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is fulfilled, I am the one who is to come. For all the prophets and the law, he says, prophesied until John. For the prophets would not have ceased, if I had not come. Therefore expect nothing further, nor wait for any other. For that it is I is clear both from the fact that the prophets have ceased, and from those who each day seize the faith in me. For so clear and plain is it, that many seize it. And who has seized it? Tell me. All who approach with zeal. Then he also sets forth another proof, saying; If you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah, who is to come. For I will send you, he says, Elijah the Tishbite, who will turn the heart of the father to the children. This, then, is Elijah, if you pay attention with exactness, he says. For indeed, I will send, he says, my messenger before your face. And he said well, If you are willing to receive it, showing that there is no compulsion. For I do not compel, he says. And he said this, requiring a well-disposed mind, and making it clear that this one is that one, and that one is this one. For both undertook one ministry, and both have become forerunners. Wherefore he did not say simply, This is Elijah, but, If you are willing to receive it, this is he; that is; If you pay attention to what is happening with a well-disposed mind. And he did not stop there, but added, showing that there is need of understanding, in reference to, This is Elijah who is to come, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. But he set forth so many riddles, stirring them up to questioning. But if they were not even so awakened, much more so if things had been plain and clear. For one could not say that they did not dare to ask, and that he was difficult to approach. For those who asked him about ordinary matters and tested him, and were silenced ten thousand times, and did not desist, how would they not have inquired and asked about necessary matters, if indeed they had desired to learn? For if they asked about legal matters, which is the first commandment, and 57.423 such things, although there was no necessity to say these things, how would they not have examined the meaning of the things said by him, for which he was more responsible in his answers? And especially when he himself was the one urging them toward this, and drawing them on? For by saying, The violent take it by force, he stirs them to eagerness; and by saying, He who has ears to hear, let him hear, he does this same thing. But to what shall I compare this generation? he says. It is like children sitting in the marketplace, and saying; We piped for you, and you did not dance; we mourned for you, and you did not beat your breasts. Again these things seem to be disconnected from the former, but they are exceedingly consistent with them. For it still holds to the same main point, and to showing that John acts in harmony with him, even if the things being done were opposite; just as, then, in the case of the question; and it shows that nothing that ought to have been done for their salvation was omitted; which the prophet says concerning the vineyard; What more was I to do for this vineyard, and I have not done it? For to what, he says, shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplace, and saying; We piped for you, and you did not dance; we mourned for you, and you did not beat your breasts. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' But what he says, is this; Each of us, I and John, came by an opposite road, and we did the same thing, just as if some hunters, when an animal difficult to hunt is about to fall into their nets by one of two roads, each taking one road, should drive it from opposite directions, standing opposite the other, so that it would by all means fall into one or the other. Consider, then, the whole race of men, how it is in awe of the wonder of fasting, and this harsh and philosophical life. For this reason was this so ordered, that John be brought up this way from his first age, so that from this also the things said by him would become worthy of belief. And for what reason, he says, did he himself not choose this road? Most certainly, then, he himself also came this way, when he fasted for forty days, and went about teaching, and not having where to

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πεπλήρωται, ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἐρχόμενος. Πάντες γὰρ, φησὶν, οἱ προφῆται καὶ ὁ νόμος ἕως Ἰωάννου προεφήτευσαν. Οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἔστησαν οἱ προφῆται, εἰ μὴ ἦλθον ἐγώ. Μηδὲν τοίνυν προσδοκᾶτε περαιτέρω, μηδὲ ἕτερόν τινα μένετε. Ὅτι γὰρ ἐγώ εἰμι, δῆλον καὶ ἐκ τοῦ τοὺς προφήτας στῆναι, καὶ ἐκ τῶν καθ' ἑκάστην ἁρπαζόντων ἡμέραν τὴν πίστιν τὴν εἰς ἐμέ. Οὕτω γὰρ δήλη ἐστὶ καὶ σαφὴς, ὡς καὶ πολλοὺς ἁρπάζειν αὐτήν. Καὶ τίς ἥρπασεν; εἰπέ μοι. Πάντες οἱ μετὰ σπουδῆς προσιόντες. Εἶτα καὶ ἕτερον τεκμήριον τίθησι λέγων· Εἰ θέλετε δέξασθαι, αὐτός ἐστιν Ἠλίας, ὁ μέλλων ἔρχεσθαι. Ἀποστελῶ γὰρ, φησὶν, ὑμῖν Ἠλίαν τὸν Θεσβίτην, ὃς ἐπιστρέψει καρδίαν πατρὸς ἐπὶ τέκνα. Οὗτος οὖν ἐστιν Ἠλίας, ἐὰν προσέχητε μετὰ ἀκριβείας, φησί. Καὶ γὰρ, Ἀποστελῶ, φησὶ, τὸν ἄγγελόν μου πρὸ προσώπου σου. Καὶ καλῶς εἶπεν, Εἰ θέλετε δέξασθαι, τὸ ἀβίαστον δεικνύς. Οὐ γὰρ ἀναγκάζω, φησί. Τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγεν, εὐγνώμονα ἀπαιτῶν διάνοιαν, καὶ δηλῶν ὅτι οὗτος ἐκεῖνός ἐστι, κἀκεῖνος οὗτος. Ἀμφότεροι γὰρ μίαν διακονίαν ἀνεδέξαντο, καὶ πρόδρομοι γεγόνασιν ἀμφότεροι. ∆ιόπερ οὐδὲ ἁπλῶς εἶπεν, Οὗτός ἐστιν Ἠλίας, ἀλλ', Εἰ θέλετε δέξασθαι, οὗτός ἐστι· τουτέστιν· Εἰ μετὰ εὐγνώμονος διανοίας προσέχετε τοῖς γινομένοις. Καὶ οὐδὲ ἐνταῦθα ἔστη, ἀλλὰ προσέθηκε, δεικνὺς ὅτι συνέσεως χρεία, πρὸς τὸ, Οὗτός ἐστιν Ἠλίας ὁ μέλλων ἔρχεσθαι, ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκούειν, ἀκουέτω. Τοσαῦτα δὲ αἰνίγματα ἐτίθει, διεγείρων αὐτοὺς εἰς ἐρώτησιν. Εἰ δὲ οὐδὲ οὕτως ἐξυπνίζοντο, πολλῷ μᾶλλον εἰ δῆλα ἦν καὶ σαφῆ. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκεῖνο ἂν ἔχοι τις εἰπεῖν, ὅτι οὐκ ἐτόλμων ἐρωτᾷν, καὶ ὅτι δυσπρόσιτος ἦν. Οἱ γὰρ ὑπὲρ τῶν τυχόντων αὐτὸν ἐρωτῶντες καὶ πειράζοντες, καὶ μυριάκις ἐπιστομισθέντες, καὶ οὐκ ἀποστάντες, πῶς ἂν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀναγκαίων οὐκ ἐπύθοντο καὶ ἠρώτησαν, εἴγε καὶ μαθεῖν ἐπεθύμουν; Εἰ γὰρ ὑπὲρ τῶν νομίμων ἠρώτων, ποία ἐντολὴ πρώτη, καὶ 57.423 ὅσα τοιαῦτα, καίτοιγε οὐδεμία ἦν ἀνάγκη ταῦτα εἰπεῖν, πῶς τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ λεγομένων, ὧν καὶ ταῖς ἀποκρίσεσι μᾶλλον ὑπεύθυνος ἦν, οὐκ ἂν ἐξήταζον τὴν διάνοιαν; Καὶ μάλιστα ὁπότε αὐτὸς ἦν ὁ προτρέπων εἰς τοῦτο, καὶ ἐφελκόμενος; Τῷ γὰρ εἰπεῖν, Βιασταὶ ἁρπάζουσιν αὐτὴν, εἰς προθυμίαν αὐτοὺς διεγείρει· καὶ τῷ εἰπεῖν, Ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκούειν, ἀκουέτω, τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ποιεῖ. Τίνι δὲ ὁμοιώσω τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην; φησίν. Ὁμοία ἐστὶ παιδίοις καθημένοις ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς, καὶ λέγουσιν· Ηὐλήσαμεν ὑμῖν, καὶ οὐκ ὠρχήσασθε· ἐθρηνήσαμεν ὑμῖν, καὶ οὐκ ἐκόψασθε. Πάλιν ταῦτα δοκεῖ μὲν ἀπηρτῆσθαι τῶν προτέρων, σφόδρα δὲ αὐτοῖς ἐστιν ἀκόλουθα. Καὶ γὰρ ἔτι τοῦ κεφαλαίου ἔχεται τοῦ αὐτοῦ, καὶ τοῦ δεῖξαι συνῳδὰ αὐτῷ πράττοντα τὸν Ἰωάννην, εἰ καὶ τὰ γινόμενα ἐναντία ἦν· ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἐρωτήσεως· καὶ δείκνυσιν ὅτι οὐδὲν ἦν ὀφεῖλον γενέσθαι εἰς σωτηρίαν αὐτῶν, καὶ παρελείφθη· ὃ πρὸς τὸν ἀμπελῶνά φησιν ὁ προφήτης· Τί ἔδει με ποιῆσαι τῷ ἀμπελῶνι τούτῳ, καὶ οὐκ ἐποίησα; Τίνι γὰρ, φησὶν, ὁμοιώσω τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην; Ὁμοία ἐστὶ παιδίοις καθημένοις ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς, καὶ λέγουσιν· Ηὐλήσαμεν ὑμῖν, καὶ οὐκ ὠρχήσασθε· ἐθρηνήσαμεν ὑμῖν, καὶ οὐκ ἐκόψασθε. Ἦλθε γὰρ Ἰωάννης μήτε ἐσθίων, μήτε πίνων, καὶ λέγουσι· ∆αιμόνιον ἔχει. Ἦλθεν ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐσθίων καὶ πίνων, καὶ λέγουσιν· Ἰδοὺ ἄνθρωπος φάγος καὶ οἰνοπότης, τελωνῶν φίλος καὶ ἁμαρτωλῶν. Ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Ἐναντίαν ἑκάτερος ἤλθομεν ὁδὸν, ἐγὼ καὶ Ἰωάννης, καὶ ταὐτὸν ἐποιήσαμεν, οἷον ἂν εἴ τινες θηραταὶ ζῶον δυσθήρατον διὰ δύο μέλλον ἐμπίπτειν ὁδῶν εἰς τὰ θήρατρα, ἑκατέραν ἕκαστος ἀπολαβὼν ὁδὸν ἐλαύνοι ἐξεναντίας ἑστὼς τῷ ἑτέρῳ, ὥστε πάντως εἰς θάτερον ἐμπεσεῖν. Σκόπει γοῦν ἅπαν τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος, ὅπως πρὸς τὸ τῆς νηστείας ἐπτόηται θαῦμα, καὶ τὸν σκληρὸν τοῦτον καὶ φιλόσοφον βίον. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ᾠκονόμητο τοῦτο, ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας οὕτω τραφῆναι τὸν Ἰωάννην, ὥστε καὶ ἐντεῦθεν ἀξιόπιστα γενέσθαι τὰ λεγόμενα παρ' αὐτοῦ. Καὶ τίνος ἕνεκεν οὐκ αὐτὸς, φησὶ, ταύτην εἵλετο τὴν ὁδόν; Μάλιστα μὲν οὖν καὶ αὐτὸς ταύτην ἦλθεν, ὅτε τὰς τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας ἐνήστευσε, καὶ περιῄει διδάσκων, καὶ οὐκ ἔχων ποῦ τὴν