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in the likeness of the Baptist the desert became a city crowded with those flowing in. That he was not a reed easily bending toward contrary opinions is shown by the unchangeable nature in all the judgments he made throughout his life. From the beginning he was pleased with having no possessions; his judgment became an unshaken rock; he desired through purity to approach God; this desire was a mountain, not a reed; for he never bowed to the contrary winds of temptations. But the steadfastness of his love for God was for the Apostle alone to demonstrate through his own words, that neither life, nor death, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other creature would be able to force his heart from the love of God.

14 So also in all his judgments concerning virtue, he was in no way like a reed and unsteady in his thought, but throughout everything his life had unchangeableness in what is good. John speaks boldly to Herod, and this one to Valens. But let us compare with one another the dignities of these men. The one had been allotted the rule over a certain part of Palestine by a vote of the Romans; but of this one the boundary of his rule was almost the entire course of the sun, extending from the borders of Persia to the Britons and the farthest reaches of the Ocean. And the purpose of the boldness toward Herod was that he not sin against a certain woman, but punish in himself the desire as forbidden by the law. But the boldness of the teacher toward Valens, what was it? To leave the faith inviolate and undefiled, the violation of which became a curse for the whole world. Therefore let the just examiner of the matters contrast the rule with the rule, and the purpose of this boldness with that boldness. For in that case the curse was confined to the body of Herod; but here the violation of the faith was an injustice to all human nature. That one persists in his boldness until death; and for this one the limit of his boldness becomes exile, the emperor having condemned him to this instead of the death sentence. But also John, having died, was believed to live; and for Basil the sentence of exile is annulled by his very enemies, he having been in no way softened by the threat in his resistance.

15 Shall we dare also to ascend in our discourse to the lofty Elijah, and to show our teacher being made like him in his grace by his own life? But let no one demand of human nature the driving on the fiery chariot and the reining of the fiery horses and the departure to what is above the upper region. For not even he, remaining within the limits of nature, was preserved unharmed in the fire, by divine power transforming what is heavy and earthly into what is buoyant and light, nor that he made his own word a kind of key for the provision from heaven, both opening it when he wished and shutting it again by his authority when he thought it better to do this. But let this also be passed over as being greater than human, that he endured without food for a long time, preserving his strength in the same state for up to forty days with one meal of that cake of spelt. For the imitation of things beyond nature is impossible for human nature. And along with these things, let there be silence about both that small jar of meal and the cruse of oil; each one sufficing for the need in the provision of food, and extending the grace through all the time of the famine for three years and six months. For the miracles of the working from above have their own particular power in their effects. And one would not reasonably reckon such wonder-workings to human nature.

16 What then are the things in which our teacher shares with what is seen in the prophet? zeal for the faith, enmity against those who set it aside, love towards God, a desire for that which truly is toward nothing of the material things

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ὁμοιότητα τοῦ Βαπτιστοῦ πόλιν τὴν ἔρημον γενέσθαι στενοχωρουμένην τοῖς ἐπιρρέουσιν. τὸ δὲ μὴ κάλαμον αὐτὸν εἶναι δι' εὐκολίας πρὸς τὰς ἐναντίας ὑπολή ψεις μετακλινόμενον δείκνυσι τὸ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς παρὰ τὸν βίον κεκριμένοις αὐτῷ ἀμετάπτωτον. ἤρεσεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἡ ἀκτημοσύνη· πέτρα τις ἄσειστος ἡ κρίσις ἐγένετο· ἐπεθύμει διὰ καθαρότη τος προσεγγίζειν τῷ Θεῷ ὄρος ἦν ἡ ἐπιθυμία αὕτη, οὐ κάλα μος· οὐδέποτε γὰρ πρὸς τὰς ἀντιπνοίας τῶν πειρασμῶν ὑπεκλίνετο. τῆς δὲ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀγάπης τὸ πάγιον μόνου ἦν τοῦ Ἀποστόλου διὰ τῶν ἰδίων λόγων ἐνδείξασθαι, τῷ μήτε τὴν ζωήν, μήτε τὸν θάνατον, μὴ ἐνεστῶτα, μὴ μέλλοντα, μήτε τινὰ κτίσιν ἑτέραν δύνασθαι αὐτοῦ τὴν καρδίαν ἀπὸ τῆς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀγάπης παρώσασθαι.

14 Οὕτω καὶ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς κατ' ἀρετὴν αὐτῷ κεκριμένοις οὐδα μῶς καλαμώδης τις ἦν καὶ ἀβέβαιος τὴν διάνοιαν, ἀλλὰ διὰ πάντων ὁ βίος εἶχε τὸ ἐν τοῖς καλοῖς ἀμετάπτωτον. παρρη σιάζεται πρὸς τὸν Ἡρώδην Ἰωάννης, καὶ οὗτος πρὸς Οὐάλεντα. ἀντεξετάσωμεν δὲ πρὸς ἄλληλα τῶν ἀνδρῶν τούτων τὰ ἀξιώ ματα. ὁ μὲν μέρους τινὸς τῆς Παλαιστίνης ψήφῳ Ῥωμαίων τὴν δυναστείαν κεκλήρωτο· τούτου δὲ τῆς ἀρχῆς ὅρος ἦν ὅλος μικροῦ δεῖν ὁ τοῦ ἡλίου δρόμος ἐκ τῶν τῆς Περσίδος ὅρων εἰς Βρεττανούς τε καὶ τὰ ἔσχατα τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ παρατείνων. καὶ τῆς μὲν πρὸς τὸν Ἡρώδην παρρησίας ἦν ὁ σκοπός, μὴ παρανομεῖν κατὰ γυναίου τινὸς ἀλλὰ κολάζειν ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ὡς ἀπειρημένην τῷ νόμῳ. ἡ δὲ πρὸς Οὐάλεντα τοῦ διδασκάλου παρρησία τίς ἦν; ἄσυλόν τε καὶ ἀμίαντον τὴν πίστιν ἐᾷν, ἧς ἡ παρανομία πάσης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἄγος ἐγίνετο. ἀντιτιθέτω τοίνυν ὁ δίκαιος τῶν πραγμάτων ἐξεταστὴς τήν τε δυναστείαν τῇ δυναστείᾳ, καὶ τὸν σκοπὸν τῆς παρρησίας ταύτης πρὸς τὴν παρρησίαν ἐκείνην. ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ ἐν τῷ σώματι τοῦ Ἡρώδου τὸ ἄγος περιωρίζετο· ἐνταῦθα δὲ πάσης ἦν ἀδικία τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, ἡ παρανομία τῆς πίστεως. ἐκεῖνος μέχρι θανάτου ἐμμένει τῇ παρρησίᾳ· καὶ τούτῳ πέρας τῆς παρρησίας ἐξορία γίνεται, τοῦτο τοῦ βασιλέως ἀντὶ τῆς ἐπιθανατίου ψήφου καταδικάσαντος. ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἰωάννης ἀποθανὼν ζῇν ἐπιστεύετο· καὶ Βασιλείῳ παρ' αὐτῶν τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἡ τῆς ἐξορίας ἀναλύεται ψῆφος, οὐδὲν διὰ τῆς ἀπειλῆς μαλακισθέντι περὶ τὴν ἔνστασιν.

15 Ἆρα τολμήσαιμεν καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν ὑψηλὸν Ἠλίαν ἀναβῆναι τῷ λόγῳ, καὶ δεῖξαι τὸν καθ' ἡμᾶς διδάσκαλον πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνου χάριν τῷ βίῳ τῷ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὁμοιούμενον; ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦ φλογίνου ἅρματος διφρείαν καὶ τὴν τῶν πυρίνων ἡνιόχησιν ἵππων καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸ ὑπερκείμενον τῆς ἄνω λήξεως μεταχώρησιν μηδεὶς ἀπαιτείτω τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος ἐν τοῖς ὅροις μένων τῆς φύσεως ἀπαθὴς ἐν τῷ πυρὶ διεσώζετο, πρὸς τὸ ἀνωφερές τε καὶ κοῦφον θείᾳ δυνάμει μετασκευάζων τὸ ἐμβριθές τε καὶ γήϊνον, μήθ' ὅτι τὸν ἑαυτοῦ λόγον οἷόν τινα κλεῖν ἐποιεῖτο τῆς ἐξ οὐρανοῦ χορηγίας, ἀνιείς τε ὅτε βούλοιτο καὶ ἀποκλείων πάλιν κατ' ἐξουσίαν ὅτε τοῦτο πράττειν ἄμεινον ᾤετο. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ εἰς πολὺν αὐτὸν διαρκέσαι χρόνον ἀπόσιτον, μιᾷ τροφῇ τοῦ ἐγκρυφίου ἐκείνου ὀλυρίτου ἐν ὁμοίῳ τὴν δύναμιν αὐτοῦ διασώζοντα μέχρις ἡμερῶν τεσσαράκοντα, παρείσθω καὶ τοῦτο ὡς μεῖζον ἢ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον. ἄπορος γὰρ τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει τῶν ὑπὲρ φύσιν ἡ μίμησις. σιγάσθω δὲ μετὰ τούτων ὅ τε βραχὺς ἐκεῖνος τοῦ ἀλεύρου κέραμος καὶ ὁ τοῦ ἐλαίου καμψάκης· διαρκῶν ἑκάτερος πρὸς τὴν χρείαν ἐν τῇ τῆς τροφῆς χορηγίᾳ, καὶ παντὶ τοῦ λιμοῦ τῷ χρόνῳ συμπαρατείνων τὴν χάριν εἰς ἔτη τρία καὶ μῆνας ἕξ. τὰ γὰρ τῆς ἄνωθεν ἐνεργείας θαύματα ἰδιά ζουσαν ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων ἔχει τὴν δύναμιν. καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις εὐλόγως ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει τὰς τοιαύτας θαυματοποιίας λογίσαιτο.

16 Τίνα οὖν ἐστιν ὅσα τοῦ διδασκάλου ἡμῶν πρὸς τὰ ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ θεωρούμενα τὴν κοινωνίαν ἔχει; ζῆλος πίστεως, δυσμένεια κατὰ τῶν ἀθετούντων, ἀγάπη πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, ἐπιθυμία τοῦ ὄντως ὄντος πρὸς οὐδὲν τῶν ὑλικῶν