he says, I have made the matter useful to me a virtue; for I used all things well. 7. When I went out early in the city, and in the squares my seat was set. For like a certain ruler and teacher of virtue, he did not devote himself to sleep and drunkenness, but out of love would sit in the squares in the morning, becoming a law and an example to those in the city. 13. Let the blessing of him that was perishing come upon me. Of Severus, from the epistle to Julian the deaconess. The Lord in the gospels says, concerning those who mortify themselves to the world, or who give their body to the stadium of martyrdom, or to the labors of asceticism, and in this way seem to destroy and kill themselves by being deprived of worldly enjoyment; He who loses his soul for my sake, will find it. Of one, therefore, who perishes thus, according to the Savi 377 or's voice, and who finds his soul, the prayer and the blessing is some great thing, and one of sound mind might pray that this come upon him, and would wisely say: The Blessing etc. 15. I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame. And as to the mind, he opened blind understandings, and was obliged to those who were maimed in soul and he himself became their eye; and he gave feet to those who were lame in the foundations of the soul, and in word he became their foot, and he led both by the hand; and the eye is taken for intellectual guidance, and the foot for ethical. 10. I was a father to the helpless. In these things are shown the voices of him who helps the helpless, the weak. 10. And the cause which I knew not, I searched out. You see the protection; not only up to money, nor up to food and clothing, but even up to dangers I took charge of another's fight. 17. And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous. See the difficulty of the matter; as from somewhere, he says, I righted the matter that had already been taken up. Truly Christ, having come, shattered the jaws of opposing energies; the Lord broke the jaws of the lions, and it is written in the prophet: From the midst of their teeth I snatched the prey. 18. But I said: My age shall grow old, like the trunk of a palm tree. But see after how much time he says these things, not boasting, nor being arrogant, but being compelled to speak of the providence of God, and in what things he enjoyed it, and in what things he is now. Ch. 30, 1. But now the least 378 have laughed at me; now they admonish me in turn, whose fathers I despised. Not using scorn, but knowing them clearly, as the prophet said: Every evildoer is despised before him; for he considered such people as nothing. 2, 3. And indeed the strength of their hands, what is it to me? Upon them perfection has perished. In want and famine, barren, those who yesterday fled the waterless distress and misery. Of Olympiodorus, of Origen. But neither did I ask for any help, he says, from them, so that for this reason they should use such words towards me; who long ago owed a penalty, being wicked, and in a certain way the punishment flew away from them. Or that, desiring death because of their extreme poverty, they did not obtain it, and not even by their want were they brought to their senses to become progenitors of the good, but they remained barren, those who yesterday or a little while ago had escaped the desert and its calamities; and he seems to accuse them as being ignoble, and coming from obscure places and poor fathers. Upon them perfection has perished. Instead of, they never accomplished anything good. 4. Those who gather salt-wort by a sounding place, for whom salt-wort was their food. Salt-wort is a certain herb, as they say, that quickly fills the one eating it. -And "by a sounding place", that is, by ravines and rocky places; for such places are sonorous, and echo to those who speak. Or he also calls a "sounding place" a wooded place in which the breath of the winds, moving the wood, makes a sound. He says, therefore, that these men wandered about the woods and the ravines and the places by which flowing waters sound and murmur, because of their extreme want, searching for herbs, and scraping the roots of trees for food as a comfort [for their hunger]. 379 4. And dishonored and reviled, lacking every good thing. Another

φησὶν, τὴν χρήσιμον ἐμοὶ ὕλην πεποίηκα ἀρετήν· πᾶσι γὰρ καλῶς ἐχρώμην. ζʹ. Ὅτε ἐξεπορευόμην ὄρθριος ἐν πόλει, ἐν δὲ πλατείαις ἐτίθετό μου ὁ δίφρος. Οἷα γάρ τις ἄρχων καὶ διδάσκαλος ἀρε τῆς, οὐχ ὕπνῳ καὶ μέθαις ἐσχόλαζεν, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀγάπης ἑωθινὸς ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις καθῆστο, νόμος καὶ τύπος τοῖς ἐν τῇ πόλει γινόμενος. ιγʹ. Εὐλογία ἀπολλυμένου ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἔλθοι. Σευήρου, ἐκ τῆς πρὸς Ἰουλιανὴν διάκο νον ἐπιστολῆς. Ὁ Κύριος ἐν εὐαγγελίοις φησὶν, περὶ τῶν τῷ κόσμῳ νεκρούντων ἑαυτοὺς, ἢ πρὸς τὸ τοῦ μαρτυρίου στάδιον τὸ σῶμα ἐκδιδόν των, ἢ πρὸς τοὺς τῆς ἀσκήσεως πόνους, καὶ ταύτῃ δοκούντων ἑαυτοὺς ἀπολλύναι καὶ ἀποκτεῖναι τῷ στερίσκεσθαι τῆς βιωτικῆς ἀπολαύσεως· Ὁ ἀπολέσας τὴν ψυχὴν αὑτοῦ ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ, εὑρήσει αὐτήν. Τοῦ οὖν οὕτως ἀπολλυμένου, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Σωτῆρος φω 377 νὴν, καὶ εὑρίσκοντος τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ, ἡ εὐχὴ καὶ ἡ εὐλογία μεγάλη τίς ἐστιν, καὶ ταύτην εὔξαιτο ἄν τις τῶν εὐφρονούντων ἐπελθεῖν αὑτῷ, καὶ ἐμφρόνως ἐρεῖ τό· Εὐ λογία κτλ. ιεʹ· Ὀφθαλμὸς ἤμην τυφλῶν, ποὺς δὲ χω λῶν. Πρὸς δὲ νοῦν, τυφλὰς διανοίας διήνοιγε, καὶ ὠφείλει τοὺς πεπηρωμένους τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ αὐτὸς αὐτῶν ἐγίνετο ὀφθαλμός· πόδας δὲ ἐχαρίζετο τοῖς κεχωλευμένοις τὰς βάσεις τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ τῷ λόγῳ ἐγίνετο αὐτῶν ποὺς, καὶ ἐχειραγώγει ἑκατέρους· εἴληπται δὲ ὁ μὲν ὀφθαλμὸς ἐπὶ τῆς νοητικῆς ὁδηγίας· ὁ δὲ ποὺς ἐπὶ τῆς ἐθικῆς. ιʹ. Ἐγὼ ἤμην πάτερ ἀδυνάτων. Ἐν τούτοις φωναὶ δηλοῦνται τοῦ ὠφε λοῦντος τοὺς ἀδυνάτους, τοὺς ἀσθενεῖς. ιʹ. ∆ίκην δὲ ἣν οὐκ ᾔδειν, ἐξιχνίασα. Ὁρᾶς τὴν προστασίαν· οὐ μέχρι χρημά των, οὐδὲ μέχρι τροφῆς καὶ ἐνδυμάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ μέχρι κινδύνων ἀλλοτρίας προϊστάμην μάχης. ιζʹ. Συνέτριψα δὲ μύλας ἀδίκων. Ὅρα τὴν δυσχολίαν τοῦ πράγματος· καθὰ πόθεν, φησὶν, ἤδη καὶ προληφθὲν τὸ πρᾶγμα ἀνώρθωσα. Ἀληθῶς ὁ Χριστὸς ἐλθὼν, τὰς μύ λας τῶν ἀντικειμένων ἐνεργειῶν συνέθλασε· τὰς μύλας τῶν λεόντων συνέτριψεν ὁ Κύ ριος, καὶ ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ γέγραπται· Ἐκ μέ σου ὀδόντων αὐτῶν ἅρπαγμα ἐξήρπασα. ιηʹ. Εἶπα δέ· Ἡ ἡλικία μου γηράσει, ὥσ περ στέλεχος φοίνικος. Ὅρα δὲ μετὰ πόσον χρόνον ταῦτα λέγει, οὐχὶ καυχώμενος, οὐδὲ μεγαλοφρονῶν, ἀλλ' ἀναγκαζόμενος εἰπεῖν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν πρό νοιαν, καὶ ἐπὶ τίσιν ἀπέλαυεν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐν τίσιν ἐστὶ νῦν. Κεφ. Λʹ, αʹ. Νυνὶ δὲ κατεγέλασάν μου 378 ἐλάχιστοι· νῦν νουθετοῦσί με ἐν μέρει, ὧν ἐξουδένουν τοὺς πατέρας αὐτῶν. Οὐ χρώμενος τῇ ἐξουδενώσει, ἀλλὰ σαφῶς εἰδὼς αὐτοὺς, ὥσπερ ὁ προφήτης ἔλεγεν· Ἐξουδενοῦται ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ πᾶς πονηρευό μενος· τοὺς γὰρ τοιούτους οὐδὲν ἡγεῖτο. βʹ, γʹ. Καί γε ἰσχὺς χειρῶν αὐτῶν, ἱνατί μοι; ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἀπώλετο συντέλεια. Ἐν ἐν δείᾳ καὶ λιμῷ ἄγονος, οἱ φεύγοντες ἄνυδρον ἐχθὲς συνοχὴν καὶ ταλαιπωρίαν. Ὀλυμπιοδώρου, Ὠριγένους. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ᾔτησά τινα ἐπικουρίαν, φησὶ, παρ' αὐτῶν, ἵνα διὰ τοῦτο τοιούτοις πρὸς ἐμὲ χρήσωνται ῥήμασιν· οἵ γε πάλαι δίκην ἐχρεώστουν, πο νηροὶ ὄντες, καὶ τρόπον τινὰ ἀπέπτη ἀπ' αὐ τῶν ἡ τιμωρία. Ἢ ὅτι θανάτου ἐπιθυμοῦντες διὰ τὴν ἄκραν πενίαν, οὐκ ἔτυχον, καὶ οὐδὲ ὑπὸ τῆς ἐνδείας ἐσωφρονίσθησαν γεννηταὶ γενέσθαι τοῦ καλοῦ, ἀλλ' ἔμειναν ἄγονοι, οἱ ἐχθές που καὶ πρὸ ὀλίγου, τῆς ἐρήμου καὶ τῶν συμφορῶν ἐκπεφευγότες· ἔοικεν δὲ ὡς ἀγεννεῖς αὐτοὺς διαβάλλειν, καὶ ἐξ ἀδόξων ὄντας χωρίων καὶ πατέρων πενήτων. Ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἀπώλετο συντέλεια. Ἀντὶ τοῦ, οὐδέποτέ τι χρηστὸν συνετέ λεσαν. δʹ. Οἱ περικυκλοῦντες ἄλιμα ἐπὶ ἠχοῦντι, οἵτινες ἄλιμα ἦν αὐτῶν τὰ σῖτα. Ἄλιμα βοτάνη τις ἐστὶν, ὥς φασι, ταχὺ πληροῦσα τὸν ἐσθίοντα. -Ἐπὶ ἠχοῦντι δὲ, τουτέστιν ἐπὶ φάραγξι καὶ πετρώδεσιν· εὔη χοι γὰρ οἱ τοιοῦτοι τόποι, καὶ ἀντηχοῦσι τοῖς φθεγγομένοις. Ἢ καὶ ἠχοῦντα λέγει τὸν ἀλσώδη τόπον ἐν ᾧπερ ἡ πνοὴ τῶν ἀνέμων, κινοῦσα τὴν ὕλην, ἦχον ἀποτελεῖ. Φησὶν οὖν ὅτι περιενόστουν οὗτοι τὰς ὕλας καὶ τὰς φάραγγας καὶ τοὺς τόπους παρ' οὓς ὕδατα ῥέοντα ἠχεῖ τε καὶ κελαρύζει, ὑπὸ τῆς ἄγαν ἐνδείας, τὰς βοτάνας ἀνερευνώ μενοι, καὶ τὰς ῥίζας τῶν ξύλων περιξέοντες εἰς τροφὴν [λιμοῦ] παραμυθίαν. 379 δʹ. Ἄτιμοι δὲ καὶ πεφαυλισμένοι, ἐνδεεῖς παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ. Ἑτέρα