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famines that have occurred, and plagues, and droughts, and floods, and irregularities of the air, or anything else of the sort that chastises human nature, do not be vexed nor disheartened, but worship the One who does it, marvel at His care. For He is the One doing these things, 49.251 and chastising the body, that He might make the soul temperate. And does God do these things, one might say? God does these things; even if the whole city were present, even if the whole world, I will not shrink from saying this. Would that I had a voice clearer than a trumpet, and it were possible to stand in a high place, and to shout to all and testify, that God does these things. I do not say these things out of recklessness, but I have the prophet standing by me, crying out and saying, that, “There is no evil in a city which the Lord has not done”; but "evil" is a homonymous word; and I want you to learn the precise meaning of each use of the term, so that you do not confuse the nature of things because of the homonymy, and fall into blasphemy. 5. There is, then, an evil which is truly evil: fornication, adultery, covetousness, and the countless terrible things which are deserving of the utmost charges and punishments. Again, there is an evil—or rather, there is not, but it is called so—famine, plague, death, sickness, and all such things; for these would not be evils; for this reason I said, “It is called so,” only. Why is that? Because if they were evils, they would not have become for us causes of good things, disciplining our folly, cutting off our sloth and restoring us to diligence, making us more attentive. For “when,” it says, “He slew them, then they sought Him, and they returned, and rose early to seek God.” Therefore, he calls this “evil,” that which disciplines, which makes people radiant, which renders them more diligent, which brings them back to wisdom, not that other evil which is maligned and deserving of charges; for that one is not the work of God, but the invention of our own choice, while this one comes about for the destruction of that one. Therefore, he calls this "evil," this affliction which comes to us from punishments, naming it so not according to its own nature, but according to the perception of men. For since we are accustomed to calling "evil" not only thefts and adulteries, but also calamities, he called the matter so based on the opinion of men. This, then, is what the prophet says, that “There is no evil in a city which the Lord has not done.” This God also revealed through Isaiah, saying: “I am God, who makes peace and creates evil;” again naming calamities "evils." Christ also alludes to this evil in the Gospels, speaking thus to the disciples: “Sufficient for the day is its own evil,” that is, its affliction, its hardship. It is clear then from every side that here he calls the punishments "evil," and that He Himself brings these upon us, providing the greatest form of providence. For the physician too, is not admirable only when he leads the sick person out to parks and meadows, nor when to baths and pools of water, nor when he sets a rich table before him, but also when he orders him to remain without food, and when he distresses and wears him out with hunger and thirst, nailing him to his bed and making his house a prison, and depriving him even of light and shadowing his room all over with curtains, and when he cuts, and when he cauterizes, and when he applies bitter medicines, he is likewise a physician. How then is it not absurd to call that man, who inflicts so many evils, a physician, but if God should ever do one of these things, 49.252 such as bring on a famine or death, to blaspheme and cast Him out from the providence of the universe? And yet, He alone is the true physician of both souls and bodies. For this reason, often when He takes our nature, that leaps from abundance and travails with the fever of sins, by want and famine and death and other calamities, and by the other remedies which He Himself knows, He delivers it from its diseases. But only the poor feel the famine,

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λιμοὺς γενομένους, καὶ λοιμοὺς, καὶ αὐχμοὺς, καὶ ἐπομβρίας, καὶ ἀέρων ἀνωμαλίας, ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν τοιούτων τῶν κολαζόντων τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν, μὴ δυσχεράνῃς μηδὲ ἀποδυσπετήσῃς, ἀλλὰ προσκύνησον τὸν ποιοῦντα, θαύμασον αὐτὸν τῆς κηδεμονίας. Ἐκεῖνος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ταῦτα 49.251 ποιῶν, καὶ τὸ σῶμα κολάζων, ἵνα τὴν ψυχὴν σωφρονίσῃ. Καὶ ὁ Θεὸς ταῦτα ποιεῖ, φησίν; Ὁ Θεὸς ταῦτα ποιεῖ· κἂν ἡ πόλις παρῇ πᾶσα, κἂν ἡ οἰκουμένη πᾶσα, οὐκ ὀκνήσω τοῦτο εἰπεῖν. Εἴθε μοι καὶ σάλπιγγος ἦν φωνὴ λαμπροτέρα, καὶ ἐν ὑψηλῷ στῆναι χωρίῳ δυνατὸν ἦν, καὶ πᾶσι βοῆσαι καὶ διαμαρτύρασθαι, ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ταῦτα ποιεῖ. Οὐκ ἐξ ἀπονοίας ταῦτα λέγω, ἀλλ' ἔχω παρεστῶτα τὸν προφήτην μετ' ἐμοῦ βοῶντα καὶ λέγοντα, ὅτι Οὐκ ἔστι κακία ἐν πόλει, ἢν Κύριος οὐκ ἐποίησε· κακία δὲ ὁμώνυμόν ἐστιν ὄνομα· καὶ τῆς προσηγορίας ἑκατέρας βούλομαι τὴν ἀκριβῆ μαθεῖν ὑμᾶς σημασίαν, ἵνα μὴ διὰ τὴν ὁμωνυμίαν τῶν πραγμάτων συγχέοντες τὴν φύσιν, εἰς βλασφημίαν ἐμπέσητε. εʹ. Ἔστι τοίνυν κακία, ἡ ὄντως κακία, πορνεία, μοιχεία, πλεονεξία, καὶ τὰ μυρία δεινὰ τὰ τῶν ἐσχάτων ὄντα ἐγκλημάτων ἄξια καὶ τιμωριῶν. Πάλιν ἐστὶ κακία, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλὰ λέγεται, λιμὸς, λοιμὸς, θάνατος, νόσος, καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα· ταῦτα γὰρ οὐκ ἂν εἴη κακά· διὰ τοῦτο εἶπον, Λέγεται, μόνον. Τί δήποτε; Ὅτι εἰ κακὰ ἦν, οὐκ ἂν ἀγαθῶν ἡμῖν αἴτια ἐγεγόνει, σωφρονίζοντα τὴν ἀπόνοιαν, ἐγκόπτοντα τὴν ῥᾳθυμίαν καὶ πρὸς σπουδὴν ἐπανάγοντα, προσεκτικωτέρους ποιοῦντα. Ὅτε γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀπέκτεινεν αὐτοὺς, τότε ἐξεζήτουν αὐτὸν, καὶ ἐπέστρεφον, καὶ ὤρθριζον πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. Κακίαν οὖν ταύτην φησὶ τὴν σωφρονίζουσαν, τὴν λαμπροὺς ποιοῦσαν, τὴν σπουδαιοτέρους ἐργαζομένην, τὴν πρὸς φιλοσοφίαν ἐπανάγουσαν, οὐκ ἐκείνην τὴν διαβεβλημένην καὶ ἐγκλημάτων ἀξίαν· ἐκείνη γὰρ οὐ Θεοῦ ἔργον, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἡμετέρας προαιρέσεως εὕρεμα, αὕτη δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνης ἀναίρεσιν γίνεται. Κακίαν οὖν ταύτην καλεῖ τὴν κάκωσιν, τὴν ἐκ τῶν τιμωριῶν γινομένην ἡμῖν, οὐ κατὰ τὴν οἰκείαν φύσιν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν ὑπόνοιαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οὕτως αὐτὴν ὀνομάζων. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ κακίαν καλεῖν εἰώθαμεν, οὐ τὰς κλοπὰς καὶ τὰς μοιχείας μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς συμφορὰς, ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψήφου οὕτω τὸ πρᾶγμα ἐκάλεσε. Τοῦτο οὖν ἐστιν ὅ φησιν ὁ προφήτης, ὅτι Οὐκ ἔστι κακία ἐν πόλει, ἢν Κύριος οὐκ ἐποίησε. Τοῦτο καὶ διὰ Ἡσαΐου παρεδήλωσεν ὁ Θεὸς εἰπών· Ἐγὼ Θεὸς ποιῶν εἰρήνην, καὶ κτίζων κακά· κακὰ πάλιν τὰς συμφορὰς ὀνομάζων. Ταύτην καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς τὴν κακίαν ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις αἰνίττεται, οὕτω λέγων τοῖς μαθηταῖς· Ἀρκετὸν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἡ κακία αὐτῆς, τουτέστιν, ἡ κάκωσις, ἡ ταλαιπωρία. Πανταχόθεν οὖν δῆλον, ὅτι κακίαν ἐνταῦθα τὰς τιμωρίας καλεῖ, καὶ ταύτας ἡμῖν αὐτὸς ἐπάγει, μέγιστον προνοίας εἶδος παρεχόμενος. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ ἰατρὸς, οὐχ ὅταν εἰς παραδείσους καὶ λειμῶνας ἐξαγάγῃ τὸν κάμνοντα, θαυμαστός ἐστι μόνον, οὐδ' ὅταν εἰς βαλανεῖα καὶ κολυμβήθρας ὑδάτων, οὐδ' ὅταν τράπεζαν παρατιθῇ πλουσίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅταν ἄσιτον κελεύῃ διαμένειν, καὶ ὅταν ἄγχῃ λιμῷ καὶ δίψῃ κατατείνῃ, τῇ κλίνῃ προσηλῶν καὶ τὴν οἰκίαν δεσμωτήριον ποιούμενος, καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ φωτὸς ἀποστερῶν καὶ συσκιάζων πανταχόθεν τὸ δωμάτιον παραπετάσμασι, καὶ ὅταν τέμνῃ, καὶ ὅταν καίῃ, καὶ ὅταν πικρὰ προσάγῃ φάρμακα, ἰατρός ἐστιν ὁμοίως. Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἄτοπον ἐκεῖνον μὲν τοσαῦτα ἐργαζόμενον κακὰ ἰατρὸν καλεῖν, τὸν δὲ Θεὸν, εἴ ποτε ἓν τούτων ποιή 49.252 σειεν, οἷον ἢ λιμὸν ἢ θάνατον ἐπαγάγοι, βλασφημεῖν καὶ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς ἐκβάλλειν προνοίας; καίτοι γε ὁ ἀληθὴς ἰατρὸς οὗτος μόνος ἐστὶ καὶ ψυχῶν καὶ σωμάτων. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πολλάκις τὴν φύσιν τὴν ἡμετέραν παραλαβὼν ἐξ εὐθηνίας σκιρτῶσαν, καὶ πυρετὸν ἁμαρτημάτων ὠδίνουσαν, ἐνδείᾳ καὶ λιμῷ καὶ θανάτῳ καὶ συμφοραῖς ἑτέραις, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις οἷς αὐτὸς οἶδε φαρμάκοις ἀπαλλάττει τῶν νοσημάτων. Ἀλλ' οἱ πένητες αἰσθάνονται μόνοι τοῦ λιμοῦ,