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clearer than this battle? what is more manifest than this war, which the demons, the teachers of wickedness, so shamelessly chose against the divine oracles? But as I said, that demons, and other men who are demons—I mean the Greeks—should be persuaded of these things, is nothing wonderful; but that you, enjoying such divine and saving teaching, should dishonor these things, and run to those most irrational doctrines, which also hold the destruction of the soul, this is the most grievous of all. For why should I judge those who are outside? For the present, my discourse is to you, the members of Christ, the children of the Church, those educated in the paternal house, those enjoying heavenly teachings, those honored with so great an honor. For this I groan, for this I weep and lament; for they are truly worthy of lamentations, when someone falls with falls not even worthy of pardon. For what pardon is there, tell me, when God declares something and demons 50.756 speak against it, and what is said by them seems more credible to God's own people? For let us not now stir up reasonings, but for the present let us show the audacity of those persuaded by them. God says, I have set before you fire and water, life and death, stretch out your hand to whichever you will; the demon says, that it is not in you to stretch out your hand, but by some necessity and force. And it seems to you to be more credible, and you do not perceive the difference between the counselors, that the one is God, the other a demon; you do not examine the difference in their counsel, that the one is saving and calls to virtue, while the other is truly demonic and calls to evil and wickedness; you do not consider what has been done for you by God and what by the demon, that the one so loved you as to give even His Only-begotten for you, than whom nothing was more precious to the Father, and still loves you, so as to beseech you through the apostles for your salvation, and does all things; but the other has so hated and hates you, as to war against you in all things and not only to give nothing good, but also to try to cast out those things which you have received from God; the one was eager to make you equal to angels, the other has made you more dishonorable than the things that walk on the ground, and persuaded you to worship them; the one draws you to the kingdom of heaven and the other honors, but the other envied even the honor given to you here, and did not desist until he cast you out. For if you cannot perceive his doctrines, although they are clearer than the sun to those who are not too sluggish; so also these things of God have manifest virtue and salvation, and those things have wickedness; but nevertheless if you cannot perceive these things themselves, at least from the counselors learn what is saving and what is harmful. For how is it not absurd in other matters to use this judgment, that if a physician gives someone food, not to be overly curious, but to accept it as productive of health, but if a sorcerer and a wizard does, not to be inquisitive, but to turn away from it as poisonous and harmful; but in the case of God not even to use this distinction? and yet the difference between God and a demon is so much greater than that between a physician and a sorcerer, as it is not possible to say, nor to represent in mind and word. How then is it not the height of absurdity, where the difference of those providing the food is smallest, not to be inquisitive, but to use the quality of the persons instead of all teaching; but where the difference of the counselors is so great, to have need of reason to learn that the one is saving, and the other harmful? Do not, I beseech you, let us not be more irrational than the irrational beasts, but let us leap away, and not incline our ears; Evil communications corrupt good manners; and it is not possible for those who are deceived to obtain pardon. For for what reason, if you see a pestilential and sickly place, do you flee a stay there, even if countless things draw you to that dwelling, putting the health of the body before all things; but when some are filled with pestilential speech, and disease, not a body

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τῆς μάχης ταύτης σαφέστερον; τί τοῦ πολέμου φανερώτερον τούτου, ὃν ἀναισχύντως οὕτω πρὸς τὰ θεῖα λόγια εἵλοντο οἱ τῆς πονηρίας διδάσκαλοι δαίμονες; Ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἔφην, τὸ μὲν δαίμονας καὶ ἀνθρώπους ἄλλους δαίμονας, τοὺς Ἕλληνας λέγω, ταῦτα πείθεσθαι, θαυμαστὸν οὐδέν· τὸ δὲ ὑμᾶς οὕτω θείας καὶ σωτηρίου διδασκαλίας ἀπολαύοντας, ἀτιμάζειν μὲν ταῦτα, προστρέχειν δὲ ἐκείνοις τοῖς ἀλογωτάτοις, καὶ ψυχῆς ἀπώλειαν ἔχουσι, τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ πάντων χαλεπώτερον. Τί γάρ μοι καὶ τοὺς ἔξω κρίνειν; Ἐμοὶ τέως πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐστιν ὁ λόγος, τὰ μέλη τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τὰ τέκνα τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, τοὺς ἐν τῷ πατρικῷ οἴκῳ παιδευομένους, τοὺς οὐρανίων ἀπολαύοντας διδαγμάτων, τοὺς τοσαύτῃ τιμηθέντας τιμῇ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο στένω, διὰ τοῦτο δακρύω καὶ θρηνῶ· θρήνων γὰρ ὄντως ἄξια, ὅταν τις μηδὲ συγγνώμης ἄξια πίπτῃ πτώματα. Ποία γὰρ, εἰπέ μοι, συγγνώμη, ὅταν ἀποφαίνηται Θεὸς καὶ δαί 50.756 μονες ἀντιφθέγγωνται, καὶ ἀξιοπιστότερα δόξῃ παρὰ τῶν οἰκείων τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰ παρ' ἐκείνων λεγόμενα; Μὴ γὰρ λογισμοὺς κινοῦμεν νῦν, ἀλλὰ τέως τὴν ἰταμότητα τῶν ἐκείνοις πειθομένων δείξομεν. Ὁ Θεὸς λέγει, Παρέθηκά σοι πῦρ καὶ ὕδωρ, τὴν ζωὴν καὶ τὸν θάνατον, οὗ ἐὰν θέλῃς ἔκτεινόν σου τὴν χεῖρα· ὁ δαίμων λέγει, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν σοὶ τὸ ἐκτείνειν τὴν χεῖρα, ἀλλ' ἀνάγκῃ τινὶ καὶ βίᾳ. Καὶ ἀξιοπιστότερα εἶναί σοι δοκεῖ, καὶ οὐ τὸ μέσον τῶν συμβουλευόντων νοεῖς, ὅτι ὁ μὲν Θεὸς, ὁ δὲ δαίμων· οὐ τῆς συμβουλῆς τὸ διάφορον ἐξετάζεις, ὅτι τὸ μὲν σωτήριον καὶ πρὸς ἀρετὴν καλεῖ, τὸ δὲ ὄντως καὶ δαιμονικὸν καὶ πρὸς κακίαν καὶ πονηρίαν· οὐ τὰ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ σοι γεγενημένα, καὶ τὰ παρὰ τοῦ δαίμονος σκοπεῖς, ὅτι ὁ μὲν οὕτω σε ἐφίλησεν, ὡς καὶ τὸν Μονογενῆ δοῦναι ὑπὲρ σοῦ, οὗ τιμιώτερον οὐδὲν ἦν τῷ Πατρὶ, καὶ ἔτι φιλεῖ, ὡς καὶ παρακαλεῖν σε διὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων ὑπὲρ τῆς σῆς σωτηρίας, καὶ πάντα ποιεῖ· ὁ δὲ οὕτως ἐμίσησε καὶ μισεῖ, ὡς διὰ πάντων σοι πολεμεῖν καὶ μὴ μόνον οὐδὲν διδόναι χρηστὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὧν ἔλαβες παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τούτων πειρᾶσθαι ἐκβάλλειν· ὁ μὲν ἀγγέλοις σε ἴσον ποιῆσαι ἐσπούδασεν, ὁ δὲ τῶν χαμαὶ βαδιζόντων ἀτιμότερόν σε κατέστησεν, αὐτούς τε σὲ προσκυνεῖν ἀντέπεισεν· ὁ μὲν εἰς βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν ἕλκει καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τιμὰς, ὁ δὲ καὶ τῆς ἐνταῦθά σοι δοθείσης ἐφθόνησε, καὶ οὐ πρότερον ἀπέστη, ἕως ἐξέβαλεν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τὰ δόγματα οὐ δύνασθε αὐτοῦ συνορᾷν, καίτοι ἡλίου σαφέστερα τοῖς μὴ νωθεστέροις ἐστίν· οὕτω καὶ ταῦτα τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ πρόδηλον ἔχει τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν, κἀκεῖνα τὴν κακίαν· ἀλλ' ὅμως εἰ πρὸς αὐτὰ μὴ δύνασθε συνιδεῖν, κἂν ἀπὸ τῶν συμβουλευόντων μάθετε τὸ σωτήριον καὶ τὸ βλαβερόν. Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἄτοπον ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν ἄλλων πραγμάτων ταύτῃ κεχρῆσθαι τῇ γνώμῃ, κἂν μὲν ἰατρὸς δώσῃ τινὶ σιτίον, μὴ περιεργάζεσθαι, ἀλλ' ὡς ὑγιείας ποιητικὸν δέχεσθαι, ἂν δὲ φαρμακὸς καὶ γόης, μὴ πολυπραγμονεῖν, ἀλλ' ὡς δηλητήριον καὶ βλαβερὸν ἀποστρέφεσθαι· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ μηδὲ τούτῳ κεχρῆσθαι τῷ μέσῳ; καίτοι τοσούτῳ πλέον τὸ μέσον Θεοῦ καὶ δαίμονος, ἢ ἰατροῦ καὶ φαρμακοῦ, ὅσον οὐδὲ ἔξεστιν εἰπεῖν, οὐδὲ νῷ παραστῆσαι καὶ λόγῳ. Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἐσχάτης ἀτοπίας, ἔνθα μὲν ἐλάχιστον τὸ διάφορον τῶν παρεχόντων τὰ σιτία, μὴ πολυπραγμονεῖν, ἀλλὰ τῇ ποιότητι τῶν προσώπων ἀντὶ πάσης κεχρῆσθαι διδασκαλίας· ἔνθα δὲ τοσοῦτον τὸ μέσον τῶν συμβουλευόντων, λόγου χρείαν ἔχειν πρὸς τὸ μαθεῖν, ὅτι τὸ μὲν σωτήριον, τὸ δὲ βλαβερόν; Μὴ, παρακαλῶ, μὴ τῶν ἀλόγων ὦμεν ἀλογώτεροι, ἀλλ' ἀποπηδῶμεν, καὶ μὴ ἐπικλίνωμεν τὰς ἀκοάς· Φθείρουσιν ἤθη χρηστὰ ὁμιλίαι κακαί· καὶ συγγνώμης οὐκ ἔστι τυχεῖν τοὺς ἀπατηθέντας. Τίνος γὰρ ἕνεκεν, ἂν μὲν λοιμικὸν χωρίον ἴδῃς καὶ ἐπίνοσον, φεύγεις τὴν ἐκεῖ διατριβὴν, κἂν μυρία σε ἕλκῃ πρὸς τὴν οἴκησιν ἐκείνην, πάντων τὴν τοῦ σώματος ὑγίειαν προτιθείς· ὅταν δὲ λόγου τοῦ λοιμώδους τινὲς ὦσιν ἐμπεπλησμένοι, καὶ νοσήματος, οὐχὶ σῶμα