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indicates the apprehension of visible things; while To Consider represents the contemplation of invisible things through the mind. Since, then, the invisible things of God are clearly seen from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that are made, he who does not look upon the works is not led to the understanding through the mind. 5.157 What, then, is being said? That drunkenness is the beginning of godlessness, being a darkening of the intellect, through which God is especially known. The works of hands and the expected retribution, that fire and the punishment in Hades, a parched tongue desiring the comfort of a small drop; a flame from every side, not even allowing a breath of air to cool the burning heat in the inward parts. In place of flute-players, groaning; instead of immoderate drunkenness, a desire for a drop, with the flesh of the drunkards being fried in the furnace; instead of licentious spectacles, the deep darkness; instead of sleepless desire, the sleepless worm. Those, therefore, who have plunged their mind into drunkenness, are unable to consider these works of hands; and because they do not foresee what awaits them, the word fittingly laments them as if they were already in those terrible things. Let those hear these things who keep guitars and lyres in their houses instead of the Gospels, that the Prophet calls them back as already lost, lamenting their destruction out of loving compassion. 5.158 Woe (he says) to those who drink wine with guitar and flutes and timbrels and psalms. For you the lyre, adorned with gold and ivory, is set up on some high altar like a statue and idol of demons; and some wretched woman, instead of being taught to apply her hands to the spindle, was taught by you, because of the necessity of servitude, to stretch them to the lyre, you perhaps even paying the wages, and maybe even handing her over to some procuress, who, after enduring every licentiousness in her own body, now presides over the young as a teacher of the same things. For whom a double evil will meet you on the day of judgment: both for the licentious acts you yourself commit, and for the wretched soul you have alienated from God through wicked teachings. Then she stands by the lyre and puts her hands to the strings; her forearm is bare, her face shameless. Then the whole banquet is turned, and the eyes of all are carried there, and their ears fall silent for the music; and the noise there is stilled, and the laughter and the contest of licentious words are silenced. And all in the house are quiet, bewitched by the dissolute melody ... but he who is silent there is not quiet in the church of God, nor does he fall silent for the words of the Gospel. Naturally. For the enemy who commands silence there, this is the one who suggests noise here. A pitiful sight for chaste eyes for a woman not to be weaving, but to be playing the lyre; not to be known by her own husband, but to be gazed at by others; to be common property; not to sing a psalm of confession, but the songs of a prostitute; not to beseech God, but to hasten to Gehenna; not to be eager for the church of God, but to cast out with herself others also. Wool is an enemy to her; she neither knows how nor wishes to draw down the warp or to spin the woof. Being with the drunken, she practices their ways. Truly they weave a spider's web, as if laying their hands on the taut strings as on some warp threads, and frequently moving the plectrum, like a shuttle, this way and that, they show no end result of their activity. For of the arts, as many as are necessary for life, the end result is also before our eyes, such as the foundation from carpentry, a house from building, a ship from shipbuilding, a garment from weaving, a sword from smithing; but of the vain arts, such as lyre-playing, or dancing, or flute-playing, or other such things, when the activity ceases, the work vanishes along with it. And truly, according to the apostolic word, the end of these things is destruction. These things for those who, through much relaxation, indulge in luxury at dinner, either continuously, or in those things in which they suppose

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κατάληψιν τῶν ὁρατῶν ὑποφαίνει· τὸ δὲ Κατανοεῖν τὴν διὰ τοῦ νοῦ θεω ρίαν τῶν ἀοράτων παρίστησιν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν τὰ ἀόρατα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου τοῖς ποιήμασι νοούμενα, καθο ρᾶται, ὁ μὴ ἐμβλέπων τοῖς ἔργοις, οὐδὲ πρὸς τὴν διὰ τοῦ νοῦ νόησιν ὁδηγεῖται. 5.157 Τί οὖν ἐστι τὸ λεγόμενον; Ὅτι μέθη ἀθεότητός ἐστιν ἀρχὴ, σκότωσις οὖσα τοῦ διανοητικοῦ, δι' οὗ μά λιστα ὁ Θεὸς ἐπιγινώσκεσθαι πέφυκεν. Ἔργα δὲ χειρῶν καὶ ἡ προσδοκωμένη ἀντίδοσις, τὸ πῦρ ἐκεῖνο καὶ ἡ ἐν ᾅδου κόλασις, γλῶσσα κατάξηρος μικρᾶς ῥανίδος παραμυθίαν ἐπιθυμοῦσα· φλὸξ πανταχόθεν, οὐδὲ ἀέρος ἀναπνοὴν ἀνα ψύχειν τὸν καύσωνα, τὸν ἐν τοῖς σπλάγχνοις ἐῶσα. Ἄνθ' ὧν αὐληταὶ, ὁ στεναγμός· ἀντὶ τῆς ἀμέτρου μέθης, ἐπιθυμία σταγόνος, τῆς σαρκὸς τῶν μεθυόντων ἀποτηγανιζομένης ἐν τῇ καμίνῳ· ἀντὶ τῶν ἀσελγῶν θεαμάτων, τὸ σκότος τὸ βαθύ· ἀντὶ τῆς ἀκοιμήτου ἐπιθυμίας, ὁ ἀκοίμητος σκώληξ. Οἱ οὖν ἐν τῇ μέθῃ τὸν νοῦν ἑαυτῶν καταβυ θίσαντες, κατανοεῖν ταῦτα τὰ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν ἀδυνατοῦσι· καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ προβλέπειν τὰ ἀναμένοντα αὐτοὺς, εἰκότως ὡς ἤδη ἐν αὐτοῖς ὄντας τοῖς δεινοῖς ὁ λόγος ὀδύρεται. Ἀκουέτωσαν τούτων οἱ ἀντὶ τῶν Εὐαγγελίων τὰς κιθάρας καὶ τὰς λύρας ἐπὶ τῶν οἴκων φυλάσσοντες, ὅτι ὡς ἤδη ἀπολωλότας ὁ Προφήτης ἀνακαλεῖται, ἐκ τῆς κατ' ἀγάπην συμπαθείας θρηνῶν αὐτῶν τὴν ἀπώλειαν. 5.158 Οὐαὶ (φησὶν) οἱ μετὰ κιθάρας καὶ αὐλῶν καὶ τυμ πάνων καὶ ψαλμῶν τὸν οἶνον πίνοντες. Σοὶ δὲ χρυσῷ καὶ ἐλέφαντι πεποικιλμένη ἡ λύρα, ἐφ' ὑ ψηλοῦ τινος βωμοῦ ὥσπερ τι ἄγαλμα καὶ εἴδωλον δαιμόνων ἀνάκειται· καὶ γυνή τις ἀθλία, ἀντὶ τοῦ τὰς χεῖρας ἐρείδειν πρὸς ἄτρακτον διδαχθῆναι, διὰ τὴν ἐκ τῆς δουλείας ἀνάγκην ἐπὶ λύραν ἐκτείνειν ἐδιδάχθη παρὰ σοῦ, ἴσως καὶ μισθοὺς τελέ σαντος, τάχα καὶ προαγωγῷ τινι γυναικὶ παραδόντος, ἣ μετὰ τὸ πᾶσαν ἀσέλγειαν ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ σώματι ἀπαθλῆσαι, ταῖς νέαις προκάθηται τῶν ὁμοίων διδάσκαλος. Ὑπὲρ ἧς σοι ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κρίσεως διπλοῦν τὸ κακὸν ἀπαντήσεται· ὧν τε αὐτὸς ἀσελγαίνεις, καὶ ὧν ἀθλίαν ψυχὴν διὰ πονηρῶν διδαγ μάτων ἀπηλλοτρίωσας τοῦ Θεοῦ. Εἶτα παρίσταται τῇ λύρᾳ καὶ ἐπιβάλλει τοῖς φθόγγοις τὰς χεῖρας· γυμνὸς ὁ πῆχυς, ἀναιδὲς τὸ πρόσωπον. Εἶτα ἐπέσ τραπται τὸ συμπόσιον ἅπαν, καὶ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ πάντων ἐκεῖ φέρονται, καὶ ὦτα ὑποσιωπᾷ τοῖς κρούμασι· καὶ κατα στέλλεται μὲν ὁ θόρυβος ἐκεῖ, κατασιγάζεται δὲ ὁ γέ λως καὶ τῶν ἀσελγῶν ῥημάτων ἡ ἅμιλλα. Ἐφησυχά ζουσι δὲ οἱ κατὰ τὸν οἶκον ἅπαντες τῇ ἀκολάστῳ με λῳδίᾳ κατακηλούμενοι ... οὐχ ἡσυχάζει δὲ ἐν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησίᾳ, οὔτε ὑποσιωπᾷ ταῖς τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου φωναῖς, ὁ ἐκεῖ σιωπῶν. Εἰκότως. Ὁ γὰρ ἐκεῖ σιωπὴν ἐπιτάσσων ἐχθρὸς, οὗτος ἐνταῦθα τὸν θόρυβον ὑποβάλλει. Ἐλεεινὸν θέαμα σώφροσιν ὀφθαλμοῖς μὴ ἱστουργεῖν γυναῖκα, ἀλλὰ λυρῳδεῖν· μὴ ὑπὸ ἰδίου γνωρίζεσθαι ἀνδρὸς, ἀλλ' ὑπὸ ἄλλων ἀποβλέπεσθαι· πάνδημον εἶναι· μὴ ψαλμὸν ᾄδειν ἐξομολογήσεως, ἀλλὰ ᾄσματα πόρνης· μὴ Θεὸν ἱκετεύειν, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὴν γέενναν ἐπείγεσθαι· μὴ εἰς ἐκκλησίαν Θεοῦ σπουδάζειν, ἀλλὰ συνεκβάλλειν ἑαυτῇ καὶ ἑτέρους. Ἐχθρὰ μὲν ταύτῃ ἔρια· στήμονα δὲ κατάγειν, ἢ κρόκην στρέφειν οὔτε οἶδεν, οὔτε θέλει. Μεθύουσι δὲ συνοῦσα, τὰ ἐκείνων ἐπιτηδεύει. Ὄντως ἱστὸν ἀράχνης ὑφαίνουσιν, οἷον ἐν στήμοσί τισι ταῖς ἐντεταμέναις νευραῖς τὰς χεῖρας ἑαυτῶν ἐπιβάλλουσαι, πυκνὰ δὲ τὸ κέντρον οἷον κερκίδα, ὧδε καὶ ὧδε μετα κομίσασαι, πέρας οὐδὲν τῆς ἐνεργείας ἐπιδεικνύουσι. Τῶν μὲν γὰρ τεχνῶν, ὅσαι κατὰ τὸν βίον ἀναγκαῖαι, καὶ τὸ τέλος ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐγκείμενόν ἐστιν, οἷον τεκτονικῆς τὸ βάθρον, οἰκοδομικῆς οἰκία, ναυπηγικῆς τὸ πλοῖον, ὑφαντικῆς τὸ ἱμάτιον, χαλκευτικῆς ἡ μάχαιρα· τῶν δὲ ματαιοτεχνιῶν, οἷον κιθαριστικῆς, ἢ ὀρχηστικῆς, ἢ αὐλητικῆς, ἢ ἄλλων τοιούτων, παυσαμένης τῆς ἐνεργείας, τὸ ἔργον συναφανί ζεται. Καὶ ὄντως, κατὰ τὴν ἀποστολικὴν φωνὴν, τὸ τέλος τούτων ἀπώλεια. Ταῦτα τοῖς διὰ πολλὴν ἄνεσιν τρυφῆς χρωμένοις παρὰ δεῖπνον, ἤτοι συνεχῶς, ἢ ἐν οἷς ὑπολαμβάνουσι