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| Homily XIV
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Homily XIV.
After the whole people had been freed from all
distress, and had become assured of safety, certain persons again
disturbed the city by fabricating false reports, and were
convicted. Wherefore this Homily refers to that subject; and also
to the admonition concerning oaths; for which reason also, the
history of Jonathan, and Saul, and that of Jephthah, is brought
forward; and it is shewn how many perjuries result from one
oath.
1. Not a little did
the devil yesterday disturb our city; but God also hath not a
little comforted us again; so that each one of us may seasonably
take up that prophetic saying, “In the multitude of the sorrows
that I had in my heart, thy comforts have refreshed my soul.”1574
And not
only in consoling, but even in permitting us to be troubled, God
hath manifested His tender care towards us. For to-day I shall
repeat what I have never ceased to say, that not only our
deliverance from evils, but also the permission of them arises from
the benevolence of God. For when He sees us falling away into
listlessness, and starting off from communion with Him, and making
no account of spiritual things, He leaves us for a while; that thus
brought to soberness, we may return to Him the more earnestly. And
what marvel is it, if He does this towards us, listless as we are;
since even Paul declares that with regard to himself and his
disciples, this was the cause of their trials? For inditing his
second Epistle to the Corinthians, he speaks thus: “We would not,
brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in
Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch
that we despaired even of life; but we had the sentence of death in
ourselves.”1575
As though
he would say, “Dangers so great hung over us, that we gave up
ourselves for lost; and no longer hoped that any favourable change
would take place, but were altogether in expectation of death.”
For such is the sense of that clause, “We had the sentence of
death in ourselves.” But nevertheless, after such a state of
desperation, God dispelled the tempest, and removed the cloud, and
snatched us from the very gates of death. And afterwards, for the
purpose of shewing that his being permitted to fall into this
danger also was the result of much tender care for him, he mentions
the advantage which resulted from the temptations, which was, that
he might continually look to Him, and be neither high-minded, nor
confident. Therefore having said this, “We had the sentence of
death in ourselves;”1576
he adds also the reason; “That
we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which quickeneth the
dead.” For it is in the nature of trials to arouse us when we are
dozing, or falling down, and to stir us up, and make us more
religious. When, therefore, O beloved! thou seest a trial at one
time extinguished, and at another time kindled again, be not cast
down! Do not despond, but retain a favourable hope, reasoning thus
with thyself, that God does not deliver us into the hands of our
enemies either because He hates or abandons us, but because He is
desirous to make us more in earnest, and more intimate with
Himself.
2. Let us not then be desponding; nor let us despair
of a change for the better; but let us hope that speedily there
will be a calm; and, in short, casting the issue of all the tumults
which beset us upon God, let us again handle the customary points;
and again bring forward our usual topic of instruction. For I am
desirous to discourse to you further concerning the same subject,
to the end that we may radically extirpate from your souls the
wicked practice of oaths. Wherefore it is necessary for me again to
have recourse to the same entreaty that I made before. For lately I besought you, that each one
taking the head of John, just cut off, and the warm blood yet
dripping from it, you would thus go home, and think that you saw it
before your eyes, while it emitted a voice, and said, “Abhor my
murderer, the oath!” What a rebuke did not effect, this an oath
effected; what a tyrant’s wrath was insufficient for, this the
necessity of keeping an oath brought about! And when the tyrant was
publicly rebuked in the hearing of all, he bore the censure nobly;
but when he had thrown himself into the fatal necessity caused by
oaths, then he cut off that blessed head. This same thing,
therefore, I entreat; and cease not entreating, that wherever we
go, we go bearing this head; and that we shew it to all, crying
aloud, as it does, and denouncing oaths. For although we were never
so listless and remiss, yet beholding the eyes of that head
fearfully glaring upon us, and threatening us if we swear, we
should be more powerfully kept in check by this terror, than by any
curb; and be easily able to restrain and avert the tongue from its
inclination toward oaths.
3. There is not only this great evil in an
oath, that it punishes those who are guilty of it, both when
violated, and when kept; a thing we do not see take place with any
other sin; but there is another equally great evil attending it.
And what is that? Why that ofttimes it is utterly impossible even
for those who are desirous, and even make a point of it, to keep
their oath. For, in the first place, he who is continually
swearing, whether willingly or unwillingly; knowingly or
unknowingly; in jest or in earnest; being frequently carried away
by anger and by many other things, will most surely become
perjured. And no one can gainsay this; so evident and generally
allowed is the fact, that the man who swears frequently, must also
be a perjurer. Secondly, I affirm, that although he were not
carried away by passion, and did not become the victim of perjury1577
| 1577 τοῦτο π€θῃ, al. ποιῇ, become guilty of. |
unwillingly and unwittingly, yet by the very nature of the case he
will assuredly be necessitated both consciously and voluntarily to
perjure himself. Thus, oftentimes when we are dining at home, and
one of the servants happens to do amiss, the wife swears that he
shall be flogged, and then the husband swears the contrary,
resisting, and not permitting it. In this case, whatever they may
do, perjury must in any case be the result; for however much they
may wish and endeavour to keep their oaths, it is no longer
possible; but whatever happens, one or other of these will be
ensnared in perjury; or rather both in any case.
4. And how, I will explain; for this is the
paradox. He who hath sworn that he would flog the man-servant or
maid-servant, yet hath afterwards been prohibited from this, hath
perjured himself, not having done what he hath sworn to do: and
also, he hath involved in the crime of perjury the party forbidding
and hindering the oath from being kept. For not only they who take
a false oath, but they who impose that necessity on others, are
liable to the same accusation. And not merely in houses, but also
in the forum we may see that this takes place; and especially in
fights, when those who box with one another swear things that are
contrary. One swears that he will beat, the other that he will not
be beaten. One swears that he will carry off the cloak, the other
that he will not suffer this. One that he will exact the money, the
other that he will not pay it. And many other such contradictory
things, those who are contentious take an oath to do. So also in
shops, and in schools, it may generally be observed that the same
thing occurs. Thus the workman hath often sworn that he will not
suffer his apprentice1578
to eat or drink, before he has
finished all his assigned task. And so also the pedagogue has often
acted towards a youth; and a mistress towards her maid-servant; and
when the evening hath overtaken them, and the work hath remained
unfinished, it is necessary either that those who have not executed
their task should perish with hunger, or that those who have sworn
should altogether forswear themselves. For that malignant demon,
who is always lying in wait against our blessings, being present
and hearing the obligation of the oaths, impels those who are
answerable to indifference; or works some other difficulty; so that
the task being unperformed, blows, insults, and perjuries, and a
thousand other evils, may take place. And just as when children
drag with all their might a long and rotten cord in directions
opposite to each other; if the cord snaps in the middle, they all
fall flat upon their backs, and some strike their heads, and some
another part of the body; so also they who each engage with an oath
to perform things that are contrary, when the oath is broken by the
necessity of the case, both parties fall into the same gulf of
perjury: these by actually perjuring themselves, and those by
affording the occasion of perjury to the others.
5. That this also may be rendered evident, not only from what happens every day
in private houses, and the places of public concourse, but from the
Scriptures themselves, I will relate to you a piece of ancient
history, which bears upon what has been said. Once, when the Jews
had been invaded by their enemies, and Jonathan (now he was the son
of Saul) had slaughtered some, and put the rest to flight; Saul,
his father, being desirous to rouse the army more effectually
against the remainder; and in order that they might not desist
until he had subjugated them all, did that which was altogether
opposite to what he desired, by swearing that no one should eat any
food until evening, and until vengeance was taken of his enemies.
What, I ask, could have been more senseless than this? For when it
was needful that he should have refreshed those who were fatigued
and exhausted, and have sent them forth with renewed vigour against
their enemies, he treated them far worse than he had done their
enemies, by the constraint of an oath, which delivered them over to
excessive hunger. Dangerous, indeed, it is for any one to swear in
a matter pertaining to himself; for we are forcibly impelled to do
many things by the urgency of circumstances. But much more
dangerous is it by the obligation of one’s own oath, to bind the
determination of others; and especially where any one swears, not
concerning one, or two, or three, but an unlimited multitude, which
Saul then inconsiderately did, without thinking that it was
probable that, in so vast a number, one at least might transgress
the oath; or that soldiers, and soldiers too on campaign, are very
far removed from moral wisdom, and know nothing of ruling the
belly; more especially when their fatigue is great. He, however,
overlooking all these points, as if he were merely taking an oath
about a single servant, whom he was easily able to restrain,
counted equally on his whole army. In consequence of this he opened
such a door for the devil, that in a short time he framed, not two,
three, or four, but many more perjuries out of this oath. For as
when we do not swear at all, we close the whole entrance against
him, so if we utter but a single oath, we afford him great liberty
for constructing endless perjuries. And just as those who twist
skeins, if they have one to hold the end, work the whole string
with nicety, but if there is no one to do this, cannot even
undertake the commencement of it; in the same manner too the devil,
when about to twist the skein of our sins, if he could not get the
beginning from our tongues, would not be able to undertake the
work; but should we only make a commencement, while we hold the
oath on our tongue, as it were a hand, then with full liberty he
manifests his malignant art in the rest of the work, constructing
and weaving from a single oath a thousand perjuries.
6. And this was just what he did now in the
case of Saul. Observe, however, what a snare is immediately framed
for this oath: “The army passed through a wood, that contained a
nest of bees, and the nest was in front of the people,1579
| 1579 Some mss.
read του ‡γρου, of the
ground, as LXX. | and the
people came upon the nest, and went along talking.”1580
Seest thou
what a pit-fall was here? A table ready spread, that the easiness
of access, the sweetness of the food, and the hope of concealment,
might entice them to a transgression of the oath. For hunger at
once, and fatigue, and the hour, (for “all the land,” it is
said, “was dining),”1581
| 1581 So LXX., 1 Kings xiv. 24 (i.e., 1 Samuel).
The clause in the Hebrew, corresponding to the Greek words
καὶ π‚σα ἡ γῆ ἠρίστα, is ואב ץראה-לבו רעיב, E.V. “And all they of
the land came to a wood.” It seems most likely that the
word ואב was thus taken,
all the land went, i.e., “to dinner,” as the
word רעי stands in LXX. for the
name of the wood. | then urged them to the
transgression. Moreover, the sight of the combs invited them from
without to relax the strain on their resolution. For the sweetness,
as well as the present readiness of the table, and the difficulty
of detecting the stealth, were sufficient to ensnare their utmost
wisdom. If it had been flesh, which needed boiling or roasting,
their minds would not have been so much bewitched; since while they
were delaying in the cookery of these, and engaged in preparing
them for food, they might expect to be discovered. But now there
was nothing of this kind; there was honey only, for which no such
labour was required, and for which the dipping of the tip of the
finger sufficed to partake of the table, and that with secresy.
Nevertheless, these persons restrained their appetite, and did not
say within themselves, “What does it concern us? Hath any one of
us sworn this? He may pay the penalty of his inconsiderate oath,
for why did he swear?” Nothing of this sort did they think; but
religiously passed on; and though there were so many enticements,
they behaved themselves wisely. “The people went on talking.”1582
| 1582 So LXX. Heb. שבר רלה
הנהו, E.V. And behold the honey dropped. This
difference has arisen in all probability from their mss. having read
רבר instead of שבר. This seems a
probable conjecture: often, however, the variations of the LXX. can
be accounted for as being paraphrastic. | What is
the meaning of this word “talking?” Why, that for the purpose
of soothing their pain with words, they held discourse with one
another.
7. What then, did nothing more come of this, when all the people had
acted so wisely? Was the oath, forsooth, observed? Not even so was
it observed. On the contrary, it was violated! How, and in what
way? Ye shall hear forthwith, in order that ye may also thoroughly
discern the whole art of the devil. For Jonathan, not having heard
his father take the oath, “put forth the end of the rod that was
in his hand, and dipped it in the honeycomb, and his eyes saw
clearly.”1583
Observe,
who it was whom he impelled to break the oath; not one of the
soldiers, but the very son of him who had sworn it. For he did not
only desire to effect perjury, but was also plotting the slaughter
of a son, and making provision for it beforehand; and was in haste
to divide nature against her own self. and what he had done
aforetime in the case of Jephthah, that he hoped now again to
accomplish. For he likewise, when he had promised that the first
thing that met him, after a victorious battle, he would
sacrifice,1584
fell into
the snare of child-murder; for his daughter first meeting him, he
sacrificed her and God did not forbid it. And I know, indeed, that
many of the unbelievers impugn us of cruelty and inhumanity on
account of this sacrifice; but I should say, that the concession1585
in the
case of this sacrifice was a striking example of providence and
clemency; and that it was in care for our race that He did not
prevent that sacrifice. For if after that vow and promise He had
forbidden the sacrifice, many also who were subsequent to Jephthah,
in the expectation that God would not receive their vows, would
have increased the number of such vows, and proceeding on their way
would have fallen into child-murder. But now, by suffering this vow
to be actually fulfilled,1586
He put a stop to all such cases in
future. And to shew that this is true, after Jephthah’s daughter
had been slain, in order that the calamity might be always
remembered, and that her fate might not be consigned to oblivion,
it became a law among the Jews, that the virgins assembling at the
same season should bewail during forty1587
days the sacrifice which had taken
place; in order that renewing the memory of it by lamentation, they
should make all men wiser for the future; and that they might learn
that it was not after the mind of God that this should be done, for
in that case He would not have permitted the virgins to bewail and
lament her. And that what I have said is not conjectural, the event
demonstrated; for after this sacrifice, no one vowed such a vow
unto God. Therefore also He did not indeed forbid this; but what He
had expressly enjoined in the case of Isaac, that He directly
prohibited;1588
plainly
shewing through both cases, that He doth not delight in such
sacrifices.
8. But the malignant demon was labouring hard
now again to produce such a tragedy. Therefore he impelled Jonathan
to the trespass. For if any one of the soldiers had transgressed
the law, it seemed to him no great evil that would have been done;
but now being insatiate of human ills, and never able to get his
fill of our calamities, he thought it would be no grand exploit if
he effected only a simple murder. And if he could not also pollute
the king’s right hand with the murder of his child, he considered
that he had achieved no great matter. And why do I speak of
child-murder? For he, the wicked one, thought that by this means he
should compass a slaughter even more accursed than that. For if he
had sinned wittingly, and been sacrificed, this would only have
been child-murder; but now sinning ignorantly, (for he had not
heard of the oath), if he had been slain, he would have made the
anguish of his father double; for he would have had both to
sacrifice a son, and a son who had done no wrong. But now to
proceed with the rest of the history; “When he had eaten,” it
is said, “His eyes saw clearly.”1589
And here it condemns the king of
great folly; shewing that hunger had almost blinded the whole army,
and diffused much darkness over their eyes. Afterwards some one of
the soldiers, perceiving the action, saith, “Thy father sware an
oath upon all the people, saying, cursed be the man who eateth any
food to-day. And the people were faint. And Jonathan said, My
father hath made away1590
| 1590 LXX., ‡πήλλαχεν. Heb. רנע,
E.V., troubled. | with the land.”1591
| 1591 Used in this passage for the people. | What does
he mean by the word, “made away with?” Why, that he had ruined,
or destroyed them all. Hence, when the oath was transgressed, all
kept silence, and no one dared to bring forth the criminal; and
this became afterwards no small matter of blame, for not only are
those who break an oath, but those also who are privy to it and
conceal it, partakers of the crime.
9. But let us see what follows; “And Saul
said, Let us go down after the strangers,1592
| 1592 ‡λλοφύλων, usually put in LXX. for the
Philistines. | and spoil them. And the priest
said, Let us draw
near hither unto God.”1593
For in old times God led forth the
people to battle; and without His consent no one dared to engage in
the fight, and war was with them a matter of religion. For not from
weakness of body, but from their sins they were conquered, whenever
they were conquered; and not by might and courage, but by favour
from above they prevailed, whenever they did prevail. Victory and
defeat were also to them a means of training, and a school of
virtue. And not to them only, but to their adversaries; for this
was made evident to them too, that the fate of battle with the Jews
was decided not by the nature of their arms, but by the life and
good works of the warriors. The Midianites at least perceiving
this, and knowing that people to be invincible, and that to have
attacked them with arms and engines of war would have been
fruitless, and that it was only possible to conquer them by sin,
having decked out handsome virgins, and set them in the array,1594
| 1594 ἐπὶ
τῆς παρατ€ξεως. An expression so proper to
battle, that it must be metaphorical, meaning “they adopted
this method of warfare.” | excited
the soldiers to lasciviousness, endeavouring by means of
fornication to deprive them of God’s assistance; which
accordingly happened. For when they had fallen into sin, they
became an easy prey to all; and those whom weapons, and horses, and
soldiers, and so many engines availed not to capture,1595
sin by its
nature delivered over bound to their enemies. Shields, and spears,
and darts were all alike found useless; but beauty of visage and
wantonness of soul overpowered these brave men.
10. Therefore one gives this admonition;
“Observe not the beauty of a strange woman, and meet not a woman
addicted to fornication.1596
For honey distils from the lips of
an harlot, which at the time may seem smooth to thy throat, but
afterward thou wilt find it more bitter than gall, and sharper than
a two-edged sword.”1597
For the harlot knows not how to
love, but only to ensnare; her kiss hath poison, and her mouth a
pernicious drug. And if this does not immediately appear, it is the
more necessary to avoid her on that account, because she veils that
destruction, and keeps that death concealed, and suffers it not to
become manifest at the first. So that if any one pursues pleasure,
and a life full of gladness, let him avoid the society of
fornicating women, for they fill the minds of their lovers with a
thousand conflicts and tumults, setting in motion against them
continual strifes and contentions, by means of their words, and all
their actions. And just as it is with those who are the most
virulent enemies, so the object of their actions and schemes is to
plunge their lovers into shame and poverty, and the worst
extremities. And in the same manner as hunters, when they have
spread out their nets, endeavour to drive thither the wild animals,
in order that they may put them to death, so also is it with these
women. When they have spread out on every side the wings1598
| 1598 A word often used metaphorically, here probably of
wide nets, spread out like wings. | of
lasciviousness by means of the eyes, and dress, and language, they
afterwards drive in their lovers, and bind them; nor do they give
over until they have drunk up their blood, insulting them at last,
and mocking their folly, and pouring over them a flood of ridicule.
And indeed such a man is no longer worthy of compassion but
deserves to be derided and jeered, since he is found more
irrational than a woman, and a harlot besides. Therefore the Wise
Man gives this word of exhortation again, “Drink waters from
thine own cistern, and from the fountain of thine own well.”1599
And again;
“Let the hind of thy friendship, and the foal of thy favours,
consort with thee.”1600
| 1600 Prov. v.
19, LXX. There is an
ellipsis in the Hebrew text here which may account for the
difference between it and the Septuagint. | These things he speaks of a wife
associated with her husband by the law of marriage. Why leavest
thou her who is a helpmate, to run to one who is a plotter against
thee? Why dost thou turn away from her who is the partner of thy
living, and court her who would subvert thy life? The one is thy
member and body, the other is a sharp sword. Therefore, beloved,
flee fornication; both for its present evils, and for its future
punishment.
11. Perchance we may seem to have fallen aside
from the subject; but to say thus much, is no departure from it.
For we do not wish to read you histories merely for their own sake,
but that you may correct each of the passions which trouble you:
therefore also we make these frequent appeals,1601
| 1601 Or, “reproofs,”
ἐντροπὰς; but Savile and
Oxf. mss. read
ἐκτροπὰς, “digressions.” | preparing our discourse for you in
all varieties of style; since it is probable that in so large an
assembly, there is a great variety of distempers; and our task is
to cure not one only, but many different wounds; and therefore it
is necessary that the medicine of instruction should be various.
Let us however return thither from whence we made this digression:
“And the Priest said, Let us draw near unto God. And Saul asked
counsel of God.
Shall I go down after the strangers? Wilt
Thou deliver them into my hands? But on that day the Lord answered
him not.”1602
Observe
the benignity and mildness of God who loveth man. For He did not
launch a thunderbolt, nor shake the earth; but what friends do to
friends, when treated contemptuously, this the Lord did towards the
servant. He only received him silently, speaking by His silence,
and by it giving utterance to all His wrath. This Saul understood,
and said, as it is recorded, “Bring near hither all the tribes of
the people, and know and see in whom this sin hath been this day.
For as the Lord liveth, Who hath saved Israel, though the answer be
against Jonathan my son, he shall surely die.”1603
Seest thou his rashness?
Perceiving that his first oath had been transgressed, he does not
even then learn self-control, but adds again a second. Consider
also the malignity of the devil. For since he was aware that
frequently the son when discovered, and publicly arraigned, is able
by the very sight at once to make the father relent, and might
soften the king’s wrath, he anticipated his sentence by the
obligation of a second oath; holding him by a kind of double bond,
and not permitting him to be the master of his own determination,
but forcing him on every side to that iniquitous murder. And even
whilst the offender was not yet produced, he hath passed judgment,
and whilst ignorant of the criminal, he gave sentence. The father
became the executioner; and before the enquiry declared his verdict
of condemnation! What could be more irrational than this
proceeding?
12. Saul then having made this declaration,
the people were more afraid than before, and all were in a state of
great trembling and terror. But the devil rejoiced, at having
rendered them all thus anxious. There was no one, we are told, of
all the people, who answered. “And Saul said, Ye will be in
bondage, and I, and Jonathan my son, will be in bondage.”1604
| 1604 So LXX., as though there had stood רבעל for רבעל,
Be ye on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the
other side, verse 40. | But what
he means is to this effect; “You are aiming at nothing else, than
to deliver yourselves to your enemies, and to become slaves instead
of free men; whilst you provoke God against you, in not delivering
up the guilty person.” Observe also another contradiction
produced by the oath. It had been fitting, if he wished to find the
author of this guilt, to have made no such threat, nor to have
bound himself to vengeance by an oath; that becoming less afraid,
they might more readily bring the offender to light.1605
But under
the influence of anger, and great madness, and his former
unreasonableness, he again does that which is directly contrary to
what he desires. What need is there to enlarge? He commits the
matter to a decision by lot; and the lot falleth upon Saul, and
Jonathan; “And Saul said, Cast ye the lot between me and
Jonathan; and they cast the lot, and Jonathan was taken. And Saul
said to Jonathan, Tell me, what hast thou done? And Jonathan told
him, saying, I only tasted a little honey on the top of the rod
which is in my hand, and, lo! I must die.”1606
Who is there that these words
would not have moved and turned to pity? Consider what a tempest
Saul then sustained, his bowels being torn with anguish, and the
most profound precipice appearing on either hand! But nevertheless
he did not learn self-control, for what does he say? “God do so
to me, and more also; for thou shalt surely die this day.”1607
Behold
again the third oath, and not simply the third, but one with a very
narrow limit as to time; for he does not merely say, “Thou shalt
die;” but, “this day.”1608
| 1608 The words this day are only found in
the Septuagint. | For the devil was hurrying,
hurrying him on, constraining him and driving him to this impious
murder. Wherefore he did not suffer him to assign any future day
for the sentence, lest there should be any correction of the evil
by delay. And the people said to Saul, “God do so to us, and more
also, if he shall be put to death, who hath wrought this great
salvation in Israel. As the Lord liveth, there shall not an hair of
his head fall to the ground; because he hath wrought a merciful
thing from God to-day.”1609
Behold how, in the second place,
the people also swore, and swore contrary to the king.
13. Now recollect, I pray, the cord pulled by the
children, and breaking, and throwing on their backs those who pull
it. Saul swore not once or twice, but several times. The people
swore what was contrary, and strained in the opposite direction. Of
necessity then it followed, that the oath must in any wise be
broken through. For it were impossible that all these should keep
their oaths. And now tell me not of the event of this transaction;
but consider how many evils were springing from it; and how the
devil from thence was preparing the tragedy and usurpation of
Absalom. For if the king had chosen to resist, and to proceed to
the execution of his oath, the people would have been in array against him; and a
grievous rebellion1610
| 1610 τυραννὶς, here used for
“rebellion” or “usurpation,” as just above. | would have been set on foot. And
again, if the son consulting his own safety had chosen to throw
himself into the hands of the army, he would straightway have
become a parricide. Seest thou not, that rebellion, as well as
child-murder, and parricide, and battle, and civil war, and
slaughter, and blood, and dead bodies without number, are the
consequences of one oath. For if war had perchance broken out, Saul
might have been slain, and Jonathan perchance too, and many of the
soldiers would have been cut to pieces; and after all the keeping
of the oath would not have been forwarded. So that it is not for
thee to consider that these events did not occur, but to mark this
point, that it was the nature of the case to necessitate the
occurrence of such things. However, the people prevailed. Come
then, let us reckon up the perjuries that were the consequence. The
oath of Saul was first broken by his son; and again a second and a
third, concerning the slaying of his son, by Saul himself. And the
people seemed to have kept their oath. Yet if any one closely
examines the matter, they too all became liable to the charge of
perjury. For they compelled the father of Jonathan to perjure
himself, by not surrendering the son to the father. Seest thou how
many persons one oath made obnoxious to perjury,1611
| 1611 It seems that all actually remained under this
guilt. The only remedy would have been in Jonathan’s confessing
as soon as he knew his trespass, and an offering being made for
him, according to Lev. v. 4–6, see also Lev. v. 1, iv.
22, and xxxvii. 2. | willingly and unwillingly; how
many evils it wrought, how many deaths it caused?
14. Now in the commencement of this discourse
I promised to shew that perjury would in any case result from
opposite oaths; but truly the course of the history has proved more
than I was establishing. It has exhibited not one, two, or three
individuals, but a whole people, and not one, two, or three oaths,
but many more transgressed. I might also make mention of another
instance, and shew from that, how one oath caused a still greater
and more grievous calamity. For one oath1612
entailed upon all the Jews the
capture of their cities, as well as of their wives and children;
the ravages of fire, the invasion of barbarians, the pollution of
sacred things, and ten thousand other evils yet more distressing.
But I perceive that the discourse is running to a great length.
Therefore, dismissing here the narration of this history, I beseech
you, together with the beheading of John, to tell one another also
of the murder of Jonathan, and the general destruction of a whole
people (which did not indeed take place, but which was involved in
the obligation of the oaths); and both at home, and in public, and
with your wives, and friends, and with neighbours, and with all men
in general, to make an earnest business of this matter, and not to
think it a sufficient apology that we can plead custom.
15. For that this excuse is a mere pretext, and that
the fault arises not from custom but from listlessness, I will
endeavour to convince you from what has already occurred. The
Emperor has shut up the baths of the city, and has given orders
that no one shall bathe; and no one has dared to transgress the
law, nor to find fault with what has taken place, nor to allege
custom. But even though in weak health perchance, men and women,
and children and old men; and many women but recently eased from
the pangs of childbirth; though all requiring this as a necessary
medicine; bear with the injunction, willingly or unwillingly; and
neither plead infirmity of body, nor the tyranny of custom, nor
that they are punished, whereas others were the offenders, nor any
other thing of this kind, but contentedly put up with this
punishment, because they were in expectation of greater evils; and
pray daily that the wrath of the Emperor may go no further. Seest
thou that where there is fear, the bond of custom is easily
relaxed, although it be of exceedingly long standing, and great
necessity? To be denied the use of the bath is certainly a grievous
matter. For although we be never so philosophic, the nature of the
body proves incapable of deriving any benefit for its own health,
from the philosophy of the soul. But as to abstinence from
swearing, this is exceedingly easy, and brings no injury at all;
none to the body, none to the mind; but, on the contrary, great
gain, much safety, and abundant wealth. How then is it any thing
but absurd, to submit to the greatest hardships, when an Emperor
enjoins it; but when God commands nothing grievous nor difficult,
but what is very tolerable and easy, to despise or to deride it,
and to advance custom as an excuse? Let us not, I entreat, so far
despise our own safety, but let us fear God as we fear man. I know
that ye shudder at hearing this, but what deserves to be shuddered
at is that ye do not pay even so much respect to God; and that
whilst ye diligently observe the Emperor’s decrees, ye trample
under foot those which are divine, and which have come down from
heaven; and consider diligence concerning these a secondary object.
For what apology will there be
left for us, and what pardon, if after so much admonition we
persist in the same practices. For I began this admonition at the
very commencement of the calamity which has taken hold of the city,
and that is now on the point of coming to an end; but we have not
as yet thoroughly put in practice even one precept. How then can we
ask a removal of the evils which still beset us, when we have not
been able to perform a single precept? How can we expect a change
for the better? How shall we pray? With what tongue shall we call
upon God? For if we perform the law, we shall enjoy much pleasure,
when the Emperor is reconciled to the city. But if we remain in the
transgression, shame and reproach will be ours on every hand,
inasmuch as when God hath freed us from the danger we have
continued in the same listlessness.
16. Oh! that it were possible for me to
undress the souls of those who swear frequently, and to expose to
view the wounds and the bruises which they receive daily from
oaths! We should then need neither admonition nor counsel; for the
sight of these wounds would avail more powerfully than all that
could be said, to withdraw from their wickedness even those who are
most addicted to this wicked practice. Nevertheless, if it be not
possible to spread before the eyes the shameful state of their
soul, it may be possible to expose it to the thoughts, and to
display it in its rottenness and corruption. For as it saith, “As
a servant that is continually beaten will not be clear of a bruise,
so he that sweareth and nameth God continually will not be purified
of his sin.”1613
It is
impossible, utterly impossible, that the mouth which is practised
in swearing, should not frequently commit perjury. Therefore, I
beseech you all, by laying aside this dreadful and wicked habit, to
win another crown. And since it is every where sung of our city,
that first of all the cities of the world, she bound on her brow1614
| 1614 So Sav. and Oxf.
mss. ‡νεδήσατο, which is more spirited than Ben.
ἐνεδύσατο, “put on.” Lat.
induit rather favours the latter, but Ducæus prefers the
former, and quotes four mss. for
it. | the name
of Christians, so let all have to say, that Antioch alone, of all
the cities throughout the world, hath expelled all oaths from her
own borders. Yea, rather, should this be done, she will not be
herself crowned alone, but will also carry others along with her to
the same pitch of zeal. And as the name of Christians having had
its origin here, hath as it were from a kind of fountain overflown
all the world, even so this good work, having taken its root and
starting-point from hence, will make all men that inhabit the earth
your disciples; so that a double and treble reward may arise to
you, at once on account of your own good works, and of the
instruction afforded to others. This will be to you the brightest
of diadems! This will make your city a mother city, not on earth,
but in the heavens! This will stand by us at That Day, and bring us
the crown of righteousness; which God grant that we may all obtain,
through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with
Whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, now
and ever, and world without end. Amen.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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