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you have given me! " O inattentive soul, as if saying to God: "You," he says, "have erred; the woman, whom you have given me, she deceived me." Such things I also now suffer, humble and wretched as I am, and I do not ever wish to be humbled and to say from my soul (95) that I am the cause of my own destruction, but "So-and-so," I say, "urged me to do and say such-and-such, so-and-so advised me to do this and that," O wretched soul uttering words full of sin! O shameless and defiled soul, words yet more shameless and defiled!) - Therefore, when Adam had spoken thus, God then says to him: "In toil and sweat you shall eat your bread, and thorns and thistles the earth shall bring forth for you," and finally that: "You are earth and to earth you shall return." "I intended," He says, "for you to repent and to be again in your former way of life. But since you are so hard-hearted, depart henceforth from me and your apostasy will be sufficient for your correction, for you are earth and to earth you shall return."

Have you now understood, then, that after the transgression, because he did not repent and say "I have sinned," he is both exiled and commanded to live in toil and sweat, and for this reason was condemned to the earth from which he was taken? This is clear from what follows. Therefore, leaving him, He comes to Eve, wishing to show that she too will justly be cast out with him, since she is unwilling to repent, and He says: "What is this you have done?" so that she at least might say, "I have sinned." For what other need, tell me, did God have to speak these words to her, if not entirely so that she might say: "In my foolishness, Lord, I did this, I, the humble and wretched one, having disobeyed you, my Lord. Have mercy on me!". But she did not say this. What then? "The serpent deceived me." O the insensibility! And you actually met with a serpent speaking against the Lord, and you preferred this one to God who made you, and made his counsel more preferable and truer than (96) the commandment of the Lord? But since she too did not bring herself to say, "I have sinned," they are cast out of delight, they are exiled from paradise and from God.

But consider for me the depth of the mysteries of the man-loving God and learn and be taught from this that if they had repented, they would not have been cast out, they would not have been condemned, they would not have been turned back and sentenced to the earth from which they were taken. How? Listen!

Since they were cast out and immediately fell into sweats and bodily toils, and they began to hunger and thirst, to shiver together and tremble and suffer such things as we ourselves also suffer today, clearly having received a greater sense of this misfortune and fall, and not only this but also of their own evil-mindedness and of the ineffable compassion of God, therefore walking and sitting outside of paradise, they repented, they wept, they lamented, they beat their faces, they tore at their hair, pulling it, bewailing their own hard-heartedness, and this not for one day nor two or ten, but for all, believe me, of their life. For how could they not weep always and continually, remembering that gentle Master, that ineffable delight, the unspeakable beauties of those flowers, the carefree and toil-free life, the ascents and descents of the angels to them? For just as slaves chosen by one of the rulers of this present age for his service, his personal attendants, as long as they maintain unfeigned reverence and honor and service toward their own master (97) and love both him and their fellow slaves, they enjoy both freedom of speech before him and his goodwill and love in much ease and delight and luxury, but when, having turned to madness against the

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δέδωκάς μοι! " ὤ ψυχῆς ἀπροσέκτου, οἱονεί τῷ Θεῷ λεγούσης· "Σύ, φησίν, ἔπταισας· ἡ γυνή, ἥν δέδωκάς μοι, αὕτη με ἠπάτησεν"οἷα καί νῦν ἐγώ πάσχω, ὁ ταπεινός καί ταλαίπωρος, καί οὐ θέλω ταπεινωθῆναί ποτε καί εἰπεῖν ἀπό ψυχῆς (95) ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι αἴτιος τῆς ἐμῆς ἀπωλείας, ἀλλ᾿ "Ὁ δεῖνά με, λέγω, παρώτρυνε ποιῆσαι καί εἰπεῖν τά καί τά, ὁ δεῖνά μοι συνεβούλευσεν ἐργάσασθαι τό καί τό", ὤ ἀθλίας ψυχῆς προϊεμένης ῥήματα ἁμαρτίας μεστά! ὤ ψυχῆς ἀναιδοῦς καί μιαρᾶς ἀναιδέστεροι λόγοι καί μιαροί !) - τοίνυν καί οὕτω τοῦ Ἀδάμ εἰπόντος, τότε λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Θεός· "ἐν κόπῳ καί ἱδρῶτι φάγῃ τόν ἄρτονσου, καί ἀκάνθας καί τριβόλους ἀνατελεῖ σοι ἡ γῆ", καί τελευταῖον ὅτι· "Γῆ εἶ καί εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ""Ἔλεγον, φησί, μετανοῆσαί σε καί εἶναι πάλιν ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ σου διαγωγῇ. Ἐπειδή δέ σκληρός οὕτως εἶ, ἄπελθε τοῦ λοιποῦ ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ καί ἀρκέσει σοι εἰς παίδευσιν ἡ ἀποστασία σου, ὅτι γῆ εἶ καί εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῆ".

Ἤδη οὖν ἔγνως ὅτι μετά τήν παράβασιν διά τό μή μετανοῆσαι καί εἰπεῖν "Ἥμαρτον", καί ἐξορίζεται καί ἐν κόπῳ καί ἱδρῶτι διάγειν κελεύεται καί εἰς τήν γῆν, ἐξ ἧς ἐλήφθη, διά τοῦτο κατεκρίθη; Τοῦτο δέ δῆλον ἐκ τῶν ἑξῆς. Τοιγαροῦν καί ἀφείς αὐτόν ἔρχεται πρός τήν Εὔαν, θέλων δεῖξαι ὅτι δικαίως καί αὕτη συνεκβληθήσεται, μετανοῆσαι μή θέλουσα, καί φησι· "Τί τοῦτο ἐποίησας;" ἵνα κἄν αὕτη εἴπῃ τό "Ἥμαρτον". Ποίαν γάρ καί ἄλλην χρείαν εἶχειν, εἰπέ μοι, ὁ Θεός λαλεῖν πρός αὐτήν ταῦτα τά ῥήματα, εἰ μή πάντως ἵνα εἴπῃ ὅτι· "Ἐν ἀφροσύνῃ μου, ∆έσποτα, τοῦτο ἔπραξα, ἡ ταπεινή καί ἀθλία, σοῦ τοῦ ∆εσπότου μου παρακούσασα. Ἐλέησόν με! ". Ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ εἶπε τοῦτο. Τί δέ; "Ὁ ὄφις ἐξηπάτησέ με". Ὤ τῆς ἀναισθησίας! Καί ὅλως ὄφει, κατά τοῦ ∆εσπότου λέγοντί σοι, συνέτυχες καί τοῦτον ἀντί τοῦ ποιήσαντός σε Θεοῦ προετίμησας, κἀκείνου τήν συμβουλήν ὑπέρ (96) τήν ἐντολήν τοῦ ∆εσπότου προτιμοτέραν καί ἀληθεστέραν πεποίηκας; Ὡς δέ οὐδέ αὕτη εὗρεν εἰπεῖν "Ἥμαρτον", ἐκβάλλονται τῆς τρυφῆς, ἐξορίζονται τοῦ παραδείσου καί τοῦ Θεοῦ.

Ἀλλά σκόπει μοι τό βάθος τῶν μυστηρίων τοῦ φιλανθρώπου Θεοῦ καί μάθε καί διδάχθητι ἐντεῦθεν ὅτι εἰ μετενόησαν, οὐκ ἄν ἐξεβλήθησαν, οὐκ ἄν κατεκρίθησαν, οὐκ ἄν εἰς τήν γῆν, ἐξ ἧς ἐλήφθησαν, ἀποστραφῆναι καί κατεδικάσθησαν. Πῶς; Ἄκουσον!

Ἐπεί ἐξεβλήθησαν καί ἤδη ἐξαὐτῆς ἐνέπεσον εἰς τούς ἱδρῶτας καί εἰς τούς σωματικούς κόπους, πεινᾶν δέ ἤρξαντο καί διψᾶν, ῥιγᾶν τε ὁμοῦ καί τρέμειν καί πάσχειν τοιαῦτα, οἷα καί ἡμεῖς αὐτοί πάσχομεν σήμερον, πλείονα δηλονότι λαβόντες τῆς δυστυχίας ταύτης καί τῆς ἐκπτώσεως αἴσθησιν, οὐ μόνον δέ ἀλλά καί αὐτῆς ἑαυτῶν τῆς κακοφροσύνης καί τῆς ἀφάτου τοῦ Θεοῦ εὐσπλαχνίας, ἔξω οὖν τοῦ παραδείσου περιπατοῦντες καί καθεζόμενοι, μετεμέλοντο, ἔκλαιον, ἐθρήνουν, τό πρόσωπον ἔτυπτον, ἔτιλλον σύροντες ἑαυτῶν τάς τρίχας, τήν ἑαυτῶν σκληροκαρδίαν ἀποκλαιόμενοι, τοῦτο δέ οὐ μίαν ἡμέραν οὐδέ δύο ἤ δέκα, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν πάσῃ, πιστεύσατε, τῇ ζωῇ αὐτῶν. Πῶς γάρ καί μή κλαίειν ἀεί καί διηνεκῶς τόν ∆εσπότην ἐκεῖνον τόν ἥμερον ἐνθυμούμενοι, τήν τρυφήν ἐκείνην τήν ἄφραστον, τά κάλλη τῶν ἀνθέων ἐκείνων τά ἄρρητα, τόν ἀμέριμνον βίον καί ἄμοχθον, τάς τῶν ἀγγέλων ἀνόδους καί καθόδους, τάς πρός αὐτούς; Καθάπερ γάρ οἱ παρά τινος τῶν ἀρχόντων τοῦ παρόντος αἰῶνος ἐκλεχθέντες εἰς ὑπηρεσίαν αὐτοῦ δοῦλοι, τήν κατά πρόσωπον, ἕως μέν τήν αἰδῶ καί τήν τιμήν καί τήν δουλείαν ἀνόθευτον φυλάττουσι πρός τόν ἑαυτῶν δεσπότην (97) καί ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν τε καί τούς ὁμοδούλους αὐτῶν, ἀπολαύουσι καί τῆς παρρησίας τῆς πρός αὐτόν καί τῆς εὐνοίας καί τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀνέσει πολλῇ καί τρυφῇ καί σπατάλῃ, ἐπάν δέ εἰς ἀπόνοιαν τραπέντες κατά τοῦ