Barest thou, then, who didst fall " as lightning " '° from the very highest glory, to say to the Lord, "Cast thyself down from hence " [to Him] to whom the things that are not are reckoned as if they were,'^ and to provoke to a display of vain- glory Him that was free from all ostentation? And didst thou pretend to read in Scripture con- cerning Him : " For He hath given His angels charge concerning Thee, and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest thou shouldest dash Thy foot against a stone ? " '^ At the same time thou didst pretend to be ignorant of the rest, furtively concealing what [the Scripture] predicted con- cerning thee and thy servants : " Thou shalt tread upon the adder and the basilisk ; the lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under foot." ^*