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had been profited; for it was necessary that they should not remain longer. For the miracle appears greater, when those who worked it have departed, it cries out the more; for the faith of the jailer was instead of a voice. What is equal to this? He is bound, and being bound, he looses; he looses a double bond; he loosed him that bound him, by being bound. Truly these are the works of grace. Now therefore, he says, having gone out, go in peace; that is, with safety, fearing nothing. And besides, they wish this man also to be out of danger, that he may not afterwards be accused. And they do not say, Having beaten us they cast us into prison, us who had worked miracles; for they paid no attention to these things; but that which was most able to shake their mind, Uncondemned, he says, and being Romans. Let us continually remember this of the prisoner, not of the miracle. What will the Greeks say? How did he, being a prisoner, persuade the jailer? And who, he says, ought to have been persuaded, but a vile and miserable man, and one without sense, full of ten thousand evils and easily led astray? They still bring forward these things too: For who, either a tanner, a seller of purple, a eunuch, a jailer, slaves and women believed? What then will they be able to say, when we bring forward also those in authority, the centurion, the proconsul, those from that time until now, the very rulers, the kings? But I say something else greater than this; let us look at the lowly themselves. And where is the wonder, he says? This indeed is wonderful; for if one is persuaded about ordinary things, it is not wonderful; but when he discourses with lowly men about a resurrection, about a kingdom of heaven, about a philosophic life, and persuades them, it will be more wonderful than if he persuaded wise men. For when there is no danger, and one persuades, they rightly bring forward the folly; but when he says to the slave, according to you, If you are persuaded by me, you are in danger, you will have all men as enemies, you must die, suffer ten thousand evils, and then so takes his soul, this is no longer of folly. For if the doctrines contained pleasure, one might reasonably have said this; but if, what philosophers would not have chosen to learn, this the slave learns, the wonder is greater. And if you wish, let us bring the tanner himself into the midst, and let us see what Peter discoursed to him; or if you will, this very jailer. What then did Paul say to him? That Christ is risen, he says, that there is a resurrection of the dead, that there is a kingdom; and he persuaded him easily, as he was easily led. What then? Did he say nothing about life, that one must be temperate, that one must control money, that one must not be cruel, that one must give his own things to others? For surely to be persuaded of these things was not of folly, but also of a great soul. For let it be that they receive the doctrines rather from folly; to accept a life so philosophic, of what folly was it! So that the more foolish the one persuaded is, and yet is persuaded of these things, of which not even philosophers were able to persuade philosophers, the greater the miracle becomes, and especially when women and slaves are persuaded, and demonstrate by their works these things, of which the Platos and all those men were able to persuade no one. And why do I say, no one? Not even themselves. For that one ought not to despise money, Plato persuaded, having acquired so much property and abundance of money and gold rings and bowls around 60.261; but that one ought not to despise the glory from the many, Socrates, though he philosophize ten thousand times about this, shows them; for he did everything with a view to glory. And if indeed you were experienced in his words, I would have moved a great argument concerning these things, and showed the great irony among them, if indeed one must be persuaded by what his disciple says, and how from vainglory all his writings have their subject. But leaving them, let us discourse to ourselves. For with the things that have been said, it is also possible to say this, that they were persuaded of these things even with dangers. Let us not therefore be shameless, but let us consider that night, the stocks, the hymns, and let us also be zealous to do this, and we shall open for ourselves not a prison, but heaven. If we pray, we shall be able to open even heaven. Elijah both shut and opened heaven by prayer. There is also in

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ὠφεληθείσης· ἔδει γὰρ μὴ παραμένειν λοιπόν. Τὸ γὰρ θαῦμα μεῖζον φαίνεται, τῶν ἐργασαμένων ἀποδημησάντων αὐτὸ μᾶλλον βοῶν· ἡ γὰρ τοῦ δεσμοφύλακος πίστις ἀντὶ φωνῆς ἦν. Τί τούτου ἴσον; ∆εσμεῖται καὶ λύει δεδεμένος, λύει διπλοῦν δεσμόν· τὸν δήσαντα ἔλυσε διὰ τοῦ δεθῆναι. Ὄντως ταῦτα χάριτος ἔργα. Νῦν οὖν, φησὶν, ἐξελθόντες, πορεύεσθε ἐν εἰρήνῃ· τουτέστι, μετὰ ἀσφαλείας, μηδὲν δεδοικότες. Ἄλλως δὲ καὶ τοῦτον ἔξω κινδύνου βούλονται γενέσθαι, ἵνα μὴ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐγκαλῆται. Καὶ οὐ λέγουσι, ∆είραντες ἡμᾶς ἔβαλον εἰς φυλακὴν, θαύματα ἐργασαμένους· οὐδὲ γὰρ τούτοις προσεῖχον· ἀλλ' ὃ μάλιστα αὐτῶν σεῖσαι τὴν διάνοιαν ἐδύνατο, Ἀκατακρίτους, φησὶ, καὶ Ῥωμαίους ὑπάρχοντας. Τούτου μνημονεύωμεν τοῦ δεσμώτου διαπαντὸς, μὴ τοῦ θαύματος. Τί ἐροῦσιν Ἕλληνες, πῶς δεσμώτης ὢν τὸν δεσμοφύλακα ἔπεισε; Καὶ τίνα, φησὶ, πεισθῆναι ἐχρῆν, ἢ μιαρὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ ταλαίπωρον καὶ οὐκ ἔχοντα νοῦν, μυρίων γέμοντα κακῶν καὶ εὐπαράγωγον; Ἔτι καὶ ταῦτα προφέρουσι· Τίς γὰρ, ἢ βυρσεὺς, πορφυρόπωλις, εὐνοῦχος, δεσμοφύλαξ, δοῦλοι καὶ γυναῖκες ἐπίστευσαν; Τί οὖν εἰπεῖν δυνήσονται, ὅταν καὶ τοὺς ἐν ἀξιώμασι παραγάγωμεν, τὸν ἑκατόνταρχον, τὸν ἀνθύπατον, τοὺς ἐξ ἐκείνου μέχρι τοῦ νῦν, αὐτοὺς τοὺς κρατοῦντας, τοὺς βασιλεῖς; Ἐγὼ δὲ ἕτερον λέγω τούτου μεῖζον· αὐτοὺς τοὺς εὐτελεῖς ἴδωμεν. Καὶ ποῦ τὸ θαυμαστὸν, φησί; Τοῦτο μὲν οὖν θαυμαστόν· ἂν μὲν γὰρ πεισθῇ τις περὶ τῶν τυχόντων, οὐδὲν θαυμαστόν· ὅταν δὲ περὶ ἀναστάσεως, περὶ βασιλείας οὐρανῶν, περὶ βίου φιλοσόφου ἀνδράσιν εὐτελέσι διαλέγηται καὶ πείθῃ, θαυμαστότερον ἔσται, ἢ εἰ σοφοὺς ἔπειθεν. Ὅταν γὰρ μὴ ᾖ κίνδυνος, καὶ πείθῃ τις, καλῶς τὴν ἄνοιαν εἰς μέσον φέρουσιν· ὅταν δὲ λέγῃ τῷ δούλῳ κατὰ σὲ, ὅτι, Ἂν πεισθῇς ἐμοὶ, κινδυνεύεις, πάντας ἕξεις πολεμίους, δεῖ σε ἀποθανεῖν, μυρία παθεῖν κακὰ, εἶτα οὕτως ἕλῃ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκείνου, οὐκ ἔτι τοῦτο ἀνοίας. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ τὰ δόγματα ἡδονὴν εἶχεν, εἰκότως ἄν τις τοῦτο εἶπεν· εἰ δὲ, ὅπερ οὐκ ἂν εἵλοντο φιλόσοφοι μαθεῖν, τοῦτο ὁ δοῦλος μανθάνει μεῖζον τὸ θαῦμα. Καὶ εἰ βούλεσθε, τὸν βυρσοδέψην αὐτὸν εἰς μέσον ἐνέγκωμεν, καὶ ἴδωμεν τί αὐτῷ διελέγετο ὁ Πέτρος· ἢ εἰ θέλεις αὐτὸν τοῦτον τὸν δεσμοφύλακα. Τί οὖν αὐτῷ εἶπεν ὁ Παῦλος; Ὅτι ὁ Χριστὸς ἀνέστη, φησὶν, ὅτι ἀνάστασίς ἐστι νεκρῶν, ὅτι βασιλεία· καὶ ἔπεισεν εὐκόλως εὐπαράγωγον ὄντα. Τί οὖν; περὶ βίου οὐδὲν εἶπεν, ὅτι σωφρονεῖν δεῖ, ὅτι χρημάτων κρατεῖν, ὅτι μὴ εἶναι ὠμὸν, ὅτι τὰ αὑτοῦ διδόναι ἑτέροις; Οὐ γὰρ δὴ καὶ τὸ ταῦτα πεισθῆναι ἀνοίας ἦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μεγάλης ψυχῆς. Ἔστω γὰρ τὰ δόγματα ὑπὸ ἀνοίας μᾶλλον αὐτοὺς παραδέχεσθαι· τὸ βίον οὕτω φιλόσοφον καταδέχεσθαι, ποίας ἀνοίας ἦν! Ὥστε ὅσῳ ἂν ἀνόητος ᾖ ὁ πειθόμενος, πείθηται δὲ ταῦτα, ἃ μηδὲ φιλόσοφοι πεῖσαι ἴσχυσαν τοὺς φιλοσόφους, μεῖζον τὸ θαῦμα γίνεται, μάλιστα δὲ ὅταν καὶ γυναῖκες καὶ δοῦλοι πείθωνται, καὶ διὰ τῶν ἔργων ταῦτα ἐπιδείκνυνται, ἅπερ Πλάτωνες καὶ πάντες ἐκεῖνοι οὐδένα πεῖσαι ἴσχυσαν. Καὶ τί λέγω, ὅτι οὐδένα; Οὐδὲ ἑαυτούς. Ὅτι γὰρ χρημάτων οὐ δεῖ καταφρονεῖν, Πλάτων ἔπεισε, τοσαύτην περιουσίαν καὶ πλῆθος χρημάτων καὶ δακτυλίους χρυσοῦς καὶ φιάλας περι 60.261 ποιησάμενος· ὅτι δὲ δόξης οὐ χρὴ καταφρονεῖν τῆς παρὰ τῶν πολλῶν, Σωκράτης αὐτοῖς, κἂν μυρία φιλοσοφῇ περὶ τούτου, δείκνυσι· πάντα γὰρ πρὸς δόξαν ὁρῶν ἐποίει. Καὶ εἴ γε τῶν ἐκείνου λόγων ἔμπειροι ἦτε, πολὺν ἂν τὸν ὑπὲρ τούτων ἐκίνησα λόγον, καὶ ἔδειξα πολλὴν παρ' αὐτοῖς τὴν εἰρωνείαν, εἴ γε οἷς ὁ μαθητὴς αὐτοῦ λέγει πείθεσθαι χρὴ, καὶ πῶς ἀπὸ κενοδοξίας πάντα αὐτῷ τὰ γράμματα τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ἔχει. Ἀλλ' ἐκείνους ἀφέντες, πρὸς ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς διαλεχθῶμεν. Μετὰ γὰρ τῶν εἰρημένων, καὶ τοῦτο ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι καὶ μετὰ κινδύνων ταῦτα ἐπείθοντο. Μὴ οὖν ἀναισχύντει, ἀλλ' ἐννοήσωμεν ἐκείνην τὴν νύκτα, τὸ ξύλον, τοὺς ὕμνους, καὶ τοῦτο ποιεῖν σπουδάζωμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς, καὶ ἀνοίξομεν ἡμῖν οὐχὶ δεσμωτήριον, ἀλλ' οὐρανόν. Ἂν εὐχώμεθα, καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνοῖξαι δυνησόμεθα. Ἠλίας καὶ ἔκλεισε καὶ ἤνοιξε τὸν οὐρανὸν τῇ εὐχῇ. Ἔστι καὶ ἐν