Oration XXXIII.

 I.  Where are they who reproach us with our poverty, and boast themselves of their own riches who define the Church by numbers, and scorn the little

 II.  Would you like me to utter to you the words of God to Israel, stiff-necked and hardened?  “O my people what have I done unto thee, or wherein hav

 III.  What tumultuous mob have I led against you?  What soldiers have I armed?  What general boiling with rage, and more savage than his employers, an

 IV.  What wild beasts have we let loose upon the bodies of Saints,—like some who have prostituted human nature,—on one single accusation, that of not

 V.  And to speak of older things, for they too belong to the same fraternity whose hands living or dead have I cut off—to bring a lying accusation ag

 VI.  Now since your antecedents are such, I should be glad if you too will tell me of my crimes, that I may either amend my life or be put to shame. 

 VII.  Why do you not also mention the convenience of the site, and what I may call the contest between land and sea as to which owns the City, and whi

 VIII.  Do you also find fault with the raggedness of my dress, and the want of elegance in the disposition of my face? for these are the points upon w

 IX.  But I am so old fashioned and such a philosopher as to believe that one heaven is common to all and that so is the revolution of the sun and the

 X.  I was deceived too by the Ramah of Samuel, that little fatherland of the great man which was no dishonour to the Prophet, for it drew its honour

 XI.  But perhaps some one who is very circumscribed and carnally minded will say, “But our herald is a stranger and a foreigner.”  What of the Apostle

 XII.  My friend, every one that is of high mind has one Country, the Heavenly Jerusalem, in which we store up our Citizenship.  All have one family—if

 XIII.  It is thus then and for these reasons that I, who am small and of a country without repute, have come upon you, and that not of my own accord,

 XIV.  And if I am doing wrong in this, that when tyrannized over I endure it, forgive me this wrong I have borne to be tyrannized over by others too

 XV.  Moreover this also I reckoned and still reckon with myself and do you see if it is not quite correct.  I have often discussed it with you before

 XVI.  These I call by name (for they are not nameless like the stars which are numbered and have names), and they follow me, for I rear them up beside

 XVII.  These words let everyone who threatens me to-day concede to me the rest let whoever will claim.  The Father will not endure to be deprived of

XII.  My friend, every one that is of high mind has one Country, the Heavenly Jerusalem, in which we store up our Citizenship.  All have one family—if you look at what is here below the dust—or if you look higher, that Inbreathing of which we are partakers, and which we were bidden to keep, and with which I must stand before my Judge to give an account of my heavenly nobility, and of the Divine Image.  Everyone then is noble who has guarded this through virtue and consent to his Archetype.  On the other hand, everyone is ignoble who has mingled with evil, and put upon himself another form, that of the serpent.  And these earthly countries and families are the playthings of this our temporary life and scene.  For our country is whatever each may have first occupied, either as tyrant, or in misfortune; and in this we are all alike strangers and pilgrims, however much we may play with names.  And the family is accounted noble which is either rich from old days, or is recently raised; and of ignoble birth that which is of poor parents, either owing to misfortune or to want of ambition.  For how can a nobility be given from above which is at one time beginning and at another coming to an end; and which is not given to some, but is bestowed on others by letters patent?  Such is my mind on this matter.  Therefore I leave it to you to pride yourself on tombs or in myths, and I endeavour as far as I can, to purify myself from deceits, that I may keep if possible my nobility, or else may recover it.

ΙΒʹ. Πᾶσι μία τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς πατρὶς, ὦ οὗτος, ἡ ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ, εἰς ἣν ἀποτιθέμεθα τὸ πολίτευμα. Πᾶσι γένος ἓν, εἰ μὲν τὰ κάτω βούλει σκοπεῖν, ὁ χοῦς: εἰ δὲ τὰ ὑψηλότερα, τὸ ἐμφύσημα, οὗ μετειλήφαμεν, καὶ ὃ τηρεῖν ἐκελεύσθημεν, καὶ μεθ' οὗ παραστῆναί με δεῖ λόγον ὑφέξοντα τῆς ἄνωθεν εὐγενείας καὶ τῆς εἰκόνος. Πᾶς μὲν οὖν εὐγενὴς, ὁ τοῦτο φυλάξας ἐξ ἀρετῆς, καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον νεύσεως: δυσγενὴς δὲ ἅπας, ὁ τῇ κακίᾳ συγχέας, καὶ μορφὴν ἑτέραν ἐπιβαλὼν ἑαυτῷ, τὴν τοῦ ὄφεως. Αἱ δὲ κάτω πατρίδες αὗται, καὶ τὰ γένη ταῦτα, τῆς προσκαίρου ζωῆς καὶ σκηνῆς ἡμῶν γέγονε παίγνια. Πατρίς τε γὰρ, ἣν προκατέλαβεν ἕκαστος, ἢ τυραννήσας, ἢ δυστυχήσας, ἧς πάντες ὁμοίως ξένοι καὶ πάροικοι, κἂν ἐπὶ πολὺ τὰ ὀνόματα παίξωμεν. Καὶ γένος εὐγενὲς μὲν, ἢ τὸ πάλαι πλούσιον, ἢ τὸ νῦν φυσώμενον: δυσγενὲς δὲ, τὸ πενήτων πατέρων, ἢ διὰ συμφορὰν, ἢ δι' ἐπιείκειαν. Ἐπεὶ πῶς ἄνωθεν εὐγενὲς, οὗ τὸ μὲν ἄρχεται νῦν, τὸ δὲ καταλύεται: καὶ τοῖς μὲν οὐ δίδοται, τοῖς δὲ γράφεται; Οὕτως ἐγὼ περὶ τούτων ἔχω. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο, σὲ μὲν ἀφίημι τοῖς τάφοις μεγαλοφρονεῖν, ἢ τοῖς μύθοις. Ἐγὼ δὲ πειρῶμαι, ὡς οἷόν τε, ἀνακαθαίρειν ἐμαυτὸν τῆς ἀπάτης, ἵν' ἢ φυλάξω τὴν εὐγένειαν, ἢ ἀνακαλέσωμαι.