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he says these things, not as becoming known to him, but as justice is now following at their heels and retribution is taking place. For if many houses come to be, they will become a desert, great and beautiful, and there will not be inhabitants in them. For such is covetousness; when it bestows more on those who have, it also deprives them of what they had before. Which indeed he also hints at here, saying that when you build splendidly and make all things your own, then you will also be deprived of what you had before. And the houses will stand, having no inhabitants, but sending forth a voice clearer than any trumpet against those who seized them from the beginning, as the intense desolation appears like a kind of trophy. For where ten yoke of oxen work, it will produce one jar; and he who sows six artabas, will produce three measures. He extends his discourse from the city to the desolation of the country, so as to strike the hearer from every side. For neither will the houses, he says, hold their inhabitants, nor will the earth show its power. For from the beginning it brought forth thorns and thistles because of Adam's sin; and after him, because of Cain's transgression, it showed a yield far less than his labors and its own strength. And in many other places one might see it being punished on account of the sins of men. And why do you wonder, if the lawlessness of men cripples its fruits and its pangs, seeing that it even became corruptible because of us, and again becomes incorruptible because of us? For since its whole existence was for our sake and for our service, its being this way or that way again takes its beginning and root from this. So it was also in the time of Noah. Since the nature of men had run aground on extreme wickedness, all things were thrown into confusion—seeds and plants and the kinds of irrational animals and earth and sea and air and mountains and glens and hills and cities and walls and houses and towers; and simply all things were then hidden in that fearful sea. And when the race had to be renewed again, the earth received back its proper order and returned again to its former beauty. And one might see this happening in part also on account of the honor shown to men. For a sea disappeared and appeared again, and the sun was reined in with the moon and abandoned its proper course, and fire exhibited the properties of water, and earth the properties of the sea, and the sea the properties of the earth; and all things, so to speak, are transformed for the benefit of men. And since man is more honorable than all things and all things were made for his sake, for this very reason now, since the people of the Jews has sinned, God restrains the birth pangs of the earth, and after many labors and sweats He does not permit its loins to bring forth their accustomed yield, so that they may learn from this that it is not the art of agricultural hands, nor oxen and plow, nor the nature of the earth, nor anything else of the sort, but that He is the Master of all these things, who both pours out all things with a lavish hand and again, whenever he wishes, restrains all things. Woe to those who rise up in the morning and pursue strong drink, who stay late in the evening. For the wine will burn them up. For they drink their wine with harp and psaltery and drums and flutes; but they do not look upon the works of God, and they do not consider the works of his hands. Having accused them of great covetousness, he also sets forth the root of the evil. And this was drunkenness, which becomes the cause of a myriad evils, and especially when it is dared with such great excess.

5.5 Consider, then, how he ridicules them with precision. For he says that the whole day is spent on this. For it is not when it is necessary to breakfast that they do this, he says, but they make the whole time a time for drunkenness and from the beginning of the day, when they most ought to be attentive, they give themselves over to much unmixed wine and, now unwillingly, remain in this disease until evening. For when once they have been plunged into the abyss of intemperance and of those things according to nature

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γνωρίμων γενομένων αὐτῷ ταῦτά φησιν, ἀλλ' ὡς τῆς δίκης κατὰ πόδας ἰούσης λοιπὸν καὶ τῆς ἀνταποδόσεως γινομένης. Ἐὰν γὰρ γένωνται οἰκίαι πολλαί, εἰς ἔρημον ἔσονται μεγάλαι καὶ καλαὶ καὶ οὐκ ἔσονται οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐν αὐταῖς. Τοιοῦτον γὰρ ἡ πλεονεξία· ὅταν πλείονα περιβάλῃ τοῖς ἔχουσι, καὶ τῶν προτέρων αὐτοὺς ἐξήγαγεν. Ὃ δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα αἰνίττεται λέγων ὅτι ὅταν οἰκοδομήσητε λαμπρῶς καὶ τὰ πάντων ὑμῶν αὐτῶν ποιήσησθε, τότε καὶ τῶν προτέρων ἀποστήσεσθε. Καὶ στήσονται αἱ οἰκίαι οἰκήτορας μὲν οὐκ ἔχουσαι, σάλπιγγος δὲ πάσης λαμπροτέραν ἀφιεῖσαι φωνὴν κατὰ τῶν παρὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἡρπακότων αὐτάς, τῆς ἐρημώσεως τῆς ἐπιτεταμένης ἀντὶ τροπαίου τινὸς φαινομένης. Οὗ γὰρ ἐργῶνται δέκα ζεύγη βοῶν, ποιήσει κεράμιον ἕν· καὶ ὁ σπείρων ἀρτάβας ἕξ, ποιήσει μέτρα τρία. Ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως ἐπὶ τὴν τῆς χώρας ἐρημίαν ἐξάγει τὸν λόγον, ὥστε πάντοθεν καταπλῆξαι τὸν ἀκροατήν. Οὔτε γὰρ αἱ οἰκίαι, φησί, καθέξουσι τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας, οὔτε ἡ γῆ τὴν αὐτῆς ἐπιδείξεται δύναμιν. Καὶ γὰρ ἐξ ἀρχῆς διὰ τὴν τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἁμαρτίαν ἀκάνθας καὶ τριβόλους ἐξήνεγκε· καὶ μετ' ἐκεῖνον διὰ τὴν τοῦ Κάϊν παρανομίαν ἐλάττονα πολλῷ τῶν πόνων τῶν ἐκείνου καὶ τῆς οἰκείας ἰσχύος τὴν φορὰν ἐπεδείκνυτο. Καὶ πολλαχοῦ δὲ ἀλλαχοῦ ἴδοι τις ἂν διὰ τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἁμαρτίας αὐτὴν κολαζομένην. Καὶ τί θαυμάζεις, εἰ πηροῖ τὰς γονὰς αὐτῆς καὶ τὰς ὠδῖνας τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡ παρανομία, ὅπου γε καὶ φθαρτὴ δι' ἡμᾶς ἐγένετο, καὶ ἄφθαρτος πάλιν δι' ἡμᾶς γίνεται; Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὅλως τὸ εἶναι δι' ἡμᾶς ἔλαβε καὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν διακονίαν, καὶ τὸ οὕτως ἢ ἐκείνως εἶναι πάλιν ἐντεῦθεν λαμβάνει τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὴν ῥίζαν. Οὕτω γοῦν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Νῶε. Ἐπειδὴ πρὸς κακίαν ἐσχάτην ἐξώκειλε τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡ φύσις, πάντα ἐφύρετο τὰ πράγματα καὶ σπέρματα καὶ φυτὰ καὶ ἀλόγων γένη καὶ γῆ καὶ θάλαττα καὶ ἀὴρ καὶ ὄρη καὶ νάπαι καὶ βουνοὶ καὶ πόλεις καὶ τείχη καὶ οἰκίαι καὶ πύργοι· καὶ πάντα ἁπλῶς ἐκείνῳ τῷ φοβερῷ τότε ἐκρύπτετο πελάγει. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ πάλιν ἐπιδοῦναι τὸ γένος ἔδει, τὴν οἰκείαν εὐταξίαν ἀπελάμβανεν ἡ γῆ καὶ εἰς τὴν προτέραν εὐμορφίαν ἐπανῄει πάλιν. Ἴδοι δ' ἄν τις τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ μέρους γινόμενον διὰ τὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπους τιμήν. Καὶ γὰρ πέλαγος ἠφανίσθη καὶ πάλιν ἐφάνη καὶ ἥλιος ἐχαλινώθη μετὰ σελήνης καὶ τὸν οἰκεῖον δρόμον ἐπέλιπε καὶ πῦρ τὰ ὕδατος ἐπεδείξατο καὶ γῆ τὰ πελάγους καὶ πέλαγος τὰ τῆς γῆς· καὶ πάντα, ὡς εἰπεῖν ἁπλῶς, πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων μετασχηματίζεται λυσιτέλειαν. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ πάντων τιμιώτερος ἄνθρωπος καὶ δι' αὐτὸν τὰ γενόμενα ἅπαντα, διά τοι τοῦτο καὶ νῦν, ἐπειδὴ ἥμαρτεν ὁ τῶν Ἰουδαίων δῆμος, ἐπέχει τῆς γῆς τὰς ὠδῖνας ὁ Θεὸς καὶ μετὰ πολλοὺς πόνους καὶ ἱδρῶτας οὐκ ἀφίησι τὰς ἐκείνης λαγόνας τὴν εἰωθυῖαν φορὰν ἐνεγκεῖν, ἵνα κἀντεῦθεν μάθωσιν ὅτι οὐ γεωργικῶν χειρῶν τέχνη, οὐδὲ βόες καὶ ἄροτρον, οὐδὲ γῆς φύσις, οὐδὲ ἄλλο τῶν τοιούτων οὐδέν, ἀλλ' ὁ τούτων ἁπάντων ∆εσπότης οὗτός ἐστιν, ὁ καὶ δαψιλεῖ τῇ χειρὶ πάντα ἐκχέων καὶ πάλιν, ἐπειδὰν βούληται, συστέλλων ἅπαντα. Οὐαὶ οἱ ἐγειρόμενοι τὸ πρωῒ καὶ τὸ σίκερα διώκοντες, οἱ μένοντες τὸ ὀψέ. Ὁ γὰρ οἶνος αὐτοὺς συγκαύσει. Μετὰ γὰρ κιθάρας καὶ ψαλτηρίου καὶ τυμπάνων καὶ αὐλῶν τὸν οἶνον πίνουσι· τὰ δὲ ἔργα τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἐμβλέπουσι καὶ τὰ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ οὐ κατανοοῦσι. Κατηγορήσας αὐτῶν πλεονεξίαν πολλήν, καὶ τὴν ῥίζαν τοῦ κακοῦ τίθησιν. Αὕτη δὲ ἦν ἡ μέθη, μυρίων γινομένη κακῶν ὑπόθεσις, καὶ μάλιστα ὅταν μετὰ τοσαύτης τολμᾶται τῆς ὑπερβολῆς.

5.5 Σκόπει γοῦν, πῶς μετὰ ἀκριβείας αὐτοὺς κωμῳδεῖ. Πᾶσαν γὰρ τὴν ἡμέραν εἰς τοῦτο δαπανᾶσθαί φησιν. Οὐ γὰρ ὅταν ἀριστοποιεῖσθαι δέῃ, τοῦτο πράττουσι, φησίν, ἀλλὰ πάντα τὸν καιρὸν μέθης ποιοῦντες καιρὸν καὶ ἐκ προοιμίων τῆς ἡμέρας, ὅτε μάλιστα αὐτοῖς προσέχειν ἐχρῆν, πολλῷ τῷ ἀκράτῳ διδόντες ἑαυτοὺς καὶ ἄκοντες λοιπὸν καὶ μέχρι τῆς ἑσπέρας ἐναπομένοντες τῷ νοσήματι. Ἐπειδὰν γὰρ ἅπαξ φθάσωσι καταποντισθῆναι εἰς τὸν τῆς ἀκρασίας βυθὸν καὶ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν