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malice, and the device against the truth. For they were wise to do evil; but to do good they knew not.

XXIII. From this came the sophistical condemnation of the heretics, whom they renounced in word, so that their argument might be persuasive, but in deed they brought forward; charging them not with immeasurable impiety, but with insatiable writing. From this came the profane judges of the holy, and the new mixture, public spectacle and secret problems, and the lawless examination of men’s lives, and the hired sycophants, and judgment upon stated terms. And some were unjustly driven from their thrones; while others were brought in their place, and required to give a written profession of their impiety, as if it were some other necessary thing; and the ink was ready, and the sycophant near. And this indeed most of us, the unconquered, have suffered, not having fallen in mind, but having been led astray by a document, and coming to one mind with the wicked in both respects; and partaking of the smoke, even if not of the fire. At which I have often wept, seeing the outpouring of impiety then, and the persecution now risen up against the right doctrine by the champions of the Word.

XXIV. For in truth, *The pastors have become foolish*, according to that which is written, and *many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have defiled my desirable portion*, I mean the Church of God, gathered together with many 35.1109 toils and slaughters, both before Christ and after Christ, and by the great sufferings of God Himself for us. For with the exception of a very few, and these were they who were either overlooked for their insignificance, or who resisted through virtue, who it was needful should be left as a seed and root for Israel, to spring up again and live by the influences of the Spirit, all were of the time, differing from one another only in this, that some suffered this sooner, and others later; and some became champions and leaders of impiety, while others were ranked in the second class, either shaken by fear, or enslaved by need, or allured by flattery, or beguiled by ignorance, which is the most moderate excuse; if this too is a sufficient defence for those entrusted with the leadership of the people. For just as the impulses of lions and of other animals are not the same, nor of men and women, or of old and young, but there is no small difference of ages and of kinds; so is it also with rulers and the ruled. For we might perhaps pardon the people who suffer this, who are often saved by their want of testing; but how shall we grant this to a teacher, who corrects the ignorance of others, if he is not falsely named? For how is it not absurd, that while no one is permitted to be ignorant of Roman law, not even if one is exceedingly rustic and unlearned, nor is there a law to help those who act through ignorance; yet the initiators into salvation should be ignorant of the principles of salvation, even if in other respects they happen to be of the simpler sort, and not deep in understanding? But let there be pardon for those who followed through ignorance. But what would you say about the others, as many as, even while laying claim to shrewdness, for the reasons I have stated, were overcome by the powerful, and after playing the drama of piety for a long time, as soon as something appeared to expose them, were brought down?

XXV. I hear the Scripture saying that *yet once more* the heaven and the earth shall be shaken, as having indeed suffered this before; thus being signified, I think, the manifest innovation of things. And we must believe Paul when he says that the last shaking is none other than the second coming of Christ, and the transformation and translation of this whole universe into that which cannot be moved or shaken. But I consider this present shaking to be no less than those that have gone 35.1112 before; in which there is moved from us all that is philosophical and God-loving, and that has its citizenship above before the time. Who, though in other things they may be peaceable and moderate, this at least they do not

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κακουργίαν, καὶ τὴν κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐπίνοιαν. Σοφοὶ γὰρ ἐγένοντο εἰς τὸ κακοποιῆσαι· τὸ δὲ καλὸν ποιῆσαι οὐκ ἔγνωσαν.

ΚΓʹ. Ἐντεῦθεν ἡ σοφιστικὴ τῶν αἱρετικῶν κατάκρισις, οὓς λόγῳ μὲν ἀπεκήρυξαν, ἵν' ᾖ πι θανὸν αὐτοῖς τὸ ἐπιχείρημα, ἔργῳ δὲ προήγα γον εἰς τὸ ἔμπροσθεν· οὐδὲ ἀσέβειαν ἄμετρον, ἀλλὰ συγγραφὴν ἄπληστον ἐγκαλέσαντες. Ἐντεῦθεν οἱ βέβηλοι τῶν ὁσίων κριταὶ, καὶ ἡ καινὴ μίξις, ὄψις δημοσία, καὶ μυστικὰ προβλήματα, καὶ ἡ πα ράνομος τῶν βεβιωμένων ἐξέτασις, καὶ οἱ μισθού μενοι συκοφάνται, καὶ ἡ ἐπὶ ῥητοῖς κρίσις. Καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐξωθούμενοι τῶν θρόνων ἀδίκως· οἱ δὲ ἀντεισαγόμενοι, καὶ τὰ χειρόγραφα τῆς ἀσεβείας ἀπαιτούμενοι, ὥσπερ τι ἄλλο τῶν ἀναγκαίων· καὶ τὸ μέλαν ἕτοιμον, καὶ ὁ συκοφάντης ἐγγύς. Ὃ δὴ καὶ ἡμῶν τῶν ἀηττήτων οἱ πλεῖστοι πεπόνθασι, διανοίᾳ μὲν οὐ πεσόντες, γράμματι δὲ παρ αχθέντες, καὶ εἰς ἓν ἐλθόντες τοῖς πονηροῖς κατ' ἀμφότερα· καὶ τοῦ καπνοῦ γε, εἰ καὶ μὴ τοῦ πυρὸς μετασχόντες. Ὃ πολλάκις ἐδάκρυσα, ὁρῶν τὴν τότε χύσιν τῆς ἀσεβείας, καὶ τὸν νῦν ἐπανα στάντα διωγμὸν τῷ ὀρθῷ λόγῳ παρὰ τῶν προστα τῶν τοῦ Λόγου.

Κ∆ʹ. Τῷ ὄντι γὰρ, Ποιμένες ἠφρονεύσαντο, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, καὶ ποιμένες πολλοὶ δι έφθειραν τὸν ἀμπελῶνά μου, ᾔσχυναν μερίδα ἐπιθυμητὴν, τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ λέγω, πολ 35.1109 λοῖς ἱδρῶσι καὶ σφαγίοις συνειλεγμένην, τοῖς πρὸ Χριστοῦ τε καὶ μετὰ Χριστὸν, καὶ αὐτοῖς τοῖς μεγάλοις τοῦ Θεοῦ περὶ ἡμῶν πάθεσι. Πλὴν γὰρ ὀλίγων ἄγαν, καὶ τούτων ὅσοι διὰ σμικρότητα παρ εῤῥίφησαν, ἢ διὰ ἀρετὴν ἀντέβησαν, οὓς ἔδει σπέρμα καὶ ῥίζαν ὑπολειφθῆναι τῷ Ἰσραὴλ, ἵνα ἀναθάλῃ πάλιν, καὶ ἀναβιώσῃ ταῖς ἐπιῤῥοίαις τοῦ Πνεύματος, πάντες τοῦ καιροῦ γεγόνασι, τοσοῦτον ἀλλήλων διενεγκόντες, ὅσον τοὺς μὲν πρότερον, τοὺς δὲ ὕστερον τοῦτο παθεῖν· καὶ τοὺς μὲν προαγω νιστὰς καὶ προστάτας γενέσθαι τῆς ἀσεβείας, τοὺς δὲ ταχθῆναι τὰ δεύτερα, ἢ φόβῳ κατασεισθέντας, ἢ χρείᾳ δουλωθέντας, ἢ κολακείᾳ δελεασθέντας, ἢ ἀγνοίᾳ κλαπέντας, τὸ μετριώτατον· εἴ τῳ καὶ τοῦτο αὔταρκες εἰς ἀπολογίαν τῶν λαοῦ προεστάναι πε πιστευμένων. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐχ αἱ αὐταὶ λεόντων τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ζώων ὁρμαὶ, οὐδὲ ἀνδρῶν ἢ γυναι κῶν, ἢ πρεσβυτέρων ἢ νεωτέρων, ἀλλ' ἔστι καὶ ἡλι κιῶν καὶ γενῶν οὐ μικρὸν τὸ διάφορον· οὕτως οὐδὲ ἀρχόντων ἢ ἀρχομένων. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ τοῦ λαοῦ τάχα ἂν καὶ συγγινώσκοιμεν τοῦτο πάσχουσιν, οὓς σώζει πολλάκις τὸ ἀβασάνιστον· διδασκάλῳ δὲ πῶς τοῦτο δώσομεν, ὃς καὶ τὰς τῶν ἄλλων ἀγνοίας ἐπ ανορθοῖ, ἄνπερ ᾖ μὴ ψευδώνυμος; Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἄτοπον, Ῥωμαίων μὲν νόμον μηδενὶ ἀγνοεῖν ἐξεῖναι, μηδ' ἂν σφόδρα ᾖ τις ἀγροικίας καὶ ἀμα θέστατος, μηδὲ εἶναι νόμον τὸν βοηθοῦντα τοῖς πραττομένοις δι' ἄγνοιαν· τοὺς δὲ τῆς σωτη ρίας ἀγνοεῖν μυσταγωγοὺς τὰς τῆς σωτηρίας ἀρ χὰς, κἂν τἄλλα τυγχάνωσι τῶν ἁπλουστέρων ὄντες, καὶ μὴ βαθεῖς τὴν διάνοιαν; Πλὴν ἔστω συγγνώμη τοῖς δι' ἄγνοιαν κατακολουθήσασι. Τί δ' ἂν εἴποις περὶ τῶν ἄλλων, ὅσοι καὶ ἀγχινοίας μεταποιούμενοι, δι' ἃς εἶπον αἰτίας, τῶν κρατούντων ἡττήθησαν, καὶ τὴν τῆς εὐσεβείας σκηνὴν ἐπὶ πολὺ παίξαντες, ὡς ἐφάνη τί τῶν ἐλεγχόντων, καὶ κατηνέχθησαν;

ΚΕʹ. Ἔτι μὲν ἅπαξ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν σεισθήσεσθαι, τῆς Γραφῆς ἀκούω λεγούσης, ὡς δὴ τοῦτο παθόντων καὶ πρότερον· οὕτω δηλουμένης, οἶμαι, τῆς ἐπιφανοῦς τῶν πραγμάτων καινοτομίας. Καὶ τὸν τελευταῖον σεισμὸν Παύλῳ πιστευτέον λέ γοντι, μὴ ἄλλον εἶναι ἢ τὴν δευτέραν τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίαν, καὶ τὴν τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς μεταποίησιν καὶ μετάθεσιν εἰς τὸ ἀκίνητον καὶ ἀσάλευτον. Τὸν δὲ νῦν τοῦτον σεισμὸν οὐδενὸς ἐλάττω τῶν προγε 35.1112 γενημένων ὑπολαμβάνω· καθ' ὃν κινεῖται μὲν ἀφ' ἡμῶν ὅσον φιλόσοφον καὶ φιλόθεον, καὶ πρὸ καιροῦ τοῖς ἄνω πολιτευόμενον. Οἳ, κἂν τἄλλα ὦσιν εἰρηνικοί τε καὶ μέτριοι, τοῦτό γε οὐ