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they command to demand back all one's own things from whomever one might find them with. If, then, you know those who have been wronged, restore it with a great addition, according to Zacchaeus; but if you do not know, distribute these things to the needy, and thus you will assuage the terrible thing. For if we give everything that belongs to others, there is no profit for us. And Zacchaeus shows this, who then said he was making atonement to God, by giving fourfold of what had been taken away. But we, seizing countless things, and giving a few, think we are making God propitious. For if Cain, by offering second-rate things, and this without having wronged another, suffered the ultimate penalty; when we offer from plunder and greed, how shall we not suffer worse things? Why do you insult the Master by bringing unclean gifts to him? Christ does not wish to be fed by greed, nor does he accept such food. It is better to overlook him wasting away with hunger, than to feed him from such things; it is better to give nothing, than the things of others to others. For tell me, if you saw two men, one naked, the other having a cloak; then having stripped the one with the cloak, you clothed the naked one, did you not do wrong? It is clear to everyone, I suppose. But if, giving all that you took to another, you did wrong, you did not show mercy; when you do not give even the smallest part of what you seize, and you call the thing almsgiving, what punishment will you not undergo? If Lazarus, though wronged in nothing by the rich man, but not having enjoyed his goods, stands as a bitter accuser, what defense will they obtain who, in addition to not showing mercy from their own property, also take the things of others? If those who did not feed the hungry Christ are condemned with the devil to the unquenchable fire; those who also deliver him to famine, through what they seize, and strip him when clothed, and when he is a stranger not only not taking him in, but also driving him out, and when he is sick not only not visiting him, but also crushing him further, and not only not seeing him when bound, but also arranging for him to be thrown into prison when free, what great punishment will they undergo? If he who loves those who love him will be in no better 63.668 state than the Gentiles; he who insults those who have wronged him in no way, what pardon will he have? If he who does not share his own things has as an accuser the one who was not shown mercy; he who also seizes the things of others, what pardon will he obtain, For not only seizing the things of others, but also not sharing one's own things with others, this too is plunder and greed and robbery. If those who did not feed the hungry Christ have drawn down so much fire upon their own heads; those who also seize things that do not belong to them at all, and unjustly clothe themselves with the things of others, and overturn the houses of orphans and widows, what consolation will they enjoy? Let us then shudder at the thing; let us flee from sin; and we shall flee, if we consider those before us who did wrong, those who were greedy and have departed; do not others enjoy their money and labors, while they themselves are in punishment and torment and incurable evils? How then is this not of the utmost folly, to toil and to suffer, so that both while living we may be worn out by labors, and having departed we may endure unbearable punishments and torments? What then could be more pitiable than the plunderer, when all the things he has collected are often divided by enemies and adversaries among themselves; but taking the sins heaped up upon him from these things, he departs, being required to account for the transgressions concerning them with much strictness? So what could be worse than the greedy, because they make their own life worse than any death, with care and despondency and continuous sleeplessness consuming it and little by little spending it, while they drive out from it all pleasure both of virtue and of vice? And in gaining, even if they acquire all things, they feel no pleasure, through desiring more; but in suffering loss, even if they lose an obol, they think they have suffered worse things than all, and they believe they have fallen from life itself. And if such a man has a wife, or children, or friends, if it is not possible for him to gain from all sides, these are to him his natural enemies

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κελεύουσιν ἀπαιτεῖν παρ' οἷς ἂν εὕροι τις τὰ αὐτοῦ κείμενα ἅπαντα. Εἰ μὲν οὖν οἶδας τοὺς ἠδικημένους, ἀπόδος μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς προσθήκης κατὰ τὸν Ζακχαῖον· εἰ δὲ ἀγνοεῖς, εἰς τοὺς δεομένους ταῦτα διάνειμαι, καὶ παραμυθήσῃ καὶ οὕτω τὸ δεινόν. Ἐὰν γὰρ πάντα τὰ παρ' ἑτέρων δῶμεν, οὐδὲν κέρδος ἡμῖν. Καὶ δείκνυσιν ὁ Ζακχαῖος, ὃς τότε ἔφησεν ἐξιλεοῦσθαι τὸν Θεὸν, δοὺς τῶν ἀφαιρεθέντων τετραπλασίονα. Ἡμεῖς δὲ μυρία ἁρπάζοντες, καὶ ὀλίγα διδόντες, νομίζομεν ἵλεων ποιεῖν τὸν Θεόν. Εἰ γὰρ τὰ δεύτερα προσενεγκὼν ὁ Κάϊν, καὶ ταῦτα οὐδὲ ἠδικηκὼς ἕτερον, ἔδωκε δίκην ἐσχάτην· ὅταν ἐξ ἁρπαγῆς καὶ πλεονεξίας προσφέρωμεν, πῶς οὐ πεισόμεθα χαλεπώτερα; Τί τὸν ∆εσπότην ὑβρίζεις ἀκάθαρτα δῶρα προσάγων αὐτῷ; Οὐ βούλεται Χριστὸς πλεονεξίᾳ τρέφεσθαι, οὐδὲ δέχεται τοιαύτην τροφήν. Βέλτιον λιμῷ τηκόμενον περιορᾷν, ἢ τρέφειν ἀπὸ τοιούτων αὐτόν· βέλτιον οὐδὲν δοῦναι, ἢ τὰ ἄλλων ἑτέροις. Εἰπὲ γάρ μοι, εἴ τινας εἶδες δύο, τὸν μὲν γυμνὸν, τὸν δὲ ἱμάτιον ἔχοντα· εἶτα τὸν ἔχοντα τὸ ἱμάτιον ἀποδύσας περιέβαλες τὸν γυμνὸν, ἆρ' οὐκ ἠδίκησας; Παντί που δῆλον. Εἰ δὲ ὅπερ ἔλαβες ἑτέρῳ δοὺς ἅπαν, ἠδίκησας, οὐκ ἠλέησας· ὅταν μηδὲ τὸ πολλοστὸν μέρος δῷς ὧν ἁρπάζεις, καὶ ἐλεημοσύνην τὸ πρᾶγμα καλῇς, ποίαν οὐχ ὑποστήσῃ τιμωρίαν; Εἰ ὁ Λάζαρος ἀδικηθεὶς μὲν οὐδὲν παρὰ τοῦ πλουσίου, μὴ ἀπολαύσας δὲ τῶν ἐκείνου, πικρὸς ἕστηκε κατήγορος, τίνος ἀπολογίας τεύξονται οἱ πρὸς τῷ μὴ ἐλεεῖν οἴκοθεν καὶ τὰ ἀλλότρια λαμβάνοντες; Εἰ οἱ μὴ θρέψαντες πεινῶντα τὸν Χριστὸν, μετὰ τοῦ διαβόλου καταδικάζονται τῷ πυρὶ τῷ ἀσβέστῳ· οἱ καὶ λιμῷ αὐτὸν παραδιδόντες, δι' ὧν ἁρπάζουσι, καὶ ἐνδεδυμένον γυμνοῦντες, καὶ ξένον ὄντα οὐ μόνον οὐ συναγαγόντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐλάσαντες, καὶ ἀῤῥωστοῦντα οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἐπισκεψάμενοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ πλέον συντρίψαντες, καὶ οὐ μόνον δεδεμένον οὐκ ἰδόντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ λελυμένον εἰς δεσμωτήριον παρασκευάσαντες ἐμβαλέσθαι, πόσην ὑποστήσονται τιμωρίαν; Εἰ ὁ τοὺς φιλοῦντας ἀγαπῶν, οὐδὲν ἄμει 63.668 νον τῶν ἐθνικῶν διακείσεται· ὁ τοῖς μηδὲν ἠδικηκόσιν ἐπηρεάζων, ποίαν ἕξει συγγνώμην; Εἰ ὁ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ μὴ μεταδιδοὺς κατήγορον ἔχει τὸν οὐκ ἐλεηθέντα· ὁ καὶ τὰ ἀλλότρια ἁρπάζων ποίας τεύξεται συγγνώμης, Οὐ γὰρ τὸ τὰ ἀλλότρια ἁρπάζειν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ μὴ μεταδιδόναι ἑτέροις, καὶ τοῦτο ἁρπαγὴ καὶ πλεονεξία καὶ ἀποστέρησίς ἐστιν. Εἰ οἱ μὴ θρέψαντες πεινῶντα τὸν Χριστὸν, τοσοῦτον ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῶν εἵλκυσαν πῦρ· οἱ καὶ τὰ μηδὲν αὐτοῖς προσήκοντα ἁρπάζοντες, καὶ τὰ ἑτέρων ἀδίκως περιβαλλόμενοι, καὶ τὰς τῶν ὀρφανῶν καὶ χηρῶν ἀνατρέποντες οἰκίας, ποίας ἀπολαύσονται παραμυθίας; Φρίξωμεν τοίνυν τὸ πρᾶγμα· φύγωμεν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν· φεύξομεν δὲ, ἂν ἐννοήσωμεν τοὺς πρὸ ἡμῶν ἀδικήσαντας, τοὺς πλεονεκτήσαντας καὶ ἀπελθόντας· οὐχὶ τῶν μὲν χρημάτων αὐτῶν καὶ πόνων ἀπολαύουσιν ἕτεροι, αὐτοὶ δὲ ἐν κολάσει καὶ τιμωρίᾳ καὶ τοῖς ἀνηκέστοις κακοῖς; Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἐσχάτης ταῦτα ἀνοίας, κόπτεσθαι καὶ ταλαιπωρεῖν, ἵνα καὶ ζῶντες τοῖς πόνοις κατατεινώμεθα, καὶ ἀπελθόντες τὰς ἀφορήτους ὑπομένωμεν κολάσεις καὶ τιμωρίας; Τί τοίνυν τοῦ ἅρπαγος ἐλεεινότερον γένοιτ' ἂν, ὅταν τὰ μὲ συλλεγέντα ἅπαντα πολλάκις ἐχθροὶ καὶ πολέμιοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους διενείμαντο· τὰ δὲ ἐκ τούτων ἐπισωρευθέντα αὐτῷ ἁμαρτήματα λαβὼν ἄπεισι, τὰς ὑπὲρ τούτων παρανομίας μετὰ πολλῆς ἀπαιτούμενος τῆς ἀκριβείας; Ἄρα τί τῶν πλεονεκτῶν γένοιτ' ἂν χαλεπώτερον, ὅτι καὶ τὴν ζωὴν αὐτῶν θανάτου παντὸς χαλεπωτέραν ἐργάζονται, τῆς φροντίδος καὶ τῆς ἀθυμίας καὶ τῆς διηνεκοῦς ἀγρυπνίας κατεσθιούσης αὐτὴν καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν δαπανώσης, καὶ πᾶσαν ἡδονὴν καὶ ἀρετῆς καὶ κακίας ἐντεῦθεν ἐλαύνοντες; Καὶ ἐν μὲν τῷ κερδαίνειν κἂν τὰ πάντα περιβάλωνται, οὐδεμιᾶς αἰσθάνονται ἡδονῆς, τῷ τῶν πλειόνων ἐφίεσθαι· ἐν δὲ τῷ ζημιοῦσθαι, κἂν ὀβολὸν ἀπολέσωσι, πάντων ἡγοῦνται χαλεπώτερα πεπονθέναι, καὶ αὐτῆς ἐκπεπτωκέναι νομίζουσι τῆς ζωῆς. Κἂν γυναῖκα ὁ τοιοῦτος ἔχῃ, κἂν παιδία, κἂν φίλους, ἂν μὴ πάντοθεν ἐξῇ κερδαίνειν αὐτῷ, τῶν φύσει πολεμίων αὐτῷ οὗτοι