Letter 255: Your former transgression, Maron, has become a ready pretext for the present one.

To the same. Concerning the two thieves. The two thieves represented the two peoples: the one showing his ingratitude until death, and not even confessing that the final captivity which he suffered at the hands of the Romans was endured as retribution for the outrages against Christ; the other, not despairing of forgiveness at the very end, but correcting the swarm of his evils with a confession of Christ's divinity.

ΤΟ ΑΥΤΟ. Περὶ τῶν δύο ληστῶν. Οἱ δύο λῃσταὶ τοὺς δύο ὑπέγραφον λαούς (36)· ὁ μὲν μέχρι τελευτῆς τὸ ἄγνωμον ἐνδειξάμενος, καὶ οὐδὲ τὴν ἐσχάτην αἰχμαλωσίαν, ἣν ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων ὑπέμεινεν, εἰς ἄμυναν τῶν κατὰ Χριστοῦ παροινιῶν ὁμολογήσας ὑφίστασθαι· ὁ δὲ, πρὸς αὐτῷ τῷ τέλει μὴ ἀπογνοὺς τῆς ἀφέσεως, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν αὐτῷ τὸν ἐσμὸν τῶν κακῶν θεολογίᾳ διορθωσάμενος. scelerum agmen divinitatis prædicatione correxerit ΤΟ ΑΥΤΩ. Περὶ αὐτοῦ. Τὸ μέσον τῶν λῃστῶν ἀνασχέσθαι σταυρωθῆναι τὸν Κύριον, τὴν ἑκούσιον αὐτοῦ πρὸς τοὺς δύο λαοὺς ἀπεκάλυψε παρουσίαν, πρὸς οὓς ἐκὼν παρεγένετο, ΑΩΕ΄. – ΑΕΤΙΩ ΣΟΦΙΣΤΗ ΣΜΕ΄. – ΩΦΕΛΙΩ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΙΚΟ Ψυχρὸν μὲν ἐστι, εἰ καὶ μὴ τοῖς λεξιθήραις δοκεῖ, τὸ μικρολογεῖν, καὶ περὶ τοιούτων ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἅμιλλαν. ᾿Αλλ' ἐπειδὴ μέγα φρονεῖς ἐπὶ τῷ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἀκριβῶς εἰδέναι, οὐκ ἄτοπον εἶναί μοι φαίμεται σδέν- και σου τὸ ἐπὶ τούτοις φρόνημα. Ὁ γάρ πρεσβύτα- τος καὶ ὁ νεώτατος, οὐκ ἐπὶ δυοῖν ἀδελφοῖν, ὡς φὴς, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ πολλῶν λέγεται. Ἐπὶ δυοῖν γὰρ, ὁ πρεσβύ- τερος καὶ ὁ νεώτερος, ὡς ἄλλων οὐκ ὄντων μέσων· εἰ δὲ εἶεν, τρῖς ἐπιπατικοῖς ὀνόμασι τοὺς ἄκρους κληντήρ,