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deeming him worthy of all care. But the facts proclaim the truth of your words; for in children you confirm the promises you have given to my master. Thus having praised the Giver of great gifts, he offers the girl the tokens of betrothal. And he adorns her ears with gold, as readily and very quickly receiving the requests of strangers; he likewise adorns her hands, as beautifully serving the magnanimity of her mind. But when he had entered the house, and saw her parents, and revealed the commands of his master, and made known the help of God, and, being a familiar friend, enjoyed the greatest possible care, did he then forget his master, and spurred by anxieties did he overlook his master, and prefer his own rest to that one's service? By no means. But when the father of the girl, and she who bore her, and he who shared in the birth-pangs begged him to stay, so that as the girl was leaving home they might enjoy her company for at least a few days, this man said: "Do not detain me, for the Lord has prospered my way; send me away, that I may go to my master." And everywhere he adorns his words with the divine name, 83.693 and from there he draws the supply of good things, and attributes his own affairs to that one's providence. Tell me, how did slavery harm this man? And who of those reared in freedom, and boasting of free ancestors, made a display of such virtue? And what excess of the highest piety could he leave behind? But perhaps one of those who know how to weave slanders, and who have been taught to misrepresent good things, might say that the master's philosophy so trained this man, and that looking to him as to a mirror, he drew from there the characters of virtue; while those who have had wicked masters take an impression again from the archetype, and receiving from there the first fruits of wickedness, they become workers of evil, showing the teachers in themselves. Come then, let us refute their falsehood, and show that the acquisition both of virtue and of vice is a matter of free choice, and that no wicked master could compel a servant who does not wish to live with vice. Let the most divine Joseph be brought forward, the descendant of that woman, the offspring of the patriarch Abraham, in the spring, in his prime, in the bloom of youth (for spring happens to be the most vigorous of the seasons), he was in the springtime of his age, he had the flower of his years, and while shining in body in the bloom of youth, he had a soul more radiant than his body. And he was beloved by his father, and very lovely, not only as being late-born, but also as agreeing with him in his ways, and being an impression of his father's virtue. When this one saw those dreams, and related them to his father in the hearing of his brothers, he was immediately warred upon by envy, and received reproaches, which envy had begotten. And when a little time had passed, those who could not bear the good fortune of the dreams, seeing the young man coming to them, run upon him like wild beasts on a lamb separated from the flock, and stripped of the shepherd's care; and neither reverencing their father's gray hairs, nor pitying his old age, which was leaning on the young man as on a staff, nor the economy of nature, nor the right of kinship, nor the identity of their root, nor his unripe age, inexperienced in wickedness, nor the involuntary leadership as in dreams, and a rule for the time being more unsubstantial than any shadow, they attempted to deliver him at once to slaughter, and to stain their hands with a kinsman's blood. Then when Reuben forbade the slaughter, and urged them to flee this stain, having hidden him for a short time in a certain pit, a little later they sell him to Ishmaelite merchants, and with the sale they cure the murder, 83.696 not enduring to look at the one who had ruled in a dream. Such punishments, therefore, for dreams

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πάσης ἀξιῶν θεραπείας. Τὴν δὲ ἀλήθειάν σου τῶν λόγων κηρύττει τὰ πράγματα· ἐν παισὶ γὰρ τὰς ὑποσχέ σεις βεβαιοῖς, ἃς τῷ κυρίῳ μου δέδωκας. Οὕτως ὑμνήσας τὸν μεγαλόδωρον, προσφέρει τῇ κόρῃ τῆς μνηστείας τὰ σύμβολα. Καὶ κοσμεῖ μὲν χρυσῷ τὰ ὦτα, ὡς εὐπετῶς καὶ μάλα ταχέως τῶν ξένων τὰς αἰτήσεις δεχόμενα· κοσμεῖ δὲ τὰς χεῖρας ὡσαύτως, ὡς καλῶς ὑπουργούσας τῇ μεγαλοψυχίᾳ τῆς γνώμης. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν εἰσελήλυθε, καὶ τοὺς ἐκείνης γεννήτορας ἐθεάσατο, καὶ τοῦ δεσπότου τὰς ἐντολὰς ἀπεκάλυψε, καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἐπι κουρίαν ἐγνώρισε, καὶ θεραπείας, ἅτε δὴ γνώρι μος, πλείστης ὅσης ἀπήλαυσεν, ἆρα ἐπελάθετο τοῦ δεσπότου, καὶ κεντούμενος ὑπὸ φροντίδων τὸν δε σπότην παρεῖδε, καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν ἀνάπαυλαν τῆς ἐκείνου προτετίμηκε θεραπείας; Οὐδαμῶς. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ τὴν κόρην φύσαντος, καὶ τῆς γεννησαμένης, καὶ τοῦ τῶν ὠδίνων κοινωνήσαντος μένειν ἀντιβολούν των, ἵν' ὡς ἐκδημούσης τῆς κόρης πρὸς ὀλίγας γοῦν αὐτῆς ἀπολαύσωσιν ἡμέρας, οὗτος ἔλεγε· «Μὴ κατέχετέ με, ὅτι Κύριος εὐώδωκε τὴν ὁδόν μου· ἐκπέμψατέ με, ἵνα ἀπέλθω πρὸς τὸν κύριόν μου.» Καὶ πανταχοῦ τοὺς λόγους τῇ θείᾳ προσηγορίᾳ κο 83.693 σμεῖ, καὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐκεῖθεν ἕλκει τὴν χορηγίαν, καὶ τὰ καθ' αὑτὸν ἐκείνης ἀνάπτει τῆς προμηθείας. Τί τοῦτον, εἰπέ μοι, παρέβλαψεν ἡ δουλεία; Τίς δὲ τῶν ἐν ἐλευθερίᾳ τεθραμμένων, καὶ ἐπ' ἐλευ θέροις γαυριώντων προγόνοις, τοσαύτης ἀρετῆς ἐπί δειξιν ἐποιήσατο; Ποίαν δὲ τῆς ἄκρας εὐσεβείας ὑπερβολὴν καταλίποι; Ἀλλ' ἴσως ἄν τις εἴποι τῶν συκοφαντίας ῥάπτειν ἐπισταμένων, καὶ τὰ καλὰ διαβάλλειν δεδιδαγμένων, ὡς ἡ τοῦ δεσπότου φιλοσο φία τοῦτον οὕτως ἐπαιδοτρίβησε, καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ὁρῶν οἷόν τι κάτοπτρον, εἵλκυσεν ἐκεῖθεν τοὺς τῆς ἀρετῆς χαρακτῆρας· οἱ δὲ πονηροὺς ἐσχηκότες δε σπότας, ἐκμάττονται πάλιν ἐκ τοῦ ἀρχετύπου τὸ μί μημα, καὶ τὰς τῆς πονηρίας ἀπαρχὰς ἐκεῖθεν λαμβάνοντες, ἐργάται γίνονται κακίας, ἐν ἑαυτοῖς τοὺς διδασκάλους δεικνύντες. Φέρε τοίνυν, τὸ ψεῦδος αὐτῶν διελέγξωμεν, καὶ δείξωμεν ὡς αὐθαίρετος καὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ τῆς κακίας ἡ κτῆσις, καὶ τὸν οὐ βουλόμενον οἰκέτην κακίᾳ συζῇν, οὐδεὶς ἂν πονηρὸς ἀναγκάσειε δεσπότης. Ἀγέσθω δὲ εἰς μέσον ὁ θειότατος Ἰωσὴφ, ὁ τῆς μὲν γυναικὸς ἐκείνης ἔκγονος, τοῦ δὲ πατριάρχου Ἀβραὰμ ἀπόγονος, ἐν ἦρι, ἐν ἀκμῇ, ἐν ὥρᾳ (τῶν γὰρ ὡρῶν ἡ ἀκμαιοτέρα τὸ ἔαρ τυγχάνει), ἐν ἦρι μὲν ἦν τῆς ἡλικίας, εἶχε δὲ τὸ ἄνθος τοῦ χρόνου, ὥρᾳ δὲ λάμπων κατὰ τὸ σῶμα, λαμπροτέραν εἶχε τοῦ σώ ματος τὴν ψυχήν. Ἐπέραστος δὲ ἦν τῷ πατρὶ, καὶ λίαν ἐράσμιος, οὐχ ὡς ὀψίγονος μόνον, ἀλλ' ὡς καὶ τοῖς τρόποις συμβαίνων, καὶ τῆς πατρῴας ἀρε τῆς ἐκμαγεῖον ὑπάρχων. Οὗτος ἐπειδὴ τοὺς ὀνεί ρους εἶδεν ἐκείνους, καὶ τῷ πατρὶ διηγήσατο τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἀκουόντων, πολεμεῖται μὲν εὐθὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ φθόνου, καὶ δέχεται λοιδορίας, ἃς ὁ φθόνος ἐγέννησε. Χρόνου δὲ ὀλίγου διελθόντος, οἱ τῶν ὀνείρων τὴν εὐκληρίαν οὐκ ἐνεγκόντες, ἀφικνούμενον πρὸς αὐτοὺς τὸ μειράκιον θεασάμενοι, ἐπιτρέχουσι μὲν ὡς θῆρες ἀρνίῳ ποίμνης κεχωρισμένῳ, καὶ τῆς τοῦ ποιμένος κηδεμονίας γεγυμνωμένῳ· καὶ μήτε τοῦ πατρὸς τὴν πολιὰν αἰδεσθέντες, μήτε τὸ γῆρας οἰκτεί ραντες, καθάπερ τινὶ βακτηρίᾳ τῷ νέῳ σκηριπτό μενον, μὴ τὴν τῆς φύσεως οἰκονομίαν, μὴ τῆς συγγενείας τὸ δίκαιον, μὴ τὴν τῆς ῥίζης ταυτότητα, μὴ τῆς ἡλικίας τὸ ἄωρον, καὶ κακίας ἀπείρατον, μὴ τὴν ἀκούσιον ὡς ἐν ὀνείροις ἡγεμονίαν, καὶ τῆς σκιᾶς ἁπάσης ἀδρανεστέραν τέως ἀρχὴν, ἐπεχείρησαν μὲν αὐτὸν εὐθὺς παραδοῦναι σφαγῇ, καὶ μιᾶναι τὰς χεῖρας αἵματι συγγενεῖ. Εἶτα τοῦ Ῥουβὴν ἀπαγορεύσαντος τὴν σφαγὴν, καὶ φυγεῖν τὴν κηλῖδα ταύτην παρακελεύσαντος, ἐν λάκκῳ τινὶ βραχὺν αὐ τὸν κατακρύψαντες χρόνον, ἀπεμπολοῦσι μικρὸν ὕστερον Ἰσμαηλίταις ἐμπόροις, καὶ θεραπεύουσι τῇ 83.696 πράσει τὸν φόνον, οὐδὲ βλέπειν ἀνασχόμενοι τὸν κατ' ὄναρ ἡγεμονεύσαντα. Τοιαύτας τοιγαροῦν δίκας ὑπὲρ ἐνυπνίων