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we might be rich in divinity? What then shall we, who have received so great an example of compassion and sympathy; what shall we think concerning these things, and what shall we do? Shall we overlook them? Shall we pass them by? Shall we leave them as dead, as abominable, as the most wicked of reptiles and wild beasts? By no means, brothers; these things are not for us, the nurslings of Christ, of the good Shepherd, who turns back the straying, and seeks out the lost, and strengthens the weak; nor for human nature, which has legislated sympathy, having learned piety and philanthropy from its own equal weakness.

16. But while some shall suffer in the open air, 35.877 shall we inhabit most splendid houses, adorned with all kinds of stones, and glittering with gold and silver, and with the arrangement of fine mosaic, and with a variety of painting, with deceptive allurements for the eyes? And some we shall inhabit, and others we shall build, for whom? Not even for our own heirs perhaps, but for strangers and foreigners, and of these perhaps not even for those who love us, but for the most hateful and envious, which is the last of evils. And while some will shiver in worn and torn rags, or rather perhaps will not even have these in abundance; shall we pamper ourselves in soft and flowing garments, and in airy fabrics of linen and silk, by which we shall rather be disfigured than adorned (for so I call everything that is superfluous and elaborate), while for us indoors will be laid up a useless and unprofitable care, an expense for moths and for all-consuming time; and while some will not have even necessary food in abundance, (O my luxury, and their misery!) but will lie before our doors, faint and starving, not even having from their bodies the means for begging, deprived of voices, for lamenting, of hands, for stretching out in supplication, of feet, for approaching those who have, of breath, for the vigor of their wailing, judging the heaviest of evils to be the lightest, thankful only for their eyes, because they do not see their own ruin?

17. And they are thus; but we shall recline splendidly on a high and lofty couch, and with superfluous and untouched coverings, annoyed even if we hear the voice of their requests. For us the floor must be fragrant with flowers, often even out of season, and the table must be sprinkled with perfumes, and with the most fragrant and expensive of perfumes, so that we may be made even more effeminate; and boys must stand by, some in order and in a row, with their hair loose and effeminate, and elaborately arranged in their facial hairstyle, adorned more than 35.880 is fitting for licentious eyes; others holding the cups on their fingertips, as gracefully and at the same time as securely as possible; others contriving a breeze above our heads with fans, and with breezes from their hands cooling our mass of flesh; and in addition to these things, the table must abound with meats, with all the elements supplying us richly: air, earth, water; and it must be crowded with the contrivances of cooks and chefs, and it must be a contest for all, who can best flatter our gluttonous and ungrateful belly, that heavy burden and origin of evil, that most insatiable and most faithless beast, which is immediately destroyed along with the foods that are destroyed. And for some, a surfeit even of water is a big thing, but for us the mixing-bowls of wine are even unto drunkenness, or rather even beyond drunkenness, for the more intemperate; and one of the wines we shall reject, another we shall approve as fragrant, and about another we shall philosophize, and it is a loss, if to the local wine some of the so-called foreign ones is not added, like a tyrant. For we must be luxurious and beyond necessity

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ἡμεῖς πλουτήσωμεν τὴν θεότητα; Τί οὖν ἡμεῖς, οἱ τοσοῦτον εὐσπλαγχνίας καὶ συμπα θείας λαβόντες ὑπόδειγμα· τί διανοησόμεθα περὶ τούτων, καὶ τί ποιήσομεν; Περιοψόμεθα; παραδρα μούμεθα; Καταλείψομεν ὡς νεκροὺς, ὡς ἐβδελυγμέ νους, ὡς ἑρπετῶν καὶ θηρίων τὰ πονηρότατα; Μη δαμῶς, ἀδελφοί· οὔτε πρὸς ἡμῶν ταῦτα, τοῦ Χριστοῦ θρεμμάτων, τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ Ποιμένος, τοῦ τὸ πλανώμενον ἐπιστρέφοντος, καὶ τὸ ἀπολωλὸς ἐκζη τοῦντος, καὶ τὸ ἀσθενὲς ἐνισχύοντος· οὔτε πρὸς τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, ἣ τὸ συμπαθὲς ἐνομοθέτησεν, ἐκ τῆς ἴσης ἀσθενείας μαθοῦσα τὸ εὐσεβὲς καὶ φιλάν θρωπον.

Ιςʹ. Ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν ὕπαιθροι ταλαιπωρήσουσιν, 35.877 ἡμεῖς δὲ οἰκήσομεν οἰκίας ὑπερλάμπρους, λίθοις παντοίοις διηνθισμένας, καὶ χρυσῷ καὶ ἀργύρῳ κατ αστραπτούσας, καὶ ψηφῖδος λεπτῆς διαθέσει, καὶ ποικιλίᾳ γραφῆς, ὀφθαλμῶν ἀπατηλοῖς δελεάσμασι; Καὶ τὰς μὲν οἰκήσομεν, τὰς δὲ οἰκοδομήσομεν, τί σιν; Οὐδὲ κληρονόμοις ἴσως ἡμῶν, ἀλλὰ ξένοις καὶ ἀλλοτρίοις, καὶ τούτων ἴσως οὐδὲ τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀπεχθεστάτοις καὶ φθονερωτάτοις, ὃ κακῶν ἔσχατον. Καὶ οἱ μὲν ῥιγώσουσιν ἐν τρυχί νοις καὶ διεσπασμένοις ῥάκεσι, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ τούτων τυχὸν εὐπορήσουσιν· ἡμεῖς δὲ θρύψομεν ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἐσθῆτι μαλακῇ καὶ περιῤῥεούσῃ, καὶ τοῖς ἐκ λίνου καὶ σηρῶν ἀερίοις ὑφάσμασι, καὶ τοῖς μὲν ἐνασχημονήσομεν μᾶλλον, ἤπερ ἐμπρέψομεν (οὕτω γὰρ ἐγὼ καλῶ πᾶν τὸ περιτ τὸν καὶ περίεργον), τὰ δὲ ἔνδον ἡμῖν ἀποκεί σεται φροντὶς ἄχρηστος καὶ ἀνόνητος, ση τῶν δαπάνη καὶ χρόνου τοῦ τὰ πάντα καταν αλίσκοντος· καὶ οἱ μὲν, οὐδὲ τῆς ἀναγκαίας τροφῆς εὐπορήσουσιν, (ὢ τῆς ἐμῆς τρυφῆς, καὶ τῆς ἐκείνων ταλαιπωρίας!) ἀλλὰ κείσονται πρὸ τῶν ἡμετέρων θυρῶν, ἐκλυόμενοι καὶ λιμώττοντες, οὐδὲ τὰς πρὸς τὴν αἴτησιν ἀφορμὰς παρὰ τοῦ σώματος ἔχοντες, ἐστε ρημένοι φωνῶν μὲν, εἰς τὸ ὀδύρεσθαι, χειρῶν δὲ, εἰς τὸ προτείνειν ἐφ' ἱκεσίᾳ, ποδῶν δὲ, εἰς τὸ προσιέναι τοῖς ἔχουσιν, ἀναπνοῶν δὲ, εἰς εὐτονίαν τῆς θρηνῳ δίας, τὸ βαρύτατον τῶν κακῶν κουφότατον κρίνοντες, τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς μόνον εὐχαριστοῦντες, ὅτι μὴ τὴν ἑαυτῶν λώβην βλέπουσιν;

ΙΖʹ. Καὶ οἱ μὲν οὕτως· ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀνακεισόμεθα λαμπροὶ λαμπρῶς ἐπὶ στιβάδος ὑψηλῆς τε καὶ μετεώ ρου, καὶ τῶν περιττῶν καὶ ἀψαύστων ἐπιβλημάτων, κἂν φωνῆς ἀκούσωμεν τῶν αἰτήσεων δυσχεραί νοντες. ∆εῖ δὲ ἡμῖν τὸ μὲν ἔδαφος εὐωδεῖν ἄνθεσι, πολλάκις καὶ τῆς ὥρας ἔξω, τὴν δὲ τράπεζαν κατεῤῥάνθαι μύροις, καὶ μύρων τοῖς εὐωδεστάτοις τε καὶ πολυτελεστάτοις, ἵνα καὶ μᾶλλον ἐκθηλυνώμεθα· παῖδας δὲ παρεστάναι, τοὺς μὲν ἐν κόσμῳ καὶ ἐφ εξῆς, ἀνέτους τὰς κόμας καὶ θηλυδρίας, καὶ τῇ κατὰ πρόσωπον κουρᾷ περιειργασμένους, πλεῖον ἢ ὅσον 35.880 συμφέρει λίχνοις ὀφθαλμοῖς κεκοσμημένους· τοὺς δὲ τὰς κύλικας ἐπ' ἄκρων δακτύλων ἔχοντας, ὡς οἷόν τε εὐπρεπέστατά τε ὁμοῦ καὶ ἀσφαλέστατα· τοὺς δὲ ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς ἄνεμον ταῖς ῥιπῖσι σοφιζομένους, καὶ ταῖς ἐκ χειρῶν αὔραις τὸ πλῆθος τῶν σαρκῶν ἀναψύ χοντας· καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τούτοις, πλήθειν μὲν κρεῶν τὴν τράπεζαν, πάντων χορηγούντων ἡμῖν τῶν στοιχείων πλουσίως, ἀέρος, γῆς, ὕδατος· καὶ στενοχωρεῖσθαι τοῖς μαγείρων καὶ ὀψοποιῶν μαγγανεύμασιν, ἀγῶνα δὲ εἶναι πᾶσιν, ὅστις ὡς μάλιστα τὴν λίχνην ἡμῖν καὶ ἀχάριστον κολακεύσει γαστέρα, τὸ βαρὺ φορτίον καὶ ἀρχέκακον, τὸ ἀπληστότατον θηρίον καὶ ἀπιστότατον, τὴν καταργουμένην αὐτίκα σὺν τοῖς καταργουμένοις βρώμασι. Καὶ τοῖς μὲν πολύ τι κόρος καὶ ὕδατος, ἡμῖν δὲ καὶ μέχρι μέθης οἱ τοῦ οἴ νου κρατῆρες, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ὑπὲρ τὴν μέθην, τοῖς γε ἀκολαστοτέροις· καὶ τὸν μὲν ἀποπεμψόμεθα τῶν οἴνων, τὸν δὲ ἐγκρινοῦμεν ὡς ἀνθοσμίαν, περὶ δὲ τοῦ φιλοσοφήσομεν, ζημία δὲ, εἰ μὴ προσέσται τῷ ἐγχωρίῳ καὶ τῶν ὀνομαζομένων ξένων τις, ὥσπερ τύραννος. ∆εῖ γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἁβροὺς καὶ τῆς χρείας