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of the things said, was enough to throw all into confusion. It is opportune to say: Who will speak of the mighty acts of the Lord, or make all his praises heard? For if his own people did not listen to Moses with his signs, because of only the clay and brick-making, being smitten and slaughtered daily and suffering incurable evils, who persuaded them to depart from a life of ease, and to prefer this one which is dangerous and full of blood and death over that, and this when those who preached to them were foreigners, and extremely hostile from all sides? For let someone not into nations and cities and peoples, but into a small house bring one who is hated by all in the house, and through him let him endeavor to lead away those who are loved, father and wife and children; will he not be seen torn to pieces before he opens his mouth? And if there is also tumult and fighting of wife and husband in the house, will they not, before he steps on the threshold, stone him to death? And if he is also contemptible, and commands burdensome things, and orders those who live in luxury to practice philosophy, and with these things his contest is against many more who are far superior to him, is it not plain that he will be utterly destroyed? But yet this, which is impossible to happen in one house, this Christ accomplished in the whole world, through cliffs and furnaces and ravines and reefs and a warring land and sea, introducing the physicians of the world. And if you wish to learn these things more clearly, I mean the famines, the plagues, the earthquakes, the other tragedies, go through the history about these things composed by Josephus, and you will know everything with accuracy. For this reason He Himself said, Be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass; and, He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved 58.691; and, The Gospel will certainly be preached in the whole world. For those who were slackened and enfeebled by the fear of the things mentioned, He rallies by saying, that even if ten thousand things should happen, the Gospel must be preached throughout the whole world, and then the end will come. 4. Have you seen how things were then, and how varied the war was? and this at the beginning, when each of the things being achieved especially needs much peace? How then were they? For nothing prevents us from taking up the same things again. The first war was that of the deceivers; For there shall arise, He says, false Christs and false prophets; second, that of the Romans; For you shall, He says, hear of wars; third, that which brings on famines; fourth, that of plagues and earthquakes; fifth. They shall deliver you up to be afflicted; sixth, You shall be hated by all; seventh, They shall betray one another and shall hate one another; here he indicates civil war; then false Christs and false brethren; then, The love of many shall grow cold, the cause of all evils. Have you seen ten thousand kinds of wars, new and strange? But yet with these and many more (for with the civil war was also mixed a war among kinsmen), the preaching prevailed over the whole world. For the Gospel shall be preached, He says, in the whole world. Where then are those who build up the tyranny of fate, and the revolution of times, against the doctrines of the Church? For who ever remembered that another Christ appeared, that such a thing happened? And yet they say other false things, that ten myriads of years have passed; but this they cannot even fabricate. What revolution then could you speak of? For neither Sodom, nor Gomorrah, nor another flood ever happened again. How long will you trifle, speaking of revolution and fate? How then, he says, do many of the things spoken come to pass? Because you have deprived yourself of God's help, and have betrayed it, and have stood outside of Providence, for this reason the demon turns your affairs as he wishes, and changes them. But not so with the saints, nay, not even with us sinners, who utterly despise it. For even if our life is not tolerable, yet since by the grace of God we hold to the doctrines of truth with much accuracy, we are superior to the plotting of demons. And in general, what is fate? Nothing other than injustice and confusion,

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τῶν εἰρημένων ἦν, ἱκανῶς πάντα διαταράξαι. Εὔκαιρον εἰπεῖν· Τίς λαλήσει τὰς δυναστείας τοῦ Κυρίου, ἀκουστὰς ποιήσει πάσας τὰς αἰνέσεις αὐτοῦ; Εἰ γὰρ οἱ οἰκεῖοι μετὰ σημείων Μωϋσέως οὐκ ἤκουσαν, διὰ τὸν πηλὸν μόνον καὶ τὴν πλινθείαν τοὺς καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν κοπτομένους καὶ σφαττομένους καὶ τὰ ἀνήκεστα πάσχοντας, τίς ἔπεισεν ἀποστῆναι μὲν ἀπράγμονος βίου, τὸν δὲ ἐπικίνδυνον τοῦτον καὶ αἱμάτων καὶ θανάτων γέμοντα προτιμῆσαι ἐκείνου, καὶ ταῦτα ἀλλοφύλων τῶν κηρυττόντων αὐτοῖς ὄντων, καὶ σφόδρα πολεμίων πάντοθεν; Μὴ γάρ τις εἰς ἔθνη καὶ πόλεις καὶ δήμους, ἀλλ' εἰς οἰκίαν μικρὰν εἰσαγαγέτω τὸν μισούμενον παρὰ πάντων τῶν ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ, καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ σπουδαζέτω τῶν φιλουμένων ἀπάγειν, πατρὸς καὶ γυναικὸς καὶ παίδων· ἆρα οὐκ ὀφθήσεται διασπασθεὶς πρὶν ἢ διᾶραι τὸ στόμα; Ἂν δὲ καὶ ταραχὴ καὶ μάχη γυναικὸς καὶ ἀνδρὸς προσῇ κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν, ἆρα οὐχὶ, πρὶν ἢ ἐπιβῆναι τῶν οὐδῶν, καταλεύοντες αὐτὸν ἀναιρήσουσιν· Ἂν δὲ καὶ εὐκαταφρόνητος ᾖ, καὶ φορτικὰ ἐπιτάττῃ, καὶ φιλοσοφεῖν τοὺς τρυφῶντας κελεύῃ, καὶ μετὰ τούτων πρὸς πολλῷ πλείονας καὶ ὑπερβάλλοντας αὐτὸν ὁ ἀγὼν ᾖ, οὐκ εὔδηλον ὅτι παντάπασιν ἀπολεῖται; Ἀλλ' ὅμως τοῦτο, ὅπερ ἀδύνατον ἐν οἰκίᾳ γενέσθαι μιᾷ, τοῦτο ἐν τῇ οἰκουμένῃ κατώρθωσεν ὁ Χριστὸς ἁπάσῃ, διὰ κρημνῶν καὶ καμίνων καὶ φαράγγων καὶ σκοπέλων καὶ γῆς καὶ θαλάττης πολεμουμένης, τοὺς ἰατροὺς τῆς οἰκουμένης εἰσάγων. Καὶ εἰ βούλει σαφέστερον ταῦτα μαθεῖν, τοὺς λιμοὺς λέγω, τοὺς λοιμοὺς, τοὺς σεισμοὺς, τὰς ἄλλας τραγῳδίας, τὴν ἱστορίαν τὴν περὶ τούτων Ἰωσήπῳ συγκειμένην ἔπελθε, καὶ πάντα εἴσῃ μετὰ ἀκριβείας. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ αὐτὸς ἔλεγε, Μὴ θροεῖσθε· δεῖ γὰρ πάντα γενέσθαι· καὶ, Ὁ ὑπομείνας εἰς τέλος, οὗτος σωθή 58.691 σεται· καὶ, Κηρυχθήσεται τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον πάντως ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ. Χαυνωθέντας γὰρ καὶ ἐκλυθέντας τῷ φόβῳ τῶν εἰρημένων, συστρέφει λέγων, ὅτι κἂν μυρία γένηται, δεῖ κηρυχθῆναι τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης, καὶ τότε ἥξει τὸ τέλος. δʹ. Εἶδες πῶς διέκειτο τότε τὰ πράγματα, καὶ πῶς ποικίλος ὁ πόλεμος ἦν; καὶ ταῦτα ἐν ἀρχῇ, ὅτε μάλιστα πολλῆς ἕκαστον ἡσυχίας δεῖται τῶν κατορθουμένων; Πῶς οὖν διέκειτο; οὐδὲν γὰρ κωλύει τὰ αὐτὰ πάλιν ἀναλαβεῖν. Πρῶτος πόλεμος ἦν, ὁ τῶν ἀπατεώνων· Ἐλεύσονται γὰρ, φησὶ, ψευδόχριστοι καὶ ψευδοπροφῆται· δεύτερος, ὁ τῶν Ῥωμαίων· Μελλήσετε γὰρ, φησιν, ἀκούειν πολέμους· τρίτος, ὁ τοὺς λιμοὺς ἐπάγων· τέταρτος, ὁ τοὺς λοιμοὺς καὶ σεισμούς· πέμπτος. Παραδώσουσιν ὑμᾶς εἰς θλίψεις· ἕκτος, Ἔσεσθε μισούμενοι ὑπὸ πάντων· ἕβδομος, Παραδώσουσιν ἀλλήλους καὶ μισήσουσιν· ἐμφύλιον ἐνταῦθα δηλοῖ πόλεμον· εἶτα ψευδόχριστοι καὶ ψευδάδελφοι· εἶτα, Ψυγήσεται ἡ ἀγάπη, τὸ πάντων αἴτιον τῶν κακῶν. Εἶδες μυρία γένη πολέμων καινὰ καὶ παράδοξα; Ἀλλ' ὅμως μετὰ τούτων καὶ πολλῷ πλειόνων (καὶ γὰρ τῷ ἐμφυλίῳ καὶ συγγενικὸς ἀνεμίγνυτο πόλεμος), ἐκράτησε τῆς οἰκουμένης ἁπάσης τὸ κήρυγμα. Κηρυχθήσεται γὰρ, φησὶ, τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ. Ποῦ τοίνυν εἰσὶν οἱ τῆς γενέσεως τὴν τυραννίδα ἐπιτειχίζοντες, καὶ τῶν καιρῶν τὴν περιφορὰν, τοῖς τῆς Ἐκκλησίας δόγμασι; Τίς γὰρ ἐμνημόνευσε πώποτε, ὅτι ὤφθη Χριστὸς ἕτερος, ὅτι συνέβη πρᾶγμα τοιοῦτον; Καίτοιγε ἕτερα ψευδόμενοι λέγουσιν, ὅτι δέκα μυριάδες ἐτῶν παρῆλθον· ἀλλὰ τοῦτο οὐδὲ πλάσασθαι δύνανται. Ποίαν τοίνυν περιφορὰν εἴποιτ' ἄν; Οὔτε γὰρ Σόδομα, οὔτε Γόμοῤῥα, οὔτε κατακλυσμὸς ἕτερος ἐγένετό ποτε. Μέχρι τίνος παίζετε, περιφορὰν καὶ γένεσιν λέγοντες; Πῶς οὖν ἐκβαίνει πολλὰ, φησὶ, τῶν λεγομένων; Ἐπειδὴ σὺ σαυτὸν ἠρήμωσας τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ βοηθείας, καὶ προὔδωκας, καὶ ἔξω τῆς προνοίας ἔστησας, διὰ τοῦτο ὡς βούλεται στρέφει σου τὰ πράγματα ὁ δαίμων, καὶ μετατίθησιν. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐπὶ τῶν ἁγίων, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ ἐφ' ἡμῶν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν, τῶν σφόδρα καταφρονούντων αὐτῆς. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ὁ βίος ἡμῶν οὐκ ἀνεκτὸς, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι τῶν τῆς ἀληθείας δογμάτων μετὰ πολλῆς ἐχόμεθα τῆς ἀκριβείας, ἀνώτεροι τῆς τῶν δαιμόνων ἐσμὲν ἐπιβουλῆς. Ὅλως δὲ τί ποτέ ἐστι γένεσις; Οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἀλλ' ἢ ἀδικία καὶ σύγχυσις,