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When, therefore, you lose a son and a daughter together, run back to that just man and you will surely find great comfort for yourself; remember his words at the calamity of his children, which bound that holy head more than ten thousand crowns; consider the magnitude of the calamity and that strange shipwreck, and that foreign and unexpected tragedy. For you perhaps lost one or a second or a third, but he lost so many sons and so many daughters, and he who had many children suddenly became childless; and his heart was not consumed little by little, but all at once all the fruit was snatched away, and he was not even present, nor sitting beside them, so that having heard their last words he might have some comfort for so bitter an end, but beyond all expectation, and one sorrow surpassed the other. For not only an untimely death, but also that all were in their prime, that they were virtuous and friendly, that it was all of them together, that they were of both sexes, that it was not by the common law of na 63.706 ture, that it was after such great loss, that he was conscious of no evil in himself nor in them that they should suffer these things. For each of these is sufficient even by itself to cause turmoil; but when they are seen running together, consider how great the height of the waves, how great the excess of the storm and the tempest. These things are therefore marvelous even when heard simply; but if you examine them with accuracy, then you will see the marvel more greatly. For consider that the devil did not take half and leave half, nor did he take the more and leave the fewer, but he harvested the entire fruit, and did not fell the tree; he brought the whole sea with its waves, and did not sink the vessel; he emptied his whole power, and did not shake the tower, but it stood, being struck from all sides and remaining unbent; and flakes of arrows were brought, and he was not struck, or rather they were sent, but did not wound. Consider how great a thing it is to have lost so many children; for what was not sufficient to bite? Was it not that all were snatched away? Was it not that all were snatched at once and in one day? Was it not that it was in the very flower of their age? Was it not that they showed much virtue, and that they ended their lives by such a manner of punishment? Was it not that after so many blows this was inflicted as the last? Was it not that the father was affectionate? Was it not that those who departed were longed for? For when someone loses wicked children, he is bitten by the suffering, yet not with such vehemence; for the wickedness of those who have departed does not allow the grief to become sharper; but when they are also virtuous, the wound becomes lasting, showing not only the longing from nature, but also that from piety. Again, when they are snatched away one by one, the suffering has some comfort; for those who are left behind overshadow the despondency over those who have departed; but when the whole choir has departed, at whom will he who had many children, suddenly become childless, be able to look? For if, when some have departed in three or five days, the women and all the relatives lament this most of all, that the deceased was quickly and suddenly snatched from their sight; much more would this man have grieved, having been thus deprived of all not in three and two and one days, but in a single hour. For a terror that has been meditated upon over time, even if it be extremely unbearable, would easily become light by anticipation; but that which happens unexpectedly and suddenly, even if it be light by nature, by happening unexpectedly and suddenly, becomes unbearable. When therefore something is difficult even in itself, and it receives the addition of happening unexpectedly, consider how it becomes unbearable and surpasses all reason. For he did not see them on a bed expiring and breathing their last, but all buried in the house. Consider, then, who was digging up that mound, and now pulling up a stone, now a limb of a child, and seeing a hand still holding a cup, and another right hand reclining on the dish, and the very form of the body disfigured, a no 63.707 se crushed,

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Ὅταν τοίνυν ἀποβάλῃς υἱὸν καὶ θυγατέρα ὁμοῦ, ἀνάδραμε πρὸς τὸν δίκαιον ἐκεῖνον καὶ πάντως εὑρήσεις πολλὴν σεαυτῷ τὴν παραμυθίαν· ἀναμνήσθητι τῶν ῥημάτων αὐτοῦ τῶν ἐπὶ τῇ συμφορᾷ τῶν παίδων, ἃ μυρίων στεφάνων μᾶλλον ἀνέδησε τὴν ἁγίαν κεφαλὴν ἐκείνην· λόγισαι τὸ μέγεθος τῆς συμφορᾶς καὶ τὸ καινὸν ἐκεῖνο ναυάγιον, καὶ τὴν ξένην καὶ παράδοξον ἐκείνην τραγῳδίαν. Σὺ μὲν γὰρ ἴσως ἕνα ἀπώλεσας ἢ δεύτερον ἢ τρίτον, ἐκεῖνος δὲ τοσούτους καὶ τοσαύτας, καὶ ὁ πολύπαις ἐξαίφνης ἄπαις ἐγίνετο· καὶ οὐδὲ κατὰ μικρὸν αὐτῷ τὰ σπλάγχνα ἀνηλίσκετο, ἀλλ' ἀθρόον ἅπας ὁ καρπὸς ἀνηρπάζετο, καὶ οὐδὲ παρόντος, οὐδὲ παρακαθημένου, ἵνα κἂν ἐσχάτων ἀκούσας ῥημάτων ἔχῃ τινὰ παραμυθίαν τῆς οὕτω πικρᾶς τελευτῆς, ἀλλὰ παρ' ἐλπίδα πᾶσαν, καὶ θάτερον ὑπερέβαλλε θατέρου τῶν λυπηρῶν. Οὐ γὰρ ἄωρος θάνατος μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἐν ἀκμῇ πάντας εἶναι, τὸ ἐναρέτους εἶναι καὶ φιλικοὺς, τὸ πάντας ὁμοῦ, τὸ φύσεως εἶναι ἑκατέρας, τὸ μὴ κοινῷ νόμῳ τῆς φύ 63.706 σεως, τὸ μετὰ τοσαύτην ζημίαν, τὸ μηδὲν ἑαυτῷ συνειδότα πονηρὸν μηδὲ ἐκείνοις ταῦτα παθεῖν. Τούτων γὰρ ἕκαστον ἱκανὸν μὲν καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὸ θορυβῆσαι· ὅταν δὲ καὶ ὁμοῦ φαίνηται συντρέχοντα, ἐννόησον τῶν κυμάτων ὅσον τὸ ὕψος, ὅση τοῦ χειμῶνος ἡ ὑπερβολὴ καὶ τῆς ζάλης. Θαυμαστὰ μὲν οὖν ταῦτα καὶ ἁπλῶς ἀκουόμενα· ἂν δὲ μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἐξετάσῃς αὐτὰ, τότε μειζόνως ὄψει τὸ θαῦμα. Ἐννόησον γὰρ ὅτι οὐχὶ τοὺς ἡμίσεις ἔλαβεν ὁ διάβολος, καὶ τοὺς ἡμίσεις ἀφῆκεν, οὐδὲ τοὺς πλείονας ἔλαβε, καὶ τοὺς ἐλάττους ἀφῆκεν, ἀλλ' ὁλόκληρον ἐτρύγησε τὸν καρπὸν, καὶ τὸ δένδρον οὐ κατέβαλε· πᾶσαν ἐπήγαγε τὴν θάλασσαν μετὰ τῶν κυμάτων, καὶ τὸ σκάφος οὐ κατεπόντισεν· ὅλην τὴν δύναμιν ἐκένωσεν, καὶ τὸν πύργον οὐκ ἔσεισεν, ἀλλ' εἱστήκει πάντοθεν βαλλόμενος καὶ ἀκλινὴς μένων· καὶ νιφάδες ἐφέροντο βελῶν, καὶ οὐκ ἐπλήττετο, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐπέμποντο μὲν, οὐκ ἐτίτρωσκον δέ. Ἐννόησον ὅσον ἐστὶ τὸ τοσούτους παῖδας ἀπολωλέναι· τί γὰρ οὐκ ἦν ἱκανὸν δάκνειν; οὐχὶ τὸ πάντας ἀναρπασθῆναι; οὐχὶ τὸ πάντας ἀθρόον καὶ ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ; οὐχὶ τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ τῆς ἡλικίας τῷ ἄνθει; οὐχὶ τὸ πολλὴν ἀρετὴν ἐπιδεικνυμένους, καὶ τὸ τρόπῳ τῆς τιμωρίας τοιούτῳ καταλῦσαι τὸν βίον; οὐχὶ τὸ μετὰ τοσαύτας πληγὰς ἐσχάτην ἐπενεχθῆναι ταύτην; οὐχὶ τὸ φιλόστοργον εἶναι τὸν γεγεννηκότα; οὐ τὸ ποθεινοὺς εἶναι τοὺς ἀπελθόντας; Ὅταν γὰρ πονηρούς τις ἀποβάληται παῖδας, δάκνεται μὲν τῷ πάθει, πλὴν οὐ μετὰ τοσαύτης τῆς σφοδρότητος· ἡ γὰρ πονηρία τῶν ἀπελθόντων δριμυτέραν οὐκ ἀφίησι γενέσθαι τὴν λύπην· ὅταν δὲ καὶ ἐνάρετοι ὦσι, μόνιμον τὸ τραῦμα γίνεται, οὐχὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς φύσεως μόνον ἐπιδεικνυμένῳ πόθον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς εὐλαβείας. Πάλιν ὅταν κατὰ μέρος ἁρπάζωνται, ἔχει τινὰ παραμυθίαν τὸ πάθος· οἱ γὰρ ἐπιλειπόμενοι τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀπελθοῦσι συσκιάζουσιν ἀθυμίαν· ὅταν δὲ ὁλόκληρος ὁ χορὸς ἀπέλθῃ, πρὸς τίνα δυνήσεται ἰδεῖν ὁ πολύπαις ἀθρόον ἄπαις γενόμενος; Εἰ γὰρ ἐν τρισὶν ἢ πέντε ἡμέραις ἀπελθόντων τινῶν, αἱ γυναῖκες καὶ οἱ προσήκοντες ἅπαντες τοῦτο μάλιστα πάντων ὀλοφύρονται, ὅτι ταχέως καὶ ἐξαίφνης ἀνηρπάγη τῆς ἐκείνων ὄψεως ὁ τετελευτηκώς· πολλῷ μᾶλλον οὗτος ἂν ἤλγησεν, οὐκ ἐν ἡμέραις τρισὶ καὶ δύο καὶ μιᾷ, ἀλλ' ἐν ὥρᾳ μιᾷ ἅπαντας οὕτως ἀφαιρεθείς. Τὸ γὰρ μελετηθὲν τῷ χρόνῳ δεινὸν, κἂν σφόδρα ἀφόρητον ᾖ, τῇ προσδοκίᾳ κοῦφον ἂν γένοιτο ῥᾳδίως· τὸ δὲ παρ' ἐλπίδα συμβὰν καὶ ἐξαίφνης, κἂν φύσει κοῦφον ᾖ, τῷ παρ' ἐλπίδα συμβῆναι καὶ ἐξαίφνης, ἀφόρητον γίνεται. Ὅταν οὖν τι καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὸ χαλεπὸν ᾖ, καὶ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ παρ' ἐλπίδα συμβῆναι λάβῃ προσθήκην, ἐννόησον πῶς ἀφόρητον γίνεται καὶ πάντα ὑπερβαίνει λόγον. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐπὶ κλίνης εἶδεν αὐτοὺς ἀποπνέοντας καὶ ψυχοῤῥαγοῦντας, ἀλλὰ τῇ οἰκίᾳ καταχωσθέντας ἅπαντας. Ἐννόησον τοίνυν, τίς ἄρα ἦν ἀνορύττων ἐκεῖνο τὸ χῶμα, καὶ νῦν μὲν λίθον, νῦν δὲ μέλος ἀνέλκων παιδίου, καὶ χεῖρα ἰδὼν ἔτι φιάλην κατέχουσαν, καὶ δεξιὰν ἑτέραν ἀνακλινομένην τῷ πίνακι, καὶ αὐτὸν τοῦ σώματος διεφθαρμένον τὸν τύπον, ῥι 63.707 νὸς συντριβείσης,