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evil, we shall know the difference more accurately. For one built upon the rock, the other upon the sand; for this reason, even though he was a king, he feared and trembled before the prophet, who had only his sheepskin. Such were the Jews, but not the apostles; for this reason, though few and in chains, they showed the firmness of the rock; while the others, though many and armed, showed the weakness of the sand. For they said, "What shall we do to these men?" Do you see who is in perplexity? Not those who are subjects and in chains, 57.326 but those who hold and bind them? What could be more strange than this? You hold them captive, and you are perplexed? And very rightly so. For since they built everything on sand, for this reason they were weaker than all. For this reason they said again, "What do you intend to do, wanting to bring this man's blood upon us?" What does he say? You scourge, and you are afraid? You insult, and you are in terror? You judge, and you tremble? So weak is wickedness. But not so the apostles; but how? "We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." Have you seen a lofty spirit? Have you seen a rock that laughs at the waves? Have you seen an unshakable house? And what is more wonderful, is that not only did they not become cowardly themselves because of what was plotted against them, but they even gained more courage, and threw their opponents into greater anxiety. For he who strikes the adamant is himself the one struck; and he who kicks against the pricks is himself the one pricked, and receives the grievous wounds; and he who plots against the virtuous is himself the one in danger. For wickedness becomes so much weaker, the more it is arrayed against virtue. And just as one who binds fire in a garment did not extinguish the flame, but consumed the garment; so he who insults, and holds captive, and binds the virtuous, made them more illustrious, but destroyed himself. For however many terrible things you suffer while living a good life, so much stronger have you become; for the more we honor philosophy, the more we will need nothing; and the less we need anything, the stronger we become and superior to all. Such was John; for this reason no one grieved him, but he grieved Herod; and the one having nothing rose up against the ruler; but the other, clothed in a diadem and purple and countless splendors, trembles and fears the one stripped of everything, and could not even look at the severed head without fear. For that he had this fear in full force even after his death, hear what he says: "This is John, whom I killed." But the "I killed" was not of one boasting, but of one trying to soothe his fear, and persuading his troubled soul to remember that he himself had slain him. So great is the strength of virtue, that even after death it is more powerful than the living. For this reason, when he was alive, those who possessed much wealth came to him and said, "What shall we do?" You have so much, and you wish to learn the way of your prosperity from one who has nothing? the rich from the poor man? the soldiers from the one who has no house? Such also was Elijah; for this reason he spoke to the people with the same boldness. For one said, "O generation of vipers"; the other, "How long will you limp on your two hams?" And one said, "You have killed and also taken possession"; the other said, "It is not lawful for you to have the wife of Philip your brother." Have you seen the rock? Have you seen the sand? How easily it falls? How it yields to misfortunes? How it is overturned, whether it be with a king, or with a multitude, or with power? For it makes those who pursue it more senseless than all. And it does not fall simply, but with great calamity. For, he says, "great was its fall." For the danger is not about ordinary things, but 57.327 for the soul, for the falling away from heaven and those immortal goods. Rather, even before those things, he who pursues this will live a life more wretched than all, living with continual despondencies, cowardice, cares, anxieties; which a certain wise man, speaking in a riddle, also said: "The wicked flee, when no one

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κακίαν, ἀκριβέστερον εἰσόμεθα τὸ διάφορον. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς πέτρας ᾠκοδόμησεν, ὁ δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς ψάμμου· διὸ καὶ βασιλεὺς ὢν ἐδεδοίκει καὶ ἔτρεμε τὸν προφήτην, τὸν τὴν μηλωτὴν ἔχοντα μόνον. Τοιοῦτοι οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, ἀλλ' οὐχ οἱ ἀπόστολοι· διὸ καὶ ὀλίγοι ὄντες καὶ δεδεμένοι, τῆς πέτρας ἐνεδείκνυντο τὸ στεῤῥόν· ἐκεῖνοι δὲ καὶ πολλοὶ καὶ ὡπλισμένοι, τῆς ψάμμου τὸ ἀσθενές. Καὶ γὰρ ἔλεγον· Τί ποιήσομεν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τούτοις; Ὁρᾷς ἐν ἀπορίᾳ ὄντας, οὐ τοὺς ὑποχειρίους καὶ δεδεμένους, 57.326 ἀλλὰ τοὺς κατέχοντας καὶ δεσμεύοντας; οὗ τί γένοιτ' ἂν καινότερον; Σὺ κατέχεις καὶ διαπορεῖς; Καὶ μάλα εἰκότως. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς ψάμμου πάντα ᾠκοδόμησαν, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἀσθενέστεροι πάντων ἦσαν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ πάλιν ἔλεγον· Τί ποιεῖτε βουλόμενοι ἐπαγαγεῖν ἐφ' ἡμᾶς τὸ αἷμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τούτου; Τί φησι; Σὺ μαστίζεις, καὶ σὺ φοβῇ; σὺ ἐπηρεάζεις, καὶ σὺ δέδοικας; σὺ κρίνεις, καὶ σὺ τρέμεις; Οὕτως ἀσθενὴς ἡ κακία. Ἀλλ' οὐχ οἱ ἀπόστολοι οὕτως· ἀλλὰ πῶς; Οὐ δυνάμεθα ἡμεῖς ἃ εἴδομεν καὶ ἠκούσαμεν μὴ λαλεῖν. Εἶδες φρόνημα ὑψηλόν; εἶδες πέτραν κυμάτων καταγελῶσαν; εἶδες οἰκίαν ἄσειστον; Καὶ τὸ δὴ θαυμαστότερον, ὅτι οὐ μόνον οὐδὲ ἐγίνοντο αὐτοὶ δειλοὶ δι' ὧν ἐπεβουλεύοντο, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ πλεῖον ἐλάμβανον θάρσος, κἀκείνους εἰς μείζονα ἐνέβαλον ἀγωνίαν. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ τὸν ἀδάμαντα πλήττων, αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ πληττόμενος· καὶ ὁ τὰ κέντρα λακτίζων, αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ κεντούμενος, καὶ τὰ χαλεπὰ δεχόμενος τραύματα· καὶ ὁ τοῖς ἐναρέτοις ἐπιβουλεύων, αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ κινδυνεύων. Ἡ γὰρ κακία τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον ἀσθενεστέρα γίνεται, ὅσῳπερ ἂν πρὸς τὴν ἀρετὴν παρατάττηται. Καὶ καθάπερ ὁ πῦρ ἐν ἱματίῳ δεσμῶν, τὴν μὲν φλόγα οὐκ ἔσβεσε, τὸ δὲ ἱμάτιον ἐδαπάνησεν· οὕτως ὁ τοῖς ἐναρέτοις ἐπηρεάζων, καὶ κατέχων, καὶ δεσμεύων, ἐκείνους μὲν λαμπροτέρους εἰργάσατο, ἑαυτὸν δὲ ἠφάνισε. Καὶ γὰρ ὅσα ἂν δεινὰ πάθῃς ἐπιεικῶς ζῶν, τοσούτῳ γέγονας ἰσχυρότερος· ὅσῳ γὰρ τιμῶμεν φιλοσοφίαν, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον οὐδενὸς δεησόμεθα· καὶ ὅσῳ ἂν μηδενὸς δεηθῶμεν, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον ἰσχυροὶ γινόμεθα καὶ πάντων ἀνώτεροι. Τοιοῦτος ἦν ὁ Ἰωάννης· διὸ ἐκεῖνον μὲν οὐδεὶς ἐλύπει, αὐτὸς δὲ ἐλύπει τὸν Ἡρώδην· καὶ ὁ μὲν μηδὲν ἔχων, κατεξανέστη τοῦ κρατοῦντος· ὁ δὲ διάδημα καὶ ἁλουργίδα καὶ μυρίαν φαντασίαν περιβεβλημένος, τρέμει καὶ δέδοικε τὸν πάντων γεγυμνωμένον, καὶ οὐδὲ ἀποτετμημένον τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀδεῶς ἰδεῖν ἐδύνατο. Ὅτι γὰρ καὶ μετὰ τελευτὴν ἀκμάζοντα εἶχε τὸν φόβον, ἄκουσον τί φησιν· Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Ἰωάννης, ὃν ἀνεῖλον ἐγώ. Τὸ δὲ, Ἀνεῖλον, οὐκ ἐπαιρομένου ἦν, ἀλλὰ τὸν φόβον παραμυθουμένου, καὶ πείθοντος τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν ταραττομένην ἀναμνησθῆναι, ὅτι αὐτὸς αὐτὸν ἔσφαξε. Τοσαύτη τῆς ἀρετῆς ἡ ἰσχὺς, ὅτι καὶ μετὰ τελευτὴν τῶν ζώντων ἐστὶ δυνατωτέρα. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ ἡνίκα ἔζη, οἱ τὰ πολλὰ κεκτημένοι χρήματα πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐρχόμενοι ἔλεγον· Τί ποιήσομεν; Τοσαῦτα ἔχετε, καὶ παρὰ τοῦ μηδὲν ἔχοντος βούλεσθε μαθεῖν τῆς ὑμετέρας εὐημερίας τὴν ὁδόν; παρὰ τοῦ πένητος οἱ πλουτοῦντες; παρὰ τοῦ μηδὲ οἰκίαν ἔχοντος οἱ στρατευόμενοι; Τοιοῦτος καὶ ὁ Ἠλίας ἦν· διὸ καὶ μετὰ τῆς αὐτῆς παῤῥησίας τῷ δήμῳ διελέγετο. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἔλεγε, Γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν· οὗτος δὲ, Ἕως πότε χωλανεῖτε ἐπ' ἀμφοτέραις ταῖς ἰγνύαις ὑμῶν; Καὶ ὁ μὲν ἔλεγεν, Ἐφόνευσας καὶ ἐκληρονόμησας· ὁ δὲ ἔλεγεν, Οὐκ ἔξεστί σοι ἔχειν τὴν γυναῖκα Φιλίππου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου. Εἶδες τὴν πέτραν; εἶδες τὴν ψάμμον; πῶς εὐκόλως καταπίπτει; πῶς εἴκει ταῖς συμφοραῖς; πῶς περιτρέπεται, κἂν μετὰ βασιλέως, κἂν μετὰ πλήθους ᾖ, κἂν μετὰ δυναστείας; Ἁπάντων γὰρ τοὺς μετιόντας αὐτὴν ἀναισθητοτέρους ποιεῖ. Καὶ οὐδὲ ἁπλῶς καταπίπτει, ἀλλὰ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς συμφορᾶς. Καὶ γὰρ ἦν, φησὶν, ἡ πτῶσις αὐτῆς μεγάλη. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ὑπὲρ τῶν τυχόντων ὁ κίνδυνος. ἀλλ' 57.327 ὑπὲρ ψυχῆς, ὑπὲρ ἐκπτώσεως οὐρανῶν καὶ τῶν ἀθανάτων ἐκείνων ἀγαθῶν. Μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ πρὸ ἐκείνων, πάντων ἀθλιώτερον ὁ ταύτην διώκων βιώσεται βίον, ἀθυμίαις διηνεκέσι, δειλίαις, φροντίσιν, ἀγωνίαις συζῶν· ὅπερ οὖν καί τις σοφὸς αἰνιττόμενος ἔλεγε· Φεύγει ἀσεβὴς, οὐδενὸς