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consolation to those who have fallen away. And that this again introduces arguments concerning the resurrection, hear Paul himself saying: "If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not?" And again, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." We suffer countless terrible things in the present life, he says; if, therefore, there is no hope of another life, what could be more wretched than we are?

9. Whence it is clear that our affairs do not stop at the present; and this becomes clear from temptations, For God would never endure that those who have suffered so many and so great evils, and who pass their whole present life in temptations and countless dangers, should not be requited with far greater gifts; and if He would not endure it, it is very clear that He has prepared another life, better and more glorious, in which He will crown and proclaim the athletes of piety, with the whole world 49.28 watching. So when you see a righteous person in distress, being ill-treated, ending the present life in sickness and poverty and countless other terrible things, say to yourself that if there were no resurrection and judgment, God would not have allowed one who suffered so many evils for His sake to depart from here having enjoyed no good thing; whence it is clear that He has prepared for them another life much sweeter and more tolerable than the present. For if this were not so, He would not have allowed many of the wicked to live in luxury in the present life, and left many of the righteous in countless evils; but since another age has been prepared, in which He is going to give to each according to his desert, to one for his wickedness, to the other for his virtue, for this reason He endures seeing the one being ill-treated, and the other living in luxury. And I will try to present the other reason from the Scriptures. And what was this? That we, being called to the same virtue, should not say that they partook of a different nature, or were not human beings. For this reason someone, speaking of the great Elijah, says something like this: "Elijah was a man of like passions with us." You see that from the fellowship of passions he shows him to be a man like us. And again: "For I also am a man of like passions with you"; and this guarantees the fellowship of nature. But that you may learn that this also teaches us to count blessed those whom we ought to count blessed, is clear from that. For when you hear Paul saying, "Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; and labour"; and that, "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth," it is very clear that we shall not praise those who enjoy ease, but those who are in distress for God's sake, those who are afflicted, and we shall emulate those who live in virtue, those who are zealous for piety. Thus also the prophet says: "Their right hand is a right hand of iniquity, their daughters are adorned, decked out like the likeness of a temple." "Their storehouses are full, affording from one to another; their sheep bring forth thousands, abounding in their goings out, their oxen are fat." "There is no breaking down of a wall, nor a passage through, nor a cry in their streets." "They have called the people blessed, who have these things." But what do you say, O prophet? "Blessed," he says, "is the people whose God is the Lord;" not the one who is rich in money, but the one who glories in piety, this one I call blessed, he says, even if he suffers countless terrible things. And if it is necessary to state a ninth reason, we would say this, that affliction makes the afflicted more approved; "For affliction worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed." Do you see that the experience from affliction instills in us hope for the future, and that to remain in temptations makes us hopeful about the things to come? So I did not speak in vain, that these afflictions sketch out for us the hopes concerning the resurrection, and make those who are tormented better; "for as gold is tried in the furnace," he says, "so an acceptable man in the furnace of"

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παραμυθίαν τοῖς ἐκπεπτωκόσιν. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ τοὺς περὶ ἀναστάσεως πάλιν τοῦτο εἰσάγει λόγους, ἄκουσον αὐτοῦ τοῦ Παύλου λέγοντος· Εἰ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον ἐθηριομάχησα ἐν Ἐφέσῳ, τί μοι τὸ ὄφελος, εἰ νεκροὶ οὐκ ἐγείρονται; Καὶ πάλιν, Εἰ ἐν τῇ ζωῇ ταύτῃ ἠλπικότες ἐσμὲν ἐν Χριστῷ μόνον, ἐλεεινότεροι πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἐσμέν. Μυρία πάσχομεν δεινὰ κατὰ τὸν παρόντα βίον, φησίν· εἰ τοίνυν οὐκ ἔστιν ἐλπίσαι ἑτέραν ζωὴν, τί γένοιτ' ἂν ἡμῶν ἀθλιώτερον;

θʹ. Ὅθεν δῆλον, ὅτι οὐ μέχρι τοῦ παρόντος ἕστηκε τὰ ἡμέτερα· καὶ τοῦτο δῆλον ἀπὸ τῶν πειρασμῶν γίνεται, Οὐ γὰρ ἄν ποτε ἀνάσχοιτο ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς τοσαῦτα καὶ τηλικαῦτα πεπονθότας κακὰ, καὶ τὸν παρόντα βίον ἅπαντα ἐν πειρασμοῖς καὶ μυρίοις διάγοντας κινδύνοις, μὴ πολλῷ μείζοσιν ἀμείψασθαι δωρεαῖς· εἰ δὲ οὐκ ἀνάσχοιτο, εὔδηλον ὅτι βελτίω τινὰ καὶ λαμπροτέραν ἡτοίμασεν ἑτέραν ζωὴν, καθ' ἣν μέλλει τοὺς τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀθλητὰς στεφανοῦν καὶ ἀνακηρύττειν, τῆς οἰκουμένης ὁρώσης ἁπά 49.28 σης. Ὥστε ὅταν ἴδῃς δίκαιον στενοχωρούμενον, κακούμενον, ἐν ἀῤῥωστίᾳ καὶ πενίᾳ καὶ μυρίοις ἑτέροις δεινοῖς τὸν παρόντα βίον καταλύσαντα, εἰπὲ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν, ὅτι εἰ μὴ ἀνάστασις ἦν καὶ κρίσις, οὐκ ἂν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν τοσαῦτα δι' αὐτὸν πεπονθότα κακὰ ἀφῆκε μηδενὸς ἀπολαύσαντα ἀγαθοῦ ἀπελθεῖν ἐντεῦθεν· ὅθεν δῆλον, ὅτι ἑτέραν αὐτοῖς ἡτοίμασε ζωὴν ἡδίω τῆς παρούσης καὶ ἀνεκτοτέραν πολλῷ. Οὐ γὰρ ἂν, εἰ μὴ τοῦτο ἦν, τῶν μὲν πονηρῶν εἴασε πολλοὺς τρυφᾷν κατὰ τὸν παρόντα βίον, τῶν δὲ δικαίων πολλοὺς ἐν μυρίοις ἠφίει κακοῖς· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ παρεσκεύασται αἰὼν ἕτερος, ἐν ᾧ κατ' ἀξίαν ἑκάστῳ, τῷ μὲν τῆς πονηρίας, τῷ δὲ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀποδιδόναι μέλλει, διὰ τοῦτο ἀνέχεται τὸν μὲν κακούμενον, τὸν δὲ τρυφῶντα ὁρῶν. Καὶ τὴν ἑτέραν δὲ αἰτίαν ἀπὸ τῶν Γραφῶν παραστῆσαι πειράσομαι. Ποία δὲ ἦν αὕτη; Τὸ μὴ λέγειν ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν ἀρετὴν παρακαλουμένους, ὅτι ἐκεῖνοι φύσεως ἑτέρας μετεῖχον, ἢ οὐκ ἦσαν ἄνθρωποι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό τις περὶ τοῦ μεγάλου διαλεγόμενος Ἠλίου, οὕτω πώς φησιν, Ἠλίας ἄνθρωπος ἦν ὁμοιοπαθὴς ἡμῖν. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν παθῶν κοινωνίας δείκνυσιν αὐτὸν ἄνθρωπον ὄντα καθ' ἡμᾶς. Καὶ πάλιν· Καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπός εἰμι ὁμοιοπαθὴς ὑμῖν· καὶ τοῦτο τὴν κοινωνίαν ἐγγυᾶται τῆς φύσεως. Ἵνα δὲ μάθῃς, ὅτι καὶ μακαρίζειν ἡμᾶς, οὓς χρὴ μακαρίζειν, τοῦτο παιδεύει, δῆλον ἐκεῖθεν. Ὅταν γὰρ ἀκούσῃς Παύλου λέγοντος, ὅτι Ἄχρι τῆς ἄρτι ὥρας καὶ πεινῶμεν καὶ διψῶμεν, καὶ γυμνητεύομεν, καὶ κολαφιζόμεθα, καὶ ἀστατοῦμεν, καὶ κοπιῶμεν· καὶ ὅτι Ὃν ἀγαπᾷ Κύριος, παιδεύει, μαστιγοῖ δὲ πάντα υἱὸν, ὃν παραδέχεται, εὔδηλον ὅτι οὐχὶ τοὺς ἀνέσεως ἀπολαύοντας, ἀλλὰ τοὺς στενοχωρουμένους διὰ τὸν Θεὸν, τοὺς θλιβομένους, τούτους ἐπαινεσόμεθα, καὶ ζηλώσομεν τοὺς ἐν ἀρετῇ ζῶντας, τοὺς εὐσεβείας ἐπιμελουμένους. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ προφήτης φησίν· Ἡ δεξιὰ αὐτῶν δεξιὰ ἀδικίας, αἱ θυγατέρες αὐτῶν κεκαλλωπισμέναι, περικεκοσμημέναι ὡς ὁμοίωμα ναοῦ. Τὰ ταμεῖα αὐτῶν πλήρη, ἐξερευγόμενα ἐκ τούτου εἰς τοῦτο· τὰ πρόβατα αὐτῶν πολύτοκα, πληθύνοντα ἐν ταῖς ἐξόδοις αὐτῶν, οἱ βόες αὐτῶν παχεῖς. Οὐκ ἔστι κατάπτωμα φραγμοῦ, οὐδὲ διέξοδος, οὐδὲ κραυγὴ ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις αὐτῶν. Ἐμακάρισαν τὸν λαὸν, ᾧ ταῦτά ἐστιν. Σὺ δὲ τί φὴς, ὦ προφῆτα; Μακάριος, φησὶν, ὁ λαὸς, οὗ Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς αὐτοῦ· οὐ τὸν ἐν χρήμασι πλουτοῦντα, ἀλλὰ τὸν εὐσεβείᾳ κομῶντα, τοῦτον ἐγὼ μακαρίζω, φησὶ, κἂν μυρία πάσχῃ δεινά. Εἰ δὲ χρὴ καὶ ἐννάτην αἰτίαν εἰπεῖν, ἐκεῖνο ἂν εἴποιμεν, ὅτι δοκιμωτέρους ποιεῖ τοὺς θλιβομένους ἡ θλῖψις· Ἡ γὰρ θλῖψις ὑπομονὴν κατεργάζεται, ἡ δὲ ὑπομονὴ δοκιμὴν, ἡ δὲ δοκιμὴ ἐλπίδα, ἡ δὲ ἐλπὶς οὐ καταισχύνει. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι ἡ ἐκ τῆς θλίψεως δοκιμὴ τὴν περὶ τῶν μελλόντων ἡμῖν ἐλπίδα ἐντίθησι, καὶ τὸ μένειν ἐν πειρασμοῖς εὐέλπιδας ποιεῖ περὶ τῶν μελλόντων εἶναι; Ὥστε οὐ μάτην ἔλεγον, ὅτι αἱ θλίψεις αὗται τὰς περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἡμῖν ἐλπίδας ὑπογράφουσι, καὶ βελτίους ἐργάζονται τοὺς βασανιζομένους· ὥσπερ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐν καμίνῳ δοκιμάζεται χρυσὸς, οὕτως ἄνθρωπος δεκτὸς ἐν καμίνῳ