What did John Chrysostom mean by "evil intreated"? The following line from an old translation of John Chrysostom's _Homily 14 on Romans_ is rather perplexing: > It [creation] **was evil intreated** for your sake, and became corruptible; yet it has had no wrong done it. What is meant by "was evil intreated"? I can't find any definitions of "intreat" or "entreat" that would fit here.

Lexico suggests _entreat_ for _intreat_ and has

> entreat²
>
> _archaic [with object and adverbial]_ Treat (someone) in a specified manner
>
>> ‘the King, I fear, hath ill entreated her’

which seems to fit admirably: "Creation was treated evilly."

(Lexico's example sentence is a quote from Christopher Marlowe's _Edward the Second,_ which shows just how archaic it is.)