3

Should I be neglectful; but I both honor, and embrace, and rejoice more than in all the others together, in which the many rejoice; and I make it a partner of my whole life, and a good counsellor and companion, and a guide of the way upwards, and a zealous fellow-combatant; and since I dishonor every pleasure that remains below, to this has all my love been poured out after God; or rather, even to this; because it brings one to God with understanding, by which alone God is genuinely apprehended, and is kept, and grows in us. I have called Wisdom my sister; and I have honored her, and embraced her, as was possible for me; and I seek for my head the crown of graces and of delight, which are the gifts of wisdom, and of reason that illumines the ruling principle in us, and enlightens for us the steps toward God.

ςʹ. With this I bridle raging anger, with this I lull wasting envy, with this I give rest to grief, the heart's bond, with this I discipline the dissipation of pleasure, with this I measure hatred, but not friendship; for the one must be measured, but of the other one should know no limit. This makes me moderate when prosperous, and great-souled when poor; this persuades me to run with one who is running well, and 35.729 to stretch out a hand to one who is falling, and to be weak with the weak, and to rejoice with the strong. With this, native land and foreign are the same to me, and a change of foreign places likewise, but not of my own. This divides worlds for me, and from the one it leads me away, and to the other it adds me; this leads me through the weapons of righteousness on the right hand without being puffed up, and even philosophizes with me in adversities and hardships, yoking to me the hope that does not disappoint and lightening the present with the future. With this even now I welcome my friends and brothers, and I set before them a spiritual table, and a spiritual and ever-flowing cup; not those things with which the table below flatters the perishing and incurable belly.

Ζʹ. I have been silent; shall I also be silent forever? I have held back like a woman in labor; shall I hold back forever? For to Zacharias, John being born releases his silence; for it was not fitting for the father of the voice to be silent, once it had come forth; but just as the message, when disbelieved, bound his tongue, so when manifested it was to give freedom to the father, to whom it was also announced, and was born a voice and a lamp, the forerunner of the Word and the Light; but for me my tongue is loosed, and my voice is raised, like a trumpet's, by the present benefit, and this most beautiful assembly, the children of God who were scattered, gathered into one, and resting under the same wings, and proceeding to the house of God in harmony, and fitted into one harmony of the good and of the Spirit; when we no longer carry off and lead away one another, having been so stolen, or forced, and shot down in the mind by a dark moon, which he himself raised up for us; and I know not what to say, so as even to rejoice in one another's evils, and not to consider the destruction of one another a loss for the whole; when Judah and Israel appoint for themselves one head, and Jerusalem and Samaria are gathered to the one Jerusalem above, and are no longer of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas, because of whom, and against whom, is the puffing up, but we have all become of Christ. 35.732

Ηʹ. But since you have me, and my discourse, and through love have compelled me against my will, I will speak, though with difficulty, since you command it; and I will speak words of thanksgiving and of admonition. The thanksgiving then is of this kind. Who shall tell of the mighty acts of the Lord? And who will cause his praise for all things to be heard by all ears? that the two have become one, and the middle wall of partition has been broken down; that you have made us cease from being a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples; that you afflicted us just enough to make known by our division the good of peace, and to feel pain

3

ἀμελήσαιμι· ἀλλὰ καὶ τιμῶ, καὶ ἀσπάζομαι, καὶ χαίρω μᾶλλον ἢ πᾶσιν ὁμοῦ τοῖς ἄλλοις, οἷς οἱ πολλοὶ χαίρουσιν· καὶ ποιοῦμαι παντὸς τοῦ βίου κοινωνὸν, καὶ σύμβουλον ἀγαθὸν καὶ συνόμιλον, καὶ ἡγεμόνα τῆς ἐπὶ τὰ ἄνω ὁδοῦ, καὶ συναγωνιστὴν πρόθυμον· καὶ ἐπειδὴ πᾶν ἀτιμάζω τερπνὸν κάτω μένον, εἰς τοῦτό μοι πᾶν ἐκενώθη τὸ φίλτρον μετὰ Θεόν· μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ εἰς τοῦτον· ὅτι πρὸς Θεὸν φέρει μετὰ συνέσεως ᾧ δὴ καὶ μόνῳ Θεὸς καταλαμβάνεται γνησίως, καὶ τηρεῖται, καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν αὔξεται. Εἶπον τὴν Σοφίαν ἐμὴν ἀδελφὴν εἶναι· καὶ ἐτί μησα ταύτην, καὶ περιέλαβον, ὡς ἦν ἐφικτὸν ἐμοί· καὶ ζητῶ τῇ ἐμῇ κεφαλῇ τὸν στέφανον τῶν χαρίτων καὶ τῆς τρυφῆς, ἃ δὴ σοφίας χαρίσματα, καὶ λόγου τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν καταλάμποντος, καὶ φωτίζοντος ἡμῖν τὰ κατὰ Θεὸν διαβήματα.

ςʹ. Τούτῳ χαλινῶ θυμὸν ἐκφερόμενον, τούτῳ κοι μίζω φθόνον τήκοντα, τούτῳ προσαναπαύω λύπην, δεσμὸν καρδίας, τούτῳ σωφρονίζω διάχυσιν ἡδονῆς, τούτῳ μετρῶ μῖσος, ἀλλ' οὐ φιλίαν· τὸ μὲν γὰρ μετρεῖσθαι δεῖ, τῆς δὲ μηδένα γινώσκειν ὅρον. Οὗτος εὐποροῦντά με ποιεῖ μέτριον, καὶ πένητα μεγαλό ψυχον· οὗτος εὐδρομοῦντί με πείθει συντρέχειν, καὶ 35.729 πίπτοντι χεῖρα ὀρέγειν, καὶ ἀσθενοῦντι συνασθε νεῖν, καὶ ἰσχύοντι συνευφραίνεσθαι. Μετὰ τούτου πατρὶς καὶ ξένη τὸ ἴσον ἐμοὶ, καὶ τόπων μετάστασις ἀλλοτρίων ὁμοίως, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐμῶν. Οὗτός μοι διαιρεῖ κόσμους, καὶ τοῦ μὲν ἀπάγει, τῷ δὲ προστί θησιν· οὗτός με καὶ διὰ τῶν δεξιῶν ὅπλων διεξάγει τῆς δικαιοσύνης οὐκ ἐπαιρόμενον, κἂν τοῖς ἀριστεροῖς καὶ τραχυτέροις συμφιλοσοφεῖ, τὴν οὐ καται σχύνουσαν ἐλπίδα παραζευγνὺς καὶ τὸ παρὸν κουφί ζων τῷ μέλλοντι. Τούτῳ καὶ νῦν δεξιοῦμαι τοὺς ἐμοὺς φίλους καὶ ἀδελφοὺς, καὶ προτίθημι τρά πεζαν λογικὴν, καὶ κρατῆρα πνευματικὸν καὶ ἀέν ναον· οὐχ οἷς ἡ κάτω τράπεζα κολακεύει τὴν καταργουμένην γαστέρα, καὶ ἀθεράπευτον.

Ζʹ. Ἐσιώπησα, μὴ καὶ ἀεὶ σιωπήσομαι; Ἐκαρτέρησα ὡσεὶ τίκτουσα, μὴ καρτερήσω διαπαντός; Τῷ μὲν γὰρ Ζαχαρίᾳ λύει τὴν σιωπὴν γεννηθεὶς ὁ Ἰωάννης· καὶ γὰρ οὐκ ἔπρεπε τὸν πατέρα τῆς φωνῆς σιωπᾷν, ταύτης προελθούσης· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἀπιστη θεῖσα τὴν γλῶσσαν ἔδησεν, οὕτω φανερωθεῖσα δοῦναι τῷ πατρὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, ᾧ καὶ εὐηγγελίσθη, καὶ ἐγεννήθη φωνὴ καὶ λύχνος, Λόγου καὶ φωτὸς πρόδρομος· ἐμοὶ δὲ λύει τὴν γλῶσσαν, καὶ ὑψοῖ τὴν φωνὴν, ὡς σάλπιγγος, ἡ παροῦσα εὐεργεσία, καὶ τὸ κάλλιστον τοῦτο θέατρον, τὰ τέκνα τοῦ Θεοῦ διεσκορ πισμένα, συνηγμένα εἰς ἓν, καὶ ὑπὸ τὰς αὐτὰς ἀναπαυόμενα πτέρυγας, καὶ εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ Θεοῦ πορευόμενα ἐν ὁμονοίᾳ, καὶ μίαν ἁρμονίαν ἡρμοσμένα τὴν τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος· ὅτε οὐκ ἔτι φέρο μεν ἀλλήλους καὶ ἄγομεν, τοσοῦτον ὑπὸ τοῦ πονη ροῦ κλαπέντες, ἢ βιασθέντες, καὶ κατατοξευθέντες ἐν σκοτομήνῃ τὸν νοῦν, ἣν αὐτὸς ἡμῖν ἐπήγειρεν· καὶ οὐκ οἶδ' ὅτι χρὴ λέγειν, ὥστε καὶ τοῖς ἀλλήλων κακοῖς ἐπευφραίνεσθαι, καὶ μὴ νομίζειν τοῦ παντὸς εἶναι ζημίαν τὴν ἀλλήλων κατάλυσιν· ὅτε Ἰούδας καὶ Ἰσραὴλ τίθενται ἑαυτοῖς ἀρχὴν μίαν, καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ Σαμάρεια πρὸς μίαν τὴν ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ συνάγονται, καὶ οὐκ ἔτι Παύλου, καὶ Ἀπολλὼ, καὶ Κηφᾶ, ὑπὲρ ὧν, καὶ καθ' ὧν ἡ φυσίωσις, πάντες δὲ Χριστοῦ γεγόναμεν. 35.732

Ηʹ. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ κἀμὲ, καὶ τὸν λόγον ἔχετε, καὶ διὰ τῆς ἀγάπης οὐκ ἄκοντα τυραννήσαντες, φθέγξομαι μὲν, εἰ καὶ μόλις, ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο κελεύετε· φθέγξομαι δὲ εὐχαριστίας καὶ νουθεσίας ῥήματα. Ἡ μὲν οὖν εὐχαριστία τοιαύτη. Τίς λαλήσει τὰς δυναστείας τοῦ Κυρίου; Τίς δὲ πάσαις ἀκοαῖς παραστήσει τὴν ἐπὶ πᾶσιν αἴνεσιν; ὅτι γέγονε τὰ ἀμφότερα ἓν, καὶ τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ δια λέλυται· ὅτι ἔπαυσας ἡμᾶς ὄντας παραβολὴν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι, κίνησιν κεφαλῆς ἐν τοῖς λαοῖς· ὅτι τοσοῦτον ἡμᾶς ἐκάκωσας, ὅσον τὸ τῆς εἰρήνης ἀγα θὸν τῇ διαστάσει γνωρίσαι, καὶ ἀλγεῖν