(Abr 69) For the Chaldaeans were,
above
all nations, addicted to the study of astronomy, and attributed all
events to the motions of the stars, by which they fancied that all the
things in the world were regulated, and accordingly they magnified the
visible essence by the powers which numbers and the analogies of
numbers contain, taking no account of the invisible essence appreciable
only by the intellect. But while they were busied in investigating the
arrangement existing in them with reference to the periodical
revolutions of the sun, and moon, and the other planets, and
fixed-stars, and the changes of the seasons of the year, and the
sympathy of the heavenly bodies with the things of the earth, they were
led to imagine that the world itself was God, in their impious
philosophy comparing the creature to the Creator. (70) The man who had
been bred up in this doctrine, and who for a long time had studied the
philosophy of the Chaldaeans, as if suddenly awakening from a deep
slumber and opening the eye of the soul, and beginning to perceive a
pure ray of light instead of profound darkness, followed the light, and
saw what he had never see before, a certain governor and director of
the world standing above it, and guiding his own work in a salutary
manner, and exerting his care and power in behalf of all those parts of
it which are worthy of divine superintendence. (71) In order,
therefore, that he may the more firmly establish the sight which has
thus been presented to him in his mind, the sacred word says to him, My
good friend, great things are often made known by slight outlines, at
which he who looks increases his imagination to an unlimited extent;
therefore, having dismissed those who bend all their attention to the
heavenly bodies, and discarding the Chaldaeic science, rise up and
depart for a short time from the greatest of cities, this world, to one
which is smaller; for so you will be the better able to comprehend the
nature of the Ruler of the universe. (72) It is for this reason that
Abraham is said to have made this first migration from the country of
the Chaldaeans into the land of Charran.
(69) Χαλδαῖοι γὰρ ἐν
τοῖς μάλιστα διαπονήσαντες ἀστρονομίαν
καὶ πάντα ταῖς κινήσεσι τῶν ἀστέρων ἀναθέντες ὑπέλαβον οἰκονομεῖσθαι τὰ ἐν κόσμῳ
δυνάμεσιν, ἃς περιέχουσιν ἀριθμοὶ καὶ ἀριθμῶν ἀναλογίαι, <καὶ> τὴν ὁρατὴν οὐσίαν ἐσέμνυνον τῆς ἀοράτου καὶ
νοητῆς
οὐ λαβόντες ἔννοιαν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐν ἐκείνοις τάξιν διερευνώμενοι κατά τε
τὰς ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πλανήτων καὶ
ἀπλανῶν περιόδους καὶ κατὰ τὰς τῶν ἐτησίων ὡρῶν μεταβολὰς καὶ κατὰ
τὴν τῶν οὐρανίων πρὸς τὰ ἐπίγεια συμπάθειαν τὸν κόσμον αὐτὸν
ὑπέλαβον εἶναι θεόν, οὐκ (70.) εὐαγῶς τὸ γενόμενον ἐξομοιώσαντες τῷ
πεποιηκότι. ταύτῃ τοι τῇ δόξῃ συντραφεὶς καὶ χαλδαΐσας μακρόν τινα χρόνον,
ὥσπερ ἐκ βαθέος ὕπνου | διοίξας τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ὄμμα καὶ καθαρὰν αὐγὴν
ἀντὶ σκότους βαθέος βλέπειν ἀρξάμενος ἠκολούθησε τῷ φέγγει
καὶ κατεῖδεν, ὃ μὴ
<>πρότερον
ἐθεάσατο, τοῦ κόσμου τινὰ ἡνίοχον καὶ κυβερνήτην ἐφεστῶτακαὶ
σωτηρίως εὐθύνοντα τὸ οἰκεῖον ἔργον, ἐπιμέλειάν τε καὶ προστασίαν
καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ μερῶν ὅσα
θείας ἐπάξια φροντίδος ποιούμενον. (71.)
ὅπως
<>οὖν
βεβαιώσηται τὴν φανεῖσαν ὄψιν ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ παγιώτερον, αὖθίς φησιν ὁ
ἱερὸς λόγος αὐτῷ· „τὰ μεγάλα, ὦ οὗτος, ὑποτυπώσει βραχυτέρων πολλάκις γνωρίζεται, πρὸς ἅ τις ἀπιδὼν ηὔξησε
τὴν φαντασίαν ἀπεριγράφοις
<>μεγέθεσι.
παραπεμψάμενος οὖν τούς τε κατ’ οὐρανὸν περιπολοῦντας καὶ τὴν Χαλδαϊκὴν ἐπιστήμην μετανάστηθι πρὸς
ὀλίγον χρόνον ἀπὸ τῆς μεγίστης πόλεως, τοῦδε τοῦ κόσμου, πρὸς
βραχυτέραν, δι’ ἧς δυνήσῃ μᾶλλον
καταλαβεῖν τὸν ἔφορον τοῦ
παντός.“ (72.)
διὰ
τοῦτο τὴν πρώτην ἀποικίαν
ἀπὸ
τῆς Χαλδαίων γῆς εἰς τὴν Χαρραίων λέγεται ποιήσασθαι.
(Abr 77) And the most visible proof of this
migration in which the mind
quitted astronomy and the Chaldaeistic opinion, is this. For it is said
that right after the wise man relocated, "God appeared unto Abraham,"
[Gen 12.7; read LORD? (see Names 16, below)] to whom, therefore, it is
plain that he was not visible before, when he was Chaldaeizing by
attending to the motions of the stars, not properly comprehending any
nature whatever, which was well arranged and appreciable by the
intellect only, apart from the world and the essence perceptible by the
outward senses. (78) But after he changed his abode and went into
another country he learnt of necessity that the world was subject, and
not independent; not an absolute ruler, but governed by the great cause
of all things who had created it, whom the mind then for the first time
looked up and saw; (79) for previously a great mist was shed over it by
the objects of the external senses, which she, having dissipated by
fervent and vivid doctrines, was scarcely able, as if in clear fine
weather, to perceive him who had previously been concealed and
invisible. But he, by reason of his love for mankind, did not reject
the soul which came to him, but went forward to meet it, and showed to
it his own nature as far as it was possible that he who was looking at
it could see it. (80) For which reason it is said, not that the wise
man saw God but that God appeared to the wise man; for it was
impossible for any one to comprehend by his own unassisted power the
true living God, unless he himself displayed and revealed himself to
him.
(77.) τεκμήριον δὲ ἐναργέστατον τῆς ἀποικίας, ἣν
ἀπ’ ἀστρονομίας καὶ τῆς χαλδαϊζούσης δόξης ἡ διάνοια ἐστείλατο·
λέγεται γὰρ εὐθὺς ἅμα τῇ μεταναστάσει τοῦ σοφοῦ· „ὤφθη δὲ ὁ θεὸς τῷ Ἀβραάμ“ (Gen. 12, 7)·
<>ᾧ δῆλον ὅτι
πρότερον
οὐκ ἦν ἐμφανής, ὅτε χαλδαΐζων τῇ τῶν ἀστέρων χορείᾳ προσεῖχεν ἔξω τοῦ
κόσμου καὶ τῆς αἰσθητῆς οὐσίας εὐάρμοστον καὶ νοητὴν φύσιν οὐδεμίαν ἁπλῶς καταλαμβάνων.
(78.)
ἐπεὶ
δὲ μετεχώρησε
καὶ μεθωρμίσατο, κατὰ τἀναγκαῖον ἔγνω τὸν κόσμον ὑπήκοον ἀλλ’ οὐκ αὐτοκράτορα, οὐ
πρυτανεύοντα ἀλλὰ πρυτανευόμενον ὑπ’ αἰτίου τοῦ πεποιηκότος, ὅπερ ἡ διάνοια τότε πρῶτον
ἀναβλέψασα εἶδε. (79.)
πολλὴ γὰρ
<>αὐτῆς πρότερον
ἀχλὺς
ὑπὸ τῶν αἰσθητῶν κατεκέχυτο, ἣν ἐνθέρμοις καὶ διαπύροις δόγμασιν
ἀνασκεδάσασα μόλις ἴσχυσεν ὡς ἐν αἰθρίᾳ καθαρᾷ τοῦ πάλαι κρυπτομένου καὶ
ἀειδοῦς φαντασίαν λαβεῖν· ὃς ἕνεκα φιλανθρωπίας ἀφικνουμένην τὴν ψυχὴν ὡς
ἑαυτὸν οὐκ ἀπεστράφη, προϋπαντήσας δὲ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φύσιν ἔδειξε, καθ’ ὅσον οἷόν τε ἦν
ἰδεῖν τὸν βλέποντα. (80.)
διὸ λέγεται, οὐχ ὅτι ὁ σοφὸς
εἶδε θεόν, ἀλλ’ ὅτι „ὁ θεὸς ὤφθη“ τῷ σοφῷ· καὶ γὰρ ἦν ἀδύνατον καταλαβεῖν τινα δι’ αὑτοῦ
τὸ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ὄν,
μὴ παραφήναντος ἐκείνου
ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἐπιδείξαντος.
(Migration 177) Now it is not probable that any
one of those persons
who are acquainted with the law are ignorant that Abraham had
previously migrated from Chaldaea when he came to live in Charran. But
after his father died he then departed from this land of Chaldaea, so
that he has now migrated from two different places. (178) What then
shall we say? The Chaldeans appear beyond all other men to have devoted
themselves to the study of astronomy and of genealogies; adapting
things on earth to things sublime, and also adapting the things of
heaven to those on earth, and like people who, availing themselves of
the principles of music, exhibit a most perfect symphony as existing in
the universe by the common union and sympathy of the parts for one
another, which though separated as to place, are not disunited in
regard of kindred. (179) These men, then, imagined that this world
which we behold was the only world in the existing universe, and was
either God himself, or else that it contained within itself God, that
is, the soul of the universe. Then, having erected fate and necessity
into gods, they filled human life with excessive impiety, teaching men
that with the exception of those things which are apparent there is no
other cause whatever of anything, but that it is the periodical
revolutions of the sun, and moon, and other stars, which distribute
good and evil to all existing beings. . . .
(Migration 184) These things then having been now
said for the purpose
of overturning the opinion of the Chaldeans; he thinks that it is
desirable to lead off and invite away those who are still Chaldaizing
in their minds to the truth of his teaching, and he begins
thus:--"Why," says he, "my excellent friends do you raise yourselves up
in such a sudden manner from the earth, and soar to such a height? and
why do ye rise above the air, and tread the ethereal expanse,
investigating accurately the motions of the sun, and the periodical
revolutions of the moon, and the harmonious and much-renowned paths of
the rest of the stars? for these things are too great for your
comprehension, inasmuch as they have received a more blessed and divine
position. (185) Descend therefore from heaven, and when you have come
down, do not, on the other hand, employ yourselves in the investigation
of the earth and the sea, and the rivers, and the natures of plants and
animals, but rather seek to become acquainted with yourselves and your
own nature, and do not prefer to dwell anywhere else, rather than in
yourselves. For by contemplating the things which are to be seen in
your own dwelling, that which bears the mastery therein, and that which
is in subjection; that which has life, and that which is inanimate;
that which is endowed with and that which is destitute of reason; that
which is immortal, and that which is mortal; that which is better, and
that which is worse; you will at once arrive at a correct knowledge of
God and of his works. (186) For you will perceive that there is a mind
in you and in the universe; and that your mind, having asserted its
authority and power over all things in you, has brought each of the
parts into subjection to himself. In like manner also, the mind of the
universe being invested with the supremacy, governs the world by
independent law and justice, having a providential regard not only for
those things which are of more importance, but also for those which
appear to be somewhat obscure. XXXIV. (187) Abandoning therefore your
superfluous anxiety to investigate the things of heaven, dwell, as I
said just now within yourselves, forsaking the land of the Chaldeans,
that is, opinion, and migrating to Charran the region of the outward
sense, which is the corporeal abode of the mind.
(Names 16) But when our mind was occupied with
the wisdom of the
Chaldaeans, studying the sublime things which exist in the world, it
made as it were the circuit of all the efficient powers as causes of
what existed; but when it emigrated from the Chaldaean doctrines, it
then knew that it was moving under the guidance and direction of a
governor, of whose authority it perceived the appearance. (17) On which
account it is said, "The Lord," not the living God, "was seen;" [Gen
12.7 see variants!] as if it had been meant to say, the king appeared,
he who was from the beginning, but who was not as yet recognized by the
soul, which, indeed, was late in learning, but which did not continue
for ever in ignorance, but received a notion of there being an
authority and governing power among existing things.
(Names 66) For the name Abram, being interpreted,
means "sublime
father," but Abraham means the "elect father of sound;" and how these
names differ from one another we shall know more clearly if we first of
all read what is exhibited under each of them. (67) Now using
allegorical language, we call that man sublime who raises himself from
the earth to a height, and who devotes himself to the inspection of
high things; and we also call him a haunter of high regions, and a
meteorologist, inquiring what is the magnitude of the sun, what are his
motions, how he influences the seasons of the year, advancing as he
does and retreating back again, with revolutions of equal speed, and
investigating as he does the subjects of the radiance of the moon, of
its shape, of its waning, of its increase, and of the motion of the
other stars, whether fixed or wandering; (68) for the inquiry into
these matters belongs not to an ill-conditioned or barren soul, but to
one which is eminently endowed by nature, and which is able to produce
an entire and perfect offspring; on which account the scripture calls
the meteorologist, "father," inasmuch as he is not unproductive of
wisdom.
(Heir 81) And the statement, "He led him out" [Gen
15.5] (exeµgagen
auton exoµ), has a bearing also on moral considerations . . . (86) And
after he has conducted him out, he says to him, "Look up to heaven, and
count the stars, if you are able to number them; thus shall be your
seed." [Gen 15.5] He says very beautifully, "Thus shall be your seed,"
not so great shall it be, equal in number to the stars; for he does not
intend here to allude to their multitude only, but also to an infinite
number of other circumstances which contribute to entire and perfect
happiness. (87) "Thus shall your seed be," says God, as the ethereal
firmament which thou beholdest, so heavenly, so full of unshadowed and
pure brilliancy (for night is driven away from heaven, and darkness
from virtue,) most thoroughly like the stars, beautifully adorned,
having an arrangement which knows no deviation, but which is always the
same and proceeding in the same way. (88) For he means him to speak of
the soul of the wise man as a copy of heaven, or, if one may use such a
hyperbolical expression, as an actual heaven upon earth, having pure
appearances in the air, and well arranged motions, and harmonious
progress, and periodical revolutions of divine character, star-like and
brilliant rays of virtue. But if it is impossible to find out the
number of the stars which are perceptible by the outward senses, how
much more so must it be to count those which are discernible only by
the intellect? . . .
(Heir 96) The scripture proceeds: "And he said
unto him I am God, who
brought you out of the land of the Chaldaeans, so as to give you this
land to inherit it." These words exhibit not only a promise, but a
confirmation of an ancient promise; (97) for the good which was
previously bestowed upon him was the departure from the Chaldaean
philosophy, which was occupied about the things of the air, which
taught me to suppose that the world was not the work of God, but was
God himself; and that good and evil is caused in the case of all
existing things, by the motions and fixed periodical revolutions of the
stars, and that on these motions the origin of all good and evil
depends; and the equable (homaleµ) and regular motion of these bodies
in heaven, persuaded those simple men to look upon these things as
omens, for the name of the Chaldaeans being interpreted is synonymous
with equability (homaloteµs). (98) But the new blessing which is
promised is the acquisition of that wisdom which is not taught by the
outward senses, but is comprehended by the pure mind, and by which the
best of all emigrations is confirmed; when the soul departs from
astronomy and learns to apply itself to natural philosophy, and to
exchange unsure conjecture for certain apprehension, and, to speak with
real truth, to quit the creature for the Creator, an the world for its
father and maker; (99) for the scriptures tell us, that the votaries of
the Chaldaean philosophy believed in the heaven, but that he who
abandoned that sect believed in the ruler of the heaven and the manager
of the whole world, namely, in God. A very beautiful inheritance,
greater perhaps than the power of him who receives it, but worthy of
the greatness of the giver.
(Heir 277) And after the words, "You shall
depart," he adds, "to your
fathers." [Gen 15.15] It is here worth while to consider what kind of
fathers is meant; for God can never mean those who had passed their
lives in the country of the Chaldeans, among whom alone he had lived as
being his relations, because he had been commanded by a sacred oracle
to depart from those who were his kinsmen by blood. For, says the
historian, "The Lord said to Abraham, Depart from out of your land, and
from your kindred, and from your father's house, to a land which I will
show you; and I will make you into a great nation." [Gen 12.1] . .
.
(280) Therefore, when he says "fathers," [Gen 15.15] he means not those
whose souls have departed from them, and who are buried in the tombs of
the land of Chaldea; but, as some say, the sun, and the moon, and the
other stars; for some affirm that it is owing to these bodies that the
nature of all the things in the world has its existence. . . . (283)
These then are the things of the body; but the intellectual and
heavenly race of the soul will ascend to the purest aether as to its
father.