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giving and filling the house with good drachmas. But you will say: I too am poor. So be it; let it be granted. give what you have; for God does not ask for things beyond your ability. You give a loaf of bread, another a cup of wine, another a garment, and thus by contribution the misfortune of one is relieved. Nor did Moses receive the expense for the tabernacle from one minister, but from all the people. For the rich man brought him gold, another silver, the poor man skins, the one poorer than him, hair. Do you see how even the widow's mite surpassed the offerings of the rich? For she emptied out all that she had, while from them only a little fell out. Do not despise those who are lying there as if they are worthy of nothing. Consider who they are and you will find their dignity; they have put on the face of our Savior. For the philanthropist 9.99 has lent them his own face, so that through it they may shame the unsympathetic and those who hate the poor, just like those who hold up the imperial images against those who do them violence, so that by the form of the ruler they may shame the one who despises them. These are the stewards of the expected goods, the gatekeepers of the kingdom, who open the gates to the good and close them to the harsh and misanthropic; these are both fierce accusers and good advocates; and they advocate and they accuse, not by speaking, but by being seen by the judge. For the deed done to them cries out more clearly than any herald to the one who knows the heart.

For their sake the fearful judgment-seat of God was described for us in the gospels, of which you have often heard. For I saw there the Son of man coming from the heavens and treading the air as if it were earth and being escorted by many myriads of angels; then a throne of glory being raised up and the king sitting upon it, and every tribe of men, as many as came into being and were illumined by the sun and breathed this air, the multitude separated into two parts and standing before the tribunal. And those on the right were called sheep; but I heard those on the other side called goats, having drawn their names upon themselves from the similarity of their ways. and there were dialogues of the judge 9.100 with those being judged and answers of those being examined to the king. And to each was allotted their due; to those who had lived the best life, the enjoyment of the kingdom, but to the misanthropic and evil, the punishment of fire, and this everlasting. And all these things were written carefully, and the tribunal was accurately depicted for us by the word, for no other reason than to learn the goodness of beneficence. For this is what holds life together, the mother of the poor, the teacher of the rich, a good nurse of children, a caregiver for the elderly, a treasury for those in need, a common harbor for the unfortunate, distributing its providence to all ages and misfortunes. For just as the judges of the vanity contests, signifying their own ambition by a trumpet, announce to all in the wrestling-school the distribution of wealth, so beneficence calls all those in difficulties and circumstances to itself, not distributing prizes for blows to those who approach, but remedies for misfortunes. And this is higher than every praiseworthy action, an assessor with God, a friend of the Good One and having a great intimacy with him. Thus indeed, before all things, God himself appears to us as the author of good and philanthropic deeds; for the creation of the earth and the ordering of the heaven and the well-ordered change of the seasons and the sun's heat and the cooling generation of ice and all individual things, not for himself does 9.101 God (for he is in no need of such things), but for us he continually works, an unseen husbandman of men's nourishment, a timely sower and a skillful irrigator. For this one gives, according to Isaiah, seed to the sower, and now sprinkles the water gently from the clouds upon the earth, and again pours it violently down the furrows. And when the crops have grown

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διδοὺς καὶ πληρώσεις τῶν ἀγαθῶν δραγμά των τὴν οἰκίαν. Ἀλλ' ἐρεῖς· πένης κἀγώ. ἔστω· δεδόσθω. δὸς ὃ ἔχεις· οὐ γὰρ τὰ ὑπὲρ δύναμιν ζητεῖ ὁ θεός. σὺ ἄρτον, ἕτερος ποτήριον οἴνου, ἄλλος ἱμάτιον, καὶ οὕτως ἐκ συνεισφορᾶς ἡ τοῦ ἑνὸς λύεται συμφορά. οὐδὲ Μωϋσῆς τὴν δαπάνην τῆς σκηνῆς παρ' ἑνὸς ἔλαβε λειτουργοῦ, ἀλλὰ τοῦ δήμου παντός. ὁ μὲν γὰρ πλουτῶν χρυσὸν ἤνεγκεν ἐκείνῳ, ἄλλος ἄργυρον, ὁ πένης δέρματα, ὁ τούτου πενέστερος τρίχας. ὁρᾷς ὡς καὶ ὁ τῆς χήρας κοδράντης ὑπερέβαλε τῶν πλουσίων τὰ ἀναθήματα; ἡ μὲν γὰρ ὃ εἶχεν ὅλον ἐκένωσε, τῶν δὲ ὀλίγον ἐξέπεσεν. Μὴ καταφρονήσῃς τῶν κειμένων ὡς οὐδενὸς ἀξίων. λόγισαι τίνες εἰσὶ καὶ εὑρήσεις αὐτῶν τὸ ἀξίωμα· τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν τὸ πρόσωπον ἐνεδύσαντο. ὁ γὰρ φιλάνθρωπος 9.99 ἔχρησεν αὐτοῖς τὸ ἴδιον πρόσωπον, ἵνα δι' ἐκείνου δυσωπῶσι τοὺς ἀσυμπαθεῖς καὶ μισοπτώχους, ὥσπερ οἱ τὰς βασιλικὰς εἰκόνας κατὰ τῶν βιαζομένων αὐτοὺς προβαλλόμενοι, ἵν' ἐκ τῆς μορφῆς τοῦ κρατοῦντος τὸν καταφρονητὴν δυσωπήσωσιν. οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ ταμίαι τῶν προσδοκωμένων ἀγαθῶν, οἱ θυρωροὶ τῆς βασιλείας, οἱ ὑπανοίγοντες τὰς θύρας τοῖς χρηστοῖς καὶ κλείοντες τοῖς δυσκόλοις καὶ μισανθρώποις· οὗτοι καὶ κατήγοροι σφοδροὶ καὶ συνήγοροι ἀγαθοί· συνηγοροῦσι δὲ καὶ κατηγοροῦσιν, οὐ λέγοντες, ἀλλ' ὁρώμενοι παρὰ τοῦ κριτοῦ. τὸ γὰρ περὶ αὐτοὺς γενόμενον ἔργον παρὰ τῷ καρδιογνώστῃ βοᾷ παντὸς κήρυκος εὐσημότερον.

∆ιὰ τούτους ἡμῖν καὶ τὸ φοβερὸν ἀνεγράφη διὰ τῶν εὐαγγε λίων τοῦ Θεοῦ δικαστήριον, οὗ πολλάκις ἠκούσατε. εἶδον γὰρ ἐκεῖ τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐρχόμενον ἐξ οὐρανῶν καὶ τὸν ἀέρα ὡς γῆν πεζεύοντα καὶ ταῖς πολλαῖς μυριάσι τῶν ἀγγέλων δορυφορούμενον· ἔπειτα θρόνον δόξης ἀνυψούμενον καὶ ἐπ' αὐτὸν τὸν βασιλέα προκαθήμενον, καὶ πᾶν φῦλον ἀνθρώπων, ὅσον παρῆλθεν εἰς γένεσιν καὶ ἡλίῳ κατελάμφθη καὶ τούτου τοῦ ἀέρος ἀνέσπασεν, ἐν δύο μέρεσιν ἀποκεκρι μένον καὶ προσεστηκὸς τῷ κριτηρίῳ τὸ πλῆθος. ἐκαλοῦντο δὲ οἱ μὲν ἀρνειοί, ὅσοι ἐκ δεξιῶν· ἐρίφους δὲ τοὺς ἐπὶ θάτερον ἤκουσα, ἐκ τῆς ὁμοιότητος τῶν τρόπων ἐφ' ἑαυτοὺς τὰς προσηγορίας ἑλκύσαντας. καὶ διαλέξεις ἐκεῖ τοῦ δικαστοῦ 9.100 πρὸς τοὺς κρινομένους καὶ ἀποκρίσεις τῶν εὐθυνομένων πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα. ἀπεκληροῦτο δὲ ἑκάστοις τὰ πρόσφορα· τοῖς μὲν τὸν ἄριστον βεβιωκόσι βίον βασιλείας ἀπόλαυσις, τοῖς δὲ μισανθρώποις καὶ πονηροῖς τιμωρία πυρὸς καὶ αὕτη διαιωνίζουσα. Ἐγράφη δὲ τὰ πάντα ἐπιμελῶς καὶ ἀκριβὲς ἡμῖν τὸ δικαστήριον ἀνεζωγραφήθη παρὰ τοῦ λόγου, οὐκ ἄλλου του χάριν ἢ τοῦ μαθεῖν εὐποιίας χρηστότητα. αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ τὸν βίον συνέχουσα, μήτηρ τῶν πενομένων, διδάσκαλος τῶν πλουσίων, ἀγαθὴ κουροτρόφος, πρεσβυτέρων γηρωκόμος, ταμιεῖον τῶν δεομένων, κοινὸς τῶν ἀτυχούντων λιμήν, πάσαις ἡλικίαις καὶ συμφοραῖς τὴν ἀφ' ἑαυτῆς μερίζουσα πρόνοιαν. ὡς γὰρ οἱ ἀγωνοθέται τῆς ματαιότητος ὑπὸ σάλ πιγγι τὴν ἑαυτῶν φιλοτιμίαν σημαίνοντες πᾶσι τοῖς τῆς παλαίστρας τὴν τοῦ πλούτου διανομὴν ἐπαγγέλλονται, οὕτως ἡ εὐποιία ἅπαντας πρὸς ἑαυτὴν καλεῖ τοὺς ἐν δυσκολίαις καὶ περιστάσεσιν, οὐ πληγῶν τιμὰς τοῖς προσιοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ συμφορῶν θεραπείας μερίζουσα. ἔστι δὲ αὕτη πάσης ἐπαινου μένης πράξεως ὑψηλοτέρα, θεοῦ πάρεδρος, τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ φίλη καὶ πολλὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν τὴν οἰκείωσιν ἔχουσα. οὕτω τοι πρὸ πάντων τὰς ἀγαθὰς καὶ φιλανθρώπους πράξεις αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς ἡμῖν αὐτουργῶν ἀναφαίνεται· τὴν γὰρ κτίσιν τῆς γῆς καὶ τὴν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ διακόσμησιν καὶ τὴν εὔτακτον ἐναλλαγὴν τῶν ὡρῶν καὶ ἡλίου θερμότητα καὶ κρυστάλλου γένεσιν ψύχουσαν καὶ πάντα τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον οὐκ αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ ὁ 9.101 θεός (ἀπροσδεὴς γὰρ τῶν τοιούτων ἐκεῖνος), ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν διηνεκῶς ἐνεργεῖ, γεωργὸς ἀόρατος τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων τροφῆς, σπορεὺς εὔκαιρος καὶ ὀχετηγὸς ἐπιστήμων. οὗτος γὰρ δίδωσι κατὰ τὸν Ἠσαΐαν σπέρμα τῷ σπείροντι, καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ ἐκ νεφελῶν νῦν μὲν ἠρεμαῖον ἐπιρραίνει τῇ γῇ, πάλιν δὲ λάβρον καταχεῖ τῶν αὐλάκων. ὅταν δὲ αὐξηθῇ τὰ λήια