But to speak strictly, one should rather say that the very nature of the contraries themselves is not entirely without mixture of properties, each with the other, so that, as I think, all that we see in the world mutually agree, and the creation, though discovered in properties of contrary natures, is yet at union with itself. For as motion is not conceived merely as local shifting, but is also contemplated in change and alteration, and on the other hand the immovable nature does not admit motion by way of alteration, the wisdom of God has transposed these properties, and wrought unchangeableness in that which is ever moving, and change in that which is immovable; doing this, it may be, by a providential dispensation, so that that property of nature which constitutes its immutability and immobility might not, when viewed in any created object, cause the creature to be accounted as God; for that which may happen to move or change would cease to admit of the conception of Godhead. Hence the earth is stable without being immutable, while the heaven, on the contrary, as it has no mutability, so has not stability either, that the Divine power, by interweaving change in the stable nature and motion with that which is not subject to change, might, by the interchange of attributes, at once join them both closely to each other, and make them alien from the conception of Deity; for as has been said, neither of these (neither that which is unstable, nor that which is mutable) can be considered to belong to the more Divine nature.

Μᾶλλον δὲ κατὰ τὸν ἀκριβῆ λόγον οὐδὲ αὐτὴ τῶν ἀντικειμένων ἡ φύσις ἀμίκτως πάντη πρὸς τὴν ἑτέραν τοῖς ἰδιώμασιν ἔχει͵ ὡς ἄν͵ οἶμαι͵ πάντα πρὸς ἄλληλα νεύοι τὰ κατὰ τὸν κόσμον φαινόμενα καὶ συμπνέοι πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἡ κτίσις ἐν τοῖς τῶν ἀντικειμένων ἰδιώμασιν εὑρισκομένη. Τῆς γὰρ κινήσεως οὐ μόνον κατὰ τὴν τοπικὴν μετάστασιν νοουμένης͵ ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τροπῇ καὶ ἀλλοιώσει θεωρουμένης· πάλιν δ' αὖ͵ τῆς ἀμεταθέτου φύσεως τὴν κατὰ τὸ ἀλλοιοῦσθαι κίνησιν οὐ προσιεμένης· ἐναλλάξασα τὰς ἰδιότητας ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφία͵ τῷ μὲν ἀεικινήτῳ τὸ ἄτρεπτον͵ τῷ δὲ ἀκινήτῳ τὴν τροπὴν ἐνεποίησε͵ προμηθείᾳ τινὶ τάχα τὸ τοιοῦτον οἰκονομήσασα͵ ὡς ἂν μὴ τὸ τῆς φύσεως ἴδιον͵ ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὸ ἄτρεπτόν τε καὶ ἀμετάθετον͵ ἐπί τινος τῶν κατὰ τὴν κτίσιν βλεπομένων͵ Θεὸν νομίζεσθαι τὸ κτίσμα ποιήσειεν. Οὐ γὰρ ἔτι θεότητος ὑπόληψιν σχοίη͵ ὅπερ ἂν κινούμενον ἢ ἀλλοιούμενον τύχῃ. Διὰ τοῦτο ἡ μὲν γῆ στάσιμός ἐστι καὶ οὐκ ἄτρεπτος· ὁ δὲ οὐρανὸς τοῦ ἐναντίου τὸ τρεπτὸν οὐκ ἔχων͵ οὐδὲ στάσιμον ἔχει͵ ἵνα τῇ μὲν φύσει ἑστώσῃ τὴν τροπήν͵ τῇ δὲ μὴ τρεπομένῃ τὴν κίνησιν ἡ θεία συμπλέξασα δύναμις, καὶ ἀλλήλαις ἀμφοτέρας τῇ ἐναλλάξει τῶν ἰδιωμάτων προσοικειώσῃ͵ καὶ τῆς περὶ τὸ θεῖον ὑπολήψεως ἀλλοτριώσῃ. [132] Οὐδέτερον γὰρ ἂν τούτων͵ καθὼς εἴρηται͵ τῆς θειοτέρας φύσεως νομισθείη· οὔτε τὸ ἄστατον͵ οὔτε τὸ ἀλλοιούμενον.