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to make her lovers cease from their misguided zeal. 4.2.1 Therefore, this is the ordinance and the law of a public festival; first, that the purpose of the festival be clear, then, that the gladness be common to all and not that one part should rejoice, while the remainder lives in grief and dejection. For this is characteristic of war rather than of a festival; since it is necessary that the victors parade in their victory, and the vanquished weep for their misfortune. 4.2.2 But on these days, first, for what reason the festival is celebrated is unclear. For many myths are told, contradicting one another; but nothing is true. Then I see a few rejoicing, but the many are distressed, even if they overshadow their grief with a specious show; and everything is full of clamor and confusion, and the crowd jostles against itself at random. 4.3.1 It is a remembrance and a yearly gladness. What gladness, man? First, when I consider the form of the encounter, what it is like, and how suspicious and unfriendly! The greeting comes forth from the lips with a weak and thin voice; then follows a kiss, a prelude to the gain, and the mouth is kissed, but the coin is loved; the form of affection and the work of greed. But where there is pure and guileless friendship, courtesies are without reward and without gain. 4.3.2 So then, much gold is carried about everywhere and is given, but a just and specious pretext for the gain neither exists nor is spoken of. It is not a wedding, that one might appeal to the munificence of a proud bridegroom. I cannot call the expense almsgiving; for no poor man is released from misfortune. One could not call what happens a transaction; for the crowd exchanges nothing with one another. And to call it a gift is not even just, where necessity is yoked to the giving. 4.3.3 What then should we call either the festival or the things expended in it? I for one cannot find a name. But you tell us, you who are zealous for it; give an account, as we do of the true festivals according to God. We celebrate a birthday, because at this time God showed us the theophanies in the flesh. We keep the festival of Lights, because by the remission of sins we are led up from a kind of dark prison of our former life to the bright and blameless life. 4.3.4 Again we adorn ourselves and rejoicing we parade on the day of the resurrection; for it signifies to us incorruptibility and the change to what is better. Thus we celebrate these, thus the succeeding ones; and reason leads every human action; but where cause and purpose are absent, this is nonsense and foolish talk. 4.4.1 Oh, the absurdity! All wander about with mouths agape, expecting things from one another. Those who give are grieved, those who receive do not keep it. For the gain passes to others and he who has received from his subordinate gives to his superior. And the gold of this day is unstable, like the ball of those who play, sent quickly from me to another. 4.4.2 And a new kind of gift-bearing and public service, having the unyielding contribution of necessity. For the greater and more glorious man puts one to shame, the lesser asks, and all by degrees move towards the bosoms of their superiors. And that which happens in the flowing together of waters, this it is now possible to see. 4.4.3 For there too a thin stream flowing off mingles its currents with the one after it and greater; and that one is again covered over by the one flooding more, and many thinner streams gathered together become an addition to a neighboring river; this one again to another greater one, and another to another, until the last one moors the water in the depth and breadth of the sea. 4.4.4 This is a festival falsely named, full of burdensomeness; for both the going out is burdensome and the staying indoors is not without disturbance. For demesmen who are beggars and the wonder-workers of the orchestra, having divided themselves into orders and companies, trouble every house; and forsooth they acclaim and applaud, but they remain at the gates more vigorously than tax-collectors, until the one inside, being worn out

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τοὺς ἐραστὰς ἐκείνης ἀποστῆσαι τῆς πεπλανημένης σπουδῆς. 4.2.1 Ἑορτῆς τοίνυν πανδήμου οὗτος ὁ θεσμὸς καὶ ὁ νόμος· πρῶτον μὲν φανερὸν σκοπὸν εἶναι τῆς πανηγύρεως, ἔπειτα κοινὴν εἶναι πάντων εὐφροσύνην καὶ μὴ μέρος μὲν ἥδεσθαι, τὸ δὲ λειπόμενον ἐν λύπῃ καὶ κατηφείᾳ διάγειν. Τοῦτο γὰρ πολέμου μᾶλλον ἢ ἑορτῆς ἐξαίρετον· ἐπειδήπερ ἐπάναγκες τοὺς μὲν κρατήσαντας ἐμπομπεύειν τῇ νίκῃ, τοὺς δ' ἡττηθέντας δακρύειν τὴν συμφοράν. 4.2.2 Ἐπὶ δέ γε τούτων τῶν ἡμερῶν, πρῶτον μὲν τὸ ἐπὶ τίσι τελεῖται ἡ πανήγυρις ἄδηλον. Μῦθοι γὰρ λέγονται πολλοί, ἀλλήλων ἀνατρεπτικοί· ἀληθὲς δὲ οὐδέν. Εἶτα ὀλίγους μὲν εὐφραινομένους βλέπω· ἀνιωμένους δὲ τοὺς πολλούς, κἂν εὐπρεπεῖ ἑτερότητι τὴν λύπην ἐπισκιάζωσιν· πάντα δὲ θορύβου γέμοντα καὶ ταραχῆς, καὶ τὸ πλῆθος πρὸς ἑαυτῷ εἰκῆ ὠθιζόμενον. 4.3.1 Ἀνάμνησίς ἐστιν καὶ εὐφροσύνη ἐνιαυτοῦ. Ποία εὐφροσύνη, ἄνθρωπε; Πρῶτον, ὅταν ἐννοήσω τῆς συντυχίας τὸ σχῆμα, οἷόν ἐστιν, καὶ ὅπως ὕποπτον καὶ οὐ φιλικόν! Ἀδρανεῖ τῇ φωνῇ καὶ λεπτῇ ἡ προσηγορία πρόεισι τῶν χειλέων· εἶτα ἀκολουθεῖ φίλημα τοῦ λήμματος προοίμιον, καὶ φιλεῖται μὲν τὸ στόμα, ἀγαπᾶται δὲ τὸ νόμισμα· τὸ σχῆμα διαθέσεως καὶ τὸ ἔργον πλεονεξίας. Ἔνθα δὲ καθαρὰ φιλία καὶ ἄδολος, ἄμισθοι καὶ ἀκερδεῖς εἰσιν αἱ φιλοφρονήσεις. 4.3.2 Περιφέρεται γοῦν πολὺ πανταχοῦ καὶ δίδοται τὸ χρυσίον, πρόφασις δὲ δικαία καὶ εὐπρεπὴς τοῦ λήμματος οὔτε ἔστιν οὔτε λέγεται. Γάμος οὐκ ἔστιν, ἵνα νυμφίου τις γαύρου καλέσῃ φιλοτιμίαν. Ἐλεημοσύνην οὐκ ἔχω καλεῖν τὴν δαπάνην· οὐδεὶς γὰρ πένης ἀφίεται συμφορᾶς. Συνάλλαγμα οὐκ ἄν τις καλέσειεν τὸ γινόμενον· οὐδὲν γὰρ διαμείβουσι πρὸς ἀλλήλους τὸ πλῆθος. ∆ωρεὰν δὲ εἰπεῖν, οὐδὲ μέχρις ὅτου δίκαιον, ἔνθα συνέζευκται ἀνάγκη τῇ δόσει. 4.3.3 Τί τοίνυν ἢ τὴν ἑορτὴν καλέσωμεν ἢ τὰ ἐν ταύτῃ δαπανώμενα; Ἐγὼ μὲν οὐχ εὑρίσκω. Εἴπατε δέ, οἱ περὶ αὐτὴν ἐσπου δακότες· δότε λόγον, ὡς ἡμεῖς τῶν ἀληθινῶν καὶ κατὰ Θεὸν πανηγύρεων. Γενέθλιον ἑορτάζομεν, ἐπειδὴ τὰ ἐν σαρκὶ θεοφάνια κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον ἔδειξεν ἡμῖν ὁ Θεός. Φῶτα πανήγυριν ἄγομεν, ἐπειδὴ τῇ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἀφέσει οἷον ἐκ σκοτεινοῦ τινος δεσμωτηρίου τοῦ προτέρου βίου πρὸς τὸν φωτεινὸν καὶ ἀνεύθυνον ἀναγόμεθα. 4.3.4 Καλλωπιζόμεθα πάλιν καὶ χαίροντες ἐμπομπεύομεν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἀναστάσεως· τὴν γὰρ ἀφθαρσίαν ἡμῖν καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον δηλοῖ μετακόσμησιν. Οὕτως ταύτας ἑορτάζομεν, οὕτως τὰς ἐφεξῆς· καὶ παντὸς ἀνθρωπικοῦ πράγματος λόγος ἡγεῖται· οὗ δὲ αἰτία καὶ σκοπὸς ἄπεστιν, λῆρος τοῦτο καὶ φλήναφος. 4.4.1 Ὢ τῆς ἀτοπίας! Πάντες κεχηνότες περινοστοῦσι, τὰ παρ' ἀλλήλων 4.4.1 ἐλπίζοντες. Οἱ δόντες λυποῦνται, οἱ λαβόντες οὐ κατέχουσι. Μεταβαίνει γὰρ εἰς ἀλλήλους τὸ λῆμμα καὶ ὁ παρὰ τοῦ ὑπευθύνου δεξάμενος δίδωσι τῷ μείζονι. Ἄστατον δέ ἐστιν τὸ τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης χρυσίον, ὥσπερ ἡ τῶν παιζόντων σφαῖρα, ὀξέως παρ' ἐμοῦ πεμπόμενον πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον. 4.4.2 Καὶ καινὸς δωροφορίας καὶ λειτουργίας τρόπος, ἀπαραίτητον ἔχων τῆς ἀνάγκης τὴν εἰσφοράν. Ὁ γὰρ μείζων καὶ ἔνδοξος δυσωπεῖ, ὁ ἐλάττων αἰτεῖ, καὶ πάντες βαθμοῖς ἐπὶ τοὺς κόλπους τῶν ὑπερεχόντων κινοῦνται. Καὶ ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῆς συρροίας τῶν ὑδάτων γίνεται, τοῦτο νῦν ἔστιν ἰδεῖν. 4.4.3 Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖ λεπτὸς ῥύαξ ἀπορρεύσας τοὺς ῥοῦς τῷ μετ' αὐτὸν καὶ μείζονι μίγνυται· κἀκεῖνος καλύπτεται πάλιν παρὰ τοῦ μᾶλλον πλημμυροῦντος καὶ πολλὰ λεπτότερα ῥεύματα ἀθροισθέντα ποταμοῦ γείτονος προσθήκη γίνονται· οὗτος πάλιν ἑτέρου τοῦ μείζονος καὶ ἄλλος ἄλλου, μέχρις ἂν ὁ τελευταῖος τῷ βάθει καὶ τῷ πλάτει τῆς θαλάσσης ἐγκαθορμίσῃ τὸ ὕδωρ. 4.4.4 Ἑορτὴ αὕτη ψευδώνυμος, ἐπαχθείας γέμουσα· καὶ γὰρ ἡ πρόοδος ἐπαχθὴς καὶ ἡ ἔνδον μονὴ οὐκ ἀνενόχλητος. ∆ημόται γὰρ ἀγύρται καὶ οἱ τῆς ὀρχήστρας θαυματοποιοὶ εἰς τάξεις καὶ συστήματα ἑαυτοὺς καταμερίσαντες ἑκάστην οἰκίαν διοχλοῦσιν· καὶ δῆθεν μὲν εὐφημοῦσι καὶ ἐπικροτοῦσιν, μένουσι δὲ πρὸς ταῖς πύλαις τῶν πρακτήρων εὐτονώτερον, μέχρις ἂν ἀποκναισθεὶς ὁ ἔνδον