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you arrive at folly, "so that though it was possible again to take dreadful counsels" and, abandoning everything, to fall before the Teacher "and from your eyelids pour hot tears," you will fasten a hanging noose of strangulation, "rushing to release your soul to the nooses." Yet even in these things, not having given up, he will somehow "save you, at least considering your heart;" for a good man could not somehow fail to remain so. "But he does not wish to save you against your will;" for he does not lay down violence as a law for mortals; "least of all was his spirit born tyrannical;" for, having been shamefully broken, you will shatter your all-evil heart. "But these things are not in this way, do not somehow think so;" still to the contests are you and the blood-stained ones, "and for all who joined in, the toils are not small." And may the whole insolent people perceive them, "whether having died or seeing the light," whom a stream of fire will again receive. "Rightly has this true saying been spoken;" hear, Judas, the state of your evils. "And yet I will accomplish nothing but a mere pretext;" for God will not compel you to be prudent; "but in the choice and judgment of mortals lies prudence in all things always." These things, I know not whether some angel or a mortal said to him, as I have said, the trafficker in words. {THEOTOKOS} O mother earth and unfoldings of the sun, what an unspeakable voice of words I have heard. Quickly by a follower the deed, O Child, has been contrived, whom you often pointed out in riddles to your friends; for he who is the cause of these evils did not escape your notice. O most evil one, for this I have to say to you, you did these things, betraying your benefactor. These things are your work, demon; for what other hostile man would ever have done or planned them? May the one who did it perish; but justice knows, and the shameful initiate will pay a worthy penalty. O money-changer, where did you connive with your deceit? Are you still living, having done these dreadful things? Do you not hide your body under the earth's Tartarus? For now it is necessary for you either to be hidden below the earth, or to die in blasts of aetherial fire. O hatred, O greatest, most hateful evil, (I speak of the head that betrayed the Master,) you dared to approach the Teacher as a friend; you came to him, you came having become most hateful both to the Father and to him and to the whole race of men. How, how did you address him, how did you kiss him while betraying him? With your tongue you spoke, but in your heart you held pollution. And having done these things, you still dare, O most evil one, to look upon the sun and the earth; this is not a matter of courage nor of boldness, for one who has betrayed a benefactor to dare to look upon them; but the greatest of all diseases among men, shamelessness. And well have I remembered you, though for no profit, but for your shame, even when you are not present, whether you die or see the light; for I, by speaking the truth, will be relieved in my soul, and you, even without hearing, may learn; for you may learn by finding your deserved retribution. From these first things I will first begin to speak. Hear, Judas, the good things done for you by him. He drew you out of the darkness of ignorance, he saved you, he showed you the light of salvation; he has given you the gift of many miracles; he said that you too would sit with the initiates and judge the tribes of Israel of every race. He placed all the money in your hands, he cut off from you any excuse of poverty. You were always stealing, do not think it has gone unnoticed; he, being all-good, did not rebuke you with words, not even when being wronged by you, knowing you clearly even before your audacious act, he washed even your most hostile feet and gave you a morsel of the most mystic bread. And having experienced these things from him, O most evil of men, you betrayed him, and you acquired gifts of murder, though you already had much. For if you were without money, you might perhaps have had an excuse to desire these things; but now you have no pretext, you have no reason to part your lips and state a cause. For you will never be so able, not even if the whole race of demons runs to your aid and you fill the whole earth with evil words; since creation knows that he is good, and all have recognized it from the facts. But the noose of avarice strangled you, which is somehow the root of all evils; and your faith, which was long since lost to you, is gone. Having appeared as such, do you dare to see the light, O wretched one? Or do you still think that God does not rule as before, or that the scales of justice now lie empty? O evil shoot, you are in no way from the root of mortals, but I say that you have sprung from bitter roots, first from an avenging spirit, then from envy, from murder, and from fate, and as many evils as the earth nourishes; for I will never say that you were born from God

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μωρίας ἀφικάνεις, «ὥστ' ἐξὸν αὖθις δείν' ἑλεῖν βουλεύματα » καὶ πάντ' ἀφέντα προσπεσεῖν ∆ιδασκάλῳ «κἀκ τῶν βλεφάρων θερμὰ χύσαι δάκρυα, » βρόχον κρεμαστὸν ἐξανάψεις ἀγχόνης, «ψυχὴν ἀφεῖναι τοῖς βροχώμασι τρέχων. » Ὅμως δὲ κἀν τοῖσδ' οὐκ ἀπειρηκώς, σέ πως «σώσει, τὸ σόν γε προσκοπούμενος κέαρ·» οὐ γὰρ δύναιτ' ἂν ἀγαθός που μὴ μένειν. «Ἀλλ' οὔ σε μὴ θέλοντα κερδᾶναι θέλει·» οὐ γὰρ νόμον τίθησιν ἐν βροτοῖς βίαν· «ἥκιστα τοῦδε λῆμ' ἔφυ τυραννικόν· » ῥαγεὶς γὰρ αἰσχρῶς πάγκακον ῥήξεις κέαρ. «Ἀλλ' οὔτι ταύτῃ ταῦτα, μὴ σύ που δόκει· » ἔτ' εἰς ἀγῶνας σύ τε καὶ μιαιφόνοι, «καὶ πᾶσι συνδράσασιν οὐ σμικροὶ πόνοι. »Αἴσθοιτο δ' αὐτῶν δῆμος ὑβριστὴς ἅπας, «ἤτοι θανόντες ἢ φάος δεδορκότες, »οὓς νᾶμα πυρὸς αὖθις ὑποδέξεται. «Ὀρθῶς λέλεκται μῦθος ἀψευδὴς ὅδε· » ἄκου', Ἰούδα, σῶν κακῶν κατάστασιν. «Καίτοι προκόψω γ' οὐδὲν ἢ σκῆψιν μόνην· » οὐ γὰρ Θεός σε σωφρονεῖν ἀναγκάσει· «ἐν τῇ προαιρέσει δὲ καὶ γνώμῃ βροτῶν τὸ σωφρονεῖν ἔνεστιν εἰς τὰ πάντ' ἀεί.» Ταῦτ' εἶπεν οὐκ οἶδ' ἄγγελός τις ἢ βροτὸς πρὸς αὐτόν, ὡς εἴρηκα, τὸν λογοπράτην. {ΘΕΟΤΟΚΟΣ} Ὦ γαῖα μῆτερ ἡλίου τ' ἀναπτυχαί, οἵων λόγων ἄρρητον εἰσήκουσ' ὄπα. Τάχ' ἐξ ὀπαδοῦ δρᾶμα, Παῖ, κατηρτύθη, ὃν πολλάκις ἔδειξας αἰνιγμῷ φίλοις· οὐ γάρ σ' ἔλαθε τῶνδ' ὃς αἴτιος κακῶν. Ὦ παγκάκιστε, τοῦτο γάρ σ' εἰπεῖν ἔχω, σὺ ταῦτ' ἔδρασας, σὸν προδοὺς εὐεργέτην. Σὰ ταῦτα, δαῖμον· τίς γὰρ ἂν ἄλλος ποτὲ ἔδρασεν ἢ 'βούλευσε δυσμενὴς ἀνήρ; Ὄλοιθ' ὁ δράσας· ἡ δίκη δ' ἐπίσταται, αἰσχρός τε μύστης ἀξίαν τίσει δίκην. Ἀργυραμοιβέ, ποῦ συνήδῃ σῷ δόλῳ; ἆρ' εἰσέτι ζῇς, δεινὰ ταῦτ' εἰργασμένος; οὐδ' ὑπὸ γῆς τάρταρα σὸν κρύπτεις δέμας; δεῖ γὰρ τανῦν ἢ γῆς σε κρυβῆναι κάτω, ἢ πυρὸς ἐν ῥιπαῖσιν αἰθέρος θανεῖν. Ὦ μῖσος, ὦ μέγιστον, ἔχθιστον κακόν, (τὴν ∆εσπότην προδοῦσαν ἐξαυδῶ κάραν,) ἔτλης προσελθεῖν ὡς φίλος ∆ιδασκάλῳ· ἦλθες πρὸς αὐτόν, ἦλθες ἔχθιστος γεγὼς καὶ Πατρὶ καὐτῷ παντί τ' ἀνθρώπων γένει. Πῶς πῶς προσεῖπας, πῶς κατησπάσω προδούς; γλώσσῃ προσηύδας, καρδίᾳ μίασμ' ἔχων. Καὶ ταῦτα δράσας, ἥλιόν τε προσβλέπειν καὶ γαῖαν, ὦ κάκιστε, τολμᾷς εἰσέτι· ταῦτ' οὔτι θάρσους ἐστὶν οὐδ' εὐτολμίας, εὐεργέτην προδόντα, τολμᾶν προσβλέπειν· ἀλλ' ἡ μεγίστη τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις νόσων πασῶν, ἀναίδει'. Εὖ δ' ἐπεμνήσθην σέθεν, καίτοι πρὸς οὐδὲν κέρδος, αἰσχύνην δέ σου, καὶ μὴ παρόντος, κἂν θάνῃς, κἂν φῶς βλέπῃς· ἐγώ τε γὰρ λέξασα κουφισθήσομαι ψυχὴν τἀληθῆ, σύ τε κοὐ κλύων μάθῃς· μάθῃς γὰρ εὑρὼν τὴν κατ' ἀξίαν τίσιν. Ἐκ τῶνδε πρώτων πρῶτον ἄρξομαι λέγειν. Ἄκου', Ἰούδα, τὰ πρὸς αὐτοῦ καλά σοι. Εἵλκυσεν ἐκ σκότους σε τῆς ἀγνωσίας, ἔσωσέ σ', ὑπέδειξε φῶς σωτηρίας· δέδωκέ σοι χάρισμα πολλῶν θαυμάτων· μύσταις ἔφησε καὶ σὲ συνεδριάσαι κρῖναί τε φυλὰς Ἰσραὴλ παντὸς γένους. Ἔθηκεν ἀργύρια πάντα χερσί σου, ἔκοψέ σου πρόφασιν ἀναργυρίας. Ἔκλεπτες ἀεί, μὴ δόκει λεληθέναι· ὅδ', ἅτε πανάγαθος, οὐκ ἤλεγχέ σε λόγοισιν, οὐδὲ πρὸς σέθεν κακούμενος, εἰδώς σε σαφῶς καὶ πρὸ τῆς τολμηρίας, ἔνιψε καὶ σοὺς δυσμενεστάτους πόδας ἄρτου τρύφος τ' ἔδωκε μυστικωτάτου. Καὶ ταῦθ' ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, παγκάκιστ' ἀνδρῶν, παθών, προὔδωκας αὐτόν, δῶρα δ' ἐκτήσω φόνου, πολλῶν προσόντων. Εἰ γὰρ ἦσθ' ἀνάργυρος, λαβὴν ἂν εἶχες τῶνδ' ἐρασθῆναι τάχα· νῦν δ' οὐκ ἔχεις πρόφασιν, οὐκ ἔχεις λόγον χείλη διᾶραι καὶ κατειπεῖν αἰτίαν. Οὐ γὰρ τοσοῦτον σὺ δυνήσῃ πώποτε, οὐδ' εἰ γένος πᾶν δαιμόνων σοι συνδράμῃ καὶ γῆν ἅπασαν ῥημάτων πλήσῃ κακῶν· ἐπεί μιν ἐσθλὸν ὄντ' ἐπίσταται κτίσις, καὶ πάντες ἐγνώρισαν ἐκ τῶν πραγμάτων. Ἀλλ' ἦγξεν ἀγχόνη σε φιλαργυρίας, ἣ ῥίζα πάντων τῶν κακῶν πέφυκέ πως· φρούδη δὲ πίστις, ἣ πρὶν ἀπόλωλέ σοι. Τοιόσδε φανείς, φῶς ὁρᾶν τολμᾷς, τάλα; ἢ τὸν πρὶν οὐκ ἄρχειν Θεὸν δοκεῖς ἔτι ἢ ζυγὰ δίκης ἐν κενοῖς κεῖσθαι τανῦν; Ὦ κακὸν ἔρνος, οὔποτ' εἶ ῥίζης βροτῶν, πικρῶν δὲ ῥιζῶν φημί σ' ἐκπεφυκέναι, ἀλάστορος μὲν πρῶτον, εἶτα δὲ φθόνου, φόνου, πότμου θ', ὅσα τε γῆ τρέφει κακά· οὐ γὰρ ἐρῶ ποτ' ἐκ Θεοῦ φῦναί σ'