Part Three - The Doctrine of Saint Isidore

PART THREE. THE DOCTRINE OF ISIDORE OF PELUSIUM.

CHAPTER I.

ISIDORE’S OPINION ON THE MOST GRAVE DOGMAS.

§ 1. It is set forth what Isidore believed concerning the sources of the Christian religion.

Since the writings of the New Testament were, in the first and second centuries, either in large part or entirely unknown to many Christians, and because the rule of faith or of truth, which it is most likely the apostles delivered to their disciples, was not derived from them, there was no source for Christ’s doctrine in those times. But in the third, and even more in the succeeding century, after the Council of Nicaea, the authority of these books, for many reasons which it would be tedious to set forth here, was gradually so amplified that Isidore could attribute divine authority to them and regard them as the primary source of the Christian religion. It is not foreign to the rationale of our present undertaking to explain this a little more precisely before setting forth at greater length the other dogmas which he favored. But since in such a disquisition one must also treat of the Old Testament, it must not be passed over in silence what he decided regarding this, and what he believed concerning the harmony of both.

God, in his opinion, when He was about to reveal Himself to the ancients—such as Noah, Abraham, Job, and other men distinguished for their virtue, who were worthy of instruction without an intermediary—conversed with them Himself. But when the ungrateful nation of the Jews rushed headlong into vices, He took care that it should be admonished and corrected through writings. In this matter, the supreme Moderator of all things showed Himself to be the same to the Jews in those ancient times as He is to the Christians of our own age. For the

^A Lord, in His wisdom, has bestowed upon the Jewish people a law of action, but to us, the rule of thought itself.

III. That the Law of Moses is inferior to the perfection of the Gospel.

Another reason why the New Testament is to be preferred to the Old, Isidore believes, is to be found in this: that the dogmas which Moses and the prophets transmitted obscurely through types [(m)] and symbols [(n)] have been set forth in the New Testament plainly and distinctly; and that the truth which was hidden in the Law is revealed in the Gospel [(o)].

Finally, the third reason that moved the Pelusiote to this opinion of his is the most serious of all. For he has most aptly noted that the Mosaic law was given to the Jews alone, whereas the doctrine of Christ and the apostles pertains to all mortals [(p)].

2. Concerning the characteristics of Sacred Scripture and its reading.

Before we examine what Isidore has to say concerning the various characteristics of Sacred Scripture—its authority, truth, sufficiency, perspicuity, and efficacy— [it is necessary to note the following...]

^A that a person might perhaps be able to insist upon, it does not seem to him to be consistent. For in the letter sent to Arsenuphius the reader [i], he says: "Signs and suspicion can be directed toward evil, if their author were not God, but a demon or the devil." These things can in no way be joined together. For if either God or the devil is held to be the author of the miracles, one cannot conclude from the miracles which the apostles performed that they were moved by the Holy Spirit, or rather by God. But let that energetic judge take care lest he be completely deceived. For the Pelusiote, although he holds it to be a settled matter that the apostles performed miracles and that this power was bestowed upon them by Him, when he had to contend with the followers of Montanus—who, if they did not teach the same thing, certainly did not teach the opposite—could have pressed them excellently with that question: "By what spirit did the apostles perform miracles?" When he was dealing with men who had no care for leading an upright life, he could have done nothing better than to prove not only the miracles [j], but even more that the apostles’ entire way of life and their excellent conduct had brought about the fact that Christ’s doctrine was propagated widely among mortals, and as quickly as possible. Nor, however, was it necessary, for the sake of this position, that he should deny that the apostles were moved and aided by the Spirit of God. Therefore, in teaching that they enjoyed divine assistance [k] and that John was prompted by the Holy Spirit to write his own Gospel [l], he does not seem to me to be in disagreement with himself. Indeed, the same author, writing of Paul [m], says: "That divine man, although he was adorned with spiritual gifts, nonetheless devoted himself to reading, and ^B urged Timothy, lest he should find himself..."

^A memory of human affairs to be erased, so that he might follow his own example, he warned. From this it simultaneously follows that Isidore did not attribute as much to inspiration as many Fathers and theologians of a later age did. This also appears from the fact that he believes the apostles' narratives concerning Christ are to be believed not only for the sake of inspiration, but also because they recounted to us what they heard and saw, and they did not, as is apparent from their style of writing, write falsehoods in place of truths. Since, therefore, the apostles could and wished to relate the truth; since they were inspired, Isidore thinks that the highest truth exists in their writings, and he accords them divine authority. Therefore, it is permitted to no one to produce something contrary to an apostolic utterance ^B and it is a sin to approach the mysteries which are contained in the Bible. For whoever, he says, wishes to be wiser than the divine oracles, and teaches what pleases themselves, they deceive not only themselves, but others also with a vain hope.

His views so far having been stated, I think it is sufficiently declared what Isidore held concerning the inspiration of Holy Scripture, and what pertains most aptly to this, its truth and authority. Wherefore it only remains that we treat of its sufficiency, its perspicuity, and its reading. For of its efficacy, since this pertains to doctrine, not to Scripture, it will be more correctly stated when Isidore’s opinion concerning the means, as they are called, of grace is expounded.

As regards the sufficiency of Scripture, only one statement of Isidore seemed to look to this, for those perusing his letters with an attentive mind; and this exists in the letter written to Eulogius, in which the opinion of Origen concerning the fall of souls is said to be rejected for two reasons mostly, the first of which is that this dogma is not clearly proposed in the writings of the prophets nor of the apostles. From this, however, it does not follow from that opinion that Isidore believed for that reason that all things that concern religion are contained in Holy Scripture. He established, however, other sources of the Christian religion, concerning which we must treat next, which those who strenuously teach the sufficiency of the Bible must reject. But the Pelusiote, who held the Old and New Testament to be the primary ^C source of Christian doctrine, having already been offended by the fact that this most serious opinion of Origen was not clearly brought forward by any sacred writer, declares that it—along with other things, namely, philosophical arguments also added—is false.

As Isidore did not teach the sufficiency of Scripture, so too he could by no means prescribe, nor did he prescribe, its perspicuity, since he himself acknowledged that many dicta of the prophets and apostles were sufficiently obscure. For although he freely professes that divine dogmas and precepts, which exceed the minds of mortals, were wisely illustrated by the apostles in a human manner and by human examples; and although he professes that the Bible contains things and opinions by which plebeian and unlearned men, women, children, and girls can be taught and delighted ^D; yet in those same writings there are also, according to his opinion, arcane matters by which every most learned man is so vexed that he must confess he must yield to authority, since he cannot reach and perceive it. And he considers this to be a work of great and singular wisdom. For if all things, he says, had been clear and manifest in the Bible, we would have used neither the prudence of the apostles and prophets in interpreting their dicta, nor the capacity for investigation; but if all things had been obscure, in that way also, since there would be no place for discovery, we would have vanished from knowledge. There are, therefore, in the Bible, clear things wisely mixed with obscure things; so that from those things which are manifest and perspicuous, even those things which are held to be hidden and caliginous are understood in a certain way. In almost the same way, Doederlin judged these matters, who said: "For my part, if all things were at once open and evident..."

I candidly confess that I could be offended by the very clarity of the Sacred Scriptures, if I were hindered at no point." For a book in which the entire subject matter for the exercise of the intellect is cut away by words commonly known and plain to the vulgar, brings no less weariness than those small works are rejected which strike with terror because they are wrapped in dark diction. But those writings have always been held most useful and wise which intermingle the easier with the more weighty, and by this tempering satisfy the studies of most readers.

From these things, which have been said concerning the clarity of the sacred books, it seems sufficiently clear that the Pelusiote believed that the Bible should be read carefully and diligently not only by bishops, deacons, monks, and other teachers of the people, but by everyone who has received the doctrine of Christ. Wherefore, just as he thought its reading was to be recommended to Paul the presbyter ^B, to Heron the scholar, to Timothy the reader, and to others who had surely attained some knowledge of human and divine matters, so he judged it should be recommended not only to all those laboring under some vice, but to all mortals, so that their depraved morals might be amended. Because this was neglected in his own time, the Pelusiote laments in his letters to Leontius the bishop that the state of the Christian religion had been supremely depraved. For, he says, because the reading of the Sacred Scriptures has been destroyed and neglected, and because each person prefers his own passions to the divine oracles, that matter is the cause of such great calamities.

Nor, however, did Isidore hold the Bible to be the only source from which the knowledge of religion was to be drawn; he had that, and he determined that it was to be sought from elsewhere, as we have already said, an occasion being given. For although he mentioned Tradition in only one place, he did not judge it to be rejected; nor did he deem that the use of reason and the study of the books which the philosophers of the Greeks wrote should be altogether spurned. But since more must be said of this matter, where it is to be said, no word should be added now. Indeed, we shall not let it pass in silence that the Pelusiote attributed divine authority ^C to the decrees of the councils, and that he thought the knowledge of Christian doctrine could also be sought from these.

§ II. Isidore’s opinion concerning God.

I. Concerning the existence of one God. — Although Isidore, among the letters which we have surviving, wrote none for this express purpose, so as to prove the existence of one God, yet, the occasion being given, he strove to demonstrate from the magnitude and order of created things that there is a Creator of the world and governor, namely, God. Thus, he writes back to Lampetius the deacon, who asked him what that which is said in Deuteronomy concerning the celestial luminaries signifies: God bestowed those things upon all mortals for instruction and knowledge, so that from the magnitude of created things the Creator, who cannot be seen by the eyes, might be perceived. And by the same argument, which is commonly used in physico-theology, in letters given to John the deacon, he strove to refute the philosophers of the Greeks, who contended that the wandering stars were not made by God, but that every cause ^D preceded them. With these can be compared the letter written to Olympiodorus, which is contained in these words: Wherever there is some order, there it is necessary that the author and leader of that order be present; wherever there is cavalry, there a commander of the horsemen is required; where there is a ship, there is a master and craftsman; where there are musical instruments, there the musician is manifest. It is fitting, therefore, in the work of the world also, to contemplate that invisible Creator of it. He employs this same method of gathering in letters given to Didymus the presbyter, in which these things exist: for neither is a house built without an architect, nor is a ship put together without a shipwright, nor is a musical instrument constituted without a musician.

^A Indeed, it is hardly necessary to adduce the dictum of Isidore, by which it is proven that he believed in this one God; yet, lest anything should seem to be omitted by us, it will suffice to have brought forward the same words, taken from his letter to Herennius the Comes. For whoever desires more testimonies of this matter, let him read what we have subsequently transcribed from the words of Isidore concerning the triune God, among which he will undoubtedly find many more things pertinent to this point.

We have finished all these things briefly with industry, both because these things taught by the apostles are accepted by a Christian as true, and because, regarding questions as to whether God Almighty is also the author of evil, and whether the knowledge of the divine Numen concerning all things can be joined with the free will of mortals, and other questions of this sort, it will be treated more extensively when the opportunity is given.

III. Concerning the Trinity.

Nor is it necessary, as Isidore supposes, nor is it possible, for the essence or nature of God to be explored by mortals (b). For it must be believed that God exists; it must not be curiously investigated what He is. Therefore, having passed over the disputation concerning His nature, since it far exceeds the powers of the human intellect, let us prepare ourselves in such a way that we can render an account of our life and morals. Let us therefore be adorned with fortitude, temperance, justice, and other virtues. If we shall have attained all of these, it is permitted for us to hope that in some way we might comprehend that which exceeds the grasp of men, to attain that which surpasses all dignity, and to enter into a closer communion with God, for whom no seat is more apt and more accommodating than the chaste and pure soul of man. Wherefore He Himself says, I will dwell in them and walk among them (c). Now God is He who stands in need of nothing (d), and He alone is exempt from all change (e), the creator (f) and moderator of the world (g), eternal (h), alien from all stain (i), the fount of meekness, wisdom, and every virtue (j), benign and merciful, and He is the same just (k), omnipotent (l), knowing all things, and truthful (n).

and not of a servile and derivative and royal nature—cognate, ^A that is, with the Father, though distinct from Him. We shall see in the second chapter of this part how he defends this opinion of his against the Arians and other heretics.

As Isidore attributes a divine nature to the Son, so too does he to the Holy Spirit; and he thinks that the truth of this position can be proven by clear and manifest testimonies of Scripture. For Christ, as he writes in the letters addressed to Gorgonius (a), says: "If I, in the name of Satan, cast out demons, in whose name do your sons cast them out?" But if I do this by the authority of the divine Spirit, then the kingdom of God has surely come upon you. Since, however, the Pelusiote himself perceived that this dogma was little proven by these words, he brings forth Luke as a witness, in whose account Jesus Christ says: "If I by the finger of God cast out demons, the kingdom of God has come upon you." At which passage, as Isidore proceeds, the Holy Spirit is understood by the finger of God. But since the finger, to take an example from us, is of the same nature as the body, by this term it is sufficiently declared that the person of the Holy Spirit is inseparable from the divine essence and cognate to it. And the same is held to be proven by the words of Christ: "Receive the Holy Spirit," and by the formula of baptism. For in the letter sent to Hymetius (b), he says: "Our Lord Jesus Christ, that He might show the conjunction of the most holy Spirit with Himself and with the Father, having been risen from death to life, said to His disciples: 'Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall remit, they shall be remitted them,' by the authority, clearly, of Him who has the divine power of remitting sins." In his letters to the monk Marathonius, moreover, he writes thus (c): "Since God and our Savior, having put on human form, taught that the Holy Spirit completes the divine Trinity, and since the same Spirit ought to be invoked by us in the formula of baptism together with the Father and the Son, and since He converts the bread, which we are accustomed to use in celebrating the holy supper, into the flesh of Christ; why, O mad and astonished man, do you teach that this Spirit is a created thing, or of a servile nature, and why not that He shares a common nature with the Father and the Son? For if He were a servant, He would not be joined with the Lord; if He were created, He would not be joined with the Creator."

§ 5. Concerning the divine counsels and institutions, which pertain to the salvation of men to be restored through Jesus Christ.

The first-born men, to whom God had forbidden the eating of the fruit of that tree, having been seduced by the devil, who was to undo them entirely, acted against the will of the divine majesty, and thus became the authors of a great misfortune. For from that time forward, the bodies of themselves and of all men began to be subjected not only to death, but also to various and diverse calamities (d). Nor does Isidore think this to be unjust. For indeed, in an epistle to Leontius the deacon (e), intending to explain the reason why those who, through the fault of their progenitor, have suffered from gout or another disease, are afflicted by the law not indeed with punishment, but with ignominy, he considers this to have been done for the amendment of the parents. Which, for he continues, if anyone thinks it to have been done unjustly or perversely, what then will he say concerning death, which, although only Eve sinned, has invaded the whole human race? Truly, just as this fall brought great detriment to the bodies of men, so it was likewise highly harmful to the souls created by God (f). For it rendered all mortals more prone to sin (g). Yet, according to the opinion of Isidore, the nature of man, in which there always remained seeds of probity (h), is not entirely depraved; as is proven most easily by the testimonies of Holy Scripture and by history (i). For the prophet, who says, "How will you be able to do right, having learned evil?" taught that the Jews did not sin because their nature was evil in itself, but because they had been taught evil things. But that those things which they learned, they could also unlearn, no one will deny (j); and thus we have seen David, Paul, Peter, and others who committed vices return to good fruit (k); and thus we have discovered that at all times pious men, such as Melchizedek, Job, Cornelius and others, have lived adorned with virtue.

^A For he perceives that nature possesses within itself an accurate and incorruptible criterion of virtues, which Christ also introduced by way of exhortation and counsel, saying: "Everything that you wish that men should do to you, do also to them," and so on. They left nothing undone; for as though they were no longer living after death, they undertook to do all things worthy of shame, of death, and of punishment, saying: "This is our portion and this our lot." The Savior therefore had... ^B He stripped the common enemy of all, the devil, who was suffering from a tyranny, of the natural advantages that belonged to him, and he suppressed the opposing manner of life, the strength of men... ^C ...bringing in the Only-Begotten, so that grace might have a reason; for he brought in, in turn, the Only-Begotten as a ransom, that grace might have a reason. The Word of God having deigned to become man, and having calmed the human passions that were previously surging... ^D ...having received an obedient mind, for he would not have had such a mind, had it not been greatly strengthened from the listlessness of those who had been deceived. But—that the wretched demons, together with the devil who leads them, drove men to the extreme of passions; then... ^A For every manner of healing was tested, and neither the law nor the prophetic word was able to drive away the plague that had become rampant. Since nature had broken down and obscured the characters of virtue, the written law was also given. But since it too—this—was transgressed, the choir of the prophets was entrusted with the correction. And when this too had despaired... ^B ...the necessity for one who wishes to move and destroy the evil things, to establish things not yet ordained in place of those that had previously held sway to our detriment. ^C ...having prepared the phalanxes under the feet of his own disciples; for this reason Christ also accepted the battle through the cross against the demons. ...one for all, and beyond the worth of all. And then the wrath was stayed and reconciliation occurred, and enmity was transformed into friendship, and instead of the verdict, the supernatural gift of adoption was granted, and countless gifts he lavished. ^D ...wishing to fulfill the promise to Abraham, and taking hold of his seed, and selecting a mother from thence, and in her and from her having been incarnate. ...and the one who bore the mother, our Lord Jesus Christ, having been conceived, he himself coming forth without seed opened it, and again left it sealed. ...having truly become man. And a man in truth similar to us in all things. And Christ is the Rock, remaining unchangeable when he was incarnate. ...in truth similar to us in all things, except sin.

^A one Son of God has existed in two natures (a).

He whom we have just described as Jesus Christ, while he tarries on earth, hiding his lordly form under a servile habit (b), taught mortals what was true, just, and honest; and, so that he might bring help to the unhappy, consolation to the sorrowful, and terror to the incredulous, he performed miracles of various kinds (c). He entrusted the duty of baptizing to the apostles, to those who wished to be enrolled in the company of Christians, and he instituted the sacred supper. At length, his work finished—the work which had been entrusted to him by the Father—knowing well that he would be put to death (d), he gave himself voluntarily to his enemies (e); and, fixed to the cross, if one considers his human nature, he succumbed to death (f). Yet, he was not moved by all the evils and injuries with which the Jews afflicted him (h), and which were the more grievous the greater the dignity of the person condemned (g). Taken down from the cross by his friends and buried, on the third day, as the prophets had predicted (i), he rose again with the sepulcher closed (j); he appeared frequently to his disciples, and returned to where he came from, after he had promised them the Paraclete. Regarding all these matters, each point must be discussed individually; therefore, we shall speak first of the efficacy of the doctrine of Jesus Christ on the souls of mortals, then of baptism and the sacred supper, and finally of his expiatory death.

Doctrine of Isidore

The doctrine which Jesus Christ delivered to mortals, and which the apostles communicated to many by teaching and writing, is a ladder by which one ascends to God (k). For if we follow it, the sharpness and alacrity of our minds are sharpened and increased (l); at the same time, it brings joyful hope to us when we are in danger, confidence when we are prospering, and, to those who live in evils, it brings consolation (m). Wherefore, those who have committed sins can do nothing better than to turn the sacred Scripture over night and day (n). For it is a spiritual mirror (o), which not only shows us our deformity but also brings it about, if we ourselves are willing, that this is changed into supreme beauty. Therefore, it brings remedies for sins of every kind (p), since with its help both the force of the disease and the manner in which it can be healed are recognized (q). Added to this is the fact that the doctrine contained in the Bibles has this peculiar and proper power: that it occupies the whole soul so that, having utterly forgotten earthly things, we admire the vast wisdom and kindness of the divine power (r), and, having laid aside evil morals and ignorance, we become both upright and wise (s). And just as Christ, by his doctrine, has rendered us fit to obtain eternal salvation, so also by baptism, which appropriately compares with the circumcision of the Jews—

he has justified those who were debtors to punishment, and has adorned them with heavenly gifts. ^B There are some who, not speaking narrowly, say that by baptism the stain diffused through nature by Adam's transgression is washed away; but I believe that this indeed comes to pass, but not this alone—for that would not be so great a thing—but that many other gifts, far exceeding our nature, have been bestowed. For nature did not receive only as much as it needed for the removal of sin, but it was also adorned with divine gifts. For it was not only delivered from punishment and divested of all wickedness, but it was also reborn from above, by a divine palingenesis—a matter exceeding reason—and it was redeemed, and sanctified, and brought unto adoption.

Regarding the sacred supper and its power and efficacy upon the souls of mortals, I have found no explicit statement of Isidore on this matter, except that from a passage which we have already cited elsewhere on occasion, it appears he believed that bread and wine, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, are truly changed and converted into the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

But many statements exist in the same writings, by which it is declared that the death of Jesus Christ has reconciled us to the supreme God; in which, therefore, Isidore attributes to it the power which in common parlance is called expiatory. And so he teaches that Christ died for men, and rendered him a sacrifice, in dignity and value more precious than all others (g).

Whoever believes these dogmas which have just been expounded by us, he shall enjoy eternal beatitude, if he joins good actions with faith. For faith alone brings salvation to no one (h); indeed, it cannot even exist without manifest virtue (i). Wherefore both—I mean virtue and the sound doctrine of piety—must be joined together (j). He who does this, to him at last comes the aid of God's grace, which follows virtue (k), and is bestowed only upon those who have prepared their minds for these things (l). Therefore, by us who accept them, with desire and the habit of evil which commands the flesh, all battles must be waged and moved (m), yet in such a way that we do not rely too much upon ourselves, but surrender the victory to divine aid (n).

§ 4. Isidore's opinion concerning future things.

If the heaven is rolled up like a book, if the stars fall, and Orion and all the earth is consumed by fire (o), Jesus Christ will return to exercise judgment (p). He, weighing the crimes and evil thoughts of each individual, as well as their good ones, will punish the impious and the wicked, but will reward those endowed with virtue with great and ample honors (q), which cannot even be compared with earthly things (r). But ^C if anyone were to grasp with his reason all the blessedness that has existed since humans were created, and were to behold it as one, he would not find its likeness even in a ten-thousandth part of the future goods; but...

since it befits a just judge to examine all things, Christ also will diligently weigh whether we, while still living in this land, have been meted out rewards or punishments. For those who have committed lighter sin and have suffered some adversity in this life will not be punished in the next; but those who have defiled themselves with vices, if they have experienced misery and distress while living in this land, will be punished more lightly; if not, they will be punished more severely (a). That Isidore argued the same regarding rewards as he did regarding punishments is made sufficiently clear in another letter to Eutonius the deacon (b). But Jesus Christ is a judge who is not only just, but also merciful. Wherefore, he will adorn those who are distinguished by virtue and piety with rewards far exceeding their dignity (c).

The soul and body will come, since ^B they were joined together in this land, together into judgment (d), and judgment will be passed on both, as is fitting. For if the soul alone brought forth noble actions of duty, it alone will be affected by praise and rewards; but if the body was an aid to the soul, it too will receive remuneration (e). For on that day, with every stain, corruption, and vice cast aside, the bodies of all mortals will rise again, formed of heavenly matter (f). For we must believe that God, who created the world from nothing, is able to renew those same bodies (g).

CHAPTER II. ISIDORE THE APOLOGETE.

Because the books written by Isidore against the heathens have not ^C come down to our own age, it seems to some worth complaining that we are not investigating the method of arguing against the heathens in the Pelusiote’s writings with care. For among his epistles there are found quite many in which he declares his own opinion regarding the mythology of the Greeks, the doctrines of the philosophers, and the detractors of the Christian religion. It will be worth the effort to explain these in a few words.

The Pelusiote, however, uses the impious and obscene myths about the gods with which the books of the poets are filled to demonstrate that the gods of the heathens are altogether unworthy of worship. Therefore, to Theodosius who asks him of what crime Mars was convicted that he was subjected to punishment, he replies (h) that, though it would be shameful to recount such things, he would nevertheless relate them, since by a narration of this kind the heathens could be best refuted. For, he continues, if they understand that the gods whom they cultivate are neither chaste nor just, they must necessarily concede that they ought not to be held as worthy of worship. Having prefaced this, he accurately narrates the defilement which Mars visited upon Agraula, the daughter of Cecrops, and the death of Halirrothius. — With the same intention, in a letter given to Nilammon the scholasticus (i), he mocks Apollo, as one who could not subdue the chaste virgin by his arts: "How, I ask," he says, "Apollo, whom you affirm to be the best of prophets, and to whom you also attach the name of the 'All-Seeing' Sun, did he not know that that girl was in possession of her purity?" — But not only by telling their fables about the gods, but also by a comparison between them and the religion of the Christians...

he undertakes to prove ^A that the institutions of the heathens are ridiculous and their worship contrary to reason. For when a learned Theologian asked him whether the Greeks, who worship the mother of the gods, taught anything other than the Christians, who believe in Mary the Mother of God, he boldly affirms in a letter addressed to him that there is a great distinction between the two dogmas. For, he says, the Greeks worship the mother of the gods, who conceived and gave birth while inflamed with lust. But she whom we confess as the Mother of the incarnate God conceived in such a way that neither male seed nor any stain intervened. This judgment of Isidore concerning the mythology of the Greeks, even if it cannot be entirely proven, nonetheless has some excuse. But that which he thinks is worthy of ridicule by a Christian reading poets and historians ^B is the mark of a stubborn and small mind.

Nor does he hold in high regard the philosophy of the Greeks, which is to be treated elsewhere. For although he grants that many of the doctrines of Socrates, Pythagoras, and Plato—as I shall subsequently show by one example—are excellent, yet he declares that all those who think that they will find what is honorable and useful through reasonings and syllogisms are "sensual." Therefore, he opines that while the study of philosophy and the books written by philosophers can rightly be joined with the reading of the Holy Scriptures, no one, he states rightly, will reap great utility and fruit from it. For where they reject the doctrine set forth in the Bible, not much weight should be given ^C to the authority of philosophers, in his opinion.

Especially, however, there are two doctrines of the Greeks that were widely accepted in the time of Isidore of Pelusium, which he deems impious and extremely harmful, and which he attempts to refute with all his might; namely, the doctrine concerning fate and the mortality of the soul. But once Isidore’s opinion on these has been set forth, it will be abundantly clear what his method of arguing against the Greek philosophers was. ^D

First, then, it must be set forth what arguments he used against those who believe in fate. These philosophers, as he supposes, have a false notion of the divine power; for they maintain, he says, either that there is no God; or that he exists, but did not create the world; or, if he did create it, that he does not govern it; or, if he does govern it, that he delights in vices; or, if he does not delight in them, that he has ceded rule to others; or, if he did not cede it, that it was snatched away from him against his will; or, if it was not snatched away, that he does not wish to avenge the wicked; or, if he wishes to, that he cannot; or, if he can, that he holds leisure more dear and ancient; or, if he does not hold this more dear, that he is overcome by the motion of the stars; or, if he is not overcome, that he wishes to be sluggish and idle—and many other things equally ridiculous and inept. Truly, as he continues, since they prescribe such things concerning the divine power, and reject the sound doctrine concerning it and divine providence, which accords with reason, it follows that they teach all disciplines and arts to be unnecessary, and subvert every distinction between virtue and vice. For if fate reigns, there is no need to apply oneself to philosophy, nor to enact laws, nor to undertake the office of judge, nor to practice medicine, nor to embrace virtue, nor to flee vice. But who among those who are of sound mind and prudence would bear this? Who, pray, is there who would entrust his affairs to the judgment of a woman who, carrying nails in her hands and standing upon a globe, exhibits cruelty, blindness, and inconstancy, unable even to use her own eyes? Since a sane man certainly would not do this, the Christian dogma concerning providence must undoubtedly be embraced.

But to those who ask, as he continues, how it happens that some who labor in vices enjoy great wealth, and many who excel in virtue are vexed by the most grave calamities, I reply that many who have committed crimes are punished even in this land, and many who are distinguished by virtue are rewarded, while the wicked, escaping judgments in this life, will pay the penalty in the future,

^A but we have not touched upon the first chapter of this part.

There are, however, a few less weighty matters that the Pelusiote has handed down regarding Providence. For he teaches that God alone is able to provide what is useful for each person, and that He bestows this upon us out of the extraordinary kindness and justice in which He abounds (e); and that no one can carry out any undertaking in any way unless divine providence sends us help; but that for everyone, there is present the means to obtain the object they desire, provided they neglect nothing (f).

But many sayings are found in the letters of Isidore in which he openly declares that everyone enjoys free will. Therefore, he says, "Nature is bound by necessity and limits, but moral choice has been honored with freedom and authority" (g). And the Apostle Paul, sensing his sentiment well, compared man to clay not for the purpose of denying the freedom of human will, but to show that every righteous person ought to obey the will of the Divine Power in all things (h). But if anyone dares to reject this, God does not force him to obey Him, since He is not willing to take away the free will of man. Therefore, it is no wonder that Jesus Christ, to whom there was undoubtedly supreme and incredible power of persuasion, did not lead Judas to judge virtue to be a good thing and worth seeking. For he enjoyed free will (i). And for the same reason, Isidore complains in many letters about the hardness of his friends, who blamed him because he could not persuade Zosimos, Maron, Martinianus, and other men who had plunged headlong into vices, to return to a sound way of life (j). ^B

^{C D}

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Contra those, indeed, who maintained that the soul is mortal, the Greek philosophers, such as Galen, he disputes in a letter written to the physician Proeschius (a); in which, after he had adduced the opinion of Pythagoras, Plato, and others—which he himself approved—regarding this dogma, he exhorts him not to enter into contention with the wisest philosophers. For if he does undertake this, he believes he should be compared to an athlete who, unskilled in the art of music, arrogates to himself the power of judgment upon it. For he [Galen], by teaching that the soul is a harmony of the varied matter out of which the human body is composed, and that, just as the harmony of a lyre would cease if the instrument were broken, so the soul would perish along with it, contradicts himself, as Isidore thinks. For the lyre, says the Pelusiote, and the strings, once tuned and adjusted, indeed produce a concord; but if the instrument were loosened for some time, ^B though not broken, the harmony is indeed extinguished, yet the instrument remains.

What, however, since he continues in this way, is that excellent Galen going to say about the future judgment? What about the rewards which pious and just men, having been sorely vexed on this earth, look forward to with very good reason? What, finally, about the punishments of the impious and wicked? After then bringing forward sayings of Homer and Euripides against the opinion of Galen, he declares that he [Galen] removes every distinction which stands between vice and virtue; since it would be necessary for him to attribute all the deeds and words of men not to themselves, but to the varied temperament of the matter of which each is composed. Finally, the daily changes of morals contradict Galen's opinion. Many, indeed, who were lustful adolescents have returned to continence in the very vigor of their age; yet the matter out of which their body was composed has not been changed; and many, abandoning virtue, have not polluted themselves with vices for the reason that their body has undergone changes. Seeing all these things, Plato (b), the greatest of the Greek philosophers, ^C wisely taught that it is impossible for the immortal soul and the body to share [in this way], or for the mutual affection of an immortal soul and body to be explained; and so Jesus Christ (c) says: Fear not, he says, those who kill the body, but do not have the power to corrupt and destroy the soul.

These things having been set forth, it remains only to explain what he answered to the Greeks who were assailing individual Christian dogmas.

With these, however, since they reject Holy Scripture, one must either contend with philosophical arguments (d), or, if anyone has brought against his own opinion the testimony of some Greek writer, he [Isidore] believes that the authority of another Greek author should be opposed to him (e). Nor did he himself neglect these precepts which he proposed.

For to those rejecting the Gospel, because a new way of living and thinking was proposed by Christ, he shows that no one, unless he teaches new things, can change an evil and inveterate habit; at the same time he affirms that this, provided that utility is joined to novelty, is not to be reprehended (f).

Then, where he has to deal with Greeks mocking the doctrine of the resurrection of bodies, he endeavors to illustrate and prove this with examples which have been taken from their philosophical writings (g). For just as, he says, the philosophers of the Greeks contend that air is made from fire, water from air, earth from water, and again water from earth, air from water, and fire from air, so we say that the body, which is now for the greatest part earthly, becomes ethereal after death.

But when Harpocras the scholastic (h) brought forward against him the testimony of Homer, he writes back: Since you produce Homer as a witness whom you consider most wise, I will produce the same one against you; and against Casio the scholastic (i), who used a saying of Demosthenes to refute the opinion of the Pelusiote, he uses one of Isocrates…

^A to oppose to him the authority of Aristides, Epaminondas, Crates, Phocion, Plato, and others.

In a similar way he acts against those who gathered that the doctrine of the apostles was not divine because of their simple manner of writing. For these, according to Isidore’s opinion, do not in the least agree with the philosophers and poets, who have the greatest glory and authority among the Greeks; since Socrates in Plato judges a polished speech to be unworthy of a philosopher, and Homer, the divine poet, declares that it is not necessary for teachers of divine things to be disciples of any man or to possess human wisdom (a).

But those who act not so much against the most celebrated poets and philosophers as against themselves are justly mocked by all. Thus in his letter to the sophist Aesculapius (b) Isidore recounts that he once entered into a contest with a Greek philosopher, who had attained great glory for his eloquence; and that when the latter had said many things openly regarding the torments and death of Jesus Christ, and his speech had received the great laughter of all, he [Isidore] modestly and calmly asked him how he could prove that Jesus was truly dead and had been affixed to a cross. Then he replied that it was written in the Gospels, and thus he acknowledged their authority. But I immediately objected to him that the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and his return to ^B the Father were also handed down in those same writings. If you think that the evangelists are to be believed, as you thought before, if you believe that Christ was dead, you ought to believe both his resurrection and his return to the Father.

Finally, to prove the excellence of the Christian religion to the heathens, he uses a historical argument. For he contends that from the things which have already occurred, greater things can be discerned (c), and he affirms that the philosophy and the worship of the gods of the Greeks, defended and recommended by prudent and learned men, handed down to men from the most ancient times, and inveterate, powerful in wealth and arms, is being removed and destroyed more and more from the minds of mortals, while the doctrine of the Christians, ^C handed down to the common people, the poor, and the abject, has spread and has been accepted by many who were previously imbued with the faith of the heathens (d). Hence it appears brighter than the light of the sun that the celestial dogmas of the apostles have greater power and efficacy in the minds of mortals than the myths of the Greeks about the gods. Since these things are so, Isidore wonders (e) how it happens that not only the rude, ignorant, and unpolished defenders of polytheism, but even philosophers who are otherwise prudent and wise, do not perceive that by mocking Jesus Christ, the apostles, and their doctrine, they hold themselves up to ridicule. For by despising our Savior affixed to the cross, they admit that they have been defeated by a man worthy of contempt, and [are] thus all the more deserving of contempt themselves; and by rebuking the ignorance of the apostles in the most severe words, they reproach themselves for their own folly, since they must concede that they have been surpassed by rude men. And if, as he continues, they receive the sepulcher of Jesus Christ with petulant laughter, they render their own temples ridiculous, since they have yielded, ridiculed, to the sepulcher. If, finally, they reject the Gospel as a vile thing, they themselves deride whatever is illustrious and excellent among them, since it has succumbed to the nature of vile things. So much for this.

§ 2. On Isidore’s method of arguing with the Jews:

Just as Isidore, when heathens bring forth the authority of a philosopher or a certain poet, opposes to them some saying of either the same or another writer, so when he is about to dispute against the Jews, he uses not only the Old Testament but also frequently the sayings of Philo and Josephus to refute their objections. Thus he refutes the Jews who deny the divinity of Jesus Christ with the authority of Josephus (f), who, although he was a most fierce ^D champion of the Mosaic religion and a strenuous defender of his countrymen, yet, led by the love of truth, affirmed that Christ performed miracles and that he was a teacher of the human race sent from God. And by the same reasoning in another letter (g) [he shows that] Philo attributed a divine nature to the Word, as is confirmed by testimonies repeated from his writings.

PART III OF THE COMMENTARY

^A To demonstrate nature, he opposes to the Jews (a) those who reject the allegorical interpretation of the Old Testament. For he affirms that he explained almost all the sayings of the ancient writers allegorically, and argues that he did not by any means repudiate this method of interpretation. If, therefore, the Jews reject it, they are at odds not only with Christians, but even with their own countrymen who have achieved the greatest authority among all. ^B For having been told in Genesis that God created man from the earth and woman from man, he could therefore, if he so willed, bring it about that a virgin should bring forth a son.

Finally, the third and last example we are about to bring forward pertains to the hyperbolic style of writing. For there were not a few among the Jews who, sticking to the well-known dictum of the evangelist John—that not even the world could contain the books recording all the words and deeds of Jesus Christ—acridly disparaged him on account of this form of speech. Isidore proves not absurdly that sayings of the same kind exist even in the Old Testament, selected as examples; for instance, "cities are walled up to the heaven" … "their land flows with milk and honey." And if he had rested in these, he would undoubtedly have reduced those Jews to silence; but as he was carried away with too much ardor in the same letter (f), he attempts to prove that the hyperbole which John used, with the addition of the word "I suppose," was softened and could be so stated, and indeed [he attempts to argue] that those hyperbolas which are found in the Old Testament are "unmixed" (g), which gave them an opportunity for disputing again; and when he adds that the evangelist’s statement cannot even be called hyperbolic (h), he acts foolishly and makes himself ridiculous to his adversaries.

Leaving aside, however, those matters which have been discussed in a general way, we wish to clarify, by certain examples of a different kind, the method of altercation which Isidore followed against the Jews who were attacking individual dogmas of the Christian faith. And in the first place, he recalls to the memory of the Jews—who from those words found in Matthew (b) concerning Joseph, the husband of Mary: "And he knew her not, until she had brought forth her firstborn son," would gather that Joseph subsequently had intercourse with his wife—the usage of speech of those who translated the Old Testament at Alexandria (c). For from that work he brings forward many sayings in which the particle "until" is so related to past time that a contrary result for the future is not affirmed. Suicerus proves (d) that this method of explaining that text was accepted by many theologians in the age of Isidore, while at the same time noting the error of the Pelusiote, inasmuch as he attributed to the dove what was handed down in the Old Testament concerning the raven. But to Adamantius, who had disputed with a Jew concerning the incarnation of Jesus Christ, Isidore writes (e): that those who deny that it is possible for a woman who has not had intercourse with a man to bear a child, are very far from the truth, since they openly contradict the books to which they themselves attribute divine authority.

§ 3. Isidore against the heretics.

The devil, whose fury was greatly increased when, upon the death of Jesus Christ, he felt that his power was greatly diminished, planned everything to seduce the Christians. For he labored to corrupt the morals of those whom he saw keeping the right and true faith, while those who abstained from vices, he endeavored to imbue with evil doctrine (i). Added to this is the fact that, as almost all mortals suffer,

lust for commanding and innovating and the preconceived opinions which many have conceived in their minds ^A (a). That it has come to pass that among Christians there are many more heresiarchs than among the heathens and Jews; who, like fishermen, concealing the hook with bait, catch fish unexpectedly, and lead the more simple followers of Christ astray by the sweetness of their speech, and draw them over to their sides (b). And since the Savior of the human race himself foresaw this, he affirmed that he would return adorned with the majesty of the Father, for this reason among others, that he might shut their mouths (c). Wherefore Isaiah also very well called all those who stain the divine doctrine—which the apostles delivered to us—with their own dogmas, such as the Manichaeans, Simons, Montanists, Novatians, Arians, Macedonians, Photinians and others of the same stamp, innkeepers, who are accustomed to mix wine with water, and thereby make it worse (d).

But Isidore’s arguments, where he discourses against the Arians, are almost all flawed. For in the first place, he contends that if anything is being dealt with regarding the greatness or smallness of things, they can only be compared between themselves if they are of one and the same nature or genus. Rightly, therefore, is it said that a man is greater than a man, a horse than a horse, and an ox than an ox; but no one would say that a man is smaller than an ox, or a camel smaller than a horse. Wherefore, this is the most sagacious conclusion of the Pelusiote: that one must ^B concede that Arius—who says that the Father is greater than the Son—also acknowledges that the Son is of the same nature as the Father. Then, he thinks that those who believe the Son to be posterior to the Father are in great error, since eternity and immutability are proper to the divine nature (k). But who is there who does not see that there is a begging of the question in this argument? Finally, he asserts more speciously than truthfully that Arius contradicts himself, since, when he teaches that God the Father—whom he himself contends can be compared with no one—is greater than the Son, he himself institutes a comparison between him and the Son (l). These are the very weighty arguments which the Pelusiote brought against the Arians. For even if their mention recurs in other epistles, yet those which are set forth in these contain nothing new, or are of little weight. Nor indeed must it be passed over in silence that Isidore ^C, when he sets forth those things which he brought forward for his own opinion from the sacred books and the words of Jesus Christ himself, in another manner...

repeated the precept, into the very vice sharply vituperated by himself, he has fallen. For he affirms that Isaiah, speaking of tavern-keepers mixing wine with water, spoke of evil interpreters and corruptors of the Gospel. — Nor does he seem consistent to himself, since against the Jews, as we saw in the second paragraph of the second chapter, he defended the allegorical method of interpretation and used it himself very often.

That, before we prove this with many sayings of the same man, it pleases us to examine the very weighty examples by which Richard Simon, Dupin, and Rosenmueller have attempted to prove that he was a sufficiently acute interpreter.

Which epistle Simon brought forward in the first place, in which Isidore, explaining the words of Matthew: *she knew him not until she had brought forth her son*, treats of the use of the particle *until*, which we have already touched upon elsewhere. — Well indeed in the epistle to the reader Timotheus did he expound the words of Jesus Christ: *he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John*; well in the letters to Pansophius and the presbyter Aphrodisius did he act against Marcion and the Jews; and finally, he most excellently explained the saying of the Savior: *Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves*, as is contained in the beginning of the epistle to the presbyter Martinianus, by these words: *Wisdom mixed with simplicity* — may be understood.

CHAPTER III. ISIDORE AS INTERPRETER OF THE SACRED BOOKS.

That Isidore did not compile a commentary on one or another book of the Bible is evident from those things which we have said in the second part of this commentary concerning his lost and extant writings; but that he undertook the task of interpretation in many epistles, you can know even from the title of the Rittershusian edition itself. How he satisfied this task must be seen.

Moreover, in the letters given to the presbyter Daniel, he thinks that the interpreter of the sacred books must primarily be on guard not to attribute his own manner of feeling and thinking to the prophets and apostles, nor, as he writes in the epistle to Orion, to explain individual words, but to look at the connection of the thoughts. Which rules of interpretation, who is there that does not approve? Yet I would not have them of such great weight as Isidore himself, who thinks that interpreters, by subjecting their own opinion to the saying of each of the apostles and prophets, commit a vice which no one ought ever to forgive them. And so we willingly forgive the holy man.

^A Nor should what he wrote in a letter to Epimachus, who enquired of him what ^B amulets among the Jews were, be rejected. For he writes, he says, that the tablets were small, containing the Law within, which the teachers of the Jews used to wear, just as now women wear the small Gospels. [(a)]

But what he brought forward in the second, fifth, and sixth places, so as to prove that Isidore was a sufficiently acute interpreter, Simon, having brought forward his letters, seems to me to show the contrary. For the Pelusiote, since he supposed that Jesus Christ while living on this earth was possessed of the knowledge of all things, thinks that He said He could not accurately define the final day of the world, with the sole intention that He might decline useless questions. [(h)] But much less can the explanation of the words, "I and the Father are one," [(i)] be proven for that reason. For he teaches in a letter sent to the Sabellian Cytherius, that Christ wished to signify by the numeral adjective "one" that He is of one and the same nature as the Father, but by the plural number "we are" that He is distinct from the Father. [(j)] Nor are those things which are spoken of in the letter to Nilus regarding the petition of the sons of Zebedee [(k)] free from all reproach. For truly, to the response of Christ to them: "It is not mine to give, but to those for whom it has been prepared by my Father," [(l)] he decided that the sentence should be added: "It is not mine to give simply to those who ask, but to grant a reward to those who have labored."

To these things praised by Simon, Dupin and Rosenmüller added other letters of Isidore of Pelusium, among which the most worthy of note is that which he ^C wrote to Alexander. For in it he strongly censures those who, because they drag the entire Old Testament to Christ, bring it about that even those parts which are rightly referred to Him fall into suspicion, and that by this inept zeal an opportunity for arguing is afforded to heretics and heathens. [(m)] Nor is the letter which he wrote to Isidore the deacon altogether unworthy of note. [(n)] For to him, who was asking what was the "second-first Sabbath," he replies that this name was used to distinguish that day. He proceeds, "For in the evening," he says, "sacrificing the Pasch on the following day, they celebrated the feast of Azymes, and after the Sabbath, they call it every feast." [(o)] He distinguishes, therefore, between the feast of the Passover and the Azymes; nor is it to be denied that the first day of this feast, on which the Jews were accustomed to eat the Paschal lamb, was the prominent ^D Passover; and the remaining six days were called the feast of the Azymes. [(p)] However, for various reasons, which it would take long to set forth here, having rejected this explanation which Isidore proposed, I think that the opinion upon this matter is to be held which all interpreters almost since Scaliger and Casaubon have held to be true. Then, in another letter to Timothy the reader, [(q)] regarding the words of Christ which exist in Matthew: [(r)] "For as Jonas was in the whale's belly three days and three nights, so shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights," intending to explain it, he declares that it is not permissible for us to doubt that Jesus Christ remained in the sepulcher for as long a time as Jonas was in the belly of the whale. Having premised these things, he attempts to show in various ways that He remained for three days and as many nights in the sepulcher. And—

^A for, he says, the Lord was crucified at the sixth hour of the Preparation, and from this until the ninth hour there was darkness; consider this for me as a night. Again, from the ninth hour there was light; consider this again as a day. The night following is the Preparation’s; the Sabbath is again a day; the night of the Sabbath is the daybreak of the Lord’s day, according to the Evangelist who says: "as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week." Thus, this acute interpreter posited that the first night consisted of three hours, to which, according to the witness of Mark [(b)], those darknesses lasted. How insipid this is, he himself seems to have sensed, since he proposes another explanation of that statement. For Jesus, he says, was affixed to the cross, died, and was buried on the same day during the Preparation. Wherefore this is correctly numbered as the first; the Sabbath, indeed, during which ὅλον ἐποίησεν ἐν τῷ τάφῳ ὁ Κύριος, as the second; and the Lord’s Day, on which He rose at dawn, is rightly numbered as the third day. But against the "bad-fighters"—for he continues in this manner—who say that I have not enumerated all the days nor the three nights, the emperor [or, the author] responds in this fashion: just as a master who, although he promised the captives that he would release them from custody after three days, nonetheless releases them before the day has passed, can not only not be accused of lying, but is rather highly to be praised, so too our Lord Jesus Christ, rising faster than He had promised, is deservedly worshipped by all. Who is there that does not see that by these words the author ^B concedes that the Savior did not remain in the sepulcher for three days and three nights, and that he again takes away all the things which he himself had brought forward a little earlier to resolve the difficulty? He has wasted every effort, as has also been observed by Rosenmüller [(c)], to explain those things which the evangelists handed down concerning the food of John the Baptist. For he opines in an epistle to Nilus [(d)] that ἀκρίδας (locusts) are not locusts, but the extreme parts of plants; and so he swapped the word ἄκρις, which is paroxytone, with ἀκρίς, which is oxytone. Nor, if it were true what Dupin [(e)] thinks—that Isidore in one and the same epistle [(f)] explained some dictum of the apostle Paul in ten different ways—could the skill of the same in interpreting Holy Scripture be proven thereby; nay rather, we would count this as a fault against him, a fault to which, however, he is not subject, since in that epistle the words of Paul: "Every sin which a man does is outside the body; but he who commits fornication sins against his own body" [(g)] are treated in a different way. ^C It is apparent, therefore, from all these examples, that Isidore sometimes performed the duty of an interpreter well; but that when he was about to explain the more difficult sayings of Christ and the apostles, he either followed the footsteps of other Fathers, or explained with little accuracy what meaning was contained in the words. Nevertheless, we would certainly still count him among the best interpreters who flourished at that time, if he made better use of the critical art and were less delighted by insane allegories. For we cannot stand with the parts of Rosenmüller, who suspects that all the places in the Old and New Testament in which Isidore explained things allegorically were not written by him; because it is ready to hand that he, otherwise sufficiently cautious, did not understand what might have been the opinion of Heumann, or had not even read the dissertation of the same man concerning Isidore and his writings. For he writes: "Allegorical interpretations seem so unworthy of one very studious of grammatical interpretation that it is no vain suspicion that many of the epistles attributed to him—though not indeed most, as seemed to Jo. Aug. Heumann—are of doubtful validity." Nor, however, can we agree with Heumann, who, while recalling to mind what was the state of hermeneutical art and all theology in the age in which Isidore lived, thinks that Isidore should be numbered among the bad interpreters, but we hold to the opinion which is situated in the middle. Concerning the truth of which, so that we may persuade every reader, it remains first that it be proven that the critical art was practiced only lightly by Isidore, and then that it be shown by certain examples that the Pelusiot, like other interpreters of the same age, was too much given to an inept study of allegories. And first indeed it is worthy enough to note, what we have already touched upon elsewhere [(h)], that he posited that the Son of God was called not ^D *prototokon* (first-born) [accusative] but *prototokon* [neuter] by Paul. Then, it pleases us to bring into the middle the epistle written to Uranio the deacon [(i)], in which he concedes that the words of Paul [(j)]: "For a testament is valid over the dead, for it has no force at all while the testator lives," can indeed be explained, but he affirms that *pro* should more rightly be written for *mepote*, in this manner: "Since you have written, thinking [(k)] that Paul had turned the meaning into the opposite of what he had intended to say [(l)], what is it? 'For a testament is valid over the dead, for it has no force at all while...'"

the testator ^A lives." To this I reply by letter that the word *mēpote* is not *tote*, one tittle having been added to a single letter by some ignorant persons, perhaps. For this is how I have found it in ancient manuscripts as well. For it would not have turned to the opposite if he had been adorned by the divine Spirit and considered to be a Hermes; for when the *mēpote* is not in force ^B while the testator lives, it is confirmed after his death. But if *mēpote* were placed [there], the accent ought not to be shifted to the *mē*, but to the *pote*, so that it would in no way be understood as *mēpote* [...]. And as for the *gnēsia syzyge* (true yoke-fellow), it is the genuine [form] of the iota letter, either added or written but not continuously voiced. Many things in these [remarks of Isidore] are to be censured. First, because [Isidore] thought those particles in that saying of the Apostle Paul ^C correspond to each other, he found repugnance and difficulties where there are none. For it can be shown in hundreds of places that *mēpote* has the same value as "never," nor is one [example] needed, such as the one which Wahlius brought forward from the first book of Xenophon's *Memorabilia*. Then, whoever, like Isidore, defends the writing *mē pote*, must concede to him that the particle *mē* was placed in a false position by the Apostle. For it should have been written: [...]. Finally, it is enough to have stated that the things the Pelusiote adds concerning the writing *mē pote* are inept. He labors under great difficulties in the letter which he wrote to Orion. ^D For in this [letter], not seeing how that most well-known saying of the Apostle Paul regarding the heretics in the first Epistle to Timothy is to be explained—"forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from foods"—he ordered *antéchesthai* to be written instead of *apéchesthai* or *échesthai*. Having set forth these matters at length, he proceeds in this manner: "For [that] often one letter, either changed or omitted or added, disturbs the meaning of the words spoken, is clear from that which is reported in the Acts of the Apostles: 'And if a spirit has spoken to him, or an angel...'" In which way he wished to prove his own opinion, since he himself added nothing to clarify the matter more accurately, cannot be understood. Nor are the things that follow sufficiently suitable. He proceeds in this ^A manner: [Regarding] that [which is] in the [Epistle] to the Hebrews: "If, therefore, perfection were by the Levitical priesthood" (k)—if [one says instead] "If therefore it is since," the meaning is severed, and [it is] constructed in a way contrary to the apostolic intention. — And as for the "true yoke-fellow" (i), it is the genuine [form] of the iota letter either added or indeed written, but not continuously voiced. Isidore himself, however, in the letters given to the presbyter Valentinian (n), explained his own opinion regarding allegories thus: "You seem to me not to approve of those who, as you say, while they consider themselves wiser than the Scriptures, transform the divine oracles into whatever figures they wish, and deceive their listeners in many ways. But I would neither blame them, if they are said to have found something ^B wisely, nor would I force you, unwilling, to treat of allegories." He commends, therefore, in these [words] to his wise friend the allegorical method of interpretation [when] wisely applied. But whether he himself applied it wisely, let the readers judge for themselves from letters 42, 192, 193, 206, of book I.

PROLEGOMENA TO THE PARIS EDITION OF THE YEAR MDCXXXVIII

DEDICATORY EPISTLE TO THE MOST DISTINGUISHED LORD, DOMINUS PETRUS SEGUIER, CHANCELLOR OF FRANCE

It has always been the settled opinion of men endowed with noble character, most distinguished sir, that there is nothing more beautiful or more glorious than to imitate the virtues and illustrious deeds of their ancestors. Holding this view from my earliest youth, and pondering the great labors of my father and the remarkable work he devoted to publishing authors of the better sort, and the fame and praise he earned for himself thereby, I was spurred by such zeal and desire for similar virtue and glory that, burning with the long-standing wish to serve the republic of letters, I could no longer keep it contained within my breast. Instead, I determined to apply myself with all my might to demonstrating my spirit in whatever way I could. While I was fully occupied with this thought and intent upon choosing some work in particular, I judged that nothing would be more pleasing or acceptable to learned men than if I were to commit to print a Great Library of the Fathers and Ecclesiastical Writers. ^A I applied my mind to this work the more willingly and eagerly because I hoped it would be embraced with the utmost enthusiasm by all who are lovers of the reading of the Church Fathers throughout the Christian world, especially since the edition I was planning would be the most complete and absolute of all that have ever appeared. Indeed, the Cologne edition, which I decided to use as a model, although it contains more authors than others, will nevertheless be inferior to ours, because in it one finds not the native and genuine tongue of the Greek authors, but only a Latin translation. I, however, intend to combine the Greek text, missing in that Cologne edition, with the Latin translation, so that those who are possessed by the study of this most elegant of all languages—the Greek, I mean—may understand that their interests have been greatly served by us in this regard. ^B Furthermore, I have gathered into the said Library of the Fathers many Greek authors never before published in their own tongue, which I have sought out and collected from many libraries with the greatest labor and expense, so that the work will comprise twenty-five volumes (if God shall favor our efforts). How great in size and difficulty that enterprise will be, and how much labor and burden I shall have to bear in working on this project and bringing it to its conclusion, anyone who possesses even a moderate amount of experience and practical knowledge can judge most easily. Since this is so, lest I appear to undertake a matter of such importance in a blind and rash impulse of spirit, I thought I must choose some most wise and prudent guide, under whose auspices our work might arrive at a successful and happy outcome. For if those who prepare for a long voyage do not commit themselves to the sea before they have a most skilled navigator, through whose prudence they may safely and untouched avoid all the dangers of the sea, ^C how much more must I do this, who strive to carry to port not some cheap and earthly goods, but the most precious treasures of heavenly doctrine! And whom, pray, was it appropriate for me to choose as a more excellent guide for so dangerous a voyage than you, who are the glory and ornament of letters? Indeed, wherever I turn my eyes, I see no one whom I could compare with you. For while all virtues have found their seat in you, in particular justice, to the administration of which you are appointed, as well as piety, which you have imbibed from the constant reading of the holy Fathers, so shine forth in you that there is no place in the whole Christian world where their splendor has not reached. ^D

^A Therefore, if you are willing to offer yourself as the leader and patron of this work, there is no doubt that I shall attain the success for which I hope. But in order to further merit your benevolence toward me, I dedicate and offer to you the first-fruits of this labor, namely, Isidore of Pelusium, whom I desired to bring to light before all others for the reason that I knew him to be an author sought after by everyone more than any other. And if I observe that this gift has been graciously received by you, you will make me more eager to proceed with the rest of the work. That you will do so, the kindness that is in you—as I trust—makes certain. Farewell.

Of Your Amplitude, the most humble servant, EGIDIUS MOREL.

To the distinguished Jan Gruter, Jurisconsult and most excellent philologist, Professor of History elect, Conrad Rittershusius sends greetings.

^B That doctor indeed, of whom your letters, noble sir, gave us recommendation, did not come to us. Yet he did rightly see to the delivery of a packet to Nuremberg through our most excellent and dutiful magistrate: upon opening and examining it, I gladly saw a typographic specimen of my Isidore of Pelusium, which you sent, not without the expression of a hope that what the recent catalogs promised might at last, in this autumn market, be brought to light through the courtesy of the Commelinian press. Good work, and may it be felicitously heralded by many good men—indeed, it is already being heralded for this edition. I myself have good hope that it will not result in loss for those who have incurred expenses for it. For although there is no longer in many people such ardor of spirit for knowing and comparing the monuments of learned antiquity, especially Greek (without which, however, no one has ever easily been solidly learned), as there was among our men in the age of our grandfathers or great-grandfathers, when the studies of literature and languages ^C were first being sparked in Germany and began to be illuminated by the voices and writings of great and excellent men—yet not even this century (for one should rather speak well of it) is so unhappy or effete that it does not even now possess the greatest admirers of Greek writers, whatever may appear to the common view, which refers all things to profit or to ambitious ostentation, and those things which lead to neither of these, it places no study in. But truly, such people as these, since they care little for us with such studies and give us no consideration, we too will give little consideration—^D we will not trade the wealth of virtue for them, as Solon sang: but rather, we shall look with both eyes to the honesty and dignity of these letters, to the examples of our ancestors, and to that ancient ardor of spirit, which I mentioned, with which they themselves burned for them.

I am fresh from reading the letters of Johannes Reuchlin, many of which I found during these holidays in the library of Bilibald Pirckheimer at Nuremberg, in the house of the patrician Jan Im Hof, his great-grandson. I shall tell you, my dear Gruter, or rather the young men, if any should happen to read these things by your favor, so that they may take an example from them, what I have found in one or another of them. Reuchlin writes from "Anglopolis" (he so calls Ingolstadt, to which he had voluntarily helped himself into exile, away from high courtly offices, owing to the Swabian disturbances) in the year 1520 to that Bilibald whom I mentioned—a princely man and, in the knowledge of abstruse letters, by the opinion of many altogether greater—concerning his own profession of languages, which he had established in that most famous academy under the auspices of Duke Wilhelm of Bavaria and with an honest public stipend, and how numerous an audience he has. But it is worthwhile to know this in his own words, which therefore I shall provide from the autograph for the sake of credibility, insofar as they pertain here. "When," he says, "kindly Fortune has now this year made me an elementary teacher, daily from the throne of the doctors, before a frequent audience, I must publicly lecture in the morning on Rabbi Mose Kimhi in the Hebrew language, and in the evening on the *Plutus* of Aristophanes in the Greek language to three hundred disciples and, I say, more." May this be happy, auspicious, and fortunate. Farewell, and observe me, like Dionysius, Prince of Sicily, teaching boys at Corinth. This he wrote two years before the blessed end of his toilsome yet glorious life, a man grave in years, of proven faith in difficult affairs, and excelling in authority, to a friend whom he then held dearer than any in Nuremberg, to whom he entrusted all his most secret concerns, and whom he used most often, writing of his own auditorium, and indeed with a pen that is not, as we believe, vain or boastful. But who in this season, I will not say in any academy of Germany, but in the most famous gymnasium of all Europe, even though it be to Reuchlin—to whom we attribute all things as the best parent of studies, and in doctrine inferior to none—flows with such a crowd of auditors, or even a tenth part of it, especially one who is occupied in the explanation of such authors and the tradition of Greek literature? O wondrous, not to say miserable, change of times, spirits, and studies! Whose causes it will be possible to investigate elsewhere more opportunely and freely. Now, however, let it be permitted only to deplore our sloth and apathy, if even by this means in our youth, which is in letters toward some hope...

^A of the republic and the Church, we might be able to rekindle some sparks of pristine ardor, or, to use the most elegant word of the Greeks, anazopyresai. I shall speak more sparingly of my own perpetual love for those letters in which all human culture is contained. I wished for much; I could contribute little to their propagation. For partly the mediocrity of my talent and health, or rather the frailty of both, stood in the way of honorable endeavors, and partly occasions were wanting, and finally, other studies, not a little remote and averse from these, drew me away as if by force. And yet, even so, I do not entirely repent of how much labor I have expended here, even if I have not achieved any reward for my labor.

Let Isidore of Pelusium himself rather speak of what and how much he owes us. And he will surely speak of this very thing eloquently, if this edition of ours is compared with the Parisian one of the most illustrious Billius. For he will say that he first appears, by my kindness, augmented by more than two hundred and twenty letters; he will say that in very many places of the previous books it has been made more emended and complete; he will say that by the Latin interpretation and also by notes and peroches it has been rendered clearer to be understood; he will say that it has been made more suitable and handy for use by our indices. And lest anyone be defrauded of his own praise and glory through us, those, too, must not be passed over in silence here, by whose benefit that manuscript codex of the princely Bavarian library was obtained for our uses. This you, most illustrious Gruter, already know, and many other friends know it as well. But since this letter—which ought to be a witness both to our friendship and to my grateful spirit toward ^B benefactors—is to be read, I hope, by many together with Isidore himself, let them also know, those who did not know before, what it concerns them to know for the sake of my honor and gratitude: that the grace of this benefit is owed to magnificent and most distinguished men, Marcus Velser, the honorable man of the Republic of Augsburg, and Joannes Georgius Hervuart of Hohenburg, Bavarian chancellor, who, both through letters and through our most excellent and most gracious translator and agent David Hoeschelius, when requested by me, did not prove difficult in procuring for me the use of that most beautiful codex which I had heard existed in Munich; nay, they obtained it for me from the most serene and high Bavarian prince—megale charis autois, to make Theocritus' words my own here. The same I wish to be said of the zeal of the most illustrious and noble man Marquard Freher; who, when he understood that I also desired another copy of the Parisian edition, that I might order it, annotated by me with variant readings, to serve a new printing, of his own accord, with the extraordinary kindness that is his, offered and granted it liberally for my uses.

There are also those who later gave us a sign to hope for good things regarding new aids to be supplied from the Vatican library. For they claim that very many ^C unpublished letters of our author lie hidden there, and they do not give vain assurance. For we have already seen the beginnings of some, which Andreas Schottus, a most learned man, who has deserved excellently of all antiquity and right studies (whom I know to be most familiar to you), had transcribed from there. They, too, when they have fulfilled their promises, as we hope they will do shortly, and as they truly ought to do for the sake of their own honor as well as for the public good, will by no means be defrauded of the due praise and gratitude. Nor should this edition, which the sons of Commelin, as you know, could not delay for longer without great loss to themselves, retard them, but rather invite them to present what they have voluntarily and very kindly promised, not so much to us as to the Christian republic. You will receive with this letter both the title of the entire work and some encomiastic pieces—partly poems, partly letters of famous men—which you will order to be referred to their place by the work's printers.

The rest which pertains to adorning our Isidore with a suitable preface shall be your concern. For you remember that the entire pontifical prosphoneseos for the Commelinians was transcribed by me. I did not like to collect and correct the errata on the transmitted sheets, although I immediately recognized some, especially since I did not have everything at hand. Therefore, let the anagnostes and epanorthotes see to it how these may be amended and ^D rejected in the solemn manner to the end of the work. No more, for now, to be said of our Isidore. May he only go forth under favorable auspices, and may he be of as much benefit to the public good as he is to the Bonutii privately. You are doubtless waiting for me to write at last also about the supplies, which I promised I would one day procure for you in Nuremberg regarding your ancient numismatics, with which you contemplate enriching that huge and immortal work of Ancient Inscriptions. Concerning which matter, know this in earnest: that there exists before the patrician man I lauded above a treasure by no means common of ancient coins of every kind—Hebrew, Greek, Latin, of consuls, censors, triumvirs, emperors, Caesars; finally, of gold, silver, and bronze. And when, as our previous holidays drew to an end, I had betaken myself to Nuremberg, and had (for some days, ten if I am not mistaken) locked myself up as a prisoner in that most well-furnished library by the permission of its most kind master, after having examined it, I took into my hands and inspected almost all those things; I also made a trial in describing the epigraphs of the individual coins, in almost the same manner which the distinguished man Adolphus Occo, a physician of Augsburg our friend, observed in that most celebrated work of his. I realized, however, that this labor, if one wishes to complete the whole as is fitting, would not be of a few days, but of several months. Nor would it be useless, in my judgment, to employ some artist in drawing, who might delineate and express the individual coins (which indeed have not yet been struck by others) to the life, as great as they are. For which matter, indeed, an expense not small, and time not meager, and the whole man, if I may so say, would be required. It did not, however, seem advisable to me to incur that expense without your mandate, and it was necessary to return to my family and to academic labors. If, however, in the future, either at my host Imhof's, or at Benedict Ammianus', or others (for there are many in the most wealthy city who possess such keimelia, although one is more moneyed than another), I shall be able to serve your institute even while absent, I shall not spare my labor; nor, I think, will he deny his...

own. Farewell, and greet Bonutius and the Commelinians and the rest of my friends for me.

Altorf in the Academy of Nuremberg, the month of August, the year 1605.

To the most illustrious and most clement Duke and Lord, FREDERICK the Younger, Count Palatine of the Rhine, born for the good of the Republic, only prince of the youth. ^A

It is fitting that the printers are placing the final touch upon Isidore, at a time when, after two years of seclusion, you return from the borders of Gaul to your own people, most desired of princes. Indeed, as every age and every order of society, poured out into the public square, welcomes your arrival—like that of a bright and saving star—with well-omened congratulations and orations, we too rightly submit an index of our own mind and joy, this Pelusiote bishop; who, already one-fourth more complete in his first part, almost vocally, and with the most flourishing grace of youth, attends you with auspicious omens, and moreover, with Greek urbanity, pours forth upon your charming head and breast an abundant store of garlands. ^B Truly, seeing that others (at the occasion of the vernal auspices), among other gifts of a devoted mind, consider it right to heap up the ephemeral delights of flowers, he thinks that the colors and fragrances drawn from the gardens of sacred wisdom will be equally welcome and acceptable to you, especially since they are of such a nature that they do not merely fail to become obsolete or wither through usage or time, but rather derive from that very source an increase of brighter color and fragrance; and furthermore, they are of such genius that they do not simply flatter the eyes or entice the nostrils, but communicate a salutary power to the soul itself and to the breast itself, by which one may proceed more quickly and safely through the temples of virtue and honor, toward eternity. ^C This, since it must always be before the eyes of every age, our old man, I hope, will have made worthy of his effort; so much the more so, because he also devotes and dedicates himself entirely to you, most desirous of adhering to your company henceforth. He does this the more confidently, because he remembers that a few weeks ago, not without fruit, his own teacher, the divine Chrysostom, was commended to the patronage of that great uncle of yours, John Casimir, a prince of never-dying memory. For if the offspring does not unworthily follow the father, the disciple also delights in the family, in which his master finds both splendor and protection. ^D That you might also deem him of some importance, most illustrious prince, know that he is far removed from the contagion of both his own past century and this of ours; he is, clearly, such a one who honors all his words with deeds, and lives no differently than he speaks; who, having turned away from all useless questions concerning religion, is driven only by piety and virtue; who illuminates the infinite, more obscure passages of the Holy Scriptures with the sober light of a good mind and reason; and who, for this reason, stands far apart from those who, addicted to I know not what tricks of contention, and not content to play with their own skin, so incite kings and princes against one another, and pervert nations and republics, that from one people soon two or even more bodies are formed, and by wars they are armed against the Christian name—eternal enemy of outsiders—against their own vitals, and, in the manner of madmen, cut off their own hands and limbs: in sum, he has nothing in common with those who hold candor, faith, and modesty so far from themselves that if the monsters of men, fashioned from contention, stubbornness, slander, suspicion, avarice, envy, pride, and lasciviousness, were to come from the whole world to be loved, they would be culled and produced primarily from the ranks of these. O the times! O the morals! For if this faith of ours is such that there ought to be as much difference between a priest and any upright man as there is between heaven and earth, we could say more for this man; but to no purpose, most illustrious prince, since you have immediately seized the excellent old man with both hands, and seriously pledge that, when you are more adult in age, you will have him first among the cohort of your friends, and will do nothing, publicly or privately, without his judgment. Proceed in this disposition, prince of the greatest expectation, certain that this very thing will accrue not only to the incredible increase of the Palatine family, and to the highest joy of your most excellent parents, but also to the incomparable good of the Christian republic, and to your own honor and eternal glory. That you may achieve these things shortly, we humbly pray the Supreme Deity, that He may deign to overshadow you forever with the wings of His clemency, as the delight and beloved of all Germany.

Neustadt, 22 February, on the very day of the spring auspices. Most addicted to your Illustrious Clemency, THE COMMELINII and BONUTIANI.

To the most Reverend Fathers, Father Andreas SCHOTT and Father Heribert ROSWEYD, priests of the Society of Jesus in the Antwerp College, greetings and peace.

Your Isidore returns to you, Father Schott, after a fairly long captivity, in which the prison of Janus Gruter, as a kind of slave, along with other monuments of this kind of liberal mark, had detained him...

^A But Suffridus Sixtinus of Amsterdam, who turned the best part of the Gruter library to his own use and possession, did not allow so holy, so pious, so wise, and so eloquent a writer to lie hidden any longer in this dark dungeon; but having extracted him from there with a liberal hand, he consented, not at all unwillingly, that he should be produced by our Fitzet into the clear shores of light, clothed and resplendent in your adornment, and that in this way, being restored to his freedom, he might go wherever he wished. In this matter, he strove both to gratify you and, at the same time, to ensure that such excellent works would not be lost to their author. Certainly, so that he might serve the good of the Christian commonwealth—for the aiding and promoting of which, and for the healing of the ulcerated judgments of certain men and the softening of their fierce customs, this writer alone both can and ought to act—he has proceeded to provide for it even in this part. Nor have I, in the meantime, been wanting in my own duty, fearing that either the manuscript might fall into the envious hands of rivals, or that the matter, being further procrastinated, might encounter new danger from an unexpected quarter. I am not unaware—but having learned at home from my own example—what labor it is to give birth to such an offspring, and what grief weighs upon and exhausts the mind on account of the labors of our night-watches that may perhaps be lost or mangled. Nor do I doubt that many more monuments of this kind exist in your possession, either prepared and produced by you yourself, or entrusted to your faith by friends, which you might desire to communicate with industrious and diligent booksellers. If my work can be useful and profitable to you for that purpose, you shall command what you wish to be done, and consider it done.

To you also, Father Rosweyde, the care of this most holy Father, Isidore, should no less pertain, so that you would not neglect to restore to him the very life—whom Father Schott has so liberally honored with an elegant and festive arrangement—in those books of commentaries on the histories of the Saints. ^B Thus a good hope fosters us, which all the learned and those studious of good letters have conceived ‹of you. Nor will you allow us to be deceived or frustrated by our hope any longer, if we have rightly known your ingenuous talent and have duly perceived the persevering will of your soul, which wise men call constancy in promises. Since, therefore, your Pelusiote—or rather, in part, also ours—touches both of you, it seemed to me that I would be acting rightly and in order if I destined him equally to both of you, who might pull your ear, so that with combined resources and industry you might at length adorn and procure an entire and perfect edition of the works of Isidore in every respect. A most worthy writer indeed, in whom you might place all this work, or a distinguished one for the commonwealth, in which and under which the religious spend their common life with the secular, the Catholics with the schismatics, the good with the bad. For neither to this most holy Father Isidore, nor to his master, the blessed Chrysostom, nor to the other saints and Catholic Fathers of his age—Basil the Great, Gregory Nazianzen, Caesarius, etc.—was that custom known by which one lives commonly now, that we should hate and avoid men just as we do the vices themselves. On the contrary, those holy Fathers commanded us to flee and detest the vices of men, not the men themselves, who bear the image of God, whom our Lord Jesus Christ taught us are our neighbors and commanded us to love. But this is the unhappiness of our century—I know not whether to say it is a fatality, or rather a ferocity—which the most illustrious cardinals Bembo and Sadoleto once so greatly deplored. Tell me, by your faith, if we indiscriminately admit this rigour of morals in striking out the names of dissenters not only from the diptychs of the Church, but even from the very white roll of ^C τῆς ἔξω φιλίας καὶ ὁμιλίας (of external friendship and communion), will we ever ensure that even the most holy Fathers are exempt from this envy? Certainly you will never be able to defend to me, or place in safety from the bond of this injury, this very Isidore of yours, nor his master the blessed John Chrysostom, nor Basil the Great, nor the Thaumaturge Nazianzen, nor the Theologian of Nyssa, nor Ephrem the God-taught, nor Synesius, nor Epiphanius, nor Theodoret, nor any holy writer of his age. Wise men proclaim you to be blessed, to whom it has been given and granted to think separately from the rigid institution of those I have mentioned. For you so hold in hatred alien religion and the abuses of human mortals, that you have nonetheless learned to estimate and admire the gifts of human talents and those arts which Phœbus Apollo has provided to them—to express it in Homeric words. Hail to this virtue, O venerable elders, by which your names are heralded and celebrated in the Christian world. Even your own adversaries assign this most just praise to you by true calculations, because you accomplish more with your moderation among dissenters than those whom I mentioned a little while ago, who, with all their armed forces, sanction with the whetstone of rigour, by which they often affirm that they destroy more than they build, and fall more than they conquer. Farewell, and take in good part my courtesy, which I have willingly spent in saving your Isidore and in representing you in this arrangement; expect greater things from me if I find that my zeal and office in helping your literary affairs, and in promoting them with such authority as I am thought to have and to be able to wield, are pleasing to you. ^D I wrote at Frankfurt on the 16th day before the Calends of March, A.D. 1629.

THE PRINTER OF THE ANCIENT EDITION OF BOOK V TO THE READER S.

^A in our own time, the printers of our order in Paris and in the colony of the Ubii [Cologne] took care to have published the twenty books of the *Etymologies* or *Origins* of Isidore, Bishop of Hispalis, and his four books of *Sentences*, all of which were written by him with great piety concerning Holy Scripture. But as for the Greek man, St. Isidore of Pelusium, or the Alexandrian presbyter—a man most eloquent even in the Attic style, being a student of the Blessed Chrysostom—they published more than three thousand of his epistles, in which he explains a great portion of the passages of the Sacred Scriptures, as if they were requested by means of a letter. Later, after many more *inedita* were observed by the eyes of Andreas Schott, S.J., in the Vatican Library at Rome, which he subsequently had transcribed—sacred and pious letters which reform mores by rebuking and exhorting, according to the needs of his age—he took care to have them printed in his homeland of Antwerp by the Nutian press: these were nearly six hundred in number, minus thirty. And indeed, after a large number had already been acquired by Abbot Jacques Billi from the codex—as I suppose—of Cardinal Guglielmo Sirleto, Conrad Rittershusius, an excellent jurist, soon added another three hundred and thirty from a Bavarian exemplar, rendered them into Latin, and illustrated them with scholia. Only these six hundred were the first to see the light in Greek, with the good hope from Schott that someone might exist to excel in translating them into Latin and lighten that burden, as if to seem to have wished to gratify those who both struggle to read and understand every writer speaking in the language in which they wrote. But by the misfortune, or rather the lethargy of this age, very few aspire to study such works; most apply themselves only to more agreeable studies, such as poetry, or to things pertaining more to profit than to the immortality of a name. However, that which the Blessed Basil the Great replied to Julian the Caesar, as Nicephorus witnesses, is true: "To read and not to understand, is to condemn." ^B Therefore, the translator has brought light to these epistles and applied scholia to obscure passages, representing things different from those that are already read in the Greek exemplar, along with new arguments. Use this, Reader, unless you are able to bring forth something more useful. Farewell.

TESTIMONIA OF THE ANCIENTS CONCERNING ST. ISIDORE OF PELUSIUM

FROM SUIDAS. "Isidore the presbyter, the Pelusiote, a man most learned, a philosopher and rhetorician, wrote three thousand epistles interpreting divine Scripture, and certain other things." That is: Isidorus, presbyter of Pelusium, a most eloquent man, philosopher and rhetorician, wrote three thousand epistles interpreting the divine Scripture, and certain other things: such as the *Against the Gentiles*, of which work he himself makes mention in Book II, Epistle 137 and Epistle 228; as the *Against Fate*, in Book I, Epistle 253; and to or *Against Cyril*, concerning whom Evagrius writes in *Ecclesiastical History* Book I, c. 15, and Nicephorus Book XV, c. 53. But those things which the same Suidas says in *Apheleia*, and in *Mētoi*, as well as in the quite long narration about Serapion, which I see attributed to our Isidore by mistake, I judge rather to belong to the Platonic philosopher Isidore—unless I am mistaken in my judgment—whose life Damascius wrote, as you may read in Photius's *Bibliotheca*, cod. CCXLI. But the same Suidas mentions our Isidore: "John of Antioch, who was called Chrysostom." There is that epistle of St. Isidore, which is 168 among ours, to a certain Timothy. There is also a controversy about his fatherland, for he is called Pelusiote from his fatherland, yet Ephrem seems to make him an Alexandrian in our Photius, *Bibliotheca* vol. CCXXVIII, so that we might distinguish one origin from another by education, as with M. Cicero in *De Legibus*. Suidas calls him a presbyter, not a bishop, although that word is sometimes accustomed to be exchanged for the other. Therefore, in the unedited *Catena of the Greek Fathers on John*, he is designated by this sign (p), just as is done at the end of the *Catena* at those words of John: "I suppose that not even the world itself could contain the books that should be written"; it praises our Isidore's Epistle 259 in Book I, and Epistle 99 in Book II. Now let us see the testimonies of others. ^C

FROM EVAGRIUS (Book I, cap. 15). In the reign of the Emperor Theodosius, Isidore of Pelusium was also in great honor, whose glory, on account of both his deeds and his words, was spread far and wide and celebrated in the speech of all men. This man so macerated his flesh with labors, and so nourished his soul with secret and divine doctrines, that he lived an angelic life on earth, and set forth a living and manifest image of monastic life and divine contemplation to be kept by all forever. He indeed wrote many other highly useful works, including one to Cyril: from this it is clear that he lived in the times of that admirable Cyril. Concerning the "To Cyril" or "Against Cyril," as you might gather from the words of Nicephorus soon to follow, and from Stephen Gobarus in Photius, cod. CCXXXII, Book IV, cap. 53. ^D

FROM NICEPHORUS CALLISTUS (Book XIV, cap. 53). Not only did these excellent men flourish in virtue, but Isidore also stood out in doctrine consonant with his deeds themselves. For if both wings of philosophy occur, it lifts the mind the swifter into the sublime, and unites and joins it to the good which we seek by desire and vow. For he uses it as if it were two wings, to whom both happen to fall, and flying into heaven with full progress, he arrives as swiftly as possible. Such were the men that that era brought forth, having obtained great glory through virtue and doctrine. Such was that Isidore who governed the monks on the mountain of Pelusium: Nilus and Marcus were famous ascetics, and likewise the wise Theodoritus, bishop of the Church of Cyrus, whose praise in poetry is great. These used Chrysostom as their master in both philosophies. Therefore, divine Isidore, from his early adolescence, so sweated in monastic labors, and so macerated his flesh, nourishing his soul with secret and higher doctrines, that he led a life altogether evangelical, and was a living and animated column of the monastic institute and of divine contemplation, and served as a certain primary example of burning emulation and spiritual doctrine. Many things were written by him, full of varied utility, but most especially...

^A ten thousand—or nearly ten thousand—epistles of every kind, filled with divine and human grace, in which he explains all Scripture more clearly and instructs the morals of all, inasmuch as he employs in them a manner of speaking accommodated to teaching. He sufficiently declares, moreover, with what ardor he burned for honesty, for the Church, and for those who were rashly afflicted with injury. Furthermore, he inveighs much in his writings against those who did not rightly discharge the episcopal and priestly office. And because he openly defended Chrysostom, he vehemently chastises Arcadius and Cyril, as well as the latter’s patron, Theophilus, and censures the sinister schemes they undertook against that man—schemes which attest that he lived in the same time as they did. Indeed, refuting Cyril as a turbulent man, he also writes this: “The affection of favor does not see what is sharp, but the hatred of a hostile mind discerns nothing at all,” etc.

FROM SIXTUS SENENSIS (Book IV of the *Bibliotheca Sancta*)

JOANNES CHATARDUS

FROM THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY

ROB. CARD. BELLARMINE

ANT. POSSEVINUS (in *Apparatus Sacer*)

ANDREAS SCHOTTUS (Observ. divin.)

^A cana recently brought forward, I shall briefly discuss Pelusium: for the city of Pelusium, and nearby the Pelusiac mouth, one of the seven mouths of the Nile—according to Pomponius Mela, book 1, *De situ orbis*, end of chapter 9, and Strabo, book xvii of his *Geography*. Here there was a profusion of lentils and onions, along with superstition, as is the case with almost everything Egyptian. P. Maro, book 1, *Georgics*, v. 228: "Nor will you scorn the care of the Pelusiac lentil."

Where Servius Honoratus says that Pelusium is one of the seven mouths of the Nile river, where the lentil was first discovered, or at least grows at its best. But it is an town rather, and the Egyptians used to trade in these legumes there, according to the blessed Jerome; the harbor, however, is called Pelusiac, and the inhabitants are called Pelusiotae. Pelusium was enclosed by marshes and the narrowness of the roads, as Strabo is our authority. It was captured by Augustus Caesar in the Actian war, and he occupied Egypt from that point, victory having been gained at the promontory of Actium, as Dio Cassius testifies in book LI of his *Roman History*, and Plutarch in his *Life of Antony*. Propertius, book III, elegy 5, at the end: "And the barricades of Pelusium [subdued] by Roman steel."

^B The blessed Jerome in chapter xxx of *Ezekiel* on Pelusium: "It has," he says, "a very safe harbor, and merchants of the sea are especially active there." Whence too the poet (Virgil, *Georgics*) calls it the Pelusiac lentil, not because this species of legume is sown there in particular, but because from the Thebaid and all of Egypt it is carried in great quantity along that channel of the Nile. The same author in chapter XLVI of *Isaiah*: "Many Egyptian towns have names derived from beasts and pack animals. *Kuōn* [dog], from dog. *Leōn* [lion], from lion: *Amus* [goat], an Egyptian figure from a goat: *Lukōn* [wolf], from a wolf: not to speak of the dreadful and horrific onion, and the rumbling of the inflated belly, which is Pelusiac religion." Arnobius, book VII, *Adversus Gentes*: "To distinguish the sharpness/acrimony of onions." Aulus Gellius, book xx, chapter 8: "They say that this is the reason why the priests of Egypt do not eat onions, because they alone of all garden produce have contrary cycles of waning and waxing (that is, increases and decreases) against the increases and decreases of the moon."

Pelusiota, however, signifies both an inhabitant and a base and muddy man. For *pēlos* is mud. Thus the same Jerome, *Epistle to Pammachius*, against the errors of Origen: "These are your sophistries and illusions, by which you call us Pelusiotes and beasts and animal [soulish] men, because we do not receive those things which are of the spirit"; and to Pammachius and Oceanus: "Let them call us Pelusiotes and muddy, and animal and fleshly, because we do not receive those things which are of the spirit." They, indeed, the Jerusalemites, whose mother is in heaven. The same epistle, and [the reason] why on account of animal and muddy men he was unwilling to confess dogmas openly. Likewise: "Drive, if you are able, a Pelusiote to eat an onion." The same Jerome on chapter XXIX of *Jeremiah*: "A 'delyrus' [foolish] interpreter sows the ruin of the heavenly Jerusalem, which, when the disciples hear, those of the grunting family think that they are hearing divine mysteries, and hold us who despise these things to be brute animals, and call us *pēlousiōtas*, in that established in the mud of this body we are unable to perceive heavenly things." Thus Jerome. Near Pelusium, moreover, is the cult of Jupiter Casius. Witness Sextus Empiricus, book III of his *Hypotyposes*, writing: "But indeed also among the Egyptians, those who were held to be wise, some consider it profane to eat the head of an animal, others the shoulder, others the foot, others I know not what else. But no one of those who are initiated into the rites of Casian Jupiter at Pelusium ever eats onions." Epiphanius, however: "Kastios moreover the shipmaster among the Pelusiotes, etc."

JOSEPHUS SCALIGER TO HIS CONRAD RITTERSHUSIUS, GREETINGS. I congratulate you on the treasure found, or rather the republic of letters. It could not have fallen better than into the hands of one who can not only publish it, but also produce it in a better state, since we await your Latin interpretation and the notes on that work. You exact from me an epigram in commendation of the work. There was no need for commendation, since it is useful in itself, and can be brought forth more elegantly by your care. Much less from me, who was never a poet, and, if I had been, by reason of age was already to be presented with my discharge. But because you think that an honorable discharge has not yet been given to me, accept these little verses, not as from a poet, but from one who has never remembered himself to have been a poet.

The Isidore previously published to the winds, Certain limbs of Isidore they were, not the body. But now the finished body he grants back to us, Rittershusius, the adornment of sacred laws, Having obtained glory so much more renowned Than he who brought to light the remains of Isidore, By as much as the body is superior to the limbs.

Although they smell of old age, yet consider them to be verses, and because you wished this, if any error has been committed, demand the penalty from yourself, not from me. Farewell. Batavian Leiden. 16 Kalends of September, Julian. 1604.

*A certain most observant admirer of the illustrious Joseph Scaliger has attempted to translate his Greek epigram into the same number of Latin verses, if not to express it, at least to render it:*

Once that Isidore was brought into the winds, Certain limbs of Isidore it was, not the body. Now the whole of his body has given to us Rittershusius, the interpreter of law and light: To whom glory is hence rendered all the more illustrious, Than to him who published certain fragments of Isidore, By as much as the body is more perfect than its limbs.

ISAAC CASAUBON TO CONRAD RITTERSHUSIUS, J.U.D., GREETINGS.

I wished to know how you were and what you were doing, most distinguished Rittershusius, and I wondered that from my two previous letters no reply had been given by you, just as I have received no letters from Scipione Gentili, the light of your academy, since he returned here from a trip to Gaul; and I was so anxious about the health and state of you both, when Bongarsius, the flower of my friends, sent me that letter of yours which you intended to be common to both of us. It pleased me not a little, both to learn that you are well and that you are so animated for literature that you never cease to deserve well of it. For what you write regarding the discovery of the epistles of the Blessed Father Isidore of Pelusium, and their description by your care and preparation for publication: you have blessed me, my Rittershusius, with this good news. Well done for this study and for that industry of yours. The world of letters already owes you much for the exceptional monuments of your wit, by which you have augmented and adorned it; but you will have added a great heap to your previous merits if you restore to us so pious and learned a writer—returning from the shades—which indeed, that you may do, I do not only encourage you, but I also ask and beseech: the more vehemently, the fewer there are today to whose palate such dishes are tasty. But the insane voices of those who are not sound of mind—many of whom make Greek letters—you easily understand, by your prudence, are to be contemned; and we, who understand their excellence and necessity, must strive rather to place a hand on those who are fleeing, and if we can, assert their estimation and value among those, if not of the young, at least of the wise. As to the matter that you wish to publish your work in Paris (for I may truly call it yours), I have nothing certain to promise you: for the publishing of Greek works here proceeds slowly, though there is no lack of spirit among some of our printers to publish Isidore and other Greek Fathers. Therefore, when everything is ready on your part, let me know; and trust that I will apply myself to that task with the same diligence as if it were my own affair. Farewell. At the city of Madrid, the III Nones of September, 1604.

Philip Scherbius, yours from the heart. Greetings.

I read your Isidore willingly, and, as I think, not without profit. I marveled at the immensity (for thus one must speak) of your labors. You will bear fruit. What fruit? You will please the better sort. But perhaps you will also draw envy from those to whom it will be annoying that you have joined so great a knowledge of sacred things to your highest skill in civil law. You know the human spirit. Farewell.

ARGUMENTS OF THE EPISTLES OF ST. ISIDORE OF PELUSIUM

ARGUMENTS OF THE FIRST BOOK. Epist. 1. An explanation of the monastic terms *apotage* (renunciation) and *hypotage* (submission). 2. The holy are coals kindled by divine fire. 3. Opinion differs immensely from the reality, and deeds concede to words. 4. The life of the present age is a stadium in which we must strive strenuously if we wish to attain the rewards of the future century. 5. On the harshness and continence of the monastic life. 6. What the cup signifies in David. 7. The maternal as well as paternal genealogy of Christ is derived from the family of David. 8. On the care to be bestowed upon the body and the soul. 9. On dreams, which are offered to us by night during rest from our long-term activities and their remnants; and on the practice of sobriety. 10. An encomium of charity, than which there is nothing greater. Confer the *Centuries on Charity* of Blessed Maximus. 11. That injuries and insults are not to be avenged, but overcome by patience. 12. A rebuke of an elated spirit. 13. An admonition concerning the return to a deserted duty. 14. It is better to live and act well than to speak beautifully and ornamentally. 15. An exhortation to the study of humility and modesty, having cast off arrogance and pride. 16. The salt scattering the waters, cast by Elisha, what it mystically denotes. 17. Why Christ in the Gospel repelled a certain man from himself. 18. Against the calumnies of the Jews concerning the birth of Christ: and concerning the signification of the particle "until," which it has in

the sacred Scriptures. The Virgin Mother, as if by the testament of Christ, is commended to the virgin disciple. ^A 19. Solution of the question: Why was Daniel not also, with his three companions, cast into the furnace at the same time? 20. To him who does not believe in Christ, we attempt in vain to persuade him of arcane and heavenly things. 21. A comparison of the Old and New Testaments with the writings of the Gentiles, which exist concerning the nature of the gods. 22. Dehortation from the desire of priesthood. ^B 23. Interpretation of a passage concerning the holy Firstborn. 24. Sacred Scriptures are to be treated religiously. 25. Against a follower of the solitary life who nevertheless succumbs to disturbances. 26. Admonition concerning avoiding the crime of Simony. 27. Objurgation of a man who is avaricious, though otherwise well-versed in the reading of the sacred Scriptures. 28. To desire the priesthood is not for everyone. 29. Admonition concerning avoiding Simony. ^C 30. Admonition concerning the episcopal office. 31. Admonition on the brevity of magistracy, and therefore of the whole of human life, which should be extended by honest actions. 32. The lamp on the lampstand is the priest on the cathedra. 33. In what matters John the Baptist was more excellent than the prophets. 34. With what intention John the Baptist sent an embassy to Christ. 35. Admonition to Emperor Theodosius concerning exercising meekness and almsgiving. ^D 36. Admonition concerning the office of a courtier. 37. An oratory is not to be built from plunder. 38. Admonition against a priest's ferocity and that it must be cast away, and that humanity and meekness are to be assumed. 39. Even when a whole city is punished on account of one impious man, no injury is done to the others, as if innocent people were being punished. 40. Against a shameless man. 41. Objurgation of a wandering and unstable monk, having proposed the dissimilarity between a hare and a true monk. 42. The ineffable hypostatic union of two natures in Christ, prefigured in the prophetic vision of the burning coal held by tongs. 43. Why Abraham wished to bind his servant by an oath, with his hand placed under his thigh. 44. Alms are to be dispensed with judgment. 45. Admonition concerning the episcopal office, and what the casting away of woollen garments denotes. ^A 46. Actions are to be conjoined to prayer, and as it were, married. 47. Admonition concerning rightly exercising a praetorship. 48. That not even clerics should refuse to pay tribute. 49. Let monks who work with their own hands seek their living by the example of Paul and by the precept of Christ. 50. What the rod of an almond tree denotes in Jeremiah. 51. On the type of the fig tree cursed and withered by Christ. 52. The many reasons for abstinence from foods. 53. What it is to flee the world, according to the prophet Amos. ^B 54. How much distinction there is between Mary the Mother of the Lord and Cybele the mother of the gods. 55. Concerning the honor to be held for the relics of the saints, as through them God performs many wondrous works. Cf. ep. lib. II. 56. The treachery of Judas, although foreseen and predicted, was nevertheless free. For the foreknowledge of God does not bring necessity to human actions. 57. Who the old bottles are. The distinction between the pious and the impious is conspicuous in Caiaphas and Peter. 58. Commendation of frugality. ^C 59. Concerning the irremissible sin against the Holy Spirit. 60. The Holy Spirit is God: whence He is also called the finger of God. 61. Objurgation of a drunken man. And that it is not enough to read the writings of the saints, unless those things which we have read are also expressed in life and morals. 62. How much difference there is between true and false eloquence. 63. Against the excessive study of Gentile historians and poets, which is unworthy of a Christian man. ^D 64. Concerning barren trees that are to be cut down with the axe. 65. What the threshing floor, the winnowing fan, the wheat, and the barn denote allegorically. 66. Concerning Christ baptized by John. 67. Concerning the illustrious manifestation of the Trinity in the baptism of Christ. 68. True exposition of the saying of Christ concerning John the Baptist. 69. Dehortation from gluttony, and exhortation to fasting, with the fruits and examples of both things proposed. 70. Both the stomach and the disturbances of the mind must be subdued. 71. Concerning the sanctification of the Sabbath, and what works are to be done on the Sabbath, namely those which are profitable to the soul. 72. Concerning handiwork, insofar as the Sabbath may be profaned by it. 73. Why God strikes even His own temples with lightning. 74. Concerning the lowliness of vestments. 75. Consolation is to be opposed to temptations. 76. Why Christ did not wish to turn stones into bread. 77. Concerning the good of solitude. 78. Concerning the commutation of earthly service with spiritual. 79. Evil priests are similar to the Pharisees. 80. Concerning the evangelical saying about the adversary and the way, and a new and wonderful exposition. 81. Exposition of the saying from Psalm XCIII: "Shall the seat of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief in precept." 82. Solution of the doubt as to why the Israelites, going to avenge the fornication of the Benjaminites, were slain in Gibeah (Judg. XX). 83. Exposition of the allegory concerning the eye to be plucked out and the right hand to be cut off and cast away. 84. Exposition of the evangelical precept concerning avoiding vain glory in good actions. 85. Exposition of the third petition in the Lord's Prayer. 86. True nobility and happiness consist in virtue. 87. It is taught by examples that even women can overcome their passions. Wherefore the weakness of the female sex does not excuse women who succumb to them. 88. Against the vanity of boasting. 89. Concerning the meetings of women, or that looking at them is certainly to be avoided. 90. Whether the singing of women is to be permitted in the church. 91. Commendation of a continent man, and exhortation to perseverance. 92. Concerning true and false monks. 93. Admonition to monks, that many should not become teachers. 94. Exposition of the saying of Scripture, Heb. IV, 13: "All things are naked and open unto his eyes." 95. Concerning the crown of thorns, what it signified. 96. Invitation to a Gentile philosopher, that he may embrace true philosophy, that is, Christianity, having cast aside errors. 97. Concerning the very close conjunction of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son, which appears sufficiently even from the words of the power of the keys granted to the apostles. 98. Concerning bearing injuries patiently as a Christian. 99. Against him who is proud, when he has no matter for pride. 100. Refutation of the heresy of Novatus. 101. Commendation of a man who has begun well; and exhortation to perseverance in good. 102. Against the heresy of Manes and others who think wrongly concerning the two natures in Christ. Comparison of heretics with fishermen. 103. Peter's triple interrogation and Peter's assent opposed to the triple denial. 104. To desire the episcopate is not for everyone. 105. Concerning the viperous brood, to which the Jews are compared by John the Baptist.

106. Solution to the question concerning the cleansing of the temple instituted by Christ. 107. On the harmony between the Old and the New Testament. 108. On vain and empty eloquence. 109. On the divinity of the Holy Spirit against the Pneumatomachians. 110. Against monastic pride. And who is a true monk. 111. Detestation of simony. 112. Against those who live differently than they teach, and thus offer themselves to be mocked by men. 113. Against building the church from unjust gains. See ep. 37, of this book. 114. Concerning Christ's three-day rest in the sepulcher. See ep. 212, lib. 2. 115. Against him who returns to his former vices. 116. Admonition concerning duty. 117. Concerning the unknown day of the final judgment. 118. Admonition to wicked priests, that they may return to a better way of life. 119. Against the Simoniacs. 120. Wicked priests harm themselves rather than contaminate the sacred pulpit. See Chrysost. 121. Concerning the calling of the Gentiles and the rejection of the Jews. 122. "Peace be with you, and with your spirit," why it is said by the priest in church, and why it is responded to by the people. 123. What the holy corporal signifies in the administration of the divine mysteries. 124. The divinity is free from passion, against the Theopaschites. 125. Solution to the question concerning the angel threatening death to Moses. 126. Concerning Christ’s saying: "Be wise as serpents." See ep. 175, lib. 2. 127. Against the ignorant man who buys many books, from which he gains no utility. 128. Reproof of an unskilled, impudent, and proud man. 129. Exhortation to the life of virtue. 130. A follower of the monastic life should be free from gluttony and vanity; let him be devoted to vigilance, sobriety, and modesty. 131. Zechariah's silence and muteness was a type of the law becoming silent at the coming of Christ. 132. Concerning the diet of John the Baptist: or what *akrides* (locusts) were, contrary to the common opinion. 133. Congratulations and at the same time an admonition concerning the duty of a magistrate. 134. Reprehension of a desperate man. 135. Reproof of a lustful man. 136. What the priestly habit denotes. And how the priest bears the type of Christ the Lord, the true and supreme Shepherd. See Joan. Stephan. Durandus, De ritibus Ecclesiæ cathol. 137. It is absurd to seek rewards and crowns before the legitimate contests are fulfilled. 138. The Father and the Son are not one person, but one essence, against the Sabellians. 139. Exposition of Paul’s saying: "He did not count equality with God a matter to be grasped." 140. Dehortation from gluttony for a man already gray and a veteran in wickedness. 141. It is proven that man can exist even without human seed, against Jewish perfidy. 142. A plea for a foreign slave, who had fled from his master because of a certain offense, that he might be accepted into favor and granted pardon. 143. The divine mysteries should not be communicated to impious men. 144. Reproof of a man who has turned from the narrow way of salvation to the broad way of perdition and has gone astray. 145. Reproof of him who had crept into the priesthood by ambition, prayer, and money. 146. Solution to the question: why did Christ command the leper, whom he had ordered [to be cleansed], to offer a gift to the priests? 147. Why did Christ predict that many would come from the nations, who will recline with the patriarchs? 148. The difference between a just and an unjust government. Reprehension of a tyrannical governor. 149. Concerning the office of a bishop, how arduous and full of danger the office is that he holds. 150. Reproof of monks for their lack of hospitality. 151. Reproof of an evil bishop who is negligent in his office. 152. Concerning St. John Chrysostom and his adversaries. 153. Exposition of Christ's saying: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles." 154. Admonition concerning penance and the correction of life. 155. A monk should neither swear himself nor demand an oath from others. 156. How great the dignity and majesty of the priesthood is, has been explained in five books by John Chrysostom. 157. Admonition concerning the office of an archdeacon, that he should not set his mind on fleeting riches. 158. Reprehension of a wicked and Simoniacal priest. 159. No impediment should be offered to the preaching of the Gospel. 160. Praise of an upright man and exhortation to constancy. 161. Praise of one who writes well and exhortation to perseverance. 162. What is required for perfection. 163. It is not enough to speak well, but one must also live well. 164. Concerning guarding against pride. 165. Praise of a good magistrate and the promise of celestial and eternal rewards. 166. Reproof and admonition of an obstinate sinner, that he may repent. 167. Reproof of a contentious and quarrelsome man. He who delights in fighting and strives to be hateful is deservedly to be called a demon. 168. Christ is the vine; and his doctrine is wine gladdening the hearts of men. 169. The apostles full of new wine; heretics, like some tavern-keepers, adulterate the wine of celestial truth. 170. Most grave reprehension of an impious priest, who nevertheless does not abstain from the handling of sacred things. 171. Admonition that dissenting brothers should return to favor and concord. 172. How great the difference was between the rich man and Lazarus. 173. Reproof of an inconstant and gluttonous man who corrupts others by his example. 174. Reproof of a cruel governor who denied criminals refuge in the church and the opportunity to defend themselves. 175. If anyone refuses to be called such, let him not do such things. For words are consequential to deeds. 176. Admonition of subjects that they should beware of their iniquitous governor. 177. Description of the most corrupt ecclesiastical and political state. 178. Imploration of help against an unjust governor. 179. Reprehension of a widow living luxuriously. 180. Admonition that we should philosophize not so much in words as in deeds, and not be men of lazy work and philosophical sentiment, because it is of little value to be learned in language alone, and not emended in life and deeds. 181. Concerning the severity which Moses used against Achan, the violator of the Sabbath, and which the Apostle Peter used against Ananias and his wife Sapphira. 182. Concerning the merchant of the pearl in the evangelical parable, which denotes the people of the New Testament, the follower of Christ, the true pearl. 183. Human life is a sea; the apostles are its calmers.

125 PROLEGOMENA EDIT. PARIS.

184 Admonition to an impious man, that he might repent, if not from the fear of God, at least from the fear of infamy. ^A 185 Reprimand of a vicious bishop. 186 Exhortation to practice liberality without curiosity. 187 We must not omit the exercises of liberality on account of the wickedness of priests and the abuse of divine things. 188 On the final judgment, because in respect of it we must prepare to render an account of our lives to God, and not delay repentance too long. 189 The true honor and worship of martyrs consists not so much in the offering of gifts as in the imitation of their morals. 190 Commendation of a fugitive slave, so that he may be received into favor by his master. 191 Imploration of aid against tumults stirred up in the desert. 192 What the supplanting of Esau by Jacob signifies allegorically. 193 Jacob, covered with goatskins, prefigured Christ, endowed with human flesh devoid of sin, who offered a food pleasing to the Father. 194 What is the cause of evil thoughts existing in the human heart. 195 Why God does not immediately destroy and eradicate the impious, and that angels are ignorant of future things. 196 On the things carried off from the Egyptians by the Israelites. 197 Ostentation in good deeds is to be avoided. 198 Why the Egyptian males were drowned in the sea: namely, so that this punishment might be one of retaliation, because they themselves had previously killed the males of the Israelites. 199 Concerning the comparison of the kingdom of heaven to a grain of mustard seed. 200 Concerning the passage of the prophet Malachi (II, 13), how it is to be understood. 201 The kingdom of God is similar to leaven. 202 Admonition that the untimely and excessive praises of disciples are to be avoided. 203 Exhortation against drunkenness. 204 The kingdom of God compared to a net. 205 The kingdom of God is similar to a net. 206 Concerning the stater found by Peter in the fish's mouth, and paid for Christ. 207 The likeness of children, to which Christ calls us, and in what it consists. 208 Admonition concerning the office of a magistrate. 209 As evil is from the devil, so we ought to attribute every good thing to God. 210 Allegorical exposition of some sayings of Christ uttered in the prophecy concerning the last day. 211 What pregnant women and nursing mothers signify allegorically, to whom woe is denounced by Christ. 212 The rewards of right actions promised in the Holy Scriptures. 213 A widower is advised to beware of second marriages and to embrace the monastic life instead. 214 Ignorant persons ought not to dispute about divine matters, lest religion be brought into contempt through them. 215 Admonition to an avaricious bishop to exercise liberality toward the poor. 216 Reply to him who had asked for a tunic to be sent to him by Isidore. 217 Thanksgiving for gifts of clothing. 218 The four great empires in Daniel's vision of the He-goat. 219 Concerning the paschal lamb, why the Jews ate it roasted with fire. 220 Admonition concerning the office of a monk. 221 What it means to be baptized for the dead. Exposition of Paul's saying, 1 Corinthians xv, 29. 222 On exercising judgment upon the living and the dead. The living and the dead can be understood in three ways. Compare Methodius in the *Bibliotheca* of Photius, page 493. 223 Reprimand of desperate men. 224 One who was recovering and had been ordered to remain in life longer, prays that he may be helped by the prayers of his friends to God.

126 225 Congratulations to a magistrate appointed for a good man. 226 Commendation of a good praetor. 227 Reprimand of an insolent and haughty philosopher who had embraced the faith of Christ. 228 Why the Eucharist is called Communion. 229 Solution of the question: why a cold offering of gifts does not profit the offerer. 230 Why Cain's offering was ungrateful to God. 231 Reprimand of a rash man, and his recall to a better way of life. 232 Admonition concerning the priestly office. 233 Reprimand of a cruel and bloodthirsty man. 234 Reprimand of a lustful man. 235 Peter's confession concerning Christ is the basis and foundation of the Church. 236 The union of the two natures in Christ is contained in Peter's confession. 237 Punishments prepared for the envious both in this life and in the life to come. 238 The perpetual preservation of the Church. 239 On the transfiguration of Christ on the mount. 240 God tolerates the impious for a long time, awaiting and inviting them to repentance by His patience. 241 The Son of God is coeternal with the Father, against the Arians. 242 On the heresy of Montanus, how foul and detestable it was. 243 Montanus was a manifest cheat, worthy of the garb, by whose artifice the Holy Spirit was allegedly conferred upon the race of mortals. 244 Not every fast is profitable. 245 Detestation of the Manichaeans alongside the Montanists. 246 Detestation of the heresies of Arius and Eunomius. 247 Against the heresy of Sabellius. 248 Solution of the question concerning the east and the west. 249 The cup signifies affliction in the Holy Scriptures. 250 A complaint concerning the corruptions spreading in the Church. 251 Concerning the garment of Christ. 252 Concerning the veil of the temple rent at the Lord's passion. 253 Concerning certain miracles which occurred during the crucifixion and death of Christ. 254 Solution of the question why stones, which are inanimate things, were rent and split at the passion of Christ. 255 What the two robbers crucified together with Christ signified mystically. 256 Why Christ wished to hang in the middle between the two robbers. 257 As a greater light obscures a lesser one, so Zechariah became mute at the announcement concerning the Forerunner of Christ. 258 Beginners are to be trained with moderate labor, and gradually accustomed to bear heavier burdens. 259 A new exposition of the last chapter of the Gospel of John. Man is a microcosm. 260 Admonition that a youth should not live by his own judgment, but submit himself to be governed by his elders. 261 Wickedness is to be avoided by him who wishes to be dear to God and man. 262 Complaint concerning the bad administration of a bishop. 263 Reprimand of a wicked deacon. 264 Admonition concerning the preparation of the heavenly armor against the enemy the devil, by avoiding avarice and pleasure. 265 Reprimand of one who is proud of the height of his body. 266 Counsel on attaining perfection. 267 On the twofold state of the soul after death. 268 With what weapons the disciples of Christ won the victory. 269 Admonition to avoid the avarice and rapacity of ecclesiastical goods, and to undertake the care of the poor, to whom ecclesiastical goods pertain. 270 With paganism abolished, Christianity prevailed throughout the whole world. To be compared with Minucius Felix in his *Octavius*, and Theodoret in *Cure of Greek Maladies*.

^A 271. That vice does not inhere in man by nature. Compare below ep. 303, which is fuller than this one, just as it is also twice as long in the Bavarian manuscript. 272. That what the first Adam lost, the second restored. 273. On the true worship of God. 274. Against vain confidence in fleeting riches. 275. Against an ungrateful and degenerate citizen of the republic. 276. Against the desire for wealth and empty glory. 277. Against drunkenness and gluttony. 278. Praise of the monastic life. 279. Against drunkenness. 280. Against anger. 281. On the very wicked and most perverse character of the Cappadocians. 282. On the expulsion from paradise, and the restoration to the same. An interpretation of Christ's saying, Matt. xxv. 283. On the disparity of human pursuits. 284. On the resurrection of the dead, prefigured even in plants. 285. Exposition of Christ's saying about the two grinding at the mill. This life is a treadmill. 286. Against those who boast in the observation of virginity alone, while meanwhile they are destitute of various virtues, and especially of the practice of humility. 287. The heavenly reward of a talent well invested. 288. The separation of the sheep and the goats on the last day. 289. On Christ’s true humanity, even shown in the taking on of our infirmities. 290. The foundation of empires is friendship with God. 291. What it mystically signifies that Peter cut off the ear of Malchus, the servant of the high priest. 292. Barabbas is set free, Christ is condemned to the cross. 293. What it mystically signifies that the Jews gave Christ gall to drink. 294. Admonition concerning the virtues necessary for a military commander, namely the fear of God and justice, without which one fights unhappily against the enemy. 295. “The wicked hate to sin from the fear of punishment.” 296. Against lusts. 297. Reproof of a proud murderer. 298. On the necessity of diminishing the useless and idle crowd of monks. 300. Prayer for one shipwrecked. 301. Interpretation of the saying from Psalm xxiii, “Thy rod and thy staff,” etc. 302. Monastic precept regarding the exercise and struggle to be undertaken before the crowns. 303. That vices inhere in man by nature, which Christ, having assumed [human nature] into the unity of His person, asserted for its salvation and integrity. Christ is God and man in an immutable unity of person. 304. That an impure mind is not capable of or teachable in heavenly wisdom, just as a bleary eye cannot look upon the splendor of the sun. 305. A new interpretation of the utterance of Psalm cxix: “My soul hath cleaved to the pavement.” 306. Even in a servile condition one can maintain a free and noble spirit. For in Christ there is no difference between a free man and a slave. 307. Congratulations to a bishop saved from danger. 308. The monastic life is militancy. 309. Exhortation to restrain the petulance of the tongue. 310. Necessary admonition regarding the avoiding of affects and prejudices. Concerning Theophilus, the uncle of Cyril, the adversary of John Chrysostom. 311. On rightly instituting the Council of Ephesus to Emperor Theodosius. 312. The barren fig tree must be cut down. 313. Exhortation against drunkenness and the abuse of wine, from the firstfruits of which the divine Spirit makes the blood of Christ. 314. Rebuke of a gluttonous and wandering monk, although he is already old.

^B 315. Against a simoniacal bishop. 316. On the right education and instruction of children. 317. Praise for one who pays the firstfruits and the tithes of his produce. 318. Prayer for a runaway monk. 319. Admonition that a priest should present himself as a pattern to his flock. 320. Gluttony is the sister, or rather the mother, of lust. 321. The saying of Psalm ci is expounded: “In the morning,” etc. 322. That unlearned, foolish, and rash men who have disturbed everything in the Church, the republic, and the state of the empire, should be borne patiently. 323. On the incarnation of the Word of God. The praise of Athanasius. 324. The inconstancy and vainglory of Cyril is taxed. 325. The tongue must be restrained. 326. Military insolence is brought into order. 327. On military extortion. 328. Anger is graver than blasphemy. 329. On restraining the intemperance of the tongue. 330. A new and wonderful exposition of the saying of Psalm cxix, “It is not hidden,” etc. 331. Exposition of a saying from the same psalm. 332. Reproof of the imperial power that disturbs the Church. 333. Admonition concerning the future judgment, in which accounts must be rendered of these things to all angels and men. 334. Who are the dead that should be mourned. A new exposition of the saying: “Weep over the dead,” etc. 335. Counsels are not to be measured or weighed by their outcomes. 336. Admonition to a gluttonous man who worships his belly as God, that he may repent. 337. Grammatical exposition of a passage from Acts of the Apostles, chap. xxviii, 15, as far as “Appii Forum and The Three Taverns.” 338. On the remission of sins, against the Novatians. 339. Again on the same. 340. On the eternal punishment of greedy and cruel men. 341. Reproof of a lost man. 342. One should philosophize by deeds rather than by words. 343. On the creation of the angels, etc. 344. On divine animadversion, that it is an admonition taken up for the sake of our amendment, rather than a sign of wrath or indignation. 345. Rebuke of a gluttonous man. 346. On the conversion of Paul. 347. Admonition to flagitious men that they should return to their duty. 348. Gifts offered without piety are of no avail. 349. A priest, even if he is wicked, is not to be despised, because he is an angel of God Almighty. 350. Admonition to a voluptuous man, that he may repent. 351. Rebuke of a man taking pleasure in depraved company. 352. Concerning the holy Fathers who originated from Cappadocia. And that vice and impropriety do not come from nature, but from will and the formation of the soul. 353. That as the essence of the Father and the Son is one, so also is the will. 354. For what end the great Elymas in the Acts of the Apostles was punished with blindness. 355. Allegorical interpretation of the saying of Exod. xix, 10: “Let them wash their garments today,” etc. 356. On the triple denial of Peter, and likewise the triple confession of Christ. 357. On the conversion and repentance of Peter at the cockcrowing. 358. On the fig tree cursed by Christ, what it denoted in a mystical manner. 359. The triple rejection by which the Jewish race, and the whole human race, rejected salvation. 360. Why Christ called Himself the bread. 361. Exhortation against gluttony. 362. The typical blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh. 363. On the prophecy of Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist. 364. A new and allegorical exposition of the saying of Psalm cl:

"Praise him with the timbrel and choir," etc. 365. On the prophecy of Jacob, Gen. xlix. 366. On the saying of Isaiah: "Say not, Jacob: And what has Israel spoken," etc., a new exposition, and an accommodation to the question decided in the preceding letter. 367. A dehortation from the frequency of urban gatherings. 368. An admonition to a monk to avoid pride, as it is most alien to his profession and way of life. 369. A commendation of the Holy Scriptures above all secular literature. 370. An admonition to avoid the practice of contentions and dissensions. 371. On the crime of forgery, by which the Marcionites corrupted the New Testament. 372. On perseverance in good. 373. That one must firmly resist temptations. 374. That one must strive for true and solid glory. 375. That poverty is to be borne with an equable mind. 376. On the unequal condition of the pious and the impious in this life and the next. 377. On the miraculous birth of Christ. 378. On the star seen by the Magi and its unusual course. 379. On the final judgment and the eternal punishments of the impious, which were not unknown even to the heathens. Cf. the last letter of book III. 380. That God is angered by sins and inflicts punishments. 381. An exhortation and call to repentance. 382. He who chastises a wicked man is to him the same as a mirror to a deformed person and a physician to a sick one. 383. Against gluttony. 384. On gastrimargia, or the insane study of the belly. 385. On intemperance in wine to be avoided. 386. A discourse on the things by which it is to be helped. 387. Again on the same subject. 388. Against a persecutor of a priest. 389. He shows that he acted rightly when he opposed the Arians. 390. A youth naturally apt for literary studies should not be transferred to military service. But rather, it is the law of nature that each one should follow his own seeds. 391. Wishing to provide medicine to others, attend to oneself first. 392. Opportunity makes the thief. 393. Why Christ turned water into wine. 394. A rebuke of a disciple making no progress. 395. Noble deeds remain as rewards in this life and the eternal one. 396. A commendation of a friend. 397. Human inventions without divine grace are not lasting. 398. On Philostratus of Tyana. 399. Let him who possesses many good books not be a dog in the manger. 400. An exposition of the saying of Psalm lxviii: "Thou hast led captivity captive." 401. A refutation of a Jew who attacked the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. 402. A praise of the solitary life. 403. On true fasting, which a man imposes upon all his senses. 404. On the penetration of Christ's body through the closed virginal womb and the sealed tomb. 405. In divine matters, let the searching of reasons cease. 406. On the apparition of the angel at the Lord's resurrection. 407. Paul's condescension and accommodation to the weak. 408. An invitation to serious repentance. 409. Why Christ spoke to the apostle Paul from heaven. 410. That one must by no means connive at the sins of those who are committed to our faith. 411. An exhortation to the distribution of alms. 412. Against those who convert studies of literature into mere contentions, because they are held to render a grave account to the true God. 413. An explanation of the Pauline saying on the legitimate use of spouses and other things of this life. 414. An exposition of the saying of Psalm cxxviii: "Thou shalt eat the labors of thy fruits." 415. He refuses to answer questions about a saying of Solomon, which, however, he satisfies in the following letter. 416. A new exposition of a certain Solomonic arithmology. 417. A new exposition of the saying of Solomon: "Such is the way of an adulterous woman," etc. What adultery signifies mystically in the Holy Scriptures. 418. Zeal for the glory of God contending in holy men. 419. What the reed staff of Egypt signifies according to the prophet: That the Son of God after the incarnation remained unchanged, unconfused, and undivided. Confer the writings of Athanasius, the dialogues of Theodoret, and others. 420. An exhortation to exercise liberality toward the poor. 421. He excuses the vehemence of the previous letter. 422. Against the Arians, saying that the Father is greater than the Son. Whether or not a comparison has a place between these things. 423. A dehortation from gluttony and its companion, lust. 424. On the moderation to be employed by a monk in food and drink. 425. A rebuke of a simoniac bishop. 426. Christ is truly called the seed of the woman. 427. Against those who, by habit alone, feign a profession, like actors on a stage. 428. How the power of God is perfected in weakness. 429. How God has made the wisdom of this world foolish. 430. An admonition to certain people not to wish to plunder and disturb the fatherland. 431. The seeds of piety are sown in nature. 432. An exhortation to extirpate vices. 433. A most useful remedy against the fires of lust, namely, that we quench them by the remembrance of eternal fire. 434. An amulet against avarice. 435. On the institutes of monks. 436. A rebuke of a desperate man. 437. "Physician, heal thyself." 438. What the pair of turtledoves and the pair of pigeons to be offered according to the law signified typically. 439. How it is to be understood that God speaks of his repentance concerning the anointing of Saul. 440. An exposition of Christ's saying that we must be assimilated to children, Matth. xviii. 441. A response to the instance brought from the previous letter. 442. A response to another instance. 443. How the saying of Paul is to be received. 444. In the law there was a shadow of things to come; in the Gospel is the very face of things. 445. On the education of children as practiced in the law as well as in the Gospel. 446. A rebuke of a slanderous man who does not fast as he ought. 447. On the contentions and controversies of theologians who look only to more lucrative rewards. A response to the question concerning Philip, who in the Acts of the Apostles is written to have baptized an eunuch. 448. He proves further that that Philip who baptized the eunuch was not an apostle. 449. Again on the same Philip of Caesarea. 450. Another proof that that Philip the baptist was not an apostle. 451. One must not always yield to winds and tempests, but often one must also resist. 452. What the vow of peace that Hezekiah made was. 453. No name of God. What Jesus signifies. 454. The accusation of a father, even if true, is ruinous to the parricide. 455. What kind of wealth is harmful to Christians. 456. What revelling is, and what force it has in those who practice it.

457. A new exposition of the final psalm. Confer epistle 501, above. 458. The law prohibits the action, the Gospel even the vicious affection. Confer epistle 134, book iv, and epistle 79, above in this book. 459. Lapses of the tongue are to be guarded against as diligently as possible. 460. The recall of an Epicurean man to perform penance in good time, with respect to the extreme judgment that is certain to come. 461. A rebuke of a man given to excessive personal adornment and pursuit of appearance. 462. A reminder and consolation for one about to travel into dangerous and turbulent places. 463. A reproach of a youth using excessive luxury and conducting himself in an effeminate manner. 464. On the difference between defilement and adultery; and that defilement often produces evils no less than adultery itself, even if it seems lighter than it. 465. A rebuke of a gluttonous man. 466. An exhortation to beneficence. 467. Why examples of punishments are recorded in the Holy Scriptures. 468. The modesty necessary for the monastic life. 469. Through the good things of this life, God leads us as if by the hand to heavenly and eternal things. 470. Labor is not a disgrace for anyone; but laziness is a great disgrace. The story of King Pittacus building a mill with his own hands. 471. Concerning servants, and how they should be treated. 472. Concerning the punishments of transgressors before and after the law of God was given, and that more severe punishments await those who, after the grace of the Gospel, do not fear to irritate God. 473. Against the Arians who think evil regarding the Son of God. 474. It is better to eat meat than to become prideful in fasting. Confer ep. 244 and 403, above in this book. 475. A commendation of a naked man, that he may be clothed by him who is able. 476. One ought not to ask concerning God: "How?" 477. In how many ways the flesh is understood in the Holy Scriptures. 478. Concerning Christ being born from the seed of David. 479. Against drunkenness and anger, both of which remove a man's mind from its seat. 480. We ought not so much to be angry at the corrector of our vices as to give him thanks. 481. An admonition on reading books with profit. 482. A reproach of a soldier extorting money, who foolishly presumed to compare himself to David. 483. Concerning the wish regarding Gigantius the Cappadocian, where he hopes that he will not again become a prefect of the Pelusiotes, but rather that a Cappadocian might rule over the Cappadocians. 484. On the same subject as the previous argument. 485. Again against Gigantius the Cappadocian, lest the prefecture be entrusted to him again. 486. Once more concerning the same. 487. Against the same Gigantius, lest he hold an office again. 488. The expectation of fruits lifts labor. 489. Counsel given to the prefect of the praetorium against the Cappadocians. 490. Concerning hindering the petition of Gigantius, who is again seeking the prefecture. 491. What the inscription of Christ's cross signified. 492. An admonition on practicing mercy and liberality. 493. A rebuke of a proud magistrate. 494. A comparison of the old Pentecost with the new, of the Law with the Gospel. 495. On avoiding intemperance in wine. 496. A rebuke of a persecutor of the pious, who thought evil of the incarnation of Christ. 497. Christ is truly the cornerstone of the Church collected from Jews and Gentiles. 498. An admonition on practiced frugality and avoiding insane renovations. 499. Against the heresy of Montanus, who promised the Holy Spirit to his followers. 500. A refutation of Montanus, and a demonstration that the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles on the day of Pentecost in accordance with the promise of Christ.

ARGUMENTS OF THE SECOND BOOK

^A must leave behind, even if we are unwilling, we should gladly relinquish for God’s sake and bestow upon the poor. 30. On contempt for human affairs in favor of the kingdom of heaven. 31. A letter full of longing for a friend, whose arrival is awaited. 32. An admonition concerning the care and diligence of the episcopal office. 33. A commendation of right actions. 34. The pursuit of virtue is not to be consigned to oblivion. 35. The wretched and miserable man ceases to be miserable, and begins to cease being odious, if in his very miseries he does not abstain from slandering others. 36. An exposition of the prophetic saying regarding the power and efficacy of the preaching of Christ. 37. The unworthiness of a priest detracts nothing from the efficacy of the divine mysteries, or symbols of salvation; for God is able to use even the ministry of unworthy and wicked men for good, and through it He works effectively in the souls of those who participate in the sacred rites. See ep. 120, book I, and ep. 380, book III. 38. A rebuke of a wicked priest living scandalously. 39. That one ought not only to be free from reproach, but also to abound in praise. 40. How the belly is to be controlled. 41. The slowness of punishment is compensated by its gravity. 42. A eulogy of John Chrysostom, confirmed by the authority of the rhetor Libanius. On the differences of styles of speech. See book IV, ep... 43. Philosophical reasonings and demonstrations for the resurrection of the body. 44. An exhortation to almsgiving, and a dehortation from rapine and the despoiling of the poor. Rob, heap up, take away, possess—it must all be relinquished. 45. A measure must be applied even in the exercises of virtue; for the proverb says, *Nothing in excess* pleases. 46. What must be answered to those who object to reformers of religion regarding novelty. A notable letter, with which may be compared the dictations of St. Cyprian and Augustine as related to canon law by Gratian. See Dist. 8, in part of the Decretum. See also Arnobius, book I, *Adversus Gentes*, and Clement of Alexandria. 47. How that which is written—that Esau sold the right of primogeniture to Jacob his brother—should be understood. 48. Certain firstborn were rejected, with others put in their place. 49. The virtues of Joseph are recounted, on account of which he was dear to his father and to the king of Egypt. 50. We must not be offended by the corrupt manner of life of the unworthy prelates of the Church. 51. An exhortation that he who has begun to pursue virtue should proceed to hunt for the love of men by means of good morals. 52. The priesthood maintains its dignity, even if it happens that it sometimes falls to unworthy priests; for the vices of persons are not to be imputed to the order itself. 53. Against the excessive adornment and cosmetic painting of women, by which they provide fuel for lust. A notable story regarding the ingenuity and righteous deceit of a certain girl, who elegantly eluded and deceived a lover who was laying snares for her chastity. Compare this letter with Tertullian’s book *De cultu feminarum*. 54. One must not succumb in trials which we endure for the glory of God, but the spirit is to be fortified by the example of the apostles. 55. A detestation of cruelty towards suppliants, and a commendation of humanity and mercy. 56. Why God did not will that we should know all things fully in this life. 57. A commendation of sobriety in diet, and a condemnation of luxury. 58. Concerning the apostle Paul desiring to be anathema or accursed, provided his brethren the Jews were saved. 59. An admonition to a lost man who spurns sound advice. 60. A rebuke of avaricious priests. 61. Human industry ought to approach the grace of Christ the Savior. 62. An admonition to observe the continence of the eyes, and to avoid the meetings and lustful gaze of women. See ep. 89, book I, and ep. 278 and 284, below in this book, II, and ep. 65, book III. 63. On divine oracles, and the duty of their interpreter, that he may not force his own meaning upon them. 64. Against those who live a life unworthy of the Christian profession. 65. A rebuke of a wicked priest, who by his impiety corrupts many. 66. The passage of Psalm LXXIII, v. 15, is explained: *You have dried up the rivers of Etham.* 67. Against the desire for vengeance. 68. An exhortation to oneself to be overcome in the pursuit of virtue, and to pursue true goods. 69. Of the two kinds of vicious priests. 70. On the preparation of the soul to receive divine grace. 71. A refutation of a frivolous excuse which a wicked and Simoniacal bishop had used. 72. He teaches that vice is not inherent in man by nature, but is acquired by habituation; and therefore a good man can be made from a wicked one: which he proves by examples. 73. On the usefulness of reading the Holy Scriptures. 74. The utility of diseases and other calamities is not the least in that it represses and punishes pride, the companion of prosperity. 75. A rebuke of a wicked and Epicurean priest. 76. On calamities which no man can escape, that they must be borne bravely, lest we succumb to temptations. 77. Very often men cannot escape fate even when it is predicted. 78. It is a greater virtue to benefit strangers and those unknown than to be liberal to relatives and acquaintances. 79. He warns a bishop not to cease rebuking the wicked and calling them back to better fruit. 80. An admonition and rebuke of a wicked and lost man, that others may not be lost along with him. 81. Why certain men, laboring under even involuntary diseases, were excluded from the temple by the legal interdict. 82. Against the mirrors of hermaphrodites. 83. He endeavors to bring discordant friends into harmony. 84. Enemies are not to be hemmed into total straits, lest, being irritated, they seek counsel from necessity and do us the greatest harm. 85. Regarding the contention of two angels over leading the Jews back from the Babylonian captivity, in the history and vision of Daniel the prophet. 86. Why God has not always punished all sins with the same penalties. 87. A Laconian exhortation to piety and justice. 88. Why Christ praised the woman pouring out precious ointment, and why she was rebuked by the apostles for it. 89. An exhortation to undertake the pursuit of virtue, having shown its beauty, which conquers all things. 90. An admonition regarding avoiding heresies excited by the devil for the destruction of the invincible truth. 91. On the Areopagus, whence it received its name. 92. Mars, on account of the killing of Halirrhothius, the ravisher of his daughter Alcippe—whom he had begotten by Aglaurus, daughter of Cecrops, through violence—was accused of murder by Neptune, the father of Halirrhothius, and condemned by the Areopagites. And thence *Areios pagos*, as if called the "Hill of Mars." See Pausanias in his *Attica*, and Suidas under the word *Areios pagos*. 93. Against curious questions concerning matters surpassing human comprehension. See ep. 100, below, and ep. 273 of the same book, II, and ep. 37, book III. Similar sentiments are found in Sirach.

^A 94 He renders a reason why he no longer writes to a man who is lost and of incorrigible depravity. 95 On those who become either better or worse through lenity. An exhortation to the boldness of inquiring into sacred matters. 96 On the capture of Babylon, and how it agrees in the sacred Scriptures with profane historians, Herodotus, etc. 97 That the decision of cases must proceed from admitted facts, not from controversial ones. 98 An exhortation to virtue. 99 On the saying of the Gospel of John, which seals the book: a disputation against the accusations of a certain Jew; the book of the apostle Peter concerning his acts is cited. 100 A dehortation from the curiosity of useless questions and the pursuit of vain philosophy. 101 On the happiness of those who obey a good ruler, and conversely on the miseries of those who happen to have an unjust magistrate. 102 The love of men must be tempered by the love of God. 103 Why Christ by His advent made the way to victory easy for us. 104 In victory, the evil of arrogance and sluggishness must be avoided. 105 Let victory be modest, not arrogant. See ep. 347 and 370, book II, and also the Oration of Ant. Guevara to Charles V, after the defeat of the King of France. 106 One must apply oneself to the study of sacred Scripture with labor and prayers. 107 Let reason preside and rule over the senses like a queen. 108 A rebuke of a most impudent man who is covered in all sorts of crimes. 109 A solution to a physical question on the efficacy of wine in discerning the character of men. See ep. 293, book III. 110 Against those who curiously inquire into the past sins of others while ignoring their own; in the former they are moles, in the latter Lyncei: A bitter critic of others' errors, Each man grants indulgence to his own faults. 111 On the seed of the divine word received in dissimilar soils of hearts. 112 An admonition concerning the office of a prelate of the Church, that he ought to be what the sun is to the world, and the eye to the body. 113 An admonition to avoid avarice and the rapacity for the goods of others, and to imitate those who are content with things they have acquired through honest labor. 114 Against a wicked man who pursues with hatred and revilements those who have served him well and are praised. 115 Against Jews who wish to retain circumcision even in the New Testament. And how circumcision was a sign or seal. 116 On honoring virtue rather than happiness, and on the use and abuse of feast days. 117 On the omnipotence of God. That God cannot do evil is not a suitable argument against His omnipotence. Sins are infirmities. 118 A rebuke of a wicked man who, by not allowing himself to be corrected through prudent dissimulation, has become even worse. 119 On the difference of living creatures, which is a certain argument for divine providence. See Theodoret, *On Providence*. 120 Ears must be opened to the oppressed and circumvented, and closed to calumniators. 121 When two do the same thing, it is not the same. For the sins of priests are graver than those of laymen. 122 The impiety of the prelates of the Church must be borne patiently, and committed to God as a just and incorruptible judge. 123 One must not sin in the hope of pardon. 124 An admonition to bad prelates of the Church, that they return to a productive life and preside well. 125 The office of the episcopate, as the most grave and difficult, is to be avoided rather than sought. 126 An admonition to avoid scandals.

^B 127 The Church of Pelusium laments the peculation committed by Martinianus, whom he seeks to have compelled to render accounts and restore what was taken, and to be excommunicated. 128 Flatterers are to be avoided no less than cheats and impostors. 129 Judas, having used the freedom of his own will, spurned all of Christ’s exhortations to virtue. No one is saved by force against his will. 130 An exhortation to mercy, from which every kind of good proceeds. 131 Follow virtue, flee vice. 132 On the petulance of the wicked, which must be borne moderately and patiently out of respect for the passion of Christ. See ep. 179, book IV. 133 A reason is given for the law of retaliation sanctioned in the Old Testament, and the contradiction (*ἐναντιοφάνεια*) between the statement of the Law and the Gospel regarding vengeance is solved. See ep. 133, book II. A comparison between the greater and the lesser has a place among those of the same class. Virginity is better than marriage. See ep. 551, book III. 134 Leave behind forbidden hopes and empty vows. 135 Man is often not only like a beast, but even turns out worse than any wild animal. 136 On rightly administering as a magistrate. 137 Since there is Providence, why does it happen that things often go badly for the good and well for the bad? See Seneca, *De Providentia*, c. 4 and 2; Augustine, *De civit. Dei*, lib. XI, cap. 1; Salvian, *lib. I De Provid.* 138 An exposition of the Pauline saying 1 Cor. 9:20: "And the Gospel has the same author." 139 A complaint about the death of charity and the abundance of iniquity. 140 A rebuke of those who accuse and attack another for crimes to which they themselves are subject. See ep. 390 and 437, book I. 141 How great a danger it is to live otherwise than you teach, and when life is at variance with speech. 142 On God one in essence, and three in persons. 143 That the mystery of the most holy Trinity was not even clearly known to the Old Testament and to Philo the Jew. See Luis de Granada. 144 An exposition of the saying of Christ, Matt. 13: "Some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty," etc. 145 We must not deny sins, but cure them with penance. 146 Against the thirst for riches, or *on virtue and that one must not love money*. An elegant exposition of a Demosthenic sentiment, that riches are necessary, as without them nothing that is necessary can be done. See ep. 149, below, book II, and ep. 217 and 412, book II. 147 An antithesis of good and wicked men, and an exhortation to the imitation of the former. See ep. 148, regarding the fact that one must strive for good character, as oaths are more effective for establishing trust and conciliating love for those who possess it. 149 He rejoices that his former epistle was pleasing. He understands that it was quite long; see n. 146, above, book I. 150 An exposition of the saying of Christ concerning Pharisaical ostentation. 151 A consolation on the death of a brother, whose virtues are acclaimed as greater than any praise. See ep. 155, below, book III. 152 On correctly curing the wounds of the soul. 153 A call for lost men to the amendment of life. See ep. 247, book III. 154 The praise and virtue of clarity. 155 Praise of Timothy. See ep. 151, below, book III. 156 Against those who are occupied solely with adorning their houses, while the care of their soul is neglected. 157 Since nothing that Christ predicted has failed to come to pass, one must not even doubt regarding the final judgment, that it certainly will be, especially since this is also consistent with reason and the opinions of many men outside the Church, to whom those things that have come to pass were more remote. See the last ep. of book II.

^A 158 Admonition on restraining the tongue, which the king denies to fate. Time is like a wheel, and the year like a crown. See ep. 1 of book IV, where this is explained more fully. 159 Elogy of a man converted to right pursuits. 160 Against those who abuse the lenity and clemency of God, so that they become not better thereby, but worse than themselves. 161 Christians ought to imitate athletes in duly entering the contests. See Augustine, *De agone Christi*, ch. 6. 162 One must not speak evil even of bad priests. 163 Admonition concerning an adversary in reproof, that even if it be deserved, he should be treated in moderation. 164 It is because of the sluggishness of men that the devil, although conquered and prostrated by Christ, still overcomes many mortals and drags them with him to destruction. See ep. 228 of book II, and Augustine, *De temp. serm.* 157. 165 On the vanity and miseries of human life. 166 Why Christ reproved the women who followed him with compassion when he was going to the cross. See ep. 285 of book II. 167 As are the discourses, such are the morals. 168 That poverty is not shameful. See John Stobaeus. 169 The ratio of worldly crowns and heavenly ones is far different. 170 Exhortation to perseverance in good. 171 Rebuke of flagitious men, and a recall to a better life. 172 The cup in the Holy Scriptures often signifies the punishment tempered for each delight. See ep. 6 of book I. 173 Why Christ wept when he was about to recall Lazarus to life, whom nevertheless he had not mourned as dead. 174 How it happens that, although all praise virtue and condemn vice, even the wicked themselves, yet more are addicted to the latter. 175 To what extent examples and similitudes are to be understood or rejected. See ep. 107 and 267 of book II. 176 The power and efficacy of music in the minds of men. 177 Exposition of a passage in the prophet Daniel, ch. IV. 178 Confirmation of a pious bishop in his resolve to correct the wicked. 179 Concerning calamities, which often happen even to good men, in that they should not be taken as proofs of sins, but for the testing of virtue. See book I, ep. 335, and 205 of book II. 180 Let the life be a good companion to the discourse. 181 Rebuke of him who, mindful of warnings, has been injurious to friends. 182 He elicits a confession of flagitious deeds from one who has been defamed. 183 It is easy to speak of virtue; but to live rightly, this is the work, this is the labor. 184 By no means is virtue to be cultivated for reward. For the reward itself is sufficient unto itself. 185 Rebuke of a wicked priest. 186 God, although he be incomprehensible, yet delights to have a seat in a chaste and pure mind. 187 The remedy for a wound must be sought from divine aid. 188 How much difference there is between divine and human laws. 189 Remedy against anger. 190 Castigation of a mind elated in prosperous circumstances. 192 On the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God. 193 Of what nature is the suspicion, judgment, and detection of baseness. 194 Most ungrateful of all mortals are those who defame those to whom they ought to be grateful. 195 One ought to accept neither all nor none of the dicta of the Old Testament concerning Christ. See ep. 339 of book III and book IV. 196 Testament in the Holy Scriptures signifies ^B a covenant or promise, and why, and concerning the difference between *synthēkas* and *diathēkas*. 197 On the perversity and sluggishness of judgments. 198 The kingdom of Christ is like a grain of mustard seed. 199 Threatening of punishments that hang over a wicked bishop who promotes unworthy men to the sacred ministry. 200 An impious priest harms not so much his priesthood as himself. Nor for the vices of persons should the order or office itself be called into crime. The priesthood is rather a *leitourgia* than an *axia*, rather a burden than an honor. 201 Virtue is like a foundation; logic, like an ornament; philosophy, or the contemplation of things, arrives like a crown and summit. But piety alone is properly true wisdom. 202 Pardon is for sins; praise and glory are owed to right deeds. 203 Rebuke of a wicked man, with a threat of divine judgment, which Plato also acknowledged. 204 Why pleasant things are listened to more willingly than useful ones. 205 Rebuke of a wicked and lost priest, who has no regard for his dignity. 206 Laudation of the most beautiful things. 207 Who is a just judge. 208 Against priests who live otherwise than they teach, how great are the punishments that await them. 209 How much evil is introduced into human life by vicious priests. 210 He modestly refuses excessive praises, which are wont to be a burden to those who are praised. 211 Divine mysteries are not to be communicated with the unworthy. 212 On the time of the three-day resurrection of Christ. See ep. 114 of book I. 213 Comparison of the false and empty wisdom of the pagans with the true and simple wisdom of the Christians. 214 How alms are to be given. 215 He sins more gravely who, by persuasions, induces a girl to consent to defilement, than he who has ravished her by force. 216 That God is the author of political order in the human race, even though sometimes he does not so much ordain bad magistrates as permit them. 217 Admonition to avoid injustice through fear of a divinely inflicted punishment. 218 All good things are to be ascribed to divine grace. 219 Admonition not to avenge injuries, even if the power to avenge is at hand. See ep. 11 of book I, and ep. 7 of book I. 220 From the praises that are ascribed to good men, a threefold utility generally arises. 221 On the wickedness of Eusebius, so called by antiphrasis, because it shall not be to his advantage to go unpunished forever. 222 The lenity of God invites to repentance and the amendment of life. 223 Exaggeration of the punishments to be inflicted at the final judgment by the multitude of spectators and those who are conscious of them. 224 On envy to be prudently tolerated by the strong. 225 To God is all praise of right deeds to be ascribed, nor is there any confidence to be placed in one's own strengths. 226 To be vilified and infested by the wicked is a certain argument of probity. 227 The upright rejoice that virtue is honored. 228 Against divination, which was held in great esteem among the pagans, when yet it was full of nonsense. Testimony from an enemy has the greatest authority. 229 The deserter of truth makes a bad end. 230 Rebuke of Epicurean men. 231 Elogy of a man endowed with virtue. 232 On true and feigned modesty. 233 Description of avarice, as if it were a certain insatiable and most cruel monster, whether a hydra, or a Briareus, or a Scylla. 234 Against those who convert the priesthood into tyranny.

^A 235 In a doctor of the Church, both the holiness of life and a wealth of learned doctrine and eloquence are required in conjunction. 236 On the chastity of Joseph and the dangers he underwent in preserving it. 237 On the freedom of speech appropriate for a doctor of the Church. 238 It is part of health to know one's sickness. He who does not know his own disease will not be cured. 239 On anger, what kind it should be, where it finds a place, and what utility it has. An exposition of the passage from Ps. IV, 5. Confer ep. 189, above, and ep. 208, book III. 240 An excellent comparison of virtue and the pleasure of vices, by which it is demonstrated, against the false persuasion of the mob, that there is more annoyance in vices than in the cultivation of virtue itself. Confer ep. 67 and 147, this book II. 241 The proper virtue of Christians is composed and tempered from diverse things. 242 The war against vices must be undertaken and waged in such a way that trust in divine aid is added to our own care and diligence. Confer ep. 2, book II. 243 The evangelical law restrains not only the hand, but also the mind, providing more that vices not be born, than that they be punished once admitted. 244 On the stupor of Zosimus regarding clearly incurable wickedness. 245 He refuses to praise a man who is greater than all praise. 246 A rebuke of an evil bishop, who, neglectful of the Church, is entirely occupied with building temples, when Christ came into the world not for the sake of walls but of souls—that is, not for temples but for the Church, which is the convocation of the saints, gathered together by right faith and the best manner of living. 247 In great things, even the desire to pray is enough. 248 The reconciliation of disagreeing friends. 249 God must be obeyed in all things. 250 To be called the genuine disciple of an excellent man is a greater praise than to be his relative. 251 By what arts the apostles overcame the world; namely, by speech worthy of faith and full of authority; then by a life and character consistent with their speech. 252 A rebuke of ruined men. Confer ep. 266, book II, which is fuller. 253 Divine mysteries are not to be revealed to the wicked; but they must rather be recalled to better fruit. 254 Against the depravers of the Sacred Scriptures, who force them to say what pleases themselves. Confer Hilary... and Isidore, ep. 63, this book II, and ep. 125 and 292, book III. 255 Against the sophists. 256 A rebuke of a lazy and idle man, using the authority of Plato, who wrote that virtue must be acquired by sweat. 257 Against avarice and injustice. 258 Against him who depends more on the erroneous opinion of the mob than looking to the truth. 259 The Christian religion commands us to do good even to the wicked, not only to bear with equanimity injuries inflicted by them. 260 A comparison of a good priest or bishop with a good king, and how each acts in diverse ways with various subjects. 261 The recall of an evil man to a better mind, mentioning the punishments to be endured either in this life or the next. 262 A commendation of men competing among themselves for victory in honest matters. 263 On the chastity of Joseph, who considered nothing except grave sin a loss. Confer ep. 236, this book II, and Tertullian, De spectaculis, cap. 26. 264 Let no one seek the priesthood unless he has first well obeyed the commands of ecclesiastical sanctions: just as no one should aspire to the office of tribune of the soldiers or emperor who has not first obtained the praise of a good soldier. 265 Against avarice. 266 God aids and advances those who strive with all effort toward virtue. ^B 267 That is, there is the greatest pleasure in overcoming vices. Confer ep. 147, and 240, 250 above, this book II. 268 He who conquers him by whom all others are conquered, effectively conquers them all. If I defeat you, the conqueror, I also conquer you. 269 You will not pity the poor man in judgment. Confer ep. 251 and 277, this place, and ep. 250, book III. 270 "Lest by chance" (nequando) in Sacred Scripture is accustomed to signify "perhaps," or "if by chance"; it denotes not ablation, but repentance. It is equivalent to the Greek: τίς οἶδεν εἰ. "Who knows if." Also ἴσως. See Daniel IV, and Jonah I. 271 What the precept means, "You will not pity the poor man in judgment." 272 On the question of the disciples and Christ's answer: "Whether this man sinned, or his parents?" John IX. 273 A Socratic letter calling men back from the curiosity of questions to the care of good morals and the probity of life. Confer ep. 93 and 100, this book II. 274 Against those who defend their own lusts by the polygamy of the holy patriarchs. 275 A combination of prayer and work is most beautiful. But if one must be lacking, it is better to labor with the defect of the latter than of the former. Confer ep. 247, this book II, and ep. 40, 120, 362, book III, and Augustine, serm. 3 on the words of the Lord. 276 Their own punishment awaits the wicked. 277 Compassion for the poor man in judgment is forbidden; therefore, much more so for the rich litigant. 278 On avoiding the lustful gaze of women. Confer ep. 89, book I, and ep. 11; also ep. 65, book III. 279 No one can escape, evade, or deceive the divine judgment; Socrates also acknowledged this, as is noted by Plato, and a certain saying of his is referred to here, and compared with Paulinus. 280 In what way temptations should be borne and conquered with God. 281 A commendation of the Lord's Prayer, and the spiritual sense of the fourth petition. 282 The curses and calumnies of the wicked are to be held of little account by those with a clear conscience. 283 While anger is in its course, yield to the current anger. 284 Against those who boast that they are not harmed by the frequent sight of women. 285 An answer to the question: why Christ rebuked the women who were following him with grief and tears on the way to the punishment of the cross. Confer ep. 166, this book II... 286 An exhortation to virtue, which is more precious and durable than all things, while all other things are passing and mortal, whatever mortals deem great. 287 Where there is no sin (as there was none in Christ), there death has no claim. 288 The difference between the Law and the Gospel. 289 Every matter should be measured by its intent, not by its outcome. Confer ep. 335, book I, and ep. 179, this book II, and ep. 505, book III. 290 On the office of priests. Confer Augustine, ep. 180 to Honoratus, and Life of Augustine, cap. 30. 291 True nobility, born of good morals and virtue, deserves to be far preferred to purchased nobility which is void of virtue. 292 From whatever lineage you are born, repress arrogance with the bridle of modesty, lest the trace of such a disease appear in you. 293 One must philosophize not with words but with deeds. Confer ep. 182 and 183, and 275 of this book. 294 Nothing happens to us by chance, and God converts the punishments of sinners into good for the elect. Confer ep. 332, book III. 295 A rebuke of the most wicked men. 296 On patiently bearing the insolence and petulance of an arrogant man.

297 A rebuke of a man who is indignant over insults inflicted upon him from a distance, which, nevertheless, while they were being inflicted, he bore patiently: and an exhortation to perseverance in patiently bearing the insults of wicked men. 298 A rebuke of a wicked man, and a call to cultivate virtue. 299 What kind of doctrine and faith concerning God is necessary, and that it is inculcated everywhere in the Holy Scriptures. 300 That every other art, and especially virtue, is both acquired and preserved by frequent exercises, but is lost by sloth and negligence. Confer ep. 96, book I.

ARGUMENTS OF THE THIRD BOOK

EPIST. 1 An admonition to a profligate and ruined man, that he might return to a better life, if not out of respect for God, then at least for the sake of men. 2 The meditation of the last judgment ought to deter everyone from shameful deeds. 3 Even he who is not openly an adversary is to be treated as a friend. 4 What the stars signify in Daniel and elsewhere in the Holy Scriptures. 5 The Church remains invincible against all enemies. 6 Divine authority is superior to all probabilities. 7 How injuries are to be borne. Confer ep. 11, book I. 8 Those affected by grief are somewhat lightened if they pour out their calamities, by which they are tormented, in complaints to friends; and therefore they are to be heard patiently. 9 What is required in a judge. Conf. ep. 175 in this book. 10 What the Urim and Thummim, or in the ornaments of the high priest, denotes. 11 On avoiding the sight of women. Conf. ep. 278, book II. 12 Whether a woman also commits sin by a lustful look at a man. The precepts given to men often, and indeed regularly, also apply to women. 13 On divine laws, partly common to both sexes, partly proper to each. 14 An apology for the ^A *basia* regarding the interpretation of dreams. 15 Sin is increased by the dignity of the sinner, according to that of the poet: Every vice of the soul bears a crime in itself all the more visible, the greater he is who commits it. Conf. ep. 121, book I. 16 The mind and the strengths of the giver determine the measure of piety. 17 To those who either buy or sell priesthoods with money. 18 In the deity there is nothing prior or posterior. Confer ep. 63 in this book and the Athanasian Creed. 19 The Jews are to be refuted from their own writers, Philo and Josephus. This is what John Chrysostom performed excellently in his books Against the Jews. Confer the epistles of Isidore, book IV. 20 The supreme dignity of the priesthood. Confer Ignatius, ep. 21 The dangers of glory are a greater harvest. 22 The soul is still safe as long as it is protected by the divine guard. 23 Against the corrupter and tempter of the soul. 24 Avarice must be destroyed while it is in the bud, and this root of evils must be rooted out. 25 All things should be directed toward the edification of the Church rather than to our own glory. 26 Providence is asserted: fate is refuted. Conf. book II, ep. 137. 27 On the most holy and undivided Trinity. Note here the Catholic rule against various heretics and Jews. Confer ep. 112 later in this book. 28 Judgment concerning uncertain things must be made from certain ones. Note the excellent rule of judgment, and conf. ep. 97, book II. 29 Like rejoices in like, and he who is not known by himself is known by his companion. 30 It is a truly glorious victory to conquer those who excel in virtue. 31 That the Son of God is not a creature, against the Arians. Confer ep. 58 in this book, and Augustine, ep. 174. Note here to what judge of controversies one should flee. 32 A most wholesome admonition on putting aside and avoiding pride, by respect and consideration for human frailty and divine power. 33 The leaden gravity of sin shown in the prophetic vision by Zechariah, ch. V, 7. 34 Ambition is to be avoided, and we must study God's glory rather than our own. 35 On the near-hopeless wickedness of Chæremon, Zosimus, and Maron. 36 Virtue is itself the most beautiful reward for itself: but wickedness is the greatest punishment for itself. 37 The Socratic chasing of philosophers who, having neglected the dogmas that make for good character, are occupied totally in those natural obscurities that have no result and very little utility. Confer ep. 93 and 100, and Philo. 38 On mourning in public and private calamities. 39 Impure and wicked men ought not to discourse on divine matters. Confer ep. 49, later in this book and book V. 40 Integrity of character precedes eloquence. Confer ep. 275 and 293, book II, and ep. 120, later in this book. 41 To eloquence must be joined sweetness, sociability, and ease of manners. 42 What true eloquence is, namely, that which brings forth the feelings of the mind in clear words; not that which obscures things in themselves clear with sublime words that breathe great pretension. 43 The evil of envy is not softened even by benefits. 44 The mitigation and restraining of anger and indignation conceived against the wicked and ungrateful. 45 An image of a true and sincere friend. 46 One should not cohabit with a woman suffering from the menstrual flow. Confer ep. book II, and ep. 411 in this book, and book V, ep. 117 and 141. 47 The company of the wicked is to be avoided, lest we be hateful to ourselves or they be a scandal to us. Confer ep. 29 in this book. 48 On preserving modesty and humility, and avoiding pride and arrogance. 49 Let not a vicious man dispute about virtue, because a foul vessel is not trusted with what is pure. Confer ep. 29 in this book. 50 Against insolence and elation of mind. The meditation of death is an antidote to pride. 51 A double interpretation of the place from Ps. CXXXVI: "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" 52 An admonition on avoiding pride with respect to the mutability of human affairs. 53 Evangelical dogmas are much more perfect than legal precepts. An exposition of the Pauline saying, Eph. II, 15. 54 An admonition on carrying out repentance in view of old age. 55 An admonition on correcting error and embracing truth. 56 On receiving into favor the suppliant by whom we have been harmed. 57 On the brevity or prolixity of prayer, how both are to be valued. 58 On the secret and ineffable generation of the Son of God, the Word. Confer ep. 31 in this book, and inf. ep. 355, which is related to this one and somewhat fuller; and Augustin. sermon 190 On the times; likewise Gregor. Nazianz. ^B *On the Ineffable Words, discourse 2*. 59 A rebuke of a man wickedly ungrateful toward his benefactors. 60 One ought not to neglect the opportunity of any thing, but buy back the time. Confer ep. 170, inf. in this book.

^A 61 A rebuke of men who are lost and profligate. 62 An admonition to a man who, after praising himself, has degenerated, that he should return to the virtue from which he has fallen. Confer sup. ep. 202 lib. 1, and ep. 4 lib. 2. Thus Chrysostom: "Honors and praises are the food of vainglory." Nor did one of the ancient Fathers say it for nothing: "Those who praise me, lash me." 63 Against heretics who contend that the Son of God is posterior to the Father. Eternity is proper to the Divinity. Confer ep. 18 and 149 of this book 2. 64 It must be borne patiently if the wicked—to whom we, wishing them well, have given good counsel—are armed and rise up against our gentleness. 65 Truth ought to be more ancient than all things, which is an ornament to all arts and disciplines. 66 On not looking upon a woman to the kindling of lust: and this not only because of the prohibition of the sacred Scriptures, but also because of the examples of the heathens. Confer ep. 62 lib. 2. 67 A rebuke and a calling back to repentance of a man who is obstinate and hardened in malice. 68 Against those for whom the pontificate or priesthood is a matter of pride. 69 An admonition on the study of humility and the flight from pride. 70 A complaint concerning a man of deplorable and incorrigible malice. 71 God is not only merciful, but also a just and severe avenger. Wherefore one must seriously repent. 72 True authority is that by which parents or subjects rejoice, not that by which they are oppressed against their will. 73 A rebuke of him who, in a flagitious life, nonetheless rejoices to promise himself salvation by faith alone, which is indeed not true faith at all, but an empty persuasion. Confer lib. 4. 74 The difference between just authority and tyranny. 75 An exposition of the Pauline dictum Rom. XII. Concerning the sacrifice that every Christian ought to offer to God; and to what extent every Christian is a priest, namely, that he should tame his own body, commanding the vices, and make it a temple of chastity. 76 On divorce and adultery, and a comparison of this with other vices of spouses. 77 By what reason our bodies shall be spiritual after the resurrection, according to Paul, 1 Corinth. XV. Confer Augustin. De Agon. Christ. cap. 52. 78 Exposition of the word of Job, cap. XXIX, 23: "I was among the monozonoi." 79 A learned man ought to study truth rather than glory. 80 A rebuke of a lost man, and an exhortation to repentance on the argument of old age, that death is soon to follow. Confer ep. 54 of this book. 81 Concerning the affections, both the vicious and the laudable: that "passions" can also be used in a good sense, is proved by the authority of Demosthenes, Josephus, and Philo. 82 The praise of Timothy, and the disparagement of Eusebius. 83 The beauty of the soul ought not to be marred by calamities. 84 The prohibition of a garment of linen and wool, Deuter. XXII, 11, etc.; what it meant, namely, that one should study the simplicity of worship, having rejected all superfluity. 85 *Κατὰ τῶν σιτοκαπήλων*. Against the insatiable greed of the grain-hoarders. 86 Admonition on preserving the order of books. 87 The foundation of true and stable friendship. The notable and great distinction between the love of souls and of bodies. 88 Against those who, under the pretext of caring for the poor, attend to their own business and study their own private utilities. Confer ep. 111 of this book. 89 On the computation of the seventy weeks of Daniel, cap. IX. 90 A calling back of a lost man to repentance. Confer ep. 40 of this book.

^B 91 The praise of Timothy the bishop. 92 Philosophers call homonyms one way, grammarians another. 93 The distinction between the good that is in God and the good that is in men. Confer ep. 147 of this book. 94 A passage from Deuteronom. XVIII, interpreted concerning Jesus Christ against Jewish perfidy, which some tried to explain concerning Jesus Nave, or Joshua. Confer the Eulogium in Photius, Biblioth. pag. 486 edit. August, and Origen, Homil. 1 in Jeremiam. 95 In what thing the image and likeness of God in man consists; and concerning the authority divinely granted to man over all earthly things. 96 The facility of speaking, as with other arts, is greatly nourished and increased by exercises. Confer the last ep. of lib. 2, where it concerns virtue, and the ep. of lib. 4, where it concerns memory. 97 Admonition on amending one's life. 98 Commendation and exhortation to proceed strenuously in a good purpose and in the way of virtue. Confer epist. 116 of this book. 99 Since evils are neighbors to goods, through this error, for the sake of vice, virtue has often brought on crimes. 100 They are miserable not who suffer injury, but who do it, or who do not bear injury elegantly, wisely, and patiently. Confer ep. 225 and 390 of this book. 101 Against the fear of poverty, in which there is no disgrace. 102 No one deserves to be praised for fortune, but for virtue. For the former is not in the power of man, as the latter is, although it is said, "The wise man fashions his own fortune by his character." 103 Concerning the conspiracy of the wicked among themselves against good men, even though they may be in the highest degree discordant in other matters. 104 Not every victory of men is worthy of praise: There is nothing more disastrous than civil war. 105 A rebuke of an ungrateful man, and one worse than wild beasts. 106 Concerning the written and non-written word of God, and the study or neglect thereof. 107 Man is also called seed by Christ in the explanation of the evangelical parable. Note here the remarkable rule concerning the explanation and accommodation of parables. Confer ep. 175 lib. 2, and ep. 267 of this book. 108 Concerning the temporary exile and expiation of an involuntary homicide. 109 The death of the high priest and the restitution of the exiles occurring through it was a type of Christ, the true redeemer and deliverer from sins. 110 What the "second-first" Sabbath is, Matth. XII, what the Sabbath of Sabbaths. 111 Against the sacrilegious despoilers of the poor. Confer ep. 88 and 277 of this book. 112 A defense of the holy Trinity against the gentiles, Jews, and Arians. Confer ep. 27 of this book. 113 A rebuke of a garrulous and slanderous man. 114 A commendation of a good man and bishop. Confer ep. 98 of this book. 115 Why Joseph kept Simeon among all his brothers as a hostage. 116 Concerning dangers, which ones and to what extent they are to be praised. 117 Before the divine goodness, all human goodness is to be reckoned as malice. Confer ep. 93 of this book. 118 A comparison of prayer, virtue, and piety among themselves. 119 Exposition of the word of Christ, John X, 8: "All who came before me are thieves and robbers." 120 The most beautiful "pair" or team of prayer and work. Confer ep. 275 lib. 2, and ep. 123 infra of this book. 121 Concerning the laudable mediocrity to be observed in admonitions and rebukes, which is interposed between insults and adulation. 122 Since Christ said, "No one will snatch them from my hand," how it happens that many still perish.

123 Simple and raw infancy, when joined with the probity of life, excels over extraordinary eloquence when joined with a flagitious and impure life. ^A 124 On avoiding shameful pursuits and depraved companions. 125 On the false interpretation of Holy Scripture. See ep. 254, book II, and ep. 63 and 135 of this book, and Hilary. 126 The diversity of Olympic games and the spiritual struggle. See ep. 169, book II. 127 On the sublimity and excellence of the priesthood, which is not to be seized rashesly by any person. See ep. 52 and 200, book I. 128 On the punishments of the Jews for their contempt and murder of Christ. See ep. 17, book II and book IV. 129 By one God all sorrow can be put to flight. ^B 130 How various things concerning Christ are preached without any contradiction. 131 Exhortation to gentleness and kindness toward those by whom we have been harmed. Virtue is the middle path. See ep. 321 of this book. 132 A modest refusal of the praises of Hermogenes, as these exceed the capacity and limitations of his mind. 133 To be free from vices and to rule over the turbulent movements of the soul: this at last is true liberty, this at last is true empire. All other things are shadows and dreams and empty names, whatever empires and wealth are thought to be or are called. 134 A rebuke of an impure priest. 135 A refutation of fatal necessity, which he refutes with many arguments in ep. 154 and 191 of this book. 136 An admonition concerning the true method of interpretation, that one should diligently attend to the subject matter at hand in every passage of Holy Scripture, and that no part should be excerpted uncivilly and ignorantly. A truly golden rule, which I wish had been observed everywhere by all. Perhaps we would have fewer controversies. See ep. 125 of this book. 137 On avoiding adulation and fear, and cultivating virtue. 138 On the duty of cultivating piety toward God and men alike. ^C 139 Against those who thought that Daniel and his three colleagues had been trained in the discipline of the Chaldeans. 140 An exhortation to compassion and beneficence toward the poor. 141 Why the Son of God is called the Word. 142 One must study to have a good reputation, yet without ambition and ostentation. 143 Beauty is a fragile good, and to the extent that it approaches years, It becomes less, and is consumed by its own time. 144 Virtue is to flee vice, and the first wisdom Is to have been free of folly. 145 The plague of friendship is adulation and inequality. 146 Praise of Timothy, who always strove to surpass himself in the study of virtue. 147 Look upward, my soul; and spurn all earthly things, Christ Himself calls you there with His own voice. 148 On repressing the tyranny and powerlessness of the passions of the soul. 149 On the eternity and equal dignity of the most holy and undivided Trinity. See ep. 143, book II, and ep. 27, 31, and 112 of this book. 150 An exhortation to a bishop, that he might rightly discharge his office. 151 He describes the marks of a noble and, conversely, of a servile soul. 152 An investigation of the reason why, in the common sin of idolatry, Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, was punished. Num. XII. 153 A complaint concerning the wickedness of Zosimas and his accomplices, Palladius and Maron. 154 An excellent disputation, defender of Divine Providence and attacker of Fate and Fortune. See ep. 135 and 191 of this book.

155 Against gluttony and luxury. 156 How variously the devil tempts and seduces men, even though he cannot look into the thoughts of their minds. 157 One should not sin in the hope of penitence and pardon, just as one should not seek a wound in the hope of healing. For it is better to preserve one’s innocence intact than to look for a remedy after it has been wounded: since even after healing, a scar always remains, and one does not arrive at the healing itself without the greatest of difficulties. 158 One should philosophize not so much by reason as by deed, and faith is to be kept with men. See ep. 189 and 362 of this book. 159 On the zeal of Phinehas for the glory of God, slaying the fornicator with the harlot, Num. XXV, Ps. CV. 160 Divine providence can deliver one from inextricable evils: this is sufficiently proved by the example of Abraham. 161 An explanation of the passage from Daniel, ch. V, 5, regarding the hand writing on the wall. 162 An exhortation to modesty and caution to be applied in right actions. 163 One must strive equally for sanctity of mind and chastity of body, without which gifts no offering pleases God, no victim, however precious. See ep. 75 of this book. 164 A reproach of a harsh and cruel man. 165 On the Pauline judgment, Gal. I, 8, where he says anathema, or condemns with curses those who have presumed to plot new things in the preaching of the Gospel. 166 Christ’s glory is the same as the Father’s: therefore His power is the same as well. 167 Against insatiable avarice. 168 He who does his duty, God will not forsake him. 169 Virtue is to be preferred to all goods. See Plautus. 170 Opportunity is to be observed most of all in every matter. See ep. 60 of this book. 171 God alone knows what is expedient for mortals. Therefore we ought to conform our prayers and wishes to His will. 172 All things, according to the spirit of a man, can be the instruments of either virtue or vice. See ep. 353 of this book. 173 Time is more flowing and fleeting than a wave, or, if you prefer, a verse. The wave is more flowing and fleeting than time. 174 An exhortation to retain εὐγνωμοσύνη (goodwill) everywhere. 175 Causes that pervert right judgment. On the extreme and absolute wickedness of Zosimas. See ep. 9, book II, and ep. 274 of this book, book I, and book IV. 176 On what Paul said in I Cor. IX, 5: "Have we not power to lead about a sister, a woman?" How this is to be understood. The woman is also called a virgin. 177 Why it happens that not all are healed, although the medicine is set forth in the midst for all. 178 On the wicked reader and the deacon elected and appointed by a wicked bishop. 179 On the cultivation of humility and the flight from pride. 180 The saying of Sarah, mother of Isaac, Gen. XXI, 7, is explained. Milk is an argument for a true birth. 181 The best method of taking vengeance on enemies and those affecting us with injury is to study first patience and then virtue. See ep. 6, book II. 182 How the power of God was perfected in the apostles through infirmity, II Cor. XII, 9. See Photius, Bibliotheca, p. 851, and the homily of Chrysostom on that passage. 183 It is better to enjoy the writings and labors of others than to be entirely idle. 184 There is great power and efficacy in an interrogation, which is used in place of a statement. 185 The arts ought to be useful for life, otherwise they will not be arts, but vain arts (ματαιοτεχνίαι) or evil arts (κακοτεχνίαι).

(κακοτεχνίαι).

Lucianus in his definition of art places: "useful for the end of things in life." 186 We can and ought to ponder things above the world in our minds, and yet not despise humble things, but adapt ourselves to them. Confer ep. 276 this book, and Augustine, *Serm. de temp.* 175. 187 The difference between *phronema* and *phronesis*, and an exhortation to the latter and a dehortation from the former. 188 Just as humility arises from a great and lofty soul, so pride arises from a small and abject one. 189 The character (mores) of the teacher is to be established by his discourse. Conf. ep. 342 and ep. 158 and 317 of this book 111. 190 Calm manners argue a great and constant soul. 191 A dispute against the fatal necessity of all things, and astrology (genesis). Whence such a variety and perversity of judgments arises. Confer ep. 135 and 154 here, and Nemesius *De natura hominis*. 192 A call to turn from luxury and gluttony to temperance, with the fruits and rewards of both proposed. 193 Concerning the corrupt members of the Church, whether they are to be corrected or cut off, lest the sound part be dragged along. 194 The difference between a kingdom and tyranny. Confer ep. 495. 195 The power and efficacy of infant baptism, not only in abolishing original sin, but also in conferring manifold grace. 196 God's leniency must not be abused. Confer ep. 290. 197 Concerning a good man, whose impulse toward virtue is retarded by the wicked. 198 A new exposition of Isaiah ch. 1, 18. 199 Concerning the preservation of continence. Confer ep. 89 bk. 1, and ep. 278 bk. 11, and ep. 65 this book 111. 200 Concerning moderating grief over the wickedness of others. 201 Why all the wicked do not pay the penalty for their crimes here, nor all the good suffer. Similar things occur frequently in Chrysostom. And in the book of Salvianus *De gubernat. Dei*. Confer also ep. 205 this book. 202 What it is to "speak to the heart" according to Isaiah; a new exposition. Confer ep. 1 bk. 11, and ep. 238 this book. 203 Concerning the punishments of sinners to be endured in this life or the next. 204 One ought to rejoice sparingly, and to inquire cautiously: "Because pain and joy mix together the whole of life." 205 Every matter is to be measured not by the results, but by the intentions. Confer ep. 335 bk. 1, and ep. 179 bk. 11. 206 Whether the kingdom of God is the same as the kingdom of heaven, the author leaves in the middle. Yet above, bk. 1 ep. 129, he called it "monastic conduct." 207 The sweetness of eternal happiness easily wipes away all the hardships and troubles of this life. Confer Cyprian, ep. 6 bk. IV. 208 A remedy against anger. Confer ep. 489 and 239 bk. 11. Also Gregory the Great, *Epist.* 51 bk. VIII. 209 "Piety decreases, as much as money itself increases: A blind love of coin; for it extinguishes the love of Christ." 210 A call to turn from a libidinous and impure life. Those sick in their health are accustomed to be permitted everything they desire. Confer ep. 258 this book. 211 One ought to hate vices, not men. 212 The desire for wealth and power is the source of all vices and perturbations of the soul, which it is most prudent to resist at the beginning. 213 Minds usually luxuriously overflow in prosperous circumstances. 214 That we recognize God's nature from his works; but we cannot investigate what it itself is. Confer ep. penultimate bk. 11 and ep. 232 this book. 215 Against those who industriously pour mists upon the truth, because they are more miserable than those who do not attain the truth, on account of the dullness of their intellect. 216 Concerning the extreme difficulty of the priestly office. And how few are true priests. Confer ep. 104 bk. 1, and bk. xv ep. 220. 217 Riches are poverty composed according to the law of nature. Confer ep. 106 bk. 11. 218 An objurgation of the voluptuary. 219 Concerning the punishments which raged both in the family of David and among the people. Confer ep. 39 bk. 1, and Eulogius in Photius, *Biblioth.* p. 462. Which things are therefore to be diligently noted, lest the innocent and harmless people might seem to have been punished, which might be thought alien to the justice of God. 220 The miserable are to be relieved by the powerful. 221 A rebuke of wicked men. 222 An exhortation to moderation of soul, and an exposition of in what things that consists. 223 A commendation of him who fled the episcopacy offered to him. A comparison of ancient bishops with more recent ones. Confer Bernard, *De consideratione ad Eugenium*. 224 An objurgation of a proud man, even though he was born of humble stock. 225 Concerning the tolerance of injuries. Confer ep. 100 and 390 this book. 226 To praise the discourse of one speaking is a proof of persuasion. 227 The mortification of the passions is the subject matter of the blessed life. 228 The snares of the devil are various and manifold and must be diligently guarded against. We must be watchful always; there are many snares for the good; it is necessary to be wise at every turn. That will be the sharpest weapon. Confer *Epist.* 164 bk. 11. And Augustine, *Serm.* 157 *De temp.* "In this night of this age, so dangerous and full of temptation, who would not fear?" etc. See many similar things in Leo the Great. 229 "It is always good for all to speak well, but to speak evil is a terrible thing, even if they are deserving of those things we say." It is to be seen not so much what wicked men deserve to hear, as what it is fitting for good men to say to them. The tongue ought to be the organ of truth. 230 Pardon is to be given to those who confess their sins, and one ought not to insult and press upon them with untimely questionings. 231 Why God is implacably angry with obstinate sinners. 232 An impure and impious man ought not to discuss God and divine things. Confer ep. 214 bk. 1, and ep. penultimate bk. 11. 233 From false principles, a true conclusion cannot be formed. 234 The miser does not perceive the dire disease of his soul (a wondrous thing). 235 A call for the Epicurean man to turn from his wickedness. A proof of the immortality of the soul. Confer ep. 295 this book and bk. IV. 236 Four examples of those things which are spoken by anadiplosis. 237 The standard of perfection is false, if anyone compares himself not to the precept of the law, but to worse men. 238 A priest ought to teach the people not so much by words as by deeds. So Tertullian at the beginning of his book *De patientia*: "It is fitting for those who have taken up the commendation and demonstration of any matter, first to be caught in the administration of that thing themselves, and to direct the constancy of their admonition by the authority of their own conduct, lest their words should blush on account of failing deeds." 239 A call to turn from error and heresy. 240 Concerning the punishments of wicked priests. 241 The belittling of oneself. 242 One must judge truly concerning matters, and the evils of certain persons should not be dragged into the censure of the entire order. 243 An etymological epistle, whence *gyne* (woman) is said: whence likewise *goneis* (parents), whence *aner* (man). Yet the author of the *Etymologicum Magnum* thinks differently about these origins; see him. 244 Thanks are to be rendered to God for private goods just as for positive ones. 245 Concerning a wicked bishop who succeeded a good one, how great is the turn of all things to the worse from that. Confer ep. 270 this book 111. 246 What true peace is, namely that which is joined with justice, not that which is with vices. Confer ep. 284 this book 111, and iv ep. 36.

^A 217 The wicked are to be freely rebuked, even if the rebuked return curses for the sake of thanks. Confer ep. 153 this book. 248 An excellent oration, concerning the interaction and mixture of vices and virtues in almost every man (for no one is born without faults; he is the best who is troubled by the fewest, as Horace says), repeated for the sake of a wicked man, that he might revere the judgments of men concerning him, who judged him to be void of all virtue, and might betake himself to a better life. Confer epist. 410 this book I. 249 Concerning the *panoletria* (total destruction) of the Jews predicted by Daniel, chap. ix, 26, and concerning the comparison between the priesthood and the kingdom. Confer ep. 257 this book. 250 On the saying: "You shall not have pity on the poor in judgment." Confer ep. 271 book I, and ep. 298 this book III. Also Greg. Max. epist. 51 book VIII. 251 Four causes why men think little of the pursuit of virtue and wisdom, although it is more excellent than all things. Confer ep. 268 this book. 252 Sin is the death of the soul. Confer Greg. Max. ep. 14 book V. 253 He sends his prayer against fate, and warns that one should judge of it freely, with the prejudice of reputation meanwhile sequestered. Confer ep. 191 this book. 254 Concerning the continence of the eyes and the mind that must be maintained. Confer epist. 278 book II, and ep. 89 book I, and ep. 65 and 199 this book III. 255 Exhortation to maintain constancy toward friends in good fortune. 256 On the praises of great men, for whom a speech equal to them cannot be found. 257 Exposition of the saying of the angel to the prophet Daniel, ix. Confer ep. 249 this book. 258 Reprehension of a wicked deacon, and of the bishop who had appointed him. Confer above ep. 210 this book. 259 On the office of a good teacher, and how difficult it is for contumacious disciples to be corrected. The corruption of the Church due to inept prelates. Confer ep. 282 this book. 260 Reprehension of him who abuses the power of the keys in remitting sins. 261 Sins kill their authors, just as vipers kill their parents. 262 Commendation of a pious son, willing to give himself as a hostage for his father. 263 Admonition concerning the office of a good magistrate. 264 On linking greatness of soul with modesty and humility. 265 On the office of a prelate of the Church, and interpretation of the Pauline saying, II Cor. ix, at the end. 266 The varied meaning of *sophrosyne* (modesty): which is sometimes opposed to madness, sometimes to the impurity of lusts. 267 On the force and nature of examples and their accommodation. Confer ep. 175 book II, and ep. 107 this book III. 268 On the excellent beauty of virtue and piety, which is to the soul what the eye is to the body. Confer ep. 231 this book III. 269 Exhortation to repentance from perverse dogmas. 270 Admonition concerning wailing and tears over the afflicted state of the city, due to the fault of a bishop who is incorrigible and lost, and that these should be avoided and converted rather into prayers. Confer ep. 245 this book III. 271 Response to a most serious question, why divine grace does not indulge itself to all. Confer ep. 316 and 406 this book. 272 Let nothing move us, if, with the insane with whom we do not wish to be insane, we ourselves be thought to be insane. Confer ep. 322 book I, and ep. 296 book II. 273 Invitation to share in joy over the correction of a degenerating friend. 274 On the difficulty of judging rightly, and the causes corrupting true and sincere judgment. Confer ep. 175 this book III, and ep. 214 book IV. 275 Objurgation of wicked priests, and a recall to a better mind. 276 On the contempt of mundane things, and the care and study of heavenly and eternal things. Confer ep. 186 and 207 this book III. 277 Against those who, having professed a care for the poor, under this empty pretext embark upon despoiling them with sacrilegious audacity. Confer ep. 88 and 111 this book I. 278 How Job xxix, 14 et seq., rightly commemorated his own good deeds without reprehension or vice, whereas the *periautologia* (boastfulness), and the self-proclamation of the Pharisee in Luke xviii, was so heavily censured by Christ. 279 Consolation, just as medicine, is not to be applied inopportunely to a sick soul wounded by recent grief. Thus Ovid... 280 On the utility to be taken from enemies. Confer Plutarch’s commentary on this matter. 281 On avoiding adulation, so that we neither use it on others, nor admit it from others. Confer ep. 359 below this book I. 282 If the wicked do not obey one advising them well, the fault is theirs, not his. For neither could the Apostle Paul correct all, just as the sick man is not always relieved by the physician, etc. Confer ep. 259 this book and ep.... book IV. 283 Admonition concerning modesty to be observed in good fortune. 284 War undertaken for truth, piety, and justice is better than the peace and concord through which those things are lost. Confer ep. 246 and 397 this book I and book IV. 285 Not all are to be admitted into friendship, nor are any to be driven away immediately. 286 The new face of human affairs and the conversion for the better brought about by the arrival of Christ. 287 Admonition concerning the corruption of all things to be avoided. 288 Reprimand of wicked men, that they are twins in character and institutions as they are in name. 289 That magistrates should not be chosen so much for blood relations as for excellence of virtue, and that they should be offered not so much by the law of succession as by the right of free election, is proven by the example of Moses, preferring Joshua to his own sons. 290 Let Clodius accuse adulterers; Catiline let him accuse Cethegus. It is shameful for a teacher to have his own fault convict him. Conf. ep. 391 book I, and 240 book II, and 367 this book III. 291 Spurn pleasure; pleasure bought with pain harms. 292 With what gifts an interpreter of the Holy Scriptures must be endowed. Confer ep. 254 book II, and Hil. book I De Trin. 293 Physiology concerning the diverse affections of drunkards and the reason that masters them. Confer ep. 109 book I. 294 Against the stubbornness and obstinacy of the Jews in their final miseries; and ^B against those who harm the orphan and the widow. 295 Demonstration of the immortality of souls, and a summoning of wicked men to the correction of life. 296 A new exposition of what God says to Abraham concerning the multitude of his offspring. 297 Exhortation to reconcile dissenting friends. Confer ep. 83 book II. 298 Why a judge ought not to pity the poor in judgment. Confer ep. 250 this book III. 299 Medicine is not to be applied to the desperate. Confer ep. 16 book II. 300 Concerning the Apostle Paul’s greatness of soul even while a captive, and the *parrhesia* (boldness) worthy of a heavenly teacher, Act. xxvi. 301 The same speech, though it may not always have the same effect. Confer ep. 267 this book III. 302 Commendation of a man who, having laid aside grievances, wishes to return to grace with his friend. 303 Let the reason control tumid anger. 304 Exhortation to praise a deceased person, in whom character surpassed fame. 305 On the slaughter and final destruction of the Jews for having despised and killed Christ, the Son of God. Confer ep. 249 and 257 this book III and book IV. 306 Comparison of a good king and a good priest. C. ep.

307 Everyone is usually accustomed to judge others according to his own disposition, and to measure others by his own standard and foot. ^A 308 A pious consideration of the sequence of the seasons and the parts of the year. Confer ep. 158 book II, and ep. 1 book IV. 309 Pride must be avoided by everyone in their right actions. 310 It is easy to learn what things are evil, even without a teacher. But it is a burdensome labor to learn what things are good. 311 The departure of good men from this life is not so much death as sleep, and a transition to something better. Conf. ep. 331. 312 Excellent character; it describes a man who easily gives credence to the proclamation of the virtues of others, but does not rashly believe stories of their vices. Confer ep. 248 h. book III. 313 Concerning the mercy of Christ the Savior toward our race. 314 How great the virtue with which a legislator is endowed, who not only punishes injuries already committed, but also takes precautions so that they do not occur. 315 Who is a good judge. Conf. ep. 260 h. book III. 316 A fourfold explanation of the saying in Daniel 11, 21. Confer ep. 291, and 409 h. book I. 317 The manner of the speaker is what persuades, not the discourse; that is, morals create faith more than speech does. Conf. ep. 71 book II, and 189 h. book III. 318 Virtue conquers all things. See the truth in Esdras. 319 A rebuke of a wicked bishop. And concerning the order of judgment, whether perverse or correct, confer ep. 265 h. book. 320 A saying of Solomon the Ecclesiastes, VII, 17, is explained in two ways: "Be not righteous overmuch." 321 Virtue is the mean between vices on either side. Confer ep. 131 h. book III and book IV. 322 Though it be surrounded by manifold labor, virtue is to be preferred to all good things. Confer ep. 169 h. book. 323 A prayer for the conversion of a wicked man. 324 An exhortation to an indefatigable pursuit of virtue and wisdom, as being more ancient than all things. 325 A wonderful reversal of affairs, such that priests claim for themselves the wealth collected in common by pious men. 326 The populace mimics the morals of priests and prelates. 327 Concerning revenging or pardoning injuries. 328 We must not, for the sake of benefactors, become participants in or patrons of iniquity. 329 The advent of Christ in the flesh destroyed the devil and his works, and led a triumph over them, and erected trophies. 330 Exhortation to gentleness. 331 The death of a good man brings joy to the wicked, and mourning to the good. Conf. ep. 311 h. book III. 332 Concerning the punishment of pride with which Nebuchadnezzar was afflicted, Daniel IV. 333 Concerning the struggle against the wickedness of lost men, and the difficulty of their correction. Conf. ep. 348 h. book. 334 Against the Anomaeans concerning the saying of Christ in John XIV, 28: "My Father is greater than I." Christ sometimes spoke according to the opinion of the apostles, humbling Himself to their infirmity and accommodating Himself by way of their descent. Conf. Augustine serm. 179 De temp., and book De haeresib. cap. 54; Photius in Bibliotheca, pg. 11; Theodoret lib. IV Fabular.; Nicet. Choniat. lib. VII, in Vita Manuelis Comneni, p. 107. 335 Concerning the saying of Christ: "The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it." Which in no way signifies impotence, but rather the highest conjunction with the Father. 336 Men do not become better through stage plays and mimics. Confer Tertullian, De spectaculis c. 25, and Cyprian. 337 As it is in the governing of bodies, so also in the governing of souls, the beginning must be made from that which is most burdensome. 338 On the utility of just anger. A saying of Psalm IV is explained. Confer epist... 339 Those who drag all the sayings of the Old Testament to Christ, err just as much as those who wish for nothing of Christ to be contained in it. Conf. ep. 107 lib. I, and ep. 495 l. II. 340 Concerning the scandal which a wicked priest provides in the Church. The unworthiness of the priest takes nothing away from the dignity and integrity of the divine mysteries. Confer ep. 120 lib. I, and ep. 37 lib. II. 341 On manna, the celestial food of the Hebrews for forty years. ^B 342 The Son of God is not a creature. Conf. ep. 331 h. book. 343 A listener ought to be clear-headed and sagacious, who does not expect everything from his teacher. 344 A commendation of him who increased the grace of a good deed by speed. Conf. Epip. Ausonii. 345 Let the keenness of the mind surpass the knowledge of literature. 346 It is from acknowledged things that one must dispute against adversaries. Conf. ep. 347 A victor must not rage against the vanquished. "Noble is the wrath of lions that know how to spare the subject; / The battle has its end when the enemy lies low. / But the wolf and the base bear press upon the dying, / And whatever beast is lesser in nobility." Confer epist. 370, and Ant. Guevaram epist. 1, part. Aureorum. 348 Against one who is hasty to accuse. Conf. ep. 333 h. I. 349 Renunciation of friendship. 350 Against the absurdity of poetic fables. 351 A memorable comparison of virginity and marriage. Confer ep. 135 lib. II, and ep. 192 lib. IV. 352 Victory over the passions or the opposite. 353 Of a bad crow, a bad egg. 354 Who is a true, who is a false priest. 355 Concerning the arcane generation of the Son of God. Confer ep. 58 h. book III, which is twin to this. 356 Solution of the question concerning the preeminence of Daniel above his colleagues and others, Daniel VI, 2. 357 A rebuke of an arrogant man, to whom divine punishment is threatened. 358 How great a good it is to be superior to money, or to be immune from avarice. 359 Adulation is more powerful than fear in dementing men. 360 Concerning the wickedness and slanderous tongue of Zosimus. Modest virtue is immodest malice. 361 Eternal life is the best reward for excellent actions. 362 "Speech destitute of action is maimed; / And action is maimed if it lacks speech. / Speech wedded to action is best. / But if it is necessary to lack one or the other, nevertheless, / Innocence excels eloquent wickedness, / However much it might be destitute of speech." Confer ep. 275 lib. II, etc. 363 An admonition concerning the duty of converting men, and concerning the freedom of the will. 364 He who dwells in mortal sin, if he nevertheless does not hesitate to irreverently partake of the sacred mysteries, precipitates himself into everlasting destruction. Again concerning the deplored malice of Zosimus. 365 The correct order of judgment. Confer ep. 319 h. lib. 366 The calling back of men of deplored malice from their insanity. Confer ep. 10, 16, 20, 22 and 252 lib. II. 367 It is disgraceful for a teacher when his own guilt refutes him. Conf. ep. 391 l. I, and ep. 240 l. II, and ep. 296 h. l. III. 368 Wicked desires are not to be indulged, but resisted. Confer ep. 382 and 401. 369 A rebuke of a lost man and his recall to better fruit. 370 A victor ought not to rage against the vanquished, but use them gently. Confer ep. 347 above, h. book III.

^C 371 A comparison of frugality with luxury, and the effect of each. 372 A congratulation on an adversary being overcome. 373 An exhortation to modesty. In right actions one should not be proud, but rather think humbly. For we shall be the more exalted, the more humbly we behave. Confer ep. 509, h. book V. 374 The union of virtue and learning is most beautiful: but if one must be lacking in one or the other, it is better to be without the latter than the former. Confer ep. 362, h. book. 375 A commendation of a moderate magistrate who tempers gravity and severity with gentleness and mildness. 376 Eloquence and wisdom are well placed in Christ, since he himself willed to be called the Word and Wisdom of the eternal Father. 377 He is stronger who overcomes himself than he who conquers the strongest fortresses: nor can virtue go higher. Conf. ep. 352, h. book III. 378 A recommendation of a friend who is in great danger. 379 An admonition regarding the pursuit of freedom, and the two extremes to be avoided: arrogance and vanity, and adulation or servility. 380 Concerning the disagreements of friends and the debates of enemies, and how greatly they differ. 381 The greater we are, the more humbly we should conduct ourselves. Who is proud, who modest, who humble, who grateful, who vainglorious, who lover of glory, who faint-hearted, who magnanimous. 382 Excessive praise is the parent of sloth. Confer epist. 248, h. book III. 383 Against both the parsimony and the profusion of praise. 384 One must study not only one virtue, but all. 385 Just as those who besiege a city make their attack especially on the part that is most infirm, so that perpetual adversary of ours, the devil, attacks most especially that part of the soul and of the affections in which we are most unprepared and weak. 386 Against those who dispute irreverently about divine matters. 387 A congratulation on having obtained the priesthood, and an admonition about correctly administering that office. 388 An encomium of Holy Scripture, the study of which is superior to all things, and than which nothing should be more ancient to us. Confer epist. 369, book I. 389 To what the most wise law concerning the raising of an enemy’s beast refers: namely, to the reconciliation of dissenting minds. 390 It is better to be punished unjustly than to be rewarded, being undeserving. Confer ep. 100, h. book III. 391 The end of all created things, and thus also of the stars, is this: that from there man, as if by a certain leading by the hand, might arrive at the knowledge of the Creator. 392 Good fame is to be preferred to all riches. 393 By the faculty of speech and eloquence the excellence of human nature is to be measured; and it ought to be applied to the patronage of truth, not to the protection of immorality and vices. 394 Corrupt priests are to be left to their Judge; I know not if they are to be forsaken. Meanwhile, we must transfer the reprehension and examination of them unto ourselves. Confer epist. 340, book III. 395 What a holy assembly ought to be like. 396 Avarice corrupts true judgment. Confer ep. 274, h. book. 397 Those living corruptly are to be admonished freely, that they might desist from vices. But the outcome is to be left to God. Confer ep. 284, h. book III. 398 The doctrine of the Sacred Letters is a deposit of treasures, which must be increased—as by an interest—through the addition of good works. 399 One must die daily. For philosophy, and true Christianity too, is a meditation on death. Confer ep. 335, book I, and 197, book II, and 305, h. book III. ^D 400 On proper and improper modesty. Conf. ep. 90, book III. 401 Against the lustful. Confer epist. 368, h. book III. 402 Against the Arians. 403 The innocence of life is to be joined with the truth and integrity of faith. Confer epist. 37, h. book III. 404 You should not wish to stir up contentions. For a small cause of war is often the beginning of a great one. 405 Those who do not live consistently with the profession of Christianity cause God to be blasphemed by pagans and infidels. 406 As you put your hand to the work, call upon the divine powers. Confer ep. 271, h. book III, and book IV ep. 2 and 4. 407 The wicked man is either to be corrected or forsaken. 408 A foul and miserable degeneration of the Church is described. 409 A commendation of a friend. 410 No one lives without sin. Therefore one ought to forgive another his flaws. Confer epist. 248, h. book. 411 That one ought not to be intemperate in procreation. Conf. ep. 81, book II, and ep. 46, h. book III. 412 A comparison of drunkenness with avarice. Confer epist. 146, book II. 413 The final judgment is certainly to come, which even the most celebrated of the pagan writers have acknowledged. Confer epist. 158, book II.

ARGUMENTS OF THE FOURTH BOOK

19. It is shameful to remain long in a foreign land and to return empty-handed. The longing for one who manages his homeland's affairs well from afar is more easily borne.

20. Integrity of life and morals must be joined to the truth of doctrine, without which faith in it is diminished.

21. Life ought to be equal to one's speech. Nothing is easier than to impose upon oneself. Thinking oneself to be knowledgeable hinders knowledge.

^A 22. By the example of Christ, who willingly humbled and submitted Himself to the Father, we ought to strive for modesty.

23. You must know many things in order to elude divine providence and judgment. Many, in fleeing their fate, fall right into it.

24. The wisdom of the brevity of the Lord’s Prayer is explained and set forth. How and by whom it is rightly said, and by whom improperly.

25. One is quick to criticize and carp at others who are praying. Every man grants pardon to himself for his own sins.

26. Esau’s repentance was useless after the rights of the firstborn—which are owed to virtue rather than to the lot of birth—were sold to his brother Jacob.

27. While pagan sages disparage and mock the Christian religion in favor of their own, they fail to notice that they are refuting themselves and presenting themselves to be mocked by others, destroying their own religion while exalting Christianity.

28. Of the same argument as the above. The simple and unrefined truth of the Holy Scriptures (as it seems to the wise men of the world) is more powerful than any human wisdom and Attic eloquence.

29. How great a power the passion, cross, death, and burial of Christ have had.

30. On the divine power and efficacy of the preaching of the Gospel, despite its lacking the curls and elegance of oratory. The testimony of Plato and Homer is praised.

31. A refutation of a pagan man who attacks Christ’s cross while ignoring and spurning the mention of His resurrection and ascension, which are nevertheless contained in the same evangelical records. Whoever produces evidence in his own favor on one point must admit and acknowledge the same evidence against him in other points.

32. The cross of Christ is the fulcrum and splendor of heaven and earth.

33. One devoted to the reading of Holy Scripture ought also to lead a life worthy of heaven.

34. On avoiding depraved associations, as they are most pernicious. On the prohibition of intercourse with animals.

35. Peace is not good everywhere nor in all respects. The struggle that one undertakes for the truth is, in many ways, superior to a wicked peace.

36. Peace is to be cultivated, provided it does not harm piety.

37. Anger should be restrained by the bridle of reason and prudence, and all things should be done with counsel.

38. Because words and deeds cannot be unsaid or undone, nothing should be said or done without prior deliberation, lest repentance follow upon imprudence and precipitation.

39. The books of Solomon are to be read in this order: that the beginning be made with Proverbs, then proceed to Ecclesiastes, and from this to the Song of Songs. He ought not to penetrate the inner sanctuary who is not yet worthy of entrance into the atrium or vestibule. Theory ought to be preceded by practice. ^B

40. Various kinds of men exercise almsgiving with differing motives. It is better to do good, even out of ambition, than to neglect it entirely.

41. Drunkards, as well as slanderers, adulterers, and whoremongers, will be excluded from the kingdom of heaven, as the apostle Paul testifies, although they are to be punished with different penalties in the meantime.

42. The raven, though a bird, while feeding Elijah, taught him to mitigate his anger.

43. Each person justly suffers for his own sins rather than undeservedly for the faults of his ancestors; a refutation of the old Jewish proverb: "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge."

44. On the innocence of Susanna vindicated from the calumnies of the elders, and the most just punishment inflicted upon the elders.

45. Nearness to Christ is brought about Not by blood relationship, But by imitation of the Spirit, And a life cultivating virtue.

46. We ought to fear God, whose avenging eye nothing escapes or eludes observation, as a severe judge, and to love Him as a most clement and most generous benefactor.

47. Christ, calling us from earthly to heavenly things, adds divine power to His words.

48. Words have no flavor if they are empty. Therefore, every discourse is to be seasoned with salt, which divine testimonies, and the heavenly reward, and the fear of judgment provide.

49. Herod, after that acclamation of the people, "It is the voice of a god, and not of a man," was punished by God, and by his own example teaches that they who have permitted the impious flatteries of others, and have not reproved them, shall be punished.

50. Paul, when he says, "To those who are called according to his purpose, all things work together," signifies that it is not sufficient for salvation that one be called by God, unless there also be added on the part of the one called a zeal to obey the divine vocation.

51. Sin is more grievous than death. Therefore, it is better to die whole and uncontaminated by sin, than to commit sin in order that you might attain immortality, if that were possible.

52. Evangelical precepts by their perfection surpass both the law of nature, and the written law, and the oracles of the prophets.

53. This is the most exact standard and definition of virtue, which everyone possesses in himself: "All things therefore whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them."

54. The cause of all evils and dissenting opinions is ambition, not only in the Church, but even in secular philosophy. Remove ambition, therefore, and you will obstruct the fountain of heresies.

55. Ambition and preconceived opinion have given birth to heresies.

56. Since contentions have existed among men in all ages even before the birth of Christ, it is not surprising that the devil has stirred up various heresies even after Christ was born.

57. Who are "wandering stars" according to the apostle Jude, for whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever.

58. What is meant by Paul, Rom. 1: "God gave them up unto a reprobate mind," etc. To give up is to dismiss one stripped of divine aid and to leave him falling by his own impetus, but not to drive him into wickedness.

59. In what sense Paul said, Rom. 1: "Not only those who do them, but also those who consent to them that do them." It is more serious to praise an offender and to approve the wicked deed of another than to sin oneself. Confer ep. 84 below.

60. On the saying of Paul, Rom. 2: "Glory and honor and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and to the Greek."

61. Sin is dead without the law. Those who sin without the law are punished more mildly than those who are under the law.

62. On the saying of Paul, Rom. 8: "The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that shall be revealed in us."

63. How much good the coming of Christ into the flesh brought to human affairs. He who perishes perishes by his own fault, because he neglected to prepare victory through labor.

64. Those justified by faith through the grace of God ought to strive after good works, to animate their faith which would otherwise be dead, and to work out their own salvation.

65. All divine things are designated by the name of fire in the Holy Scriptures.

66. The writings of the pagans are compared with the Holy Scriptures. The former are directed not to the utility of all readers, but to the glory of the authors; and they use a pompous style of speaking. The latter are for all, even the unlearned.

relate to utility and salvation, and expound divine and sublime matters in simple discourse. 68. There is a great difference between a command and a permission. 69. Regarding the inscription on the Attic altar: "To the Unknown God." The reason for it, repeated from history. 70. A most wholesome counsel on putting an end to wars and contentions among men: namely, that we should not set such store by external things, but weigh them rather by their own merits. 71. That appearance presents no obstacle to one who cultivates stainless chastity is proven by the examples of Joseph and Susanna. One should note, against the Ovidian sentiment, the verse: "Great strife attends outward beauty." 72. It is not wealth, power, or happiness that is to be blamed, but the mind of someone who does not make right use of them; such a person is to be called to account for the crime. 73. What the type of the Ark of the Covenant, and the mercy seat, and the cherubim, and the manna, and Aaron’s rod signifies. 74. The Jews, after having afflicted Christ with such great insults, were punished by God with a final and never-restored destruction. 75. The captivity of the Jews, which they suffered at the hands of the Romans, ought to have been described by no one else besides the Jew Josephus, so that the history might be more worthy of credence by the example of such unparalleled calamities. 76. Why the Kingdom of Heaven, or the proclamation of the Gospel, is compared by Christ to a grain of mustard seed. 77. Joseph as a victor over the Egyptian woman and over lust. 78. That virtue is an imperial quality and everywhere victorious in any fortune whatsoever is proven by the illustrious example of Joseph. 79. Paul, the chosen vessel, being no less powerful in life than in word, serves as an example to the prelates of the Church and heralds of the divine word, that they may construct an irreproachable life upon the doctrine of truth. 80. Why he said to the Jewish people, Exod. XIX (according to the Greek interpretation): "All things whatsoever the Lord hath spoken, we will do, and will hear." In divine matters, practice is prior to knowledge. 81. Concerning the saying of Christ, Matt. VII: "A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit." And concerning the saying of Paul, 1 Cor. II: "The natural man perceiveth not the things that are of the Spirit." 82. Concerning the most wise temperament employed by God in the Holy Scriptures, since He willed them to be partly obscure and difficult, and partly plain and manifest. 83. Some things are attainable, others difficult to attain, others unattainable; the latter kind ought to be completely left uninvestigated, according to the saying: "To hunt the impossible is not seemly." 84. An unjust sentence that approves a wicked deed is worse than that of the one who perpetrated it. Cf. ep. 60, supra. 85. To Paul’s saying, Tit. I: "They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him." It is not enough to confess God with the mouth unless one also confesses Him in deed. Speech empty of deeds is of little value for persuading. 86. The law of retaliation is full of justice, and indeed of humanity, rather than of iniquity or cruelty. Cf. ep. 133, lib. II, and h. l. ep. 209. 87. The commandment of God to the Israelites, that they should take away the vessels of the Egyptians, was most just and equitable, pertaining to compensation for wages owed for so many years of servitude. 88. An exhortation to the study of daily reading and meditation, by the example of Timothy and the Apostle Paul. Memory without exercise very easily grows dim and is forgotten. 89. One ought not to be moved by pity for the poor in judgment, and much less to favor the insatiable desires of the rich. 90. Ignorance itself is to be shunned as worse than death, and one must apply oneself daily to the reading and meditation of Holy Scripture. 91. Holy Scripture far surpasses all the writings of all wise men, and excels them in perspicuity and in the compendium of every duty. Various styles of speaking for various subjects. Confer ^A ep. 3 lib., and h. l. ep. 28, 76, and 140. And on the part concerning the compendium of virtue, see also ep. 53 and 54, h. l. 92. An exhortation against empty contention. 93. Blessed are they who endure false insults for Christ’s sake. Confer ep. 190 h. l. 94. "Judge not before the time," the Pauline prohibition in 1 Cor. IV, how and concerning what matters it is to be understood. 95. Although he who patiently tolerates an injury done to himself acts rightly and in accordance with the apostolic precept, nevertheless, the one who inflicts it cannot excuse himself by that saying. 96. Certain doubts concerning Herod and his brother's wife, Herodias, taken by him, and the rebuke of the act by John the Baptist, are moved and discussed. 97. Why Christ, while proceeding to the cross, rebuked the lamentations of the women. Confer ep. 166 and 285 lib. II, and h. l. ep. 128 and 180. 98. Since it behooved Christ to suffer, as witnessed in Luke XXIV, why were those Jews who procured and assisted in the passion punished? 99. The holy Nicene Synod asserted the truth of the dogmas against the infinite corruptions of the heresies. ^B 100. God, by the mission of His Son to pay the price of redemption and to restore the salvation of the human race, demonstrates both His justice and the abundance of His goodness. 101. An exposition of the Pauline sayings in Rom. I: "God gave them up unto vile affections, being filled with all unrighteousness, etc. God hath given them the spirit of remorse." To "give" and to "deliver" according to the manner and idiom of Holy Scripture signifies the same as to "relinquish" or "permit." 102. Concerning fear and veneration toward the magistrate; from the Pauline admonition, Rom. XIII. 103. The universal Church is the body of Christ; a particular one, e.g., the Church of the Corinthians, is a member of that body in part. From the Epistle to the Corinthians. 104. The calamities of the pious serve as crowns and prizes, and afford them subject matter for exultation. From Paul, Philip. I. 105. Since demons wished to be worshipped as gods, they feigned a pursuit of justice, and demanded it from their worshippers. 106. Concerning the different talents entrusted to men. 107. By what reason the earth is either movable or immovable. 108. Christ on the cross triumphed over the conquered demons. 109. An explanation of the saying of Solomon, Proverb. VI: "He that goeth in to an adulterous woman shall not be innocent; nor any that toucheth her." Touch is a sense more gross and impure than sight, which is more sublime and pure. 110. An exposition of the saying of Ezekiel, VII: "And they shall be on the mountains like doves meditating." A heap of sorrow, it is not permitted to complain. 111. An exhortation to reconciliation and satisfaction, from the precept of Christ, Matt. V, 22, 23. 112. Concerning the saying of Paul, 1 Tim. IV: "Forbidding to marry, etc.," and other scriptural idioms. 113. Concerning the saying of Paul, Hebr. IX, 17: "A testament is of force after men are dead." ^C 114. Concerning the various forms and characters and morals of men. From the Proverbs of Solomon, XXVI, 19. 115. Adultery is far more grievous than theft, especially when committed out of poverty. From the sentiment of Solomon, Proverb. VI. 116. No man is so pious and upright that he is not liable to some fault. Again, no one is so vicious that he has not done some good. Therefore, it is not absurd if we say that Lazarus paid the penalties for his lapses, and that the rich man received the rewards of his righteous acts in this life. 117. Why those with leprosy and other involuntary diseases ^D

^A are commanded to stay outside the camp. Parents are often punished more severely in their children than in themselves. Confer ep. 141 h. l. 118. From what [standard] almsgiving ought to be estimated, namely not so much by the magnitude of what is given, as by the disposition of the one giving. This is proven by the example of the widow in the Gospel, who offered two mites into the treasury. Mark xii, Luke xxi. 119. Men should render honor to women as to the weaker vessel. 1 Pet. iii. 120. How insults are to be healed. 121. For Lazarus, his miseries were the foundation of eternal glory and happiness. 122. On avoiding the lustful gaze upon women. The legitimate struggle is that which God has established; not one which each manages to frame for himself through the error of his own opinion. 123. Who one's neighbor is, namely, any man in need of our help. 124. The human soul is indeed divine and immortal, but it is not God, nor a particle of the essence of God, nor without a beginning. 125. On the immortality of the soul against Galen’s "harmonic lyre" and the temperament of the body; a clear and learned disputation, established by Homeric, Euripidean, and Platonic authorities, and finally sealed by divine oracle and testimony. 126. They are worthy of rebuke and hatred who, having neglected the care for living well, take up perpetual contentions concerning dogmas, and even inquire into and harass with their disputations the divine essence itself. 127. Who are called spiritual by Paul? Who are animal? Who, finally, are carnal? The denomination is taken from the more excellent [part]. 128. Christ offered His head to death of His own accord, when He could easily have evaded it had He wished, whether by His divine power, by which He even raised others from death, or by allegation and defense of innocence, or by the benefit of an appeal. 129. Ten interpretations of the saying of Paul: "He who commits fornication, sins against his own body." 130. How they ought to conduct themselves, both those who hear and those who speak. What is the difference between *koinon* and *ison*, between *amphisbetein* and *philoneikein*; between *eudokimeisthai*, whether it means *eudokimon einai*, or *epaineisthai*, or *enkomiazesthai*; finally, between *hedesthai* and *euphrainesthai*. 132. Pre-knowledge of all things and events would be useless and dangerous to us. 133. The source of every confusion in life and of the exacerbation and contention among men is that the study of the Holy Scriptures is neglected, and each person prefers his own affects to the divine oracles. 134. The Law and the prophets were a preparation for the Gospel. 135. Exposition of the saying of Christ, Matt. x, 41: "He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward." The honorable is to be cultivated for the sake of the honorable itself, not for the sake of any gain, utility, or human glory. 136. "The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force," Matt. xi, Luke xvi; how this is to be understood. 137. Exposition of the saying of Christ, Matt. x: "Be wise as serpents, and simple as doves." To what extent these examples should be taken. 138. Let the soul repel and subdue the assault of sadness with prayers and the meditation of heavenly rewards. 139. What sort the warnings and rebukes of vicious people ought to be, and how they should be employed. Likewise, how the frustration of a good outcome should be borne. 140. A comparison of the Holy Scriptures with the writings of those who are outside the Church. 141. Why He prohibited those suffering from leprosy and other involuntary diseases from entering the camps. Parents are often punished more severely in their children than in themselves. Confer ep. 117 h. l. 142. On the secret and eternal generation of the Son of God from the substance of God the Father. ^B 143. On the difference between a legitimate government and tyranny: the former is referred to the utility of the subjects, the latter to the private utility of the ruler. 144. What the less approvable method of reconciling peace is. 145. He teaches that the office of the priesthood is very difficult to administer rightly, because there are various and manifold diseases of souls, which cannot all be cured by one remedy. Whence even Christ exclaimed, Matt. xxiv and Luke xii: "Who, do you think, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the Lord will set over His household, to give them their allowance [of food]?" 146. Christ, by His advent, taught men the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the flesh, and the future judgment, and thus He stirred up and sharpened them for the pursuit of virtue. Sin is worse than death, and the latter is to be chosen before the former. On the saying of Paul, Hebr. ii, 15. 147. Not Jesus Nave [Joshua], or Joshua, but Jesus Christ brought forth true and solid rest. On the passage of Paul, Hebr. iv, 8 and 9. 148. Those who act iniquitously and wickedly are not to be encouraged in their wickedness by praising and flattering them, but some sense of their wickedness must be induced in them, either by silence or by avoidance, so that they may be corrected. Even the will and impulse in either direction does not lack either reward or punishment, even if the result does not respond. 149. Exposition of the saying of Psalm lix [lx]: "God has spoken once: these two things have I heard," etc. Divine threats of punishments have the condition of repentance tacitly attached to them. 150. By how much more vile and contemptible the weapons with which Christ defeated the devil, by so much more clear and illustrious is His victory, like an athlete bound, and yet a victor. On the saying of Paul, 2 Cor. ii, 2. 151. On the providence of God, who sees all things in heaven and on earth. 152. On the saying of Solomon: "A long-suffering man is great in prudence, but one who is short-tempered is very foolish." 153. In what manner that [saying] of Job is to be understood: "The stars are not clean in His sight." 154. By the advent of Christ, the tyrant devil was compressed; he can no longer harm by force, but only by deception and fraud. Therefore, it is to be ascribed to the fault of those themselves, that they are overcome by him, who submit themselves to him of their own accord. 156. What is the meaning in Isaiah, ch. li: "The cup of ruin and the chalice of fury." 157. On the sense of the saying of Levit. xxi: "He shall not go in upon any dead soul." A dead body or a corpse itself is not impure by itself, nor does it defile: because natural things are outside of fault and crime: which is proven by the place of the relics of Joseph which were translated, and the saying of Solomon. 158. On the saying of Solomon, Prov.: "A just man falls seven times and rises again." 159. Solution of the apparent antinomy between the sayings of Christ: "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works," etc., and "Take care that you do not perform your almsgiving before men." Ostentation should be absent from well-done deeds. An ambitious mind is a plague to a good work. As a torch is accustomed to shine in the dark of night, So virtue beams, knowing not how to hide. Confer ep. 227 inf. h. l. 160. Exposition of the saying of Ezekiel: "I will take away the stony heart from them, and I will give them a heart of flesh": that both are to be understood regarding habit and quality, not regarding substance. 161. On the saying of Prov.: "He stood in every way not good"; and that of Psalm xlviii: "His soul will be blessed in his life. For he will enter into the generation of his fathers," etc. The corrupt judgments of men often call those blessed who are in reality miserable, and vice versa. 162. The Paschal lamb is to be eaten with haste. Study is an action before an action. 163. A distinguished disputation against Origen's dogma concerning

^A a soul which he wished to have sinned before it was sent into a body, but which was thrust into a body for the sake of suffering punishment. Isidore, however, teaches that the orthodox view is that we are established in this life for the sake of the struggle and the contest, so that, by living uprightly, we may obtain rewards. 164. The diabolical abuse of the saying in Psalm 90, rebuked by Christ (Matt. 4). 165. On Christ's saying concerning virginity (Matt. 19:11): “Not all men can receive this saying, but to whom it is given.” 166. On the saying of Paul (Col. 2:17): “In Christ dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily,” that is, essentially. A memorable epistle against the Arians. 167. The wisdom of Daniel and his companions, incomparable to the pride of the Babylonians, set against them by God. 168. On the saying of Paul (Heb. 10:28): Those who sin in the time of grace or are slothful in good works will be punished more severely than those who were once under the law. 169. An exposition of Christ's saying: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.” 170. What kind of remission of sins the Law granted through sacrifices, and which ones it punished by death. 171. We can do nothing rightly without divine aid. But for those who work diligently to the best of their ability, it will never be lacking. 172. The commemoration of noble deeds has great power to stir up souls. 173. One ought not to praise for the sake of favor, nor revile out of hatred, but use a true and sound judgment, unless one wishes to be called possessed of a servile disposition or even to be counted among the number of cattle. 174. To think rightly of God is the highest wisdom; the best action is a life abstaining from vices, and the most divine thing is knowledge. Destitute of these, eloquence is useless. 175. It is often in our power if we seem to be succumbing; injuries are to be borne patiently by Christians, for the greater the rewards proposed to them, the harder the battles imposed. 176. Why Moses prefaced his legislation with the history of the creation of the world, and concerning the rewards of the pious and the punishments of the wicked: namely, that he might prepare and excite their souls by this means to accept and fulfill the law. 177. That persuasion does not lie with the speaker but with the hearer; and therefore, if a speaker has done all that he ought to have done, yet has not achieved his goal, there is no fault in him, and nothing can be imputed to him. See epistle 205. 178. A brilliant encomium of Abraham, who, while he prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac, warred against nature itself and triumphed, being proclaimed a victor by God and the blessed spirits in the heavenly theater. 179. By the example of Christ, injuries are to be borne patiently by Christians. An injury is increased by the dignity of the person upon whom it is inflicted. 180. Christ rightly rebukes the women by whom His passion was bewailed. See epistle 166 and 285 of book 2, and 97 and 128 of book 4. 181. A fourfold interpretation of Christ's saying: “Do not give what is holy to the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” 182. What the various inscriptions of David's Psalms mean. 183. Concerning God and divine matters one ought not to ask: How? See epistle 476, book 1. 184. The wicked will not escape punishment; indeed, they run into it by fleeing, and entangle themselves in their own nets. This is proved by the example of Joab. 185. A rebuke to a man who is tenacious of injuries and difficult to forgive, though he was liberal in distributing money. If you do not remit, it will not be remitted to you. The remission of human faults wins favor before God. 186. The order of created things proves that there is a God, who is the author of this order, to be contemplated not with the eyes but with the mind. 187. A complaint about the perversity of men, who neglect all the aids of nature and grace toward ^B virtue. 188. A rebuke of an avaricious and simoniacal archdeacon, and his recall to duty. 189. The Pharisees unjustly blamed Christ for eating with publicans and sinners. Grace is above the law. 191. He who labors under vice and does not wish to be freed, and furthermore laments those who are freed from it as if they were miserable, is himself worthy of deplored sanity and of pity. 192. Virginity is more excellent than marriage. Virginity fills heaven, marriages fill the earth: Do you doubt which of these is superior in goodness? But if all men were to practice perpetual virginity and abstain from marriage, Paulus Silentiarius writes that the human race would perish in a short time. I shall transcribe his epigram from the Anthology, book 1, title 15, eis gamon (“to marriage”).

[Greek Verse omitted — see facsimile]

That is: Virginity is indeed a precious thing. But if kept by all, it would destroy the entire human race. Why then, marry a wife in due order, and in turn give a man to the world for yourself, and flee from base lust. Or, if you prefer another interpretation from a friend: Virginity is a noble gift; but if it does not supply the world with offspring, a life of celibacy destroys life. Therefore, fleeing from wickedness, choose a bride for yourself, that you may be able to make return to the world with offspring. But I shall say more about the comparison of virginity and marriage in the Annotations. 193. In spiritual matters (unlike in earthly ones), as much as we wish, so much we are able to do. Almsgiving is to be estimated not by the amount given, but by the intention of the mind, according to the example of Christ judging the widow who offered two mites. 194. The vanity of the heathens refutes itself. The fable about Apollo vainly soliciting a chaste maiden for debauchery with his music. 195. This life is one of struggles, the next of rewards. But it is most dangerous to succumb to the emotions and perturbations of the mind. 196. An injury is not that of the one who suffers it, but of the one who does it. No one is hurt except by himself. Christ's example is most effective for breeding in us a tolerance of injuries. See epistle 179 of this book. 197. A wicked man is not to be helped in his wickedness. The same is not to be permitted to natives as to foreigners. 198. Concerning the Persian institution, and the oath which the Persians gave when they had arrived at man's estate. 199. In the future life, the intensity and duration of torments will be able to coincide. Not so in this life; in which that saying carries more weight which is reported of pain by Cicero: If great, it is short; if long, it is light. Although what can be long or lasting in this life, since it is itself short? 200. Not even in wars are actions committed without all blame, because of the highest bond of common nature which exists among all men. 201. The resurrection of bodies is also proved from the justice of God. 202. Christians, being taught by God, having left behind worldly things, ought to meditate only on celestial ones. 203. A rule for interpreting the oracles of the prophets, declared by the illustrious example of Psalm 71, which, although it was written concerning Solomon, yet contains many things which do not apply to Solomon, but become appropriate to Christ, rather, the true Prince of Peace. 204. By how much greater are the rewards proposed to men in the New Testament than once in the Old, by so much greater are the struggles to be endured by them. These two things, struggles and rewards, ought to correspond to each other. 205. With many examples and testimonies he proves that it is not...

in the power of the orator, but in the power of the auditor, for persuasion to follow the speech. Hence, that this must not be imputed to the orator or considered a fault if he fails in his goal, provided that he has omitted nothing of those things which pertain to his duty. 206 Concerning Diana of Ephesus and her image sent down from Jove. 207 Again on the same matter. The signs *diopetē* (things fallen from heaven) and why they are so called. From whence the word *Boētas* (comes). A memorable history concerning Ptolemy, King of Egypt, how he ensured that the sculptors of Diana were cast into a pit, lest that image be seen as made by human hand. 208 Diabolical is the cunning to keep men away from the reading, listening, and study of the Holy Scripture, which distills pure honey, lest good works follow from it. 209 Concerning the difference between the Law and the Gospel. The Law punishes sins committed; the Gospel also obstructs the fountains of sins before they are born. An explanation of the saying of Christ: "It was said to those of old: An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you: Do not resist evil." 210 Virtue is the mean, reduced from vices on both sides. Which is difficult to attain, so that you do not decline to the right or to the left. 211 Concerning the unsearchable majesty of God; an exposition of the saying of Solomon, Prov. xxv, 1: "The glory of the Lord conceals the speech"; and the saying of Habakkuk, iii: "His virtue covered the heavens." 212 Not only with words, but also in action and by life itself, must one philosophize who does not wish to expose himself to mockery. On the saying of Isaiah: "Learn to do good." 213 A prophetic accusation of the impiety of men against God, and of an injustice toward one's neighbor that is clearly inexcusable. He who is deceived regarding things that are manifest seems also to lose faith in things that are hidden and obscure. An exposition of the saying of Ezekiel. 214 The office of judging is most difficult. On that passage of Sirach, vii: "Do not seek to be a judge." Consult Epistle 274, Book I. 215 As a lamp must be nourished by oil, the *didaskalikos* or *prophorikos* (word) must receive nourishment from the internal virtue of the other, which is the *diatheto* (disposed). On the saying of Christ: "Let your lamps be burning." 216 The contradiction is solved, or rather, the *enantiophanes* (apparent opposition) that exists between these two sayings of Christ: "Unless your justice abounds more than that of the Scribes"; and: "Woe to you, Scribes." 217 On the saying of Christ, John ii, 19: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 218 It is taught that these two sayings do not contradict each other: "Do not be anxious how or what you are to speak" (Matt. x; Mark xiii; Luke xii); "Ready always to give an answer" (I Petr. iii). The incredible and invincible constancy of the martyrs. Wise disciples for wisdom. 219 The great difficulty of the sacerdotal or episcopal office. On the saying of Paul, I Tim. iii: "If anyone desires the episcopate, he desires a good work." Consult Epistle 216, Book II, which is written to the same Palladius. 220 Peace with all, as far as it is in us, is to be cultivated. Rom. xii. That no one should hate us is not in our power: but this is in our power, that no one should justly hate us, the cause of hatred evidently not being provided by us. Consult ep. 211, Book II, and ep. 50, Book II. 221 The reading and study of the sacred Scriptures, as if they were the fountains of Israel, ought to be preferred to other things. 222 Virtue is immortal, and alone makes man blessed. It testifies that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and likewise of David and other holy men, even those whose life has ended, cares for its own. 223 How *thymos* (wrath) and *orgē* (anger) differ. 224 A commendation of the writings of John Chrysostom, and a rebuke of the slothful man who is negligent of them. 225 The testimony of Josephus, historian of the Jews, concerning Christ, Book XVIII of the Antiquities. Testimony from an enemy has great force. 226 It is not enough to overcome heretics, pagans, and Jews by the truth of religion unless we also lead a better life. For faith without works is dead. 227 From right actions let ostentation be absent. A good deed is not a good deed if it is not done well. A doubt is resolved. Since it cannot be that a good work is hidden, why did Christ forbid us to give alms before men? 228 With how many various icons Sirach represents Wisdom. 229 How much the advent of Christ in the flesh has brought. A very grave rebuke of a man laboring under incorrigible depravity. 230 The pride of King Sennacherib divinely punished and repressed, with him, after his army was destroyed and his shameful flight, murdered at home by his own people.

ARGUMENTS OF BOOK IV

^A 49. That good things are to be praised without ostentation. 50. Since heavenly things excel earthly ones, they are therefore to be embraced. 51. What the devil suggests is to be avoided. 52. On a monody written against the wicked. 53. He sends a monody written against others. 54. Virtue is to be pursued so that you may conquer the enemy. 55. Detestation of avarice. Cf. ep. 67. 56. Blessed are those who suffer persecution, Matt. v, 10. 57. He exhorts against vices and wickedness. 58. Hope is the anchor of life. Cf. epist. 50 and 58. 59. That Zosimus delirates in his lineage. 60. A false estimation of oneself. 61. The power of demonstration in arguing. 62. The duty of a parent and teacher is not to practice sycophancy. 63. Virtue is its own reward. 64. What the nature of the diet and grooming of the body should be. 65. On these words of Matthew v, 28: “He who looks at a woman,” etc. 66. That adverse things are most useful to man. 68. On the purpose of temptation. Cf. epist. 19 and 226. 69. Hope commended again, as in epist. 50 and 58. 70. One must be content with one's own lot. 71. Job’s patience in calamity is proposed, and poverty. 72. On eternal blessedness. “Eye has not seen,” etc., Isaiah lxiv, 4; 1 Cor. ii, 6: “And the sufferings are not worthy,” Rom. viii, 18; 2 Cor. iv, 17. Cf. epist. 152. 73. On the saying of the seven wise men: “Nothing in excess.” 74. On the distinction of those who pray. Cf. epist. 159. 75. On ingratitude, and the accusation of a soul. 76. Who is truly brave. 77. The judgment of the wicked acts of men upon their survivors and descendants. Cf. ep. 53, to the same. 78. On the reward of the future life. Above, epist. 72. 79. Alms from what is justly gained are pleasing to God. 80. One must act cautiously in reasoning. 81. He exhorts to virtue. 82. On that word of Paul: “Each will receive his own reward,” 1 Cor. iii, 8 and 14. 83. Who is the best companion. 85. Thieves are an example in keeping justice and fidelity. Cicero, 1 De Officiis. 86. He exhorts against taking revenge. 87. On the word of Isaiah: “Why did I fear?” ch. xl, 14. 88. Who is an upright and brave man. Cf. epist. 76. 89. On good and bad priests. Cf. ep. 37 and 268. 90. On retaliation in accusing. 91. A passage of Paul to the Hebrews, ch. iv, 8, concerning Joshua. 92. Why he deemed a warning should be renewed. 93. He exhorts to constancy in the good. Cf. ep. 153. 94. Adverse things are to be tolerated patiently. Cf. ep. 193. 95. A comparison of virtues and of milder things. 96. On the various pursuits of reward or punishment. Cf. ep. 325. 97. On the force of truth. 98. A eulogy on agriculture. 99. Old age tempering lust. Cicero, De Senectute. 100. That evils are to be borne. 102. By whom eloquence is hated. 104. The evil of avarice. 103. On the vices of certain people. 105. He exhorts to good fruit. 107. The life of mortals is fleeting. 106. Virtue is to be cultivated. 108. Works should not be secondary pursuits. 109. Praise for those endowed with virtue. 111. Whence the term “pardon” is derived. Matt. v, 29. ^B 112. Eternal things compared with earthly ones. “Lay up for yourselves treasures,” Matt. vi, 19. 113. He exhorts to almsgiving. Above, 76. Cf. ep. 181. 114. What pilgrimage is salutary. 115. Who is more worthy of praise, the one who is insolent in prosperity, or the one who is constant in adversity. 116. On the wicked deeds of Zosimus. Above, 103 and 195. 117. On the power of fate, whether it depends on the mind. Cf. lib. iii, epist. 135. 118. An exhortation to the amendment of life. The greatest victory is over oneself. 119. On what matters the tongue should be well used; below, epist. 453. 120. Procrastination and spreading things out is vicious. 121. On Laconic speech. 123. Virtue is to be held among good things. 124. Calumny is to be restrained. 125. He invites to frequent correspondence. 126. A comparison of his own age with antiquity. Cf. ep. 11 and 27. 127. A commendation of humility. 128. Who is spiritual and who is animal. Cf. epist. 127, lib. iv, to Nilus. 129. On fraternal correction. 130. On the good of hope and God’s promises. 131. That no thanks is given to those who admonish. 132. On that text: “Do not give what is holy to dogs,” etc. Matt. vii, 6 and xv, 29. Above, epist. 31. 133. On the epistolary style. See Nazianzen, epist. 134. On anger and avarice. See epist. 142. 135. On ignorance and self-love. 136. The distinction between evil and good. 137. On that word of Matt. v, 46: “If you love those who love you,” etc. 138. Blessed are you when men shall revile you. Matt. v, 11. 139. That one sins by watching as well as by doing. 140. Which of Eusebius’ vices are to be censured. Cf. ep. 16. 141. That a private life is safer. 142. Against avarice. Cf. ep. 55, 67 and 34. 143. The enemy of friendship. 144. One must never cease from the spiritual struggle. 145. The four virtues of speaking well, from Hermogenes’ types. 146. On the modest restraint of the eyes. Cf. ep. 17. 147. On Eusebius again, for ordaining wrongly. Above, epist. 16 and 140. 148. That decorum is to be observed at table. 149. That you should wish to be what you are. It is better to be good than to seem so to the wicked. 151. One must follow in the footsteps of the pious. 152. On the glory of the future life and this one. Cf. ep. 12. 153. He exhorts to constancy. Below, epist. 93. 154. How the hostile mind is to be conquered. 155. A dialogism. 156. On examining the mind. 157. The easy loss of a tomb. 158. In what the highest of goods consists. 159. Three types of sinners are compared. On that word of Paul, Rom. i, 32: “Not only those who do them,” etc. Cf. epist. 74. 160. It is a disgrace for a teacher when the fault refutes him. Cf. epist. 196 and 230. 161. A private life is better than being pointed at by everyone’s fingers. 162. On the three necessities of the Christian life: prayer, virtue, and faith. On two passages of Paul, Gal. faith and speech, ii, 17. And that: “Faith without works,” etc. James ii, 17. 163. A consolation on the death of a brother. 164. He invites the Gentiles to virtue and piety by examples. 165. On the vices of Zosimus. Above, epist. 105, 116. 166. On the patience of martyrs. 167. A man who flees can fight again. 168. What things are necessary for a prince. Solon used to say to two...

that the republic is contained by reward and punishment. Cicero, ep. to Brutus. He offers this epistle; Suidas in 'Iwáv. Αντιοχ. 169. Each man is better ruled by another. Confer Greg. Nyssen. c. 24, book De virginitate. 170. It is soon enough, if it is well enough. 171. One must not judge rashly. 172. On the office of a faithful friend. 173. From a look, love is born; on that of Matthew v, 28: "Whoever shall look at a woman." 174. He exhorts the brothers to piety. 175. The end must be regarded. 176. Let him who speaks against another be free of the vice. Above, epist. 160, 196. 177. On the same matter. 178. He who restrains himself from lesser vices will also restrain himself from greater ones. 179. On the resurrection of the flesh. 180. On moderating anger. 181. On that of Sirach 11, 33: "Alms expiate sin." Above, epist. 79, 113. 182. Gifts blind even the wise. 183. That some make a show of giving alms, but do not give. 184. Sharp in troubles, dull in good things. 185. He exhorts to withdraw from games and spectacles, as in epist. 517. 186. On the same matter, deterring from spectacles. 187. An inquiry into the nature of the soul. Soon, epist. 101. 188. That virtue consists in the mean. 189. Anger is to be moderated: for fury is a brief madness. 190. On fraternal correction. Above, epist. 129. 191. An inquiry into the affections of the soul. Above, epist. 1, 187. 192. On the status of one who delivers a friend’s letter. 193. "It becomes us to fulfill all righteousness," Matt. iii, 15. 194. He advises changing life for the better. 195. He praises patience in adversity. Confer epist. 94. 196. On the errors of Eusebius, bishop of Pelusium. Confer epist. 16, 140, 147, 230, 250. 197. Whether Jews are to be called children of adoption. 198. A graphic description is praised. 199. Vituperation of a wicked man, while suppressing his name. 200. Against the excessive adornment of women. Confer epist. 66, of the book, and above, epist. 25. 201. Sermons are not to be held for show, but for the instillation of virtue. 202. Xenophon's judgment on Socrates. 203. How ἄβουλος and ἀβούλητος differ. 204. What is the duty of a judge. A beautiful gradation of a judged matter. 205. The power of friendship. Confer epist. 143. 206. He exhorts to fraternal concord. 207. The power of mutual love. 208. He congratulates one who has returned to a good moral state. 209. One must not judge others rashly. 210. What a great crime it is to misappropriate the alms of others. 211. He desires a pagan to be converted. 212. He thinks a certain man should be sent away to the country so he does no harm. 213. One must persuade by examples rather than words. Confer epist. 235, 508. 214. In speaking, one must be circumspect; below, epist. 119, 455. 215. On the rashness of Zosimus, and the future judgment of God. Confer epist. 103, 116. 216. On the praise of the monk Theodosius; below, epist. 494. 217. On the various genera of rhetoric. Confer epist. 145. 218. Virginity is more worthy than marriage. Confer epist. 203. 219. On the vices of Zosimus and his companions, and what follows; ep. 220. 221. On the punishment of this life and the next. In the same book 2, ep. 203. ^B 222. On the same matter in the distribution of reward. 223. A comparison of virtue and vice. 224. Avarice is to be shunned. Above, epist. 55, 67, and 142. 225. He who has obeyed well, the same will rule rightly. Aristotle, Plato, and others. Confer ep. 435 and the notes there. 226. On the good of temptations, and on that of Christ: "Pray that you enter not into temptation." Confer epist. 59 and 68. 227. We avenge the injuries done to us. But we neglect those of God. 228. He invites the judge to justice. 229. Virtue, although laborious, is to be practiced by the hope of reward. 230. On Eusebius, bishop of Pelusium. Confer epist. 16, 147, 196, 249, 250. 231. How the young and the old are to be prepared for death. 232. On punishing an injury moderately. 233. A deed moves more than a speech; above, ep. 213. 234. One should be indulgent to the vices of friends. Each person’s own faults should be considered; above, ep. 22. 235. Each man struggles with his own self-love. 236. That custom seems to be a second nature. That wicked men are to be avoided. 237. Temperance is the mother of health. 238. On just reproof. Confer ep. 129 and 190. 239. The obstinate character of heretics. 240. Virtue must be joined to doctrine. 241. Chastity is to be cultivated, but fornication and adultery avoided. 242. To think of evil, let alone to do it, is a crime. 243. Virtue is difficult. Confer epist. 229. 244. On the brevity of human life. Confer above, epist. 107, 163. 245. On the degrees of comparison among grammarians. 246. To slander the dead is a crime. 247. The vices of lust are to be avoided; above, ep. 241. 248. On the fear of God and of men. Confer ep. 227. 249. On human senses and Eusebius, bishop of Pelusium, as above, epist. 250. 250. A comparison of a legislator and an exhorter. Confer ep. 131. 251. The distinction between the humble and the proud. Confer ep. 127. The varying characters of men. 252. The fame and memory of the good is perennial. Below, epist. 118. 253. Concerning the good of virginity surpassing marriage. Confer epist. 218. 254. It is very useful to endure adversities in life. 255. The distinction between a king and a tyrant. 256. On the evil of envy. 257. He invites one to good fruit; one must acquiesce to the counsel of good men. Above, epist. 105. 258. Philosophy surpasses eloquence. 259. Human things yield to divine. 260. An exhortation to patience. See below, epist. 269, and above, 254. 261. Public sins and scandals are punished by God. 263. The best method of teaching is simple, without arrogance. 264. On the active or busy life, and the contemplative. Confer epist. 110. 265. It is the duty of one who teaches and preaches to act first, then to teach. Confer epist. 213 and 223. 266. Time slips away. One must take account of it. 267. When punishment is to be inflicted. Above, epist. 42. 268. Royal and priestly dignity provide mutual assistance. Confer epist. 278, and book of ep. 234, and book 4, ep. 219; John Chrysostom on the comparison of a king and a monk. 269. To endure adversities is healthy for body and soul. Confer epist. 25 and 160. 270. Temptations, by the example of Job, are for salvation. Confer ep. 59, 98, 71 and 260. 271. Riches, honor, and human prudence are fleeting.

^A 272. On those who oppose the priesthood. 273. Virtue is to be honored. The double-hearted are especially to be greatly lamented. 274. He invites [one] to repentance. 275. One’s own faults are to be corrected before criticizing those of others. Confer ep. 176, 177, and 196. 276. On the prevalence of Simony, or the venality of the priesthood: concerning which also see book 1, ep. 149 and 151, and book 2, ep. 394. Below, epist. 336. 277. One who spares an enemy is truly magnanimous. 278. On the dignity of the priesthood. Above, epist. 268. 279. Affairs should be managed with gentleness, in the manner of a physician. Below, epist. 346. 280. Grace is gained by repaying good for evil. Rom. 12:20: “So you shall heap coals of fire upon his head.” Above, epist. 23. 281. On a simple but learned prayer of the Holy Scripture. 282. By the will of God, the righteous are often afflicted in this world. Confer ep. 56 and 186. 283. Virtue is often held in place of vice, and vice in place of virtue. 284. Virtue is sustained by the hope of reward. Above, epist. 63, 130. 285. It is better not to war than to rely on subsidies. Confer ep. 448. 286. What is the difference between *nouthetein* (admonishing) and *elgein* (persuading). Confer ep. 347. 287. On those who commit suicide. 288. Three ranks of good men: the free, the mercenary, and the servants. Below, ep. 296. 289. The wise man avoids the snares of the wicked. 290. On the office of the monitor. Why Heli was punished by God along with his sons. 291. One must flee from the lustful gaze of women. Confer ep. 65, 173. 292. “Love your enemies,” Matt. 5:44. 293. The various senses of the Holy Scripture. 294. Envy is a companion to glory. 295. On the reading of the Holy Scripture, and that the wicked do not become so due to the fault of the text itself. ^C 296. On the various temperaments of men. See ep. 114 of book 3, and above, 228. 297. One should not be arrogant concerning the priesthood. 298. Virtue is liable to slander. 299. Who rightly follows in the footsteps of Saint Paul. 300. On the prophet Samuel. 301. On the etymology of the steward. “Stewards of the mysteries of God,” 1 Cor. 4. 302. The difference between this life and the future life. Confer ep. 32, 112. 303. Thanks are to be rendered to God, the Best and Greatest, to the best of one's ability. 304. The wicked rejoice when they have done evil. 305. He who has lived concealed, has lived well. 306. Flee from luxury as the adversary of temperance. 307. The kindness of God, the Best and Greatest, toward those who sin. 308. The word of God is to be spoken sincerely. 309. What the virtues of speech are. 310. Celestial and earthly things differ. Above, 302. 311. He invites [one] to good fruit and reputation. 312. One should act kindly, and not out of pretense. 313. On the office of the judge. Confer epist. 204, and Philo the Hebrew, *On the Judge*. 314. On the benefit of temptation. Above, epist. 39, 68, 71, 226, 270. 315. That society may be perpetual. 316. The life of mortals is subject to calamities. 317. The instruction of children in virtue and modesty. Confer epist. 9. 318. The praise of truth. The ugliness of a lie. 319. The appearance of women is dangerous. Confer epist. 63, 173, and 291. 320. The kindness of God is to be proclaimed. 321. Scandals are to be avoided by the priest, as in the following epistles and book 2, epist. 121. 322. That the sins of priests are greater than those of laymen. ^D 170 323. It is the duty of priests to be concerned for their subjects. The sins of the greater are more grievous. 325. On the reward of the good and the punishment of the wicked. Confer epist. 96. 326. The good falsely accuse no one, but are themselves liable to it. Why the wicked are free from slander. Confer epist. 541. 327. Care for and concern regarding eternal salvation. 328. Modesty of life is commended in all things. 329. A comparison of the soul and the body: we use the former for command, the latter for service. The brevity of life commands us to be vigilant. Matt. 25. On the immortality of souls. Confer epist. 45 of book 1, and book 4, epist. 124, 126, 146. 330. Custom carries the force of nature. Above, 236. 331. On the sign of the three graces. 332. He who accepts a benefit, sells his liberty. 333. In the giving of benefits, the intention is to be praised. 334. Even slow minds make progress by learning. 335. “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is,” etc. Matt. 5:48. The manner of imitation is inferior. 336. On the desire for or contempt of glory. 337. Still concerning one who is truly eager for glory. 338. Again on the desire for glory and magnificence. 339. Effort is to be given to humility. Confer epist. 127 and 251. 340. What an exhortation ought to be like. Confer epist. 290. 341. The good are subject to envy. Above, epist. 326. 342. A complaint concerning three who act wickedly. 343. Why it often goes poorly for the good. 344. On the art of speaking. Above, ep. 309. 345. What the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are in the Gospel. Confer epist. 206 of book 3. 346. He invites [one] to a good frame of mind, away from lust. 347. From where *aponoia* (folly/madness) is derived, and *nouthesia* (admonition). Confer ep. 286. 348. On the office of the teacher. Above, epistol. 213, 233, 263, 265, 290. 349. The humble man blushes when praised. 350. The beauty of body and soul. 351. One must excel others in humility. Confer ep. 127, 339, 349. 352. A parent is to be obeyed deservedly. 353. Laws are to be feared. 354. Things are judged by their effect. 355. Deference is to be shown to antiquity. 356. On the long-suffering of God. 357. On the same subject. 358. Concerning Hermogenes the bishop, and what one should think of his life. Confer epist. 378, 448, 466. 359. That God is not changed is shown in the Holy Scriptures. 360. A measure is to be employed in speaking and writing. 361. The wicked person renounces friendship. 362. The distinction between the good and the wicked in the reward. Above, epist. 82, 96, 325, and subsequent epistles. 364. Again, on the reward of the future life. 365. The judgment of God is far too different from our own. Confer ep. 74 and 156. 366. On the good of tribulation. See *The Good of Temptation*. Above, ep. 39, 68, 71, 226, 270, 314. 367. On the trophy of the cross of Christ and divine vengeance. “The powerful shall powerfully suffer torments.” Sapient. 6:7, 27. 368. “Depart from evil and do good.” Psalm 34:27. 369. Nothing is to be deferred too much. The evil arts of the devil. 370. Who is truly a victor. Confer epist. 76 and 88. 371. God honors his own beyond what they deserve. 372. Who is best suited to preside over the republic. *Demagogos* (a leader of the people). 373. He invites [one] again to good fruit. Above, epist. 105 and 311. 374. Virtue is to be embraced. 375. Interrogation in the Holy Scriptures makes the speech more vehement. 376. Again concerning questions in teaching, with the example of physicians. Confer epist. 279.

^A 377. "He who could have transgressed, and has not transgressed." Eccli. XXXI, 10. 378. The praise of the good priest Hermogenes, bishop, and the censure of Eusebius. See ep. 358. 379. Who are to be ordained as priests. 380. One must devote himself to one art in order to excel. 381. Those who take are often taken. 382. Pride attaches to one who is rising from a lowly condition. In success the spirit is not to be lifted up, nor should it be drowned in adversity. Confer epist. 115. 383. Learn to preside justly; "Against Thee only have I sinned." Ps. L. 384. Let the body obey, and the mind command. Confer epist. 329, and lib. IV, epist. 4, 126, 146. 385. The extremes of fortitude are audacity and timidity. 386. Concerning the law of war and retribution. 387. Self-knowledge is the first path to wisdom; from Plato’s *Alcibiades I*. 388. A eulogy for Timothy, who has completed his life, like a funeral oration; concerning whom see also lib. II, epist. 155. 389. He expostulates again concerning the wicked inhabitants of Trier. 390. Contempt for gain, and a good reputation. 391. In excessive grief, stupor and silence often result. Virgil: "He was struck dumb, and his hair stood on end." 392. Virtue makes men famous and eternal. 393. He accuses those guilty of simony and the merchandising of benefices. See epist. 266, and others in lib. I and lib. III. 394. Who is to be considered prudent. 395. Who is truly a king, and who a tyrant. See ep. 255. 396. One should congratulate those who die well. 397. Who are to be avoided in life. 398. Concerning the virtue of patience. What ought to be done in persecution. Confer epist. 39, 71. 399. Regard must be had for time. Opportunity is not to be neglected. Confer epist. 296. 400. Against evil shepherds who devour the flock. Ezekiel XXXIV. 401. The power of truth and candor. 403. Grief and joy are to be tempered. 404. Regard must be had for health. Confer lib. II, ep. 238; but here epist. 528. 405. Inviting to repentance for sins. See epist. 274. 406. In praise of virtue, and the following epistle. ^B 407. The distinction between a great soul and a narrow one. Confer epist. 152, lib. IV, at the place Prov. XIV, 29. 408. On the contempt of riches. 409. On the pursuit of glory. See ep. 336, 337, 338. 410. Again concerning glory. How *philodoxos* (lover of glory) and *kenodoxos* (vainglorious) differ. 411. Concerning the various movements of the human soul. Confer epist. 1. 412. A discussion on the use of wine. The evils of drunkenness. 413. On the utility of virtue. Confer ep. 406, 407. 414. How epitaphs should be written. 415. That an injury ought to be forgiven. 416. He exhorts one to be frugal, as in the three following epistles, and 311, 455, 562. 417. The distinction between freedom of speech and impudence. See below, epist. 453. 418. Concerning the excellence of the priesthood. See epist. 268, lib. II, epist. 234, lib. IV, ep. 219, and this epistle follows. 419. What is necessary in the camp. 420. Concerning Eutinius the deacon. 421. Against the vices of one who was rashly ordained by Eusebius. Confer epist. 532. 421. Rest accompanies labor. 422. One must forgive the faults of others. See above, epist. 416. 423. A rebuke of a shameful life. 424. To know is to understand a thing through its causes. Aristotle, *in Analytica*. 425. The fearful vicissitude of things. Cf. epist. 495. 426. "Everyone that doeth evil, hateth the light." John III, 20. 427. What a paradox is. ^C 428. Against the proud and those elated by vanity. 436. He argues against an unjust priesthood, and the following epistle, and 440. 438. On the desire for glory. Confer epist. 336, 337, 338, 410, 411, and the next epistle. 440. Concerning the vicious life of Zosimus again. Therefore he is to be commended to God by prayers. See epist. 437 and epist. 2. 441. The customs of the Gentiles compared with our own. Confer epist. 164. 442. An orator does not always persuade. See below, epist. 547. 443. The motions of joy and grief. 444. On the three types of speaking—high, middle, and low—from Homer. That life persuades more than speech. Confer ep. 213, 233, 265, 508. 445. That vice is easier than virtue. He invites one to a good frame of mind. Confer lib. II, epist. 240. 446. Again concerning the vices of Zosimus. 447. Concerning riches. See below, epist. 450. 448. The praise of Hermogenes, bishop. Confer epistol. 358, and below 466. 449. The distinction of goods and evils while they are being praised. 450. What true riches are. 451. Concerning the character of Eusebius, bishop of Pelusium, about whom see often elsewhere; see below 470. 452. One must devote oneself to one art. See above, epist. 380. 453. One must not speak evil, nor abuse the tongue. ^D See above, ep. 129, 214, 421. 454. Concerning Mithridates the King, and his alexipharmic poisons; Martial, lib. V, Epigram 79. 455. He who has obeyed rightly, commands well. Confer epist. 225, Aristotle and Plato, etc. 456. He commends one to strive as in the Olympics, or in the ascetic exercises of religion. 458. He commends the rhetorician Harpocras, to whom the opening of the school is to be entrusted. 459. By laboring, not by wishing through prayers, knowledge is prepared, with the help of God implored. The praise of virtues. 460. Whether virtue is difficult, as in the following epistle. 462. It is better for the intemperate [man] to be loved than feared. 463. The study of the theater is to be avoided. 464. Friends are not to be deserted. 465. Let arms yield to the toga. Cicero, *1 De Officiis*, and against in *Mureniana*. 466. A eulogy of Hermogenes, bishop, as also above in ep. 152, lib. IV. 467. Who is useful in teaching. 468. The proud and the haughty are to be brought low. 469. The solidity of good things is pleasing. 470. Concerning the errors of Eusebius, bishop of Pelusium, see above epist. 451, and lib. I, epist. 241, lib. II, epist. 50, and 121; lib. III, epistol. 97, 178, and 367; lib. IV, epistol. 48. 471. He exhorts to virtue and fortitude. 472. It is the greatest wickedness to offend God. 473. Concerning fame and a good reputation. 474. That injuries must be borne. 475. True speech excels flowery speech. 476. He invites them to a fruitful life. See above, epistol. 311, 445. 477. Who is to be considered learned and wise. Virtue is like the fruit, but eloquence is like the leaves; whence the leaf (*phyllon*) is so named. 478. Concerning the vices of Zosimus and his companions. See below, epist. 482. How much truth ought to be valued. 479. Those who are truly famous and illustrious truly labor under the envy of the good. 480. Virtue is to be prepared by the constancy of labor. 481. Who are to be ordained to the priesthood. 482. Concerning the wickedness of Zosimus and his companions. One must pray for them. See epist. 2, 437, 440. 483. That although the strength may be wanting, the will is to be praised. Confer epist. 275. 484. The distinction between waging war and the military alliance. 485. Concerning that [saying] of Ecclesiastes: "Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity." Eccle. I, 2.

486. Concerning a certain person whom those to whom he is writing had intended to accuse. 487. "Give, and it shall be given to you." 488. There is no satiety to riches. 489. He who says what he wishes, hears what he does not wish. 490. The distinction between continence and virginity. 491. One must not harm the tongue of the dead. 492. Place and time aggravate a sin. 493. No one is harmed except by himself. Similar to the sayings of Epictetus. 494. The monk Theodosius, concerning whom see above, epistle 216. 495. Concerning the vicissitudes of all things. See above, epistle 431. 496. He accuses gluttony and voracity. 497. Who should be truly called wise. 498. One’s own good should not be preferred to the public good. 499. To be mocked by others. 500. Heavenly things are to be meditated upon. Confer epistle 485. 501. It is easy to be led astray. 502. The faint-hearted are overcome by fear, the strong by adulation. ^A 503. The desire for honor. 504. Do you wish to be honored? Flee from honor. 505. Whence is the word *ethopia* derived among the Greeks? 506. To be accustomed from one's youth is of great importance. 507. Vices are to be touched upon modestly. 508. Regarding that [saying]: "They say, and do not do," Matt. XXIII, 3. "Doing is more persuasive than speaking." See above, epistles 213, 233, 265. 509. How spiritual and corporal warfare differ. 510. Concerning almsgiving. Confer epistles 76, 115, 181, 183, 210. 511. Even luxury is to be shunned for the sake of health. 512. The fluctuations and misery of human life. 513. The poor are by no means to be despised. 514. One should do good to others willingly, not under constraint. 515. The associations of the wicked are to be avoided. 516. Concerning the virtue of patience. 517. He exhorts against spectacles, as in epistles 185, 186. 518. Who is illustrious in glory. 519. Who is wise and wiser. See above, epistle 477. 520. What is most important to learn. 521. Certain people are persuaded in vain. 522. Concerning the contempt of glory. See above, epistles 503, 504. 523. Virtue is praised and suffers from the cold. See above, epistle 44, and below, 537. 524. He who acts badly does not wish to be rebuked. 525. Believe, but see to which teacher you commit yourself. 526. One should not abuse the long-suffering of God. 527. Virtue is not to be preached so much as it is to be practiced. See above, epistle 523. 528. Concerning bodily exercise and the preservation of health, the opinions of Isocrates the orator and Hippocrates the physician. See above, epistle 404. 529. Virtue will be useful in both [lives]. 530. Each person judges others from himself, as Zosimus is accustomed to do. 531. Concerning the same matter. 532. Concerning Eusebius, bishop of Pelusium, who ordained Zosimus. See above, epistle 426. 533. "The kingdom of heaven suffers violence," Matt. XI, 12. See epistle 546. 534. Concerning Zosimus, as I believe, written [things]. See above, epistle 510. 535. Unworthy of the priesthood. 536. Concerning the friendship of Zosimus. 537. Care of the soul is superior to care of the body. 538. Laconism is praised. Confer epistle 121. 539. God pardons the sinner. 540. Who are to be considered faint-hearted. 541. What it is to philosophize. 542. Grace is not to be corrupted. 543. He urges abstention from a falsely conducted embassy, regarding which Demosthenes accuses Aeschines in his oration *On the False Embassy*. ^B 544. What is the value of history. 545. Riches do not satisfy. Confer epistle 488 and Theognis, verse 135; Solon, verse 99; and Clement of Alexandria, *Stromata*, book VI. 546. Honor and eternal life are acquired by labor. Confer epistle 533. 547. An orator does not always persuade. Confer epistle 442. 548. A soul endowed with virtue is like a fortress. 549. The long-suffering of God invites to repentance. See above, epistle 526. 550. God is the supreme physician. 551. He consoles in adversities. 552. One ought to forgive even him who does not ask. 553. The mind should be cultivated more than the tongue. 554. Who has truly set up trophies. 555. The beauty of virtue, the foulness of sin. 556. Some are cured more quickly, others more slowly. 557. He exhorts to constancy. The power of fame. 558. How philosophy is to be defined; Plutarch, *Concerning the Opinions of the Philosophers*, book I, chapter 1. 559. One should yield to envy. The envious person wastes away because of others' good. 560. What is the certain rule of friendship. 561. Those who are faint-hearted and have a bad conscience. 562. He invites to good fruit. See above frequently. 563. One should serve virtue rather than glory. 564. Concerning the different dispositions of Eutonius and Eusebius. 565. An elegant comparison of virtue and vice *side by side*. 566. How great is the power of truth. 567. Who deserves pardon when sinning. 568. Concerning the different office of the judge and the advocate. 569. [He] censures the vices of Zosimus until the very end, and considers him unworthy of the priesthood and to be kept away from sacred things. ^C

Regarding the authors praised by Isidore, see the Index at the end of the volume.

INDEX OF SCHOLIA

To Book V of the Epistles of St. Isidore of Pelusium

Agriculture is praised by Xenophon and Pliny, ep. 98. ^A A physician of others, yourself teeming with ulcers, 296, 275. Silence often breaks off friendship, from Aristotle, 125. Aphrodisius, brother of the presbyter Didymus, 28. Arpocras the rhetorician and Arphocras in ancient manuscripts, 48. He commands well who has obeyed well, from Plato, Aristotle, and Isocrates, 455. Why the three Graces are depicted naked, 331. Verses of the poet Choerilus on the drop hollowing out the stone, 238. Bodily exercise is useful, from Isocrates and Hippocrates, 528. Why is the raven a bird of ill omen [μισότεχνος], 569? The epistolary character, from Demetrius Phalereus, 133. Bodily exercise is useful, from Hippocrates and Isocrates, 528. ^B That Jesus was scourged for our sins in the Sacred Scriptures, 270. The Graces are virgins in Plato, naked. What Socrates says about them, 251. The drop hollows out the stone. A saying of the poet Choerilus and of Ovid, 236. Homer has three styles of speaking, as do the rhetoricians, 444. Horace praises the rustic life, 98. The passage of Job cited, 162, 270. The place of Isocrates to Demonicus, 187. Judas did not profit from the admonitions of Christ, 20. Hemerocalles, the flower of the field lily, Dioscorides, Theophrastus, and Pliny, 563. The silence of letters often breaks off friendship, 125. The epistolary character of Libanius, 133. How great is the sin of those who lay hands upon themselves, 287. Nazianzen on the epistolary style to Nicobulus, 133. He who has been obedient before will rightly command, as the philosophers teach, 455. "Omógnios adelphos," a brother by blood, 12. "Parthenos" and "kore," both girl, virgin, and pupil [of the eye], 146. Three plagues of human life according to Plato in the Alcibiades: ignorance, negligence, and arrogance, 377. Phrynone, according to Laertius in the Life of Pittacus, ep. 63. Pittacus built a mill, 6. The Pythagoreans, for one who had fallen away from their sect, used to set up a cenotaph, according to Origen, Clement, and Nazianzen, 53. What constitutes Sacred Scripture, according to Nazianzen, 295. Passage of Thucydides, book III, 186. What are the three plagues of human life, 387. Three styles of speaking, 444. Human affairs are a shadow, according to the poets, 244. Telos for ineptitudes, 199. [index: entries preserved]

OF OUR HOLY FATHER ISIDORE OF PELUSIUM: FIVE BOOKS OF EPISTLES ON THE INTERPRETATION OF DIVINE SCRIPTURE

Translated by Jacobus Billius Prunaeus.

BOOK ONE. ^A I. TO NILUS THE MONK.

Holy men, the princes and leaders of the monastic philosophy, from the toils and struggles they undertook, and from the suitable designations for their actions ^B—

VARIED READINGS AND NOTES

* "On the interpretation of divine Scripture." I have added this title to the whole work from a Bavarian manuscript, since it was absent from the Parisian edition. That it is authentic, Suidas also indicates in the entry for "Isidore," saying that among other things he wrote "three books of epistles interpreting divine Scripture." For although not all of Isidore's epistles interpret some passage of the sacred and divine Scripture, but some are exhortatory toward piety and probity, others dehortatory from vices and depravity, and others are scolding and polemical against evil men, and some are historical—so that this new inscription might seem to apply equally to all these—nevertheless, it is enough to defend the title to say that the greatest part of the work is consumed by that subject, so that here too the whole matter is named after that which is most broadly and significantly present in it. But could there be any subject more sublime and worthy of a Christian man? Would that it had pleased Isidore to treat it by established rules, certain and general observations delivered in order, rather than in a miscellany, as it is called, via examples, since as Seneca bears witness, the journey by the latter is long, by the former more concise. Yet there have not been lacking, even in our own age, learned and pious men who, with a certainly laudable effort, teach the art of interpretation and illustrate it with memorable examples of controversial passages. Among the ancient writers, I know hardly any other than Hadrian who left us an introduction to this art. I shall, at another time, separately publish this booklet, which has been edited in Greek only by our D. Hoeschelius, in both Greek and Latin. RITTHERSHUSIUS.

* The work of great value entitled *Isidoriana Collationes* has provided us with a most ample variety of readings, by which all the epistles of S. Isidore of Pelusium are compared with many ancient manuscripts of the best quality and are therefrom supplemented or corrected in about two thousand places. From the Barberini Library. Rome, 1670, in-8.

We subjoin the Editor's Preface.

Petrus Possinus of the Society of Jesus to his friend Philisidore sends greetings.

If one were to be rightly instructed by a master of ancient agriculture: "Nor wilt thou disdain the care of the Pelusian lentil," (VIRG., *Georg.* 1) would not any person of sound judgment more justly admonish him not to consider the rich harvests and fertile autumns of the Pelusian sky and soil, the vineyards better than those of Engaddi, as things to be neglected or despised in their untreated state? Indeed, among all the kinds commonly praised—namely the threshing-floors of Gargarus, Sardinia, Sicily, Libya, and whatever places are celebrated for the excellence and abundance of their crops; and furthermore the happy woods of the Phaeacians and the gardens of the Hesperides; and finally the shrubberies of Judea producing the balsams of Asasontkamarensis—I prefer the epistles of Isidore of Pelusium, and I think those who have considered the matter will agree that there is in them a Laconian brevity marvelously intertwined with Attic elegance; a variety of universal doctrine declared with liquid clarity; the sweetness of Basil the Great with the beauty of Gregory of Nyssa, as the most critical Photius observes (*Ep. ad Amphiloch.*), most pleasantly combined; nothing more sublime can be read in theology, nothing more felicitous in the solution of scriptural knots, nothing more holy in ascetic precepts, nothing more stinging in the censure of vices and vicious men, nothing more wise and grave in the instruction of every virtue. For this treasure communicated to our age, the republic of letters confesses how much it owes to the most learned men: to Jacobus Billius, who first brought three books of these epistles into the light in Greek and Latin, and to Cunradus Ritthershusius, who edited the fourth.