The Instructor 2.8.63

but their heart is far from me.” It is not unlikely, then, that he points to Judas as oil, as a disciple who received mercy, but as a traitor, treacherous, poisoned oil. This, then, was what the perfumed feet foretold: the betrayal of Judas as the Lord went on his way to the passion. And the Savior himself, washing the disciples' feet and sending them out to good works, hinted at their journey to benefit the nations, having made it seemly and pure beforehand by his own power. The perfume gave off its scent in them, and the work of the fragrance that reaches all has been proclaimed; for the Lord's passion has filled us with fragrance, and the Hebrews with sin. The apostle showed this most clearly when he said: “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us makes manifest the fragrance of the knowledge of him in every place; for we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.” The kings of the Jews, using a crown composed of gold and precious stones, and various, the anointed ones, bearing Christ symbolically on their heads, were unknowingly adorned with the Lord's head. For a precious stone, pearl, or emerald hints at the Word himself, and gold again at the incorruptible Word, who does not admit the rust of corruption. The magi brought him gold at his birth as a symbol of kingship. This crown remains immortal, after the image of the Lord; for it does not wither like a flower. I know also the sayings of Aristippus of Cyrene.