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If after three admonitions he disregards them and does not correct himself, cut him off from you; and do not even eat with such a person until he corrects himself.

TITLE 30. — Concerning asylum, and those who take refuge in sacred places; and that one ought to help the innocent, but send away the guilty. "If anyone lies in wait for his neighbor to kill him by treachery, and he flees, you shall take him from my altar to put him to death." "Do not deliver a servant into the hands of his master, lest he curse you and you be destroyed." It happened that a certain woman of the prominent class was left a widow, her husband having departed this life not long before. And the assessor of the judge was forcing her, dragging her to marriage against her will. And she, having no way to escape the tyranny, devises a plan not so much bold as prudent. She flees to the sacred table, and makes God her protector against the outrage. What then ought one to do—not only Basil the Great, the lawgiver in such matters for all, but any other of those much after him, yet who was nonetheless a priest—ought he not to lend a hand in God's love for humanity, and in the law that has honored the altars? Ought he not to be willing to do and suffer all things first, rather than devise anything inhuman against her? And to insult the sacred table, and to insult the faith with which she supplicated? No, says the empty judge, but all must yield to my dominion, and Christians must become traitors to their own laws. He indeed kept seeking the suppliant, but she clung with all her strength.

But he was raging madly, and finally he sent some of those in authority to search the saint's little chamber, not so much out of need as out of dishonor. And not only this, but he also ordered him to be present and to defend himself, as if he were one of the condemned. And he was present, and he sat before him full of anger and arrogance and the rest. For what reason are you indignant, beloved one, because the man who fought against the Church continually has fled to the Church? For this very reason above all one must glorify God, that what he himself had walled off and prevented from taking refuge by letters and laws, he himself by his deeds has annulled, having learned what he did, and he himself first dissolved the law through what he suffered, and he has become a spectacle to the whole world, and from there, though silent, he sends forth a voice to all, exhorting and saying, Do not do such things, so that you may not suffer such things, and he has appeared as a teacher through his misfortune. If a dead and lifeless statue is sufficient to save those who flee to it, because of the form which it images and represents, how much more ought the sacred dwelling-place of God to cherish and shelter those who flee to it and who lawfully seek refuge and assistance in it. For it is not right with tyrannical pride to dare to tread upon the inviolable places, and with a strong and bold hand, as it were, to force those who have taken refuge in the sanctuary to be torn away from the bosom and hand of the Lord; but first, even if these should share in blood, one must render honor to the one honored. Then one must attempt to receive them piously and justly, and not to overpower them by themselves, but rather through the temple-keepers appointed for this. TITLE 31.

Concerning a city filled with impiety. "I saw lawlessness and contradiction in the city." "In places of the impious, men are destroyed." "Impious men have burned a city." "There shall surely be no interpreter for a lawless nation." "O city of blood, wholly false, full of injustice!" "O city, the despiser! You who dwell in hope, who say in your heart: I am, and there shall be none after me any longer. How has she become a desolation, a prey of wild beasts? Everyone who passes through her shall hiss, and shall shake his hands." "O city that works vain things!" "I will send my wrath against a lawless nation." "O city of the impious, you shall surely not be built forever." "How has the faithful city Zion become a harlot, full of judgment, in which righteousness slept within her, but now murderers." "Hear these things, you luxurious one, who sit at ease, who are confident, who say in your heart: I am, and there shall be none with me any longer. How has she become a desolation?" "O false city, all oppression is in her! As a cistern cools its water, so her wickedness cools. Her impiety and misery shall be heard in her continually." "They spoke evil of father and mother in you, and they turn toward the stranger in injustices, they oppressed the orphan and the widow in you, and they despised my holy things. They did unholy things in the midst of you. Each one committed lawlessness against his neighbor's wife. They took bribes in you, so as to shed blood; they took interest and increase in you.

But they forgot me, says the Lord. There are cities that feast the eyes with all kinds of spectacles of wonder-workers from deep dawn until evening itself, and moreover with certain broken and utterly corrupted melodies, implanting great licentiousness in souls. Hearing these to the greatest extent, they are not filled, and many call such peoples blessed, because, abandoning the marketplaces' commerce or the devices from crafts for living, they pass the appointed time of their life through all ease and pleasure; not knowing that a well-stocked orchestra with licentious spectacles is a common and public school of wantonness for those sitting together, and the all-harmonious melodies of pipes and whorish songs, settling in the souls of the hearers, persuade them to nothing else than that all behave shamefully, or imitate the strikes of citharists and pipers. Already some of those mad for horses fight in dreams about horses, re-yoking chariots and changing charioteers, and altogether do not abstain from the daytime folly in their visions during sleep. One can see at the opposing horse-races the horse-lovers and spectacle-lovers: they leap, they shout, they send dust to heaven, they drive chariots sitting, they strike the air with their fingers as with whips, they yoke, they re-yoke, being masters of nothing; they easily exchange with one another charioteers, horses, stables, generals. And these, who are they? Often the poor and resourceless, who would not procure food even for one day.

Those who fear the Lord wait for the Lord's Day, so that they may send up prayer to God and enjoy the body and blood of the Lord. But the lazy wait for the Lord's Day, so that abstaining from work they may give themselves to evil things. And that I do not lie, the facts testify. Go out in the middle of another day, and you find no one; go out on the Lord's Day, and you will find some playing the lyre, others clapping, others sitting around, and those nearby reviling, others wrestling. The herald calls to the church, and all, as if from reluctance, put it off. There has been the sound of a lyre or a flute, and all run as if winged. We see the spectacles of the church; we see the Master Christ reclining at the table, the Seraphim singing the thrice-holy hymn, the voices of the Gospel, the presence of the Holy Spirit, the prophets making melody, the hymn of the angels, the Alleluia—all things spiritual, all things worthy of salvation, all things that procure the kingdom. These things the one who comes to the church hears. But what does the one who runs to the theaters behold? Diabolical songs; women dancing. For what does the dancing woman do? She uncovers her head shamelessly, which Paul enjoined to be covered continually. She twists her neck; she spreads her hair here and there. The demon-possessed woman does these things too. And the lyre-player, like a demon, contends with the wood. Such also was the banquet of Herod: Herodias came in and danced, and she cut off the head of John the Baptist, and inherited the regions below of Hades. Those, therefore, who love dancing have their portion with it.

Woe to those who play the lyre or work on the Lord's Day. It was given for the rest of hired servants and slaves. For this is the day which the Lord made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. A hired servant enters your house, and he puts his shoulder to your works. He is worn out in sweat and toil, and you do not permit him to breathe. TITLE 32. — On selling and buying. "Guard your ways so as to deal fairly." "Let the buyer not rejoice, and let the seller not lament, because the buyer shall surely not return to the seller." "Between seller and buyer sin shall be crushed." TITLE 33 — On the discipline of God, and those who bear it nobly. "You shall know in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God will discipline you." "See, see that I am, and there is no God besides me. I kill, and I make alive; I strike, and I will heal." "The Lord puts to death, and makes alive; he brings down to Hades, and brings up." "Job arose and tore his garments, and shaved the hair of his head, and falling to the ground he worshiped the Lord, and he said: Naked I came out from my mother's womb, and naked I shall depart there. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so it has come to pass. May the name of the Lord be blessed forever." "Blessed is the man whom the Lord has reproved. And do not refuse the admonition of the Almighty. For he himself makes one suffer, and again restores; he struck, and his hands will heal." "Seize discipline, lest at any time

the Lord will be angry, and you will perish. Your discipline will restore me completely, and your discipline. Anger is in his wrath, and life is in his will. In reproofs for lawlessness you disciplined man. Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord. Disciplining, the Lord disciplined me, and he did not hand me over to death. It is good for me that you humbled me, so that I might learn your statutes. Son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, nor grow weary when you are reproved by him. For whom the Lord loves he disciplines; and he scourges every son whom he receives. The one who accepts discipline will be among good things. Fear me, and accept discipline, and you shall certainly not be destroyed from the eyes of the earth. When the anger of my wrath comes, I will heal again. The Lord's discipline opens my ears. Because of sin I grieved him a little, and I struck him, and I turned my face away from him; and he was grieved, and he walked sullenly in the ways of his heart. I have seen his ways, and I healed him, and I comforted him, and I gave him true comfort. Behold, I have sold you, not for silver's sake; but I rescued you from the furnace of poverty for my sake. In pain and scourging be disciplined, Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you.

Should I make you a desolate land, which will not be inhabited?" "Discipline us, Lord, but in judgment, and not in wrath, lest you make us few." "Children, be patient under the wrath that has come upon you." "You spare all things, because they are yours, O Master who loves souls." "And for this reason you reprove those who fall little by little, and in the things wherein they sin, you admonish and warn them, so that, having been delivered from their wickedness, they may believe in you, O Lord. When you discipline us, you scourge our enemies in secret, so that we may take thought for your goodness when we judge; and being judged, we hope for mercy." "The mercy of the Lord is upon all flesh, reproving, and disciplining, and teaching, and turning back his flock like a shepherd, and he has mercy on those who await discipline." "He who fears discipline will receive discipline." "Mercy and wrath are with him; according to the greatness of his mercy, so also is his reproof." "Son, do not make light of the discipline of the Lord, nor lose heart when you are reproved by him. For whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. He scourges every son whom he receives; endure for discipline; God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, then you are illegitimate, and not sons. Furthermore, we had fathers of our flesh as disciplinarians, and we respected them; shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a few days as seemed good to them, but he for our benefit, that we may share in his holiness. Now all discipline, for the present, does not seem to be a matter of joy, but of grief.

But later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained through it. The good Master brings what is beneficial to each. For he takes away wealth from those who acquired it badly, destroying the instrument of their injustice. He brings on illness, since it is more profitable for the limbs to be bound than to have their impulses to sin unimpeded. And deaths are brought on, when the limits of life have been fulfilled, which from the beginning, foreseeing what is beneficial for each of us, he fixed. And famines, and droughts, and floods are certain common plagues of cities and nations, punishing the excess of evil. Therefore, as a beneficent physician, even if he produces toils or pains in the body, fights against the disease, not against the one who is sick; so also is the good God, who administers the salvation of all through partial chastisements. Diseases of cities and nations, droughts of the air, and barrenness of the earth, and the harsher circumstances of each person's life, cut off the growth of wickedness. So that such evils come from God, removing the generation of the true evils. For both bodily afflictions and external hardships have been devised for the restraint of sin. Let us learn that through conversion and negligence he brings the blows upon us

God instills this, not seeking to destroy but striving to correct, just as the good fathers do even toward the negligent among their children—fathers who are angered at the young and rise up against them, not striving to do them some harm, but leading them out of childish carelessness and the sins of youth into carefulness. The flesh is struck so that the soul may be healed. And sin is put to death so that righteousness may live. Let us look upward, brothers, at every time, and in every circumstance let us set before ourselves the good hope; let us not cast away fear in times of grief, nor good hope in things that cause pain. Let us remember the storm even in fair weather, and the pilot in the winter. Let us not grow faint in afflictions, nor become wicked servants, confessing to the Master when he is kind but not accepting it when he disciplines—although sometimes sickness is better than health, and a reminder better than ease, and a visitation better than negligence, and a turning back better than forgiveness. It belongs to prudent men, who are disciplined by misfortunes and purified like gold by fire, to say, "It is good for me that you humbled me," since humiliation gives birth to the knowledge of your statutes; and through affliction they make the Benefactor their own. For "a soul in travail is near to God." One must receive all things from God with thanksgiving. Truly, a blow becomes instruction to those who are of sound mind, and often hardship is better than prosperity. Nothing is more beneficial than suffering. Affliction is the flower of the things hoped for. Therefore, for the sake of the fruit, let us also pluck the flower. God does nothing for anger, but works and does all things for our benefit.

The chastisements brought upon us by God in the present life cut off no small part of the torments there. For whatever evils we suffer, either our sins are dissolved, or we receive brighter crowns, if we do not have such sins. The discipline that comes from this lightens the judgment that follows, although it is not the being punished that is evil, but the becoming worthy of punishment. One must be persuaded that none of the things that happen would come to be without God, and that all things are good from him, even if they are painful. You are good, but we have acted lawlessly. You are long-suffering, but we are worthy of blows. We know your goodness, though we are without understanding. We have been scourged for a few of the things we sinned. You are fearful, and who will withstand you? Trembling will seize the mountains from you; who will strive against you? If you shut the heaven, who will open it? And if you loose the cataracts, who will hold them together? It is a light thing in your eyes to make poor or to make rich, to give life and to put to death, and your will is a completed deed. You were angered, and we sinned, says one of old making confession. But for me it is time to say the opposite: we sinned, and you were angered. Therefore we have become a reproach to our neighbors. You turned away your face, and we were filled with dishonor. But cease, Lord; relent, Lord; be propitiated, Lord. Do not hand us over to the end because of our lawless deeds, nor discipline others with scourges because of our deeds, when it is possible for us to be brought to our senses through the torment of others. Of whom these? Of the nations that do not know you, and of kingdoms that have not been subjected to your dominion.

But we are your people, O Lord, and the rod of your inheritance; therefore discipline us, but in kindness, and not in your wrath, lest you make us few, and a contempt before all who dwell on the earth. I know the flashing sword, and the sword drunk in heaven, to slay, and to despise, and to make childless. I know the impassive one as a bear at a loss, and as a leopard meeting us on the road of the Assyrians; I know shaking out, and shaking up, and a swelling, a breaking of the heart, and a paralysis of the knees—such are the penalties of the impious, so that it is better to be disciplined now, and purified, than to be sent away to the torment there. God visits those who are his own and dear to him, disciplining them from here already in this life, in whatever things they might ever need chastisement, so that through temporary discipline they might be able to escape the eternal punishment in the universal judgment. It is not the suffering of something harsher that is terrible, but suffering justly. Not in vengeance, but medicinally, and for the health of the soul, does God bring on afflictions. God, who created the world, in his providence does all things for advantage, even if the things brought upon us happen to be grim. Even if the wrath of God is bitter and painful, yet being therapeutic, it raises up those who have experienced it to good. Whomever God wishes to save, he will frighten, he will shake him in various ways, he will grieve him, so that he may not have occasion to be stirred up to pride, and so that people may learn self-control from the passions of others.

Blessed is the nature that rejoices in all things and is displeased with nothing at all, but is well pleased with what has come to be, as having come to be well and profitably. TITLE 34. — On the discipline of God, and those who do not accept it; and that those who are not corrected here are handed over to eternal punishment. "I struck you with blight, and with blasting, and with hail, all the works of your hands, and you did not turn to me, says the Lord." "O Lord, your eyes are for faith. You scourged them, and they did not grieve. You consumed them, and they did not wish to turn back." "In vain I struck your children; you did not receive discipline." Do not do the things of foolish children, O man—those who, when rebuked by their teachers, tear up their tablets; or when their father for their benefit withholds their food, they tear their clothing to pieces, or scratch their mother's face. No one who is disheartened is crowned; no one who is sullen sets up a trophy. Do not be gloomy while being healed; it is absurd not to rejoice at the health of the soul. It is not grievous to be struck, but not to be corrected by the stroke is more grievous. That those who sin suffer nothing here becomes a provision for a greater punishment there. And declaring this, Paul said: But now, being judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned with the world. For the things here are for admonition; the things there are for punishment. Those who stumble much and are not punished ought to fear and be afraid. For their punishment is increased through their impunity. When we enjoy prosperity while living in wickedness, then especially do we grieve.

For we must always be afraid when we sin, and especially when we suffer nothing terrible. For when God exacts punishments in part, he makes our payment for these things light. You who are completely hard to cleanse, pray that you be punished rather than forgiven. For forgiveness will most easily overturn them like ships without ballast, but punishment will set them right. Therefore let us entreat God, we who are convicted by the conscience of our own sins, to punish us rather than to spare us. TITLE 35. — On the discipline of God, which comes about through testing and trial. "It came to pass after these words that God tested Abraham and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he said: Behold, I am here. And he said: Take your beloved son, whom you have loved, Isaac, and go to the high land, and offer him up as a whole burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." "Remember all the way that the Lord your God led you in the wilderness, so that he might afflict you and test you and know what is in your heart, whether you will keep his commandments or not. And he afflicted you and made you hungry and fed you with manna, which your fathers did not know, so that he might announce to you that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds through his mouth shall man live." "The Lord your God tests you, to know whether you love the Lord your God." "Do I reject judgment? Do you think I have spoken to you otherwise than that you might appear righteous?" "You tested us, O God, you refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the

a snare; you laid afflictions on our backs, you brought men up over our heads. We went through fire and water, and you brought us out into refreshment. Blessed is the man who endures temptation, because when he has been proved, he will receive the crown which God promised to those who love him. When Abraham heard the voice of the Fashioner, Take your son, and sacrifice him to me on one of the mountains, with great eagerness he fulfilled the deed. For he hid it from his wife Sarah, and he escaped the notice of the servants, and taking only the child, he went up to the mountain, neither growing weary nor slackening. Consider who that blessed man was then; and what kind of heart he was clothed with, conversing alone with the child alone. For then the heart is more warmed, and affection is more kindled. What word will be able to set forth the courage of the old man? How, having bound his hands, he placed his feet upon the wood, and when he was about to plunge the knife into the child's throat, the compassionate one uttered a double cry: Release the child. How did his hand not grow numb? How did his sinews not give way? How did he not fall down when he saw the child's face? See the courage of the old man. For he sacrificed his son, if not with the hand, yet with his eagerness. Not everyone who is afflicted has sin as the cause of his sickness. For there are those who are subjected to hardships for the sake of being shown approved, or for other advantageous reasons. Since the same things happen to sinners and to the righteous, let us not think that all who are subjected to circumstances have also endured evils when wickedness has taken hold.

TITLE 36. On perseverance; and that perseverance accomplishes the work. "A drop falling continually hollows a rock." "Which of you will have a friend, and goes to him at midnight, and says to him: Friend, lend me three loaves, since a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him; and he answering from within says to him: Do not give me trouble; behold, the door is shut, and my children are with me in bed, I cannot rise and give to you. I tell you: even if he will not give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his shamelessness he will rise and give him as much as he needs." "A certain judge was in a certain city, not fearing God, and not respecting man; and there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him saying: Avenge me against my adversary. And for a time he would not. But after these things he said within himself: Even if I do not fear God, and do not respect man, yet because this widow gives me trouble, I will avenge her, so that she does not come in the end and wear me out. And the Lord said: Hear what the judge of injustice says; and will not God surely work the vengeance of his elect who cry out to him day and night, and is he long-suffering toward them? Yes, I tell you, that he will work their vengeance speedily." TITLE 37. On a faithful man; and that it is rare to find a faithful man. "A faithful man, it is a work to find." "A man worthy of trust will be blessed in many things." Rare truly is the one who has faithfulness together with prudence. TITLE 38.

TITLE 37. On those who have trusted in empty and vain things, and in the protections of men, and who do not have their hope in God. "They will incur shame, those who have trusted in cities and in riches." "The righteous will see, and will fear," and the rest. "He who trusts in his wealth, this one will fall." "The fool who trusts in himself consorts with the lawless." "Because you hoped in your chariots, and in the multitude of your power, destruction will rise up against your people, and all your fortified places will be destroyed, just as the ruler Salman was destroyed in the day of war, and they dashed a mother upon her children." "You took vengeance with your power on the leaders of the sinners, those who trusted in their own willfulness." "Woe to the one who says in his heart, Who will bring me down to the earth?" "Your strength has become vain, and you were not willing to hear, but you said, We will flee upon horses." "Cursed is the man who has his hope in man, and who sets the flesh of his arm upon him. And from the Lord his heart will depart." "Do not follow after your soul, and your strength, and do not say: Who will have dominion over me? For the Lord will surely avenge. Do not rejoice over your riches." The one who judges that wealth gathered from injustice is for himself a strength and an occasion for power, such a person is like a sick man who places his well-being in the abundance of his disease. He who hopes in himself has the danger of falling under the curse that says: Cursed is the man who has his hope in man, and who sets the flesh of his arm upon him.

Since the Word forbids trusting in oneself, and names each of them a falling away from the Lord. And the end of both shall be like the wild myrtle in the desert, and they shall not see good things. Whoever walks on hands is unclean. But he walks on hands who leans on his hands and has all his confidence in them. None of those who do not hope in God is of rational nature, because the man of good hope alone is a man. So that, by contrast, the man of bad hope is not a man.

LETTER R.

TITLE 1. On those who wander. "See, that all have been blinded, and have not known understanding.

All these, then, are dumb dogs, unable to bark. Dreaming on a bed, loving slumber; and shameless dogs, and not knowing fullness; and they are wicked, and not knowing understanding; all have gone in their own ways, each according to his own greed." "The wandering of desire mines out an innocent mind." "A son who has wandered shames his mother." This is a peculiar infirmity of a lazy and slothful soul, to see dreams while the body is awake. LETTER S.

TITLE 1. On compassion and tender mercy. "He who shows mercy shall be shown mercy." "Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes, and we shall weep for this people day and night, for the wounded of the daughter of my people?" "Be merciful, as your Father also is merciful." He who has shed a warm tear for the salvation of his neighbor has healed himself, in that he mourned for his brother. The sharing of groans brings consolation to those in pain. A great remedy for the unfortunate is mercy poured out from the soul, and to grieve genuinely with another greatly lightens misfortune. Great is the remedy that comes from those who grieve together. To grieve together is sufficient for consolation. It is fitting to show mercy to misfortunes, not to hate them. We have learned, being human, to suffer with human feeling.

TITLE 2. On a measured condition.

"To eat much honey is not good." "Do not be overly righteous, and do not be excessively wise, lest you be confounded; and do not be very impious. And do not become hardened, lest

you may die in your time." "Do not take up a burden beyond yourself." "Do not become many teachers, brothers, knowing that we shall receive a greater judgment. For we all stumble in many ways." Let no one be wiser than is right, nor more lawful than the law, nor straighter than the rule, nor higher than the commandment. Wisdom is also knowing oneself, but not being puffed up, nor suffering the same as voices, which fail entirely if they are outshouted through excess. Knowing this, brothers, let us be neither sluggish toward the good, but let us be fervent in spirit, lest we fall asleep little by little into death, or while we sleep the enemy sow evil seeds among us; for sluggishness is the companion of sleep. Nor let us be fiery, nor fall outside the royal road, stumbling in some one thing altogether, either needing a goad because of sluggishness, or a bridle because of heat, and so as not to be hurled down a cliff. Taking from both as much as is useful—from the one its gentleness, from the other its zeal—let us flee whatever is harmful in both: from the one its hesitation, from the other its rashness, so that we may be neither unfruitful through deficiency nor in danger through excess. For alike useless are both sluggishness that does nothing and heat that is undisciplined: the one does not draw near to the good, the other overshoots it and makes something more right than the right. Better to contribute according to one's ability than to fall short in everything. For it is not the one who was unable to do such things who is liable, but the one who did not resolve to; and this holds alike in divine and in human affairs. Neither to be more sluggish than the mean is good, nor more fervent, so as either through complaisance to go along with everyone, or through disorder to stand apart from everyone.

For likewise the sluggish is inactive, and the easily moved is unsociable. Every measure is best. Such is the wisdom of Christ, permitting us to strive neither deficiently nor excessively, but everywhere preserving symmetry. Let the labor of virtue be symmetrical, so that the manner of change may not become immoderate.

TITLE 3. — Concerning wise and prudent men; and that they ought to be ready for the benefit of all at all times.

"I learned without guile, I impart without envy. I do not hide her wealth." "A multitude of the wise is the salvation of the world." "Better is a man who hides his folly than a man who hides his wisdom." "Hidden wisdom and an unseen treasure, what benefit is in both?" "Freely you received, freely give." "Be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and fear, and having a good conscience." There is danger of betrayal in not readily giving answers concerning God to those who love the Lord God.

TITLE 4. – On Habit.

"An impious custom, held fast over time, was guarded as a law." "A man accustomed to words of reproach shall surely not be disciplined in all his days." Many, mastered by an ancient custom, do not discern the foulness of what is done. The separation from habit is most grievous even to irrational creatures. And once I myself saw an ox at the manger weeping when its yoke-fellow and partner in the yoke had died. And the rest of the irrational creatures cling vehemently to habit. To persist laboriously in sins produces in souls a certain habit hard to move. For a habit of the soul grown old, and the practice of evil confirmed by time, is hard to cure, or even altogether incurable, since for the most part habit passes over into nature. Familiarity with the words of the wicked is a road to the deeds. A habit confirmed through a long time takes on the beginning of nature. Passions strengthened by time need time for correction. A habit confirmed by time was regarded as a law. Not the easiest

The change of things that are honored by custom and long time. The habit of sins leads the soul that has fallen into it toward the worse. It is a terrible thing for habit to take hold of itself and not permit one to rise again to the first state of virtue. For state comes from habit, and from state nature is engendered. But to move and change nature is difficult. Things practiced over a very long time become thereafter difficult to correct, or even incurable diseases. It is not easy to persuade a soul held fast by error. The sudden changes of all people toward the opposite are the hardest, especially when the underlying powers have been strengthened by length of time. TITLE 5. – On Those Who Receive Counsel.

"Jothor, seeing all that Moses was doing for the people, says: What is this matter that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand by you from morning until evening? And Moses says to his father-in-law: Because all the people come to seek judgment from God, and when a dispute arises among them and they come to me, I judge each one, and I instruct them in the commandments of God and his law. And the father-in-law of Moses said to him: This matter that you are doing is not right; you will be ruined with unbearable ruin, both you and all this people who are with you. This matter is too heavy for you; you will not be able to do it alone. Now therefore hear me, and I will counsel you, and God will be with you. Consider from all the people men of strength, God-fearing, righteous, hating arrogance, and you shall appoint them over the people, commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds and commanders of fifties and commanders of tens.

They will judge the people at every hour. But they bring up the overbearing word against you, while the small matters of judgment they will judge themselves; and they will lighten from you, and they will take hold together with you. If you do this, and God strengthens you, and you are able to stand, and all the people will come to his place in peace. Saul said to the young servant who was with him: Come, let us return. And the young servant said to him: Behold, indeed there is a man of God in this city, glorious, and whatever he speaks shall be, and he will announce to us our way. Nathan came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying: Have you not heard that Ornias the son of Geththi has reigned, and our lord does not know? And now indeed I will counsel you, and you shall save your soul, and the soul of Solomon your son. And come, enter to King David, and you shall say to him: Did you not, king, swear to your servant by the Lord God, saying that Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? For Ornias has reigned. And while you are still speaking with the king, I will enter after you, and I will fill your hand. And Bathsheba entered to the king into the bedchamber. An ear that hears reproofs of life shall be seasoned in the midst of the wise. The wise man listens to counsel. He who keeps reproofs shall be glorified. He who keeps reproofs loves his own soul. He who keeps reproofs shall be made wise. If you reprove a prudent man, you will find perception. It is not fitting to set the word of reproofs in the heart; for such a thing is half of healing.

For to show him, while he is sick, the magnitude of the disease, so as to make his care worthy of the evil, is useful; but to leave it at that, and not to lead him by the hand toward health, is nothing other than to abandon the sick man to his infirmity. The eye sees other things, but does not see itself. For this reason, have a counselor in all things. For hand needs hand, and foot needs foot. For this is the part of a magnanimous man, to welcome the freedom of friends rather than the flattery of enemies.

TITLE 6. — Concerning those who do not accept counsel, and who hate reproofs.

“David said to Joab, and to the commanders of the army: Go, and number Israel. And Joab said: Why does my lord seek this? that it may not become a sin to Israel;” and the rest. Note. Know that David, not having accepted the counsel, destroyed seventy thousand. “Do not reprove the wicked, lest they hate you.” “Reproofs to the impious are his bruises.” “He who hates reproofs is a fool.” “But he who reproves the impious will blame himself.” “Those who hate reproofs will die shamefully. The uninstructed will not love those who reprove him.” “Say nothing into the ears of a fool, lest he mock your wise words.” “They hated those who reprove in the gates.” “They will make all those who reprove in the gates a stumbling block.” “If your brother sins against you, go, reprove him between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not hear, take with yourself yet one or two, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. But if he disregards them, tell the Church.

But if he also disobeys the Church, let him be to you as the Gentile and the tax collector. An uncounseled man is a ship without a pilot. He who does not accept the healing offered to him by his brother is out of harmony with himself. Every soul that refuses admonition is incurable. O the madness! or whatever other name is more proper to such a passion; because those whom we ought to love as benefactors, these we repel as enemies, hating those who reprove in the gates, and abhorring a holy word. And we think we shall fight our well-wishers more if we do as many evils as possible to ourselves; just as those who touch their own flesh think they are consuming the flesh of their neighbors. TITLE 7. — On correction; and that we ought to be corrected through the evils of others.

Remove the evil one from among yourselves, and the rest, hearing, will fear. We must be admonished by the blow that falls on our neighbors, and through the evils of others set our own affairs aright. In the misfortunes of others we ought to set our own affairs aright. Be better, being corrected by the evils of others. It is useful also to be corrected by the misfortunes of others. Punishment admonishes and corrects, often even those who sin; but if not, at any rate certainly those nearby. For the punishments of others make the many better through fear of suffering similar things. TITLE 8. — On zeal; and that all zeal is unprofitable when God does not will it.

The steps of a man are directed by the Lord. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labored in vain. A man's steps are directed by the Lord. But how shall a mortal understand his ways? A horse is prepared for the day of battle, but help comes from the Lord. I know, Lord, that his ways are not in man, nor shall a man walk and make his path straight. There is one who labors and toils and hastens, and the more he falls short; and there is one who is sluggish, needing assistance, lacking strength, and abounding in poverty, and the eye of the Lord has looked upon him for good, and has raised him up from his lowliness, and has lifted up his head, and many marveled at him. It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. Without forgiveness from God, it is impossible for anyone to devote himself to the life of virtue. To choose the best things, and to will them, and to strive for them, and to endure every toil, belongs to our own purpose; but to bring them to completion, and not to allow them to fall through, and to reach the very end of good accomplishments, belongs to grace from above. For God has apportioned virtue to us, and neither did he leave the whole to be in our power, lest we be lifted up into presumption; nor did he himself take the whole, lest we incline to presumption,

But leaving a little to our own labors, he himself accomplishes the greater part. The beginning of every good action has its substance in our own will; but its completion is in God. God breathes together with our souls when they are willing. But if they fall away from their zeal, the spirit given by God is also withdrawn. There is nothing among men of the things that are truly beneficial and truly praiseworthy, which is not given by God. TITLE 9. — On worldly wisdom. "I will destroy the wise in Idumea, says the Lord." "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the understanding of the prudent." "The wise were put to shame, and they went, and were taken, because they rejected the word of the Lord." "And the sons of Hagar, seeking understanding upon the earth, the tellers of myths and seekers of understanding; but they did not know the way of wisdom, nor did they remember her paths." "They wander, seeking God and wishing to find him. For revolving among his works they search them out, and indeed they are persuaded by sight that the things seen are beautiful. But again not even they themselves are excusable. For if they had such power to know, that they were able to conjecture the age, how did they not find its Master sooner? Wretched are they, and their hopes are among the dead." "It is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe. If you have bitter jealousy and rivalry in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For where jealousy and rivalry are, there is confusion and every vile thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, obedient, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, sincere; and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Rhetoric and poetry, and the invention of sophisms, have occupied many, whose material is falsehood. For neither can poetry stand without myth, nor rhetoric without the art of speaking, nor sophistry without fallacies. The abundance of the world's wisdom will bring them an addition of harsh condemnation; because, seeing so sharply concerning vain things, they have willingly blinded themselves concerning the understanding of the truth. Those who have occupied themselves with vain wisdom are like the eyes of the owl. For her eyes are strong at night, but when the sun shines they are dimmed; and their mind is sharpest for the contemplation of vanity, but for the comprehension of the true light they have been dimmed. First wisdom: to despise the wisdom that lies in speech and turns of phrase, and in counterfeit and superfluous antitheses.

But may it be mine to speak five words in the church with understanding, rather than ten thousand in a tongue and a voice of a trumpet without meaning. This wisdom I praise; this I embrace, through which the lowly were glorified, and into which those who were despised were preferred, and with which fishermen captured the whole world in the nets of the Gospel, conquering the wisdom that is being brought to nothing by the finished and concise word. For the one who is wise in word is not wise to me, nor is he who has a well-turned tongue but an uneducated soul—like those tombs which, being fair and beautiful on the outside, rot with the dead within and cover over much foulness—but rather he who speaks few things about virtue but shows many things by what he does, and adds the credibility of his words through his life. Better to me is beauty beheld than that painted by word, and wealth that hands possess than that which dreams fashion, and wisdom not made brilliant by speech but proven through words. For prudence is good for those who do it, not for those who proclaim it. You who are concerned with words, do not trust too much in words, nor be made sober-minded by excessive and

beyond words. You wise men and scribes, how can you be called wise when you do not possess the first word? It is possible at some point to touch briefly, for the sake of usefulness, the teaching of others, and then immediately to hold fast again to one's own; for example, grammar is a foreign woman. It is good to draw near to her again briefly because of the technical and sharp quality of reading. Likewise rhetoric, because of the strength of speech and its coherence; but also philosophy, because of the easy demonstration of apparent contradictions. After this, as though having begotten children from the Egyptian Hagar, who is a slave-girl, while Sarah is free, who rules and is herself wisdom, let us turn again to the wisdom from our youth, which is also God-given, so that we may beget children from it as well—no longer, as from a slave-girl, perceptible lessons, but as from a free and perfect woman, the understanding of wisdom. TITLE 10. — On stumbling blocks; and that one must flee stumbling blocks. "Your mouth has abounded in evil. Sitting." "Guard me from the snare which they have set for me." "Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks. For it is necessary that stumbling blocks come. But woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes. And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled, than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, cut it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire." "The Lord said to his disciples: It is impossible that stumbling blocks should not come.

But woe to him through whom it comes. It is better for him that a millstone of a donkey be hung around his neck, and he be cast into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. Take heed lest your own authority become a stumbling block to the weak. If food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat forever, lest I cause my brother to stumble. Be without offense to Jews, and to Greeks, and to the Church of God, just as I also please all things to all men, not seeking my own advantage, but that of the many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ. It is good neither to sin nor to be suspected of placing a scandal or stumbling block before the many, since we know how inexorable and most heavy is the punishment from the truthful one upon those who cause one of the little ones to stumble. TITLE 11. — Concerning fleshly men.

The Lord God said: My spirit shall not remain in these men, because they are flesh. But their days shall be a hundred and twenty years. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. He who is of the earth is of the earth, and speaks of the earth. Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. The works of the flesh are manifest, which are: fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strifes, jealousy, anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and things like these.

These things I foretell to you, just as I also foretold, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the spirit, on the things of the spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the spirit is life and peace. Because the mind of the flesh is enmity toward God; for it does not submit to the law of God. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Those who are fleshly cannot practice spiritual things, nor can spiritual people practice fleshly things. The fleshly man, having his mind untrained for contemplation, or rather carrying it buried as it were in a mire by the mind of the flesh, is unable to look up toward the spiritual light of truth. Ignorant and world-loving people, not knowing the nature of the good, call blessed things that are worth nothing—wealth and health, prominence of life—none of which is good by its own nature, not only because it has an easy turning toward the opposite, but because it cannot make those who possess it good. For who is righteous because of money? Who is temperate because of health? On the contrary, indeed, each of these often becomes a service to sin for those who use them badly. Who of those cast down by sin will ascend into heaven? Who, still surrounded by the darkness below and the thickness of the flesh, will with his whole mind purely behold the whole mind, and be mingled with the standing and invisible realities, among things that do not stand and are seen?

For scarcely would anyone here among those who are exceedingly purified behold an image of the good, as those who see the sun in the waters. Those who neglect the soul but care for the body are like a man who smears his eyes with mire and mud but washes his own feet with clean water. Since all men have one and the same nature of soul, and indeed also the same substance of flesh, some are called fleshly, others slaves of sin; some free from sin, some in the flesh, some not in the flesh, having flesh but in the spirit; some living in Christ but sinning by sin; others living by sin but dead to Christ. And again, some have received the names of irrational animals, either tame or, on the contrary, the most savage, according to the constitution of their character. TITLE 12. — On the scarcity and dearth of good men. "Save me, O Lord, for the holy one has failed, for the faithful have diminished." "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there is one who understands or seeks God." "As a grape in the desert I found Israel, and as the first-ripe fruit on the fig tree." "Woe is me, for the devout man has perished from the earth, and there is none who does right among men." "There is no wisdom in Teman, counsel has perished from the prudent, their wisdom is gone, their place has been deceived." The good is rare and scarce. TITLE 13. — On the council; and that one ought not to converse in a council when a hearing has taken place.

Cast out the pestilence from the council, and strife will enter in with him. For when he sits in the council, he dishonors everyone." "They set aside reasonings, those who do not honor councils, but in the hearts of those who deliberate counsel remains. The wicked man will surely not obey it, nor will he speak anything timely and good in its season." "While another is speaking, do not chatter often. Where there is a hearing, do not pour out talk." TITLE 14. — Concerning things that happen and befall contrary to reason. "There is a favor among evils for a man; and there is a discovery for diminution. There is a gift which will not profit you, and there is a diminution for the sake of glory, and there is one who from humility lifted up his head. There is one who buys many things for little, and there is one who pays them back sevenfold."

TITLE 15. — Concerning soldiers.

"The soldiers were asking him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said to them: Do not shake down anyone, nor accuse falsely, and be content with your wages." Be content with your own wages, soldiers, and demand nothing beyond what is appointed. These things John the renowned enjoins upon you together with us. Why

I mean "rations"; clearly the imperial allowance, and the gifts that legally belong to offices. But the excess—whose is it? I hesitate to speak the blasphemy; but you, I know, understand. The soldier needs to busy himself with nothing beyond the matters of his service, but always to remember that he has been appointed to keep the peace. TITLE 16. — On associating with good men; and that one must cleave to the best of men, and not to the wicked.

For a person becomes like those with whom he spends his time. "The kingdom of Sheba said to King Solomon: The report is true which I heard in my land concerning your word and your wisdom. And I did not believe those who spoke to me until I arrived, and my eyes saw; and behold, it is not half of what they reported to me. You have added good things beyond all the report which I heard in my land. Blessed are your women; blessed are these servants of yours who stand before you continually, who hear all your wisdom." "Elijah said to Elisha: Sit here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel. And Elisha said: As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, if I leave you. And they enter Bethel; and the prophets who were in Bethel came to Elisha and said to him: Do you know that today the Lord is taking your master from over your head? And he said: I too know; be silent. And Elijah said to Elisha: Sit here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Jericho. And he said: As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, if I leave you." And after a little: "Elijah said to Elisha:

Ask me what I shall do for you before I am taken up from you." And Elisha said: "Let the spirit that is upon you be upon me twofold." And he said: "You have asked a hard thing; nevertheless, if you see me being taken up from you, it shall be so for you. But if you do not see it, it shall not happen." Scholion: From this we are taught never to abandon the best of men, even if they wish it. For association with them brings great profit. And Elisha is a witness, who persevered with Elijah to the end and obtained the double worth that was upon him. "Walking with the wise, he will be wise." "Speak to righteous men." "Apply your ear to the words of the wise." "A young man with a holy man, and his way is straight." "If you see a man of understanding, rise early to go to him, and let your foot wear down his thresholds. Stand in the assembly of elders, and if anyone is wise, cleave to him." "Do not overlook the narrative of the wise, and dwell among their proverbs." "Let righteous men be your table companions." "Stay continually with a pious man. Whomever you see keeping the commandments, give him in your soul according to his soul, and if you stumble, he will grieve with you." "Birds lodge with their own kind." Just as painters, when they paint images from images, looking frequently at the model, strive to transfer the character of those images into their own artistic work, so too the one who has earnestly set himself to become perfect in all the parts of virtue must look to the lives of the saints as to statues that are moving and active, and make their good his own through imitation.

If you see a Gentile cultivating a chaste life and the rest of the good order of his character, increase your own diligence beyond yourself, so that you may become like the fruitful fig tree, which gathers its strength from the presence of the wild ones, and checks their flow, and cultivates its fruits more carefully. Wear away the doors of the wise, but not of the rich. TITLE 17. — On associating with wicked men; and that one must flee the company of the depraved as procuring destruction.

"Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and all the elders of Israel went with him; and he spoke to the congregation, saying: Separate yourselves from the tents of these hard men, and do not touch anything that is theirs. And they withdrew from the congregation of Korah, and Dathan, and Abiram." "You shall remove the wicked from among yourselves." "You shall utterly destroy these nations from before you, and they shall not be a snare to you, and a stumbling block, and nails in your heels, and a dart in your eyes." "Saul said to the Kenite: Depart, and turn aside from the midst of the Amalekites, lest I add you with him. And the Kenite turned aside, and Saul struck Amalek." "To abstain from evils is knowledge." "Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly." "I have not sat with the council of vanity." "Cover me from the conspiracy of those who do evil." "You who love the Lord, hate evil." "Son, let not ungodly men deceive you, nor walk in the way with them. But turn aside your foot from their paths.

For their feet run to evil. Do not be zealous for the ways of the lawless; wherever they encamp, do not go there. Turn aside from them and pass them by. For they will not sleep unless they have done evil. Do not walk in the ways of the ungodly, nor seek the ways of the lawless. Thorns and snares are in crooked ways, but he who guards his own soul will keep away from them. My son, do not be zealous for evil men, nor desire to be with them. For their heart meditates lies, and their lips speak troubles. Do not be a companion to a man of anger, and do not lodge with a wrathful friend, lest you learn his ways and take a snare for your soul. Depart, go out from there, and do not touch what is unclean. Go out from the midst, be separate, you who carry the vessels of the Lord. Keep away from the unjust man, and you will not be afraid, and trembling will not come near you. He who touches pitch will be defiled, and he who associates with a proud man will become like him. I urge you, brothers, to watch those who make divisions and scandals contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.

For such people will certainly not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and through smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the innocent. "If any brother is called a fornicator, or covetous, or sexually immoral, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler, do not even eat with such a person." "We command you, brothers, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which they received from us." Associations with the wicked are harmful, since the very law of friendship is by nature to arise in those joined together through likeness. For just as in places that breed disease, the air that is breathed out in turn deposits a hidden sickness in those who dwell there, so too association with the base instills great evils in souls, even if the harm escapes immediate perception. Those skilled in such matters say that the plague, when it touches one man or beast, spreads to all who come near. For it is the nature of this disease that all infect one another with the sickness. Such indeed are also the workers of injustice. For as each transmits the disease to another, they are sick together and perish together. Flee from imitating those who are condemned. It is easier to partake of vice than to impart virtue, just as it is easier to share in disease than to bestow health. Stop your ears with wax against base words, and against the sweet strains and limb-twistings of songs; but always give them to what is noble and good. To speak, to hear, and to do are but a little apart. Always prefer the noble to the base.

By associating with evil people, you will certainly become evil yourself. One must not only abstain from evils, but also turn away from those who practice such things. Associating with the wicked was forbidden to the people of Israel, the law given through Moses also ordaining this. For it clearly commanded those who had been sanctified to hasten to depart from those living in wickedness and impurity. Is deliverance from evils the salvation of the soul? Three things he set before us as worthy of guarding: not to walk in the counsel of the ungodly, not to stand in the way of sinners, and not to sit in the seat of the pestilent. Do not sit in the seat of the pestilent. Examine whom he named, examine who the pestilent are—or is it clear that they are those who share their passion with one another? Or do you not see the fornicators sitting in the marketplace, mocking the chaste, and recounting their own works of shame, the pursuits of darkness, and enumerating the passions of dishonor as if they were feats of valor or some other brave deeds? These are the pestilent, who strive to lead their own evil upon all. The spirit of fornication does not endure to stand still in one act of lawlessness, but immediately there are revelries, carousings, and drunkenness, and shameful tales, a courtesan drinking with him, playing the harlot with this one, provoking that one, and setting all ablaze toward her own sin. Is this pestilence then small, or is the spread of the evil small? Let us flee the companies of unprofitable men, embracing solitude. For association with the more perverse is harmful and destructive of a peaceful condition.

For just as those who are in pestilential air invariably fall sick, so those who live among indifferent people partake of their wickedness. The evil dispositions of those who associate together beget factions and rivalries, and even if these people are upright, they preserve their affections. The associations of the foolish are harmful; and often the soul, unwillingly, wipes off the images of their derangement.

TITLE 18. — On wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. "Wisdom is praised in the streets, and in the broad places she speaks boldly; and on the tops of the walls she is proclaimed, and in the broad places of rulers she sits, and in the gates of the city she speaks with confidence." "A prudent man in a matter is a finder of good things." "He who offers wisdom from his lips strikes a man without understanding with a rod." "Make prudence known to yourself." "The wise shall inherit glory. Blessed is the man who has found wisdom, and mortal is he who has found prudence. For it is better to trade in her than in treasures of gold and silver. And she is more precious than costly stones; nothing evil stands against her; and every precious thing is not worthy of her." "The young of prudence are more to be chosen than silver." "Her ways are good ways, and all her paths are in peace. She is a tree of life to all who hold fast to her." "Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget, that she may give to your head a crown of graces." "Receive instruction, and not silver, and knowledge rather than gold that has been tested. For wisdom is better than costly stones;

Every precious thing is not worthy of her. "Son, if you become wise for yourself, you will be wise also for your neighbor." "I walk in the ways of righteousness, and I move about in the midst of the paths of righteousness," says Wisdom. "A man of understanding is a throne of perception." "A house is built with wisdom, and it is set upright with understanding." "The father of a man who loves wisdom rejoices." "A poor and wise child is better than an old and foolish king." "Go toward the radiance of wisdom, opposite its light." "Who has gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds? Who has crossed over the sea, and found her? There is no one who knows her way, nor one who considers her path; but the one who knows all things knows her; he found her by his understanding." "Wisdom is bright and unfading, easily seen by those who love her. A multitude of the wise is the salvation of the world." "I considered wealth as nothing in comparison with her, because all gold before her is like a little sand. And all good things came to me together with her.

Give me, Master, wisdom, the assessor at your throne." "The Lord himself created wisdom, and he saw her and numbered her." "God loves nothing except the one who lives with wisdom. Evil does not prevail over wisdom." "If wealth is a desirable possession in life, what is richer than wisdom, which works all things? Her conduct has no bitterness, nor her companionship pain, but gladness and joy." "Wisdom raised up her sons. The one who loves her loves life, and those who rise early for her will be filled with gladness. The one who holds fast to her will inherit glory, and wherever he enters, the Lord blesses, and God loves those who love her. The one who obeys her will judge nations, and the one who runs to her will dwell securely." "Child, in your youth choose instruction, and as one plowing and sowing, draw near to him." "Do not overlook the narrative of the wise, and walk about in their proverbs." "Take counsel with the wise, and let your deliberations be with the wise." "The wisdom of a humble man will lift up his head, and will seat him in the midst of the great." "From one prudent man a city will be inhabited." "My remembrance is sweeter than honey. The one who obeys me will not be put to shame." A wise man will be filled with blessing, and all who see him will call him blessed." "There is no exchange for a well-instructed soul." Wisdom is the knowledge of divine and human things, and of the causes of these. The end of philosophy for the one who philosophizes is likeness to God, as far as possible. One should not judge understanding by age.

To know that one is ignorant of something is a mark of wisdom, so that even to know that one has done wrong is a mark of righteousness. It belongs to the same understanding neither to be carried away toward the pleasant things among indifferent matters nor to be cast down by toilsome things. The wise man alone is both free and a ruler, even if he has ten thousand masters over his body. Every wise man is a friend of God. In truth the wise man is first of the human race, as a pilot in a ship, a ruler in a city, a general in war, a soul in a body, and a mind in a soul; and again, heaven in the world, and God in heaven. Let the well-ordered man be and be called the elder, but every fool the younger and last, pursuing the innovations that are ranked among the last things. To seek or to inquire for the sake of instruction is most effective. TITLE 19. — On the confinement of affairs, and distraction. "The whole life of the impious man is in anxiety." "And again, to the one who sins he gave distraction." "Trouble and a whirlwind, I find them more bitter than death." Child, let not your affairs be many. "If you multiply them, you will not be innocent." "Pursuing contract-work, he will fall into judgments." "A hard heart will be weighed down with pains." "A merchant will scarcely be delivered from transgression." "He who presides over another's judgment is like one holding a dog by the tail." For those who drag the soul along and produce worldly occupations, it is impossible to rise above hope, toil, the study of the things of God, and prayer. For neither can a dirty mirror receive the impressions of images, nor can a soul nailed to worldly cares and darkened by the passions arising from the mind of the flesh receive the illuminations.

Just as an eye that is continually turned about, now carried to the sides, now frequently twisted upward and downward, cannot clearly see the object lying before it, but the sight must be fixed upon the visible thing if it is to make the vision clear, so too the mind of man, dragged about by countless portions throughout the world, cannot clearly gaze upon the truth. Sailors and pilots do everything so that they may traverse the sea and reach the harbor. But we, sea-farers, strive to be tossed continually in the waves of worldly affairs, turning about in the marketplaces and in the courts. In a mind that is disturbed and in anguish, neither does any thought of

noble things nor the grace of God enter. It belongs to a perfect soul to be free from care, but to an impious one to be worn away by anxieties. For concerning the perfect soul it has been said that it is a lily among thorns. And this indicates the foolish one. For the lily also in the Gospel signifies the soul free from care. It does not labor, nor does it spin, and it is clothed with glory greater than Solomon's. But concerning those who have much care for bodily things, it says: The whole life of the impious is in care. For truly it is impious to extend the care of bodily things over one's whole life, and to show no zeal at all for things to come. Why do they wrap themselves in dung, who once were nursed upon a grain? Jeremiah, lamenting, said: for when we rest upon bright and fiery thoughts, we are nursed upon a grain. But when we are plunged into earthly affairs, we wrap ourselves in dung.

Whoever walks on four feet is altogether unclean. And he walks on four feet who has trusted in perceptible things and utterly drags his ruling faculty along with their busy preoccupation. Just as prisoners walk with difficulty, so too those entangled in worldly life do not complete the course of virtue in purity.

TITLE 20. — Concerning those who frequent others' houses. "A pierced jar, a stranger's house." "A fool's foot is swift into a house; but a man of much experience will be ashamed before a face." TITLE 21. — Concerning good counsel and advice. "He who hears me will dwell in hope, and will rest without fear from every evil." "Son, do not forget my statutes, and let your heart keep my words. For length of life, and years of life, and peace will be added to you. Son, do not slip away; keep my counsel and thought, that your soul may live, and grace be about your neck. And it will be healing for your flesh, and care for your bones, that you may walk in peace, confident in all your ways, and your foot will surely not stumble. For if you sit, you will be without fear; and if you sleep, you will slumber sweetly, and you will not fear a terror that comes upon you, nor the assaults of the impious coming on. For the Lord will be in all your ways, and will steady your foot, that you not be caught." TITLE 22. — Concerning evil counsel and advice. "When much time had passed, his wife said to Job: How long will you endure, saying, Behold, I wait yet a little time, expecting the hope of my salvation? Behold, your remembrance has vanished from the earth.

Your sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb, for whom I toiled in vain with hardships. But you yourself sit upon the rottenness of worms, spending the night in the open air. And I, a wanderer and a servant, going from place to place and from house to house, waiting for the sun, when it will set, so that I may rest from the hardships and the pains that now hold me. But say a word to the Lord, and die. And he looked at her and said: Why will you speak like one of the foolish women? If we received good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil things? An evil man will listen to the tongues of the lawless. My son, let not evil counsel overtake you. My son, let not impious men deceive you, nor consent to them. If they entreat you, saying: Come with us, share in blood, and let us hide a righteous man unjustly in the earth; and let us swallow him alive, like Hades, and take away his memory from the earth; let us seize his costly possession, and fill our houses with spoils; and cast your lot in with us, and let us all acquire a common purse, and let there be one bag for us: my son, do not go in the ways with them. But turn your foot away from their paths. For not unjustly are nets spread for the winged creatures. It came to pass after the

The king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun his son reigned in his place. And David said: I will show mercy to him, just as his father showed mercy to me. And David sent men to comfort him. But the princes of the Ammonites said to their lord: Is David honoring your father by sending comforters? No, but so that they may search out the city and spy on it. And he shaved the beards of David's servants, and cut off half of their cloaks, and sent them away. Note: Hanun, persuaded by the unlawful counsel of his servants, and having insulted those sent by David by the removal of their beards and cloaks, lost his homeland and his kingdom. Amnon had a companion, Jonathan, exceedingly prudent, and he said to Amnon: Why are you so wasted away? And Amnon said: I love Tamar my sister. And Jonathan said to him: Lie down on your bed, and pretend to be troubled; and your father will come to visit you, and you shall say to him: Let Tamar my sister come, and stand by me and feed me, and she shall prepare food before me. Note: Jonathan's counsel became the cause of death for Amnon. For his brother killed him. Whenever we are commanded by someone to do something contrary to the Lord's commandment, and corrupting or defiling it, then is the time to say: We must obey God rather than men, remembering the Lord who says: But they will not follow a stranger, because they do not know the voice of strangers; and the Apostle, who dared for our safety to lay hold even of the angels themselves, through whom he says:

Even if we ourselves, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you anything beyond what you received, let him be accursed. From this we are taught that even if he who hinders is very genuine, even if exceedingly glorious, he ought to be abhorrent to each of those who love the Lord. TITLE 23. — On adapting oneself to others.

“Though free from all, I made myself a slave to all, that I might gain all. And I became to the Jews as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to those under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those under the law; to those without law, as without law—not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ—that I might gain those without law. I became to the weak as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all, that I might by all means save some.” “He who does not busy himself with his own house will inherit the winds.”

TITLE 24. — On the holy cross.

“You have given a sign to those who fear you, that they might flee from the face of the bow.” “Those who seal themselves with the law will be made manifest, so as not to learn.” “The Lord said to the man clothed in the long robe: Give the sign upon the foreheads of the men who groan and are in distress over all their iniquities, and pass through the midst of Jerusalem, and strike, and do not spare, and do not have mercy on old man, or young man, or women, or nursing infants: blot out all. But upon all those on whom is the sign, do not touch.” If Christ suffered anything, he suffered it not for his own sake, nor for the sake of his own Father, but that he might save the human race. And if you wish to know, beloved, the power of the cross, hear. The cross is the hope of Christians; the cross is the guide of the blind;

The cross is the way of those who have gone astray; the cross is the staff of the lame; the cross is the consolation of the poor; the cross is the bridle of the rich; the cross is the overthrow of the proud; the cross is the trophy against demons; the cross is the victory over the devil; the cross is the prosperity of the resourceless; the cross is the hope of those who have despaired; the cross is the resurrection of the dead; the cross is the pilot of those who sail; the cross is the harbor of those tossed by storms; the cross is the wall of those who are warred upon; the cross is the father of orphans; the cross is the protector of widows; the cross is the judge of the unjust; the cross is the relief of the afflicted; the cross is the guardian of infants; the cross is light to those who sit in darkness; the cross is the freedom of slaves; the cross is the ascetic discipline of monks; the cross is the chastity of virgins; the cross is the joy of priests; the cross is the foundation of the Church; the cross is the bread of the hungry; the cross is the fountain of the thirsty; the cross is the shelter of the naked. Since Satan put the first-formed man to death through the tree, for this reason the Lord, having become man, through the tree of his cross has made the devil a footstool for the feet of man. For as many as have the sign of the cross trample down his power. If you go out to war and see your enemy hurling swords against you, do not carry anything of the sort yourself, but have the sign of the cross in your heart and on your forehead, and go toward him, saying: These in chariots, and these in horses, but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God. And you will see that all those things will be winnowed like chaff, but you will be set upright and rise. For David foretold concerning the sign of the cross, saying: You have given a sign to those who fear you, that they may flee from the face of the bow.

What sign has he given us, if not the mystery of the cross? By this sign walls are thrown down, enemies fall like grass, demons are put to flight; all things are subjected to the wood of the cross, through the power of the one crucified upon it. LETTER T.

TITLE 1. — On honor, and that one ought to honor one another. The impious man was not ashamed before the face of an honored man, nor does he know how to assign honor to them. "In brotherly love be tenderly affectionate toward one another, in honor preferring one another." "As servants of God, honor all."

TITLE 2. — On tax collectors.

What is a tax office? Lawful plunder, violence made bold, injustice having the law on its side. What is a tax office? Shameless sin; plunder that has no pretext, more grievous than robbery. The robber is at least ashamed when he steals; but this man is even bold when he plunders.

TITLE 3. — On troublemakers. "A perverse heart devises evils; at every season such a man stirs up tumults in a city. Therefore his destruction comes suddenly, because he delights in all things that God hates." "Impious men have set a city on fire." TITLE 4. — On order, and constitution, and sequence; and that these ought to be preserved everywhere.

Let each one remain in the rank in which he was called, brothers." Rank is the mother of things that exist.

TITLE 5. — On the humble-minded.

"Abraham answered and said: Now I have begun to speak to my Lord, and I am earth and ashes." "Moses said to the Lord: I beseech you, Lord, I am not capable nor eloquent; I am weak-voiced and slow-tongued." "Abigail said to David: In me, lord, is the injustice. Let your servant now speak in your ears, and hear the word of your servant. Let not my lord set his heart upon this pestilent man, for folly is with him." Humility is to reckon oneself to be a sinner, and to do nothing good before God; and the work of humility is silence, and not to measure oneself in anything, nor to strive contentiously. Submission is to keep the gaze on the ground, to have one's own death before one's eyes, to guard oneself from falsehood, not to converse in idle talk, not to contradict one's superior, to hate rest, to force oneself in toil, to be sober. Brother, fulfill these commandments with exactness, so that your soul may not become a dwelling-place of every passion; but be sober toward each one of them, so that you may not complete your whole life unfruitful. TITLE 6. — On crafts, and who invented crafts. "Ada bore Jobel; he was the father of those dwelling in tents of herdsmen; and the name of his brother was Jubal. He was the one who showed forth the psaltery and the cithara. Sella also bore Thobel; and he was a hammer-smith of bronze and iron." "Dust begot Nimrod.

This one began to be a giant hunter before the Lord. Enyaliostes, the son of Poseidon, first devised the equestrian contest. Dipolis invented the same equestrian contest with chariots. Oinomaos himself first performed the contest with four-horsed chariots. The structure of the hippodrome has been ordered for the administration of the world, that is, of heaven, and earth, and sea. The twelve gates, then, they defined as the twelve houses of the zodiacal circle that governs the earth and the sea, and the transient course of the life of men; the base of the hippodrome to be the earth; the Euripus, the sea being drawn through the earth; the turning-post at the gates, the east; the one at the starting-gate, the west; the seven spathia, the motion and course of the star-arrangement of the seven stars of the Great Bear. King Romos, in honor also of the sun and of the four elements under it, first invented the contest in Rome and performed it in the region of the west, that is, of Italy, with four-horsed chariots, that is, with earth, and sea, and fire, and air. And Romos assigned to these same four elements these names: to the earth the green part, which is verdant; to the sea, that is, to the waters, the blue part, as dark blue; to the fire the red part, as ruddy; and to the air, as white, he assigned the name of the white.

LETTER Y.

TITLE 1. — On the insolent man.

"He brought low those who are carried along by insolence." "Bring low every insolent man." "An evil man with insolence practices evils." "The Lord tears down the houses of the insolent." "The tongue of an insolent eye is unjust." "Wherever insolence enters, there also is dishonor." "Better a gentle man with humility, than one who divides spoils with insolence." "The lofty in insolence shall be crushed and brought low." Just as in the wilderness an echo returns intact to the one who spoke, so insults return upon the reviler. Rather, the echo itself is given back, but the abuse returns with increase. Every shameful and unseemly thing, and one unfitting for those who have chosen to do good, is insolence.

TITLE 2. — On those who drink water.

"All who drink water, all were given over to death, and the choice things of Lebanon, all drinking water, and they themselves went down with him into Hades." "Use a little wine for your stomach's sake, and for your frequent infirmities." No one

He became drunk from water. No one's head ever ached, weighed down by water. No one needed another's feet, living on water-drinking; no one's feet were bound, no one's hands were maimed. Do you wish to drink? Water gushes for you, an ever-flowing fountain, a drink free of drunkenness, a joy without reproach.

TITLE 3. — On sleep and sleeplessness. "Sweet is the sleep of the servant, whether he eats little or much." "Sleep is health for a moderate intestine; the care of sleeplessness will demand drowsiness, and its care drives away sleep." "Every sleepy person puts on torn and ragged clothes." Give thanks, O man, to the one who through sleep releases us, unwilling as we are, from the continuousness of toils, and from a little rest brings us back again to the peak of strength. To be mastered by deep torpor, with one's limbs loosened, so as to give leisure to unseemly fantasies, makes those who sleep thus to be in a daily death. Sleep slackens the tension of wakefulness; then wakefulness tightens what has been relaxed; and neither of these remains in perpetuity, but both yield to each other's presence, nature thus renewing itself by alternation, so that each in turn receives its lot, passing gladly from the one to the other. For to be stretched continually in activities produces a kind of rupture and tearing of the parts that are overstrained; and the continuous relaxation of the body brings about the collapse and dissolution of what holds together.

But touching both in due measure at the right time is a power for the continuance of nature, through the continual transition toward opposites, resting itself in each from the other. Thus, then, taking the body strained by wakefulness, it brings about a release of the tension through sleep, resting the sensory powers from their activities for a time. Timely relaxation is necessary for the constitution of the body. Sleep is nothing other than a temporary death and a fleeting end. TITLE 4. — On hypocrisy, and irony, and feigned piety, and those who devise such things.

"The hypocrites in heart will bring forth wrath; and their soul shall die in youth." Do you not see how great an evil hypocrisy is? It too is a fruit of envy. For the doubling of character arises in most people especially from envy, when, holding hatred in the depth, they display love with a surface dyed over, like hidden reefs which, covered by shallow water, become an unforeseen evil to the unguarded. Devise nothing, contrive nothing against your own salvation. For even if we deceive others, we shall certainly not be able to deceive ourselves, since to play against oneself is exceedingly dangerous and foolish. Better to seem evil while being the best, than, holding the glory of the good while being the worst, to be a lying tomb for mortals, which, rotting within for the dead who decay, shines without with dust and pleasing colors. He who pleases humans would reasonably have the praises from them as a power of recompense; yet he will receive nothing at all of the things from God.

Many, it says, wished to practice righteousness. For they set themselves to practice asceticism, and they were not able to accomplish it. Therefore God let them perish, since out of people-pleasing they wear sackcloth and go barefoot and let the hair of their heads grow long, displaying their achievements to men, wishing to be called holy and to be revered by all as devout. You see, then, their outward appearance, and you think they do everything according to God. But what their heart possesses, you do not know. But God, who searches hearts and reins, knows their purpose, and he allowed them to be abandoned and to fall away, so that their designs might become manifest. For those who turn to the life of the virtues out of people-pleasing also fall into stumbling blocks. But those who wish to practice asceticism rightly according to God are never abandoned by God, as the prophet said: I was younger, and indeed I have grown old, and I have not seen a righteous man abandoned. For the righteous live forever, and their reward is in the Lord, and their hope is with the Most High. Many monks, then, having stumbled, turned to marriage, wrongly interpreting the saying of the Apostle: If they do not have self-control, let them marry. And they do not know that after the agreements made to God, it is no longer called marriage but fornication. So each one who is able to bear the necessities of the body, let him then enter under the yoke of asceticism, and not fall away into the depths of Hades. TITLE 5. — Concerning a wise son.

A wise son gladdens his father. A prudent son gladdens his mother. A discerning son is saved from heat. A well-trained son will be wise. A righteous son is born for life. Let the father and the mother rejoice over you, and let her who bore you be glad. The father of a man who loves wisdom rejoices. Son, if you become wise for yourself, you will be wise also for your neighbor. A poor and wise good child is better than an old and foolish king. The virtue of children is the glory of their fathers. TITLE 6. — Concerning a foolish, wicked, and uneducated son. A deceitful son will have nothing good. A foolish son grieves his mother. A lawless son becomes blighted by wind at the harvest. A father does not rejoice over an uneducated son. A foolish son sneers at his mother. A disobedient son will be in destruction. A foolish son is anger to his father, and grief to her who bore him. A bad offspring curses his father, and does not bless his mother. A bad offspring will judge himself righteous. A bad offspring has lofty eyes, and is lifted up by his eyelids. A father's shame is in an uneducated offspring. The inheritance of sinful children will perish, and reproach will abide with their seed. TITLE 7. — Concerning rain and showers; and that the waters are drawn up from the earth into heaven.

He who gives rain upon the earth, who sends water upon what is under heaven." "All things whatsoever the Lord willed, he did in heaven and on the earth," and the rest. "He who calls the water of the sea and pours it out upon all the face of the earth, the Lord God Almighty is his name." TITLE 8. — Concerning health, and that it surpasses all things. "Better is a poor man who is healthy than a rich man scourged in his body." Health and good condition are better than all gold; a body in good strength, or boundless wealth. Health is more desirable after the experience of its opposites. — Health is a common gift. — When health takes hold, pain vanishes. Best indeed is it to be always healthy, but good also to recover after sickness.

TITLE 9. — Concerning suspicion, and that one must flee the occasions that give birth to evil suspicions.

"Do not give occasion to those who want an occasion." Let no one of you have anything against his neighbor. Do not give occasions to the nations, lest because of a few foolish men the God-filled multitude be blasphemed.

TITLE 10. — On Promises and Agreements; and That One Must Fulfill Them. "The good that proceeds out of your mouth, do." "A man of the sons of Israel, if he vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath with a definite term, or binds himself concerning his soul, he shall not profane his word; all that proceeds out of his mouth, he shall do." "If you vow a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it shall be sin in you. What proceeds through your lips, keep, and do the manner in which you vowed to your God, which you spoke with your mouth." "Cursed is he who was in his flock a male, and his vow is in him, and he sacrifices corrupted things to the Lord." "Better not to vow, than to vow and not pay." TITLE 11. — On the Proud, and the Arrogant, and the Boastful, and the Vainglorious. "I will crush the insolence of your pride." "A soul, whoever does anything with a hand of pride, from the native-born or from the proselytes, this one provokes God." "The fear of the Lord shall fall upon us, and your boasting shall come to pass like ashes; and the body clay." "When weakened, let him not hope to be healed, but he shall fall with a great sickness. For exaltation has harmed many." "Humble every insolent man, and quench the proud; cast down the impious immediately, and fill their faces with dishonor." "If you are lifted up as an eagle, and if you set your nest in the midst of the stars, from there I will bring you down, says the Lord. Woe to him who says in his heart, Who will bring me down to the earth?" "In destruction I brought down the proud;

I have made desolate their corners." "I will destroy the insolence of the lawless, and I will bring low the insolence of the proud, and I will set the whole inhabited world." "Behold, the Lord, the Master, Sabaoth, shakes the glorious ones of the earth with power, and those exalted in insolence shall be crushed, and the exalted shall fall by the sword." It is a terrible thing to think greatly while doing small things; in everything, self-conceit hinders being. A winnower of virtue is a proud thought. A waterless pit is a vainglorious soul. A proud soul is a robbers' inn, and it hates the sound of knowledge. Woe to the boaster, for when he enters the tomb, he is taught what he is. How do you seek purity of soul, bound as you are to pride? For you say, "I love to have a pure heart," and I find it full of dust and smoke. How is it possible, when fire smoulders in the chaff and smokes, that smoke should not be found nor appear? I receive you when you diligently work good deeds and prune away greed; but again I do not accept you, in that you take vainglory as a companion. For it is absurd to be set free from one passion and to wish to be enslaved again to another passion, and to be subservient to it. Self-conceit, as the saying of the ancients goes, is the cutting off of progress. For he who is puffed up does not endure improvement. Self-conceit is by nature unclean.

TITLE 12. – On endurance and longsuffering. David said: "Let him curse, for the Lord has told him to; perhaps the Lord will look upon my humiliation and repay me with good for this cursing." "All those who wait for you shall not be put to shame." "Be courageous, and let your heart be strengthened, and wait for the Lord." "A prudent man bears many things. A longsuffering man is great in understanding." "A longsuffering man will quench judgments." "A merciful man is longsuffering." "I will bear the anger of the Lord, because I have sinned against him." "The Lord is good to those who wait for him in the day of affliction." "If he delays, wait for him, for he will surely come and will not tarry." "Wait for me, says the Lord, for the day of my resurrection, for a testimony; for I will set judgment for the assemblies of the nations." "A crown shall be for those who endure, and for her useful ones." "Blessed are all who remain in him." "Those who wait for God shall exchange their strength, they shall grow wings like eagles; they shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not hunger." "Children, be longsuffering until the anger that has come upon you. For your enemy has pursued you, and you shall see his destruction quickly, and you shall tread upon his neck." "The Lord is good to those who wait for him." "Until the time a longsuffering man will endure, and afterward he will give him gladness. Until the time he will hide his words, and the lips of many will declare his understanding." "Child, if you come to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for temptation. Direct your heart, and endure, and do not hasten in the time of calamity.

Cleave to him, and do not depart from him, that you may be increased in your last days. In longsuffering utter an answer. He who endures to the end, this one shall be saved. In your patience possess your souls. They were stoning Stephen as he called upon him and said: Lord Jesus Christ, receive my spirit. And having knelt down, he cried out with a loud voice: Lord, do not lay this sin to their charge. And having said this, he fell asleep. In everything commending ourselves as ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in purity, in knowledge, in longsuffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in love unfeigned, in the word of truth, in the power of God, through the weapons of righteousness, on the right hand and on the left, through glory and dishonor. You have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come, and will not delay. The saying is faithful. For if we died with him, we shall also live with him; if we endure, we shall also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us. Nothing makes men so worthy of respect as bearing insults. Never fear temptation. For if you have a soul prepared, affliction does not harm you. For just as the furnace does not harm the gold, so also affliction does not destroy the noble man. What does the furnace do? It makes the gold pure. What does affliction accomplish for the one who bears it? It makes his endurance and himself higher. These are our dealings with the Master.

Instead of the welts that rise up against our body, a luminous garment will bloom upon us; instead of dishonor, crowns; instead of prisons, paradise; and instead of condemnation with evildoers, converse with angels. Practice endurance, through which we know the martyrs were trained.

TITLE 13. — Concerning those who do not endure, but are fainthearted. "The fainthearted man is exceedingly foolish." "Who will bear a fainthearted man?" "Woe to you who have destroyed endurance. And what will you do when the Lord visits?" If you become angry against the one who reviled you, you have confirmed the insults. For what is more foolish than anger? But if you remain free from anger, you have put the one who insulted you to shame, demonstrating self-control by deed. It is necessary, then, to restrain the manic and frantic movement of the soul by the memory of the blessed examples: how the blessed David patiently endured the drunken insolence of Shimei. For he did not give anger an opportunity to be stirred, transferring his thought to God, saying that the Lord told Shimei to curse David. Therefore, upon hearing, a man of bloodshed and lawless, he was not harsh against him, but humbled himself, as if the insult met him according to his desert. Remove these two things from yourself: neither judge yourself worthy of great things, nor think that any man is by much inferior to you in worth. Through words and examples the Lord taught us the way of endurance: at one time saying, "He who wishes to be first among you shall be last of all"; at another time patiently and unmoved enduring the

of the one who strikes. For the Maker and Lord of heaven and earth, worshiped by all the intelligible creation, who bears all things by the word of his power, did not send the one who strikes him to Hades alive, when the earth split open beneath the impious man, but he admonished and taught him, saying: If I spoke evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike me? For if you accustom yourself to be last of all, according to the commandment of the Lord, you will never be indignant as though insulted beyond your worth. To make light of things, and not to wish to endure, brings about great and manifold calamities. Impatience is folly, and the inability to endure in all kinds of temptations. And let Job persuade you, saying to his wife, that You have spoken as one of the foolish women. LETTER PH.

TITLE 1. — On hospitality and brotherly love. "God appeared to Abraham by the oak of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent at midday. And lifting up his eyes, he looked, and behold, three men stood above him. And seeing them, he ran to meet them, and bowed to the earth, and said: Lord, if I have found favor before you, do not pass by your servant. Let water be brought, and let them wash your feet, and cool yourselves under the tree; and I will take bread, and you shall eat, and after this you shall go on your way." "The two angels came to Sodom in the evening; and Lot was sitting by the gate of Sodom. And Lot, seeing them, rose up to meet them, and bowed with his face to the earth, and said:

Behold, my lords, turn aside to the house of your servant, and lodge, and wash your feet, and rising early you shall depart on your way. And they said: No, but we will lodge in the street. And he pressed them greatly, and they turned aside to him. "When Laban heard the words of his sister, he came to the man, as he stood by the camels at the spring. And he said to him: Come in, blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside?" "You shall not wrong a stranger, nor shall you afflict him; for you were strangers in Egypt." "If a stranger comes to you in your land, you shall not afflict him; he shall be as a native among you." "The old man said: Where are you going, and where do you come from? And he said to him: We are passing through from Bethlehem of Judah to the parts of Mount Ephraim, and there is no man to take me into his house. And the old man said: Peace be with you; all that you lack is upon me; only do not lodge in the street. And he brought him into his house, and led away the donkeys, and set fodder before his beasts, and they washed their feet, and ate, and drank." "No stranger lodged outside; my door was open to everyone who came." "He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward." "And when they had escaped, they knew that the island was called Melite. And the barbarians showed no ordinary kindness. For having kindled a fire, they took us all in because of the rain that was upon us, and because of the cold.

And in the region around that place there were estates belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us for three days and entertained us kindly. Let brotherly love continue, and do not forget hospitality; for through this some have entertained angels unawares. Know yourself to be a stranger, and honor strangers. Do not dishonor the stranger, since we also are strangers and sojourners. Let us become lovers of brothers rather than lovers of ourselves. Has a stranger, homeless and a sojourner, fallen at your feet? Receive through him the one who for your sake became a stranger, and that while you are in your own home. When the prophet came to the widow of Zarephath, when the famished stranger arrived at the house of the famished hostess, he makes the jar a ever-flowing fountain of a handful of meal, not examining the quantity of the gift, but measuring the recompense by the eagerness of hospitality. For such are the things of grace: taking small things, it grants great things. A stranger and a poor man is God's morsel; he who receives them will quickly regain his sight. Elijah came to Zarephath of Sidon, and saw a widow woman gathering wood; and what does he say? Give me a little water, that I may drink. And the widow went and brought it to him, and Elijah drank. And he said to her: Bring me also a morsel of bread, and I will eat. And she said: As the Lord lives, if I have anything but a handful of meal in the jar, and a little oil in the cruse, which we will prepare and eat, I and my children, and we will die. What then does Elijah say? Go, he says, and make me a cake baked in the ashes for myself alone, and I will eat; and so you shall do for your children, and they shall eat. What are you doing, Elijah? Let it be—you want bread; why do you seek it for yourself alone?

For are you not obliged to give thanks, so that you may eat with your children? Do you wish to eat and to strangle a whole household of children? Yet the widow was not disturbed, nor did she say: You are the one who caused the famine, and you have come to be fed on the remnants of the famine; nor did she say: You left so great a world and came to me to destroy my children by famine; you are the one who became the cause of the famine, and do you ask food from me? But like a certain woman of Abraham, she went in and did according to the word of Elijah. And one could see the widow more hospitable than Abraham. For he, being also wealthy, entertained angels, but she, offering up life and death, entertained the prophet. And one could see nature being worn down, and hospitality being exercised. Did you see the entrails being cast away, and receiving a prophet? She made a whole household of children a tomb. For as far as the intention of the widow was concerned, those children had died. I do not know how I shall praise the widow. How did she despise her children and honor hospitality? How did nature itself not rebel? How was the womb not altered? How were the entrails not dissolved, seeing a whole household of children about to be destroyed by famine? But she became superior to all things, and entertained the prophet. So then, when the prophet received it and ate, thereafter he repays the recompense. The widow sowed hospitality, and immediately she reaped the ear of grain ripening through piety. For what does he say? As the Lord lives, the jar of flour shall not fail, and the jug of oil shall not be diminished.

And the right hand of the widow became a winepress, and her left hand a threshing floor, and sheaves providing fruit by necessity, while the prophet fed the widow for a little while. The house of the widow became a winepress and a threshing floor.

TITLE 2. — Concerning the love of God for humanity, and his goodness, and his patience; and that it is better to fall into the hands of God, and not into the hands of men. "The Lord your God is compassionate and merciful, patient, and greatly merciful, and true, and just." "The word of the Lord came to Gad the seer, saying: Go, and you shall speak to David, saying: Choose for yourself what shall be: either three years of famine upon the land, or three months of fleeing from before the foreigners, and them pursuing you; or three days of death in the land. And David said to Gad: Things are very narrow for me on every side, even all three. I will fall into the hands of the Lord, for his compassions are very many. But into the hands of men I will certainly not fall. And the Lord gave death in Israel from morning until the hour of breakfast; and there died of the people, from Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand men. And the angel stretched out his hand against Jerusalem to destroy it in it. And the Lord was comforted concerning the evil. And he said to the angel: It is enough, stay your hand." "God is a just judge, and strong, and patient." "According to the multitude of his anger he will not seek it out." "Remember your compassions, O Lord." — "How great is the multitude of your goodness, O Lord." "The earth is full of your mercy, O Lord.

You will save humans and animals, O Lord; how you have multiplied your mercy." "You, O Lord, are good and gentle and greatly merciful to all. You, O Lord my God, are compassionate and merciful." "The Lord is compassionate and merciful; he is long-suffering." "The Lord is merciful and compassionate; he has given food to..." "Who is a God like you, removing injustices and passing over impieties for the remnant of his inheritance? He did not hold back his anger as a witness, for he is a lover of mercy. He himself will turn back and have compassion on us. He will sink our sins, and they will be cast away into the depths of the sea." "The Lord is long-suffering, and great is his strength." "I have done it, and I will let go. And I will take up, and I will save you." "I was silent; will I also be silent forever, and will I endure?" "I will not be angry with you forever, nor will the voice of injustice trample you down." "I stretched out my hands to a disobedient people, who speak against me, who walk in a way that is not good, but after their own sins." "You have mercy on all, because you are able to do all things, and you overlook the sins of humans for repentance. But you spare all, because all things are yours, O lover of souls. For your Holy Spirit is in all things." "You, ruling over strength, judge with gentleness, and with great forbearance you govern us. The ability is present to you whenever you wish. You have taught your people through such works that it is necessary for the just to be humane." "Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of humans.

For as his greatness is, so also is his mercy. He makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Then they came to the place called Kranion, and there they crucified Jesus, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. The Lord is greatly compassionate and merciful. Consider the Lord's patience as salvation. And yet the good one is clearly the provider of good things. Though there are many things for which God is admired, nothing is so peculiarly his own as to do good. The Divine knows how to bring about many and paradoxical salvations, inclining toward loving-kindness. He who is good by nature becomes altogether a provider of good things. No one would spare himself as much as God wishes that we suffer no evil at all. Such is God's patience toward those who use it improperly. He brings judgment at the end more slowly, and just as it is beneficial to those who repent, so to the unyielding and hard it becomes the occasion of greater punishments. God never ceases to do his own works because of his foreknowledge of our wickedness. For even if we do not accept the admonition, he himself displays his own loving-kindness. But if we push ourselves into greater evils, this is no longer due to the one who was patient—not patient for this, that we might perish, but that we might be saved.

But it is up to us who have insulted his ineffable love for mankind. Among us humans, to demand what is owed is wealth; but with God, to forgive is wealth. And we, whenever we receive what is owed, then become more prosperous; but God, whenever he forgives transgressions, then especially is he rich. For the wealth of God's goodness is the salvation of men, just as Paul says: He who is rich toward us, and toward all who call upon him. We learn the ineffable love of God for mankind from the remembrance of our own sins. That which is deprived of the good in every way neither was, nor is, nor will be, nor can be. Good is the justice of God, and just is his goodness. Just as there is no light that does not illuminate, nor a mover that does not move, nor a lover that does not love; so neither is that good which does not benefit and does not guide to salvation. The force of God is not present; but a good purpose is always present with him. By nature, according to essence, the

God has compassion, but anger not by nature, but on account of others. –Of all things pertaining to God, essential goodness comes first. It is proper to God to offer good things and to anticipate by giving gifts, but not easily to bring on evils. Nor does God immediately punish those who sin, but he gives time for the healing and correction of the fault.

TITLE 3. –On natural things.

"The mind of man is set upon evil from youth." "A moth to the bones, a sensitive heart." "All the time the eyes of men wait for evil things." "As faces are not alike to faces, so neither are the hearts of men equal." "Every heart is for sorrow." "Every living creature loves its like, and a man will cleave to his like." "From a meeting of face a prudent man will be known." "The heart of a man changes his face, whether for good or for evil." "Everyone who practices base things hates the light, and does not come to the light, so that his works may not be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God." "To whatever one has been defeated, to this he has also been enslaved." We humans are by nature disposed to accept whatever we would choose willingly, even if it is painful. When nature opposes, all things are in vain. What one has not suffered, he would not believe even in another. But one who has suffered is more ready for assent. Readiness is for power, idleness for desire. Nothing is so sweet to men as to talk of others' affairs. Many judge the affairs of others by their own passions. Bad lessons come from bad teachers; or rather, bad fields from bad seeds.

A voluntary sorrow is more honorable than an involuntary pleasure. It is a habit among most people, whenever they are seized by anger and grief, even if they do not catch those responsible for their sufferings, to vent their anger upon those who simply fall in their way and are unsuspecting. The intensification of others' evils makes one's own evils appear smaller, even if they are unbearable. It is not the nature of the things said, as the preconception of enmity is accustomed to make us savage. Many people cast their votes about others from their own circumstances; for example, the man who is continually drunk would not believe that there is any man who exercises self-control. The man who devotes himself to prostitutes considers those who live modestly to be dissolute. Again, the man who plunders the possessions of others would not easily be persuaded that there are men who give away their own. It is hard to oppose nature. Just as it is difficult to graft contrary to nature, and to implant something into nature, so again in turn it is difficult to transpose and to rein back the things that are naturally constituted. For it has been said: When nature opposes, all things are in vain.

TITLE 4. – Concerning rumor; and that one must not believe everyone. "A good report makes the bones fat." "He who believes quickly is light of heart." "Beloved, do not believe every spirit." Rumor often knows how to cast down and to raise up a soul, and to destroy what does not exist. Do not give your ears indiscriminately to all who speak and write things for publication. Nothing is swifter than rumor. TITLE 5. – Concerning lovers of work and the diligent; and that one must labor; for it brings profit.

"In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread." "From care and thought peace will appear to you." "A man will go out to his work," and the rest. "You shall eat the labors of your fruits; blessed are you, and it shall be well with you." "Open your eyes, and be filled with bread." "If you are without hesitation, your harvest will come like a spring, and poverty will desert like a good runner."

"He who plants a fig tree will eat of its fruit." "The hands of the brave make rich. He who gathers for himself with piety will be multiplied." "She stretches out her arms to things that are profitable, and her hands she extends to the spindle." And again: "She strengthened her arms for work, and she tasted that it is good to labor." "Work your work before the time, and he will give your wages in his time." "Better is one who labors in all things than one who is glorified and lacks bread." "In all your works rouse yourself, and do not be idle." "A man going abroad called his own servants and delivered to them his possessions; and to one he gave five talents," and the rest.

You yourselves know that these hands served my needs and those who were with me. In all things I showed you that so laboring you ought to support the weak. Remember the word of the Lord, which he said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" What good thing is easy? Who ever set up a trophy while sleeping? Who, living in luxury and piping away, was crowned with the garlands of endurance? No one wins the prize without running. Toils beget glory, and labors procure crowns. Let us conquer by understanding the one who blocks for us the roads to salvation. He was making us sluggish; let us rouse ourselves to work; let him deceive our hearts with empty promises; let us not be ignorant of his designs. For does he not suggest doing sin today, but storing up righteousness for tomorrow? Toils practiced from long habit fall less painfully upon those who have been trained. From toils comes health, and from sweat comes salvation. If we flee the painful things of the flesh, we shall not see the good things of the righteous. Let us labor a little, beloved, so that we may not fall away from eternal goods. The toil is for a short time, and the rest is for age upon age. Where the labor is greater, there the pleasure is greater. The sensible man does not shrink from toils, for the sake of the fruits that come from toils. Everywhere by difficulty and toils it is natural for useful things to come to men. Toils are everywhere the providers of good things. The kingdom of God is not for those who sleep and are lazy, but the violent seize it.

For this alone is good violence, to do violence to God and to snatch life from God. And he, knowing those who are violent, or rather who hold fast firmly, yielded and gave way. For he rejoices when defeated in such things. It is absurd to pursue honors and to flee labors, through which honors naturally come to be.

TITLE 6. — On the love of rule; and that one ought not to leap rashly upon offices. "A portion that is eagerly sought after in the first places shall not be blessed in the last." "Seek not leadership from the Lord, nor a seat of glory from a king." "Do not lift a burden above yourself."

TITLE 7. — On good friends.

"Jonathan added to swear to David, because he loved the soul of him who loved him." "Jonathan answered his father and said: Why does David die? What has he done? And Saul hurled the spear at Jonathan to put him to death. And Jonathan knew that the evil was fully determined by his father to put David to death, and Jonathan sprang up from the table in fierce anger, and did not eat bread on the second day of the month. David rose from Ergab, and fell on his face, and bowed down to Jonathan three times, and each kissed the other, until a great completion. And Jonathan said to David: Go in peace, and as we both have sworn in the name of the Lord, saying: The Lord shall be a witness before me and you, and between the

your seed forever. And David arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city. I am grieved over you, my brother Jonathan. You were very beautiful to me. Your love for me was wonderful, surpassing the love of women. Ungodly friends attend the gates of the righteous; friends will hate poor friends. Do not devise evil against your friend, who dwells beside you and trusts in you. Whoever hides a wrong seeks friendship. Let a friend be yours at all times. But let brothers be useful in times of necessity; for this is why they are born. The wounds of a friend are more trustworthy than the willing kisses of an enemy. Do not forsake your friend, or your father's friend. But do not enter your brother's house when you are unfortunate. A friend who is near is better than a brother who lives far away. When your friend reproaches you, withdraw backward; do not despise him, lest your friend reproach you; but your quarrel and your enmity will not depart, but will be to you as death. Two are better than one, for they have a good reward for their toil. For if the two fall, the one will raise up his companion. And woe to the one when he falls, and there is no second to raise him up; the threefold cord will not be quickly broken. A faithful friend is a strong shelter; and he who finds him has found a treasure. There is no exchange for a faithful friend, and there is no weight for his beauty. A faithful friend is a medicine of life, and those who fear the Lord will find him. Do not forsake an old friend. For the recent one is not like him. New wine;

But if it has grown old, drink it with gladness. Before you die, do good to a friend, and according to your strength stretch out your hand and give to him. Lose silver for the sake of a brother and a friend. Do not forget a friend in your soul. I will not be ashamed to shelter a friend, and I will hide from his face, even if evils have befallen me because of him. There is no exchange for a faithful friend among all things that exist, nor any weight of his beauty. A faithful friend is a strong shelter and a fortified palace; a faithful friend is a living treasure. A faithful friend is a closed garden, a sealed fountain, opened and shared in due season. A faithful friend is a harbor of refreshment. Friendship will bear all things, both suffering and hearing. It is fitting that children inherit friendship just as they do their father's substance. And when I say friends, I mean the noble and good, those joined to us according to virtue. Let us make all things common, both sorrows and gladnesses. For such is friendship. The things said by friends, even if it be insult, are bearable. Fever is not so accustomed to burn the nature of the body as separation from those who are loved burns the souls. We are taught three kinds of friendship; and of these the first and best is that according to virtue. For love that comes from reason is steadfast. The second and middle is that according to recompense, social and sharing, and useful for life. For grateful friendship is common. The last and third, we say, is that from habit, in relation to the Greeks. I know, he says, that which is according to pleasure is changeable and mutable. Therefore one is the friendship of a philosopher, another of a man, and another of an animal.

That friend is sweet who nourishes the soul. A genuine friend is one who shares in circumstances. A most great possession is a friend who does not fail. The friend according to God flows with milk and honey through his true words. TITLE 8. — Concerning the tables of friends and wicked friends. "Ungodly friends hate poor friends." "A lawless man tests friends and leads them into ways that are not good." "A man who is planning to separate from friends makes excuses." "A club, and a sword, and a sharpened arrow without a barb—so is a man who bears false witness against his friend." "Whoever blesses a friend early in the morning with a loud voice differs nothing from one who curses." "Do not put your trust in friends, nor hope in leaders." "There is a friend in his own time, and he will not remain in a time of affliction. There is a friend who is a companion of the table, and he will not remain in the day of affliction; and if you are humbled, he will be against you." "There is a friend who is a friend in name only." "If you acquire a friend, acquire him in testing, and do not quickly entrust yourself to him. Do not become an enemy in place of a friend." "A companion of a friend is praised in gladness, and in a time of affliction he will stand against you. A companion suffers together with a friend for the sake of the belly, but in the face of war he will take up a shield." "If you have something, he will live with you and will empty you out, and he himself will not labor. He had need of you, and he led you astray, and he will laugh at you beforehand, and he will give you hope. He will speak to you, he will call good things to you, and he will say, 'What is your need?' And he will put you to shame with his foods, until he empties you out twice or three times, and at the last he will mock you.

And after these things he will see you, and he will abandon you, and he will shake his head at you. Before your eyes he sweetens his mouth, and at your words he will marvel, but afterward he will twist his mouth, and in your words he will give offense. Many things I hated, and I did not liken myself to him, and the Lord hates him. Because lawlessness has multiplied, the love of many will grow cold. The intemperate in disposition, as long as the food is in their mouth, praise, flatter, and marvel exceedingly. But when the table has been set aside a little, they pelt with blasphemies as with certain stones those whom for a short time they were worshiping as equal to God because of pleasure. Faith toward one another has fled from them, and friendship is defined by them as extending only to the table; their greetings are filled with suspicion. No one would call the flatterer a companion. For flattery is a disease of friendship. TITLE 9. On the ambitious and the generous; and that generosity procures salvation.

Abigail saw David, and fell, and leaped down from the donkey. And she fell before David on her face to the ground, and said: "Upon me, lord, be the iniquity; let your maidservant speak now in your ears, and hear the word of your maidservant. Let not my lord set his heart upon this pestilent man; for folly is with him." King David said to Ziba: "What are these to you?" And Ziba said: "The beasts of burden for the household of the king, to ride upon; and the loaves for food for the young servants; and the wine for drink for the faint." And the king said to Ziba: "Behold, all that Mephibosheth had is yours." And Ziba fell and did obeisance, saying: "I have found favor in your eyes, lord king." Scholion: The bringing of gifts transferred the master's substance to the servant. Ahaz sent messengers to the king of the Assyrians, saying: "I am your servant and your son; come up, save me from the hand of the king of Syria, and from the hand of the king of Israel who rise up against me." And Ahaz took the silver and the gold found in his treasuries, and sent gifts to the king; and the king of the Assyrians heard him, and came up to Damascus, and captured it, and put Rezin to death. "A man's gift broadens him, and seats him among princes." "A secret gift overturns wrath." "God loves a cheerful man and a giver." "In every gift make your face cheerful." The graces of good works return upon those who give. The love of honor is glorious, and its opposite is held in derision.

TITLE 10. — Concerning the stingy and the ungenerous; and that those sick with stinginess fall into dangers.

"Gideon said to the men of Succoth: 'Give now loaves of bread for food to this people that is at my feet, for they are fainting. And behold, I am pursuing after Zebee and Salmana, kings of Midian.' And the rulers of Succoth said: 'Is the hand of Zebee and Salmana now in your hand, that we should give bread to your force?' And he said: 'Not so. Therefore, when the Lord delivers Zebee and Salmana into my hand, I will thresh your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness.' And he went up from there to Phanuel, and spoke to them in the same way. And the men of Phanuel answered him in the manner in which the men of Succoth answered him. And Gideon said to the men of Phanuel: 'If my return be in peace, I will tear down this tower.' And Gideon returned from the war, and seized a young boy from among the sons of Succoth, and questioned him; and he wrote down for him its rulers and its elders, seventy-seven men. And Gideon came to the rulers of Succoth, and said: 'Behold Zebee and Salmana, on whose account you reproached me, saying: "Is the hand of Zebee and Midian in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are exhausted?"' And he took the elders of the city, and the thorns of the wilderness, and tore the men of Succoth with them; and he tore down the tower of Phanuel, and killed the men of the city." "And Nabal leaped up and answered the servants of David: 'Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse?

Today the children are multiplied, each departing from the face of his lord; and I will take my breads, and my wine, and my sacrifices, which I have set before those who shear my sheep, and I will give them to men, of whom I do not know whence they are? "He who spares gifts stirs up fierce anger." "There is a sickness which I saw under the sun, wealth kept for its owner to his own harm; and that wealth of his shall perish in an evil trial." "There is an evil which I saw under the sun, and it is great among men: a man to whom God gives wealth, and possessions, and glory, and he lacks nothing in his soul of all that he desires; and that God does not give him power to eat of it, because a stranger shall eat it." "There is one who grows rich by his own carefulness and tight-fistedness; and he shall leave these things to others, and shall die." "He who gathers from his own soul gathers for others, and others shall revel in his goods. The wicked man is evil to himself; to whom is he good? Child, as far as you have, do good to yourself." "A city will murmur over evil bread." TITLE 11. — Concerning the lover of quarrels and the lover of accusations. "He who accuses unjustly shall not escape." "Do not love strife with a man in vain, lest he do some evil to you.

TITLE 12. – Concerning envy and jealousy.

"The dancing women went out to meet David, and they said: Saul struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And the word appeared evil in the eyes of Saul, and he said: To David they gave the ten thousands, and to me the thousands. And Saul was eyeing David from that day." "Do not dine with an envious man, nor desire his foods. For just as if someone were to swallow a hair, so he eats and drinks." "An envious man hastens to be rich, and he does not know that the merciful one will prevail over him." "Jealousy is hard as Hades." "I will not accompany consuming envy, for it has no fellowship with wisdom." "Envy of meanness dims good things." "Why money for an envious man?" "Jealousy and anger diminish days." "Hide your counsel from the jealous." "There is none more evil than the one who envies himself, and this is the recompense of his evil; and if he does good, he does it in forgetfulness, not willingly; and at the last his evil is revealed." "Every sinner, and the envious, and the double-tongued shall have dishonor." "Pain of heart and grief of heart, a rival wife against a wife." "Do not take counsel with one who eyes you." "Comrade, I do not wrong you; did you not agree for a denarius?" "Where

Jealousy and strife, there is confusion and every evil thing." Let us be on guard, brothers, against the passion of envy; let us not become partakers in the works of the adversary, and be found condemned together with the same judgment. For if the one blinded falls into the condemnation of the devil, how shall the envious escape the punishment prepared for the devil? For no passion of envy is planted in human souls more destructive than this. For just as rust consumes iron, so envy consumes the soul that possesses it. Or rather, just as they say the vipers devour the womb that bore them and are thus brought forth, so envy by nature wastes away the soul that labors with it. For envy is grief at the prosperity of one's neighbor. Therefore neither weariness nor despondency ever leaves the spiteful man. Has his neighbor's land borne well? Is his house prosperous in all things of life? Do delights never fail the man? All these things are food for the disease, and an increase of pain for the spiteful man. Is someone brave and in good health? These things strike the spiteful man. Is another more graceful in form? Another blow to the spiteful man. Does a certain man excel the many in the excellences of the soul, and is he looked up to for prudence and power of words? He is envied. Does another grow rich and show generosity splendidly in giving and sharing with the needy, and does great praise come to him from those he benefits? All these things are blows and wounds, striking him in the middle of his heart. And the hard part of the disease is that he cannot even speak it out, but he stoops, is downcast, is confounded, groans, and is undone by the evil.

When questioned about the passion, he is ashamed to make public his misfortune. For he cannot say: "I am envious, and the good things of my neighbor bitterly wear me away, and I lament my brother's cheerfulness, and I cannot bear the sight of others' good things, but I make my neighbor's prosperity my own misfortune." In the depth he keeps the disease smoldering within his entrails and devouring them. Therefore he does not take to himself a physician for the disease, nor is he able to discover any remedy to ward off the passion, but he awaits one relief from the evil: if ever he should see one of those envied fallen. Then he makes libation, and is a friend, when he sees the envied one weeping, when he beholds him mourning. And with one who is cheerful he does not rejoice together, but with one who laments he weeps together. The child he praises after death, and honors with countless encomia, as beautiful to see, as sympathetic, as harmonious toward all things—though he would not have granted him a well-speaking tongue while he was alive. If, however, he sees many running together to the praise, he changes again and envies the dead man. What then could be more destructive than this disease? Corruption of life, ruin of nature, enmity toward the things given to us by God, opposition toward God. What drove the author of evil, the demon, into his raging war against men? Was it not envy, through which he was also openly convicted as a fighter against God—grieving at God over the so great munificence toward man, and taking vengeance on man, since he could not on God? And Cain is shown doing these very same things, the first disciple of the devil, taught by him both envy and murder. What then did he do?

He saw the honor that came from God, and he was inflamed with envy, and he killed the one who had been honored, in order to attack the one who had honored him. For being unable to wage war against God, he fell into fratricide. Let us flee, brothers, from the disease that teaches war against God, the mother of murder, the confusion of nature, the ignorance of kinship, the most irrational calamity. Dogs, when fed, are tamed; lions become gentle when cared for; but the envious grow more savage through acts of care. Why was the Savior envied? Because of his miracles. And what were his miraculous works? The salvation of those in need. The hungry were fed, and the one who fed them was warred against. The dead were raised, and the one who gives life was envied. Demons were driven out, and the one who commanded them was plotted against. Lepers were cleansed, and the lame walked, and the deaf heard, and the blind saw, and the benefactor was put to flight, and finally they handed over to death the one who had granted life, and they scourged the liberator of men, and they condemned the judge of the world. The Scythian does not envy the Egyptian, but each envies his own countryman. And within a nation, indeed, he does not envy those who are unknown, but those most familiar to him: neighbors and those of the same trade, and those otherwise close to him, and again those of the same age, and relatives, and brothers. And in short, just as blight is a disease peculiar to wheat, so envy is an infirmity of friendship. The motions of envy, though they grieve the envied one in no way, become wounds to the envious man himself. Who, by grieving, ever diminished the good things of his neighbor? He has rather consumed himself, being melted away by griefs. Let us flee so unbearable an evil.

It is the teaching of the serpent, the invention of demons, the enemy's sowing, a pledge of punishment, a hindrance to piety, the road to Gehenna, the deprivation of the kingdom. Some think that the envious inject their disease even through the eyes alone. But I reject that account. This I say: the demons who hate the good, whenever they find dispositions akin to their own, use them in every way for their own will, so as even to use the eyes of the evil-eyed in service of their own will. Let us flee, then, an intolerable evil, which by nature is the teaching of demons. And the envious are somehow evident even in their very face. Their eye is dry and lusterless, their cheek downcast, their brow fallen, their soul confounded by the passion, not having the tribunal of truth over matters; for they call the brave man reckless, the temperate man insensible, the just man harsh, the prudent man villainous. And they slander the magnificent man as vulgar, the liberal man as prodigal, and again the thrifty man as stingy, and in general every form of virtue does not lack a name among them, transferred from the opposite vice. Envy is the devil's own evil, the one that cannot be spoken aloud, the one that admits no healing. The man with a headache tells the physician his headache; but the envious man, what will he say? The good things of my brother grieve me. This is the truth, but everyone is ashamed of the words. Why do you groan? Is it your own evil, or another's good? For we tame dogs by feeding them, but by doing good to the evil-eyed we make him more savage.

For he does not rejoice in the good things you may suffer, but is grieved by your prosperity. Do not, then, fall into the snare of the devil. It is a grace to be envied, but to envy is a great disgrace. Walk on high, and let envy lie below. What could be more pitiable than the malicious? When it is possible both to rejoice and to gain through that joy, these men choose rather to be grieved at the well-being of others, and along with the grief to draw down upon themselves punishment from God and unbearable retribution. O envy, filled with passion! O envy, a fire that is not quenched! O envy, bringing harm upon the envier himself! And just as the worm corrupts the wood, so envy consumes the envier, but makes the envied shine more brightly. It is impossible to escape envy in times of prosperity. Nothing is more foul than to be bitten, sawn at, and wasted away over the prosperity of others. Nothing is harder, nothing more wretched than to draw upon oneself the passion of malice and to be consumed by jealousy and envy. You say that you entreat God with your whole heart to be delivered from the thoughts and passions of pleasure; therefore in the same way beseech him with your whole soul to be freed from malice and envy; for you are more inclined to this accursed passion. TITLE 13. — On self-love; and that one ought not to justify or praise oneself. "Every man appears righteous to himself." "Let your neighbor praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips." "Do not be wise in your own eyes." "The ways

The ways of fools are right in their own eyes. Woe to those who are wise in themselves, and knowledgeable before themselves; who say, "Depart from me, do not come near me, for I am clean." Thus the smoke of my anger—a fire is kindled in it all the days. Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silent until I repay, and I will repay into their bosom the sins of their fathers and their own, says the Lord. Not the one who commends himself is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. Do not become wise in your own eyes. We are all pious at the cost of condemning one another's impiety. We are gentle judges of our own faults, but strict examiners of others'. Those who do everything for their own sake practice self-love, the greatest of evils. This produces the unsociable, the unsharing, the friendless, the unjust, the impious. For nature made man not as solitary beasts, but as herd animals, living together and social, so that he might not live for himself alone, but also for father and mother, and brothers, and wife, and children, and other relatives, and friends, and fellow citizens, and fellow tribesmen, and fatherland, and those of the same race, and all men; and moreover also for the parts of the universe, and the whole world, and much more so for God and Maker. For he must be, if indeed he is at all rational, social, a lover of the world, a lover of God, so that he may also become beloved of God. O self-love that hates all things.

STOICHEION 20.

TITLE 1. — Concerning the gifts and gratuities of God; and that they are repaid by the Holy Spirit to a life of reverence, and that those who think to acquire the grace of God by gifts and money sin unforgivably. "John answered and said: A man cannot receive anything of himself, unless it be given to him from heaven." "The gifts and the calling of God are without repentance." "Simon, seeing that through the hands of the apostles the Holy Spirit was given, brought them money, saying: Give me also this authority, that on whomever I lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said to him: May your silver be with you unto destruction, because you thought to acquire the gift of God by money. Your heart is not right before God." "Every good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." God, caring beyond his benefactions, sometimes does not measure out and shower the things of his gift alongside them for their advantage, lest those who trample on the divine graces become liable to greater punishment, having ignored their greatness because they obtained them readily. The things the Father grants, with the Son ministering and the Spirit giving substance, are not as is possible to the majesty of the Godhead, but as is advantageous to those who receive.

TITLE 2. — Concerning schadenfreude, and those who welcome wicked things, and who dishonor the righteous.

"They are caught in the counsels which they devise." "Let the deceitful lips be made dumb, which speak lawlessness against the righteous," and the rest. "Those who hate the righteous shall be punished." "Those who bless the righteous shall inherit the land." "They call the wise and understanding men base." "Men who share in bloodshed shall hate the holy one." "He who judges the unjust to be just, and the just to be unjust, is unclean and abominable before the Lord." "He who says to the impious, You are righteous, shall be cursed, and hated among the nations." "Woe to those who rejoice in evils, and

who delight in evil nourishment, whose paths are crooked, and their tracks bent, to make you far from the straight way, and estranged from the righteous mind." "He who loves sin rejoices in strifes." "Evils shall overtake him who seeks after them." "At all times the eyes of the wicked await evils." "Woe to their soul, for they have devised an evil counsel against themselves, saying, Let us bind the righteous, for he is troublesome to us. Therefore they shall eat the fruits of their works." "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who put darkness for light, and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter." "Child, among good things give no blame." "It is not just to dishonor a poor man who is understanding, nor fitting to glorify a sinful man." The betrayal of the truth, and a habituation to corruption, is the acceptance of those who do wickedness.

Many there are who welcome wicked deeds, and call the witty man charming, but the foul-mouthed man urbane; the bitter and irascible man they name not to be despised; the stingy and unsociable man they praise as thrifty; the prodigal they call free; the wicked and licentious man pleasure-loving, and even relaxed; and once for all, simply, they define every vice from the virtue that lies next to it. Such men bless with the mouth, but with the heart they curse. For in the fair-speaking of their words they bring every curse upon their own life, and they make themselves guilty in the eternal judgment by the things which they welcome. Let us attend to ourselves more carefully, lest we justify some impious man or word out of favor toward us, being led to it by our assent. And if anyone wishes to accuse, let us not grieve at being spoken of badly, but at being spoken of badly justly. For if we live in wickedness, even if no one is slandering, we are more wretched than all. But if we take care for virtue, even if the whole inhabited world speaks badly of us, then we shall be more enviable than all. Not only to be zealous for wickedness, but also to praise those who live in it, brings a certain punishment, not the ordinary one for us; and, if one must say something astonishing, a punishment harsher than that of those who live in wickedness. For to praise those who sin is a far greater ground of punishment than to sin. And very reasonably so; for this verdict belongs to corrupted knowledge and to a soul incurably sick. For he who praises wickedness has deprived himself of healing through repentance, so that Paul reasonably established this to be harsher than that.

For this reason, not only those who do wicked things, but also those who praise them, share in the same—or even harsher—punishment as they. To censure the blameless man is a sin against God. The height of wickedness is not only to sin oneself, but also to speak in defense of sinners.

TITLE 3. — Concerning harsh and unholy deeds. "And it came to pass when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and played the harlot with Ballas, his father's concubine. And Israel heard, and it appeared evil before him." "But Aunan, knowing that the seed would not be his, it came to pass when he went in to his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, so as not to give seed to his brother." "Abimelech hired for himself vain and cowardly men; and they went after him, and he entered into his father's house in Euphratha, and killed his brothers, the sons of Jerobaal, seventy men upon one stone; and Jothan the younger son of Jerobaal was left, because he hid himself." "The man seized his concubine and brought her out to those outside; and they knew her and mocked her all night until morning; and they sent her away, and she went up at morning, and the woman came at dawn and fell beside the doors of the gate of the house where her husband was, until it grew light. And her husband rose up in the morning and opened the doors of the house,

And he went out to go on his way, and his concubine had fallen down beside the doors, and her hands were on the threshold. And he said to her, "Rise up, and let us go." But she did not answer, for she was dead. And he took her up on the beast, and rose, and went to his place. And when the men came, they asked, "Where did this wickedness happen?" And the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered and said, "I and my concubine came to Gibeah of Benjamin to lodge. And they rose up against me at the house by night, and they wished to kill me, and they humbled my concubine, and she died. And I took hold of my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent them throughout every territory of the inheritance of the sons of Israel. And behold, all you sons of Israel, give yourselves counsel and advice." And all the people rose up as one man, saying, "We will not go, each man to his tent." All the men of Jabesh said to Nahash the Ammonite, "Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you." And Nahash said to them, "In this way I will make a covenant with you: by gouging out your right eye; and I will put a reproach upon Israel." They say to him, "Grant us seven days, and we will send messengers into all the territory of Israel. If there is no one to save us, we will come out to you." The king said to those who ran before him, who stood over him:

Bring them, and put the priests of the Lord to death, because their hand is with David, and because they knew that he was fleeing, and they did not reveal it to my ear. Amnon seized his sister, and said to her, "Come, lie with me." And she said to him, "No, my brother, do not do this folly." And he did not listen to her, and he was stronger than she, and he humbled her, and lay with her. And after this Amnon hated her with a very great hatred. And Amnon said to her, "Rise up, and go." And Tamar said to him, "No, my brother, for the last evil is greater than the first which you have done to me—to send me away." And Amnon did not listen to her voice. Absalom made a feast, and commanded his servants, saying, "Watch, and when the heart of Amnon is glad with wine, and I say to you, 'Strike him, and put him to death,' do not fear." And the servants of Absalom did to Amnon as he commanded them. For three things the earth is shaken, and the fourth it cannot bear: if a servant reigns, and a fool is filled with food, and if a maidservant casts out her own mistress, and a hateful woman if she obtains a good husband.

TITLE 4. – Concerning Christianity, and the Church from the Gentiles. "I will call my people who were not my people, and her who was not beloved, beloved." "Rejoice, thirsty desert; let the desert exult, and let it blossom as a lily, and it shall flourish; and it shall rejoice with trees." "I have given water in the desert, and rivers, to give drink to my chosen race, my people whom I have acquired, to declare my virtues." "I became manifest to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. I said, 'Behold, I am here,' to the nation that did not call upon my name." "Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who do not travail, because many are the children of the desert, more than of her who has a husband." "To those who serve me a new name shall be called, which shall be blessed upon the earth. They shall bless the true God." "My people shall bless me, whom I have acquired to recount my virtues." "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for acquisition, that you may proclaim the virtues of him who called you into his marvelous light. Those who once were not a people, but now are the people of God; those who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that if it is revealed, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is." A Christian

He has no authority over himself, but belongs wholly to God. The work of a Christian is nothing other than to practice dying. In general, a Christian is a man of stillness, quiet, calm, and peace. Do not accept the outward appearance of a Christian man, but the disposition of his soul.

TITLE 5. – That one ought to fear God rather than men. "The midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, and they kept the male children alive." "Balaam answered and said to the rulers of Balak: If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I shall not be able to transgress the word of the Lord my God, to do it, small or great, in my mind." "Amaziah said to the man of God: And what shall I do with the hundred talents which I gave to the army of Israel? And the man of God said: The Lord is able to give you more than these. And Amaziah separated the army that had come to him from Ephraim, to depart to their own place." Note. When Amaziah the king had hired a hundred thousand from Israel and had given a hundred talents of silver, the prophet of the Lord came and told him not to take those hired for alliance in war. And despising the hundred talents, he was persuaded by God, and obedience procured him the victory beforehand. "The elders said to Susanna: Behold, the doors of the garden are shut, and no one sees us; and we are in desire for you. Therefore consent to us, and be with us. But if not, we shall testify against you, that a young man was with you, and for this reason you sent the maidens away from you.