The Shepherd of Hermas

And after a few days he came to the place, and the shepherd sat in the place of the angel, and[*](The continuation of the parable) I stood by him, and he said to me; Gird yourself with a towel[*](The exact meaning of ὠμόλινον is apparently made of undressed flax, but it came to mean merely a towel.) and serve me. And I girded myself with a clean towel made of sackcloth.

And when he saw me girded and ready to serve him he said: Call the men whose sticks have been planted, according to the order in which each gave his stick. And I went into the plain and called all of them, and they all stood in their stations.

And he said to them: Let each pull out his own stick and bring it to me.

And they first gave them up who had had them dry and cut, and they were found to be still dry and cut, and he commanded them to stand apart.

Then they gave them up who had them dry, but not cut, and some

Then those gave them up who had them half dry and cracked, and many of them gave them up green and without cracks, and some green and with buds, and with fruit on the buds, as those had had who had gone crowned into the tower. But some gave them up dry and moth-eaten, and some dry but not eaten, and some remained half dry and with cracks. And he commanded each of them to stand apart, some in their own station and some apart.[*](This must mean that some were sent back to their original place, others were moved aside. But the text is obscure and probably corrupt.)