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accomplished, but men belching forth words from their bellies and striving to win a victory much more wretched than defeat. And it is not you who do this, and we who do not; but what it is, O Romans, I will not hide.

1.3 The affliction began with you, but it has also consumed us like a creeping ulcer or gangrene, beginning from self-love and ending in arrogance. But now come and hear me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord; for another God-wise man has also said that this is the beginning of wisdom. Why are we so amenable not only to every discourse, I mean natural or mathematical or logical or of another kind, but even to theology itself, unrestrained in hand and tongue and thought? Why are we not confined by our own boundaries? Why do we leap beyond the dug trenches? Why do we not know ourselves to be men, but think we are of a more divine portion, a nature raised above the heavens and having found its place in God and having perfectly understood the things concerning Him and being able to proclaim them to others? Truly we are vain, at whom demons laugh, while angels weep, and Christ condemns, and with a condemnation which He foreordained in the gospels, weeping and gnashing of teeth and the rest of the punishment. For not having a wedding garment, we recline with the guests at the master's supper; and this is not the worst of evils, although it is an evil, but if we do not count ourselves among the first and those than whom none are higher, we are considered as nothing. O wretched we! Having left off contemplating our own affairs, we seek the things of the nature that is inaccessible even to the Cherubim; having left off keeping the commandments of the Lord, through which we will be saved, we have chosen to theologize; having left off philosophizing about nature and bodies and speaking sententiously about character, in which to succeed is a gain and to fail is not harmful, we fly up to theologizing, in which to err is the most destructive fall of the soul, and from which the recall is as impossible; for where failure is as unpardonable, from this the return is difficult. O we vain ones, what is this ultimate bait of Satan around us? who, since he is not able to hunt with other things—for he grows weary being opposed by salutary spirits—casts this greatest and most dangerous net for those perhaps sharper and more ardent in piety, with which he has destroyed many multitudes and those most distinguished in other things and has shown those who have leapt over the things below and not proceeded step by step to be a fall worthy of tears.

1.4 For this reason all must shrink from coming to theology, and must fear the fear, which is very worthy of being feared. For why do we theologize in some new way? when it is necessary to be content with the former things and what He who knows His own things well has taught us, or to listen to those of the second rank, whose actions and whose life have borne witness to the divine declarations, since even these did not use their own powers concerning the matter, nor did they abide in logical methods alone. For this is human and known by nature, and where are the mysteries of the Godhead? And where are the things beyond nature that are wondered at and honored from the things according to nature? Christ, the first theologian, theologizes, and you falsify His theology? He who well knows Himself and His own, and you dare to declare anything whatsoever beside Him? Christ says: “the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father,” and who else would dare to declare that He proceeds from the Son as well? For just as He says that He is begotten of the Father, and no one would ever be so presumptuous as to say He is begotten of the Spirit as well, so it is also in this case. Again, He Himself says that He sends the Paraclete, and let us be content with the saying and not falsify the expression; let the syllables lie thus, which the first author wrote down. Why do you reason in vain and introduce other names for others? Tell me 'sending' is 'sending' and 'proceeding' is 'proceeding'; much better than you is He who taught these things and commanded us to believe them thus. For why not

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τεύσατο, ἀλλὰ κοιλίας ἀπερυγγάνοντας ῥήματα καὶ φιλονει κοῦντας νικῆσαι νίκην πολὺ τῆς ἥττης ἀθλιωτέραν. καὶ οὐχ ὑμεῖς τοῦτο, ἡμεῖς δ' οὔ· ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἐστίν, ὦ Ῥωμαῖοι, οὐκ ἀποκρύψομαι.

1.3 Ἤρξατο μὲν ἐξ ὑμῶν τὸ πάθος, κατεβοσκήσατο δὲ καὶ ἡμᾶς καθάπερ ἔρπης ἢ γάγγραινα, ἐκ φιλαυτίας ἀρξάμενα καὶ εἰς αὐθάδειαν καταντήσαντα. ἀλλὰ νῦν δεῦτε δὴ καὶ ἀκούσατέ μου, φόβον τοῦ κυρίου διδάξω ὑμᾶς· τοῦτον γὰρ ἀρχὴν σοφίας καὶ ἕτερος εἰρήκει θεόσοφος. ἵνα τί οὕτως ἐσμὲν εὔκολοι οὐ πρὸς ἅπαντα μόνον λόγον, φυσικόν τέ φημι ἢ μαθηματικὸν ἢ λογικὸν ἢ ἀλλοῖον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς θεολογίαν αὐτήν, ἀκρατεῖς καὶ χεῖρα καὶ γλῶσσαν καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν; τί μὴ τοῖς οἰκείοις ὅροις περιγραφόμεθα; τί πη δῶμεν ὑπὲρ τὰ ἐσκαμμένα; τί μὴ γινώσκομεν ἑαυτοὺς ἀν θρώπους, ἀλλ' οἰόμεθα μοίρας θειοτέρας εἶναι, φύσεως ὑπεραρθείσης τῶν οὐρανῶν καὶ ἐμφιλοχωρησάσης θεῷ καὶ τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν ἀρίστως ἐπεγνωκυίας καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐξαγγέλλειν δεδυνημένης; μάταιοι ὄντως ἡμεῖς, εἰς οὓς ἐπεγγελῶσι μὲν δαίμονες, θρηνοῦσι δὲ ἄγγελοι, καταδικάζει δὲ Χριστός, καὶ καταδίκην, ἣν ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις προώρισε, κλαυθμὸν καὶ ὀδόντων βρυγμὸν καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῆς κολάσεως. οὐ γὰρ ἔχοντες ἔνδυμα γάμου τοῖς ἀμφὶ τὸ δεσποτικὸν δεῖπνον δαι τυμόσι συνανακλίνομεν ἑαυτούς· καὶ τοῦτο οὐ πέρα δεινῶν, καίπερ ὂν δεινόν, ἀλλ' εἰ μὴ τοῖς πρώτοις καὶ ὧν οὐδεὶς ὑπερέκεινα συγκαταλέξοιμεν ἑαυτούς, ὡς οὐδὲν λελογίσμεθα. ὦ ἡμεῖς δείλειοι· ἀφέντες τὰ ἡμετέρα θεωρεῖν, τὰ τῆς ἀνεφίκτου καὶ τοῖς χερουβὶμ ζητοῦμεν φύσεως· ἀφέντες τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ κυρίου τηρεῖν, δι' ὧν σωθησόμεθα, θεολογεῖν προειλόμεθα· ἀφέντες περὶ φύσεως καὶ σωμάτων φιλοσοφεῖν καὶ γνωμολογεῖν περὶ ἤθους, ὧν καὶ τὸ τυγχάνειν κέρδος καὶ τὸ ἀποτυγχάνειν οὐ βλαβερόν, πρὸς τὸ θεολογεῖν ἀνιπτά μεθα, οὗ τὸ ἁμαρτῆσαι πτῶμα ψυχῆς τὸ ὀλεθριώτατον, καὶ οὗ ἡ ἀνάκλησις ὡς ἀδύνατος· οὗ γὰρ τὸ ἀποτυχεῖν ὡς ἀσύγγνωστον, τούτου δυσχερὴς ἡ ἐπάνοδος. ὦ ἡμεῖς μάταιοι, τί τὸ περὶ ἡμᾶς τοῦτο τοῦ σατᾶν ἔσχατον δέλεαρ; ὃς ἐπεὶ μὴ ἔχει τοῖς ἄλλοις θηρεῦσαι-ἀποκάμνει γὰρ τοῖς σωτη ριώδεσιν ἀντιβαλλόμενος πνεύμασι-τὸ μέγιστον τοῦτο καὶ ἐπικινδυνότατον ἐπιβάλλει θήρατρον τοῖς ὀξυτέροις τάχα καὶ θερμοτέροις εἰς τὴν εὐσέβειαν, ᾧ πολλὰ πλήθη καὶ τῶν περιφανεστέρων ἐν ἄλλοις ἀπώλεσε καὶ τοὺς ὑπερπεπηδηκότας τὰ κάτω καὶ μὴ κατὰ βαθμίδας κεχωρηκότας πτῶμα δακρύων δέδειχεν ἄξιον.

1.4 ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πᾶσιν ὀκνητέον εἰς. θεολογίαν ἐλθεῖν, καὶ φοβητέον τὸν φόβον, οὗ τὸ φοβεῖσθαι πάνυ γε ἄξιον. τί γὰρ καὶ θεολογοῦμεν καινότερον; δέον ἀρκεῖσθαι τοῖς προ τέροις καὶ οἷς ἡμᾶς ἐδίδαξεν ὁ καλῶς γινώσκων τὰ ἑαυτοῦ, ἢ καὶ τῶν δευτέρων ἀκούειν, ὧν ἡ πρᾶξις καὶ ὧν ὁ βίος ταῖς θείαις ἐμαρτύρησεν ἀποφάσεσιν, ἐπεὶ καὶ οὗτοι οὐ ταῖς οἰκείαις περὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα δυνάμεσι κατεχρήσαντο οὐδὲ τοῖς λογικοῖς καὶ μόνοις μεθοδεύμασιν ἐγκατέμειναν. ἀνθρώ πινον γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ τῇ φύσει γινώσκεται, καὶ ποῦ τὰ μυστήρια τῆς θεότητος; ποῦ δὲ τὰ ὑπὲρ φύσιν ἐκ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν καὶ θαυμαζόμενα καὶ τιμώμενα; Χριστὸς ὁ πρῶτος θεολόγος θεολογεῖ, καὶ σὺ τὴν ἐκείνου θεολογίαν παραποιεῖς; ὁ καλῶς εἰδὼς ἑαυτὸν καὶ τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ σὺ τολμᾷς καὶ τὸ οἱονοῦν παρ' αὐτὸν ἀποφαίνεσθαι; ὁ Χριστός φησι· «τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὁ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεται», καὶ τίς ἂν ἄλλος τολμήσειε καὶ ἐκ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἀποφήνασθαι; ὥσπερ γὰρ οὗτός φησιν γεγεννῆσθαι ἐκ τοῦ πατρός, καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις ἀπαυθαδιάσαιτο πώποτε λέξαι καὶ ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐν τούτῳ ἐστί. πέμπειν πάλιν αὐτός φησιν τὸν παράκλητον, καὶ στέρξωμεν τὸν λόγον καὶ μὴ παραχαράξωμεν τὸ ῥητόν· ἐκκείσθωσαν οὕτως αἱ συλλαβαί, ἃς ὁ πρῶτος στοιχειωτὴς ἀπεγράψατο. τί συλλογίζῃ ἐπὶ κενῆς καὶ ἐπιφέρεις ἄλλα ἀντ' ἄλλων ὀνό ματα; τὸ πέμπειν λέγε μοι πέμπειν καὶ ἐκπορεύεσθαί μοι τὸ ἐκπορεύεσθαι· κρείττων σοῦ πολὺ ὁ διδάξας αὐτὰ καὶ πιστεύειν οὑτωσὶ ἐντειλάμενος. τί γὰρ μὴ