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the unstable and never to use feet that stand firm, nor the mind. And onocentaurs will dwell there. And this seems to be another kind of demons the Scripture presents, which others have named Siein, having transliterated the Hebrew word itself. And there hedgehogs (it says) will make their homes for him. The passage describes all animals that love the wilderness, as those that will become inhabitants of Babylon after its desolation. 13.276 It comes quickly and will not delay, and her days will not be prolonged. He speaks of the destruction of Babylon as hastened, and of no extension for the things threatened. But since Babylon is threatened to be overthrown like Sodom, we must know that there are many interpretations of the name of Sodom. For the same name is interpreted as both blindness and barrenness, and standing silence and likeness, and calling out and their foundation. But Gomorrah is translated as measure and as sedition. But I do not think that one who wishes to interpret how Babylon will be overthrown like Sodom needs all of these. For God, it seems, in benefiting those who are being overthrown, overthrows blindness like a physician; and the overthrow of blindness is the beginning of sight. And he overthrows barrenness, so that, having driven out infertility, he might grant them the offspring of works of righteousness. And he overthrows the standing silence, so that he might cast speech into hearts for the glorifying of God. And so in overthrowing Gomorrah (since Gomorrah is interpreted as both measure and sedition), he takes down the sedition in it and the confusion, so that those who are seditious, and are in a state contrary (to peace), may be improved. But everyone who accepts the affairs of generation and upholds necessity and fate and destiny and (as much as is in his power) through the system of these things turns people away from faith in God and from piety, this one calls the affairs of the Babylonians glorious. For astrology is a discovery of the Chaldeans, who say that their own affairs are dependent on themselves, and not on God; and, by subjecting events to the motion of the stars, they cast out the providence that governs the affairs of men, so that neither prayer nor piety has any power, but even if these things seem to happen, they themselves are subject to the principle of fate. 13.277 And he calls a certain glorious Babylon, glorifying also worldly riches and glories and noble births according to the flesh and whatever is similar to these. For all these things are confusing to the mind and worthy to be synonymous with Babylon. This the Lord overthrows, and it becomes a dwelling-place of savage demons, whether you wish to take it as the city, or as a confused soul. For it is necessary that what has been made desolate from the dwelling of God become a dwelling-place of wicked spirits. Therefore, no shepherd lodges there. For it is not the part of a good shepherd to make his entrusted flock lie down in a place that has been overthrown. But sirens (he says) and demons and onocentaurs and hedgehogs. When, therefore, you see a confused soul, know that it has been filled with sound, because there is in it no distinct or articulate word, but an indistinct noise, stirred up by the passions, possesses the ruling part of that soul. Certain wicked powers, therefore, seem, through the invocation in their voice, to create pleasure in the souls they sing to for their destruction, to hunt those who pass by. Whether the pleasure is through the voice, or whether in some other way incitements and provocations to sin come through those demons, is unclear; except that those who are bewitched by luxury forget the return to their true homeland. But if you see someone with itching ears, turning them away from the truth, and turning aside to myths, and not enduring vigorous speech, nor enduring reproof, nor a stern rebuke (which leads the hearer to conversion), but being a friend of speech that is reported for the sake of favor and pleasure, consider such a one to be possessed by sirens, by the

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τὸ ἄστατον καὶ τὸ μηδέποτε ἑστῶσι τοῖς ποσὶ, μήτε τῇ διανοίᾳ κεχρῆσθαι. Καὶ ὀνοκένταυροι ἐκεῖ κατοικήσουσι. Καὶ τοῦτο ἕτερον εἶδος δαιμόνων ἔοικεν ἡ Γραφὴ παριστᾷν, ὅπερ Σίειν ὠνό μασαν, αὐτὴν τὴν Ἑβραϊκὴν φωνὴν μεταθέντες οἱ λοιποί. Ἐκεῖ δὲ καὶ ἐχῖνοι (φησὶ) τοὺς οἴκους αὐτῷ ποιήσουσι. Πάντα φιλέρημα ζῶα διηγεῖται ὁ τόπος, ὡς οἰκειωθησόμενα τῇ Βαβυλῶνι μετὰ τὴν ἐρήμωσιν. 13.276 Ταχὺ ἔρχεται καὶ οὐ χρονιεῖ, καὶ αἱ ἡμέραι αὐτῆς οὐ μὴ ἐφελκυσθῶσιν. Ἠπειγμένην λέγει τὴν καταστροφὴν τῆς Βαβυλῶνος, καὶ οὐδεμίαν παράτασιν τῶν ἠπειλημένων. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἠπείληται καταστρέφεσθαι Βαβυλὼν ὡς Σώδομα, εἰδέναι ἡμᾶς δεῖ, ὅτι πολλαὶ αἱ ἑρμηνεῖαι τοῦ ὀνόματος Σο δόμων. Ἑρμηνεύεται γὰρ τὸ αὐτὸ ὄνομα καὶ τύφλωσις καὶ στείρωσις, καὶ ἑστῶσα σιωπὴ καὶ ὁμοίωμα, καὶ ἔκκλησις καὶ θεμέλιος αὐτῶν. Γόμοῤῥα δὲ μεταλαμβάνεται εἰς μέτρον καὶ εἰς στάσιν. Πάντων δὲ οὐχ ἡγοῦμαι χρῄζειν τὸν βουλό μενον ἑρμηνεῦσαι, πῶς ἡ Βαβυλὼν ὁμοίως Σοδόμοις κα ταστραφήσεται. Ἔοικε γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς, εὐεργετῶν τοὺς κατα στρεφομένους, καταστρέφειν ὡς ἰατρὸς τυφλότητα· κατα στροφὴ δὲ τυφλότητος, ὁράσεως ἀρχή. Καὶ καταστρέφει στείρωσιν, ἵνα, τὴν ἀγονίαν ἐξελάσας, χαρίσηται αὐτοῖς γεν νήματα ἔργων δικαιοσύνης. Καὶ τὴν σιωπὴν τὴν ἑστῶσαν καταστρέφει, ἵνα λόγον ἐμβάλῃ καρδίαις πρὸς τὸ δοξάζειν τὸν Θεόν. Καὶ Γόμοῤῥα οὖν καταστρέφων (ἐπειδὴ ἀμφότερα ἑρμη νεύεται καὶ μέτρον καὶ στάσις τὰ Γόμοῤῥα) τὴν στάσιν τὴν ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ τὴν ταραχὴν καθαιρεῖ, ἵνα οἱ στασιάζοντες, καὶ ἐν τῇ καταστάσει τῇ ἐναντίᾳ (τῆς εἰρήνης) ὄντες, βελτιω θῶσι. Πᾶς δὲ ὁ τὰ τῆς γενέσεως πράγματα ἀποδεχόμενος καὶ ἀνάγκην καὶ εἱμαρμένην καὶ πεπρωμένην πρεσβεύων καὶ (τὸ ὅσον ἐφ' ἑαυτῷ) διὰ τῆς τούτων συστάσεως ἀφιστὰς τῆς εἰς τὸν Θεὸν πίστεως καὶ τῆς εὐσεβείας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, οὗτος τὰ Βαβυλωνίων πράγματα ἔνδοξα ὀνομάζει. Χαλ δαίων γὰρ εὕρημά ἐστιν ἡ ἀστρολογία· οἵ φασι τὰ ὄντα ἑαυτῶν ἠρτῆσθαι, καὶ οὐ τοῦ Θεοῦ· καὶ, τῇ τῶν ἄστρων φορᾷ ὑποτιθέντες τὰ πράγματα, ἐκβάλλουσι πρόνοιαν τὴν οἰκονομοῦσαν τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων· ὡς μήτε εὐχὴν, μήτε εὐ σέβειαν δύνασθαί τι, ἀλλὰ κἂν εἰ δοκῇ ταῦτα γίνεσθαι, τῷ λόγῳ τῆς εἱμαρμένης καὶ αὐτὰ ὑποκεῖσθαι. 13.277 Καλεῖ δὲ ἔνδοξόν τινα Βαβυλῶνα, καὶ πλούτους κοσμικοὺς καὶ δόξας καὶ τὰς κατὰ σάρκα εὐγενείας καὶ ὅσα τούτοις ἐστὶ παραπλήσια, δοξάζων. Πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα συγχυτικὰ διανοίας καὶ ἄξια εἶναι ὁμώνυμα τῇ Βαβυλῶνι. Ταύτην καταστρέφει ὁ Κύριος, καὶ γίνεται οἰκητήριον δαι μόνων ἐξηγριωμένων, εἴτε τὴν πόλιν βούλει λαμβάνειν, εἴτε ψυχὴν συγκεχυμένην. Ἀνάγκη γὰρ τὴν ἐρημωθεῖσαν ἀπὸ τῆς οἰκήσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ, οἰκητήριον γενέσθαι πονηρῶν πνευμάτων. Ἐκεῖ μὲν οὖν ποιμὴν οὐ καταλύει. Οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἀγαθοῦ ποιμένος τὴν πεπιστευμένην ποίμνην κατεσ τραμμένην ἐναυλίζειν. Ἀλλὰ σειρῆνες (φησὶ) καὶ δαιμόνια καὶ ὀνοκένταυροι καὶ ἐχῖνοι. Ὅταν οὖν ἴδῃς ψυχὴν συγκε χυμένην, γίνωσκε ὅτι ἐνεπλήσθη ἐκείνη ἤχου, διὰ τὸ μηδὲν τετρανωμένον, μηδὲ διηρθρωμένον ἐν αὐτῇ εἶναι ῥῆμα, ἀλλὰ θόρυβον ἄσημον, τὸν ὑπὸ τῶν παθῶν ἐπανιστάμενον, κατέ χειν τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκείνης. Ἐοίκασιν οὖν πονηραί τινες δυνάμεις διὰ τῆς κατὰ τὴν φωνὴν ἐκκλήσεως, ἡδονὴν ἐμποιοῦσαι ταῖς ψυχαῖς, ὧν κατα μελῳδοῦσιν ἐπ' ὀλέθρῳ, θηρεύειν τοὺς διερχομένους. Εἴτε διὰ φωνῆς ἡ ἡδονὴ, εἴτε δι' ἄλλου τινὸς τρόπου ἐρεθισμοὶ καὶ προκλήσεις πρὸς ἁμαρτίαν διὰ τῶν δαιμόνων ἐκείνων γίνονται, ἄδηλον· πλὴν ὅτι οἱ ὑπὸ τρυφῆς κατακηλούμενοι τῆς πρὸς τὴν ἀληθινὴν πατρίδα ἐπανόδου ἐπιλανθάνονται. Ἐὰν δέ τινα ἴδῃς κνηθόμενον τὴν ἀκοὴν καὶ ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς ἀληθείας ἀποστρέφοντα αὐτὴν, ἐπὶ δὲ τοὺς μύθους ἐκτρεπόμενον καὶ εὐτόνου μὲν λόγου μὴ ἀνεχόμενον, μηδὲ ἔλεγχον, μηδὲ ἐπι τίμησιν αὐστηρὰν (εἰς ἐπιστρέφειαν ἄγουσαν τὸν ἀκροατὴν) ὑπομένοντα, φίλον δὲ ὄντα τοῦ πρὸς χάριν καὶ ἡδονὴν ἀπαγ γέλλοντος λόγου, νόμισον ὑπὸ σειρήνων κατέχεσθαι τὸν τοιοῦτον, ὑπὸ τῆς