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to make a defense. For most of all, he says, I have proofs from the facts themselves; but if you disbelieve, I call God himself as witness, who knows the secrets of each person’s mind, and is able to search the conscience. 5. He said these things, showing that he would not have dared to call the infallible judge, and bring the case before him, unless he had been strongly persuaded that he was pure from every plot. And that the things said are not conjecture, but wishing to make a defense for himself, and wanting to chasten that man, he reminded him of that judgment, the things that had already happened being sufficient to show it; but what happened after these things can confirm this no less than those things. For having him in his hands again, after this salvation, when he attacked him and wanted to kill him, and being able to cut him down with his entire army, he let him go, having suffered none of the things it was likely he would suffer. Therefore, seeing that he was incurably sick, and would never cease from his enmity toward him, he removed himself from his sight, and lived among the barbarians, serving as a slave, dishonored, ashamed, providing for himself the necessary food through toil and hardship. And not only is this marvelous, 54.694 but that also hearing he had fallen in battle, he tore his tunic, and sprinkled himself with ashes and mourned a lamentation that someone would mourn who had lost an only and legitimate child, continually calling out his name with the child's, and composing praises, and uttering a bitter voice, and remaining without food until evening, and cursing the very places that received the blood of Saul. For "Mountains of Gilboa," he says, "may neither dew nor rain fall on you; mountains of death, for there the shield of the mighty was cast away." What fathers often do, both turning away from the house, and looking with displeasure at the narrow street through which they sent forth their son, this he also did, and he cursed the mountains that received the slaughter. I even hate the place itself, he says, because of the dead who fell there. Therefore be wet no more with the rains from above; for you were once badly wet with the blood of my friends; and he continually turns over their names, speaking thus: "Saul and Jonathan, the beloved and beautiful, not separated in their life, and in their death they were not divided." For since he could not embrace their bodies, which were not present, he entwines himself with their names, soothing his own pain with these as much as possible, and consoling the magnitude of the disaster. For since to many it seemed an incurable evil for both to fall on one day, he took this very thing as a subject of consolation. For to say, "In their life not separated, and in their death they were not divided," was nothing other than to establish this. For it is not possible, he says, to say that the son lamented his orphanhood, nor did the father mourn his childlessness, but what happened to no one, happened, he says, to them; for together and on one day they were torn from life, and one was not left behind. For he would have considered life to be unlivable for himself by the separation of the other. Are you now warmed, have you wept, is your reason confounded, and have your eyes become ready for a release of tears? Now let each one remember for me his enemy and the one who has grieved him, while his mind is still boiling with grief, and let him watch over this man while he lives, and mourn him when he is gone, not for show, but from genuine mind and soul; and if it be necessary to suffer anything, so as not to grieve the one who has done wrong, let him do and suffer all things, expecting great rewards from God. Behold, therefore, this man both received the kingdom, and did not defile his hand, but having his right hand clean, thus he bound the crown on himself, and ascended the throne, having a reason for praise more brilliant than the purple and the diadem, the sparing of his enemy, the mourning

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ἀπολογήσασθαι. Μάλιστα μὲν γὰρ, φησὶν, ἔχω καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων ἀποδείξεις· εἰ δὲ ἀπιστεῖς, αὐτὸν καλῶ τὸν Θεὸν μάρτυρα, τὸν τὰ ἀπόῤῥητα τῆς ἑκάστου διανοίας εἰδότα, καὶ τὸ συνειδὸς ἐρευνῆσαι δυνάμενον. εʹ. Ταῦτα δὲ ἔλεγε, δεικνὺς ὅτι οὐκ ἂν ἐτόλμησε καλέσαι τὸν ἀπαραλόγιστον δικαστὴν, καὶ ἐπ' αὐτοῦ τὴν δίκην εἰσαγαγεῖν, εἰ μὴ σφόδρα ἦν πεπεικὼς ἑαυτὸν, ὅτι πάσης ἐπιβουλῆς ἦν καθαρός. Καὶ ὅτι οὐ στοχασμὸς τὰ εἰρημένα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἀπολογήσασθαι βουληθεὶς, κἀκεῖνον σωφρονίσαι θέλων, τῆς δίκης ἐκείνης ἀνέμνησεν, ἱκανὰ μὲν καὶ τὰ ἤδη γεγενημένα δηλῶσαι· οὐκ ἔλαττον δὲ ἐκείνων καὶ τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα συμβάντα τοῦτο πιστώσασθαι δύναται. Καὶ γὰρ πάλιν αὐτὸν εἰς χεῖρας λαβὼν, μετὰ τὴν σωτηρίαν ταύτην ἐπιθέμενον αὐτῷ καὶ ἀνελεῖν βουλόμενον, καὶ δυνάμενος αὐτὸν μετὰ τοῦ στρατοπέδου κατακόψαι παντὸς, ἀφῆκεν, οὐδὲν, ὧν εἰκὸς ἦν παθεῖν, πεπονθότα. ∆ιὸ καὶ συνιδὼν ὡς ἀνήκεστα νοσεῖ, καὶ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔχθρας οὐδαμοῦ λήξει ποτὲ, ἐξήγαγεν ἑαυτὸν τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τῶν ἐκείνου, καὶ παρὰ τοῖς βαρβάροις ἔζη, δουλεύων, ἠτιμωμένος, αἰσχυνόμενος, ἐκ πόνου καὶ ταλαιπωρίας τὴν ἀναγκαίαν ἑαυτῷ πορίζων τροφήν. Καὶ οὐ τοῦτο μόνον ἐστὶ τὸ θαυμαστὸν, 54.694 ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ πεσόντα ἀκούσας ἐπὶ τῆς παρατάξεως, διέῤῥηξέ τε τὸν χιτωνίσκον, καὶ σποδὸν κατεπάσατον καὶ θρῆνον ἐθρήνησεν, ὃν ἄν τις θρηνήσειε, παῖδα μονογενῆ καὶ γνήσιον ἀποβαλὼν, συνεχῶς αὐτοῦ τὸ ὄνομα ἀνακαλῶν μετὰ τοῦ παιδίου, καὶ ἐγκώμια συντιθεὶς, καὶ πικρὰν ἀφιεὶς φωνὴν, καὶ μέχρις ἑσπέρας ἄσιτος μένων, καὶ αὐτὰ τὰ χωρία καταρώμενος τὰ δεξάμενα τὸ αἷμα τοῦ Σαούλ· Ὄρη γὰρ, φησὶν, τὰ Γελβουὲ, μὴ πέσοι ἐφ' ὑμᾶς, μήτε δρόσος, μήτε ὑετός· ὄρη θανάτου, ὅτι ἐκεῖ ἐξήρθη σκέπη δυνατῶν. Ὅπερ πατέρες ποιοῦσι πολλάκις, καὶ τὴν οἰκίαν ἀποστρέφονται, καὶ τὸν στενωπὸν ἀηδῶς ὁρῶσι, δι' οὗ τὸν υἱὸν προέπεμψαν, τοῦτο καὶ οὗτος ἐποίησε, καὶ κατηρᾶτο τοῖς ὄρεσι τοῖς τὴν σφαγὴν δεξαμένοις. Μισῶ καὶ τὸν τόπον αὐτὸν διὰ τοὺς ἐκεῖ πεσόντας νεκροὺς, φησί. Μηκέτι τοίνυν βραχῆτε τοῖς ἄνωθεν ὑετοῖς· ἐβράχητε γὰρ ἅπαξ κακῶς τῷ τῶν φίλων μου αἵματι· καὶ συνεχῶς δὲ αὐτῶν περιστρέφει τὰ ὀνόματα, οὑτωσὶ λέγων· Σαοὺλ καὶ Ἰωνάθαν, οἱ ἠγαπημένοι καὶ ὡραῖοι, οὐ κεχωρισμένοι ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ αὐτῶν οὐ διεχωρίσθησαν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὰ σώματα μὴ παρόντα περιπτύξασθαι οὐκ εἶχε, περιπλέκεται αὐτῶν ταῖς προσηγορίαις, τὴν οἰκείαν ὀδύνην, ὡς οἷόν τε, τούτοις καταπραΰνων, καὶ τὸ τῆς συμφορᾶς παραμυθούμενος μέγεθος. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πολλοῖς ἐδόκει τὸ πεσεῖν ἀμφοτέρους ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ ἀνήκεστον εἶναι κακὸν, αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο εἰς ὑπόθεσιν παραμυθίας ἔλαβε. Τὸ γὰρ εἰπεῖν, Ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτῶν οὐ κεχωρισμένοι, καὶ ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐχωρίσθησαν, οὐδὲν ἕτερον, ἢ τοῦτο κατασκευάζοντος ἦν. Οὐ γὰρ ἔστι, φησὶν, εἰπεῖν, ὅτι ὀρφανίαν ὁ παῖς ἐθρήνησεν, οὐδὲ ἀπαιδίαν ὁ πατὴρ ὠδύρατο, ἀλλ' ὃ μηδενὶ συνέβη, συνέβη, φησὶν, ἐκείνοις· ὁμοῦ γὰρ καὶ κατὰ μίαν ἡμέραν τῆς ζωῆς ἀπεῤῥάγησαν, καὶ οὐ καταλειφθεὶς θάτερος. Ἦ γὰρ ἂν ἀβίωτον ἑαυτῷ εἶναι τὸν βίον ἐνόμισε τῇ διαστάσει θατέρου. ∆ιεθερμάνθητε νῦν, ἐδακρύσατε, συνεχύθητε τὸν λογισμὸν, καὶ πρὸς ἄφεσιν δακρύων εὐτρεπεῖς ὑμῶν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ γεγένηνται; Νῦν ἕκαστος ἀναμιμνησκέσθω μοι τοῦ ἐχθροῦ καὶ τοῦ λελυπηκότος, ἔτι ζεούσης τῷ πένθει τῆς διανοίας, καὶ τοῦτον καὶ ζῶντα φυλαττέτω, καὶ ἀπελθόντα πενθείτω, μὴ πρὸς ἐπίδειξιν, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ διανοίας καὶ ψυχῆς γνησίας· κἂν δέῃ τι παθεῖν, ὥστε μὴ λυπῆσαι τὸν ἠδικηκότα, πάντα ποιείτω καὶ πασχέτω, παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ μεγάλας ἀναμένων τὰς ἀμοιβάς. Ἰδοὺ γοῦν οὗτος καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἔλαβε, καὶ τὴν χεῖρα οὐκ ἐμόλυνεν, ἀλλὰ καθαρὰν ἔχων τὴν δεξιὰν, οὕτω τὸν στέφανον ἀνεδήσατο, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον ἀνέβη, τῆς ἁλουργίδος καὶ τοῦ διαδήματος λαμπροτέραν ἔχων εὐφημίας ὑπόθεσιν, τὸ φείσασθαι τοῦ πολεμίου, τὸ θρηνῆσαι