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the precious from the worthless, you shall be as my mouth. What virtues, then, are equal to this one? Compare with it whatever you wish; for do not look only at the one who brings forth, but even if he does not bring forth, he has done his part. *That is, If, while waiting, you change someone with continuous words, you will be imitating me, who with long-suffering strive to lead the race of men to what is better. And they will turn to you, and you will not turn back to them. For the promises of honor were superfluous, if he had not also promised security here; that is, They will come to you, but you will not yield to them; they will entreat you, and they will beseech you. *That is, Remain steadfast in piety, so that they may change for the better, but that you yourself not be changed by neglect to their opinion. *And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze, and so on. That is, And if they inflict evils, I will defend you against them, making you superior to misfortunes.

CHAPTER 16.

And you, do not take. It is truly worthy of wonder, for what reason does he command not to take? So as not to bear children for misfortune. See how the prophet was still young, and this also so as to convince them concerning the coming terrors. For there was no one who, seeing the prophet not marrying, and learning the reason, would not have believed. For in the coming tribulations, he says, of the people one must be unencumbered, and not be worn out for a wife and children. For thus says the Lord. For it is not spoken concerning sons and daughters, but concerning fathers and mothers, and those who bore them. Therefore he also advises not to marry. 64.912 By death. He often says the same things; and not once is he heard, nor does it reach them: even the being unburied, which especially grieved them, famine, grievous death, slaughter, not being buried, that with unsparing shame, not even being pitied; and in addition to these, becoming food for beasts; what man would these things not have bent? Thus says the Lord; Do not enter into their company, and do not go to lament, and do not mourn them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, says the Lord, and so on. They used to make incisions in the old days; for from the beginning the devil strove to reduce the work of God to the utmost deformity. For since he exalted the mind, and the beauty of the body itself videiur aliquid deesse he defiles or pollutes or something similar, you see how many methods he devises. First, of licentiousness, paints and cosmetics, and as many such things as there are. Then of mourning, so as to cut themselves; and each passion has its accomplice, in the former case fornication, and in the latter despondency, third, the festival of Rhea, where he also creates the effeminate and the castrated; no longer then striving to reduce it to deformity, but also to destroy the very basis of succession. For he has striven for nothing so much as to destroy our race, and to accuse God of having made something superfluous; then adulteries, so that the children might be suffocated. *That is, Do not come into their assembly. For he calls a company the friendly gathering, which they make, both in symposia, and in mourning, for the consolation of the one who mourns. And you have acted more wickedly than your fathers. It was necessary for you, being afraid, not to fall into the same things, but you did the opposite; for you acted more wickedly than your fathers; and how is it not unreasonable, for them, when they sinned, to suffer nothing, but for us to be punished? Not at all. For they too will pay the penalty, but not now, whereas you will even now; for you are worse than they, having made no necessary use of the long-suffering. For just as in the case of one

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τίμιον ἀπὸ ἀναξίου, ὡς τὸ στόμα μου ἔσῃ. Ποῖαι λοιπὸν ταύτης ἴσαι ἀρεταί; παράβαλε ταύτῃ ὅσα βούλει· μὴ γὰρ δὴ τὸν ἐξάγοντα ἴδῃς, ἀλλὰ κἂν μὴ ἐξαγάγῃ, τὸ αὑτοῦ ἐποίησεν. *Τουτέστιν, Εἰ δὲ ἀναμένων τοῖς συνεχέσι λόγοις μεταβάλλῃς τινὰ, ἔσῃ μιμούμενος ἐμὲ, ὃς μακροθυμίᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸ γένος ἄγειν ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον σπουδάζω. Καὶ ἀναστρέψουσιν αὐτοὶ πρὸς σὲ, καὶ σὺ οὐκ ἀποστρέψεις πρὸς αὐτούς. Περιττὰ γὰρ ἦν τὰ τῆς τιμῆς ἐπαγγελλόμενα, εἰ μὴ καὶ τὴν ἐνταῦθα ἀσφάλειαν ὑπέσχετο· τουτέστιν, Αὐτοὶ ἥξουσιν πρὸς σὲ, σὺ δὲ οὐκ εἴξεις αὐτοῖς· σοῦ δεηθήσονται, καὶ παρακαλέσουσί σε. *Τουτέστι, Στερεὸς ἐπὶ τῆς εὐσεβείας μεῖνον, ὥστε ἐκείνους ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον μεταβαλεῖν, ἀλλὰ μὴ αὐτόν σε ὑπὸ ὀλιγωρίας μεταβληθῆναι πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνων γνώμην. *Καὶ δώσω σε τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ τεῖχος χαλκοῦν ὀχυρὸν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Τουτέστιν, Εἰ δὲ κακὰ διατιθέασιν, αὐτοὺς ἐπαμύνω, κρείττονά σε τῶν συμφορῶν ποιῶν.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ιςʹ.

Καὶ σὺ μὴ λάβῃς. Ἄξιον ὄντως θαυμάσαι, τίνος ἕνεκεν μὴ λαβεῖν κελεύει; Ὥστε μὴ ἐπὶ συμφορᾷ τεκεῖν. Ὅρα πῶς ἔτι νέος ἦν ὁ προφήτης, καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ὥστε πιστώσασθαι ἐκείνους περὶ τῶν μελλόντων δεινῶν. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἦν, ὃς ὁρῶν τὸν προφήτην μὴ γαμοῦντα, καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν μανθάνων, οὐκ ἂν ἐπίστευσεν. Ἐν γὰρ ταῖς ἐπιούσαις θλίψεσι, φησὶ, τοῦ λαοῦ εὔζωνον δεῖ εἶναι, καὶ μὴ κατατρύχεσθαι εἰς γυναῖκα, καὶ τέκνα. Ὅτι τάδε λέγει Κύριος. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ περὶ υἱῶν καὶ θυγατέρων, ἀλλὰ περὶ πατέρων καὶ μητέρων, καὶ τῶν γεννησαμένων εἴρηται. ∆ιὸ καὶ μὴ γαμῆσαι παραινεῖ. 64.912 Ἐν θανάτῳ. Πολλάκις τὰ αὐτὰ λέγει· καὶ οὐδὲ ἅπαξ ἀκούεται, οὐδὲ καθικνεῖται αὐτῶν καὶ τὸ ἄταφον, ὃ μάλιστα αὐτοὺς ἐλύπει, λιμὸς, θάνατος νοσερὸς, σφαγὴ, τὸ μὴ ταφῆναι, τὸ μετὰ αἰσχύνης ἀφειδοῦς, μηδὲ ἐλεουμένους· καὶ πρὸς τούτοις θηρίων γενέσθαι βορά· τίνα ταῦτα οὐκ ἂν ἔκαμψαν; Τάδε λέγει Κύριος· Μὴ εἰσέλθῃς εἰς θίασον αὐτῶν, καὶ μὴ πορευθῇς τοῦ κόψασθαι, καὶ μὴ πενθήσῃς αὐτοὺς, ὅτι ἀφέστηκα τὴν εἰρήνην μου ἀπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου, φησὶ Κύριος, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ἐντομίδας ἐποίουν τὸ παλαιόν· ἐξ ἀρχῆς γὰρ ὁ διάβολος ἐσπούδασεν εἰς ἐσχάτην ἀμορφίαν καταστῆσαι τὸ ἔργον τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὴν διάνοιαν ἐπῆρε, καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ σώματος τὸ κάλλος videiur aliquid deesse καταῤῥυπαίνει seu μολύνει aut simile, ὁρᾷς πόσας ἐπινοεῖ μεθοδείας. Πρῶτον τῆς ἀσελγείας, φυκώματα καὶ ἐπιτρίμματα, καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτά ἐστιν. Ἔπειτα τοῦ πένθους, ὥστε κατατέμνειν ἑαυτούς· ἑκάτερον δὲ πάθος ἔχει συμπαθητικὸν, ἐκεῖ μὲν οὖν πορνείαν, ἐνταῦθα δὲ ἀθυμίαν, τρίτον τῆς ἑορτῆς Ῥέας, ἔνθα καὶ μαλακοὺς, καὶ ἀποτόμους ἐργάζεται· οὐκέτι λοιπὸν εἰς ἀμορφίαν αὐτὸ καταστῆσαι σπεύδων, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς διαδοχῆς τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ἀνελεῖν. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως ἐσπούδασεν, ὡς τὸ γένος ἀφανίσαι τὸ ἡμέτερον, καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ κατηγορεῖν ὡς περιττά τινα πεποιηκότος· εἶτα μοιχείας, ἵνα ἀποπνίγωνται τὰ παιδία. *Τουτέστι, Μὴ εἰς συνέδριον αὐτῶν ἔλθῃς. Θίασον γὰρ καλεῖ τὴν καταφιλικὴν εὔοδον, ἢν ποιοῦνται, καὶ ἐν συμποσίοις, καὶ ἐπὶ πένθει, πρὸς παράκλησιν τοῦ πενθοῦντος. Καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐπονηρεύσασθε ὑπὲρ τοὺς πατέρας ὑμῶν. ∆έον ὑμᾶς φοβηθέντας μὴ τοῖς αὐτοῖς περιπεσεῖν, ὑμεῖς τοὐναντίον ἐποιήσατε· ἐπονηρεύσασθε γὰρ ὑπὲρ τοὺς πατέρας ὑμῶν· καὶ πῶς οὐκ ἄλογον, ἐκείνους μὲν ἁμαρτάνοντας μηδὲν παθεῖν, ἡμᾶς δὲ τιμωρηθῆναι; Οὐδαμῶς. ∆ώσουσι μὲν γὰρ κἀκεῖνοι δίκην, ἀλλ' οὐ νῦν, ὑμεῖς δὲ καὶ νῦν· ὑμεῖς γὰρ κἀκείνων χείρους, τὴν μακροθυμίαν εἰς οὐδὲν χρησάμενοι δέον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ ἑνὸς