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receiving it, and the nature of the region, and the season of the year, and a suitable diet, and many other things; if any one of these were overlooked, it would spoil all the others that have been mentioned. If, where one must treat the body, we have need of so much precision, much more, when we take care of the soul and treat our thoughts, it is necessary to examine and consider everything with all precision. Let us see, then, how the Ninevites fasted, and how they were delivered from that wrath. Let the men, and the cattle, and the sheep, and the oxen not graze, it says. What do you say, tell me? Do the irrational animals also fast? And are horses and mules also clothed in sackcloth? Yes, it says. For just as when some wealthy person dies, the relatives clothe not only the male servants, nor the female servants, but even the horses in sackcloth, and entrusting them to the grooms, they command them to follow to the tomb, demonstrating the magnitude of the calamity, and drawing everyone to pity; so too, when that city was about to be destroyed, they both clothed the irrational nature in sackcloth, and subjected it to the yoke of fasting. The irrational animals, it says, cannot learn of God's wrath by reason; let them learn by famine that the plague is sent from God. For if the city were to be overthrown, it says, there would be one common tomb, not only for us the inhabitants, but for these as well. Therefore, let those who are to share in the punishment also share in the fast. And from this they contrived another thing, which the prophets also do; for whenever they see some unbearable plague coming from the heavens, and then those who are about to be punished are without boldness, full of shame, worthy of no pardon or defense, having nothing to do, nor any way to procure a defense for the condemned, they take refuge in the irrational animals, and lamenting their death, they make their supplication from these, putting forward their pitiable and much-lamented destruction. Therefore, when a famine once overtook the Jews, and a great drought held the land, and all things were being consumed, one of the prophets said: Heifers have leaped at their mangers, herds of oxen have wept, because there was no pasture; all the beasts of the field looked up to you, because the water sources have dried up; and another, lamenting the evils from the drought, again spoke thus: Hinds have given birth in the field, and have forsaken their young, because there was no grass; wild asses stood in the glens, they snuffed up the wind like a serpent; their eyes failed, because there was no grass. For this reason you also heard Joel today saying: Let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride out of her closet, gather the infants that suck the breasts. For what reason, tell me, does he call this tender age to supplication? Is it not clear that it is for this very same cause? For since all who have reached manhood have provoked and angered God, Let the age that is without experience of sins, he says, entreat the one who is angry. But as I was saying, let us see what it was that averted that inexorable wrath. Was it the fast alone, and the sackcloth? It is not possible to say, but the change of their whole life. From where is this clear? From the very words of the prophet. For he who spoke about the wrath of God and their fasting, this same one, speaking of the reconciliation and teaching the cause of the reconciliation, says thus: 49.53 And God saw their works. What works? That they fasted? That they put on sackcloth? None of these, but passing over all these things in silence, he added: That every one turned from his evil ways, and the Lord repented of the evil that he had spoken to do unto them. Do you see that it was not the fast that rescued them from danger, but the change of life that made God merciful and gracious to the barbarians? I have said these things, not so that we may dishonor fasting, but so that we may honor fasting; for the honor of fasting is not the abstinence from food, but the withdrawal from sins, since he who defines fasting only by the abstinence from food is the one who most dishonors it.

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δεχομένην, καὶ χώρας φύσιν, καὶ ὥραν ἔτους, καὶ δίαιταν κατάλληλον, καὶ πολλὰ ἕτερα· ὧν ὅπερ ἂν παροφθείη, τοῖς ἄλλοις λυμανεῖται πᾶσι τοῖς εἰρημένοις. Εἰ δὲ ἔνθα σῶμα θεραπεύειν δεῖ, τοσαύτης ἡμῖν ἀκριβείας χρεία, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὅταν ψυχῆς ἐπιμελώμεθα καὶ λογισμοὺς θεραπεύωμεν, πάντα διερευνᾶσθαι καὶ σκοπεῖν ἀναγκαῖον μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἁπάσης. Ἴδωμεν τοίνυν πῶς ἐνήστευσαν οἱ Νινευῗται, καὶ πῶς τῆς ὀργῆς ἀπηλλάγησαν ἐκείνης. Οἱ ἄνθρωποι, καὶ τὰ κτήνη, καὶ τὰ πρόβατα, καὶ οἱ βόες μὴ νεμέσθωσαν, φησί. Τί λέγεις, εἰπέ μοι; καὶ τὰ ἄλογα νηστεύει; καὶ ἵπποι, καὶ ἡμίονοι σάκκῳ περιβάλλονται; Ναὶ, φησί. Καθάπερ γὰρ εὐπόρου τινὸς τελευτήσαντος, οὐκ οἰκέτας μόνον, οὐδὲ θεραπαινίδας, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἵππους οἱ προσήκοντες σάκκῳ περιβάλλοντες, καὶ τοῖς ἱπποκόμοις αὐτοὺς ἐγχειρίσαντες, ἀκολουθεῖν ἐπὶ τὸ μνῆμα κελεύουσι, τὸ μέγεθος τῆς συμφορᾶς ἐπιδεικνύμενοι, καὶ πρὸς ἔλεον ἅπαντας ἐπισπώμενοι· οὕτω δὴ καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἐκείνης ἀπόλλυσθαι μελλούσης, καὶ τὴν ἄλογον φύσιν σάκκῳ περιέβαλον, καὶ ζυγῷ νηστείας ὑπέβαλον. Οὐκ ἔστι τὰ ἄλογα, φησὶ, λόγῳ μαθεῖν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ὀργὴν, μανθανέτωσαν λιμῷ, ὅτι θεήλατος ἡ πληγή· καὶ γὰρ εἰ κατενεχθείη, φησὶν, ἡ πόλις, οὐχ ἡμῶν μόνον τῶν ἐνοικούντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτων εἷς ἔσται τάφος κοινός. Τὰ τοίνυν μέλλοντα κοινωνεῖν τῆς κολάσεως κοινωνείτω καὶ τῆς νηστείας. Καὶ ἕτερον δέ τι κατεσκεύαζον ἐντεῦθεν, ὃ καὶ οἱ προφῆται ποιοῦσι· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι ἐπειδὰν ἴδωσι πληγήν τινα ἀφόρητον ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν φερομένην, εἶτα τοὺς κολάζεσθαι μέλλοντας ἀπαῤῥησιάστους ὄντας, αἰσχύνης γέμοντας, οὐδεμιᾶς συγγνώμης οὐδὲ ἀπολογίας ὄντας ἀξίους, οὐκ ἔχοντες ὅ τι πράξουσιν, οὐδὲ ὅθεν πορίσονται τοῖς κατακριθεῖσιν ἀπολογίαν, ἐπὶ τὰ ἄλογα καταφεύγουσι, καὶ τὸν ἐκείνων ἐκτραγῳδοῦντες θάνατον, ἀπὸ τούτων ποιοῦνται τὴν ἱκετηρίαν, τὴν ἐλεεινὴν αὐτῶν καὶ πολυθρήνητον ἀπώλειαν προβαλλόμενοι. Λιμοῦ τοίνυν ποτὲ καταλαβόντος τοὺς Ἰουδαίους, καὶ πολλοῦ τὴν χώραν αὐχμοῦ κατέχοντος, καὶ πάντων δαπανωμένων, ὁ μὲν τῶν προφητῶν ἔλεγεν· Ἐσκίρτησαν δαμάλεις ἐπὶ ταῖς φάτναις αὐτῶν, ἔκλαυσαν βουκόλια βοῶν, ὅτι οὐχ ὑπῆρχε νομή· πάντα τὰ κτήνη τοῦ πεδίου ἀνέβλεψαν πρὸς σὲ, ὅτι ἐξηράνθησαν ἀφέσεις ὑδάτων· ὁ δὲ τὰ ἐκ τῆς ἀβροχίας θρηνῶν κακὰ, πάλιν οὑτωσί πως ἔλεγεν· Ἔλαφοι ἐν ἀγρῷ ἔτεκον, καὶ ἐγκατέλιπον, ὅτι οὐκ ἦν βοτάνη· ὄναγροι ἔστησαν ἐπὶ νάπαις, εἵλκυσαν ἄνεμον ὡς δράκων· ἐξέλιπον οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτῶν, ὅτι οὐκ ἦν χόρτος. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ σήμερον ἠκούσατε τοῦ Ἰωὴλ λέγοντος· Ἐξελθέτω νυμφίος ἐκ τοῦ κοιτῶνος αὐτοῦ, καὶ νύμφη ἐκ τοῦ παστοῦ αὐτῆς, συναγάγετε νήπια θηλάζοντα μαστούς. Τίνος γὰρ ἕνεκεν, εἰπέ μοι, τὴν ἄωρον ἡλικίαν καλεῖ πρὸς ἱκετηρίαν; οὐκ εὔδηλον, ὅτι διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ταύτην αἰτίαν; Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οἱ εἰς ἄνδρας τελοῦντες ἅπαντες παρώξυναν καὶ παρώργισαν τὸν Θεὸν, Ἡ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἄπειρος ἡλικία, φησὶ, παρακαλείτω τὸν ὀργιζόμενον. Ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἔλεγον, ἴδωμεν τί ποτέ ἐστι τὸ λῦσαν τὴν ἀπαραίτητον ἐκείνην ὀργήν. Ἆρα ἡ νηστεία μόνον, καὶ ὁ σάκκος; Οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ἀλλ' ἡ παντὸς τοῦ βίου μεταβολή. Πόθεν τοῦτο δῆλον; Ἀπ' αὐτῶν τῶν προφητικῶν ῥημάτων. Ὁ γὰρ περὶ τῆς ὀργῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ διαλεχθεὶς καὶ τῆς ἐκείνων νηστείας, αὐτὸς οὗτος τήν τε καταλλαγὴν λέγων, καὶ τῆς καταλλαγῆς τὴν αἰτίαν διδάσκων, οὑτωσί πώς φησι· 49.53 Καὶ εἶδε τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν ὁ Θεός. Ἔργα ποῖα; ὅτι ἐνήστευσαν; ὅτι σάκκον περιεβάλοντο; Οὐδὲν τούτων, ἀλλὰ πάντα ταῦτα σιγήσας ἐπήγαγεν· Ὅτι ἀπέστρεψεν ἕκαστος ἀπὸ τῶν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ τῶν πονηρῶν, καὶ μετενόησεν ἐπὶ τῇ κακίᾳ ᾗ ἐλάλησε ποιῆσαι αὐτοῖς ὁ Κύριος. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι οὐχ ἡ νηστεία ἐξήρπασε τοῦ κινδύνου, ἀλλ' ἡ μεταβολὴ τοῦ βίου τὸν Θεὸν κατέστησεν ἵλεω τοῖς βαρβάροις καὶ εὐμενῆ; Ταῦτα εἶπον. οὐχ ἵνα νηστείαν ἀτιμάζωμεν, ἀλλ' ἵνα νηστείαν τιμῶμεν· τιμὴ γὰρ νηστείας, οὐχὶ σιτίων ἀποχὴ, ἀλλ' ἁμαρτημάτων ἀναχώρησις, ὡς ὅ γε τῇ τῶν βρωμάτων ἀποχῇ μόνον ὁρίζων τὴν νηστείαν, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ μάλιστα ἀτιμάζων αὐτήν.