inscribed in the sacred letters. So, by stating what was written, the demon did not prophesy anything at all.

XXIV. BUT THE FAMOUS ORIGEN

^A in order to demonstrate from this duality the one divinity and the true generation of God. If that prophet who promised to show a sign or wonder is to be rejected in every way, because he introduces forbidden idolatry—even if the power of the sign actually occurs—how much more should one not trust a demon who promises to summon souls from Hades and the spirits of the just? Moreover, no one, however impious, would say that when those people were consulting the oracle, God, in order to test the impious one, raised up Samuel, so that the event might subsequently be attributed to the demon's promise, and by that name deceive some through fraud. For one had to be on guard against the sin of divination, just as the lawgiver had commanded. But do you not think their auguries and the causes of them are to be detested? Are not the vaticinations of the engastrimyths and the symbols of lots also to be detested? Hear what he commanded again shortly thereafter: "If you enter the land which the Lord your God gives to you, you shall not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found in you one who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices divination, or interprets omens, or uses incantations, or a ventriloquist, or a scout of portents, or one who questions the dead: for everyone who does these things is an abomination to the Lord." ^B After this, hinting that for this reason he threatens death and destruction even to aliens, he immediately added: "For because of these abominations the Lord will destroy them from before you." It is manifest, therefore, that the vaticination of the engastrimyth is joined together with all the other causes of idolatry. For just as in fevers, internal filth kindles the disease and stirs up vicious humors, so that from the swelling and corruption they mostly bring on a pestilence, so too did he call the inspections of portents "sad visions," and by the history that is handed down concerning those things done through engastrimyths, he proved that nothing true is contained in them. Therefore, as I think, ^C he again brought forth a harsher judgment against them in Leviticus, pronouncing in these very words: "And a man or a woman, if they become ventriloquists or enchanters among you, let them be put to death; stone them with stones: they are guilty."

XXV. What then shall those say who contend that Origen's new opinions are to be embraced?

^A Thus, it is necessary to do one of two things: either reject these voices as useless, or denounce the words of the ventriloquist as stale and false. But what shall we say? Are the divine Scriptures at variance with themselves? Or does one vote contend against many? If, then, there is any conflict, the majority prevails. And yet, on the contrary, all are in unanimous agreement in the condemnation of the ventriloquists as those who act impiously. Moreover, it is recorded in the Fourth Book of Kings that Manasseh, in the excess of his impiety, in addition to the killings of the righteous, served in all respects those things that displayed the form of idols. "He made for himself," it says, "ventriloquists and gnostics." Conversely, however, King Josiah, who shone forth in the virtue of justice, pulled down all the handmade statues at once and destroyed them by burning them in the fire. ^B Indeed, among other things, he did what is worthy of mention: "He removed," he says, "the ventriloquists, and the gnostics, and the teraphim, and the idols, and the *karasaim*." Then, a few lines later, he says that he burned them as well, as being clearly unlawful. Therefore, if the same author is of both writings, and in this place he narrates the lives of two kings, and then presents the one as unjust—because among other things he chose ventriloquists—and praises the other as being stirred by zeal—because he destroyed the ventriloquists before all the enemies—if these things are so, it is established that he did not issue voices that were at war with themselves. Nor, again, did the Holy Spirit say that Samuel had ascended; rather, He recounted the words of the ventriloquist, that she, as it seemed and was imagined to her, boasted magnificently, emboldening the king with good hope through specters that were only dimly apprehended in her imagination. ^C For He would not have been at war with Himself or with all the other Scriptures. And these passages do not only refute these things, but another witness worthy of trust adds his vote to them: the prophet Isaiah, who sometimes forbids such abominations and at other times exhorted those subject to him most correctly, cries out: "And if they say unto you: Seek the ventriloquists, and those who call from the earth, who speak in vain, who speak from the belly; is there not a nation unto God?" Then, adding something after this, he brings forth: "Why," he said, "do they seek the dead concerning the living? For He gave the law for assistance,"—so that they might say, not as this word, for which there are no gifts to be given—with clear and holy voice he cast out the entire race of ventriloquists. ^D And if he declared such an assembly to be of empty talkers, he showed without doubt that none of them ever utters anything truthful at all, but they fabricate their deception with vain lies and fool the unlearned with stale and empty talk. Wherefore he not inappropriately mocked those who inquire of the dead concerning the living; for those empty talkers themselves, being dead and blind, pretend to convey the voices of the dead. Against whom the prophet testified, crying out that a law had already been laid down concerning these matters, so that they might not be led astray by the empty chatter of speech, just as those who are the authors of such things. For the firmest custody of the law is to implore heavenly aid, and not to...

seek assistance from earthly things, looking down toward those very subterranean places. ^A

XXVI. But Origen, who reckons himself to have interpreted all the Scriptures, pretends to be ignorant of these testimonies, nor does he use them as is fitting, but stuffs his work with things that are of no relevance to the subject, skipping over those which by their very nature were appropriate. If he did this through ignorance, he acted foolishly, as it seems; if through malice, he proceeded boldly. Indeed, when he had spoken in an ambiguous and doubtful manner—"What then does the ventriloquist do here? What then does the ventriloquist do regarding the bringing up of the soul of the just man?"—he escaped on high through the ambiguity of his speech, attributing that which he himself had done to others, while crediting the whole to Scripture; he confidently asseverates that Samuel had been brought up, but he does not dare to repeat the question a second time: "Who brought him up?" I, for my part, think that because he was rebuked by those who always hold the most correct opinions regarding the first interpretation, he responded in his second exposition by saying that the place of the ventriloquist had been observed. ^B Next, he adds the written text: "That some ventriloquist brought him up," and likewise "that Saul said to Samuel," has been handed down in the letters. He repeats many similar things in a hollow circuit of words again and again, then again he says: "But it does not state whether he ascended willingly. For you do not have," he says, "a text stating that the ventriloquist brought him up. If not, let someone who reads the Scripture refute me." Therefore, being refuted from the opposite side, he openly denied what he had previously thought inconsiderately. For there he had determined that it was the Scripture that spoke rather than the woman: "Whom shall I bring up for you?" But here, being clearly convicted, he endeavored to avoid the accusation through forgetfulness. Thus, he everywhere sets forth opinions contradictory to himself, just as here also, caught in the conflict and confusion of his opinions, he was compelled to escape the charge. Since, therefore, being led by some force, he confessed that the woman had not called up the prophet's soul, let him say who did bring it up. For he firmly held to this in that place, asserting only that she was called up. ^C The pythomantis, therefore, was the only one present, and Saul was the one requesting her to bring up the prophet. But this man could not be the author of the drama; for coming to her by night, he would not be praying to a ventriloquist. If, however, the deed followed, it must be attributed to no one else but the ventriloquist. Thus, it is necessary to affirm one of these two things: that this was never performed in any way, or that the upright man was brought up by the ventriloquist and the demon. Does he not, while seeming to deny his own words out of religion, fraudulently foist the same opinion upon us through a different method? But through the discourse by which he seems to defend himself, he inculcates a lie as if it were the truth. Nor are there enough to strike shame into him—so many and so great are the decrees of the lawgivers, the consonant testimonies of the prophets, and the one and same, remaining consensus of the historical record. ^D Nay more, having perverted the most holy oracles with a crooked reason, he freely confirms the words of the ventriloquist, decreeing more recent instruments for the cult of idols, which pla-

- ^A giarism of demonic divination he obtrudes. Its very compound name persuades us in what department it dwells, for *Engastrimythus* is interpreted as "ventriloquist" and "fable," as if demonstrating a fable fashioned in the belly. Now the composition of a fable within the belly, like a tent pitched in such a way, openly proclaims not the truth, but a lie. Much better, therefore, do those who are skilled in various reading know what its genus is: one who is not only himself utterly addicted to superstitious illusions, but who secretly introduces the superstitions of the gentiles.

XXVII. Nevertheless, we should not omit, even from this point, to rebuke his stupidity, as is fitting. For the traditions of rhetorical art explain quite clearly that a fable is a certain fiction, framed with delight for some necessary use in life. Now it is called a "fiction" because, as all equally confess, it is something "feigned." For it would not be called a fable if it had been done in reality. Therefore, if a fable is an improvised composition of a feigned matter, it is indeed far removed from the truth, yet it represents things by supplying subject matter for the *reason* even though it is devoid of *action*. For it suggests that things which do not exist possess plausibility, as if they were real, and introduces a feigned imitation into the narrative. Thus, it gives form to things that do not subsist, adorning them with shapes and figures, yet they are supported by no firmness, as far as that is possible. To me, indeed, the composition of a fable seems to differ nothing from the delineation of an inanimate shadow. For, as I think, it is fashioned in the likeness of a painting by its lines; and, looking toward a single part with a similar appearance, it feigns a person, and with lines drawn out it represents things—though not the things themselves—while ^B in all matters it observes a number, or rather an inequality, most significantly. It paints the beginnings and ends of wars, fitting them to their bases, as well as speaking lips, the peculiarities of voices, laughter, lamentations, or the public addresses of princes, banquets and revels, or Bacchic rites, or mysteries, or intemperate drunkenness, or amatory petulance, or the plunderings of thieves, or incurable ravages, or ruthless slaughters, or the pretense of poverty, or the influx of wealth. Iconology, therefore, characterizes all these things, while personification declares the actions that are like to those of men. For myth-makers, gathering together flowery words, create various kinds of colors and weave them with personification; then, coloring them with sweet words, they append the whole narration of the fable. And just as artists of images depict the beauty of the aspect, painting with red and flowery colors—as if painting with wax—so too, when they are compelled to accommodate the number by words and figures, they bind these things, as it were, with fetters, for the sake of truth, with heavy characters. But these men adorn the images of fables in this way; and from this is composed a certain musical harmony, and the discovery of poetic imagination. ^C

XXVIII. Indeed, Plato, when asked, defines music as consisting of "discourses," saying: there are two species of discourse, he said, the one true, the other false; and one must be instructed in both, but ^D

^A first in the mendacious. For previously he had said that children are soothed by the singing of fables. Therefore, it is the greatest and most excellent principle for every task; and especially so for any young and tender person. For then the figure of that thing is most shaped and induced which one wishes to imprint and seal upon each. By these statements, he tries to show that it is by no means necessary to occupy the minds of the young with excessive and pure falsehoods; since those marks of depraved opinion which are imprinted upon the minds of the very young can scarcely be pulled away or wiped out. Wherefore, he adds without interruption: "Shall we so easily permit the children to hear just any fables as they have been invented at random by just anyone, and to take into their souls opinions which are for the most part contrary to those which we believe they ought to have when they have reached a mature age?" "In no way," he said, "shall we permit it." "First of all, we must appoint censors for those storytellers, and if they have made a good fable, ^B we must select and approve it; but if a bad one, we must reject it. And those fables which we have selected, we shall take care that nurses and mothers recount them to the children, so that their minds may be informed and instructed by those fables much more than their bodies are cared for by their hands. But of those things which they currently recount, many must be rejected." Then, when he was questioned regarding the proportional difference of each, "In the greater fables," he said, "we shall see the lesser ones." When Adimantus, suggesting that he did not understand these things, asked again in return, he added: "The ones which both Hesiod and Homer have recounted to us. For these men have fabricated certain false fables which they have proposed to men, and which have already prevailed long ago, and still hold sway even now."

XXIX

XXX

and speaks with a sound mind; but the demon, dwelling in the inmost parts, feeds upon the mind itself and harms its reason, and from the belly he utters mythical fictions, constructing them; and transforming himself into various shapes, he leads the soul astray with diverse illusions. ^A Since he is many-faced and changes into all sorts of forms, he nonetheless also pretends to ascend from the earth and to cry out. And then, by changing the figures of his ministering limbs, he seems to present before the eyes one who is ascending other than the one who is calling him. But the same one, running hither and thither, changes the appearances, so that he may show by deeds and words that he is a liar. He makes a pretense, therefore, of bringing up the very persons of the dead, as it is natural to gather from such a spectacle; ^B he brings in, deceptively, spectral visions with a gloomy countenance, all sorrowful and full of the stench of the dead, presenting them as if they had been called up from Hades, and as if they had been released for a short time from a prison or from chains, and then passing again from there to here. Therefore, he also strikes fear into the soul with these sights, fashioning pale forms and horrid and downcast eyes, such as those of the dead are wont to be, who seem to be on the point of breathing their last. For, as a maker of such things, he accommodates himself through simulation to all terrible things. Sometimes, also, having summoned to his work demons not unlike himself, he brings up—not, however, the souls of the prophets, nor the spirits of the just, nor the angelic dignities—but, on the contrary, he was once pressed down ^C by the angels and delivered up to the best of men, so as to be trodden underfoot, cast down to the ground, and ruptured. While this one was brought down from those heights by a violent rush and laid his back upon the ground, it belongs to God alone, the Almighty, and to His most divine Son, to lead souls up from Hades and to have choirs of angels standing in order, which is a property that is unique, excellent, and singular to the divine nature.

SANCTUS EUSTATHIUS, BISHOP OF ANTIOCH, ADDRESS TO THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE AT THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA

(From Gregory the Presbyter of Caesarea, *Oration on the Nicene Fathers*; from Combefis, *Auctarium novissimum*, II, 555.)

^D We give thanks to God, best of emperors, who directs the earthly empire for you, who through you has abolished the error of idols and established the joyful hearts of the faithful in liberty. The stench of demons has ceased; the objects of worship of the Greek polytheism have been destroyed; the darkness of ignorance is driven away; the world is illuminated by the light of the knowledge of God; the Father is glorified, the Son is worshipped together with Him, the Holy Spirit is proclaimed: the Trinity, consubstantial, one

Godheads in three persons and hypostases is proclaimed. By it, O emperor, the empire of your piety is fortified; keep this inviolate for us. Let no heretic, slipping into the Church, take away any one thing from the Trinity, leaving what remains dishonored and affected with ignominy. Arius, who received his name from madness, is the cause for us of discourse and assembly; he who—I know not how—having been enrolled in the presbytery of the Alexandrian Church, while we were unaware, was found to be a stranger to the teaching of the most blessed prophets and apostles. For he is not ashamed to deprive the only-begotten Son and Word of the Father of the fellowship of the Father’s substance, and, a worshiper of the creature, he strives to add the Creator to created things. You, O emperor, should persuade him, if his opinion is changed, not to resist the apostolic doctrines; or if he persists in the impiety of the sinister opinion of which he has been convicted, you should cast him out altogether from the assembly of Christ and ourselves, lest the minds of the simple should happen to be plundered by the muddy enticements of his words. ^B

FRAGMENTS FROM THE LOST BOOKS OF ST. EUSTATHIUS, BISHOP OF ANTIOCH

I. — On that text of Proverbs viii, 22, "The Lord created me." — [Apud Theodoret, *Hist. eccl.*, lib. 1, cap. 8.]

I will now come to those things that were done. What then? Since for these reasons a very great synod had gathered at Nicaea, of about two hundred and seventy bishops (for I cannot report the number with certainty because of the huge size of that gathering, inasmuch as I was not very curious in investigating it), after it began to be inquired into regarding the manner of the faith, a document of Eusebius was brought forth into the midst, a most certain proof of his blasphemy. ^C When it had been read openly in the hearing of all, it immediately brought immense pain to the listeners because of the depravity of the doctrine; but it affected the author himself with huge shame and disgrace. Furthermore, when the workshop of those around Eusebius had now been detected, and the impious document had been torn to pieces in the sight of all, some nevertheless, making a pretense of the name of peace, imposed silence on all the others who were accustomed to speak what was best. But the Arians, fearing that, with so many bishops gathered in one place, they themselves might be cast out of the Church, leaping into the midst, anathematized the dogma which had been condemned, and subscribed with their own hands to the document which had been written by the unanimous consent of all. ^D Yet, having retained episcopal dignity through intrigue and assiduous solicitations, when they ought to have been doing penance, they defend their condemned opinions now secretly, now openly, lurking with various arguments. Desiring to establish the seeds of tares, they shrink from those who are experienced, and flee from sagacious inspectors; and for this reason they attack the heralds of piety with war. But we do not so believe, as that godless men could ever prevail over the divine. For even if they…

gather their forces again, they shall be defeated again, according to the sublime prophet Isaiah. ^A

From the same, in Theodoret, Dial. I, Opp. tom. IV, p. 38. From the same, on the passage: "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways."

If, then, the Word received a beginning of generation from the time when, passing through a mother’s womb, He bore the harmony of bodily members, it follows that He was made of a woman. But if the Word was God from the beginning with the Father, and we say that all things were made through Him, then He who is, and who provides the cause for all created things to exist, was surely not made of a woman; rather, He exists by nature as God—self-sufficient, infinite, and incomprehensible. But He was made man from a woman, He who was formed in the virginal womb by the Holy Spirit. ^B

Ibidem. From the same, from the same sermon.

For the pure and undefiled temple is, in the proper sense, the human tabernacle of the Word, in which God visibly dwelt, having pitched His tent. And we do not say this based on plausible conjectures. For He who is by nature the Son of God, foretelling the destruction and resurrection of the temple, undoubtedly instructs us on this matter as He speaks to the bloodthirsty Jews: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." ^C

Ibidem. From the same, from the same book.

When, therefore, the Word, having fashioned the man, assumed him, He resided among men in a body, invisibly performing all sorts of miracles, and sent forth the apostles as heralds of the eternal kingdom. ^D

From the same, in Theodoret, Dial. II, p. 90. From the same, on the passage: "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways."

For Paul did not say "conformed to the Son of God," but "conformed to the image of His Son," teaching that the Son of God is one thing, and His image another. For the Son, bearing the divine marks of the Father's virtue, is the image of the Father; because those who are born like from like are seen to be true images of their parents. But the man whom He assumed is the image of the Son, since images are also painted in wax from dissimilar colors; and some are made by hand according to a design, while others are formed by nature and similarity. Moreover, the law of truth itself declares this. For the incorporeal spirit of Wisdom is not conformed to corporeal men; but it is the man, fashioned by the Spirit, who is the character, bearing members equal in number to all others, and having put on a form similar to each.

^A

Of the same, from the same oration.

That he says the body is conformed to human bodies, he teaches us more clearly by writing to the Philippians: "Our conversation," he says, "is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like, or conformed, unto his glorious body." If, therefore, he transforms the humble body of men and makes it conformed to his own body, the slander of his adversaries is shown to be entirely groundless.

Of the same, from the same oration. Ibidem, p. 91.

But just as the man born of the Virgin is said to have been born of a woman, so too he is said to have been made under the Law, because he proceeded at times by way of legal precepts; just as when his parents hastened with ready mind to circumcise the infant himself at eight days old, as the evangelist Luke relates. Afterward, they also brought him into the temple to present him to the Lord, performing the offerings of purification, so that they might give the sacrifice, as it is written in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. If, therefore, the gifts of purification were offered for him according to the Law, and he underwent the circumcision of the eighth day, not without reason does he write that he was made under the Law for this cause. And yet, the Word was not subject to the Law, as the slanderers opine, since he himself is the Law; nor did God need purifying sacrifices, who purifies and ^C sanctifies all things by his nod alone. But although he bore the human organ assumed from the Virgin, and was made under the Law, purified by the rite of the firstborn; he did not endure these observances because he himself needed this remedy, but that he might redeem from the servitude of the Law those who had been sold to the condemnation of the curse.

Of the same, from the oration on that text: "The Lord created me the beginning of his ways."

For the man who had died rose again on the third day, and to Mary, who was borne with great alacrity toward touching his holy limbs, he replied: "Touch me not; for I have not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them: I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God." But as for that: "I have not yet ascended to my Father," the Word and God, who had descended from heaven and was dwelling in the bosom of the Father, did not say this, nor did the Wisdom which contains all created things; but he himself who was compacted of diverse members, the man, uttered this; he who had risen from the dead, and had not yet ascended to the Father after his death, but was reserving for himself the firstfruits of his departure. ^D

^A Of the same, from the same discourse. He clearly names that man who was crucified as the Lord of glory, writing: since he declared him both Lord and Christ, just as the apostles, speaking with one voice to the sensible Israel, say: "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." He made the Jesus who suffered to be Lord, and not the Wisdom nor the Word, who from all antiquity has the power of lordship; but him who was lifted up and stretched out his hands upon the cross.

Of the same, from the same discourse. For if he is incorporeal, he is subject neither to the touch of hands, nor is he grasped by the eyes of sense; he undergoes no wounding, he is not nailed by nails, he does not partake of death, he is not hidden in the earth, he is not enclosed in a tomb, nor does he rise from the graves.

^B Of the same, from the same discourse. "No one takes my soul from me; I have power to lay down my soul, and I have power to take it up again." But if, as God, he had the power of both, he indeed allowed them to loose the temple while they wished it inconsiderately, for he was working in a more manifest way by raising it up. It has been proven by irrefutable testimonies that he himself, by his own power, raised up his own renovated house. And the magnificent works of the Son must also be ascribed to the most divine Father. For neither does the Son create without the Father, according to the invincible declarations of the Holy Scriptures. For this reason, sometimes the most divine Begetter is written as having raised Christ from the dead; at other times the Son promises that he will raise his own temple. If, therefore, from what has been examined previously, the divine spirit of Christ has been shown to be impassible, the defiled men lean in vain upon the apostolic definitions. For if Paul said that the Lord of glory was crucified, ^C clearly looking to the man, it does not follow from this that one must attribute passion to the divine. Why, then, do they join these things together, saying that Christ was crucified out of weakness?

Of the same, from the same discourse. But if indeed any species of weakness was to be attributed to him, one might say that it is consequent to ascribe these things to the man, and not at all to the fullness of the divinity, or to the dignity of the highest Wisdom, or to him who, according to Paul, is written as God over all.

Of the same, from the same discourse. This is indeed the manner of the weakness, by which it is written, according to Paul, that he came to death. For he lives by the power of God—that is, clearly, by the divine Spirit. ^D

^A

Of the same, from the same oration.

But if, having entered the Virgin’s womb, he did not diminish his power, nor is the Spirit defiled because his body was fastened to the wood of the cross. For the body hung suspended on the cross, but the divine Spirit of Wisdom both inhabited within the body, and sat in the heavens, and encompassed the whole earth, and commanded the abysses, and by searching scrutinized the souls of each, and governed all things together as God is accustomed to do. For the supreme Wisdom is not contained, shut up within corporeal masses, ^B just as liquids and dry substances are enclosed in vessels, and are contained rather than containing their receptacles. But being a certain divine and inexpressible power, it includes and strengthens the innermost and outermost parts of the temple; and proceeding further from thence, it governs all masses simultaneously, containing them.

Of the same, from the same oration.

If indeed the sun, being a visible body perceptible to the senses, despite enduring so many and such great insults everywhere on earth, does not change its order, nor feel any small or great blow, ^C do we suppose that the incorporeal Wisdom is defiled and changes its nature if its temple is fastened to a cross, or undergoes destruction, or receives wounds, or admits corruption? But the temple indeed suffers; yet the substance, free from fault, retains its dignity pure and undefiled in every respect.

On that passage of Proverbs IX, 5: Eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mixed for you. — From the Acts of the Second Council of Nicaea, Act VI, Vol. VIII, page 1099 and 1479.

Version of Anastasius the Librarian.

Therefore, it is clearly demonstrated that neither the Lord, nor the apostles, nor the Fathers ever said that the bloodless sacrifice which is offered through the priest is an image, ^D but rather the very body and the very blood. And before the celebration of sanctification, it has seemed pious to some of the holy Fathers to call them antitypes; among whom is Eustathius, that steadfast champion of the orthodox faith and destroyer of the Arian madness, and Basil, the remover of that same unhappy superstition, who taught the plain basis of right dogmas which is under the sun. For speaking from one and the same Spirit, one of them, interpreting the dictum of Solomon which is read in the Proverbs: *Eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mixed for you*, says thus:

"By bread and wine he proclaims the types ^A of the bodily members of Christ." Another, however, drawing from the same fountain, as all the mystagogues of the priesthood know, in the prayer of the divine oblation says thus: "Confident, we approach the holy altar, and setting forth the antitypes of the holy body and blood of your Christ, we beseech you and entreat you," and what follows thereafter.

*Vulgata and ancient edition.* You may read as long as you wish, you will never find either the Lord, or the apostles, or the Fathers saying that that unbloody sacrifice which is offered by the priest is an image; but rather the body itself and the blood itself. Yet, before the consecration of the sanctification, it has seemed to some Fathers, piously enough, to name it an antitype, or an exemplar of a similar form: of whose number is Eustathius, that constant champion of the orthodox faith and illustrious expugner of the Arian insanity; likewise Basil, the averruncator of the same superstition; who, teaching the open and plain path of the right and approved dogmas, speak with one mouth and spirit. The latter, indeed, expounding that dictum in the Proverbs of Solomon: *Eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mixed for you*, says this: "By bread and wine he proclaims the types of the bodily members of Christ." The former, however, drawing from the same fountain, as all the mystagogues of the priesthood know, in the prayer of the divine anaphora reads thus elsewhere: "Confident, we approach your holy altar, and setting forth the antitypes of the holy body and blood of your Christ, we beseech you and invoke you," etc. ^B

*Of holy Eustathius, bishop of Antioch and confessor, on the Inscriptions of the titles of Psalms XV and LVI, according to the LXX.*

*In the same Theodoret, Dial. II, page 90.* Thence therefore it comes about that he described him as sitting upon a holy throne, signifying that he is placed on the same throne with the most divine Spirit, because of God dwelling in him continuously.

*In the same Theodoret, Dial. III, page 158.*

*Of the same, from the discourse on the Inscriptions of the Gradual Psalms.* The Father does not receive acquired glory, being perfect, infinite, beyond all grasp of the mind, and in no need of beauty, and alien to every stain. But neither does his Word, who is God begotten from him, by whom were made angels, and heavens, and the measureless ^C expanses of the earth, and all, to comprehend in few, the materials and forms of creatures: but the man of Christ, rising from the dead, is exalted and glorified, bringing shame openly upon his adversaries.

*Ibidem, page 159. Of the same, from the same discourse.* They who had undertaken hatred against him out of envy, and had proceeded against him in hostile battle-array, are dissipated, when the Word and God has gloriously raised up his own temple.

*In the same Theodoret, Dial. I, page 57.*

*Of the same, from the interpretation of Psalm XV.* But yet the soul of Jesus experienced both. For it was both in the place of human souls, and, existing outside the flesh, it lives and remains. It is endowed, therefore, with reason, and is of the same substance with the souls of men; just as the flesh is consubstantial to the flesh of men, having proceeded from Mary.

*In the same Theodoret, Dial. III, page 159.*

*Of the same, from the interpretation of Psalm XCII.* Finally, therefore, ^D the prophet Isaiah, following through the traces of his passions, adds this also...

in a louder voice: ^A *And we saw him, and he has neither form nor beauty; but his appearance is ignoble and deficient beyond the sons of men.* Then, clearly revealing that it is to the man, and not to the divine, that the forms and sufferings of appearance are related, he immediately adds: *A man in affliction, and knowing how to endure infirmity.*

*Idem, from the same interpretation.* He himself, therefore, is the one who, after the insults, was seen without form or beauty, but then again, through a change, put on beauty. For God, who dwells in him, was not led to death in the likeness of a lamb, nor slaughtered like a sheep, since He is by nature invisible. ^B

*Apud eumdem, Dial. 1, page 38.*

*Idem, from the same interpretation.* It is manifest, then: if the one who anoints designates God, whose throne He says is eternal, clearly the one who anoints is by nature God, begotten of God. But the one who is anointed has received an acquired virtue, being adorned by an extraordinary temple-building, from the divinity dwelling within him.

*Apud Theodoritum, Dial. 1, page 37.* *Of Saint Eustathius, bishop of Antioch and confessor, from the book On the Soul.*

What, then, would they say who have looked to the upbringing of the infant, or to the growth of age, or to the passing of time, or to the increase of the body? But that I may pass over the miracles wrought on earth, let them see the resurrections of the dead, the symbols of the passion, the traces of the scourges, the welts of the wounds, ^C the pierced side, the marks of the nails, the shedding of blood, the signs of death, and to sum it all up, the very resurrection of his own body.

*Idem, from the same book.*

If indeed anyone looks to the generation of the body, he will clearly find that having been born in Bethlehem he was wrapped in swaddling cloths, and in Egypt he was nurtured for some years on account of the vengeance of the wicked Herod, and in Nazareth he reached man’s estate. ^D

*Idem, from the same book.*

For it is not the same thing, the tabernacle of the Word and of God, through which the blessed Stephen beheld the divine glory.

*Apud eumdem, Dial. II, page 90.*

*Idem, from the book On the Soul.*

Before the passion, he everywhere predicted his bodily death, saying that he would be handed over to the high priests and announcing the trophy of the cross. After the passion,

^A when he had risen from the dead on the third day, and the disciples doubted that he had been raised, he appeared to them in the same body, professing that he had flesh and bones in their entirety; but to their eyes he displayed his pierced side, and showed them the marks of the nails. Apud eumdem Dial. III, pag. 156. [The same, from the book “On the Soul.”] Scarcely can their impious slander be refuted—most especially if he did not offer his own body for the sake of the salvation of men of his own free will. For, first of all, they attribute great weakness to him, saying that he could not repel the onslaught of his enemies. IBIDEM. [The same, from the same book.] ^B But why are they so eager to show that Christ assumed a soulless body, fabricating earthly deceits? In order that, if they can corrupt some who define these things to be so, they may then attribute the changes of the passions to the divine Spirit, and easily persuade them that what is mutable has not been begotten of an immutable nature. Ex Eustratii presbyteri CP. libro adversus eos qui dicunt, animas statim atque e corpore solutæ sunt, non operari: cap. 19. Apud Allatium De purgatorio, pagg. 497-500. We find besides Eustathius, bishop of Antioch in Syria and confessor, writing in harmony ^C with the aforementioned Fathers in his book “On the Soul and Against the Arians.” In harmony with these things the same Jeremiah proceeds, serving the words of God, through which he shows that he does not accept the intercessions of the righteous if they should wish to offer prayers on behalf of the homicidal. And the Lord said to me, saying: If Moses and Samuel should stand before my face, my soul is not toward them. It is declared by the divine Scripture that Moses and Samuel died; how then do they intercede for those who are unworthy, if, according to you, they do not work? And the same Father adds again, saying: But if, through the epiphany of Christ, he introduces the human race into Paradise; and when he was crucified, he promised that he would introduce the thief there that same day, with the body still lying in the tomb, it is evident that it was by the soul of Christ, which dwells properly with God and the Word, who contains in himself all created things at once, that the soul of man, being of a like nature, was brought into Paradise. ^D For it is not written that before the resurrection of the holy body the body of the thief was raised to life and obtained the promise. It is therefore consequent, if we wish to understand the matter cautiously, that the soul is [conducted] by the soul kindred to it, as by one having greater authority—

A bringing the promise at once to its fulfillment, and ushering it into the excellent inheritance, opening up paradise. The Father having said that Christ brought the race of men into paradise, clearly [refers to] those adorned by their way of life, and having confessed the right [faith], just as also the thief; for by a part, he indicated the whole race of the virtuous.

Of Eustathius, Bishop of Antioch, from the book On the Soul.

V.

FRAGMENTS FROM THE EIGHT BOOKS AGAINST THE ARIANS, NOW LOST.

Eulogius of Alexandria, in Photius, cod. CCXXV, p. 760. ^B For Eustathius, Bishop of Antioch, in his sixth book against the Arians, writes in these words: "But the strange dancers of the Arian stage boast that Christ committed sin." And after a few words: "But that [passage]: *For God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself*, they neither hold in memory, nor utter with the organs of their tongue; but as grave calumniators and accusers, having mutilated the passage, they set up for themselves a contest of accusation. Then also the judgment [is] in favor of the law: For it behoves those who strive lawfully out of a love for truth, to include everything without omission, and not, for the sake of deceit, to pass over one part in silence while offering another by tearing it away."

Facundus Hermianensis, lib. XI, cap. 1. For the blessed Eustathius, Bishop of Antioch, who was the first at the Nicene Council, in his sixth book against the Arians, regarding what the Lord says ^C (Matth. XXIV, 36), "No one knows that day": Let us say, he says, for the sake of what thing the Son of Man is ignorant of the day of his own advent. For there is no doubt that the Creator of all and Maker of the race, God, foreseeing this for the utility of men, devised it. For just as He joined man to the Word and to God for the sake of the salvation of men: so also He fittingly hid the signal day of judgment for the sake of a divine benefit to man; lest peradventure a man, indicating ineffable mysteries to men of a similar race, might disclose the day of the second advent.

Likewise in the same book: "When it shall have sat," he says, "the Son of Man on the seat of His majesty" (Matth. XIX, 28), it seems to speak of one person; yet it makes discourse manifest concerning the other. Therefore it appears that the divine Spirit is speaking clearly concerning the man: "When the Son of Man shall have sat on the seat of His majesty"; announcing without contradiction that man, adorned with justice and virtue, receives approaching glories and receives the high throne of the kingdom in due order.

Again, however, in the same book, disputing concerning the words of Christ, he says: "All things have been delivered to me by the Father" (Matth. XI, 27), he is recognized as prophesying clearly from the person of the man, as we proved before. For this one receives the greatest and accompanying virtues, proceeding in dignity to better things. ^D

^A For the same Eustathius, in the eighth book, says: One must consider how, while speaking to God and saying, "And you have destroyed the cities," he again introduces another, the Lord, inferring, "And the Lord remains forever. He has prepared His throne in judgment." For it is most manifest that, as he speaks of one concerning another, he signifies that it is the Judge who has prepared the seat for Him, as if He did not previously possess this honor. Thus he seemed to speak, for he indicated through prophetic figures that the man, having been made a temple worthily from the members of justice and dwelling with the most holy Word, had attained the perpetual throne of virtue.

Likewise in the same book: For he says, it is not he who has the throne of the kingdom who prepares for himself another lot, but he to whom the power of the throne is not present. Therefore these things point manifestly to the man of Christ. But these things are not to be attributed to the Almighty, who possesses His own scepter, nor to the Word who Himself possesses the very kingdom, which the Father also has; but it must be said in Christ, "The Lord has prepared His throne in heaven." For He is the ruler of all creatures at once on account of the commingling of the divine Word.

OTHER FRAGMENTS FROM THE SAME BOOKS AGAINST THE ARIANS, CITED INDEFINITELY.

By Gelasius, *De duabus naturis in Christo*, Bibl. PP. Paris. 1644, tom. IV, part. 1, p. 424. *Of Eustathius, Bishop of Antioch and Confessor, against the Arians.* Wherefore the man of Christ clearly received the fitting virtues and governments of the nations and peoples, and of the mixed tribes, and the empire of all things, and he who progresses in wisdom and age and grace, as the letters of the Gospel teach in particular.

*Of the same against them. — Ibidem.* And again, when it is said, "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands," and as he introduces it in this way, he declares the power of the man: how, being about to take up the scepter of eternal empire, he would have the judgment of all things committed to him.

*Of the same against them. — Ibidem.* For if, he says, "the fullness of the divinity dwells in Christ," that is indeed what is inhabited. But if they differ naturally from one another, it is not right that the passion of death, nor the appetite for food, nor the desire for drink, nor sleep, nor sadness, nor fatigue, nor the shedding of tears, nor any other change should coexist with the fullness of the divinity, since it is unchangeable by nature. But these things are to be applied properly to the man who consists of soul and body; for it is consistent to demonstrate from the very human and harmless movements themselves, that God, perfectly assuming, did not put on the whole man fantastically and in appearance, but in very truth.

*Against the same. — Ibidem.* Wherefore, one part will be mortal, and another part besides this will be immortal. And consequently, writing the same letter to Timothy, looking toward the God-bearing man, he proclaimed: "Be mindful that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead from the seed of David, according to my Gospel."

*And after a few words. — Ibidem.* But the man bearing God, who of his own accord determined to sustain the passion of death for the benefit of men, received the palm, and, so to speak, the honor of the contest, and the power. And where he is received is the glory which he had not previously possessed.

By the same GELASIUS, l. c., p. 429. *Of Eustathius, Bishop of Antioch, against the Arians.* God, he says, the Word, bears the same image that the Begetter bears; for it is an image existing of the divine substance: but His temple, being man, is not the same as the fabricator of the temple, having sprung from a dissimilar kind.

*Again the same after a few words. — Ibidem.* But wishing to introduce the majesty of power, he also called the mortal body itself the Son here: imposing upon it indeed the name of sublimity, that is, of God dwelling in it decibly.

*And after a few words. — Ibidem.* But I think, he says, that no one who is not insane and raving with fury has ever said that the fullness of the divinity has suffered the loss of death. Therefore they are insane and rave and rage and are mad and have departed from their senses, who presume to apply passion to the Word of God.

And after a few things.—Ibidem. For if, he says, in Christ the fullness of divinity dwells... these things must be applied separately to the man, who consists of soul and body.

Of the same.—Ibidem. Since it is not right to say that the Word is mortal, and God who raised up his own temple after three days. If, therefore, this same one then born is the firstborn from the dead, who was clothed about with death; but is himself the prince of all, who has received the acquired virtues. Finally, the temple of the Word rising from the sepulcher after three days, in the body itself indeed he came to his own apostles; but he spoke these words to them: All power is given to me in heaven and on earth. For since the temple received this power from without, and not God who built the temple with exceptional beauty.

From John of Damascus, from the sacred Parallels, Works, Vol. II, page 314.

Eustathius, against the Arians

Ibidem, page 751.

Eustathius, Bishop of Antioch

OTHER FRAGMENTS

(From the book whose title is: *Chain of one hundred and fifty commentators on the Octateuch and the Books of Kings, now published in print for the first time. By the request of the most pious and serene prince of all Ungrovlachia, the lord lord Gregory Alexander GHYKA, and by the care of Nicephorus, hieromonk of the Theotokos. In Leipzig of Saxony, in the printing house of Breitkopf. In the year 1772. Vol. I, pp. 398, 350.*)

I.

Concerning Melchisedech

Eustathius of Antioch. The genealogy of Melchisedech is not recounted, since his ancestors were not worthy of the virtue of the just man. But he is compared to Christ, not according to the nature of the flesh; for the genealogy of the Lord is indeed recounted; but according to a more sublime order, for he has an ineffable genealogy.

II.

From the tractate: On the inscriptions of the titles.

Eustathius of Antioch. Jacob, whispered to by the Holy Spirit, first sees the bodily form of Christ itself, clearly described beforehand, which is visible and is comprehended by the measure of place: second, however, the victorious trophy of the cross, likened to a ladder; for to this he was attached on high, drawing all to himself. Those who are understanding, therefore, can see how by name indeed some call the affections of temptations themselves the rungs of a ladder,

^A signifying ascents and descents; but in its form, the ladder is somewhat like the cross, being composed of upright and transverse pieces of wood. As he recorded such a vision, therefore, he took the stone upon which he had rested his head and set it up as a pillar, a monument to the history, and marking upon it an image of the person who had appeared to him, in which he established a renewal of memory. And as he called the house the temple of the Word of God, as the Son of the Almighty himself also revealed: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John II, 19). ^B And indeed he also called it the gate of heaven, since by the divine working of Christ, our body and soul being purified, we are able to approach the divine nature. Wherefore, not in vain did he pour oil upon the top of the pillar; rather, this was indicative of that which Mary zealously performed, pouring ointment from above upon the feet of Christ. And this again happened to be that message of the burial, as the Lord himself plainly clarified. And this stone represents that chief cornerstone, which the builders rejected, but which became the head of the corner (Ps. CXVII, 22).

LITURGY OF SAINT EUSTATHIUS, PATRIARCH OF ANTIOCH

*First, the prayer before the kiss of peace.* Gracious God and of great mercy, O Lord, who justly hearken to those who call upon you without doubting, grant also to us, who cry to you with one and equal voice, that with unanimous concord we may give one another peace in a holy and divine kiss, and may offer up glory to you, etc. *People.* Amen. *Deacon proclaims the Mediam.* *Priest, raising his voice.* Driving away from us every doubt, O Lord, confirm us with the bond of your charity, and send abundant blessings to us and to those who are bowed before you, that we may be made true worshippers and partakers of your eternal goods, and we shall offer glory to you, etc. *People.* Amen.

^C *Priest.* You are the treasure of aids and the fountain of goods, O Lord: we therefore who labor in need and poverty, make us rich with the incomprehensible riches of your divine gifts: and perfect us into a holy people and a saved congregation, which may announce your praises, O God the Father, and your only-begotten Son, and your living Spirit. *Deacon.* Give the peace. *Priest.* The charity of God the Father. *People.* Amen. Of the mercy of God. *Priest.* Lift up your hearts. *People.* We lift them up to the Lord. *Priest.* Let us give thanks to the Lord. *People.* It is worthy and just. *Priest, bowed.* Let us give thanks, let us adore, ^D and let us glorify the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one true God.

(26) This is very famous not only among the Jacobites, but also among the orthodox, as a memory of Eustathius of Antioch, who was present at the Council of Nicaea (a): nor did it belong more to the Jacobites than to the other ancient Fathers: except that, since he was a bishop of the Church of Antioch, they gave him a place among them, from whom they rashly derive their origins. So, just as they wrote two liturgies in the name of Peter, who founded that Church, and one in the name of Ignatius, it was easy for them to ascribe one also to Eustathius. Gabriel Sionita, in his epistle to Nihusius (b), included it among those which were in use among the Maronites, and Abraham Echellensis in his notes on Hebed Jesu, and Faustus Naironus in his *Eroplia* (c). It is also published in the Maronite Missal: but with interpolations, which were made in others. We have restored the sincere reading from a Colbert manuscript of good quality, which represented it: for it is lacking in many. But since the sentiment of all liturgies is one, the color of the discipline identical, the doctrine concerning the sacrament entirely the same, there is no difference, except that which may be observed in the richness of the words or in a stricter simplicity, which, if we except a few things, can suffice for the explanation of this one also.

^A Elevating his voice: "All the powers immaterial glorify thy magnificence, O Lord; the inflamed legions brought forth from the flame: the burning ranks of the mighty Cherubim; the terrible hosts of the holy Seraphim; who, moving their wings, cry out, shout, and say." People: "Holy, holy, holy." Priest, bowing: "We offer to thee, God the Father, and to thy only-begotten Son, and to thy Holy Spirit, triple sanctifications: for thy holiness, O Lord, is not measurable; who, when we were unworthy, sent thy Son into the world for our salvation: and he was born of the Virgin, and by his death rendered life to our mortality." Elevating his voice: "Who by his own will, as a substitute for us sinners, came to death, took bread into his holy hands, † blessed, † sanctified, † broke, and gave it to his holy disciples, and said: Take, eat of it: This is my body (27), which for you and all the faithful receiving it, makes ready for eternal life." People: "Amen." Priest: "Likewise also the chalice which he had mixed with wine and water, † blessed, † sanctified, † and gave to the same holy disciples and said: Take, drink of it all of you: This is my blood which for you and all the faithful receiving it, makes ready for eternal life." People: "Amen." Priest: "But also when you shall celebrate this mystery, perform the memorial of my death, until I come." People: "Thy death, O Lord, we commemorate." ^B Priest: "Also commemorating thy salutary advent, and according to it, the retribution, O Lord, we offer praises with supplications to thy majesty, that on that great day of thy just judgment, we may not, because of our sins, become food for the coals of fire, and nourishment for the terrible flame: let us not be drowned in the burning sea, or, being cast about, be overwhelmed by the waves of fire. Let us not be heirs of sighs: nor deliver us to bitter groanings: let us not become inhabitants of the dark places, and of regions full of terror: let us not become aliens from thy inheritance, nor deprived of thy familiarity: but join us with those invited to recline with thee, and called to thy banquet, and satiate us with the brightness of thy kingdom. And for all these things, especially, thy Church and thy flock beseeches thee, and through thee, and with thee, thy Father, saying:" People: "Have mercy." Priest: "We also." People: "We praise thee." Priest: "Especially." Deacon: "How fearful is this hour." Priest says the invocation of the Holy Spirit: "I beseech and entreat thy mercy, O Lord God: have mercy on me, and pour forth upon me and upon these proposed oblations, the grace of thy Holy Spirit: and cleanse me from all the stains of sin, and strengthen me for this pure and holy ministry." Priest: "Hear me, O Lord." People: "Lord, have mercy." Priest: "That through his own indwelling he may exhibit (28), this bread indeed, † the holy body † of Christ our God †."

(27) *This is my body*. It has that singular formula of Christ's words, which, contrary to the example of all other Greek, Coptic, and Syriac liturgies, omits that particle: *which is broken for you and given for the remission of sins*: which, however, in the opinion of stricter theologians, is not necessary: whence it is omitted everywhere in the Missal published at Rome. But the following words, *makes ready for eternal life for the faithful receiving it*, signify that the sacrament worthily received confers grace upon the faithful for the attainment of eternal life.

(28) *That through his own indwelling he may exhibit*. In this place two words occur, of which the use in this prayer is most frequent: the indwelling *immissio*, *epifoitesis*, from the verb *invenire*, which is read in the Syriac version of Luke 1, 35: *The power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, in-dwelling*: that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit into the Blessed Virgin might be signified, for the forming of the body from her, soon to be assumed by the Word of God. For as it has been explained elsewhere, the Orientals are accustomed to use that comparison most especially, for explaining the miraculous transmutation of the proposed elements into the body and blood of Christ. The other word is *aut delein*, or the Greek *anadeixen*, which occurs in the Syriac liturgy of James, and of which it has likewise been said, and demonstrated by certain arguments, that it should be understood not so much of Syriac as of Greek origin, such that it does not signify simply to demonstrate and designate, but to effect and consecrate. If anyone insists more stubbornly, and attempts to obscure by grammatical quibbles the simple sense expressed in so many other liturgies, he can be refuted by the following formula, which refers to the chalice, in which the word ^C *faciat* (may he make) is used, and it determines the signification of the other word. For the same miracle is requested for the mixture which the chalice contains, as for the bread proposed on the altar: and if the effect is none other than that it should signify and design the blood of Christ, the authors of the liturgy ought to have used a different word, than that which signifies *to effect*. If the wine mixed with water truly becomes the blood of Christ, truly also the bread becomes the body of Christ. Therefore there can be no doubt remaining, but that both words, though of different origin and etymology, should be accepted with the same signification: which the consensus of various other liturgies also demonstrates.

^D In the Roman edition the form of the Invocation has been left intact, with the difference from the manuscripts that in both periods, as much in that which pertains to the bread, as in the other, which pertains to the chalice, the same word occurs. Whether the manuscripts from which the edition was made bore it thus, we cannot say: but that was easy, since the Syrians are accustomed to use both words indifferently. Truly if indeed they had to be emended in other places of the Invocation formula, in this one, as in the liturgy of James, the same was to be observed: for the judgments of the censors ought to be consistent with themselves in so grave a matter. If that which is preserved intact in those two liturgies is devoid of every suspicion of error: the others should not have been bothered and changed, or both should have been emended, by the same reasoning that liberated it, as is likely, from condemnation. For those who were offended by the word, which signifies *to happen*, judged that the other, *anadeixai*, signified something else, namely, to designate, to demonstrate, etc. But those who...

have judged that the already consecrated Eucharist designates the body and blood of Christ err far more grievously than he who believes that the Holy Spirit can be invoked over the proposed gifts, once they have been duly consecrated by the words of Christ pronounced by the priest, so that by his descent He might confirm the mystery with full sanctification. Nor can the Holy Spirit be invoked, nor is there need for His descent and overshadowing, in order for the bread and wine to signify the body and blood of Christ. For this mystical foreshadowing is sufficiently signified from the very beginning of the liturgy, even in the preparatory action, through prayers and ceremonies: such as when the bread is brought to the altar and it is said: "As a sheep He was led to the slaughter," and at the chalice: "One of the soldiers opened His side with a lance," and other similar things, long before the words of Christ are pronounced. Indeed, the entire series of the liturgy looks to this, since it is a representation of the entire dispensation of man Himself on earth.

*People.* Amen. *Priest.* And may that which is mixed in this chalice make the blood of Christ our God. *People.* Amen. *Priest.* To us, however, through their reception, grant pardon of offenses, remission of sins, true knowledge of the faith, laudable zeal for religion, and participation in eternal life. *People.* Amen. *Priest (bowed).* Grant, O Lord, to Thy Church and its prelates, that they may conduct themselves according to the prescription of Thy laws, all the days of their life. *Elevating his voice.* Of those who have been true teachers of Thy holy Church, and have converted her from the seductions of error, and have demonstrated to her the straight paths to immortal life: make us, therefore, reckoned among their orders, that with them and among them we may render to Thee glory, etc. *People.* Amen. *Priest (bowed).* Through this sacrifice, have mercy and spare, O Lord, all ^B the faithful departed who have long since fallen asleep in Thy hope, in the orthodox faith. *Elevating his voice.* Looking upon all with mercy, as the Creator of their souls and bodies. Therefore, hold as accepted these oblations which are offered to Thee for them; and grant them the good things promised to those who love Thy Christ; through whom and with whom we hope to attain mercy, and the remission of sins which is through him, both for us and for them. *People.* Grant rest. *Priest.* Be propitious, therefore, O Lord, to all our iniquities and theirs; and do not call to memory the crimes which have been committed by us and by them; but govern us in this age, free from judgments and tribulations, and in the future make us reach the dwellings of light, joy, and gladness: that here and there we may glorify, praise, venerate, and extol Thy name, most worthy of honor and blessed, and likewise that of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of Thy Holy Spirit. *People.* Even so. *Priest.* Peace. *People.* And with thy spirit. *Priest.* Let them be of the mercy of God. *Afterward he breaks the oblation and signs, saying:* We believe. *The Deacon says the Catholic.* *The Priest says the prayer before the Lord’s Prayer.* Great Prince and true Father of both ages, O Lord, who brought us out of nothing so that we might exist, and taught us the straight paths of salvation through Thy only-begotten Son: do Thou now also, through Thy grace, having compassion on us, O Lord, sanctify our minds and tongues, to the end that we may purely call upon Thee, God the Father Almighty, holy, and let us pray and say: Our Father who art in heaven. *People.* Hallowed be Thy name. *Priest.* Be always our armor, O Lord: our helper and supporter; and our preserver and deliverer from temptations: for Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the praise, and of Thy only-begotten Son, and of Thy Spirit, etc.

^A People. Amen. Priest. Peace. People. And with thy spirit. Deacon. Bow down. People. Before Thee, O Lord. Priest. O Thou to be adored, who art thrice adored and holily glorified, sanctify, O Lord, the souls and bodies of those who are bowed before Thee, that we may holily communicate in these mysteries, and render unto Thee glory, etc. People. Amen. Priest. Let the mercies of God be. Deacon. Each one with fear. Priest. Holy things to the holy. People. One holy Father, etc. Priest says the prayer of thanksgiving. We offer every unfailing praise to Thy ineffable grace, O Lord: Thou who, through the receiving of this mystery, hast illuminated our souls with the ^B spiritual rays of Thy divinity. Grant us, therefore, to be unscathed by that unquenchable fire, through this banquet: and we shall render unto Thee glory, etc. People. Amen. Priest. Peace. People. And with thy spirit. Deacon. Afterwards. Priest. O Lord, keep Thy faithful people, and save us all from all fear and trembling: and grant us all tranquility and peace, and good blessings, joys, and exultation: that for all things we may return glory, praise, exaltation, and thanksgiving unto Thee, and to God the Father thy begetter, and to Thy Holy Spirit, now, etc. People. Amen. Deacon. Bless, O Lord. Priest. Bless us all. Deacon. I shall bless the Lord.

SPURIA

ST. EUSTATHIUS' COMMENTARY ON THE HEXAEMERON

TO THE READER

I was nonetheless softened, and dreading delays, I wrote it down most quickly and not against the will of the guardian; and I thought of translating it into the Latin language. Meanwhile, searching in other libraries, I found the same work attributed to the same author, both in the most well-stocked and famous Vatican Library of the whole world, and also in the most noble Vallicellana in Rome; and when I brought the Palatine Library to Rome, I found it in the most illustrious Bavarian Library at Munich. Wherefore, being more prompt in embracing the labor, I have endeavored to deserve well of the republic of letters.

It has been my established rule to translate the mind and sentiment of the author simply, faithfully, and clearly—which I have always considered to be the first and principal duty of an interpreter—yet so that there is no word which I have not explained, and nothing added that is foreign to the sentiment. Where the order of things or the obscurity of the diction demanded it, I made some concessions to a more alluring and luxuriant style. Therefore, I have not bound myself to the words, nor tied myself to the periods, provided that I explained the sentiment: which I expressed using the words of the ancients as best I could, and especially those of Pliny. For to set forth the natures and characters of things, no style seems to me more apt, more accommodating, or more opportune than the Plinian. Whether I have succeeded in this, let the fair reader judge. In the Greek text, I have changed nothing, truncated nothing, added nothing. But as I had it, I have given everything purely. Since, however, in many places the text was mutilated, lacunose, inverted, and in many ways obscure, so that we might not cast it aside as a desperate matter, I have appended notes and collections by which those places are either amended, or supplied, or brought back to their original form; and I have attempted this using the opinions of other Fathers and writers, sometimes even my own, and very often I have even conjectured. I know well that my study and industry will be lacerated by the wicked with a venomous gape and maw, when they themselves are unable to do better. I will not, however, desist, discouraged; rather, I will endeavor all the more eagerly to deserve well concerning other matters. In the notes, I have been more prolix; for I have explained many necessary and doubtful things that occurred by comparing other authors, whose passages I have transcribed, so that the reader might not be overly fatigued in finding them, or, if he does not have them, be defrauded of the hope and desire of seeing them. Whatever it may be, however, what we might have wished for from others in explaining authors, this we have done for the use of others. And thus we have behaved ourselves cautiously in correcting others, modestly in reprimanding, and dutifully in praising, just as we have disregarded the curses of detractors against others.

Spuria — Commentary on the Hexaemeron

The argument of this work is to make public to all the benefits conferred by the divine Godhead upon human nature; and to show His goodness, power, wisdom, clemency, and tolerance; which it confirms and proves by the very creation of things—namely, the production of the elements, the adornment of the world, the equability of movement, the beauty and power of the sun, moon, and all the stars, the magnitude of the sea and the lands, the properties of animals, the structure, propagation, and multiplication of man, and finally, the way to the grace which shone forth through Christ. All these things Eustathius discovered, arranged, and pursued with such a keen intellect that he seems to have learned them from God Himself, the Creator of the nature of things. You will find many things written most elegantly and dictated most prudently in other works, but compared to the words of Eustathius—if I may say so without offense—there is nothing more excellent, nothing more beautiful, nor can anything better even be conceived. Whence this treatise has not undeservedly merited to be called among others of the same subject an ^A *exceedingly wonderful commentary*, which is read in all codices prefixed after the title. There will not be lacking those—can it be otherwise?—who, so that they may not lose their habit, will object something to Eustathius, and when they cannot criticize the structure of the discourse nor the order of things, they will note the uncertainty of the things he treats, and will contend that what is contained here is vulgar and womanish, and unworthy of an ecclesiastical man and such a great Father. ^B This same thing was objected to Epiphanius in his *Physiologus* by certain people, and he was criticized even more sharply. Among them are Conrad Gesner and an author of no mean name, Pererius, who writes in *Genesis*, chap. 30, disp. 1: "Nor let the authority of Epiphanius in reporting this in his *Physiologus* move anyone much. For he was not so much in that book a diligent and curious chronicler of the historical truth of those things which he mentions there, as he was in interpreting those things appositely and piously according to an allegorical and tropological understanding. Wherefore ^C he willingly assumed the properties of animals and plants commonly believed, and accommodated them to his own counsel and purpose." But for Epiphanius, Consalvus Pontius responds more than enough in his Preface to the reader in the same Epiphanius's *Physiologus*. What Eustathius discourses upon concerning the properties of animals and the antiquity of the Jews and other matters, these things are confirmed by the consensus of many authors. That this may be known more and more, I have cited in the notes the authors from whom he appears to have derived them, as well as those who have borrowed their own from Eustathius. For it adds the greatest authority to matters to have lauded men who think ^D with you and relate the same things. It is wonderful, however, that in all things he chooses with the keen judgment of such a great Father the better and safer things, as pearls from mud, and transfers them into his own writings, while the rest, as cast-off, vile, and of no moment, he despises and neglects, a proof of his accurate and exquisite study in all things. By other means, with God's assent, and through the kindness and humanity of the most illustrious and most reverend Cardinal Francesco Barberini, Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, by whose sure command, most happy studies, and munificent patronage, literary matters are repaired, founded, and confirmed, I shall, God willing, give some other works of the same author, especially those which he composed most eloquently and piously against Origen concerning the ventriloquist; to which I shall add these, both better and more emended. These things, reader, I wanted you not to be ignorant of. Farewell.

OF OUR HOLY FATHER EUSTATHIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF ANTIOCH AND MARTYR, COMMENTARY ON THE HEXAEMERON

^A Clemens and Africanus, and besides these Tatian, and from among the Jews Josephus and Justus, each in his own way, by the arguments provided from ancient histories to prove this, have recorded in writing that the divine Moses flourished in the times of Inachus, who preceded the Trojan War by seven hundred years. A certain man, also illustrious in holiness, having most exquisitely constructed a calculation of times, discovered that the most holy Jacob flourished in the age of Inachus. But Josephus affirms this concerning Moses. For Ipse, having disposed the order of years with reason and judgment, like a sort of rule, enumerated the rulers of all nations collated one with another. He collected, moreover, the years of the kingdom of the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Lydians, Hebrews, Egyptians, Athenians, Argives, Sicyonians, Lacedaemonians, Corinthians, Thessalians, Macedonians, and Latins, who were later called Romans. With the times of these noted in the same series, he brought together the years of the ^B princes of each nation. Among these, he sets the years of the dominion of the Assyrians, namely those of Queen Semiramis, against the years of Abraham. For in the times of Semiramis, blessed Abraham was held in renown; but Josephus [places Moses] in the time of Inachus, and Moses in the time of Cecrops, who, as is handed down in the histories of the Greeks, first occupied the kingdom of Attica three hundred and thirty years before the Trojan times; so that Moses is more ancient than Homer, Hesiod, the Trojan times, Hercules, Musaeus, Linus, and also Chiron, Orpheus, the Dioscuri, Aesculapius, Father Liber, Mercury, Apollo, the mysteries and initiations of the Greeks, and the deeds themselves performed by Jove. Furthermore, than the Deucalion flood, and the conflagration in the time of Phaethon, and the birth of Erichthonius from Vulcan and the Earth, and the rape of Proserpina. For all these ^C appeared after Cecrops, to whose times Homer and Hesiod are much posterior. E...

If they are inferior to these in years, we discover that they are far removed from the age of Moses. He, then, was shown to be the most divine teacher of truth among all the wise. For, having culled the so-called wisdom of the Egyptians, he discoursed most excellently upon the creation of this world, being inspired with the truth by Him who is in all respects God and the Maker of the universe. For he says: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." And many of the Greeks, having dared to assert the opposite, were cast headlong into the deep of ignorance. For the dogmas brought forth from human reason are unclear and unstable. For among them, no argument stands unmoved, since each successive one always overthrows the one before it, so that there is no work needed for the faithful to refute them, as they are sufficient to overturn one another. What manner of shape and substance the heaven has, Isaiah teaches us, saying: "Who set up the heaven as a vault." By this he signifies that its nature is thin, and neither solid nor dense, just as he says elsewhere: "Who fixed the heaven as smoke." The Psalmist affirms that the earth was established upon the waters, saying: "He founded it upon the seas and prepared it upon the rivers." But we ought not to inquire curiously into how this is, but rather believe. For the simplicity of our faith is far stronger than dialectical proofs, since the judgments of God ^B cannot be comprehended, nor can the conjecture of the human mind grasp them.

On the first day, therefore, God created the heaven, and the earth, and the light; and He illuminated all things in a swift moment of time; for this is subject to corruption. For before this, a certain obscure shadow, cast by the stretched-out heaven, veiled all things and kept the light from those places. But outside the heaven, there is light which cannot be shadowed, and is incorruptible and eternal, in which the angels dwell, concerning which Solomon says: "Light for the righteous forevermore," in which those who have lived well also rest. You will understand the economy of this from a clear example, that an unquenchable light illuminates the space outside the heaven. The interior, however, mist surrounded before the light was created. For just as if one, in a stable midday, having set up a tent of dense material, creates an impromptu darkness, and the place contained within can in no way be illuminated unless the radiance of a light shines into it, so such an insubstantial darkness ^C surrounded the world, covered by the heaven, which God separated when He created the light, and named it day, and the darkness night. For when the light is poured forth, day is born; but when it is withdrawn, night ensues. Whence also, in the measuring of time, we count days, and not nights. ^D

^A On the second day God made the firmament. This is something different from the heaven that was created in the beginning. And it has been said to some that it is the same; for they say that this was the perfection of the second, because in the former passage the creation of earth and heaven was delivered in summary, but here the Scripture hands down the manner of how it came to be with more elaboration. We, however, say that it is one thing, and the other is another, seeing that a different name and a special purpose for the second heaven have been handed down. This one, therefore, is different from the one created in the beginning, existing with a more solid nature. And God divided between the water which was under the firmament. For He separated the infinite and immense power of the waters, so that they might abound both above and below the firmament. The ether is fiery and burning, and it would have consumed the whole orb of the earth had it not been restrained by the ^B commands and ordinances of its Creator. Therefore, water also rises into the air, carried through the clouds by the exhalation of vapors which rivers and springs and pools and seas send forth, so that the ether might not consume all things with its heat. And thus rain is generated: exhalations are carried upward through the air and condensed by the compression of the winds; and the vapors, concreted in the cloud and separated one from another, become drops, and from the weight of their gathering they fall downward. Snow thus forms from the waters: the moisture is torn apart by the force of the winds and reduced to foam, and, being broken up entirely through every part of itself, it is chilled and frozen, and the cloud being rent, the snow falls. Thunder happens for this reason... through an impediment, which, being driven in the hollows of the clouds and violently bursting forth, produces the sound ^C of the thunder.

On the third day, by the command of God, the waters were gathered into their congregations, and the dry land appeared; and He called the dry land earth, and the congregations of the waters He called seas. Therefore they were gathered into one place, lest the waters, receding from the places in which they remain, or being lifted up and overflowing, should inundate the earth. For this reason the sea, frequently agitated and churned by the force of the winds, raises itself as if raging with waves into an immense height; but when it reaches just to the shore, having dashed its impetus, it turns back, made into foam and whitened, restrained by the sand, the weakest of all things, as if by a bridle. For what repressed and bound the Red Sea, lest it should submerge ^D the whole of Egypt—since it is higher than it—and join itself to the neighboring sea, if not only the mandate of its Maker? Moreover, that this is true, Sesostris the king of Egypt and shortly after Darius the Mede left to us in a practical demonstration. For, having attempted to join the Egyptian and the Indian seas together, they could not. Thus, Egypt is lower than the Red Sea. He commanded, therefore, that they should come together into one congregation, and that from this another sea should not be made, but that they should remain in one collection. For many were the waters dispersed through various places, inasmuch as the cavities of the mountains and the valleys contained waters gathered within themselves. That, indeed, and the congregation...

^A of waters He called seas, signifies the gulfs which, according to their own shape, have been left behind by the surrounding land; such are the Northern Sea, the Southern Sea, the Eastern, the Western seas, and their proper names: Pontus, Aegean, Ionian, Sardinian, Sicilian, Tyrrhenian. Moreover, He did not end by gathering just any collections of waters into one sea, or assembly, but the greatest and most immense; for one should not understand here the marshy or stagnant waters. For just as fire is both broken down into small parts and also flows together, poured out by the air, so too in the case of water, even if there are some small separate collections, there is nonetheless one congregation, which separates this whole element from the rest. For the water of the sea is the spring and origin of all the moisture that is around the earth; and the entire earth is full of conduits, and it spreads through hidden pores, as certain hollow places of the mainland declare. For the flowing sea, running through narrow places, when it is left behind in crooked and upright outlets, being pushed by the violence of the wind of the earth, it breaks its surface, and having gone out to the outside, it becomes potable, having been changed through filtration into sweetness. Again, when it is left behind in hot places toward its exit, being drawn by the same cause by the wind, it becomes boiling. This also stands as the ^B source of the aerial waters; for the waters drawn up by the clouds from it, and warmed by the solar ray, and chilled by the shadow of the cloud, and clarified from that very height, become sweet, and shower upon the mainland. And on the same day, God also commanded the earth to sprout vegetation

of grass and the earth: Let there sprout seed according to its kind, and a fruit-bearing tree producing fruit, whose seed is in itself

^A Starlings feed on hemlock because of the constitution of their bodies; for since they have narrow pores around the heart, they are able to excrete the matter they have absorbed. Quails eat hellebore and suffer no harm, possessing a particular temperament of body. Physicians induce sleep by means of mandrake, and they soothe intense pains with opium. By hemlock they deaden frantic appetites, and by hellebore they soothe chronic diseases. And a fruit-bearing tree producing fruit. And all things sprang up from the earth in one moment of time, things which were not before, each with its own property, and each recognized by its own distinctive mark. ^B The olive, and the date palm, and the cypress grow to a great height. And of these, some are not full of knots or branches, such as the fir, and the cypress, and sometimes the date palm. And they are ever-green: the olive, the date palm, the laurel, the myrtle, the pine, the cypress, the fir, the juniper, the thuja, and that which the Arcadians call *phyllodryn*. To these add the wild olive, the cedar, the pine, the box, the holm-oak, the *arax*, and the chickling. The rose at that time grew without thorns; but later the thorn was joined to the beauty of the flower, so that by seeing the sorrow placed near the pleasant, we might not forget the sin, on account of which the earth was condemned to bring forth thorns and thistles for us. The almond blossoms first of all, but brings forth its fruit last. ^C But the bitter almond tree, if the stump near the root is bored through and a wedge of fatty pine marrow is driven into the middle, takes it in and changes the unpleasant juices into edible sweetness. The pomegranate also receives this same treatment and turns to sweetness. The female date palm bends toward the male, as if possessed by a desire for the embrace of the male; and the farmers insert the fruits of the male into its branches, and thus restore it to its original and upright shape. Mulberry trees germinate late, yet in bearing fruit they are not behind others. The olive, the linden, the poplar, and the elm turn their leaves upward after the summer solstice; and by this all know that the summer solstice has passed. ^D As for the fruit of the cultivated fig, the farmers ensure that it does not fall by this method: they take the young figs from the wild fig tree, tie them together, and place them on the fig tree. For the very small animal that is inside the wild fig, when it settles on the base of the cultivated fig, prevents the air that breathes round about from entering, so that the fig might not become unpleasant and fall. And since the fruit of the fig is soft, it is covered by the thickness of its leaves; but the walnut, since it is hard, is covered by a light layer of leaves. For this reason the leaf of the vine is also split, so that the grape cluster may both avoid the harm from the air and receive the sun's ray through its openness. Thus there is nothing useless in things, but God has adorned all things with a wisdom that we cannot describe. For truly one water, which is drawn up through the roots, feeds the trunk in one way, the marrow in another, the bark in another, the wood in another, and the roots themselves in another; and from the same moisture, wine is made in the vine, oil in the olive, and in another thing, something else;

And in these sweet fruits there is an unspeakable variety of richness; for that which is sweet in the vine is one thing, and that which is in the apple, and in the fig, and in the date palm is another. The tears of trees are also different; for the tear of the mastic tree is one thing, and the sap of the balsam is another, which is the most excellent of all ointments, and is produced in great abundance at Jericho. When the natives cut it from the shrubs with a sharp stone of the region, the sap flows out. Some also relate that amber is a sap of plants, which hardens into the nature of a stone.

4. On the fourth day God created two great lights, the sun and the moon, in the firmament of the heaven, to shine upon the earth, to divide between the day and between the night ^B. This solar light was prepared as a vehicle for that primal light. For as fire is one thing and a lamp another—the former having the power of giving light, the latter of offering the light to those in need—and as brightness is one thing and the brightened body another, so also these, though they are of a different nature, the Creator's faculty has joined into one. And let no one think that the day and the sun are the same. For, first, the Creator fashioned a simple light, which He also called day, and afterward He fashioned the sun from fire and light. For just as we see that the earth has fire created within its own bosom, so also the sun possesses light; for light gathered together with fire made the very bright sun. But perhaps someone will object: And whence is this manifest, when no division is seen? For neither is light seen apart from fire, nor do we perceive fire separated from light. But let such a one know how many things fire projects within itself: brightness, heat, yellowness, which the Artificer, distributing most wisely, manifests in their composition. For ^C when He wishes to warm an animal, He takes the heat of the fire, and it possesses the heat of this but does not possess the light. And the heat is separated from the radiance in the animal; again, it takes the yellowness. And we see the yellowness, but no longer the heat and the brightness. And again, He separates the heat, and gives only the brightness, as is to be seen in the lightning, which, when flashing, only illuminates, but does not heat. The same example is also set forth in the case of the moon. For this, being illuminated by the sun, becomes more manifest, just as the sun is by the day. For the appearance of the moon happens to be coal-like, as is to be seen in an eclipse; for when the sun has taken away its own proper radiance from it, it renders it dim; but by illuminating it, it makes it appear full. For, putting on in a certain way the solar light, it becomes more radiant; in the same way also the sun, putting on the light of the day, becomes more brilliant, that day ^D

^A nor yet warming, but only illuminating. That the sun is composed of fire is evident from the fact that it scorches and burns.

"To divide the day and the night." As if he said: he confined the sun to the boundaries of the day, and the moon to the night; nor is night anything other than the shadow of the earth, when the earth, by its interposition, takes away the sun's rays. For just as in the day, if someone cuts off the light, a shadow is cast and the light vanishes, so also night is established when the air around the earth is wrapped in darkness; and the sun, which from the beginning of its creation received light from the Creator, keeps it continuously hidden within itself—which is denied to the moon, which often loses it by waxing and waning.

"And let them be for signs and for times, and for days, and for years." 19 The sun and moon are the origin of time. For while their courses are carried on in an orderly manner, they produce the fixed endings of time; and it is called time when, as if in a certain circle, it revolves in alternate and well-ordered successions, from the first to the second, and from the second to the third, and to that which follows.

"And let them be for signs," because they always signify the coming of a storm; for a mist spread over the air, surrounding the sun's rays, leaves less light, just as a coal similar to one steeped in blood turns red, when it cannot dispel and dissolve the air condensed by the vapors of the earth. From this, a future storm is indicated; and when what they call "areas" (which are, in truth, certain circumscriptions of a round circuit, similar to threshing floors, and from this they have obtained the name) ^C encircle the sun, they signify to us fierce and violent winds; likewise, also those called "anthelia" (mock suns), if they run together with the course of the sun, announce to us that the air will be baleful; and again, if rods, colored like the rainbow, are seen among the clouds near dawn, they presage either showers, or storms, or, for the most part, a change of air.

If the moon on the third day shines with thin horns and pure brilliance, it promises stable and firm tranquility; but if the horns appear thicker and reddish, it portends a sudden rush of waters or a violent south wind. The sun and moon are therefore the instruments of times; time is of days, months, and years; the stars are of months, and sowings, and ^D harvests. We know that the rising of the Pleiades announces the time of harvest, and their setting, the time of sowing. To those navigating, the constellation of the Wain opens the way. For the stars signify and indicate places. For the Bear indicates the northern region. The pointed part of the Pleiades, looking toward the East, announces this same thing. Likewise, the bent horn of the Bear itself, and the part of the moon that is illuminated, forewarns of the East. Before these things were made, there was no time, but a period, and an age, an immense and timeless duration. And let this suffice concerning signs. We consider "times" to be the changes of

^A of winter, spring, summer, and autumn. Winter sets in when the sun lingers in the southern regions and makes the night’s shadow, which lasts long enough among us, altogether longer, so that the air around the earth grows cold and the humid vapors that are stirred up produce rains, ice, and snow. But when it again remigrates from the southern regions and reaches the center, the equinox occurs; and as it lingers in the places upon the earth, it brings back the temperate climate in proportion, and spring occurs, providing growth for plants and revival for trees. From there, as it now runs toward the summer solstice to the Bear itself, the sun renders the long days to us; and because it spends more time in the air, it scorches the air itself, parches the whole earth, and, being most fiery, produces all ripe fruit, and casts short shadows as it shines from on high. For in the shortest days, the shadows become the longest. And again, when it has moved from the northern regions to the southern ones, autumn occurs, as much of the heat gradually fades and winter approaches safely.

But the sun does not create the day; let no one assume so, for the day and night are older than it. Rather, it regulates the day only, just as the Psalmist declares to us, saying: "He set the sun for the dominion of the day, the moon and stars for the dominion of the night." ^B This body possesses sovereignty by carrying light within itself; whenever it rises above our horizon, it provides day by dispersing the darkness.

The moon, when it has completed its own course twelve times, constitutes a year, except that it requires an intercalary month for the precise tally of the hours. For the solar year is the restoration from the same sign to the same sign according to the sun’s own motion. As the moon wanes, the bodies of living creatures grow sparse and become void; as it waxes, they are filled and increase. For it secretly imparts moisture mixed with heat; hence it happens that those sleeping under the moon have their heads filled with excess moisture, and the meat of freshly slaughtered animals, and everything else ^C similar to these, is quickly altered by the approach of the moon. Likewise, the disturbances in the air also consist of such a cause. For when the new moon arrives, though there is steady calm, sudden disturbances of the winds occur as clouds are shaken and collide with one another; and tidal surges occur around the straits, and an ebb and flow of the sea in the Ocean. If, moreover, an eclipse of the sun occurs during the new moon, it happens more violently, for from below, the moon having moved under stops the rays of the sun.

This moon is also a great thing. But silly myths, ^D passed down to us from drunken old women everywhere, claim that by certain sorceries it is moved from its own seat and is brought down to the earth. And what place could have received it after it was brought down? Lest

^A one be deceived by what appears, thinking it to be something small. For our vision, being small, causes the objects seen to be thought small, transferring its own infirmity to the things seen. For just as if someone from a mountain peak were to look down upon plains and cattle grazing on the same, he would seem to see nothing but the appearance of ants; for vision, dissipated in the air and becoming faint, does not suffice for the precise understanding of things seen. And that the body of the moon is of vast size, it is possible to learn from proofs. For cities across the inhabited world, separated by a great distance from one another, all alike receive the lunar light with their faces turned toward the east, and likewise those inhabiting the west, and those in the southern and northern parts, behold it.

^B On the fifth day, God commanded the waters to bring forth reptiles of living souls according to their kind; and immediately the sea brought forth various and diverse genera of animals. For of marine creatures, some are amphibious, such as seals, and crocodiles, and river-horses, and also frogs, and crabs, though they do not have the power of swimming; for they are by nature creeping things, carried along by the flow of the waters; others are viviparous, such as seals, dolphins, torpedoes, and those similar to them. God only commanded, and all the fishes, whether they lived in the deep sea, or on the shore, or in the lowest parts, or lived in groups or scattered among the rocks, whether whales of immense magnitude or the most minute, came forth; joined by a certain natural affinity to the water. For if they are separated from the water for a little while, being destitute of the faculty of breathing, they perish; for by the dilation and contraction of the gills, they receive the water and send it forth, and possess this vital habit. None among them have half-developed teeth, but all are provided with sharp ones, so that they might not, by being hindered for a long time in chewing, lose their flowing food; for in that case, the food would be ill-lost. ^C The scarus alone among fish is said to ruminate, and they use different foods, each according to its own nature. For some feed on mud, others on algae, others on herbs that grow in the water; others are cannibals.

They also have their own particular characteristics. The saw-fish ^D has long wings, and having seen a ship running with a fair wind, it too, having raised its wings, imitates the movements and shapes of the ship, and vies with the sailors. And so, having made forty stades, and become fatigued, it lowers its wings and is carried by the waves to its own place. The whale, which some call the Aspidochelone, grows to such an immense magnitude that it very often presents to sailors the appearance of a great island. For when it emerges from the deep, its body appears like rough rocks, and those sailing by, fixing stakes into it, moor their ships, which are immediately plunged into the water when the whale, having been warmed by the sun, has submerged itself back into the deep.

^A It also has a deep, heavy voice, and when it is hungry, it opens its mouth and emits a most fragrant scent, so that little fish, drawn by its odor, are all gathered together in its mouth; and because of its immense size, it inhabits the Atlantic ocean.

Crabs feed on the flesh of oysters, and since they are unable to open their shells when they are firmly closed, they wait for them to open their folds in tranquil places while basking in the rays of the sun. They then secretly insert a pebble, and by preventing them from closing, they easily devour them.

Sea urchins foresee the onset of a storm and attach stones to themselves so that they are not carried hither and thither by the turbulence of the waves.

The octopus changes color to match the appearance of the place it touches, and it hunts the fish that swim near to the rock.

There is a very small fish called the echeneis, which attaches itself to huge ships under full sail and holds them back, so that they appear to be stuck fast in the sea.

The hydrus lives in the river; it has the head of a dog and is an enemy of the crocodile, whom it kills while he sleeps. For the crocodile sleeps with its mouth hanging open, and the hydrus, having rolled itself in mud and mire, leaps into its mouth and destroys it by devouring all its internal organs.

^B Furthermore, the crocodile is both a land beast and a fish, and it is large from head to tail, though its width does not correspond to its length. Its skin consists of wrinkly scales, and the color of its back resembles a black rock, while its belly is white. It has four feet, which curve gently to the side, like those of a land tortoise; its tail is long and thick, for it is the termination of a single spinal bone. It is notched above into spines, which are like the teeth of saws, and it strikes with this tail when it fights with anyone. It has a single head that is seamlessly joined to its back in a straight line; as long as it does not gape, it is simply the head of a beast, but when it does gape, it becomes all mouth, forming a gorge that extends back to the shoulders.

^C The so-called hippopotamus has the feet and belly of a horse, except that its hooves are cloven like those of an ox. Its tail is short and lacks hair, as does the rest of its body. Its head is round, small, and distinct from the jaws of a horse; it has wide-open nostrils, from which it breathes forth fiery smoke as if from a burning furnace. Its chin is broad, for it opens its mouth back to the temples. Inside, it is densely packed with a triple row of teeth, and in addition to these, there emerge two curved tusks like those of a boar. It is a most gluttonous creature, destroying whole fields of crops for its food. It is caught by the following trick: men observe its haunts and make a loud noise, then cover them with reeds and heap sand over them, and place a wooden structure underneath, having open doors into the... ^D

^A depth. And the beast, stepping upon it, easily falls in and is shut inside the structure, being carried downward. And the hunters immediately close it off. Secondly... the beast [is of] great size, having the strength of an ox.

Among fish, a great deal of heat ^B resides within, and it is keen; hence they digest what they devour very quickly, the food rotting in their stomachs in an instant.

The sea-fox, when it cannot avoid the snares of a fisherman, having swallowed the hook, leaps up and runs out, gnaws through the line, and escapes.

The crocodile is a creature that devours men; but when he intends to perform the act of mating, he emerges from the river and throws the female onto her back near the banks; for he alone is naturally formed to approach on his back, and after the intercourse, he again lifts her with his paws and turns her over. But when he senses that she has been with another, he pretends to be eager to mate with her, and in the same manner turning her over, he knows through scent (for he has a very keen sense for this) that she has been defiled by another; and tearing open her belly with his claws, he devours all her innards. For the creature is tender around the belly; but its back is clad in sturdy scales, so that even the sharpest iron brought against it is blunted and rebounds from the skin.

^C Let the waters bring forth the winged creatures of living souls, and suddenly the air is filled with birds of every kind. He gave them their origin from the waters, since they are allotted a certain kinship with the fish. For just as fish cleave the water in the movement of their fins and swim through, so birds swim through the air with their wings. Some of them are carnivorous, having obtained a bodily constitution suitable to the manner of their own way of life, with sharp claws, a hooked beak, and swift wings, so that they can easily seize and rend and tear apart; others are seed-eaters, and others feed on everything. And the structure of each of these differs; and some are without a ruler and independent, while others are arranged under a leader; and some are migratory, and others are native.

^D The cock is a proud bird, but the hawk is remarkably well-disposed toward man. For they relate that the hawks in Thrace join with bird-catchers in the hunt; for they spend their time in very dense forests, where kinds of birds dwell, and they align themselves with those who come to hunt, to receive an equal share of the catch. And when the hunters shake the trees, the birds, being stirred up, are frightened and fly out, and the hawks [descend] upon their heads

piercing the cranium with their beaks and casting them to the ground, thus providing the men with a happy and auspicious catch; the men then divide the captured birds and immediately share them equally with the hawks.

The pelican is most loving to its offspring; for while it nourishes its chicks, it is struck by them on the face with their wings, and he who is struck kills them, but then, moved by pity, he mourns for them for three days. The mother, coming upon them, tears her own side, and lets her blood drip onto the chicks, and they are brought to life. These pelicans eat shellfish in this manner: being unable to kill them because they are tightly shut, they first swallow them, so that by the heat of the gullet the glue holding them together may be dissolved, and the shells, being loosened, may open; then they vomit them out, and from those that are edible they choose and eat them without any difficulty. ^B

Wood pigeons do not hatch where they spawn, but instead, because of the multitude of hunters, they move to another place to raise their chicks. And whenever they perceive that some hunters have arrived to capture the chicks, they fly up and draw the hunters' attention and pursuit toward themselves, providing time for flight to their chicks; and when the chicks have escaped, they continue their journey with great boldness, having set off with their chicks, and traverse the air.

The peacock, which comes from the Indians, is a lover of beauty. This bird, having spread out its beauty and shown the theater of its feathers, attracts the female for mating, displaying this ornamentation to her as if it were a meadow; for the peacock is almost more lushly flowered than a meadow. For gold is sown into its feathers, and purple circles the gold all around; and beneath the gold there lies an equal circle, ^C and there is an "eye" in the feather.

The phoenix is, in size, like the peacock, but is second to the peacock in beauty and color. For its feathers are variegated with gold and purple, and its head is naturally adorned with a fitting circular crest. This circle is sky-blue and resembles roses. Being pleasant to behold, and shining with rays, it stands on high like the sun; so that others also have recorded the form of its body, just as they themselves describe it in these words: ^D

It is almost double the size of the eagle. With varied wings and colors, Its body is inscribed. Its breast indeed shines purple, Its legs are marked with vermilion, and around the neck, It is adorned with saffron-colored down. Its head is not unlike the day’s canopy, And it looked with yellow-orange pupils. And all around these, a scarlet color spread out. It had a voice more beautiful than all animals. It was seen as the king of all birds, As one could conjecture; for all flying things Ran together following it in a sustained course. But it itself, ahead of all, like a proud bull, Proceeded, making a swift gait with its foot.

They say this is a unique animal, which is not reproduced

^A but that it exists alone, and lives for five hundred years. And at the time when it is about to die (for it foresees its own passing), having set its aim upon some high place, toward the rising of the sun, it builds its nest from aromatic twigs; then it is burned up by the ray of the sun and is completely dissolved into dust. Then from the dust a worm is born, and from the worm it is transformed into the first phoenix.

The eagle is most unjust in the rearing of its young; for having produced two, one it claims for itself, but the other it drives away and expels with blows of its wings, because of the labor and weariness, as they say, of feeding it. But the osprey, receiving the one that was cast out and disowned, rears it along with its own. When the eagle has reared a chick, it takes it up, carrying it into the lofty air; and if it sees it looking with a steady gaze toward the brightness of the sun, and boldly cleaving the air, it keeps it as its own. But if it is weak toward these things, it casts it off as a bastard.

They say, furthermore, that when the eagle has grown old, its sight becomes dim and its wings grow heavy; from this, it seeks out springs, and having taken its wings up into the air, they are scorched by the sun, and [its sight] is recovered. Then, having suddenly sought out a spring, it plunges three times and is renewed; for which reason they say the Psalm declares: “Your youth shall be renewed like the eagle’s.” [Ps. CII, 5.]

The vulture ^C conceives by the wind, and does not commingle its body with a male, and lives for a hundred years. It roosts upon high and lofty crags, and no one knows where it makes its dwelling. And when it has conceived, it travels to India, and having taken the stone they call the *eutokion*, it sits upon it, being gripped by the pangs of labor, and gives birth. This stone is round like a nut, and when it is shaken, it gives off a sound like a bell, because of another stone moving within it. They say that the vulture is killed by the scent of rose ointments; yet it is not harmful to seed, nor to the living, but it shuns all dead winged creatures because of their kinship. When, they say, men draw up for battle, it follows them, and does not depart from them, being a voracious flesh-eater.

The storks ^D come and depart by a single consensus; quails accompany them, and, as is fitting, wage war together with them against certain hostile birds; for they return wounded. If the stork grows old, its feathers fall out, and its children, standing around it, cherish it with their own wings, and supply it with food abundantly and lavishly. In flight, too, they gently lift it up with their wings from beneath, and provide it support from either side.

The cranes all fly together in equal measure; one of them is the leader and commander of the flock, and when it has led for the prescribed time, it goes to the back of the troop and passes the leadership of the journey to the one after it. While they sleep, one keeps watch, turning itself around to the one after it

and when it has fulfilled the allotted measure of time, it cries out and takes its sleep, and another in turn takes over such a duty.

The goose kind is vigilant and sharp of hearing, quickly sensing those who approach or the arrival of plotters. Thus, when certain enemies entered through tunnels and were about to sack the great city of Rome, these birds, by the natural sharpness of their sense, kept it safe, revealing the plotters to the guards with a sudden cry.

The halcyon is a sea bird and nests along the shores of the sea in the middle of winter. When, therefore, it sits on eggs, the winds are hushed, and the sea has a steady calm for seven days, though before this it might have been swollen and agitated by very strong winds. When it has hatched the chicks, God provides a calm for another seven days, until it has reared the chicks.

The partridge is deceitful, jealous, and malicious, aiding hunters in their pursuit. It steals others' eggs and hatches them, but when the chicks have grown, each flies off according to its kind to its own parents, and they leave it naked and empty.

The dove is libidinous. There is a tree in the Indian region called the peridexion which bears sweet fruits; the doves delight in this and dwell upon it. The dragon, however, is an enemy of the dove, and fearing the tree, it does not approach; for to whatever part of the tree the shadow falls, the dragon flees in terror. But the doves stay within that area of shade; for if they are separated from the shadow, they are destroyed by the dragon. The nature of the dove is truly worthy of admiration; for when its neck is illuminated by the rays of the sun, it shows itself variegated with countless ideas of colors—crimson, blue, fiery, charcoal-like, yellow, red, and all other sorts of colors.

The crow is skilled and monogamous; for having reared its chicks, it does not cease to care for them by feeding them and always flying with them. The night-heron is more a friend of the night than of the day.

^B The hoopoe is very affectionate; for when its parents grow old, it first covers them with its wings, then soothes their eyes with its tongue, and then, by warming them, restores them.

The swallow gives birth once in the season; while building its nest, it carries the straw with its beak and the mud with its wing; for having wetted its tip with water, it rolls in the fine dust, and thus devises the use of mud; and little by little, binding the straw with the mud as if with glue, it constructs the nest and rears the chicks.

The turtle dove is monogamous; for whether the male dies or the female, it does not unite with another.

Domestic fowls during every season [crave]

union. But aquatic birds, such as ducks and swans and those like them, do not have divided feet, but broad ones joined by a membrane, so that they may swim in the waters more easily, propelling the moisture with the membranes of their feet as if they were oars. The swan extends its neck longer than its feet, so that it may snatch up many fish from the depths.

Many birds change both their color and their voice with the time of year. For the blackbird turns from black to yellowish, and from a songbird becomes a talkative one. The nightingale also changes its color and voice at the turnings of the seasons; and it is a wakeful bird, occupied with its melody.

Some birds do not suffer hunger during the winter, being nourished by the air alone and by the moisture inherent in the grasses, but they also master the pleasures of the belly. For some mate in spring and at the autumn equinox, while others mate once during the recurring times of the year. Female birds accept the male until they have conceived, but after they have conceived, they turn away from them. ^B

Beetles are killed immediately if they are smeared with oil of roses. Bees and wasps, if soaked with oil, perish as their passages are blocked; but if they are sprinkled with vinegar, they recover their life, and, having been deprived of the faculty of breathing, they are nourished by the air. Bees have a king, and they maintain a common flight and a common home; nor does any one attempt to go out before the king has started the flight; he is not chosen by them, but nature holds the principality over all, greater than the rest, and surpassing them in form and the gentleness of his manners; for he has a sting, yet he does not use it for revenge.

They fashion wax from the flowers of trees and plants, and, conveying with their mouth the water and drops spread upon the flowers like dew, they unload them into the waxen cells; hence it is liquid at first, but with time, having matured, it becomes sweet and effective for human use. With the greatest prudence and zeal, they also build receptacles for the honey, extending the wax into a very ^C subtle membrane; they craft dense and continuous structures of honeycombs, so that they cling firmly affixed to the sides.

Locusts, lifted up with one accord, infest the lands throughout their breadth; though they see other fields laden with fruit, they do not touch them destructively, but hasten with the utmost bond to the places prescribed for them, as if urged by divine commands, and they do not devour the harvests and fruits until the faculty is granted to them. A bird called the *seleucis* follows them with insatiable voracity, and consumes them all. ^D

They say that the owl’s vision is dimmed during the day, but that it is strong at night. When bats go to sleep, they are suspended by mutual embrace, and if it happens that one of them is pulled away from that order, the rest cry out; it is the only one among winged creatures that is quadrupedal and furnished with teeth.

Cicadas are generated in the rain, and they become silent, when

^A they congeal from the dew; they assert that the sound and clamor are produced by the wings of these insects.

On the sixth day, God ordered the earth to bring forth quadrupeds according to their kind, and reptiles, and the beasts of the earth, and cattle, and all things that creep upon the earth according to their kind; and all things were brought into being immediately, things which have a sense of nature common with man, although they do not possess a soul of the same kind, even though they are living and are moved by a motion which the primal nature of blood bestows when mixed with the spirit of the air from without. There are also among them diverse habits, which signify the Providence of God; for these things also establish it no small amount. For just as the wise and varied fruit-bearing of plants, and the good order of the stars, and the blameless course of the sun and moon, and the law of the boundaries of the sea, which does not transgress, testify incontrovertibly to Providence, so too the peculiarity of the animals, indicating the unchangeableness of the order, proclaims Providence very clearly, as if it were a soul moving the entire structure of the world. And ridiculous would be everyone who rejected it, while all the elements confess it; the earth indeed does not disobey the planting, and the sun and moon and the remaining stars have not abandoned their proper course, the sea does not overstep the rule of its command, and those that swim, and those that fly, and those that walk the earth are not found wanting in their owed service. How then is he not unjust and senseless who altogether sets aside Providence? Where is the reasoning that will say that an artificial work is not produced by intelligence, ^B but that wise works are accomplished by science? For immediately we understand the concept of a sculptor; having seen a beautifully painted image, we admire its painter; and seeing a ship constructed with art and science, we praise the shipbuilder. If, therefore, seeing artificial works ourselves, we arrive at the knowledge of a wise craftsman, why should we not rather have in our grasp the wise Providence of all things, through the eye of the mind, by means of the parts of the world constructed from the elements and professionally arranged? For the forms and shapes are sufficient to recognize the craftsman, even if the elements of the world maintain silence in their speech. For things formed by someone tend to confess the one who adorned them. Just as the constitution of the elements makes Providence clear, so also the diverse nature of animals provides the knowledge of it. For high-spiritedness is born with the lion, and his life is solitary, communicating with none of the animals, nor does he allow himself to eat food from yesterday, ^C but takes fresh food; he has a sharp sense, and he feels the presence of hunters more quickly than by smell, and runs in his course to his cave, brushing out his tracks with his tail, so that, covered by the dust, they might make him untraceable to the hunters. His cub is born blind, and it is guarded by the lioness for three days, and when he himself returns from the hunt, having breathed upon its face, he ^D makes it see.

stepping forward, breathing into its face, communicates the power of seeing to it. When, however, it attacks a man or another animal, it first lashes itself with its tail or some incitement, as the poet sang 17:

But it beats its tail and sides and loins on both sides And excites itself to fight. ^A

In old age, since its strength does not suffice for pursuing wild beasts, it besieges cities, gaping for men to preserve its life, and its mouth always renders the most heavy odor and breath of all; when it sleeps, it keeps its eyes open. The lioness bears the birth of one cub with difficulty; for in the very act of giving birth, she tears the womb of her offspring with the edge of her claws.

The leopard is vehement and headlong in sudden attack; it surpasses other animals with tremendous speed, ^B and before the eyes of hunters it is so powerful in the swiftness of its feet that anyone would say it was flying.

The nature of the bear is sluggish and peculiar, its manners clever in malice, its body heavy. Often, therefore, when finished by the most severe wounds, it prepares remedies for itself, having plugged its wounds with very dry mullein; while it engages and wrestles, it artfully folds its feet, and trips the one with whom it struggles, and attacks him having been strongly seized in the middle.

The bull is armed with horns, with which it avenges itself on enemies, and like athletes it scatters dust into the air with its feet, looking down with grim eyes, burning, with horns inclined, and with anger growing, it demands a fight with its whole body.

If the boar has scented hunters placed in ambushes, ^C with its strength excited, it enters into no contention before it has sharpened its teeth on nearby trees.

The antelope is a most vehement beast, difficult to hunt, with long horns, like saws, with which it cuts around high and huge trees. Thirsting, it seeks the Euphrates river, and from there, having drunk, it plays among the reeds which grow green around the banks of the river and is entangled by them. For since they are thin and flexible shoots, they are entangled among themselves by its horns, and it, groaning, emits a cry; which when the hunters have perceived, they immediately seize it and kill it.

There is also among the Scythians, whom they call Loos, a wild beast, by name the tarandus, whose size is that of an ox, its appearance that of a stag; and it becomes similar to whatever thing it comes near, and renders the color of all things, whether it be a tree, ^D or earth, or something else; hence it happens that it can be captured with difficulty, and escapes the notice of many.

For the same reason, the chameleon also changes its color and renders it like whatever it touches nearby, whether it creeps through the greenness of meadows or through the dryness of the ground.

In the stag there is its own timidity, although it is of very sharp sight and engages in battle with animals that creep on the ground. If ever a serpent, having entered into a crack in the rocks, has avoided it by fleeing, burning with thirst, it betakes itself to the springs, for it is heavily [burdened] by thirst...

in- ^A flammatur, ita ut exerta lingua æstuet, ut aeris frigiditate recreetur. Depulsa itaque potu, siti, ad serpentis latebras recessusque accedit; inde extractum pedibusque conculcatum interficit. Et si vel cornuum frustum vel pilorum in domo uratur, ejus nidore, animalia quæ latitant, fugantur. Cornibus amissis, solitudinem quærit, prærupta saxa inaccessaque convenit, desertissimasque incolit solitudines, quasi eo, quo se ab aliarum ferarum injuria arcere possit, deperdito; et cum in amissorum cornuum radicibus ulcera gignantur, locum multis arboribus consitum habitat, ne a muscis vulnera exsurgantur, noctuque pascitur pacatissima; at vero cum cornua eruperint, audacter et libere, meridieque ipso procedit ad pabula; experiens si enata cornua fixa firmiter sunt (dum enim mollia increscunt, a solis calore exusta franguntur); ad arbores collatum caput comprobat, adversumque affricat, repercutiendo, tentans periclitari si firmiter adhæreant. Phalangiorum morsibus cancro vorato medetur.

Capra silvestris in Creta, telis ^B icta, herba quam dictamum vocamus pasta, nullo labore excutit accepta tela.

Pardalis perfacile capit animalia. Etenim cum sat noverit cunctas quadrupedes ejus odore mire sollicitari, in profundis cavernis insudat, hæ vero quasi nidore quodam invitatæ, sagaciter persequuntur, ubi properato in loca vicina convenerint, subito correptas mandit.

Panthera cum cæteris animantibus, uno excepto dracone, amicitias et consuetudines jungit; minutis macularum oculis, quasi stellis superpicta, valdeque cicur, et quandiu cibo non eget, in latebris dormit; sed post tres dies, fame dominante, egreditur maximeque clamat, indeque ex ore suavitas quædam, odoris instar aromatum efflatur, quo animalia pellecta capiantur, et tum ^C vicina, tum longinquiora proxime accedunt, sequunturque, corporis varietate delectata. Verum panthera via non longa procedens revertitur, attenteque considerat, et ex animalibus quod illi collibitum est, impetu facto, comprehendit.

Diu gravescit utero elephas, decem enim annis gestat, semenque concoquit, et senescentem fetum parturit; cum in foveam deerrando ceciderit, si alius elephas inspexerit, via arrepta multos in unum elephantes cogit, qui eum qui ceciderit, leniter, et quiete sustollentes extrahunt.

Draco apud Indos in elephantis terga salit, totumque ventrem circumflexu facile ambit, et ex vena quam inciderit, avidissime absque satietate sanguinem ^D captat violento spiritu hauriens ingentique strepitu. At elephas exsilit, proboscideque latera verberat, quasi draconem prostraturus; sed sanguine deficiente, cum saltare non possit, toto corpore tremit, nec multo post ruit, cruribusque debilitatis, unaque secum obruit draconem, et draco vinculis

^A which he had bound about it being unable to loosen, and being pressed by the weight of the elephant, is strangled and dies. The horse is ardent in its desire for the female. The ass is slothful, though keen of hearing and possessing a good memory. The camel is mindful of injuries. The wolf is untamable. The ox is steady and constant. The dog is grateful and most friendly to its masters; for often, when its masters have been killed on a journey, it has perished with them; and others have even denounced the murderers, and caused them to undergo the just punishment for such a crime.

Some have assumed that the hyena changes its female nature to male, or its male to female, every year; but this is false; for this animal, being most exceedingly lewd, carries beneath the tail, before the passage, a protrusion not unlike the female genitals, which has no passage, or only a cavity having no utility for the womb, and serves only as a receptacle for empty lust. Therefore, because of an immense craving to suffer female functions, this property is said to be present in both the male and the female; for when the natural passages are occupied in the preservation of conception, they commit a most shameful act of intercourse against nature with one another. Whence it is very rare to find a female hyena, for pregnancies in this animal do not occur continuously.

The hare is most intemperate in mating; the female brings forth every month, and once she has given birth, she is again covered by whatever hare chance may provide, and she conceives while still suckling, nor is she content with one.

They say the gryphon is an animal of immense size, such that its shadow casts a gloom over a farm, and just as the eagle among us seizes a hare, so it captures a lion with the greatest of ease. ^C

The charadrius, of which Moses makes mention, shines with a most brilliant whiteness over its entire body, being nowhere sprinkled with spots of any other color; and they say its secretions heal those with dim sight. It is reported to remain in royal courts, a prophet of life and death to those among men who are suffering from sick and infirm health. For when a man is afflicted in strength, they place the charadrius so that he can behold it with his eyes; and if it looks toward the sick person, and the sick person toward it, the charadrius draws in the infirmity, flies through the air towards the sun, and there disperses and destroys the man’s disease; but if it does not look at him, they conjecture that the sufferer will die.

The unicorn is a small animal, similar to a kid, very fierce, and it has a single horn on the top of its head, and it is captured in this way: they place a pure virgin before it, into whose bosom it leaps, and she, cherishing it with her embrace, carries it away into the houses of kings.

The beaver is an animal of most gentle and mild habits, and it delights in quiet; the use of its testicles in medicines is marvelous; when it is pressed by the danger of pursuing hunters, it cuts off its own testicles and stops those who are pursuing it from advancing. If others seek the same thing, it shows that the testicles have been removed, and delays the progress of the hunters.

^A The ant-lion has a father with the face of a lion and a mother who is an ant. The father is carnivorous, while the mother is a consumer of grain, and they produce the hybrid ant-lion, which has the face of a lion and the hinder parts of an ant; because it cannot eat either flesh or grain, it ends its life in starvation. The wild ass is the leader of the herd, and it bites off the testicles of the males that are born, so that the power of procreation does not remain in them. The hedgehog is like a sphere in body, and it is covered in bristles over its entire surface, which are similar to the spines of sea urchins. It goes to the cluster of the vine, and pulls down the grapes, and by rolling over them, it impales the berries on its spines and carries them away. The fox is deceitful and uses the following stratagem to hunt birds. Having found mud, it rolls itself in it, and then it is sprinkled with fine dust or chaff, and lays itself down on the field with its eyes open, or else holding its breath, so that the birds believe it, already swollen, to be dead, and when they fly down upon it, it immediately catches and devours them. The lizard, when it has aged, becomes blind, and it enters into a crack in a wall, aiming towards the sunrise, and when the sun rises, it opens its eyes; receiving the solar ray and being illuminated by it, it is restored to health. In the same way, you too, O man, when you have aged in sins and have been blinded in your mind, seek the Sun of justice, so that you may be renewed in justice, looking toward Him and seeing with the eyes of your soul illuminated. ^B Among all beasts, the dragon is the most spiritual and fiery and produces types of various forms, being winding and tortuous; and when it makes its way, it reaches the goal it has proposed for itself most swiftly. It is also long-lived; for not only does it strip off its old age, but it also receives greater growth. When, therefore, it has completed the appointed time of its life, it is consumed into itself; for it does not die by a natural end before completing the boundary of its life, unless it be destroyed by violence by someone. The ichneumon fights against it, having anointed itself with mud and covering its nostrils with its tail. ^C But it also carries on a struggle against the Egyptian asp in the following way: the asp attacks it with a loud hissing, dragging its tail in winding circles, springing high and lofty from its breast to its head, swelling up with a broad chest and wide neck, full of rage, it attacks, brandishing its tongue with intense hissing; but the ichneumon, raising its tail, shakes it to deceive the asp, and drawing it away, it bends its front feet and throws itself down, extending only its face, watching out that it does not receive a fatal blow. ^D When, therefore, it sees the asp eagerly contending with its tail as if it were a beast, it suddenly leaps forward and presses its neck, and strangles it.

^A The lizard which we call a salamander, whether it enters a furnace or a bath, extinguishes the fire it touches in no other way than ice does.

They say that the viper receives the seed of the male through its mouth, and that the male, having had his member bitten off, is killed by it; and that the female, once pregnant, is destroyed by her offspring, for while they are still in her womb, they consume the uterus and, having broken through the stomach, burst forth through her ruptured sides.

A serpent becomes blinded as age advances, and after it has fasted for forty days with its body relaxed, it enters a narrow rock crevice, and by pulling itself with force, it sheds its old skin and is renewed. When it thirsts, it first deposits its venom and thus drinks from the fountain. When it catches dormice, it gouges out their eyes and nourishes them, and uses them as food when they are mature and fattened; if it sees a naked man, it does not approach him, but it attacks one who is clothed.

^B The basilisk darts poisonous venom from its eyes, so that it kills a man immediately by its very look. Its breath is fiery, scorching the earth, and grasses, and trees. And it is stated in histories that it is produced in this way: when many snakes have been shut up together and have been harassed by hunger (for it is a most wicked animal), they eat one another, and the stronger snake, having consumed the weaker, and being filled with the poisons of all the snakes it has eaten, becomes a basilisk, possessing a most pernicious venom, so that it kills even by its look alone.

The ^C beetle, from ox-dung, fashions a round shape and rolls these balls backwards; they say that it remains above the earth for six months, and deposits its seed into the dung-ball, and from it arises a male beetle, for there is never a female beetle to be found. Because of this nature of its, the Egyptians worship the beetle among the gods, asserting that it is like the sun, because it rolls a sphere, and they liken the stars to the forms of serpents, because their path is tortuous and oblique.

Ants, while they gather grain, cut the seeds in two so that they may not sprout into plants once they are moistened by the earth; and they do not go out in the winter, because they provided sufficient food for themselves during the summer.

The leech, an animal of the worm kind, ^D lives in fresh waters; if anyone, out of thirst, drinks greedily, he swallows it also, which, on account of its extreme smoothness, slips down with the water swallowed. Thence the greatest inconveniences and troubles come to the body, as it sucks the blood and grows, and it is held by an insatiable desire for drinking blood; and often, when it has attached itself, it is neither plucked off nor pulled away, even if physicians strive against it, until it is burst by the very weight of the blood.

There is persistent discord between the asp and the others whose bite causes ulcers, and the cat. The ibis is at variance with snakes, locusts, and grasshoppers. The hawk is destructive to cerastes, scorpions, and other small reptiles; this [bird] is moved by compassion for man; for if it should...

see a corpse unburied and lying there, it laments and casts earth upon it. ^A

After the making of the world, God subsequently created man, having broken the cold with heat, and bound the moisture with dryness, and again loosened the dryness with moisture, He constituted him, so that he possessed all the parts of the whole. For just as the earth, being firm and stable, possesses the cold air poured around it, and the fire arranged in an orderly fashion suspended above it, and again the water running in a circle around it; in this way also man, just as the earth, composed of the solid nature of bones and the flesh which enwraps him, has been allotted spiritual respiration through the nostrils, like air, which extinguishes and cools his innate heat. For the air which is poured out above our heads, cooling the fiery nature of the air, makes it temperate for the whole life of animals. The heat which exists in the human body dissolves the immoderate abundance of phlegm, just as a crystalline mass of water. And the veins and the blood within them preserve the likeness of rivers. Having fashioned man in such a way from the earth, and having given him a rational soul, God destined him to enjoy the paradise of delight. ^B Thereafter, because he disobeyed the commandment, he moved him to this same earth, declaring that he should have a toilsome life upon it.

Having known, therefore, his wife Eve, he begat two sons, Cain and Abel. And Cain was a farmer, but Abel was a shepherd, and he did not bring the first-fruits of the crops of the farmer. Abel offered [them] to God; and his sacrifice was accepted. But Cain, being the first of those born [to them] to be filled [with pride], offered in this way; and his sacrifice became unacceptable. And Cain, being angered at this, killed his brother out of envy; and God made him accursed, and cast him out from that land. But he, having traveled a long way, came to a certain place called Cainan, and practiced every unspeakable evil, lying in wait for passers-by, and slaying them, and gathering from the spoils of their money a boundless multitude. ^C And Cain was the first to invent measures, and weights, and boundaries of land, and the building of a city, for all those who at that time embraced a simple and uncomplicated life. But Adam, remaining in the place where he happened to be, begat many sons and daughters, among whom Seth was preeminent, who, having arrived at maturity, discovered many virtues, of which he left his descendants as imitators. For he was the first to discover astronomy and the entire arrangement of the heavens, which, so that it might remain until the last times, Adam preserved with such meditation and care. ^D For Adam, being near to death, prophesied to his children that God was about to [bring]

this, those who were with Seth built two pillars, one of stone and the other constructed of baked bricks, and upon them they inscribed the entire movement of the heavens, so that the astronomical observations they had discovered might not be obscured by oblivion. For if all things were to be consumed by water, the stone pillar would be preserved; if by fire, the baked one. Therefore, when the downpour occurred, the stone pillar remained, which until this day is seen standing in the land of Seiriad.

Furthermore, Cain begat Enoch, and Enoch begat Gaidad, and Gaidad begat Maleleel, and Maleleel begat Mathusala, and he begat Lamech. And Lamech took to himself two wives, Adan and Selan, and of them he had three sons: from Adan, Jobel, who became a herdsman, and Jubal, who invented the psaltery and the harp; and from Selan, Thobel, who was a hammerer of copper and iron. Adam, moreover, having lived nine hundred and twelve years, departed from life.

Enos, the son of Seth, hoped to call upon the name of the Lord; and having lived nine hundred and five years, he died. And his son Cainan, having lived nine hundred and ten years, passed away. And [his son] Maleleel, having lived seven hundred and ninety-five years, died. And his son Jared, having lived nine hundred and sixty years, passed away. ^B Jared’s son Enoch, having lived piously toward God, was translated. And his son Mathusala, having lived seven hundred and sixty-nine years, passed away. Lamech, the son of Mathusala, having lived seven hundred and fifty-three years, died.

To this Lamech was born a son, Noah, who delighted in the virtues of good deeds and who persuaded the human race to change from wickedness to virtue; for up until the seventh generation, men acknowledged God as the Lord of all and cared for justice. ^C But later, as time went on, they drifted into every sort of lawlessness. When Noah could not persuade them to turn away from their wickedness, he abhorred their company and withdrew to another place. And God commanded him to construct an ark of four stories, having a length of three hundred cubits, a width of fifty, and a depth of thirty, so that, having shut himself within it with all his kindred, he might escape the danger arising from the deluge. For ^D God wished to punish and destroy the wickedness of those living at that time with such a penalty. But when the waters flooded the land, the summits of the mountains were covered by the flood, and hidden and concealed by their flowing. For even in our own times, some who are cutting stones for building on the summit of Lebanon find various kinds of sea fish, which happened to be enclosed and solidified in the hollows of those mountains by the mud.

^A The ark, being lifted up by the water, stood upon a certain peak of a mountain in Armenia, and when the water had subsided, all who were in the ark went forth. And the inhabitants even now call that place Apobaterium (the place of stepping off), and they show the remains of the ark, and they use its bitumen for the averting of evils. ^B Now Noah departed this life after nine hundred and fifty years had passed. And his sons, because all the others were afraid to migrate from the mountain (for they suspected that they would again experience another flood), persuaded them to go down and inhabit the open plain. But in order that they might not, by increasing in number, stir up discord among themselves, God commanded them to make settlements. Yet they did not obey, as they were cultivating good land and possessing a great abundance of fruits. Therefore, God subjected them again to a grievous disaster in order to force them to prepare for a settlement. But not even then did they yield to the will of God, imagining that the abundance of the land did not come to them by the favor of God, but by their own strength and industry. ^C Nebroth the giant, who was a daring man and brave in hand, persuaded them to hold this opinion, and he, having turned them away from God, compelled them to pay homage to himself; and he directed them to construct a tower that would reach to the height of heaven, threatening to take vengeance upon God if He should again bring a flood upon the world. ^D Therefore, when the multitude was assisting him in this madness with great zeal, and building the tower more quickly than could be spoken, God suddenly confounded their language, and by reason of this diversity of tongues they were scattered. And from this the place received the name of Babylon, for the Hebrews call confusion "Babel."

Everyone, therefore, took possession of the land they chanced upon, and they filled all the coastline and the mainland, and furthermore the islands as well; for by crossing the sea in ships they anchored in them. Some of the nations even preserve the names of their founders, while others have changed them, after the Greeks subsequently gained power and adorned the nations with their own names, and gave them their own laws, so as to steal the glory of the founders for themselves, and to leave no suspicion of their predecessors to those who came after.

Noah, then, became the father of three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; beginning from the mountains of Taurus and Ammanus, they set out and proceeded in Asia as far as the river Tanais, and in Europe as far as Gadeira. These are they: Gomer, who established the Gomerites, whom we now call the Galatians; Magog, the Magogites, whom we now call the Scythians; Madai, the Madaeans, whom we now call the Medes; Javan, Ionia and the Greeks; Tubal, the Theobelians, whom we now call the Iberians; Meshech, the Meschenaeans, whom we now

^A call Cappadocians; and Theiras, the Theirenses, whom we now call the Thracians.

Gamer had three sons: Schanax, from whom are the Aschanaxaei, who are now the Rhegini; Riphath, from whom are the Riphathaei, who are now the Paphlagones; and Thygrammais, from whom are the Thygrammenses, who are now the Phrygians.

Javan had three sons: Elisasa, from whom are the Alisaei, now the Aeolians; Tharses, from whom are the Tharsenses, now the Cilicians—for thus was Cilicia called in antiquity, and to this day their metropolis, Tarsus, still preserves the name; Cethim, from whom is the island of Cethima, which they now call Cyprus, and for this reason the Hebrews call all islands and maritime lands *Eththo*.

The sons of Cham, which begins from Syria and the mountains of Ammon and Lebanon, occupied the land, seizing all those parts that face the sea, and extending their regions as far as the Ocean. ^B And of some of these, the names have been entirely changed, while others have been altered into more difficult ones; but the names of a few are still preserved intact to this day. These are the sons of Cham: Chus, from whom are the Chusaei, who are now the Ethiopians; Mestrem, from whom are the Mestraei, who are now the Egyptians; Phut, from whom are the Phuti, who are now the Libyans; and even to this day the river among the Moors and the neighboring region are called Phut. That nation, however, took the name of Libya from Liby, a son of Mestrem, who ruled over the province.

Chus had seven sons: Sabat, from whom are the Sabacii, who even at this time possess the name together with the region; Evilat, from whom are the Evilaei, who are now the Tuli; Sabath, from whom are the Sabatheni, who are now the Astabari; Regmara, from whom are the Allaei, who still to this day hold that name; Judadan, from whom are the Judadaei, ^C a nation of Ethiopians still of the same name as their founder; and Sebecatha, from whom are the Sabactheni, who still retain the name. This Nebrod, having remained in Babylon, first tyrannized over them.

Mestrem had eight sons, who possessed the land from Gaza as far as Egypt. And the land of the Philistines retained its name for some time, but was eventually called Palestine.

Chanan had eleven children: Sidon, the firstborn, who built a city of his own name in Phoenicia; Amathius, who built Amathine, which is now called Epiphania, ^D and that name was given to it by a certain famous and celebrated Macedonian who had reigned over it; Arucaeus, who built the land which is in Lebanon; Arodius, who inhabited the island of Aradus; Asenassus, from whom are the Asennaei; Samarius, who established Samaria; Chettaeus, who established the Chettaei; Jebusaeus, who established the Jebusaei; Amorrhaeus, who established the Amorrhaei, who inhabited Bethel; Gersaeus, who established the Gergesaei, who held the land across the Jordan as far as Philadelphia; and Evaeus, who established the Evaei. And the Kinaeans dwelt around Lebanon and Amarum; but the Eniacim giants held Chebron, and around it the Chettei and the Pherezaei, mixed with the Chananaei, occupied Palestine.

And others held Raphia, which is Philadelphia; likewise the Gergesaeans held Gadara and the city of Gergisa, and the lake of Tiberias; and the Jebusaeans held what is now Jerusalem. ^A Sem had five sons, who dwelt in Asia as far as the individual Ocean, or who took their beginning from the Euphrates. And they are these: Elam, from whom are the Elamites, who are now the Persians; Asur, from whom are the Assyrians; Arphaxad, from whom are the Arphaxaeans, who are now the Chaldaeans; Aram, from whom are the Aramaeans, who are now the Syrians. These occupied the land from Mesopotamia as far as the mountains of Ararat, which are towards Armenia; Lud, from whom are the Lydaeans, who are now the Lydians; Cainan, from whom are the Canatae. ^B And four sons were born to Aram: Uz, who built Damascus and Trachonitis, which is in the middle between Palestine and Coelesyria; Ul, from whom are the Lazonenses; Gather, from whom are the Stapheni; Mesoch, from whom are the Massenii. The sons of Arphaxad: Cainan, from whom are the Soggodiani; and from him astronomy and auguries were invented. And a son was born to Cainan, Sala, from whom are the Susiani. The son of Sala, Heber, from whom are the Hebrews, who retained the ancient propriety of their language, since Heber did not come together for the building of the tower, and therefore did not have his language altered. ^C And the sons of Heber: Phalec, from whom are the Adiabeni; Jectan, from whom are the Hedramaei. And Phalec was for this reason called Phalec, because he was born at the time of the apostle of the colonies. For in the Hebrew tongue, Phalec signifies a division, and in his time they were divided. And the number which is now conjectured to be the duration of this world has been divided into two equal parts; for three thousand years had elapsed since the origin of this world of his. For we calculate that the creation will remain until the sixth millennium, since God also composed the completion of this entire [universe] in six days. And I believe the divine nature calculates days as millennia; for, he says, our Lord’s day is as a thousand years. ^D There are therefore from Adam until the death of Phalec three thousand years. And until the coming and resurrection of the Lord, there are five thousand five hundred and thirty-one years, so that there are wanting four hundred and fifty-nine years of the sixth millennium. And the sign of the completion of the world is the Sabbath; and it is fitting that in the last days the Lord, coming into the world, suffered sorrows on Friday, which is the sixth day, and the hour of that day was about the sixth when he was crucified, the Word signifying through this the half of the sixth millennium; and for this reason he did not say specifically the sixth hour, the Word intimating to us that it deviates a little from that number. From Christ until the thirtieth year of Constantine

^A there are 269 years. And just as Jonas, having spent three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, was restored safe and sound, so also shall we all be resurrected, having spent the three intervals of time upon the earth. For there are three universal intervals of time: the present, the past, and the future, the symbols of which our Savior arranged in the three days and three nights spent in the earth, teaching clearly that, once the aforementioned intervals of time have been completed, our resurrection, being the beginning of the future age, shall take place.

Jectan had these children: Salmodad, from whom come the Indians; Saleph, from whom come the Bactrians; Asarmoth, from whom come the Arabs; Iarach, from whom come the Carmanians; Odorra, from whom come the Mardians; Iezil, from whom come the Arrians; Decla, from whom come the Cedrusians; Gebal, from whom come the Scythians; Abimeel, from whom come the Hyrcanians; Sabeu, from whom come the Happy Arabs; Uphir, from whom come the Armenians; Evilat, from whom come the Gymnosophists. All these are sons of Sem.

Sala begat Ragau; Ragau, Seruch; and Seruch, Nachor, to whom he handed down the Chaldæans' art of divination and the paths of the stars. In the days of Seruch, the sons of Noe began to worship idols and to engage in every kind of vice, to build cities, to create kings, to lay siege, to plunder, and to take captives.

Nachor begat Tharra; Tharra, Abraham, Nachor, and Aram. Aram [begat] Lot, Sarra, and Melcha. Aram lost his life in the city of the Chaldæans which was called Urel, where his tomb is shown even ^B to this day. He died in the fire with which Abram burned the idols of his father when he entered the house to rescue them. And they took sisters as wives: Melcha [was taken by] Nachor, and Sarra by Abraham. Nor do they act contrary to justice in doing this, since there was no law yet existing that forbade it. For if nature herself, enticing to procreation those born of the common parent of all, Adam, and of his wife—even though they were brothers and sisters—compelled brothers to be joined to sisters and placed in marriage, it is not unreasonable that those who followed them, while still living in that first succession, should appropriately and congruously embrace the customs of their ancestors.

Furthermore, Tharra, hating Chaldæa on account of the bitter sorrow for his son, betook himself to Mesopotamia, and there, having lived two hundred and five years, he died. ^C For from that time the life of man was contracted and circumscribed by narrower limits, up to the birth of Moses. For after Moses, the limit of human life was fixed at one hundred and twenty years, and when Moses himself had fulfilled these, he exchanged life for death.

But Abraham, thrice and four times blessed, was an excellent and singular master of the science of the stars, and possessing thoughts greater than those of others, he applied himself to virtue, [while] all the sons of Noe had fallen into superstition ^D

^A and the worship of demons, he alone defined God to be the Creator of all things, conjecturing this from the changes of the sun and moon and the remaining phenomena which occur on earth, in the air, and in the sea. For why, he says, if the power and order of their own nature reside within them, do they not provide for themselves, but rather fall short of this? From these things, therefore, it is possible to know that it is not by their own power that they achieve this, even if they seem to benefit mankind not a little, but rather by the will of the One who made them.

Against this opinion of his, the Chaldeans and the inhabitants of Mesopotamia disputed much, and differed from him. And having risen from there according to the command of God, he inhabited the land of the Canaanites. But when a severe famine took hold, he came into Egypt, and as the Egyptians held diverse opinions among themselves, and were casting aside and overturning their own laws, he ^B proved them all to be thinking nothing of consequence or value, nor prophesying anything. And being admired for his great intelligence and wisdom, he imparted to them arithmetic and astronomy; for before his arrival, the Egyptians were ignorant of these things, but having learned them later, they communicated them to the Greeks. And upon Abraham's return from Egypt, his son Ismael was born to him by the handmaid Agar, from whom the nation of the Agarenes and Saracens was constituted, and that of the Ismaelites from Ismael.

Lot, having separated from Abraham, made the Sodomite region his dwelling place, which, on account of unlawful transgression, was condemned to be burned by celestial fire, and even to this day the burned traces of it are visible. For it is possible to see the shadows of five cities, in which ^C grows a fruit that appears outwardly similar to edible things, but when taken in the hands, it dissolves into ash and smoke. Adjacent to this is the Asphaltite Lake; it was formerly a valley having wells of bitumen, but once the region was swallowed up, it became a lake, which is also called the Dead Sea. And it is indeed of a most bitter nature and barren; it possesses light water, so that if weights are thrown into it, such as stone or iron, they do not sink to the bottom, but are as it were blown back up by the wind, and float on the surface. For living men thrown into it float; but the dead sink. And lamps that are lit are carried upon it, but when extinguished, they sink to the bottom. It brings up bitter salt, and alum, and black lumps of bitumen, ^D which in size resemble headless bulls. And the sailors, grasping these lumps, fill their boats and haul them to the shore. But the bitumen sticks to the wood of the ship and hardens like wood, so that it cannot be torn off or broken, except when it is sprinkled with urine and women's menstrual fluid; for it is only by this power that it naturally yields. And they say that the water changes its colors three times a day, and sends forth a variety of appearances as it reflects the rays of the sun.

But Abraham, having become one hundred years old, legitimate

son Isaac he begot of Sarah, and after the eighth day he circumcised him; whence even now the Hebrews keep this custom, being circumcised on this day. For the Arabs and the Ishmaelites are circumcised in their thirteenth year, since their forefather Ishmael was so circumcised. Abraham, however, persuaded by Sarah, moved Ishmael elsewhere, lest after his own death, as firstborn, he might contend for the rights of primogeniture and cause harm to Isaac. And so, the successors of Ishmael occupied the land which stretches from the Euphrates to the Red Sea.

Not long after, ^B God commanded that Isaac be offered to Him for death; and Abraham, considering this to be the greatest token of piety, with the greatest efforts proceeded to a certain summit, and having suitably prepared all things for the sacrifice, he spoke thus to his son:

«Long and infinite were the prayers with which I entreated of God that you might be born to me, my son; and when you had entered this life, there was nothing that I did not zealously expend for your upbringing and discipline, nor did I think anything would make me happier than if, at the end of my life, I could leave you as the adult heir and successor to my affairs and state. But since, by God's bounty and gift, I am your father, I again offer you to Him who asks for you. Endure, therefore, generously and manfully this consecration: for I yield you to God, who wishes to be honored by us with this honor, because of the things He has shown me as a kind guardian. Go, therefore, not meeting death in the common manner of all, but sent in place of a sacrifice by your own father to God, the Father of all, who—such is His majesty—receives your soul not by sickness, or war, or any other [affliction] to which the human race is born to be consumed, but by prayers and sacrifice. Then you shall provide God ^C to me as my guardian and mentor of my old age, in place of yourself.»

Upon hearing these things, Isaac said to him: «I would not even have been worthy of being born, if I were not to approve of the judgment of God and my father, and were I not to commit myself most promptly to the will of both. But even if my father alone had attempted this, it would be impious not to obey.»

And saying these things, he pressed on to the altar and the slaughter. But God, having beheld the prompt and eager spirit of both, granted the son to the father, having shown a ram in place of the sacrifice of the son; and ^D immediately he sacrificed this in place of his son Isaac.

First of all, the Word of God, appearing to Abraham in human form, prophesied the calling of the nations, which, having arrived in the world in our times, He brought to completion through His evangelical teaching to all nations.

Isaac, in the fortieth year of his age, took Rebecca for himself

marriage, from whom he begot two children, Esau and Jacob. ^A And Abraham, after Sarah had died, married Keturah, and from her he produced six children: Zembran, Iazan, Maden, Madian, Lusubacum, and Su.

Children were also born from these: from Su, Sabacanes and Dadanes; and from the latter, Latusimus, Asurus, and Luobus. From Madam: Hetha, Thophores, Amochus, Ebidus, and Eldus. Abraham had provided for all of them before they were born, and they took possession of the Troglodyte [region], and parts of Arabia Felix, and as much as extends to the Red Sea. And from Asur, Assyria was named. Sophren, having led a campaign into Libya, occupied it, and his descendants—that is, his grandsons who inhabited it—called the region Africa after his name. These helped Hercules, the earth-born [hero], when he made war against Antaeus. Hercules married the daughter of Vaphre, from whom he received the child Bodorus, who begot a son, Sophonas, ^B from whom they say the barbarian Sophonians [derive their name].

Abraham, having lived for 175 years, died. Jacob, having snatched the blessing of Esau, arrived in Mesopotamia to Laban, the brother of his mother, and having served him for fourteen years, took his two daughters, Leah and Rachel, whom he pursued with a more ardent love. He was inflamed with desire for her, not succumbing to her beauty—although it is recorded in the scriptures that Rachel was beautiful in form and lovely in appearance—but because, seeing her for the first time, as if she had met him by divine providence, he greeted her kindly and loved her more intensely, knowing that this wonder had also happened to his mother, Rebecca, when, ^C as the servant of Abraham prayed, she met him according to his prayers, and matters preordained for him were fulfilled through [the course of] events.

There were born to him six sons from Leah: Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Judas, Issachar, Zabulon; from Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin; from Rachel’s handmaid Balla, Dan and Nephthalim; from Leah’s handmaid named Selphas, Gad and Asher. The nation of the Syrians originated from Esau, who were also called Idumaeans, since at first Esau was named Idumaeus because he desired the yellow lentil; for the Jews call "yellow" *iduma*. Later they were renamed Syrians, from the name of a certain Syrus who ruled that nation. Now Esau took three wives for marriage from the Canaanites: Adda, the daughter of Elon the Hittite; and Elibeman, ^D the daughter of Enan the Hebrew; and Basemmath, the daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nabeoth. And from Adda he begot Eliphas; from Basemmath, Rangel; and from Elibeman he begot Jeul, Jeglom, and Core. Having raised these in the land of the Canaanites, he migrated to Mount Seir, because he could not dwell together with his brother Jacob, who had returned from Mesopotamia, due to the multitude of possessions they both held.

^A Having then founded a child there, he named it Edom after himself. There were born also to his sons legitimate children: to Eliphaz five—Theman, Hymar, Sophar, Gomoth, and Cenex—among whom is also numbered a bastard, Amalek, born to him by a concubine named Thamna; and to Raguel also four sons were born: Namin, Zares, Some, and Rhoze. And of Edom there were eleven: Thamma, Gola, Iothom, Ailibaiman, Ielas, Phinon, Cenyx, Theman, Mazari, Maediel, and Zephonen. To Seir the Chorræan, who inhabited the region of Lotan, five sons were born: Sobal, Sebegon, Anadeson, Aser, and Resom; and to Lotan two: Chorri and Emam. And Thamna was the sister of Lotan, who bore Amalek to Eliphaz. Sobal the son of Seir produced five children: Odomnan, Nachath, Gebeel, Soph, and Omnan; and Osebegon two: Aidi and Anan, who in the desert found the mules of his father Sebegon grazing. Enan further begat Deson and the daughter Elibama; and Deson begat Amadan, Asban, Gethran, and Charran. And Aser, the fourth son of Seir, begat four children: Balam, Zoucan, Ioucan, and Oucan; the fifth son of Seir, Oreson, begat Ossaran. ^B Before kings were created in Israel, these were the kings who reigned in Edom: Balac son of Beor, and the name of his city was Denada, after whom followeth Iobab son of Zara from Bossyra, after whom Azim from the land of Themanon, after whom Adad son of Barad, who in the field of Moab cut down Madiam, and the name of his city was Getthem; after him Samalac from Masecca; after whom Saul from Roboth, which is near the river; after whom Balaennon son of Abochor, having a wife named Metebeel, daughter of Matrad, son of Mezoph, of all of whom the years are computed to the number of five hundred. But the sons of Jacob, envying the praise and glory of their brother Joseph, sold him to the Ishmaelites, and they into Egypt to Petephres, the chief cook of Pharaoh. ^C In that same time, Judas approached a certain Odollamite named Iras, and having seen there a Chanaanite woman named Saba, he took her for a wife, and from her he received four children: Her, Aunan, Selom, and Phares. And Judas united his firstborn son Her in marriage to a woman named Thamar, and because of the excessive wickedness of his ways, he died childless, God having put him to death. And Judas instructed his second child, Aunan, to sleep with Thamar, so as to raise up seed to his brother. But Aunan, knowing that it did not pertain to him that the sowing of children should be, when he was about to unite with the woman, poured out his seed upon the ground; and being held in indignation by God for this, he died immediately. And Judas commanded Thamar to sit as a widow in her father’s house until Selom should grow up. ^D When he was grown, he was afraid to unite him with Thamar, suspecting that he too might perish. She, being led by this to suffer painfully, repaid Judas in this manner. For when the report reached her that he had set out to shear his sheep,

^A she put off her mourning garments and covered herself in fine clothing; she sat at the gates of the city of Enaim. Judas, passing by and seeing her, fell in love with her as a harlot, for she had covered her face so that she might not be recognized. Promising to send her a kid, he asked to lie with her. She would not yield until she had received the ring, the cord, and the staff as a pledge from him. When he had lain with her, he departed to his flocks, while she, putting on her widow’s garments again, remained hidden in secret. But when Judas, having sent the kid, sought the cord and the rest of the pledges and did not find them, he was afflicted with various thoughts, yet he bore it, being entirely eager to uncover the deception. Therefore, after some time had passed, Thamar was found to be pregnant. When Judas heard that she had conceived through fornication, he ordered that she be burned alive. But as she was being led forth, she sent the cord, the ring, and the staff to Judas, saying, “I have conceived by the man to whom these belong. Recognize, therefore, whose the ring, the cord, and the staff are.” Judas, having grieved over the matter and being moved in spirit, accused himself of injustice, saying: “She is more just than I, ^B because I did not give her to my son Selom.”

She, having reached her time, brought forth twins during the birth. The elder, that is, the first, stretched forth his hand, and the midwife bound it with a crimson thread, saying, “This one will come out first.” But immediately the child drew his hand in, and his brother came out first, and his name was called Phares. After him, the brother came out on whose hand was the crimson thread, and he was named Zara. From them had origin Joseph, the spouse of the immaculate Virgin, from whom Christ took flesh.

For Phares, as the evangelist Matthew records, begat Esrom; Esrom begat Aram; Aram begat Aminadab; Aminadab begat Naasson; Naasson begat Salmon; Salmon begat Booz; Booz begat Obed of Ruth; Obed begat Jesse; Jesse begat David the king. David the king begat Solomon by her who was of Uriah. Solomon begat Roboam; ^C Roboam begat Abia; Abia begat Asa; Asa begat Josaphat; Josaphat begat Joram; Joram begat Ozias; Ozias begat Joatham; Joatham begat Ezechias; Ezechias begat Manasses; Manasses begat Ammon; Ammon begat Josias; Josias begat Jechonias and his brothers at the time of the transmigration of Babylon. And after the transmigration of Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; Salathiel begat Zorobabel; Zorobabel begat Abiud; Abiud begat Eliachim; Eliachim begat Azor; ^D Azor begat Sadoc; Sadoc begat Achim; Achim begat Eliud; Eliud begat Eleazar; Elea-

zar autem genuit Matthan, Matthan autem genuit Jacob, Jacob autem genuit Joseph virum Mariæ, ex qua natus est Jesus, qui dicitur Christus. Omnes itaque generationes ab Abraham usque ad David generationes quatuordecim, et a David usque ad transmigrationem Babylonis generationes quatuordecim, et a transmigratione Babylonis usque ad Christum, generationes quatuordecim. Πᾶσαι νῦν αἱ γενεαὶ ἀπὸ Ἀβραὰμ ἕως Δαυΐδ γενεαὶ δεκατέσσαρες, καὶ ἀπὸ Δαυΐδ ἕως τῆς μετοικεσίας Βαβυλῶνος γενεαὶ δεκατέσσαρες, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς μετοικεσίας Βαβυλῶνος ἕως τοῦ Χριστοῦ γενεαὶ δεκατέσσαρες.

Inquirendum autem nobis est, quænam ratione Matthæus et Lucas in genealogia Joseph tradenda discrepant; hic quidem filium illum Jacob, filii Matthan perhibens, Lucas vero filium Ileli, filii Melchi, et quomodo Melchi, et Matthan, cum sint diversi generis, avi Josephi comperiuntur. ^B Ζητητέον δὲ ἡμῖν κατὰ ποῖον λόγον ὁ Ματθαῖος καὶ ὁ Λουκᾶς ἐν τῇ γενεαλογίᾳ διαφωνοῦσι τοῦ Ἰωσήφ· ὁ μὲν υἱὸν Ἰακὼβ γράφων αὐτὸν υἱοῦ Ματθάν, ὁ δὲ Λουκᾶς υἱὸν Ἡλεὶ τοῦ Μελχεί· καὶ πῶς οὗτοι, διαφόρων γενῶν ὑπάρχοντες, ὅ τε Μελχεὶ καὶ ὁ Ματθὰν, πάπποι τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ ἀναφαίνονται.

Ἔστιν οὖν τοῦτο σαφηνιζόμενον. Πρῶτος γὰρ Ματθὰν, ὁ ἐκ γένους Σολομῶντος, ἄγεται γυναῖκα Αἴθαν ὀνόματι, καὶ ἐκ ταύτης γεννᾷ τὸν Ἰακώβ, καὶ ἀποθνήσκει. Καὶ ἄγεται αὐτὴν ὁ Μελχεὶ ὁ ἐκ γένους Ματθὰν, ἐκποιεῖ ἐξ αὐτῆς τὸν Ἡλεί. Καὶ δὴ οὖν ὅ τε Ματθὰν καὶ ὁ Μελχεὶ, τὴν αὐτὴν ἀγαγόμενοι γυναῖκα, δύο ὁμομητρίους ἐπαιδοποιήσαντο ἀδελφούς, διὸ καὶ ἐκ διαφόρων δύο γενῶν εὑρίσκομεν τὸν Ἰακὼβ καὶ τὸν Ἡλεί. Ἡλεὶ δὲ, λαβὼν γυναῖκα, ἄπαις ἐτελεύτησε, καὶ ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ Ἰακὼβ ἔλαβε τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, ὅπως κατὰ τὸν νόμον ἐγείρῃ τέκνα τῷ ἀδελφῷ, καὶ γεννᾷ ἐξ αὐτῆς τὸν Ἰωσήφ. Ὥστε οὖν κατὰ φύσιν μὲν ἦν υἱὸς τοῦ Ἰακὼβ ὁ Ἰωσήφ, κατὰ νόμον δὲ τοῦ Ἡλεί. ^C Ita dubitatio hæc tollenda. Primus enim Matthan a Salomone oriundus, Æthan habuit in matrimonio, ex hac gignitur Jacob, et moritur, eamque ducit Melchi ex genere Matthan, suscipitque ex ea Heli. Itaque Matthan et Melchi, eadem uxore ducta, duos ex eadem matre, fratres filios habuerunt, quare duplici genere Jacob, et Heli oriundos comperimus. Heli porro uxore ducta, sine filiis obiit, et frater ejus Jacob eam sibi conjunxit, ut secundum legem filios fratri excitaret, nasciturque ex ea Josephus. Ita ut natura quidem Josephus filius sit Jacobi, lege Heli.

Ἅξιον δὲ καὶ τὴν ἱστορίαν, ἣν διέξεισι περὶ τῆς ἁγίας Μαρίας Ἰάκωβός τις, ἐπελθεῖν

Φάσκει γὰρ ἐν ταῖς φυλαῖς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἄνδρα πλούσιον γεγενῆσθαι ὀνόματι Ἰωακεὶμ, ὃς καθ᾿ ἑορτὴν διπλάσιον τῶν ἄλλων δῶρα τῷ Θεῷ προσεκόμιζεν, οὕτω λέγων· Τὸ τῆς περιουσίας ἐν παντὶ τῷ λαῷ, καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀφέσεως εἰς ἱλασμὸν ἐμοὶ Κυρίῳ τῷ Θεῷ. Ἐνστάσης οὖν τῆς μεγίστης τοῦ Κυρίου ἑορτῆς, καὶ πάντων κατὰ τὸ εἰωθὸς τὰ δῶρα τῷ Θεῷ προσκομιζόντων, προσενεγκεῖν πρῶτος αὐτὸς ὥρμησεν. Καὶ Ῥουδὶν τις διεκώλυσεν αὐτὸν προσοῖσαι πρῶτον, λέγων, μὴ ἐξεῖναι αὐτῷ, καθότι ἄτεκνος ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ καθέστηκε. Καὶ λυπηθεὶς ἐπὶ τοῦτο, εἰς τὴν ἔρημον ἀφίκετο, κἀκεῖ πήξας σκηνὴν ἱκέτευε τὸν Θεὸν παρασχεῖν καὶ αὐτῷ, ὥσπερ τῷ Ἀβραὰμ γνησίου παιδὸς σποράν· μόνον γὰρ ἐγνώκει ἑαυτὸν ὑπάρχειν ἐν τῷ Ἰσραήλ· ἄχρις ἡμερῶν νηστεύων τεσσαράκοντα ἱκέτευε τὸν Θεόν. Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἡ ὁμόζυγος αὐτοῦ, περιθεμένη ἐσθῆτα εὐτελῆ, ἐδεῖτο τοῦ Θεοῦ τυχεῖν γονῆς. Ἐπιστάσης δὲ τῆς μεγίστης ἡμέρας τοῦ Θεοῦ, λαμπρὰν στολὴν ἀμφιέννυται· οὐ γὰρ ἦν θεμιτὸν ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ἑορτῇ πένθιμον ἠμφιέσθαι στολήν. Περὶ γοῦν τὴν ἐννάτην ὥραν τῆς ἡμέρας ὑπό τι δένδρον ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ αὐτῆς καθεσθεῖσα, ἱκέτευε λέγουσα τῷ Θεῷ· «Ὁ Θεὸς τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν, εὐλόγησόν με, καὶ ἐπάκουσον τῆς δεήσεώς μου, καθὼς εὐλόγησας τὴν μήτραν Σάρρας, καὶ ἔδωκας αὐτῇ υἱὸν τὸν Ἰσαάκ.» Καὶ ταῦτα λέγουσα ἀφορᾷ εἰς τὸ δένδρον, καὶ θεασαμένη στρουθὸν τὰ νεοσσία ἑαυτοῦ πε-

^A ριέποντα, πικρῶς στενάξασα, καὶ κωκύσασα εἶπε· «Οἴμοι, Κύριε, ὅτι οὐδὲ τοῖς πετεινοῖς τούτοις ὡμοίωμαι γονίμοις ὑπάρχουσι!» Καὶ ταῦτα βοώσης αὐτῆς πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, ἄγγελος Κυρίου ἐπιφανεὶς αὐτῇ εὐαγγελίζεται αὐτῇ παιδοποιίαν. Ἡ δὲ ἀκούσασα εὐθὺς τὸ γεννηθὲν ἀναθεῖναι τῷ Θεῷ ἐπηγγείλατο.

Τοιαῦτα δὲ καὶ τῷ Ἰωακεὶμ ὁ ἄγγελος ἐν τῷ ὄρει διεσήμανε. Καὶ καταβὰς Ἰωακεὶμ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄρους, δέκα ἀμνάδων θυσίαν τῷ Κυρίῳ προσήνεγκε, καὶ τοῖς ἱερεῦσι μόσχους δεκαδύο, καὶ τῇ γερουσίᾳ καὶ παντὶ τῷ λαῷ ἑκατὸν χιμάρους. Καὶ ἐπιτελέσας τὰς θυσίας ταύτας ἐν τῷ ναῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀφικνεῖται εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ· καὶ γνοὺς τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, ποιεῖ ἐξ αὐτῆς θυγατέρα, καὶ ὀνομάζει αὐτὴν Μαριάμ, ἥντινα τριετῆ γενομένην τῷ ναῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀφιέρωσαν.

Γενομένης δὲ αὐτῆς δωδεκαετούς, οἱ ἱερεῖς συμβούλιον ἐποιήσαντο, τίνι αὐτὴν πρὸς γάμον συνάγωσι. Καὶ ἐπιτρέπουσι τὸν ἀρχιερέα ^B Ζαχαρίαν, εἰς τὰ Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων εἰσελθόντα, αἰτήσασθαι τὸν Θεὸν ἀποκαλύψαι αὐτῷ, τίνι προσήκει ζευχθῆναι αὐτήν. Καὶ τοῦ Ζαχαρίου εὐχομένου, ἄγγελος ἐπιφανεὶς σημαίνει πάντας συναγαγεῖν τοῦ λαοῦ τοὺς χηρεύοντας, καὶ κατέχειν ἕκαστον ῥάβδον· καὶ ᾧ ἂν ὁ Θεὸς ἐπιδείξῃ σημεῖον, τούτῳ συνάψαι τὴν παρθένον.

Ἐξελθὼν δὲ ὁ Ζαχαρίας ἐποίησεν οὕτως, καθὼς ὁ ἄγγελος αὐτῷ προσέταξε. Καὶ λαβὼν πάντων τὰς ῥάβδους αὐτῶν, ἀπῆλθεν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ, καὶ προσηύξατο, καὶ ἐξελθὼν ἑκάστῳ τὴν ἰδίαν ῥάβδον ἀπένειμε. Τελευταῖον δὲ ἐπιδιδοὺς τὴν ῥάβδον τῷ Ἰωσήφ, σημεῖον μέγα ἐγένετο. Ἀθρόως γὰρ τὴν ῥάβδον αὐτοῦ παρὰ τοῦ ἱερέως λαμβάνοντος, περιστερὰ ἐξέπτη ἀπὸ τῆς ῥάβδου, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἐκαθέσθη τοῦ Ἰωσήφ· καὶ ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς καὶ πάντες οἱ συνόντες ἱερεῖς, ^C θαυμάσαντες τὸ γεγονός, αὐτὸν γενέσθαι μνηστῆρα τῆς κόρης ἔκριναν, ἣν λαβὼν ὁ Ἰωσὴφ ἐφύλασσε, καὶ καταλιπὼν ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ ἀφικνεῖται τὰς οἰκοδομὰς ἐκτελέσων· ἦν γὰρ τέκτων τῇ ἐπιστήμῃ.

Κατ' ἐκεῖνον δὲ τὸν καιρὸν ἔδοξε τοῖς ἱερεῦσι κατασκευασθῆναι ὑπὸ ἁγνῶν παρθένων τῷ ναῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ καταπέτασμα, καὶ εὑρέθησαν ἐν τῇ φυλῇ Ἰούδα παρθένοι ἑπτά. Καὶ τῆς Μαρίας δὲ μνησθεὶς Ζαχαρίας, ἐκέλευσε καὶ αὐτὴν παρεῖναι εἰς τὸν κατάλογον· καὶ εἰσαγαγὼν αὐτὰς εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ Θεοῦ, κλῆρον βαλεῖν προσέταξε, ποίαν οἵσαν τὸν χρυσὸν καὶ τὸ ἀμίαντον, καὶ τὴν βύσσον, καὶ τὸ σηρικὸν, καὶ τὴν ἀληθῆ πορφύραν, καὶ τὸν ὑάκινθον, καὶ τὸν κόκκον· καὶ ἐκληρώθη Μαρία τὴν πορφύραν καὶ τὸν κόκκον ἐργάζεσθαι. Καὶ δὴ ἐπὶ τοῦ οἴκου ἐργαζομένης αὐτῆς ἐπιφανεὶς ἄγγελος τὸν παράδοξον ^D τόκον εὐαγγελίζεται αὐτῇ, καθὼς ἱστορεῖ τὰ Εὐαγγέλια.

Τὸ γοῦν ὁρισθὲν αὐτῇ ἔργον ἐκτελέσασα, δίδωσι τῷ ἀρχιερεῖ, καὶ εὐλογηθεῖσα παρ' αὐτοῦ ἄπεισι· καὶ μετὰ χρόνον τίκτει τὸν Χριστὸν κατὰ σάρκα. Καὶ τῶν μάγων ἀπὸ Ἀνατολῆς ὡς βασιλεῖ προσκυνησάντων μετὰ δώρων αὐτῷ, ὁ Ἡρώδης ἐταράχθη, καὶ διενοεῖτο ἀνελεῖν παραχρῆμα αὐτόν. Ὁ δὲ ὑπὸ Ἰωσὴφ καὶ τῆς Μαρίας εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀπεκομίσθη, καὶ τὸν ἐξ

^A Ἡρώδου διέφυγε θάνατον. Αὐτὸς δὲ, ἀγνοήσας τὴν φυγὴν, πάντα τὰ ἐν τῇ Βηθλεὲμ παιδία ἀναιρεθῆναι προσέταξεν· ἐν οἷς καὶ τὸν Ἰωάννην ἔτι νήπιον ὄντα ἀνελεῖν ἐσπούδαζεν. Ἡ δὲ Ἐλισάβετ, ἁρπάσασα αὐτὸν, εἰς τὴν ἔρημον ἔφυγε· καὶ εὐξαμένης αὐτῆς, διεσχίσθη τὸ ὄρος, καὶ μετὰ τοῦ παιδίου αὐτὴν ἐδέξατο, καὶ ἄγγελος τοῦ Θεοῦ διεφύλαττεν αὐτούς.

^B Πέμπει γοῦν πρὸς Ζαχαρίαν ὁ Ἡρώδης· Δὸς τὸν υἱόν σου· ποῦ ἔκρυψας αὐτόν, ἀπάγγειλόν μοι. Ὁ δὲ Ζαχαρίας ἀντεπιστέλλει φάσκων αὐτῷ· Ἐγὼ τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ προσεδρεύων ἀεὶ, τί ἐγένετο ὁ υἱός μου οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι. Καὶ ὀργισθεὶς ὁ Ἡρώδης πάλιν ἐπέστελλεν αὐτῷ. Δὸς ἔξω, λέγων, τὸν υἱόν σου. Οὐκ οἶδας, ὅτι τὸ αἷμά σου ὑπὸ τὴν χεῖρά μου ἐστιν; Καὶ ὁ Ζαχαρίας ἔφη· Μάρτυς εἰμὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Σὺ μὲν ἔχε μου τὸ αἷμα, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμά μου ὁ Θεός. Δέξαι δὲ καὶ γίνωσκε, ὅτι ἀθῶον αἷμα ἐκχέεις εἰς τὰ πρόθυρα τοῦ ναοῦ Κυρίου. Καὶ ὁ Ἡρώδης, ἐπὶ τούτοις ὀργισθεὶς, μεταξὺ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου ἀναιρεθῆναι αὐτὸν πρὸ τοῦ διαφαῦσαι προσέταξεν, πρὸς τὸ μὴ ὑπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ κωλυθῆναι αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν.

Ὄρθρου δὲ οἱ ἱερεῖς παραγενόμενοι εἰς τὸν ναὸν, ἐξενίζοντο, κατὰ τὸ εἰωθὸς μὴ ὑπαντήσαντος αὐτοῖς τοῦ ἀρχιερέως, καὶ ἐπέμενον ἔξω. Ὥρας οὖν παρελκούσης, εἷς τις ἐξ αὐτῶν εἰσελθεῖν ἀπετόλμησεν. Ὁ δὲ θεωρεῖ αἷμα πεπηγὸς παρὰ τὸ θυσιαστήριον, καὶ ^C ἀκούει φωνῆς λεγούσης· Ζαχαρίας πεφόνευται, καὶ οὐκ ἐξαλειφθήσεται τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ, ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ ὁ ἔκδικος. Ἀκούων γοῦν ταῦτα ἔμφοβος ἐγένετο, καὶ ἐξελθὼν τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν ἀπήγγειλεν. Οἱ δὲ, εἰσελθόντες, τὸ μὲν σῶμα οὐκ εἶδον, εἰ μὴ τὸ αἷμα, καὶ τὰς στολὰς ἑαυτῶν διαῤῥήξαντες, ἐκόψαντο, καὶ τῷ λαῷ ἀνήγγειλαν, καὶ τρία νυχθήμερα ἐπ' αὐτῷ θρῆνον ἐποίησαν. Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα Συμεῶνα εἰς τὴν τάξιν αὐτοῦ κλήρῳ κατέστησαν, ὃς ὑπῆρχεν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος χρηματισθεὶς μὴ ἰδεῖν θάνατον, ἕως ἂν ἴδῃ τὸν Χριστὸν Κυρίου.

Ἄλλη δέ τις ἱστορία περὶ τοῦ Ζαχαρίου ἐμφέρεται· ὡς ἄρα ἦν τις περὶ τὸν ναὸν τόπος, ἔνθα μένειν τὰς παρθένους ἐξῆν εἰσιούσας προσκυνεῖν τῷ Θεῷ· τὰς δὲ γαμηθείσας μὴ εἶναι νόμιμον. Ἡ οὖν Μαρία, γεννήσασα τὸν Σωτῆρα, ἐλθοῦσα, ἔστη ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ. Κωλυόντων οὖν αὐτὴν τῶν εἰδότων γεγεννηκυῖαν αὐτὴν, ὁ Ζαχαρίας ἔλεγεν ἀξίαν αὐτὴν εἶναι τοῦ τόπου τῶν παρθένων. Ὡς οὖν παρανομοῦντα αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν τόπον τῶν παρθένων ^D μεταξὺ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου ἀπέκτειναν. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ὡς ἐν παρόδῳ ἐλέχθη.

Ἰωσὴφ δὲ, ἀποδοθεὶς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀδελφῶν, θείᾳ ἐπινοίᾳ τῷ Φαραὼ διακρίνας ὀνείρατα, ἡγεμὼν πάσης τῆς Αἰγύπτου καθίσταται. Καὶ λιμοῦ πᾶσαν πιέζοντος τὴν γῆν, οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ κατῆλθον εἰς Αἴγυπτον, σῖτον καὶ αὐτοὶ διὰ τὸν λιμὸν ὠνησόμενοι· καὶ ἀναγνωρισθεὶς αὐτοῖς Ἰωσὴφ, μεθιστᾷ

μεθιστᾷ ^A αὐτοὺς ἅμα τῷ πατρὶ Ἰακὼβ εἰς τὴν Αἴγυπτον παγγενῆ. Τῷ μὲν γὰρ Ῥουβὶν τέσσαρες παῖδες ἐγένοντο, Ἑνώχ, Φαλές, Ἀῤῥώμ, Χαρμεΐ· τῷ δὲ Συμεὼν ἕξ, Ἰεβουήλ, Ἰαβήν, Ἀώδ, Ἀχιήλ, Σαδὴ, Σαούλ· καὶ τῷ Λευὶ τρεῖς, Γεδσών, Βωὰδ, καὶ Μεναρεί· τῷ δὲ Ἰούδα πέντε, Ἤρ, Αὐνών, οἵτινες, καθὼς προεγράφη, ἀπέθανον, Σηλώμ, Φαρές, Ζαρά· τῷ δὲ Φαρὲς δύο, Ἀῤῥὼμ καὶ Ἰεμοήλ· τῷ δὲ Ἰσσάχαρ τέσσαρες, Θαλά, Φονά, Ἰασούφ, Ζαβράν· τῷ Σαβουλὼν τρεῖς, Σερδὲρ, Ἀλδών, Αἰήλ· οἱ πάντες τριάκοντα τρεῖς, ἐκ τῆς Λείας τὸ γένος ἔχοντες, καὶ θυγατέρα Δίνα. Ἐγένοντο δὲ καὶ τῷ Γὰδ υἱοὶ ἑπτὰ, Σαφών, Ἀγγεΐς, Σαΰνις, Θασοβάθ, Ἀήδις, Ἀνοήδης, Ἀρίλης· τῷ δὲ Ἀσὴρ τέσσαρες, Ἰεμνά, Ἰούλ, Μερία, καὶ Σερὰ θυγάτηρ· ἐκ δὲ τοῦ Βερία ἐγεννήθησαν Χοβὼρ καὶ Μελχιήλ· οὗτοι πάντες ἓξ καὶ δέκα υἱοὶ Ζελφᾶς τῆς παιδίσκης Λείας, ἥτις εἰς ὄνομα τῆς Λείας τῷ Ἰακὼβ αὐτοὺς ἐγέννησεν. Ἐτέχθησαν δὲ καὶ τῷ Ἰωσὴφ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ παῖδες δύο, Μανασσῆς καὶ Ἐφραίμ, οὓς ἔτεκεν αὐτῷ Ἀσινὲθ θυγάτηρ Πετεφρῆ Ἡλιοῦ. Καὶ ἐκ μὲν τοῦ Μανασσῆ ἐγεννήθη Μαχεὶρ ἐκ παλακῆς Συρίας τῷ γένει· ὁ δὲ Μαχεὶρ ἐγέννησε τὸν Γαλαάδ· ἐκ δὲ τοῦ Ἐφραὶμ ἐγεννήθησαν υἱοὶ Σουταλάμ, Βὰδ, Λάμ. Ἐκ δὲ τοῦ Σουταλὰμ ἐγεννήθη Ἐδέν. Τῷ δὲ Βενιαμὶν καὶ αὐτῷ δύο παῖδες ἐγένοντο, Βαλλαχοδὼρ καὶ Ἀσσαέρ· ἐκ δὲ τοῦ Βαλλαχοβὼρ Γηρὰν καὶ Νοεμὶν καὶ Λάχης καὶ Ἐσρὼμ καὶ Μαμφί. Μαμφὶ δὲ ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἀράδ· οὗτοι υἱοὶ Ῥαχὴλ οἱ πάντες ὀκτωκαίδεκα. Υἱὸς δὲ ἐγένετο τῷ Δὰδ· τοῦ δὲ Νεφθαλείμ, Ἀσιήλ, καὶ Γουμὶν καὶ Ἰσαὰρ καὶ Συλήμ· οὗτοι υἱοὶ Βάλλας παιδίσκης Ῥαχὴλ οἱ πάντες ἑπτά. Ὁ δὲ μακάριος Ἰακὼβ ἔτη τὰ πάντα βιώσας ρμζ΄, ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἀπέθανε, πρότερον ἕκαστον τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ διαφόροις εὐλογίαις εὐλογήσας. Καὶ τὴν μὲν εὐλογίαν τῶν πρωτοτόκων Ἰωσὴφ παρέσχετο, καὶ οὐχὶ Ῥουβίν· διότι ὁ μὲν Ἰωσὴφ μὴ εἴξας ἡδονῇ τῆς Αἰγυπτίας ἐδικαιώθη, ὁ δὲ Ῥουβὶν ἡττηθεὶς ἥμαρτεν· ἄλλως τε ὅτι καὶ ἐκ τῆς Ῥαχὴλ πρωτότοκος ὑπῆρχε, καὶ τῇ Ἰούδα φυλῇ ἀπεκλήρωσε τὴν βασιλείαν, καὶ οὐ τῇ τοῦ Ῥουβίν· διότι ὁ μὲν Ἰούδας ἐν γυναικὶ ὠνειδίσθη, ὁ δὲ ἐδικαιώθη, ὁμολογήσας εὐγνωμόνως ἑαυτὸν τυγχάνειν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ὑπεύθυνον, καὶ οὐ τὴν γυναῖκα. Ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο βασιλεύειν ἐτάχθη, ἐπειδὴ μόνη τῶν ἄλλων φυλῶν ταμωτέρα πρὸς ζῆλον καὶ ἐκδίκησιν Θεοῦ ἐτύγχανεν· διὸ καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ φῦναι προφητεύει τὸν Χριστὸν κατὰ σάρκα, καὶ τὴν κλήσιν δι᾿ αὐτοῦ τῶν ἐθνῶν. Καὶ τῷ Λευὶ δὲ τὴν ἀρχιερωσύνην μόνῳ ἀπένειμε, καθότι ὁ Ἀμρὰμ ἐξ αὐτοῦ φύς, τὸ δόγμα τοῦ Φαραὼ παρεκρούσατο, καὶ τὸν υἱὸν ἑαυτοῦ τὸν Μωϋσῆν ἐζωοποίησε. Μόνον δὲ τὴν Ῥουβὶν πολὺν τῷ ἀριθμῷ ἐποίησε, διὰ τὸ μὴ συναινέσαι ἐπὶ τῇ Ἰωσὴφ ἐπιβουλῇ. Τελευτήσαντος γοῦν τοῦ Ἰακὼβ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, εἰς τὴν Χαναναίαν γῆν κηδεύουσιν ἀποκομίσαντες, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ πάντας. Ἐπὶ τέλει δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἰωσήφ, τῆς Αἰγύπτου ἀποχωρήσαντες, κηδεύουσιν ἔνθα ὁ προπάτωρ αὐτῶν Ἀβραὰμ προκε

προκε ^Aide by its inhabitants in the highest religious veneration; an altar is even now seen constructed from its trunk, upon which they offer burnt offerings and hecatombs. And they hand down the tradition that it was the staff of one of the angels who were received by Abraham as guests, which he planted while passing through that place. From this, a terebinth of great wonder springs forth; for when fire is brought near, it is all set aflame, and to everyone it appears to be dissolved into ash by the flames; but when extinguished, it is found entirely unharmed, and with all its parts intact.

After the death of Joseph, the Egyptians, being unmindful of past benefits and inflamed with envy and emulation, afflicted the Israelites with various kinds of calamities. For the Israelites, being physically robust and endowed with virtues, surpassed the Egyptians in prosperity—the latter being overcome by drunkenness and laziness, and forever fettered by sloth. But one of the sacred scribes of the Egyptians foretold to Pharaoh that there would arise among the Israelites one who would depress all of Egypt in a wondrous manner, and would add power to his own nation with the greatest strides, having achieved a fame that no oblivion shall erase. For this reason, Pharaoh, desiring to destroy the Hebrews in every way possible, and revolving plans in his mind, assigned them arduous labors: that they should surround all the cities of Egypt with massive walls, that they should restrain the force of the river by digging various channels, and that they should build up embankments so that, whenever the river began to overflow, they might prevent its inroads and inconveniences. ^B In addition to these things, he ordered them to build pyramids, and he issued a decree that the male children born to them should be cast into the river, thinking that the one whom the seer had said would be the destroyer of Egypt would be drowned in the river along with the others.

There was, therefore, a certain man from the tribe of Levi, Amram by name, who had taken Jochabed as his wife; of her he had begotten the divine Moses, and for a time he hid him with great care. But when he saw the royal law being enforced far too harshly and severely, fearing that he might be discovered, he placed the child in a chest and exposed him on the banks of the river. And the daughter of Pharaoh, coming there for the purpose of bathing, saw the chest, opened it, and was delighted by the beauty of the child; being herself barren, she adopted him. But though she summoned many Egyptian nurses to feed the child, she labored in vain, for he refused their breasts. ^C At length, however, the mother was secretly admitted, and by the queen's command she suckled him, for he would only suck her breasts; from his very cradle, as I suppose, he preferred his own race and turned away from the stranger. When he had grown to manhood, Thermuthis (for such was the queen's name) called him Moses, because he was saved from the waters; for the Egyptians call water *moy*, and being saved *se*. But his parents had previously called him Melchis. He was, moreover, exceedingly pleasing to look upon, so that whoever met him on the way would stop in wonder, and would greatly admire his beauty. Therefore, when he had reached an age of maturity, Thermuthis ^D

^A brought him to her father, asking him to make him the successor to his kingdom, and she placed him in his arms. He, having taken him and embraced him, kissed him tenderly and, playing with him, took the diadem from his own head and placed it upon the head of the child. But Moses, having cast the diadem onto the earth, trampled upon it. And the scribe, who had predicted his birth, seeing this and understanding that he was indeed the one foretold as the enemy of the Egyptian rule, rushed to kill him; but he could not, and crying out, he said to the king:

"This is the very one, O king, whom the divine power had foretold to us as being born of the Hebrews, a usurper of the Egyptian kingdom, who even now has given no small sign of future events, in that he has cast the very symbol of the kingdom to the earth and trampled upon it. If, therefore, you deliver this one to death, you will free the Egyptians from imminent dangers and deprive the Hebrews of the hope and confidence which they have placed in him."

When he had said these things, the king, by the providence of God, became reluctant to kill him; and Thermuthis, having snatched Moses from the king's hands, guarded him securely. ^B

Now the Ethiopians, being neighbors to the Egyptians, having made an unexpected attack, were besieging Egypt, and having put to flight the Egyptians who were drawn up against them, they advanced as far as Memphis and the sea, so that the Egyptians, in accordance with an oracle, took the race of the Hebrews as auxiliary forces and set out against them. And Pharaoh, thinking he had found a fitting opportunity for the destruction of Moses, requested that Thermuthis entrust Moses to him, so that he might make him the general of the Hebrews, swearing an oath that he would do him no harm, but would merely appoint him as a commander of the Hebrews, supposing that he would easily be destroyed by the enemies, as one who was inexperienced in war. ^C

She, having first greatly reproached her father and the scribes, because the one whom they had wanted to kill as an enemy they now sought as a helper, handed Moses over to them. He, having been promoted as general of his own nation, secretly led the army by another way, unknown to the Ethiopians, through a pathless and beast-infested region (for it nourishes every kind of beast, so that there are even some within it that fly). And as a precaution against anyone being struck by the beasts, he ordered every man to carry woven baskets filled with ibises; for this animal is the enemy of the asp. ^D When, therefore, they were journeying through that place, they released the ibises against the beasts, and they, being unable to withstand their attack, were destroyed. And in this way, having passed through, he fell upon the Ethiopians unexpectedly, and having slaughtered a great multitude of them, he put the rest to flight.

The Ethiopians, having barely escaped death by flight, reach the city of Saba. For this was their royal city, fortified with very strong walls and embankments, and inaccessible because of the Nile (since it encircles the entire city with its stream); wherefore it was also difficult to

^A besiege for the Egyptians. Moses, therefore, led his army toward the city, being in the greatest perplexity because it was impregnable. While the Egyptians were devising many things to no avail, the king’s daughter, named Tharmis, having seen Moses from the towers and being charmed by his beauty and having admired the genius of his maneuvers, fell in love; and having sent her most trusted servant, she conferred with him regarding marriage. Moses promised to do this if she would surrender the city to him. She immediately struck a covenant and delivered the city to him. The war thus being ended, and the Egyptians having returned to their own lands, he took her in marriage, and he built a city, which he called Hermopolis; for so is Moses called by the Egyptians, on account of his interpretation of the sacred writings.

^B He was also held in the highest honor among the Ethiopians, on account of his admirable wisdom. For he was the first of all to devise for them the use of ships, machines for stone-cutting, Egyptian armor, instruments for drawing water, and weapons of war. Furthermore, he divided all of Egypt into thirty districts, in order to stabilize the kingdom for Chenephres; for the Egyptians were being governed without order, according to the whims of the kings, who were appointing and deposing whomsoever they pleased. For this reason, he was honored by the priests as a god, and by the Ethiopians as a king; for they learned circumcision from him and have guarded it to this day. ^C For he was the first wise man, as Eupolemus records, and the first to transmit letters to the Hebrews, which the blessed Abraham had brought from the Chaldeans; for the Chaldeans were the first inventors of these, and the Phoenicians received them from the Hebrews, and Cadmus transported them to the Greeks. ^D After his campaign against the Ethiopians he arrived in Egypt; and Chenephres received him with complimentary words, but in deed he was plotting his death; for having isolated him from his own people, he took him with him to Memphis and questioned him as to what was most useful for human life. He replied: "The race of oxen, because the land is cultivated and plowed by them." Chenephres therefore commanded the crowds to construct a temple for the bull Apis, and he hid the monuments of Moses’ virtue (which were things cast in bronze, proclaiming his ingenious inventions and the history of his gallant deeds against the Ethiopians) beneath the floor of the temple, so that his deeds might be consigned to oblivion; and he divided the multitude of the Hebrews who were protecting him into two groups: some he sent to guard Ethiopia, and others he commanded to construct the temple in the city of Jove out of stone, having quarried it from the neighboring mountain (for long ago the temple had been constructed of baked brick); and having stripped him of his Egyptian friends, he ordered them to kill him, binding them by oath not to reveal these plots to Moses. And since all refused this plan, a certain Chanenothes agreed to serve the king's will, promising to put Moses to death by treachery; at that time also Meros (for so was Thermubis called) having died,

^A Pharaoh, deeming he had found an opportune moment, commanded Moses and Chanenothes to perform her funeral rites outside the borders of Egypt. When they arrived there, one of those who were privy to Pharaoh’s design communicated it to Moses. Moses, having guarded himself on every side, buried Meros and named both the place and the river Meroë after her. He himself crossed the Nile from Memphis, under the guise of his brother Aaron, and fled into Arabia. When Chanenothes perceived this, he drew his sword and rushed against him. But Moses caught his hand, snatched away his sword, and slew him with his own blade. He then arrived in Arabia to Raguel, the ruler of those parts, and having taken his daughter Sepphora in marriage, he begot two sons by her.

^B Pharaoh, when he heard of the whole performance of Moses, poured out his wrath upon the multitude of the Jews and commanded them to be utterly put to the sword; he ordered them to wear only linen garments, so that they might be more easily recognized, and thus he delivered them to the Egyptians to be slain. On account of this, God punished him with a most severe penalty; for Pharaoh was the first of all men to be afflicted with elephantiasis, and he ended his life with a most hideous death. His successor in the sovereignty was simultaneously an heir to his vices; for he subjected the Jews to the same evils.

And as great mourning encompassed them, God, taking pity on them, sent Moses into Egypt, commanding Pharaoh to release the nation of the Jews into the desert, so that they might serve Him.

^C Pharaoh, however, being sore displeased at this statement of Moses, ordered him to be cast immediately into prison. During the night, the whole earth was shaken by an earthquake, so that many of the guards, stricken with terror, gave up the ghost, and many others, seized by a heavy sleep, had their limbs paralyzed. The very doors of the prison were thrown open, and Moses went out and arrived at the palace by night. For even there the doors stood apart as the earth trembled. While all the bodyguards were asleep, he awakened Pharaoh, saying: “God hath sent me to command thee to release the people of the Jews.” Terrified, he asked who this was and what was the name of the God who had sent him. Moses, leaning toward his ear, revealed to him the name of God; and Pharaoh, unable to bear the hearing of so great a name, fell speechless to the ground. ^D And Moses, approaching, raised him up and, having inscribed the most holy name upon a tablet, he sealed it. One of the Egyptian priests, having dared to make light of this name, immediately ended his life in a spasm.

Pharaoh demanded a sign from Moses, and Moses, having cast the rod he held in his hands upon the earth, changed it into a serpent, and when he touched it again, he restored it to its former shape.

^A Furthermore, when this did not lead to letting the people go, Moses prayed to God, and a great earthquake occurred with hail, so that whoever fled from houses to avoid the earthquake was destroyed by the hail, and those, in turn, who made haste to avoid the hail were crushed by the earthquake. ^B And when he remained unyielding even to this, he struck the waters of the Nile with his rod, and the river, overflowing, all but submerged all of Egypt, so that from that time right up to the present it makes its descent. Pharaoh, then, having summoned the priests who dwelt above Memphis, threatened them and all the shrines of their idols with ruin if they did not perform signs similar to those of Moses. They, using their accustomed sorceries, made serpents appear to crawl forth and caused the color of the river to change, so that Pharaoh, puffed up by this, subjected the Jews to the greatest punishments. And Moses, having struck the earth with his rod, caused a winged creature to creep forth from it, which, settling upon the bodies of the Egyptians, afflicted them with grievous ulcers, so that no medicine could provide them any relief.

When Pharaoh hardened his heart even at this plague, finally, by death, he brought ruin upon all the firstborn of Egypt. And immense mourning having seized upon Egypt, Pharaoh sent all the Jews out of the land; and they, having traveled a long way and crossed the rivers of Arabia, arrived on the third day at the Red Sea. But God having hardened the heart of Pharaoh, the Egyptians, having again forgotten the past evils, pursued the Israelites along with Pharaoh.

^C Let no one imagine that Pharaoh was being forced by God into an insensibility regarding his actions; for such a person accuses God of injustice, saying: "If He himself is the one who hardens the heart, why does He blame the one being hardened?" But let him know that the intermission of the plagues was the cause of his callousness; for when He brought the plagues upon him, he promised to let the people go; but when He ceased from the punishments, he was hardened; for Scripture signifies this to us in these very words, when it says: "And Pharaoh seeing that there was a respite, he hardened his heart, and did not listen to them, just as the Lord had spoken; and, For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show in you all my power."

^D When you hear this, take care not to perceive it in a bad sense, saying: "For what reasons does He punish them, preparing them to withstand Him? Why are they beaten, if God abhors injustice?" But know first that what seem to be contradictory in Scripture are not to be solved by reasoning, but by examples. For as the best of physicians, being eager to invent something useful for human nature, when they demand those who are subject to a sentence of death, they dissect them, so that through those liable to death they might discover some benefit for humanity: so God, [in the case of all human...]

Pharao, who had sinned beyond hope of any cure, shows great signs—chastising him who is worthy of punishment, while cherishing and healing those who come after, showing his punishment to be a token of salvation.

It carries therefore, Pharao having summoned his entire army, with two hundred chariots and thirty thousand horsemen, pursued the Israelites. But they, the Red Sea having been divided by Moses at the command of God, were traversing it; and the Egyptians, pursuing them from behind, were drowned when Moses struck with his rod and brought the waters together.

On the next day, the weapons of the Egyptians were brought by the water, driven by the wind, to the multitude of the Hebrews. ^B And Moses, thinking that this too had happened by the Providence of God, commanded them to gather them up, so that they might not be without arms. They arrive, then, in the desert.

And Raguel, or Iothor (for he happened to be called by two names), comes to Moses, bringing his wife and sons to him; and having learned from him the whole of the marvelous work of God against the Egyptians, he was astonished and gave glory to God. This man was, as they say, a descendant of Abraham, born from one of the sons he had by Keturah; for from Iezan were born Dadan, Raguel, Iothor, and Obab. Moses, therefore, having received him kindly as was fitting, sent him away to his own lands.

Moses himself, having laid down many laws for the benefit of the Hebrews, died at the age of one hundred and twenty years; and Jesus the son of Nave succeeds to his rule and leads the people out ^C into the desert, where they spent forty years, in which even now traces of the dwelling of the Jews are preserved. For those who have visited these places for the sake of history report that the models of the tents still stand, belonging to a vast multitude; and that Mount Sinai is to be seen, on which Moses received the laws, and all the things that are recorded in detail.

It must be asked, however: the Hebrews dwelt in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years, and not two hundred and fifteen; for the consecutive record of the times indicates two hundred and fifteen, but Scripture says four hundred and thirty. For it says: "The seed of Abraham shall be a stranger in a foreign land for four hundred and thirty years."

First, then, it must be observed that it did not say "in Egypt," but "in a foreign land shall the seed of Abraham be a stranger." Now a foreign land was also the land of Chanaan, which Isaac inhabited—who was himself the ^D preeminent seed of Abraham before all others; for he was his son. It is manifest, therefore, that before they became heirs of the lands of foreigners, they had wandered as strangers for four hundred and thirty years, just as the Apostle also says: "The covenant confirmed by God after four hundred and thirty years, in order to make the promise bear fruit," and he adds, "But to Abraham God gave it through a promise." It is likely, therefore, that they dwelt in Chanaan for two hundred and fifteen years, and in