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Well do they by the star infer the heavenly one; and now Herod rages, and murders children, and because of the liberator, he destroys those who ought to obtain liberty. But let us be with those who worship, and let us offer to the one who for our sake became poor, even to the body, not frankincense, nor gold, nor myrrh; the one as to God, the other as to a king, and the other as to one who for our sake tasted death; but mystical gifts, and beyond what is seen; namely, to take nothing, nor to concede anything to wealth against poverty, nor to wrong the creature by means of the creature.

13. With Christ you enroll, with Christ you weigh, with the head you test, with the Word you reason. Christ is just now born for you, and He is God, and becomes man, and converses with men. What does this word signify? It seems to me, for an admonition to those entrusted with such things, that God always enters into the greatest administrations. And 35.1060 so that He might put to shame those making the enrollment, at that time He converses with flesh and with men; and so that He might comfort us for our servitude, and legislate gratitude (for this is not to be overlooked), He Himself also pays the two-drachma tax, and not for Himself alone, but also for Peter, the most honored of the disciples; since He also became man for our sake, and took on the form of a servant, and for our iniquities was led to death. These things the Savior did, although by His will alone, as God, He was able to save, since He also established all things by His command; but He brought to us something greater and more persuasive, sympathy and equal honor. What then of us, the disciples of the meek and man-loving Christ, who ministered so much to us? Shall we not imitate the compassion of the Master? Shall we not be kind to our fellow servants, so that we ourselves may receive such from the Lord who measures as we have measured? Shall we not possess our own souls through gentleness? It is enough to be enslaved to the free, and for the difference to be so great that, of the same dust, one rules and the other is ruled; and one imposes taxes, while the other is enrolled; and for some it is permitted to do injustice and to do evil, while for others it is necessary to beg and struggle not to suffer it; and these things concern the one image, and the one dignity, the heirs of the same life, for whom Christ likewise died. These things are enough for the free; let not the yoke be made heavier, nor the penalty for our first sin.

14. Would that wickedness might perish, and its first foundation, and the Evil One who sowed the tares among us while we slept, so that the beginning of evil becomes the neglect of the good, just as darkness is the withdrawal of light. This is the tree, and the bitter taste, and the envious serpent, and the disobedience that condemned us to live by the sweat of the brow. From this, I am naked and unseemly, and I knew my nakedness, and I put on the tunic of skin, and I fell from paradise, and I was turned back to the earth from which I was taken, having this one thing in place of delight: to know my own evils; and I was condemned to unceasing grief instead of the small pleasure, and to war against the one who loved evil, and who through the taste drew me away. These are for me the wages of wickedness; from this 35.1061 to be born in toil, and to live, and to be dissolved. This is the mother of need, and this of greed, and this of wars, and wars are the fathers of taxes, and these of the heaviest condemnation. But let us not increase the fine, lying under the same sentence, nor let us become evil to others. God requires of us love of mankind toward one another, even if we are punished by Him.

15. There will be another enrollment, and another enroller; if you hear of any book of the living, and a book of those not saved. There we all shall be enrolled, or rather we have already been written, each according to the worth of what has been lived here. Wealth has no advantage there, nor poverty a disadvantage, not favor, not enmity, not any other of all the things by which justice is stolen here. By the finger of God we all have been written, and they will be opened

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καλῶς τῷ ἀστέρι τεκμαίρονται τὸν οὐράνιον· νυνί τε Ἡρώδης μαίνεται, καὶ παιδοφονεῖ, καὶ διὰ τὸν ἐλευθερωτὴν, ἀναιρεῖ τοὺς τῆς ἐλευθερίας τυγχάνειν ὀφείλοντας. Ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς γε μετὰ τῶν προσκυ νούντων γενώμεθα, καὶ προσενέγκωμεν τῷ δι' ἡμᾶς πτωχεύσαντι μέχρι καὶ σώματος, μὴ λίβανον, μηδὲ χρυσὸν, μηδὲ σμύρναν· τὸν μὲν ὡς Θεῷ, τὸν δὲ ὡς βασιλεῖ, τὴν δὲ ὡς γευσαμένῳ δι' ἡμᾶς νεκρότη τος· ἀλλὰ δῶρα μυστικὰ, καὶ ὑπὲρ τὸ φαινό μενον· τό γε μηδὲν λαβεῖν, μηδὲ τῷ πλούτῳ τι συγ χωρῆσαι κατὰ πενίας, μηδ' ἀδικῆσαι τὸ πλάσμα διὰ τοῦ πλάσματος.

ΙΓʹ. Σὺν Χριστῷ γράφεις, σὺν Χριστῷ ταλαντεύεις, σὺν τῇ κεφαλῇ δοκιμάζεις, μετὰ τοῦ λόγου λογίζῃ. Χριστὸς ἄρτι γεννᾶταί σοι, καὶ Θεός ἐστι, καὶ ἄν θρωπος γίνεται, καὶ ἀνθρώποις συναναστρέφεται. Τί τοῦ λόγου δηλοῦντος; Ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, εἰς νουθε σίαν τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα πιστευομένων, ὅτι ταῖς με γίσταις τῶν διοικήσεων Θεὸς ἀεὶ συνεισέρχεται. Καὶ 35.1060 ἵνα μὲν καταιδέσειε τοὺς ἀπογράφοντας, τηνι καῦτα ὁμιλεῖ σαρκὶ καὶ ἀνθρώποις· ἵνα δὲ παραμυ θήσηται τῆς δουλείας ἡμᾶς, καὶ τὴν εὐγνωμοσύνην νομοθετήσῃ (οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῦτο παροπτέον), τελεῖ καὶ αὐτὸς τὸ δίδραχμον, καὶ οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ Πέτρου τοῦ τιμιωτάτου τῶν μαθητῶν· ἐπεὶ καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἐγένετο δι' ἡμᾶς, καὶ δούλου μορφὴν ἀνεδέξατο, καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀνομιῶν ἡμῶν ἤχθη εἰς θάνατον. Ταῦτα μὲν ὁ Σωτὴρ, καὶ τῷ θελήματι μό νον, ὡς Θεὸς, σῶσαι δυνάμενος, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ πάντα προστάγματι συνεστήσατο· μεῖζον δὲ καὶ δυσωπητι κώτερον εἰσήνεγκεν ἡμῖν, τὴν συμπάθειαν καὶ τὸ ὁμότιμον. Τί δὲ ἡμεῖς οἱ Χριστοῦ μαθηταὶ τοῦ πράου καὶ φιλανθρώπου, καὶ τοσοῦτον ἡμῖν λειτουρ γήσαντος; Οὐ μιμησόμεθα τοῦ ∆εσπότου τὴν εὐ σπλαγχνίαν; οὐκ ἐσόμεθα χρηστοὶ τοῖς ὁμοδούλοις, ἵνα τοιούτου τύχωμεν καὶ αὐτοὶ τοῦ Κυρίου μετροῦν τος, ὡς ἂν μετρήσωμεν; οὐ κτησόμεθα τὰς ἑαυτῶν ψυχὰς, διὰ τῆς ἡμερότητος; Ἀρκεῖ δουλεύειν τοῖς ἐλευθέροις, καὶ τοσοῦτον εἶναι τὸ διάφορον, ὥστε τοῦ αὐτοῦ χοὸς, τὸ μὲν κρατεῖν, τὸ δὲ ἄρχεσθαι· καὶ τὸ μὲν τάσσειν φόρους, τὸ δὲ ἀπογράφεσθαι· καὶ τοῖς μὲν ἀδικεῖν ἐξεῖναι καὶ ποιεῖν κακῶς, τοῖς δὲ ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ παθεῖν δεῖσθαι καὶ ἀγωνίζεσθαι· καὶ ταῦτα εἶναι περὶ τὴν μίαν εἰκόνα, καὶ τὸ ἓν ἀξίωμα, τοὺς τῆς αὐτῆς ζωῆς κληρονόμους, ὑπὲρ ὧν Χριστὸς ὁμοίως ἀπέθανεν. Ἀρκεῖ ταῦτα τοῖς ἐλευθέροις· μὴ βαρυνέσθω δὲ ὁ ζυγὸς, μηδὲ τῆς πρώτης ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίας τὸ ἐπιτίμιον.

Ι∆ʹ. Ὡς ἀπόλοιτο ἡ κακία, καὶ ἡ πρώτη ταύτης καταβολὴ, καὶ ὁ καθεύδουσιν ἡμῖν ἐπισπείρας τὰ ζι ζάνια Πονηρὸς, ἵν' ἀρχὴ τοῦ κακοῦ γένηται τὸ ἀμε λῆσαι τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, ὥσπερ καὶ σκότους ἡ τοῦ φωτὸς ὑποχώρησις. Ταῦτα τὸ ξύλον, καὶ ἡ πικρὰ γεῦσις, καὶ ὁ βάσκανος ὄφις, καὶ ἡ παρακοὴ ἐν ἱδρῶτι τοῦ προσώπου ζῇν κατακρίνασα. Ἐντεῦθεν γυμνὸς ἐγὼ καὶ ἀσχήμων, καὶ τὴν γύμνωσιν ἔγνων, καὶ τὸν δερ μάτινον χιτῶνα ἠμφιασάμην, καὶ τοῦ παραδείσου διέπεσον, καὶ εἰς τὴν γῆν ἀπεστράφην, ὅθεν ἐλή φθην, ἓν τοῦτο ἀντὶ τρυφῆς ἔχων, τὰ ἐμαυτοῦ γινώ σκειν κακά· καὶ λύπην κατεκρίθην ἄπαυστον ἀντὶ τῆς μικρᾶς ἡδονῆς, καὶ πόλεμον πρὸς τὸν φιλω θέντα κακῶς, καὶ διὰ τῆς γεύσεως ὑποσπάσαντα. Ταῦτα τῆς κακίας ἐμοὶ τὰ ἐπίχειρα· ἐντεῦθεν τὸ 35.1061 γεννᾶσθαι μόχθῳ, καὶ ζῇν, καὶ λύεσθαι. Αὕτη μήτηρ χρείας, ἡ δὲ πλεονεξίας, ἡ δὲ πολέμων, πόλε μοι δὲ φόρων πατέρες, οἱ δὲ τῆς κατακρίσεως τὸ βαρύτατον. Ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς γε μὴ τὸ πρόστιμον ἐπιτεί νωμεν, ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτὴν κείμενοι καταδίκην, μηδὲ ἄλ λοις κακοὶ γενώμεθα. Φιλανθρωπίαν ἡμᾶς τὴν εἰς ἀλλήλους ἀπαιτεῖ Θεὸς, κἂν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ κολαζώ μεθα.

ΙΕʹ. Ἔσται καὶ ἄλλη τις ἐγγραφὴ, καὶ ἄλλος ἀπο γραφεύς· εἴ τινα βίβλον ζώντων ἀκούεις, καὶ βίβλον οὐ σωζομένων. Ἐκεῖ πάντες ἐγγραφησόμεθα, μᾶλ λον δὲ ἤδη γεγράμμεθα κατ' ἀξίαν τῶν ἐνταῦθα βε βιωμένων ἕκαστος. Οὐ πλοῦτος ἔχει τὸ πλέον ἐκεῖ, οὐ πενία τὸ ἔλαττον, οὐ χάρις, οὐκ ἔχθρα, οὐκ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἁπάντων, οἷς ἐνταῦθα τὸ δίκαιον κλέ πτεται. ∆ακτύλῳ Θεοῦ πάντες γεγράμμεθα, καὶ ἀνοι