*Preliminary draft for student use only. Not for citation or ...sites.fas.harvard.edu/~hsci161/Sci._Rev._Reader/08-P2_Augustine.pdf · falsehoods on facts which they themselves have

Sci. Rev. Reader ('02/02/18) 08-P2_St. Augustine

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*Preliminary draft for student use only. Not for citation or circulation without permission ofeditor.

In all the sacred books [of the Bible], we should consider the eternal truths that are

taught, the facts that are narrated, the future events that are predicted, and the precepts

or counsels that are given. In the case of a narrative of events, the question arises as

to whether everything must be taken according to the figurative sense only, or whether it

must be expounded and defended also as a faithful record of what happened. . . . If,

then, Scripture is to be explained under both [figurative and literal] aspects, what

meaning other than the allegorical have the words: In the beginning God created

heaven and earth?

- Augustine, The Literal Meaning of Genesis

08-P2) St. Augustine (354-430), “The Real Meaning of Genesis” (425??)1

Book 1, Chapter 19

On interpreting the mind of the sacred writer. Christians should not talk nonsense to

unbelievers.

38. Let us suppose that in explaining the words, And God said, "Let there be light

"and light was made, one man thinks that it was material light that was made, and

another that it was spiritual. As to the actual existence of spiritual light in a spiritual

creature, our faith leaves no doubt; as to the existence of material light, celestial or

supercelestial, even existing before the heavens, a light which could have been followed

by night, there will be nothing in such a supposition contrary to the faith until unerring


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truth gives the lie to it. And if that should happen, this teaching was never in Holy

Scripture but was an opinion proposed by man in his ignorance. On the other hand, if

reason should prove that this opinion is unquestionably true, it will still be uncertain

whether this sense was intended by the sacred writer when he used the words quoted

above, or whether he meant something else no less true. And if the general drift of the

passage shows that the sacred writer did not intend this teaching, the other, which he

did intend, will not thereby be false; indeed, it will be true and more worth knowing. On

the other hand, if the tenor of the words of Scripture does not militate against our taking

this teaching as the mind of the writer, we shall still have to enquire whether he could

not have meant something else besides. And if we find that he could have meant

something else also, it will not be clear which of the two meanings he intended. And

there is no difficulty if he is thought to have wished both interpretations if both are

supported by clear indications in the context.

39. Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the

heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars

and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and

moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs,

stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and

experience. Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a

Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these

topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in

which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is

not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household

of the faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those

for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as

unlearned men. If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know

1 St. Augustine. The Literal Meaning of Genesis , 2 vols. trans. John Hammond Taylor, S.J.New York: Newman, 1982. Vol. 1, pp. 42-44, 51-52, 58-61, 65-67, 69-73, 104-112.


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well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going

to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of

eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of

falsehoods on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of

reason? Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble

and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous

false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our

sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements,

they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many

passages which they think support their position, although they understand neither what

they say nor the things about which they make assertion.

Book 1, Chapter 20

We should remember that Scripture, even in its obscure passages, has been written to

nourish our souls.

40. With these facts in mind, I have worked out and presented the statements of

the Book of Genesis in a variety of ways according to my ability; and, in interpreting

words that have been written obscurely for the purpose of stimulating our thought, I

have not rashly taken my stand on one side against a rival interpretation which might

possibly be better. I have thought that each one, in keeping with his powers of

understanding, should choose the interpretation that he can grasp. Where he cannot

understand Holy Scripture, let him glorify God and fear for himself.2 But since the words

of Scripture that I have treated are explained in so many senses, critics full of worldly

learning should restrain themselves from attacking as ignorant and uncultured these

utterances that have been made to nourish all devout souls. Such critics are like

wingless creatures that crawl upon the earth and, while soaring no higher than the leap

2 See 3.5 Kepler, ”New Astronomy”, pp. 000 above.


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of a frog, mock the birds in their nests above.

But more dangerous is the error of certain weak brethren who faint away when

they hear these irreligious critics learnedly and eloquently discoursing on the theories of

astronomy or on any of the questions relating to the elements of this universe. With a

sigh, they esteem these teachers as superior to themselves, looking upon them as great

men; and they return with disdain to the books which were written for the good of their

souls; and, although they ought to drink from these books with relish, they can scarcely

bear to take them up. Turning away in disgust from the unattractive wheat field, they

long for the blossoms on the thorn. For they are not free to see how sweet is the Lord,

and they have no hunger on the Sabbath. And thus they are idle, though they have

permission from the Lord to pluck the ears of grain and to work them in their hands and

grind them and winnow them until they arrive at the nourishing kernel. [ . . . ]

Book 2, Chapter 9

The shape of the material heaven.

20. It is also frequently asked what our belief must be about the form and shape

of heaven according to Sacred Scripture. Many scholars engage in lengthy discussions

on these matters, but the sacred writers with their deeper wisdom have omitted them.

Such subjects are of no profit for those who seek beatitude, and, what is worse, they

take up very precious time that ought to be given to what is spiritually beneficial. What

concern is it of mine whether heaven is like a sphere and the earth is enclosed by it and

suspended in the middle of the universe, or whether heaven like a disk above the earth

covers it over on one side?

But the credibility of Scripture is at stake, and as I have indicated more than

once, there is danger that a man uninstructed in divine revelation, discovering

something in Scripture or hearing from it something that seems to be at variance with

the knowledge he has acquired, may resolutely withhold his assent in other matters

where Scripture presents useful admonitions, narratives, or declarations. Hence, I must


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say briefly that in the matter of the shape of heaven the sacred writers knew the truth,

but that the Spirit of God, who spoke through them, did not wish to teach men these

facts that would be of no avail for their salvation.

21. But someone may ask: "Is not Scripture opposed to those who hold that

heaven is spherical, when it says, who stretches out heaven like a skin'.3 Let it be

opposed indeed if their statement is false. The truth is rather in what God reveals than

in what groping men surmise. But if they are able to establish their doctrine with proofs

that cannot be denied, we must show that this statement of Scripture about the skin is

not opposed to the truth of their conclusions. If it were, it would be opposed also to

Sacred Scripture itself in another passage where it says that heaven is suspended like a

vault. For what can be so different and contradictory as a skin stretched out flat and the

curved shape of a vault? But if it is necessary, as it surely is, to interpret these two

passages so that they are shown not to be contradictory but to be reconcilable, it is also

necessary that both of these passages should not contradict the theories that may be

supported by true evidence, by which heaven is said to be curved on all sides in the

shape of a sphere, provided only that this is proved.

22. Our picture of heaven as a vault, even when taken in a literal sense, does not

contradict the theory that heaven is a sphere. We may well believe that in speaking of

the shape of heaven Scripture wished to describe that part which is over our heads. If,

therefore, it is not a sphere, it is a vault on that side on which it covers the earth; but if it

is a sphere, it is a vault all around. But the image of the skin presents a more serious

difficulty: we must show that it is reconcilable not with the sphere (for that may be only a

man-made theory) but with the vault of Holy Scripture. My allegorical interpretation of

this passage can be found in the thirteenth book of my Confessions. Whether the

description of heaven stretched out like a skin is to be taken as I have interpreted it

there or in some other way, here I must take into account the doggedly literal-minded

interpreters and say what I think is obvious to everyone from the testimony of the


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senses. Both the skin and the vault perhaps can be taken as figurative expressions; but

how they are to be understood in a literal sense must be explained. If a vault can be not

only curved but also flat, a skin surely can be stretched out not only on a flat plane but

also in a spherical shape. Thus, for instance, a leather bottle and an inflated ball are

both made of skin.

Book 2, Chapter 10

The motion of heaven and the meaning of firmament.

23. With regard to the motion of heaven, certain Christian writers have enquired

whether is it in reality stationary or moving. If it is moving, they say, in what sense is it a

firmament? But if it is stationary, how do the heavenly bodies that are thought to be

fixed in it travel from east to west and the stars of the Wain [Hay Wain or Wagon, also

Big Dipper or Ursa major] complete their smaller orbits near the north pole? They

present the picture of heaven turning either like a sphere, if we suppose another axis

not visible to us extending from another pivotal point, or like a disk, if there is no other

axis. My reply is that there is a great deal of subtle and learned enquiry into these

questions for the purpose of arriving at a true view of the matter; but I have no further

time to go into these questions and discuss them, nor should they have time whom I

wish to see instructed for their own salvation and for what is necessary and useful in the

Church. They must certainly bear in mind that the term "firmament" does not compel us

to imagine a stationary heaven: we may understand this name as given to indicate not

that it is motionless but that it is solid and that it constitutes an impassable boundary

between the waters above and the waters below. Furthermore, if the evidence shows

that the heavens actually are immovable, the motion of the stars will not be a hindrance

to our acceptance of this fact. The very scholars who have devoted the most exhaustive

study to this subject have concluded that if the stars alone were moved while the

heavens were motionless, all the known phenomena observed in the motions of the

3 See 8.1 Bible, “Psalm 104, 2, pp. 00 above.


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stars might have taken place. [ . . . ]

Book 2, Chapter 17

Astrologers must be avoided.

35. In what pertains to fate, let us be loyal to the true faith and wholeheartedly

reject all subtleties of astrologers and their so-called scientific observations (or

αποτελεσµατα in their jargon), which they fancy established by their theories. With

such talk they try to undermine even the foundations of our belief in prayer, and with

headstrong impiety they treat evil-doing that is justly reprehensible as if God were to

blame as the Maker of the stars, and not man as the author of his own sins.4 But the

fact that our souls are by nature not subject to bodies, not even to heavenly bodies, they

may learn even from their own philosophers. That heavenly bodies are not more

powerful than earthly bodies, in the sense in which they speak, should be clear to them

from observation. For when many bodies of different kinds, whether animals, plants, or

trees, are inseminated at the same moment and at the very same time are born in

countless numbers, not only in widely scattered regions, but even in the same locality,

there is such a variety in their development, and in all they do and suffer, that the

astrologers would let the stars be hanged, if I may use the expression, were they to give

the matter a thought.

36. What more absurd and stupid than, after assenting to the foregoing

argument, to say that the influence and power of the stars is only over the lives of men?

Such a theory is refuted by the case of those twins that spend their lives in different

circumstances, one prosperous and the other wretched, and meet death in different

manners, yet frequently have the same constellations. Although there has been a slight

difference in the time of their emerging from the womb, in some cases the difference is

4 Augustine’s insistence upon free will—and thus moral responsibility—is clear expression of thefundamental tension that existed between Christian doctrine and the fatalism implicit in classicalastrology. Cf. Maternus, .”Ancient Astrology”, pp. 000 above.


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so small that astrologers cannot take it into account in their calculations. When Esau

and Jacob were born, Jacob came forth with his hand gripping the heel of his brother,

who preceded him. Thus the two came into the world as if one baby twice the normal

length were being born, and their so-called constellations could surely show no

difference. What, therefore, could be sillier than that an astrologer should look at these

constellations and, in spite of the same horoscope and the same moon, should say that

one was loved by his mother and the other was not? If he contradicted this he would

speak falsely; and if he did make this statement, he would speak the truth, but it would

not be based on the senseless rules he learnt to chant from his astrology books.

But if men are unwilling to believe this narrative because it is found in our books,

how can they do away with the evidence they see in the world about them? They say

they never go wrong if they once find the hour of conception. Well, then, let them look at

human life as it is and agree to investigate the conception of twins.

37. Hence, we must admit that when astrologers speak the truth, they are

speaking by a mysterious instinct that moves a man's mind without his knowing it. When

this happens for the purpose of deceiving men, it is the work of evil spirits. To these

spirits some knowledge of the truth about the temporal order has been granted, partly

by reason of their keen and subtle senses, since they possess bodies of a much more

subtle nature than ours, partly because of their shrewdness due to the experience they

have had over the long ages they have lived, partly because the good angels reveal to

them what they themselves have learnt from Almighty God, at the command of Him who

distributes man's merits by the right principles of His hidden justice. But sometimes

these wicked spirits also feign the power of divination and foretell what they themselves

intend to do. Hence, a devout Christian must avoid astrologers and all impious

soothsayers, especially when they tell the truth, for fear of leading his soul into error by

consorting with demons and entangling himself with the bonds of such association.

Book 2, Chapter 18


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Are the heavenly bodies ruled by spirits?

38. It is often asked whether the bright luminaries of heaven are bodies only or

whether they have spirits within them to rule them; and whether, if they have such

spirits, they are made living beings by their souls, or whether there is only the presence

of spirits without a vital union.5 This problem is not easy to solve, but I believe that in the

course of commenting on the text of Scripture occasions may present themselves on

which we may treat the matter according to the rules for interpreting Holy Scripture,

presenting some conclusion that may be held, without perhaps demonstrating it as

certain. Meanwhile we should always observe that restraint that is proper to a devout

and serious person and on an obscure question entertain no rash belief. Otherwise, if

the evidence later reveals the explanation, we are likely to despise it because of our

attachment to our error, even though this explanation may not be in any way opposed to

the sacred writings of the Old or New Testament. And now let us proceed to the third

book of our treatise. [ . . . ]

Book 4, Chapter 2

The order of the six days of creation corresponds to the order of the parts of the perfect

number six.

2. We have discovered, then, that six is the first perfect number, because it is the

sum of its parts. There are, of course, other numbers that are perfect on other grounds

and for other reasons. We have called the number six perfect in view of the fact that it is

the sum of its parts; in fact, these parts when multiplied produce exactly the number of

which they are parts. This kind of part of a number is called an aliquot part.6 [ . . . ]

The number six, therefore, as I pointed out at the beginning, is constituted by its

parts when added together. There are other numbers whose parts when totaled make a

5 The theory of planetary souls, or ‘intelligences’, is found in nascent form in Plato, “Cosmos”(Timaeus), pp. 000 above.


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smaller quantity, and still others, a larger. And as we progress through the higher

numbers, we find occurring at determined intervals but with increasing rarity those

numbers that are made up of parts whose total is neither less nor more but precisely

equal to the number of which they are parts. [ . . . ]

After six, the next number that is similarly the sum of its parts is twenty-eight; for

it has five parts: a twenty-eighth, a fourteenth, a seventh, a fourth, and a half, namely,

one, two, four, seven, and fourteen, which added together equal twenty-eight. And the

farther we proceed through the series of numbers, the greater is the distance between

the numbers that are the sum of their parts and for that reason are called perfect. For

numbers unequal to the sum of their parts are called deficient (imperfect); when the

parts exceed that amount, the numbers are called abundant (plus quam perfecti).

6. God, therefore, accomplished the works of His creation in six days, a perfect

number of days. For thus it is written: And on the sixth day God finished the works He

had made. And I am even more intrigued by this number when I consider the order of

the works of creation. For they are ordered like the number six itself, which rises in three

steps from its parts. One, two, and three follow in order, without the possibility of any

other number being inserted; and these are the parts of which six is composed, one

being a sixth, two being a third, and three being a half.

Thus, on one day light was created; on the two following days the universe was

created, the higher part, or firmament, on one day, the lower part, namely, sea and

earth, on the other. God did not fill the higher part with any material creatures to serve

as nourishment, because He did not intend to place there any bodies needing such

food. But on the lower regions, which He was to adorn with living creatures, each in its

proper place, He first lavishly bestowed the things they would need for their sustenance.

On the remaining three days, therefore, those things were created which, being

contained within the universe, that is, this visible creation composed of all the elements,

6 Compare Kepler’s fascination with the number six in connection with the number and spacingof Copernican planets in the heliocentric scheme, Kepler, ” Harmony of the World, II”, pp. 000.


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are themselves visible and are moved with their own proper motions. First, in the

firmament, because it had been made first, He placed the heavenly bodies. Then in the

lower regions He made the living creatures as right order demanded, on one day the

creatures of the waters, on another day those of the land. No one is so foolish as to

presume to say that God could not have made everything on one day if He had wished;

or on two days if He had wished, making the spiritual world on one day, the material on

another, or the heavens with all the heavenly creatures on one day, and earth with all

that is on it the next day; no one can deny that He might have made everything when

He wished, in whatever period of time He wished, and how He wished. Who would say

that anything could have resisted His will?

Book 4, Chapter 3

In what sense God is the measure, number, and weight of all creatures.

7. When we read that God finished all the works of His creation in six days, and

when we reflect on the number six and find that it is a perfect number, and when we

realize that the works of creation occur according to a pattern, in steps, as it were, that

match the aliquot parts of six, we should call to mind what Scripture says elsewhere:

Thou hast ordered all things in measure and number and weight.7 And let the soul that

is able reflect on this, calling on God for help, the source of its strength and inspiration,

and let it consider whether these three—measure, number, and weight—in which,

according to Scripture, God ordered all things, existed somewhere before the creation

of every creature, or whether they too were created; and if they existed before creation,

let us ask where.

Before creation nothing existed except the Creator. Therefore, these three were

in Him. But how? The works of creation are, so Scripture tells us, in Him. Shall we in

7 The passage is from the Book of Wisdom (11, 20) and was quoted twice in Dee, “MathematicalPreface”, pp. 000 and pp. 000; in the frontispiece to Riccioli’s Almagestum novum (Fig. 3.6.2,pp. 000) above and in Pascal, “Geometrical Mind”, pp. 000 below.


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some way identify measure, number, and weight with Him, and say that the works of

creation are, as it were, in Him by whom they are ruled and governed? How can God be

identified with measure, number, and weight? He is neither measure, nor number, nor

weight, nor all three. He is surely not identified with these three things as we know them

in creatures, the limit in things that we measure, the number in things that we count, the

weight in things that we weigh. But in the sense that measure places a limit on

everything, number gives everything form, and weight draws each thing to a state of

repose and stability, God is identified with these three in a fundamental, true, and

unique sense. He limits everything, forms everything, and orders everything. Hence, in

so far as this matter can be grasped by the heart of man and expressed by his tongue,

we must understand that the words, Thou hast ordered all things in measure and

number and weight, mean nothing else than "Thou hast ordered all things in Thyself."

8. It is a marvelous gift, granted to few persons, to go beyond all that can be

measured and see the Measure without measure, to go beyond all that can be

numbered and see the Number without number, and to go beyond all that can be

weighed and see the Weight without weight.


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Fig. 08-P2.1) God as Geometer

A mid-13th-century illumination from a French 'Moralizing Bible' showing God in his role

as Creator of the cosmos. Note especially the compass as platonic symbol of the

geometric principles God employed in giving form to the world. Note also the way in

which 'chaos' (i.e., the world before God has given it intelligible form) is depicted. The


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inscription at the very top of the frame reads: "Ici crie dex ciel et terre soleil et lune et

to[?] elemen" ("here god creates heaven and earth, sun and moon and the elements").

Book Four, Chapter 4

Measure, number, and weight in the immaterial realm.

Measure, number, and weight are not to be found or thought of only in stones

and wood and other such bodies, earthly or heavenly, having mass or quantity. There is

also the measure of an activity, which keeps it from going on without control or beyond

bounds; there is the number of the affections of the soul and of the virtues, by which the

soul is held away from the unformed state of folly and turned towards the form and

beauty of wisdom; and there is the weight of the will and of love, wherein appears the

worth of everything to be sought, or to be avoided, to be esteemed of greater or less

value.

But these are in the realm of spirit or mind, and this measure is limited by another

Measure, this number is formed by another Number, and this weight is drawn by

another Weight. There is a Measure without measure, and what comes from It must be

squared with It, but It does not come from something else; there is a Number without

number, by which all things are formed, but It receives no form; and there is a Weight

without weight, to which are drawn those beings whose repose is joy undefiled, and

there they find their rest, but It is not drawn to any other.8

9. The man who knows the words "measure, number, and weight" only in their

material sense is like a captive in his limited knowledge. Let him, then, rise up above all

that he knows in this way; or, if he finds himself as yet unable to do this, let him not hold

on to these words, to which he can attach only an earthly meaning. For a man will find

himself more strongly attracted to these things of the spirit the less the attractions of the

8 Compare Dee’s thoughts about the ontological status of number and figure, Dee,“Mathematical Preface”, pp. 000 above.


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flesh draw him to things below. But if anyone, in using these words which he has learnt

to connect with the lowest and meanest objects, does not wish to transfer them to those

sublime things by which he tries to fill his mind with light in contemplation, he must not

be compelled to do so. So long as he understands what ought to be understood, there

is no need for concern over the name to be given it. But one ought to know about the

likeness of the lower realm to the higher. Otherwise reason will not take a right direction

in its effort to rise from this world to the other.

10. But if anyone says that the measure, number, and weight by which, as

Scripture testifies, God ordered everything, are created beings, and if by them He

ordered everything, by what did He order these three things themselves? If it was by

other things, how did He order everything by them, since they would be ordered by

others? There is no doubt, then, that those things by which everything has been ordered

are outside of the things so ordered.

Book 4, Chapter 5

There exists in God the reason or form of the measure, number, and weight of every

creature.

11. Or are we to suppose that the words, Thou hast ordered all things in measure

and number and weight, mean, "Thou hast ordered all things so that they may have

measure, and number, and weight"? For if it were said, "Thou hast ordered all material

things in colors," it would not follow that Divine Wisdom, through whom all things have

been made, would be understood to have first possessed in Himself the colors

according to which He would make material things. But rather we should understand the

statement, "Thou hast ordered all material things in colors," as meaning, "Thou hast

ordered all material things so that they may have colors." But, of course, the ordering of

material things in colors by God the Creator, in other words, the arrangement of things

whereby they have been made colored, would be unintelligible unless we understood

that there existed in the Wisdom of the Creator some Form of the colors to be placed in


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the various kinds of material things, even though that Form in the Creator is not called a

color. This is what I had in mind when I said that so long as the thing is granted, we

need not trouble ourselves with the words.

12. Granted that the statement, Thou hast ordered all things in measure and

number and weight, means that creatures so ordered had their own proper measures,

numbers, and weight, capable of change in accordance with the mutability of each

species by increase and decrease, abundance and scarcity, lightness and gravity,

according to divine ordinance, would we say that corresponding to the mutations in

these creatures there is a mutability in the divine plan by which they are ordered? God

forbid that we should entertain such a foolish thought!

Book 4, Chapter 6

God knew measure, number, and weight in Himself:

Since, therefore, creatures were ordered in such a way as to have their own

measures, numbers, and weights, where did God see these three things when He was

ordering creatures? It was not outside of Himself, as is the case when we see material

things with the eyes; indeed, such material things were not yet in existence when God

was ordaining that they should come to be. Nor did God see them within Himself in the

manner in which we see with the mind the images of material things that are not present

to our eyes, as we recall what we have beheld or in imagination conjure up images from

what we have seen. How, then, did God see these objects so as to order creation thus?

How else than in the way in which only He can?

13. But we are mortals and sinners, and our corruptible bodies are a load upon

our souls, and the earthly habitation presses down the mind that muses upon many

things. But even though our hearts were absolutely undefiled and our minds completely

free from all burdens, even though we were already equal to the holy angels, the

Essence of God would surely not be known to us as it is to Himself.


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Book 4, Chapter 7

Six would be a perfect number even if God had not created the universe according to

the order of its parts

Nevertheless, we do not behold the perfection of the number six outside of

ourselves, as we see material things with our eyes, nor within ourselves after the

manner in which we behold the forms of bodies and the images of visible objects, but in

some other way far different from this. For it may be that some small corporeal images

present themselves before the gaze of our minds when we think of the adding up of

numbers that total six, or of the position of this number among other numbers, or of its

division into parts; but reason with its superior nature and higher powers does not look

down upon these images but rather contemplates within itself the nature of this number.

By virtue of this contemplation it can say with confidence that the number one cannot be

divided into any parts, that material things are infinitely divisible, and that heaven and

earth, which have been made according to the number six, might more easily pass

away than that it could be possible for the number six not to be made of its parts. Let

the spirit of man, then, always give thanks to the Creator, who has created man with the

power of seeing what neither bird nor beast can see, although they share with us the

sight of sky and earth, the heavenly bodies, the sea, the dry land, and everything

contained therein.

14. We cannot, therefore, say that the number six is perfect precisely because

God perfected all His works in six days, but rather we must say that God perfected His

works in six days because six is a perfect number. Hence, even if these works did not

exist, this number would be perfect; and if it had not been perfect, these works would

not have been perfected according to it.


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Fig. 08-P2.2) Bottecelli’s ‘St. Augustine’ (14??)


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In Alessandro Bottecelli’s depiction of St. Augustine (in Dominican church in ????), he

is shown as scholar working in his study. On the shelf above him we see an armillary

sphere, a copy of Euclid’s Elements opened to postulates early in Book I [double-

check??], and (in front of the Elements) a clock—all easily-recognizable symbols in the

Renaissance iconography of the mathematical sciences. [Restored version of painting

now available, locate and replace]

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*Preliminary draft for student use only. Not for citation or ...sites.fas.harvard.edu/~hsci161/Sci._Rev._Reader/08-P2_Augustine.pdf · falsehoods on facts which they themselves have