Letter 17

To the same person. How could this whole universe ever have come into being, or hold together, had not God both given all things their substance and held them in continuity? For no one who sees a lyre most beautifully fashioned, and observes its harmony and good ordering, and who hears the lyre-playing itself, conceives of anything other than the maker of the lyre and the lyre-player, and runs back to him in his mind, even if he should happen not to know him by sight. So too the creative power is evident to us, and that which moves and preserves the things made, even if it is not grasped by the mind.

Πῶς ἂν καὶ ὑπέστη τόδε τὸ πᾶν ἡ σύνεστη, μὴ Θεοῦ τὰ πάντα καὶ οὐσιώσαντος, καὶ συνέχοντος; Οὐδὲ γὰρ κιθάραν τις ὁρῶν κάλλιστα ἡσκημένην, καὶ τὴν ταύτης εὐαρμοστίαν, καὶ εὐταξίαν, ἧς κιθαρωδίας αὐτῆς ἀκούων ἄλλο τι, ἢ τὸν τῆς κιθάρας δημιουργὸν καὶ τὸν κιθαρωδὸν ἐννοήσῃ, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀναδραμεῖται τῇ διανοίᾳ, κἂν ἀγνοῶν τύχῃ ταῖς ὄψεσιν. Οὕτω καὶ ἡμῖν τὸ ποιητικὸν δῆλον, καὶ τὸ κινοῦν, καὶ τηροῦν τὰ πεποιημένα, κἂν μὴ τῇ διανοίᾳ περιλαμβάνηται.