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will you dwell alone upon the earth? 5.151 For if you desire the things of your neighbor (and you will certainly not lack a neighbor), it is clearly necessary for you to reach the ends of our inhabited world. But if this is impossible, from the first thought, O man, check your impulse toward evil, being content with what you have received, abiding in what you possess, knowing that even great houses, because they were established out of injustice, are desolate of inhabitants and a great expanse of land, acquired through greed, has often been shown to be barren of fruits. For often divine justice anticipates the future judgment, and renders useless the houses unjustly acquired, making them desolate of inhabitants, from being a populous dwelling and a place of splendid abundance. Indeed, we have often known whole families to have been utterly wiped out, so that for lack of successors the magnificent and proud structures of their dwellings fell to the ground. But also all who, by setting aside the boundaries of their neighbors, overextended the boundaries of their own possessions, because their possessions were acquired from the groaning of the wronged, were certainly shown to be strangers to the divine blessing, so that where ten yoke of oxen worked, scarcely one jar was harvested, and where six artabas were sown, three measures of fruit were gathered, which is a very small fraction of the seeds. 5.152 The text, therefore, has much that is profitable even in its literal sense; but it is possible for the diligent student to derive even more benefit from the prophecy through an allegorical interpretation. For the doctrines and practices of each person can be understood as a house, because of the dense and unified structure of the thoughts concerning each doctrine. Because, just as in a house a foundation underlies the rest of the structure, so also in doctrines there are certain hypotheses and first principles, on which they rely when they dogmatize, weaving what follows consistently and cohesively with the first principles. All those, therefore, who join the doctrine of the faith, which has as its foundation and principle our Lord Jesus Christ, to doctrines foreign and strange to piety, these are they whom the Word laments for acting improperly in joining house to house. For that the doctrines of piety are called a house, the Lord himself taught us through the parable, saying that, Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them, will be like a wise man, who built his house on the rock. Paul also seems to teach us in the first to the Corinthians, that each one of those who have believed in Christ builds a house for himself. For other foundation (he says) no one can lay, than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw ... And since among those who construct doctrines, some, holding opinions worthy of laughter and scorn, build, as it were, a laughingstock, while the more refined construct serious things, Micah, tearing down the dwellings of the ridiculous: You who are in Gath (he says), do not magnify yourselves; and you who are in Akareim, do not build from a house of your laughter. And again the same, rebuking wicked teachers, says: Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and you who are left of the house of Israel, who abhor judgment and pervert all that is right, who build Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquities ... For everyone who constructs foreign doctrines builds Zion, that is, his own watchtower, with blood; and he who establishes a church of evil-doers builds Jerusalem with iniquities. If, therefore, there are two kinds of buildings (the one good, that upon the rock, and upon the foundation of Christ; the other worthless, which is also ridiculous and a cause of destruction) the Word rightly pronounces woe upon those who join the good house to the more worthless one, and, as it were, mix the unmixable. - But you will observe whether not all men, whoever they are who dogmatize concerning truth, by certain sound and true preconceptions according to

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οἰκή σετε μόνοι ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς; 5.151 Εἰ γὰρ ἐπιθυμεῖς τῶν τοῦ γείτονος (γείτων δέ σοι πάντως οὐ λείψει) ἀνάγκη σε δηλονότι ἐπὶ τὰ ἔσχατα φθάσαι τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς οἰκουμένης. Εἰ δὲ τοῦτο ἀμήχανον, ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης ἐννοίας παῦσον σεαυτοῦ τὴν πρὸς τὸ κακὸν ὁρμὴν, ὦ ἄνθρωπε, ἀρκούμενος οἷς παρέλαβες, ἐπιμένων οἷς ἔχεις, εἰδὼς ὅτι καὶ μεγέθη οἰκιῶν, διὰ τὸ ἐξ ἀδικίας συστῆναι, ἔρημά ἐστι τῶν οἰκητόρων καὶ πλῆθος χώρας, ἐκ πλεονεξίας περιβληθὲν, ἄγονον πολλάκις τῶν καρπῶν ἀπεδείχθη. Προλαμβάνει γὰρ πολλάκις τὴν μέλλουσαν κρίσιν ἡ θεία δίκη, καὶ ἤδη τὰς ἀδίκως πεπορισμένας οἰκίας, εἰς ἄχρηστον περιίστησιν, ἀπὸ τῆς πολυανθρώπου οἰκήσεως καὶ τῆς λαμπρᾶς εὐθηνίας, ἐρήμους τῶν οἰκητόρων ποιοῦσα. Πολλάκις γοῦν ἔγνωμεν ὅλα γένη ἄρδην ἀφανισθέντα, ὡς ἀπορίᾳ τῶν διαδεχομένων καταῤῥυῆναι πρὸς γῆν τὰς με γαλοφυεῖς καὶ ὑπερηφάνους τῶν οἰκημάτων κατασκευάς. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσοι μετὰ παρορισμοῦ τῶν πλησίον τοὺς ὅρους τῶν οἰκείων κτήσεως ὑπερεξέτειναν, διὰ τὸ ἀπὸ στεναγμοῦ τῶν ἠδικημένων συμπεπορίσθαι τὰς κτήσεις, πάντως ἀλ λότριοι τῆς θείας ἀπεδείχθησαν εὐλογίας, ὥστε ἔνθα δέκα ζεύγη βοῶν εἰργάσατο, μόγις κεράμιον ἓν τρυγηθῆναι καὶ ἔνθα ἓξ ἀρτάβαι κατεσπάρησαν, τρία μέτρα συνάγεσθαι τῶν καρπῶν, ἅπερ ἐστὶ πολλοστημόριον τῶν σπερμάτων. 5.152 Ἔχει μὲν οὖν πολὺ καὶ αὐτόθεν τὸ ὠφέλιμον ἡ λέξις· δυνατὸν δὲ τῷ φιλοπόνῳ κατὰ ἀναγωγὴν ἐπὶ πλεῖον ἄγειν τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς προφητείας χρήσιμον. ∆ύναται γὰρ οἰκία ἑκάστου νοεῖσθαι τὰ δόγματα καὶ αἱ πράξεις, διὰ τὸ πυκνὸν καὶ ἡνωμένον τῆς ἐν τοῖς νοήμασι κατασκευῆς, περὶ ἑκάστου δόγματος. ∆ιότι, ὥσπερ ἐν οἰκίᾳ θεμέλιος ὑπόκειται τῇ λοιπῆ κατασκευῇ, οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν δογμάτων ὑποθέσεις τινές εἰσι καὶ πρῶται ἀρχαὶ, οἷς ἐπερειδόμενοι δογματίζουσι, τὰ ἐφεξῆς ἀκολούθως καὶ συναφῶς ταῖς πρώταις ἀρχαῖς συνυφαίνοντες. Ὅσοι οὖν τὸ τῆς πίστεως δόγμα, ὅπερ ἔχει θεμέλιον καὶ ἀρχὴν τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, δόγ μασιν ἀλλοτρίοις καὶ ξένοις τῆς θεοσεβείας ἐπισυνάπτουσιν, οὗτοί εἰσιν οὓς ὁ λόγος ὀδύρεται παρὰ τὸ καθῆκον ποιοῦν τας ἐν τῷ συνάπτειν οἰκίαν πρὸς οἰκίαν. Ὅτι γὰρ οἰκία τὰ τῆς θεοσεβείας ὠνόμασται δόγματα, αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος διὰ τῆς παραβολῆς ἡμᾶς ἐδίδαξε, λέγων, ὅτι Πᾶς ὅστις ἀκούει μου τοὺς λόγους τούτους καὶ ποιεῖ αὐτοὺς, ὁμοι ωθήσεται ἀνδρὶ φρονίμῳ, ὅστις ᾠκοδόμησε τὴν οἰκίαν αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν. Ἔοικε δὲ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος ἐν τῇ πρὸς Κοριν θίους πρώτῃ διδάσκειν ἡμᾶς, ὅτι ἕκαστος ἑαυτῷ οἰκίαν οἰκο δομεῖ τῶν εἰς Χριστὸν πεπιστευκότων. Θεμέλιον γὰρ (φησὶν) ἄλλον οὐδεὶς δύναται θεῖναι, παρὰ τὸν κείμενον, ὅς ἐστιν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός. Εἰ δέ τις ἐποικοδομεῖ ἐπὶ τὸν θεμέλιον τοῦτον, χρυσὸν, ἄργυρον, λίθους τιμίους, ξύλα, χόρτον, καλάμην ... Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τῶν κατασκευαζόντων τὰ δόγματα οἱ μὲν γέλωτος καὶ χλεύης ἄξια φρονοῦντες, οἱονεὶ γέλωτα οἰκοδομοῦσιν, οἱ δὲ ἀστειότεροι σπουδαῖα κατασκευάζουσιν, ὁ Μιχαίας, καθαιρῶν τὰ οἰκήματα τῶν καταγελάστων· Οἱ ἐν Γὲθ (φησὶ) μὴ μεγαλύνεσθε· καὶ οἱ ἐν Ἀκαρεὶμ, μὴ ἀνοικοδομεῖτε ἐξ οἴκου κατὰ γέλωτα ὑμῶν. Καὶ πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς, ἐπιπλήττων μοχθηροῖς διδασκάλοις, φησίν· Ἀκού σατε δὴ ταῦτα, οἱ ἡγούμενοι οἴκου Ἰακὼβ, καὶ οἱ κατά λοιποι οἴκου Ἰσραὴλ, οἱ βδελυσσόμενοι κρίμα καὶ πάντα τὰ ὀρθὰ διαστρέφοντες, οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες Σιὼν ἐν αἵμασι, καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐν ἀδικίαις ... Πᾶς γὰρ ὁ τὰ ἀλλότρια κα τασκευάζων δόγματα, οἰκοδομεῖ τὴν Σιὼν, τουτέστι τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σκοπευτήριον, ἐν αἵμασι· καὶ ὁ συνιστὰς ἐκκλησίαν πονηρευομένων, οἰκοδομεῖ τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐν ἀδικίαις. Εἰ οὖν δύο ἐστὶν εἴδη οἰκοδομῶν (τὸ μὲν ἀγαθὸν, τὸ ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν θεμέλιον τοῦ Χριστοῦ· τὸ δὲ ἕτερον φαῦλον, ὃ καὶ καταγέλαστόν ἐστι καὶ ἀπωλείας αἴτιον) εἰκότως ὁ λόγος ταλανίζει τοὺς τὴν ἀγαθὴν οἰκίαν τῇ φαυ λοτέρᾳ συνάπτοντας, καὶ οἱονεὶ μιγνύντας τὰ ἄμικτα. - ̓Επιστήσεις δὲ μήποτε πάντες ἄνθρωποι, ὅ τι ποτ' οὖν περὶ ἀληθείας δογματίζοντες, ὑγιέσι τισὶ καὶ ἀληθέσι τοῖς προκατειλημμένοις κατὰ