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of a passionate disposition, so that the rejection of such things might become trustworthy to us, from one who has authority over all things for the enjoyment of what leads to pleasure, and who spits out as nothing all the things that seem to be pursued by men. What, then, do we learn thirdly in due course on the present subject? That which I think is a lesson most suitable of all for those who attend church, I mean the confession concerning things that have happened not according to reason, which produces in the soul the feeling of shame through the public declaration of shameful things. For the sense of shame innate in human beings seems to be a great and strong weapon for the avoidance of sin, implanted in our nature by God, I think, for this very purpose, so that such a disposition of the soul might be for us a deterrent from worse things. And the feeling of modesty and the feeling of shame are related to each other and akin, by both of which sin is hindered, if one should wish to use such a disposition of the soul for this purpose. For often modesty more than fear has instructed toward the avoidance of shameful things, but also the shame that follows the reproofs of wrongdoing is sufficient by itself to bring 5.316 the sinner to his senses so that he does not fall into similar things again. And it is, as one might define their difference, that shame is intensified modesty, and modesty, conversely, is diminished shame. And the difference and communion of the feelings is also shown by the color of the face. For modesty is marked only by a blush, the body somehow sympathizing with the soul according to a certain natural disposition, and the heat around the heart boiling up to the surface of the face, but he who is ashamed at the revelation of his wrongdoing becomes pale and reddish, fear having mixed bile with the blush. Therefore, such a feeling would be sufficient for those who have been preoccupied with any shameful things to no longer be involved in them, of which they might make a reproof in shame. If, then, these things are so and the account has rightly aimed at the feeling, that 5.317 such a disposition arises in our nature for the guarding against sins, it is well to consider as a special lesson of the church the right action that comes through the declaration of sins committed; for through this it is possible for one to secure his own soul with the weapon of shame. For just as if someone, from immoderate gluttony, should collect certain indigestible humors in himself, then, when the body has become inflamed, having been cured of the disease by incision and cautery, he would have as a kind of tutor for the good order of his future life by looking at the scar of the cautery on his body, so he who has publicly exposed himself through the declaration of his secrets will be instructed for his future life by the memory of the feeling of shame. These, then, are the things which the church is taught through the present reading of what is written in Ecclesiastes. For he says it, publishing it with a free voice, and before all men setting up like an inscribed pillar the declaration of what was done by him, which are of such a kind that ignorance of them and silence would be more glorious than the account. But he says: whether having truly done these things or fabricating them for our benefit, so as to bring the argument to its goal in a consistent manner, this I cannot say with precision; nevertheless, he says these things, with which one who 5.318 looks to virtue would not willingly engage. But whether for the sake of dispensation he recounts things that did not happen as though they had, and makes accusation as one who has had experience, so that we, before the experience, might turn away from the desire for the things accused, or whether he willingly gave himself over to the enjoyment of such things, so as to train his senses accurately and through their opposites, let it be left to the authority of anyone who wishes to direct his conjecture to whichever he wishes. But if anyone should say that he was in fact in the experience of pleasures, we understand it thus. For just as those who go down into the depth of the sea and search on the bottom of the water,

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ἐμπαθοῦς διαθέσεως, ὡς ἂν ἡμῖν ἀξιόπιστος γένοιτο ἡ τῶν τοιούτων ἀθέτησις, τοῦ κατὰ πᾶσαν ἐξουσίαν τὸ πρὸς ἡδονὴν εἰς ἀπόλαυσιν ἔχοντος καὶ πάντα τὰ δοκοῦντα παρὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις σπουδάζεσθαι ἀντ' οὐδενὸς διαπτύοντος. Τί τοίνυν κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἐκ τρίτου μανθάνομεν; ὃ πάντων μάλιστα οἶμαι κατάλληλον εἶναι τοῖς ἐκκλησιάζουσι μάθημα, λέγω δὲ τὴν περὶ τῶν μὴ κατὰ λόγον γεγενημένων ἐξομολόγησιν, ἣ τὸ τῆς αἰσχύνης ἐμποιεῖ τῇ ψυχῇ πάθος διὰ τῆς τῶν ἀτόπων ἐξαγορεύσεως. ἔοικε γὰρ μέγα τι καὶ ἰσχυρὸν πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀποφυγὴν ὅπλον εἶναι ἡ ἐναποκειμένη τοῖς ἀνθρώποις αἰδώς, εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο, οἶμαι, παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐντεθεῖσα τῇ φύσει, ὡς ἂν ἡμῖν ἀποτροπὴ τῶν χειρόνων ἡ τοιαύτη τῆς ψυχῆς διάθεσις γένοιτο. συγγενῶς δὲ ἔχει πρὸς ἄλληλα καὶ οἰκείως τό τε κατὰ τὴν αἰδῶ καὶ τὸ κατ' αἰσχύνην πάθος, δι' ὧν ἀμφοτέρων ἡ ἁμαρτία κωλύεται, εἴπερ ἐθέλοι τις πρὸς τοῦτο χρήσασθαι τῇ τοιαύτῃ τῆς ψυχῆς διαθέσει. μᾶλλον γὰρ τοῦ φόβου πολλάκις ἡ αἰδὼς πρὸς τὴν ἀποφυγὴν τῶν ἀτόπων ἐπαιδαγώγησεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ αἰσχύνη ἡ ἐπακολουθοῦσα τοῖς ἐλέγχοις τοῦ πλημμελήματος ἱκανὴ δι' ἑαυτῆς σωφρονίσαι 5.316 τὸν ἁμαρτάνοντα πρὸς τὸ μὴ πάλιν ἐν τοῖς ὁμοίοις γενέσθαι. καὶ ἔστιν, ὡς ἄν τις ὅρῳ τὴν διαφορὰν αὐτῶν ὑπογράψειεν, αἰσχύνη μὲν ἐπιτεταμένη αἰδώς, αἰδὼς δὲ τὸ ἔμπαλιν ὑφειμένη αἰσχύνη. δείκνυται δὲ καὶ τῷ κατὰ πρόσωπον χρώματι ἡ τῶν παθῶν διαφορά τε καὶ κοινωνία. ἡ μὲν γὰρ αἰδὼς ἐρυθήματι μόνῳ ἐπισημαίνεται, συμπαθόντος πως τῇ ψυχῇ τοῦ σώματος κατά τινα φυσικὴν συνδιάθεσιν καὶ τοῦ περικαρδίου θερμοῦ πρὸς τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς ὄψεως ἀναζέσαντος, ὁ δὲ αἰσχυνθεὶς ἐπὶ τῇ φανερώσει τοῦ πλημ μελήματος πελιδνὸς γίνεται καὶ ὑπέρυθρος, τοῦ φόβου τὴν χολὴν τῷ ἐρυθήματι μίξαντος. τὸ οὖν τοιοῦτον πάθος ἱκανὸν ἂν γένοιτο τοῖς προειλημμένοις τινὶ τῶν ἀτόπων εἰς τὸ μηκέτι ἐν τούτοις γενέσθαι, ὧν ἂν τὸν ἔλεγχον ἐν αἰσχύνῃ ποιήσωνται. εἰ δὴ ταῦτα οὕτως ἔχει καὶ δεόντως ὁ λόγος τοῦ πάθους κατεστοχάσατο, ὡς ἐπὶ φυλακῇ τῶν πλημμελημάτων τῆς 5.317 τοιαύτης διαθέσεως ἐγγινομένης τῇ φύσει, καλῶς ἐστιν ἴδιον μάθημα τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἡγήσασθαι τὸ διὰ τῆς ἐξαγορεύ σεως τῶν πεπλημμελημένων κατόρθωμα· ἔστι γὰρ διὰ τούτου τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν τῷ τῆς αἰσχύνης ὅπλῳ κατασφαλίσασθαι. ὥσπερ γὰρ εἴ τις ἐκ λαιμαργίας ἀμέτρου δυσπέπτους τινὰς χυμοὺς ἐν ἑαυτῷ συναγάγοι, εἶτα ἐν φλεγμονῇ γενομένου τοῦ σώματος τομῇ καὶ καυτῆρι θεραπευθεὶς τὴν νόσον καθάπερ τινὰ παιδαγωγὸν πρὸς τὴν εὐταξίαν ἔχοι τοῦ ἐφεξῆς βίου τὴν οὐλὴν τοῦ καυτῆρος ἐπὶ τοῦ σώματος βλέπων, οὕτως ὁ στηλιτεύσας ἑαυτὸν διὰ τῆς τῶν κρυφίων ἐξαγορεύ σεως τῇ μνήμῃ τοῦ κατ' αἰσχύνην πάθους πρὸς τὸν ἐφεξῆς παιδαγωγηθήσεται βίον. Ταῦτα τοίνυν ἐστίν, ἃ διὰ τῆς νῦν ἀναγνώσεως τῶν ἐν τῷ ἐκκλησιαστῇ γεγραμμένων ἡ ἐκκλησία παιδεύεται. λέγει γὰρ ἐλευθέρᾳ φωνῇ δημοσιεύων ἐκεῖνο καὶ ἐπὶ πάντων ἀνθρώπων καθάπερ τινὰ στήλην ἔγγραφον ἀνατιθεὶς τὴν τῶν γεγενημένων παρ' αὐτοῦ ἐξαγόρευσιν, ἃ τοιαῦτά ἐστιν, ὡς τὴν ἄγνοιαν αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν σιωπὴν εἶναι τοῦ λόγου ἐνδοξοτέ ραν. λέγει δέ· εἰ μὲν ἀληθῶς ταῦτα πεποιηκὼς ἢ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν ὠφέλειαν πλασσόμενος, ἐφ' ᾧτε δι' ἀκολούθου τὸν λόγον πρὸς τὸν σκοπὸν συμπερᾶναι, οὐκ ἔχω τοῦτο δι' ἀκριβείας εἰπεῖν· λέγει δ' οὖν ὅμως ταῦτα, οἷς οὐκ ἂν ὁ 5.318 πρὸς ἀρετὴν βλέπων ἑκουσίως συνενεχθείη. ἀλλ' εἴτε οἰκονομίας χάριν τὰ μὴ γενόμενα ὡς γεγονότα διέξεισι καὶ κατηγορεῖ ὡς ἐν πείρᾳ γενόμενος, ἵνα ἡμεῖς πρὸ τῆς πείρας τὴν τῶν κατηγορημένων ἐπιθυμίαν ἐκκλίνωμεν, εἴτε καὶ καθῆκεν ἑαυτὸν ἑκουσίως πρὸς τὴν τῶν τοιούτων ἀπόλαυσιν, ὥστε δι' ἀκριβείας τὰ αἰσθητήρια ἑαυτοῦ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἐναντίων γυμνάσαι, προκείσθω κατ' ἐξουσίαν τῷ βουλομένῳ, ἐφ' ὅπερ ἂν ἐθέλῃ τὸν στοχασμὸν ἄγειν. εἰ δέ τις λέγοι τῷ ὄντι γεγενῆσθαι αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ τῶν ἡδέων πείρᾳ, οὕτως ὑπολαμβάνομεν. καθάπερ γὰρ οἱ ἐπὶ τὸν βυθὸν τῆς θαλάσσης δυόμενοι καὶ διερευνῶντες ἐν τῷ πυθμένι τοῦ ὕδατος,