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always nailed to them, where is that spectacle of theirs now? It is gone. The luxury of banquets, the multitude of musicians, the service of flatterers, the much laughter, the relaxation of the soul, the dissipation of the mind, the dissolute and unrestrained and extravagant life, where is it now? All those things have flown away. What has become of the body that enjoyed so much service and cleanliness? Go to the coffin, behold the dust, the ash, the worms, the hideousness of what remains, behold and groan bitterly. And would that the loss were only unto ash; but now, from the coffin and these worms, transfer your thought to that unending worm, to the unquenchable fire, to the gnashing of teeth, to the outer darkness, to the continual affliction and distress. Come also to the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, who, being master of so much wealth and clothed in purple, became master not even of a drop of water, and this while being in such great need. How are things here better than dreams? For just as those who work in the mines or pay some other punishment more severe than this, when, dozing off from those many toils and that most bitter life, they see themselves in luxury and prosperity, they feel no gratitude for the dreams after they have awakened; so also that rich man, having become rich in the present life as in a dream, after his departure from here, was punished with that bitter punishment. Consider these things; and setting that fire against the one that now possesses you, the conflagration of desires, be delivered from the furnace at last. For he who has extinguished this one here well, will not experience that one either, but if someone does not overcome this one, that one will then hold him more fiercely after he has departed from here. For how long do you want the enjoyment of the present life to remain for you? For I do not think more than fifty years are left for you, so as to reach extreme old age, or rather, not even this is clear to us at all; for those who cannot be confident about their own life even until evening, how could they be certain about so many years? And not only this is uncertain, but also the change of circumstances; for often when life has been extended for a long time, the things of luxury have not been extended with it, but at once it both arrived and leapt away. But still, if you wish, let it be assumed for the sake of argument that you will live so many years and will undergo no change, what is this compared to the unending ages and those punishments, unspeakable and unbearable? For here both the good and the difficult things have an end, and that a very quick one; but there both are extended for immortal ages, and in quality they differ so much from the things of now, that it is not even possible to say.

10 For do not, because you heard "fire," think that fire is of such a kind; for this one, whatever it takes, it has burned up and dispatched, but that one burns forever those once seized and will never cease. For this reason it is also called unquenchable. For those who have sinned must also put on incorruption, not for honor but so as to have a continual provision for that punishment; and as for how terrible this is, speech could never be able to represent it, but from the experience of small things it is possible to get some small idea of those great things. For if you are ever in a bath more intensely heated than is proper, then consider for me the fire of Gehenna, and if ever again you are consumed by a violent fever transfer your mind to that flame and then you will be able to distinguish well. For if a bath and a fever so afflict and disturb us, when we fall into that river of fire, which is drawn before the fearful tribunal, how shall we be disposed? Shall we not gnash our teeth from those unbearable pains and agonies, but there will be no one to help, but we shall wail loudly as the flame attacks us more fiercely; and we shall see no one, except those being punished with us and the great desolation. What could one say of the things from the

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προσηλωμένοι διὰ παντός, ποῦ τούτων ἡ φαντασία ἐκείνη νῦν; Οἴχεται. Ἡ τῶν δείπνων πολυτέλεια, ἡ τῶν μουσικῶν πληθύς, ἡ τῶν κολάκων θεραπεία, ὁ γέλως ὁ πολύς, ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς ἄνεσις, ἡ τῆς διανοίας διάχυσις, ὁ βίος ὁ ὑγρὸς καὶ ἀνειμένος καὶ περιττός, ποῦ νῦν; Ἀπέπτη πάντα ἐκεῖνα. Τί γέγονε τὸ τοσαύτης θεραπείας ἀπολαῦον σῶμα καὶ καθαρότητος; Ἄπιθι πρὸς τὴν σορόν, θέασαι τὴν κόνιν, τὴν τέφραν, τοὺς σκώληκας, τοῦ λοιποῦ τὸ εἰδεχθές, θέασαι καὶ στέναξον πικρόν. Καὶ εἴθε μέχρι τῆς τέφρας ἡ ζημία ἦν· νῦν δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς σοροῦ καὶ τῶν σκολήκων τούτων μετάγαγε τὸν λογισμὸν ἐπὶ τὸν ἀτελεύτητον ἐκεῖνον σκώληκα, ἐπὶ τὸ πῦρ τὸ ἄσβεστον, ἐπὶ τὸν βρυγμὸν τῶν ὀδόντων, ἐπὶ τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον, ἐπὶ τὴν διηνεκῆ θλῖψιν καὶ τὴν στενοχωρίαν. Ἐλθὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν παραβολὴν τὴν τοῦ Λαζάρου καὶ τοῦ πλουσίου, ὃς τοσούτων χρημάτων κύριος ὢν καὶ πορφύραν ἐνδιδυσκόμενος οὐδὲ σταγόνος ὕδατος κύριος γέγονεν, καὶ ταῦτα ἐν ἀνάγκῃ τοσαύτῃ καθεστώς. Τί τῶν ὀνειράτων ἄμεινον τὰ ἐνταῦθα διακεῖται; Καθάπερ γὰρ οἱ τὰ μέταλλα ἐργαζόμενοι ἢ καὶ ἑτέραν τινὰ τίνοντες κόλασιν ταύτης χαλεπωτέραν, ὅταν ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν μόχθων ἐκείνων καὶ τῆς πικροτάτης ζωῆς ἀπονυστάξαντες ἴδωσιν ἐν τρυφαῖς καὶ εὐθηνίαις ἑαυτούς, οὐδεμίαν μετὰ τὸ διεγερθῆναι τοῖς ὀνείρασιν ἴσασιν χάριν· οὕτω καὶ ὁ πλούσιος ἐκεῖνος, καθάπερ ἐν ὀνείρῳ τῷ παρόντι βίῳ πλουτήσας, μετὰ τὴν ἐνθένδε ἀποδημίαν, τὴν πικρὰν ἐκείνην ἐκολάζετο κόλασιν. Ταῦτα ἐννόησον· καὶ τὸ πῦρ ἀντιστήσας ἐκεῖνο τῷ κατέχοντί σε νῦν, τῷ τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν ἐμπρησμῷ, ἀπαλλάγηθι τῆς καμίνου ποτέ. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ταύτην ἐνθάδε ἀποσβέσας καλῶς, οὐδὲ ἐκείνης λήψεται πεῖραν, εἰ δέ τις ταύτης μὴ περιγένοιτο, σφοδρότερον αὐτὸν ἀπελθόντα ἐνθένδε καθέξει τότε ἐκείνη. Πόσον βούλει σοι παραμεῖναι τοῦ παρόντος βίου τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν χρόνον; Ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ οἶμαί σοι πλέον ἢ πεντήκοντα ἔτη λείπεσθαι, ὥστε πρὸς ἔσχατον γῆρας ἐλθεῖν, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ τοῦτό που δῆλόν ἐστιν ἡμῖν· οἱ γὰρ μηδὲ μέχρι τῆς ἑσπέρας ὑπὲρ τῆς ζωῆς θαρρεῖν ἔχοντες τῆς ἑαυτῶν, πῶς ἂν ὑπὲρ τοσούτων διισχυρίσαιντο ἐτῶν; Καὶ οὐ τοῦτο μόνον ἐστὶν ἄδηλον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τῆς τῶν πραγμάτων μεταβολῆς· πολλάκις γὰρ τῆς ζωῆς εἰς χρόνον ἐκταθείσης μακρόν, οὐ συνεξετάθη τὰ τῆς τρυφῆς, ἀλλ' ὁμοῦ καὶ ἐπέστη καὶ ἀπεπήδησεν. Πλὴν ἀλλ' εἰ βούλει, κείσθω τῷ λόγῳ καὶ ζήσεσθαί σε ἔτη τοσαῦτα καὶ μηδεμίαν ὑποστήσεσθαι μεταβολήν, τί τοῦτο πρὸς τοὺς ἀτελευτήτους αἰῶνας καὶ τὰς κολάσεις τὰς ἀπορρήτους καὶ ἀφορήτους ἐκείνας; Ἐνταῦθα μὲν γὰρ καὶ τὰ ἀγαθὰ καὶ τὰ χαλεπὰ τέλος ἔχει, καὶ τοῦτο τάχιστον· ἐκεῖ δὲ ἀθανάτοις ἀμφότερα παρεκτείνεται αἰῶσιν, καὶ τῇ ποιότητι δὲ τοσοῦτον τῶν νῦν διενήνοχεν, ὅσον οὐδὲ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν.

10 Μὴ γὰρ ἐπειδὴ πῦρ ἤκουσας, τοιοῦτον εἶναι νομίσῃς ἐκεῖνο τὸ πῦρ· τοῦτο μὲν γάρ, ὅπερ ἂν λάβῃ, κατέκαυσεν καὶ ἀπήλλαξεν, ἐκεῖνο δὲ τοὺς ἅπαξ κατασχεθέντας κάει διὰ παντὸς καὶ οὐδέποτε παύσεται. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἄσβεστον εἴρηται. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοὺς ἡμαρτηκότας ἀφθαρσίαν ἐνδύσασθαι δεῖ, οὐ πρὸς τιμὴν ἀλλ' ὥστε διηνεκὲς ἐφόδιον τῆς τιμωρίας ἔχειν ἐκείνης· τοῦτο δὲ ὅσον ἐστὶ τὸ δεινόν, ὁ μὲν λόγος οὐκ ἂν ἰσχύσειεν παραστῆσαί ποτε, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς πείρας τῶν μικρῶν δυνατὸν βραχεῖάν τινα ἔννοιαν τῶν μεγάλων ἐκείνων λαβεῖν. Εἰ γάρ ποτε ἐν βαλανείῳ γένοιο σφοδρότερον ἐκκεκαυμένῳ τοῦ δέοντος, τότε μοι τὸ τῆς γεέννης ἐννόησον πῦρ, καὶ εἴ ποτε πάλιν ὑπὸ πυρετοῦ καταφλεχθείης σφοδροῦ πρὸς ἐκείνην τὸν νοῦν τὴν φλόγα μετάστησον καὶ τότε δυνήσῃ διαστεῖλαι καλῶς. Εἰ γὰρ βαλανεῖον καὶ πυρετὸς οὕτως ἡμᾶς θλίβει καὶ θορυβεῖ, ὅταν εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν τοῦ πυρὸς ἐμπέσωμεν ἐκεῖνον, τὸν ἑλκόμενον πρὸ τοῦ βήματος τοῦ φοβεροῦ, πῶς διακεισόμεθα; Ἆρα βρύξομεν τοὺς ὀδόντας ὑπὸ τῶν πόνων καὶ τῶν ἀλγηδόνων τῶν ἀφορήτων ἐκείνων, ὁ δὲ ἐπαμύνων ἔσται οὐδείς, ἀλλ' οἰμώξομεν μεγάλα σφοδρότερον ἐπιτιθεμένης ἡμῖν τῆς φλογός· ὀψόμεθα δὲ οὐδένα, πλὴν τῶν κολαζομένων σὺν ἡμῖν καὶ τῆς ἐρημίας τῆς πολλῆς. Τί ἄν τις εἴποι τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ