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Let the wicked seem to rule all things, nor let the path be smooth for them, 1167 with none resisting. The end of these things I will consign to the final fire, which tests all things and purifies with justice, even if we are hidden here by some complexities. But I myself with a short word will strike my murderers; for murderers are those who judge perversely, pouring out the blood of innocent souls, of all those whom I formed, whom I managed. But I will say what I shall say, fearing not at all to be reviled, a thing forbidden to all, indeed, but by me even more hated. For I will not make my speeches by name, 1168 so as not to seem to expose what ought to be hidden. Nor will I mention all equally, lest my mouth should run on so much. For I know many who are also of a better account. But whoever is among the wicked, and beyond the wicked, let him be mastered himself, and be subdued for now. The sword of my word will cut out what is worse. What is this? You will show it; if you fight against my word, you are a manifest accuser of yourself. So, my part is this: let everyone cast stones at me; I have long been accustomed to stones. Have courage before a lion. A leopard among the tame. 1169 An asp might perhaps even flee you if you are afraid. Turn away from one thing for me, the wicked bishops, fearing not at all the dignity of the throne. The high office is for all, but the grace is not for all. Pass by the fleece, look at the wolf. Do not persuade me with words, but with deeds. I hate teachings which are contradicted by a life. Praising the colors of the tomb, I loathe the inner stench of the decayed limbs. How are these things? And what are these things? How, ever moving to better words, are you not well-spoken even now? It is the part of one in pain to pour out his suffering to God, to friends, to parents, to neighbors, to strangers, and if need be, to time and to a later life. 1170 But I will carry my discourse a little further. Let no one ever say that there is anything more for those who labor from this. He is playing, who thinks these things. All things proceed in night and darkness. For God tries some with fire, and darkens others, until the fire should illuminate all these things. One man has exhausted a wretched life, groaning, sleepless, wasting his limbs with tears, and confined by a bed on the ground and by scant food, and by the cares of the mind, in the God-inspired Scriptures, and always carding himself with inner scourges. What is neglected by me? Have I done anything I ought not? Another plucked the pleasant things of the young, he played, he sang, he filled the disease of his belly, 1171 he gave himself over to all pleasures, he put no locks on his senses, a colt without reins. And then misfortunes ran down the one; not misfortunes, really; for none of these things here touches the wise, as it seems to the many by whom even the appearance of wisdom is destroyed. But the one running well in all things, also runs well in this, he is considered to be the best in virtue. And the witness of this account is he himself, who says these things. Me, sitting above visible things, and mixing my mind only with intelligible things, having cast away glory, possession, hopes, words, delighting in not living luxuriously, and with a meager barley-cake sweetening my life, free from insolence, (or you must expect all things, even if you are wise), 1172 against my hopes someone tore me away from these fine things and led me abroad; who it was, I cannot say. Was it then the divine Spirit, or my sins, so that I might pay the penalty for my arrogance? But what is clear is this, gatherings of shepherds and an orthodox people, but not yet numerous, just now looking a little toward the rays of the sun, so that one might come to the word with boldness, and might take a little breath from the surrounding evils, and from chattering tongues, and from schismatic error, by which they were weary, having no shelter, like some pleasant rose in the midst of thorns, or some dark grape in an unripe cluster, so then I arrived, a pious stranger, bent by oaths, and by manifold entreaties, 1173 which to oppose belongs to the overly disdainful. But when I arrived, having left the Cappadocian land, which seems to all a bulwark of faith, not for a people, nor for any of my necessities (these are the fabrications of enemies, false stories, coverings for envy, ineptly devised), I wish to ask you the rest; for you are witnesses of my labors. What perverse, or offensive, or harmful thing have I said or done this third year? Except this one thing, that I spared the wicked, by whom I was stoned as a prelude to my entry, I endured. For indeed

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δόξαιεν οἱ κακοὶ κρατεῖν Τὰ πάντα, μηδ' ᾖ λεῖος αὐτοῖς ὁ δρόμος, 1167 Ἀντιστατοῦντος οὐδενὸς, τὸ μὲν πέρας Τούτων παρήσω τῷ τελευταίῳ πυρὶ, Ὃ πάντ' ἐλέγχει καὶ καθαίρει σὺν δίκῃ, Κἂν λανθάνωμεν ἐνθάδε πλοκαῖς τισιν. Αὐτὸς δὲ μικρῷ τοὺς ἐμοὺς λόγῳ πλήξω Φονεῖς· φονεῖς γὰρ οἱ κρίνοντες ἔκτοπα, Ψυχῶν ἀθώων ἐκχέοντες αἵματα, Πάντων, ὅσους ἔπλαττον, οὓς ᾠκονόμουν. Ἐρῶ δ' ἃ λέξω, μηδὲν εὐλαβούμενος Τὸ λοιδορεῖσθαι, πρᾶγμ ἀπηγορευμένον Πᾶσιν μὲν, ἐμοὶ δὲ καὶ πλέον μισούμενον. Οὐ γὰρ ὀνομαστὶ τοὺς λόγους ποιήσομαι, 1168 Τῷ μὴ δοκεῖν ἐλέγχειν, ἃ κρύπτειν χρεών. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ πάντων ἐξ ἴσης μεμνήσομαι, Μή μοι τοσοῦτον ἐκδρομήσειε στόμα. Πολλοὺς γὰρ οἶδα καὶ λόγου τοῦ κρείσσονος. Ἀλλ' ὅστις ἐν κακοῖς τε, καὶ κακῶν πέρα, Αὐτὸς κρατείσθω, καὶ δαμαζέσθω τὰ νῦν. Τεμεῖ τὸ χεῖρον ἡ μάχαιρα τοῦ λόγου. Τί τοῦτο; δείξεις· ἂν μάχῃ πρὸς τὸν λόγον, Αὑτοῦ προδήλως ἐκφανὴς κατήγορος. Τὸ δ' οὖν ἐμὸν τοιοῦτο· βαλλέτω με πᾶς· Πόῤῥωθέν εἰμι τοῖς λίθοις ἡρμοσμένος. Θάῤῥει λέοντι. Πάρδαλις τῶν ἡμέρων. 1169 Ἀσπὶς τάχ' ἄν σε καὶ φύγοι δεδοικότα. Ἓν ἐκτρέπου μοι, τοὺς κακοὺς ἐπισκόπους, Μηδὲν φοβηθεὶς τοῦ θρόνου τὴν ἀξίαν. Πάντων τὸ ὕψος, οὐχὶ πάντων δ' ἡ χάρις. Τὸ κώδιον πάρελθε, τὸν λύκον βλέπε. Μὴ τοῖς λόγοις με πεῖθε, τοῖς δὲ πράγμασι. Μισῶ διδάγμαθ', οἷς ἐναντίος βίος. Τὰ χρώματ' αἰνῶν τοῦ τάφου, βδελύττομαι Τὴν ἔνδον ὀδμὴν τῶν σεσηπότων μελῶν. Πῶς ταῦτα; καὶ τί ταῦτα; πῶς λόγους ἀεὶ Κινῶν ἀμείνους, οὐχὶ καὶ νῦν εὐστομεῖς; Ἀλγοῦντός ἐστιν, ἐξερεύγεσθαι πάθος Θεῷ, φίλοις, γονεῦσι, γείτοσι, ξένοις, Εἰ δ' οὖν, χρόνῳ τε καὶ βίῳ τοῖς ὕστερον. 1170 Μικρὸν δ' ἀνοίσω τὸν λόγον ποῤῥωτέρω. Μηδείς ποτ' εἴπῃ τοῖς πονοῦσί τι πλέον Ἐντεῦθεν εἶναι. Παίζεθ', ὃς φρονεῖ τάδε. Ἅπαντ' ἐν νυκτὶ καὶ ζόφῳ πορεύεται. Τοὺς μὲν πυροῖ γὰρ, τοὺς δ' ἐπιζοφοῖ Θεὸς, Ἕως τὸ πῦρ ἅπαντα φωτίζοι τάδε. Ἄλλος μὲν ἐξήντλησε μοχθηρὸν βίον, Στένων, ἀϋπνῶν, δάκρυσιν τήκων μέλη, Χαμευνίᾳ τε καὶ τροφῇ στενούμενος, Καὶ νοῦ μερίμναις, ἐν θεοπνεύστοις Γραφαῖς, Μάστιξί θ' αὑτὸν ταῖς ἔσω ξαίνων ἀεί. Τί μοι παρεῖται; μὴ δέον τί τ' ἔδρασα; Ἄλλος τὰ τερπνὰ τῶν νέων ἐδρέψατο, Ἔπαιξεν, ᾖδε, γαστρὸς ἔπλησεν νόσον, 1171 Πάσαις ἐφῆκεν ἡδοναῖς, αἰσθήσεσι Κλεῖθρ' οὐκ ἔθηκε, πῶλος ἡνίας ἄτερ. Κἄπειτα τὸν μὲν συμφοραὶ κατέδραμον· Οὐ συμφοραὶ μέν· οὐ γὰρ ἅπτεται σοφῶν Τῶνδ' ἐνθάδ' οὐδὲν, ὡς δοκεῖ τοῖς πλείοσιν Ὑφ' ὧν ὀλεῖται καὶ τὸ φαίνεσθαι σοφόν. Ὁ δ' εὐδρομῶν ἅπαντα, καὶ τόδ' εὐδρομεῖ, Κράτιστος εἶναι τὴν ἀρετὴν νομίζεται. Λόγου δὲ μάρτυς αὐτὸς, ὃς λέγει τάδε. Ἄνω καθήμενόν με τῶν ὁρωμένων, Καὶ νοῦν μόνοις μιγνύντα τοῖς νοουμένοις, Ῥίψαντα δόξαν, κτῆσιν, ἐλπίδας, λόγους, Τὸ μὴ τρυφᾶν τρυφῶντα, καὶ μάζῃ στενῇ Βίον γλυκαίνονθ', ὕβρεως ἐλεύθερον, (Ἢ πάντα δεῖ σε προσδοκᾷν, κἂν ᾖς σοφὸς), 1172 Παρ' ἐλπίδας τις τῶν καλῶν ἀποσπάσας Ἔκδημον ἤγαγε· ὅστις, οὐκ ἔχω λέγειν. Εἶτ' οὖν τὸ θεῖον Πνεῦμα, εἶθ' ἁμαρτάδες, Ὡς ἂν δίκας τίσαιμι τῆς ἐπάρσεως; Τὸ δ' οὖν πρόδηλον, σύλλογοί τε ποιμένων Καὶ λαὸς ὀρθόδοξος, ἀλλ' οὔπω πλατὺς, Ἄρτι πρὸς αὐγὰς ἡλίου μικρὸν βλέπων Ὡς ἄν τις ἔλθοι τῷ λόγῳ παῤῥησία, Μικρόν τ' ἀναπνεύσωσι τῶν κύκλῳ κακῶν, Λάλων τε γλωσσῶν, καὶ πολυσχιδοῦς πλάνης, Ὑφ' ὧν ἔκαμνον οὐκ ἔχοντές τι σκέπης, Οἷόν τι τερπνὸν ἐν μέσῳ βάτων ῥόδον, Ἤ τις μέλαινα ῥὰξ ἐν ἀώρῳ βότρυϊ, Οὕτω μὲν οὖν ἐπῆλθον εὐσεβὴς ξένος, Ὅρκοις τε καμφθεὶς, καὶ λιταῖς πολυτρόποις, 1173 Αἷς ἀντιβῆναι τῶν λίαν καταφρόνων. Ἐπεὶ δ' ἐπῆλθον, Καππάδοσσαν γῆν λιπὼν, Ἣ πίστεως ἔρεισμα τοῖς πᾶσιν δοκεῖ, Οὐ λαὸν, οὐδὲν τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐμοὶ (Ταῦτ' ἐστὶν ἐχθρῶν πλάσματα, ψευδεῖς λόγοι, Φθόνου καλύμματ' ἀστόχως εὑρημένα), Ὑμᾶς ἔρεσθαι τἀπίλοιπα βούλομαι· Ὑμεῖς γάρ ἐστε μάρτυρες μόχθων ἐμῶν. Τί σκαιὸν, ἢ πρόσαντες, ἢ βλάβην φέρον, Ἢ εἶπον, ἢ ἔπραξα τοῦτ' ἔτος τρίτον; Πλὴν ἕν γε τοῦτο, τῶν κακῶν ἐφεισάμην, Ὑφ' ὧν λιθασθεὶς εἰσόδου προοίμιον Ἐκαρτέρησα. Καὶ γὰρ