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On the Allegories of the Sacred Laws (1.1-1.5)

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0018.tlg002.1st1K-eng1:1.1-1.5
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1.1
And the heaven and the earth and all their world was completed.[*] Having previously related the creation of the mind and of sense, Moses now proceeds to describe the perfection which was brought about by them both. And he says that neither the indivisible mind nor the particular sensations received perfection, but only ideas, one the idea of the mind, the other of sensation. And, speaking symbolically, he calls the mind heaven, since the natures which can only be comprehended by the intellect are in heaven. And sensation he calls earth, because it is sensation which has obtained a corporeal and somewhat earthy constitution. The ornaments of the mind are all the incorporeal things, which are perceptible only by the intellect. Those of sensation are the corporeal things, and everything in short which is perceptible by the external senses.

1.2

And on the sixth day God finished his work which he had made. It would be a sign of great simplicity to think that the world was created in six days, or indeed at all in time; because all time is only the space of days and nights, and these things the motion of the sun as he passes over the earth and under the earth does necessarily make. But the sun is a portion of heaven, so that one must confess that time

v.1.p.53
is a thing posterior to the world. Therefore it would be correctly said that the world was not created in time, but that time had its existence in consequence of the world. For it is the motion of the heaven that has displayed the nature of time.

When, therefore, Moses says, God completed his works on the sixth day, we must understand that he is speaking not of a number of days, but that he takes six as a perfect number. Since it is the first number which is equal in its parts, in the half, and the third and sixth parts, and since it is produced by the multiplication of two unequal factors, two and three. And the numbers two and three exceed the incorporeality which exists in the unit; because the number two is an image of matter being divided into two parts and dissected like matter. And the number three is an image of a solid body, because a solid can be divided according to a threefold division.

Not but what it is also akin to the motions of organic animals. For an organic body is naturally capable of motion in six directions, forward, backwards, upwards, downwards, to the right, and to the left. And at all events he desires to show that the races of mortal, and also of all the immortal beings, exist according to their appropriate numbers; measuring mortal beings, as I have said, by the number six, and the blessed and immortal beings by the number seven.

First, therefore, having desisted from the creation of mortal creatures on the seventh day, he began the formation of other and more divine beings.

1.3
For God never ceases from making something or other; but, as it is the property of fire to burn, and of snow to chill, so also it is the property of God to be creating. And much more so, in proportion as he himself is to all other beings the author of their working.

And 1 w 3
the 1 w 6
heaven 1 w 12
and 1 w 15
the 2 w 18
earth 1 w 23
and 2 w 26
all 1 w 29
their 1 w 34
world 1 w 39
was 1 w 42
completed 1 w 51
Genesis 1 w 59
ii 1 w 61
1 1 w 63
Having 1 w 70
previously 1 w 80
related 1 w 87
the 4 w 90
creation 1 w 98
of 1 w 100
the 5 w 103
mind 1 w 107
and 3 w 110
of 2 w 112
sense 1 w 117
Moses 1 w 123
now 1 w 126
proceeds 1 w 134
to 1 w 136
describe 1 w 144
the 6 w 147
perfection 1 w 157
which 1 w 162
was 2 w 165
brought 1 w 172
about 1 w 177
by 1 w 179
them 1 w 183
both 1 w 187
And 2 w 191
he 9 w 193
says 1 w 197
that 1 w 201
neither 1 w 208
the 9 w 211
indivisible 1 w 222
mind 2 w 226
nor 1 w 229
the 10 w 232
particular 1 w 242
sensations 1 w 252
received 1 w 260
perfection 2 w 270
but 1 w 274
only 1 w 278
ideas 1 w 283
one 1 w 287
the 11 w 290
idea 2 w 294
of 3 w 296
the 12 w 299
mind 3 w 303
the 13 w 307
other 1 w 312
of 4 w 314
sensation 2 w 323
And 3 w 327
speaking 1 w 336
symbolically 1 w 348
he 17 w 351
calls 1 w 356
the 15 w 359
mind 4 w 363
heaven 2 w 369
since 1 w 375
the 16 w 378
natures 1 w 385
which 2 w 390
can 1 w 393
only 2 w 397
be 2 w 399
comprehended 1 w 411
by 2 w 413
the 17 w 416
intellect 1 w 425
are 1 w 428
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heaven 3 w 436
And 4 w 440
sensation 3 w 449
he 24 w 451
calls 2 w 456
earth 2 w 461
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it 2 w 471
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which 3 w 487
has 1 w 490
obtained 1 w 498
a 36 w 499
corporeal 1 w 508
and 4 w 511
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earthy 1 w 525
constitution 1 w 537
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ornaments 1 w 550
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the 18 w 555
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all 5 w 565
the 19 w 568
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things 1 w 585
which 4 w 591
are 3 w 594
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by 3 w 611
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of 6 w 631
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the 21 w 646
corporeal 3 w 655
things 2 w 661
and 5 w 665
everything 1 w 675
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senses 1 w 719
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day 1 w 736
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his 1 w 750
work 1 w 754
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the 53 w 2023
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and 18 w 2130
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the 65 w 2406
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the 67 w 2490
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of 28 w 2498
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