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are not being voted upon, but lives are being judged. And what will you say, when you are accused before the incorruptible judge, when it is said to you: You had the law, the prophets, the evangelical commands; you heard all of them crying out together with one voice for love, for philanthropy, some saying, ‘You shall not charge interest to your brother,’ and others, ‘He has not given his money at interest,’ and others, ‘If you lend to your brother, you shall not be to him as an oppressor’? And Matthew cried out in parables, declaring the Lord's word, saying: ‘You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should not you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. Then unprofitable repentance will seize you, and heavy groans and inexorable punishment will seize you; nowhere will gold be a help, nor silver a defense, but the repayment of interest will be more bitter than gall. These are not frightening words, but true things, testifying to the judgment before the experience, which it is good for the prudent and for him who has foresight of the future to guard against. But so that, amidst the judgments of God, I may also relate something from our own times and benefit my hearers, listen to the story, and perhaps many of you will recognize the subject as a familiar one. 9.205

There was a certain man in this city (but I will not say his name, being careful not to mock the deceased by name) whose trade was lending money and the profit from foul interest. And being possessed by the passion of avarice, he was frugal even in his own expenses (for such are the avaricious), not setting out a sufficient table, not changing his garment frequently or as needed, not providing his children with the necessary sustenance for life, not quickly going to the bath for fear of the fee and the three obols, but contriving every way by which he might increase the sum of his money, nor indeed did he consider anyone a trustworthy guardian of his purse, not a child, not a slave, not a banker, not a key, not a seal, but putting his gold into holes in the walls and smearing mud over them from the outside, he kept his treasure unknown to all, changing it from place to place and from wall to wall and skillfully contriving to keep it hidden from everyone. Suddenly he departed from this life, telling none of his household where the gold was buried. He too was buried, then, having gained only the hiding of it; but his children, hoping to become the most splendid of all in the city on account of his wealth, searched everywhere, they inquired of one another, they questioned the servants, they dug up the floors of the houses, they hollowed out the walls, they meddled in the houses of their neighbors and acquaintances, and having moved every stone, as the saying goes, they found not even an obol, and they live their lives homeless, without a hearth, poor, uttering many curses each day against their father's futility. Such then was your friend and companion, O usurers; ending his life in a manner worthy of his character, a gatherer of wind, having toiled in pains and hunger, and gathering an inheritance— 9.206 for himself eternal punishment, and for his descendants, poverty. But you do not know for whom you gather or toil; the circumstances are many, the slanderers countless, ambushers and robbers disturb the land and the sea. See to it, lest you both gain the sins and not possess the gold. ‘But this man is burdensome to us,’ they say (for I know your mutterings under your breath), ‘and by constantly † establishing us before the tribunal, he plots against those who are being benefited and are in need.’ ‘For behold, we will no longer advance a loan; and how will those in distress live?’ The words are worthy of the deeds, a fitting objection for those who have been darkened by the gloom of money; for they do not have the faculty of their mind sound enough to understand what is being said, but they hear the counsel of those who admonish them in the opposite sense; for as if I were saying that one ought not to lend, they mutter and threaten to shut their doors to those in need. But I, in the first place, proclaim giving freely, and

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ψηφίζονται, ἀλλὰ βίοι κρίνονται. τί δὲ λέξεις ἐγκαλούμενος τῷ ἀδεκάστῳ κριτῇ, ὅταν σοι λέγηται· εἶχες νόμον προφήτας εὐαγγελικὰ παραγγέλματα· πάντων ἤκουες ὁμοῦ βοώντων μιᾷ φωνῇ τὴν ἀγάπην, τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν καὶ τῶν μὲν λεγόντων· Οὐκ ἐκτοκιεῖς τῷ ἀδελφῷ σου, τῶν δέ· Τὸ ἀργύριον οὐκ ἔδωκεν ἐπὶ τόκῳ, ἄλλων· Ἐὰν δανείσῃς τῷ ἀδελφῷ σου, οὐκ ἔσῃ αὐτὸν κατεπείγων; Ματθαῖος δὲ ἐν παραβολαῖς ἔκραξε λέγων δεσποτικὸν λόγον ἀπαγγέλλων· ∆οῦλε πονηρέ, πᾶσαν τὴν ὀφείλην ἐκείνην ἀφῆκά σοι, ἐπεὶ παρεκάλεσάς με· οὐκ ἔδει καὶ σὲ ἐλεῆσαι τὸν σύνδουλόν σου, ὡς καὶ ἐγώ σε ἠλέησα; καὶ ὀργισθεὶς ὁ κύριος παρέδωκεν αὐτὸν τοῖς βασανισταῖς, ἕως οὗ ἀποδῷ πᾶν τὸ ὀφειλόμενον αὐτῷ. τότε σε καταλήψεται ἡ ἀνόνητος μεταμέλεια, στεναγμοὶ δὲ καταλήψονται βαρεῖς καὶ κόλασις ἀπαραίτητος· οὐδαμοῦ δὲ χρυσὸς βοηθῶν, οὐκ ἄργυρος ἐπαμύνων, πικροτέρα δὲ χολῆς ἡ τῶν τόκων ἀνάδοσις. ταῦτα οὐ ῥήματα φοβοῦντα, ἀλλὰ πράγματα ἀληθῆ πρὸ τῆς πείρας τὸ κριτήριον διαμαρτυρόμενα, ἃ φυλάξασθαι τῷ σωφρονοῦντι καλὸν καὶ ᾧ τοῦ μέλλοντος πρόνοια. Ἵνα δὲ μεταξὺ τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ κριμάτων καί τι τῶν ἐν τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς χρόνοις διηγησάμενος ὠφελήσω τι τοὺς ἀκούοντας, ἀκούσατε τοῦ λόγου, καὶ τάχα οἱ πολλοὶ τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ὡς γνώριμον ἐπιγνώσεσθε. 9.205

Ἀνήρ τις ἦν ἐπὶ τῆσδε τῆς πόλεως (οὐκ ἐρῶ δὲ τοὔνομα κωμῳδεῖν ὀνομαστὶ τὸν τελευτήσαντα φυλαττόμενος) τέχνην ἔχων τὰ δανείσματα καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῶν μιαρῶν τόκων ἐπικαρπίαν. τῷ πάθει δὲ συνεχόμενος τῆς φιλαργυρίας φειδωλὸς ἦν καὶ περὶ τὴν ἰδίαν δαπάνην (τοιοῦτοι γὰρ οἱ φιλάργυροι) οὐ τράπεζαν αὐτάρκη παρατιθέμενος, οὐχ ἱμάτιον συνεχῶς ἢ κατὰ χρείαν ἀμείβων, οὐ τέκνοις παρέχων τὴν ἀναγκαίαν τοῦ βίου διαγωγήν, οὐ λουτρὸν ταχέως καταλαμβάνων φόβῳ τοῦ μισθοῦ καὶ τῶν τριῶν ὀβολῶν, πάντα δὲ τρόπον ἐπινοῶν, ὅθεν ἂν ἐπὶ τὸ πλέον τὸν ἀριθμὸν προαγάγοι τῶν χρημάτων, οὔτε μὴν ἀξιόπιστόν τινα φύλακα τοῦ βαλαντίου ἐνόμιζεν, οὐ τέκνον, οὐ δοῦλον, οὐ τραπεζίτην, οὐ κλεῖν, οὐ σφραγῖδα, ταῖς δὲ τῶν τοίχων ὀπαῖς τὸ χρυσίον ἐμβάλλων καὶ τὸν πηλὸν ἔξωθεν ἐπαλείφων ἄγνωστον πᾶσιν εἶχεν τὸν θησαυρὸν τόπους ἐκ τόπων ἀμείβων καὶ τοίχους ἐκ τοίχων καὶ τὸ λανθάνειν πάντας σοφιζόμενος εὐμηχάνως. ἀθρόον ἀπῆλθε τοῦ βίου οὐδενὶ τῶν οἰκείων ἐξαγορεύσας, ἔνθα ὁ χρυσὸς κατ<ωρ>ώρυκτο. κατωρύχθη μὲν οὖν κἀκεῖνος τὸ κρύψαι κερδάνας· οἱ δὲ παῖδες αὐτοῦ πάντων ἔσεσθαι τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει λαμπρότεροι διὰ πλοῦτον ἐλπίσαντες ἠρεύνων πανταχοῦ, παρ' ἀλλήλων διεπυνθάνοντο, τοὺς οἰκέτας ἀνέκρινον, τὰ ἐδάφη τῶν οἴκων ἀνώρυττον, τοὺς τοίχους ὑπεκένουν, τὰς τῶν γειτόνων καὶ γνωρίμων οἰκίας ἐπολυπραγμόνουν, πάντα δὲ λίθον, τὸ τοῦ λόγου, κινήσαντες εὗρον οὐδ' ὀβολόν, διάγουσι δὲ τὸν βίον ἄοικον ἀνέστιοι, πένητες, ἐπαρώμενοι πολλὰ καθ' ἑκάστην τῇ τοῦ πατρὸς ματαιότητι. Ὁ μὲν δὴ φίλος ὑμῶν καὶ ἑταῖρος, ὦ τοκισταί, τοιοῦτος· ἀξίως τοῦ τρόπου καταστρέψας τὸν βίον ἀνεμιαῖος χρηματιστής, ὀδύναις καὶ λιμῷ μοχθήσας, συναγαγὼν δὲ κληρονομίαν 9.206 ἑαυτῷ μὲν τὴν αἰώνιον κόλασιν, τοῖς δὲ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὴν πενίαν. οὐκ ἴστε δὲ ὑμεῖς τίνι ἀθροίζετε ἢ μοχθεῖτε· αἱ περιστάσεις πολλαί, οἱ συκοφάνται μυρίοι, ἐνεδρευταὶ καὶ λῃσταὶ γῆν διενοχλοῦσι καὶ θάλασσαν. ὁρᾶτε, μὴ καὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας κερδάνητε καὶ τὸν χρυσὸν μὴ κατάσχητε. ἀλλ' ἐπαχθὴς ἡμῖν οὗτός ἐστι, φασίν (οἶδα γὰρ ὑμῶν τοὺς ὑπ' ὀδόντα γογγυσμούς), καὶ συνεχῶς ἡμᾶς † στηρίζων ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος ἐπιβουλεύει τοῖς εὐεργετουμένοις καὶ χρῄζουσιν. ἰδοὺ γὰρ οὐκέτι προησόμεθα δάνεισμα· καὶ πῶς διάζουσιν οἱ στενούμενοι; ἄξιοι τῶν πραγμάτων οἱ λόγοι, πρέπουσα ἡ ἀντίρρησις τοῖς τῷ ζόφῳ τῶν χρημάτων ἐσκοτωμένοις· οὔτε γὰρ τὸ τῆς διανοίας κριτήριον ἔχουσιν ἐρρωμένον ὡς συνιέναι τῶν λεγομένων, πρὸς τοὐναντίον δὲ τῆς συμβουλῆς τῶν νουθετούντων ἀκούουσιν· ὡς γὰρ ἐμοῦ λέγοντος μὴ χρῆναι δανείζειν, οὕτως ὑπογογγύζοντες ἀπειλοῦσι τοῖς δεομένοις ἀποκλείσειν τὰς θύρας. ἐγὼ δὲ πρῶτον μὲν τὸ δωρεῖσθαι διακηρύσσω καὶ