127

to say rashly, "If you had the living water, you would not have asked from me, but would have provided it for yourself first; but now you are boasting." But she said none of these things, but answers with much gentleness, both at the beginning and afterwards. For at the beginning she says: "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me?" And she did not say, as one speaking to a foreigner and an enemy: "May it not be that I should give to a man who is an enemy and alienated from our nation." And after this again, hearing him speak great things, at which enemies are especially stung, she did not mock, nor did she jeer; but what does she say? "Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?" Do you see how she pushes herself into the Jewish nobility? And what she says is this: "He used this water, and had nothing more to give." And she said these things, showing how from the first response she received a great and lofty thought. For "He drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle," hints at nothing else than that she had a conception of a greater water, but did not find it, nor know it clearly. And that I may say more clearly what she means to say, it is this: "You cannot say," she says, "that Jacob gave us this spring, but used another himself;" for both he and his sons drank from it, and they would not have drunk, if he had had a better one. From this one, therefore, you will not be able to give, and it is not possible for you to have a better one, 59.182 unless you confess yourself to be greater than Jacob. Whence then have you the water which you promise to give us? But the Jews do not speak to him so kindly, although he also spoke to them on the same subject, mentioning such water; but they gained nothing. And when he mentioned Abraham, they tried to stone him. But the woman does not behave toward him in this manner, but with much gentleness in the midst of the heat, and at midday, she both speaks and hears everything with much long-suffering, and thinks nothing of the sort that the Jews would have been likely to say, that "This man is mad and out of his mind, he has tied me to a spring and a well, providing nothing, but puffing himself up with words;" but she perseveres and stays by, until she finds what she seeks. 5. If a Samaritan woman shows so much zeal to learn something useful, and stays with Christ, although ignorant of him; what pardon shall we obtain, who both know him, and are neither by a well, nor in a desert, nor at midday, nor with the sun burning; but in the morning and under such a roof, enjoying shade and coolness, and not enduring to hear any of the things that are said, but becoming weary? But she was not such, but is so held by what is said, as even to call others. But the Jews not only did not call, but they even hindered and obstructed those who wished to come; for this reason they also said: "Has any of the rulers believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed." Let us imitate the Samaritan woman, therefore; let us converse with Christ. For even now he stands in our midst, speaking to us through the prophets and through the disciples. Let us listen, therefore, and be persuaded. How long shall we live carelessly and in vain? For not to do the things that please God, is to live carelessly; or rather, not only carelessly, but also for evil. For when we have spent the time given to us on nothing that is needful, we shall depart to pay the ultimate penalty for the untimely expenditure. For surely, one who has received money to trade with, and then has squandered it, will be required to give an account by the one who entrusted it to him; but one who has spent such a life in vain, will he not pay the penalty? Not for this did God bring us into the present life, and breathe a soul into us, that we should make use of the present only, but that we should manage all things with a view to the life to come. For only irrational creatures are useful for the present life; but we for this reason have an immortal soul, that we may do all things in preparation for that life. Of horses indeed

127

εἰπεῖν προπετῶς φθεγγομένην, ὅτι εἰ εἶχες τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ζῶν, οὐκ ἂν ᾔτησας παρ' ἐμοῦ, ἀλλὰ σαυτῷ παρέσχες ἂν προτέρῳ· νῦν δὲ κομπάζεις. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν τούτων εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ μετ' ἐπιεικείας ἀποκρίνεται πολλῆς, καὶ ἐν ἀρχῇ καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα. Καὶ γὰρ ἐν ἀρχῇ φησι· Πῶς σὺ Ἰουδαῖος ὢν αἰτεῖς παρ' ἐμοῦ πιεῖν; Καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν, ἅτε πρὸς ἀλλόφυλον, καὶ ἐχθρὸν διαλεγομένη· Μή μοι γένοιτό σοι μεταδοῦναι ἀνθρώπῳ πολεμίῳ καὶ τοῦ ἔθνους ἡμῶν ἠλλοτριωμένῳ. Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα πάλιν ἀκούσασα μεγάλα λέγοντος, ἐφ' ᾧ μάλιστα δάκνονται οἱ ἐχθροὶ, οὐ κατεγέλασεν, οὐδὲ διέσυρεν· ἀλλὰ τί φησι; Μὴ σὺ μείζων εἶ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰακὼβ, ὃς ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν τὸ φρέαρ τοῦτο, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἔπιε, καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ θρέμματα αὐτοῦ; Ὁρᾷς πῶς εἰσωθεῖ ἑαυτὴν εἰς τὴν εὐγένειαν τὴν Ἰουδαϊκήν; Ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Ἐκεῖνος τούτῳ ἐκέχρητο τῷ ὕδατι, καὶ πλέον ἔσχεν οὐδὲν δοῦναι. Ταῦτα δὲ ἔλεγε, δεικνῦσα πῶς ἐκ πρώτης ἀποκρίσεως ἐδέξατο νόημα μέγα καὶ ὑψηλόν. Τὸ γὰρ, Αὐτὸς ἔπιεν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ θρέμματα αὐτοῦ, οὐδὲν ἄλλο αἰνιττομένης ἐστὶν, ἀλλ' ἢ ὅτι ἔσχε μὲν ἔννοιαν μείζονος ὕδατος, οὐχ εὕρισκε δὲ αὐτὸ, οὐδὲ ᾔδει σαφῶς. Ἵνα δὲ καὶ σαφέστερον εἴπω, ὃ βούλεται εἰπεῖν, τοῦτό ἐστιν· Οὐκ ἔχεις εἰπεῖν, φησὶν, ὅτι Ἰακὼβ μὲν ἡμῖν ταύτην ἔδωκε τὴν πηγὴν, ἑτέρᾳ δὲ αὐτὸς ἐχρήσατο· καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ ἀπ' αὐτῆς ἔπιον, οὐκ ἂν πιόντες, εἴ γε βελτίονα εἶχεν ἑτέραν. Ἀπὸ ταύτης μὲν οὖν οὐδὲ αὐτὸς δυνήσῃ δοῦναι, ἑτέραν δὲ βελτίονα οὐκ ἔστι σε ἔχειν, 59.182 εἰ μὴ καὶ τοῦ Ἰακὼβ ὁμολογεῖς μείζονα εἶναι σαυτόν. Πόθεν οὖν ἔχεις τὸ ὕδωρ ὃ ἐπαγγέλλῃ δώσειν ἡμῖν· Ἀλλ' οὐχὶ Ἰουδαῖοι οὕτω προσηνῶς αὐτῷ διαλέγονται, καίτοι καὶ αὐτοῖς περὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ὑποθέσεως διελέχθη, τοῦ τοιούτου μνημονεύσας ὕδατος· ἀλλ' οὐδὲν ἐκέρδαναν. Ὅτε δὲ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ἐμνημόνευσε, καὶ λίθοις βάλλειν αὐτὸν ἐπεχείρουν. Ἀλλ' οὐχ ἡ γυνὴ τοῦτον αὐτῷ τὸν τρόπον προσφέρεται, ἀλλὰ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἐπιεικείας ἐν μέσῳ καύματι, καὶ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μέσῃ, καὶ λέγει καὶ ἀκούει πάντα μετὰ μακροθυμίας πολλῆς, καὶ οὐδὲν ἐννοεῖ τι τοιοῦτον οἷον εἰκὸς Ἰουδαίους εἰπεῖν, ὅτι Μαίνεται καὶ ἐξέστηκεν οὗτος, προσέδησέ με πηγῇ καὶ φρέατι, παρέχων μὲν οὐδὲν, φυσῶν δὲ τοῖς ῥήμασιν· ἀλλὰ καρτερεῖ καὶ προσεδρεύει, ἕως ἂν εὕρῃ τὸ ζητούμενον. εʹ. Εἰ δὲ γυνὴ Σαμαρεῖτις τοσαύτην ποιεῖται σπουδὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ μαθεῖν τι χρήσιμον, καὶ παραμένει τῷ Χριστῷ, καίτοι γε ἀγνοοῦσα αὐτόν· τίνος ἡμεῖς τευξόμεθα συγγνώμης, οἱ καὶ εἰδότες αὐτὸν, καὶ μήτε ὄντες παρὰ φρέαρ, μήτε ἐν ἐρημίᾳ, μήτε ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μέσῃ, μήτε ἀκτῖνος καιούσης· ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τὴν ἕω καὶ ὑπὸ τοιοῦτον ὄροφον σκιᾶς ἀπολαύοντες καὶ εὐψυχίας, καὶ μὴ καρτεροῦντες ἀκοῦσαί τι τῶν λεγομένων, ἀλλ' ἀποκναίοντες; Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐκείνη τοιαύτη, ἀλλ' οὕτω κατέχεται τοῖς λεγομένοις, ὡς καὶ ἑτέρους καλέσαι. Ἰουδαῖοι δὲ οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἐκάλουν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς βουλομένους προσελθεῖν ἐκώλυον καὶ ἐνεπόδιζον· διὸ καὶ ἔλεγον· Μή τις ἐκ τῶν ἀρχόντων ἐπίστευσεν εἰς αὐτόν; Ἀλλ' ὄχλος οὗτος ὁ μὴ γινώσκων τὸν νόμον, ἐπικατάρατοί εἰσι. Μιμησώμεθα τοίνυν τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν· διαλεχθῶμεν τῷ Χριστῷ. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ νῦν μέσος ἡμῶν ἕστηκε, καὶ διὰ τῶν προφητῶν καὶ διὰ τῶν μαθητῶν ἡμῖν φθεγγόμενος. Ἀκούσωμεν οὖν καὶ πεισθῶμεν. Μέχρι τίνος ζῶμεν εἰκῆ καὶ μάτην; Τὸ γὰρ μὴ τὰ δοκοῦντα τῷ Θεῷ ποιεῖν, εἰκῆ ζῇν ἐστι· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐκ εἰκῆ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ κακῷ. Ὅταν γὰρ τὸν δοθέντα ἡμῖν χρόνον ἀναλώσωμεν εἰς οὐδὲν δέον, ἀπελευσόμεθα δίκην δώσοντες τὴν ἐσχάτην τῆς ἀκαίρου δαπάνης. Οὐ γὰρ δήπου ὁ μὲν χρήματα ἐμπορεύσασθαι λαβὼν, εἶτα καταφαγὼν, λόγον ἀπαιτηθήσεται παρὰ τοῦ πιστεύσαντος· ὁ δὲ ζωὴν τοιαύτην δαπανήσας μάτην, οὐ δώσει δίκην. Οὐ διὰ τοῦτο ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεὸς ἤγαγεν εἰς τὸν παρόντα βίον, καὶ ψυχὴν ἐνέπνευσεν, ἵνα τῷ παρόντι χρησώμεθα μόνον, ἀλλ' ἵνα πάντα πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν πραγματευσώμεθα ζωήν. Τὰ γὰρ ἄλογα μόνα τῷ παρόντι χρήσιμα βίῳ· ἡμεῖς δὲ διὰ τοῦτο ψυχὴν ἀθάνατον ἔχομεν, ἵνα πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνης τῆς ζωῆς παρασκευὴν πάντα πράξωμεν. Ἵππων μὲν