111

Saul said: Cast lots between me and Jonathan; and they cast lots, and the lot falls on Jonathan. And Saul said to Jonathan: Tell me what you have done. And Jonathan told him, saying: I did indeed taste a little honey with the end of the scepter in my hand; and behold, I must die. Whom would these words not have swayed, whom would they not have moved to pity? Consider what a tempest Saul then endured, his heart being torn apart, and a very deep precipice appearing on both sides; but nevertheless he was not brought to his senses even so, but what does he say? God do so to me and more also, for you shall surely die today. Behold, a third oath again, and not simply a third, but with great urgency of the moment; for he did not say simply, "You shall die," but, "Today." For the devil was pressing, pressing, pushing and driving him to this lawless slaughter. Therefore he does not permit him even to set a time for the verdict, so that no correction of the evil might come from delay. And the people said to Saul: God do so to us and more also, if he who has brought this great salvation to Israel shall be put to death. As the Lord lives, not a hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has wrought mercy with God this day. Behold, the people also swore a second time, and swore a counter-oath to the king. Now remember for me the rope pulled by the children, that breaks and throws the pullers on their backs. Saul swore, not once, nor 49.151 twice, but many times; the people swore a counter-oath, and resisted. It was necessary, then, that the oath be broken completely; for it was impossible for all of them to keep their oaths. And do not tell me the outcome of the matter, but consider how many evils were being born, and how from this the devil was fabricating the tragedy and tyranny of Absalom. For if the king had wished to resist and carry out the oath, all the people would have risen up, and a most harsh tyranny would have arisen; again, if the son, sparing his own salvation, had wished to give himself to the army, he would have immediately become a parricide. Do you see both tyranny and filicide, and parricide, and civil war, and battle, and slaughters, and bloodshed, and countless dead arising from one oath? For if it had come to war, both Saul and Jonathan would have been slain, and perhaps many of the soldiers would have been cut down, and not even so would the matter of keeping the oath have been successful. So do not see this, that it did not happen, but consider that the nature of the matter compelled these things to happen; but the people prevailed. Come, then, let us count the perjuries that occurred. First the oath of Saul was broken by his son, a second and third time again that of Saul himself concerning the slaughter of his son; and the people seemed to keep their oath; but if one examines the matter precisely, these too again all became liable to the charges of perjury. For they forced the father of Jonathan himself to break his oath, by not handing over the son to his father. Do you see how many people one oath subjected to perjury, both willing and unwilling? how many evils it wrought? how many slaughters it caused?

6. I, for my part, promised at the beginning of my discourse to show that in counter-oaths perjury certainly occurs, but the history as it proceeded has shown much more than I was prepared for; for it has revealed not one and two and three people, but a whole people, not one and two and three oaths, but many more having been broken. It was also possible to tell another story and show from that one a single oath that worked a calamity more terrible and greater than this one. For one oath brought upon all the Jews the captivity of cities and women and children, and burning, and the assault of barbarians, and the defilement of holy things, and countless other more terrible things. But I see that the discourse is being extended to great length; for this reason, ending the narrative of this history here, with the head of John and the slaughter of Jonathan, and

111

εἶπε Σαούλ· Βάλετε κλῆρον ἀνὰ μέσον ἐμοῦ καὶ Ἰωνάθαν· καὶ βάλλουσι κλῆρον, καὶ κατακληροῦται Ἰωνάθαν. Καὶ εἶπε Σαοὺλ πρὸς Ἰωνάθαν· Ἀπάγγειλόν μοι τί ἐποίησας. Καὶ ἀπήγγειλεν αὐτῷ Ἰωνάθαν λέγων· Γευσάμενος ἐγευσάμην ἐν ἄκρῳ τῷ σκήπτρῳ ἐν τῇ χειρί μου μικρὸν ἐκ τοῦ μέλιτος· καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποθνήσκω. Τίνα οὐκ ἂν ἐπέκαμψε, τίνα οὐκ ἂν εἰς οἶκτον ἤνεγκε ταῦτα τὰ ῥήματα; Ἐννόησον ὅσον χειμῶνα λοιπὸν ὁ Σαοὺλ ὑπέμεινε, τῶν σπλάγχνων αὐτοῦ διακοπτομένων, καὶ ἑκατέρωθεν βαθυτάτου κρημνοῦ φαινομένου· ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐδὲ οὕτως ἐσωφρονίζετο, ἀλλὰ τί φησι; Τάδε ποιήσαι μοι ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ τάδε προσθείη, ὅτι θανάτῳ ἀποθανῇ σήμερον. Ἰδοὺ τρίτος ὅρκος πάλιν, καὶ οὐδὲ ἁπλῶς τρίτος, ἀλλὰ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς τοῦ καιροῦ στενοχωρίας· οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν ἁπλῶς, ὅτι Ἀποθανῇ, ἀλλὰ, Σήμερον. Ἤπειγε γὰρ, ἤπειγεν ὁ διάβολος συνωθῶν καὶ συνελαύνων αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν παράνομον ταύτην σφαγήν. ∆ιόπερ οὐκ ἀφίησιν οὐδὲ προθεσμίαν δοῦναι τῇ ψήφῳ, ἵνα μηδεμία ἀπὸ τῆς μελλήσεως διόρθωσις γένηται τοῦ κακοῦ. Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ λαὸς πρὸς Σαούλ· Τάδε ποιήσαι ἡμῖν ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ τάδε προσθείη, εἰ θανάτῳ θανατωθήσεται ὁ ποιήσας τὴν σωτηρίαν τὴν μεγάλην τῷ Ἰσραήλ. Ζῇ Κύριος, εἰ πεσεῖται τῆς τριχὸς τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, ὅτι ἔλεον Θεοῦ ἐποίησεν ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ταύτῃ. Ἰδοὺ καὶ ὁ δῆμος δεύτερον ὤμοσε, καὶ ἀντώμοσε τῷ βασιλεῖ. Νῦν ἀναμνήσθητέ μοι τοῦ καλωδίου τοῦ παρὰ τῶν παίδων ἑλκομένου, καὶ διαῤῥηγνυμένου καὶ τοὺς ἕλκοντας ῥίπτοντος ὑπτίους. Ὤμοσεν ὁ Σαοὺλ, οὐχ ἅπαξ, οὐδὲ 49.151 δὶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλάκις· ἀντώμοσεν ὁ λαὸς, καὶ ἀντέτεινεν. Ἀνάγκη λοιπὸν διαῤῥαγῆναι πάντως τὸν ὅρκον· πάντας γὰρ εὐορκῆσαι τούτους ἀδύνατον. Καὶ μή μοι τὴν ἔκβασιν τοῦ πράγματος εἴπῃς, ἀλλ' ἐννόησον ὅσα ἐτίκτετο κακὰ, καὶ πῶς τὴν τοῦ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ τραγῳδίαν καὶ τυραννίδα ἐντεῦθεν κατεσκεύαζεν ὁ διάβολος. Εἰ γὰρ ἐθέλησεν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀντιτεῖναι καὶ ἐπεξελθεῖν τῷ ὅρκῳ, πᾶς ὁ δῆμος ἂν ἀντέστη, καὶ τυραννὶς ἂν ἐγένετο χαλεπωτάτη· πάλιν εἰ ἐθέλησεν ὁ παῖς τῆς οἰκείας φειδόμενος σωτηρίας δοῦναι ἑαυτὸν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ, πατροκτόνος ἂν εὐθέως ἐγένετο. Ὁρᾷς καὶ τυραννίδα καὶ παιδοκτονίαν, καὶ πατροκτονίαν, καὶ πόλεμον ἐμφύλιον, καὶ μάχην, καὶ σφαγὰς, καὶ αἵματα, καὶ μυρίους νεκροὺς ἀφ' ἑνὸς ὅρκου γενομένους; Εἰ γὰρ συνέβη γενέσθαι πόλεμον, καὶ ὁ Σαοὺλ ἂν ἐσφάγη καὶ Ἰωνάθαν, ἴσως καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν κατεκόπησαν ἂν, καὶ οὐδ' ἂν οὕτω τὰ τῆς εὐορκίας προεχώρησεν. Ὥστε μὴ τοῦτο ἴδῃς, ὅτι οὐ γέγονεν, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνο σκόπει, ὅτι ἡ τοῦ πράγματος φύσις ταῦτα ἠνάγκαζε γενέσθαι· ὁ δὲ λαὸς ἐκράτησε. Φέρε τοίνυν ἀριθμήσωμεν τὰς γεγενημένας ἐπιορκίας. Παρεβάθη πρότερον ὁ ὅρκος τοῦ Σαοὺλ ὑπὸ τοῦ παιδὸς, δεύτερος καὶ τρίτος πάλιν ὁ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Σαοὺλ ὁ περὶ τῆς σφαγῆς τοῦ παιδός· καὶ ἔδοξεν ὁ λαὸς εὐορκεῖν· ἀλλ' ἐάν τις ἀκριβῶς ἐξετάσῃ τὸ πρᾶγμα, καὶ οὗτοι πάλιν τοῖς τῆς ἐπιορκίας ἐγκλήμασιν ὑπεύθυνοι πάντες ἐγένοντο. Τὸν γὰρ πατέρα αὐτοῦ τοῦ Ἰωνάθαν ἐπιορκῆσαι ἠνάγκασαν, οὐκ ἐκδόντες τῷ πατρὶ τὸν υἱόν. Ὁρᾷς εἷς ὅρκος ὅσους ἀνθρώπους ὑπέβαλεν ἐπιορκίᾳ, καὶ ἑκόντας καὶ ἄκοντας; ὅσα κακὰ εἰργάσατο; ὅσας σφαγὰς ἐποίησεν;

ςʹ. Ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν ὑπεσχόμην ἀρχόμενος τοῦ λόγου δείξειν ἐν ταῖς ἀντωμοσίαις πάντως ἐπιορκίαν γινομένην, ἡ δὲ ἱστορία προϊοῦσα πολλῷ πλέον ἤπερ παρεσκευαζόμην ἀπέδειξεν· οὐ γὰρ ἕνα καὶ δύο καὶ τρεῖς ἀνθρώπους, ἀλλὰ δῆμον, οὐχ ἕνα καὶ δύο καὶ τρεῖς ὅρκους, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ πλείους παραβαθέντας ἀπέφηνεν. Ἐνῆν καὶ ἑτέραν ἱστορίαν εἰπεῖν καὶ δεῖξαι καὶ ἐξ ἐκείνης χαλεπωτέραν ταύτης καὶ μείζονα συμφορὰν ἐργασάμενον ὅρκον ἕνα. Καὶ γὰρ πόλεων καὶ γυναικῶν καὶ παιδίων αἰχμαλωσίαν, καὶ πυρπόλησιν, καὶ βαρβάρων ἔφοδον, καὶ ἁγίων μολυσμὸν, καὶ μυρία ἕτερα χαλεπώτερα τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ἅπαντας εἷς ὅρκος διέθηκεν. Ἀλλ' ὁρῶ πρὸς μῆκος τὸν λόγον ἐκτεινόμενον· διὰ τοῦτο ἐνταῦθα τῆς ἱστορίας ταύτης τὴν διήγησιν καταλύσας, μετὰ τῆς Ἰωάννου κεφαλῆς καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ἰωνάθαν σφαγὴν, καὶ