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and to direct others, a task that requires great spiritual abundance; but how I myself might escape the coming wrath, and scrape off from myself a little of the poison of wickedness. One must first be cleansed, then cleanse; be made wise, and then make wise; become light, and then give light; draw near to God, and then bring others near; be sanctified, and then sanctify; to lead by the hand with hands, to give counsel with understanding.

ΟΒʹ. When, then, will these things be, say those who are quick in all things, and not safe, who easily build up, and tear down? And when the lamp on the lampstand? And where is the talent? so they call the spiritual gift. These things say they who are more warm in their friendship than in their piety. When will these things be, and what is my argument, O most noble sirs? Not a long delay, nor extreme old age. For grey hairs with wisdom are better than uninstructed youth, and considered slowness than inconsiderate haste; and a short-lived reign than a long tyranny; just as a small, honorable portion is better than a large, dishonorable, and precarious possession, and a little gold than many talents of lead, and a little light than much darkness.

ΟΓʹ. But let this haste, which is both dangerous and overly zealous, not be like those seeds 35.481 that fell on the rocks, and having no depth of earth, sprang up immediately, but did not bear even the first heat of the sun; or like the foundation laid on the sand, which did not withstand the rain and the winds even for a little while. Woe to you, O city, whose king is a child, says Solomon; and, Be not hasty in your words, a saying of the same Solomon, speaking of a lesser matter, haste in word, than ardor in deed. And who is it that, despite these things, demands haste before safety and expediency? Who is it that fashions, as if clay figures in a single day, the champion of the truth, him who will stand with angels, and give glory with archangels, and send up the sacrifices to the altar above, and be a fellow priest with Christ, him who will refashion the creature, and present the image, and be a creator for the world above, and, to say what is greater, one who will be a god, and make others gods?

Ο∆ʹ. I know whose ministers we are, and where we are placed, and where we are sending; I know the height of God, and the weakness of man, and again his power. Heaven is high, and the earth is deep. And who shall ascend, of those cast down by sin? Who, still clothed in the gloom below and the grossness of the flesh, will with a whole and pure mind gaze upon the whole Mind, and be mingled with the stable and invisible among the unstable and visible? For scarcely here might one of those who are exceedingly purified behold even an image of the good, as one sees the sun in the waters. Who has measured the water in the hollow of his hand, and the heaven with a span, and the whole earth in a handful? Who has weighed the mountains in a scale, and the valleys in a balance? What is the place of His rest, and to whom of all things shall He be likened?

ΟΕʹ. Who is it that made all things by a word, and by wisdom formed man, and brought into one things that were separate, and mingled the dust with the spirit, and composed a creature visible and invisible, temporary and immortal, earthly and heavenly, that touches God and is not comprehended, that draws near and is far off? I said, I will be wise, says Solomon, but it was far from me, farther than it was, speaking of wisdom. And truly he that increases knowledge increases sorrow; not so much does that which is found 35.484 rejoice, as that which escapes grieves; which, I think, is wont to happen to those who are still thirsty when torn away from water; or to those who, unable to grasp something, think they possess it; or those from whom a flash of lightning that shone around them has immediately departed.

Οςʹ. This kept me down, and made me humble, and persuaded me that it is better to hear the voice of praise, than to be an expounder of things beyond my power; the majesty, and the height, and the dignity, and the pure natures scarcely containing the brightness of God, whom

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ἄλλους καὶ διευθύνειν, ὃ πολλῆς ἐστι τῆς περιουσίας· ἀλλ' ὅπως ἂν αὐτὸς τὴν ἐρχομένην ὀργὴν διαφύγοιμι, καὶ μικρόν τι τοῦ ἰοῦ τῆς κακίας ἐμαυ τὸν ἀποξέσαιμι. Καθαρθῆναι δεῖ πρῶτον, εἶτα καθᾶραι· σοφισθῆναι, καὶ οὕτω σοφίσαι· γενέσθαι φῶς, καὶ φωτίσαι· ἐγγίσαι Θεῷ, καὶ προσαγαγεῖν ἄλλους· ἁγιασθῆναι, καὶ ἁγιάσαι· χειραγωγῆσαι μετὰ χειρῶν, συμβουλεῦσαι μετὰ συνέσεως.

ΟΒʹ. Πότε οὖν ἔσται ταῦτα, φασὶν οἱ ταχεῖς τὰ πάντα, καὶ οὐκ ἀσφαλεῖς, οἱ ῥᾳδίως οἰκοδομοῦντες, καὶ καταλύοντες; Καὶ πηνίκα ὁ λύχνος ἐπὶ τὴν λυχνίαν; Καὶ ποῦ τὸ τάλαντον; οὕτω τὸ χάρισμα λέγοντες. Ταῦτα οἱ θερμότεροι τὴν φιλίαν ἢ τὴν εὐ λάβειαν. Πότε ταῦτα, καὶ τίς ὁ ἐμὸς λόγος, ὦ γεν ναιότατοι; Οὐ μακρὰ προθεσμία, οὐδὲ γῆρας τὸ ἔσχατον. Κρείσσων γὰρ πολιὰ μετὰ φρονήσεως ἀπαιδεύτου νεότητος, καὶ λελογισμένη βραδύτης τάχους ἀπερισκέπτου· καὶ ὀλιγοχρόνιος βασιλεία μακρᾶς τυραννίδος· ὡς καὶ ὀλίγη μερὶς τιμία πολλῆς κτήσεως ἀτίμου καὶ σφαλερᾶς, καὶ χρυσὸς ὀλίγος μολύβδου πολυταλάντου, καὶ πολλοῦ σκότους. ὀλίγον φῶς.

ΟΓʹ. Τὸ δὲ ταχὺ τοῦτο καὶ σφαλερὸν, καὶ λίαν κατ εσπουδασμένον, μὴ τῶν σπερμάτων ἐκείνοις 35.481 ἐοικὸς ᾖ, ἃ κατὰ τῶν πετρῶν πεσόντα, καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν βάθος γῆς, εὐθὺς ἀνακύψαντα, οὐδὲ τὴν πρώτην ἤνεγκε τοῦ ἡλίου θερμότητα· ἢ τῷ κατὰ τῆς ψάμμου τεθέντι θεμελίῳ, μηδὲ ὀλίγον ἀντι σχόντι πρὸς τὴν βροχὴν καὶ τὰ πνεύματα. Οὐαί σοι, πόλις, ἧς ὁ βασιλεύς σου νεώτερός ἐστι, φησὶ Σολομῶν· καὶ, Μὴ ἴσθι ταχὺς ἐν λό γοις, τοῦ αὐτοῦ Σολομῶντος φωνὴ, πρᾶγμά τι ἔλαττον, λέγοντος, τὸ περὶ λόγον τάχος τῆς περὶ πρᾶξιν θερμότητος. Καὶ τίς ἐστι παρὰ ταῦτα ὁ τὸ τάχος ἀπαιτῶν πρὸ τῆς ἀσφαλείας καὶ τοῦ συμφέροντος; Τίς ὁ πλάττων, καθάπερ αὐθήμερον τοὺς πηλίνους, τὸν τῆς ἀληθείας προστάτην, τὸν μετὰ ἀγγέλων στησόμενον, καὶ μετὰ ἀρχαγγέλων δοξάσοντα, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἄνω θυσιαστήριον ἀναπέμ ψοντα τὰς θυσίας, καὶ Χριστῷ συνιερεύσοντα, τὸν ἀναπλάσοντα τὸ πλάσμα, καὶ παραστήσοντα τὴν εἰκόνα, καὶ τῷ ἄνω κόσμῳ δημιουργήσοντα, καὶ τὸ μεῖζον εἰπεῖν, Θεὸν ἐσόμενον, καὶ θεοποιή σοντα;

Ο∆ʹ. Οἶδα τίνος ἐσμὲν λειτουργοὶ, καὶ ποῦ κείμε νοι, καὶ ποῦ πέμποντες· οἶδα τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ ὕψος, καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ἀσθένειαν, καὶ τὴν δύναμιν πάλιν· Οὐρανὸς ὑψηλὸς, γῆ δὲ βαθεῖα. Καὶ τίς ἀναβήσεται τῶν ἐῤῥιμμένων τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ; Τίς περικείμενος ἔτι τὸν κάτω ζόφον καὶ τῆς σαρκὸς τὴν παχύτητα ὅλῳ νοῒ καθαρῶς ἐποπτεύσει νοῦν ὅλον, καὶ μιγήσεται τοῖς ἑστῶσι καὶ ἀοράτοις ἐν τοῖς ἀστάτοις καὶ ὁρω μένοις; Μόλις γὰρ ἄν τις ἐνταῦθα τῶν σφόδρα κεκα θαρμένων καὶ εἴδωλον τοῦ καλοῦ θεωρήσειεν, ὥσπερ οἱ τὸν ἥλιον ἐν τοῖς ὕδασι. Τίς ὁ μετρήσας τῇ χειρὶ τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν σπιθαμῇ, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν δρακί; Τίς ἔστησε τὰ ὄρη σταθμῷ, καὶ τὰς νάπας ζυγῷ; Τίς τόπος τῆς καταπαύσεως αὐτοῦ, καὶ τίνι τῶν πάντων ὁμοιωθήσεται;

ΟΕʹ. Τίς ὁ ποιήσας τὰ πάντα ἐν λόγῳ, καὶ τῇ σοφίᾳ κατασκευάσας ἄνθρωπον, καὶ εἰς ἓν ἀγαγὼν τὰ διεστῶτα, καὶ μίξας τὸν χοῦν τῷ πνεύματι, καὶ συνθεὶς ζῶον ὁρατὸν καὶ ἀόρατον, πρόσκαιρον καὶ ἀθάνατον, ἐπίγειον καὶ οὐράνιον, ἁπτόμενον Θεοῦ καὶ οὐ περιδρασσόμενον, ἐγγίζον καὶ μακρυνόμενον; Εἶπα, σοφισθήσομαι, φησὶν ὁ Σολομῶν, καὶ αὐτὴ ἐμακρύνθη ἀπ' ἐμοῦ μακρὸν ὑπὲρ ὃ ἦν, τὴν σο φίαν λέγων. Καὶ ὄντως ὁ προστιθεὶς γνῶσιν προστίθησιν ἄλγημα· οὐ μᾶλλον εὐφραίνοντος τοῦ 35.484 εὑρεθέντος ἢ ἀνιῶντος τοῦ διαφεύγοντος· ὅπερ, οἶμαι, φιλεῖ συμβαίνειν τοῖς ἔτι διψῶσιν ἀποσπω μένοις ὕδατος· ἢ κρατεῖν τι οὐ δυναμένοις, ἔχειν νομίζουσιν· ἢ οὓς ἀπῆλθεν εὐθὺς ἀστραπὴ περι λάμψασα.

Οςʹ. Τοῦτό με ἵστη κάτω, καὶ ταπεινὸν ἐποίει, καὶ εἶναι βέλτιον ἔπειθεν ἀκούειν φωνὴν αἰνέσεως, ἢ ἐξηγητὴν εἶναι τῶν ὑπὲρ δύναμιν· ἡ μεγαλειότης, καὶ τὸ ὕψος, καὶ τὸ ἀξίωμα, καὶ αἱ καθαραὶ φύσεις μόλις χωροῦσαι Θεοῦ λαμπρότητα, ὃν