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While the law hinders the final results of sins, we are accused even for their causes, almost as if they were actions. You shall not commit adultery, says the law; but you, you shall not even desire, inflaming passion by a curious and diligent gaze. You shall not kill, says that one; but you, you shall not even strike back, but will even offer yourself to the one who strikes you. How much more philosophical these things are than those! You shall not commit perjury, says that one; but you, you shall not swear at all, neither a small oath nor a great one, as the oath brings forth perjury. You shall not join house to house, that one says, and field to field, oppressing the poor man; but you, you shall willingly lay aside even what was justly acquired, and you shall be stripped for the poor, so that you may lightly carry the cross, and be rich in things unseen.

18. But as for the loins, for irrational creatures, let them be relaxed and unbound; for they do not have reason, which has dominion over pleasures; I do not yet say that even they know a limit of their natural impulse; for you, let the lustful and neighing part (as the divine Scripture says, deriding the shamefulness of the passion) be restrained by a girdle and by temperance, so that you may eat the Passover purely, having put to death the members that are upon the earth, and imitating the girdle of John, the man of the desert, and forerunner, and great herald of the truth. I know also another girdle, I mean the military and manly one, from which the Euzonoi of Syria and certain Monozonoi are named; according to which God also, delivering an oracle to Job, says: No, but gird up your loins like a man, and give a manly answer; which the divine David also boasts of being girded with, power from God, and he introduces God Himself 36.649 clothed with power and girded, namely against the ungodly; unless someone prefers that the abundance of power, and as it were, its restraint, be thus signified, just as He also puts on light as a garment. For who will withstand the unrestrainedness of His power and light? I ask, what is common to loins and truth? what is meant by the holy Paul when he says: Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth? Is it not that the contemplative faculty restrains the desiring faculty, and does not allow it to be carried elsewhere? For that which is lovingly disposed towards something does not wish to have the same power for other pleasures.

19. As for sandals, let him who is about to touch the holy and God-trodden ground take them off, just as that Moses on the mountain, so that he may bring nothing dead, nor anything between God and men. And so too if a disciple is sent for the Gospel, philosophically and without superfluities; who must, in addition to being without copper, and without a staff, and with one tunic, also be barefoot, so that the feet of those who preach the good news of peace, and every other good thing, may appear beautiful. But let him who is fleeing Egypt and the things of Egypt be shod, both for other safety and for protection against the scorpions and the snakes, many of which Egypt also nourishes, so that he may not be harmed by those who watch the heel, whom we have been commanded to tread upon. And concerning the staff, I hold this view, and concerning the riddle about it. I know the one for support, and the one that is pastoral and instructive, and which turns back the rational sheep. But to you now the law commands the one for support, lest you should stumble in your reasoning, hearing of the blood of God, and passion, and death, lest you be carried about godlessly, as a defender of God; but unashamedly and without doubting, eat the body, drink the blood, if you have a desire for life, neither disbelieving the words concerning the flesh, nor being offended by the things concerning the passion. He stood supported, firm, established, in nothing shaken by adversaries, nor carried away by plausible words. Stand upon your height, set your feet in the courts of Jerusalem, plant them upon the rock, so that your steps toward God may not be shaken.

20. What do you say? Did it seem good thus, to come out of Egypt, the iron furnace, for you to leave the polytheism there, and to be led by Moses, and of the 36.652

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νόμον τὰ τέλη τῶν ἀμαρτημάτων κωλύοντος, ἡμεῖς καὶ τὰς αἰτίας, ὡς πράξεις σχεδὸν, ἐγκαλούμεθα. Οὐ μοιχεύσεις, φησὶν ὁ νόμος· σὺ δὲ, οὐδὲ ἐπιθυμήσεις, ἐκ περιέργου θέας καὶ φιλοπόνου φλέγων τὸ πάθος. Οὐ φονεύσεις, ἐκεῖνος· σὺ δὲ, οὐδὲ ἀντιπλήξεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ σεαυτὸν ἐμπαρέξεις τῷ παίοντι. Ὅσον ταῦτα ἐκείνων φιλοσοφώτερα! Οὐκ ἐπιορκήσεις, ἐκεῖνος· σὺ δὲ, οὐδὲ ὁμῇ τὴν ἀρχὴν, οὐ μικρὸν, οὐ μεῖζον, ὡς τοῦ ὅρκου τὴν ἐπιορκίαν τίκτοντος. Οὐ συνάψεις οἰκίαν πρὸς οἰ κίαν, ἐκεῖνος, καὶ ἀγρὸν πρὸς ἀγρὸν, καταδυναστεύων τοῦ πένητος· σὺ δὲ, ἀποθήσῃ καὶ τὰ δικαίως κτηθέντα προθύμως, καὶ γυμνωθήσῃ τοῖς πένησιν, ἵνα κούφως τὸν σταυρὸν αἴρῃς, καὶ πλουτήσῃς τὰ μὴ ὁρώμενα.

ΙΗʹ. Ὀσφὺς δὲ, τοῖς μὲν ἀλόγοις, ἄνετος ἔστω καὶ ἄδετος· οὐδὲ γὰρ λόγον ἔχουσι, τὸν κρατοῦντα τῶν ἡδονῶν· οὔπω λέγω, ὅτι κἀκεῖνα ὅρον οἶδε τῆς φυσικῆς κινήσεως· σοὶ καὶ ἀναστελλέσθω ζώνῃ καὶ σω φροσύνῃ τὸ ἐπιθυμητικὸν καὶ χρεμετιστικὸν (ὡς ἡ θεία φησὶ Γραφὴ, τὸ τοῦ πάθους αἰσχρὸν διασύρουσα), ἵνα καθαρῶς ἐσθίῃς τὸ Πάσχα, νεκρώσας τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, καὶ τὴν Ἰωάννου ζώνην μιμούμενος, τοῦ ἐρημικοῦ, καὶ προδρόμου, καὶ με γάλου τῆς ἀληθείας κήρυκος. Οἶδα καὶ ζώνην ἄλλην, τὴν στρατιωτικὴν λέγω καὶ ἀνδρικὴν, καθ' ἣν Εὔζω νοι Συρίας καὶ Μονόζωνοί τινες ὀνομάζονται· καθ' ἣν καὶ τῷ Ἰὼβ χρηματίζων φησὶν ὁ Θεός· Μὴ, ἀλλὰ ζῶσαι ὥσπερ ἀνὴρ τὴν ὀσφύν σου, καὶ δὸς ἀπόκρι σιν ἀνδρικήν· ἣν καὶ ὁ θεῖος ∆αβὶδ περιεζῶσθαι δύναμιν ἐκ Θεοῦ μεγαλαυχεῖ, καὶ τὸν Θεὸν αὐτὸν 36.649 εἰσάγει ἐνδεδυμένον δύναμιν καὶ περιεζωσμένον, δηλαδὴ κατὰ τῶν ἀσεβῶν· εἰ μή τῳ φίλον, τὸ περιὸν τῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ οἷον ἀνεσταλμένον, οὕτω παραδη λοῦσθαι, καθὸ καὶ φῶς ἀναβάλλεται, ὡς ἱμάτιον. Τὸ γὰρ ἄσχετον αὐτοῦ τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ τοῦ φωτὸς τίς ὑποστήσεται; Ζητῶ, τί κοινὸν ὀσφύϊ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ; τί δαὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Παύλῳ νοεῖται τὸ φάσκειν· Στῆτε οὖν περιεζωσμένοι τὴν ὀσφὺν ὑμῶν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ; Μήποτε ὡς τοῦ θεωρητικοῦ τὸ ἐπιθυμητικὸν περι σφίγγοντος, καὶ οὐκ ἐῶντος ἀλλαχοῦ φέρεσθαι; Οὐ γὰρ ἐθέλει τὸ περί τι διακείμενον ἐρωτικῶς, πρὸς τὰς ἄλλας ἡδονὰς τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχειν δύναμιν.

ΙΘʹ. Τὰ δὲ ὑποδήματα, ὁ μὲν τῆς ἁγίας γῆς καὶ θεοστιβοῦς ψαύειν μέλλων, ὑπολυέσθω, καθὰ καὶ Μωϋσῆς ἐκεῖνος ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄρους, ἵνα μηδὲν νεκρὸν φέρῃ, μηδὲ μέσον Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων. Ὡς δὲ καὶ εἴ τις μαθητὴς ἐπὶ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον πέμπεται, φιλοσόφως καὶ ἀπερίττως· ὃν δεῖ πρὸς τῷ ἀχάλκῳ, καὶ ἀράβδῳ, καὶ μονοχίτωνι, ἔτι καὶ γυμνοπο δεῖν, ἵνα φανῶσιν οἱ πόδες ὡραῖοι τῶν εὐαγγελιζομένων εἰρήνην, καὶ ἄλλο πᾶν ἀγαθόν. Ὁ δὲ φεύγων Αἴγυπτόν τε καὶ τὰ Αἰγύπτια, ὑποδεδέσθω, τῆς τε ἄλλης ἀσφαλείας ἕνεκα καὶ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς σκορπίους καὶ τοὺς ὄφεις, οὓς καὶ πολλοὺς Αἴγυπτος τρέφει, ὥστε μὴ βλάπτεσθαι παρὰ τῶν τηρούντων τὴν πτέρ ναν, οὓς πατεῖν ἐκελεύσθημεν. Περὶ δὲ τῆς βακτη ρίας οὕτως ἔχω, καὶ τοῦ περὶ ταύτην αἰνίγμα τος. Τὴν μὲν ὑπερειστικὴν οἶδα, τὴν δὲ ποιμαντικήν τε καὶ διδασκαλικὴν, καὶ τὰ λογικὰ πρόβατα ἐπιστρέφουσαν. Ἀλλὰ σοὶ νῦν τὴν ὑπερείδουσαν ὁ νόμος δια κελεύεται, μήπου τὸν λογισμὸν ὀκλάσῃς, αἷμα Θεοῦ, καὶ πάθος ἀκούων, καὶ θάνατον, μήπου περιενεχθῇς ἀθέως, ὡς Θεοῦ συνήγορος· ἀλλ' ἀνεπαισχύντως καὶ ἀνενδοιάστως, φάγε τὸ σῶμα, πίε τὸ αἷμα, εἰ τῆς ζωῆς ἐπιθυμητικῶς ἔχεις, μήτε τοῖς περὶ σαρκὸς ἀπιστῶν λόγοις, μήτε τοῖς περὶ τὸ πάθος βλαπτόμενος. Ἐρηρεισμένος ἵστατο, πάγιος, βεβηκὼς, ἐν μηδενὶ σαλευόμενος ὑπὸ τῶν ἀντικειμένων, μηδὲ πιθανότητος λόγοις παρασυρόμενος. Ἐπὶ τὸ ὕψος σεαυτοῦ στῆθι, ἐν ταῖς αὐλαῖς Ἱερουσα λὴμ στῆσον τοὺς πόδας, ἐπὶ τῆς πέτρας ἔρει σον, ἵνα μὴ σαλεύηταί σου τὰ κατὰ Θεὸν διαβήματα.

Κʹ. Τί φῄς; Οὕτω ταῦτα ἔδοξεν, Αἴγυπτον ἐξελθεῖν, τὴν σιδηρᾶν κάμινον, καταλιπεῖν σε τὴν ἐκεῖσε πολυθεΐαν, καὶ ὑπὸ Μωϋσέως ἀχθῆναι, καὶ τῆς 36.652