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Of Zacharias, Serpents, brood of vipers, he says, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? And another again: They have broken asps' eggs, and weave a spider's web. And elsewhere this same prophet says: The poison of asps is under their lips. And again, Their venom is according to the likeness of a serpent. For such is wickedness: it casts down one who is so great, and of such an age, and has so many diadems, to the ignobility of irrational beasts. Therefore also in the present psalm, having selected two kinds of wickedness, and leaving the others for the hearers to infer, he thus stigmatizes those who are caught. For what could be more irrational than a man running about the world rashly and in vain and to the harm of his own head, and gathering infinite wealth, not for himself, but for others unknown, and often even for enemies and plotters? And he said well: They will leave their wealth to others. For what is more foolish, than when these men endure the labors and the sins from its collection, but yield the enjoyment to others? Then bringing vainglory into the midst along with avarice, he stigmatizes them with much vehemence, saying: They called their lands by their own names. What again is more irrational than these men, who entrust their memory to stones, and wood, and inanimate matter, and commit their own glory to it? For they have overthrown whole estates, and stripped widows, and seized from orphans, so as to make a splendid house for the worm, and to build brilliant enclosures for the moth and for corruption, by thinking that through these things their memory would be immortal, they who were not even able to hold on to their own bodies for a brief moment of time. This their way is a stumbling block to them. What is this way, tell me? The zeal for such things, the vain labor, the great madness for money, the insatiable intoxication with glory; and even before the future punishment, he says, it becomes a stumbling block and a hindrance to them here. Therefore, this way is no small stumbling block, no small hindrance, no small impediment to the practice of virtue. Therefore he says, This way is a stumbling block to them. And he rightly called the way a stumbling block to them. 55.235 They bind themselves, they fetter themselves. And after this they will take pleasure in their mouth. The most grievous thing, and the cause of the other evils, is this which he has said. For those who sin in such ways, and transgress, and act so foolishly, call themselves blessed, and admire themselves, and say that they are to be emulated, and are pleased with what they do; but consider how great an addition of evil desire wickedness receives when it is praised even by those who practice it. For if when it is reviled, if when it is insulted, if when it is rebuked, if when it is scourged, torn, hated by the conscience of those who are in any way sober, it so shamelessly flourishes, and increases every day; when not only are the things that hinder it absent, such as accusation, the rebuke of conscience, the censure of one's actions, repentance for deeds done, being ashamed, covering one's face, groaning, lamenting, but all the contrary, and those who practice it praise themselves, and weave encomiums for themselves, and consider themselves better than others for this very reason, and after the deed they praise what has been done—for this is, And after this they will take pleasure in their mouth—where would they not be carried away? For they are so frenzied, they are so delirious, that even after the fulfillment of their desire, when they especially ought to be ashamed at seeing their transgression, they exult, they are elated, they are pleased with what has happened. For such is sin: before it is committed, it obscures its own hideousness, concealing its foulness in the intoxication of pleasure; but when it has been committed, and the pleasure of desire has gradually withdrawn, and the accusation of conscience has come upon them, scourging them naked

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Ζαχαρίου, Ὄφεις, γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, λέγει, τίς ὑπέδειξεν ὑμῖν φυγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς; Καὶ ἄλλος δὲ πάλιν· Ὠὰ ἀσπίδων ἔῤῥηξαν, καὶ ἱστὸν ἀράχνης ὑφαίνουσιν. Ἀλλαχοῦ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς οὗτος προφήτης φησί· Ἰὸς ἀσπίδων ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη αὐτῶν. Καὶ πάλιν, Θυμὸς αὐτοῖς κατὰ τὴν ὁμοίωσιν τοῦ ὄφεως. Τοιοῦτον γὰρ ἡ κακία· τὸν τοσοῦτον, καὶ τηλικοῦτον, καὶ τοσαῦτα διαδήματα ἔχοντα, πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀλόγων καταβάλλει δυσγένειαν. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἐν τῷ παρόντι ψαλμῷ δύο κακίας ἐπιλεξάμενος εἴδη, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα τοὺς ἀκροατὰς ἀφεὶς συλλογίζεσθαι, οὕτω στίζει τοὺς ἁλόντας. Τί γὰρ ἀνθρώπου γένοιτ' ἂν ἀλογώτερον, εἰκῆ καὶ μάτην καὶ ἐπὶ κακῷ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ κεφαλῆς τὴν οἰκουμένην περιτρέχοντος, καὶ συνάγοντος ἄπειρα χρήματα, οὐχ ἑαυτῷ, ἀλλ' ἑτέροις ἀγνοουμένοις, πολλάκις δὲ καὶ ἐχθροῖς καὶ ἐπιβούλοις; Καὶ καλῶς εἶπε· Καταλείψουσιν ἀλλοτρίοις τὸν πλοῦτον αὐτῶν. Τί γὰρ ἀνοητότερον, ὅταν οὗτοι μὲν τοὺς πόνους καὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ὑπομένωσι τὰς ἐκ τῆς συλλογῆς, ἑτέροις δὲ τῆς ἀπολαύσεως παραχωρῶσιν; Εἶτα μετὰ τῆς φιλοχρηματίας καὶ τὴν κενοδοξίαν εἰς μέσον ἄγων, στίζει μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς σφοδρότητος, λέγων· Ἐπεκαλέσαντο τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τῶν γαιῶν αὐτῶν. Τί τούτων ἀλογώτερον πάλιν, οἳ λίθοις, καὶ ξύλοις, καὶ ἀψύχῳ ὕλῃ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἐγχειρίζουσι μνήμην, καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν ἐμπιστεύουσι δόξαν; Καὶ γὰρ ὁλοκλήρους οὐσίας ἀνέτρεψαν, καὶ χήρας ἀπέδυσαν, καὶ ὀρφανοὺς ἥρπασαν, ὥστε τῷ σκώληκι λαμπρὰν ποιῆσαι τὴν οἰκίαν, καὶ τῷ σητὶ καὶ τῇ φθορᾷ λαμπροὺς οἰκοδομῆσαι περιβόλους, τῷ νομίζειν ὑπὸ τούτων ἀθάνατον ἔσεσθαι αὐτῶν τὴν μνήμην, τῶν οὐδὲ τὰ σώματα μικρὰν καιροῦ ῥοπὴν κατασχεῖν δυνηθέντων. Αὕτη ἡ ὁδὸς αὐτῶν σκάνδαλον αὐτοῖς. Ποία αὕτη ὁδὸς, εἰπέ μοι; Ἡ περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα σπουδὴ, ἡ ματαιοπονία, ἡ πολλὴ τῶν χρημάτων μανία, ἡ ἀκόρεστος τῆς δόξης μέθη· καὶ πρὸ τῆς κολάσεως, φησὶ, τῆς μελλούσης ἐνταῦθα αὐτοῖς σκάνδαλον καὶ ἐμπόδιον γίνεται. Οὐ μικρὸν οὖν σκάνδαλον, οὐ μικρὸν ἐμπόδιον, οὐ μικρὸν κώλυμα αὕτη ἡ ὁδὸς πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐργασίαν. ∆ιό φησιν, Αὕτη ἡ ὁδὸς σκάνδαλον αὐτοῖς. Καὶ καλῶς εἶπε σκάνδαλον αὐτοῖς τὴν 55.235 ὁδόν. Ἑαυτοὺς δεσμοῦσιν, ἑαυτοὺς συμποδίζουσι. Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν εὐδοκήσουσι. Τὸ χαλεπώτατον, καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν αἴτιον τῶν κακῶν, τοῦτό ἐστιν, ὅπερ εἴρηκεν. Οἱ γὰρ τοιαῦτα ἁμαρτάνοντες, καὶ πλημμελοῦντες καὶ οὕτως ἀνοηταίνοντες, μακαρίζουσιν ἑαυτοὺς, καὶ θαυμάζουσι, καὶ ζηλωτοὺς ἑαυτοὺς εἶναί φασι, καὶ ἀρέσκονται τοῖς πραττομένοις· κακία δὲ ἐπαινουμένη καὶ παρ' αὐτῶν τῶν ἐργαζομένων ἐννόησον ἡλίκην λαμβάνει τῆς πονηρᾶς ἐπιθυμίας προσθήκην. Εἰ γὰρ κακιζομένη, εἰ γὰρ ὑβριζομένη, εἰ γὰρ ἐλεγχομένη, εἰ γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ συνειδότος τῶν ὁπωσδήποτε νηφόντων μαστιγουμένη, ξαινομένη, μισουμένη, οὕτως ἀναισχύντως ἀνθεῖ, καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην αὔξεται τὴν ἡμέραν· ὅταν μὴ μόνον τὰ κωλύοντα αὐτὴν μὴ ᾖ, οἷον ἡ κατηγορία, τοῦ συνειδότος ὁ ἔλεγχος, τὸ ἐπιλαμβάνεσθαι τῶν γινομένων, τὸ μετανοεῖν ἐν τοῖς πραττομένοις, τὸ καταδύεσθαι, τὸ ἐγκαλύπτεσθαι, τὸ στένειν, τὸ θρηνεῖν, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον ἅπαν, καὶ ἐπαινῶσιν ἑαυτοὺς οἱ ἐργαζόμενοι, καὶ ἐγκώμια ἑαυτῶν ὑφαίνωσι, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων βελτίους κατὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸ εἶναι νομίζωσι, καὶ μετὰ τὸ πρᾶξαι ἐπαινῶσι τὰ γεγενημένα τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι, Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν εὐδοκήσουσι· ποῦ οὐκ ἂν ἐκτραπεῖεν; Οὕτω γάρ εἰσι παραπλῆγες, οὕτω παραπαίουσιν, ὡς καὶ μετὰ τὴν πλήρωσιν τῆς ἐπιθυμίας, ὅτε μάλιστα ὁρῶντας τὴν παρανομίαν αἰσχύνεσθαι ἔδει, γαυροῦνται, κορυφοῦνται, ἀρέσκονται τῷ γεγενημένῳ. Τοιοῦτον γὰρ ἡ ἁμαρτία· πρὸ μὲν τοῦ πραχθῆναι, συσκιάζει ἑαυτῆς τὸ εἰδεχθὲς, τῇ μέθῃ τῆς ἡδονῆς περιστέλλουσα αὑτῆς τὸ βδελυρόν· ἐπειδὰν δὲ πραχθῇ, καὶ ἡ μὲν ἡδονὴ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας κατὰ μικρὸν ἀναχωρήσῃ, ἡ δὲ τοῦ συνειδότος κατηγορία ἐπέλθῃ, γυμνοὺς μαστίζουσα