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he applied to the Egyptian disease, having permitted them to sacrifice on account of the weakness of the sacrificers, but commanding them to sacrifice the animals they worshipped, so that by 7.19 sacrificing they might learn not to consider as gods the things sacrificed as victims. For this very reason he also forbade them to partake of swine's flesh, since the Egyptians partook of these alone, abstaining from the others as gods. For having legislated that these things be considered unclean, he commanded them to eat the things that were deified, so that they might appear contemptible as being eaten by them and not usurp divine worship. 7. For knowing them to be superstitious and gluttonous, he set passion against passion and set gluttony against superstition. For having commanded them to abstain from swine as unclean, but having legislated that they enjoy the others as clean, by the desire for eating meat he compelled them to partake of those considered gods. 7.21 Therefore, it was not because he needed victims or longed for the savor of burnt offerings that God commanded sacrifice, but to heal the passions of the sick. So also he tolerated well-sounding instruments, not delighting in their harmony, but little by little putting a stop to the error of idols. For if, immediately after they were delivered from the company of the Egyptians, he had offered them the perfect laws, they would certainly have leaped away and, casting off the bridle, would have run back to their former destruction. For if, even when these things were so ordained, they tried many times to do this, what would they not have dared if he had legislated the evangelical philosophy for them from the very beginning? But that God is in no need of either sacrifices or musical instruments, 7.22 hear what he says through the prophets: "I will not accept calves from your house, nor he-goats from your flocks. For all the beasts of the forest are mine, the cattle on the mountains and the oxen. I know all the birds of the heaven; and the beauty of the field is with me." For in these words he rejected all the things ordained to be offered, not only land animals and birds, but also the pressed wine and the oil offered with fine flour 7.23 and cakes. For he called these things the beauty of the field and showed that these and those were his works, teaching in this way that the divine nature is in need of nothing. Then, with a most graceful irony, full of all benefit, he both refutes their ignorance and demonstrates his own 7.24 power: for he said, "If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is mine, and its fullness." Thus through these words, having clearly shown both his creation and his lordship, he healed that which was spoken ironically, by saying: "Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?" And having shown through all this that sacrifices are superfluous and unworthy of the divine nature, he suggests a new manner of sacrifice, one that does not stain the altar with blood, but is accomplished with the tongue and lips: for he said, "Offer to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High; and call upon me in the day of your trouble; and I will deliver you, and you will glorify 7.25 me". For a reasonable and fitting word is sufficient for him, above all the flocks of sheep and goats and herds of cattle; and receiving this, he requites those who offer it, extending help and defending them in season and freeing them from those who try to harm them. He added this very same thing at the end of the psalm: "A sacrifice of praise will glorify me; and there is the way, by which I will show him the salvation of 7.26 God." For it is not enough only to praise the benefactor; for it is also fitting to walk that way, the end of which is truly salvation. This the prophet also said to God in another psalm: for he said, "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire; whole burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require." And in another psalm he handed this down: for he said, "I will praise the name of my God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving; and it will please 7.27 God more than a young bull, putting forth horns and hoofs." And lest anyone suppose that David alone wrote these things, hear, O men, what God himself again has said through the voice of Isaiah; for these are his words: "What to me is the multitude of

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τῇ Αἰγυπτίᾳ προσ ενήνοχε νόσῳ, θύειν μὲν διὰ τὴν τῶν θυόντων ἀσθένειαν ξυγχω ρήσας, τὰ δὲ σεβόμενα παρ' αὐτῶν ἱερατεύειν κελεύσας, ἵνα τῷ 7.19 θύειν μάθωσι μὴ θεοὺς νομίζειν τὰ ὡς ἱερεῖα θυόμενα. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο καὶ χοιρείων αὐτοὺς μεταλαγχάνειν κρεῶν διεκώλυσεν, ἐπειδὴ τούτων μόνων Αἰγύπτιοι μετελάμβανον, τῶν ἄλλων ὡς θεῶν ἀπεχόμενοι. Ἀκάθαρτα γὰρ νομίζειν ταῦτα νομοθετήσας, ἐσθίειν ἐκέλευσε τὰ θεοποιούμενα, ἵνα εὐκαταφρόνητα φαίνηται ὡς παρ' αὐτῶν ἐσθιόμενα καὶ μὴ τὸ θεῖον σφετερίζηται σέβας. 7. ∆εισιδαίμονας γὰρ αὐτοὺς καὶ γαστριμάργους εἰδώς, πάθει πάθος ἀντέταξε καὶ τῇ δεισιδαιμονίᾳ τὴν γαστριμαργίαν ἀντέστησεν. Τῶν γάρ τοι ὑείων ὡς ἀκαθάρτων κελεύσας ἀπέχεσθαι, τῶν δέ γε ἄλλων ὡς καθαρῶν ἀπολαύειν νομοθετήσας, τῇ τῆς κρεη φαγίας ἐπιθυμίᾳ τῶν θεῶν νομιζομένων μεταλαβεῖν κατηνάγ καζεν. 7.21 Οὐ τοίνυν ἱερείων δεόμενος οὐδὲ κνίσης ὀριγνώμενος, θύειν προσέταξεν ὁ Θεός, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἀρρωστούντων θεραπεύων τὰ πάθη. Οὕτω δὴ καὶ τὰ τῶν εὐήχων ὀργάνων ἠνέσχετο, οὐ τῇ τούτων ἁρμονίᾳ τερπόμενος, ἀλλὰ κατὰ βραχὺ παύων τῶν εἰδώλων τὸν πλάνον. Εἰ γὰρ εὐθὺς τῆς Αἰγυπτίων ξυνουσίας ἀπαλλαγεῖσι τοὺς τελείους προσενηνόχει νόμους, πάντως ἂν ἀπεσκίρτησαν καὶ τὸν χαλινὸν ἀπωσάμενοι πρὸς τὸν πρότερον ἐπαλινδρόμησαν ὄλε θρον. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τούτων οὕτω πρυτανευθέντων, ἐπειράθησαν τοῦτο δρᾶσαι πολλάκις, τί οὐκ ἂν ἐτόλμησαν, εἰ τὴν εὐαγγελι κὴν αὐτοῖς εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς φιλοσοφίαν ἐνομοθέτησεν; Ὅτι δὲ καὶ θυσιῶν καὶ μουσικῶν ὀργάνων ἀνενδεὴς ὁ Θεός, 7.22 ἀκούσατε αὐτοῦ διὰ τῶν προφητῶν λέγοντος· "Οὐ δέξομαι ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου σου μόσχους, οὐδὲ ἐκ τῶν ποιμνίων σου χιμάρους. Ἐμὰ γάρ ἐστι πάντα τὰ θηρία τοῦ δρυμοῦ, κτήνη ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι καὶ βόες. Ἔγνωκα πάντα τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ· καὶ ὡραιότης ἀγροῦ μετ' ἐμοῦ ἐστιν." Ἐν γὰρ δὴ τούτοις πάντα τὰ νενομο θετημένα προσφέρειν ἐξέβαλεν, οὐ τὰ χερσαῖα μόνον ζῷα καὶ τὰ πτηνά, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ἀποθλιβόμενον οἶνον καὶ τὸ μετὰ σεμιδάλεως 7.23 καὶ ποπάνων προσφερόμενον ἔλαιον. Ὡραιότητα γὰρ ἀγροῦ ταῦτα δὴ προσηγόρευσε καὶ ἔδειξεν αὐτοῦ γε ὄντα καὶ ταῦτα κἀκεῖνα ποιήματα, ταύτῃ πῃ διδάσκων, ὡς ἡ θεία φύσις ἀνενδεής. Εἶτα μετά τινος εἰρωνείας χαριεστάτης καὶ πάσης ὠφελείας μεστῆς καὶ τὴν ἐκείνων ἄγνοιαν διελέγχει καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν ἐπι 7.24 δείκνυσι δύναμιν· ἔφη γάρ· "Ἐὰν πεινάσω, οὐ μή σοι εἴπω· ἐμὴ γάρ ἐστιν ἡ οἰκουμένη καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς," Οὕτω διὰ τούτων καὶ τὴν δημιουργίαν καὶ τὴν δεσποτείαν ἐναργῶς ἐπιδεί ξας, ἐκεῖνο τὸ εἰρωνικῶς ῥηθὲν ἐθεράπευσεν, εἰπών· "Μὴ φά γομαι κρέα ταύρων ἢ αἷμα τράγων πίομαι;" Καὶ διὰ πάντων περιττὰ δείξας τὰ θύματα καὶ τῆς θείας ἀνάξια φύσεως, καινόν τινα θυσίας ὑποτίθεται τρόπον, οὐ βωμὸν αἱματτούσης, ἀλλὰ γλώττῃ καὶ χείλεσι τελουμένης· "Θῦσον" γὰρ ἔφη "τῷ Θεῷ θυσίαν αἰνέσεως καὶ ἀπόδος τῷ ὑψίστῳ τὰς εὐχάς σου· καὶ ἐπικά λεσαί με ἐν ἡμέρᾳ θλίψεώς σου· καὶ ἐξελοῦμαί σε, καὶ δοξάσεις 7.25 με". Ἀρκεῖ γὰρ αὐτῷ λόγος εὔλογός τε καὶ πρόσφορος ὑπὲρ πάντα τὰ ποίμνια καὶ αἰπόλια καὶ βουκόλια· καὶ τοῦτον δεχόμενος ἀμείβεται τοὺς προσφέροντας, ἐπικουρίαν ὀρέγων καὶ εἰς καιρὸν ἐπαμύνων καὶ τῶν λωβᾶσθαι πειρωμένων ἐλευθερῶν. Ταὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο κἀν τῷ τέλει τῆς μελῳδίας προστέθεικεν· "Θυσία αἰνέ σεως δοξάσει με· καὶ ἐκεῖ ὁδός, ᾗ δείξω αὐτῷ τὸ σωτήριον τοῦ 7.26 Θεοῦ." Οὐ γὰρ ἀπόχρη τὸ μόνον τὸν εὐεργέτην ὑμνεῖν· προσ ήκει γὰρ καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν ἐκείνην ὁδεύειν, ἧς τὸ τέλος ἀληθῶς σωτηρία. Τοῦτο κἀν ἑτέρῳ ψαλμῷ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν εἶπεν ὁ προφήτης· "Θυσίαν" γὰρ ἔφη "καὶ προσφορὰν οὐκ ἠθέλησας· ὁλοκαυτώματα καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας οὐκ ἐζήτησας." Κἀν ἄλλῃ δὲ μελῳδίᾳ τοῦτο παραδέδωκεν· "Αἰνέσω" γὰρ εἶπε "τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Θεοῦ μου μετ' ᾠδῆς· μεγαλυνῶ αὐτὸν ἐν αἰνέσει· καὶ ἀρέσει 7.27 τῷ Θεῷ ὑπὲρ μόσχον νέον, κέρατα ἐκφέροντα καὶ ὁπλάς." Ὡς ἂν δὲ μή τις ὑπολάβῃ ταῦτα μόνον τὸν ∆αυὶδ γεγραφέναι, ἀκού σατε, ὦ ἄνδρες, ὁποῖα καὶ διὰ τῆς τοῦ Ἡσαΐου φωνῆς αὐτὸς πάλιν εἴρηκεν ὁ Θεός· αὐτοῦ γὰρ δὴ ταῦτα τὰ ῥήματα· "Τί μοι πλῆθος τῶν