194. I ask then, whether He had this knowledge by
reason of His Being, or by chance? For all knowledge comes to us
either through nature, or by learning. It is supplied by nature,
as for instance to a horse to enable it to run, or to a fish to enable
it to swim. For they do this without learning. On the other
hand, it is by learning that a man is enabled to swim. For he
could not do so unless he had learnt. Since therefore nature
enables dumb animals to do and to know what they have not learnt, why
shouldst thou give an opinion on the Son of God, and say whether He has
knowledge by instruction or by nature? If by instruction, then He
was not begotten as Wisdom, and gradually began to be perfect, but was
not always so. But if He has knowledge by nature, then He was
perfect in the beginning, He came forth perfect from the Father; and so
needed no foreknowledge of the future.