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Hexaemeron

St Ambrose of Milan, tr. Savage, 1961

4. Hexameron, Book IV: The Fourth Day

The Sixth Homily: Chapter 1

TO PREVENT DETERIORATION of wine it is customary for those who gather in the vintage to first clean the vessels before the wine is poured in. For of what avail is it ‘to plant the vine in rows,’¹ to loosen the earth each year or to make furrows with a plough, to prune or to tie back the shoots and join them in marriage, as it were, to the elms,² if after such toil the wine stored away in the vessels becomes sour? In like manner, if a person desires to behold the sun rising in the morning, he proceeds to cleanse his eyes, lest there be within any speck of dust or dirt which would dull the observer’s eyesight or prevent any misty darkness from obscuring the vision of the spectator.

In our reading of the Scripture passage, the sun, which before this did not exist, has now to arise. We have now passed the first day without a sun, and the second and the third days we have completed still without a sun. On the fourth day God bade the luminaries of the heavens to be created: the sun, the moon and stars. The sun begins to arise. Cleanse, now, the eyes of your mind and the inward gaze of your soul, lest any mote of sin dull the keenness of your mind and disturb the aspect of your pure heart. Cleanse your ear, in order that you may receive the clear flow of holy Scripture in a clean receptacle, so that no impurity may enter therein. With its great splendor the sun precedes the day, filling the world with its great light, encompassing it with warm exhalations.

Be on your guard against stressing merely the magnitude of the sun. Its excessive brilliance may blind the eyes of your mind, as happens in the case of one who directs his sight directly at its beams. Because of the deflection of light, such a person is suddenly bereft of his sight and, if he does not turn his face and eyes in another direction, he is led to believe that nothing is visible and that he is deprived of his powers of vision. However, if he turns his eyes aside, their functional operation remains unimpaired.

See, therefore that the rays of the rising sun do not trouble your sight. For that reason, look first upon the firmament of heaven which was made before the sun; look first upon the earth which began to be visible and was already formed before the sun put in its appearance; look at the plants of the earth which preceded in time the light of the sun. The bramble preceded the sun; the blade of grass is older than the moon. Therefore, do not believe that object to be a god to which the gifts of God are seen to be preferred. Three days have passed. No one, meanwhile, has looked for the sun, yet the brilliance of light has been in evidence everywhere. For the day, too, has its light which is itself the precursor of the sun.

Do not, therefore, without due consideration put your trust in the sun. It is true that it is the eye of the world,³ the joy of the day, the beauty of the heavens, the charm of nature and the most conspicuous object in creation.⁴ When you behold it, reflect on its Author. When you admire it, give praise to its Creator.

If the sun as consort of and participant in nature is so pleasing, how much goodness is there to be found in that ‘Sun of Justice’?⁵ If the sun is so swift that in its rapid course by day and night it is able to traverse all things, how great is He who is always and everywhere and fills all things with His majesty!⁶ If that which is bidden to come forth is deemed worthy of our admiration, how much more does He surpass our admiration of whom we read: ‘Who commandeth the sun and it riseth not’!⁷ If the sun which the succession of the seasons advances or recedes⁸ is mighty, how mighty must He be, also, who, ‘when he emptied himself’⁹ that we might be able to see Him who ‘was the true light that enlightens every man who comes into this world’!¹⁰ If the sun which from the interposition of the earth often undergoes eclipses is an extraordinary object, how surpassing is the majesty of Him, who says: ‘Yet one little while and I will move the heaven and the earth’!¹¹ The former is hidden by the earth, which in its turn cannot sustain the influence of the Lord except when it is supported by the reality of His will. If the blind suffer loss by being deprived of beholding the beauty of the sun, how great is the loss of the sinner who, despoiled of the gift of the true light, is subject to the darkness of night eternal!

When, therefore, you see the sun, take note, too, of the green earth which was formed before it; take note of the green herb which holds priority in rank; take note of the woods which nod their approval, because they came into being before the light of heaven. Do you think for a moment that the herb is greater than the sun or that the woods hold a position of preference? Far be it from us to prefer things that have no feeling to Him who is the provider of such a spectacle! What else, therefore, does ‘the depth of the wisdom and the knowledge of God’¹² have in view when the woods came into being before these two luminaries of the world¹³ (those eyes, as it were, of the celestial firmament), unless it is that all might recognize by the testimony of holy Scripture that without the aid of the sun the earth can be productive? The earth which could cause the first seeds of things to germinate without the aid of the sun can surely nourish the seeds provided for it and can, without the heat of the sun, bring forth offspring by its own fostering care.

With the voice, so to speak, of her gifts does Nature cry out: Good, indeed, is the sun, but good only in respect of service, not of command; good, too, as one who assists at my fecundity, not as one who creates; good, also, as the nourisher of my fruits, not as one who is the author of them. At times the sun burns up my produce and often is the cause of injury to me, leaving me in many places without provision. I am not ungrateful to my fellow servant, one who is granted to me for my use, subject like me to toil, to vanity, and to the service of corruption! With me he groans, with me he is in travail, in order that there may come the adoption of sons and the redemption of the human race by which we, too, may be freed from servitude.¹⁴ By my side he praises the Author; along with me he sings a hymn to the Lord God. Where his beauty is most pronounced, there I have common cause with him. Where the sun blesses, there the earth blesses, also;¹⁵ with me share their blessings the fruit-bearing trees, the flocks and birds. At sea the sailor reproaches the sun and longs for me. In the hills the shepherd shuns him and hastens to my foliage, to my trees, under whose shadow he may find comfort in the heat, and hastens to my springs when he is thirsty and fatigued.

Chapter 2

But in case the evidence presented to your eyes may appear to be scanty, cleanse your ear and apply it to the heavenly oracles: ‘On the word of two or three witnesses every word is confirmed.’¹⁶ Hear God speaking: ‘Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth.’¹⁷

Who says this? God says it. And to whom is He speaking, if not to His Son? Therefore, God the Father says: ‘Let the Sun be made,’ and the Son made the sun, for it was fitting that the ‘Sun of Justice’ should make the sun of the world.¹⁸ He, therefore, brought it to light. He illuminated it and granted it the power of light. Therefore the sun was made; for this reason it is also a subject, since it has been said: ‘Thou hast founded the earth and it continueth. By thy ordinance the day goeth on: for all things serve thee.’¹⁹ In truth, since day serves, wherefore does not the sun which was made in the presence of the day also serve? Wherefore do not they serve, too, the moon and the stars which were made in the power of the night?²⁰ Surely the greater the beauty which the Creator has granted to them—as, for instance, an unusual brightness is bestowed on the air by the brilliance of the sun, the day has a serener light, and the darkness of night is illuminated by the flashing rays of the sun and stars, the sky twinkles with its ignited lamps as if crowned with flowers, reminding one of a paradise in bloom, resplendent with living garlands of sweet-smelling roses—the greater the beauty, then, which seems to have been granted to these, the greater is the debt they owe: ‘To whom much is given, much is required.’²¹ And so the sun has been well called by many the adornment of the sky, the precious jewels of which are the stars.

Furthermore, that we may know that the fertility of the earth is not to be ascribed to the heat of the sun, but should be assigned to the goodness of God, the Prophet says: ‘They all look to you to give them food in due time. When you give it to them, they gather it; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.’ And further on: ‘When you send forth your spirit, they are created and you renew the face of the earth.’²² And in the Gospels: ‘Look at the birds of the sky: they do not sow or reap; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.’²³ The sun and moon are not, therefore, authors of fecundity, but God the Father through the Lord Jesus bestows on all things the gift of freedom of fertility.

The Prophet has beautifully expounded the meaning of those words of his: ‘God made the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night.’²⁴ For in the same Psalm 103 mentioned above he wrote: ‘You made the moon to mark the season; the sun knows the hour of its setting.’²⁵ When the day begins to complete its hours, the sun recognizes that its setting is due. The sun is, therefore, in the power of the day and the moon is in the power of the night, which must accommodate itself to the changes of time; now it is filled with light, and again is devoid of it.

Most authors seem, indeed, to interpret this passage mystically of Christ and the Church, maintaining that Christ had knowledge of His passion in the body when He said: ‘Father, the hour has come! Glorify thy Son,’²⁶ so that by this His setting He might grant eternal life to all men who were threatened with eternal death, and that the Church may have her seasons, namely, of persecution and of peace. The Church, like the moon, seems to lose light, but she does not. She can be cast in shadow, but she cannot lose her light. For example, the Church is weakened by the desertion of some in time of persecution, but is replenished by the witness of her martyrs. Wherefore, glorified by the victories of blood shed for Christ, she may pour forth all the more abundantly over the entire world the light of her devotedness and her faith.

In fact, the moon undergoes a diminution of its light, not, however, of its mass, at the time when it seems to give up its light in the course of the month, so that it may borrow from the sun. This phenomenon can be easily observed when the atmosphere is pure and transparent and no cloud passes before the moon, rendering it obscure. The orb of the moon remains intact, although the whole of it does not shine as does a part of it. Its size is the same as it usually appears when it is filled with light. A certain shadow makes it appear that the moon is bereft of light. Hence, it is only the horns that shine. The moon’s form is circular: this fact reveals itself, even if its light is partly diminished.

Chapter 3

This statement can give us occasion for thought: ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate day from night,’²⁷ because it had already been said, when God created the light, that ‘God separated the light from the darkness and there was evening and morning, the first day.’²⁸

But let us reflect on the fact that the light of day is one thing and the light of the sun and moon and stars another, for the reason that the sun itself with its rays appears to add to its brilliance to the light of day. This can be seen at the dawn of day or at its setting. There is daylight, in fact, before the rising of the sun, but it is far from being brilliant. The light gleams forth more resplendently, of course, when the sun is at noon. This is pointed out by the Prophet when he says: ‘And he will bring forth thy justice as the light and thy judgment as the noonday.’²⁹ He compares the justice of the saint not merely to light: he means the light of midday.

Therefore, God ordained that there should not be just one indication by which to distinguish day from night. He established two signs by which light should be divided: one at the rising of the sun and another at its setting. Likewise, the rising of the stars would mark the division between the setting of the sun and the beginning of night. When the sun has set, there still remains some remnant of daylight until darkness covers the earth. Then the moon rises and the stars. It is very evident that the extent of the night is measured by the illumination of the moon and stars, since the sun on its rising causes the glitter of the moon and of all the stars to be invisible by day. As to the day, even the burning rays of the sun can inform us that daylight and sunlight differ both in their nature and in their aspect. The aspect of daylight is uncompounded: it merely furnishes light. The sun, on the other hand, not merely has the power of illuminating; it has also the power of heating. The sun is fiery, and fire both illuminates and burns.

Hence, when God wished to show to Moses His marvelous power for the purpose of stirring him to greater zeal in His service and of inflaming his heart to belief, He appeared to Moses in a flaming bush.³⁰ But the bush was not afire; it appeared merely to shine with the appearance of fire. One function of fire, therefore, was void, the other was in operation. The power of kindling was lacking, though the power of illumination was functioning. And so Moses marveled that fire, contrary to its nature, did not burn the bush, since this was an element which usually consumes materials of a more solid nature. The fire of the Lord illuminates, not consumes.

Still, you perhaps may say, wherefore is it written: ‘I am a consuming fire’?³¹ Your suggestion is a good one. God usually consumes only the sinful. Even in the retributions dispensed to men in accordance with their merits we perceive the nature of divine fire. It illuminates some and consumes others. It illuminates the just and consumes the wicked. It does not illuminate the same people which it consumes. Rather, its illumination is inextinguishable in the direction of its performance toward the good, whereas its power of consumption is mighty to punish the sinner.

But let us return to the division between day and night. At the coming of daylight, night is put to flight. At the departure of daylight, night appears everywhere. There is no association between light and darkness, since the Lord set this down as a principle at the beginning of His work. When He made the light, He made a distinction between light and darkness. Accordingly, in clear daylight, when the sun has sprinkled its rays upon the earth,³² we see how the shadow of an object, man, or plant is separated from the light. We note how in the morning this shadow falls toward the west, while in the evening it turns toward the east and in midday toward the north. Nevertheless, the shadow is a thing apart and has nothing in common with the light. In a similar way, night seems to yield to daylight and to verge away from its light. In fact, as has been pointed out by more expert authors who have precedence over us whether in time or in ability, night is a shadow of the earth.

The shadow adheres and stays close to the body in accordance with nature, so much so that artists strive to depict the shadows of objects in their paintings. They maintain that it is the province of art not to ignore a quality inherent in nature. An artist whose painting does not represent the requisite shadows may be likened to one who contravenes the natural law. When, then, an object in daylight happens to face the sun, there arises a shadow of that part from which the sunlight is deflected. In the same way, at sunset, when the earth stands in the way of the light of day or of the sunlight, there is an effect of shadow. Hence it is clear that night is caused by the shadow of the earth.

Chapter 4

God made the sun, moon, and stars, and allotted to them the measurement of time, the sun for the daytime and the moon and stars for night. The former augments the beauty of the day; the latter illumine the shadow and the darkness: ‘Let them serve as signs and for the fixing of seasons, days and years.’³³ The sun, moon, and stars divide time in diverse fashion, but in an equal manner in respect to changes based on months, and ‘they serve as signs’ for them, also. We cannot deny that some signs are formed from the sun and moon together. The Lord said: ‘And there will be signs in the sun, moon and stars.’³⁴ And when the Apostles asked for a sign of His coming, He replied: ‘The sun will be darkened and the moon will not give her light and the stars will fall from heaven.’³⁵ These, He said, were to be the signs of a fulfillment in the future, but for us in our anxiety these should serve as an appropriate measure of time.

In fact, some men have attempted to set down the characteristics of birth days and the future state of each new-born child. Yet a prognostication of this sort is both vain and useless to those who seek it and is an impossibility for those who promise it. What is so inane as to suppose that everyone should be convinced that he is what his birth has made him? No one, then, ought to change his condition of life and his habits or strive to become better, but, rather, remain in that conviction. In which case you cannot commend the good nor condemn the wicked, since each seems to comply with the destiny of his birth. And wherefore has the Lord laid down rewards for the good or punishment for the wicked if their habits are prescribed by fate and their social behavior depends on the course of the stars? And what else does this lead to other than to deprive man of his humanity,³⁶ if no room is left for character, no outlet for education or for freedom of action?

How many do we see snatched from amid their vices and sins to be converted to a better life? It was certainly not the circumstances of their birth which freed and called the Apostles from the company of sinners. Rather, the coming of Christ sanctified them and the hour of His Passion redeemed them from death. The condemned thief who was crucified with our Lord passed over into everlasting paradise, not because of a favorable nativity, but because of his confession of faith.³⁷ It was not the influence of his natal star, but the offense of having neglected the divine prophecy which cast Jonas into the sea. A whale which received him and after three days vomited him forth,³⁸ as a symbol of future mystery, and preserved him for the service of prophecy. Peter was rescued from impending death in prison by the angel of Christ,³⁹ not by the disposition of the stars. Blindness converted Paul to grace when he was struck by a viper.⁴⁰ When he was a victim of shipwreck he was saved, not by his natal star, but by the merits of his piety.⁴¹

What shall we say of those who by the prayers of the Apostles arose from the dead?⁴² Was it their natal star or the grace of the Apostles that restored them? What need was there for them to resort to fasting and expose themselves to danger, if they could obtain what they desired simply by virtue of their natal star? If they had put their trust in that, they would never, while awaiting the destinies meted out to them by fate, have reached such perfection of grace.

What about the impossibility of all this? In fact, if we allow some force to their arguments for the sake of refuting them and not for the sake of proof, they say that the time of our birth is of great importance. This time should be determined strictly within the limits of moments of the smallest extent, because, if no heed is paid to exactness, the greatest differences do ensue. Only the tiniest moment separates the nativity of the helpless from that of the powerful, of the needy from the rich, of the innocent from the guilty. It often happens that at the same hour is born one who is destined to a long life and one who will die in early childhood, if other circumstances turn out to be dissimilar and if there is just one single point of difference.

Let them reconstruct the following if they would. Suppose a woman is giving birth to a child. As a matter of course the midwife first observes the child. She looks for his cry as giving evidence of life and notes whether the child is a male or a female. How many moments will you allow for all these acts? Suppose that there is an astrologer near at hand. Can a man be present at a childbirth? While the midwife is giving information and while the Chaldean is listening and setting up the horoscope, the fates of the new-born child have already entered the space of the lot belonging to another person. It follows that while an investigation is being made regarding the fate of one person, the nativity of another is in the process of being established.

Even suppose that what they maintain concerning fate and nativity is true, their conclusions cannot, however, be true. A moment passes away: ‘Time is flying beyond recall.’⁴³ There is no doubt that time is made up of moments and of ‘a twinkling of an eye.’ I am led to believe that assumption since we shall all arise, as the Apostle testifies, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye: ‘Behold I tell you a mystery: we shall all indeed rise, but we shall not all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet and the dead shall rise incorruptible and we shall be changed.’⁴⁴ Between the time when the child was born, taken up, and laid down again; between the time of his cry and the report of it, how many moments do you think have elapsed!

So far I have only touched the surface of this question. The upholders of this system divide that well-known circle of twelve signs, which has such vital importance for them, into twelve parts. Furthermore, as the sun travels over the twelfth part of that indescribable sphere—it completes its course in this way in the period of a year—they divide each one of these twelve parts into thirty smaller divisions which the Greeks call μοῖραι, and each of these smaller divisions they separate in turn into sixty other individual parts. How incomprehensible all this is! To think that the moment of a nativity is made up of a sixtieth of a sixtieth part and that such is exactly the motion and the aspect of each sign occurring at the actual moment of a nativity! Wherefore, since it is impossible to take such tenuous moments of time into account and since the slightest variation introduces an enormous error, the whole affair is based on mere phantasy. Its advocates are ignorant of their own destiny. How, then, can they know that of other men? They do not know what is in store for themselves. Can they announce the future of others? It is ridiculous to believe this, because if they were able to do so, they would inevitably foresee what the future held for themselves.

Now how stupid it is to think that if a person were to say that he was born under the sign of Aries and should suppose that, just because such an animal is pre-eminent in his own herd, he himself would turn out to be conspicuous for his wisdom! Or that he would become quite rich for the reason that the Ram possesses by nature a raiment and every year puts on a new and costly garment. Wherefore this man would appear to be one who is destined to be no stranger to profit and gain. In a similar way they form their conclusions regarding the signs of the Bull and the Fishes. From the nature of ordinary animals they consider that the significance of the movements of the heavens and of the signs can be interpreted. And so our food and our sustenance have established for us the destinies of our lives, that is to say, the Ram, the Bull, and the Fish imprint on us the norms of our character! Wherefore, then, do they summon from heaven the causes for material things and the basis for this life of ours, when at the same time they share the causes of their own motion with the celestial signs, arguing from the very qualities of ordinary human food? They maintain that a person born under the Ram is generous because the ram yields its wool without resistance. They prefer to ascribe that kind of virtue to the nature of an ordinary animal than to heaven, from which comes to us the gleam of sunshine, and often, too, a downfall of rain. They assert that those who at their birth fall under the aspect of the Bull will be subject to toil and will endure servitude,⁴⁵ because that laborious animal willingly submits his neck to the yoke. They say, too, that those whom at their birth the Scorpion has encircled will turn out to be assassins⁴⁶ and that they will spit out the venom of wickedness—a venom which is in essence poisonous.

Why, therefore, do you pretend on the basis of the significance of celestial signs to give an authoritative standard for living? Why do you present certain nonsensical facts as proof of your assertion? If the movements of the heavens take their character from the moral qualities typical of such animals, then heaven itself seems to be subject to the influences of bestial natures, since from these natures it supposedly has received a substantial and vital force which it would communicate to men. But if this is a far cry from what is the truth, so much the more ridiculous is it to think that these men, deprived as they are of any solid basis of fact, should have recourse to this assumption in order to give credence to their arguments.

Next let us consider the fact that they give the name of ‘planet’ to those signs which by their movements determine the destinies of our lives. Either, as the name indicates, the planets wander for all time, or, if we follow their own statements, they move along in rapid motion. We are told that the planets in innumerable circular movements change their positions ten thousand times, or, if this seems incredible, show manifold aspects each day. Whatever may be the case, it cannot be accepted that such a wandering course and such a swift motion can be the means of establishing a fixed and immovable lot as a basis for our lives. Again, they maintain that the movements of the planets are not all equal. Some move around with more speed, others are slower in motion, so that they often at the same time gaze upon and hide from each other in the course of their transits.

They say that it makes considerable difference whether favorable or unfavorable and harmful signs look at the inception of a birth and the difference in birth lies in the fact that the aspect of a favorable sign confers very great benefits, while that of an unfavorable sign brings with it considerable harm. Such are the terms which they use of these very signs that they hold in veneration. I feel it necessary to make use of the vocabulary of those whose assertions I discuss, lest they proceed to remind me that their arguments have been ignored rather than utterly refuted. For example, that wandering and swift movement to which I have made reference escapes their comprehension in their attempt to establish to a nicety as an aspect of a favorable sign a point or moment of incomprehensible time. It frequently happens, in fact, that the threat of an unfavorable sign enters as a disturbing factor in the midst of their calculations.

What wonder, then, if men are deceived when favorable signs are defamed? If the very nature of these signs is believed to be unfavorable, then God, who is supreme, is accused of being the creator of evil and responsible for wickedness. If, in fact, the signs are considered to have taken on by their own volition the power of harming the innocent and injuring those who are conscious of not having up to that time done any vile deed for which a punishment is assigned even before the fault is committed, what, I repeat, is so irrational, exceeding in that respect even the irrationality of beasts, as to attribute the practice of deceit or of good will, not to the merits of men, but to the movements of the signs? He was in no way guilty, it is said, but an unfavorable sign looked upon him! He came in contact with the star of Saturn. On the other hand, by a very slight deviation, according to their calculations, bad omens are shunned and wrong-doing avoided.

This wisdom of theirs is similar to that encountered in a spider’s web from which a gnat or fly cannot extricate itself once it has become entangled therein.⁴⁷ However, if an animal more robust by nature is seen to enter the web, right away it passes through, breaks the feeble strands, and destroys the useless snares. Such are the nets of the Chaldeans. In these nets the weak are trapped, but those of a more robust nature find no obstacle there. You who have more strength of character say to the astrologers when you see them: You weave spider’s webs which cannot have any use or binding force when a person strikes against them, not in a moment of weakness like a gnat or a fly, but like a sparrow or a dove, rending their meshes in the swiftness of their winged flight.

In fact, what sensible man would believe that signs, which frequently change from day to day and so many times return on themselves, can by their movements denote what are the indications of future power? If such were the case, what combinations indicating royal birth would be announced day after day! As a consequence, kings would be born every day. Succession to the throne would not be transmitted to sons. Rather, at all times men of diverse social conditions would arise who would lay claim to the rights of imperial power. What king, therefore, would care to think under these circumstances of the birth of a son to succeed him, if the royal power is destined for someone else and if it is not within his own power to hand down to his own children the imperial succession?

We read, of course, that ‘Abia begot Asaph, Asaph begot Josaphat, Josaphat begat Joram, Joram begat Ozias,’⁴⁸ and so up to the time of the captivity every succession took place through a line of kings of equal rank and honor. Do you think that, because they were kings, they had the power actually to govern their own movements—movements which were committed to the control of the celestial signs? What human being can have dominion over these?

Again, if all our acts and deeds depend on the fates acquired at our birth and not on principles of morality, why are laws established and statutes promulgated by which punishment is meted out to the wicked and security bestowed on the innocent? Why is pardon not granted to the accused, since, to be sure, they fell into crime by reason, as is maintained, of necessity and not by an act of their own will? Why does the farmer toil and not rather wait until it is time to convey into his storehouses the produce for which he has not labored, relying on the prerogatives of his birth? If he was destined by birth to be endowed with wealth without the expenditure of labor, he should undoubtedly wait until the earth brings forth fruit spontaneously without seed. If such were the case he should not sink his ploughshare into the earth or put his hands on the curved scythe or undergo the expense of harvesting the grapes. Rather, the wine would without effort flow plenteously into his stock of jars. Without effort, too, he would let the wild olive berry exude its oil without the labor of grafting upon the trunk of the olive tree. In the same way a merchant who travels over the wide seas would not be in dread of the perils that threaten his own life, for it is within his power, because of a certain destiny allotted to him at birth, to come without labor into a wealth of treasure.

But this is far from the accepted opinion. As a matter of fact, the farmer cleaves the earth ‘with deep-driven plough’; ‘stripped he ploughs, stripped he sows’; stripped in the glowing ‘heat he thrashes on the floor the parched ears.’⁴⁹ The merchant, impatient when the east winds are blowing, ploughs the sea often when the course is unsafe. Insolent and rash men such as these are condemned by the Prophet, who says:⁵⁰ ‘Be thou ashamed, O Sidon, the sea speaketh,’ that is to say, if dangers do not move you, then shame can check and modesty confound you. ‘Be thou ashamed, O Sidon,’ in which there is no place for virtue, no care for safety, no young men exercised in arms and ready to fight in defense of their country. They are anxiously and entirely preoccupied with gain and the benefits derived from commerce. ‘What the merchant sows, so does he reap.’

What reward is there for a Christian, if in his activities and labors he follows the dictates of necessity, not those of his own free will? There, where destiny decides, personal initiative is held in no esteem.

Chapter 5

We have spoken at length on this subject and do not desire to say any more, lest some people may form the opinion that what was taken up merely for the purpose of refutation has been presented for the purpose of publicizing it. As a matter of fact, how can these subjects which as children we held in ridicule now seriously enter our thoughts in our declining years? Therefore, let us now direct our pen to what remains of our reading of Scripture.

‘Let there be lights to serve as signs and for the fixing of seasons, days and years,’⁵¹ He said. We have already discussed the subject of ‘signs.’

What are seasons but successive changes, that is, winter, spring, summer, and autumn? During these seasons the passage of the sun is either swift or slow, scarcely touching us at one time with its rays; at another, burning us with its heat. And so we have winter when the sun lingers in the southern regions. When the sun is somewhat far away, the earth grows rigid with frost and is stiffened by cold. The earth is covered by all-pervading nocturnal shadows, so that the nights are much longer in extent than are the days. From this fact it happens that during the storms of winter a great amount of snow and rain is precipitated. When, however, the sun, leaving the southern regions, returns to its position over the earth, the duration of day and night becomes equal. Then, the more it prolongs its sojourn, the more it gradually tempers the air with its heat and with the clemency of its atmosphere, which fosters all things and forces them once more to reproduction. The result is that the earth germinates and the seeds released from the furrows come to life again, the trees sprout and in their effort to perpetuate their kind successively each year all species of terrestrial and marine life propagate themselves. But when the sun rises toward the summer solstice in the north, the daytime is lengthened, thereby narrowing and restricting the period of night. And so, the more assiduously the sun links itself and mingles with our atmosphere, the more completely does it furnish heat to the air and at the same time dry up the moisture of the earth, thus causing the seeds to sprout forth and the offspring of the forests to ripen, as it were, into manhood. At the time when the sun becomes warmer, the shadows at noon become shorter, inasmuch as the sun in this region shines from a position high above us.

Since the Synagogue says in the Canticle of Canticles: ‘Show me, O thou whom my soul has loved, where thou feedest, where thou liest at midday, lest perchance I begin to wander after the flocks of thy companions,’⁵² that is: Announce to me, O Christ, whom has my soul loved. Why not rather whom [my soul] loves? The Synagogue loved, but the Church loves and never changes her affection for Christ. ‘Where thou feedest,’ we read, ‘where thou liest at midday.’ I desire to follow you into those places like a foster-child, to whom I once held fast as if in wedlock and I wish to search for your flock because I have lost mine. You feed at midday in the Church’s pasture where Justice shines, where Judgment gleams like the noonday,⁵³ where no shadow is seen, where the days are longer, because the Sun of Justice dwells therein for a longer time just as in the months of summer. The day of the Lord is, therefore, not brief. It is long because it has been written: ‘Before the great day of the Lord doth come.’⁵⁴ Hence Jacob says: ‘All the days of my life are brief and evil,’⁵⁵ for a dubious light is evil. Brief days are, therefore, of dubious light and are not luminous. The contrary is true of the long days, as many people who live in warm countries realize from experience. Accordingly, the Synagogue in its brief and evil days was in very deep shade. Its type is often expressed in the person of Jacob or of his people. It did not behold the Sun of Justice shining from overhead, but, rather, since winter was at hand, shining from the direction of the south. But this is said to the Church: ‘The winter is now past, is over and gone. The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of the harvest has come.’⁵⁶ Winter existed before the coming of Christ; after His coming, the flowers of the spring and summer’s harvest appear. Since it faces the light shining from the south and from the region of the converted Gentiles, the Synagogue lies in shadow. The Gentiles ‘who sat in darkness’—the Gentiles, the people of the nations, a confused people—‘have seen a great light; to them that sat in the region and shadow of death, a light has arisen.’⁵⁷ This is a great and divine light which is not darkened by any shadow of death. So it shines from above, because through the voice of Zachary it is written: ‘Wherewith the Orient from on high has visited us, to shine on those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.’⁵⁸ There is, of course, a shadow of salvation, not of death, as has been said: ‘Thou shalt protect me under the shadow of thy wings’⁵⁹—‘shadow,’ in fact, because it is of the body; ‘shadow,’ too, because it is of the cross. It is the shadow of salvation, because in it was the remission of sins and the resurrection of the dead.

We can state the problem succinctly in the following way: winter days are short while their shadows are long; summer days are long, whereas their shadows are short. In the middle of the day a shadow is shorter than it is at its beginning or end. This is the situation with us who live in the west. However, there are people living in the southern regions who for two days in the year are without shadows, since the sun’s rays strike from a position directly overhead, thus illuminating everything on all sides. Hence, these are called in Greek ‘Ascii.’⁶⁰ Many also report the fact that in that region the sun is so perpendicularly situated above that water can be seen gleaming deep down through the narrow openings of a well. In the south there is report of a people who are called ‘Amphiscii’⁶¹ because they cast a shadow on each side.

The person, in fact, who travels in the direction of the sun casts his shadow behind him. This happens when he advances toward the east in the morning hours or toward the south at midday or toward the west at sunset. From three directions, therefore, may the sun strike a person; from the east, the south, and the west. Our shadows are behind us in the morning and in the evening, and at noon the situation is similar. Moreover, the sun does not reach us from the north. For that reason, if you face northward in the morning or in the evening or at midday you cast no shadow behind you. Only those people who live in the southern regions of this world which we inhabit are able, it appears, to cast their shadows in a southerly direction. This is said to happen in the height of summer when the sun is advancing toward the north.

For us there is the relief of autumn. At its coming the excessive heat of summer is broken. Autumn, relaxing its warmth and moderating its temperature to what is equable, hands us over without malice or harm to the breezes of winter.

‘Let there be [lights] for the fixing of days,’⁶² says the Scripture—not that they may make the days, but that they may have a principal part in their making, so that the sun may illuminate the dawn with more generous gifts and with its light can designate the course of the entire day. In such a sense some interpret the words of the Prophet: ‘The sun to rule the day, the moon and the stars to rule the night,’⁶³ as they cast their lights around.

The sun and the moon, too, were designed ‘to fix the years.’ The moon in twelve times thirty days, according to the Hebrews, completes the year with the addition of a few days, and according to the Romans with an intercalary day added every fourth year. The solstitial year is that portion of time which corresponds to the completion of a period in which the sun makes a circuit through all the signs and then returns to the point of its departure.⁶⁴

Chapter 6

God made, therefore, these two great luminaries. We may assume that by their own right they are great and not merely by comparison with other objects such as the broad heavens and the mighty sea. We must admit the mightiness of that sun which fills with its heat the entire earth as the moon, too, fills not only the earth with its light, but also this atmosphere of ours, the sea, and the firmament. In whatever part of the heavens these lights may be, they illuminate everything and are observed equally by all. So much is this true that people of every race believe that these luminaries delight in lingering in their respective native countries. They believe that they are present there only, furnishing light to them alone, whereas these lights shine on all without distinction. Everyone is convinced, moreover, that he is nearer these luminaries than any other individual.

As a proof of its great size one may note that the orb of the moon seems to all men to be of the same dimensions. Although at times its light may increase or diminish, its appearance on any one night is the same for me as it is for all men. If it were to appear smaller to distant people and if to people living nearer it would seem to shine more brilliantly, we would then have clear indications of the narrow compass of its range and its extent. The reason is that all objects are considered by us to be smaller when we are some distance away from them, while other objects are regarded as larger if seen closer at hand. The size of an object increases in proportion as the beholder comes nearer. The sun’s rays are neither nearer to any one individual nor more remote. In like manner, the sphere of the moon has for all men the same size. The sun when it rises appears at the same instant alike to the people of India and of Britain. When it sets, the sun does not appear to be smaller to the inhabitants of the east than it does to those of the west. When the sun rises it does not seem to the people of the west to be smaller than it does to the people of the east. As Scripture says: ‘As far as the east is from the west.’⁶⁵ These points are distant one from the other but that is not true in regard to the sun. It does not lie nearer any other object nor more remote from it.

Do not be disturbed by the fact that the sun on rising seems to be about a cubit in extent. Rather, consider that between the sun and the earth there lies a space which our vision, because of its weakness, cannot penetrate without a loss of effectiveness. Our vision is clouded. Are we to conclude that the sun or moon is clouded, also? Our vision is limited. Does that make more limited the things that we see? The apparent size of an object is diminished, not the real. We ought not to ascribe to the luminaries a weakness which is due merely to our senses.

Our sight deceives us. Therefore, do not put trust in its testimony. The heavenly bodies present the appearance of smallness, but their form is actually not so. If from the top of a mountain you wish to view a plain before your eyes with cattle feeding therein, will they not take on the appearance of ants?⁶⁶ If you should look far out to sea from some point on shore, will not the largest ships with their sails flashing amid the blue of the sea appear to you in the distance like doves in flight? More than that, even the islands with their extensive areas which deck the sea seem circumscribed in a narrow space, taking on a smooth appearance instead of a rough one, a look of density instead of its contrary! Take account, therefore, of the weakness of your eyesight and like a just judge rely on yourself, putting trust at the same time in those things which we affirm to be true.⁶⁷

Do you want to estimate the huge size of the sun with your bodily eyes as well as with the eyes of your mind? Consider the extent in which the spheres of the stars seem to cover and illuminate with lights innumerable the firmament of the heavens. Yet, for all that, they do not succeed in dispersing the clouds of the sky and the darkness of nighttime.⁶⁸ As soon as the sunrise has sent forth its standards, all the glowing stars vanish beneath the flashing rays of one luminary, the surroundings are unveiled, and the sky is flooded with a purple flush of light. The dawn at its inception is still breathing. In a flash the splendor of the sun’s fiery rays emerge and the breeze’s sweet breath is a forerunner of the rising sun. Tell me, if you please, how could the sun illuminate the great orb of the earth unless it, too, was mighty?

What shall I say of the Creator’s great moderation and control? He conferred such measure on the sun’s operation that its fiery flame to all appearances has not by its pervading heat burned up the veins of the earth and the entire structure of matter?⁶⁹ Again, in such an extensive world the sun has not by becoming cool ceased from the act of infusing the ‘seed of heat’⁷⁰ into the earth. Rather, thrusting aside infecundity and want, it has effectively bestowed on the earth the blessing of warmth with its accompanying fertility.

Chapter 7

What we have stated in regard to her consort and brother applies in similar fashion to the moon, since the latter assumes the same offices as her brother, namely that of illuminating the darkness, cherishing the seeds, and increasing the produce of the soil. She has functions, also, which are different from her brother’s. The moisture which throughout the day the heat has absorbed from the earth is replaced in the short space of night in the form of dew,⁷¹ of which the moon is said to be a generous dispenser. Hence, when the night is clear and the moon shines the whole night long, a larger amount of dew is then said to fall. Many reclining in the open air have experienced the phenomenon of collecting more dew on their heads, the longer they rested in the moonlight. Wherefore, in the Canticles, Christ speaks to the Church: ‘For my head is full of dew and my locks of the drops of the night.’⁷²

Then, again, the moon goes through a process of waxing and waning. It becomes smaller when as a new moon it rises, at which point it gradually approaches a fuller form. In this we can see a great mystery. The elements are affected by the waning of the moon. After a period of exhaustion, strength is regained at the time of the moon’s waxing. We may note this process in two instances: in the brains of living things and in the amount of water in shellfish. In fact, oysters and many other kinds of shellfish are said to be more developed at the time when the moon is becoming fuller. The same phenomenon is related by those who have made special investigation into the internal structure of trees. We see, therefore, that the waxing and waning of the moon is not the result of weakness, but of plan and purpose. If it were not that the Creator had thought fit to bestow unusual excellence and beauty on such significant changes, these changes would not have been allotted to matter.

Some learned men, including some who are Christians, have claimed that the air usually changes at the rising of the moon. Yet, if these lunar changes should result in some unusual upheaval, then clouds would conceal the sky and rain would fall at every rising of the moon. So, when there was talk the previous day of a much desired rainfall, some person remarked, ‘See, the new moon will bring it.’ Although we were all eager for rain, I had no desire to believe that such assertions are true. Hence, I was delighted when no rain fell, until it was granted as a consequence of the Church’s prayers. Wherefore, it was made manifest that one should not expect rain to follow the new moon, but that it should be granted by a provident and beneficent Creator.

In fact, although channels of water during other phases of the moon rise and afterwards sink to their former level or even rush along violently without any external force, these same bodies of water remain calm at the time of the new moon before its light is observable.⁷³ When in the course of time the moon comes into view, then the waters return to their accustomed ebb and flow. Again, during those days when the new moon is not in evidence the ebb tide, which is reputed to exist in the ocean, is said to follow its usual course. On the occasion of the moon’s rise, according to report, clear indications of change make their appearance. To be more precise, the western sea,⁷⁴ towards which the ebb tide directs itself, rises and falls with greater force, as if it were driven backward and forward by the same lunar exhalations, until it ultimately falls back into its normal and accustomed channel.

Chapter 8

Hence, if you wonder at the fact that the moon can suffer a loss of light while it has in itself the power to produce change, consider that we are here in the presence of a great mystery. From this let men deduce the lesson that nothing can exist in the universe, be it human or any other created thing, which shall not at some time pass away.⁷⁵ Even the moon, to which the Lord has granted the important office of illuminating the whole world, goes through the process of waxing and waning. All things, which spring from nothing, reach their perfection and again diminish in perfection, being subject to decline. Hence we are told: ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away.’⁷⁶ Why, then, do we not moderate our emotions and face adversities with courage? For He who has created all things from nothing has the power to bear you aloft to the summit of perfection. In a similar manner, we should control our feelings of joy in prosperity and not take pride in our positions of wealth and power. Likewise, we should not boast of our physical strength or beauty which is liable both to corruption and to constant change. Rather, we should strive for that beauty of soul which endures into future time.

If you are afflicted with sadness at the sight of the waning of the moon ‘which repairs its losses’ and renews itself,⁷⁷ all the more ought you to be saddened if your soul, which has been filled with the fruit of virtue, should frequently afterward change its intent and purpose by an attitude of inconstancy and heedlessness. This is the height of stupidity and ignorance, for, as Scripture says: ‘A fool is changed as the moon.’⁷⁸ Hence, a wise man does not change with the moon: ‘He shall continue with the sun.’⁷⁹

Wherefore the moon does not partake of folly, because the moon does not change like the fool, but the fool like the moon. The seed of the just remains ‘as the moon, perfect for ever and a faithful witness in heaven.’⁸⁰ To perform one’s function is one thing; to have no fixed beliefs and to be carried away by unstable whims and emotions presents a situation that is quite different. The moon toils for you⁸¹ and by reason of the will of God is made subject: ‘For creation is made subject to vanity, not by its own will but by reason of him who made it subject in hope.’⁸² It is you who undergoes changes of your own volition, not the moon. The moon ‘groans and travails in pain’⁸³ in its changes. You, without understanding, often find joy in this. The moon frequently awaits your release from sin, that it may be released from the servitude in which all creation shares. But you place obstacles to your release from sin and to the moon’s freedom. The fact that you yourself still await that conversion which fails to come,⁸⁴ whereas the moon suffers change, is, then, the result, not of the moon’s folly, but of your’s.

Your opinion of the moon should be based, not on the observation of your eyes, but on the insight of your mind. The moon diminishes in size so as to make an addition to the sum of physical phenomenon. This, therefore, is a great mystery. He who has allotted His gifts to all things has allotted this to the moon. He has emptied it so as to replenish it. He has even ‘emptied Himself’⁸⁵ that He might replenish all, for He emptied Himself that He might come down for us. He came down for us that He might ascend for all. It is written, in fact: ‘He who ascended above the heavens that he might fill all things.’⁸⁶ Hence, one of the Apostles says: ‘For of his fullness we have all received.’⁸⁷ The moon, therefore, has made known the mysteries of Christ. It is no slight thing in which He has placed His sign. No slight thing is that which contains the type of His beloved Church, as the Prophet points out when he says: ‘In his days shall justice spring up and abundance of peace till the moon be taken away.’⁸⁸ And in the Canticles the Lord says of His spouse: ‘Who is she that looks forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, excellent as the sun?’⁸⁹

Deservedly is the moon compared to the Church, who has shone over the entire world and says as she illuminates the darkness of this world: ‘The night is far advanced, the day is at hand.’⁹⁰ Fittingly does she say: ‘She that looks forth,’ as if looking from a higher position on one’s own, in accordance with the statement: ‘The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the children of men.’⁹¹ Looking down, then, the Church has, like the moon, her frequent risings and settings. She has grown, however, by her settings and has by their means merited expansion at a time when she is undergoing diminution through persecution and while she is being crowned by the martyrdom of her faithful. This is the real moon which from the perpetual light of her own brother has acquired the light of immortality and grace. Not from her own light does the Church gleam, but from the light of Christ. From the Sun of Justice has her brilliance been obtained, so that it is said: ‘It is now no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me.’⁹²

Happy, in truth, is that which merited such an honor! Wherefore I would not call you happy by reason of your renewals, but by the fact that you are a type of the Church. In the former case you are but a servant; in the latter, our beloved!

How ridiculous is the current belief that you can be brought to earth by magical charms! These are old wives’ tales, the gossip of the common crowd. Who would believe that a work of God assigned to such important service could be affected by the superstitions of the Chaldeans? He who was brought down not by magical charms but by his own will, who ‘disguises himself as an angel of light,’⁹³ may very well have fallen from heaven. To be sure, there are those who believe that the Church, too, can be moved from her place and position. There are many men who provoke the Church, but the charms of the magician can not harm her. Magical chants are of no avail there where the canticles of Christ are chanted daily. Her own chanter is Jesus, our Lord, through whom magical charms and serpents’ poison were made void. She is like a serpent which placed on high devoured the snakes,⁹⁴ and, although a deadly Egyptian chant be murmured,⁹⁵ its force is lost at the utterance of the name of Christ. So, too, Paul blinded Elymas,⁹⁶ thus depriving him of his eyesight and of his futile magic powers at one and the same time. In like manner, Peter cast down to the ground Simon, who by the evil power of his charms sought to soar aloft by magic to the heights of heaven.

Chapter 9

I feel sure that the fourth day has come to a close in a wonderful way. How does it happen, then, that many people generally avoid the fourth day and think that it is useless to begin anything in association with a number with which the entire world blazoned forth in a new light? Do they believe that the sun came into being under inauspicious circumstances? And how is it possible for a person to predict good fortune for another, if he himself is unable to choose for himself the day of his own birth? How can they make known the horoscope of a person without knowing anything of his birth? What do we say of the moon which rises on the fourth day?⁹⁷ Does not the fourteenth day indicate for us the day of salvation?⁹⁸ Is the date on which is celebrated the mystery of the Redemption an occasion for our displeasure? Hence, the demons are responsible for attempts to avoid the number four, for in it their wickedness was destroyed. And so the Gentiles maintain that nothing should be initiated with it, because they know that then for the first time their schemes began to be of no avail. Moreover, the Gentile race had already come into the fold of the Church.

If the moon is at its fourth rising be ‘clear and with undimmed horns,’⁹⁹ it is thought that this is an indication that the remaining days of the month will be serene up to the very end. To think that people are unwilling to start anything on those days which are destined to be followed by calm weather!

But we must in the midst of this discourse of ours be on our guard lest the fourth day should suddenly come to an end. ‘Longer shadows are falling from the mountain-heights,’¹⁰⁰ as the light becomes dim and the shades of evening grow more dense.

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