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they sang of pleasure, all that the apostle advised, all that the Lord with authority legislated in the gospels, I was inclined to this story. Since I see two youths being approved, the one in judging, the other in being judged; and Daniel being applauded for his verdicts, but Susanna being crowned for the victory of her chastity. 6.3.2 Come now, therefore, if you please, you lovers of good things and of virtue, let us renew the ancient judgment in memory; with ancient chastity let us cut out the present youthful licentiousness, having denounced a boyish old age and having marveled at a grey-haired youth. O defiled elders and rulers of the people, needing countless tutors for correction, plotters against marriages joined by law, liers-in-wait for chastity, weavers of deceits, swift inventors of false accusations! 6.3.3 You were the ones who judged fornication with your lips and condemned adultery; the physicians of others, yet full of the disease; the whitewashed tombs filled inside with uncleanness and beautifying the outward appearance. You who are lofty and sit upon the judicial thrones, but when you chose to be licentious, creeping into the thickets of the plants and the bushes. 6.3.4 Then he laughed, seeing you, the author of transgressions and counselor of evils, how you, the head of the people, the chosen and select, like some burglars or robbers, were dragged along the ground, so that you might see a licentious spectacle; and you hid yourselves in the bushes like the foxes, which from overgrown and shady places lie in wait for the domestic fowls and leap unexpectedly upon them as they graze. 6.3.5 O the wickedness of the same kind, which the destroyer of human souls has practiced from the beginning to the end! In paradise was the first fall of the exalted man; in a paradise now also the elders, being worked upon by the serpent, fall from their original glory, and become condemned instead of judges, strangers to life and workers of sin. 6.3.6 But here he prevailed over men, but was defeated by the woman, and the levity of the first woman he did not find in the Babylonian maiden. And one might well say, that because of Susanna, Babylon is not confusion, but an observance of the commands of God, a keeping of chastity, a city of a courageous woman, a place of a festival of victory. 6.4.1 This woman I, having done away with the intervening times, because of the similarity of her virtue, bring to the modest Joseph; and I place the respectable woman beside the chaste man, the one beloved by God beside the child of Israel. Upon both I place one and the same crown, that for chastity; and I cast the defeated under the feet of the victors; for Joseph, the licentious Egyptian woman, the mistress of the free slave; and for Susanna, the dishonorable elders. 6.4.2 I set these forth as teachers of chastity; her for female youth, him for the youth of men; lamps of the inhabited world, flowers of the resurrection, judges of adulterers, guardians of lawful marriages. For now, however, let us occupy our discourse with the holy woman alone; for now Joseph is an episode, and the chaste one a parenthesis of chastity. 6.5.1 For when the elders, as they thought, had their prey within the nets, and leaped forth from their ambush as if to seize her immediately, they did not find the excellent doe to be timid, but resisting both them and the dragon who was the cause of what was happening—and the doe is a serpent-killing animal; and the discourse well found the image of the animal; they entreated, they were not heard; they threatened, they did not intimidate. 6.5.2 Therefore the ill-in-love are at a loss and are constrained by two very great things, the failure of their desire and the fear of exposure. And the defiled heads devise a false accusation, and as a solution to the evil they find another evil, and for a covering for their adultery they contrive murder. For a sinner, whenever he falls into the beginnings of transgressions, as with a rope by the beginning, also draws along the subsequent iniquities. And good things are productive of good things, and base things of their like.

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ἡδονῆς ἐμελῴδησαν, ὅσα συνεβούλευσεν ὁ ἀπόστολος, ὅσα δεσποτικῶς ἐνομοθέτησεν ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις ὁ Κύριος, ταύτῃ προσεκλίθην τῇ ἱστορίᾳ. Ἐπειδὴ δύο νεότητας βλέπω εὐδοκι μούσας, τὴν μὲν ἐν τῷ δικάζειν, τὴν δὲ ἐν τῷ κρίνεσθαι· καὶ τὸν μὲν ∆ανιὴλ ἐπὶ ταῖς ψηφοῖς κροτούμενον, Σωσάνναν δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ νίκῃ στεφα νουμένην τῆς σωφροσύνης. 6.3.2 ∆εῦτε τοίνυν, εἰ δοκεῖ, οἱ τῶν καλῶν ἐρασταὶ καὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς, ἀνανεωσώμεθα τὴν παλαιὰν κρίσιν τῇ μνήμῃ· ἀρχαίᾳ σωφροσύνῃ τὴν νεάζουσαν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἀκολασίαν ἐκκό ψωμεν στηλιτεύσαντες γῆρας μειρακιῶδες καὶ νεότητα πεπολιωμένην θαυμάσαντες. Ὦ πρεσβύται μιαροὶ καὶ ἄρχοντες τοῦ λαοῦ, μυρίων παιδαγωγῶν εἰς ἐπανόρθωσιν χρῄζοντες γάμων νόμῳ ζευχθέντων ἐπίβουλοι, σωφροσύνης ἐνεδρευταί, μηχανορράφοι δόλων, συκοφαντίας ταχεῖς εὑρεταί! 6.3.3 Ὑμεῖς ἦτε οἱ τὴν πορνείαν τοῖς χείλεσι κρίνοντες καὶ τὴν μοιχείαν καταδικάζοντες· οἱ τῶν ἄλλων ἰατροὶ καὶ τῆς νόσου γέ μοντες· οἱ κεκονιαμένοι τάφοι ἔνδον τῆς ἀκαθαρσίας πεπλησμένοι καὶ τὴν ἔξωθεν ἐπιφάνειαν καλλωπίζοντες. Οἱ ὑψηλοὶ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν θρόνων τῶν δικαστικῶν προκαθήμενοι, ὅτε δὲ ἀκολασταίνειν προείλεσθε τοῖς λασίοις τῶν φυτῶν καὶ τοῖς θάμνοις ἐνέρποντες. 6.3.4 Ἐγέλα τότε βλέπων ὑμᾶς ὁ τῶν παραβάσεων εἰσηγητὴς καὶ τῶν κακῶν σύμβουλος, ὅπως οἱ ἐν κορυφῇ τοῦ λαοῦ, οἱ λογάδες καὶ ἔκκριτοι, ὡς τοιχωρύχοι τινὲς ἢ λῃσταὶ τῇ γῇ προσεσύρεσθε, ἵνα βλέψητε θέαν ἀκόλαστον· καὶ τοῖς θάμνοις ἐνεκρύπτεσθε κατὰ τὰς ἀλώπεκας, αἳ ἀπὸ τῶν συμφύτων καὶ ἐπισκίων τόπων τὰς κατοικιδίους ἐνεδρεύουσιν ὄρνιθας καὶ νενομέναις ἀπροόπτως ἐπιπηδῶσιν. 6.3.5 Ὢ τῆς ὁμοιοτρόπου κακίας, ἣν ὁ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ψυχῶν ὀλοθρευτὴς ἀπ' ἀρχῆς εἰς τέλος ἐπιτηδεύει! Ἐν παραδείσῳ τὸ πρῶτον τοῦ ὑψηλοῦ ἀνθρώπου πτῶμα, ἐν παραδείσῳ καὶ νῦν οἱ γέροντες παρὰ τοῦ ὄφεως ἐνεργούμενοι τῆς ἀρχικῆς δόξης ἐκπίπτουσι, γίνονται δὲ ἀντὶ κριτῶν καταδεδικασμένοι, τῆς ζωῆς ἀλλό τριοι καὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐργάται. 6.3.6 Ἀλλ' ἐνταῦθα μὲν ἀνδρῶν ἐκράτησε, τῆς δὲ γυναικὸς ἡττήθη καὶ τὸ κοῦφον τῆς πρώτης ἀνθρώπου ἐπὶ τῆς Βαβυλωνίας οὐχ εὗρε νεάνιδος. Καὶ καλῶς ἂν εἴποι τις, ὡς οὐκ ἔστι Βαβυλὼν σύγχυσις διὰ Σωσάνναν, ἀλλὰ τήρησις ἐντολῶν Θεοῦ, φυλακὴ σωφροσύνης, πόλις ἀνδρικῆς γυναικός, τόπος ἑορτῆς ἐπινικίου. 6.4.1 Ταύτην ἐγώ, τοὺς ἐν μέσῳ χρόνους ἀνελών, τῇ ὁμοιότητι τῆς ἀρετῆς πρὸς τὸν κόσμον Ἰωσὴφ ἄγω· ἵστημι δὲ τὴν εὐσχήμονα παρὰ τὸν σώφρονα τὴν τῷ Θεῷ φίλην παρὰ τὸν παῖδα τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. Ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν ἀμφοτέροις, τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς σωφροσύνης, ἐπιτίθημι στέφανον· ὑπορρίπτω δὲ τοῖς ποσὶ τῶν νικησάντων τοὺς ἡττημένους· τῷ μὲν Ἰωσὴφ τὴν ἀκόλαστον Αἰγυπτίαν, τὴν δέσποιναν τοῦ ἐλευθέρου δούλου· Σωσάννῃ δὲ τοὺς ἀτίμους γέροντας. 6.4.2 Τίθημι τούτους παιδαγωγοὺς σωφροσύνης· τὴν μὲν τῆς γυναικείας, τὸν δὲ τῆς τῶν ἀνδρῶν νεότητος· λαμπτῆρας τῆς οἰκουμένης, ἄνθη τῆς ἀναστάσεως, μοιχῶν κριτάς, γάμων ἐνθέσμων φύλακας. Τέως δὲ περὶ μόνην ἀσχολήσωμεν τὴν ἱερὰν γυναῖκα τὸν λόγον· νῦν γὰρ ὁ Ἰωσὴφ ἐπεισόδιόν ἐστι καὶ παρενθήκη σωφροσύνης ὁ σώφρων. 6.5.1 Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οἱ γέροντες, ὡς ἐνόμιζον, εἶχον τὴν θήραν εἴσω δικτύων, εἰσεπήδησαν δὲ ἐκ τῆς ἐνέδρας ὡς αὐτίκα ληψόμενοι, οὐχ εὗρον δειλὴν τὴν βελτίστην ἔλαφον, ἀλλ' ἀνθισταμένην καὶ αὐτοῖς καὶ τῷ δράκοντι τῷ τῶν γινομένων αἰτίῳὀφιοκτόνον δὲ ζῷον ἡ ἔλαφος· καὶ καλῶς εὗρεν ὁ λόγος τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ ζῴου· παρεκάλεσαν, οὐκ ἠκούσθη σαν· ἠπείλησαν, οὐ κατέπληξαν. 6.5.2 Ἀμηχανοῦσι λοιπὸν οἱ δυσέρωτες καὶ δύο τοῖς μεγίστοις συνέχονται, ἀποτυχίᾳ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας καὶ φόβῳ τοῦ ἐλέγχου. Ῥάπτουσι δὲ συκοφαντίαν αἱ μιαραὶ κεφαλαὶ καὶ λύσιν τοῦ κακοῦ ἄλλο κακὸν ἐξευρίσκουσι καὶ μοιχείας κάλυμμα συσκευάζονται φόνον. Ἁμαρτωλὸς γάρ, ὅταν εἰς ἀρχὰς ἐμπέσῃ πλημμελημάτων, ὥσπερ σχοίνῳ τῇ ἀρχῇ καὶ τὰς ἀκολούθους ἀνομίας ἐφέλκεται. Καὶ γεννητικὰ τυγχάνει τῶν καλῶν τὰ καλά, τῶν δὲ φαύλων τὰ ὅμοια.