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hinting at the mania of the Jews against the truth, is interpreted [as] their vexation, which is envy at the good things of others, begetting grief in those who possess it; which evil devolved into a nature for the Jews, who took up hatred towards God and men; and because of this, they shamelessly [Fr. unsparingly] seek only the destruction of nature through blood and murders.

But since the discourse, running on, has omitted the contemplation concerning the journey of three days; for it says: Nineveh was a great city to God, about a journey of three days, if it seems good, let us fill the gap with a few words.

The journey of the road of three days, therefore, must be understood to be the different courses of life according to God; that is, the conduct befitting each general law. And by general laws I now mean the natural, the written, and that of grace. For each of these has a particular way of life and a suitable course, because it also has a different disposition for those who are led, a disposition that comes from it according to their judgment [Fr. that has been born]. For a different one is naturally created for each of those under it. For example, the natural law, when sensation does not have the upper hand over reason, persuades all without being taught to embrace their kin and kind, having nature itself as the teacher of helping those in need; and for all to wish for all that which each one considers pleasing to be done to himself by others; and the Lord, teaching this, says: Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do also to them. For in those for whom nature is governed by reason, their disposition is naturally one. And for those whose disposition is the same, both their manner according to character and the course of their life are manifestly one by nature. And for those whose manner of character and course of life are the same, there is evidently also one bond in the judgment of their relation to one another, leading all according to one judgment to the one reason of nature; ( 725) in which there is utterly no division of nature, which now prevails because of self-love.

But the written law, by the fear of punishments holding in check the unruly impulses of the more foolish, accustoms them by its teaching to look only to the distribution of what is equal, according to which the power of justice, having been confirmed by time, is transformed into nature; making fear, on the one hand, a disposition gently and little by little overcome by the will for the good; and habit, on the other hand, a state purified by the forgetting of former things, and bringing forth with itself love for one another, through which the fulfillment of the law is naturally brought about, when all have been joined to one another according to love. For the fulfillment of the law has become the mutual cohesion according to love of all who share in nature, bearing the reason of nature crowned with longing according to love; and by the addition of longing, making the law of nature bright. For the law of nature is the natural reason which has taken sensation under its control by its ways. But the written law is, that is, the fulfillment of the written law, the natural reason having taken on the spiritual reason as a helper for mutual cohesion with its kin. Therefore it says, You shall love your neighbor as yourself; but not, You should have your neighbor as yourself. For the one indicates only the cohesion of a kinsman for being; but the other signifies providence for well-being.

But the law of grace immediately teaches those who are led to imitate God himself, who loved us, though we were his enemies because of sin, so much—more than himself, if it is permissible to say so—that even into our own

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Ἰουδαίων κατά τῆς ἀληθείας ὑπεμφαίνων μανίαν, ἑρμηνεύτεται διαπόνησις αὐτῶν, ὅπερ ἐστί φθόνος ἐπ᾿ ἀλλοτρίοις ἀγαθοῖς, τίκτων λύπην τοῖς ἔχουσιν· ὅπερ κακόν εἰς φύσιν τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις μετέπεσε, τό πρός Θεόν καί ἀνθρώπους μίσος ἀνελομένοις· καί διά τοῦτο, μόνην τήν δι᾿ αἵματος καί φόνων ἀναιδεῖς [Fr. ἀνέδην] φθοράν ἐπιζητοῦσι τῆς φύσεως.

Ἀλλ᾿ ἐπειδή τρέχων ὁ λόγος, τήν περί τῆς πορείας τῶν τριῶν ἡμερῶν θεωρίαν παρέλειψε· φησί γάρ· Ἡ Νινευή ἦν πόλις μεγάλη τῷ Θεῷ, ὡσεί πορείας ὁδοῦ ἡμερῶν τριῶν, εἰ δοκεῖ, δι᾿ ὀλίγων τήν ἔλλειψιν ἀναπληρώσωμεν.

Τήν τοίνυν πορείαν τῆς ὁδοῦ τῶν τριῶν ἡμερῶν, ὑποληπτέον εἶναι τούς διαφόρους βίους δρόμου τοῦ κατά Θεόν· ἤγουν τήν ἑκάστῳ γενικῷ νόμῳ πρέπουσαν ἀγωγήν. Νόμους δέ λέγω νῦν γενικούς, τόν φυσικόν καί τόν γραπτόν, καί τόν τῆς χάριτος. Ἰδιάζουσαν γάρ τούτων ἕκαστος ἀναστροφήν ἔχει βίου καί δρόμον πρόσφορον, ὅτι καί τήν ἐξ αὐτοῦ κατά τήν γνώμην γενομένην [Fr. γενωμένην] τῶν ἀγομένων διάθεσιν ἔχει διάφορον. Ἄλλην γάρ ἄλλος ἑκάστῳ τῶν ὑπ᾿ αὐτόν πέφυκε δημιουργεῖν τήν διάθεσιν. Οἷον, ὁ μέν φυσικός νόμος, ὅταν οὐκ ἔχῃ πλεονεκτοῦσαν τόν λόγον τήν αἴσθησιν, ἀδιδάκτως ἀσπάζεσθαι πάντας πείθει τό συγγενές καί ὁμόφυλον, αὐτήν ἔχοντας τήν φύσιν, τῆς τῶν δεομένων ἐπικουρίας διδάσκαλον· κἀκεῖνο βούλεσθαι πᾶσιν ἅπαντας, ὅπερ ἕκαστος ἑαυτῷ παρά τῶν ἄλλων γινόμενον εἶναι δοκεῖ καταθύμιον· καί τοῦτο διδάσκων ὁ Κύριος, φησίν· Ὅσα θέλετε ἵνα ποιῶσιν ὑμῖν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ὁμοίως καί ὑμεῖς ποιεῖτε αὐτοῖς. Ἐφ᾿ ὧν γάρ ἡ φύσις λόγῳ βραβεύεται, τούτων μίαν πέφυκεν εἶναι διάθεσις. Ὧν δέ ἡ διάθεσις ἡ αὐτή, καί κατ᾿ ἦθος τρόπος, καί ὁ τοῦ βίου δρόμος εἷς ὑπάρχειν προδήλως πέφυκεν.Ὧν δέ τρόπος ἠθῶν καί βίου δρόμος ἐστίν ὁ αὐτός, εἷς δηλονότι καί αὐτός κατά τήν γνώμην τῆς πρός ἀλλήλους σχέσεως ὑπάρχει δεσμός, κατά μίαν τήν γνώμην ἄγων τούς πάντας πρός τόν ἕνα λόγον τῆς φύσεως· ( 725) ἐν ᾧ παντελῶς οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ νῦν κρατοῦσα τῆς φύσεως διά τήν φιλαυτίαν διαίρεσις.

Ὁ δέ γραπτός νόμος, φόβῳ τῶν ἐπιτιμίων ἐπέχων τάς ἀτάκτους τῶν ἀφρονεστέρων ὁρμάς, ἐθίζει διδάσκων πρός μόνην αὐτούς ὁρᾷν τήν τοῦ ἴσου διανομήν, καθ᾿ ἥν τῆς δικαιοσύνης τό κράτος χρόνῳ βεβαιωθέν, εἰς φύσιν μεθίσταται· ποιοῦν τόν μέν φόβον, διάθεσιν ἡρέμα κατά μικρόν τῇ περί τό καλόν γνώμῃ κρατουμένην· ἕξιν δέ τήν συνήθειαν τῇ λήθῃ τῶν προτέρων καθαιρομένην, καί τό φιλάλληλον ἑαυτῇ συναποτίκτουσαν, καθ᾿ ὅ τοῦ νόμου γίνεσθαι τό πλήρωμα πέφυκε, πάντων ἀλλήλοις κατά τήν ἀγάπην συναρμοσθέντων. Πλήρωμα γάρ νόμου καθέστηκεν ἡ κατ᾿ ἀγάπην διάλληλος συνοχή πάντων τῶν μετειληφότων τῆς φύσεως, φέρουσα τῷ κατ᾿ ἀγάπην πόθῳ κατεστεμμένον τόν λόγον τῆς φύσεως· καί τῇ προσθήκῃ τοῦ πόθου, τόν τῆς φύσεως καταφαιδρύνουσα νόμον. Νόμος γάρ φύσεώς ἐστι, λόγος φυσικός τοῖς τρόποις τήν αἴσθησιν λαβών ὑποχείριον. Γραπτός δέ νόμος ἐστίν, ἤγουν γραπτοῦ νόμου πλήρωσις, λόγος φυσικός προσλαβών λόγον πνευματικόν τῆς πρός τό συγγενές ἀλληλουχίας ἐπίκουρον. ∆ιό φησιν, Ἀγαπήσεις τόν πλησίον σου ὡς ἑαυτόν· ἀλλ᾿ οὐ, Σχοίης τόν πλησίον σου ὡς ἑαυτόν. Τό μέν γάρ, τήν πρός τό εἶναι μόνον δηλοῖ τοῦ συγγενοῦς συνοχήν· τό δέ, τήν πρός τό εὖ εἶναι σημαίνει πρόνοιαν.

Ὁ δέ τῆς χάριτος νόμος, αὐτόν ἀμέσως διδάσκει τούς ἀγομένους μιμεῖσθαι τόν Θεόν, ὅς τοσοῦτον ὑπέρ ἑαυτόν ἡμᾶς, εἰ θέμις εἰπεῖν, καί ταῦτα διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν ὄντας ἐχθρούς, ἠγάπησεν, ὥστε καί εἰς τήν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς