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of the man, sanctification, and the greatest encouragement to virtue is the discourse); but to mention one or two of his deeds briefly, and these being things which it is impossible to pass over even if one wished.

8. But I will mention his former life, and what became for him the path of salvation, and what his calling was, and his conversion to what is better. For that is surely too ignoble and small-minded, to think that the athlete is dishonored by the memory of his baser deeds. Since in that case the great Paul would not be praiseworthy for us, and Matthew the publican would be among the worst, and Cyprian himself; the one remembering his own former persecutions, and the change of his zeal, so that by the contrast he might glorify his benefactor all the more; the other adding "the Publican" to his own name in the enumeration of the disciples, as if it were some other mark of honor; and the latter denouncing his own former wickedness in a long discourse, so that this too might bear fruit for God, his confession, and might become for many a path to a better hope for those converting from wickedness. What then was his wickedness? And consider how great and of what magnitude it was. He was a worshipper of demons, who was later a disciple of Christ; and a most bitter persecutor, who became a great champion of the truth; and one who disturbed our way in both word and deed, due to his power in both, who after this was most excellent in both for the Christians. How great an evil is sorcery added to these things, the most well-known of his deeds! how much more terrible is also the insatiability of the body, which can drive even those who are otherwise wise to madness, and forces them to think worse things, just like an unruly colt, carrying away reason!

9. And so our discourse comes to the main point itself. And let no one, looking at Cyprian's beginnings, yield to pleasures; but by his final deeds let him be made temperate. There was a certain virgin of noble and modest family. 35.1180 Hear, virgins, and rejoice together, and rather also as many of you under the yoke as are temperate and lovers of temperance; for the narrative is a common adornment for both. And the virgin was exceedingly beautiful in appearance; let the divine David sing along with us to her, saying, All the glory of the king's daughter is within, a true bride of Christ, a treasured beauty, a living statue, an inviolable offering, an untrodden sanctuary, a garden locked, a spring sealed (for let Solomon too sing something), kept for Christ alone. For her the great Cyprian was captivated, I know not from where or how, for her who was in all things secure and modest. For wanton eyes touch even untouchable things, the most ready and insatiable of instruments. And not only was he captivated, but he also made an attempt. O, the folly, if he hoped to plunder her, or rather the shamelessness of one who dares such things and persuades others to dare them! That one even from the beginning crept into paradise against the first creation; and he stands in the midst of angels to demand Job; and at the last, he dares to act against the Master himself, who would destroy him and put him to death, and he brings temptation to the one who cannot be tempted (since he saw the visible form of God as a second Adam), as if to wrestle this one down too. For he did not know that, by running upon his humanity, he would fall upon his divinity. What wonder is it then, if he also through Cyprian tempts the holy soul, and the untouched body?

10. Nevertheless, he made the attempt, and he uses a procuress, not some old woman skilled in these things, but one of the demons who love the body and love pleasure; since the apostate and envious powers are swift in the service of such things, seeking many partners in their fall. And the wage for the procuring was sacrifices and libations, and intimacy through blood and the smoke of burnt offerings; for such ought to be the wages for those who grant such favors. But she, when she perceived the evil, and understood the plot (for pure and godlike souls are quicker at detecting the one who is at work, even if he is most sophistical and varied in his attack), what does she do, and what

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τοῦ ἀν δρὸς, ἁγιασμὸς, καὶ μέγιστον εἰς παράκλησιν ἀρε τῆς ὁ λόγος)· ἑνὸς δὲ ἢ δύο τῶν ἐκείνου διὰ βραχέων ἐπιμνησθῆναι, καὶ τούτων ὅσα μηδὲ βουλομένῳ παρ ελθεῖν δυνατόν.

Ηʹ. Μνησθήσομαι δὲ τοῦ προτέρου βίου, καὶ ἥτις αὐτῷ γέγονε σωτηρίας ὁδὸς, καὶ τίς ἡ κλῆσις, καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον μετάθεσις. Ἐκεῖνο μέν γε λίαν ἀγεννὲς καὶ μικρόψυχον, οἴεσθαι καθυβρίζεσθαι τὸν ἀθλητὴν τῇ μνήμῃ τῶν σκαιοτέρων. Ἐπεὶ οὕτω καὶ Παῦλος ἡμῖν οὐκ ἐπαινετὸς ὁ μέγας, καὶ Ματθαῖος ὁ τελώνης ἐν τοῖς κακίστοις, καὶ Κυπριανὸς αὐτός· ὁ μὲν τῶν προτέρων ἑαυτοῦ διωγμῶν μεμνημένος, καὶ τῆς τοῦ ζήλου μεταθέσεως, ἵν' ἐκ τοῦ παραλλή λου μᾶλλον δοξάσῃ τὸν εὐεργέτην· ὁ δὲ τὸν Τελώνην ἑαυτῷ προστιθεὶς ἐν τῇ τῶν μαθητῶν ἀπ αριθμήσει, ὥσπερ ἄλλο τι τῶν τιμίων ἐπίσημον· ὁ δὲ καὶ μακρῷ λόγῳ στηλιτεύων τὴν προτέραν ἑαυτοῦ κακίαν, ἵνα καὶ τοῦτο Θεῷ καρποφορήσῃ, τὴν ἐξ αγόρευσιν, καὶ πολλοῖς ὁδὸς γένηται τῆς χρηστοτέρας ἐλπίδος τῶν ἀπὸ κακίας ἐπιστρεφόντων. Τίς οὖν ἡ κακία, καὶ σκοπεῖτε, ὅση καὶ ἡλίκη τὸ μέγεθος· ∆αιμόνων ἦν θεραπευτὴς, ὁ Χριστοῦ μαθητὴς ὕστερον· καὶ διώκτης πικρότατος, ὁ μέγας τῆς ἀληθείας ἀγωνιστής· καὶ λόγῳ καὶ ἔργῳ ταράσσων τὴν ἡμε τέραν ὁδὸν, διὰ τὸ ἐν ἀμφοτέροις κράτος, ὁ κρά τιστος ἀμφότερα μετὰ τοῦτο Χριστιανοῖς. Ὅσον κα κὸν καὶ γοητεία τούτοις προστιθεμένη, τῶν ἐκεί νου τὸ γνωριμώτατον! ὅσῳ δεινότερον καὶ ἀπληστία σώματος, ἣ καὶ τοὺς τἄλλα σοφοὺς ἐκμαί νειν δύναται, καὶ χεῖρον φρονεῖν βιάζεται, καθά περ ὑβριστὴς πῶλος, τὸν λογισμὸν συναρπάζουσα!

Θʹ. Ἥκει δὲ ἡμῖν ἐπ' αὐτὸ τὸ κεφάλαιον ὁ λόγος. Καὶ μὴ πρὸς τὰ πρῶτά τις ὁρῶν Κυπριανοῦ, ταῖς ἡδοναῖς ἐφιέτω· τοῖς δὲ τελευταίοις σωφρονιζέσθω. Παρθένος τις ἦν τῶν εὐπατρίδων, καὶ κοσμίων. 35.1180 Ἀκούετε, παρθένοι, καὶ συναγάλλεσθε, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ τῶν ὑπὸ ζυγὸν ὅσαι σώφρονές τε καὶ φιλοσώ φρονες· κοινὸν γὰρ ἀμφοτέραις καλλώπισμα τὸ διήγημα. Καὶ ἡ παρθένος καλὴ τῷ εἴδει σφόδρα· προσᾳδέτω ταύτῃ μεθ' ἡμῶν ὁ θεῖος ∆αβὶδ, Πᾶσα ἡ δόξα, λέγων, τῆς θυγατρὸς τοῦ βασιλέως ἔσω θεν, νύμφη Χριστοῦ γνησία, κάλλος ἀπόθετον, ἄγαλμα ἔμψυχον, ἀνάθημα ἄσυλον, τέμενος ἀνεπίβατον, κῆπος κεκλεισμένος, πηγὴ ἐσφραγισμένη (προσᾳδέτω γάρ τι καὶ Σολομὼν), μόνῳ Χριστῷ τη ρουμένη. Ταύτης ὁ μέγας ἥλω Κυπριανὸς, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅθεν καὶ ὅπως, τῆς πάντα ἀσφαλοῦς καὶ κοσμίας. Ψαύουσι γὰρ ὀφθαλμοὶ λίχνοι καὶ τῶν ἀψαύστων, τὸ προχειρότατον ὀργάνων καὶ ἀπληστότατον. Καὶ οὐχ ἥλω μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπείρα. Ὢ τῆς εὐηθείας, εἰ ταύτην συλήσειν ἤλπιζε, μᾶλλον δὲ τῆς ἀναισχυν τίας τοῦ τὰ τοιαῦτα τολμῶντός τε καὶ τολμᾷν πεί θοντος! Ἐκεῖνος καὶ εἰς τὸν παράδεισον ἀπ' ἀρχῆς παρέδυ κατὰ τοῦ πρώτου πλάσματος· καὶ μέσος ἀγγέλων ἵσταται τὸν Ἰὼβ ἐξαιτήσων· καὶ τὸ τελευ ταῖον, κατ' αὐτοῦ τολμᾷ τοῦ ∆εσπότου, τοῦ καταλύ σοντος αὐτὸν καὶ θανατώσοντος, καὶ πεῖραν προσάγει τῷ ἀπειράστῳ (ἐπειδὴ δεύτερον Ἀδὰμ εἶδε τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ φαινόμενον), ὡς καὶ τοῦτον καταπα λαίσων. Ἠγνόει γὰρ, ὅτι περιπεσεῖται θεότητι, προσδραμὼν ἀνθρωπότητι. Τί οὖν θαυμαστὸν, εἰ καὶ διὰ Κυπριανοῦ πειρᾶται τῆς ἁγίας ψυχῆς, καὶ τοῦ ἀνεπάφου σώματος;

Ιʹ. Πλὴν ὁ μὲν ἐπείρα, καὶ προαγωγῷ χρῆται, οὐ γυναίῳ τινὶ παλαιῷ τῶν πρὸς ταῦτα ἐπιτηδείων, ἀλλὰ δαιμόνων τινὶ τῶν φιλοσωμάτων καὶ φιληδό νων· ἐπειδὴ ταχεῖαι πρὸς τὴν τῶν τοιούτων ὑπηρεσίαν αἱ ἀποστατικαὶ δυνάμεις καὶ φθονεραὶ, πολλοὺς κοινωνοὺς ζητοῦσαι τοῦ πτώματος. Καὶ ὁ μισθὸς τῆς προαγωγίας, θυσίαι τε καὶ σπονδαὶ, καὶ ἡ δι' αἱμάτων καὶ κνίσσης οἰκείωσις· τοιούτους γὰρ ἔδει μισθοὺς εἶναι τοῖς τὰ τοιαῦτα χαριζομένοις. Ἡ δὲ ὡς ᾔσθετο τοῦ κακοῦ, καὶ τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν ἔγνω (τα χύτεραι γὰρ αἱ καθαραὶ ψυχαὶ καὶ θεοειδεῖς πρὸς θήραν τοῦ ἐνεργοῦντος, κἂν ὅτι μάλιστα σοφιστικὸς ᾖ καὶ ποικίλος τὴν ἐπιχείρησιν), τί ποιεῖ, καὶ τί