Καίτοιγε, ὦ διαλεκτικὲ καὶ λάλε, ἐρωτήσω σέ τι
μικρόν· Σὺ δὲ ἀπόκριναί, φησι τῷ Ἰὼβ ὁ διὰ λαίλαπος καὶ
νεφῶν χρηματίζων. πότερον πολλαὶ μοναὶ παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ,
ὅπερ ἀκούεις, ἢ μία; πολλαί, δώσεις δηλαδή, καὶ οὐ μία. 
πότερον δὲ πληρωθῆναι δεῖ πάσας, ἢ τὰς μέν, τὰς δὲ οὐ,
ὡς εἶναι κενὰς καὶ μάτην ἡτοιμασμένας; ναὶ πάσας· οὐδὲν
γὰρ εἰκῇ τῶν παρὰ θεοῦ γενομένων. ταύτην δὲ ὅ τί
ποτε θήσεις τὴν μονήν, ἔχοις ἂν εἰπεῖν; ἄρα τὴν ἐκεῖθεν
 3 βασιλεις] βασιλικοι b || 4 νευωσι] -σωσι d || θεου] του θεου b || θρα-
συτερον] + η ευσεβεστερον b 8. 14 ποτε] + εστι c || θησεις] -ση d 
 I. εἴτουν] i.e. εἴτε οὖν, in late
Greek = sive, and is used for ‘that is
to say.?’ 
 ib. μὲν οὖν] = immo, š‘nay.’ So
far from ruling our own passions,
Gr. says, we give license to those of
others. 
 3. ἐπινικίους ἀφέσεις] Elias understands
it of the manumission of
slaves; but a more usual form of
celebrating a triumph was to release
prisoners, and that is prob. the comparison
here. 
 ib. μόνον ἄν] This is the sole
condition of the release, that they
should tend to promote our cause.
Gr. is prob. referring to the way in
which, in his time as in other times,
the sins of powerful patrons were
treated with complaisance. Of course
he has the Arians chiefly in view.
They laid themselves open to the
charge; and it is of them esp. that
Gr. uses the expression κατὰ θεοῦ
φέρ., ‘to rush against God.’ 
 5. τῆς ἀσεβείας τὴν παρρησίαν]
ἀσεβ. is in apposition to οὐ καλοῦ
πρ., τὴν παρρ. to μισθόν. In exchange
for their serviceable impiety,
they are allowed to sin unrebuked. 
 8. There are ‘ many mansions ’
above, and they are reached by many
ways, though in one sense the many
ways are the one strait and narrow
way. Why should we leave all the
other ways for the way of
controversy? 
 8. σὺ δὲ ἀπόκριναι] Job xxxviii
3. 
 9. χρηματίζων] ‘to answer’ when
consulted, esp. as an oracle. It is
not the word used in Job xxxviii 1
(LXX.), but it occurs in the similar
passage xl 3 (8). 
 ib. πολλαὶ μοναί] John xiv 2.
Ἀκούεις = ‘ you are taught.’ 
 10. δώσεις] ‘you will grant.’ 
 13. ὅ τί ποτε θήσεις] like δίδωμι,
used in a logical sense; ‘what you
will affirm this “mansion” to be.’
Ταύτην τὴν μονήν is a somewhat
curious use of the singular. It is a
kind of attraction for τοῦτο τὸ μονήν,
i.e. ‘the word μονὴν in this
connexion.’ 
 14. ἐκεῖθεν] ‘on yonder side.’ 

 
ἀνάπαυσίν τε καὶ δόξαν τὴν ἀποκειμένην τοῖς μακαρίοις,
ἢ ἄλλο τι; οὐκ ἄλλο ἢ τοῦτο. ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο ὡμολογήσαμεν,
κἀκεῖνο προσεξετάσωμεν. ἔστι τι τὸ ταύτας
προξενοῦν τὰς μονάς, ὡς ὁ ἐμὸς λόγος, ἢ οὐδέν ; ἔστι
 πάντως. τί τοῦτο; τὸ διαφόρους εἶναι πολιτείας καὶ
προαιρέσεις, καὶ ἄλλην ἀλλαχοῦ φέρειν κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν
τῆς πίστεως, ὅπερ καὶ ὁδοὺς ὀνομάζομεν. πάσας οὖν
ὁδευτέον, ἢ τινὰς τῶν ὁδῶν τούτων ; εἰ μὲν οἷόν τε τὸν
αὐτόν, ἁπάσας· εἰ δὲ μή, ὅτι πλείστας· εἰ δὲ μή, τινάς·
 εἰ δὲ μηδὲ τοῦτο, μέγα κἂν εἰ μίαν διαφερόντως, ὥς γέ
μοι φαίνεται. ὀρθῶς τοῦτο ὑπολαμβάνεις. τί οὖν; ὅταν
ἀκούσῃς μίαν ὁδὸν εἶναι, καὶ ταύτην στενήν, τί σοι φαίνεται
δηλοῦν ὁ λόγος ; μίαν μὲν διὰ τὴν ἀρετήν· μία γάρ, κἂν
εἰς πολλὰ σχίζηται· στενὴν δὲ διὰ τοὺς ἱδρῶτας καὶ τὸ
 2 οὐκ ἄλλο] + τι d || ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο] ἔπει ’δε κἀκεῖνο b : ἔπει ’δε τοῦτο c ||
8 ’τον αὐτὸν] τῶν ἀυτῶν b || g ἅπασας] πάσας d 
 4. προξενοῦν] quite classical in
the derived sense of ’ to prouide,’
’ procure.’ Here the plural, as the
reply shews, is emphatic; ’ these
different mansions. ’ 
 ib. ὡς ὁ ἐμὸς λόγος] ’as I maintain.’ 
 5. τὸ διαφόρους κτλ.] The ‘mansions’
vary as the lives which men
live πολιτείας) and the aims which
they set before themselves (προαιρέσεις).
It is somewhat tempting, in
the context, to understand προαιρέσεις
of ’schools of ’ Lucian
(Demon. § 4) speaks of αἰ ἐν ΦιλοσοΦίᾳ
προαιρέσεις. (Cp. the use of
αἵρεσις.) But the other is perh. the
simpler. 
 6. κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τ. π.]
Rom. xii 6. These various types of
life and pursuits are like so many
roads. They do not lead to the
same place. The places to which
they lead differ ‘ according to the
proportion of faith,’ i.e. are suited to
the various degrees and forms of
religious principle by which men
come to them. 
 8. εἰ μὲν οἷόν τε τὸν αὐτόν] The
man under examination replies that,
if it were possible, it would be well
for the individual to follow all the
roads, i.e. to combine in himself all
characteristic pursuits and moral
activities which lead to the various
’mansions’; failing this, to combine
as many as he can; but excellence
in any one of them is a great
achievement. 
 12. μίαν ὁδὸν. . . στενήν] Μatt. vii
13. 
 13. διὰ τὴν ἀρετήν] because it is
the way of virtue; for the way of
virtue is one, although it has many
branches. 
 14. διὰ τοὺς ἰδρ. κτλ.] because
of the effort it demands, and because
few are found able to tread it,
in comparison of the great number
who take the contrary direction,
and who walk in the way of vice.
The καὶ couples the antecedent of
ὅσοι to τῶν ἐναντίων. 

 
μὴ πολλοῖς εἶναι βατήν, ὡς πρὸς τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐναντίων
καὶ ὅσοι διὰ τῆς κακίας ὁδεύουσιν. οὕτω κἀμοὶ δοκεῖ.
τί οὖν, ὦ βέλτιστε, εἴπερ τοῦτο οὕτως ἔχει, ὥσπερ τινὰ
πενίαν καταγνόντες τοῦ ἡμετέρου λόγου, πάσας τὰς ἄλλας
ὁδοὺς ἀφέντες, πρὸς μίαν ταύτην φέρεσθε καὶ ὠθεῖσθε τὴν 
διὰ λόγου καὶ θεωρίας, ὡς μὲν αὐτοὶ οἴεσθε, ὡς δὲ ἐγώ φημι,
ἀδολεσχίας καὶ τερατείας ; ἐπιτιμάτω Παῦλος ὑμῖν, τοῦτο
πικρῶς ὀνειδίζων μετὰ τὴν ἀπαρίθμησιν τῶν χαρισμάτων,
ἐν οἷς φησί· Μῆ πάντες ἀπόστολοι ; μὴ πάντες προφῆται ;
καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς.