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of these words, or by permitting demons to persuade you through events how demons govern. For then you would have known well their wickedness through experience itself; or rather, even now it is possible to demonstrate to you, as in a small example. Some demon-possessed men coming out of the tombs met Christ, and the demons begged him to permit them to enter the herd of swine. And he permitted it, and they went away and immediately cast them all down the cliff; this is how demons govern. And yet they had no quarrel with the swine, but against you there is always a truceless war and an undeclared battle, and an immortal enmity. But if they could not bear to spare even for a moment of time those with whom they had nothing in common; if they had us under their power, who are their enemies and constantly sting them, what would they not have done? What incurable evils would they not have inflicted? For it was for this reason that God let them fall upon the herd of swine, so that in the bodies of irrational animals you might learn their wickedness. And it is clear to all that they would have done to those demoniacs what they also did to the swine, if the demon-possessed had not, even in their very madness, enjoyed the great providence of God. And so now, when you see a man moved by a demon, worship the Master, learn the wickedness of demons. For it is possible to see both on these demon-possessed: both the love of God for mankind, and the malice of demons. The malice of the demons, when they disturb and trouble the soul of the one who is deranged; and the love of God for mankind, when He restrains and hinders such a savage demon, who is an inhabitant and desires to cast the man down a cliff, not allowing him to use his own power to the full, but permitting him to display his strength only enough to chasten the man, and to make his own wickedness manifest. Do you wish to see again from another example how a demon governs, when God allows him to use his own power? In 49.254 consider the herds of oxen, the flocks of Job, how in a moment of time he consumed them all, the pitiable death of his children, the blow inflicted upon his body. And you will see the cruel and inhuman and unsparing wickedness of the demons, and from these things you will know clearly that if God had permitted this whole universe to their authority, they would have confounded and disturbed everything, and would have treated us as they did the swine and those herds of oxen, since they would not have endured to spare our salvation for even a moment of time. If demons governed, we would be in no better state than the demon-possessed men, but rather we would be even worse than them. For God did not give them over entirely to the tyranny of the demons, since they would have suffered things much more grievous than what they suffer now. But I would ask those who say these things, what disorder, pray, do they see in the present state of things, that they attribute everything concerning us to the governance of demons? And yet we see the sun for so many years proceeding in an orderly course each day, the varied choir of stars preserving its own order, the unimpeded courses of the moon, the precise succession of night and day, everything, both things above and things below, as in some harmonious dance, or rather, even much more and more precisely, each preserving its own place, and not departing from the order which God, in creating them, established from the beginning. 7. And what is the use of these things, he says, when heaven, and sun, and moon, and the choir of stars, and all other things have great order, but our affairs are filled with confusion and disorder? What confusion, O man, and disorder? Such a one is rich, he says, and uses violence, he robs and is greedy, he devours the substance of the poor every day, and suffers nothing terrible; another lives in gentleness,

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ῥημάτων τούτων, ἢ τοῖς δαίμοσιν ἐπιτρέψας τὰ σὰ πεῖσαί σε διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων πῶς δαίμονες διοικοῦσι. Τότε γὰρ ἂν ἔγνως καλῶς τὴν ἐκείνων πονηρίαν διὰ τῆς πείρας αὐτῆς· μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ νῦν δυνατὸν ὑμῖν παραστῆσαι, ὡς ἐν μικρῷ τινι παραδείγματι· Ἀπήντησαν τῷ Χριστῷ δαιμονιζόμενοί τινες ἐκ τῶν μνημείων ἐξερχόμενοι, καὶ παρεκάλουν αὐτὸν οἱ δαίμονες ἐπιτρέψαι αὐτοῖς εἰς τὴν ἀγέλην τῶν χοίρων εἰσελθεῖν· καὶ ἐπέτρεψε, καὶ ἀπῆλθον καὶ κατεκρήμνισαν αὐτοὺς εὐθέως ἅπαντας· οὕτω δαίμονες διοικοῦσι. Καίτοι πρὸς τοὺς χοίρους οὐδεὶς ἦν αὐτοῖς λόγος, πρὸς δὲ σὲ ἀεὶ πόλεμος ἄσπονδος καὶ ἀκήρυκτός ἐστι μάχη, καὶ ἔχθρα ἀθάνατος. Εἰ δὲ ἐκείνων, πρὸς οὓς οὐδὲν ἦν αὐτοῖς κοινὸν, οὐδὲ μικρὰν καιροῦ ῥοπὴν ἀνασχέσθαι ὑπέμειναν· εἰ τοὺς πολεμίους αὐτοῖς καὶ διηνεκῶς αὐτοὺς δάκνοντας ὑποχειρίους ἔλαβον ἡμᾶς, τί οὐκ ἂν εἰργάσαντο; τί δὲ οὐκ ἂν τῶν ἀνηκέστων διέθηκαν; ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Θεὸς ἀφῆκεν αὐτοὺς ἐμπεσεῖν τῇ τῶν χοίρων ἀγέλῃ, ἵν' ἐν τοῖς τῶν ἀλόγων σώμασι μάθῃς αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν πονηρίαν. Καὶ ὅτι τοὺς δαιμονιζομένους ἐκείνους ταῦτα ἂν ἐποίησαν, ἃ καὶ τοὺς χοίρους, εἰ μὴ καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ μανίᾳ πολλῆς ἀπήλαυον οἱ δαιμονῶντες τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ προνοίας, δῆλον ἅπασι. Καὶ νῦν οὖν, ὅταν ἴδῃς ἄνθρωπον ὑπὸ δαίμονος κινούμενον, προσκύνησον τὸν ∆εσπότην, μάθε τῶν δαιμόνων τὴν πονηρίαν· ἀμφότερα γὰρ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ἐπὶ τῶν δαιμονώντων τούτων, καὶ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν, καὶ τὴν τῶν δαιμόνων κακίαν· τὴν μὲν τῶν δαιμόνων κακίαν, ὅταν ταράττωσι καὶ θορυβῶσι τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ παραπαίοντος· τὴν δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν, ὅταν οὕτως ἄγριον δαίμονα, ἔνοικον ὄντα καὶ ἐπιθυμοῦντα κατακρημνίσαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, κατέχῃ καὶ κωλύῃ, μὴ συγχωρῶν εἰς ἅπαν τῇ οἰκείᾳ χρήσασθαι δυνάμει, ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτον ἐπιτρέπων ἐνδείξασθαι τὴν ἰσχὺν, ὅσον καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον σωφρονίσαι, καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν ἐκφανῆ ποιῆσαι πονηρίαν. Βούλει καὶ ἐφ' ἑτέρου παραδείγματος πάλιν ἰδεῖν πῶς διοικεῖ δαίμων, ὅταν ὁ Θεὸς αὐτῷ συγχωρεῖ τῇ οἰκείᾳ κεχρῆσθαι δυνάμει; Ἐν 49.254 νόησον τὰ βουκόλια, τὰ ποίμνια τοῦ Ἰὼβ, πῶς ἐν μιᾷ καιροῦ ῥοπῇ πάντα κατανάλωσε, τὸν ἐλεεινὸν τῶν παίδων αὐτοῦ θάνατον, τὴν κατὰ τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ πληγὴν ἐνεχθεῖσαν· καὶ ὄψει τὸ ὠμὸν καὶ ἀπάνθρωπον καὶ ἀφειδὲς τῆς τῶν δαιμόνων πονηρίας, καὶ ἀπὸ τούτων εἴσῃ σαφῶς, ὅτι εἰ καὶ τόδε τὸ πᾶν ἐπέτρεψεν αὐτῶν τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ ὁ Θεὸς, πάντα ἂν συνέχεαν καὶ συνετάραξαν, καὶ τὰ τῶν χοίρων ἡμᾶς διέθηκαν καὶ τὰ τῶν βουκολίων ἐκείνων, ὡς οὐδὲ μικρὰν καιροῦ ῥοπὴν φείσασθαι τῆς ἡμετέρας ἂν ἠνέσχοντο σωτηρίας. Εἰ δαίμονες διῴκουν, οὐδὲν τῶν δαιμονώντων ἀνθρώπων ἄμεινον διεκείμεθα, μᾶλλον δὲ κἀκείνων χείρους ἂν ἦμεν. Οὔτε γὰρ ἐκείνους καθόλου τῇ τυραννίδι τῶν δαιμόνων ἐξέδωκεν ὁ Θεὸς, ἐπεὶ πολλῷ τούτων χαλεπώτερα ἂν ἔπαθον, ὧν πάσχουσι νῦν. Ἐγὼ δὲ κἀκεῖνο ἂν ἐπυθόμην τῶν ταῦτα λεγόντων, ποίαν δὴ ἀταξίαν ἐν τοῖς παροῦσιν ὁρῶντες, δαιμόνων διοικήσει τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἀνατιθέασι πάντα; Καίτοι γε ἥλιον ὁρῶμεν ἐπὶ τοσούτοις ἔτεσιν εὔτακτα καθ' ἑκάστην βαδίζοντα τὴν ἡμέραν, ποικίλον ἀστέρων χορὸν τὴν οἰκείαν διατηροῦντα τάξιν, σελήνης δρόμους ἀπαρεμποδίστους, νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας διαδοχὴν ἀκριβῆ, πάντα, καὶ τὰ ἄνω καὶ τὰ κάτω ὥσπερ ἐν ἁρμονίῳ τινὶ χορείᾳ, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ πολλῷ πλέον καὶ ἀκριβέστερον, τὴν οἰκείαν ἕκαστον χώραν διαφυλάττον, καὶ οὐκ ἐξιστάμενον τῆς τάξεως ἧς παρὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν αὐτὰ ποιῶν ἔταξεν ὁ Θεός. ζʹ. Καὶ τί τούτων ὄφελος, φησὶν, ὅταν οὐρανὸς μὲν, καὶ ἥλιος, καὶ σελήνη, καὶ ἀστέρων χορὸς, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα πολλὴν ἔχῃ τὴν εὐταξίαν, τὰ δὲ ἡμέτερα συγχύσεως ᾖ πεπληρωμένα καὶ ἀταξίας; Ποίας συγχύσεως, ἄνθρωπε, καὶ ἀταξίας; Ὁ δεῖνα πλουτεῖ, φησὶ, καὶ βιάζεται, ἁρπάζει καὶ πλεονεκτεῖ, τὰς τῶν πενήτων οὐσίας καταπίνει καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, καὶ οὐδὲν πάσχει δεινόν· ἕτερος ἐν ἐπιεικείᾳ ζῇ,