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will be applied as they cycle, but also for the first and second and up to the seventh the same reasoning applies, and the Sabbath day is in no way different from the other days with respect to being a day. 5.393 But if one examines the meaning of sin, we will certainly say that one must not do anything against one's neighbor, such as 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not steal,' and the rest, for which there is a general and comprehensive law containing each particular in itself, namely the one about loving one's neighbor as oneself. But these things, being rightly performed and transgressed equally on every day, are either entirely good or are understood in the opposite way. And no one would consider that which was judged to be evil when it happened today, whether the transgression was murder or any other of the forbidden things, to be good on the following day. If, therefore, evil is always such, in whatever time it happens to be dared, then certainly none of the things that are not liable can become liable because of the time. If, then, gathering firewood and lighting a fire before the Sabbath is outside of injustice and punishment, how does this same thing become a transgression on the following day? But I know the Sabbath of rest, I know the law of inactivity, which does not, by fettering man from his natural activity, command him to be inactive. For would it not be commanding impossibilities, ordering us to be inactive, for whom, even apart from other works, the very form of life is a work? For who does not know that sight is the work of the eyes, natural 5.394 activity of hearing, smelling of the nostrils, drawing in of air of the mouth, speech of the tongue, service of food of the teeth, digestion of the internal organs, movement of the feet, and for the hands, those things for which these members are naturally suited to work for us. How then is it possible for the law of inactivity to be confirmed, when nature does not admit idleness? How shall I persuade the eye not to see on the Sabbath, whose nature it is to see something at all times? How shall I restrain the activity of hearing? How will my sense of smell be persuaded to put aside its perception of vapors on the Sabbath? And how will the internal organs not perform their own function, serving the law, so that food remains undigested in the body, in order that it might show nature to be idle on the Sabbath? If indeed the other parts of our body cannot accept the law of idleness (for they will not be alive at all if not working), it is certainly not possible for the Sabbath not to be transgressed, even if the hand or the foot remains motionless in the same position and place. Since, therefore, the law is laid down not for some part, but for the whole man, we will no more keep the law by being inactive through one of our members than we will transgress the commandment by acting naturally with the other senses. But indeed the law is from God, and nothing of what is commanded by God 5.395 is of such a kind as to be either contrary to nature or to be shown outside the principle of virtue; but irrational idleness is not a virtue. It is therefore fitting to seek what the command of Sabbath idleness means. I say, therefore, that all legislation that has come from God has one purpose: to cleanse from the works of evil those who have received the law, and every law that forbids the prohibited things commands to keep Sabbath from wicked works. This is what the tablets, this is what the Levitical observance, this is what the precision in Deuteronomy mean: that we be idle and inactive from those things whose work is evil. If, therefore, one were to understand the law in this way, that man should be idle from evil, I too agree that the wise Preacher appoints a time for casting stones against the one gathering wood for himself, by which the collection of the firewood of evil, gathered as fuel for a fire, is prevented; but if one should adhere to the bare letter, I do not know how he could reckon what is worthy of God in the law. Therefore one must understand what the stones are that are cast against such a person, so that his zeal for gathering firewood might not come to completion. And what of the wood, through which the fire will be kindled 5.396 for the one who has gathered it? But these things are certainly not unclear to one who has any understanding of mystical words. For if the apostle rightly calls wood and

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ἀνακυκλουμένων ἐφαρμοσθήσεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρώτης καὶ δευτέρας καὶ μέχρι τῆς ἑβδόμης ὁ αὐτός ἐστι λόγος καὶ οὐδὲν ἡ τοῦ σαββάτου ἡμέρα παρὰ τὰς λοιπὰς κατὰ τὸ εἶναι ἡμέρα παρήλλακται. 5.393 ἐὰν δέ τις τὴν τοῦ ἁμαρτήματος ἐξετάσῃ διάνοιαν, τὸ μὴ δεῖν τι κατὰ τοῦ πέλας ποιεῖν πάντως ἐροῦμεν, οἷον Οὐ μοιχεύσεις, οὐ φονεύσεις, οὐ κλέψεις καὶ τὰ λοιπά, ὧν γενικός τις καὶ περιληπτικός ἐστι νόμος τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον ἐν ἑαυτῷ περιέχων καὶ ὁ περὶ τοῦ ἀγαπῆσαι τὸν πλησίον ὡς ἑαυτόν. ταῦτα δὲ κατὰ πᾶσαν ἡμέραν ἐπ' ἴσης κατορθούμενά τε καὶ παρανομούμενα ἢ καλὰ πάντως ἐστὶν ἢ ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου νοούμενα. οὐκ ἂν δέ τις, ὃ σήμερον κακὸν ἐκρίθη γενόμενον, εἴτε φόνος εἴη τὸ πλημμέλημα εἴτε τι ἄλλο τῶν ἀπειρημένων, τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο τῇ ἐφεξῆς καλὸν εἶναι νομίσειεν. εἰ οὖν τὸ κακὸν ἀεὶ τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν, ἐν ᾧπερ ἂν χρόνῳ τύχῃ τολμώμενον, καὶ τῶν ἀνευθύνων πάντως οὐδὲν ἂν γένοιτο παρὰ τὸν χρόνον ὑπεύθυνον. εἰ τοίνυν τὸ πρὸ τοῦ σαββάτου φρυγανίζεσθαι καὶ πῦρ ἀνάπτειν ἔξω ἀδικίας ἐστὶ καὶ κολάσεως, πῶς τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο τῇ ἐπιούσῃ ἡμέρᾳ πλημμέλημα γίνεται; ἀλλ' οἶδα τὸ σάββατον τῆς ἀναπαύσεως, οἶδα τὸν τῆς ἀπραξίας νόμον, ὃς οὐχὶ πεδήσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον τῆς φυσικῆς ἐνεργείας ἄπρακτον εἶναι διακελεύεται. ἦ γὰρ ἂν καὶ ἀδύνατα κελεύοι, ἀπρακτεῖν προστάσσων ἡμῖν, οἷς καὶ δίχα τῶν λοιπῶν ἔργων αὐτὸ τὸ τῆς ζωῆς εἶδος ἔργον ἐστίν; τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδεν, ὅτι ἔργον ἐστὶν ὀφθαλμῶν μὲν ἡ ὄψις, ἀκοῆς δὲ ἡ κατὰ φύσιν 5.394 ἐνέργεια, μυκτήρων δὲ ἡ ὄσφρησις, στόματος ἡ τοῦ ἀέρος ὁλκή, γλώσσης ὁ λόγος, ὀδοῦσιν ἡ τῆς τροφῆς ὑπηρεσία, σπλάγχνοις ἡ πέψις, ποσὶν ἡ κίνησις, χερσὶν ἐκεῖνα, πρὸς ἃ πέφυκεν ἡμῖν ἐνεργεῖν ταῦτα τὰ μέλη. πῶς οὖν ἐστι δυνατὸν κυρωθῆναι τὸν τῆς ἀπραξίας νόμον, οὐ παραδεχομένης τὴν ἀργίαν τῆς φύσεως; πῶς πείσω τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν μὴ ὁρᾶν ἐν σαββάτῳ, οὗ φύσις ἐστὶ τὸ πάντως τι βλέπειν; πῶς τὴν ἀκουστικὴν ἐπίσχω ἐνέργειαν; πῶς πεισθήσεταί μοι ἡ ὄσφρησις τὴν ἀντιληπτικὴν τῶν ἀτμῶν αἴσθησιν ἀποθέσθαι κατὰ τὸ σάββατον; πῶς δὲ οὐκ ἐνεργήσει τὰ σπλάγχνα τὴν ἰδίαν ἐνέργειαν τῷ νόμῳ δουλεύοντα, ὥστε ἄπεπτον τὴν τροφὴν ἐμμεῖναι τῷ σώματι, ἵνα ἀργὴν δείξῃ τὴν φύσιν κατὰ τὸ σάββατον; εἰ δὴ τὰ λοιπὰ τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν οὐ δύναται δέξασθαι τὸν τῆς ἀργίας νόμον (οὐδὲ γὰρ ὅλως ἐν τῷ ζῆν ἔσται μὴ ἐνεργοῦντα), οὐκ ἔστι πάντως τὸ μὴ παρανομηθῆναι τὸ σάββατον, κἂν ἀκίνητος ἡ χεὶρ ἢ ὁ ποῦς ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ σχήματός τε καὶ τόπου μένῃ. ἐπεὶ οὖν οὐχὶ μέρει τινί, ἀλλ' ὅλῳ κεῖται τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ὁ νόμος, οὐ μᾶλλον ἀπρακτοῦντες δι' ἑνὸς τῶν μελῶν νόμον φυλάξομεν ἢ τοῖς λοιποῖς αἰσθητη ρίοις κατὰ φύσιν ἐνεργοῦντες τὸ προσταχθὲν παραλύσομεν. ἀλλὰ μὴν θεόθεν ὁ νόμος, οὐδὲν δὲ τῶν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ 5.395 προστασσομένων τοιοῦτον, οἷον ἢ παρὰ φύσιν εἶναι ἢ ἔξω τοῦ κατ' ἀρετὴν δείκνυσθαι λόγου, ἡ δὲ ἄλογος ἀργία ἀρετὴ οὐκ ἔστιν. ζητεῖν ἄρα προσήκει τί βούλεται τὸ παράγγελμα τῆς τοῦ σαββάτου ἀργίας. φημὶ τοίνυν ἐγὼ πάσης νομοθεσίας τῆς θεόθεν γεγενημένης ἕνα σκοπὸν εἶναι τὸ καθαρεύειν τῶν τῆς κακίας ἔργων τοὺς δεξαμένους τὸν νόμον, καὶ πᾶς νόμος ὁ τὰ ἀπειρημένα κωλύων σαββατίζειν ἀπὸ τῶν πονηρῶν ἔργων διακελεύεται. τοῦτο αἱ πλάκες, τοῦτο ἡ λευϊτικὴ παρατήρησις, τοῦτο ἡ ἐν τῷ ∆ευτερονομίῳ ἀκρίβεια, τὸ ἀργοὺς ἡμᾶς καὶ ἀπράκτους ἐκείνων εἶναι, ὧν τὸ ἔργον κακία ἐστίν. εἰ μὲν οὖν οὕτω τις ἐκλαμβάνοι τὸν νόμον, ὡς ἀργὸν ἐν κακίᾳ εἶναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, κἀγὼ συντίθεμαι τὸν σοφὸν ἐκκλησιαστὴν κατὰ τοῦ ξύλα ἑαυτῷ συνάγοντος καιρὸν ὁρίζειν εἰς τὸ βάλλειν λίθους, δι' ὧν κωλύεται ἡ συλλογὴ τῶν τῆς κακίας φρυγάνων τῶν εἰς πυρὸς ὕλην συναγομένων· εἰ δὲ ψιλῷ τις παραμένοι τῷ γράμματι, οὐκ οἶδα, ὅπως τὸ θεοπρεπὲς ἐν τῷ νόμῳ λογίσαιτο. Οὐκοῦν νοητέον τοὺς λίθους τίνες εἰσὶν οἱ κατὰ τοῦ τοιούτου βαλλόμενοι, ἵνα μὴ εἰς τέλος ἀφίκοιτο ἡ περὶ τὸν φρυγανισμὸν σπουδή. τί δὲ τὰ ξύλα, δι' ὧν τὸ πῦρ ἐκκαυθή 5.396 σεται τῷ συνειλοχότι; πάντως δὲ οὐκ ἄδηλα ταῦτα τῷ καὶ ὁπωσοῦν μυστικῶν ἐπαΐοντι λόγων. εἰ γὰρ καλῶς ὁ ἀπόστολος ξύλα καὶ