56

this only happened, but so that the enemies might be silenced; whom another, declaring them more precisely, says: Because of those that bind you. For they themselves had bound him as he was led to the cross. To destroy an enemy and an avenger. Another: So as to make an enemy cease, and one who punishes himself, speaking here of the Jewish people. For they drove Christ as an enemy, but pretended to do this while avenging the Father. For this reason, depriving them of this defense, he said: He who hates me, also hates my Father; and again: He who believes in me, believes in him who sent me; everywhere joining the Father to the honor and insult toward himself. And see the precision of the Prophet. He did not say, To punish, but, To destroy; which the other declares more clearly, saying, To make cease, that is, to take away their shamelessness, not to teach; for they were incurably sick. Seeing, then, such a miracle, and having nothing to say against it, they turned to him saying: Do you not hear what these are saying? It being necessary, then, to worship and to marvel, they were in great perplexity, and while they should have been saying to one another, each to his neighbor, Do you not hear what these are saying? they left themselves and said it to Christ. And for what reason was a voice of angels not brought forth? Because that would have seemed to them to be an illu 55.110 sion; but against this they had nothing to say. What then did the children say? Nothing burdensome, nor offensive, nor sufficient to strike them, but especially declaring the agreement with the Father. Blessed, they said, is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 3. Then, therefore, he destroyed their shamelessness, but later their city, and there is no part of the inhabited world without the boundless calamities of the Jews; but like a crippled body, it is scattered everywhere, displaying its wounds; and just as judges, when they have done away with many murderers, impale one, so that even after they have died, the suffering, as if newly happened, may chasten the living; so indeed here also, not those who have died, but the living he has made an example to all, by scattering them; and those who inhabited one country are now scattered everywhere on the earth. And if you should ask the reason, you will find no other than the crucifying of Christ. For why, tell me, did this not happen? But if it ever did happen, they were confined to one nation, and for a few years; but now it is not so, but they are punished without end. And if you should ask them, Why did you crucify Christ? they say, As being a deceiver and a sorcerer. Therefore, for this you should have been honored, and received more land, as having pleased God. For he who has done away with a deceiver and a sorcerer and an enemy of God, has done away with an enemy of God; and he who has done away with an enemy would be right to be well-pleasing. But now Phinehas, for having done away with one harlot, was so well-pleasing to God, as to be thought worthy of the priesthood, and of so much honor; but you, who ought to be far more well-pleasing than he, if indeed you did away with a deceiver, wander everywhere as vagrants and exiles. So that for no other reason have you suffered these things, than that you crucified a patron and benefactor and teacher of truth. For if he was a deceiver and an enemy of God, and, not being God, wished to be God, and drew to himself the worship of the Father, you should have been more well-pleasing than Phinehas, and Samuel, and all of them, having shown such zeal for the law. But now, what you never suffered when you were idolaters, committing impiety, slaughtering children, these things you suffer now, and there is no release from the terrible things, and as vagrants and fugitives and wanderers and slaves to Roman laws, you traverse land and sea, migrants and exiles, homeless and enslaved, of freedom and fatherland and priesthood and all the

56

τοῦτο γέγονε μόνον, ἀλλ' ὥστε καὶ ἐπιστομισθῆναι τοὺς ἐχθρούς· οὓς καὶ ἕτερος, ἀκριβέστερον αὐτοὺς δηλῶν, φησί· ∆ιὰ τοὺς ἐνδεσμοῦντάς σε. Αὐτοὶ γὰρ ἦσαν δήσαντες αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸν σταυρὸν ἀγόμενον. Τοῦ καταλῦσαι ἐχθρὸν καὶ ἐκδικητήν. Ἄλλος· Ὥστε παῦσαι ἐχθρὸν, καὶ τιμωροῦντα ἑαυτῷ, τὸν λαὸν τὸν Ἰουδαϊκὸν ἐνταῦθα λέγων. Ἤλαυνον μὲν γὰρ ὡς ἐχθρὸν τὸν Χριστὸν, προσεποιοῦντο δὲ τὸν πατέρα ἐκδικοῦντες τοῦτο ποιεῖν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ταύτης αὐτοὺς ἀποστερῶν τῆς ἀπολογίας, ἔλεγεν· Ὁ ἐμὲ μισῶν, καὶ τὸν Πατέρα μου μισεῖ· καὶ πάλιν· Ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ, πιστεύει εἰς τὸν πέμψαντά με· ἄνω καὶ κάτω συνάπτων τῇ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν τιμῇ καὶ ὕβρει τὸν Πατέρα. Καὶ ὅρα τὴν ἀκρίβειαν τοῦ Προφήτου. Οὐκ εἶπε, Τοῦ κολάσαι, ἀλλὰ, Τοῦ καταλῦσαι· ὅπερ ὁ ἕτερος σαφέστερον δηλοῖ, λέγων, Τοῦ παῦσαι, τουτέστι, τὴν ἀναισχυντίαν αὐτῶν ἀνελεῖν, οὐ τοῦ διδάξαι· ἀδιόρθωτα γὰρ ἐνόσουν. Ὁρῶντες γοῦν τοιοῦτον θαῦμα, καὶ μηδὲν ἔχοντες ἀντειπεῖν, πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐπεστρέφοντο λέγοντες· Οὐκ ἀκούεις τί οὗτοι λέγουσι; ∆έον λοιπὸν προσκυνῆσαι καὶ θαυμάσαι, οἱ δὲ ἐν ἀμηχανίᾳ ἦσαν πολλῇ, καὶ ὀφείλοντες ἀλλήλοις λέγειν ἕκαστος τῷ πλησίον, Οὐκ ἀκούεις τί οὗτοι λέγουσιν; ἀφέντες ἑαυτοὺς τῷ Χριστῷ ἔλεγον. Καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν οὐκ ἀγγέλων ἠνέχθη φωνή; Ὅτι ἐκεῖνο μὲν φάν 55.110 τασμα αὐτοῖς ἔδοξεν ἂν εἶναι· πρὸς τοῦτο δὲ οὐδὲν εἶχον ἀντειπεῖν. Τί δὲ ἔλεγον τὰ παιδία; Οὐδὲν φορτικὸν, οὐδὲ ἐπαχθὲς, οὐδὲ ἱκανὸν αὐτοὺς πλῆξαι, ἀλλὰ μάλιστα τὴν συμφωνίαν τὴν πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα δηλοῦν. Εὐλογημένος, ἔλεγον, ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου. γʹ. Τότε μὲν οὖν κατέλυσεν αὐτῶν τὴν ἀναισχυντίαν, ὕστερον δὲ πόλιν, καὶ μέρος οὐδέν ἐστι τῆς οἰκουμένης τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν ἄπειρον συμφορῶν· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ σῶμα ἀνάπηρον, πανταχοῦ διαδέδοται, τὰ τραύματα ἐπιδεικνύμενον· καὶ καθάπερ οἱ δικασταὶ πολλοὺς τῶν ἀνδροφόνων ἐπειδὰν ἀνέλωσιν, ἕνα ἀνασκολοπίζουσιν, ἵνα καὶ τελευτησάντων αὐτῶν, ὥσπερ νεωστὶ γεγενημένον τὸ πάθος σωφρονίζῃ τοὺς ζῶντας· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα οὐ τελευτήσαντας, ἀλλὰ ζῶντας παράδειγμα πᾶσιν ἐποίησε, διασπείρας αὐτούς· καὶ οἱ μίαν οἰκοῦντες χώραν, νῦν πανταχοῦ τῆς γῆς εἰσι διεσπαρμένοι. Κἂν ἐρωτήσῃς τὴν αἰτίαν, οὐδεμίαν ἄλλην εὑρήσεις, ἀλλ' ἢ τὸ σταυρῶσαι τὸν Χριστόν. ∆ιὰ τί γὰρ οὕτως, εἰπέ μοι, τοῦτο μὴ γέγονεν; Ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ γέγονέ ποτε, εἰς ἔθνος ἓν ἀφωρίσθησαν, καὶ ἐπὶ ἔτεσιν ὀλίγοις· νυνὶ δὲ οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλ' ἀπέραντα κολάζονται. Κἂν ἐρωτήσῃς αὐτοὺς, ∆ιὰ τί ἐσταυρώσατε τὸν Χριστόν; λέγουσιν, Ὡς πλάνον καὶ γόητα ὄντα. Οὐκοῦν ὑπὲρ τούτου τιμηθῆναι ἔδει, καὶ πλείονα χώραν προσλαβεῖν, ὡς ἀρέσαντας τῷ Θεῷ. Ὁ γὰρ πλάνον καὶ γόητα καὶ ἀντίθεον ἀνελὼν, ἐχθρὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀνεῖλε· ὁ δὲ ἐχθρὸν ἀνελὼν, εὐδοκιμεῖν ἂν εἴη δίκαιος. Νῦν δὲ ὁ μὲν Φινεὲς, ἵνα μίαν ἀνέλῃ πόρνην, οὕτως εὐδοκίμησε παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ, ὡς καὶ ἱερωσύνης ἀξιωθῆναι, καὶ τοσαύτης τιμῆς· ὑμεῖς δὲ, οἱ μᾶλλον ἐκείνου ὀφείλοντες εὐδοκιμεῖν πολλῷ, εἴγε πλάνον ἀνείλετε, ἀλῆται καὶ ἀπόλιδες περιάγετε πανταχοῦ. Ὥστε οὐ δι' ἄλλο τι ταῦτα πεπόνθατε, ἀλλ' ἢ ὅτι προστάτην καὶ εὐεργέτην καὶ ἀληθείας διδάσκαλον ἐσταυρώσατε. Εἰ γὰρ πλάνος ἦν καὶ ἀντίθεος, καὶ, μὴ ὢν Θεὸς, Θεὸς εἶναι ἐβούλετο, καὶ τὸ τοῦ Πατρὸς σέβας εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἐπεσπᾶτο, καὶ τοῦ Φινεὲς, καὶ τοῦ Σαμουὴλ, καὶ πάντων ἐκείνων μᾶλλον ὑμᾶς εὐδοκιμῆσαι ἔδει, τοσοῦτον ὑπὲρ τοῦ νόμου ζηλώσαντας. Νυνὶ δὲ, ἃ μηδέποτε πεπόνθατε εἰδωλολατροῦντες, ἀσεβοῦντες, παῖδας σφάζοντες, ταῦτα πεπόνθατε νῦν, καὶ λύσις οὐδεμία τῶν δεινῶν, καὶ ἀλῆται καὶ φυγάδες καὶ πλάνοι καὶ νόμοις Ῥωμαίων δουλεύοντες, μετέρχεσθε γῆν καὶ θάλατταν, μετανάσται καὶ ἀπόλιδες, ἄοικοι καὶ ἐξηνδραποδισμένοι, ἐλευθερίας καὶ πατρίδος καὶ ἱερωσύνης καὶ πάντων τῶν