Sacra parallela recensiones secundum alphabeti

But the one who does the will of God remains forever. Our life is full of groaning and filled with dejection. This world is, in the first place, a school and training-place for human souls; and then, to put it simply, a suitable dwelling for things that are in generation and corruption. The passage of time is therefore innate to the world and to the living creatures and plants in it, ever pressing on, flowing past, and in no way ceasing from its course. Things that began from time must certainly also be completed in time. If it has a temporal beginning, do not doubt about its end. This world itself is mortal and a place of the dying. For since the constitution of visible things is composite, and everything composite is by nature dissolved, we who live in the world, being parts of the world, necessarily partake of the nature of the whole. The man not yet yoked in the bonds of marriage is disturbed by raging desires, hard-to-restrain impulses, and loves that are ill-starred. But the man already taken by a spouse is met by another turmoil of cares: desire in childlessness, anxiety of child-rearing in the possession of children, guarding of a wife, management of a household, oversight of servants, losses in contracts, quarrels with neighbors, entanglements in courts, dangers of trade, toils of farming; every day brings its own darkening of the soul, and the nights, having taken up the daily cares, deceive the mind with the same fantasies.

The wretchedness of this life here has been plunged into every kind of passion and misery. See, beloved, how human affairs imitate the sea: if our life were not filled with that turmoil; if we were not storm-tossed on dry land more than on the wet; if we did not clash against one another more violently than the winds; if possessions did not dash us against each other like squalls; if we were not carried here and there as in the darkness of the sea. This man has snatched away that man's field; another has taken another's land; another has desired his neighbor's wife; another has seized the servants of so-and-so. One is taken to court against his neighbor over water; another fights with his fellow landowner over air. Some quarrel over measures of land; others crush one another through the building of houses; this man lays claim to what he did not give, to take it; that man contends in court not to give back what he received. One is insatiable for interest; another insists on withholding the principal. This man is in pain from want, that man is in turmoil from plenty. The one who has nothing is reproached, and the one who has is plotted against; the one in power is ambushed, the one in office is viewed with suspicion; the one in authority is hated, the one in dominance is schemed against; wars are continuous, murders follow one upon another. Greed tyrannizes, covetousness dominates, falsehood is exalted; faith in one another has fled, truth has left the earth; friendship is limited to the table, and people have even lost their own strength; greetings are full of suspicion. So then, with all of us thus driven in turmoil among evils, the prophet, spitting out this life, cries out, saying:

Except that every living man is troubled in vain." TITLE 7. – On the violent and the forcible.

"Do not force the current of a river." "Drive the ox that is willing." "Not by compulsion, but willingly." What is compelled, and contrary to nature, rises for a little while, and that by force, and scarcely, and is quickly dissolved back into the things from which it was composed. What is unwilling belongs to the tyrannical, and is neither praiseworthy nor lasting. For what has been forced loves, like a plant pulled by violent hands, when let go again to return to itself. But what is done by free choice is both most lawful and most secure, guarded by the bond of goodwill. – The mystery of piety belongs to those who are willing, not to those who are tyrannized over. And what is forced is quickly also unpleasant; but what is unforced has no surfeit, but always flourishes with grace and longing. Most of all, Christians do not desire to correct the offenses of sins by force. For God crowns not those who abstain from evil by necessity, but those who do so by free choice. Force has no place in God. TITLE 8. – On the blasphemer and the arrogant speaker. "The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: A man who curses God shall bear his sin; but he who names the name of the Lord, all the congregation of the sons of Israel shall stone him with stones." "Let not arrogance go out from your mouth." "What did your heart dare, that you vented wrath before the Lord?" "The Lord will destroy all deceitful lips, the arrogant tongue: those who said, We will magnify our tongue, our lips are our own; who is lord over us?" "Samaria shall be made desolate, because she has spoken against her God.

They shall fall by the sword, they themselves, and their nursing children shall be dashed to the ground." "Make him drunk, for he has magnified himself against the Lord." "Thus says the Lord: Because you have given your heart as the heart of God, behold, I bring strangers upon you, plagues of the nations, and they shall empty their swords upon you, and upon the beauty of your knowledge, and they shall lay your beauty low for destruction." "A spirit of wisdom loving mankind, and a blasphemer shall not prosper from his lips." "He who throws a stone upward throws it upon his own head." "Every sin shall be forgiven men; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit it shall not be forgiven, neither in this age, nor in the age to come." He who sins transgresses the law; but he who blasphemes commits impiety against the Godhead itself. Admonish those who blaspheme in the city; and if you hear someone in the street or in the marketplace, rebuke him, and even if it is necessary to inflict blows, do not shrink back. Strike his face, smash his mouth, sanctify your hand through the blow. And even if some bring charges, even if they drag you into court, follow through. Just as he who hurls a stone upward cannot cut through the body of heaven, nor reach that height, but receives the blow on his own head, the stone returning upon the one who hurled it; so also he who blasphemes against the blessed essence of God will never harm it, since it is far greater and higher; but against his own soul he sharpens the sword, having become ungrateful toward his benefactor. TITLE 9. – On a good king and one who hates evil.

His kingdom shall be increased; he shall devour the nations of his enemies, and he shall marrow their fatness, and with his bolts he shall gore the nations among them. His horns are the horns of the unicorn; with them he shall gore the nations. Your enemies shall lie to you, and you shall tread upon their neck. God saved David in all that he went, and David was doing judgment and righteousness. David said: Let him curse, because God said to him: If perhaps the Lord may look upon my humiliation, and may return to me good things instead of this curse. And Shimei fell upon his face before the king, and said to the king: Let not my lord reckon iniquity, and do not remember all that your servant did wrong in the day when my lord the king went out from Jerusalem, for I know, your servant, that I have sinned. And the king swore to him: You shall surely not die. O Lord, in your power the king shall rejoice, and the rest. You shall add day upon day to the king, and the rest. O God, give your judgment to the king, and your, and the rest. The honor of a king loves judgment. As the rush of water, so is the heart of the king in the hand of God. An abomination to a king is the one who does evil. For with righteousness the throne of rule is prepared. Righteous lips are acceptable to a king, and he loves upright words. A divination is in the lips of the king, and in judgment his mouth shall surely not be led astray. In

By a numerous nation is the glory of a king, but in the failure of a people is the crushing of rulers. When a just king sits upon a throne, nothing evil is set against him in his eyes. Mercy and truth are a guard for a king, and they shall encompass his throne in righteousness. Slay the impious from the face of the king, and he shall set his throne aright in righteousness. The glory of a king is to honor a command. A just king raises up a country. A sword is the tongue of a king, and not one of flesh. Let no lie be spoken from the tongue of a king. When a king judges the poor in truth, his throne shall be established as a testimony. The wrath of a king is an angel of death, but a wise man shall propitiate him. The threat of a king is like the gnashing of a lion; for as dew upon grass, so is his cheerfulness. Guard the mouth of a king. Behold, a just king shall reign, and rulers shall rule with judgment. The poor people shall bless you, and the cities of wronged men shall bless you. You became a helper to every humble city, and a shelter to those disheartened by want; rescue them from evil men; a shelter of the thirsty, and the spirit of wronged men shall bless you. Behold, the day is coming, says the Lord, and I shall raise up for David a righteous shoot; and a king shall reign, and shall understand, and shall execute judgment and righteousness upon the earth. In his days a people shall be saved, and shall dwell in confidence. A prudent king is the stability of a people. He shall take up zeal as his panoply, he shall put on the breastplate of righteousness, and he shall place around him a helmet of unfeigned judgment.

Holiness shall take up an invincible shield." "Do not be wise before a king." "A wise judge will instruct his people, and the leadership of a prudent man will be well ordered." Kings, revere the purple robe. For the Word will legislate even for legislators. Know what has been entrusted to you, and what the great mystery concerning you is. The whole world is under your hand, held by a small diadem and a brief scrap of cloth. The things above belong to God alone, but the things below belong also to you. Become gods to those under you, that I may say something even bolder. The heart of a king is in the hand of God, and it has been said, and it has been believed. Let your power be here, but not in gold and in phalanxes. You who are concerned with palaces and thrones, do not exalt yourselves greatly in your authorities, nor think immortal thoughts about things that are not immortal. Show what is effective, not what acts wickedly; but to do good, if you wish to be a god—and this is the mark of a man who knows his kindred. For the turtle-dove and the scorpion also kill most easily. Rulers, fear the one who is more powerful. The kingdom of things on earth smooths out their roughnesses. Every just king holds a priestly rank. TITLE 10. — Concerning a king who is not greatly admired. "A bold king will fall into evils." "A king lacking revenues is a great sycophant." "Those who obey a king's unjust word are all lawless under him." "Woe to you, city whose king is younger than you, and whose rulers eat in the morning." "Wickedness overturns the thrones of rulers. Hear therefore, kings, and understand; give ear, you who rule over multitudes, and who exult over the crowds of nations, because dominion has been given to you by the Lord.

Because being servants of his kingdom, you did not judge rightly, nor did you keep the law, nor did you walk according to the counsel of the Most High. Swiftly and terribly destruction shall come upon you, because a harsh judgment comes upon those in high places, and a strong inquiry stands before the mighty; the powerful shall be examined powerfully. "Gold has destroyed many, and has turned aside the heart of a king." "An uneducated king will destroy his people." No one is a king of fools, even if he takes up the dominion of all earth and sea; but only the refined and God-loving man.

TITLE 11. — Concerning a king: that one must pray for him. "You shall not speak evil of gods, and you shall not speak ill of a ruler of your people." "The impious man is he who says to a king: You transgress the law." "Do not curse a king in your knowledge, because a bird of the sky will carry your voice." "Fear God, my son, and the king, and do not disobey either of them." "When the magi saw the star, they rejoiced, and brought gifts." "I exhort you, first of all to make supplications, prayers, intercessions for all men: for kings, and for all those in authority. For this is good before our Savior God." TITLE 12. — Concerning counsel: that one must do all things with counsel and deliberation. "Like a city whose walls have been thrown down, unwalled, so is a man who does not do all things with counsel." "Those who have no guidance fall like leaves; but safety is in much counsel." "With guidance war is waged.

Help comes with a heart that takes counsel. Do everything with counsel. Drink wine with counsel. Good counsel will guard you, and a holy understanding will preserve you. Gather together and take counsel together, you who are being saved. Do nothing without counsel, and when you have done it, do not regret it. A wooden binding tied into a building will not be broken apart in a shaking; so a heart established on thoughts of counsel will not be afraid in time of need. Prepare your speech, and so you will be heard; bind up instruction, and so you will answer. Gold and silver will set feet in place, but counsel will be esteemed above both. Take counsel with a wise man. The counsel of a wise man is a fountain of life. Better is a slowness that has been reasoned out than a speed that is reckless. It is a blessing to fall away from evil counsel. All things that are not with reason are shameful, just as things that are with reason are orderly. Without scientific contemplation, nothing that is done is good. Do not be ignorant that, for both giving an opinion contrary to what is fitting and for counsel that is not pure, we are shut out of the divine kingdom. Therefore we ought to offer our opinions to those who ask us with very great deliberation.

TITLE 13. — On foods, and the things necessary for life. "As the vegetables of the field I have given you all things, except flesh in the blood of life you shall not eat." "From the fruit of your works the earth shall be filled." "The beginning of life for men: bread, and water, and clothing, and fire, and iron, and salt, fine wheat flour, oil, milk, honey—these things are for good to the pious." "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: to abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which keeping yourselves, you will do well." "I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is common of itself, except to him who considers anything to be common. But if your brother is grieved because of food, you no longer walk according to love. Do not destroy by your food that one for whom Christ died. He who doubts, if he eats, is condemned." "All things are pure to the pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but their mind and conscience are defiled." ELEMENT: G.

TITLE 1. — On gnostic and spiritual men, and all the good things that follow them.

"The lips of the righteous know lofty things." "The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is judged by no one." "I say to you: walk in the Spirit, and do not fulfill the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are opposed to one another. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." "He who does not have knowledge is blind, nearsighted, having forgotten the cleansing of his former sins." "Knowledge puffs up." "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. The Spirit blows where it wills, and you hear its voice; but you do not know where it comes from, or where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nobility is the keeping of the image, and the likeness to the archetype, which word and virtue and pure desire work out, always and ever more forming the genuine mystics of things above according to God; and the knowing whence, and who, and for what we have come to be. — Spiritual kinship is better than bodily. And as health is a good of the body, so knowledge of God is a good of the soul, being a kind of health of the soul, by which likeness to God comes about. The spiritual man must be guileless, and simple, and without deceit. For the gnostic man certainly also performs the works that are fitting; but he who does not perform the works is certainly not gnostic either. Our philosopher holds fast to these three things:

First, of contemplation, then of the fulfillment of the commandments, third, of the formation of good men; these things, when they come together, produce the gnostic. And whatever of these is lacking, the things of knowledge are lame. The gnostic will abstain from sins in reason, and in thought, and in perception and in action. — It is impossible for those still led away by the passions to receive the knowledge of God. The Apostle knows the spiritual and gnostic man as the same, the disciple of the Holy Spirit. — The gnostic, having received from God the power to benefit, benefits others, forming some by his example, urging others on by his likeness, and instructing and teaching others by his command. And it seems clear to me that there are three results of the gnostic power: to know things; second, to fulfill them; third, to be able to hand on in a manner worthy of God the things hidden in the truth. — As God is able to do all that he wills, so the gnostic receives all that he asks. — Works follow knowledge, as the shadow follows the body. — The gnostic will never bear a grudge; he will not be harsh with anyone, even if they happen to be worthy of hatred for what they do. For he reveres the Creator, and he loves the partner of his life, pitying him and praying exceedingly for him because of his ignorance. — The gnostic is never made glad by wealth, nor does lack of money lead him to humiliation, since virtue and wisdom exalt him above them and prepare him to stand above them, so that through greatness of soul he is indifferent to pleasant and unpleasant things. TITLE 2.

Concerning "Know yourself," that is, "Attend to yourself"; and that each one ought to examine his own affairs and not busy himself with those of others. Attend to yourself, and guard your soul exceedingly, lest you forget all the words which your eyes have seen; and let them not depart from your heart. "Those who know themselves are wise." "Keep watch, and attend diligently, for you walk with your fall." "With friend and enemy do not recount lives, but praises. And if there is sin in you, do not reveal it." "Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye, but the beam in your own eye you do not perceive? Or how will you say to your brother, Let me remove the speck from your eye—and behold, the beam is in your eye? Hypocrite, first remove the beam from your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

"Do not judge, that you not be judged." "Consider whether the light in you is darkness." "Who are you to judge another's servant? He stands or falls to his own master. And he will stand, for God is able to make him stand. But why do you judge your brother? We will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." "Keep yourself pure." "He who speaks against his brother, or judges him, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law." Know yourself before all things. For nothing is more difficult. And when you know yourself, then you will be able also to know God, and to comprehend matters by reason, as is fitting. Have you suffered, O man, what you accuse? You diligently observe another's evil, but your own shameful deed you set nowhere.

It is easy for each of us to busy ourselves with the affairs of others rather than to examine his own. So that we may not suffer this, he says, stop prying into the evils of so-and-so. Do not give your thoughts leisure to scrutinize another's sickness, but attend to yourself—that is, turn the eye of your soul to the investigation of your own affairs, and do not cease searching yourself out. Remembering your nature, you will never be puffed up. And you will remember yourself if you attend to yourself. Attend to yourself, then—that is, look around yourself on every side. Keep the eye of your soul wakeful for your own guarding. You walk in the midst of snares; hidden traps have been set all around by the enemy. Look around on every side, then, that you may be saved like a gazelle from the snares, and like a bird from the trap. See, then, that you do not appear worse than the irrational beasts in guarding yourself, lest at some time, caught in the snares, you become a prey of the devil, taken captive by him to do his will. Attend to yourself, then—that is, not to your possessions, nor to the things around you, but attend rather to yourself. For we ourselves are one thing, our possessions another, and the things around us another. We ourselves, then, are the soul and the mind, according to which we have been made in the image of the Creator. Ours is the body, and the senses through it; and the things around us are money, crafts, and the rest of the equipment of life. What, then, does the word say? Do not attend to the flesh, nor pursue its good in every way—health, and beauty, and the enjoyments of pleasures, and long life—nor marvel at money, and glory, and power, nor at all that supplies the service of this temporary life.

But attend to yourself, that is, to your soul. Adorn it, and take care of it, so that by your attention you may sweep away all the filth that comes upon it from wickedness, and cleanse away every shame that comes from vice, and adorn and brighten it with every beauty that comes from virtue. Examine yourself: who are you? Know your own nature, that your body is mortal but your soul is immortal, and that our life is twofold: the one proper to the flesh quickly passes away, while the one akin to the soul does not admit of limitation. Attend to yourself, then; do not remain fixed on mortal things as though they were everlasting, nor despise everlasting things as though they were passing away. Overlook the flesh, for it passes away. Take care of the soul, an immortal thing. Apply yourself to yourself with all diligence, so that you may know how to distribute to each what is fitting: to the flesh, food and clothing; to the soul, the doctrine of piety, a refined conduct, the practice of virtue, the correction of the passions. Do not fatten the body excessively, nor be zealous about the multitude of the flesh. For since the flesh desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are opposed to one another, see that you never, by giving preference to the flesh, grant great dominion to the worse part. For just as in the beams of a balance, if you weigh down one pan, you will certainly make the opposite one lighter, so too in the case of body and soul, the increase of the one necessarily brings about the diminution of the other. Attend to yourself, then. For each of us who are disciples of the Word is a servant of some one action among those commanded us in the Gospel.

For in this great household, the Church, there are not only vessels of every kind, gold and silver, wood and earthenware, but also every kind of craft. For the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, has hunters, travelers, master builders, builders, farmers, shepherds, athletes, soldiers; to all of these this brief word applies, instilling in each the zeal of the work and of the purpose. You are a hunter, sent by the Lord who said: "Behold, I send hunters, and they shall hunt them upon every mountain." Attend carefully, lest the prey escape you, so that having captured by the word of truth those made savage by wickedness, you may bring them to the one who saves. You are a traveler, like him who prays: "Direct my steps." But attend to yourself, lest you be turned aside from the road, lest you turn aside to the right or to the left; walk in the royal road. Let the master builder safely lay the foundation of faith, which is Christ Jesus. Let the builder see how he builds upon it, not wood, not hay, not stubble, but gold, silver, precious stones. You, the shepherd, attend lest any of those who fall to the pastoral care pass you by. And what are these? Turn back the one who has gone astray; bind up the one who is broken; heal the one who is sick. You, the farmer, dig around the barren fig tree, and apply what contributes to the bearing of fruit. You, the soldier, suffer hardship with the Gospel, waging the good warfare against the spirits of wickedness, against the passions of the flesh; take up the whole armor of the Spirit.

Do not entangle yourself in the affairs of this life, so that you may please the one who enlisted you as a soldier. Athlete, pay attention to yourself, lest you transgress any of the athletic laws; for no one is crowned unless he competes according to the rules. Imitate Paul, both running and wrestling and boxing; and you yourself, as a good boxer, keep the gaze of your soul undistracted. Guard the vital parts by the guard of your hands; let your eye be fixed intently on the opponent, stretching out in the races toward the things that lie ahead; run thus, so that you may lay hold. In the wrestling match, contend against the invisible foes. The Word wants you to be like this throughout your life—not reclining, not sleeping, but soberly and watchfully standing guard over yourself. Pay attention, then, to yourself; that is, turn the eye of your soul to the examination of your own self. For many, according to the word of the Lord, notice the speck that is in their brother's eye, but do not look at the beam in their own eye. Do not cease, then, searching yourself thoroughly, nor look around at things outside, in case you might be able to find some fault in someone, like that heavy and boastful Pharisee who stood justifying himself and despising the tax collector; but do not stop examining yourself—whether you have sinned in any of your thoughts, whether your tongue has slipped out, running ahead of your mind, whether any of the things you did not wish has been done in the works of your hands. Pay attention, then, to yourself, lest you ever allow your mind to be enslaved and become a slave of the passions. In truth, it seems to be the hardest thing of all to know oneself.

For not only does the eye that sees things outside not use its sight for itself, but our very mind, which keenly observes another's sin, is slow to recognize its own defects. Do not judge the judges, you who need healing; nor, pray, be fond of judging the merits of those who cleanse you. One man is better than another, or more lowly; but everyone is higher than you. Where are those of us who are gentle judges of their own faults but strict examiners of others', so that even here they lie against the truth? Where are those of us who have wounds and reproach the welts? Who mock the stumbling-blocks, who wallow in the mire and rejoice in our stains? Who are blind with the beams and bring forward the specks, which neither greatly grieve when lodged in us, nor is it hard to remove them and blow them away from the sight? Let us not attempt to heal others, while we ourselves teem with sores. Examine yourself more than the things of your neighbors; for in the one you will gain for yourself, in the other for your neighbors. Reason is better than deeds, or than money. For the one belongs to corruption, the other

He stands firm. Pursue glory, neither all of it nor excessively. For it is better to be than to seem. But if you are immoderate, do not hunt after empty glory, nor after the new. For what profit is there to an ape if it seems to be a lion? We watch for one another's sins, not that we may lament them, but that we may reproach them; nor that we may heal them, but that we may strike at them, and may have as a defense for our own evils the wounds of our neighbors. But the wicked and the good are characterized not by their manner of life, but by their separation and their friendship; and the things we praise today, tomorrow we have condemned. Let us lead our anger away like a wild beast, and our tongue like a sharp sword, and let us quench pleasure like fire; let us set doors on our ears that open well and close well, and let us discipline the eye, and the taste that tears at us, lest death come up through our windows, and let us laugh to scorn the excesses of laughter. Therefore the one who knows himself is a place and throne of the Lord. Do you wish to know God? First know yourself. To busy oneself with another's life is the height of illiberality. For our own affairs are neglected from no other source than from meddling and busying ourselves with the affairs of others. For it is not possible for a man who meddles in the lives of others ever to take care of his own life. For since all his zeal is spent on meddling in the affairs of others, of necessity his own affairs lie neglected and unattended. And besides, it is natural to man to overlook the successes of his neighbor, even though they be many and great; but if some defect appears, even a chance one, even one that has come about through many, he quickly perceives it, and readily seizes upon it, and remembers it forever.

And this small and cheap thing has often diminished the glory of many great things.

TITLE 3. – On Murmurings.

"The people were murmuring; and the Lord was angered, and fire was kindled, and it devoured part of the camp." "Beware of useless murmuring, and refrain your tongue from slander, for a secret spirit shall not pass by empty." "A knowledgeable man does not murmur." "Do not murmur, as some murmured and were destroyed by the destroyer." "Do all things without murmurings, that you may become blameless." The work of murmurers is unacceptable, like a blemished sacrifice. –It is necessary, therefore, to alienate the work of the lazy and contentious man from the brotherhood. TITLE 4. – On elders and old men; and that they must be honored. "You shall rise up before the gray head, and you shall honor the face of an elder." "Ask your father, and he will announce to you; your elders, and they will tell you." "In much time is wisdom, and in long time is knowledge." "I am younger in time, but you are elders; therefore I kept silent, fearing to announce to you my own knowledge." "A crown of boasting is old age; and it is found in the ways of righteousness." "The glory of elders is gray hair." "Honorable old age is not the long-lived, nor is it measured by the number of years. Gray hair is understanding for a man, and the age of old age, a life without stain." "Stand in the multitude of elders; and if anyone is wise, cleave to him." "Do not miss the narratives of elders; for they themselves learned from their fathers." –"Do not dishonor a man in his old age." "The crown of elders is much experience; and their boast is the fear of the Lord." "Speak, elder;

For it is fitting for you. "How beautiful are gray hairs with judgment, and for elders to know counsel." Everything that excels in antiquity is worthy of respect. In truth, more than the whiteness in hair contributes to the establishment of an elder—the eldership in prudence. In almost every matter, youth is a dangerous counselor; and one would not easily find anything of those things worthy of earnest effort successfully accomplished, unless gray hairs were also taken along into partnership of the consideration. Better is gray hair with prudence than uneducated youth. The gray hair of elders is gentleness; and their life is true knowledge. The soul flourishes toward knowledge when the body's prime withers with length. He who is elder in truth is contemplated not in length of times, but in a praiseworthy and perfect life. Those, then, who have worn away a long age in the life with the body, apart from nobility and goodness, must be called long-lived children, never having been educated in lessons worthy of gray hair. – A harbor unruffled by waves is gray hair. – The decline of the body is the restraint of passions.

TITLE 5. – On farming and farmers; and that it is good to work. "The Lord cast Adam out of the paradise of delight, to work the earth from which he was taken." "Noah began to be a man, a farmer of the earth, and he planted a vineyard, and drank of the wine, and became drunk." "Issachar desired what is good, resting in the midst of the lots; and seeing the rest, that it was good, and the land, that it was rich, he set his shoulder to toil, and became a farming man." "Take care of the green things in the field, and you will shear grass; gather the mountain hay, that you may have sheep for clothing. And honor the field, that you may have lambs." "Work your land;

For ships no longer come from Carthage. "Make new fallow ground for yourselves, and do not sow among thorns." "Do not hate laborious work, nor agriculture, which was created by the Most High." "He who works the earth raises up his heap." "The eye desires grace and beauty, but above both the green shoot of seed." "How shall he be made wise who holds the plow, and boasts in the spear with its goad, driving oxen, and turning about in his works, and whose tale is among the sons of bulls? He will give his heart deeply to cut furrows, and his wakefulness to the fodder of a heifer." "The laboring farmer must first partake of the fruits." The tiller of the soil, shaking off sleep, hastens before the working of the land, and defends the solitude of his little house and farmstead, and is nevertheless compelled to struggle with heat and winter from his wretched flesh. For everywhere it is by nature that useful things come to men through difficulty and toil. —To tillers of the soil it brings pleasure to reap some great quantity of fruit from sloping and deep-soiled fields. But if ever from rocky and thin and sandy ground he should be able, after much care, to enjoy some good fruit, the pleasure from this is greater for the tiller, because, having struggled against nature and having set his own toils against the barrenness of the land, he carries away a certain testimony of victory from those who admire the farm. TITLE 6. —On training, and study, and exercise. "From care and thought peace will appear to you." "Child, in your life test your soul." "Train yourself toward godliness.

For bodily exercise is profitable for a little while, but godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of life, both of the present and of the future. Toils practiced from long habit fall upon those who are well trained with less pain. Let us imitate those who conduct their exercises in the ranks of soldiers, who, having gained experience in hand-to-hand combat and in dances, reap in the contests the profit of their training. Virtue that is not practiced in deeds is quickly destroyed by circumstances. By much practice and discipline the violence and savagery of the passions grows weak. Continuous practice produces firm knowledge, just as neglect produces ignorance; and again, familiarity with it increases experience. Practice is the nurse of knowledge.

TITLE 7. — On those who contend against knowledge.

"I acknowledged my lawlessness, and I did not hide my sin." "I will declare my lawlessness, and I will be anxious concerning my sin." "A righteous man is his own accuser in the first word." "Examine yourself before judgment, and in the time of visitation you will find atonement." "Do not be ashamed to confess your sins." TITLE 8. — On women: that they ought to be subject to their own husbands, and to do nothing without them. "God said to the woman:

Your turning shall be toward your husband, and he shall rule over you. If a woman, having become married to a husband, has made vows upon herself, according to the distinction of her lips, as many as she has bound upon her soul, and her husband hears and keeps silent toward her on the day he hears, then all her vows shall stand, and her binding obligations which she bound upon her soul shall stand. But if her husband refuses on the day he hears, all her vows and her binding obligations which she bound upon her soul shall not remain, because her husband has refused; and the Lord shall forgive her. A woman honoring her own husband will appear wise to all. Let wives be subject to their own husbands as to the Lord, because a husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the Church; and he is the head of the body. But just as the Church is subject to Christ, so also let wives be subject to their husbands in all things. Let each man love his own wife as himself; and let the wife see that she fear her husband. Wives, being subject to their own husbands, so that even if some are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word through the conduct of their wives, having observed your conduct in fear. Of these let the adornment be not the outward braiding of hair and wearing of gold, or putting on of garments, but the hidden person of the heart in the incorruptible spirit of gentleness and quietness, which is precious before God.

For thus formerly the women who hoped in God adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose children you have become, doing good and not fearing any terror. TITLE 9. — Concerning women: that they ought not to pray uncovered, or to speak, or to teach in the church of God.

«Judge among yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God uncovered? Does not nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him; but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her instead of a covering.» «God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. Let the women keep silent in the churches; for it is not permitted for them to speak, but to be submissive, just as the law also says. And if they wish to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.» «Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. But I do not permit a woman to teach, nor to have authority over a man.» Let the women stop their idle talk from their mouths, and their whisperings, remembering how the evil one, having whispered to Eve, cast her out of paradise. TITLE 10. — Concerning women who are with child: if she bears a male child, for forty days she shall not enter into the house of the Lord; but if a female, for eighty. «The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: If a woman has conceived seed and bears a male, she shall be unclean seven days, according to the days of the separation of her impurity.

And on the eighth day you shall circumcise the flesh of his foreskin; and she shall sit thirty-three days in her unclean blood; she shall touch no holy thing, and she shall not enter the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are fulfilled. But if she bears a female child, she shall be unclean twice seven days, according to her menstruation; and she shall sit sixty-six days in her unclean blood. Infants in the womb are by nature brought to life in seven months, so that something most paradoxical happens. For seven-month children are viable, while eight-month children are generally unable to be brought to life. TITLE 11. — Concerning a brave and prudent woman. She withdrew on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite. And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him: Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not be afraid. And he turned aside to her in the tent, and she covered him with a covering. And Sisera said to her: Give me, I pray, a little water, for I am thirsty. And she opened the skin of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him with a covering. And Sisera said to her: Stand, I pray, at the door of the tent, and it shall be, if anyone comes to you and asks you, saying, Is there a man here? you shall say: There is not. And Jael took the peg of the tent, and put the hammer in her hand, and went in to him secretly, and drove the peg into his jaw, and it went through into the ground. And he was dashed to pieces between her knees, and breathed his last, and died. And behold, Barak was pursuing Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him, and said to him:

Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking. He went in to her, and behold, Sisara was thrown down dead, and a peg was in his jaw. Let Jael be blessed among women, the wife of Haber the Kenite; among women let her be blessed in tents. She asked for water, and she gave milk in a bowl of the mighty. Abimelech drew near to the gate of the tower to set it on fire; and one woman threw a piece of a millstone upon the head of Abimelech, and she shattered his skull. And he quickly cried out to the young man who was carrying his armor, and said to him, Draw your sword, and put me to death, lest they say that a woman killed him. And his young man ran him through, and he died. David was told by Melchol his wife, saying, If you do not save his life this night, tomorrow he will be put to death. And Melchol let David down through the window, and he departed, and fled, and was saved. Abigaia said to David, Upon me be the iniquity, my lord. Let your maidservant speak now in your ears. Let not my lord set his heart upon this pestilent man, and folly is with him. And David said to Abigaia, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you today to meet me, and blessed be your manner, and blessed are you, who have kept me today from coming into bloodshed. Who gave to women the wisdom of weaving, and the knowledge of embroidery? A brave woman is a crown to her husband. He who finds a good woman finds favors; and he receives gladness from the Lord.

He who casts out a good wife casts out the good things from his house. Wise women built houses, but the foolish one overturned them with her hands. Who will find a valiant woman? She is more precious than costly stones. Do not miss out on a wise and good woman, for her grace is beyond gold. Is a woman yours according to the soul? Do not cast her out. A good woman is a good portion, and she will be given in the portion of those who fear the Lord. Blessed is the man of a good woman; a valiant woman gladdens her husband, and she will fill his years in peace. The grace of a woman will delight her husband, and his bones will grow fat through her knowledge. The beauty of a woman brightens her face, and it surpasses every desire of man. If there is mercy and gentleness on her mouth, her husband is not like the sons of men. Consider beauty to be the good order of the mind, not the beauty that hands paint and time destroys. The female race is ever somewhat fond of tears, and it has a mind easily softened to mercy. A woman is shown to be above suspicion of slander by not adorning herself, nor indeed

to adorn herself beyond what is fitting, devoting herself earnestly to prayers and supplications; guarding against going out of the house often, shutting herself off as far as possible from the sight of those who are not her kin, so as to place the keeping of the house before untimely chatter as the more important thing.

TITLE 12. — Concerning wicked and adulterous women, and those who commit fornication, and those filled with every vice.

"And it came to pass on the seventh day that Samson told his riddle to Delilah, because she pressed him. And she reported it to the sons of her people. And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down: What is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a lion? And Samson said to them: If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have known my riddle." "And Samson said to Delilah: How can you say, I love you, when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have deceived me, and you have not told me wherein your great strength lies. And it came to pass, when she pressed him with her words all the days, and constrained him, and his spirit was worn down to the point of death, that he told her all his heart, and said to her: No razor has come upon my head, for I am a Nazirite of God from my mother's womb. If therefore I am shaved, my strength will depart from me, and I shall become weak, and shall be as all men. And Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, and she sent and called all the satraps of the Philistines, saying: Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart.

And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. And Delilah put Samson to sleep on her knees, and she called the barber, and he shaved the seven locks of his head, and his strength departed from him. And Delilah said, The Philistines are upon you, Samson; and he awoke from his sleep and said, I will go out as once and again, and I will shake myself free; but he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza, and they bound him in bronze fetters, and he was grinding in the house of the prison. It came to pass in the time of Solomon's old age, and his heart was not fully with the Lord, as was the heart of David his father. And the foreign women turned his heart aside after their gods. Then Solomon built a high place to Chemosh the idol of Moab, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to Astarte the abomination of the Sidonians; and thus he did for all his foreign wives; and they burned incense and sacrificed to their idols. Do not pay attention to a wicked woman. For honey drips from the lips of a harlot, and for a time she makes your throat smooth; afterward, however, you will find her more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword. A woman hunts precious souls—a throne of dishonor is a woman who hates righteous things. Son, keep my commandments, and you shall live, that they may keep you from a foreign and wicked woman.

For from the window of her house, peering out into the streets, if she sees among the foolish children a young man lacking in understanding passing by the corner, in the passages of her house, and speaking in the evening darkness, when there is the quiet and gloom of night—and the woman meets him, having a harlot's appearance, or she makes the hearts of the young fly out. She is wanton, fluttering about; her feet do not rest in her house. For a time she roams outside, and in time she lies in wait in the streets at every corner. Then she took hold of him and kissed him, and with a shameless face she said to him: A peace offering is mine; today I pay my vows. For this reason I came out to meet you, longing for your face, and I have found you; I have spread my bed with coverings,

I have strewn it with tapestries from Egypt; I have sprinkled my couch with saffron, and my house with cinnamon. Come, and let us enjoy friendship until dawn. Come and let us roll in love. For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey, taking a bundle of silver in his hand, and after many days he will return to his house. She led him astray with much conversation, and with the snares of her lips she drove him off course. And he followed, being made foolish, and like an ox he is led to the slaughter, and like a dog to the leash, or like a deer struck in the liver, and he hastens like a bird into a snare, not knowing that he runs for his life. Having wounded many, she has cast them down, and those whom she has slain are innumerable.

Her house is the ways of Hades, leading down into the chambers of death. Like a gold ring in a pig's snout, so is beauty to a woman of foolish mind. A foolish and shameless woman, lacking a morsel of bread, becomes one who does not know shame. She sat at the doors of her own house, on a seat openly in the streets, inviting those who pass by and go straight along their ways. Whoever of you is most foolish, let him turn aside to me; and to one lacking understanding, I exhort, saying: Touch hidden breads with pleasure, and drink stolen sweet water. But he does not know that the earthborn perish with her, and he meets with the pit of Hades. Like a worm in wood, so a wicked woman destroys a man. He who keeps company with an adulteress is foolish and impious. Better to dwell in a desert than with a quarrelsome, talkative, and irascible woman. Drops drive a man out of his house on a wintry day; likewise a reviling woman drives a man out of his own house. From your bedfellow guard yourself, from entrusting to her to do anything. Do not give your soul to a woman, lest she meet you as a harlot. Do not persist with a woman who sings. Do not closely observe a virgin. Do not give your soul to a prostitute. Turn your eye away from a beautiful woman. Do not sit at all with a married woman.

For many have been led astray by the beauty of a woman. Wine and women will turn away the prudent. A bold woman shames father and husband, and she will be dishonored by both. A woman who has left her husband and brought in an heir from strangers: first, she disobeyed the law of the Most High; second, she trespassed against her own husband; and third, she was defiled in adultery, and she brought in children from a strange man. She shall be brought out into the assembly; her children shall not spread a root, and her branches shall not bear fruit; she shall leave her memory as a curse. Do not give water a passage, nor relief to a wicked woman. If she does not walk according to your hand, cut her off from your flesh. You have chosen to dwell with a lion and a dragon rather than to dwell with a wicked woman. Every evil is small compared to the evil of a woman; the lot of a sinner shall fall upon her. A sandy ascent under the feet of an old man—so is a talkative woman to a quiet man. From a woman is the beginning of sin, and through her we all die. Do not give a wicked woman boldness. A drunken woman is great anger. The fornication of a woman is in her lifted-up eyes, and it will be known by her eyelids. The wickedness of a man is better than a woman who does good. Upon a wicked woman a seal is good. The sins of women are the unlearnedness of men. A woman who loves wealth, dwelling with a like-minded husband, is a double disease. For she inflames luxuries and increases pleasures, and she puts goads into meddlesome desires, devising certain pearls and emeralds and sapphires and gold.

Forging one thing and weaving another, and by every lack of taste inflating the disease. For their zeal for these things is not a side matter, but nights and days hold their cares about them; and countless flatterers, running beneath their desires, gather the dyers, the goldsmiths, the perfumers, the weavers, the embroiderers; she gives her husband no time to breathe because of her continual

commands. No wealth suffices when it serves women's desires, not even if it flowed from rivers. The barbarian perfume is prized by them as market oil is not, and the flowers from the sea—the murex, the pinna—above the wool from sheep. And gold, clasping the costly stones, becomes for them an ornament for the forehead, another for the neck, another in belts, and another binds the hands and the feet. For the gold-loving women rejoice to be bound with handcuffs, so long as it is gold that binds them. When, then, will the man who serves women's desires take care of his soul? For just as gusts and squalls do to ships that are unsound, so the wicked dispositions of women sink the weak souls of those who live with them.

Unchaste women, having forgotten the fear of God, having despised the eternal fire, on such a day as this, when for the remembrance of the resurrection they ought to have sat at home and to have taken thought of that day on which the heavens shall be opened and the judge shall appear to us from the heavens, and the trumpets of God, and the resurrection of the dead, and just judgment, and the recompense to each according to his work—instead of keeping these things in their thoughts and cleansing their own hearts from evil imaginations, and blotting out with tears their former sins, and preparing for the meeting of Christ on the great day of his appearing, having shaken off the yoke of slavery to Christ, having cast from their heads the veils of indecency, having despised God, having despised his angels, having put to shame every male countenance, tossing their hair, trailing their garments, and at the same time playing with their feet, with lascivious eye, with laughter poured out for dancing, inviting to themselves every licentiousness of the young, having formed choruses in the martyria before the city, they have made the holy places themselves a workshop of their own indecency; they have defiled the air with their harlot songs, and they have defiled the earth with their unclean feet, which they stamped in their dances, having set around themselves a crowd of young men as a theater—truly wanton, and leaving behind no excess of utter frenzied madness. How shall I keep silent about these things? And how shall I lament them as they deserve?

Wine has brought about the ruin of these souls; wine, the gift given by God for the consolation of weakness to the sober-minded, has now become a weapon of licentiousness for the wanton. Nothing, then, is comparable to a wicked woman. What is more terrible than a lion among four-footed beasts? Nothing. What is more savage than a dragon among reptiles? Nothing at all—except a wicked woman. Both lion and dragon are lesser. The most wise Solomon bears witness to my account, saying: You have been pleased to dwell with a lion or a dragon, or to dwell with a wicked and talkative woman. And so that you may not think the prophet has spoken ironically, learn accurately from the facts themselves: the lions reverenced Daniel, but Jezebel killed the righteous Naboth. The sea-monster kept Jonah in its belly, but Delilah, having shaved Samson, handed him over to the Philistines. Dragons and asps and horned serpents trembled before John in the desert, but Herodias cut him down at a banquet. The ravens fed Elijah on the mountain, but Jezebel, after the benefit of the rain, handed him over to death. For what did she say? If you are Elijah, I am Jezebel: may the gods do these things to me, and add these things, if I do not make your soul this very hour as the soul of one of the dead. And Elijah was afraid, and he arose, and he came into the wilderness a day's journey, and he asked for his soul to die, and he said: Lord God, let it suffice; take my soul from me, for it is better for me to die than to live, for I am no better than my fathers. Woe is me!

that the prophet Elijah feared a woman—he who carried the rain of the whole world on his tongue, who by a word brought fire down from heaven, and by prayer raised the dead—did he fear a woman? Yes, he feared. For no evil is comparable to a wicked woman. Wisdom testifies to my account, saying: There is no head above the head of a serpent, and there is no evil above the evil of a woman. O the evil of the devil and his sharpest weapon: through a woman from the beginning in paradise he wounded Adam. Through a woman he drove David mad to the treacherous murder of Uriah. Through a woman he brought down the wisest Solomon to transgression; through a woman he shaved and blinded the most courageous Samson. Through a woman he laid low the sons of Eli the priest; through a woman he pursued Elijah the heaven-runner; through a woman he shut the most noble Joseph in prison. Through a woman he cut down John, the lamp of the whole world; through a woman he slaughters all. For a shameless woman spares no one. She does not honor a Levite, she does not respect a priest, she is not ashamed before a prophet. O evil most evil of evils, a wicked woman, even if she be poor. But if she also take wealth cooperating with her wickedness, the evil is double: the creature is unbearable, the beast incurable. I know that even asps, when flattered, are tamed, and that lions, tigers, and leopards, when domesticated, are softened; but a wicked woman, when insulted, rages, and when flattered, is exalted. And if she has a husband who is a ruler, by night and by day she pries at him with her words and sharpens him toward murder, as Herodias did Herod.

Even if she has a poor husband, she stirs him up to anger and fights; even if she happens to be a widow, she herself by herself dishonors everyone. For she does not bridle her tongue with the fear of God; she does not look to the future judgment; she does not know the law of friendship. There is nothing for a wicked woman like handing her own husband over to death. At any rate, Job the righteous man's own wife was handing him over to death, saying: "Say some blasphemous word against the Lord, and die." O depraved nature! O unholy will! She did not take pity when she saw her own husband's inward parts burning from the seething boils, as if from spark-scattering coals, and all his flesh seized by worms. She was not bent toward compassion when she saw him, wholly through and through writhing and suffering, and in anguish, and bringing continuous gasps from his flanks with pain, with mouth gaping open. She was not softened to tender mercy when she saw him who once was in royal purple, then lying on a dung heap, stripped in body. And she did not remember her former intimacy with him, nor all the glorious good things that had blossomed because of him. But what? "Say some word against the Lord, and die." Did she ever utter such a thing to you when you were sick? And did she not wipe away the disease with prayers? For was his poverty for a time not enough for him, but you also procure for him eternal punishment through blasphemy? Or do you not know that every sin will be forgiven to men, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven, neither in this age nor in the one to come? Do you wish to see another yoked together with this wickedness? Look also at Delilah.

For she too, having shaved Samson, the most manly of men, handed him over to the Philistines—her own husband, her own consort, whom she warmed, whom she caressed, whom she flattered, whom she pretended to love more than herself; whom yesterday she loved, today she deceived; whom yesterday she warmed while loving, today she buried while deceiving. And was he not handsome? And who was more handsome than he in that time? So that he bore seven locks on his head, carrying the image of the sevenfold light. Was he not manly? So that he alone strangled the lion that was fearsome on the road, and with one jawbone of a donkey he laid low ten thousand Philistines. But he was also holy. For he was so holy that, when he thirsted in a scarcity of water, he prayed, and from the dead jawbone held in his hand he brought forth springs of water, and from there drew the healing of his thirst. And him who was so handsome, so manly, his own wife handed over to the Philistines as an enemy. For this reason the prophet enjoins you: From

your bedfellow guard yourself, lest you entrust anything to her. Tell me, what beast would ever have devised such things against its own male? What female dragon would wish to destroy her own yoke-fellow? What lioness would hand over her own husband to slaughter? You see that Wisdom has aptly said, There is no head above the head of a serpent, and there is no wickedness above the wickedness of a woman. And once for all, simply, let the one who has a wicked wife know that he has already received the wages of his lawless deeds: A wicked woman will be given as a portion to the lawless man, in return for his works.

Unbearable is a flattered woman, adorning her face like a meadow, coloring her cheeks in varied hues; whitening her face with starch, wine-flower, bean-meal, and white lead, and outlining her eyes with black; beautifying her neck, hands, and hair with golden ornaments, and perfuming her soft garments with various spices. She is a deadly snare, leading the young man away through all the senses—ensnaring the sight by the visible adornment, and bewitching the hearing by her softnesses. A woman is the evil beast of burden, the creeping worm, the dweller in Adam, the daughter of falsehood, the guard of paradise, the expeller of Adam, the hostile destruction, the enmity of peace. God did not grant the knowledge of good and evil to the tree, nor did he hang the rational creature upon the irrational. For the plant is irrational, but man is rational. The tree did not possess the knowledge of good and evil. But if the tree had knowledge, it was certainly also rational, and it should have been that, when Eve was departing, the tree would take of the fruit and say to the woman: What are you doing, woman? Do you wish to taste of my fruit? Do not eat, lest you die. You wish to pluck me for your own harm. You delight in my fruit, but death lies within. Do you not have things from which to eat? Why then do you not enjoy them without danger, but desire them destructively? Do you wish that I call your husband, and tell him your deed, so that he may hate your intention? So that you may be delighted, he is destroyed; so that you may eat, he dies; so that you may converse with the serpent, he is estranged from God.

But the tree said none of these things. Why? Because it did not partake of reason, but bore a law. For just as a wholly written book does not speak by itself, but speaks through what is in it, so too the tree put forth the law instead of letters. What law? From every tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it. On the day you eat, you shall surely die. What then does Moses say? Let him tell what follows. And God said, it is not good for the man to be alone; let us make him a helper corresponding to him. A helper, not a man-killer; a helper, not a deceiver; a helper, not a plotter; a helper, not an adversary; a helper, not above him; corresponding to him, not against him. And God took the man, he says, whom he formed, and placed him in the paradise of delight. For what reason, then, did he form Adam outside the paradise, and having formed him outside, place him in the paradise, but in the paradise fashioned Eve from his side? Why then did he not also form the woman outside the paradise, and then afterward transfer her into the paradise? So that she might not learn to wander outside her own house, and to cling to her own house. For if even in the paradise she was formed, and did not persevere, but both thrust herself out and estranged Adam, what would she have done if she had been formed outside the paradise? From her, worthless women learned to go from house to house. Rebuking them, the blessed Paul said: And at the same time they also learn to be idle, going about from house to house. These things the wife of Job learned; for she said to her own husband:

I, being a wanderer and a servant, going about from place to place and from house to house. Well did she say "a wanderer," for she had the deceiver within herself. But let no one, I beg, revile Eve any longer. For the holy Virgin Mother of God has canceled her reproach. For even if she was disorderly and became a companion of the serpent, nevertheless through childbearing she put away the pain of lawlessness, just as the Apostle also mentioned, saying: The woman, having been deceived, has come into transgression, but she will be saved through childbearing. Of what sort? From Adam himself were the children born, and from them those after them, then the patriarchs, the prophets, David, and according to the flesh the Master Christ, who both banished sorrow and awarded grace. What is a beautiful woman? A whitewashed tomb, unless she is chaste. For beauty is both withered by disease and cut off by death. Prostitutes, anticipating this, call even free women prostitutes, so that those women may have nothing with which to revile them in return. TITLE 13. — On gluttony and satiety: that gluttony brings about death.

Esau sold his birthright to Jacob, and Jacob gave Esau bread and a dish of lentils; and he ate, and he drank, and he rose up and went away, and Esau despised his birthright. The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Go, and descend quickly from here. For your people, whom I brought out of Egypt, have acted lawlessly, and have made a molten calf. The power of Satan is upon the navel of the belly. Do not be insatiable at the table, lest you stumble. A soul that is in fullness mocks honeycombs; but to a needy soul, even small things seem sweet. He who lives riotously from childhood will be a servant. In the belly he tripped up his brother, Jacob. Woe to those who rise early and pursue strong drink, who stay until late! For wine will burn them up together. All who drink wine will be put to shame. They were led astray through strong drink, priest and prophet; they were beside themselves through wine. All who make merry in their soul groan. The Lord called on that day for weeping and wailing, for shaving and for girding with sackcloth; but they made merry, slaughtering calves and sacrificing sheep, saying, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Those who eat delicacies have vanished from the streets; those who were reared on scarlet have embraced dung. Do not walk after your desires, and restrain yourself from your cravings. If you grant your soul the good pleasure of desire, you will make yourself a laughingstock to your enemies. Do not rejoice in great luxury. A twisted thing is with a greedy man.

The desire of the belly and sexual intercourse—let them not seize me. Do not be insatiable in every luxury, for in many foods there will be sickness. A man who looks upon another's table—his life is not in the thought of life. Woe to you who are filled, for you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh, for you will mourn and weep. Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day come upon you suddenly. For it will come as a snare upon all those who sit upon the face of all the earth. You have fattened your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. The enemies of the cross, whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame. Let no one be a fornicator, or profane like Esau, who for a single meal sold his birthright. When your blood is in good condition and boiling over, the abundance of flesh becomes an occasion for sin. Do not pamper your body with sleep, and baths, and soft couches, always repeating this saying: What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to corruption? Why do you cherish the little that will shortly be destroyed? Why do you fatten yourself and multiply your flesh? Or do you not know that the thicker you make your own flesh, the heavier a prison you prepare for the soul? For how shall the earthly and fleshly man confess to God and declare his truth, who has given no time to learning and has his mind confounded in so great a weight of flesh? There was once

Adam was above—not in place, but in will. But quickly, filled with every pleasure, he waxed insolent through satiety, preferring the delight that appeared to fleshly eyes over the intelligible beauty, and reckoning the fullness of the flesh more honorable than spiritual pleasures. Straightway he was outside paradise, and outside that blessed way of life, having become evil not from necessity but from want of counsel. A heavy belly is fit not only for running, but not even for sleep. For pressed down by its abundance, it is not even permitted to rest, but is compelled to make many turnings to either side. The belly is a most faithless broker, an unguarded treasury: when many things have been deposited, it keeps the harm, but does not preserve what was entrusted. Do not imitate the disobedience of Eve; do not again receive the serpent as counselor, suggesting food out of sparing of the flesh. Human bodies, when weighed down by continual satiety, easily become submerged; but when they have used a well-ordered and light diet, they have both escaped the evil expected from sickness, as if fleeing the onset of a storm, and have thrust aside the trouble already present, as if the assault of some rock. When the servant Moses fasted and prayed for forty days, one drunken bout made it useless. For the tablets which fasting received, written by the finger of God, drunkenness shattered, since the prophet judged it unworthy that a drunken people should be legislated for by God.

In one moment of time, that people, who had been taught God by the greatest wonders, was rolled down into Egyptian idolatry through gluttony, setting both things side by side: how fasting brings one near to God, and how luxury betrays salvation. The greedy belly, always demanding and never ceasing, taking today and forgetting tomorrow, when it is filled, philosophizes about self-control, but when it has breathed its fill, it forgets the doctrines. Fear the example of the rich man. His lifelong luxury delivered him to the fire. For he was not charged with injustice, but with a life of softness, and was fried in the flame of the furnace. The defect in digestion necessarily follows upon those who live in luxury. For this also produces violent diseases in bodies. For from heavy food, as it were sooty exhalations sent up, like a thick cloud, they cut off the illuminations that come upon the mind from the Holy Spirit. Satiety is the beginning of insolence. Those who devise certain table-servants and search out all land and sea, and as if to some harsh master, pay tribute to the belly, are pitiable in their busyness; and suffering nothing more tolerable than those punished in Hades, literally raking into fire, and carrying water with a sieve, and drawing into a worn-out jar, they have no end of their labors. When the body is in good condition and weighed down with much flesh, the mind must necessarily be sluggish and without strength for its own activities.

When the soul is in good health and is lifted up through the study of good things toward its own proper good, it follows that the condition of the body is withered away. We do not praise any of the things that are held in equal honor with the throat—or rather, in dishonor—and likewise are to be rejected. For me, all excess is intemperance, even beyond need, especially when others are hungry and in want, being of the same clay and mixture. Nothing is so contentious and quarrelsome as the belly. You who are devoted to luxury, take something away from the flesh and give it to the spirit. Is the poor man near? Help him in his sickness. Belch out something of your excess for him. Why do you also labor with indigestion, and he with hunger; and you with drunkenness, and he with dropsy; and you weigh down satiety with satiety, and he is overturned by disease? Do not overlook your Lazarus here, lest he make you the rich man there. Do not let land and sea bring us their dung as gifts. For this is how I know to honor luxury. The perception of seasonings has its limit up to the palate, but from the palate onward the distinction of what is put in is indiscriminate, all things being equally honored by nature toward foulness.

being altered. The seed belongs to the householder; and from the wheat bread comes to be. But luxury is the tares, which were sown alongside the wheat by the enemy. For who does not know that the root of the transgressions concerning life is the preoccupation with the throat? Having eaten, and drunk, and been filled, take heed to yourself. For the place of luxury is steep. The love of pleasure is always, in a way, a companion to luxuries, as Isocrates himself also says. Wealth is a servant of vice rather than of nobility. One must abstain from foods, not because of them, but because of the harms that come from them. The thought of gluttony has as its end that of fornication; and that of fornication has as its end that of grief. Eat what is needful; for partaking with moderation is not forbidden. Eat therefore with thanksgiving, but do not devour. For devourers are hated. Every man who is insatiable and unappeasable knows dishonor and passions through gluttony. It is not good for a man who is knowledgeable and temperate to choose to feed beyond what is due. Everything beyond need becomes useless. Do you not know that Israel, having eaten beyond what was due, kicked like a mule, and rebelled against the one who fed it? —Let not the body be weighed down with immoderate foods and drinks, lest from satiety you be harmed by disease, and wrap the soul in darkness, and go forth under the squadrons of pleasures. —By feeding yourself beyond what is due, you have unwittingly fed your enemy. You would not be able to withstand the surge of the passions, loaded down with the abundance of luxuries. —But refuse to live in luxury. For it drags you into actions from which groanings come after soberness.

The desire for another is innate to satiety. It is necessary for you to make thin the flesh that has grown fat, because a fat belly does not give birth to a thin mind, and especially because a scholar needs much sobriety. Being pleasure-loving and fond of display, you are not far from the Tartarean Charybdis. Do not be ignorant that nothing is more wretched than the happiness that rejoices. It is the work of the shameless belly to master it. God is of those defeated by it, and it is not possible for the one who endures it to be acquitted. TITLE 14. — On those who guard their own tongue. "My lips will not speak lawless things, nor will my soul meditate unjust things." "Sparing your lips, you will be understanding." "Whoever guards his own mouth keeps his own soul." "A silent man calms contradiction." "One who loves his own life spares his own mouth." "Remove from yourself a crooked mouth, and thrust unjust lips away from you." "Silver tried by fire is the tongue of the righteous." After righteousness, all the words of your mouth. Nothing in them is crooked, nor twisted. "From the fruits of the mouth a man's soul will be filled with them." "The healing of the tongue is a tree of life.

But the one who keeps it will be filled with the Spirit. Good words are honeycombs, and their sweetness is healing for the soul. Whoever guards his own mouth and tongue keeps his soul from affliction. A soft tongue breaks bones. Death and life are in the hand of the tongue, and those who hold it fast will eat its fruits. Blessed is the man who does not slip with his mouth. A sweet throat multiplies friends. Who will set a guard over my mouth, and a seal upon my lips, so that I do not fall from it, and my tongue does not destroy me? The one who hates chatter diminishes evil. Good things poured out upon a closed mouth. I said, I will guard my ways, so that I do not sin with my tongue. Set, O Lord, a guard over my mouth, and a door of enclosure around my lips. Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak. If anyone does not stumble in word, this one is perfect, able to bridle the whole body. To practice self-control concerning the voice is endurance against lust. Do you not know how great a gift from God silence is? But speak, if you have anything better than silence. And love stillness, where there is something better than speech

To be silent. Talkativeness and contradictions of words are not pleasant to the faithful. For even one opponent is enough. A wise man, even when silent, honors God, knowing also why he is silent. Spare me, I beg you, the same unstable tongue. For the slip of the tongue is more difficult than the slip of the feet.

TITLE 15. — Concerning those who do not guard their tongue. "Depart from every unjust word." "From the scourge of the tongue he will hide you." "Their throat is an open grave." "The Lord will destroy all deceitful lips, a tongue that speaks great things." "They sharpened their tongue like a serpent. A man who is talkative shall not be established on the earth." "Your mouth abounded in evil, and your tongue wove deceit." "O Lord, deliver my soul from unjust lips, and from a deceitful tongue." "A man's own lips are a strong snare to him; and he is caught by the words of his own mouth." "The one who is unguarded in his lips and trips others will be tripped up." "A painful word stirs up anger. A double-tongued man reveals counsels in council. The mouth of fools will proclaim evils." "The perverse man in his own mouth brings destruction." "A man fickle in tongue will fall into evils." "The lips of a fool lead him into evils, and his bold mouth calls upon death. The mouth of a fool crushes him, and his lips are a snare to his soul." "The mouth of the lawless is a deep pit; and the one hated by the Lord will fall into it." "In much wood fire will blaze; but an unguarded mouth causes disorders." "By the sin of his lips the sinner falls into a snare." "From much speaking you will not escape sin.

Remove from yourself a crooked mouth, and put unjust lips far away from you. The uneducated are unrestrained with the tongue. If you drag out a word, judgment will come out, and battle. "Whoever answers a word before he hears, folly and reproach are his." "Do not be hasty with your mouth, and do not let your heart be quick to bring out a word before the face of God." "A fool multiplies words. Do not stand in an evil word." "They bent their tongue like a bow." "He who multiplies words will be abhorred." "A fixed arrow in the flesh of the thigh, so is a word in the belly of a fool. Merciless is he who does not keep words." "Do not fight with a talkative man, and do not heap wood upon his fire. Fearful in a city is a talkative man." "A slip from the ground, or from the tongue." A blow of a whip makes a welt, but a blow of the tongue will break bones. Bind up your silver and your gold, and make for your words a yoke and a weight, and make for your mouth a door and a bolt; take care lest you slip in it. Many have fallen by the mouth of the sword, and not as those who have fallen by the tongue. "If anyone does not stumble in word, this is a perfect man, able to bridle also the whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, and we guide their whole body—behold, even ships, being so great and driven by harsh winds, are guided by a very small rudder, wherever the impulse of the one steering wishes; so also the tongue is a small member, and it boasts great things. Behold, a little fire kindles how great a forest! And the tongue is fire, the world of unrighteousness.

The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, and setting on fire the wheel of our birth, and being set on fire by Gehenna. For every nature of beasts and birds, of reptiles and sea creatures, is tamed and has been tamed by human nature, but the tongue no one of men is able to tame—an unrestrainable evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless God and the Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. It ought not to be so, my brothers. Does the spring from the same opening pour forth the sweet and the bitter? Satiety of speech is hostile to the ears, as excessive food is to the body. A tongue is a slippery place for men when it is not steered by reason. A word simply brought forward has overturned whole households, and has destroyed and sunk souls. And the loss of money can be corrected again, but a word that has once leapt out cannot be recovered again. Do not receive swallows into your houses—that is, talkative men—and do not make those unrestrained in tongue your housemates. An evil tongue is a man's fall. And again: Your tongue, you have always made a sharpened razor, deceit. And again: What should be given to you, and what should be added to you, for a deceitful tongue? And again: O God, do not be silent at my praise, for the mouth of a sinner and the mouth of a deceitful man has been opened against me. And again: They sharpened their tongue like a serpent; the venom of asps is under their lips. The serpent is said to have a terrible sting in its tongue, but there is nothing more terrible than the tongue of an evil man.

A green lizard is spoken of, but it is not greener than the babbler. The bite of a scorpion is healed, but an evil word going out from the mouth of a babbler strikes his neighbor. Water quenches a flame of fire, but no one calms an evil tongue. A bridle tames a stiff-necked horse, but no one is able to tame an evil tongue. A wild beast is easily tamed, but an evil tongue is not softened. There is nothing in the world worse than an evil tongue. It dashes foot against foot, house against house, children against parents, brothers against brothers. All evils come through the tongue.

ELEMENT D.

TITLE 1. — On the power of God.

"The Lord your God is in you, a great and mighty God." "I will call upon the Lord, the Master of all, who does great and unsearchable things, glorious and marvelous, of which there is no number." "If he casts down, who will build up? If he shuts against a man, who will open?" "I know that he can do all things, and nothing is impossible for you." "He who makes the lowly high, and raises up the lost." "He who makes old the mountains, and they do not know it; he who turns them in wrath; he who shakes what is under heaven, and its pillars are shaken. He who says to the sun not to rise, and it does not rise, and seals up the stars. He who alone stretched out the heaven, and walks upon the sea, and treads upon the waves. If he overturns all things, who will say to him, What have you done?" "With him are wisdom and power; his are counsel and understanding. — With him are might and strength; his are knowledge and understanding. He leads counselors away captive, and drives the judges of the earth out of their minds. He sets kings upon thrones, and binds a belt around their loins.

Sending priests away as captives, he has driven the mighty of the earth from their place. Pouring dishonor upon rulers, revealing deep things out of darkness. The bow of the mighty has weakened, and those who were weak have been clothed with strength. The Lord makes poor and makes rich, he brings low and lifts up, and the rest. You are fearful, and who will stand against you? and the rest. All those around him shall bring gifts, and the rest. Who is a great God as our God? You are the God who works wonders. You are mighty, O Lord, and your truth is around you, and the rest. Who knows the power of your wrath? Who will speak of the mighty acts of the Lord, making them heard, and the rest. He who raises the poor from the earth, and from the dunghill, and the rest. Threatening the sea and drying it up, and making all the rivers desolate. Who has measured the water with his hand, and the heaven, and all the earth with a span? Who has set the mountains by weight, and the valleys by a yoke? All the nations were counted as a drop from a bucket, and as a turning of the scales. He who holds the circle of the earth, and those who dwell in it as grasshoppers. Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the footstool of my feet. What house will you build for me, or

What place is my rest? For all these things my hand has made, and all these things are mine, says the Lord. The one who redeemed them is strong; the Lord Almighty is his name. All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing, and there is no one who can stay his hand or say, What have you done? To be greatly strong is always present with you, and who will withstand the might of your arm? The whole world is like a turn of the scales before you. But you have mercy on all, because you are able to do all things. Your strength is the beginning of righteousness, and your lordship over all things makes you spare all things. A strong inquiry comes upon the mighty. It is impossible to escape your hand. Who will say to you, What have you done? or who will withstand your judgment? The Lord is fearful, and exceedingly great, and his dominion is wonderful. He bears all things by the word of his power, not working bodily, nor needing handiwork for creation, but having the nature of things that come to be follow his unforced will. Where God wills, the order of nature is conquered. For God, being greater than nature, willed and was able, and from him come both the willing, because he is good, and the power, because he is mighty, and the accomplishing, because he is resourceful. I say to you that from these stones, that is, from those who serve stones, God is able to raise up children to Abraham. TITLE 2. Concerning the creation of God, and that nothing has come to be from him in vain. God saw all things whatever he made, and behold, they were very good. Yours is the day, and yours is the night; you have established the light and the sun.

You made all the boundaries of the earth. The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours; the world and its fullness you founded. The sea is his, and he made it. How great are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made all things. I am the Lord God, who prepared light and made darkness. I made the earth and man upon it. I established the heaven with my hand. A spirit shall go forth from me, and I made every breath. The Lord who makes the earth in his strength, who prepares the world in his wisdom, and in his understanding stretched out the heaven, and brought up clouds from the end of the earth; he made lightnings for rain, and brought forth his light. He who prepared the earth for an age of time filled it with four-footed beasts. He who sends the light, and it goes; he called it, and it obeyed him with trembling. And the stars shone in their watches, and rejoiced; he called them, and they said: We are present; they shone with gladness for the one who made them. God did not make death, nor does he delight in the destruction of the living. For he created all things for an age, and the generations of the world are saving, and there is no drug of destruction in them, nor a kingdom of Hades upon the earth. You love all things that exist, and you abhor nothing that you have made. How would anything have remained, if you had not willed it? From the greatness and beauty of created things their creator is seen by analogy. He who lives for an age created all things in common, the Lord alone. He made nothing lacking; he established the good things of the one by the one.

And who will be filled with the sight of his glory? "The works of the Lord are all good, and he will supply every need in its own time. And it cannot be said, 'This is worse than that.' For all things will be tested in their season." "The Lord created medicines from the earth, and a prudent man will not be vexed at them. And the peace that comes from them is upon the face of the earth." Let the earth sprout grass of the field; and the poisons were brought forth together with the foods: hemlock with the wheat, hellebore with the other foods, and aconite, and mandrake, and the juice of the poppy. What then? Shall we, forsaking the acknowledgment of grace for the things that are useful, accuse the Creator for the things that destroy our life? But let us consider this, that not all things have been created for the sake of our belly, but the foods appointed for us are at hand and well known to all; and each of the things that have come to be fulfills its own particular reason in creation. To say that evil has its origin from God is not pious, because none of the opposites comes to be from its opposite. For neither does life beget death, nor is darkness the beginning of light, nor is disease the maker of health. What then do we say? That evil is not a living and animate substance, but a disposition in the soul that is set in opposition to virtue, arising in the slothful through the falling away from the good. Do not, then, look for evil from outside, and let each one recognize himself as the author of the wickedness within himself. Nothing that has come to be from God is in vain. It is not the nature of the movements itself that is evil, but the perversion of the natural impulses that has slandered the soul's inclinations as passions.

For the craftsman tuned the lyre well and made it sweet-sounding, but those who strike it touch the strings in different ways; and from the same lyre, one sounds a hymn, another a blasphemy, not because the nature of the strings has anything distorted, but because the ignorance of those who pluck them corrupts the instrument. The laziness of men is the cause of the sowing of evils. For while men were sleeping, he says, the enemy came and sowed the tares among the wheat. All things that God has made, he has made well, being himself knowledgeable of all things. For neither would the just one do anything unjust, nor the good one anything base, just as neither would the knowledgeable one act without knowledge. But God is just, and good, and knowledgeable; therefore God has made nothing unjust or base. By a single nod of his will he establishes the things he wishes out of non-being, being alone eternal, alone without beginning, alone simple in substance and will. TITLE 3. — Concerning the glorification of God; and that it is necessary to glorify and sanctify God, and that God glorifies those who glorify him. "The Lord said to Moses: Because you did not believe to sanctify me, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I gave to them." "Those who glorify me I will glorify, and the one who despises me shall be dishonored." "I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart." "Praising, I will call upon the Lord, and I shall be saved from my enemies." "You who fear the Lord, praise him," and the rest. "I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise continually in my mouth." "Sing to our God, sing;

Sing to our king, sing. Sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High. A sacrifice of praise will glorify me, and there is the way. Shout to God, all the earth; sing to his name. Let the peoples give thanks to you, O God; let them give thanks to you. In the congregations bless God the Lord, from the springs of Israel. The kingdoms of the earth, sing to God, sing to the Lord. I remembered God, and I was glad, and I spoke idly. Your mercies, O Lord, I will sing forever; to generation and generation. It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing to your name. Come, let us rejoice in the Lord, let us shout to God. Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Bring to the Lord, you families of the nations, bring to the Lord glory and honor. Exalt the Lord our God, and worship. Shout to God, all the earth; serve the Lord with gladness. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless the Lord, all his works, in every place of his dominion. Let my speech be sweet to him. Give thanks to the Lord, and call upon his name. Who will speak of the mighty acts of the Lord? He will make them heard. His praise endures forever and ever. Praise, you servants, the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. May the name be, etc. The dead will not praise you, O Lord, nor all those who go down to Hades. To you I will sacrifice a sacrifice of praise, and in the name of the Lord. Praise the Lord, all you nations.

Praise." "Behold now, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord." "Sing to his name, for it is good. For Jacob," etc. "Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good, to our God." "Honor the Lord, and you will be strong; but besides him, fear no other." "Sanctify the Lord himself, and he himself shall be your fear. And if you are trusting in him, he shall be to you a sanctuary." "Sing a new hymn to God; his beginning is glorified from the end of the earth." "Because you did not remember me, nor take me into your heart, I too, seeing you, overlook you." "Hymn the Lord, cry out his name." "Give glory to our God before it grows dark, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains." "May the name of God be blessed from now and forever, for his is the wisdom and the praise." "It is necessary to come before the sun with thanksgivings to God, and to entreat him toward the rising of the light." "Living and healthy, let him praise the Lord." "Bless the Lord, who made you, and who makes you drunk with his good things." "Bless the Lord in all his works; give greatness to his name, and confess in his praise, in songs of the lips and with harps." "Sanctify the Lord Christ in our hearts." This is God's indwelling: to have God established within oneself through remembrance. The cheerful and painless condition of the soul is granted by the consolations of hymns. Glorify the Maker, in whom all things were created, whether visible or invisible, whether principalities or authorities, and whether there are any other rational natures without name.

Let us know God, let us worship the Creator, let us serve the Master, let us glorify the Father, let us love our nourisher, let us reverence our benefactor, the author of our life both present and to come, and let us not cease worshipping. Let us offer to you, the self-sufficient and perfect God, the sacrifice of praise—you who do not demand bodily sacrifices, in which the wealthier have the advantage, but the pure confession that comes from the disposition of the heart, in which all who wish share equally. God is to be remembered rather than breathed. The mark of piety is to make continual care for things more divine, and to be propitiated by frequent entreaties. Honor God with reverent deeds, hymn him with words, honor him with thought. No one honors God worthily, but only justly, since it is not even possible to repay one's parents equal thanks. For it is not possible to beget them in return. TITLE 4. — On justification; and who were justified before God. "I shall not live forever, that I may be patient. Depart from me, for my life is empty. For who is man, that you have magnified him, or that you set your mind upon him? Or will you make visitation of him until morning, and judge him unto rest? How long will you not let me be, nor let me go, until I swallow my spittle in pain? If I have sinned, what shall I be able to do, I who know the mind of men? Why have you set me as a accuser of you, and I am a burden upon you? And why have you not made forgetfulness of my lawlessness, and a cleansing of my sin?

But now I shall depart into the earth. Since I am impious, why did I not die? Even if I wash myself with snow and cleanse myself with pure hands, you have plunged me sufficiently in filth. My garment has loathed me. For you are not a man like me, that I might answer you, so that we might come together with one accord to judgment. Would that there were a mediator between us, both reproving and hearing between us both. Why do the impious live, and have grown old, and in wealth? Their seed is according to the desire of the soul, and their children are before their eyes. Their houses prosper, and there is no fear anywhere; and there is no scourge from the Lord upon them. And they remain like eternal sheep, and their children play, taking up the psaltery and the lyre. They have completed their life in good things. How many are my iniquities and my sins? Teach me. Why do you hide from me? How long, O Lord, shall I cry out, and you will not hear? I shall cry out to you being wronged, and you will not save? Why have you shown me labors to look upon? Judgment has become contrary to me, and the judge takes. Therefore the law has been dissipated, because the impious one oppresses the righteous. For this reason judgment will come forth perverted. The angel of the Lord answered and said: O Lord Almighty, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, which you have overlooked? This is the seventieth year. You are righteous, O Lord, that I shall make my defense to you; nevertheless I shall speak judgments to you: why is it that the way of the impious prospers? And all who reject have prospered? TITLE 5. — Concerning those who serve God; and that it is necessary to honor them, and to distribute to their need.

Saul said to his young servant, "What shall we bring to the man of God? For the loaves have run out from our vessels." And the young servant said, "Behold, in my hand is a fourth of a shekel of silver, and you shall give it to the man of God." Jeroboam said to his wife, "Arise, and take in your hand for the man of God loaves and cakes for his children, and a cluster of grapes, and honey." Abdiu took a hundred men, the prophets, and hid them by fifties in caves, and fed them. The woman said to her husband, "Behold, a man of God is passing by us; let us make him an upper room, and place for him there a bed, and a table, and a lampstand." He who takes hold of a righteous man, this one shall rise. As if someone should stop up a spring and spoil the outflow of water, so an unseemly righteous man has fallen before the impious. He who does not respect the persons of the righteous is not good. To wrong a righteous man is not good, nor holy. Do good to the pious, and you will find a recompense, and if not from him, yet from the Most High. Those who praise the good are sharers in the crowns laid up for them. It is not a great thing to care for a righteous man. But he who is deemed worthy to serve him receives grace.

TITLE 6. Concerning the discernment of good and evil; and that one ought to judge each person from his deeds, and not from his words.

"The attire of a man, and the step of his foot, and the laughter of his teeth will declare the things concerning him." "For by its fruit the tree is known." "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you shall know them." "Each tree is known by its own fruit." "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits." It is possible, my child, to speak well and yet be wicked, but to act well and be wicked is impossible. TITLE 7. Concerning the righteous, and the prayer made by them; and that he guards them from temptations.

"Abraham prayed to God, and he healed Abimelech, and his wife and his maidservants, and they bore children." "He will not withdraw his eyes from a righteous man, and he shall set them in victory, and they shall be exalted." "Behold, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him," and the rest. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and out of all of them." — "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears unto their supplications." "But the Lord supports the righteous. The Lord knows the," etc. "The Lord guards all their bones; not one of them shall be crushed." "He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him, and of the supplication." "The prayer of those who direct their way is acceptable to God." "Through the help of the righteous great glory comes to be." "The dwellings of the righteous are blessed." "The blessing of the Lord is upon the head of the righteous." "Light

For the righteous always. The house of the righteous is great strength. The righteous man will be in joy and in gladness. The righteous man escapes from the hunt; the impious man is delivered up in his place. Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine. And if you pass through water, I am with you, and rivers shall not overwhelm you; and if you pass through fire, you shall not be burned. The supplication of a righteous man, when it is at work, has great power. The Lord knows how to rescue the pious from temptation. And many righteous men fall into adverse circumstances, but these are not scourges. TITLE 8. Concerning the righteous, that they are despised and mocked. The righteous are laughed at. For they are delivered into the hands of the impious. A righteous and blameless man was born for mockery. The holy man is unclean in the eyes of evildoers. Men who share in bloodshed hate the righteous man. They will see the righteous man and despise him, but the Lord will laugh them to scorn. And after this they shall be for a dishonorable fall, and for a reproach among the dead forever. The righteous man will stand with great boldness in the presence of those who afflicted him and who set at naught his labors. And seeing him they will be troubled with terrible fear, and they will be astonished at the paradox of his salvation. For they will say among themselves in repentance: This was he whom we once held in derision, and as a byword of reproach. We fools accounted his life madness, and his end dishonorable. How was he numbered among the sons of God, and his lot among the saints? Surely we went astray from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness did not shine for us.

We were filled with lawlessness and destruction in our paths, and we walked in impassable paths, and we did not know the way of the Lord. All who wish to live piously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and sorcerers will advance to the worse, deceiving and being deceived. Often even the righteous are delivered into the hands of the impious, not so that those may be honored, but so that they themselves may be tested. It is not possible for those living in virtue to be well spoken of by all. It is not possible for the one who cultivates virtue not to have many enemies. TITLE 9. — Concerning those who lend and those who borrow. If you lend silver to your brother, you shall not be pressing him; you shall not impose interest on him. Your brother shall live with you. For you shall not give your silver to him at interest and for increase. You shall not give your food to him at interest. You shall lend a loan to your neighbor as much as he needs, and you shall not be grieved in your heart when you give to him; and the Lord will bless you. You shall not exact interest from your brother for food, and interest for any matter whatsoever that you may lend to your brother. If there is any debt at all with your neighbor, you shall not enter into his house to seize the pledge. You shall stand outside, and that man, whose loan is yours, shall bring the pledge out to you. But if the man is poor, you shall not sleep with his pledge. You shall return his pledge about the setting of the sun, and he shall sleep in his garment, and he will bless you, and it shall be alms for you before the Lord your God. The sinner lends, and does not repay;

But the righteous man has compassion and gives. A good man is one who shows mercy and lends. The righteous man has compassion and lends. He who increases his wealth with interest and usury gathers it for him who shows mercy to the poor. When a lender and a debtor come together, the Lord exercises oversight over both. Let not your hand be stretched out to receive, and closed when it is time to repay. Do not lend to a man stronger than yourself; and if you do lend, count it as lost. Lend to your neighbor in the time of his need. Many have regarded a loan as a windfall, and have caused trouble to those who helped them. These things are burdensome to a man who has understanding: the rebuke of a household, and the reproach of a lender. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away the one who wishes to borrow from you. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners, so that they may receive back the same amount. Indeed it is an excess of inhumanity, that the one who is in want of necessities should seek a loan for the relief of his life, while the other is not content with the principal, but devises revenues for himself from the misfortunes of the poor man, and gathers wealth. The Lord, then, clearly commanded us, saying: And do not turn away the one who wishes to borrow from you.

But the lover of money, seeing a man bent low by necessity, begging before his knees, doing nothing that is abject, saying nothing that is abject—he does not show mercy though the man acts beyond what he deserves, he does not consider nature, he does not yield to the supplications, but stands inflexible and implacable, neither giving way to entreaties nor softened by tears, persisting in his refusal, swearing and calling down curses upon himself, that he is utterly without means and is himself looking around to see if he might find any of those who lend, and confirming the lie by his oaths, acquiring perjury as a base merchandise of his inhumanity. But when the one seeking the loan mentions interest and names collateral, then he lowers his brow and smiles, and perhaps even recalls his father's friendship, and calls him an acquaintance and a friend. And we shall see, he says, if there is any silver laid up with us anywhere. There is a deposit of a friend who has placed it with us for business; but he set heavy interest upon it, yet we shall certainly return something and grant a reduction in the interest. Fashioning such things and hinting at them with such words, baiting the wretched man, having first bound him by written contracts, and in addition to the poverty that oppresses him, stripping the man of his freedom as well, he departed. For he who has made himself liable to interest, the repayment of which he cannot sustain, has accepted voluntary slavery for life. Tell me, do you seek money and revenues from the poor man, and if he could make you appear richer, why was he seeking at your doors? Coming for alliance, he found war; seeking remedies, he encountered poisons.

When you ought to comfort the man's poverty, do you multiply it, seeking to harvest the needy man's want? The beginning of a lie is to borrow, an occasion of ingratitude, and of perjury and of folly. Nights bring him no rest, nor is the sun pleasant, but he is vexed at life, he hates the days as they hasten the appointed time, he fears the months as fathers of interest. And if he sleeps, he sees the lender in a dream, an evil dream standing by his head. And if he is awake, his thought and care is the interest. When a lender, it says, and a debtor meet one another, the Lord makes inspection of both. The one runs upon the prey like a dog; the other cowers at the encounter like ready game; for poverty takes away his boldness. The votes of both are on their fingers: the one rejoicing in the increase of interest, the other groaning at the addition of misfortunes. Drink waters from your own vessels, that is, look to your own resources. Do not walk to another's springs, but from your own streams gather for yourself the comforts of life. Do not walk to another's doors. For another's is truly a well. Better to comfort one's need by little devices than, lifted up suddenly by what belongs to others, afterward to be stripped bare of all one's possessions at once. If then you have means from which to repay, why do you not dissolve the present want from these resources? But if you are at a loss for repayment, you are healing evil with evil. Do not receive a lender besieging you; do not endure to be sought out and tracked down like some other prey. The beginning of a lie is to borrow.

Different are the words of the borrower, and different those of the creditor. Would that I had not met you then, and that you had not put the money into my hand against my will! Your gold is counterfeit, and the coin is clipped.

Whether, then, the lender is a friend, do not be deprived of his friendship; or if an enemy, do not become subject to the ill-disposed man. Having prided yourself a little on what belongs to others, you will later be dispossessed even of your ancestral goods. Are you poor now? But you are free. Yet having borrowed, you will not even become rich, and you will be stripped of your freedom. The borrower is a slave of the lender; and a hired slave is he who has an inexorable service. Dogs, when they receive food, are tamed, but the lender, when he receives, is provoked the more. For he does not cease barking, but demands even more. If you swear, he disbelieves; he searches what is within, he meddles in your dealings. If you go out of the house, he drags you to himself and pulls you along. But if you hide yourself inside, he stands at the courtyard and knocks at the door; he shames you before your wife, he insults you before your friends, he strangles you in the marketplaces; an evil encounter of a festival, he makes your life unlivable. But great, he says, is the necessity. What profit is it to you to postpone it today? For poverty will come to you again like a good runner, and the same necessity will be present with an addition. For the loan provides not a complete release, but a long postponement of helplessness. Interest, I think, is so named because of the fruitfulness of the evil. For from where else? Or perhaps it is called interest because of the pangs and pains which it naturally produces in the souls of those who borrow. As the pang comes to the woman giving birth, so the due date stands before the debtor.

Interest upon interest, an evil offspring of evil parents. Let these be called the brood of vipers, the spawn of interest. They say that vipers are born by gnawing through their mother's belly, and interest, having devoured the houses of the debtors, is brought forth. Give the silver that lies at home, not weighing it down with additions, and it will go well for both. For you there will be the safe keeping of it, and for the one who receives it the profit from its use. But if you also seek an addition, be content with what comes from the Lord. He himself will repay the surplus on behalf of the poor. From the truly humane one, await humane things. For the things you receive leave no excess of misanthropy. You profit from calamities, you gather silver from tears, you choke the naked, you strike the hungry; mercy is nowhere. Do you call the profits from these things humane? Woe to those who call the bitter sweet, and who address misanthropy as philanthropy. Some are hundred-takers and ten-hundred-takers, dreadful names even to hear; monthly exactors, like those who cause epilepsies, attacking the poor at the cycles of the moon, an evil gift for both, both for the giver and for the receiver, for the one the loss in money, for the other in soul. The farmer, having taken the ear of grain, does not again search for the seed beneath the root; but you both have the fruits and do not depart from the original things; you plant without land, you reap without sowing. It is unclear for whom you gather. The one who weeps over the interest is evident, but the one who is going to enjoy the abundance from these things is uncertain.

For it is unclear if you will not leave the joy in wealth to others, having treasured up for yourself the evil from injustice. Therefore do not turn away from the one who wishes to borrow, and do not give your silver at interest, so that, taught from the Old and New Testament, you may depart to the Lord with good hope, there to receive the interest of good works. When men find those who owe, as though finding prey and game, they rejoice in this way, and they do everything so as to carry off the whole. And if they are unable because of the poverty of the debtors, they pour out their anger over money upon the wretched body of the miserable, torturing and beating them and inflicting countless evils upon them. Tear up, O man, the unjust bond, so that sin may be loosed. Blot out the acknowledgment of the heaviest interest, so that the earth may bear its accustomed fruits; for the earth that bears according to nature becomes barren because of bronze and gold and those who generate barren things contrary to nature, and it has been condemned to barrenness for the punishment of those who dwell in it. How then shall I be fed? he says. You have hands,

You have a craft: work for hire, serve. There are many devices of life, many resources. But you are unable? Beg from those who possess. But is begging shameful? It is more shameful to defraud the one who lent. The ant can sustain itself neither begging nor borrowing; and the bee gives the remnants of its own food to kings—to whom nature gave neither hand nor crafts. But you, the resourceful creature, man, will you not find one of all devices for the conduct of life? O how many have alien goods destroyed! How many, having grown rich in a dream, have paid beyond the loss! But many, he says, have also grown rich from loans. More, I think, have also laid hands on the noose. You see those who have grown rich, but you do not count those who have hanged themselves, who, unable to bear the shame of demands for repayment, preferred death by hanging to living in disgrace. I saw a pitiable sight: free children dragged to the auction block by their father's debts. You have nothing to leave your children? Do not take away their noble birth as well. No one was ever reproached for a father's poverty. A father's debt leads to prison. Do not leave a bond like a paternal curse descending upon children and grandchildren.

TITLE 10. — Concerning masters and heads of households; and that they ought not to be burdensome, but gentle to those who live with them.

"He who does not conduct himself well with his own household will inherit winds." "Do not be like a lion in your house, nor a visionary schemer among your servants." "If you have a servant, let him be as yourself; because you acquired him in blood. If you mistreat him, and he departs and runs away, on what road will you seek him?" "Masters, do the same things toward them, relaxing threatening, knowing that the Lord both of them and of you is in heaven." "Masters, provide to your slaves what is just and equal, knowing that you also have a Lord in heaven." A father who has justly enslaved him left him to you as a servant. Give him his freedom, and you will make his torment lighter, and you will prepare true freedom for yourself. Who is master, or slave? The base distinction. One fashioner for all, one law, one judgment. Look upon those who serve you as a fellow servant. When you are released, appear more honorable. Those who are called masters are named so in reputation only, not in truth. No one is a lord by birth in truth, even if he has stretched his rule from ends to ends. Only the unbegotten is truly a ruler. Even if, as you yourself say, you oppress no one, do not strike, do not squeeze, do not wrong, yet for those who live with you, you will undergo a fearful reckoning. Let no one, O man, overpower his own slaves with severe famine; but just as you are generous to strangers, and grant to those outside who ask because of vainglory, so much the more for God's sake supply to your own servants, so that I may not indicate anything further.

TITLE 11. — Concerning teachers.

"Behold, I and the children whom God has given me." "Thus says the Lord: If you bring forth the precious from the worthless, you shall be as my mouth; and they shall turn to you, and you shall not turn to them." "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become as his teacher, and the servant as his master." "Do not be carried away by various and strange teachings." The credibility of the one who teaches makes the word readily acceptable, and renders the learners more attentive. For teaching is also food belonging to the one who feeds. Then especially are disciples led to zeal for good things, when they have examples from their teachers. One who teaches learns more, and in speaking is often heard together with those who obey him. The symbol of instruction is the

rod. For without being put to shame, and being rebuked concerning certain things, it is impossible to demonstrate admonition and correction. A disciple does not learn in the same way that the teacher is able to teach. Since the one is perfect, but the other is imperfect. Wherefore it is fitting to aim at the capacity of the one being instructed. Consider, O teacher, and examine carefully the hearing of the one who learns. For he is foolish who converses with a deaf man, and vain who admonishes a stone. And you will be liable to sin against yourself, if you do not consider how, and when, and at what time one ought to let out a word of wisdom. The one who has received grace ought to hand it on without envy to those who wish to learn, just as the Lord also said, "Freely you received, freely give." For to the one who has received and does not share, even what he has will be taken away from him.

And he gives grace not only to the righteous but also to sinners. Since God is generous and shows no partiality, and he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust; and he does not overlook the sinner, but gives even to that one a small grace. Therefore each person ought to teach generously.

TITLE 12. — Concerning slander: that one ought not to accept slander without judgment. "You shall not receive a vain report." "The one who speaks secretly against his neighbor, this one I drove out." The one who slanders his neighbor has eaten brotherly flesh, wounding his reputation, and working countless other evils through his word. I exhort not only those who speak evil, but also those who listen to others speaking evil, to stop their ears and imitate the Prophet who says: "The one who speaks secretly against his neighbor, this one I drove out." Say to your neighbor: If you have someone to praise and extol, I open my ears, that I may receive the myrrh; but if you wish to speak evil, I block the entrance to your words. To busy oneself with another's life is the height of illiberality. But the most ridiculous thing of all is that those who live such a life and neglect their own affairs, whenever they have spoken some secret, beg the one who heard and make him swear to tell no one else thereafter, thereby showing plainly that they have done a thing worthy of accusation. For if you beg that one to tell no one else, how much more ought you not to have said these things to him in the first place, and to slander someone, nor to betray a word while keeping it in safety, and only then to concern yourself with his salvation?

But slander is pleasant—pleasant, at least, would be not to speak evil. For the one who has spoken evil is henceforth on his guard; he suspects and fears, he repents and devours his own tongue, fearing and trembling lest the word be carried to others and bring great danger upon him. Just as speaking well and giving praise is the beginning of friendship, so too speaking evil and slandering has become the beginning and occasion of enmity, hatred, and countless evils. Slanderers, cast out from divine grace, who are sick with the same diabolical craft as that one, are utterly hateful to God and hated by God, and strangers to all blessedness. What could be worse than slander? For it charms the ears and astonishes the mind of the hearers, and it brutalizes them, so that they ever lie in wait for evils like some prey. But those who are well fortified by sober reasoning and reined in, feel the greatest loathing for the slanderer rather than for the slandered person, having rebuked and silenced him with impulses toward censure, until the proof becomes clear by manifest testimony. TITLE 13. — Concerning narration made by prudent men; and that we ought to be earnest concerning such hearings, and to flee from foolish men.

The lawless have recounted idle talk to me, but not as your law, O Lord. Apply your mind to the words of the wise. Speak, O men, of righteous things. Do not miss the narrative of the elders, for they themselves learned from their fathers. The narrative of a fool is a burden. Do not overlook the narrative of the wise, and turn about in their proverbs. The narrative of a fool is like a burden on the road; but grace will be found on the lips of the discerning. Stop your ears with wax against base words, and against the tuneless twistings of pleasant songs. But to the noble and the good, and always give ear. To speak, to hear, and to act—there is little difference between them.

TITLE 14. —On righteousness and virtue.

Righteousness delivers from death. In the paths of righteousness there is life. Righteousness exalts a nation. The one who sows righteousness will receive a faithful reward. Righteousness guards the innocent. God loves those who pursue righteousness. In abundant righteousness there is great strength. The way of righteousness and mercy will find life and glory. From the fruit of righteousness a tree of life grows. The beginning of righteousness gives authority to words. Righteousness makes straight the paths of the blameless. The beginning of a good way is to do what is just. Length of life is the way of righteousness. To do what is just and to speak the truth is more pleasing to God than the blood of sacrifices. The works of righteousness will be peace, and righteousness will secure rest. Learn righteousness, you who dwell on the earth, for the impious one has ceased. Open the gates, let the people enter who keep righteousness and truth. Thus says the Lord: Guard judgment, do divine righteousness.

Blessed is the one who does these things and holds fast to them. Righteousness is immortal. If anyone loves righteousness, his labors are virtues. If you pursue the just, you will attain it, and you will put it on as a robe of glory reaching to the feet. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Everyone who does righteousness is of God. Righteousness is a habit of distributing according to worth; but this is hard to catch, since some, through deficiency in prudence, fail to find how to distribute equally to each, while others, through being preoccupied by human passions, make away with the just. Virtue holds the place of health. Virtue is more precious than wealth. The practice of virtue is a precious possession to the one who has it, and a most pleasant sight to those who encounter it. The good is hard for human nature to grasp, just as fire is for wet matter. Virtue ought to be free from all fear and without a master. Virtue is without a master, voluntary, and free from all necessity. Such is the division of virtue that it is distributed even among all who lay claim to it, and is present whole to each, not diminished among those who share in it. Virtue must not be lame in one respect, but must be upright in deed and word and complete in both. Human nature cannot purely behold the just itself in the soul, being dim-sighted in most of its reasonings. It is not the place that makes virtue, but virtue is by nature such as to make the place venerable.

Just as on the lyre it is not enough to produce the melody from a single string, but one must go through all of them with the rhythm that is fitting, so too with respect to virtue in the soul a single law is not enough for us for salvation, but one must keep all of them with exactness. As it seems, righteousness is foursquare, equal and alike on every side, in word and deed, in abstaining from evils, in doing good, in gnostic perfection, never limping in any way at all, so that it may not appear unjust and unequal. Strength always follows righteousness, just as weakness follows unrighteousness. The departure of vice brings about the entrance of virtue, as also the opposite: when the good has departed, the evil that lies in wait enters in. If anyone has embraced all the virtues through zeal and watchfulness, he is reckoned a king, even if he happens to be a private person. TITLE 15. On the difference and dissimilar condition of human beings.

As faces are not alike to faces, so neither are the hearts of human beings alike. Not all things are beneficial to all, and not every soul is pleased in every thing. Do not think that the same things suit all; nor is there one food equally suitable for all, nor is one manner of life fitting for Christians. Just as some apply to their bodies not the same medicine and food, but different ones, either being in good health or being sick, so too souls must be treated with different reasoning and guidance. And let the passions be witnesses of the treatment. Some are led by reason, others are regulated by example; some need goads, others a bridle. For some are sluggish and slow to move toward the good, whom one must rouse by the stroke of reason.

But they, like noble colts running far from the turning-post, whom reason would make better by pressing and checking them: some were helped by praise, others by blame. Both, when in season, helped; or the opposite harmed them when out of season and without reason. Some are set right by encouragement, others by rebuke; and again some we reprove openly, others in secret. TITLE 16. — Concerning righteous, and noble, and good men. "God knew those who are his, and he took the saints to himself." "The one beloved by the Lord will dwell in confidence, and God will overshadow him all his days." "The Lord said to Samuel: Arise, anoint David, for he is good." "I was younger, and indeed I have grown old, and I have not seen a righteous man forsaken. The righteous shall inherit the earth. The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord, and he is their protector." "The righteous man shall flourish like a palm tree, like a cedar in Lebanon." "Light has risen for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." "The generation of the upright shall be blessed. Glory and wealth. Light has risen in darkness for the upright; he is merciful. The righteous shall be for an eternal memorial, from hearing." "A voice of exultation and salvation in the tents of the righteous." "The Lord loves the righteous." "The Lord will not starve the soul of the righteous.

A fountain of life is in the hand of the righteous. Wealth of the ungodly is stored up for the righteous. The ways of the righteous shine likewise as the light; they go before and give light until the day be established. Seven times shall the righteous fall, and rise again. By the goods of the righteous cities were established, but by the mouths of the ungodly they were overthrown. The good shall be inhabitants of the earth, and the harmless shall be left in it. The dwellings of the righteous are blessed. The lips of righteous men drop graces. The roots of the righteous shall not be plucked up. The houses of the righteous are blessed. He who looks on gentle things shall obtain mercy. He who walks uprightly fears the Lord. He who turns about blameless in righteousness shall leave blessed children. To the good man, before his face, he gave wisdom, and knowledge, and gladness. The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and torment shall not touch them. They seemed in the eyes of fools to have died, and their departure was reckoned a calamity, and our journeying from them a crushing; but they are in peace. For even if in the sight of men they be punished, their hope is full of immortality. And being disciplined a little, they shall be greatly benefited; for God tried them, and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace he tested them, and as a whole burnt-offering of sacrifice he received them, and in the time of their visitation they shall shine forth. The righteous live for ever, and their reward is in the Lord, and their care is with the Most High. Therefore shall they receive the kingdom of comeliness, and the diadem of beauty from the hand of the Lord.

because with his right hand he will cover them, and with his arm he will shield them. "If a righteous man comes to his end, he shall be at rest. Grace and mercy are among his elect, and visitation among his holy ones." "The sacrifice of a righteous man is acceptable." "The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things." The rod of the righteous is better than the honor of the wicked. One who counts as his only wealth the possession of virtue, as his only nobility intimacy with God, as his only worth and power the mastery of himself and freedom from enslavement to human passions; who is burdened by the prolongation of this life of material existence, and hastens, like those who suffer hardship through the open sea, to reach the harbor of the resurrection. Just as fragrant spices fill the surrounding air with their own sweet scent, so the presence of a good man benefits those nearby. TITLE 17. — On the double-tongued.

"Condemnation is evil upon the double-tongued." "Every sinner who is envious and double-tongued shall have dishonor." "Curse the whisperer and the double-tongued, for he has destroyed many who were at peace. A double tongue has shaken many, and has divided them from nation to nation, and has overthrown strong cities, and has overturned the houses of the great. A double tongue has cast out valiant women and deprived them of their labors. He who gives heed to it shall never find rest, nor shall he dwell in quietness." TITLE 18. — On judges who are impartial, and who keep their hands clean, and who execute judgment and righteousness.

You shall not kill the innocent and righteous, and you shall not acquit the wicked." "You shall not mistreat any widow or orphan." "You shall not follow a multitude to turn aside judgment. You shall not take gifts. For gifts blind the eyes of those who see, and corrupt righteous words." "You shall not show mercy to a poor man in judgment. You shall not pervert the judgment of a poor man in his judgment." "You shall not do what is unjust in judgment. You shall not take the face of a poor man, nor shall you marvel at the face of a powerful man. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor." "There shall be one justification for the stranger and for the native." "You shall not take ransom for the life from the murderer, who is guilty of being put to death; you shall surely put him to death." "You shall pursue the just thing justly." "You shall not recognize a face in judgment; you shall judge the small man according to the same standard as the great man; you shall not shrink from the face of a man, because the judgment is God's." "You shall not turn aside the judgment of the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, and you shall not take a widow's garment as a pledge." "Cursed is he who takes gifts and strikes the life of innocent blood; and all the people shall say, So be it. Cursed is everyone who turns aside the judgment of the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow; and all the people shall say, So be it." "Sit down, and let there be nothing unjust, and join with the righteous." "Let the one clean in hands take up courage; he shall laugh to scorn the unjust and the lawless." "I will surely not be ashamed of a man, but indeed I will not be put to shame before a mortal. For I do not know how to marvel at a face. Otherwise, moths will eat me too." "He did not take gifts against the innocent.

The one who does these things shall not be shaken forever. Blessed are those who keep judgment and do righteousness at all times. Open your mouth, and judge all things justly. The one who hates the receiving of gifts is saved. A pure man is a precious possession. To show partiality in judgment is not good. In this let the one who boasts boast: in understanding and knowing the Lord, and in doing judgment and righteousness in the midst of the earth. Samuel said to all Israel: Answer against me before the Lord: whose calf have I taken, or donkey, or whom have I oppressed? Answer against me. And they said to Samuel: You have not wronged us, nor have you taken anything from our hand. The Lord said to Solomon: Because you asked this thing from me, and did not ask for yourself many days, nor wealth, nor the lives of your enemies, but asked for yourself understanding to hear judgment—behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart. As you there has not been before you, and after you there shall not be. King Solomon said to the women: You say that your son is the living one, and hers is the dead son? And the king said: Bring me a sword. And

They brought a sword before the king. And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half of it to this woman, and half of it to that one. And the woman whose son was the living one answered and said to the king, because her womb was troubled: By no means, lord, give her the child, and do not put it to death. And this one said, Let it be neither mine nor hers; divide it. And the king answered: Give the child to the mother who said, Give this to her, and do not put it to death, because she is its mother. Judge a just judgment. Do not oppress the widow, and the orphan, and the stranger, and the poor. Thus says the Lord: Guard judgment, do and do righteousness. Blessed is the one who does these things, and holds fast to them and keeps his hands from doing unjust things. Seek judgment, rescue the one being wronged, judge the orphan, and do justice to the widow, and come, and let us reason together, says the Lord. Zion has been filled with judgment and righteousness; there are wisdom and piety toward God; these are treasures of righteousness. The poor people will bless you, and cities of wronged men will bless you. For you became a helper to every humble city, and a shelter to those who lost heart through want; rescue them from evil men. A shelter of the thirsty and a spirit of wronged men, they will bless you. Thus says the Lord: Judge at dawn, and make straight, and deliver the one who has been plundered out of the hand of the one wronging him.

so that my wrath may not be kindled like fire, and it will burn, and there will be no one to save. Do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, and do not act impiously, and do not shed innocent blood. Remove injustice and misery, do judgment and righteousness; deliver from oppression my people, says the Lord. You shall not kill the innocent and the righteous. There is no partiality with the truth. Love righteousness, you who judge the earth. He will take his zeal as armor; he will put on righteousness as a breastplate, and he will put on a helmet of unfeigned judgment. He will take holiness as an invincible shield. Do not show partiality to a powerful man. Struggle for the truth even unto death, and the Lord God will fight for you. Do not give a blemish among the innocent. Do not show partiality against your own soul. Do not stand up from the face of an insolent man. Deliver the wronged from the hand of the wrongdoer, and do not lose heart when you judge. Before you examine, do not blame. Understand first, and then rebuke. Do nothing without judgment. Have they appointed you as a leader? Do not exalt yourself. Be among them as one of them. Do you wish not to fear authority? Do good, and you will have praise from it. The one who does righteousness is righteous, just as that one is righteous. Everyone who does not do righteousness is not of God. If you desire glory, and wish to shine above the many, and to become well-approved in worldly matters, be righteous, temperate, prudent, courageous, patient in the struggles for piety. For in this way you will save yourself, and for greater goods you will have a greater renown.

The proof of the righteous man's disposition is correctness in judging. To understand true righteousness truly requires a great mind and a most perfect understanding. For it is impossible, without prior instruction concerning what is just, to discern disputes correctly. For he who knows true righteousness, and through it has been taught to assign to each his own, this man is able to direct judgment. Just as the archer aims his arrow at the target, so the judge aims at what is just, showing no partiality of persons, nor acting out of favoritism, but delivering judgments straight and undistorted. And when two are being judged before him, the one who takes advantage and the one who has less, the judge stands impartial, equalizing them with one another, and taking away from the one who has more as much as he finds the wronged party to be diminished. He who looks on smooth things will be shown mercy; if I see the nature of the earth to be uneven (for it is seen such as it was created), am I condemned for these things? But consider for me

...in a lofty manner. The differences among brothers stand before me: one is poor, another rich; one a stranger, another a kinsman; whether they are being judged before you as you sit in judgment, or they are in need as you give to them. If you sit judging, do not look at inequalities, nor regard the rich man as lofty and the poor man as lowly. If the one seeking to have his need remedied stands at your door, do not even so look at inequalities, do not say: "This one is a friend, this one a relative, this one a benefactor; that one is a stranger, an outsider, unknown." Looking at inequalities, you will not be shown mercy. Look at what is level: nature is one, the need in both is the same. Give to the brother and to the stranger; do not turn away from the brother, and make the stranger a kinsman and brother. Do not prefer the friend over the outsider when you remedy his need. He wishes you to be a comforter of those in need, not a respecter of persons, not one who gives to the relative and thrusts away the stranger. All are relatives, all are brothers, all are offspring of one father. If you mean the spiritual father, the heavenly one; if you seek earthly things, the earth is your mother, and from the same clay we have all been fashioned. So that nature according to the flesh is a sister, and generation according to the spirit is a sister. The same blood from the first man flows in you; the same grace from the Master has been received by you. Look, then, at what is level, that you may be shown mercy. Do not say: "This one is rich and worthy of honor, that one is poor," and so despise the poor man; nor distribute honors unevenly by these distinctions. For the rich man is a liar, the rich man a robber, the rich man a fornicator, while the poor man is righteous. Do not, then, attend to outward appearance, but entering into what is hidden, distribute the differences there.

Honor the one who possesses what is honorable. What is more honorable—virtue or wealth? Why do you judge the hidden things from external things, searching them out? Do you see that Bel has bronze on the outside, but clay on the inside, hidden beneath the gleaming bronze? If you see those who are illustrious in life, know that the bronze shines around them, but inside they are clay. Many have gold within, but a potsherd wrapped around the outside. This one is chaste, and that one commits fornication. Who is richer—the one who has chastity, or the one who has gathered money from injustice? This memorial is irremovable; that wealth is temporary. A thief does not break through to this; that one blooms today, but tomorrow withers away. So look to what is smooth, with equal honor in the same way; do not, however, make away with the distinction of what is honorable, so that you may be one who has received mercy. Thus test your brother, as you yourself are being judged by the same measures. —Make for yourselves the armor of righteousness, not of death—namely, discipline. —Know that the judge is being judged, and you will sin less. —Before all, bring in love for humanity, in which God delights more than in all other things. Mix gentleness with fear; blend hope with threat. I know that many things also set right goodness, which persuades toward the repayment that is owed; when it is possible to use force, let us who have forgiven persuade by goodwill the one who is shown mercy. Show your effectiveness, not by doing evil. But by doing good—if you wish to be God. And this is the mark of a man who knows what is akin. For the turtle-dove and the scorpion also kill most easily. Let us not strike all at once; for it is not safe; but having disciplined them by fear, let us conquer by love for humanity.

When someone himself becomes blameless in all respects, then he will be able to punish and to release all those assigned under him with as much authority as he wishes. The one who judges necessarily rules over the one being judged. The judge must know that he serves the judgment of God, and that he is not a lord, so as to lead the judgment as he wishes, so as even to grant favors in matters to those being judged. I will administer the office like a good patron, not like a tyrant. For it is enough to be satisfied with the honor of the title, but the counsel in each of the matters I will give to all.

TITLE 19. — Concerning judges who take bribes, and who condemn unlawfully. "Fire will burn the houses of those who receive bribes." "Wrath will be upon the impious, because of the impiety of the gifts which they received." "Let the deceitful lips become mute, those that speak against

the righteous lawlessness in pride." "If truly then you speak righteousness, judge uprightly. How long will you judge injustice, and accept the persons of sinners? Judge for the orphan." "The bribe-taker destroys himself." "When one receives gifts in the bosom of injustice, his ways are not prospered." "The one who gives gifts procures victory and honor; yet he takes away the soul of those who possess them." "Silver given with deceit is to be regarded as potsherd." "He who judges the unjust as just, and the just as unjust, is unclean, and abominable before the Lord." "He who says the impious man is just will be accursed among peoples, and hated among nations." "They sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for the sake of sandals. Of those who trample on the dust of the earth, and beat with their fists on the heads of nations, and turned aside the way of the humble.

Why did you keep silent about impiety, and harvest their injustices?" "Their rulers will fall by the sword because of the unlearnedness of their tongue." "Woe, O soul, for the devout has perished from the earth, and there is none who sets things right among men. All judge for blood. Each one oppresses his neighbor. They prepare their hands for evil. The ruler demands, and the judge has spoken peaceful words, the desire of his soul." "You have turned aside from the way; you have weakened many. And I have given you to be despised among all the nations, in return for the gifts you received in the law." "Judgment has come, and the judge takes. Therefore the law is mocked, and judgment does not proceed to the end, because the impious oppresses the righteous by force." "Her rulers within her are like roaring lions, her judges like the wolves of Arabia." "Your rulers are disobedient, companions of thieves, loving gifts, pursuing repayment, not judging for orphans, and not paying attention to the judgment of widows." "I will set young men as their rulers, and mockers will lord it over them." "When you stretch out your hands, I will turn my face away from you. For your hands are full of blood." "Woe to those who justify the impious for the sake of gifts, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him. Therefore, just as stubble is burned by a coal of fire, and is burned together by a kindled flame, their root will be like grass, and their flower will rise up like dust. For they did not wish to do the law of the Lord Sabaoth, but provoked the oracle of the Holy One of Israel." "Woe to those who write wickedness.

For they write wickedness when they write, turning aside the judgment of the poor, seizing the possessions of the needy of my people, so that a widow becomes plunder for them, and an orphan a spoil. And what will they do in the day of visitation? For our affliction will come from afar, and to whom will you flee for help? "Why do you wrong my people, and shame the face of the poor?" says the Lord. "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put light for darkness, and darkness for light; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter." "In your hands were found the blood of innocent souls." "They did not judge the judgment of the orphan, and they did not judge the judgment of the widow. Shall I not visit for these things, says the Lord? or shall my soul not take vengeance on such a nation?" "Their eyes are not good, and their heart is upright, but for covetousness, and for innocent blood to shed it, and for false accusation, and for wrongdoing, and for murder to do." "You have brought low the exalted, and exalted the lowly. I will make it injustice," says the Lord. "Her rulers in the midst of her are like ravening wolves, seizing prey to shed blood, so that they may covet covetousness. And her prophets anointing them. Between holy and profane they did not distinguish, and between unclean and clean they did not separate." "The souls of my people were perverted, and they made souls their own, and they profaned me before my people for a handful of barley, and for fragments of bread, to kill souls which ought not to die, and to preserve souls which

He should not have lived. Judgment is severe upon those in high places; a strong inquiry stands over the mighty. Gifts and presents blind the eyes of the wise. You are without excuse, O man, who judge. For in that you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God is according to truth upon those who practice such things. But do you think this, O man, who judge those who practice such things and do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? He who does not have righteousness already laid up in his soul, but is either corrupted by money, or granting favor out of friendship, or avenging an enemy, or swayed by power, cannot direct judgment rightly. To him the psalm will say: If truly then you speak righteousness, judge uprightly, you sons of men. This we see many of the judges of today suffering, who would more easily concede great things to the exalted than the smallest things to the lowly. For it is the height of misery not to have security in one's own strengths, but in the weak points of others. Rulers who honor glory before truth are able to do as much as robbers in a desert. They have become lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of virtue, sluggish and negligent, and they have not kept the dignity of their office blameless. The pursuits about the courts serve manifold sins, finding countless advocacies for those who do wrong. Both rulers and judges will be examined with great strictness, and it will be known whether they have not corrupted justice; whether they have not voted for those on trial out of favor nor out of hatred.

unless, being flattered, they yielded to what was required; unless, bearing grudges, they oppressed those who had done them no wrong. An unjust judge is a defiled conscience.

TITLE 20. — Concerning good servants.

"A wise servant will rule over foolish masters." "The deeds of a wise servant will prosper, and his ways will be made straight. Wise servants will lend to their own masters." "Sweet is the sleep of the servant, whether he eats little or much." "Do not mistreat a servant who works in truth. Let your soul love a prudent servant, and do not deprive him of freedom." "To a prudent servant, free men will minister." "Servants, obey your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as to Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul, serving with good will as to the Lord, and not to men; knowing that whatever good each one does, he will receive this from the Lord, whether slave or free." "Servants, obey your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work from the soul, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the recompense." "As many servants as are under the yoke, let them consider their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be blasphemed. But let those who have believing masters not despise them, because they are brothers;

but rather let them serve, because they are faithful and beloved, and receive the benefit in return. "Servants, be subject with all fear to your masters, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the perverse. For this is grace with God, if for conscience toward God one endures sorrows, suffering unjustly." Let servants not shrink from being well-disposed to their masters. A person's manner of life marks out both the free man and the slave.

TITLE 21. — Concerning wicked servants.

"A harsh servant will not be corrected by words. For even if he understands, he will not obey." "Fodder and a rod for a donkey, but bread and discipline and work for a servant. Work in discipline, and you will find rest. Slacken your hands from him, and he will seek freedom. A yoke and a strap bend the neck, and for a wicked servant, racks and tortures. Put him to work, so that he may not be idle. For idleness has taught much wickedness." "Do not be ashamed to bloody the side of a wicked servant." It belongs to wicked slaves to set aside their master's authority, to rise up against their owner's rule, and to make the free man a fellow-slave with themselves. No one is so mad as, being a slave, to oppose his master.

TITLE 22. — Concerning those who are discontented.

O you who rejoice for no reason." "To whom shall I liken the people of this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplace, and they call to one another and say: We piped to you, and you did not dance; we lamented to you, and you did not weep. For John the Baptist has come, neither eating nor drinking, and they say: He has a demon. The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and they say: Behold, a man who is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners."

TITLE 23. — On the double-minded, and the vacillating, and those unstable in their judgment, and the changeable.

"They called upon Egypt, and they went to the Assyrians." "Woe to the double heart, and to the sinner who mounts upon two paths." "Do not approach with a double heart." "The fool changes like the moon." "A heart that walks in two ways shall not prosper." "A wretched life is from house to house; and where it sojourns, it shall not open its mouth." "For him who goes out and him who comes in, there was no peace from affliction." "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." "You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? Those whose mind is easily turned to change—for them it is nothing strange that their life also is not ordered. Men are like the clouds, which are borne now to one part of the air and now to another, according to the changes of the winds. We regard as light and foolish those who are easily carried in both directions and shift about, like breezes that veer, or changes, or the backwash of straits, or the waves of the restless sea. The fool is by nature unable to stand firm in any matter.

And all his life hangs suspended, having no unshaken foundation. A plant continually transplanted will not bear fruit. TITLE 24. — Concerning glory and honor; and that one must not give glory to another. "Do not give your glory to another, nor the things that are profitable to you to a foreign nation." "I will not give my glory to another." "While you still live, and breath is in you, do not exchange yourself for any flesh. For it is better that your children entreat you, than that you look to the hands of your sons; and at the time of your death distribute your inheritance. To a son and a wife, and a friend, and a brother, do not give authority over yourself in your life. Do not give your glory to another, lest you repent and entreat concerning them."

TITLE 25. — Concerning the devil, that is Satan, and demons. "When an evil spirit came upon Saul, David took the lyre and played with his hand, and Saul was refreshed, and the evil spirit departed from him." "The devil stood up in Israel, and incited David to number Israel." "The power of Satan is upon the navel of the belly. He set up his tail like a cypress, and his sinews are intertwined like a rope." "The

His soul is coals, and his heart is fixed hard as iron. Who will uncover the face of his garment, and who will enter into the fold of his breastplate? Who will open the gates of his mouth before his face? Round about his teeth is fear, his inward parts are shields of bronze. Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and firebrands of fire are scattered. Out of his nostrils comes smoke of a furnace burning with fire of coals. His soul shall kindle coals, and a flame comes out of his mouth. Destruction runs before him. His bed is sharp stakes, and all the gold of the sea beneath him is as clay past telling. The Lord showed me Jesus the priest standing before the face of the angel of the Lord, and the devil stood at his right hand. And the angel said to the devil, The Lord rebuke you, devil, and the one who has chosen Jerusalem. How has the morning star fallen from heaven, he who rises early, he is shattered to the earth, he who sends to all the nations? But you said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven; above the stars of heaven I will set my throne. I will sit on a high mountain, upon the high mountains toward the north I will ascend, above the clouds; I will be like the Most High. But now you shall go down to Hades, and to the foundations of the earth. Those who see you will marvel over you, and they will say, This is the man who provokes the earth, who shakes kings, who made the whole inhabited world a desert, and cast down the cities, and did not release those in captivity. All the kings of the earth slept in honor, a man in his own house.