27. O thou Soul, clever truly for evil-doing, yet that canst not escape thy own punishment! O thou God, that hidest the Future, in order that it may either cut short impiety, or display Thy foreknowledge! Oh unexpected, yet more true than unexpected miracle! Oh brotherly love of the Martyrs! They did not accept honour from him that was hereafter to do dishonour to many Martyrs; they did not receive the gift of him that was hereafter to make many Confessors, or rather, to begrudge them the credit of the conflict! ¹⁹ Or, to speak more correctly, they did not suffer themselves to be the only Martyrs to be insulted, whilst the others were interred and cared for by pious Lands; nor wonld they give the Sophist of Wickedness the pleasure of exulting over the insults done them, in order that by the same hand some monuments of the Martyrs should be set up, and others pulled down; and that some Martyrs should be honoured, but others dishonoured; whilst the honour in semblance anticipated by but a little while the dishonour in reality; lest, in addition to the greatness of the insult, he should think in himself how clever he was in thus cheating (as he did man) God also----the most quick-sighted, the All Wise, He who "seizeth the wise in their craftiness"----by means of his outward show; but that he might know that he was understood, and that he might not be puffed up, seeing that he was detected.

ΚΖʹ. Ὢ ψυχῆς σοφῆς εἰς τὸ κακοποιῆσαι, τὴν δὲ ἰδίαν οὐ φευγούσης βάσανον! Ὢ Θεοῦ τὸ μέλλον κηρύττοντος, ἵνα ἢ ἀνακόψῃ τὴν ἀσέβειαν, ἢ δείξῃ τὴν πρόγνωσιν! Ὢ παραδόξου μὲν, ἀληθοῦς δὲ πλέον ἢ παραδόξου θαύματος! Ὢ τῆς τῶν μαρτύρων φιλαδελφίας! Οὐκ ἐδέξαντο τιμὴν τοῦ πολλοὺς μάρτυρας ἀτιμάσοντος: οὐ προσήκαντο δῶρον τοῦ πολλοὺς ἀθλητὰς ἀποδείξοντος, μᾶλλον δὲ φθονήσοντος καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς ἀθλήσεως: ἢ, τό γε ἀληθέστερον εἰπεῖν, οὐκ ἤνεγκαν μόνοι μαρτύρων ὑβρίζεσθαι, τῶν ἄλλων ὁσίαις χερσὶ τεθησομένων τε καὶ θεραπευθησομένων, οὐδὲ δοῦναι τῷ σοφιστῇ τῆς κακίας ταῖς ὕβρεσιν ἐγκαυχήσασθαι: ἵνα μὴ παρὰ τῆς αὐτῆς χειρὸς τὰ μὲν ἀνιστῆται μαρτύρων μνήματα, τὰ δὲ καταλύηται: καὶ οἱ μὲν τιμῶνται μάρτυρες, οἱ δὲ ἀτιμάζωνται, μικρὸν φθανούσης τῆς ἐν σχήματι τιμῆς τὴν ἀληθινὴν ἀτιμίαν: μηδὲ πρὸς τῷ μεγέθει τῆς ὕβρεως καὶ σοφὸς εἶναι νομίσῃ παρ' ἑαυτῷ, λανθάνων, ὥσπερ ἀνθρώπους, οὕτω καὶ Θεὸν τὸν πάντων ὀξύτατον καὶ σοφώτατον, καὶ δρασσόμενον τοὺς σοφοὺς ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτῶν, διὰ τοῦ φαινομένου προβλήματος: ἀλλὰ γινώσκῃ νοούμενος, καὶ μὴ ὑπεραίρηται καταλαμβανόμενος.