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to give this unwritten narrative of the rest of the history also to the biography. 10.13.2 But again Joseph was openly, so to speak, stolen from the eyes of Pharaoh by Israel as he journeyed, and his body was everywhere present with the people and was carried with care as some good and evil-averting, safe amulet for the six hundred thousand. And they had as much reverence for the coffin of the forefather as for the holy ark, which bore the law of God. 10.13.3 Wherefore David also, somewhere beseeching God to be merciful and gracious to the people, and entreating him with countless supplications, that having stopped the continuous and successive plague of misfortunes he might again govern Jerusalem with good providence as before, says thus: O shepherd of Israel, give heed, you who lead Joseph like a sheep. For he prevails upon God by the names of the beloved and dear ones and very ingeniously handles the supplication, as it were hiding and covering the sins of the impious multitude with the names of the holy fathers. 10.14.1 This same meaning is suggested to us also by the preserved account concerning Sodom. For Abraham, interceding for the Sodomites when God, being hostile to them, brought punishment after a prediction, thought it right for the entire populace to be saved for the sake of sparing the righteous. For beginning from fifty he ended at ten, and God immediately assented to the supplication, as if on some balance and scales counterposing the worth of the ten righteous to the myriads of sinners. 10.14.2 But in order to show to all of us more fully that even one righteous man is a precious thing and dear to God, since the number ten was lacking and the populace of sinners was found to be wanting even this small number of holy men, and it was necessary for the transgressors to pay the penalty for their insolence, Lot is driven forcefully from the condemned places and is saved with his whole family as the prize for his own righteousness, receiving all his household besides from God. 10.15.1 A righteous man, therefore, is a great possession; first a benefit to himself, then to the succeeding generations of the family an enduring treasure, unseen by sight and always present, silent and yet teaching others by his deeds; long dead and yet living by his good reputation. A good inheritance for the children and inviolable, which time does not consume and a robber does not take away. For it is incorporeal and immaterial, dwelling in incorporeal souls. 10.15.2 You see how even the glorious and renowned Israelites, deprived of everything and cast out of their very ancestral land, were not deprived of their venerable name nor stripped of being called after their God-loving forefather, but even while serving barbarians they were freed on account of the righteousness of their fathers, and while living in the desert they were fed on account of the good reputation of their progenitors; and though sinning continuously and blaspheming often and deemed worthy of destructive punishment, they were accounted worthy of being spared for Abraham's sake and obtained forgiveness for Israel's sake, hard-hearted children saved as the prize of their fathers. 10.16.1 And you know, O lover of learning, that at the very first, when God called Moses from shepherding to the leadership of the peoples, he immediately says these things to his servant: I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And proceeding a little further in the discourse he adds these things: Gather the elders of the sons of Israel and you shall say to them: The Lord, the God of your fathers, has appeared to me, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 10.16.2 And thus in the beginning God seals the descendants with the name of the righteous fathers as with a kind of signet; knowing that it is good and advantageous to be known from them. But as time went on, when the people rushed into insolence against their benefactor and contempt for their Savior, they stumbled in the idol-making of the calf and worshipped a lifeless skull, having lost their animate and rational mind, 10.16.3 Moses, at that time having no

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λοιπῆς ἱστορίας ἀνάγραπτον δοῦναι καὶ τοῦτο τῷ βίῳ διήγημα. 10.13.2 Ἰωσὴφ δὲ πάλιν ὕπαρ παρὰ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ὁδεύοντος ἐκ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, ἐκλάπη τοῦ Φαραώ, πανταχοῦ δὲ συμπαρῆν τῷ λαῷ τὸ σῶμα καὶ ἤγετο μετ' ἐπιμελείας ὡς ἀγαθόν τι καὶ ἀλεξίκακον φυλακτήριον ἀσφαλὲς τῶν ἑξήκοντα μυριάδων. Καὶ τοσαύτην εἶχον τὴν αἰδῶ περὶ τὴν λάρνακα τοῦ προπάτορος, ὅσην περὶ τὴν ἁγίαν κιβωτόν, ἣ τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ νόμον ἐβάσταζεν. 10.13.3 ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ ∆αβὶδ παρακαλῶν που τὸν Θεὸν ἵλεων εἶναι καὶ εὐμενῆ τῷ λαῷ, καὶ μυρίαις αὐτὸν ταῖς ἱκεσίαις ἐκλιπαρῶν, ἵνα τὴν συνεχῆ καὶ ἐπάλληλον τῶν συμφορῶν στήσας πληγὴν πάλιν ἐν ἀγαθῇ προνοίᾳ διοικῇ τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὡς τὸ πρότερον, οὕτως φησί· Ὁ ποιμαίνων τὸν Ἰσραήλ, πρόσσχες, ὁ ὁδηγῶν ὡσεὶ πρόβατον τὸν Ἰωσήφ. ∆υσωπεῖ γὰρ τὸν Θεὸν τοῖς τῶν ἀγαπητῶν καὶ φίλων ὀνόμασιν καὶ λίαν εὐμηχάνως τὴν ἱκετηρίαν μεταχειρίζεται τοῦ δυσσε βήσαντος πλήθους τὰς ἁμαρτίας οἷον ἐγκρύπτων καὶ σκέπων ταῖς τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων προσηγορίαις. 10.14.1 Τοῦτον ἡμῖν ὑπαγορεύει τὸν νοῦν καὶ ὁ περὶ τὰ Σόδομα σωζόμενος λόγος. Ἀβραὰμ γὰρ Σοδομίτας παραιτούμενος, ἡνίκα δυσμεναίνων αὐτοῖς ὁ Θεὸς μετὰ προρρήσεως ἐπήγαγεν τὴν κόλασιν, τῇ φειδοῖ τῶν δικαίων ἠξίου σωθῆναι τὸν σύμπαντα δῆμον. Ἀρξάμενος γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν πεντήκοντα εἰς τοὺς δέκα κατέληξεν καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἱκεσίαν εὐθέως ἔνευσεν ὁ Θεός, ὥσπερ ἐπί τινος ζυγοῦ καὶ πλαστίγγων ταῖς μυριάσι τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν τὸ τῶν δέκα δικαίων ἀντιστήσας ἀξίωμα. 10.14.2 Ἵνα δὲ ἐπὶ πλέον ἐνδείξηται πᾶσιν ἡμῖν, ὅτι καὶ εἷς δίκαιος τίμιον πρᾶγμα καὶ Θεῷ φίλον, ἐπειδὴ ὁ μὲν δέκατος ἐξέλιπεν ἀριθμὸς καὶ εὑρέθη ταύτης τῆς ὀλιγότητος τῶν ὁσίων τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν ὁ δῆμος πενόμενος, ἐχρῆν δὲ τοὺς παρανομή σαντας δοῦναι θρασύτητος δίκην, σφοδρῶς ἐλαύνεται τῶν καταδικασθέντων τόπων ὁ Λὼτ καὶ σώζεται παγγενεὶ εἰς τὸ γέρας τῆς ἰδίας δικαι οσύνης καὶ τοὺς οἰκείους πάντας παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ προσλαβών. 10.15.1 Μέγα οὖν κτῆμα δίκαιος· πρῶτον ὄφελος ἑαυτῷ, ἔπειτα τοῖς ἑξῆς τοῦ γένους θησαυρὸς διαρκὴς ἀγνοούμενος τῇ θέᾳ καὶ ἀεὶ συμπαρών, σιωπῶν καὶ παιδεύων τοὺς ἄλλους πράγμασι· πάλαι κείμενος καὶ ζῶν ταῖς εὐδοκιμήσεσιν. Ἀγαθὴ τῶν παίδων κληρονομία καὶ ἄσυλος, ἣν χρόνος οὐ δαπανᾷ καὶ λῃστὴς οὐκ ἀφαιρεῖται. Ἀσώματος γάρ ἐστι καὶ ἄϋλος, ἀσωμάτοις ἐμπολιτευομένη ψυχαῖς. 10.15.2 Ὁρᾷς ὡς καὶ οἱ ἔνδοξοι καὶ ἀοίδιμοι Ἰσραηλῖται πάντων ἀφῃρημένοι καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς γῆς ἐκπε σόντες τῆς πατρικῆς τῆς σεμνῆς προσηγορίας οὐκ ἀφῃρέθησαν οὐδὲ ἐγυμνώθησαν τοῦ καλεῖσθαι ἀπὸ τοῦ φιλοθέου προπάτορος, ἀλλὰ καὶ βαρβάροις δουλεύοντες διὰ τὴν δικαιοσύνην τῶν πατέρων ἠλευθερώθησαν καὶ ἐν ἐρήμῳ διαζῶντες διὰ τὴν εὐδοκίμησιν τῶν γεννησαμένων ἐτρά φησαν· καὶ ἁμαρτάνοντες συνεχῶς καὶ βλασφημοῦντες πολλάκις καὶ ἄξιοι νομισθέντες τῆς ὀλοθρευούσης κολάσεως διὰ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ φειδοῦς ἠξιώθησαν καὶ διὰ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἔτυχον συγγνώμης, θρασυκάρδιοι παῖδες εἰς τὰ γέρα τῶν πατέρων σωζόμενοι. 10.16.1 Καὶ οἶδάς γε, ὁ φιλομαθής, ὡς ἐν πρώτοις ὁ Θεός, ἡνίκα ἐκ τῆς ποιμαντικῆς ἐπὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τῶν λαῶν ἐκάλει τὸν Μωϋσῆν, εὐθὺς ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν δοῦλόν φησιν· Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ πατρός σου, ὁ Θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ὁ Θεὸς Ἰσαὰκ καὶ ὁ Θεὸς Ἰακώβ. Καὶ μικρὸν πρόσω τοῦ λόγου γενόμενος ταῦτα προστίθησιν· Συνάγαγε τὴν γερουσίαν τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἐρεῖς πρὸς αὐτούς· Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν ὦπταί μοι, ὁ Θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ὁ Θεὸς Ἰσαὰκ καὶ ὁ Θεὸς Ἰακώβ. 10.16.2 Καὶ οὕτως ἐν προοιμίοις ὁ Θεὸς τῷ ὀνόματι τῶν δικαίων πατέρων οἷον σημάντρῳ τινὶ τοὺς ἀπογόνους σφραγίζεται· καλὸν εἰδὼς καὶ συμφέρον τὸ ἀπ' ἐκείνων γνωρίζεσθαι. Χρόνου δὲ προελθόντος, ἐπειδὴ εἰς ὕβριν τοῦ εὐεργέτου ὥρμησεν ὁ λαὸς καὶ καταφρόνησιν τοῦ Σωτῆρος, προσέκοψαν δὲ τῇ εἰδωλοποιήσει τοῦ μόσχου καὶ προσεκύνουν κρανίον ἄψυχον τὴν ἔμψυχον καὶ λογικὴν φρόνησιν ἀπολέσαντες, 10.16.3 οὐκ ἔχων ὁ Μωϋσῆς τηνικαῦτα