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the impious and infamous deify. But let the undiscerning and maniacal examine also the nonsensical things said by him maniacally and impiously, and let them say what agreement the divinely-transmitted oracles have. For the divine word openly teaches that God is the cause of no evil and that man has free will over his own salvation and destruction; but the thrice-wretched and thrice-cursed and implacable enemy of God and men, inspired and activated by a more sinister and people-deceiving demon, boldly proclaims God the cause of everything good and evil, 1.743 and whatever befalls man, whether from the influence of the evil one or from his own laziness and lack of discernment, the sinner declares this to be of divine providence. And the one exhorts to despise wealth and to be humble and to shake off the life of pleasure and not to return evil for evil, but the other to be rich and proud and to embrace every pleasure out of abundance and to retaliate fiercely against opponents as a salvation for the soul and a procurer of paradise. But oh, the madness and frenzy and mockery of the sorcerer and murderer, and the insanity and destruction of those terribly enslaved by him and to this day led astray and deceived. For the exceedingly wicked and beastly and very foolish do not understand into what a difficult chaos and Satanic Charybdis they have been plunged and completely swallowed up, and into what inescapable and impassable labyrinths and difficult and soul-destroying paths they have been deceived, wretchedly rolled out and restrained, having been utterly corrupted. Therefore it comes to me to wonder greatly at their so great irrationality and insensibility, although they think themselves to be most shrewd and most eloquent, how they do not perceive the downfall of their empty deceit. For it was necessary, it was necessary for the truly foolish and bestial ones to recognize the manifest and disgusting snare concerning their resurrection, that through partaking of food and drink 1.744 they remain altogether incorruptible and immortal. And when and where, then, will mortals in both soul and body obtain the eagerly awaited eternal and pure life for the faithful according to the divine scriptures? And in addition to this, let the irrational and wretched know that not even up to this day have they been freed from their old and godless error, but under the pretext of piety they secretly worship idols, and the most witless and crazed do not at all recognize the trick of the arch-evil demon hidden in their religion. For in ancient times they were idolaters and worshipped the one called Aphrodite among the Greeks, that is, Pleasure, and they mythologize that her star is the morning star, whom indeed they named Koubar in their own ill-sounding tongue, which means great, they have continued until now calling Aphrodite a god. And lest we seem to some to be speaking falsely, let us clarify their great mystery. The wording of their disgusting and all-profane prayer is thus: "allâ allâ oua koubar allâ." And the allâ allâ is interpreted as God, God, and the oua as greater, and the koubar as great or the moon and Aphrodite. Which is thus: God, God is greater and the great one, or then Aphrodite, is God. And the addition of the final allâ clarifies this. All of which they say covertly in the idiom of their own tongue. But leaving aside those who are swinish and mired and know nothing more than pleasure and ease, as being insensibly diseased, let the account proceed to the next parts of the history.

1.745 And after the death of the God-driven Mouchoumet, a star called the beam-star appeared in the south, foretelling the dominion of the Arabs. It remained for thirty days, stretching from south to north. And it was

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ἐκθειάζουσιν οἱ ἀνόσιοι καὶ δυσώνυμοι. ἀνακρινέτωσαν δὲ οἱ ἀδιάκριτοι καὶ μανιώδεις καὶ τὰ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ μανιωδῶς καὶ δυσσεβῶς ῥηθέντα ληρήματα, καὶ λεγέτωσαν ποίαν συμφωνίαν ἔχουσι τὰ θεοπαράδοτα λόγια. ὁ μὲν γὰρ θεῖος λόγος ἀναφανδὸν δι δάσκει τὸν θεὸν ὑπάρχειν ἀναίτιον παντὸς κακοῦ καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον αὐτεξούσιον εἶναι τῆς ἑαυτοῦ σωτηρίας καὶ ἀπωλείας· ὁ δὲ τρισάθλιος καὶ τρισκατάρατος καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἄσπονδος ἐχθρός, ἐκ σκαιοτέρου καὶ λαοπλάνου δαίμονος ἐνηχούμενος καὶ ἐνεργούμε 1.743 νος, παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ τὸν θεὸν αἴτιον τολμηρῶς ἀπο φθέγγεται, καὶ πᾶν ὅπερ ἂν ἐπέλθῃ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, κἂν ἐξ ἐπη ρείας τοῦ πονηροῦ κἂν ἐξ οἰκείας ῥᾳθυμίας καὶ ἀδιακρισίας, τῆς θείας τοῦτο τυγχάνειν προνοίας ὁ ἀλιτήριος ἀποφαίνεται. καὶ ὁ μὲν περιφρονεῖν πλούτου καὶ ταπεινοφρονεῖν καὶ τὸν ἐνήδονον βίον ἀποσείεσθαι καὶ μὴ ἀποδοῦναι κακὸν ἀντὶ κακοῦ παρακελεύεται, ὁ δὲ πλουτεῖν καὶ ὑψηλοφρονεῖν καὶ πᾶσαν ἡδονὴν ἐκ περιουσίας ἀσπάζεσθαι καὶ ἀντεπεξιέναι σφόδρα τοῖς ἀντιπίπτουσιν ὡς ψυχι κὸν σωτήριον καὶ τοῦ παραδείσου πρόξενον. ἀλλ' ὢ τῆς ἀπονοίας καὶ παραπληξίας καὶ χλεύης τοῦ γόητος καὶ παλαμναίου, καὶ τῆς παραφροσύνης καὶ ἀπωλείας τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ δεινῶς ἐξανδραποδι σθέντων καὶ μέχρι νῦν παρασυρομένων καὶ ἀπατωμένων. οὐδὲ γὰρ συνιοῦσιν οἱ ἄγαν μοχθηροὶ καὶ θηριώδεις καὶ λίαν ἀσύνετοι εἰς οἷον χαλεπὸν χάος καὶ Σατανικὴν Χάρυβδιν κατεποντίσθησαν καὶ τέλεον κατεπόθησαν, καὶ εἰς οἵους ἀφύκτους καὶ ἀδιεξοδεύ τους λαβυρίνθους καὶ δυσβάτους ἀτραποὺς καὶ ψυχοφθόρους φε νακισθέντες ἐλεεινῶς ἐξεκυλίσθησαν καὶ συνεσχέθησαν ὑποφθα ρέντες εἰς τέλος. διὸ καὶ θαυμάζειν λίαν ἔπεισί μοι τὴν τοσαύτην ἀλογίαν καὶ ἀναισθησίαν αὐτῶν, καίπερ οἰομένων ἐντρεχεστάτους ἑαυτοὺς εἶναι καὶ λογιωτάτους, πῶς οὐ κατανοοῦσι τῆς κενῆς ἀπάτης αὐτῶν τὸν ὄλισθον. ἔδει γάρ, ἔδει τοὺς ὄντως ἄφρονας καὶ βοσκηματώδεις ἐπιγνῶναι τὸν περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὐτῶν πρόδηλον καὶ μυσαρὸν βρόχον, ὅτιπερ διὰ βρώσεως καὶ πόσεως 1.744 ἐν μετουσίᾳ τυγχάνοντες ἄφθαρτοι καθόλου καὶ ἀθάνατοι διαμέ νουσι. καὶ πότε καὶ ποῦ λοιπὸν τὴν ἀποκαραδοκουμένην ζωὴν αἰώνιον καὶ ἀκήρατον τοῖς πιστοῖς κατὰ τὰς θείας γραφὰς οἱ θνη τοὶ καὶ ψυχῇ καὶ σώματι τεύξονται; καὶ πρὸς τούτῳ ἴστωσαν οἱ ἀλόγιστοι καὶ τάλανες ὡς οὐδέπω μέχρι καὶ τήμερον τῆς παλαιᾶς αὐτῶν καὶ ἀθέου πλάνης ἀπηλλάγησαν, ἀλλ' ἐν προσχήματι θεο σεβείας εἰδωλολατροῦσι λεληθότως, καὶ τὸν ἐγκεκρυμμένον τῇ θρησκείᾳ αὐτῶν δόλον τοῦ ἀρχεκάκου δαίμονος οὐδ' ὅλως οἱ ἀνού στατοι καὶ ἀπόπληκτοι ἐπιγινώσκουσι. πάλαι μὲν γὰρ εἰδωλολα τροῦντες καὶ τῇ παρ' Ἕλλησιν Ἀφροδίτῃ λεγομένῃ, τουτέστι τῇ ἡδονῇ, προσκυνοῦντες, καὶ τὸν ἀστέρα ταύτης τὸν ἑωσφόρον εἶναι μυθολογοῦσιν, ἣν δὴ καὶ Κουβὰρ τῇ ἑαυτῶν κακεμφάτῳ γλώσσῃ ἐπονομάσαντες, ὅπερ ἐστὶ μεγάλη, διέμειναν ἕως ἄρτι τὴν Ἀφρο δίτην θεὸν ὀνομάζοντες. ἵνα δὲ μὴ δόξωμέν τισι ψευδολογεῖν, σαφηνίσωμεν τὸ μέγα αὐτῶν μυστήριον. ἔχει δὲ ἡ λέξις τῆς μυ σαρᾶς αὐτῶν καὶ παμβεβήλου προσευχῆς οὕτως "ἀλλᾶ ἀλλᾶ οὐὰ κουβὰρ ἀλλᾶ." καὶ τὸ μὲν ἀλλᾶ ἀλλᾶ ἑρμηνεύεται ὁ θεὸς ὁ θεός, τὸ δὲ οὐὰ μεῖζον, τὸ δὲ κουβὰρ μεγάλη ἤτοι σελήνη καὶ Ἀφρο δίτη. ὅπερ ἐστὶν οὕτως, ὁ θεὸς ὁ θεὸς μείζων καὶ ἡ μεγάλη, εἴτ' οὖν Ἀφροδίτη, θεός. καὶ τοῦτο σαφηνίζει ἡ ἐπαγωγὴ τοῦ τελευταίου ἀλλᾶ. ἅπερ ἅπαντα ἐπικεκρυμμένως τῇ ἰδιότητι τῆς ἑαυτῶν γλώτ της λαλοῦσιν. ἀλλὰ τοὺς μὲν χοιρώδεις καὶ τελματώδεις καὶ μη δὲν πλέον τῆς ἡδονῆς καὶ ῥαστώνης εἰδότας ἀφέμενος ὁ λόγος, ὡς ἀνεπαισθήτως νοσοῦντας, πρὸς τὰ ἑξῆς τῆς ἱστορίας χωρείτω.

1.745 Μετὰ δέ γε τὸν θάνατον τοῦ θεηλάτου Μουχούμετ ἐφάνη κατὰ μεσημβρίαν ἀστὴρ ὁ λεγόμενος δοκίτης, προμηνύων τὴν τῶν Ἀράβων ἐπικράτειαν. ἔμεινε δὲ ἐπὶ ἡμέρας τριάκοντα, διατείνων ἀπὸ μεσημβρίας ἕως ἄρκτου. ἦν δὲ