302 NOV ATI AN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER they are,and what they are like; nor does the eloquence of human discourseset forth a power that approachesthe levelof His majesty. For to conceiveand to speak of His majesty,as well alleloquence is with reason mute, as all mind poor: for He isgreaterthan mind itself; nor can it be conceived how great He is,seeingthat,if He could be conceived,He would be smallerthan.the human mind wherein He could be conceived. He is greater,moreover, than all discourse,nor can He be declared; for if He could be declared,He would be lessthan human discourse, whereby being declared,He can both be encompassed and contained. For whatever couldbe thought concerningHim must be lessthan Himself ; and whatever cotddbe declared must be lessthan Him, when compared in respectof Him self. Moreover,we can in some degreebe consciousofHim in silence,but we cannot in discourseunfold Him as He is. For should you callHim Light,you would be speakingof His creatureratherthan of Himself— you would not declare Him; or should you callHim Strength,you would rather be speaking of and bringing out His power than speaking of Himself; or should you callHim Majesty,you would ratherbe describingHis honour than Himself. And why should I make a long businessof going through His attri butesone by one ? I willat once unfoldthe whole. What ever in any respectyou might declareof Him, you would ratherbe unfoldingsome conditionand power of His than Himself. For what can you fittinglyeithersay or thinkcon cerningHim who isgreaterthan alldiscoursesand thoughts! Except that in one manner (and how can we do this,— how can we by possibilityconceive how we can grasp these very things?),we shall mentally grasp what God is,if we shallconsider that He is that which cannotbe understoodeitherin qualityor quantity,nor, indeed,can come even into the thought itself. For if the keenness of our eyes grows dull on looking at the sun, so thatthe gaze,overcome by thebrightnessof theraysthatmeet it,can not look upon the orb itself,the keennessof our mental per ceptionsuffersthesame thinginallour thinkingabout God;