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does this seem to be of lamentations? Did not Paul say that this was the punishment for the most grievous transgression? For he said that those who unworthily touch the sacred mysteries and partake of that dreadful table pay this penalty, saying thus: “For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number have fallen asleep.” Do not all lawgivers also condemn those who commit irreparable offenses with this penalty? And did not God also impose this as the ultimate punishment in the law for those who commit great offenses? Was it not for fear of this that that patriarch, who had even conquered nature itself, allowed his own wife to be given over to barbaric pleasures and Egyptian tyranny, and he himself both contrived the drama of the outrage and beseeched his wife to act out this grievous tragedy with him? And he is not even ashamed to state the cause of such a scene: “For it will be,” he says, “that when they see you so radiant in beauty and captivating in the fairness of your countenance, they will kill me, but you they will keep alive. Say, therefore, that you are my sister, so that it may be well with me for your sake, and my soul will live because of you.” Did you see the fear, did you see the trembling that shook that lofty and philosophic soul? Did you see the adamant dissolved by agony? He falsifies the relationship and puts one mask on his wife for another, and makes the lamb an easy prey for the wolves; and that which is of all things most unbearable for men, to see a wife being violated, or rather even just to suspect it, this—and what is more grievous than this, for it was not a suspicion, but an outrage dared in deed—he not only sees, but even contrives how it might be dared, and this seems to him light and bearable. For passion was conquering passion, the more grievous the grievous, and the cowardice of death overcame jealousy. And that great Elijah, because of this fear, became a runaway and a fugitive and a wanderer, fearing only the threat of a prostituted and accursed woman; and he who had shut up heaven and worked so many wonders could not bear the fear of words; but the agony so shook that heaven-high soul that he suddenly left behind his fatherland and so great a people for whom he had risked so much, and journeyed alone for forty days and removed to the wilderness, after that boldness, after such great freedom of speech, after such a great display of courage. For the nature of the thing is very terrible; for this very reason, coming upon our race each day, it so astounds and confounds and contracts us with each corpse as though it were appearing suddenly then. And the meditation of time has no power for consolation, nor being trained daily in this sight; nor have the things of this despondency and amazement grown old with time, but it is new and flourishes continually, and it comes bringing the fear pure and blooming each day. And very reasonably so. For who would not be confounded and fall down, when he sees the one who yesterday and a few days ago was walking, leading, carrying on countless affairs, of house, wife, children, servants, and often even presiding over whole cities, threatening, frightening, remitting punishments, inflicting punishments, doing countless things in cities and countries, suddenly lying more silent than stones, while countless people are wailing and his dearest ones are beating themselves and his wife is breaking down, tearing her cheeks, letting down her locks, with choirs of handmaidens standing around with much lamentation, while he is sensible of nothing, and suddenly gone are everything—both reason and intellect and soul and the bloom of his countenance and the movement of his limbs—and the unpleasant things taking their place: voicelessness, insensibility, decay, gore, worms, ashes, dust, stench, complete disappearance, and the entire body hastening to be dissolved into hideous and indistinguishable bones?

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θρήνων τοῦτο εἶναι δοκεῖ; Οὐχὶ παρανομίας τῆς χαλεπωτάτης ταύτην ἔφησεν εἶναι δίκην ὁ Παῦλος; Τοὺς γὰρ ἀναξίως τῶν ἱερῶν ἁπτομένους μυστηρίων καὶ τῆς φρικτῆς ἐκείνης μετέχοντας τραπέζης ταύτην ἔφησε τίνειν δίκην οὕτω λέγων· «∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἐν ὑμῖν πολλοὶ ἀσθενεῖς καὶ ἄρρωστοι καὶ κοιμῶνται ἱκανοί.» Οὐχὶ καὶ νομοθέται πάντες τοὺς τὰ ἀνήκεστα πλημμελοῦντας τούτῳ καταδικάζουσι τῷ ἐπιτιμίῳ; Καὶ ὁ Θεὸς δὲ οὐ ταύτην ἐσχάτην ἐπέθηκεν τιμωρίαν ἐν τῷ νόμῳ τοῖς μεγάλα πλημμελοῦσιν; Οὐ διὰ τὸν τούτου φόβον ὁ πατριάρχης ἐκεῖνος ὁ καὶ τὴν φύσιν αὐτὴν νικήσας τὴν γυναῖκα τὴν ἑαυτοῦ κατεδέξατο ἡδυπαθείαις ἐκδοῦναι βαρβαρικαῖς καὶ Αἰγυπτιακῇ τυραννίδι, καὶ τὸ δρᾶμα τῆς ὕβρεως αὐτός τε κατεσκεύαζε καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα παρεκάλει τὴν χαλεπὴν ταύτην συνυποκρίνασθαι τραγῳδίαν αὐτῷ; Καὶ οὐδὲ τὴν αἰτίαν αἰσχύνεται τιθεὶς τῆς τοιαύτης σκηνῆς· «Ἔσται γάρ, φησίν, ὡς ἐὰν ἴδωσί σε οὕτω τῇ ὥρᾳ λάμπουσαν καὶ τῷ κάλλει τῆς ὄψεως κρατοῦσαν, ἀποκτενοῦσί με, σὲ δὲ περιποιήσονται. Εἰπὲ οὖν ὅτι ἀδελφή μου εἶ, ἵνα εὖ μοι γένηται διὰ σὲ καὶ ζήσεται ἡ ψυχή μου ἕνεκεν σοῦ.» Εἶδες φόβον, εἶδες τρόμον κατασείοντα τὴν ὑψηλὴν ἐκείνην καὶ φιλόσοφον ψυχήν; Εἶδες τὸν ἀδάμαντα διαλυθέντα τῇ ἀγωνίᾳ; Ψεύδεται τὸ γένος καὶ ἕτερον ἀνθ' ἑτέρου παρατίθησι τῇ γυναικὶ τὸ προσωπεῖον καὶ τοῖς λύκοις εὐάλωτον ποιεῖ τὴν ἀμνάδα· καὶ ὃ πάντων ἐστὶν ἀνδράσιν ἀφορητότερον γυναῖκα ἰδεῖν ὑβριζομένην μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ὑποπτεῦσαι μόνον, τοῦτο-καὶ τὸ τούτου χαλεπώτερον· οὐδὲ γὰρ ὑποψία ἦν, ἀλλ' ὕβρις ἔργῳ τολμωμένη-οὐ μόνον ὁρᾷ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅπως τολμηθείη κατασκευάζει καὶ κοῦφον αὐτῷ φαίνεται τοῦτο καὶ φορητόν. Καὶ γὰρ πάθος ἐκράτει πάθους, τοῦ χαλεποῦ τὸ χαλεπώτερον καὶ ζηλοτυπίας περιεγένετο δειλία θανάτου. Καὶ ὁ μέγας δὲ Ἠλίας ἐκεῖνος διὰ τὸν τούτου φόβον δραπέτης καὶ φυγὰς καὶ μετανάστης ἐγένετο, ἀπειλὴν μόνον δείσας πορνευομένης καὶ ἐναγοῦς γυναικός· καὶ ὁ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀποκλείσας καὶ τοσαῦτα θαύματα ἐργασάμενος, ῥημάτων φόβον οὐκ ἤνεγκεν· ἀλλ' οὕτω τὴν οὐρανομήκη ψυχὴν ἐκείνην κατέσεισεν ἡ ἀγωνία ὡς καὶ πατρίδα καὶ δῆμον τοσοῦτον δι' ὃν τοσαῦτα παρεκινδύνευσε καταλιπεῖν ἀθρόον καὶ μόνον τεσσαράκοντα ἡμερῶν ὁδεῦσαι ὁδὸν καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐρημίαν μετοικισθῆναι, μετὰ τὴν παρρησίαν ἐκείνην, μετὰ τὴν τοσαύτην ἐλευθεροστομίαν, μετὰ τὴν τοσαύτην τῆς ἀνδρείας ἐπίδειξιν. Καὶ γὰρ φοβερὰ σφόδρα τοῦ πράγματος ἡ φύσις· διά τοι τοῦτο καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἐπιοῦσα ἡμῶν τὸ γένος, οὕτω καθ' ἕκαστον ἡμᾶς ἐκπλήττει νεκρὸν καὶ συγχέει καὶ συστέλλει ὡς ἀθρόον τότε φαινομένη. Καὶ οὐδὲν ἴσχυσεν εἰς παραμυθίαν ἡ τοῦ χρόνου μελέτη, οὐδὲ τὸ καθ' ἑκάστην ἐν ταύτῃ γυμνάζεσθαι τῇ θεωρίᾳ· οὐδὲ ἐπαλαιώθη τῷ χρόνῳ τὰ τῆς ἀθυμίας καὶ τῆς ἐκπλήξεως ταύτης, ἀλλὰ νεάζει καὶ ἀκμάζει διηνεκῶς καὶ τὸν φόβον ἀκραιφνῆ καὶ ἀνθοῦντα ἔρχεται καθ' ἑκάστην φέρουσα τὴν ἡμέραν. Καὶ μάλα εἰκότως. Τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν συγχυθείη καὶ καταπέσοι, ὅταν ἴδῃ τὸν χθὲς καὶ πρὸ ὀλίγων ἡμερῶν βαδίζοντα, ἄγοντα, φέροντα μυρία πράγματα, οἰκίας, γυναικός, παίδων, οἰκετῶν, πολλάκις δὲ καὶ πόλεων ὁλοκλήρων προϊστάμενον, ἀπειλοῦντα, φοβοῦντα, λύοντα κολάσεις, ἐπάγοντα κολάσεις, μυρία κατὰ πόλεις καὶ χώρας ἐργαζόμενον, ἀθρόον λίθων ἀφωνότερον κείμενον καὶ μυρίων κωκυόντων καὶ τῶν φιλτάτων κατακοπτομένων καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς καταθρυπτομένης, παρειὰς ξαινούσης, πλοκάμους λυούσης, χοροὺς περιιστάσης θεραπαινίδων μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ὀλολυγῆς, οὐδενὸς αἰσθανόμενον καὶ πάντα ἐξαίφνης ἐκποδὼν καὶ λογισμὸν καὶ διάνοιαν καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ ὄψεως ἄνθος καὶ μελῶν κίνησιν καὶ τὰ ἀτερπῆ διαδεχόμενα, ἀφωνίαν, ἀναισθησίαν, φθοράν, ἰχῶρα, σκώληκας, τέφραν, κόνιν, δυσωδίαν, ἀφανισμὸν παντελῆ καὶ εἰς ὀστέα εἰδεχθῆ καὶ ἄσημα τὸ πᾶν ἐπειγόμενον καταλῦσαι σῶμα;