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For you surely desire the salvation of all, awaiting their repentance that comes from works, with your righteous forbearance. For it is not the part of a righteous one to strike those who are falling, but rather to surely extend a hand to them, which you, my good Master, doing so, have not failed nor ever will fail to do. The life of all men is a wrestling match, and all men are slaves of you, the creator; yet we have, both small and great, irreconcilable enemies, the rulers of darkness. If then you yourself do not rather extend a hand, but you let them overpower us, where is your justice, where is your love for mankind? For we became slaves of that one by our own mind, by our own choice, but you yourself, coming, redeemed us with your immaculate and precious blood and brought us to your Father, my God, as a gift; seeing us, the enemy cannot stand it at all, he cannot bear the envy which he has, but roars against us like a lion and walking about and fiercely grinding his teeth he seeks whom he may devour. Those therefore who are wounded by this savage beast and receive blows and lie injured, O my Christ, will you not have mercy, will you not rather have compassion and await their health, (193) but will you rebuke, but will you utterly crush and completely put to death such ones? For it is just, yes, I too say this, that these are not held unwillingly, but they willingly betray themselves. Nevertheless, crafty, and a sophist of wickedness, this savage and cunning beast pretends therefore to be a friend, as a friend seeking to seize and hunt me whole; by showing me the visible life he deprives me of the intelligible life. By the sensation of present things he steals me away, and secretly plunders the wealth of things to come. One thing appears to outward view, but another is what is hidden, O Savior. And if men, having learned this, fashion deceits with hypocrisy, what will the inventor of wickedness not do, how will he not lead astray, and especially the young, how will he not deceive them, being simple,

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θέλεις γάρ πάντως τήν πάντων σωτηρίαν, τήν μετάνοιαν ἐκδεχόμενος τούτων τήν ἐκ τῶν ἔργων, ἀνοχῇ σου δικαίᾳ. ∆ικαίου καί γάρ οὐ τούς πίπτοντας παίειν, χεῖρα δέ μᾶλλον πάντως ὀρέγειν τούτοις, ὅπερ ποιῶν σύ, ὁ καλός μου ∆εσπότης, οὐκ ἐνέλιπες οὐδέ ποτε ἐλλείψεις. Ὁ βίος πάλη πάντων ἀνθρώπων πέλει, δοῦλοι δέ πάντες ἄνθρωποι σοῦ, τοῦ κτίστου˙ ἔχομεν δ᾿ ὅμως μικροί τε καί μεγάλοι ἔχθρούς ἀσπόνδους, ἄρχοντας τούς τοῦ σκότους. Εἰ μή οὖν αὐτός ὀρέξεις μᾶλλον χεῖρα, ἀλλ᾿ αὐτούς ἡμῶν κατισχύσει ἀφήσεις, ποῦ τό δίκαιον, ποῦ τό φιλάνθρωπόν σου; ∆οῦλοι γάρ ἡμεῖς γεγόναμεν ἐκείνου ἰδίᾳ γνώμῃ, ἰδίᾳ προαιρέσει, αὐτός δέ ἡμᾶς ἐλθών ἐξηγοράσω τῷ ἀχράντῳ σου αἵματι καί τιμίῳ καί τῷ σῷ Πατρί προσήγαγες, Θεέ μου, δῶρον, οὕς ὁρῶν ἐχθρός ὅλως οὐ στέγει, οὐχ ὑποφέρει τόν φθόνον, ὅνπερ ἔχει, ἀλλ᾿ ὠρύεται καθ᾿ ἡμῶν ὥσπερ λέων καί περιπατῶν καί βρύχων τούς ὀδόντας ἀπηνῶς ζητεῖ, ὅντινα καταπίῃ. Τούς οὖν ὑπ᾿αὐτοῦ θηρός τοῦ ἀνημέρου τιτρωσκομένους καί πληγάς δεχομένους καί τραυματίας, ὦ Χριστέ μου, κειμένους οὐκ ἐλεήσεις, οὐ συμπαθήσεις μᾶλλον καί τήν ὑγείαν τήν τούτων ἀναμείνεις, (193) ἀλλ᾿ ἐπιπλήξεις, ἀλλά συντρίψεις ὅλως καί θανατώσεις τούς τοιούτους τελείως; ∆ίκαιον καί γάρ, ναί, κἀγώ τοῦτο λέγω, ὅτι ἄκοντες οὐ κατέχονται οὗτοι, ἀλλά ἑκόντες ἑαυτούς προδίδουσιν. Ὅμως πανοῦργος, σοφιστής τε καί κακίας, ὁ ἀνήμερος καί ποικίλος θήρ οὗτος προσποιεῖται οὖν τά τῶν φίλων, ὡς φίλος ὅλον με ζητῶν συλλαβεῖν καί θηρεῦσαι, τήν ὁρωμένην ζωήν ὑποδεικνύς μοι τῆς νοουμένης ζωῆς ἀποστερεῖ με. Τῇ αἰσθήσει κλέπτει με τῶν νῦν παρόντων καί τῶν μελλόντων ὑποσυλᾷ τόν πλοῦτον. Ἄλλο τῇ ἔξω φαίνεται θεωρίᾳ, ἄλλο δέ ἐστι τό κρυπτόμενον, Σῶτερ. Εἰ δέ ἄνθρωποι τοῦτο μεμαθηκότες δόλους σχηματίζονται τῇ ὑποκρίσει, τί ὁ κακίας εὑρετής οὐ ποιήσει, πῶς οὐ πλανήσει, καί μάλιστα τούς νέους, πῶς οὐκ ἀπατήσει δέ ἀκάκους ὄντας,