Philo
97διὰ τούτων. εὐπρεπὲς γὰρ τοῖς ἑταιρείαν πρὸς ἐπιστήμην θεμένοις ἐφίεσθαι μὲν τοῦ τὸ ὂν ἰδεῖν, εἰ δὲ μὴ δύναιντο, τὴν γοῦν εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ, τὸν ἱερώτατον λόγον, μεθ᾿ ὃν καὶ τὸ ἐν αἰσθητοῖς τελειότατον ἔργον, τόνδε τὸν κόσμον· τὸ γὰρ φιλοσοφεῖν οὐδὲν ἦν ἄλλο ἢ ταῦτα σπουδάζειν 98ἀκριβῶς ἰδεῖν.
XXI. τὸν δὲ αἰσθητὸν κόσμον ὡς ἂν ὑποπόδιον θεοῦ φησιν εἶναι διὰ τάδε· πρῶτον μὲν ἵν᾿ ἐπιδείξῃ, ὅτι οὐκ ἐν τῷ γεγονότι τὸ πεποιηκὸς αἴτιον, ἔπειτα δ᾿ ὑπὲρ τοῦ παραστῆσαι, ὅτι οὐδ᾿ ὁ κόσμος ἅπας ἀφέτῳ καὶ ἀπελευθεριαζούσῃ κινήσει κέχρηται, ἀλλ᾿ ἐπιβέβηκεν ὁ κυβερνήτης θεὸς τῶν ὅλων οἰακονομῶν1 καὶ πηδαλιουχῶν σωτηρίως τὰ σύμπαντα, οὔτε ποσὶν οὔτε χερσὶν οὔτε ἄλλῳ τῶν ἐν γενέσει κεχρημένος μέρει τὸ παράπαν οὐδενὶ κατὰ τὸν ἀληθῆ λόγον—“οὐ γὰρ ὡς ἄνθρωπος ὁ θεός”—, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἕνεκα αὐτὸ μόνον διδασκαλίας εἰσαγόμενον ἡμῶν τῶν ἑαυτοὺς ἐκβῆναι μὴ δυναμένων, ἀλλ᾿ ἀπὸ τῶν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς συμβεβηκότων τὰς περὶ τοῦ ἀγενήτου καταλήψεις 99λαμβανόντων. παγκάλως δ᾿ ἔχει τὸ ἐν παραβολῆς εἴδει φάναι τὸν κόσμον ὡς εἶδος πλίνθου· δοκεῖ μὲν γὰρ ἑστάναι καὶ βεβηκέναι ὡς ἐκείνη κατὰ τὰς τῆς αἰσθητῆς ὄψεως προσβολάς, κέχρηται [420]δὲ ὠκυτάτῃ | κινήσει καὶ τὰς ἐν μέρει πάσας παραθεούσῃ. 100καὶ γὰρ μεθ᾿ ἡμέραν ἡλίου καὶ νύκτωρ σελήνης φαντασίαν ὡς ἑστώτων οἱ σώματος ὀφθαλμοὶ λαμβάνουσι· καίτοι τίς οὐκ οἶδεν, ὅτι <τὸ> τῆς περὶ αὐτοὺς φορᾶς τάχος ἀναντογώνιστόν ἐστιν, εἴ γε τὸν σύμπαντα οὐρανὸν μιᾷ περιπολοῦσιν
The Confusion of Tongues
well befits those who have entered into comradeship with knowledge to desire to see the Existent if they may, but, if they cannot, to see at any rate his image, the most holy Word, and after the Word its most perfect work of all that our senses know, even this world. For by philosophy nothing else has ever been meant, than the earnest desire to see these things exactly as they are.
XXI. But98 when he speaks of the world of our senses as God’s footstool, it is for these reasons. First to shew that not in creation is to be found the cause which made it; secondly to make it plain that even the whole world does not move at its own free unshackled will, but is the standing-ground of God who steers and pilots in safety all that is. And yet to say that He uses hands or feet or any created part at all is not the true account. For God is not as man (Num. xxiii. 19). It is but the form employed merely for our instruction because we cannot get outside ourselves, but frame our conceptions of the Uncreated from our own experience. It is a fine saying99 when by way of illustration he speaks of the world as an appearance of brick.a It does seem to stand fast and firm like a brick as we judge it when our outward sight comes in contact with it,b but its actual movement is exceeding swift, outstripping all particular movements. To our bodily eyes the sun by day and100 the moon by night present the appearance of standing still. Yet we all know that the rapidity of the course on which they are carried is unapproached, since they traverse the whole heaven in a single day.