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the desire of the listeners. For a most pleasant table is made not only by the luxury of the food, but also by the appetite of the invited guests; thus a splendid table will appear meager, when those present do not approach it with hunger; so also a meager one is shown to be luxurious, when it receives hungry banqueters. Therefore, another one, understanding that the luxury of tables is judged not by the nature of the food, but by the disposition of those who are feasting, says something like this: A soul that is full scoffs at honeycombs, 51.117 but to a hungry soul even bitter things seem sweet; not because the nature of the things set before it has changed, but because the disposition of those feasting steals away the perception. But if bitter things seem sweet because of the desire of the invited, much more do meager things seem luxurious. Wherefore we also, living in extreme poverty, imitate the ambitious hosts, inviting you to our table at each gathering. And we do this, not trusting in our own abundance, but being bold in your hearing. 3. We have therefore paid you the whole debt of the inscription, the inscription, I say, of the Acts of the Apostles. It would be fitting, then, to take up the beginning of the book, and to say what it is: The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. But Paul does not permit me to use this order of sequence, calling my tongue to himself and his own achievements. For I desire to see him being led into Damascus, bound, not with an iron chain, but by the Lord's voice; I desire to see this great fish caught, the one that stirred up the whole sea, the one that raised up countless waves against the Church; I desire to see him caught, not by a hook, but by the Lord's word. For just as some fisherman sitting on a high rock, raising his rod, lets down the hook from on high into the deep; so indeed also our Lord, who showed spiritual fishing, as if sitting on the high rock of the heavens, let down this voice from above like a hook, and said, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? thus he caught this great fish. And what happened in the case of the fish, which Peter caught according to the Lord's command, something of that sort also happened in this case. For this fish also was found having a stater in its mouth, a stater, but a counterfeit one; for it had zeal, but not according to knowledge. For this reason God, having granted him knowledge, made the coin genuine; and what happens to fish that are caught, this also happened to him. For just as they, when immediately drawn up from the deep, are blinded, so he also, immediately receiving the hook, and being immediately drawn up, was blinded; but that blindness made the whole world to see again. Therefore, I desire to see all these things. For if a barbarian war surrounded us, and in the battle line the enemies gave us countless troubles, and then the general of the barbarians, who brought countless engines of war, and confounded all our affairs, and filled everything with much clamor and confusion, and threatened to raze the city itself, and to deliver it to fire, and held slavery over us, were suddenly bound as a captive by our king and led into the city, we all would have rushed out with our wives and children to that sight. Since, therefore, now also a war has arisen, with the Jews disturbing and confounding all things, and bringing many engines against the safety of the Church, and the chief of the enemies was Paul, who did and said greater things than all, who disturbed and confounded all things, our Lord Jesus Christ, the king, bound him 51.118

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τῶν ἀκροωμένων τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν. Τράπεζαν γὰρ ἡδίστην οὐκ ἐδεσμάτων πολυτέλεια ποιεῖ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ τῶν κεκλημένων ποιεῖ ὄρεξις· οὕτω λαμπρὰ τράπεζα εὐτελὴς φανεῖται, ὅταν μὴ μετὰ τοῦ πεινῇν προσβάλωσιν οἱ παρόντες· οὕτω καὶ ἡ εὐτελὴς πολυτελὴς δείκνυται, ὅταν πεινῶντας λάβῃ τοὺς δαιτυμόνας. Ὅπερ οὖν καὶ ἕτερός τις συνιδὼν, ὅτι οὐ τῇ φύσει τῶν ἐδεσμάτων, ἀλλὰ τῇ διαθέσει τῶν ἑστιωμένων ἡ πολυτέλεια κρίνεται τῶν τραπεζῶν, οὕτω πώς φησι· Ψυχὴ ἐν πλησμονῇ οὖσα, κηρίοις ἐμπαίζει, 51.117 ψυχῇ δὲ ἐνδεεῖ καὶ τὰ πικρὰ γλυκέα φαίνεται· οὐ τῆς φύσεως τῶν προκειμένων μεταβαλλομένης, ἀλλὰ τῆς διαθέσεως τῶν ἑστιωμένων κλεπτούσης τὴν αἴσθησιν. Εἰ δὲ τὰ πικρὰ γλυκέα φαίνεται διὰ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν τῶν κεκλημένων, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τὰ εὐτελῆ πολυτελῆ φαίνεται. ∆ιὸ δὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐσχάτῃ συζῶντες πενίᾳ, τοὺς φιλοτίμους τῶν ἑστιατόρων μιμούμεθα, καθ' ἑκάστην σύναξιν πρὸς τὴν ἡμετέραν καλοῦντες ὑμᾶς τράπεζαν. Ποιοῦμεν δὲ τοῦτο, οὐ τῇ τῆς οἰκείας εὐπορίας πεποιθότες, ἀλλὰ τῇ τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀκροάσεως θαῤῥοῦντες. γʹ. Τῆς μὲν οὖν ἐπιγραφῆς ὑμῖν τὸ χρέος ἅπαν καταβεβλήκαμεν, τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς, φημὶ, τῶν Πράξεων τῶν ἀποστολικῶν. Ἀκόλουθον δὲ λοιπὸν ἦν καὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἅψασθαι τοῦ βιβλίου, καὶ εἰπεῖν τί ποτέ ἐστι· Τὸν μὲν πρῶτον λόγον ἐποιήσαμεν περὶ πάντων, ὦ Θεόφιλε, ὧν ἤρξατο ὁ Ἰησοῦς ποιεῖν τε καὶ διδάσκειν. Ἀλλὰ Παῦλος οὐκ ἀφίησί με χρήσασθαι τῇ τάξει ταύτῃ τῆς ἀκολουθίας, πρὸς ἑαυτὸν καὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα κατορθώματα τὴν ἡμετέραν γλῶτταν καλῶν. Ἐπιθυμῶ γὰρ αὐτὸν ἰδεῖν εἰς ∆αμασκὸν εἰσαγόμενον, δεδεμένον, οὐκ ἐν ἁλύσει σιδηρᾷ, ἀλλὰ φωνῇ δεσποτικῇ· ἐπιθυμῶ ἰδεῖν ἁλιευθέντα τὸν ἰχθὺν τοῦτον τὸν μέγαν, τὸν ἅπασαν ἀναβράσσοντα τὴν θάλασσαν, τὸν μυρία κύματα κατὰ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἐπεγείραντα· ἐπιθυμῶ ἰδεῖν αὐτὸν ἁλιευθέντα, οὐκ ἀγκίστρῳ, ἀλλὰ λόγῳ δεσποτικῷ. Καθάπερ γάρ τις ἁλιεὺς ἐπὶ πέτρας ὑψηλῆς καθήμενος, τὸν κάλαμον μετεωρίζων, ἀφ' ὑψηλοῦ τὸ ἄγκιστρον ἀφίησιν εἰς τὸ πέλαγος· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὁ ∆εσπότης ὁ ἡμέτερος, ὁ τὴν ἁλείαν δείξας τὴν πνευματικὴν, καθάπερ ἐφ' ὑψηλῆς πέτρας τῶν οὐρανῶν καθήμενος, ὥσπερ ἄγκιστρον τὴν φωνὴν ταύτην ἀφεὶς ἄνωθεν, καὶ εἰπὼν, Σαῦλε, Σαῦλε, τί με διώκεις; οὕτως ἡλίευσε τὸν ἰχθὺν τοῦτον τὸν μέγαν. Καὶ οἷον ἐπὶ τοῦ ἰχθύος γέγονεν, ὃν ἡλίευσε Πέτρος κατὰ τὸ πρόσταγμα τὸ δεσποτικὸν, τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ ἐπὶ τούτου συνέβη. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ οὗτος ὁ ἰχθὺς εὑρέθη στατῆρα ἔχων ἐν τῷ στόματι, στατῆρα μὲν, κίβδηλον δέ· εἶχε μὲν γὰρ ζῆλον, οὐ κατ' ἐπίγνωσιν δέ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν αὐτῷ χαρισάμενος ὁ Θεὸς, δόκιμον ἐποίησε τὸ νόμισμα· καὶ ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἁλιευομένων ἰχθύων γίνεται, τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τούτου γέγονε. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι τοῦ πελάγους εὐθέως ἀνελκυσθέντες ἀποτυφλοῦνται, οὕτω καὶ οὗτος δεξάμενος εὐθέως τὸ ἄγκιστρον, καὶ ἀνασπασθεὶς εὐθέως ἐπετυφλώθη· ἀλλ' ἐκείνη ἡ τύφλωσις πᾶσαν οἰκουμένην ἀναβλέψαι ἐποίησε. Ταῦτ' οὖν ἅπαντα ἰδεῖν ἐπιθυμῶ. Καὶ γὰρ εἰ πόλεμος ἡμῖν περιειστήκει βαρβαρικὸς, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς παρατάξεως οἱ πολέμιοι μυρία παρεῖχον ἡμῖν πράγματα, εἶτα ὁ στρατηγὸς τῶν βαρβάρων, ὁ μυρία προσάγων μηχανήματα, καὶ πάντα συγχέων τὰ ἡμέτερα, καὶ πολλοῦ θορύβου καὶ ταραχῆς πληρῶν, καὶ τὴν πόλιν αὐτὴν ἀπειλῶν κατασκάψειν, καὶ παραδώσειν πυρὶ, καὶ δουλείαν ἡμῖν ἐπανατεινόμενος, ἐξαίφνης ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως τοῦ ἡμετέρου δεθεὶς αἰχμάλωτος εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἤγετο, πάντες ἂν μετὰ γυναικῶν καὶ παιδίων πρὸς τὴν θεωρίαν ἐκείνην ἐξεπηδήσαμεν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν καὶ νῦν πόλεμος συνέστηκεν, Ἰουδαίων θορυβούντων ἅπαντα καὶ ταραττόντων, καὶ πολλὰ τῇ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἀσφαλείᾳ προσαγόντων μηχανήματα, τὸ δὲ κεφάλαιον τῶν πολεμίων ἦν ὁ Παῦλος, ὁ πάντων μείζονα καὶ ποιῶν καὶ λέγων, ὁ πάντα θορυβῶν καὶ ταράττων, ἔδησε 51.118 δὲ αὐτὸν ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς, ὁ βασιλεὺς ὁ