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Did not so-and-so stand up, or greet me first, or bow, or show the manners of slaves? Those who practice being ruled, or those who are enamored of powers and offices, and endure both doing and suffering everything for this? Those who say they are better than all, and for this reason think it is permitted to them to say and do all things, or those who count themselves among the last, and in this way chastise the irrational power of the passions? Those who build splendid houses, and set out luxurious tables, or those who seek nothing more 47.364 than necessary food and lodging? Those who mark off for themselves ten thousand plethra of land, or those who do not think even one clod of earth necessary for them to possess? Those who collect interest upon interest, and set in motion every unjust way of commerce, or those who tear up these unjust contracts, and from their own resources assist those in need? Those who have considered the lowliness of human nature, or those who do not even want to know this very thing, but from excessive arrogance have lost even the sense of being human themselves? Those who support prostitutes, and ruin the marriages of others, or those who abstain even from their own wife? Are not the one sort, like tumors on a body and wild winds on the sea, attached to the commonwealth of the world, and by their own incontinence cause a storm for those who by themselves could be saved; while the other sort, like bright lamps in deep darkness, call those who are shipwrecked in the midst to their own safety, and having lit the torches of philosophy on high from afar, thus lead by the hand those who are willing to the harbor of tranquility? Are not seditions and wars and battles, and the razing of cities, and enslavements, and servitudes, and captivities, and murders, and the myriad evils in life because of them? not only those things brought by humans upon humans, but also all the things from heaven, such as droughts, and floods, and earthquakes, and collapses, and the submerging of cities, and famines, and plagues, and all the other things that are brought upon us from there? 10. Therefore, are these not the ones who subvert the state and ruin the common good; these who are the cause of myriad misfortunes for others, who disturb those wishing to live in peace, and drag and tear them from all sides; because of these there are courts, and laws, and punishments, and various kinds of penalties. And just as in a house, where many are sick, but few are healthy, one can find many medicines and physicians who have entered; so also in the world there is no nation, there is no city, where there are not many laws, and many rulers, and many punishments. For the medicines themselves are not sufficient on their own to restore the one who is sick, but there is need also of those who apply them, who are the judges, compelling them, willing and unwilling, to accept the cure. But nevertheless the disease has so prevailed, as to overcome even the art of the physicians, and to attack the judges themselves; and the same thing happens, as if someone afflicted with fever and dropsy, and myriad other more grievous maladies, were not able to overcome his own evils, but strove to deliver others who are held by the same terrible things. For the influx of wickedness, like a winter torrent, having burst all barriers, has poured out violently upon the souls of men. And why do I speak of the subversion of the state? For this plague, which has arisen from these wicked men, is in danger of driving out from the many the doctrines concerning the providence of God; so it advances and spreads and hastens to seize everything, and has turned things upside down, and finally it even marches against heaven itself, arming the tongues of men 47.365 no longer against their fellow-servants, but now even against the Lord who rules over all. For whence, tell me, is the widespread talk everywhere of fate? Whence do the many attribute existing things to the irrational motion of the stars? Why do some hold chance in honor, why the random? Whence do they think that all things are carried on randomly and without purpose? Because of

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μὴ ὑπανέστη, μηδὲ προσεῖπεν ὁ δεῖνα πρότερος, μηδὲ ὑπέκυψε, μηδὲ τὰ τῶν ἀνδραπόδων ἐπεδείξατο; οἱ μελετῶντες ἄρχεσθαι, ἢ οἱ δυναστειῶν ἐρῶντες καὶ ἀρχῶν, καὶ πάντα ὑπὲρ τούτου καὶ ποιῆσαι καὶ παθεῖν ἀνεχόμενοι; οἱ πάντων βελτίους εἶναι λέγοντες, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πάντα καὶ λέγειν καὶ πράττειν ἑαυτοῖς ἐξεῖναι νομίζοντες, ἢ οἱ μετὰ τῶν ἐσχάτων ἀριθμοῦντες ἑαυτοὺς, καὶ ταύτῃ τὴν ἄλογον ἐξουσίαν τῶν παθῶν κολάζοντες; οἱ τὰς λαμπρὰς οἰκοδομούμενοι οἰκίας, καὶ τὰς πολυτελεῖς παρατιθέμενοι τραπέζας, ἢ οἱ μηδὲν πλέον 47.364 καὶ τροφῆς καὶ οἰκήσεως τῆς ἀναγκαίας ζητοῦντες; οἱ μυρία πλέθρα ἀποτεμνόμενοι γῆς, ἢ οἱ μηδὲ βῶλον μίαν ἀναγκαίαν αὐτοῖς πρὸς κτῆσιν εἶναι νομίζοντες; οἱ τόκους ἐπὶ τόκους συλλέγοντες, καὶ πάσης ἐμπορίας κινοῦντες ὁδὸν ἄδικον, ἢ οἱ τὰς ἀδίκους ταύτας διασπῶντες συγγραφὰς, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐνόντων τοῖς δεομένοις ἐπικουροῦντες; οἱ τὸ εὐτελὲς τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἐπεσκεμμένοι φύσεως, ἢ οἱ μηδὲ τοῦτο αὐτὸ εἰδέναι θέλοντες, ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τῆς ἄγαν ἀλαζονείας καὶ τὸ ἀνθρώπους αὐτοὺς νομίζειν ἀπολωλεκότες; οἱ πόρνας τρέφοντες, καὶ τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις λυμαινόμενοι γάμοις, ἢ οἱ καὶ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἀπεχόμενοι γυναικός; Οὐχ οἱ μὲν, ὥσπερ οἰδήματα σώματι καὶ πνεύματα ἄγρια θαλάττῃ, τῇ πολιτείᾳ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐπιφύονται, καὶ τοὺς καθ' ἑαυτοὺς σώζεσθαι δυναμένους χειμάζοντες διὰ τὴν ἀκρασίαν τὴν αὐτῶν· οἱ δὲ ὥσπερ ἐν σκότῳ βαθεῖ λαμπτῆρες φαιδροὶ τοὺς ἐν μέσῳ ναυαγοῦντας πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν καλοῦσιν ἀσφάλειαν, καὶ τὰς τῆς φιλοσοφίας λαμπάδας ἀφ' ὑψηλοῦ πόῤῥωθεν ἅψαντες, οὕτω τοὺς βουλομένους ἐπὶ τὸν τῆς ἀπραγμοσύνης χειραγωγοῦσι λιμένα; Οὐ δι' ἐκείνους στάσεις καὶ πόλεμοι καὶ μάχαι, καὶ πόλεων κατασκαφαὶ, καὶ ἀνδραποδισμοὶ, καὶ δουλεῖαι, καὶ αἰχμαλωσίαι, καὶ φόνοι, καὶ τὰ μυρία ἐν τῷ βίῳ κακά; οὐ τὰ παρὰ ἀνθρώπων ἀνθρώποις ἐπαγόμενα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πάντα, οἷον αὐχμοὶ, καὶ ἐπομβρίοι, καὶ σεισμοὶ, καὶ καταπτώσεις, καὶ πόλεων καταποντισμοὶ, καὶ λιμοὶ, καὶ λοιμοὶ, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα, ὅσα ἡμῖν ἐκεῖθεν ἐπάγεται; ιʹ. Οὐκοῦν οὗτοι οἱ τὴν πολιτείαν ἀνατρέποντες, καὶ τοῖς κοινοῖς λυμαινόμενοι· οὗτοι οἱ καὶ ἑτέροις μυρίων αἴτιοι συμφορῶν, οἱ τοῖς βουλομένοις ἡσυχάζειν ἐνοχλοῦντες, καὶ πανταχόθεν ἕλκοντες καὶ σπαράττοντες· διὰ τούτους δικαστήρια, καὶ νόμοι, καὶ τιμωρίαι, καὶ διάφοροι κολάσεων τρόποι. Καὶ καθάπερ ἐν οἰκίᾳ, ἔνθα πολλοὶ μὲν οἱ κάμνοντες, οἱ δὲ ὑγιαίνοντες ὀλίγοι. καὶ φάρμακα καὶ ἰατροὺς πολλοὺς εἰσελθόντας ἔστιν εὑρεῖν· οὕτω καὶ ἐν τῇ οἰκουμένῃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔθνος, οὐκ ἔστι πόλις, ἔνθα μὴ πολλοὶ μὲν οἱ νόμοι, πολλοὶ δὲ οἱ ἄρχοντες, πολλαὶ δὲ αἱ τιμωρίαι. Οὐ γὰρ ἀρκεῖ τὰ φάρμακα αὐτὰ καθ' ἑαυτὰ ἀναστῆσαι τὸν κάμνοντα, ἀλλὰ δεῖ καὶ τῶν ἐπιτιθέντων αὐτὰ, οἵπερ εἰσὶν οἱ δικάζοντες, καὶ ἑκόντας καὶ ἄκοντας ἀναγκάζοντες δέχεσθαι τὴν ἰατρείαν αὐτούς. Ἀλλ' ὅμως οὕτως ὑπερέσχεν ἡ νόσος, ὡς καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς τῶν ἰατρῶν κρατῆσαι τέχνης, καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐπελθεῖν τοὺς δικάζοντας· καὶ συμβαίνει ταὐτὸ, οἷον ἂν εἴ τις πυρετῷ καὶ ὑδέρῳ συνεχόμενος. καὶ μυρίοις ἑτέροις πάθεσι χαλεπωτέροις, τῶν μὲν οἰκείων μὴ περιγίνοιτο κακῶν, ἑτέρους δὲ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐνεχομένους δεινοῖς ἀπαλλάττειν φιλονεικοίη. Ἡ γὰρ τῆς κακίας ἐπιῤῥοὴ καθάπερ τις χειμάῤῥους, ἅπαντα τὰ κωλύματα ἀναῤῥήξασα, σφοδρῶς ἐπὶ τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐξεχύθη ψυχάς. Καὶ τί λέγω πολιτείας ἀνατροπήν; κινδυνεύει γὰρ οὗτος ὁ λοιμὸς, ὁ παρὰ τῶν πονηρῶν τούτων ἀρθεὶς, καὶ τοὺς περὶ τῆς προνοίας τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν πολλῶν ἀπελάσαι λόγους· οὕτω πρόεισι καὶ νέμεται καὶ πάντα ἐπείγεται κατασχεῖν, καὶ τὰ ἄνω κάτω πεποίηκε, καὶ αὐτῷ λοιπὸν ἐπιστρατεύει τῷ οὐρανῷ, τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώ47.365 πων γλώττας οὐκέτι κατὰ τῶν ὁμοδούλων, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ κατ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ πάντων κρατοῦντος ὁπλίζων ∆εσπότου. Πόθεν γὰρ, εἰπέ μοι, ὁ πολὺς πανταχοῦ τῆς εἱμαρμένης λόγος; πόθεν ἄστρων ἀλόγῳ φορᾷ τὰ ὄντα ἀνατιθέασιν οἱ πολλοί; διὰ τί τύχην, διὰ τί τὸ αὐτόματόν τινες πρεσβεύουσι; πόθεν εἰκῆ καὶ ἁπλῶς πάντα νομίζουσι φέρεσθαι; διὰ