Walled cities and open fields: the Jews under the law and the nations exposed to Satan
Palladius: Explain, then, what the law is saying.
Cyril: The matter of the sale is obscure, Palladius, and very hard to approach, even if one chose to grasp it in thought alone. Still, I will tell it as far as I can, and as it may come to my mind. Let me ask you, and you tell me: to those who are used to laying waste cities and lands, who would be easy to capture, and without a long struggle? Which would you say: those within walls, in cities with the strongest towers, or rather those in the fields?
Palladius: And to whom is that not clear? Those in unwalled fields are by far the easiest to capture.
Cyril: You are right. And who do you think live better and most reasonably: townspeople and those who know the laws, or those raised in a more rustic way in villages? So those in the fields will defend their own safety more feebly, whereas those within towered cities will make the better plans, and will reckon, in accordance with law, what they need for their own benefit, when the time comes for counsel and deliberation.
Palladius: True, even if perhaps they too have suffered defeat.
Cyril: Indeed, one might sometimes forgive those in the field for being captured and for having missed the best counsel; for they are unwalled and less prudent than those in the cities. But the others one would blame, and with very good reason, I think, if after warding off the enemies and keeping their own possessions safe, they then willingly betrayed themselves to the attacks of their adversaries, and, defeated beforehand by their own cowardice, fell into the hands of their adversaries.
Palladius: Well said.
Cyril: Consider, then, the Jews, who dwell in the holy city, of which the God of all says: ‘And I will be to her, says the Lord, a wall of fire round about, and I will be the glory in her midst’ (Zechariah 2:5). And besides this, they had been made wise by the law. That is why they used to say: ‘Blessed are we, the sons of Israel, for what pleases the Lord is known to us’ (Baruch 4:4). Would you not say, then, that the assaults of the demons would find such people very hard indeed to break into, if they chose to live rightly and to submit to the divine laws?
Palladius: Certainly.
Cyril: But the flocks of the nations, whose mind is more rustic and easily stirred to frenzy, would naturally be taken without any struggle at all by Satan the plunderer, since they are bare of help from above and not at all enriched by the law that serves as a tutor (Galatians 3:24).
Palladius: So it seems.
Cyril: So the Jews, who dwell in a city…
Greek
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Διασάφει δὴ οὖν ὅ τί ποτ' ἐστὶν ὅ φησιν ὁ νόμος;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἀμυδρὸν, ὦ Παλλάδιε, τῆς ἐμπωλῆς τὸ χρῆμα, καὶ λίαν ἀνάντη τὴν προσβολὴν ἔχον, κἂν εἰ ἐν ψιλαῖς ἐννοίαις αὐτὴν περινοεῖν ἕλοιτό τις· φράσω γε μὴν, ὡς ἔνι, καὶ ὡς ἂν εἰς νοῦν ἴοι τὸν ἐμόν. Ἐρήσομαι δὲ, καί μοι λέγε· Τοῖς καταδῃοῦν εἰωθόσι πόλεις τε καὶ χώρας, τίνες ἂν εἶεν ἁλώσιμοι, καὶ οὐ σὺν ἱδρῶτι μακρῷ; πότερα δὴ φὴς, οἱ τειχῶν ἔσω καὶ πόλεων τῶν εὐπυργοτάτων, ἢ μᾶλλον οἱ ἐν ἀγροῖς;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Καὶ τίνι τοῦτο ἀσυμφανές; εὐαλωτότατοι γὰρ οἱ ἐν ἀτειχίστοις ἀγροῖς.
{ΚΥΡ.} Ὀρθῶς ἔφης· οἴει δὲ δὴ τίνας ἄμεινόν τε καὶ ἐπιεικέστατα διαζῇν, ἀστικοὺς ἄρα καὶ τοὺς ἐν εἰδήσει νόμων, ἤγουν τοὺς ἐν κώμαις ἀγροικότερον ἀνατεθραμμένους; Οὐκοῦν ἀσθενέστερον μὲν οἱ ἐν ἀγροῖς προστήσονται τῆς ἑαυτῶν σωτηρίας, οἱ δὲ πόλεων εἴσω πεπυργωμένων, βουλεύσονται δὴ τὰ ἀμείνω, καὶ λογιοῦνται συννόμως τὰ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς ἀναγκαῖα πρὸς ὄνησιν, καὶ ᾖ βουλῆς καὶ σκεμμάτων καιρός.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἀληθές· εἰ καὶ πεπόνθασι μὲν τὸ ἡττᾶσθαι τυχόν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Καὶ μὴν καὶ ἁλῶναι τοῖς ἐν ἀγρῷ, καὶ βουλῆς ἡμαρτηκόσι τῆς ἀρίστης ἔσθ' ὅτε συγγνοίη τις ἄν· ἀτείχιστοι γὰρ καὶ τῶν ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν ἀβουλότεροι. Τούς γε μὴν ἑτέρους, ἐπαιτιῷτό τις ἂν, καὶ μάλα εἰκότως οἶμαι, εἰ μετὰ τὸ ἀμύνασθαι τοὺς ἐχθροὺς καὶ διασώσασθαι τὰ οἰκεῖα, ταῖς τῶν ἀνθεστηκότων προσβολαῖς, προὔδοσαν μὲν ἑκόντες αὐτοὶ, κακανδρίᾳ δὲ τῇ σφῶν προηττημένοι, γεγόνασιν ὑπὸ χεῖρα τῶν ἀνθεστηκότων.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Εὖ ἔφης.
{ΚΥΡ.} Θέα δὴ οὖν Ἰουδαίους μὲν, τὴν ἁγίαν οἰκοῦντας πόλιν, περὶ ἧς φησιν ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεός· «Καὶ ἐγὼ ἔσομαι αὐτῇ, λέγει Κύριος, τεῖχος πυρὸς κύκλωθεν, καὶ εἰς δόξαν ἔσομαι ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῆς.» Καὶ μέντοι πρὸς τόδε καὶ νόμῳ σεσοφωμένους. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἔφασκεν· «Μακάριοί ἐσμεν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ, ὅτι τὰ ἀρεστὰ Κυρίῳ γνωστὰ ἡμῖν ἐστιν.» Ἆρ' οὖν, οὐχὶ δυσεμβατωτάτους κομιδῇ τοὺς τοιούτους εἶναι φὴς ταῖς τῶν δαιμονίων ἐπαγωγαῖς, εἴπερ ἕλοιντο βιοῦν ὀρθῶς, καὶ τοῖς θείοις ὑποφέρεσθαι νόμοις;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Αἱ δὲ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀγέλαι, φρένα μὲν ἔχουσαι τὴν ἀγροικοτέραν καὶ εὐπάροιστον, παντελῶς εἶεν ἂν εἰκότως οὐ σὺν ἱδρῶτι ληπταὶ, τῷ διαρπάζοντι Σατανᾷ, γυμναὶ μὲν ἐπικουρίας τῆς ἄνωθεν, ἥκιστα δὲ τὸν παιδαγωγὸν καταπλουτοῦσαι νόμον.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ἔοικεν.
{ΚΥΡ.} Οὐκοῦν Ἰουδαῖοι μὲν, οἱ πόλιν οἰκοῦντες