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having considered the philanthropy of the kings of Israel, to take on the guise of a suppliant, and not to fail in the request; remember, master, also the divine wrath. For he delivered Ahab, who had used mercy, to utter destruction, and through the prophet he brought forth the verdict. For, he says, your soul shall be for his soul, and your people for his people . And we are commanded through these things to mix mercy with judgment, since not every mercy is pleasing to the Lord of all. But the present matter especially requires sober reasoning. For we are contending for divine dogmas, in which we have the hope of salvation. Nevertheless, it is possible to see great difference among men even in these things. For some truly suffer from the common impiety, while others indifferently present both these things and their opposites. Others, knowing the truth, hide it in the storehouses of the soul, but proclaim impious things along with the others. Still others, having received the passion of envy, have made their own hatred a pretext for the war against the truth, and bring every kind of malice against the heralds of the truth. And there are those who embrace the truth of the apostolic dogmas, but, fearing the power of those in authority, have shuddered to make it public; and they groan and lament the course of evils, but nevertheless associate with those who stir up the tempests. We define your piety as belonging to this company. For we have believed it to be sound in the divine dogmas, and we think that it preserves love for us, but that it conforms to the times out of cowardice alone. For this reason, writing to none of the others, we both write to your God-lovingness, and from it we receive letters, knowing your purpose, and thus in a way granting pardon to your cowardice. But the philanthropic Lord has now completely cut off the pretexts for cowardice, having shown the newly-invented impiety, and having displayed the naked truth of the Gospels. But we, not even if we had mouths equal in number to our hairs, could worthily praise the philanthropic Lord, because he has compelled even our greatest opponents to proclaim openly what is proclaimed by us. For we have heard that even the colleague of your God-lovingness, having learned of the anathemas that occurred in the great cities, ceased imitating the sideways walk of crabs, and walked the straight path, having discoursed on dogmas at a certain festival. But one must not adapt one's words to the times, but always preserve the unbending rule of truth. 137 TO CYRUS THE MAGISTER. I was greatly pained having learned of the despondency that has befallen you. For how was I not going to suffer this, making your affairs my own, and remembering the apostolic law, which exhorts not only to rejoice with those who rejoice, but also to weep with those who weep? And the suffering itself is sufficient to draw even the most hostile to sympathy. For what is so grievous as to be deprived of a spouse, who lawfully drew the yoke of marriage, and made life pleasant for her partner, and shared the cares of the household, and managed the things within, and co-governed all other things; and who proposed what would be advantageous and yielded to her husband's counsels? But to hand over to the grave, along with her, the one born from her, and carefully reared, and trained in letters, and hoped to become a caregiver in old age, in the very spring of his life, as the down of youth was just creeping on, what excess of grief does that not leave behind? If, then, we look only at the nature of the suffering itself, it admits of no consolation. But if the mortal [nature] of our race to

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τῶν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ βασιλέων τὸ φιλάνθρωπον λογισάμενον, ἱκέτου σχῆμα λαβεῖν, καὶ μὴ διαμαρτεῖν τῆς αἰτήσεως· ἀναμνήσθητι, δέσποτα, καὶ τῆς θείας ὀργῆς. Τὸν γὰρ Ἀχαὰβ τῷ ἐλέῳ χρησάμενον πανωλεθρίᾳ παρέδωκε, καὶ διὰ τοῦ προφήτου τὴν ψῆφον ἐξήνεγκεν. Ἔσται γάρ, φησίν, ἡ ψυχή σου ἀντὶ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὁ λαός σου ἀντὶ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ . Ἡμεῖς δὲ κελευόμεθα διὰ τούτων κρίσει κεραννύναι τὸν ἔλεον, ὡς οὐ παντὸς ἐλέου ἀρέσκοντος τὸν τῶν ὅλων Κύριον. ∆ιαφερόντως δὲ λογισμοῦ δεῖται σώφρονος ἡ παροῦσα ὑπόθεσις. Περὶ γὰρ θείων ἀγωνι ζόμεθα δογμάτων, ἐν οἷς ἔχομεν τὴν τῆς σωτηρίας ἐλπίδα. Πολλὴν δὲ ὅμως ἔστιν ἰδεῖν κἀν τούτοις ἀνθρώπων διαφοράν. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀληθῶς τὴν κοινὴν νοσοῦσιν ἀσέβειαν, οἱ δὲ ἀδια φόρως καὶ ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἐναντία προσφέρουσιν. Ἕτε ροι δὲ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐπιστάμενοι, ταύτην μὲν ἐν τοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς κατακρύπτουσι ταμιείοις, τὰ δὲ δυσσεβῆ μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων κηρύττουσιν. Ἄλλοι δὲ τοῦ φθόνου τὸ πάθος δεξάμενοι, τὸ οἰκεῖον ἔχθος ἀφορμὴν τοῦ κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας πολέμου πεποίηνται, καὶ πᾶσαν κατὰ τῶν τῆς ἀληθείας κηρύκων εἰσ φέρουσι κακοήθειαν. Εἰσὶ δὲ οἳ τῶν μὲν ἀποστολικῶν δογμά των ἀσπάζονται τὴν ἀλήθειαν, τὴν δὲ τῶν κρατούντων δείσαντες δυναστείαν, δημοσιεῦσαι ταύτην πεφρίκασι· καὶ στένουσι μὲν καὶ ὀδύρονται τῶν κακῶν τὴν φοράν, σύνεισι δὲ ὅμως τοῖς τὰς τρικυμίας ἐγείρουσι. Ταύτης τῆς συμμορίας τὴν σὴν εἶναι θεοσέβειαν ὁριζόμεθα. Ὑγιαίνειν μὲν γὰρ αὐτὴν ἐν τοῖς θείοις δόγμασι πεπιστεύκαμεν, καὶ τὴν περὶ ἡμᾶς διασώζειν ἀγάπην νομίζομεν, διὰ μόνην δὲ δειλίαν συμπερι φέρεσθαι τῷ καιρῷ. Οὗ δὴ χάριν, οὐδενὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιστέλ λοντες, τῇ σῇ φιλοθεΐᾳ καὶ γράφομεν, καὶ παρ' αὐτῆς δεχό μεθα τὰ γράμματα, τὸν μὲν σκοπὸν εἰδότες, τῇ δὲ δειλίᾳ συγγνώμην οὕτω πως νέμοντες. Ὁ δὲ φιλάνθρωπος Κύριος καὶ τὰς τῆς δειλίας παντελῶς νῦν ἀπέκοψεν ἀφορμάς, τὴν μὲν καινοτομηθεῖσαν δείξας ἀσέβειαν, τὴν δὲ τῶν Εὐαγγελίων γυμνὴν ἐπιδείξας ἀλήθειαν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ οὔτε ταῖς θριξὶν ἰσα ρίθμων ἡμῖν γενομένων στομάτων, ὑμνῆσαι κατ' ἀξίαν τὸν φιλάνθρωπον δυνάμεθα Κύριον, ὅτι τὰ παρ' ἡμῶν κηρυττό μενα, καὶ τοὺς ἐναντιωτάτους προφανῶς κηρύττειν ἠνάγκασεν. Ἠκούσαμεν γὰρ ὡς καὶ τῆς σῆς φιλοθεΐας ὁ σύνοικος, γνοὺς τοὺς ἐν ταῖς μεγάλαις πόλεσι γεγενημένους ἀναθεματισμούς, ἐπαύσατο μὲν τὴν λοξὴν τῶν καρκίνων πορείαν μιμούμενος, ἐβάδισε δὲ τὴν εὐθεῖαν περὶ δογμάτων διαλεχθεὶς ἔν τινι πανηγύρει. Χρὴ δὲ μὴ τοῖς καιροῖς προσαρμόττειν τοὺς λόγους, ἀλλ' ἀκλινῆ τῆς ἀληθείας τὸν κανόνα διασώζειν ἀεί. 137 ΚΥΡΩ ΜΑΓΙΣΤΡΙΑΝΩ. Λίαν ἤλγησα τὴν συμβᾶσαν ὑμῖν ἀθυμίαν μεμαθηκώς. Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἔμελλον τοῦτο πείσεσθαι, τὰ ὑμέτερα οἰκειούμενος, καὶ τῆς ἀποστολικῆς μεμνημένος νομοθεσίας, ἣ οὐ μόνον χαίρειν μετὰ χαιρόντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ κλαίειν μετὰ κλαιόντων παρεγγυᾶ; Καὶ αὐτὸ δέ γε τὸ πάθος ἱκανὸν εἰς συμπάθειαν καὶ τοὺς δυσμενεστάτους ἑλκύσαι. Τί γὰρ οὕτως ἀνιαρόν, ὡς ὁμοζύγου στερηθῆναι, ἐννόμως μὲν ἑλκυσάσης τὸν τοῦ γάμου ζυγόν, τῷ δὲ συνοίκῳ θυμήρη τὸν βίον ἐργασαμένης, καὶ τῆς οἰκίας τὰς φροντίδας μερισαμένης, καὶ τὰ μὲν ἔνδον οἰκουρη σάσης, τὰ δ' ἄλλα πάντα συγκυβερνησάσης· καὶ τὸ συνοίσειν μέλλον εἰσηγησαμένης καὶ ταῖς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ὑποθημοσύναις εἰξάσης; Τὸ δὲ καὶ σὺν ταύτῃ τὸν ἐξ αὐτῆς φύντα, καὶ ἐπι μελῶς ἐκτραφέντα, καὶ λόγοις ἐνασκηθέντα, καὶ γηρωκόμον ἐλπισθέντα γενήσεσθαι, ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ ἦρι τῆς ἡλικίας, ἰούλων λοιπὸν καθερπόντων, παραδοῦναι τῷ τάφῳ, ποίας ἀχθηδόνος ὑπερβολὴν καταλείπει; Εἰ μὲν οὖν εἰς αὐτὴν ἀποβλέψαιμεν μόνην τοῦ πάθους τὴν φύσιν, οὐδεμίαν ψυχαγωγίαν εἰσδέχε ται. Εἰ δὲ τὸ θνητὸν τοῦ γένους εἰς