To Autolycus 2.12
Summary: No one can fully explain the six days of creation; the philosophers' imitations mix truth with error; the seventh day, the sabbath, is known to all peoples though they do not know why.
Greek text · Otto 8:88–92
Τῆς μὲν οὖν ἑξαημέρου οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων δυνατὸς κατʼ ἀξίαν τὴν ἐξήγησιν καὶ τὴν οἰκονομίαν πᾶσαν ἐξειπεῖν, οὐδὲ εἰ μυρία στόματα ἔχοι καὶ μυρίας γλώσσας· ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ εἰ μυρίοις ἔτεσιν βιώσει τις, ἐπιδημῶν ἐν τῷδε τῷ βίῳ, οὐδὲ οὕτως ἔσται ἱκανὸς πρὸς ταῦτα ἀξίως τι εἰπεῖν, διὰ τὸ ὑπερβάλλον μέγεθος καὶ τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς σοφίας τοῦ θεοῦ τῆς οὔσης ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ προγεγραμμένῃ ἑξαημέρῳ. Πολλοὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν συγγραφέων ἐμιμήσαντο καὶ ἠθέλησαν περὶ τούτων διήγησιν ποιήσασθαι, καί τοι λαβόντες ἐντεῦθεν τὰς ἀφορμάς, ἤτοι περὶ κόσμου κτίσεως ἢ περὶ φύσεως ἀνθρώπου, καὶ οὐδὲ τὸ τυχὸν ἔναυσμα ἄξιόν τι τῆς ἀληθείας ἐξεῖπον. Δοκεῖ δὲ τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν φιλοσόφων ἢ συγγραφέων καὶ ποιητῶν εἰρημένα ἀξιόπιστα μὲν εἶναι, παρὰ τὸ φράσει κεκαλλωπίσθαι· μωρὸς δὲ καὶ κενὸς ὁ λόγος αὐτῶν δείκνυται, ὅτι πολλὴ μὲν πληθὺς τῆς φλυαρίας αὐτῶν ἐστιν, τὸ τυχὸν δὲ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐν αὐτοῖς οὐχ εὑρίσκεται. Καὶ γὰρ εἴ τι δοκεῖ ἀληθὲς διʼ αὐτῶν ἐκπεφωνῆσθαι, σύγκρασιν ἔχει τῇ πλάνῃ. Καθάπερ φάρμακόν τι δηλητήριον συγκραθὲν μέλιτι ἢ οἴνῳ ἢ ἑτέρῳ τινὶ τὸ πᾶν ποιεῖ βλαβερὸν καὶ ἄχρηστον, οὕτως καὶ ἡ ἐν αὐτοῖς πολυλογία εὑρίσκεται ματαιοπονία καὶ βλάβη μᾶλλον τοῖς πειθομένοις αὐτῇ. Ἔτι μὴν καὶ περὶ τῆς ἑβδόμης ἡμέρας, ἣν πάντες μὲν ἄνθρωποι ὀνομάζουσιν, οἱ δὲ πλείους ἀγνοοῦσιν· ὅτι παρʼ Ἑβραίοις ὃ καλεῖται σάββατον ἑλληνιστὶ ἑρμηνεύεται ἑβδομάς, ἥτις εἰς πᾶν γένος ἀνθρώπων ὀνομάζεται μέν, διʼ ἣν δὲ αἰτίαν καλοῦσιν αὐτὴν οὐκ ἐπίστανται. Τὸ δὲ εἰπεῖν Ἡσίοδον τὸν ποιητὴν ἐκ Χάους γεγενῆσθαι Ἔρεβος καὶ τὴν Γῆν καὶ Ἔρωτα κυριεύοντα τῶν κατʼ αὐτόν τε θεῶν καὶ ἀνθρώπων, μάταιον καὶ ψυχρὸν τὸ ῥῆμα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀλλότριον πάσης ἀληθείας δείκνυται· θεὸν γὰρ οὐ χρὴ ὑφʼ ἡδονῆς νικᾶσθαι, ὅπου γε καὶ οἱ σώφρονες ἄνθρωποι ἀπέχονται πάσης αἰσχρᾶς ἡδονῆς καὶ ἐπιθυμίας κακῆς.
English · Claude translation
No human being can worthily set out the explanation and the whole design of the six days' work, not even if he had ten thousand mouths and ten thousand tongues. Nor, if someone lived ten thousand years, sojourning in this life, would he even so be able to say anything worthy about it, because of the surpassing greatness and the riches of the wisdom of God contained in the six days' work written above. Many writers have imitated it and tried to give an account of these things, taking their starting points from here, whether about the creation of the world or about the nature of the human being; yet they did not utter even the smallest spark of truth worthy of it. What the philosophers, historians, and poets have said seems credible because it is adorned with fine phrasing; but their teaching is shown to be foolish and empty, because the mass of their nonsense is great and not the smallest part of the truth is found in them. And if something true seems to have been said by them, it is mixed with error. Just as a deadly poison mixed with honey or wine or something else makes the whole harmful and useless, so their long-windedness turns out to be futile labor, and rather harmful to those who believe it. Again, about the seventh day, which all people name but most do not understand: what the Hebrews call the sabbath is rendered in Greek hebdomas (“the seventh”); every race of human beings names it, but they do not know why they call it so. And as for the poet Hesiod's saying that from Chaos came Erebus and Earth and Eros, lord over his gods and men, his words are shown to be vain, frigid, and foreign to all truth. For God must not be overcome by pleasure, since even temperate human beings abstain from every shameful pleasure and evil desire.
About this passage
Cite this passage
Theophilus, Autol. 2.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/12/).
Plain text
Theophilus, Autol. 2.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/12/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text