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Does someone plunder? Show him the one who gives alms; does he live in envy and jealousy? Show him the one who is pure of the passion; is he overcome by anger? Bring into the midst the one who lives in philosophy. For one must not only have recourse to the ancient narratives, but also take examples from the present; for even today, through the grace of God, the right actions are no less than those of former times. Is he unbelieving and considers the Scriptures to be false? Does he not believe that Job was such a man? Show him another man who emulates the life of that righteous one. Thus also the Master will judge us; He sets fellow servants with fellow servants, and does not cast His vote from His own judgment, so that someone might not begin to say again, just like that servant who was entrusted with the talent, and instead of a talent brought an accusation, 'Because you are a hard man,' For he should have lamented that he did not double the talent, but he also worked a more grievous sin, by adding the accusation against the master to his own idleness. For what does he say? 'I saw that you are a hard man.' O wretched and miserable, and ungrateful, and lazy one; when you ought to have accused your own idleness and taken away something of your former sin, you instead transferred the accusation to the master, and instead of the talent you doubled the sin. 3. For this reason God sets servants and servants, so that these might judge those, and those, being judged by these, might no longer have cause to accuse the Master. For this reason He says: The Son of Man comes in the glory of His Father. See the unchangeableness of the glory; He did not say, 'In a glory like the glory of the Father,' but 'In the glory of the Father,' and He will gather all the nations; a fearful tribunal, fearful for sinners and the accountable; but for those conscious of their own right actions, it is longed for and welcome; And He will set the sheep on His right, and the goats on His left; and both these and those are men. Why then are those sheep, and these goats? Not that you should learn a change of nature, but a change of choice. But why are those who do not give alms goats? Because the animal is fruitless, and can contribute to its owners neither the service from its milk, nor from its offspring, nor from its hair, being entirely bereft of such a contribution on account of its immaturity of age. For this reason He called those who bear no fruit of almsgiving goats, and those on the right sheep; for from these the yield is great, from the nature of the wool, from the offspring, from the milk. What then does He say to them? 'You saw me hungry, and you fed me; naked, and you clothed me; a stranger, and you took me in.' Again to those, the opposite things; and yet these and those were the same men, these and those received 49.268 the same promises, the same prizes were set before both for right actions, the same one came to these and to those, with the same nakedness to these and to those, with the same hunger, and a stranger likewise; all things were equal for those and for these. How then is the end not equal? Because their choice did not permit it; for this alone made the division. For this reason those go into Gehenna, but these into the kingdom; but if the devil were the cause of their sins, these would not be about to be punished, when another had sinned and pushed them. Have you seen here both those who sinned and those who acted rightly? Have you seen how, on seeing their fellow servants, they were silenced? Come, let us bring the discourse to another example for you. 'There were,' He says, 'ten virgins.' Again here are the choices that acted rightly, again those that failed, so that you might see in parallel both the sins of these and the right actions of those; for the comparison makes these things clearer. Both these and those were virgins, and these five and those five; both these and those had lamps; they all were awaiting the bridegroom.

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τις καὶ ἁρπάζει; δεῖξον αὐτῷ τὸν ἐλεημοσύνην διδόντα· ἐν βασκανίᾳ ζῇ καὶ φθόνῳ; δεῖξον αὐτῷ τὸν καθαρὸν τοῦ πάθους· ὑπ' ὀργῆς κρατεῖται; τὸν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ ζῶντα εἰς μέσον ἄγαγε. Οὐ γὰρ δεῖ μόνον εἰς τὰ παλαιὰ ἀνατρέχειν διηγήματα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν παρόντων λαμβάνειν τὰ παραδείγματα· καὶ γὰρ καὶ τήμερον διὰ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριν οὐκ ἐλάττονα τῶν προτέρων ἐστὶ τὰ κατορθώματα. Ἄπιστός ἐστι καὶ ψευδεῖς ἡγεῖται τὰς Γραφὰς εἶναι; οὐ πιστεύει, ὅτι ὁ Ἰὼβ τοιοῦτος ἦν; δεῖξον αὐτῷ ἕτερον ἄνθρωπον τὸν ἐκείνου τοῦ δικαίου ζηλοῦντα τὸν βίον. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ ∆εσπότης ἡμᾶς κρινεῖ· συνδούλους ἵστησι μετὰ συνδούλων, καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς αὑτοῦ κρίσεως φέρει τὴν ψῆφον, ἵνα μὴ ἄρξηται λέγειν τις πάλιν, καθάπερ ἐκεῖνος ὁ οἰκέτης ὁ τὸ τάλαντον πιστευθεὶς, καὶ ἀντὶ ταλάντου κατηγορίαν προσενεγκὼν, Ὅτι σκληρὸς εἶ, ∆έον γὰρ στένειν, ὅτι οὐκ ἐδιπλασίασε τὸ τάλαντον, ἀλλὰ καὶ χαλεπωτέραν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν εἰργάσατο, τὴν κατηγορίαν τὴν κατὰ τοῦ δεσπότου προσθεὶς τῇ οἰκείᾳ ἀργίᾳ. Τί γάρ φησιν; Εἶδόν σε ὅτι σκληρὸς εἶ. Ὦ ἄθλιε καὶ ταλαίπωρε, καὶ ἀγνωμονῶν, καὶ ὀκνηρέ· ὀφείλων τῆς σαυτοῦ κατηγορεῖν ἀργίας καὶ ὑφελέσθαι τι τῆς προτέρας ἁμαρτίας, σὺ δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν δεσπότην τὴν κατηγορίαν μετενεγκὼν, ἀντὶ τοῦ ταλάντου τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐδιπλασίασας. γʹ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὁ Θεὸς δούλους καὶ δούλους ἵστησιν, ἵνα οὗτοι ἐκείνους κρίνωσι, κἀκεῖνοι διὰ τούτων κρινόμενοι μὴ ἔχωσι λοιπὸν κατηγορεῖν τοῦ ∆εσπότου. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησιν· Ἔρχεται ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπὶ τῆς δόξης τοῦ Πατρὸς αὐτοῦ. Ὅρα τῆς δόξης τὸ ἀπαράλλακτον· οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἐπὶ δόξης ὁμοίας τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ Πατρὸς, ἀλλ' Ἐπὶ τῆς δόξης τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ συνάξει τὰ ἔθνη πάντα· φοβερὸν τὸ κριτήριον, φοβερὸν τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσι καὶ ὑπευθύνοις· ἐπεὶ τοῖς συνειδόσιν ἑαυτοῖς κατορθώματα ποθεινὸν καὶ προσηνές· Καὶ στήσει τὰ πρόβατα ἐκ δεξιῶν, καὶ τὰ ἐρίφια ἐξ εὐωνύμων· καὶ οὗτοι κἀκεῖνοι ἄνθρωποι. ∆ιὰ τί οὖν ἐκεῖνοι μὲν πρόβατα, οὗτοι δὲ ἐρίφια; Οὐχ ἵνα τὴν ἐναλλαγὴν τῆς φύσεως, ἀλλ' ἵνα τὴν ἐναλλαγὴν τῆς προαιρέσεως μάθῃς. ∆ιὰ τί δὲ οἱ μὴ διδόντες ἐλεημοσύνην ἐρίφια; Ὅτι ἄκαρπόν ἐστι τὸ ζῶον, καὶ οὔτε τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ γάλακτος λειτουργίαν, οὔτε τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν γεννημάτων, οὔτε τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν τριχῶν εἰσφέρειν δύναται τοῖς κεκτημένοις, πανταχόθεν ἔρημον ὂν τῆς τοιαύτης εἰσφορᾶς διὰ τὸ τῆς ἡλικίας ἄωρον. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τοὺς οὐδένα καρπὸν ἐλεημοσύνης φέροντας ἐκάλεσεν ἐρίφια, τοὺς ἐκ δεξιῶν πρόβατα· ἀπὸ γὰρ τούτων πολλὴ ἡ φορὰ, ἐκ τῆς τοῦ ἐρίου φύσεως, ἐκ τῶν γεννημάτων, ἐκ τοῦ γάλακτος. Τί οὖν φησι πρὸς αὐτούς; Πεινῶντά με εἴδετε, καὶ ἐθρέψατε· γυμνὸν, καὶ περιεβάλετε· ξένον, καὶ συνηγάγετε. Πάλιν πρὸς ἐκείνους τὰ ἐναντία· καίτοι γε οἱ αὐτοὶ ἄνθρωποι καὶ οὗτοι κἀκεῖνοι, τὰς αὐτὰς ἔλα 49.268 βον ἐπαγγελίας καὶ οὗτοι κἀκεῖνοι, τὰ αὐτὰ ἔπαθλα ἀμφοτέροις προέκειτο κατορθώσασιν, ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ πρὸς τούτους καὶ πρὸς ἐκείνους ἦλθε, μετὰ τῆς αὐτῆς γυμνότητος καὶ πρὸς τούτους καὶ πρὸς ἐκείνους, μετὰ τῆς αὐτῆς πείνης, καὶ ξένος ὁμοίως· πάντα ἴσα κἀκείνοις καὶ τούτοις. Πῶς οὖν τὸ τέλος οὐκ ἴσον; Ὅτι ἡ προαίρεσις οὐκ ἀφῆκεν· αὕτη γὰρ μόνη τὴν διαίρεσιν ἐποιήσατο. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἐκεῖνοι μὲν εἰς γέενναν, οὗτοι δὲ εἰς βασιλείαν· εἰ δὲ ὁ διάβολος ἦν αὐτοῖς τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ὁ αἴτιος, οὐκ ἂν, ἄλλου ἁμαρτόντος καὶ ὠθήσαντος, οὗτοι ἔμελλον κολάζεσθαι. Εἶδες ἐνταῦθα καὶ τοὺς ἁμαρτόντας, καὶ τοὺς κατορθώσαντας; εἶδες πῶς ἰδόντες τοὺς συνδούλους ἐπεστομίσθησαν; Φέρε σοι καὶ ἐφ' ἕτερον παράδειγμα τὸν λόγον ἀγάγωμεν. Παρθένοι, φησὶν, ἦσαν δέκα. Πάλιν ἐνταῦθα αἱ προαιρέσεις αἱ κατορθώσασαι, πάλιν αἱ διαμαρτοῦσαι, ἵνα ἐκ παραλλήλου καὶ τούτων τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ἴδῃς, κἀκείνων τὰ κατορθώματα· ἡ γὰρ σύγκρισις σαφέστερα ταῦτα ποιεῖ. Καὶ αὗται παρθένοι κἀκεῖναι, καὶ αὗται πέντε κἀκεῖναι· λαμπάδας εἶχον καὶ αὗται κἀκεῖναι· τὸν νυμφίον ἀνέμενον πᾶσαι.