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of greater gladness, to have been delivered from shame; but they were not willing; wherefore they are also beyond all forgiveness, having even done violence to nature itself; and what is even more dishonorable than these things, is when women also seek after these unions, whom it was needful to have more modesty than men. It is worthy to marvel here also at the wisdom of Paul, how having come upon two contrary things, he accomplished both with all exactness. For he wished both to speak with dignity, and to sting the hearer; but it was not possible to have both of these, for the one hinders the other. For if you speak with dignity, you will not be able to reach the listener; but if you wish to rebuke severely, you have need to lay bare more clearly what is said. But his wise and holy soul was able to do both with exactness, by the name of 'nature' both increasing the accusation, and using this as a kind of screen for the dignity of his narrative. Then having first rebuked the women, he proceeds also to the men, saying; Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman; which is a sign of utter perdition, when each sex is corrupted, and both he who was appointed to be the teacher of the woman, and she who was commanded to be a helper to the man, work the things of enemies against one another. Consider also how emphatically he uses his words. For he did not say that they loved and desired one another, but, They were inflamed in their lust for one another. Do you see that the whole of the desire comes from covetousness, not bearing to remain within its own boundaries? For everything that transgresses the laws established by God, desires strange things, and not those which are customary. For just as many, often leaving the desire for food, 60.418 eat earth and small stones, and others seized by a violent thirst often even desire mud; so also those men were inflamed with this unlawful love. But if you say, And whence is this intensity of desire? From the abandonment of God. And whence the abandonment of God? From the lawlessness of those who forsook him; men with men working that which is unseemly. 2. For do not, because you have heard, he says, that They were inflamed, think that the disease is of desire only; for the greater part is from their own indolence, which also kindled the desire. For this reason he did not say, Being carried away, or Being overtaken, which he says elsewhere, but what? Working. They made sin their work, and not simply a work, but a studied one. And he did not say, Desire, but Unseemliness, properly; for they both shamed nature and trampled on the laws. And see the great confusion arising from both parts. For not only has the head been turned downward, but the feet upward, and they became enemies to themselves and to each other, introducing a certain harsh and more unlawful conflict than any civil war, and one that is multifarious and varied. For they divided this into four empty and unlawful kinds; for this war was not twofold and threefold, but even fourfold. Consider now: The two ought to be one, I mean a wife and a husband. For, he says, the two shall be one flesh. Now the desire for union produced this, and joined the sexes to one another. The devil, having destroyed this desire, and channeled it in another way, thus tore the sexes from one another, and made the one become two parts, contrary to the law of God; for He says, The two shall be one flesh; but he divided the one into two. Behold one war. Again, these two parts he set at war both with themselves and with one another; for the women in turn abused women, not only men, and the men stood both against one another and against the female sex, as in some night-battle; do you see a second and third war, and a fourth and a fifth? There is also another; for besides what has been said, they also transgressed against nature itself. For since the devil saw that it is this desire that especially brings the sexes together, he made haste to break the bond, so that not

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μείζονος τῆς εὐφροσύνης, ἀπηλλάχθαι αἰσχύνης· ἀλλ' οὐκ ἠθέλησαν· ὅθεν καὶ συγγνώμης ἁπάσης εἰσὶν ἐκτὸς καὶ εἰς αὐτὴν τὴν φύσιν ὑβρίσαντες· καὶ τὸ δὴ τούτων ἀτιμότερον, ὅταν καὶ γυναῖκες ταύτας ἐπιζητῶσι τὰς μίξεις, ἃς ἀνδρῶν μᾶλλον αἰδεῖσθαι ἐχρῆν. Ἄξιον δὲ θαυμάσαι καὶ ἐνταῦθα τοῦ Παύλου τὴν σύνεσιν, πῶς εἰς δύο πράγματα ἐμπεσὼν ἐναντία, ἀμφότερα ἤνυσε μετὰ πάσης ἀκριβείας. Ἐβούλετο γὰρ καὶ σεμνῶς εἰπεῖν, καὶ δακεῖν τὸν ἀκροατήν· ταῦτα δὲ ἀμφότερα οὐκ ἐνῆν, ἀλλὰ θάτερον ἐμποδίζει θατέρῳ. Ἂν μὲν γὰρ σεμνῶς εἴπῃς, οὐ δυνήσῃ καθικέσθαι τοῦ ἀκούοντος· ἐὰν δὲ βουληθῇς καθάψασθαι σφοδρῶς, ἀνάγκην ἔχεις ἀπογυμνῶσαι σαφέστερον τὸ λεγόμενον. Ἀλλ' ἡ συνετὴ καὶ ἁγία ψυχὴ μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἀμφότερα ἴσχυσεν, ἐν τῷ τῆς φύσεως ὀνόματι καὶ τὴν κατηγορίαν αὐξήσας, καὶ ὥσπερ παραπετάσματί τινι ταύτῃ χρησάμενος εἰς τὸ σεμνὸν τῆς διηγήσεως. Εἶτα τῶν γυναικῶν καθαψάμενος πρότερον, καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας πρόεισι, λέγων· Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ οἱ ἄῤῥενες, ἀφέντες τὴν φυσικὴν χρῆσιν τῆς θηλείας· ὅπερ ἐσχάτης ἐστὶν ἀπωλείας δεῖγμα, ὅταν ἑκάτερον ᾖ τὸ γένος διεφθαρμένον, καὶ ὅ τε διδάσκαλος τῆς γυναικὸς εἶναι ταχθεὶς, ἥ τε βοηθὸς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς κελευσθεῖσα γενέσθαι, τὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν εἰς ἀλλήλους ἐργάζονται. Σκόπει δὲ πῶς καὶ ἐμφαντικῶς χρῆται ταῖς λέξεσιν. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν, ὅτι ἠράσθησαν καὶ ἐπεθύμησαν ἀλλήλων, ἀλλ' Ἐξεκαύθησαν ἐν τῇ ὀρέξει αὐτῶν εἰς ἀλλήλους. Ὁρᾷς, ὅτι ἀπὸ πλεονεξίας τὸ πᾶν τῆς ἐπιθυμίας, οὐκ ἀνασχομένης εἴσω τῶν οἰκείων ὅρων μένειν; Πᾶν γὰρ τὸ ὑπερβαῖνον τοὺς παρὰ Θεοῦ τεθέντας νόμους, τῶν ἀλλοκότων ἐπιθυμεῖ, καὶ οὐχὶ τῶν νενομισμένων. Ὥσπερ γὰρ πολλοὶ πολλάκις τὴν τῶν σιτίων ἐπιθυμίαν ἀφέντες, 60.418 γῆν σιτοῦνται καὶ λίθους μικροὺς, καὶ ἕτεροι δὲ ὑπὸ δίψους κατεχόμενοι σφοδροῦ, καὶ βορβόρου πολλάκις ἐπιθυμοῦσιν· οὕτω καὶ ἐκεῖνοι πρὸς τὸν παράνομον τοῦτον ἐξεβράσθησαν ἔρωτα. Εἰ δὲ λέγεις, Καὶ πόθεν ἡ ἐπίτασις τῆς ἐπιθυμίας αὕτη; Ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐγκαταλείψεως. Ἡ δὲ ἐγκατάλειψις τοῦ Θεοῦ πόθεν; Ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ἀφέντων αὐτὸν ἀνομίας· Ἄῤῥενες ἐν ἄρσεσι τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην κατεργαζόμενοι. βʹ. Μὴ γὰρ ἐπειδὴ ἤκουσας, φησὶν, ὅτι Ἐξεκαύθησαν, τῆς ἐπιθυμίας μόνης εἶναι νομίσῃς τὸ νόσημα· καὶ γὰρ τὸ πλέον τῆς αὐτῶν ῥᾳθυμίας ἐστὶν, ἣ καὶ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἀνῆψε. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐκ εἶπε, Παρασυρέντες, ἢ Προληφθέντες, ὅπερ ἀλλαχοῦ φησιν, ἀλλὰ τί; Κατεργαζόμενοι. Ἔργον ἔθεντο τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἔργον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐσπουδασμένον. Καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἐπιθυμίαν, ἀλλ' Ἀσχημοσύνην, κυρίως· καὶ γὰρ καὶ τὴν φύσιν ᾔσχυναν, καὶ τοὺς νόμους ἐπάτησαν. Καὶ ὅρα πολλὴν τὴν σύγχυσιν ἐξ ἀμφοτέρου τοῦ μέρους γινομένην. Οὐ γὰρ ἡ κεφαλὴ μόνη κάτω γέγονεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ πόδες ἄνω, καὶ πολέμιοι ἑαυτῶν καὶ ἀλλήλων ἐγένοντο, χαλεπήν τινα καὶ παντὸς ἐμφυλίου πολέμου παρανομωτέραν εἰσάγοντες μάχην καὶ πολυσχιδῆ καὶ ποικίλην. Καὶ γὰρ εἰς τέσσαρα ταύτην διεῖλον εἴδη κενὰ καὶ παράνομα· οὐ γὰρ διπλοῦς καὶ τριπλοῦς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τετραπλοῦς οὗτος ὁ πόλεμος ἦν. Σκόπει δέ· Ἔδει τοὺς δύο ἕνα εἶναι, γυναῖκα καὶ ἄνδρα λέγω· Ἔσονται γὰρ, φησὶν, οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν. Ἐποίει δὲ τοῦτο ἡ τῆς ὁμιλίας ἐπιθυμία, καὶ συνῆπτε τὰ γένη πρὸς ἄλληλα. Ταύτην ἀνελὼν ὁ διάβολος τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν, καὶ ἐφ' ἕτερον μετοχετεύσας τρόπον, ἀπέσχισεν οὕτως ἀπ' ἀλλήλων τὰ γένη, καὶ ἐποίησε τὸ ἓν δύο γενέσθαι μέρη, ἀπεναντίας τῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ νόμῳ· ὁ μὲν γάρ φησιν, Ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν· ὁ δὲ τὴν μίαν εἰς δύο διεῖλεν. Ἰδοὺ πόλεμος εἷς. Πάλιν αὐτὰ τὰ δύο μέρη ταῦτα καὶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐξεπολέμωσεν· αἵ τε γὰρ γυναῖκες γυναῖκας ὕβριζον πάλιν, οὐκ ἄνδρας μόνον, οἵ τε ἄνδρες κατά τε ἀλλήλων ἵσταντο, καὶ κατὰ τοῦ γυναικείου γένους, καθάπερ ἐν νυκτομαχίᾳ τινί· εἶδες δεύτερον καὶ τρίτον πόλεμον, καὶ τέταρτον καὶ πέμπτον; Ἔστι καὶ ἕτερος· μετὰ γὰρ τῶν εἰρημένων καὶ εἰς τὴν φύσιν αὐτὴν παρηνόμησαν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἶδεν ὁ διάβολος, ὅτι αὕτη μάλιστα συνάγει τὰ γένη ἡ ἐπιθυμία, τὸν δεσμὸν ἐσπούδασε διακόψαι, ὥστε οὐ