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we shut our ears to those in need; but transferring the expense to worse things, and making ambition a whetstone of wickedness for those who practice it. For how many men or women of some people stand around a table! some charming the host with shameful words, others with unbecoming glances and gestures kindling the fire of intemperance; others wishing to produce laughter for the one who invited them with jests against one another; still others deceiving him with false praises. And not only do they gain by being feasted so splendidly, but they also bring down their hands filled with costly gifts, and they learn from us that it is more profitable for them to pursue and do such things than virtues. But if a poor man should stand by us, 31.556 barely able to speak from hunger, we turn away from our fellow countryman, we loathe him, we run away with haste, as if afraid that by walking more slowly we might even share in his misfortune. And, if he should bow to the ground, ashamed of his misfortune, we say he is a worker of hypocrisy; but if with boldness he should look at us because of the sharp goad of hunger, we again call him shameless and violent. And, if he should happen to be covered in sound garments which someone has given him, we drive him away as insatiable, and we swear that he is feigning poverty; but if he should be covered with rotten rags, we drive him away again as one who stinks, and neither by his mixing the name of the Creator with his supplications, nor by his constantly imploring that we may not fall into such sufferings, is he able to bend our merciless will. For these reasons I suspect a fire of Gehenna more severe than that rich man did. If, then, time allowed, and sufficient power were available, I would have gone through all things concerning him, as the Bible has shown, and would have rendered to you the labor of these words; but now it is time to release you who are weary.

But if we have omitted anything through weakness of thought and of tongue, re-fashioning it for yourselves, apply it like some medicine to the wounds of your souls. For "Give an opportunity to a wise man, and he will be wiser," says the Scripture. But God is able to make all grace abound to you, that, having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. But indeed, now that our discourse has been brought to harbor, as you see, some brothers are leading it back again to the course of counsel, ordering us not to pass over the wonders wrought yesterday by the Lord, nor to be silent about the trophy which the Savior erected against the rage of the devil; but to give you an occasion for the leaps of hymnody. For again, as you know, the devil has shown his own rage against us, and having armed himself with a flame of fire, he campaigned against the precincts of the Church. But again the common mother has conquered, and has turned the device against the enemy, and nothing came of it for him except to make public his enmity. Grace blew against the forces of the enemy; the temple remained unharmed. The storm brought on by the enemy was not strong enough to shake the rock upon which Christ built the fold of his own flock. He who long ago quenched the furnace in Babylon was also with us now. How do you think the devil groans today, not having enjoyed the outcome he wished for from his undertaking? For the enemy kindled a pyre neighboring the Church, so that he might ruin our prosperity; and from every side the 31.557 flame, fanned by his violent blasts, rose above the things lying beneath it, and spread over the air nearby, being forced to touch the palaces, and dragging us down to a share of the disaster. But the Savior has made it flow back upon the one who lit it, and commanded him to restrain his madness to himself again. And the enemy prepared the bow of his plot; but he has been prevented from releasing the arrow; or rather, he did release it, but it was turned back upon his own head. He himself reaps the fruits of those bitter

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ἀποκλείομεν τοῖς δεομέ νοις τὰς ἀκοάς· ἀλλὰ τὴν δαπάνην μετατιθέντες ἐπὶ τοῖς χείροσι, καὶ τὸ φιλότιμον ἀκόνην πονηρίας ποιού μενοι τοῖς ταύτην ἐπιτηδεύουσι. Πόσαι γὰρ ἢ πόσοι τῶν ἐνίων περιεστήκασι τράπεζαν! οἱ μὲν αἰσχροῖς ῥήμασι τὸν ἑστιάτορα θέλγοντες, οἱ δὲ ἀτόποις βλέμμασί τε καὶ σχήμασι τὸ τῆς ἀκρασίας ἐκκαίον τες πῦρ· οἱ δὲ τοῖς εἰς ἀλλήλους σκώμμασι γέλωτα τῷ κεκληκότι κατασκευάζειν ἐθέλοντες· ἄλλοι δὲ ἐψευσμένοις ἐπαίνοις ἀπατῶντες αὐτόν. Καὶ οὐ τὸ μὲν οὕτως ἑστιαθῆναι λαμπρῶς μόνον κερδαίνου σιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς χεῖρας πεπληρωμένας πολυτελῶν δώρων κατάγουσι, καὶ μανθάνουσι παρ' ἡμῶν, ὅτι λυσιτελεῖ μᾶλλον τῶν ἀρετῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα μετιέναι καὶ πράττειν αὐτοῖς. Εἰ δὲ παρασταίη πένης ἡμῖν, 31.556 μόλις ὑπὸ τοῦ λιμοῦ καὶ φθεγγόμενος, ἀποστρεφό μεθα τὸν ὁμοφυῆ, βδελυττόμεθα, μετὰ σπουδῆς ἀπο τρέχομεν, ὥσπερ δεδοικότες μὴ καὶ τῆς δυσπραγίας αὐτῆς ἐκ τοῦ σχολαίτερον βαδίσαι μετάσχωμεν. Καὶ, εἰ μὲν εἰς γῆν νεύσοι, τὴν συμφορὰν αἰσχυνόμενος, ὑποκρίσεως εἶναι λέγομεν ἐργάτην αὐτόν· εἰ δὲ μετὰ παῤῥησίας προσβλέψοι διὰ τὸ βαρὺ τοῦ λιμοῦ κέν τρον ἡμᾶς, ἀναιδῆ πάλιν καλοῦμεν καὶ βίαιον. Καὶ, εἰ μὲν τύχοι καλυπτόμενος ὑγιέσιν ἐσθήμασιν δεδω κότος τινὸς, ὡς ἄπληστον ἀπελαύνομεν, καὶ ὀμνύ μεθα προσποιεῖσθαι πενίαν αὐτόν· εἰ δὲ σκεπάζοιτο σεσηπόσι ῥακίοις, ὡς ὀδωδότα πάλιν διώκομεν, καὶ οὔτε τὸ τοῦ κτίσαντος ὄνομα ταῖς ἱκετηρίαις ἐκεῖνος ἀναμιγνὺς, οὔτε τὸ μὴ τοιούτοις πάθεσι περιπεσεῖν ἡμᾶς ἐξορκῶν συνεχῶς, δύναται τὴν ἀνελεῆ κάμψαι προαίρεσιν. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα ὑφορῶμαι βαρύτερον τῆς γεέννης τὸ πῦρ ἤπερ ἐκεῖνος ὁ πλούσιος. Εἰ μὲν οὖν ὁ καιρὸς ἐνεδίδου, δύναμίς τε ἀρκοῦσα ὑπῆν, πάντα ἂν ὑμῖν τὰ κατ' ἐκεῖνον, ὅπως ἔδειξεν ἡ Βίβλος, ἐπεξελθὼν ἀπέδωκα τὴν ἐργασίαν τῶν λόγων· νῦν δὲ ὥρα διαφεῖναι πεπονηκότας ὑμᾶς.

Αὐτοὶ δὲ εἰ καί τι παραλελοίπαμεν δι' ἀσθένειαν ἐννοίας ἅμα καὶ γλώττης, ἑαυτοῖς ἀναπλάττοντες, ὥσπερ τινὰ φάρμακα τοῖς τῶν ψυχῶν προσαγάγετε τραύμασι. ∆ίδου γὰρ σοφῷ ἀφορμὴν, καὶ σοφώτερος ἔσται, φησὶν ἡ Γραφή. ∆υνατὸς δὲ ὁ Θεὸς πᾶσαν χάριν περισσεῦσαι εἰς ὑμᾶς, ἵνα, ἐν παντὶ πάντοτε πᾶσαν αὐτάρκειαν ἔχοντες, περισσεύητε εἰς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθόν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἤδη πρὸς λιμένας ἡμῖν, ὡς ὁρᾶτε, καταχθέντα τὸν λόγον, εἰς τὸν τῆς συμβουλῆς δρόμον αὖθις ἀδελφοί τινες ἐπανάγουσι, μὴ παραδραμεῖν τὰ χθὲς ὑπὸ τοῦ ∆εσπότου θαυματουργηθέντα κε λεύοντες, μηδὲ σιγῆσαι τὸ τρόπαιον, ὃ κατὰ τῆς τοῦ διαβόλου λύττης ἔστησεν ὁ Σωτήρ· δοῦναι δὲ ἀφορμὴν τῶν τῆς ὑμνῳδίας σκιρτημάτων ὑμῖν. Πάλιν μὲν γὰρ, ὡς ἴστε, τὴν οἰκείαν ὁ διάβολος καθ' ἡμῶν ἐπεδείξατο λύτταν, καὶ φλογὶ πυρὸς ὁπλίσας ἑαυτὸν, τοῖς τῆς Ἐκκλησίας σηκοῖς ἐπε στράτευσε. Πάλιν δὲ ἡ κοινὴ μήτηρ ἐνίκησε, καὶ τῷ πολεμίῳ περιέτρεψε τὸ μηχάνημα, καὶ οὐδὲν ὑπῆρξεν αὐτῷ πλὴν τοῦ δημοσιεῦσαι τὴν ἔχθραν. Ἀντέπνευσεν ἡ χάρις ταῖς τοῦ πολεμίου ῥοπαῖς· ἔμεινεν ὁ νεὼς ἀπαθής. Οὐκ ἴσχυσεν ὁ προσ αχθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ πολεμίου χειμὼν τινάξαι τὴν πέτραν ἐφ' ἧς ὁ Χριστὸς τὴν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ποίμνης ᾠκοδόμησε μάνδραν. Ἐτάχθη καὶ νῦν μεθ' ἡμῶν ὁ καὶ πάλαι σβέσας ἐν Βαβυλῶνι τὴν κάμινον. Πῶς οἴεσθε στέ νει σήμερον ὁ διάβολος, οὐκ ἀπολαύσας ἐφ' ᾧπερ ἠβουλήθη τῆς ἐγχειρήσεως; Γείτονα μὲν γὰρ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ὁ δυσμενὴς ἀνῆψε πυρὰν, ἵνα ταῖς ἡμε τέραις εὐπραγίαις λυμήνηται· καὶ πανταχόθεν ἡ 31.557 φλὸξ ἀναῤῥιπιζομένη ταῖς βιαίοις ἐκείνου πνοαῖς, ὑπερεχεῖτο τῶν ὑποκειμένων αὐτῇ, καὶ τὸν ἀέρα τὸν ἐγγὺς ἐπενέμετο, ψαῦσαι τῶν ἀνακτόρων ἀναγ καζομένη, καὶ πρὸς κοινωνίαν ἡμᾶς καθέλκουσα τῆς συμφορᾶς. Ὁ Σωτὴρ δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν ἀνάψαντα ταύ την ῥυῆναι πεποίηκε, καὶ συστεῖλαι τὴν μανίαν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἑαυτὸν πάλιν προσέταξε. Καὶ τὸ μὲν τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς τόξον ηὐτρέπισεν ὁ πολέμιος· ἀφεῖναι δὲ τὸ βέλος κεκώλυται· μᾶλλον δὲ ἀφῆκε μὲν, ἀντ έστραπται δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ κεφαλήν. Αὐτὸς ἀπολαύει τῶν πικρῶν ἐκείνων