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Having obtained a little respite, he suffered that fall; "For it happened, it says, in the evening, that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance." Great was the war and fierce, ease and luxury, and kingship, and authority, and the beauty of a body, and the assault after a surfeit of food; when even for ascetics the spark is kindled, receiving food as if it were an irrigation of oil. And it is clear that he had the passion of desire more vehemently [than] is natural. For he would not have used multiple wives, if nature had not compelled him to do this. But no law forbade that; this, however, the divine law explicitly prohibited. Peeping out, then, simply, not inquisitively, "He saw the woman bathing;" but he did not flee the sight, as being deadly; but being captivated by the bait of her beauty, he swallowed the hook of sin. And this sin desire procured for him; but the other, shame. For having learned that the woman was pregnant, he dreaded the exposure, and set every device in motion, so as not to fall into the 80.625 second injustice. For he sent for Uriah, supposing that having reached the city after a time he would desire to be with his wife. But when that man showed his self-control, and his courage, and his loyalty towards him (for he took his sleep in the forecourts of the palace with the bodyguards), he sent for him the next day; and he blamed him because he did not deem his body worthy of its proper comfort. But he, 'I do not consider it just,' he says, 'while the general and the entire army are suffering in war and siege, for me to offer some care to my body,' and he confirmed this speech with an oath. But the king, having commanded him to remain again, feasted him, and with frequent toasts compelled him to drink beyond measure, so that the wine, by watering his desire, might arouse him to intercourse. But when he saw all his stratagems were weak (for again that man slept in the forecourt of the palace with the royal spearmen), being both pricked and compelled by shame, he dictated the letters to the general. And he, knowing nothing of what was written, went away, carrying the sword of his own slaughter. Then after his death, and the mourning of his wife, the marriage took place; But the physician of souls did not allow the passion to be unhealed, nor did he overlook the unjust death; nor because of David's other virtue did he leave the wronged man unavenged. "For the matter," it says, "appeared evil in the sight of the Lord." Therefore Nathan the prophet was sent, putting a seemly mask on his accusation. For in one way we view sin in others, and in another way we view our own evils. Whence we do not judge ourselves and others in the same way. For in the case of others we cast a just vote; and often we inflict an even harsher blow. But when we ourselves transgress, we either completely cast out the perception of our mind, or seeing the sin, we reach for pardon. For this reason the prophet composed the drama of the rich man and the poor man; and on the one hand he described the wealth, and on the other he pathetically dramatized the extreme poverty; "For he had," it says, "nothing else, but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought, and preserved, and raised; and it grew up with him and with his children together. It ate of his bread, and drank of his cup, and slept in his bosom, and was to him as a daughter 80.628 of his." And he goes through all these things, wishing to show the excess of the transgression. But in what follows he weaves a certain defense into his words. For he called the evil desire a traveler; as now visiting this man, and now that one. And again he called it a stranger, as being unaccustomed to David, and never having become an acquaintance. For this prepared him to obtain pardon. For he was not brought up in evil practices, nor from

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Ἀνακωχῆς δὲ ὀλίγης τυχὼν, τὸν ὄλισθον ἐκεῖνον ὑπέμεινεν· "Ἐγένετο γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς δείλης, καὶ ἀνέστη ∆αβὶδ ἀπὸ τῆς κοίτης αὐτοῦ, καὶ περιεπάτει ἐπὶ τοῦ δώματος τοῦ οἴκου τῶν βασι λείων, καὶ εἶδεν ἀπὸ τοῦ δώματος γυναῖκα λουομένην, καὶ ἡ γυνὴ καλὴ τῇ ὄψει σφόδρα." Πολὺς ὁ πόλεμος καὶ σφοδρὸς, ἄνεσις καὶ τρυφὴ, καὶ βασιλεία, καὶ ἐξ ουσία, καὶ σώματος ὥρα, καὶ μετὰ τροφῆς κόρον ἡ προσβολή· ὅτε καὶ τοῖς ἀσκοῦσιν ὁ σπινθὴρ ὑποτύ φεται, οἷον ἀρδείαν ἐλαίου δεχόμενος τὴν τροφήν. ∆ῆλος δέ ἐστι καὶ σφοδρότερον [ἢ] κατὰ φύσιν ἐσχηκὼς τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τὸ πάθος. Οὐ γὰρ ἂν πλείοσιν ἐχρήσα το γυναιξὶ, μὴ τῆς φύσεως τοῦτο δρᾶσαι βιασαμένης. Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνο μὲν οὐδεὶς ἐκώλυσε νόμος· τοῦτο δέ γε ἄντικρυς ὁ θεῖος ἀπηγόρευσε νόμος. ∆ιακύψας τοίνυν ἁπλοϊκῶς, οὐ περιέργως, "Εἶδε τὸ γύναιον λουόμε νον·" ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔφυγε τὴν θέαν, ὡς ὀλεθρίαν· ἀλλὰ καταθελχθεὶς τῷ τῆς ὥρας δελέατι, τὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας κατέπιεν ἄγκιστρον. Καὶ ταύτην μὲν αὐτῷ τὴν ἁμαρ τίαν ἡ ἐπιθυμία προὐξένησεν· τὴν δὲ ἑτέραν αἰδώς. Κύειν γὰρ τὴν γυναῖκα μεμαθηκὼς, ὑπείδετο μὲν τὸν ἔλεγχον, πᾶσαν δὲ μηχανὴν ἐκίνησεν, ὥστε τῇ 80.625 δευτέρᾳ μὴ περιπεσεῖν ἀδικίᾳ. Μετεπέμψατο γὰρ τὸν Οὐρίαν, ὑπολαβὼν ὅτι διὰ χρόνου τὴν πόλιν καταλα βὼν συνελθεῖν ἐπιθυμήσει τῇ γυναικί. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐκεῖ νος τὴν σωφροσύνην, καὶ τὴν ἀνδρείαν, καὶ τὴν περὶ αὐτὸν εὔνοιαν ἔδειξεν (ἐν γὰρ τοῖς προδόμοις τῶν βασιλείων μετὰ τῶν σωματοφυλάκων τὸν ὕπνον ἐδέ ξατο), μετεπέμψατο μὲν αὐτὸν τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ· ἐμέμ ψατο δὲ ὅτι τὸ σῶμα τῆς προσηκούσης οὐκ ἠξίωσε παραμυθίας. Ὁ δὲ, Οὐ δίκαιον ὑπολαμβάνω, φησὶ, τοῦ στρατηγοῦ καὶ τῆς στρατιᾶς ἁπάσης ἐν πολέμῳ καὶ πολιορκίᾳ ταλαιπωρούντων, ἐμέ τινα τῷ σώ ματι προσενεγκεῖν θεραπείαν καὶ τόνδε τὸν λόγον ἐβεβαίωσεν ὅρκῳ. Ἀλλ' ὁ βασιλεὺς πάλιν ἐπιμεῖναι αὐτὸν προστάξας ἑστίασε, καὶ ταῖς συχναῖς φιλοτη σίαις πέραν τοῦ μέτρου πιεῖν κατηνάγκασεν, ἵνα τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἀρδεύσας ὁ οἶνος αὐτὸν ἐρεθίσῃ πρὸς κοι νωνίαν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἅπαντα εἶδεν ἀσθενῆ τὰ σοφίσμα τα (πάλιν γὰρ ἐκεῖνος ἐν τῷ προδόμῳ τῶν βασιλείων σὺν τοῖς βασιλικοῖς ἐκαθεύδησε δορυφόροις), ὑπὸ τῆς αἰσχύνης κεντούμενός τε καὶ βιαζόμενος, τὰ πρὸς τὸν στρατηγὸν ὑπηγόρευσε γράμματα. Ὁ δὲ τῶν γε γραμμένων οὐδὲν ἐπιστάμενος ἀπῄει, τὸ ξίφος φέ ρων τῆς οἰκείας σφαγῆς. Εἶτα μετὰ τὴν ἐκείνου τε λευτὴν, καὶ τὸ πένθος τῆς γυναικὸς, ὁ γάμος ἐγένετο· Ἀλλ' οὐκ εἴασε τὸ πάθος ἀνίατον ὁ τῶν ψυχῶν ἰα τρὸς, οὐδὲ τὴν ἄδικον τελευτὴν περιεῖδεν· οὐδὲ διὰ τὴν ἄλλην τοῦ ∆αβὶδ ἀρετὴν τὸν ἠδικημένον εἴασεν ἀνεκδίκητον. "Ἐφάνη γὰρ, φησὶ, πονηρὸν τὸ πρᾶ γμα ἐνώπιον Κυρίου." Ἐπέμφθη τοίνυν Νάθαν ὁ προφήτης κατηγορίᾳ περιθεὶς εὐπρεπὲς προσ ωπεῖον. Ἑτέρως γὰρ ἐν ἄλλοις θεωροῦμεν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ ἄλλως θεωροῦμεν τὰ οἰκεῖα κακά. Ὅθεν οὐχ ὁμοίως ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις δι κάζομεν. Ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλων δικαίαν τὴν ψῆφον ἐκφέρομεν· πολλάκις δὲ καὶ ὠμοτέραν τὴν πληγὴν ἐπιφέρομεν. Αὐτοὶ δὲ πλημμελοῦντες, ἢ παντάπασι τὴν αἴσθησιν τῆς διανοίας ἐκβάλλομεν, ἢ ὁρῶντες τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, συγγνώμην ὀρέγομεν. Τούτου χάριν ὁ προ φήτης τὸ τοῦ πλουσίου καὶ τοῦ πένητος συντέθεικε δρᾶμα· καὶ τοῦ μὲν τὸν πλοῦτον διέγραψε, τοῦ δὲ τὴν ἐσχάτην πενίαν ἐλεεινῶς ἐτραγῴδησεν· "Οὐκ ἦν γὰρ αὐτῷ, φησὶν, ἄλλο οὐδὲν, ἀλλ' ἡ μία ἀμνὰς μικρὰ, ἣν ἐκτήσατο, καὶ περιεποιήσατο, καὶ ἐξέθρε ψεν· καὶ συνανεστράφη μετ' αὐτοῦ, καὶ μετὰ τῶν τέκνων αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό. Ἐκ τοῦ ἄρτου αὐτοῦ ἤσθιε, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ποτηρίου αὐτοῦ ἔπινε, καὶ ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ αὐτοῦ ἐκάθευδε, καὶ ἦν αὐτῷ ὡς θυγάτηρ αὐ 80.628 τοῦ." Ταῦτα δὲ πάντα διέξεισι, δεῖξαι βουλόμενος τὴν τῆς παρανομίας ὑπερβολήν. Ἐν δέ γε τοῖς ἑξῆς ἀπολογίαν τινὰ συνυφαίνει τοῖς λόγοις. Ὁδοιπόρον γὰρ τὴν κακὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ὠνόμασεν· ὡς νῦν μὲν παρὰ τοῦτον, νῦν δὲ παρ' ἐκεῖνον φοιτῶσαν. Ξένον δὲ πάλιν αὐτὴν προσηγόρευσεν, ὡς ἀήθη τοῦ ∆α βὶδ, καὶ γνώριμον οὐδὲ πώποτε γεγενημένην. Τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτὸν τῆς συγγνώμης μεταλαχεῖν παρ εσκεύασεν. Οὐ γὰρ πονηροῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασιν ἐνετρά φη, οὐδὲ ἐκ