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a diamond dissolved by agony? The race lies and places another mask on the woman instead of her own and makes the lamb vulnerable to the wolves and, what is more unbearable for men than all things, to see a woman being violated or rather even just to suspect it, this and what is worse than this—for it is not suspicion, but a violation dared in deed—he not only sees, but also contrives how it might be dared, and this seems light and bearable to him and the worse passion overcame the bad passion, and the cowardice of death overcame jealousy. And that great Elijah, because of the fear of this, became a runaway and a fugitive and an exile, fearing only the threat of a prostituted and accursed woman. And he who shut up heaven and worked so many wonders, could not bear the fear of words, but agony so shook that heaven-high soul that he suddenly left both his fatherland and so great a people, for whom he had risked so much, and traveled a journey of forty days and moved to the wilderness after that boldness, after such great freedom of speech, after such a great display of courage. For the nature of the thing is very terrible. For this reason, coming upon our race each day, it thus strikes each one of us dead and confuses and contracts us as if appearing suddenly then. And the practice of time had no power for consolation, nor being exercised daily in this contemplation. Nor have the effects of this despondency and shock grown old with time, but they are renewed and flourish continually, and it comes bringing pure and blooming fear each day, and very reasonably so. For who would not be ashamed and fall down, when he sees the one who yesterday and a few days before was walking, leading, carrying countless things, in charge of a house, a wife, children, servants, and often even of whole cities, threatening, frightening, remitting punishments, inflicting punishments, having accomplished countless things in cities and countries, suddenly lying more voiceless than stones, and while countless people are grieving and his dearest ones are being cut to the heart and his wife is broken down, loosening her tresses, having choruses of maidservants stand around with much wailing, he is sensible of nothing, and suddenly everything is gone, both reason and thought and soul and the bloom of sight and the movement of limbs, and the unseemly things succeeding: speechlessness and senselessness, corruption, ichor, worms, ash, dust, stench, complete disappearance and hideous bones, and the whole unmarked body hastening to dissolve.

But nevertheless this fearful thing, shown both through deeds and through the cowardice of those saints, is a much lighter despondency. For to this end I have spent these long courses, so as to show what kind of penalty you are paying, and that you await a recompense equivalent to it, or rather, one much greater of good things. And that you may learn that these things are so, I will now have recourse to those who have been captured, to which I was eager to come before. For the people of the Hebrews, when Moses came and announced freedom and deliverance from the evils of Egypt, did not endure even to hear him. And giving the reason, the lawgiver said: And Moses spoke to the people, and the people did not listen to Moses, from faintness of heart. And when the Lord threatens the Jews with great threats for their great lawlessness after the captivity and their dwelling in a foreign land and slavery and famines and cannibalism, he also brings this penalty, saying: I will give them a despairing heart and failing eyes and a wasting soul. But why should one speak of the Jews, a disorderly and ungrateful people, enslaved to the flesh and not knowing how to be wise? When it is possible from the

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ἀδάμαντα διαλυθέντα τῇ ἀγωνίᾳ; Ψεύδεται τὸ γένος καὶ ἕτερον ἀνθ' ἑτέρου περιτίθησι τῇ γυναικὶ τὸ πρόσωπον καὶ τοῖς λύκοις εὐάλωτον ποιεῖ τὴν ἀμνάδα καί, ὃ πάντων ἐστὶν ἀνδράσιν ἀφορητότερον, γυναῖκα ἰδεῖν ὑβριζομένην μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ὑποπτεύειν μόνον, τοῦτο καὶ τὸ τούτου χαλεπώτερον-οὐδὲ γὰρ ὑποψία, ἀλλ' ὕβρις ἔργῳ τολμωμένη-οὐ μόνον ὁρᾷ, ἀλλὰ καί, ὅπως τολμηθείη, κατασκευά ζει καὶ κοῦφον αὐτῷ φαίνεται τοῦτο καὶ φορητὸν καὶ πάθος ἐκράτει πάθους τοῦ χαλεποῦ τὸ χαλεπώτερον καὶ ζηλοτυπίας περιεγένετο δειλίᾳ θανάτου. Καὶ ὁ μέγας δὲ Ἠλίας ἐκεῖνος διὰ τὸν τούτου φόβον δραπέτης καὶ φυγὰς καὶ μετανάστης ἐγίνετο ἀπειλὴν μόνην δείσας πορνευομένης καὶ ἐναγοῦς γυναικός. Καὶ ὁ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀποκλείσας καὶ τοσαῦτα θαύματα ἐργασάμενος, ῥημάτων φόβον οὐκ ἤνεγκεν, ἀλλ' οὕτω τὴν οὐρανομήκη ψυχὴν ἐκείνην κατέσεισεν ἡ ἀγωνία, ὡς καὶ πατρίδα καὶ δῆμον τοσοῦτον, δι' ὃν τοσαῦτα παρεκινδύνευσε, καταλιπεῖν ἀθρόον καὶ τεσσαράκοντα ἡμερῶν ὁδεῦσαι ὁδὸν καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐρημίαν μετοικισθῆναι μετὰ τὴν παρρησίαν ἐκείνην, μετὰ τὴν τοσαύτην ἐλευθεροστομίαν, μετὰ τὴν τοσαύτην τῆς ἀνδρείας ἐπίδειξιν. Καὶ γὰρ φοβερὰ σφόδρα τοῦ πράγματος ἡ φύσις. Λιά τοι τοῦτο καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἐπιοῦσα ἡμῶν τὸ γένος οὕτω καθ' ἕκαστον ἡμᾶς ἐκπλήττει νεκρὸν καὶ συγχέει καὶ συστέλλει ὡς ἀθρόον τότε φαινομένη. Καὶ οὐδὲν ἴσχυσεν εἰς παραμυθίαν ἡ τοῦ χρόνου μελέτη οὐδὲ τὸ καθ' ἑκάστην ἐν ταύτῃ γυμνάζεσθαι τῇ θεωρίᾳ. Οὐδὲ ἐπαλαιώθη τῷ χρόνῳ τὰ τῆς ἀθυμίας καὶ τῆς ἐκπλήξεως ταύτης, ἀλλὰ καὶ νεάζει καὶ ἀκμάζει διηνεκῶς καὶ τὸν φόβον ἀκραιφνῆ καὶ ἀνθοῦντα ἔρχεται καθ' ἑκάστην φέρουσα τὴν ἡμέραν καὶ μάλα εἰκότως. Τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν αἰσχυνθείη καὶ καταπέσοι, ὅταν ἴδῃ τὸν χθὲς καὶ πρὸ ὀλίγων ἡμερῶν βαδίζοντα, ἄγοντα, φέροντα μυρία πράγματα, οἰκίας, γυναικός, παίδων, οἰκετῶν, πολλάκις δὲ καὶ πόλεων ὁλοκλήρων προϊστάμενον, ἀπειλοῦντα, φοβοῦντα, λύοντα κολάσεις, ἐπάγοντα κολάσεις, μυρία κατὰ πόλεις καὶ χώρας ἐργασάμενον ἀθρόον λίθων ἀφωνότερον κείμενον καὶ μυρίων ἀλυόντων καὶ τῶν φιλτάτων κατακοπτομένων καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς καταθρυπτομένης, πλοκάμους λυούσης, χοροὺς περιϊστάσης θεραπαινίδων μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ὀλολυγῆς οὐδενὸς αἰσθανόμενον καὶ πάντα ἐξαίφνης ἐκποδὼν καὶ λογισμὸν καὶ διάνοιαν καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ ὄψεως ἄνθος καὶ μελῶν κίνησιν καὶ τὰ ἀπρεπῆ διαδεχόμενα, ἀφωνίαν καὶ ἀναισθησίαν, φθοράν, ἰχῶρα, σκώληκας, τέφραν, κόνιν, δυσῳδίαν, ἀφανισμὸν παντελῆ καὶ ὀστέα εἰδεχθῆ καὶ ἄσημον τὸ πᾶν ἐπειγόμενον καταλῦσαι σῶμα.

Ἀλλ' ὅμως τὸ φοβερὸν τοῦτο καὶ διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων δεικνύμενον καὶ διὰ τῆς τῶν ἁγίων ἐκείνων δειλίας ἀθυμίας πολὺ κουφότερον. Ταύτῃ γὰρ τοὺς μακροὺς τούτους διαύλους ἀνάλωσα, ὥστε δεῖξαι, οἵαν τίνεις δίκην καὶ ἀντίρροπον αὐτῆς, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ πολλῷ μείζονα τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀναμένεις τὴν ἀμοιβήν. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς ὅτι ταῦτα τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν τρόπον, ἐπὶ τοὺς ἁλόντας λοιπὸν καταφεύξομαι, εἰς ὃ καὶ ἔμπροσθεν ἠπειγόμην ἐλθεῖν. Ὁ γὰρ τῶν Ἑβραίων δῆμος Μωϋσέως ἐλθόντος καὶ ἐλευθερίαν εὐαγγελιζομένου καὶ τῶν αἰγυπτιακῶν κακῶν ἀπαλλαγὴν οὐδὲ ἀκοῦσαι ἠνέσχετο. Καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν δὲ τιθεὶς ὁ νομοθέτης ἔλεγεν· ἐλάλησε δὲ Μωϋσῆς τῷ λαῷ καὶ οὐκ ἤκουσεν ὁ λαὸς Μωϋσέως ἀπὸ τῆς ὀλιγοψυχίας. Καὶ ὅταν μεγάλας ἀπειλῇ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ὁ Κύριος ἀπειλὰς ὑπὲρ ἀνομίας πολλῆς μετὰ τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν καὶ τὸ ἐν ἀλλοτρίᾳ διατρίβειν γῇ καὶ δουλείαν καὶ τοὺς λιμοὺς καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωποφαγίαν, καὶ ταύτην ἐπάγει τὴν δίκην λέγων· δώσω αὐτοῖς καρδίαν ἀθυμοῦσαν καὶ ἐκλείποντας ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ τηκομένην ψυχήν. Ἀλλὰ τί χρὴ λέγειν Ἰουδαίους, δῆμον ἄτακτον καὶ ἀγνώ μονα καὶ τῇ σαρκὶ δεδουλωμένον καὶ φιλοσοφεῖν οὐκ εἰδότα; Παρὸν ἀπὸ τῶν