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some things of the flood of water are preserved even until now. But whatever was deep then and at the bottom of the water, has all been transformed into groves, and habitation and meadows, and arable land. Of this judgment, I think not even that renowned Solomon himself would dispute the first prize. For what is so great a virtue, to save the infant still at its two motherly breasts, for whom it was entirely the same for its salvation, whether its upbringing was diligently attended to by the one who bore it, or by the other, as to award salvation to two young men? who now having come to the affairs of life, in the prime of their youth, in the very flower of their age, when anger had goaded them to murder one another, were about to be shown shortly after as a bitter spectacle to those present, having armed their hands against one another, of whom it was expected, either that both would be destroyed by one another, or that one would surely be in the pollution of fratricide? to say nothing of those arrayed with each of them in the same anger, for whom the one goal of their rush against each other was the death of their opponents. He, therefore, having through prayer annulled the sentence of death already ratified against them by the strategy of the evil one, and having reconciled nature to itself again, and having changed the eagerness for murder into peaceful joys; how much more reasonably should he be admired for his judgment than the one who detected the wickedness of the harlot? For the wonder concerning the water, how the navigable place was suddenly transformed into dry land, and the bed of the lake became a plain, and how that which was formerly like a sea in the place, now comes up for the bearing of fruits, this, I think it is better to pass over in silence, than to go through in a discourse that cannot be sufficiently elevated for the narrative. For what such thing have we learned among the recorded wonders, as to be able to come to an equal level with this through comparison? Joshua son of Nun stopped the stream of the Jordan; but only as long as the ark was in the water. But when the people had crossed over and the ark had passed through, it gave back to the stream its usual course. The floor of the sea-bottom is laid bare of water in the Red Sea, the sea having been pushed back to the sides by the wind; but the time of the wonder was the passage of the army, which took place through the dry land along the 46.929 bottom. But after this the surface of the water becomes one again; and that which was parted for a short time was washed together. But here what happened once remained as it happened, so that the wonder is not disbelieved over time, being testified to perpetually through what is visible. The things then said and shown concerning the lake are of this kind. And another such wonder after this is both shown and remembered from him. A certain river flows through the region among them, indicating by its very name the harsh and savage nature of its current; for it is called Lycus by the inhabitants, on account of its being harmful. Thus it flows down in great volume from the springs of Armenia, the land supplying its stream lavishly through the mountains lying above. And flowing everywhere deep beneath the foothills of the cliffs, it is made much rougher by the winter torrents, receiving into itself all the confluences from the mountains. And in the level part of the country, through which it passes, being often confined by the banks on either side, in a certain part it overflows the bank on the side, flooding all the land above with its stream; so that continuous dangers were unexpectedly brought upon those dwelling in the place, the river often encroaching upon the fields at an untimely hour of the night or even during the day. Whence not only plants and seeds and cattle were destroyed by the force of the waters, but the danger also touched the inhabitants themselves, being unexpectedly shipwrecked in their houses by the flooding of the water. Therefore, when the miracles previously accomplished by the great one had spread through the whole nation, those dwelling by the river in that part, men and women, arose

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τινὰ τῆς τοῦ ὕδατος ἐπικλύσεως εἰς ἔτι καὶ νῦν διασώζεται. Τὸ δ' ὅσον βύθιον ἦν τότε καὶ ἐν τῷ πυθμένι τοῦ ὕδα τος, ἅπαν μετεσκευάσθη εἰς ἄλση, καὶ οἴκησιν καὶ λειμῶνας, καὶ ἄροσιν. Ταύτης οἶμαι τῆς δίκης μηδ' ἂν αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον τὸν ὀνομαστὸν Σολομῶντα, τῶν πρωτείων ἀμφισβητῆσαι. Τί γὰρ τοσοῦτον εἰς ἀρε τὴν, ἀποσῶσαι τὸ τῶν μητρῴων δύο μαζῶν βρέφος ἐνυπομάζιον, ᾧ τὸ ἴσον ἦν πάντως εἰς σωτηρίαν, εἴτε παρὰ τῆς γεννησαμένης, εἴτε καὶ παρὰ τῆς ἑτέ ρας ἑαυτῷ τὰ τῆς ἀνατροφῆς ἐσπουδάζετο, ἢ δύο νεανίας βραβεῦσαι τὴν σωτηρίαν; οἳ νῦν ἐπὶ τὰ τοῦ βίου πράγματα παρελθόντες, ἐν ἀκμῇ τῆς νεότητος, κατ' αὐτὸ τῆς ἡλικίας τὸ ἄνθος τοῦ θυμοῦ πρὸς τὸν κατ' ἀλλήλων φόνον αὐτοῖς παροιστρήσαντος, ἔμελλον θέαμα πικρὸν τοῖς τότε μετ' ὀλίγον ἐπιδειχθή σεσθαι, κατ' ἀλλήλων τὰς χεῖρας ὁπλίσαντες, ἐφ' ὧν ἐλπὶς ἦν, ἢ ἀμφοτέρους ὑπ' ἀλλήλων φθαρήσε σθαι, ἢ τὸν ἕνα γενέσθαι πάντως ἐν τῷ τῆς ἀδελφο κτονίας μιάσματι; ἵνα παρῶμαι τοὺς ἑκατέροις τού των συμπαρατασσομένους ἐν τῷ ἴσῳ θυμῷ, οἷς εἷς ὅρος τῆς κατ' ἀλλήλων ὁρμῆς, ὁ τῶν ἀντιτεταγμένων θάνατος ἦν. Ὁ τοίνυν ἤδη κατ' αὐτῶν κυρωθεῖσαν ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ πονηροῦ στρατηγίας τὴν τοῦ θανάτου ψῆφον διὰ τῆς εὐχῆς ἀναλύσας, καὶ τὴν φύσιν πάλιν πρὸς ἑαυτὴν καταλλάξας, καὶ μεταβαλὼν εἰς εἰρηνι κὰς εὐφροσύνας τὴν περὶ τοὺς φόνους σπουδήν· πόσῳ μᾶλλον εἰκότως ἐπὶ τῇ κρίσει θαυμάζοιτο παρὰ τὸν τὴν κακουργίαν τῆς ἑταιρίδος φωράσαντα; Τὸ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῷ ὕδατι θαῦμα, πῶς ἀθρόως εἰς χέρσον μετ εσκευάσθη τὸ πλώϊμον, καὶ πεδίον ἐγένετο, καὶ κοῖ λον ἡ λίμνη, καὶ πῶς ἡ ἀντὶ θαλάσσης οὖσα τῷ τόπῳ τὸ πρότερον, νῦν πρὸς καρπῶν ἄνεισι φορὰν, τοῦτο σιγᾷν οἶμαι καλῶς ἔχειν μᾶλλον, ἢ διεξιέναι τῷ λόγῳ, μὴ δυναμένῳ κατ' ἀξίαν συνεπαρθῆναι τῷ διηγήματι. Τί γὰρ τοιοῦτον ἐν τοῖς ἀναγράπτοις θαύμασι με μαθήκαμεν, ὡς δύνασθαι εἰς ἴσον ἐλθεῖν τούτῳ διὰ συγκρίσεως; Ἔστησεν ὁ τοῦ Ναυὴ Ἰησοῦς τὸ τοῦ Ἰορδάνου ῥεῖθρον· ἀλλ' ἕως ἡ κιβωτὸς ἦν ἐν τῷ ὕδατι. Περαιωθέντος δὲ τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ τῆς κιβωτοῦ διελθούσης, ἀπέδωκε πάλιν τῷ ῥείθρῳ τὸ σύνηθες. Γυμνοῦται τοῦ ὕδατος ἐν τῷ Ἐρυθραίῳ πελάγει τὸ τοῦ βυθοῦ ὑποκείμενον, ἀπωσθείσης ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος ἐπὶ τὰ πλάγια τῆς θαλάσσης· ἀλλὰ ὁ χρόνος τοῦ θαύματος ἦν ἡ τοῦ στρατοῦ πάροδος, ἡ διὰ τοῦ ξηροῦ κατὰ τὸν 46.929 βυθὸν γενομένη. Μετὰ τοῦτο δὲ πάλιν μία τοῦ ὕδατος ἡ ἐπιφάνεια γίνεται· καὶ τὸ πρὸς ὀλίγον διαιρεθὲν συνεκλύσθη. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ τὸ ἅπαξ γενόμενον ἔμεινεν οἷον ἐγένετο, ὡς μὴ ἀπιστεῖσθαι τῷ χρόνῳ τὸ θαῦμα, διὰ τῶν φαινομένων εἰς τὸ διηνεκὲς μαρτυρούμενον. Τὰ μὲν δὴ κατὰ τὴν λίμνην λεγόμενά τε καὶ δεικνύ μενα τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν τρόπον. Ἕτερον δὲ μετὰ τοῦτο θαῦμα τοιοῦτον παρ' αὐτοῦ δείκνυταί τε καὶ μνημο νεύεται. Ποταμός τις παρ' αὐτοῖς διαῤῥεῖ τὸν χῶρον, αὐτῷ τῷ ὀνόματι τὸ τραχὺ καὶ ἀνήμερον ἐπισημαί νων τοῦ ῥεύματος· Λύκος γὰρ, διὰ τὸ βλαπτικὸν εἶναι, παρὰ τῶν προσοικούντων ἐπονομάζεται. Οὕτως πολὺς μὲν καὶ ἐκ τῶν πηγῶν καταφέρεται τῆς Ἀρμενίας, τῆς χώρας αὐτῷ διὰ τῶν ὑπερκειμένων ὀρῶν δαψιλὲς ἐπιχορηγούσης τὸ ῥεῖθρον. Κοῖλος δὲ πανταχοῦ τὰς ὑπωρείας τῶν κρημνῶν ὑποῤῥέων πολὺ μᾶλλον ταῖς χειμερίαις χαράδραις ἀποτραχύνεται, πάσας εἰς ἑαυ τὸν τὰς ἐκ τῶν ὀρῶν συῤῥοίας ὑπολαμβάνων. Ἐν δὲ τῷ ὑπτίῳ τῆς χώρας, δι' ἧς διεξέρχεται, πολλάκις ταῖς ἑκατέρωθεν κρηπῖσι στενοχωρούμενος, κατά τι μέρος ὑπερχεῖται τῆς ὄχθης, κατὰ τὸ πλάγιον, ἅπαν ἐπικλύζων τῷ ῥείθρῳ τὸ ὑπερκείμενον· ὥστε συν εχεῖς κατὰ τὸ ἀπροσδόκητον τοῖς παροικοῦσι τῷ τόπῳ τοὺς κινδύνους ἐπάγεσθαι, ἀωρὶ τῶν νυκτῶν ἢ καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν πολλάκις τοῦ ποταμοῦ τοῖς ἀγροῖς ἐπ εμβαίνοντος. Ὅθεν οὐ φυτὰ μόνον καὶ σπέρματα καὶ βοσκήματα τῇ τῶν ὑδάτων φορᾷ διεφθείρετο, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῶν ἥπτετο τῶν οἰκητόρων ὁ κίνδυνος, ἀπροόπτως ἐν τῇ ἐπικλύσει τοῦ ὕδατος ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις ναυαγούντων. Τῶν τοίνυν προκατορθωθέντων τῷ με γάλῳ θαυμάτων εἰς ἅπαν διαπεφοιτηκότων τὸ ἔθνος, ἀναστάντες οἱ κατὰ τὸ μέρος ἐκεῖνο τῷ ποταμῷ προσ οικοῦντες, ἄνδρες καὶ γυναῖκες