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more piously to bear the sufferings of Christ in this way. 1174 You see what sort of gifts the poor offer to God. And let us make this an accusation, if you please. A moth, one said, of bones, faculties of perception. This I have made known by my deeds. My bronze body, worn down by cares, has already given way; and I have nothing else to give, though I owe more, even if I should contribute all that everyone possesses. What might one suffer, yoked to an unsound friend? But I must go back to the beginning of my speech. I was called, I established a people in the midst of wolves, I made a waterless flock gush with words, I sowed a faith rooted in God, I shone the Trinity on those who were previously in darkness. I was like rennet in milk, a medicine 1175 of persuasion by force; and some I already had as captives, others I held near, and others were about to be so at once. For all, their spirit, which before was seething, was bent, and a love-charm was now mixed with my word; and there was hope for everything, and a certain moderate inclination. The city of blessed Rome knows this, and especially, I say, its first family, who deemed me worthy of some esteem, among whom it is more to have even a little renown than to hold the first place in all honors among others; For so much are they superior to all! These men held me in esteem when I was present, and now that I am absent, they blame the wicked. 1176 For they could do nothing more than this, nor did I myself ask for anything. O city, city, that I might cry out something tragic. But my good and noble fellow-shepherds, bursting with envy (you know the Thrasos; for rusticity does not bear culture), and taking my illness, the offspring of my labors, as their ally, which they should have respected for those who have toiled even a little for God, and my not loving the power of so great a throne, when the world was being shattered in the space between the battle-lines. So, taking these things with the inclination of the demon, my dearest friends gladly sent me away from here, 1177 as if casting some burden from a heavy-laden ship. For a man of sound mind was a cargo to the wicked. Then they will raise their hands, as if pure, to God, and will send cleansing gifts from their heart, and will purify the people with mystic words, they who sent me away from here out of wickedness, though I was not altogether unwilling. For it was a great shame to be one of these who retail the faith. Of whom some are descendants of tax-collectors, thinking of nothing more than making false entries, others from the money-changer's table and the statues there, others from the plow, scorched by the sun, others from the mattock and the all-day hoe; And others, having left the oar or the army, 1178 smelling of bilge-water, or with branded bodies, have appeared as pilots of the people and generals, who will not yield even a little. Others, not yet having completely washed the soot of the fiery arts from their flesh, scoundrels and worthy of the mills, before they have even paid the price to their masters, should they find some small respite from their labors, then they puff themselves up, having stolen, or persuaded, or tyrannically seized some of the people, they run upwards, beetles to heaven, turning a sphere, no longer one of dung, nor looking backwards, as before, but thinking they have power over the very things above, 1179 speaking awkwardly, not even knowing how to count their own feet or hands, But are not these things most wicked, and not for the episcopate, O best of men? do not be so old-fashioned in your thinking, as for so great a matter to be treated badly, not even if the lowly is very much my concern; For the office of bishop is not the worst of things. It is necessary that someone be from among the best; I choose the first; but if not, at least not the last; if my word is to be considered of any account, and especially now in the storm of contentiousness, and of the greatest cities and councils, whose secure continuance is a great gain, and whose failure to continue, the damage is more complete; for whose sake you must choose the good. 1180 For scarcely would one of the middle sort so succeed, even if he strove mightily, to make the good prevail. Know this, from a most unerring judge. But the tax-collectors and fishermen will come to me, evangelists, and poor in speech, who ensnared the world with simple speech, and took the wise within their nets, so that the wonder of the Word might be greater, for this is a ready saying for the many, to whom my response is brief and very clear. Give me the faith of one of the apostles, to be without bronze, with no bag fastened on, without a staff, half-naked, as

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εὐσεβέστερον Παθόντα τὰ Χριστοῦ με οὕτω καὶ φέρειν. 1174 Ὁρᾷς, πένητες οἷα δωροῦνται Θεῷ. Καὶ τοῦτο δ' ἔγκλημ', εἰ δοκεῖ, ποιώμεθα. Σὴς μὲν, τὶς εἶπεν, ὀστέων, αἰσθητικαὶ Φρένες. Τόδ' ἔργοις τοῖς ἐμοῖς ἐγνώρισα. Τὸ χάλκεόν μοι σῶμα φροντίσιν τακὲν Ἤδη νένευκεν· ἄλλο δοῦναι δ' οὐκ ἔχω, Πλείω χρεωστῶν, κἂν τὰ πάντων εἰσφέρω. Τί ἂν πάθοι τις συζυγεὶς σαθρῷ φίλῳ; Ἀλλ' ἀνιτέον μοι πρὸς τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς λόγον. Κέκλημ', ἔπηξα λαὸν ἐν μέσῳ λύκων, Ποίμνην ἄνυδρον τοῖς λόγοις ἐπήγασα, Ἔσπειρα πίστιν τῷ Θεῷ ῥιζουμένην, Τριάδ' ἔλαμψα τοῖς πρὶν ἐσκοτισμένοις. Ὀπός τις ἤμην ἐν γάλακτι, φάρμακον 1175 Πειθοῦς βίᾳ· καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἤδη δεσμίους, Τοὺς δ' ἐγγὺς εἶχον, οἱ δ' ἔμελλον αὐτίκα. Πᾶσιν δὲ θυμὸς ἐκλίθη, τὸ πρὶν ζέων, Καὶ φίλτρον ἤδη τῷ λόγῳ συνεκράθη· Ἐλπὶς δὲ παντὸς, καὶ ῥοπή τις μετρία. Ῥώμης τόδ' οἶδεν ἄστυ τῆς εὐδαίμονος, Καὶ τῆς μάλιστά φημι τὸ πρῶτον γένος, Οἵ μ' ἠξίωσαν καὶ λόγου τυχόν τινος, Παρ' οἷς πλέον, καὶ μικρὸν εὐκλείας ἔχειν, Ἢ πρῶτ' ἐν ἄλλοις τιμίου παντὸς φέρειν· Καὶ γὰρ τοσοῦτόν εἰσι πάντων κρείσσονες! Οὗτοί με καὶ παρόντα εἶχον ἐν λόγῳ, Καὶ νῦν ἀπόντος αἰτιῶνται τοὺς κακούς. 1176 Πλέον γὰρ οὐδὲν εἶχον, ἢ τοῦτο, δρᾶσαι, Οὐδ' αὐτὸς ᾔτουν οὐδέν. Ὦ πόλις, πόλις, Ἵν' ἐκβοήσω καί τι καὶ τραγῳδικόν. Ἀλλ' οἱ καλοί τε κἀγαθοὶ συμποίμενες Φθόνῳ ῥαγέντες (ἴστε τοὺς Θρασωνίδας· Οὐ γὰρ φέρει παίδευσιν ἡ ἀγροικία), Καὶ τὴν ἐμὴν λαβόντες ἔκγονον πόνων Ἀῤῥωστίαν συνεργὸν, ἣν αἰδεῖσθ' ἔδει Τοὺς καί τι μικρὸν τῷ Θεῷ κεκμηκότας, Τό τε θρόνου τοσούτου μὴ στέργειν κράτος, Κόσμου ῥαγέντος ἐν μάχης μεταιχμίῳ. Ταῦτ' οὖν λαβόντες σὺν ῥοπῇ τοῦ δαίμονος Προύπεμψαν ἔνθεν ἀσμένως οἱ φίλτατοι, 1177 Ὥσπερ τιν' ὄγκον ἐκ νεὼς βαρουμένης Ῥίψαντες. Ἦν γὰρ φόρτος εὐφρονῶν κακοῖς. Ἔπειτ' ἀροῦσι χεῖρας, ὡς ἁγνοὶ, Θεῷ, Καὶ δῶρα πέμψουσ' ἐκ φρενὸς καθάρσια, Καὶ λαὸν ἁγνίσουσι μυστικοῖς λόγοις, Οἳ κἄμ' ἔπεμψαν ἔνθεν ἐκ πονηρίας, Οὐ σφόδρ' ἄκοντα. Καὶ γὰρ ἦν αἶσχος μέγα, Τούτων τιν' εἶναι τῶν καπήλων πίστεως. Ὧν οἱ μὲν ὄντες ἔκγονοι φορογράφων, Οὐδὲν φρονοῦντες τοῦ παρεγγράφειν πλέον, Οἱ δ' ἐκ τραπέζης, τῶν τ' ἐκεῖσ' ἀγαλμάτων, Οἱ δ' ἐξ ἀρότρων, ἡλίῳ κεκαυμένοι, Οἱ δ' ἐκ δικέλλης καὶ σμινύης πανημέρου· Ἄλλοι δὲ κώπην, ἢ στρατὸν λελοιπότες, 1178 Ἄντλον πνέοντες, ἢ τὸ σῶμ' ἐστιγμένοι, Λαοῦ κυβερνῆταί τε, καὶ στρατηλάται Πεφήνασ' οὐκ εἴξουσι καὶ μικρόν ποτε· Ἄλλοι δὲ τεχνῶν ἐμπύρων τὴν ἀσβόλην Οὔπω τελείως σαρκὸς ἐκνενιμμένοι Μαστιγίαι τε, καὶ μυλώνων ἄξιοι, Πρὶν καὶ τὸ τίμημ' εἰσενεγκεῖν δεσπόταις, Μικράν τιν' ἂν εὕρωσι παῦλαν τῶν πόνων, Ἔπειθ' ὑπερμαζῶσι καὶ δήμου τινὰς Κλέψαντες, ἢ πείσαντες, ἢ τυραννικῶς, Ἄνω τρέχουσι, κάνθαροι πρὸς οὐρανὸν, Πόλον στρέφοντες, οὐ τὸν ἐκ κόπρων ἔτι, Οὐδ' ἐξόπισθεν, ὡς τὸ πρὶν, νενευκότες, Αὐτῶν δ' ἔχειν δοκοῦντες τῶν ἄνω κράτος, 1179 Ἀριστερὰ λαλοῦντες, οὐδὲ τοὺς πόδας Αὐτῶν ἀριθμεῖν εἰδότες, ἢ τὰς χέρας, Ἀλλ' οὐ κάκιστα ταῦτα, οὐδ' ἐπισκοπῆς, Ὦ λῷστε; μὴ τοσοῦτον ἀρχαίως φρονεῖν, Ὡς τηλικοῦτο πρᾶγμα τιμᾶσθαι κακῶς, Μηδ' εἰ λίαν μοι τὸ χθαμαλὸν σπουδάζεται· Οὐ γὰρ κάκιστον ἡ ἐπισκοπή. Χρεὼν Πάντως τιν' εἶναι τῶν δ' ἀρίστων, ἐκλέγω Τὸν πρῶτον· εἰ δ' οὖν, ἀλλὰ μὴ τὸν ἔσχατον· Εἴπερ νομίζεσθαί τι δεῖ μου τὸν λόγον, Καὶ νῦν μάλιστα ἐν ζάλῃ γλωσσαλγίας, Καὶ τῶν μεγίστων ἀστέων, καὶ συλλόγων, Ὧν καὶ μενόντων ἀσφαλῶς, κέρδος πλέον, Καὶ μὴ μενόντων, ἡ βλάβη πληρεστέρα· Ὧν δὴ χάριν σοι τοὺς καλοὺς ἐκλεκτέον. 1180 Μόλις γὰρ ἄν τις τῶν μέσων οὕτω τύχοι, Εἰ σφόδρ' ἀγωνίζοιτο, τοὺς καλοὺς κρατεῖν. Οὕτω γινώσκειν, γνώμονος ἀψευδεστάτου. Ἀλλ' οἱ τελῶναι, χ' ἁλιεῖς, ἥξουσί μοι Εὐαγγελισταὶ, καὶ πένητες ἐν λόγῳ, Κόσμον σαγηνεύσαντες εὐτελεῖ λόγῳ, Καὶ τοὺς σοφοὺς λαβόντες εἴσω δικτύων, Ὡς ἂν τὸ θαῦμα μεῖζον ᾖ τὸ τοῦ λόγου, Καὶ γὰρ πρόχειρον τοῦτο τοῖς πολλοῖς λέγειν, Πρὸς οὓς βραχύς μοι καὶ σαφὴς ἄγαν λόγος. ∆ός μοι τὸ πιστὸν τῶν ἀποστόλων ἑνὸς, Ἄχαλκον εἶναι, πῆραν οὐκ ἐξημμένον, Ἄραβδον, ἡμίγυμνον, ὡς δ'