preparation and power. And to put it concisely, this was truly a paradise for us, an imitator of the great paradise of God, in which it was not possible to work the earth below nor to fatten the body with nourishment, but only to increase the advantages of the soul, as if planting ourselves as certain beautiful plants, or being planted in us by the cause of all things, rejoicing and delighting.

16 This is a true paradise of delight, this is true gladness and delight, which we enjoyed in this time that has passed, and not a short one already, and altogether short if it stops at this point, for us who have already departed and withdrawn from here. For I do not know what I have suffered or what sin I have committed again that I am going out, that I am being driven out; what I should say, I am ignorant, but that I am a second Adam from paradise, and I have begun to speak. How well I was living, listening to my teacher speaking and being silent; how I wish that even now I had learned to keep quiet by being silent, but not (this new spectacle) to make the teacher a listener. For what need did I have of these words? And why even utter such things, when it was necessary not to be absent but to persevere? But these offenses seem to be from the ancient deceit, and these punishments for ancient things still await me; or again I seem to be disobedient, daring to transgress the words of God, when it was necessary to remain in them and with them. And as I depart, I am fleeing from this blessed life no less than that ancient man did from the face of God, and returning to the earth from which I was taken; therefore I will eat earth all the days of my life there, and I will work the earth, and this earth which brings forth thorns and thistles for me, my own sorrows and shameful cares, having been released from good and noble cares; and what I have left behind, to these things I am returning again, to the earth whence I came out, and my own kindred below, and to the house of my father; having left the good land, where the good fatherland that was mine was long unknown, and kindred, whom I, having them as my own soul's kin, began to know later, and the house of our true father, in which the father, abiding, is solemnly honored and revered by the true sons who wish to abide in it. But I, unseemly and unworthy, am going out from these things, having turned back and returning. A certain son is spoken of who, having received from his father the inheritance that fell to him compared to his other brother, wished to travel away from his father to a distant country; and living prodigally he squandered and consumed his paternal substance; finally in his poverty he hired himself out to feed swine, and being compelled by hunger, he desired to share the food with the pigs, but did not obtain even this. He therefore paid the penalty for his prodigality, exchanging the paternal table, which was royal, for what he did not foresee, the food of swine and of servitude. We seem destined to suffer something like this upon our departure, and not even with the entire inheritance that is due; for not even having received what we should have, we are nevertheless departing, leaving behind the beautiful and dear things with you and in your company, and having exchanged them for worse things. For all gloomy things will succeed for us, noise and tumult out of peace, and out of a quiet and well-ordered life a disorderly one, and out of this freedom a harsh slavery, marketplaces and courts and crowds and luxury; and we will no longer have any leisure at all for better things, nor will we speak the divine oracles, but we will speak of the works of men (this indeed is even considered a simple curse by a certain prophet), and we, even of wicked men. Truly night out of day, and darkness out of brilliant light, and mourning out of festival, and an enemy land out of a fatherland will succeed for us, in which it is not permitted for me to sing a sacred song (for how can I in a land foreign to my soul, where remaining it is not possible to be with God?) but only to weep and groan, remembering the things here, if even this will be permitted to me by anyone. Enemies are said to have once come upon a great and holy city, in which the divine was worshipped, and to have dragged away as captives the inhabitants and hymn-writers and theologians to their own land, and it was Babylonia; and those brought into it,

παρασκευὴν καὶ ἐξουσίαν. Καὶ συνελόντα εἰπεῖν παράδεισος ἡμῖν ὄντως οὗτος ἦν, μιμητὴς τοῦ μεγάλου παραδείσου τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐν ᾧ γῆν μὲν ἐργάζεσθαι οὐκ ἦν τὴν κάτω οὐδὲ σωματοτροφεῖν παχυνομένους, τὰ δὲ ψυχῆς μόνον αὔξειν πλεονεκτήματα, ὥσπερ τινὰ φυτὰ ὡραῖα ἑαυτοὺς φυτεύσαντας ἢ ἐμφυτευθέντας ἡμῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ πάντων αἰτίου, εὐφραινομένους καὶ τρυφῶντας.

16 Οὗτος παράδεισος ἀληθῶς τρυφῆς, αὕτη ἀληθὴς εὐφροσύνη καὶ τρυφή, ἣν ἐτρυφήσαμεν ἐν τῷ διηνυσμένῳ τῷδε χρόνῳ, καὶ οὐκ ὀλίγῳ ἤδη καὶ ὀλίγῳ πάντη, εἰ μέχρι τούτου στήσεται, ἀπελθοῦσιν ἤδη καὶ ἀναχωρήσασιν ἐντεῦθεν. Οὐκ οἶδα γὰρ τί παθὼν ἢ πάλιν ἁμαρτὼν ἐκπορεύομαι, ἐξελαύνομαι· τί χρὴ λέγειν, ἀγνοῶ, ἀλλ' ὅτι δεύτερος ἐκ παραδείσου Ἀδὰμ ἐγώ, καὶ λαλεῖν ἠρξάμην. Ὡς καλῶς ἔζων, ἀκούων λέγοντος δι δασκάλου καὶ σιωπῶν· ὡς ὄφελον καὶ νῦν ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν ἐμάνθανον σιωπῶν, ἀλλὰ μή (τὸ καινὸν τοῦτο θέαμα) ἀκροατὴν τὸν διδάσκαλον ποιήσασθαι. Τί γάρ μοι ἔδει τῶν λόγων τούτων; Τί δὲ καὶ προσφθέγγεσθαι τοιαῦτα, μὴ ἀπεῖναι προσκαρτερεῖν δὲ δέον; Ἀλλὰ τῆς παλαιᾶς ἀπάτης ἔοικεν εἶναι ταῦτα πλημμελήματα, τῶν τε ἀρχαίων δίκαι αἵδε με μένουσιν ἔτι· ἢ καὶ αὖθις ἀπειθεῖν μοι δοκῶ, ὑπερβαίνειν τολμῶν τοὺς λόγους τοῦ θεοῦ, μένειν δέον ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ πρὸς αὐτοῖς. Ὃ δὲ ἄπειμι, φεύγων μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς μακαρίας ταύτης ζωῆς οὐχ ἧττον ὅδ' ἐγώ, ἢ ἀπὸ προσώπου θεοῦ ὁ παλαιὸς ἐκεῖνος ἄνθρωπος, εἰς δὲ τὴν γῆν ἐπιστρέφων, ἐξ ἧς ἐλήφθην· γῆν τοιγαροῦν ἔδομαι πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ἐκεῖ ζωῆς μου, καὶ γῆν ἐργάζομαι, καὶ ταύτην ἀκάνθας καὶ τριβόλους ἀνατέλλου-σάν μοι, τὰς ἐμὰς λύπας καὶ φροντίδας τὰς ἐπονειδίστους, ἀφειμένος τῶν καλῶν καὶ ἀγαθῶν φροντίδων· καὶ ἃ καταλέλοιπα, πρὸς ταῦτα πάλιν ἐπιστρέφων, τὴν γῆν, ὅθεν ἐξῆλθον, καὶ τὴν συγγένειαν τὴν ἐμὴν τὴν κάτω, καὶ εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρός μου· ἀπολιπὼν γῆν τὴν ἀγαθήν, ἔνθα μοι οὖσα ἡ ἀγαθὴ πατρὶς ἠγνοεῖτο πάλαι, καὶ συγγενεῖς, οὓς ἔχων ψυχῆς ἐμῆς οἰκείους ὕστερον γινώ-σκειν ἠρξάμην, καὶ τὸν οἶκον τοῦ ἀληθῶς πατρὸς ἡμῶν, ἐν ᾧ μένων ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ μένειν ἐθελόντων υἱῶν τῶν ἀληθῶν σεμνῶς τιμᾶται καὶ γεραίρεται ὁ πατήρ. Ἐγὼ δὲ ἄσεμνος καὶ ἀνάξιος ἐξέρχομαι τῶνδε, στραφεὶς εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω καὶ παλινδρομῶν. Λέγεταί τις υἱός, παρὰ πατρὸς ἀπολαβὼν τὸν ἐπιβάλλοντα αὐτῷ πρὸς ἕτερον αὐτοῦ ἀδελφὸν κλῆρον, ἀποδημῆσαι τοῦ πατρὸς εἰς χώραν μακρὰν θελήσας τοῦτο· ζῶν δὲ ἀσώτως διασπαθῆσαι τὴν πατρῴαν οὐσίαν καὶ καταναλῶσαι· τέλος δὲ κατὰ ἀπορίαν ἑαυτὸν μισθώσας συφορβεῖν, ὑπὸ λιμοῦ δὲ ἀναγκαζόμενος καὶ κοινωνεῖν τῶν τροφῶν τοῖς χοίροις ἐπιθυμεῖν μέν, μὴ τυγχάνειν δὲ μηδὲ τούτου. ∆ίκην οὖν ἐξέτισε τῆς ἀσωτίας, ἀντὶ τραπέζης τῆς πατρικῆς οὔσης βασιλικῆς ἀμειψάμενος, ἃς οὐ προείδετο, τὰς χοιρείους καὶ τὰς ἐν θητείᾳ τροφάς. Τοιοῦτόν τι πείσεσθαι ἐοίκαμεν ἀπελθόντες, καὶ οὐδὲ σὺν παντὶ τῷ ἐπιβάλλοντι κλήρῳ· οὐδὲ γὰρ λαβόντες ἃ ἐχρῆν, ἄπιμεν δὲ ὅμως, τὰ μὲν καλὰ καὶ φίλα καταλιπόντες μετὰ σοῦ καὶ παρὰ σοί, ἀμειψάμενοι δὲ τὰ χείρω. ∆ιαδέξεται γὰρ ἡμᾶς σκυθρωπὰ πάντα, θόρυβος καὶ τάραχος ἐξ εἰρήνης, καὶ ἐξ ἡσύχου καὶ εὐτάκτου βίος ἄτακτος, ἐκ δὲ ἐλευθερίας ταύτης δουλεία χαλεπή, ἀγοραὶ καὶ δίκαι καὶ ὄχλοι καὶ χλιδή· καὶ σχολὴ μὲν ἡμῖν οὐκέτι πρὸς τὰ κρείττω οὐδ' ἡτισοῦν, οὐδὲ λόγια τὰ θεῖα λαλήσομεν, λαλήσομεν δὲ τὰ ἔργα τῶν ἀνθρώπων (τοῦτο δὴ καὶ ἁπλοῦς ἀρά τις εἶναι νενόμισται ἀνδρὶ προφήτῃ), ἡμεῖς δὲ καὶ πονηρῶν ἀνθρώπων. Νὺξ ὄντως ἐξ ἡμέρας, ἐκ δὲ λαμπροῦ φωτὸς σκότος, καὶ ἐκ πανηγύρεως πένθος, καὶ ἐκ πατρίδος πολεμία χώρα διαδέξεται ἡμᾶς, ἐν ᾗ ᾠδὴν μὲν ἱερὰν οὐκ ἔξεστί μοι ᾄδειν (πῶς γὰρ ἐν γῇ ἀλλοτρίᾳ τῆς ψυχῆς μου, ἔνθα μένοντα οὐκ ἔστι προσεῖναι θεῷ;) κλαίειν δὲ μόνον καὶ στένειν, ὑπομιμνησκόμενον τῶν ἐνταῦθα, εἰ καὶ τοῦτό μοί τις συγχωρήσεται. Πολέμιοί ποτε λέγονται ἐπελθόντες πόλει μεγάλῃ καὶ ἱερᾷ, ἐν ᾗ τὸ θεῖον ἐθεραπεύετο αἰχμαλώτους κατασῦραι τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας καὶ ὑμνῳδοὺς καὶ θεολόγους εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν χώραν, Βαβυλωνία δὲ ἦν· τοὺς δ' ἐνεχθέντας εἰς αὐτήν,