Fragments on Genesis 73–95

of so-and-so's birth, let him set forth the difference, showing that he can establish from the stars that these things have been understood truly as coming from producers, and those as coming from signifiers only. And if they cannot give the difference, they will in fairness agree that nothing in human affairs comes from the stars, but, as we said before, if anything, it is signified; as if someone took the past and the future not from the stars but from the mind of God, through some prophetic word. For just as we showed earlier that God's knowing what each person will do in no way harms the doctrine of what is in our power, so neither do the signs which God appointed for signifying hinder what is in our power; but, like a book containing the future prophetically, the whole heaven, being as it were God's book, can contain the future. Therefore in the Prayer of Joseph what is said by Jacob can be understood in this way: “For I read in the tablets of heaven all that will befall you and your sons.” And perhaps also “The heaven will be rolled up like a scroll” shows that the words it contains, which signify what will be, will be brought to completion and, so to speak, fulfilled, just as prophecies are said to be fulfilled by coming to pass. And thus the stars will have come to be for signs, according to the voice that says, “Let them be for signs.” But Jeremiah, turning us back to ourselves and removing the fear about the things thought to be signified, and perhaps also supposed to come from there, says: “Do not fear the signs of heaven.” Let us look also at a second argument showing how the stars cannot be producers but, if anything, signifiers. From very many nativities one can take what concerns one human being; this we say by hypothesis, granting that knowledge of them can be acquired by human beings. For suppose that, concerning this person, it is said that he will suffer this, and die by falling among robbers and being killed: they say that this can be taken both from his own nativity and, if he happens to have several brothers, from that of each of them. For they think that each one's nativity contains a brother who will die at the hands of robbers; likewise also

that of the father, and that of the mother, and that of the wife, and of his sons, and of the servants and his dearest friends, and perhaps even that of the killers themselves. How then is it possible that one who is contained in so many nativities (to grant them this) should be subject to the configuration of the stars of this nativity rather than of those? For it is unconvincing to say that the configuration in this person's own nativity produced these things, while that in the nativity of the others did not produce them but only signified them; and it is foolish to say that the nativity of all of them, each one, contained what produced this person's being killed, so that in, say, fifty nativities (I speak hypothetically) this person's being killed is contained. I do not know how they will be able to maintain that the configuration at the birth of nearly all those in Judea is such that they receive circumcision at eight days old, being mutilated and wounded, and falling into inflammation and wounds, and needing physicians at their very entrance into life; while that of those among the Ishmaelites in Arabia is such that all are circumcised at thirteen years old (for this is recorded about them); and again that of some among the Ethiopians is such that they have their kneecaps removed, and that of the Amazons that they have one of their breasts removed. For how do the stars do these things to these nations?

I think that, if we were to look closely, we shall not be able to say anything true about them, not even so far as to establish it. With so many methods of foretelling current, I do not know how people ran aground on saying that augury and divination by sacrifices do not contain the producing cause but only signify, and astronomy likewise, but no longer saying this of the casting of nativities. For if events are known (to grant that they are known), but happen from that source from which the knowledge is taken, why should events come from the stars rather than from birds, and rather from birds than from the entrails of victims or from shooting stars? These things, then, will suffice for the present to refute the stars' being producers of human affairs. But what we granted (for it did no harm to the argument), namely that human beings can grasp the heavenly configurations and the signs, and the things of which they are signs, let us now examine whether this is true. Those skilled in these matters say that the one who is to grasp truly what concerns the casting of nativities must know not only in which twelfth-part the so-called star is, but also at which degree of the twelfth-part and at which sixtieth; and the more precise say, at which sixtieth of the sixtieth. And they say that this must be done for each of the planets, examining its relation to

the fixed stars. Again, on the eastern horizon, they say, one will need to see not only which twelfth-part was on it, but also the degree and the sixtieth of the degree, the first or the second sixtieth. How then, when the hour, broadly reckoned, contains half a twelfth-part, can anyone take the sixtieth without having the proportion of the division of the hours, so as to know, for example, that so-and-so was born in the fourth hour, and a half, a quarter, an eighth, a sixteenth, and a thirty-second of an hour? For they say that what is signified varies very greatly through ignorance not only of the whole hour but even of a fraction of it. At any rate, with twins the interval between births is often a momentary part of an hour, and many variations in what befalls them and what they do occur, as those people say, owing to the relation of the stars and the portion of the twelfth-part at the horizon, which is not grasped by those who are thought to have observed the hour. For no one can say that the interval between this one's birth and that one's is a thirtieth of an hour. But let this be granted to them as regards taking the hour. A theorem is current which proves that the zodiacal circle, like the planets, moves from west to east one degree every hundred years, and in this long time changes the position of the twelfth-parts, the intelligible twelfth-part being one thing and the visible shape, so to speak, another; and that the outcomes come from the intelligible sign, which can scarcely be grasped. But let this too be granted, that the intelligible twelfth-part can be grasped, or that the truth can be taken from the perceptible twelfth-part. Yet the blending, as they call it, of the stars that stand in these configurations they themselves will confess they cannot preserve in every respect, when, say, the worse star indicated by one is dimmed because it is aspected by this better one, and dimmed to such or such a degree

these topics, to despair of grasping these things, which is in no way open to human beings, but reaches, if at all, only as far as their being signified. And if anyone has had experience of these matters, he will rather come to know how often those who speak of them, and those who have written about them, miss the mark in their conjectures than how often they are supposed to hit it. Isaiah, at any rate, as though these things cannot be found out by human beings, says to the daughter of the Chaldeans, who more than all others profess these things: “Let the astrologers of heaven stand up and save you; let them tell you what is about to come upon you.” For by these words we are taught that even those most devoted to learning about these things cannot make known beforehand what the Lord has willed to bring upon each nation. Now we have taken the prophetic word according to the letter. But if Jacob says that he read in the tablets of heaven what would befall his sons, and someone might object to us on this ground that Scripture shows the opposite of what we have said (for we said that a human being cannot grasp the signs, while Jacob says that he read in the tablets of heaven), we shall reply that the wise among us, having made use of a spirit greater than human nature, are taught secret things not in a human way but divinely; as Paul, who says: “I heard inexpressible words, which it is not permitted for a human being to speak.” For they know the changes of the solstices and the alterations of the seasons, the cycles of years and the positions of stars, not from human beings nor through human beings, but by the Spirit revealing them to them and purely announcing divine things, as God wills. And besides, Jacob was greater than a human being: he supplanted his brother, and he confesses in that very book from which we quoted “I read in the tablets of heaven” that he is a chief captain of the power of the Lord and has long possessed the name Israel; this he recognizes while serving in the body, when the archangel Uriel reminds him. After this it remains to examine and set before believers that the lights of heaven are set for signs; and it will be asked by those who go into these topics with more curiosity what the reason is for God's having made these signs in heaven. And one may say, first, that we believe what concerns the greatness of the mind of God, which has encompassed all knowledge concerning each thing that exists, so that not even what happens to be thought the least escapes his divinity;

this contains the conviction that he has encompassed in himself in this way things as it were infinite in number, yet not as a clear demonstration but as something believed, since it befits the unbegotten mind which is above every nature. In order, then, that this may be grasped by experience by those greater than human beings, and by holy souls released from the present bond, God made in heaven, through the revolution of the heavenly bodies, as it were letters and characters, so that those who have been taught and will be taught might read the signs of God. And it is not surprising that God does something also to make a display to the blessed, since Scripture says to Pharaoh: “For this very purpose I raised you up, that I might display my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” … of God, and of the proclaiming of his name in all the earth, consider how great a display of God's power the heavenly signs contain, since all things from eternity to the consummation are imprinted on the heaven, God's worthy book. Second, I conjecture that the signs are set for the powers that administer human affairs, so that some things they only know and others they carry out; just as, in the books we have, some things are written that we may know them, such as what concerns the making of the world and other mysteries, and others that, knowing them, we may do them, such as what concerns God's commandments and ordinances. It is possible, then, that the heavenly letters, which angels and divine powers are able to read well, contain some things to be read by the angels and ministers of God so that they may rejoice in knowing them, and others which they carry out, receiving them as commandments. And we shall not err if we say that the heaven and the stars correspond to what is in the law. But if worse energies, other than man, do some of the things foreknown and signified in heaven, it is not necessary that they too do what they do because they are reminded by God's letters; rather, just as men who do wrong, without learning that God has foreknown that this person will be wronged by them, do the wrong out of their own wickedness, so the powers opposed to God, having foreknown the wickedness of men who wish for evil things, carry it out by their own most shameful choice. The holy angels, however, “the ministering spirits sent out for service”, probably receive the commands written as from a law of God and do the better things in order, and when they must, and as they must, and as much as they must. For it would be absurd that they, being divine, should come at random and not by determination to give, say, an oracle to Abraham, and do something for Isaac, and rescue Jacob from danger, or stand over the spirit of this or that prophet. So that they may not do this at random or by chance, they read the book of God, and so do what falls to them. But, as we said before, what we do, and what the opposing energies accomplish against us, are done by our own choice

we do: disorderly when we sin, but instructed, not without angels, nor without divine letters, nor without holy ministers, when we do what is pleasing to God. And Clement of Rome, the disciple of the apostle Peter, speaking in agreement with this on the present problem to his father at Laodicea in the Circuits, says something most necessary at the end of such discussions, concerning the things of the nativity that seemed to have come true, in the fourteenth book: “And my father said: ‘Forgive me, my child. Your arguments of yesterday, being true, reasoned me into agreeing with you; but my conscience, like the remnant of a fever, torments me a little toward unbelief; for I know in myself that everything in my nativity was fulfilled for me.’ And I answered: ‘Consider with me, father, what kind of nature the science has, from what I advise. Meeting an astrologer, say to him first: “Such and such misfortunes happened to me at such a time; I want to learn from which of the stars they happened to me.” And he will say that the maleficent Mars or Saturn took over the periods, or one of them was returning to its place, or some star aspected this year from a square or from opposition, being in conjunction, or on a centre, or out of its sect. And he can say countless other things: besides these, that the beneficent star was not joined to the evil one, or did not aspect it, or was in such a figure, or out of its sect, or in eclipse, or unconnected, or among dim stars. And so, there being many pretexts, he can furnish proofs for what he has heard. After this astrologer, then, go to another and tell him the opposite: “Such a good thing happened to me at such a time” (name the same time), and demand from what in the nativity this happened. And yet, as I said before, even though you have lied, he can himself find among many figures one figure, and a second, and a third, and more, as having worked, from which he will say the good things came about. For it is impossible in any nativity of human beings, indeed at any hour, that some of the stars should not be well placed and others badly; for the circle is of equal parts, varied, holding countless pretexts, from which each can say what he wishes. For just as with ambiguous dreams we sometimes understand nothing, but once they have come to pass we bring forward a most fitting interpretation, so too the science can show us nothing clear before something has been fulfilled, but after the account of what has happened, then the cause of the outcome appears plain. Often, then, those who foretell stumble, and after the outcome they blame themselves, saying, “This was what did it, and we did not see it.” That even the very skilled stumble happens because they do not know, as I said yesterday, which causes in the nativity act necessarily and which not necessarily, and what we desire necessarily to do yet do not necessarily do. The reason is clear to us who have learned the mystery: having a free reasoning, we have sometimes resolved to restrain desire and have conquered it. But the astrologers, not knowing this very mystery, having pronounced on every choice from

the beginning, when they stumbled, invented the climacterics, making choice a matter of uncertainty, as we showed yesterday. But you, if you have anything further to say against this, speak.’ And he answered with an oath that nothing was truer than what had been said.” [Gen 1:16–17] “And God made the two great lights, the great light for the rules of the day and the lesser light for the rules of the night, and the stars. And God set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth and to rule the day and the night.” We must inquire whether “for the rules of the day” is the same as “and to rule the day,” and “for the rules of the night” the same as “and to rule the night.” For Aquila too kept the correspondence, putting “for authority” in place of “for the rules” and “to exercise authority” in place of “to rule.” Those who have devoted care to the examination of meanings say that, in passages with a pairing of appellatives and predicates, the appellatives come first, and the predicates arise from the appellatives. They call an appellative, for instance, prudence, which has a predicate, and the predicate is “being prudent”; likewise the appellative is self-control, the predicate “being self-controlled.” And they say that prudence comes first, and then the predicate arises from prudence, “being prudent.” These things we have observed, even if some will think we are acting against the intent of Scripture; for when God makes the lights, he makes the great one for the rules of the day and the lesser one for the rules of the night, but when he sets them in the firmament of heaven, it is no longer for the rules of the day and of the night, but for ruling the day and the night. For, in proper order and in keeping with the technical teaching on this topic, the appellatives are set first and then the predicates follow;

this has moved us to ask whether perhaps the matter was also understood in this way by the servant, especially since Aquila, who strives to translate most literally, did nothing other than render the appellative and the predicate. Let anyone who finds these things hard to accept consider whether an ethical problem, or one of natural philosophy or of theology, can be presented as it should be without precision in meanings and in what is made clear in the field of logic. For what is absurd about learning the proper usages in languages and attending carefully to meanings? There are times when, through ignorance of logic, we fall into great errors by not clearing up homonymies, ambiguities, misuses, proper usages, and distinctions. For instance, through ignorance that the term “world” is homonymous, those who did not clarify to what “The world lies in the evil one” applies (namely, that John said it there of earthly and human things) have fallen into thinking most impiously about the Creator. For supposing that “world” in this very passage signifies the system made of heaven and earth and what is in them, they make the most reckless and unholy pronouncements about God, though they can in no way show in fact how sun and moon and stars, which move in such order, lie in the evil one. Then, if we bring forward to them from “This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” that in these words “world” is said where sin abounds, that is, in the earthly places, if they are fair-minded they will accept what is said; but if they are contentious, behaving foolishly, they will persist in the wicked opinions they once formed, because of their ignorance of the homonymy. And again, if it is said, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself,” they will no longer be able to show that they have taken it of the whole world, that is, of the things in the whole world, especially on their own premises; for on their view too the word must be examined as homonymous. And concerning ambiguity, too, one who took pains could collect not a few examples of wicked interpretations, arising also from the placing of punctuation, and of countless other things. We have made this digression to show that for us too, who wish not to err concerning the truth in understanding the divine Scriptures, it is most necessary to know the parts of logic that come into use. We have needed them now too, to find the difference between what are said to have come to be “for the rules of the night” and “for ruling the day and the night.”

When the holy apostles and disciples of our Saviour were scattered over the whole inhabited world, Thomas, as tradition holds, was allotted Parthia, Andrew Scythia, and John Asia, where he lived and died at Ephesus. Peter seems to have preached in Pontus and Galatia and Bithynia, Cappadocia and Asia to the Jews of the dispersion; and at the end, having come to Rome, he was crucified head downward, having himself asked to suffer in this way. What need is there to speak of Paul, who fully preached the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem to Illyricum, and afterwards was martyred in Rome under Nero? [Selections] [Gen 1:11] “And God said: Let the earth bring forth the plant of grass, sowing seed according to kind and according to likeness.” It should not be passed over that the wording “God said: Let the earth bring forth the plant of grass, sowing seed according to kind and according to likeness” might seem a solecism, for “sowing” would not easily agree with “plant of grass.” How, then, can it be understood without a solecism, since most will take “sowing” as said of “plant of grass”? One may, using a slight pause with a middle stop, read thus: “Let the earth bring forth the plant of grass”; and then, after a break, add

“sowing seed according to kind,” so that it reads: “Let the earth bring forth the plant of grass, according to kind sowing seed,” “sowing seed” being attached to “kind.” [Gen 1:22] “Increase and multiply.” Increase signifies growth in size, multiplying the succession into a multitude that comes from intercourse. [Gen 1:26] “And God said: Let us make man according to our image and according to likeness.” We must first determine where the “according to the image” lies, in the body or in the soul. Let us first see what is used by those who say the former, among whom is Melito, who has left writings on God's being embodied. Finding members of God named, eyes of God looking upon the inhabited world, and his ears inclined to the prayer of the righteous, and “The Lord smelled a fragrant aroma,” and “The mouth of the Lord has spoken these things,” and an arm of God, and hands, and feet, and fingers, they declare outright that these teach nothing other than the form of God. And how, they say, did God appear to Abraham and Moses and the saints if he had no form? And if he had a form, in what character, if not the human? And they collect countless texts naming members of God. Against them we must contend first from the letter; and to those who know nothing beyond the letter we shall oppose texts contrary to their supposition: from Zechariah, that “Seven eyes of the Lord look upon all the earth.” If God has seven eyes and we two, we have not come to be according to his image. Moreover, we have no wings, but of God it says in the ninetieth psalm, “Under his wings you will hope.” If he has wings and we are a wingless animal, man has not come to be according to God's image. And how can the spherical heaven, which is always moving, be the throne of God, as they suppose? And how is the earth the footstool of his feet? Let them tell us. Since the body from the knees to the soles belongs to one who fills the space between heaven and earth, and the earth is in the middle of the whole world and surrounded by it, as is shown by geometrical proofs, are God's soles with us or with the antipodes? Have they filled our whole inhabited world, or do they take in something more, or less? Are his feet set apart because of the seas and rivers, or do they also tread upon the waters? And how is it that he whose throne is so great a heaven, and the earth the footstool

of his feet, is found walking only in paradise, or appears to Moses on the summit of Sinai? And how will one who holds these opinions about God not be called foolish? Then, after saying much to overturn such an opinion, he adds: But one who says that the “according to the image” is not in the body but in the rational soul will present a doctrine not to be despised, once he has grasped what its powers are. For the knowing power in the human being, which judges and does good, which acts justly and is strong, and in short accomplishes everything good, has come to be in him according to the image, from God. That actions characterize the “according to the image,” and not the form of the body, the Apostle clearly says in the letter to the Corinthians: “As we have borne the image of the earthly, let us also bear the image of the heavenly.” For he bears the earthly image who lives according to the flesh and does the works of the flesh, but the image of the heavenly the one who by the Spirit puts to death the deeds of the flesh. And in another letter, teaching how one must live, he adds to the commandments, “that you may become according to the image of the one who created.” The Lord is long-suffering, and the long-suffering man has what is according to God's image. The Lord is just and holy, and the Lord is compassionate and merciful. Therefore the one who loves justice and holiness, and who does and keeps the Saviour's commandment, “Be compassionate, as your Father is compassionate,” and “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” becomes an image of God in all respects. [Gen 1:28] “And rule over the fish of the sea, and the birds of heaven, and all the cattle, and all the earth, and all the creeping things that creep upon the earth.” One should observe that in the list of the creation of the animals the sea monsters are one thing and the creeping things of living souls another; and how man is now said to rule over the fish of the sea, while the kind of the sea monsters and that of the wild beasts are passed over in silence. For one must not think that these were not added idly, since it could have been written, “And let them rule over the fish, and the sea monsters of the sea, and the wild beasts of the earth, and the birds of heaven, and the cattle.” And consider whether, because of this silence, it is possible that not all the animals came to be for man's sake, but those over which he is said to rule, the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, and the cattle of the earth, and perhaps also the creeping things of the earth, because of the most necessary uses of the medicines made from them; but that the great sea monsters and the wild beasts of the earth did not come to be for man's sake. For otherwise their naming too would have been added to the authority given to human beings. And we do not find in Scripture the kind of snakes ranked among creeping things, but among wild beasts. For