Chapter I. (Sermo IX.)
The difficulty of this last topic is explained by the example of contestants in public games; and attention is won by the pleasantness and usefulness of the matters under consideration.
This is the sixth day, on which the origin of worldly creatures is concluded; and therefore also the end of our discourse, which we have taken from the beginnings of things, is being prepared. Although it has progressed for the past five days with considerable effort for us; nevertheless, on this day, the burden of cares increases, because there is danger in this day and in the previous days, and the whole outcome of the struggle is at stake. For even if on the lyre or in singing and in the frequent and great contests of athletes, the previous days pass without any expense of a garland, but the last day has the fate of the garland, in which there is both the danger of deciding, and the disgrace of yielding, and the reward of winning: the more in this contest of wisdom, with the judgment not of a few but of all, when today a kind of garland of the struggle proceeds for us, the greater anxiety weighs upon us; lest we pour out the effort of the previous days, and undergo the shame of the present. For the conditions of speaking and singing, or wrestling, are not the same; for in those there is the risk of stumbling, in this the danger of death. If one makes a mistake there, it is a source of annoyance for the spectators; here, it is a loss for the listeners.
Therefore, judges, assist me like a crown and enter with me into this great and admirable theater of the whole visible creation. For if someone who explores the new arrivals of guests shows them around the entire extent of the city, pointing out the most excellent works, he earns considerable gratitude; how much more should you receive without disdain, as if I were leading you by the hand, the homeland that we share in common, and I show you the various species and genera of individual things, seeking to gather from all of them, how much more abundant grace the Creator of the universe has bestowed upon you than upon all others. Therefore, this wreath is presented to you, and today I desire to crown you with your own judgment. For we are not seeking fading garlands like athletes, but rather the green test of your holiness; by which you may judge that divine providence permeates through all creatures, but with you especially it is a shared participation in bodily frailty, yet before all else, you are distinguished by the virtue of your mind, which alone has nothing in common with others.