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and your desire. For it is incomplete, loving not the souls of your children, but only their bodies, by whose pains you are distressed, and in whose flourishing you rejoice. For a father and venerable mother torment their own heart more over the small injuries of their children, than over the great evils of their souls and worse outrages. For of the one they are parents, but of the other they are not parents. But if I call you mother, even in a worse lot, how can you begrudge the young men a better father? Willingly yield to the great father of mortals, 553 honoring virginity, which attends upon God the Father. Such things to a mother, and here the speech is sufficient. But I, dear children of God, king of all, honoring this law, lovely concord, I have united with God alone, and have left behind the love of dust, which the Son of the immortal Father established from above, born of the uncreated, and imperishable from the imperishable, ever since He first placed Adam in paradise unwed, and afterwards giving the law He purified the people, and cleansed childbirths by the law, and honored the temple with the most pure bodies of successive priests. A witness is the great father of John, who did not before beget his dear son, whom he received within the temple, 554 the forerunner of great Christ to mortals, until he had completed the mysteries for God on pure days. And the end of that law is Christ, mingled with mortals from a virgin’s womb, so that marriage might incline to the earth. And so the one indeed yielded, and a better world was awakened, and death, the destroyer of the first-born, passing through the flesh, in the stream of those being born and the race of those perishing, encountered virginity, and was destroyed, as when a great wave meets a seaside rock, and a flame fed by water. In light of this, who delights in cities and feeble laws, and who in marketplaces and crowds, and who in contests, which myths established for short-lived youths? Who praised an army in wars, and tables at feasts 555 Who, a vainglorious wisdom, which lies in hands, and in spider-like words and webs, born in that very place, and dissolved into air? And who, then, delights in these things, and in the labors of planting, and in the course of a swift-sailing ship under strong winds? These things are not teachings of marriage, but a small part of the ancient punishment of Adam, by which the bitter serpent, watching, creeps under my heel. But if they are of marriage, away with it. For they are not fit companions for me hastening from here to another life, and all blessed things will be destroyed today, or with the unstable stream of the world. For as a fleeting thing you have passed through a fleeting life, 556 touching but little the fleeting as you run past. But if you rejoice in the wise, since they were born of you, accept also the wickedness of sinners, of whom you are the root. The root of Cain, and of Sodom, and of those whom Christ scattered at the tower for their recklessness, and the pride of those whom the rain from heaven extinguished, cleansing the whole earth together with the winds. Who nurtured evil-counseling Pharaoh, the audacity of Ahab, and the most bitter kings of the Assyrians? Who, destructive Herod, the child-killer, who gave the righteous blood because of a drinking-bout and the wanton movements of a daughter, and the murderers of Christ the all-king, and as many as became persecutors before and after, and in the last times, of whom the last and first, the evil abyss of Belial, 557 the terrible power of Julian, destroyer of souls, who, when he was struck by God, since he had waged war on Christ, his dust, still seething hot, is a great terror to sinners. And others whom marriage has given to life, and will yet give, liars, murderers, crooked, swearing falsely, plunderers of others' property, violators of a foreign bed, who could number? since this has been shown to all, that dust is more plentiful than gold, and the most wicked are more numerous than the good. for they travel unequal paths. For to the wicked the path is low and easy. But the good cut a steep path. Therefore, by as much as the wicked are superior in number, so much greater is the value of the good. If indeed you would cease exulting in your children, 558 and calling a disabled life a companion of divinity, we shall stop the speech here. May you have undisputed glory. For I myself do not begrudge an earthly parent. But if, having obtained the second place from God, you look upon it as the first, I shall speak a speech that is true, but heart-grieving. Who of all mortals contrived to beget this best child? what manless device a son

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καὶ σὸς πόθος. Ἡμιτελὴς γὰρ, Στέργων οὐ ψυχὰς τεκέων, τὰ δὲ σώματα μοῦνα, Οἷς δάκνῃ μογέουσι, καὶ οἷς θαλέθουσι γέγηθας. Πλείονα γὰρ τυτθῇσι πατὴρ καὶ πότνια μήτηρ Ὧν τεκέων λώβῃσιν ἑὸν καταδάμναται ἦτορ, Ἢ μεγάλαις ψυχῶν κακίαις καὶ χείροσι λώβαις. Τῶν μὲν γὰρ τοκέες, τῶν δ' οὐ τελέθουσι τοκῆες. Εἰ δέ σε μητέρ' ἐγὼ καλέω, κἀπὶ χείρονι μοίρῃ, Πῶς σύ γ' ἀρειοτέρου φθονέεις πατρὸς ἠϊθέοισιν; Ὡς μεγάλῳ γενετῆρι βροτῶν ἐθέλουσ' ὑπόεικε 553 Παρθενίην τίουσα, Θεὸν πατέρ' ἀμφιέπουσαν. Μητέρι μὲν δὴ τοῖα, καὶ ἄρκιος ἐνθάδε μῦθος. Αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ, φίλα τέκνα Θεοῦ, πάντων βασιλῆος, Τόνδε νόμον τίουσα, ὁμοφροσύνην ἐρατεινὴν Πρὸς Θεὸν οἶον ἔμιξα, χοὸς δ' ἀπέλειπον ἔρωτα, Ὃν πάϊς ἀθανάτοιο Πατρὸς ἐστήσατ' ἄνωθεν, Ἐκγεγαὼς ἀδέτοιο, καὶ ἄφθιτος οὐ φθινύθοντος, Ἐξέτι τοῦ, ὅτε πρῶτον Ἀδὰμ θέτο ἐν παραδείσῳ Ἄζυγα, καὶ μετέπειτα διδοὺς νόμον ἥγνισε λαὸν, Καὶ τοκετοὺς ἐκάθηρε νόμῳ, καὶ νηὸν ἔτισε Σώμασιν ἀγνοτάτοισιν ἀμοιβαδίων ἱερήων. Μάρτυς Ἰωάννοιο πατὴρ μέγας, οὔτι πάροιθε Σπερμήνας φίλον υἷα, τὸν ἔνδοθι δέξατο νηοῦ, 554 Τὸν Χριστοῦ μεγάλοιο προάγγελον ἡμερίοισι, Πρίν γε Θεῷ τελέσαι μυστήρια ἤμασιν ἁγνοῖς. Τοῦ δὲ νόμοιο τέλος Χριστὸς, μερόπεσσι κερασθεὶς Παρθενικῆς ἀπὸ γαστρὸς, ὅπως γάμος ἐς χθόνα νεύσῃ. Καί ῥ' ὁ μὲν ὣς ὑπόειξεν, ὁ δ' ἔγρετο κόσμος ἀρείων, Καὶ μόρος ἀρχεγόνοιο λυτῆς διὰ σαρκὸς ὁδεύων, Ῥοιῇ τικτομένοισι, καὶ ὀλλυμένοισι γενέθλῃ, Παρθενίῃ γ' ἐνέκυρσε, καὶ ὤλετο, ὡς ὅτε πέτρῃ Ἀγχιάλῳ μέγα κῦμα, καὶ ὕδατι βοσκομένη φλόξ. Πρὸς τάδε τίς πτολίεσσι καὶ ἀδρανέεσσι νόμοισι, Τίς δ' ἀγορῇσι γέγηθε, καὶ οἴδμασι, καὶ τίς ἀγῶσιν, Οὓς μῦθοι συνέπηξαν ἐπ' ὠκυμόροισιν ἐφήβοις; Τίς στρατὸν ἐν πολέμοισι, καὶ ἐν θαλίῃσι τραπέζας 555 Ἥνεσε; τίς σοφίην κενεαυχέα, ἥ τ' ἐνὶ χερσὶν, Ἥτ' ἐν ἀραχναίοισι λόγοις καὶ πλέγμασι κεῖται, Αὐτοῦ τικτομένοισι, καὶ ἠέρι λυομένοισι; Τίς δ' ἄρα τοῖσι γέγηθε, φυτοσκαφίης τε πόνοισι, Νηός τ' ὠκυάλοιο δρόμῳ κραιπνοῖς ὑπ' ἀήταις; Ταῦτα μὲν οὔτε γάμοιο διδάγματα, τῆς δ' Ἀδάμοιο Τίσιος ἀρχαίης τυτθὸν μέρος, οἷσιν ὑφέρπει Πτέρναν ἐμὴν δοκέων πικρὸς ὄφις. Εἰ δὲ γάμοιο, Ἐῤῥέτω. Οὐ γὰρ ἔμοιγε συνέμπορα πρὸς βίον ἄλλον Ἔνθεν ἐπειγομένῃ, τὰ δέ γ' ὄλβια πάντ' ἀπολεῖται Σήμερον, ἢ κόσμοιο σὺν ἀστατέοντι ῥεέθρῳ Ῥευστὸς γὰρ ῥευστοῖο διεκπεράας βιότοιο, 556 Βαιὸν ἐφαπτόμενός τε παρατροχάων τροχάοντα. Εἰ δὲ σοφοῖσι γέγηθας, ἐπεὶ σέθεν ἐξεγένοντο, ∆έξαι καὶ ἀλιτρῶν κακίην, ὧν ῥίζα τέτυξαι. Ῥίζα Κάϊν, Σοδόμων τε, καὶ οὓς ἐκέδασ' ἐπὶ πύργῳ Χριστὸς ἀτασθαλέοντας, ὕβριν θ' ὧν ἔσβεσεν ὄμβρος Οὐρανόθεν χθόνα πᾶσαν ὁμοῦ πνείουσι καθήρας. Τίς Φαραὼ κακόμητιν, Ἀχὰβ θράσος, Ἀσσυρίων τε Πικροτάτους βασιλῆας ἐθρέψατο; τίς δὲ δίκαιον Αἷμα πότῳ μάχλοις τε κινήμασι δόντα θυγατρὸς Οὔλιον Ἡρώδην, παιδοκτόνον, ἠδὲ φονῆας Χριστοῦ παμβασιλῆος, ὅσοι τ' ἐγένοντο διῶκται Πρόσθεν καὶ μετέπειτα, καὶ ὑστατίοισι χρόνοισι, Ὧν πύματον πρῶτόν τε, κακὸν Βελίαο βέρεθρον, 557 ∆εινὸν Ἰουλιανοῖο κράτος, ψυχῶν ὀλετῆρος, Οὗ θεόθεν πληγέντος, ἐπεὶ μόθον ἤρατο Χριστῷ, Θερμὸν ἔτι ζείουσα κόνις, μέγα τάρβος ἀλιτροῖς· Ἄλλους θ' οὕς περ ἔδωκε βίῳ γάμος, ἠδ' ἔτι δώσει, Ψεύστας, ἀνδροφόνους, σκολιοὺς, ἐπίορκον ὀμοῦντας, Ἅρπαγας ἀλλοτρίων, ξείνης δηλήμονας εὐνῆς, Τίς κεν ἀριθμήσειεν; ἐπεὶ τόδε πᾶσι πέφανται, Ὡς πλείων χρυσοῖο κόνις, πλείους δὲ κάκιστοι Τῶν ἀγαθῶν· καὶ γάρ τε τρίβους περόωσιν ἀνίσους. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ χθαμαλὴ καὶ ἐπίτροχός ἐστι κακοῖσιν. Οἱ δ' ἀγαθοὶ τέμνουσι προσάντεα. Τοὔνεκεν ἐσθλῶν Πλεῖστον, ὅσον κακίους προφερέστεροί εἰσιν ἀριθμῷ. Εἰ μὲν δὴ λήξειας ἀγαλλομένη τεκέεσσι, 558 Καὶ πηρὸν καλέουσα βίον θεότητος ἑταῖρον, Στήσομεν ἐνθάδε μῦθον. Ἔχοις κλέος ἀμφήριστον. Οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδ' αὐτὴ φθονέω χθονίῳ γενετῆρι. Εἰ δὲ Θεοῖο λαχοῦσα τὰ δεύτερα, πρῶτα δέδορκας, Φθέγξομαι ἀτρεκέως μὲν, ἀτὰρ θυμαλγέα μῦθον. Τίς πάντων μερόπων τόδ' ἐμήσατο τέκνον ἄριστον Σπερμῆναι; τί δὲ μῆχος ἀνάρσιον υἷα