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but at present their insensibility, because they are fused to lifeless materials. And he goes over all their parts, making the comedy broader. Then, adding on, he says: May those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them. And yet this is a virtue, to be equal to God; but here it has become a curse. Consider, then, what sort they must be, when likeness to them is uttered as the ultimate curse. And he has well fashioned his discourse in this way, ridiculing them for their extreme folly, and showing them to be laughable. For how is it not laughable, tell me, to be bound to a wooden image having the form of the utmost indecency? For who would choose to see a naked woman? But the demon also lies in wait by a naked form. And now the wooden images are icons of fornication, now of madness against males. For what would the eagle mean? And Ganymede? And Apollo pursuing the maiden? And the other abominable figures? Everywhere is licentiousness, everywhere intemperance, everywhere types of unlawful unions and raging loves. For the wooden images, and the feasts, and the festivals, and the rites are reproofs and reminders and teachings of shameful things. Not only of shameful things, but also of murders against men. For which reason they also perform apotropaic rites for the demons. For there is nothing else among them but licentiousness, and intemperate drunkennesses, and cruelty, and inhumanity, and bloodshed, and one might see the whole feasts constituted from these. Having therefore ridiculed the insensibility of the idols, and the folly of those who trust in them, he turns his discourse to the hymn of God, saying: The house of Israel has hoped in the Lord; he is their helper and defender. The house of Aaron has hoped in the Lord; he is their helper and defender. Those who fear the Lord have hoped in the Lord; he is their helper and defender. For through these things he proclaims both the power of God 55.311, and His incomparable and universal preeminence. For by bringing forth the things done for the Jewish people, he shows His twofold benefaction, or rather, even threefold. First, that He delivered them from demons; then, that He made Himself known; and third, that He also provided them help from Himself. And he divides the discourse into Israel, and the priestly race, and those from the nations who come to Him. For a priest and a layman are not equal, but the former has something more; wherefore he also makes the division reasonably. For the honor toward them was greater. 5. Then showing that His providence was not confined to Jewish affairs, he also mentioned the proselytes, those coming from the nations, saying that both the help and the blessing have come to all. The Lord, being mindful of us, has blessed us. He has blessed the house of Israel; he has blessed the house of Aaron; he has blessed those who fear the Lord. What is, He has blessed? He has filled them, he says, with countless good things. For a man blesses God, as when he says, Bless, my soul, the Lord. But he who blesses God, himself profits, making himself more radiant, not bestowing any favor on Him; but God, in blessing, makes us more radiant, not Himself receiving anything. For the Divine is without need; so that from both sides the gain is ours. And how did He bless them? He gave them bread from heaven, He rained water from a rock, He guarded their comings and their goings, He multiplied their herds and their flocks, He called them a peculiar people, and a royal priesthood, He gave a law, He sent prophets. Proclaiming these things elsewhere also, He has not done, he says, so to every nation, and His judgments He has not shown to them. And another: What nation is so wise, to which the Lord God draws near? The small with the great. Not one race, he says, was bereft of blessing, but it extended to all

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δὲ τῷ παρόντι τὴν ἀναισθησίαν, ὅτι ταῖς ἀψύχοις ὕλαις προστετήκασι. Καὶ πάντα αὐτῶν ἔπεισι τὰ μέλη, πλατυτέραν τὴν κωμῳδίαν ἐργαζόμενος. Εἶτα καὶ ἐπάγων φησίν· Ὅμοιοι αὐτοῖς γένοιντο οἱ ποιοῦντες αὐτὰ, καὶ πάντες οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπ' αὐτοῖς. Καίτοι γε τοῦτο ἀρετὴ, τὸ εἶναι ἴσα Θεῷ· ἀλλ' ἐνταῦθα κατάρα γέγονεν. Ἐννόησον οὖν τίνες ἂν εἶεν, ὅταν ἡ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁμοίωσις ἀντὶ ἀρᾶς προφέρηται τῆς ἐσχάτης. Καὶ καλῶς οὕτω τὸν λόγον ἐσχημάτισε, κωμῳδῶν αὐτοὺς εἰς ἐσχάτην ἄνοιαν, καὶ καταγελάστους δεικνύς. Πῶς γὰρ οὐ καταγέλαστον, εἰπέ μοι, τὸ προσδεδέσθαι ξοάνῳ τύπον ἔχοντι τῆς ἐσχάτης ἀσχημοσύνης; Τίς γὰρ ἂν ἕλοιτο γυμνὴν γυναῖκα ἰδεῖν; Ὁ δὲ δαίμων καὶ γυμνῷ τύπῳ παρεδρεύει. Καὶ νῦν μὲν πορνείας εἰκόνες τὰ ξόανα, νῦν δὲ μανίας τῆς κατὰ τῶν ἀῤῥένων. Τί γὰρ ἂν ὁ ἀετὸς βούλεται; τί δὲ ὁ Γανυμήδης; τί δὲ ὁ διώκων τὴν παρθένον Ἀπόλλων; τί δὲ τὰ ἕτερα μυσαρὰ σχήματα; Πανταχοῦ ἀσέλγεια, πανταχοῦ ἀκολασία, πανταχοῦ μίξεων ἀθέσμων καὶ ἐρώτων λυσσώντων τύποι. Καὶ γὰρ τὰ ξόανα, καὶ αἱ ἑορταὶ, καὶ αἱ πανηγύρεις, καὶ αἱ τελεταὶ, ἔλεγχοι καὶ ὑπομνήματα καὶ διδασκαλίαι τῶν ἀτόπων εἰσίν. Οὐ μόνον δὲ τῶν αἰσχρῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ φόνων τῶν πρὸς ἀνθρώπους. Ὅθεν καὶ ἀποτροπιάζονται τοὺς δαίμονας. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἕτερον παρ' ἐκείνοις, ἢ ἀσέλγεια, καὶ μέθαι ἀκόλαστοι, καὶ ὠμότης, καὶ ἀπανθρωπία, καὶ μιαιφονίαι, καὶ τὰς ἑορτὰς ὅλας ἐντεῦθεν συνισταμένας ἴδοι τις ἄν. Κωμῳδήσας τοίνυν τῶν εἰδώλων τὴν ἀναισθησίαν, καὶ τὴν ἄνοιαν τῶν πεποιθότων αὐτοῖς, μετάγει τὸν λόγον ἐπὶ τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ὕμνον λέγων· Οἶκος Ἰσραὴλ ἤλπισεν ἐπὶ Κύριον· βοηθὸς καὶ ὑπερασπιστὴς αὐτῶν ἐστιν. Οἶκος Ἀαρὼν ἤλπισεν ἐπὶ Κύριον· βοηθὸς καὶ ὑπερασπιστὴς αὐτῶν ἐστιν. Οἱ φοβούμενοι τὸν Κύριον ἤλπισαν ἐπὶ Κύριον· βοηθὸς καὶ ὑπερασπιστὴς αὐτῶν ἐστι. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τούτων καὶ τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀνα 55.311 κηρύττει, καὶ τὴν ἀσύγκριτον αὐτοῦ καὶ κατὰ πάντων ὑπεροχήν. Τὰ γὰρ εἰς τὸν δῆμον τὸν Ἰουδαϊκὸν γινόμενα εἰς μέσον ἄγων, διπλῆν δείκνυσιν αὐτοῦ τὴν εὐεργεσίαν, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ τριπλῆν. Πρῶτον μὲν, ὅτι δαιμόνων αὐτοὺς ἀπήλλαξεν· ἔπειτα, ὅτι ἑαυτὸν ἐγνώρισεν· καὶ τρίτον, ὅτι καὶ βοήθειαν αὐτοῖς τὴν παρ' ἑαυτοῦ παρέσχε. ∆ιαιρεῖ δὲ τὸν λόγον εἴς τε τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ τὸ ἱερατικὸν γένος, καὶ τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν προσιόντας αὐτῷ. Οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἴσον ἱερεὺς καὶ ἰδιώτης, ἀλλ' ἔχει τι πλέον οὗτος· διὸ καὶ τὴν διαίρεσιν εἰκότως ποιεῖται. Καὶ γὰρ μείζων εἰς αὐτοὺς ἡ τιμὴ ἐγένετο. εʹ. Εἶτα δεικνὺς, ὅτι οὐκ εἰς τὰ Ἰουδαϊκὰ αὐτοῦ κατεκέκλειστο ἡ πρόνοια, καὶ τῶν προσηλύτων ἐμνήσθη, τῶν ἐκ τῶν ἐθνῶν προσιόντων, τήν τε βοήθειαν, καὶ τὴν εὐλογίαν εἰς ἅπαντας γεγενῆσθαι λέγων. Κύριος μνησθεὶς ἡμῶν, εὐλόγησεν ἡμᾶς. Εὐλόγησε τὸν οἶκον Ἰσραήλ· εὐλόγησε τὸν οἶκον Ἀαρών· εὐλόγησε τοὺς φοβουμένους τὸν Κύριον. Τί ἐστιν, Εὐλόγησε; Μυρίων, φησὶν, ἐνέπλησεν ἀγαθῶν. Εὐλογεῖ μὲν γὰρ ἄνθρωπος Θεὸν, ὡς ὅταν λέγῃ, Εὐλόγει, ἡ ψυχή μου, τὸν Κύριον. Ἀλλ' ὁ τὸν Θεὸν εὐλογῶν, αὐτὸς κερδαίνει, λαμπρότερον ἑαυτὸν καθιστὰς, οὐκ ἐκείνῳ τι χαριζόμενος· ὁ δὲ Θεὸς εὐλογῶν, ἡμᾶς λαμπροτέρους ποιεῖ, οὐκ αὐτός τι προσλαμβάνει. Ἀνενδεὲς γὰρ τὸ Θεῖον· ὥστε ἑκατέρωθεν ἡμέτερόν ἐστι τὸ κέρδος. Πῶς δὲ εὐλόγησεν αὐτούς; Ἄρτον αὐτοῖς ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἔδωκεν, ὕδωρ ὤμβρησεν ἐκ πέτρας, τὰς εἰσόδους αὐτῶν καὶ τὰς ἐξόδους ἐφύλαξε, τὰ βουκόλια αὐτῶν ἐπλήθυνε καὶ τὰ ποίμνια αὐτῶν, λαὸν περιούσιον ὠνόμασε, καὶ βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα, νόμον ἔδωκε, προφήτας ἔπεμψε. Ταῦτα καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ κηρύττων, Οὐκ ἐποίησε, φησὶν, οὕτω παντὶ ἔθνει, καὶ τὰ κρίματα αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐδήλωσεν αὐτοῖς. Καὶ ἄλλος· Ποῖον ἔθνος οὕτω σοφὸν, ᾧ ἐγγίζει Κύριος ὁ Θεός; Τοὺς μικροὺς μετὰ τῶν μεγάλων. Οὐδὲ ἓν γένος, φησὶν, ἔρημον εὐλογίας ἦν, ἀλλ' εἰς πάντας ἐκτέτατο