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we will show. But for the present, let us praise him who supplies both common and private gifts to men, and who surrounds our race with countless good things. To him be glory for ever. Amen. DISCOURSE 8. That not even serving wicked masters harms those who are right-minded. A great tongue and intellect are needed, I know well, for one attempting to undertake so great a subject for discourse; for the glory of the deeds is somehow naturally at risk in the words; for by their weakness or strength they are accustomed to judge the matters, those who are willing to attend not to their nature, but to the cleverness of the words. But I, taking courage in the power of the subject, did not measure against it the 83.688 fruits of my thought, nor did I reckon its small and feeble pangs, but I considered only that the light of truth is manifest to those who wish to know it, just as the sun is to those with healthy eyes. For even with no one advocating, the providence of our Maker and Savior cries out. Therefore, I thought I was doing nothing unseemly, nor worthy of blame, by offering my tongue in service to the voice borne from all sides, and making it resound in the stopped ears of the ungrateful. That both poverty and wealth are necessary and useful for life, and that the physician of souls has applied a certain slavery and mastery, like certain medicines, to the wounds of sin, having had divine grace as a helper, we have sufficiently demonstrated. But that slavery does not harm those who experience it, but even greatly benefits those who are willing, will presently be shown, God willing; for this we promised yesterday to say. For it is possible for one who wishes, even without ancient examples, to examine fellow slaves, and to see many who are guardians of virtue, and who adorn their slavery with goodwill, and not needing compulsion, but performing what is right by their own judgment, and choosing the service of their masters, and for this reason being deemed worthy of freedom, and becoming masters of much wealth, and reaping the rewards of good slavery. But perhaps it is not superfluous to bring forward a few of those who were enslaved in ancient times, and to lay bare the treasure of piety which they gathered, for the refutation of those who attempt to slander slavery, and who make it an occasion for greater blasphemy, and who from this dare to shoot their arrows against the providence of God. Therefore, let him come forward, first of all, the chief servant of the patriarch Abraham. This man, then, when the patriarch was seen to have grown old, knowing the limit of nature, and seeing the end of life, for old age is the prelude to death, gave instructions concerning his son. and commanded him to bring a wife for him from his own tribe, and instructed him to avoid kinship with the Canaanites, trusting in the ancient curses and blessings; at that time this wonderful servant, first carefully examines all the words of his master, and fearing the proffered oath, and dreading the all-seeing eye, first inquires, if he must take the son back to his ancestral home, should the woman refuse to travel abroad. But when Abraham forbade it, and said that he must not take him back, but to trust in the God who had called, and to have faith in His guidance, the servant departed from his master's house, and having journeyed many stages, he arrived at 83.689 Haran late in the day; and he makes the camels kneel down, offering rest as a remedy for their labors, but he himself, bidding a long farewell to the gifts he was carrying, and to all the ostentation of wealth, stretching his hands to heaven, beseeches God, to become the matchmaker for his charge,

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δηλώσομεν. Ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ παρόντος τὸν καὶ κοινὰς καὶ ἰδίας τοῖς ἀνθρώποις δωρεὰς χορηγοῦντα, καὶ μυρίοις ὅσοις ἀγαθοῖς τὸ ἡμέτερον περικλύζοντα γένος, ὑμνήσω μεν. Αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν. ΛΟΓΟΣ Ηʹ. Ὅτι τοὺς εὖ φρονοῦντας οὐδὲ τὸ πονηροῖς δου λεύειν δεσπόταις λυμαίνεται. Μεγάλης μὲν, εὖ οἶδα σαφῶς, δεῖ καὶ γλώττης καὶ διανοίας, τῷ μεγάλην οὕτω λόγων ὑπόθεσιν ἀνα δέχεσθαι πειρωμένῳ· πέφυκε γάρ πως κινδυνεύειν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις τῶν πραγμάτων ἡ δόξα· τῇ γὰρ τού των ἀσθενείᾳ καὶ ῥώμῃ φιλοῦσι κρίνειν τὰ πράγμα τα, οἱ μὴ τῇ φύσει τούτων, ἀλλὰ τῇ δεινότητι τῶν λόγων προσέχειν ἐθέλοντες. Ἐγὼ δὲ τῇ τῆς ὑποθέ σεως δυνάμει θαῤῥήσας, οὐκ ἐμέτρησα ταύτῃ τὰ 83.688 τῆς ἐννοίας κυήματα, οὐδ' ἐλογισάμην τὰς μικρὰς αὐτῆς καὶ ἐξιτήλους ὠδῖνας, ἀλλ' ἐσκόπησα μόνον, ὡς δῆλόν ἐστι τοῖς εἰδέναι θέλουσι τῆς ἀληθείας τὸ φῶς, καθάπερ ἥλιος τοῖς ἐῤῥωμένοις τὰς ὄψεις. Καὶ μηδενὸς γὰρ συνηγοροῦντος, βοᾷ τοῦ Ποιητοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἡ πρόνοια. Οὐδὲν οὖν ἀπεικὸς δρᾷν ᾠήθην, οὐδὲ μέμψεως ἄξιον, παρασχὼν εἰς ὑπουργίαν τὴν γλῶτταν, τῇ πάντοθεν φερομένῃ φω νῇ, καὶ ταύτην ἐνηχῶν τοῖς βεβυσμένοις τῶν ἀχαρί στων ὠσίν. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν καὶ πενία καὶ πλοῦτος ἀναγκαῖα τῷ βίῳ καὶ χρήσιμα, καὶ δουλείαν δέ τινα καὶ δεσποτείαν, καθάπερ τινὰ φάρμακα, τοῖς ἕλκεσι τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ τῶν ψυχῶν προσήνεγκεν ἰατρὸς, τὴν θείαν χάριν συνεργὸν ἐσχηκότες, ἱκανῶς ἀπεδείξα μεν. Ὅτι δὲ οὐ λωβᾶται δουλεία τοῖς χρωμένοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίαν τοὺς βουλομένους εὐεργετεῖ, αὐτίκα, σὺν Θεῷ φάναι, δειχθήσεται· τοῦτο γὰρ χθὲς ἐρεῖν ὑπεσχόμεθα. ∆υνατὸν μὲν γὰρ τῷ βουλομένῳ, καὶ δίχα τῶν παλαιῶν παραδειγμάτων τοὺς συνδουλεύον τας ἐξετάσαι, καὶ θεωρῆσαι πολλοὺς ἀρετῆς φρον τιστὰς, καὶ τὴν δουλείαν εὐνοίᾳ κοσμοῦντας, καὶ τῆς μὲν ἀνάγκης οὐ δεομένους, γνώμῃ δὲ τὸ δέον ἐργαζομένους, καὶ τῶν δεσποτῶν τὴν θεραπείαν προαιρουμένους, καὶ τούτου χάριν καὶ ἐλευθερίας ἀξιουμένους, καὶ χρημάτων πολλῶν κυρίους γινομέ νους, καὶ τῆς καλῆς δουλείας τὰ ἐπίχειρα δρεπομέ νους. Οὐ παρέλκον δὲ ἴσως καὶ τῶν πάλαι δεδου λευκότων ὀλίγους εἰς μέσον παραγαγεῖν, καὶ γυμνῶ σαι τῆς εὐσεβείας τὸν θησαυρὸν, ὃν ἐκεῖνοι συνήγα γον, εἰς ἔλεγχον τῶν τὴν δουλείαν διαβάλλειν ἐπι χειρούντων, καὶ τῆς μείζονος βλασφημίας ταύτην ἀφορμὴν ποιουμένων, καὶ κατὰ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ προ νοίας ἐντεῦθεν ἀφιέναι τὰ βέλη τολμώντων. Παρίτω τοιγαροῦν πρῶτος ἁπάντων, ὁ πρῶτος Ἁβραὰμ τοῦ πατριάρχου θεράπων. Οὗτος τοίνυν, ἡνίκα γεγηρακὼς ὁ πατριάρχης ὤφθη, τῆς φύσεως τὸν ὅρον εἰδὼς, καὶ τοῦ βίου τὸ τέλος ὁρῶν, γῆρας γὰρ θανάτου προοίμιον, περὶ τοῦ υἱέος ἐνετέλλετο. καὶ φέρειν αὐτῷ γυναῖκα προσέταττεν ἐκ τῆς οἰκείας φυλῆς, καὶ φεύγειν τὴν τῶν Χαναναίων συγγέ νειαν παρηγγύα, ταῖς παλαιαῖς ἀραῖς καὶ εὐ λογίαις πιστεύων· τηνικαῦτα ὁ θαυμαστὸς οὗτος οἰ κέτης, πρῶτον μὲν ἀκριβῶς ἅπαντα βασανίζει τοῦ δεσπότου τὰ ῥήματα, καὶ τὸν προσφερόμενον δεδιὼς ὅρκον, καὶ τὸν τῶν ἁπάντων ἐπόπτην ὀῤῥωδῶν ὀφθαλμὸν, πυνθάνεται πρῶτον, εἰ δεῖ τὸν υἱὸν εἰς τὴν πατρῴαν ἀπαγαγεῖν οἰκίαν, τῆς γυναικὸς τὴν ἐκδημίαν παραιτουμένης. Τοῦ δὲ Ἀβραὰμ ἀπαγο ρεύσαντος, καὶ φήσαντος μὴ δεῖν ἀπάγειν, ἀλλὰ τῷ Θεῷ τῷ κεκληκότι θαῤῥεῖν, καὶ τοῖς ἐκείνου πηδα λίοις πιστεύειν, ἀπαίρει μὲν ὁ παῖς ἐκ τῆς δεσποτι κῆς οἰκίας, πολλοὺς δὲ σταθμοὺς ὁδεύσας, εἰς τὴν 83.689 Χαῤῥὰν ὀψὲ τῆς ἡμέρας παρεγένετο· καὶ τὰς μὲν καμήλους καθίζει, φάρμακον τῶν πόνων τὴν ἀνά παυλαν προσφέρων, αὐτὸς δὲ μακρὰ χαίρειν εἰπὼν οἷς ἐκόμιζε δώροις, καὶ πάσῃ τῇ τοῦ πλούτου περι φανείᾳ, εἰς οὐρανὸν τὰς χεῖρας ἐκτείνας, τὸν Θεὸν ἱκετεύει, προμνήστορα τοῦ τροφίμου γενέσθαι,