By Water & Blood

The Quarters of the Heavens

80. [As to the quarters (of the heavens) and the stars which are in the divine Scriptures.] Again, O lover of the good, I also prepare you an account of the quarters (of the heavens) and of the stars which are in the divine Scriptures. East, west, north, south, according to the word spoken by the Lord in the Gospel, shall come and lean on the bosom of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom----as we would say, the sons of |78 Israel----shall go out into outer darkness.^[569] But some one may say: "You have told us something superfluous in speaking of east and west and north and south, for who does not know these terms and the local significance ^[570] of them?" But I have called them to mind that I might explain their origin. Now it will occur to you at once, O lover of the good, concerning Job, that "he was a highborn man of those from the (region of the) rising of the sun." ^[571] So the east,^[572] where the sun rises, gets its name accordingly. But if the highborn and the lowborn are known by birth,^[573] Job was exceedingly highborn. For he was the son of Zerah, and Zerah was the son of Reuel, and Reuel was the son of Esau,^[574] Esau was the son of Isaac, Isaac was the son of Abraham, he (Job) being the fifth after Abraham, that is, from Abraham. He (Abraham) was above all nobility of birth,^[575] he who was known as the friend of God.^[576] For if the friends of kings ^[577] are known as highborn, how much more highborn was Abraham, who was named "the friend of God"?^[578] But from the east also the easterly wind is called euros, either because it blows widely ^[579] or because it is set at the |79 head ^[580] of the winds, that is, is found (at the head). Hence, in the Acts of the Apostles also there is found knowledge of the wind euraklydon and typhonikos,^[581] typhonikos because of severity, but euraklydon^[582] because it blows out of the depths of euros.^[583] But there is also in the Scripture concerning the apeliotes.^[584] This blows from the other side of euros, from the quarter of notos ^[585] over which the sun passes, hence called apeliotes.^[586] And beyond it is euronotos, because it is in the middle between euros and notos, after apeliotes, as this wind also is called in the divine Scriptures.^[587] But notos is the wind that blows from the south;^[588] and after this there is another wind that is called libonotos, for it is in the middle between notos and lips.^[589] The west is also called hespera,^[590] from which quarter zephyros blows. You have this wind also in the Acts.^[591] And in the middle between lips and zephyros blows that which is called the "middle," otherwise choros, which is likewise found in the Acts,^[592] where the companions of Paul sailed for the place Phoenix, the harbor of which Phoenix looked toward the choros. From this choros blow the annuals ^[593] that are also called "dogs," but they are called "dogs" because of the perpetual barking of dogs. The north wind, which is called aparkias, blows from |80 the depths of the north, whence that which is called the bear ^[594] turns; therefore it is called aparktias.^[595] Beyond this is that which is called the thraskion,^[596] which blows from the region of Thrace. Men give this wind many names, naming them from the places (whence they blow). The thraskion and the euraklydon are associated with each other. And some of those in the East call the euraklydon the skopelea,^[597] and the thraskion the patrea.^[598] But others call the thraskion the kekian,^[599] while those in Numidia, in Africa, and in Britain call it the samuren.^[600] And these things pertain to the four quarters and their winds and the two (winds) blowing with each one of the winds, situated on the two sides of each.