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without scandal, ephemeral, rich in hopes alone, Nor one affable for the sake of reputation in speech, 1181 so that flattery may not seem to have more power, nor to be occupied with the words of others. Let him be one of these, and I will accept all things, a mute, ugly, low-born ox-driver. For character is a veil for wickedness. Be one of these, and you may fish for frogs, Then we will give you to the choirs of angels. Grant me one thing then: do you not cleanse from demons? Do you not take away the leper, nor the dead man from the tomb? And would the paralytic not receive the firming of his limbs? Place a hand on the sick, and let the disease cease. Thus you will persuade me to despise eloquence. But if, from two things of which the one is composed, 1182 both praiseworthy and blameworthy, you consider the one, but willingly pass over the other, you wickedly steal away the comparison greatly. Matthew was a tax-collector, but honorable, not as a tax-collector, but as being full of the Spirit. Peter, the chief of disciples, but he was Peter, not as a fisherman, but because he was full of zeal. His character persuades me to honor even the net. But I turn away from you, even if you bear something venerable, this is the snare and the bait. a painter who imitates the beautiful forms in leprous spots and tatters only. Either paint all the beauty, or omit it all. 1183 And tell me this, how can you call them uneducated, whose discourses and writings are such, that we toil to understand even a small error, we who from the beginning have been brought up in letters; for whom there is again so much discussion and labor, that everything happens to be full of compositions of every tongue, and of a more docile mind, bearing fruit, the height of exegeses? Whence kings, and cities, and assemblies, accusers, correctors in speeches, before tribunals, and in the midst of theaters, wise men, lawyers, haughty Greeks, delivering public speeches, speaking aptly on critical points, did they persuade, did they convict with boldness, 1184 if they did not partake of eloquence, which you do not grant, Perhaps you might say, by the inspiration of the Spirit, speaking truly; but consider this. Do you not partake of the Spirit? And yet you think especially by this. How then do you grudge eloquence to those who seek it? But either in vain you grant this to the nature of the Spirit, and to the righteous; to the one, to inspire the word, to the others, to be inspired, as they have appeared wise. Thus you are inescapably caught in your own words, O you who eagerly speak these things, and only, things which it is better not to be spoken, but to remain within. I know a mute spirit of the adversaries; and for this it is better to be silent than to speak badly. 1185 Loosen the tongues of some, O Word of God, of those who speak justly, but weigh down, those who hiss the hisses of asps, and send forth from within a brother-slaying venom. So you then; but what other speech of an uneducated man could there be? But as it is true, and better to think, I will state briefly. They were once, they were quick to learn, if any were, but not quick to learn the elegant speech in every way. For it is thus: every speech for us is twofold, both words and sense; the former, as it were from without are clothing, the latter, the body clothed within. And for some both are beautiful, for others, one of the two; or ugly again, as learning, or nature. 1186 For us, of the exterior there is not much account, however it may be; but of the interior, very much. For in the mind is our salvation, yet spoken out and made manifest. What is the profit of a spring that is blocked up? Or of a sunbeam, which a cloud hides? Such is a wise mind kept silent, like the beauty of a rose, which a calyx covers that is not comely; but it reveals its delight, when broken open by the breezes it displays its offspring. But if the beauty were always covered, there would not be any grace of the precious spring. We seek nothing more, than to speak in such a way, as they who seem plain in matters of speech. 1187 If so, present their manifestations. I desire to receive some part also of your light. For if the written discourses are nothing, how was I playing for so long a time, or how was I counting the sand of the sea in vain, joining nights to days in labors, so that a speech might come even to wrinkles? But if they are, as indeed they are, well written, do not give the labors of the just to spiders. Make the diction prosaic for me, speak boorishly, I will not differ; I know also

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ἀσάνδαλον, Ἐφήμερον, πλουτοῦντα ἐλπίδας μόνας, Μηδ' εὐπροσήγορόν τιν' εἰς δόξαν λόγου, 1181 Τοῦ μὴ δοκεῖν θωπείαν ἰσχύειν πλέον, Μηδ' ἀσχολεῖσθαι πρὸς λόγους ἀλλοτρίους. Τούτων τις ἔστω, καὶ τὰ πάντα δέξομαι, Ἄφθογγον, αἰσχρὸν, δυσγενῆ, βοηλάτην. Ὁ γὰρ τρόπος κάλυμμα τῆς μοχθηρίας. Τούτων τις εἴης, χ' ἁλιεύοις βατράχους, Ἔπειτα δώσομέν σε ἀγγέλων χοροῖς. Ἒν οὖν τι δός μοι· μὴ καθήρῃς δαιμόνων; Μὴ λεπρὸν ἐξέλοις, μὴ νεκρὸν τάφου; Μελῶν τε πῆξιν μὴ λάβοι παρειμένος; Θὲς τῷ κάμνοντι χεῖρα, καὶ στήτω νόσος. Οὕτω με πείσεις τοῦ λόγου καταφρονεῖν. Εἰ δ' ἐκ δυοῖν σοι τοῦ ἑνὸς συγκειμένου, 1182 Ἐπαινετοῦ τε, καὶ κατηγορουμένου, Τὸ μὲν λογίζῃ, τὸ δὲ παρατρέχεις ἑκὼν, Κλέπτεις κακούργως τὴν ὁμοίωσιν σφόδρα. Ματθαῖος ἦν τελώνης, ἀλλὰ τίμιος, Οὐχ ὡς τελώνης, ὡς δὲ Πνεύματος γέμων. Πέτρος μαθητῶν ἄκρος, ἀλλὰ Πέτρος ἦν, Οὐχ ὡς σαγηνεὺς, ἀλλ' ὅτι ζήλου πλέως. Πείθει με τιμᾷν καὶ τὸ δίκτυον ὁ τρόπος. Σοῦ δ' ἐκτρέπομαι, κἄν τι τῶν σεμνῶν φέρῃς, Τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἡ πάγη τε, καὶ τὸ θήρατρον. Γραφεύς τις εἷς ὁ τὰς καλὰς μιμούμενος Μορφὰς ἐν ἄλφοις καὶ σπαράγμασιν μόνοις. Ἢ πᾶν τὸ κάλλος γράψον, ἢ τὸ πᾶν πάρες. 1183 Κἀκεῖνο δ' εἰπὲ, πῶς ἀπαιδεύτους καλεῖς, Τοιοῦτοι ὧν λόγοι τε, καὶ συγγράμματα, Ὧν κάμνομεν νοῆσαι καὶ μικρὸν λάθος, Οἱ τοῖς λόγοις ἄνωθεν ἐντεθραμμένοι· Εἰς οὓς λόγος τοσοῦτος αὖθις καὶ πόνος, Ὡς μεστὰ πάντα τυγχάνειν πονημάτων Γλώσσης τε πάσης, καὶ φρενὸς εὐμαθεστέρας, Καρπὸν φερούσης, ὕψος ἐξηγήσεων; Πόθεν βασιλεῖς, καὶ πόλεις, καὶ συλλόγους, Κατηγοροῦντας, εὐθύνοντας ἐν λόγοις, Πρὸ βημάτων τε, καὶ θεάτροις ἐν μέσοις, Σοφοὺς, νομικοὺς, Ἕλληνας ὠφρυωμένους, ∆ημηγοροῦντες, εὐστομοῦντες καίρια, Ἔπειθον, ἐξήλεγχον ἐν παῤῥησίᾳ, 1184 Εἰ μὴ λόγου μετεῖχον, οὗ σὺ μὴ δίδως, Ἴσως ἂν εἴπῃς, ἐν ῥοῇ τοῦ Πνεύματος, Λέγων ἀληθῶς· ἀλλὰ τοὐντεῦθεν σκόπει. Σοὶ δ' οὐ μέτεστι Πνεύματος; καὶ μὴν φρονεῖς Τούτῳ μάλιστα. Πῶς φθονεῖς οὖν τοῦ λόγου Τοῖς τοῦτον ἐκζητοῦσιν; ἀλλ' ἤτοι μάτην ∆ίδως σὺ τοῦτο τῇ φύσει τοῦ Πνεύματος, Καὶ τοῖς δικαίοις· τῷ μὲν, ἐμπνεῖν τὸν λόγον, Τοῖς δ' ἐμπνέεσθαι, ᾗ πεφήνασιν σοφοί. Οὕτως ἀφύκτως ἐνδέῃ τοῖς σοῖς λόγοις, Ὦ ταῦτα λαλῶν σύγε προθύμως, καὶ μόνον, Ἃ μὴ λαλεῖσθαι κρεῖσσον, ἀλλ' ἔνδον μένειν. Ἄφωνον οἶδα πνεῦμα τῶν ἐναντίων· Καὶ τοῦτο σιγᾷν κρεῖσσον, ἢ λαλεῖν κακῶς. 1185 Τῶν μὲν λύοις τὴν γλῶσσαν, ὦ Θεοῦ Λόγε, Ὅσοι λαλοῦσιν ἔνδικα, τῶν δὲ καὶ βάρει, Ὅσοι φυσῶσιν ἀσπίδων συρίγματα, Πέμπουσί τ' ἰὸν ἔνδοθεν ἀδελφοκτόνον. Οὕτω μὲν οὖν σύ· τίς δ' ἀπαιδεύτου λόγος Ἄλλος γένοιτ' ἄν; ὡς δέ τ' ἀληθὲς ἔχει, Φρονεῖν τ' ἄμεινον, συντόμως ἐγὼ φράσω. Ἦσάν ποτ', ἦσαν εὐμαθεῖς, εἴπερ τινες, Οὐκ εὐμαθεῖς δὲ τὸν εὐπρεπῆ πάντως λόγον. Ἔχει γὰρ οὕτως· διττὸς ἡμῖν πᾶς λόγος, Λέξεις τε, καὶ νοῦς· αἱ μὲν, οἷον ἔκτοθεν Ἔσθημ', ὁ δ' ἔνδον σῶμα ἠμφιεσμένον. Καὶ τοῖς μὲν ἄμφω καλὰ, τοῖς δὲ θάτερον· Ἢ αἰσχρὸν αὖθις, ὡς μάθησις, ἢ φύσις. 1186 Ἡμῖν δὲ, τοῦ μὲν ἐκτὸς οὐ πολὺς λόγος, Ὅπως ποθ' ἕξει· τοῦ δ' ἔσω λίαν πολύς. Ἐν νῷ γάρ ἐστιν ἡμῖν ἡ σωτηρία, Πλὴν ἐκλαλουμένῳ τε, καὶ δηλουμένῳ. Πηγῆς τί κέρδος ἐστὶν ἐμπεφραγμένης; Τί δ' ἡλιακῆς ἀκτῖνος, ἣν κρύπτει νέφος; Τοιοῦτόν ἐστι νοῦς σοφὸς σιγώμενος, Οἷον ῥόδου τὸ κάλλος, ὃ κάλυξ σκέπει Οὐκ εὐπρεπής· τὸ τερπνὸν ἐκφαίνει δ', ὅταν Αὔραις ῥαγεῖσα τὸν τόκον θεατρίσῃ. Εἰ δ' ἦν ἀεὶ τὸ κάλλος ἐσκεπασμένον, Οὐδ' ἄν τις ἦρος ἦν χάρις τοῦ τιμίου. Οὐδὲν πλέον ζητοῦμεν, ὡς οὕτω λαλεῖν, Ὡς οἳ δοκοῦσιν εὐτελεῖς τὰ τοῦ λόγου. 1187 Εἰ δ' οὖν, παρίστη τὰς ἐκείνων ἐμφάσεις. Αὐγῆς ποθῶ τι καὶ μέρος τῆς σῆς λαβεῖν. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ οὐδέν εἰσιν οἱ γεγραμμένοι Λόγοι, τοσοῦτον πῶς ἐπαιζόμην χρόνον Ἢ πῶς θαλάσσης ψάμμον ἠρίθμουν μάτην, Νύκτας συνάπτων ἡμέραις ἐν τοῖς πόνοις, Ὡς ἄν τις ἔλθοι εἴς γε ῥυτίδας λόγος; Εἰ δ' εἰσὶν, ὥσπερ εἰσὶν, εὖ γεγραμμένοι, Μὴ δῷς ἀράχναις τῶν δικαίων τοὺς πόνους Πέζευέ μοι τὴν λέξιν, ἀγροικοστόμει, Οὐδὲν διοίσομ'· οἶδα καὶ