1

De diabolo tentatore

To those who say that demons govern human affairs, and who are displeased at the punishments of God, and who are scandalized at the

prosperity of the wicked and misfortunes of the just.

49.241242 Ὁμιλία αʹ. αʹ. I for my part was hoping that by the continuity of the discourse you would have your fill of our words; but I see the opposite happening, not a satiety for you resulting from the continuity, but an increasing desire, not a surfeit, but an added pleasure; and the same thing happening which wine-lovers experience at worldly banquets. For they, the more unmixed 49.243244 wine they pour, the more they inflame their thirst; and for you, the more we resound with teaching, the more we kindle your desire, we make your appetite greater, your love more vehement. For this reason, although I am conscious of my own extreme poverty, I do not cease imitating ambitious hosts, and I continually set the table for you and 49.245 place the full mixing-bowl of teaching. For I see that after drinking it all, you depart thirsty again. And this has been clear at all times, but especially from this past Lord's Day. For that you partake insatiably of the divine oracles, that day especially showed, on which I was discoursing about the need not to speak evil of one another, when I also offered you the safest subject for accusation, exhorting you to speak evil of your own sins, but not to pry into those of others; when I brought forward the saints, accusing themselves, but sparing others; Paul saying, that of sinners I am the first, and that God had mercy on him when he was a blasphemer and a persecutor and an insolent man, and calling himself one born out of due time, and not even considering himself worthy of the title of apostle; Peter saying: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man; Matthew calling himself a tax collector even at the time of his apostolate; David crying out and saying, My iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me; and Isaiah lamenting and mourning, that I am unclean, and I have unclean lips; the three youths in the fiery furnace confessing and saying that they have sinned and transgressed and have not kept the commandments of God; Daniel lamenting this same thing again. When after this catalogue of saints I also called the accusers flies, and I added a just reason for the comparison, saying that just as those insects settle on the wounds of others, so also the accusers bite at the sins of others, gathering from there a disease for those who associate with them; and those doing the opposite I called bees, not collecting diseases, but making honeycombs of the greatest piety, and so flying over the meadow of the virtue of the saints; then indeed, then you showed your insatiable love. For since my discourse was extended to a great length, an infinite length, and as never before, many expected that your eagerness would be extinguished by the abundance of what was said, but the opposite happened; for your heart was rather warmed, your desire was rather kindled. And how is this clear? The applause, at least, that happened towards the end was greater, and the shouts were more brilliant; and the same thing was happening, as in the case of

1

De diabolo tentatore

Πρὸς τοὺς λέγοντας, ὅτι δαίμονες τὰ ἀνθρώπινα διοικοῦσι, καὶ δυσχεραίνοντας ἐπὶ ταῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ κολάσεσι, καὶ σκανδαλιζομένους ἐπὶ ταῖς

τῶν φαύλων εὐημερίαις καὶ δυσπραγίαις τῶν δικαίων.

49.241242 Ὁμιλία αʹ. αʹ. Ἐγὼ μὲν ἤλπιζον τῇ συνεχείᾳ τῆς διαλέξεως κόρον ὑμᾶς λήψεσθαι τῶν ἡμετέρων λόγων· ὁρῶ δὲ τὸ ἐναντίον ἐκβαῖνον, οὐ κόρον ὑμῖν ἀπὸ τῆς συνεχείας γινόμενον, ἀλλὰ πόθον αὐξανόμενον, οὐ πλησμονὴν, ἀλλ' ἡδονὴν προσγινομένην· καὶ ταυτὸ συμβαῖνον, ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἔξωθεν συμποσίων οἱ φίλοινοι πάσχουσι. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι, ὅσῳπερ ἂν πλείω τὸν 49.243244 ἄκρατον ἐγχέωσι, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον τὸ δίψος ἐξάπτουσι· καὶ ὑμῖν, ὅσῳπερ ἂν τὴν διδασκαλίαν ἐνηχήσωμεν, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον ἀνάπτομεν τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν, πλείω ποιοῦμεν τὴν ὄρεξιν, σφοδρότερον τὸν ἔρωτα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο, καίτοι πενίαν ἐσχάτην ἐμαυτῷ συνειδὼς, οὐ παύομαι τοὺς φιλοτίμους τῶν ἑστιατόρων μιμούμενος, καὶ συνεχῆ παρατιθεὶς ὑμῖν τὴν τράπεζαν καὶ 49.245 πλήρη τὸν κρατῆρα τῆς διδασκαλίας ἱστάς. Ὁρῶ γὰρ ὅτι μετὰ τὸ πάντα αὐτὸν ἐκπιεῖν, πάλιν διψῶντες ἀναχωρεῖτε. Καὶ τοῦτο δῆλον μὲν καὶ ἐκ τοῦ παντὸς ἐγένετο χρόνου, μάλιστα δὲ ἐκ τῆς παρελθούσης Κυριακῆς. Ὅτι γὰρ ἀκορέστως ὑμεῖς μετέχετε τῶν θείων λογίων, ἐκείνη μάλιστα ἔδειξεν ἡ ἡμέρα, ἐν ᾗ περὶ τοῦ μὴ δεῖν κακῶς λέγειν ἀλλήλους διελεγόμην, ὅτε καὶ ὑπόθεσιν ὑμῖν κατηγορίας παρεῖχον ἀσφαλεστάτην, παραινῶν τὰ οἰκεῖα ἁμαρτήματα λέγειν κακῶς, ἀλλὰ μὴ τὰ ἀλλότρια περιεργάζεσθαι· ὅτε τοὺς ἁγίους παρήγαγον ἑαυτῶν μὲν κατηγοροῦντας, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων φειδομένους· τὸν Παῦλον λέγοντα, ὅτι Ἁμαρτωλῶν πρῶτός εἰμι ἐγὼ, καὶ ὅτι βλάσφημον ὄντα καὶ διώκτην καὶ ὑβριστὴν ὁ Θεὸς ἠλέησε, καὶ ἔκτρωμα ἑαυτὸν καλοῦντα, καὶ οὐδὲ τῆς τῶν ἀποστόλων προσηγορίας ἄξιον εἶναι νομίζοντα· τὸν Πέτρον λέγοντα· Ἔξελθε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ ὅτι ἀνὴρ ἁμαρτωλός εἰμι· τὸν Ματθαῖον τελώνην ἑαυτὸν προσαγορεύοντα καὶ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς ἀποστολῆς· τὸν ∆αυῒδ βοῶντα καὶ λέγοντα, Αἱ ἀνομίαι μου ὑπερῆραν τὴν κεφαλήν μου· ὡσεὶ φορτίον βαρὺ ἐβαρύνθησαν ἐπ' ἐμέ· καὶ τὸν Ἡσαΐαν ἀποδυρόμενον καὶ θρηνοῦντα, ὅτι Ἀκάθαρτός εἰμι, καὶ ἀκάθαρτα χείλη ἔχω· τοὺς τρεῖς παῖδας ἐν τῇ καμίνῳ πυρὸς ἐξομολογουμένους καὶ λέγοντας, ὅτι ἥμαρτον καὶ ἠνόμησαν καὶ τὰ προστάγματα τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἐφυλάξαντο· τὸν ∆ανιὴλ τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο πάλιν ἀποδυρόμενον. Ὅτε μετὰ τὸν τῶν ἁγίων κατάλογον τούτων καὶ μυίας ἐκάλεσα τοὺς κατηγόρους, καὶ τοῦ παραδείγματος δικαίαν ἐπήγαγον τὴν αἰτίαν, λέγων, ὅτι καθάπερ ἐκεῖναι τοῖς τραύμασιν ἐγκαθέζονται ἀλλοτρίοις, οὕτω καὶ οἱ κατήγοροι τὰ ἀλλότρια δάκνουσιν ἁμαρτήματα, νόσον ἐκεῖθεν τοῖς συγγινομένοις συλλέγοντες· καὶ τοὺς τἀναντία δὲ ποιοῦντας μελίττας προσηγόρευον, οὐχὶ νοσήματα συναγούσας, ἀλλὰ κηρία πηγνυμένας εὐλαβείας μεγίστης, καὶ οὕτω τῷ λειμῶνι τῆς ἀρετῆς τῶν ἁγίων ἐφιπταμένας· τότε δὴ, τότε τὸν ἀκόρεστον ὑμῶν ἐδείξατε ἔρωτα. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἰς μῆκος ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος ἐξετάθη, καὶ μῆκος ἄπειρον, καὶ ὅσον οὐδέποτε, πολλοὶ μὲν προσεδόκων τῷ πλήθει τῶν λεγομένων τὴν προθυμίαν ὑμῖν σβεσθήσεσθαι, ἐγίγνετο δὲ τοὐναντίον· μᾶλλον γὰρ ὑμῖν ἡ καρδία διεθερμαίνετο, μᾶλλον ἐξήπτετο ὁ πόθος. Καὶ πόθεν δῆλον; Οἱ γοῦν πρὸς τῷ τέλει γενόμενοι κρότοι μείζους ἦσαν, καὶ λαμπρότεραι αἱ βοαί· καὶ ταυτὸ συνέβαινεν, οἷον ἐπὶ