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established by God in our souls. Truly, "the adulterer, through lack of understanding, brings ruin to his own soul." Nor indeed is the thief deprived of punishment, but he pays a penalty, though a lesser one. For comparisons do not push the things being compared into the opposite category, but allowing them to remain in their own place, they introduce diminution and superiority. Perhaps you did not understand what was said; therefore it is necessary to speak more clearly. Marriage is good, but virginity is better; not because virginity is better, is marriage therefore evil, but it is less than that, and good in itself. So also here: theft is an evil, but adultery is worse; not because adultery is worse, is theft therefore not an evil, but it is less than that, and an evil in itself. Have you seen the differences in sins? Let us see then what sin he committed. "His heart," it says, "was lifted up." The wound is grievous; for it is arrogance, arrogance the fount of all evils. And that you may learn concisely the evil of this disease, hear this. For other sins revolve around our nature, but pride has dragged down and cast down from above an incorporeal power. For it made the devil, who was not previously the devil, to be the devil. And if we bring forward Isaiah as a witness, saying thus concerning him, "I will ascend into heaven, and I will be like the Most High," those who do not gladly accept allegories will dismiss our testimony; but if we set Paul against him as accuser, no one will any longer object. What then does Paul say, writing to Timothy? that one who has just taken up the preaching should not be brought to the great dignity of the episcopate, he says something like this: "Not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the condemnation [and snare] of the devil"; lest having sinned the same things as he, it says, he be punished with the same things as he. 3.4 And this is clear not only from this, but also from what that wicked demon advised the first of all men to be. For just as it is the custom for the good to advise their neighbors in these things through which they themselves have become good, so also it is the custom for the wicked to suggest such things to their neighbors through which they themselves have become base. For this too is one form of their wickedness, and they consider the ruin of others a consolation for their own punishment. What then did the devil advise Adam? To have a thought greater than his own nature and to hope for equality with God. For if this, he says, cast me out of heaven, much more will this same thing cast him out of paradise. Because of this Solomon also said, "God opposes the proud." He did not say that God lets go of and forsakes and strips the proud of his own help, but "He opposes," it says, not that he needed battle array and a fight against the proud man; for what could be weaker than a proud man? For just as he who has lost his sight is exposed to all to suffer evil, so the proud man, who does not know the Lord "for the beginning of pride," it says, "is not to know the Lord", is also easily captured by men, having fallen from that light. But if he were strong, God would not have needed to set battle array against him; for he whose will sufficed to produce all things, would have much more sufficed for their destruction. For what reason, then, it says, does he oppose? In order that he might show the vehemence of his hatred towards the proud man. That the wound of pride is grievous, then, is clear both from these things, and from many others elsewhere. But if you wish, let us also learn the cause itself, from which the wound came to be. For it is also the custom of Scripture, whenever it is about to accuse someone, not only to state his sin, but also to teach us the cause of the sin; and it does this, making those who are sound more secure against falling into the same things. So also physicians,

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παρὰ Θεοῦ ταῖς ἡμετέραις ἐνιδρυμένον ψυχαῖς. Ὄντως "ὁ μοιχὸς δι' ἔνδειαν φρενῶν ἀπώλειαν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῇ περιποιεῖται". Οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ ὁ κλέπτων κολάσεως ἀπεστέρηται, ἀλλὰ δίδωσι μὲν δίκην, ἐλάττονα δέ. Αἱ γὰρ συγκρίσεις οὐκ εἰς τὴν ἐναντίαν ἐξωθοῦσιν τάξιν τὰ συγκρινόμενα, ἀλλ' ἀφιεῖσαι μένειν ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκείας χώρας αὐτά, ἐλάττωσιν εἰσάγουσι καὶ ὑπεροχήν. Τάχα οὐ συνήκατε τὸ λεχθέν· οὐκοῦν ἀνάγκη σαφέστερον εἰπεῖν. Καλὸν ὁ γάμος, ἀλλὰ κρείττων ἡ παρθενία· οὐκ ἐπειδὴ κρείττων ἡ παρθενία, διὰ τοῦτο κακὸν ὁ γάμος, ἀλλ' ἔλαττον μὲν ἐκείνου, καλὸν δὲ καὶ αὐτό. Οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα· κακὸν ἡ κλοπή, ἀλλὰ χεῖρον ἡ μοιχεία· οὐκ ἐπειδὴ χεῖρον ἡ μοιχεία, διὰ τοῦτο οὐ κακὸν ἡ κλοπή, ἀλλ' ἔλαττον μὲν ἐκείνου, κακὸν δὲ καὶ αὐτό. Εἶδες ἁμαρτημάτων διαφοράς; Ἴδωμεν οὖν ποίαν οὗτος ἁμαρτίαν ἥμαρτεν. "Ὑψώθη, φησίν, ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ." Χαλεπὸν τὸ τραῦμα· ἀπόνοια γάρ ἐστιν, ἀπόνοια ἡ πηγὴ πάντων τῶν κακῶν. Καὶ ἵνα συντόμως μάθῃς τοῦ νοσήματος τὴν κακίαν, ἐκεῖνο ἄκουσον. Τὰ μὲν ἄλλα ἁμαρτήματα περὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν στρέφεται φύσιν, ἡ δὲ ὑπερηφανία δύναμιν ἀσώματον κατέσπασεν καὶ κατέβαλεν ἄνωθεν. Τὸν γὰρ διάβολον, οὐκ ὄντα πρότερον διάβολον, τοῦτο εἶναι διάβολον ἐποίησεν. Κἂν μὲν τὸν Ἡσαΐαν παραγάγωμεν μάρτυρα λέγοντα οὕτω περὶ αὐτοῦ· "Εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβήσομαι, καὶ ἔσομαι ὅμοιος τῷ Ὑψίστῳ", οἱ τὰς ἀλληγορίας οὐχ ἡδέως δεχόμενοι παραγράψονται τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἡμῶν· ἂν δὲ τὸν Παῦλον ἐπιστήσωμεν αὐτῷ κατήγορον, οὐδεὶς οὐκέτι λοιπὸν ἀντερεῖ. Τί οὖν ὁ Παῦλος Τιμοθέῳ γράφων; ὅτι τὸν ἄρτι τοῦ κηρύγματος ἁψάμενον οὐ δεῖ πρὸς τὸ μέγα τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς ἄγειν ἀξίωμα, οὑτωσί πώς φησιν· "Μὴ νεόφυτον, ἵνα μὴ τυφωθείς, εἰς κρῖμα ἐμπέσῃ [καὶ παγίδα] τοῦ διαβόλου"· ἵνα μὴ τὰ αὐτὰ ἁμαρτὼν ἐκείνῳ, φησί, τὰ αὐτὰ αὐτῷ κολάζηται. 3.4 Καὶ οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν δὲ μόνον τοῦτο δῆλόν ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξ ὧν τῷ πρώτῳ πάντων ἀνθρώπων γενομένῳ συνεβούλευσεν ὁ πονηρὸς δαίμων ἐκεῖνος. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ἔθος ταῦτα τοῖς πλησίον παραινεῖν, δι' ὧν αὐτοὶ γεγόνασιν ἀγαθοί, οὕτω καὶ τοῖς πονηροῖς ἔθος τοιαῦτα εἰσηγεῖσθαι τοῖς πλησίον, δι' ὧν αὐτοὶ γεγόνασι φαῦλοι. Ἓν γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο τῆς πονηρίας αὐτῶν εἶδός ἐστιν καὶ παραμυθίαν ἡγοῦνται τῆς οἰκείας κολάσεως τὴν ἑτέρων ἀπώλειαν. Τί οὖν διάβολος συνεβούλευσε τῷ Ἀδάμ; Μείζονα τῆς οἰκείας φύσεως λαβεῖν ἔννοιαν καὶ ἰσοθεΐαν ἐλπίσαι. Εἰ γὰρ ἐμὲ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τοῦτο, φησίν, ἐξέβαλεν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τοῦτον τοῦ παραδείσου τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐκβαλεῖ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Σολομῶν ἔλεγεν· "Ὁ Θεὸς ὑπερηφάνοις ἀντιτάσσεται." Οὐκ εἶπεν ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ὑπερηφάνους ἀφίησιν καὶ ἐγκαταλιμπάνει καὶ τῆς οἰκείας βοηθείας γυμνοῖ, ἀλλ' "Ἀντιτάσσεται", φησίν, οὐχ ὅτι παρατάξεως αὐτῷ καὶ μάχης ἔδει πρὸς τὸν ὑπερήφανον· τί γὰρ ὑπερηφάνου γένοιτ' ἂν ἀσθενέστερον; Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ τὰς ὄψεις ἀπολέσας ἅπασι πρόκειται πρὸς τὸ κακῶς παθεῖν, οὕτως ὁ ὑπερήφανος, ὁ μὴ εἰδὼς τὸν Κύριον "ἀρχὴ γάρ, φησίν, ὑπερηφανίας, τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι τὸν Κύριον", καὶ ἀνθρώποις εὐάλωτός ἐστιν, τοῦ φωτὸς ἐκπεσὼν ἐκείνου. Εἰ δὲ ἰσχυρὸς ἦν, οὐκ ἂν παρατάξεως ἐδέησε τῷ Θεῷ πρὸς αὐτόν· ᾧ γὰρ ἡ βούλησις ἤρκεσε πρὸς τὸ πάντα παραγαγεῖν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀναίρεσιν αὐτῶν ἤρκεσεν ἄν. Τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν, φησίν, ἀντιτάσσεται; Ἵνα τὸ σφοδρὸν τῆς ἀπεχθείας ἐνδείξηται τῆς πρὸς τὸν ὑπερήφανον. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν χαλεπὸν τὸ τραῦμα τὸ ὑπερηφανίας καὶ ἐκ τούτων, καὶ ἀλλαχόθεν πολλαχόθεν δῆλον. Εἰ δὲ βούλεσθε, καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν αὐτὴν μάθωμεν, ἀφ' ἧς τὸ ἕλκος ἐγένετο. Καὶ γὰρ ἔθος τῇ Γραφῇ, ἐπειδὰν μέλλῃ τινὸς κατηγορεῖν, μὴ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν αὐτοῦ λέγειν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αἰτίαν τῆς ἁμαρτίας διδάσκειν ἡμᾶς· ποιεῖ δὲ τοῦτο, τοὺς ὑγιαίνοντας ἀσφαλεστέρους κατασκευάζουσα πρὸς τὸ μὴ τοῖς αὐτοῖς περιπεσεῖν. Οὕτω καὶ ἰατροί,