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ours, has bound and brought in captive this man who subverts everything, shall we not all go out to this spectacle, so as to see him being led captive? For the angels then, seeing him from the heavens bound and being brought in, leaped for joy; not because they saw him bound only, but because they considered how many men he was about to release from their bonds; not because they beheld him being led by the hand, but because they reckoned how many men he was about to lead by the hand from earth to heaven. For this reason they rejoiced, not because they saw him maimed, but because they considered how many he was about to lead out of darkness. For, Go, he says, to the nations, and having delivered them from darkness, you shall translate them into the kingdom of the love of Christ. For these reasons, leaving the preface, I hasten to leap into the middle. For Paul and the longing for Paul has compelled us to make this leap. Paul and the longing for Paul. Pardon me, or rather, do not pardon me, but also be zealous for this love. For one who loves an unseemly love reasonably asks for pardon; but he who loves such a love, let him be adorned in his longing, and let him make many partakers of his desire, and let him make for himself ten thousand fellow-lovers. For if it were possible to walk the path and proceed in order, and to speak of the former things, and to arrive at the middle things, we would not have left the beginning and come straight to the middle; but since the law of the Fathers commands that after Pentecost the book be put away, and with the end of this feast the reading of the book is also brought to a close, I was afraid lest, while we are occupied and lingering over the prefaces, the sequence of the history should outrun our arrival. For this reason I have run from the beginning of the narrative, and as if holding back the preface of the history by the head, having commanded you to remain and stand at the beginning of the way. For having taken hold of the head of the narrative, I will henceforth confidently go through all the rest, even if the feast should pass; for no one will charge us with untimeliness, since the necessity of the sequence itself absolves us from the charges of untimeliness; for this reason I have run from the prefaces to the middle. For that it was not possible to come to Paul by walking the path, but the book would have outrun our tongue, and would have closed the doors to us, I will make clear from the preface itself, even if this has already become plain. 4. For if by reading and explaining only the inscription to you, we have spent half the feast, if we had also attempted to release our discourse into the very sea of the book, beginning from the preface, how much time would we have spent, so as to arrive at the narratives concerning Paul? Rather, I will try to make this clear to you from the preface itself. The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all things. How many questions do you think there are here? First, for what reason does he remind him of the former book. Second, for what reason does he call it a treatise, and 51.119 not a Gospel; and yet Paul calls it a Gospel, saying thus, Whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the churches, speaking of Luke. Third, for what reason does he say, Of all that Jesus did. For if John, the beloved of Christ, who enjoyed so much boldness, who was counted worthy to recline on that holy breast, who drew thence the springs of the Spirit, this man did not dare to say this, but used such great caution, as to say, that If they should be written every one, all that Christ did, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written; how did this man dare to say, that The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus did? is this question a small one for us

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ἡμέτερος, ἔδησε καὶ αἰχμάλωτον εἰσήγαγε τοῦτον τὸν πάντα ἀνατρέποντα, οὐκ ἐξέλθωμεν ἅπαντες ἐπὶ τὴν θεωρίαν ταύτην, ὥστε ἰδεῖν αὐτὸν αἰχμάλωτον ἀγόμενον; Καὶ γὰρ οἱ ἄγγελοι τότε ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν ὁρῶντες αὐτὸν δεδεμένον καὶ εἰσαγόμενον, ἐσκίρτων· οὐκ ἐπειδὴ δεδεμένον εἶδον μόνον, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἐνενόουν ὅσους ἀνθρώπους ἀπὸ τῶν δεσμῶν λύειν ἔμελλεν· οὐκ ἐπειδὴ χειραγωγούμενον ἐθεάσαντο, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἐλογίζοντο, ὅσους ἀνθρώπους ἔμελλεν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν χειραγωγεῖν ἐκεῖνος. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἔχαιρον, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ πεπηρωμένον εἶδον, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἐνενόουν ὅσους ἔμελλεν ἀπὸ σκότους ἐξαγαγεῖν. Πορεύθητι γὰρ, φησὶν, εἰς τὰ ἔθνη, καὶ ἀπαλλάξας αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ σκότους, μεταστήσεις αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῆς ἀγάπης Χριστοῦ. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα τὸ προοίμιον ἀφεὶς, εἰς τὸ μέσον ἅλλεσθαι σπεύδω. Παῦλος γὰρ καὶ ὁ Παύλου πόθος ἠνάγκασεν ἡμᾶς πηδῆσαι τοῦτο τὸ πήδημα. Παῦλος καὶ ὁ Παύλου πόθος. Σύγγνωτέ μοι, μᾶλλον δὲ μὴ σύγγνωτε, ἀλλὰ καὶ ζηλώσατε τὸν ἔρωτα τοῦτον. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἄτοπον ἐρῶν ἔρωτα, εἰκότως συγγνώμην αἰτεῖ· ὁ δὲ τοιοῦτον ἐρῶν, καλλωπιζέσθω τῷ πόθῳ, καὶ πολλοὺς ποιείτω κοινωνοὺς τῆς ἐπιθυμίας, καὶ συνεραστὰς αὐτοῦ κατασκευαζέτω μυρίους. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἦν ὁδῷ βαδίζοντα καὶ τάξει προβαίνοντα, καὶ τὰ πρότερα εἰπεῖν, καὶ πρὸς τὰ μέσα φθάσαι, οὐκ ἂν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀφέντες, εὐθέως ἐπὶ τὸ μέσον ἤλθομεν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ τῶν Πατέρων ὁ νόμος κελεύει μετὰ τὴν Πεντηκοστὴν ἀποτίθεσθαι τὸ βιβλίον, καὶ τῷ τέλει τῆς ἑορτῆς ταύτης συγκαταλύεται καὶ ἡ τοῦ βιβλίου ἀνάγνωσις, ἐφοβήθην μή ποτε περὶ τὰ προοίμια ἀσχολουμένων ἡμῶν καὶ διατριβόντων, προσεκδράμῃ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἄφιξιν τῆς ἱστορίας ἡ ἀκολουθία. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἔδραμον ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ διηγήματος, καὶ καθάπερ κεφαλῆς ὄπισθεν κατέχων τὸ προοίμιον τῆς ἱστορίας, κελεύσας μεῖναι καὶ στῆναι ὑμᾶς ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ τῆς ὁδοῦ. Τῆς γὰρ τοῦ διηγήματος κεφαλῆς ἁψάμενος, θαῤῥῶν λοιπὸν ἅπασιν ἐπέξειμι τοῖς λοιποῖς, κἂν ἡ ἑορτὴ παρέλθῃ· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἡμῖν ἀκαιρίαν ἐγκαλέσει, αὐτῆς τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν ἀνάγκης τῶν τῆς ἀκαιρίας ἐγκλημάτων ἀπαλλαττούσης ἡμᾶς· διὰ τοῦτο ἀπὸ τῶν προοιμίων ἐπὶ τὸ μέσον ἔδραμον. Ὅτι γὰρ οὐκ ἦν ὁδῷ βαδίζοντα πρὸς Παῦλον ἐλθεῖν, ἀλλὰ προεξέδραμεν ἂν τῆς ἡμετέρας γλώττης τὸ βιβλίον, καὶ τὰς θύρας ἡμῖν ἀπέκλεισεν ἂν, ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ προοιμίου ποιήσω φανερὸν, εἰ καὶ ἤδη γέγονε τοῦτο δῆλον. δʹ. Εἰ γὰρ ἐπιγραφὴν μόνην ὑμῖν ἀναγινώσκοντες καὶ ἐξηγούμενοι, τὸ ἥμισυ τῆς ἑορτῆς ἀνηλώσαμεν, εἰ καὶ πρὸς τὸ πέλαγος αὐτὸ τοῦ βιβλίου ἀπὸ τοῦ προοιμίου ἀρξάμενοι, τὸν λόγον ἀφεῖναι ἐπεχειρήσαμεν, πόσον ἂν ἀνηλώσαμεν χρόνον, ὥστε φθάσαι εἰς τὰ κατὰ τὸν Παῦλον διηγήματα; Μᾶλλον δὲ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ προοιμίου δῆλον ὑμῖν τοῦτο ποιῆσαι πειράσομαι. Τὸν μὲν πρῶτον λόγον ἐποιησάμην περὶ πάντων, ὦ Θεόφιλε. Πόσα νομίζετε ἐνταῦθα εἶναι ζητήματα; Πρῶτον, τίνος ἕνεκεν ἀναμιμνήσκει αὐτὸν τοῦ προτέρου βιβλίου. ∆εύτερον, τίνος ἕνεκεν λόγον καλεῖ, καὶ 51.119 οὐχὶ Εὐαγγέλιον· καίτοι γε Παῦλος Εὐαγγέλιον αὐτὸ καλεῖ, οὑτωσὶ λέγων, Οὗ ὁ ἔπαινος ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ διὰ πασῶν τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν, περὶ τοῦ Λουκᾶ λέγων. Τρίτον, τίνος ἕνεκέν φησι, Περὶ πάντων ὧν ἐποίησεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς. Εἰ γὰρ Ἰωάννης, ὁ ἀγαπητὸς τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ τοσαύτης ἀπολαύσας παῤῥησίας, ὁ ἐπὶ τὸ στῆθος ἐκεῖνο τὸ ἅγιον κατακλιθῆναι καταξιωθεὶς, ὁ τὰς πηγὰς ἐκεῖθεν ἀρυσάμενος τοῦ Πνεύματος, οὗτος οὐκ ἐτόλμησε τοῦτο εἰπεῖν, ἀλλὰ τοσαύτῃ κέχρηται ἀσφαλείᾳ, ὡς εἰπεῖν, ὅτι Εἰ ἐγράφετο καθ' ἓν πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησεν ὁ Χριστὸς, οὐδ' ἂν αὐτὸν οἶμαι χωρῆσαι τὸν κόσμον τὰ γραφόμενα βιβλία· πῶς οὗτος ἐτόλμησεν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι Τὸν μὲν πρῶτον λόγον ἐποιησάμην περὶ πάντων, ὦ Θεόφιλε, ὧν ἐποίησεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς; ἆρα μικρὸν ἡμῖν τὸ ζήτημα τοῦτο εἶναι