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and simply of brick-making, but by turning them aside to the worship of idols. Therefore he punished little by little those leading them into error, leading these also to a full knowledge of the Lord of all, by which creation served the plagues. The air into darkness, the water into blood, the earth into frogs, and the fire was marvelously borne with rain and hail; but the darkness, he says, sent forth from God, did not provoke His words, but obeyed eagerly, being spread over Egypt alone. For Scripture says, To the sons of Israel there was light. For if it were over the whole world, how does he say it remained for three days and nights? For what was it that distinguished days and nights, when there was only one continuous night? For lest anyone say that what happened was an eclipse, nor that it was the course of nature, the Hebrews inhabiting the same land did not feel this plague; which also happened with the other plagues. He turned their waters into blood, and killed their fish. For He changed not only the color of the waters, but also the very quality of their taste, so that all the kinds of fish were destroyed. Their land brought forth frogs in the chambers of their palaces. For since they had delivered the infants of the Hebrews to the river, He changed the water of the river into blood, reproving the murder that had happened in it; and He made frogs gush forth from there, crawling like the murdered infants, and entering into the houses, and going even into the very chambers of the king. Therefore, he mentioned the royal chambers, so as to declare the greatness of the miracle, that not even the multitude of servants or soldiers, which it is likely dwelled in the palace, were able to drive away the frogs. He spoke, and the dog-fly came, and gnats in all their borders. For the deeds followed what was said, 55.659 and immediately, at God's command and Moses' word, both dog-fly and gnats filled the land, not passing over the borders of the Egyptians, nor bringing the plague upon other people, but bringing punishment upon the ungodly. For this is what "In all their borders" signifies, instead of "outside the borders of the Egyptians nothing of the sort was to be seen happening." He made their rains hail, a consuming fire in their land. And He struck their vines, and their fig trees, and shattered every tree of their border. For the clouds exchanged their usual pangs, and instead of rains and showers gave birth to hail, and thunderbolts and lightning flashes were borne with the hail, and natures contrary to one another, water and fire, did not harm one another. For neither did the fire melt the frozen water of the hail, nor did the water extinguish the flame; but setting aside their natural conflict, they brought a concerted punishment upon the Egyptians, and they exposed their beastliness, because being human, they did not respect nature, but forced their kinsmen to serve bitterly. For this reason, their vines and fig trees, and the other kinds of plants were utterly destroyed by them. He spoke, and the locust came, and the cankerworm, of which there was no number. And it ate up all the grass in their land, and ate up all their fruit. Through the hail and the fire He destroyed the trees; and through the locust and the cankerworm, the marshes, the meadows, the crops. For it consumed not only their fruit, but also their grass. And yet it is not the custom for the locust and the cankerworm to come at the same time; for either the locust, having come first, bears the cankerworm, or the cankerworm, having grown, develops into a locust, so that the one comes first, and the other follows after some time. But since it was a wonder, and the sign happened by the command of God, both came at the same time, and ate both the grass and the fruit together; so that besides the food of men, that of the cattle was also destroyed. And He struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, the firstfruits of all

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καὶ πλινθείας ἁπλῶς, διὰ δὲ τοῦ παρατρέπειν ἐπὶ σέβας εἰδώλων. ∆ιὸ κατὰ βραχὺ τοὺς εἰς τὴν πλάνην ὁδηγοῦντας ἐκόλαζεν, εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν καὶ τούτους ἄγων τοῦ πάντων ∆εσπότου, δι' ὧν ἡ κτίσις ἐξυπηρετεῖτο ταῖς μάστιξιν. Ἀὴρ μὲν εἰς σκότος, τὸ δὲ ὕδωρ εἰς αἷμα, εἰς δὲ βατράχους ἡ γῆ, τὸ δὲ πῦρ παρα δόξως ὑπεφέρετο σὺν ὑετῷ καὶ χαλάζῃ· τὸ δὲ σκότος, φησὶν, ἐξαποσταλὲν ἐκ Θεοῦ, οὐ παρεπίκρανε τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' ὑπήκουσε προθύμως, κατὰ μόνης ὑφαπλω θὲν τῆς Αἰγύπτου. Λέγει γοῦν ἡ Γραφὴ, Τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ φῶς ἦν. Εἰ γὰρ ἦν κατὰ παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου, πῶς ἐπὶ τρεῖς ἡμέρας αὐτὸ καὶ νύκτας μεμενηκέναι φησί; Τί γὰρ ἦν τὸ διορίζον ἡμέρας καὶ νύκτας, μιᾶς μόνης οὔσης ἐπιτεταμένης νυκτός; Ἵνα γὰρ μή τις λέγῃ, ὅτι ἔκλει ψις τὸ συμβὰν ἦν, μηδ' ὅτι δρόμος φύσεως, τὴν αὐτὴν χώραν οἰκοῦντες Ἑβραῖοι ταύτης οὐκ ᾔσθοντο τῆς πλη γῆς· ὅπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων συνέβαινε πληγῶν. Μετ έτρεψε τὰ ὕδατα αὐτῶν εἰς αἷμα, καὶ ἀπέκτεινε τοὺς ἰχθύας αὐτῶν. Οὐ γὰρ τὴν χροιὰν τῶν ὑδάτων μόνην, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴν μετέβαλε τῆς γεύσεως τὴν ποιότητα ὥστε ἅπαντα διαφθαρῆναι τῶν ἰχθύων τὰ γένη. Ἐξεῖρ ψεν ἡ γῆ αὐτῶν βατράχους ἐν τοῖς ταμείοις τῶν βασιλείων αὐτῶν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τῷ ποταμῷ τὰ βρέφη τῶν Ἑβραίων παρέδοσαν, μετέβαλλε μὲν εἰς αἷμα τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὸ ὕδωρ, τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ γεγενημένην μιαιφονίαν ἐλέγχων· βατράχους δὲ ἐκεῖθεν ἀναβλύσαι πεποίηκε τοῖς ἀνῃρημένοις παραπλησίως βρέφεσιν ἕρποντας, καὶ ταῖς οἰκίαις ἐπεμβαίνοντας, καὶ ἄχρις αὐτῶν χωροῦντας τῶν τοῦ βασιλέως θαλάμων. Τῶν οὖν βασιλικῶν ταμείων ἐμνημόνευσεν, ὥστε δηλῶσαι τὸ τοῦ θαύματος μέγεθος, ὅτι μηδὲ πλῆθος οἰκετῶν ἢ στρατιωτῶν, ὅπερ εἰκὸς ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις διάγειν, ἀποσοβῆσαι τοὺς βατράχους δύ νασθαι. Εἶπε, καὶ ἦλθε κυνόμυια, καὶ σκνῖπες ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ὁρίοις αὐτῶν. Ἠκολούθει γὰρ τοῖς λεγομένοις 55.659 τὰ ἔργα, καὶ παραυτίκα Θεοῦ μὲν κελεύοντος, Μωϋσέως δὲ λέγοντος, καὶ κυνόμυια καὶ σκνῖπες ἐπλήρουν τὴν γῆν, τοὺς Αἰγυπτίων ὅρους οὐ παριόντες, οὐδὲ ἄλλοις ἀνθρώ ποις τὴν λύμην ἐπιφέροντες, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀντιθέοις τὴν παιδείαν ἐπάγοντες. Τοῦτο γὰρ σημαίνει τὸ, Ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ὁρίοις αὐτῶν, ἀντὶ τοῦ, ἔξω τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ὅρων οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον γινόμενον ἦν ἰδεῖν. Ἔθετο τὰς βροχὰς αὐτῶν χάλαζαν, πῦρ καταφλέγον ἐν τῇ γῇ αὐτῶν. Καὶ ἐπάταξε τὰς ἀμπέλους αὐτῶν, καὶ τὰς συκᾶς αὐτῶν, καὶ συνέτριψε πᾶν ξύλον ὁρίου αὐτῶν. Τὰ νέφη μὲν γὰρ τὰς συνήθεις ὠδῖνας ἐνήλλαξε, καὶ ἀντὶ βροχῶν καὶ ὄμβρων χάλαζαν ἀπεκύησε, κεραυνοὶ δὲ καὶ πρηστῆρες μετὰ τῆς χαλάζης ἐφέροντο, καὶ ἐναντίαι ἀλ λήλαις φύσεις, ὕδωρ καὶ πῦρ, ἀλλήλας οὐκ ἐλυμήναντο. Οὔτε γὰρ τὸ πῦρ τὸ πεπηγὸς ὕδωρ τῆς χαλάζης ἐξέτη κεν, οὔτε τὸ ὕδωρ κατεσβέννυ τὴν φλόγα· ἀλλὰ τὴν φυ σικὴν ἀποθέμενα μάχην, σύμφωνον Αἰγυπτίοις τὴν παι δείαν ἐπῆγον, καὶ τὴν ἐκείνων θηριωδίαν διήλεγχον, ὅτι ἄνθρωποι ὄντες, οὐκ ᾐδοῦντο τὴν φύσιν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ὁμο φυεῖς πικρῶς δουλεύειν ἠνάγκαζον. Τούτου δὴ χάριν καὶ αἱ ἄμπελοι καὶ αἱ συκαῖ αὐτῶν, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα τῶν φυτῶν γένη ἄρδην ὑπ' αὐτῶν διεφθείρετο. Εἶπε, καὶ ἦλθεν ἀκρὶς καὶ βροῦχος, οὗ οὐκ ἦν ἀριθμός. Καὶ κατέφα γε πάντα χόρτον ἐν τῇ γῇ αὐτῶν, καὶ κατέφαγε πάντα τὸν καρπὸν αὐτῶν. ∆ιὰ μὲν τῆς χαλάζης καὶ τοῦ πυρὸς τὰ δένδρα διέφθειρε· διὰ δὲ τῆς ἀκρίδος καὶ τοῦ βρούχου, τὰ ἕλη, τοὺς λειμῶνας, τὰ λήϊα. Οὐ γὰρ μόνον τὸν καρπὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν χόρτον αὐτῶν κατανά λωσε. Καὶ μὴν οὐκ ἔθος ἐν ταὐτῷ ἀκρίδα καὶ βροῦχον ἐπιγίνεσθαι· ἢ γὰρ τίκτει τὸν βροῦχον ἡ ἀκρὶς προλα βοῦσα, ἢ ὁ βροῦχος αὐξηθεὶς, ἀκρὶς προκόψας γίνεται, ὥστε τὸ μὲν πρότερον, τὸ δὲ χρόνῳ τινὶ ἀκολουθῆσαι ὕστερον. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ θαῦμα ἦν, καὶ προστάγματι Θεοῦ τὸ σημεῖον ἐγίνετο, ἅμα παρῆλθεν ἑκάτερον, καὶ κατ έφαγεν ἅμα τῷ χόρτῳ καὶ τὸν καρπόν· ὥστε πρὸς τῇ τροφῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἡ τῶν κτηνῶν ἐφθείρετο. Καὶ ἐπάταξε πᾶν πρωτότοκον ἐν γῇ Αἰγύπτῳ, ἀπαρχὴν παντὸς