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those who are utterly supine. And if the Jews are accused of these things, what pardon could we obtain, what defense, we who after so great a grace and ineffable honor and the immortal hopes, fall into the same error as they? For many even now suffer from this disease and corrupt their own life, who by giving themselves over to the irrationality of omens, in addition to offending God, also reap superfluous sorrows, and are undone for the labors of virtue. For the devil has striven through all means to persuade the more foolish of this, that the things of virtue and of vice are not up to them, nor are they honored with any freedom of choice, wishing to accomplish these two most shameful things, † to undo the labors for virtue and to take away the greatest gift of freedom. This grievous disease he introduced into life through omens, through symbols, through the observation of days, through the wicked dogma of fate, through many other things, turning everything upside down. For which reason the prophet also stood vehemently accusing, so as to uproot the passion.

2.7 And many foreign children were born to them. What is: Foreign children? There was a law laid down for them from above, because of the proneness of their will to slip and the ease with which their mind could be deceived, not to mix with any of the other peoples, so that such kinships might not become an occasion for impiety. For since they were not only not strong enough to correct others, but were not even able to ward off the harm from others, having walled them in with the law and kept them away from mingling with the others, He fashioned and ordered them by themselves; for it was a desirable thing that even when so led they might be able to preserve the polity given them by God. But just as they transgressed the other commandments, so too, scorning this one, they turned to marriage relations with their neighbors, taking brides from there from the Moabites, from the Ammonites, from other impious nations, and embracing the other kinships, they received teachers of wickedness and corrupted the integrity of their noble birth. This, therefore, along with the other things, the prophet accuses. For their land, he says, was filled with silver and gold, and there was no number to their treasures. And their land was filled with horses, and there was no number to their chariots. And what crime is this, someone might perhaps say, to have money and to possess horses, especially in that generation, when there was not much precision of philosophy? What then should we say? That he was not maligning the use, but the will that did not use them for a proper purpose. For just as when he says, Woe to the powerful, he is not accusing power, but those who use power badly; so also here, it is not that they possessed money, but that with much abundance, they also gathered beyond what was needed. There was, he says, no number to their treasures. And not only this, but that puffed up by wealth and by the power of horses they were gradually led astray from hope in God, which the prophet also said to them elsewhere: Woe to those who trust in their own power and boast in the multitude of their wealth. And again elsewhere: A king is not saved by great power, and a giant will not be saved by the multitude of his strength. And in another psalm again he says: He will not delight in the strength of the horse, nor is he pleased with the legs of a man. The Lord is pleased with those who fear him. And the land was filled with the abominations of the works of their hands, and they worshipped what their fingers had made. Like a wise physician, the prophet states the cause and the source of the disease before the disease itself. For, intending to accuse them of impiety, he first stated the occasions of the sickness: avarice, arrogance, improper unions, showing that from these they were gradually tripped up into the abyss of destruction and worshipped idols. Then, mocking their

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τοὺς σφόδρα ἀναπεπτωκότας. Εἰ δὲ Ἰουδαῖοι ταῦτα ἐγκαλοῦνται, τίνος ἂν τύχοιμεν συγγνώμης ἡμεῖς, ποίας ἀπολογίας, οἱ μετὰ χάριν τοσαύτην καὶ τιμὴν ἄφατον καὶ τὰς ἀθανάτους ἐλπίδας, πρὸς τὴν αὐτὴν ἐκείνοις καταπίπτοντες πλάνην; Καὶ γὰρ πολλοὶ καὶ νῦν εἰσι τῷ νοσήματι κεχρημένοι τούτῳ καὶ τὸν ἑαυτῶν διαφθείροντες βίον, οἳ τῇ τῶν κλῃδόνων ἀλογίᾳ ἐκδιδόντες ἑαυτούς, μετὰ τοῦ τῷ Θεῷ προσκρούειν, καὶ περιττὰς καρποῦνται λύπας, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐκλύονται πόνους. Καὶ γὰρ ἐσπούδακεν ὁ διάβολος διὰ πάντων τοῦτο πεῖσαι τοὺς ἀνοητοτέρους, ὅτι οὐκ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς τὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ τὰ τῆς κακίας, οὐδὲ ἐλευθερίᾳ τινὶ προαιρέσεώς εἰσι τετιμημένοι, δύο δὲ ταῦτα τὰ αἴσχιστα κατορθῶσαι βουλόμενος, † καὶ τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐκλῦσαι πόνους καὶ τὸ μέγιστον τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀφελέσθαι δῶρον. Τοῦτο διὰ κλῃδόνων, τοῦτο διὰ συμβόλων, τοῦτο διὰ παρατηρήσεως ἡμερῶν, τοῦτο διὰ τοῦ πονηροῦ τῆς εἱμαρμένης δόγματος, τοῦτο δι' ἑτέρων πολλῶν εἰς τὸν βίον εἰσήγαγε τὸ χαλεπὸν νόσημα, πάντα ἄνω καὶ κάτω ποιῶν. ∆ι' ὃ δὴ καὶ ὁ προφήτης σφοδρῶς ἔστη κατηγορῶν, ὥστε πρόρριζον ἀνασπάσαι τὸ πάθος.

2.7 Καὶ τέκνα πολλὰ ἀλλόφυλα ἐγεννήθη αὐτοῖς. Τί ἐστι· Τέκνα ἀλλόφυλα; Νόμος ἦν αὐτοῖς ἄνωθεν κείμενος διὰ τὸ τῆς γνώμης εὐόλισθον καὶ τὸ τῆς διανοίας εὐεξαπάτητον μηδενὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιμίγνυσθαι, ὥστε μὴ τὰς τοιαύτας συγγενείας ἀσεβείας ὑπόθεσιν γενέσθαι. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οὐ μόνον ἑτέρους διορθῶσαι οὐκ ἴσχυον, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὴν παρ' ἑτέρων οἷοι τε ἦσαν διακρούεσθαι βλάβην, τῷ νόμῳ τειχίσας αὐτοὺς καὶ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς λοιποὺς ἐπιμιξίας αὐτοὺς ἀποστήσας, κατ' ἰδίαν αὐτοὺς ἔπλαττε καὶ ἐρρύθμιζεν· ἀγαπητὸν γὰρ ἦν καὶ οὕτως ἀγομένους δυνηθῆναι διατηρῆσαι τὴν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ δεδομένην πολι τείαν αὐτοῖς. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τὰς ἄλλας παρέβαινον ἐντολάς, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ταύτης ὑπεριδόντες μετέβησαν πρὸς τὰς τῶν πλησίον ἀγχιστείας καὶ νύμφας ἐκεῖθεν ἀγόμενοι παρὰ Μωαβιτῶν, παρὰ Ἀμμανητῶν, παρ' ἑτέρων ἀσεβῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἀσπαζόμενοι συγγενείας, διδασκάλους πονηρίας ἐδέχοντο καὶ τὸ τῆς εὐγενείας ἀκέραιον διέφθειρον. Τοῦτο τοίνυν μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ὁ προφήτης ἐγκαλεῖ. Ἐνεπλήσθη γὰρ ἡ χώρα αὐτῶν, φησίν, ἀργυρίου καὶ χρυσίου καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἀριθμὸς τῶν θησαυρῶν αὐτῶν. Καὶ ἐνεπλήσθη ἡ γῆ αὐτῶν ἵππων καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἀριθμὸς τῶν ἁρμάτων αὐτῶν. Καὶ ποῖον ἔγκλημα τοῦτο, ἴσως εἴποι τις ἄν, τὸ χρήματα ἔχειν καὶ ἵππους κεκτῆσθαι καὶ μάλιστα ἐπὶ τῆς γενεᾶς ἐκείνης, ὅτε οὐ πολλὴ φιλοσοφίας ἦν ἀκρίβεια; Τί οὖν ἂν εἴποιμεν; Ὅτι οὐ τὴν χρῆσιν διέβαλλεν, ἀλλὰ τὴν γνώμην τὴν οὐκ εἰς δέον αὐτοῖς κεχρημένην. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὅταν λέγῃ· Οὐαὶ οἱ ἰσχύοντες, οὐ τὴν δυναστείαν αἰτιᾶται, ἀλλὰ τοὺς κακῶς τῇ δυναστείᾳ κεχρημένους· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα, οὐχ ὅτι χρήματα ἐκέκτηντο, ἀλλ' ὅτι μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς περιουσίας, καὶ ὑπὲρ τὴν χρείαν συνῆγον. Οὐκ ἦν, φησίν, ἀριθμὸς τῶν θησαυρῶν αὐτῶν. Καὶ οὐ τοῦτο μόνον, ἀλλ' ὅτι πεφυσημένοι τῷ πλούτῳ καὶ τῇ τῶν ἵππων δυναστείᾳ κατὰ μικρὸν ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς τὸν Θεὸν ἐλπίδος παρεσύροντο, ὃ καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ αὐτοῖς ὁ προφήτης ἔλεγεν· Οὐαὶ οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπὶ τῇ δυνάμει αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ πλήθει τοῦ πλούτου αὐτῶν ἐγκαυχώμενοι. Καὶ πάλιν ἑτέρωθι· Οὐ σώζεται βασιλεὺς διὰ πολλὴν δύναμιν καὶ γίγας οὐ σωθήσεται ἐν πλήθει ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ἐν ἑτέρῳ δὲ πάλιν ψαλμῷ φησιν· Οὐκ ἐν τῇ δυναστείᾳ τοῦ ἵππου θελήσει, οὔτε ἐν ταῖς κνήμαις τοῦ ἀνδρὸς εὐδοκεῖ. Εὐδοκεῖ Κύριος ἐπὶ τοὺς φοβουμένους αὐτόν. Καὶ ἐνεπλήσθη ἡ γῆ βδελυγμάτων τῶν ἔργων τῶν χειρῶν αὐτῶν καὶ προσεκύνησαν οἷς ἐποίησαν οἱ δάκτυλοι αὐτῶν. Ὥσπερ σοφὸς ἰατρός, ὁ προφήτης πρὸ τοῦ νοσήματος τὴν αἰτίαν λέγει καὶ τὴν πηγὴν τοῦ νοσήματος. Μέλλων γὰρ κατηγορεῖν αὐτῶν τὴν ἀσέβειαν, προλαβὼν εἶπε τὰς ἀφορμὰς τῆς ἀρρωστίας φιλαργυρίαν, ἀπόνοιαν, τὰς οὐ προσηκούσας ἐπιμιξίας, δηλῶν ὅτι ἐντεῦθεν κατὰ μικρὸν ὑπεσκελίσθησαν εἰς τὸ τῆς ἀπωλείας βάραθρον καὶ εἴδωλα προσεκύνησαν. Εἶτα κωμῳδῶν αὐτῶν τὴν