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a philanthropic and sympathetic physician, he perceives the weakness of the brother, the inflammation of the passion, the swelling; he sees the sick one becoming wholly death's. But will anyone fall in love with such a person, that I should again be reminded of those senseless words? I think not even one of the utterly mad men would conceive of such a thing against a woman or a man who is sick unto death, let alone pious physicians who fear God. But bidding farewell to the words of those who are truly (236) mad, let us hold to the thread of our narrative. Therefore, when the spiritual and skillful physician sees the brother in the state we have described, he does not immediately cry out nor put it off nor say: "The things you seek are evil and deadly, and I will not give you these remedies," so that the one hearing this does not take to flight and go to another who is inexperienced in such passions and die that very hour; but he welcomes, restrains, exhorts, shows all love along with simplicity, in order to assure him that through the very medicines he requested, through them he will effect the cure and fulfill his desire.

For there are some who are gravely ill in soul and bear grievous illnesses and seek things that increase the disease; and while the passion of each of these perhaps requires a diet and abstinence from pleasures, they themselves instead seek to revel in corrupting foods and to be filled with them to satiety. For this reason, as I said before, the experienced physician does not immediately refuse the things sought by the sick person, but promises to fulfill all his requests; the sick person, as if for good things, hastens toward his desires; the physician conceals the remedies; and the one accepts and joyfully waits, while the other, being wise, shows things seemingly similar to what is sought, but concealing things that are different in taste but extraordinary in the power of their effect. For the sick person only touches the medicines, and by the touch, against all hope, he receives the cure; and immediately the swelling of the passion is stopped, and the wound completely disappears, and those things by the desire for which he was first inflamed, he can no longer even bear to remember them. And it is possible to see and behold a wonder being performed that is higher than any word; for without any other remedy, by touch and sight alone of the medical drugs he makes the sick well, (237) their wounds and their swelling to be suppressed and the flame of their thirst to be quenched, and those hungering for corrupting and harmful foods to desire instead from then on what is beneficial, and these people to recount to many the wonders of the physician and the wondrous method of his skill.

Let the healthy hear and understand the things spoken by us in riddles, if indeed they have received the grace of divine knowledge. For the sick do not know these things, or rather they do not even understand that they are ill. And who will ever persuade with words those who are in such a state that they are held by weakness and disease? For they think this to be health, to do the will of the flesh and to perform all things of desire and of appetite; and just as no one will ever make those who are out of their minds and deranged reckon themselves as mad, so too no one will ever persuade those who are wallowing in passions and overcome by them and do not perceive their bondage that they are in a bad state, nor make them change for the better. For being blind and not believing that anyone else can see, they thus live deprived even of seeing, and they are persuaded that it is not even possible for them to look up; for if they were persuaded, perhaps they would have sought to look up, and having looked up, they would have seen accurately and known those who are crucified to the world. But not wanting to be freed from the passions, they willingly stop their ears and do not wish to pay attention to the Apostle saying thus: "The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me," and

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φιλάνθρωπος καί συμπαθής ἰατρός, κατανοεῖ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τήν ἀσθένειαν, τοῦ πάθους τήν φλεγμονήν, τόν ὄγκον, ὁρᾷ τόν νοσοῦντα ὅλον τοῦ θανάτου γινόμενον. Τοῦ τοιούτου δέ ἆρά τις ἐρασθήσεται, ἵνα πάλιν τῶν ἀναισθήτων λόγων ἐκείνων ἀναμνησθῶ; Οἶμαι, οὐδέ τῶν λίαν τις μαινομένων ἀνδρῶν τοιοῦτόν τι κατά τῆς ἀσθενούσης ἤ τοῦ ἀσθενοῦντος τήν πρός θάνατον ἀρρωστίαν ἐνθυμηθήσεται, μή ὅτι γε εὐσεβῶν καί φοβουμένων τόν Θεόν ἰατρῶν. Ἀλλά τῶν ὄντως (236) μαινομένων τούς λόγους χαίρειν εἰπόντες, ἐχώμεθα τοῦ λόγου τῆς διηγήσεως. Ὅταν οὖν ἴδῃ ὁ πνευματικός καί ἐπιστήμων ἰατρός ἐν οἷς εἴπομεν ὄντα τόν ἀδελφόν, οὐκ εὐθέως βοᾷ οὐδέ διαναβάλλεται οὐδέ λέγει· "Κακά καί θανατηφόρα εἰσίν ἅ ζητεῖς καί οὐ δίδωμί σοι ταῦτα τά βοηθήματα", ἵνα μή ἀκούσας φυγῇ χρήσηται καί πρός ἕτερον τῶν τοιούτων παθῶν ἄπειρον ἀπέλθῃ καί τῇ αὐτῇ ὥρᾳ τεθνήξεται· ἀλλά προσδέχεται, κατέχει, παρακαλεῖ, πᾶσαν δεικνύει ἀγάπην ὁμοῦ καί ἁπλότητα, ἵνα πληροφορήσῃ αὐτόν ὅτι καί δι᾿ ὧν φαρμάκων ᾐτήσατο, δι᾿ αὐτῶν καί τήν ἰατρείαν ποιήσηται καί τήν ἐπιθυμίαν αὐτοῦ ἐκπληρώσῃ.

Εἰσί γάρ τινες οἱ χαλεπῶς νοσοῦντες κατά ψυχήν καί χαλεπά τά νοσήματα φέροντες καί τά ἐπαύξοντα τήν νόσον ἐπιζητοῦντες· καί τό μέν πάθος ἑκάστου τούτων ἴσως, ἵνα δέηται διαίτης καί τῆς τῶν ἡδέων ἀποχῆς, αὐτοί δέ μᾶλλον τρυφᾶν ζητοῦσι τά φθοροποιά βρώματα καί εἰς κόρον ἐμφορεῖσθαι αὐτῶν. ∆ιά δή τοῦτο, ὡς ἔφθην εἰπών, ὁ ἔμπειρος ἰατρός οὐκ εὐθέως ἐπί τοῖς ζητουμένοις παρά τοῦ νοσοῦντος ἀνανεύει, ἀλλ᾿ ὑπισχνεῖται πάντα τά τῆς αἰτήσεως ἐκπληρῶσαι αὐτοῦ· ὁ νοσῶν, ὡς ἐπί καλοῖς, σπεύδει τοῖς καταθυμίοις αὐτοῦ, ὁ ἰατρός ὑποκρύπτει τά βοηθήματα· καί ὁ μέν ἐκδέχεται καί περιχαρῶς ἀναμένει, ὁ δέ, σοφός ὤν, τόν μέν φαινόμενον τῶν ζητουμένων δεικνύει παρόμοια, τό δέ κρυπτόμενον, ἄλλα μέν τῇ γεύσει, τῇ δέ δυνάμει τῆς ἐνεργείας παράδοξα. Μόνον γάρ τῶν φαρμάκων ὁ ἀσθενῶν ἅπτεται, καί τῇ ἁφῇ παρά πᾶσαν ἐλπίδα τήν ἰατρείαν λαμβάνει· καί καταπαύεται μέν εὐθύς τοῦ πάθους ὁ ὄγκος, τό δέ τραῦμα παντελῶς ἀφανίζεται, καί ὧν τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ πρῶτον ἐφλέγετο, τούτων οὐδέ μνημονεύειν ἀνέχεται τοῦ λοιποῦ. Καί ἔστιν ἰδεῖν καί θεάσασθαι λόγου παντός ὑψηλότερον θαῦμα γινόμενον· χωρίς γάρ ἄλλου τινός βοηθήματος, μόνῃ τῆ προσψαύσει καί θεωρίᾳ τῶν ἰατρικῶν φαρμάκων ὑγιαίνειν ποιεῖ τούς νοσοῦντας, (237) τά τραύματα καί τόν ὄγκον αὐτῶν καταστέλλεσθαι καί τήν φλόγαν τούτων τῆς δίψης παύεσθαι, καί τούς πεινῶντας τά φθοροποιά καί ἐπιβλαβῆ βρώματα τῶν ὠφελίμων μᾶλλον ἐπιθυμεῖν ἔκτοτε, καί πολλοῖς διηγεῖσθαι τούτους τά τοῦ ἰατροῦ θαύματα καί τήν θαυμασίαν μέθοδον τῆς ἐπιστήμης αὐτοῦ.

Ἀκουέτωσαν οἱ ὑγιαίνοντες καί τά αἰνιγματωδῶς ἡμῖν εἰρημένα νοείτωσαν, εἴ τε καί τῆς ἐνθέου γνώσεως τήν χάριν ἐδέξαντο. Ταῦτα γάρ οἱ νοσοῦντες οὐκ ἴσασι, μᾶλλον δέ οὐδέ ὅτι ἀσθενοῦσιν ἐπίστανται. Τούς δέ οὕτως ἔχοντας τίς ἄρα λόγῳ πείσει ποτέ ὅτι ἀσθενείᾳ καί νόσῳ κατέχονται; Ὑγείαν γάρ τούτην οἴονται, τό ποιεῖν τῆς σαρκός τά θελήματα καί πάντα πράσσειν τά τῆς ἐπιθυμίας καί τῆς ἐφέσεως· καί ὥσπερ οὐδείς τούς ἔξω φρενῶν ὄντας καί παρακόπους ἔκφρονας εἶναι ποιήσει λογίσασθαί ποτε ἑαυτούς, οὕτως οὐδέ τούς ἐν πάθεσι κυλινδουμένους καί ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν κεκρατημένους καί μή αἰσθανομένους τῆς κατασχέσεως τούτων ἐν κακοῖς εἶναι πείσει ποτέ τις ἤ μεταβαλέσθαι ποιήσει ἐπί τό βέλτιον. Τυφλοί γάρ ὄντες καί μηδέ ἄλλον τινά πιστεύοντες βλέπειν, οὕτως διάγουσιν ἐστερημένοι καί τοῦ ὁρᾶν, καί ὅτι οὐδέ ἀναβλέψαι αὐτούς δυνατόν εἶναι πείθονται· εἰ γάρ ἐπείθοντο, τάχα ἄν καί ἐζήτησαν ἀναβλέψαι, καί ἀναβλέψαντες εἶδον ἀκριβῶς καί ἐγνώρισαν τούς ἐσταυρωμένους τῷ κόσμῳ. Ἀλλά μή θέλοντες τῶν παθῶν ἀπαλλαγῆναι βύουσιν ἑκουσίως τά ὦτα καί τῷ Ἀποστόλῳ προσέχειν οὐ βούλονται οὕτω λέγοντι· "Ἐμοί κόσμος ἐσταύρωται κἀγώ τῷ κόσμῳ. Ζῶ δέ οὐκέτι ἐγώ, ζῇ δέ ἐν ἐμοί Χριστός", καί