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103. Secondly, my care, my work, the grey hairs and weakness of my sacred parents, who were worn out more on my account than by time, of this Abraham the patriarch, a head precious to me and numbered among the angels, and of Sarah, who spiritually travailed for us in the teaching of the faith, to become for them a staff in their old age, and a support for their weakness, was my first prayer, and indeed I have fulfilled it, as much as was in my power; so much so as even to have disregarded philosophy itself, my most precious possession and title, or, to speak more truly, having first philosophized by seeming not to philosophize, I could not bear that my labor should be lost for one single cause, nor that the blessing should be undone, which one of the saints of old is said even to have stolen, deceiving his father with food and a disguise of hair, and hunting for what is good not in a good way, but through a plot. These then are two reasons for my defeat and my yielding. And perhaps it is not unreasonable to have yielded my arguments and given way to both of these, since there is a time to be overcome, as I suppose there is for everything; and it is better to be defeated honorably than to conquer perilously and unlawfully.

104. A third reason, which is also the greatest, and having stated this one, I will be silent about the rest. I remembered the days of old, and running back to one of the ancient histories, I drew from it counsel for myself for the present situation; for let us not suppose that these things were written in vain, or that they are merely a mass of words and deeds, put together for the entertainment of the hearers, and like some bait for the ear, stopping at pleasure. Such are the myths of poets and Greeks, who, caring little for the truth, bewitch both ear and soul with the elegance of their fictions and the gluttony of their words.

105. But we, who draw out the precision of the Spirit even to the last tittle and stroke, will never admit—for it is not pious—that even the least of deeds were earnestly recorded by their writers in vain, and preserved in memory to the present day; but so that we might have memorials and instructions for the consideration of similar things, if ever the occasion should arise; so that we might flee some things, and choose others, following the preceding examples as certain rules and models.

106. What then is the history, and from where the counsel? For perhaps it is not a bad thing to go through it for the security of the many. Jonah also fled from the face of God, or rather, he thought he was fleeing; but he was caught by the sea, and by a storm, and by a lot, and by the belly of a whale, and by a three-day burial, which held the type of a greater mystery. But he fled, so that he might not announce the grim and strange message to the Ninevites, and after this be found a liar, when the city was saved by repentance; for he was not displeased at the salvation of the wicked, but was ashamed of the ministry of a falsehood, and was, as it were, jealous for the credibility of prophecy, which was in danger of being undone in him, since the many are unable to comprehend the depth of God’s economy in these matters.

107. But as I heard from a certain man wise in these things, who not unreasonably helps with the apparent absurdity of the history, and is capable of grasping the depth of a prophet, it was not these things that made the blessed Jonah a fugitive, and led him to Joppa, and from Joppa brought him to Tarshish, entrusting his own flight to the sea; for it was not likely that he, being a prophet, was ignorant of God’s intention; that through the threat, He was working it out for the Ninevites not to suffer the things of the threat, according to His great wisdom, and according to His unsearchable judgments, and the unsearchable and incomprehensible nature of His ways; nor, if he knew, would he not have followed God, who was contriving salvation for them in the way He wished. But indeed, to suppose that Jonah hoped to hide himself in the sea, and to escape the great eye of God by his flight, is not altogether

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ΡΓʹ. ∆εύτερον δὲ ἡ ἐμὴ φροντὶς, τὸ ἐμὸν ἔργον, ἡ τῶν ἱερῶν γονέων πολιὰ καὶ ἀσθένεια, ἐπ' ἐποὶ πλέον ἢ τῷ χρόνῳ καμνόντων, Ἀβραὰμ τοῦδε τοῦ πατριάρ χου, τῆς τιμίας ἐμοὶ κεφαλῆς καὶ μετ' ἀγγέλων 35.504 ἀριθμουμένης, καὶ Σάῤῥας, τῆς καὶ πνευματι κῶς ὠδινούσης ἡμᾶς ἐν τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ τῆς πίστεως, ὧν γενέσθαι βακτηρία τῷ γήρᾳ, καὶ ὑπερείδειν τὴν ἀσθένειαν, τῶν πρώτων εὐχὴν εὐξάμενος, καὶ μέντοι καὶ πληρώσας ταύτην, ὁπόση δύναμις· ὡς καὶ φιλοσοφίας ὑπεριδεῖν αὐτῆς, τοῦ πάντων ἐμοὶ τιμιω τάτου κτήματος καὶ ὀνόματος, ἢ τό γε ἀληθέστερον εἰπεῖν, τὸ μὴ φιλοσοφεῖν δόξαι πρῶτον φιλοσο φήσας, οὐκ ἤνεγκα διαπεσεῖν μοι τὸν μόχθον ἐκ μιᾶς ὑποθέσεως, οὐδὲ καταλυθῆναι τὴν εὐλογίαν, ἣν καὶ κλέψαι τις ἤδη τῶν πάλαι ὁσίων λέγεται, βρώ ματι τὸν πατέρα καὶ τριχῶν πλάσματι σοφισάμενος, καὶ τὸ καλὸν οὐ καλῶς δι' ἐπιβουλῆς θηρασάμε νος. ∆ύο μὲν δὴ ταῦτα τῆς ἐμῆς ἥττης καὶ ἡμερότη τος αἴτια. Καὶ ἴσως οὐκ ἄτοπον, ἀμφοτέροις ἐκεί νοις εἶξαι καὶ ὑποχωρῆσαι τοὺς λογισμοὺς, ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῦ νικᾶσθαι καιρὸς, ὥσπερ οἶμαι καὶ παν τὸς πράγματος· καὶ κρεῖττον ἡττᾶσθαι καλῶς ἢ νικᾷν ἐπισφαλῶς καὶ ἀθέσμως.

Ρ∆ʹ. Τρίτον δὲ ὃ καὶ μέγιστον, καὶ δὴ τοῦτο εἰπὼν ἔτι, τὰ λοιπὰ σιωπήσομαι. Ἐμνήσθην ἡμερῶν ἀρχαίων, καὶ πρός τινα τῶν παλαιῶν ἱστοριῶν ἀνα δραμὼν, ἐκεῖθεν εἵλκυσα συμβουλὴν ἐμαυτῷ πρὸς τὰ παρόντα· μὴ γὰρ εἰκῆ ταῦτα συγγεγράφθαι νομίζωμεν, μηδὲ ὄχλον ἄλλως εἶναι ῥημάτων τε καὶ πραγμάτων, ψυχαγωγίας ἕνεκα τῶν ἀκουόντων συγκείμενα, καὶ οἷον ἀκοῆς τι δέλεαρ μέχρι τῆς ἡδονῆς ἱστάμενον. Ταῦτα μὲν παιζόντων μῦθοι καὶ Ἕλληνες, οἳ, τῆς ἀληθείας ὀλίγα φροντί ζοντες, τῷ κομψῷ τῶν πλασμάτων καὶ τῷ λίχνῳ τῶν λέξεων καὶ ἀκοὴν καὶ ψυχὴν γοητεύουσιν.

ΡΕʹ. Ἡμεῖς δὲ, οἱ καὶ μέχρι τῆς τυχούσης κε ραίας καὶ γραμμῆς τοῦ πνεύματος τὴν ἀκρί βειαν ἕλκοντες, οὔποτε δεξόμεθα, οὐ γὰρ ὅσιον, οὐδὲ τὰς ἐλαχίστας πράξεις εἰκῆ σπουδασθῆναι τοῖς ἀναγράψασι, καὶ μέχρι τοῦ παρόντος μνήμῃ διασω θῆναι· ἀλλ' ἵν' ἡμεῖς ἔχωμεν ὑπομνήματα καὶ παιδεύματα τῆς τῶν ὁμοίων, εἴ ποτε συμπέσοι και 35.505 ρὸς, διασκέψεως· ὥστε τὰ μὲν φεύγειν, τὰ δὲ αἱρεῖσθαι, οἷον κανόσι τισὶ καὶ τύποις, τοῖς προλαβοῦσιν ἑπόμενοι παραδείγμασι.

Ρςʹ. Τίς οὖν ἡ ἱστορία καὶ πόθεν ἡ συμβουλή; οὐδὲ γὰρ χεῖρον ἴσως ἀσφαλείας ἕνεκεν τῶν πολλῶν διελθεῖν. Ἔφευγε καὶ Ἰωνᾶς ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ, μᾶλλον δὲ φεύγειν ᾤετο· ἀλλὰ κατε λήφθη πελάγει, καὶ χειμῶνι, καὶ κλήρῳ, καὶ γαστρὶ κήτους, καὶ τριημέρῳ ταφῇ, τύπον ἐχούσῃ μυστηρίου μείζονος. Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος μὲν, ἵνα μὴ τὴν σκυθρωπὴν καὶ ἄτοπον ἀγγελίαν ἀγγείλῃ τοῖς Νινευΐταις, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο ψεύστης ἁλῷ, σωθείσης τῇ μετανοίᾳ τῆς πόλεως· οὐ γὰρ τῇ σωτηρίᾳ τῶν πονηρῶν ἐδυσχέραινεν, ἀλλὰ τὴν διακονίαν τοῦ ψεύδους ᾐσχύνετο, καὶ οἷον ἐζηλοτύπει τῆς προφη τείας τὸ ἀξιόπιστον, ὅπερ ἐν αὐτῷ καταλυθῆναι κίνδυνος ἦν, οὐ δυναμένων τῶν πολλῶν συνιδεῖν τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ περὶ ταῦτα οἰκονομίας τὸ βάθος.

ΡΖʹ. Ὡς δὲ ἐγώ τινος ἤκουσα σοφοῦ περὶ ταῦτα ἀνδρὸς, οὐκ ἀτόπως βοηθοῦντος τῷ φαινομένῳ τῆς ἱστορίας ἀτόπῳ, καὶ ἱκανοῦ καταλαβεῖν ἀνδρὸς προφήτου βαθύτητα, οὐδὲ ταῦτα ἦν ἃ τὸν μακάριον Ἰωνᾶν ἐποίει φυγάδα, καὶ εἰς Ἰόππην ἤγαγε, καὶ ἐξ Ἰόππης ἀνήγαγεν ἐπὶ Θαρσεὶς, πελάγει πιστεύσαντα τὴν ἑαυτοῦ κλοπήν· οὔτε γὰρ ἀγνοεῖν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἐπίνοιαν, προφήτην γε ὄντα, εἰκὸς αὐτὸν ἦν· ὅτι διὰ τῆς ἀπειλῆς, τὸ μὴ παθεῖν τὰ τῆς ἀπει λῆς Νινευΐταις ἐπραγματεύετο κατὰ τὴν μεγάλην αὐτοῦ σοφίαν, καὶ κατὰ τὰ ἀνεξερεύνητα αὐτοῦ κρίματα, καὶ τῶν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ τὸ ἀνεξιχνίαστόν τε καὶ ἀκατάληπτον· οὔτ', εἴπερ ἠπίστατο, μὴ ἀκολου θῆσαι Θεῷ, δι' οὗ περ ἐβούλετο τρόπου τὴν σωτηρίαν ἐκείνοις μηχανωμένῳ. Τὸ δὲ δὴ καὶ οἴεσθαι, ὡς ἀποκρύψειν ἑαυτὸν τῷ πελάγει ἤλπισεν Ἰωνᾶς, καὶ τὸν μέγαν ὀφθαλμὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ διαλήσεσθαι τῇ φυγῇ, μὴ καὶ παντελῶς