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let us be present, and let us see what the psalmist, the common protector of the human race, wants to tell us. Whether they are barbarians, or wise men, or unlearned, do you command them to be present? Yes, he says. For this reason, beginning, he said, All you nations; and again he intensified it, saying: Both those born of earth and the sons of men, calling all humanity. Oh, the teaching! How suitable and common it is for all. For this reason he does not merely call everyone simply, but also commands them to pay attention to what is said with great zeal and precision. For he did not say, only Hear these things, all you nations, but also, Give ear. To give ear is nothing other than to hear with diligence and with an attentive mind. For 55.223 to give ear is properly said when one speaks ear to ear, concentrating himself and commanding the other to pay attention to what is said. Give ear, all you who inhabit the world. And if some are not counted among nations, but are of mixed race, or scattered nomads, I call these also to the hearing. And behold the understanding of a public speaker. First he roused their mind, and made them attentive to the hearing, by calling everyone together. Then, having called them, he restrains their pride, lest by their numbers they be lifted up to arrogance. For there is a need for such hearers especially, when one is about to utter philosophical words, hearers who are contrite, and subdued, freed from arrogance and conceit. How then did he subdue their mind? By reminding them of their nature. For having said, Nations, he added: Both those born of earth and the sons of men. He stated the substance from which is the beginning of our generation, he reminded us of the common mother of us all. And for what reason did he say, The sons of men? Since he said, Born of earth, lest anyone think according to the pagan mythologists that humans sprouted from the earth from the beginning, as some have mythologized, introducing certain sown men, for this reason he added: The sons of men. For men are your fathers, but the earth is the beginning of generation for you and for them. Why then is earth and ashes proud? Consider your mother, and restrain your pride; trample upon your arrogance; consider, that you are earth, and to earth you shall return, and cast out all arrogance. For I need such a hearer. For this reason I prepare you, that I may receive you as suitable for the reception of what is said. Together, rich and poor. You have seen the nobility of the Church. For how is it not nobility, when it does not separate the hearer by dignities, but all of the teaching is poured forth equally, and it provides a common table for the rich and for the poor? For since he stated what unites all, being born of earth, and sons of men, and showed the commonality of nature; then also introducing the difference and inequality that seems to be from the things of life, he casts this out by his word, calling all in common; for our nature is common, in common I call all; for our common city is the inhabited world. But you have devised some difference from wealth and poverty, and you have introduced inequality. But I cast this out again, not by receiving the rich and dishonoring the poor, nor by calling the poor and casting out the rich, but both these and those, and not simply these and those, the one first, the other last, or the one last, the other first; but together. Let the assembly be common, the word common, and the hearing common. Even if you are rich, you are made of the same clay, you had the same entrance as the poor man, the same birth. And you are a son of man, and so is he. 2. When, therefore, the essential and principal things are equal and of the same honor for you, why do you puff yourself up because of shadows and dreams, dividing common things by means of things that are nothing? The things of nature are common,

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παραγενώμεθα, καὶ ἴδωμεν τί βούλεται ἡμῖν ὁ ψαλμῳδὸς εἰπεῖν, ὁ κοινὸς τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων προστάτης. Κἂν βάρβαροί τινες ὦσι, κἂν σοφοὶ, κἂν ἰδιῶται, κελεύεις αὐτοὺς παραγενέσθαι; Ναὶ, φησί. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο ἀρχόμενος εἶπεν, Πάντα τὰ ἔθνη· καὶ πάλιν ἐπέτεινε λέγων· Οἵ τε γηγενεῖς καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα πᾶσαν καλῶν. Βαβαὶ τῆς διδασκαλίας! πῶς ἐστι πᾶσιν ἁρμόδιος, καὶ κοινή. ∆ιὰ γάρ τοι τοῦτο οὐδὲ ἁπλῶς καλεῖ μόνον ἅπαντας, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς σπουδῆς, καὶ ἀκριβείας προσέχειν τοῖς λεγομένοις κελεύει. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν, Ἀκούσατε μόνον ταῦτα, πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, ἀλλὰ καὶ, Ἐνωτίσασθε. Τὸ δὲ ἐνωτίσασθαι οὐδὲν ἕτερόν ἐστιν, ἢ τὸ μετὰ σπουδῆς ἀκοῦσαι, καὶ συντεταμένῃ τῇ διανοίᾳ. Ἐνωτίσασθαι γὰρ 55.223 λέγεται κυρίως, ὅταν τις οὖς πρὸς οὖς διαλέγηται, συντείνων τε ἑαυτὸν, καὶ ἐκεῖνον κελεύων προσέχειν τοῖς λεγομένοις. Ἐνωτίσασθε, πάντες οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν οἰκουμένην. Καὶ εἴ τινες οὐκ εἰς ἔθνη καταλέγονται, ἀλλ' εἰσὶ μιγάδες, ἢ νομάδες διεσπαρμένοι, καὶ τούτους ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκρόασιν καλῶ. Καὶ θέα σύνεσιν δημηγόρου. Πρῶτον αὐτῶν διανέστησε τὴν διάνοιαν, καὶ μετεώρους ἐποίησε πρὸς τὴν ἀκρόασιν, τῷ πάντας ἀθρόον καλέσαι. Εἶτα καλέσας, καταστέλλει τὸν τῦφον αὐτῶν, ἵνα μὴ τῷ πλήθει πρὸς ἀπόνοιαν αἴρωνται. Τοιούτων γὰρ μάλιστα ἀκροατῶν χρεία, ὅταν φιλόσοφά τις μέλλῃ φθέγγεσθαι ῥήματα, συντετριμμένων, καὶ κατεσταλμένων, ἀπονοίας καὶ φυσήματος ἀπηλλαγμένων. Πῶς οὖν αὐτῶν κατέστειλε τὴν διάνοιαν; Ἀναμνήσας τῆς φύσεως. Εἰπὼν γὰρ, Ἔθνη, ἐπήγαγεν· Οἵ τε γηγενεῖς καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Εἶπε τὴν οὐσίαν, ἐξ ἧς ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς γενέσεως ἡμῶν, ἀνέμνησε τῆς κοινῆς ἁπάντων ἡμῶν μητρός. Καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν εἶπεν, Οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων; Ἐπειδὴ εἶπε, Γηγενεῖς, ἵνα μή τις νομίσῃ κατὰ τοὺς ἔξω μυθολόγους, ἀπὸ γῆς ἐξ ἀρχῆς βλαστῆσαι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, καθάπερ τινὲς ἐμυθολόγησαν, σπαρτούς τινας ἐπεισάγοντες, διὰ τοῦτο ἐπήγαγεν· Οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Πατέρες γὰρ ὑμῖν εἰσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ἀρχὴ δὲ ὑμῖν κἀκείνοις γενέσεως ἡ γῆ. Τί τοίνυν ὑπερηφανεύεται γῆ καὶ σποδός; Ἐννόησόν σου τὴν μητέρα, καὶ κατάστειλον τὸν τῦφον· καταπάτησον τὸ φρόνημα· ἐννόησον, Ὅτι γῆ εἶ, καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ, καὶ πᾶσαν ἀπόνοιαν ἔκβαλε. Τοιούτου γὰρ ἀκροατοῦ δέομαι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό σε περιστέλλω, ἵνα σε ἐπιτήδειον λάβω πρὸς τὴν τῶν λεγομένων ὑποδοχήν. Ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πλούσιος καὶ πένης. Εἶδες Ἐκκλησίας εὐγένειαν. Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ εὐγένειαν, ὅταν μὴ τοῖς ἀξιώμασι διείργῃ τὸν ἀκροατὴν, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἴσου τῆς διδασκαλίας τὸ πᾶν προχέηται, καὶ τῷ πλουσίῳ καὶ τῷ πένητι κοινὴν παρέχῃ τὴν τράπεζαν; Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἶπε τὸ πάντας ἑνοῦν, τὸ γηγενεῖς εἶναι, καὶ υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ τὸ κοινὸν τῆς φύσεως ἔδειξε· τότε καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῶν βιωτικῶν δοκοῦσαν διαφορὰν εἶναι καὶ ἀνωμαλίαν εἰσάγων, καὶ ταύτην ἐκβάλλει τῷ λόγῳ, κοινῇ πάντας καλῶν κοινὴ γὰρ ἡμῶν ἡ φύσις, κοινῇ πάντας καλῶ· κοινὴ γὰρ ἡμῶν πόλις ἡ οἰκουμένη. Ἀλλ' ἐπενοήσατέ τινα διαφορὰν ἀπὸ πλούτου καὶ πενίας, καὶ ἀνωμαλίαν εἰσηγάγετε. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ταύτην ἐκβάλλω πάλιν, οὐχὶ πλουσίους μὲν προσιέμενος, πένητας δὲ ἀτιμάζων, οὐδὲ πένητας μὲν καλῶν, πλουσίους δὲ ἐκβάλλων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτους κἀκείνους, καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς τούτους κἀκείνους, τοὺς μὲν πρώτους, τοὺς δὲ ὑστέρους, ἢ τοὺς μὲν ὑστέρους, τοὺς δὲ πρώτους· ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό. Κοινὸς ὁ σύλλογος ἔστω, κοινὸς ὁ λόγος, καὶ κοινὴ ἡ ἀκρόασις. Κἂν πλούσιος ᾖς, ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ γέγονας πηλοῦ, τὴν αὐτὴν εἴσοδον ἔσχες τῷ πένητι, τὴν αὐτὴν γένεσιν. Καὶ σὺ ἀνθρώπου υἱὸς, κἀκεῖνος. βʹ. Ὅταν τοίνυν τὰ καίρια καὶ κύρια ἴσα ὑμῖν ᾖ καὶ ὁμότιμα, τί διὰ τὰς σκιὰς καὶ ὀνείρατα σεαυτὸν φυσᾷς, ἐκ τῶν οὐδὲν ὄντων τὰ κοινὰ διαιρῶν; Κοινὰ τὰ τῆς φύσεως,