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.