CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 299 rivers.And afterthesethings,lesthe shouldnot alsoprovide for the very delightsof the eyes,He has clothedallthings with the variouscoloursof theflowersforthe pleasureof the beholders. Even in the sea itself,moreover,althoughitwas in itselfmarvellousboth foritsextentand itsutility,He has made manifold creatures,sometimesof moderate,sometimes of vastbodilysize,testifyingby the varietyof His appoint ment to the intelligenceof the Artificer.And, not content with these things,lestperchance the roaring and rushing waters shouldseizeupon a foreignelement at the expenseof itshuman possessor,He has encloseditslimitswith shores; so thatwhen the ravingbillowand the foaming water should come from itsdeep bosom, itshould returnagain unto itself, and not transgressitsconceded bounds, but keep itspre scribedlaws, so that man might the rather be carefulto observe the divine laws, even as the elements themselves observed them. And afterthesethingsHe alsoplacedman at the head of the world,and man, too,made in the image of God, to whom He impartedmind, and reason,and foresight, that he might imitateGod ; and although the firstelements of hisbody were earthly,yet the substancewas inspiredby a heavenly and divinebreathing. And when He had given him allthingsforhisservice,He willedthat he aloneshould be free. And lest,again,an unbounded freedom shouldfall into peril,He laiddown a command, inwhich man was taught that therewas no evilin the fruitof the tree; but he was forwarned thatevilwould ariseif perchancehe shouldexer cisehisfreewill,in the contempt of the law thatwas given. For, on the one hand, it had behoved him to be free,lest the image of God shouldunfittinglybe in bondage ; and on the other,the law was to be added, so that an unbridled liberty might not break forth even to a contempt of the Griver: so that he might receive as a consequence both worthy rewards and a deserved punishment,having in his own power that which he might choose to do, by the ten dency of his mind in eitherdirection: whence, therefore, by envy, mortalitycomes back upon him ; seeing that, although he might escape it by obedience,he rushes into