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of the soul; and just as some flammable material, so the beauties of bodies are subjected to the eyes of the wanton. Therefore one must not give to the fire of desire the food of outward gazing, but restrain it from every side and extinguish it with pious reasonings, reining in the conflagration as it rushes forward, and not allowing it to overturn the steadfastness of our mind. And every pleasure, at the time of the dominance of the passions, is accustomed to burn the mind more fiercely than fire, unless one should nobly, with endurance and faith, struggle against each of the passions; in the way that the blessed and noble athlete of Christ, Barlaam, did upon his own hand, holding a whole fire in his right hand, and not giving in to the pain, but being more impassive than statues, or rather, he felt pain, and he suffered; for it was a body that was subject to it, and not iron; but feeling pain and suffering, he demonstrated the philosophy of the incorporeal powers in a mortal body.

2. But I shall relate his martyrdom from the beginning so that the history may be clearer

the history may become; but for me, consider the villainy of the devil. Some of the saints he led to frying pans, others he threw into cauldrons 50.678 boiling more fiercely than fire; of some he scraped their sides, others he drowned in the sea, some he gave over to wild beasts, others he brought into a furnace, of some he dislocated their joints, of others he stripped off their skins while they were still alive, under the bloodied bodies of others he placed hot coals, and the sparks leaped upon their wounds, biting the wounds more sharply than any beast; for others he devised other harsher punishments. When, therefore, he saw all these things scorned, and those who suffered these things conquering with great abundance, and becoming for those coming after them to the same struggles a very great cause for courage, what does he do? He devises a new kind of plot, so that the unpracticed and unfamiliar nature of the punishment might cast down the spirit of the martyr. For that which has been heard and conceived, even if it is unbearable, when rehearsed in anticipation becomes easy to despise; but that which is unpracticed, even if it is light, is more unbearable than all things.

Let the contest, then, be new, let the device be strange, so that its new and unexpected nature, by disturbing the athlete, might easily trip him up. What then does he do? He brings the saint out of the prison, bound. For this too was part of his villainy, not to apply the harsh devices straight from the beginning, nor to inflict the dreadful punishments, but to skirmish with lesser ones; for what reason? So that if the combatants are defeated, their defeat may be shameful, because they did not resist even the small things; but if they prevail and conquer, their strength having been exhausted beforehand in the lesser things, they might become easy prey for the greater things. For this reason he brought forward the lesser things first, so that whether he should conquer, or not conquer, he might not fail. For if I conquer, he says, I have mocked him; but if I do not conquer, I have made them weaker for what is to come. So he brings him out of the prison; and he went out like a noble athlete who has trained for a long time in a wrestling school; for the prison was a wrestling school to the martyr, and there, conversing with God in private, he learned all the holds from him; for where there are such bonds, there Christ is also present. He went out, therefore, having become stronger by the longer stay in prison; and when he had come out, the devil, through those serving his lawlessness, brought him into the midst, he did not bind him to the wood, he did not surround him with executioners; for he saw that he desired these things, and had long since rehearsed them; but something strange and new, and a device never expected, he brings against the tower, able to easily produce the

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ψυχῆς· καὶ καθάπερ ὕλη τις εὔπρηστος, οὕτω τὰ λαμπρὰ τῶν σωμάτων τοῖς τῶν ἀσελγῶν ὑπόκειται ὀφθαλμοῖς. ∆ιὸ χρὴ μὴ παρέχειν τῷ πυρὶ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τροφὴν τὴν ἔξωθεν θεωρίαν, ἀλλὰ περιστέλλειν αὐτὸ πανταχόθεν καὶ κατασβεννύναι λογισμοῖς εὐσεβέσι, χαλινοῦντας πρόσω φερόμενον τὸν ἐμπρησμὸν, καὶ μὴ συγχω ροῦντας αὐτῷ περιτρέπειν τὸ στεῤῥὸν τῆς διανοίας τῆς ἡμετέρας. Καὶ πᾶσα δὲ ἡδονὴ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς ἐπικρατήσεως τῶν παθῶν πυρὸς σφοδρότερον καίειν εἴωθε τὴν διάνοιαν, εἰ μή τις γενναίως μεθ' ὑπομο νῆς καὶ πίστεως ἀνταγωνίζοιτο πρὸς ἕκαστον τῶν παθῶν· ὃν τρόπον ὁ μακάριος καὶ γενναῖος ἀθλητὴς τοῦ Χριστοῦ Βαρλαὰμ ἐποίησεν ἐπὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ χει ρὸς, ὁλόκληρον ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ πυρὰν βαστάζων, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ὀδύνην οὐκ ἐνδιδοὺς, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἀνδριάντων ἀπαθέστερον διακείμενος, μᾶλλον δὲ ἤλγει μὲν, καὶ ἔπασχε· σῶμα γὰρ ἦν τὸ ὑποκείμενον, καὶ οὐ σίδη ρος· ἀλγῶν δὲ καὶ πάσχων τὴν τῶν ἀσωμάτων δυνά μεων ἐν σώματι θνητῷ φιλοσοφίαν ἐπεδείκνυτο.

βʹ. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἄνωθεν αὐτοῦ τὸ μαρτύριον διηγήσο μαι ὥστε σαφεστέραν

γενέσθαι τὴν ἱστορίαν· σὺ δέ μοι σκόπει τοῦ διαβόλου τὴν κακουργίαν. Τῶν ἁγίων τοὺς μὲν ἤγαγεν ἐπὶ τήγανα, τοὺς δὲ εἰς λέβητας 50.678 ἐνέβαλε τοῦ πυρὸς σφοδρότερον ζέοντας· καὶ τῶν μὲν τὰς πλευρὰς κατέξαινε, τοὺς δὲ εἰς πέλαγος κατ επόντισεν, ἄλλους θηρίοις παρέδωκεν, ἑτέρους εἰς κά μινον εἰσήγαγε, καὶ τῶν μὲν ἐξεμόχλευσε τὰ ἄρθρα, τῶν δὲ τὰς δορὰς ἔτι ζώντων ἀπέσυρεν, ἑτέρων τοῖς σώμασιν ᾑμαγμένοις ὑπέθηκεν ἄνθρακας, καὶ οἱ σπινθῆρες ἐπεπήδων τοῖς ἕλκεσι, θηρίου παντὸς δρι μύτερον τὰ τραύματα δάκνοντες· ἄλλοις ἄλλας ἐπε νόει χαλεπωτέρας τιμωρίας. Ἐπεὶ οὖν εἶδεν ἅπαντα ταῦτα καταγελασθέντα, καὶ τοὺς ταῦτα παθόντας μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς περιουσίας κρατήσαντας, καὶ τοῖς μετ' αὐτοὺς ἐρχομένοις ἐπὶ τὰ αὐτὰ παλαίσματα με γίστην τοῦ θαῤῥεῖν ὑπόθεσιν γενομένους, τί ποιεῖ; Καινὸν ἐπινοεῖ τρόπον ἐπιβουλῆς, ἵνα τὸ ἀμελέτητον καὶ ἄηθες τῆς τιμωρίας καταβάλῃ τὸ φρόνημα τοῦ μάρτυρος. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀκουσθὲν καὶ νοηθὲν, κἂν ἀφόρητον ᾖ, τῇ προσδοκίᾳ μελετηθὲν εὐκαταφρόνη τον γίνεται· τὸ δὲ ἀμελέτητον, κἂν κοῦφον ᾖ, πάντων ἐστὶν ἀφορητότερον.

Ἔστω τοίνυν καινὸς ὁ ἀγὼν, ἔστω ξένον τὸ μηχάνημα, ἵνα τὸ καινὸν καὶ παράδοξον θορυβῆσαν τὸν ἀθλητὴν ὑποσκελίσῃ ῥᾳδίως. Τί οὖν ποιεῖ; Ἐξάγει τὸν ἅγιον ἀπὸ τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου δεδε μένον. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο τῆς ἐκείνου κακουργίας ἦν, τὸ μὴ εὐθέως ἐκ προοιμίων χαλεπὰ προσαγαγεῖν τὰ μηχανήματα, μηδὲ τὰς φρικτὰς ἐπαγαγεῖν τιμω ρίας, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῶν ἐλαττόνων ἀκροβολίζεσθαι· τί δή ποτε; Ἵνα ἂν μὲν ἡττηθῶσιν οἱ ἀγωνιζόμενοι, αἰ σχρὰ αὐτῶν ἡ ἧττα γένηται, ὅτι μηδὲ πρὸς τὰ μικρὰ ἀντέστησαν· ἂν δὲ περιγένωνται καὶ νικήσωσιν, ἐν τοῖς ἐλάττοσι προκαταβληθείσης αὐτοῖς τῆς δυνάμεως εὐχείρωτοι γένωνται πρὸς τὰ μείζονα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο προσήγαγε τὰ ἐλάττονα πρότερον, ἵνα κἂν ἕλῃ, κἂν μὴ ἕλῃ, μὴ ἀποτύχῃ· ἂν μὲν γὰρ ἕλω, φησὶ, κατεγέ λασα· ἂν δὲ μὴ ἕλω, ἀσθενεστέρους ἐποίησα πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα. Ἐξάγει τοίνυν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ δεσμωτη ρίου· ὁ δὲ ἐξῄει καθάπερ ἀθλητὴς γενναῖος ἐν παλαί στρᾳ πολὺν γυμνασάμενος χρόνον· παλαίστρα γὰρ τῷ μάρτυρι τὸ δεσμωτήριον ἦν, κἀκεῖ κατ' ἰδίαν τῷ Θεῷ διαλεγόμενος παρ' ἐκείνου τὰ παλαίσματα ἐμάνθανεν ἅπαντα· ὅπου γὰρ δεσμὰ τοιαῦτα, ἐκεῖ καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς πάρεστιν. Ἐξῄει τοίνυν ἰσχυρότερος γενόμενος τῇ μακροτέρᾳ τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου διατριβῇ· ἐξελθόντα δὲ αὐτὸν εἰς μέσον ἀγαγὼν ὁ διάβολος διὰ τῶν ὑπηρετουμένων αὐ τοῦ τῇ παρανομίᾳ, οὐ προσέδησε τῷ ξύλῳ, οὐ περι έστησε δημίους· ἑώρα γὰρ αὐτὸν τούτων ἐπιθυμοῦν τα, καὶ πάλαι αὐτὰ προμελετήσαντα· ἀλλὰ ξένον τι καὶ καινὸν, καὶ μηδέποτε ἐλπισθὲν μηχάνημα προσ άγει τῷ πύργῳ, ῥᾳδίως ἐμποιεῖν δυνάμενον τὴν