Catena in Ecclesiasten

On the Ecclesiastes: An Epitome of Exegetical Selections by Procopius, Christian Sophist, from the Voice of Gregory of Nyssa and Dionysius of Alexandria, Origen, Evagrius, Didymus, Neilos [and Olympiodorus]. Hypothesis by the Same. The proverbial thoughts having exercised the mind, the ascent now proceeds to a higher contemplation, still requiring greater labors. Nevertheless, to the best of our ability, one must engage in the inquiry concerning these matters, obeying the Savior who said: "Search the scriptures." For He will supply us with the power for this as well. Now, all other scriptures, both histories and prophecies, look toward some things not entirely useful to the Church; but the teaching of this book looks only toward the ecclesiastical polity, guiding how one might achieve a life of virtue, elevating the mind above sensation and above things that appear splendid to sensation, instilling desire for things unattainable by sensation. Hence the book is distinctively named Ecclesiastes. Perhaps the word of the title also leads us to the true Ecclesiastes, who gathers the scattered from every error, the true king, the Son of God, to whom Nathanael says: "You are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel." If, then, these words are of the king of Israel, and he himself is also the Son of God, then he too is called Ecclesiastes, and we learn that the power of the present words is referred to him. Words of the Ecclesiastes, son of David, king of Israel in Jerusalem.

{Didymus.} He makes the hearer attentive. For the words are not those of an ordinary or chance person. For when teaching ethical matters, he speaks of his own proverbs; but when imparting natural philosophy, he no longer says "of Solomon" but "of the Ecclesiastes." For it is not as Solomon, simply and as a man, but as a wise man and a servant of God that he utters these things. It is his own statement, then, to hear: "My words are spoken by God," just as those of apostles and prophets. But also, "He whom God sent speaks the words of God." And he speaks while reigning not perceptibly but intelligibly over Israel, the mind that discerns the words spoken by God. And he reigns not in a mere place, but in Jerusalem, the vision of peace. {Neilos.} Solomon called himself Ecclesiastes, as one who assembles all men and binds them into concord, and imparts natural contemplation in common. {Dionysius.} Thus also Matthew names the Lord "son of David." "Vanity of vanities," said the Ecclesiastes, "all is vanity." {Didymus.} Very well. But with respect to God, all is vanity, while visible things are vanity of vanities. And David also says: "All together is vanity," he says, "every living man." But if the living man is vanity, the one not living is vanity of vanities. And also, to those who have come to understand the assembly and marvel at the contemplation of what has happened, the word says: Do not think that this final end is the one reserved for us in promise. For all these things are vain before the knowledge of God.

After the knowledge of the Trinity, the words concerning the age and the world are vain, so that we wander in vain about this life, wasting time superfluously. For when the end arrives, none of the visible things stand by us, but we shall groan as having labored in vain. Let the Church therefore open its ear; for the Preacher speaks his words to her, concerning all the ways we wander and are led astray in life, which is vanity. What abundance is there for a man in all his labor, which he labors under the sun? {Of Dionysius.} For what man, having grown rich from the working of earthly things, being two cubits, has become three cubits? Or, being blind, has regained his sight? Therefore, labors must be sent above the sun; for there the labors of the virtues pass on. A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth stands forever. {Scholion of the author, name of the parent.} But not for the ages. The sun rises and draws to its place. {Of Nyssa.} He shows that this great element runs everywhere and proceeds according to its own authority. For even if it were to change its course, it draws to its place. He says this wishing to reproach the human race, because it transgressed the law of God, which it received from the beginning. Therefore a generation goes and a generation comes, and like leaves, one grows, another falls and withers. We would not have suffered this if we had kept the law of God. 1.bis But the earth stands forever. {Of Nyssa.} You, therefore, holding to virtue, imitate the earth standing forever, having yourself a short time of struggle. All words are laborious.

A man will not be able to speak. {Scholia of the author named Xarent} The word therefore strikes even those who listen carelessly. And the eye will not be filled with seeing, and the ear will not be filled with hearing. {Of Neilos.} For just as the perception of colors and shapes does not constrain the power of sight, nor do sounds of voices and words oppress the hearing—for both senses naturally possess the insatiable—so also vanity, having once overcome the measure of need as an unattainable limit of creation, has fanned the eagerness of desire. What has happened? That which will happen; and what has been made? That which will be made; and there is nothing new under the sun. Whoever speaks and says, "Behold, this is new," it has already happened in the ages that have passed before us. There is no memory for the first ones, and for the last ones that will come, there will be no memory for them with those who will come in the end. {Of Nyssa.} As if we were objecting from what he said that, if all is vanity, nothing has come to be; for the vain is entirely non-existent. What then is that which will come to be, which remains in being? To this he replies, saying: if you understand that which will come to be, you learn that it has already come to be. For consider what you will be when purified and having recovered the divine characters, and you will know that which has come to be according to the image and likeness of God. Therefore the present things are called vanity, because that thing is not among the present things. Then, having spoken about soul and body, he has added, saying that the body is made by the hands of God, which resurrection will reveal at the appropriate times. Consequently he then added:

There is nothing entirely new under the sun, so that someone might point to it and say, “This is new and truly exists.” Then he contends, saying: It has already happened in the ages before us. And if forgetfulness of what has happened has prevailed, that is not surprising; for even the things that now exist will be seized by forgetfulness. For this is what is meant by “There is no memory of the first things,” and so forth; for the evils that have befallen men after the first prosperity will erase the memory of them, because of those that again arise in the last times. I, Ecclesiastes, became king, king of Israel in Jerusalem. And I set my heart to seek out and to examine in wisdom concerning all things that have happened under the sun: that God gave a grievous distraction to the sons of men, to be distracted by it. {Of Didymus.} For I was not content with human dignities, nor did I incline toward idleness and luxury, but I examined not in the wisdom that the Greeks have, but in divine wisdom. And what did I examine? Concerning all things that have happened under the heaven; and what did I find after examining? That it is a grievous distraction, and so forth. {Of Nyssa.} A distraction which he placed after the disobedience, saying: In the sweat of your face you will eat your bread. For this is toilsome. And where there is distraction, there is also the choice of an evil spirit, since distractions

Those who have separated themselves from the knowledge of God are worthy of evils. I have seen all the works that have been made under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a choice of the spirit. {Of Nyssa.} For there was no one who understood or who sought God, since all turned aside together and were corrupted. Therefore he says: and all is vanity. But God is not the cause of this, but human choice, which he called spirit, not being such from the beginning, but having been adapted from perversion of the orderly. I spoke in my heart to say: Behold, I was magnified and I added wisdom beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my heart saw much wisdom and knowledge. I learned proverbs and knowledge, because even this is a choice of the spirit; for in a multitude of wisdom there is a multitude of knowledge, and he who adds knowledge adds pain. {Of Dionysius.} I was vainly puffed up and added wisdom, not that which God gave, but that concerning which Paul says: the wisdom of this world is folly before God. For Solomon had been educated in this wisdom beyond the prudence of all the ancients. He therefore shows the vanity of this, as the following also makes clear: and my heart saw much, wisdom and knowledge, I learned proverbs and knowledge; but wisdom and knowledge not the true, but that which according to Paul puffs up. And he spoke, as it is written, three thousand proverbs, but not those in the spirit, but such as suit the common life of men, for example concerning animals or drugs. Therefore, mocking, he added: I knew that even this is a choice of the spirit.

A multitude of knowledge, not of the Holy Spirit, but that which the ruler of this world works and sends forth to trip up souls, to busy themselves with the measures of heaven, the position of the earth, the limits of the sea. But he who adds knowledge of these things adds pain. For they investigate the deeper aspects of these things: what is the need for fire to go upward, and water downward? And having learned that the one is light, the other heavy, they add pain: and why not the opposite? I said in my heart: come, test as in gladness, and see in good. And yet this is vanity. {Of Dionysius.} For the sake of experience and by accident, he came from the more dignified and austere life to pleasure. He calls gladness what men name, and good what they call goods, which are not sufficient to give life to the one who possesses them, which make the doer vain. To laughter I said, "circumstance," and to gladness, "why do you do this?" {Of Dionysius.} Laughter has a double circumstance: because circumstance produces laughter and does not permit mourning for sins, and because this one is carried about, changing times and places and persons; for he flees from those who mourn. And to gladness: "Why do you do this? Why do you go to those whom it is not lawful to gladden, to drunkards and the covetous and plunderers? Why like wine? Because wine gladdens the heart; for it makes men gentle-tempered. And the flesh also gladdens it, moving orderly and moderately." And my heart guided in wisdom and to hold back from gladness, until I know what is the good for the sons of men, which they will do under the sun for the number of days of their life.

(Dionysius.) Having been led, he says, through wisdom, I gained mastery over pleasures for delight; my aim in knowledge was to occupy life with nothing vain, but to find the good, which, once attained, does not err in judgment of what is beneficial, which is enduring and not temporary, and extends throughout the whole of life. I magnified my work, I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself, I made gardens and parks for myself, and I planted in them every fruit-bearing tree; I made pools of water for myself to create from them a grove of sprouting trees; I acquired male and female slaves, and they became my household-born, and indeed a possession of cattle and flock became mine, great beyond all who came before me in Jerusalem; I gathered for myself both silver and gold, and the riches of kings and lands; I made for myself male and female singers, and delicacies of the son of man, cupbearers and a cupbearer. (Dionysius.) Do you see how, having enumerated a multitude of houses and fields and the rest of which he speaks, then finding nothing profitable in these—for neither did the soul become better from them, nor did he through this acquire closeness to God—he necessarily transfers the discourse to true wealth and secure existence. Therefore, wishing to show which of the possessions stand by the one who acquired them, remain with him perpetually and are preserved, he added: And indeed wisdom stood by me. And I was magnified and added beyond all who came before me in Jerusalem; and indeed wisdom stood by me.

And everything that my eyes asked for, I did not withhold from them, nor did I restrain my heart from any delight, because my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this became my portion from all my labor. And I looked upon all my works that my hands had made, and upon the labor that I labored to accomplish, and behold, all is vanity and a choice of spirit, and there is no abundance under the sun. {Scholia of the author in the name of the absent} And wisdom stood firm for me. For this alone remains, while the other things flee and depart, all that he counted when he had overtaken them. Wisdom, then, stood firm for me, and I stood firm through it; for those things fall and cause those who run after them to fall as well. But wishing to make a comparison between wisdom and the things considered good by men, he added these words: "And everything that my eyes asked for, I did not withhold from them," and so forth, not only reproaching these labors that those who revel in delight endure while toiling, but also those labors that men undergo out of necessity and compulsion, working for daily sustenance, laboring in the sweat of their faces at their crafts. For the labor is great, he says, but the pleasure derived from the labor is temporary, adding nothing useful to the one who takes pleasure. Therefore the gain is nothing; for where there is no abundance, there is no gain. So naturally, the things striven for are vanity and a choice of spirit. And he calls the soul "spirit"; for choice is a particular motion of the mind. And David says: "I place my spirit into your hands.

And truly wisdom stood by me, because it has made me know and understand to say that there is no excess under the sun. If, then, we desire good gain, if we want excess, if we seek to be incorruptible, let us labor at labors that run beyond the sun. For in these there is no vanity nor choice of the empty and vain spirit that is distracted here and there. And I looked to see wisdom and rotation and folly; for what man is there who will come after the counsel that has made all that it has made? {Gregory.} I marvel at one who, being carried along irrationally, then, taking hold of himself, turned back to what is proper after the counsel. {Another of Dionysius.} He calls wisdom that from God, which also stood by him, and rotation and folly the human labors and the vain and senseless delight in them. Having discerned these things and what is the mean between them and true wisdom, he added, blessing: For what man is there who will come after the counsel? For this counsel teaches us true wisdom and grants release from rotation and folly. And I saw that there is excess in wisdom over folly, as excess of light over darkness. {Scholion of the author named Xarent} He says this not by way of comparison—for opposites are incomparable and destroy each other—but that he has recognized one as choiceworthy, the other as to be shunned. Such also is the saying: Men loved darkness more than light. For the "more" belongs to the choice of the one who loves, not to a comparison of the things themselves.

Another of Neilus. Having groped at many things, I have barely been able to find, lifting the eye of my mind to the counsel which Christ brought us from the heavens. Just as there is a middle between light and darkness, so this is between wisdom, that from God and about God, which is pure and peaceful, and folly, that which revolves around the affairs of life. For in the light we see everything clearly; in the same way, those who have occupied themselves with the folly of life can see nothing of divine things nor discern intelligible things, and what they see they see not rightly but in a very defeated manner; for they consider beautiful things that are not beautiful, and consider rich those who are poor in virtue, and deem seemly those who are full of all unseemliness from their deeds. But those who are persuaded by the wisdom of God know what is truly good and what is evil, and which of existing things are good; therefore they also regulate their own life according to these. The eyes of the wise man are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness [always looking down and having his ruling part darkened]. Of Dionysius. And indeed all men have eyes in their head, according to the position of the body; but he speaks of the eyes of the mind. For just as the eyes of a pig do not look up to the sky, because it is naturally formed to incline toward the belly, so the mind of one who has once been sweetened by pleasures is with difficulty drawn away from there, because he does not look upon the commandments of the Lord in all things. And again, the head of the church is Christ.

The wise are those who walk in his way, because he said, "I am the way." Therefore the wise man must always direct the eyes of his mind toward Christ himself, so that he may be exalted by nothing, neither by the good fortune of a matter nor disheartened by misfortune, since his judgments are abysses, which he will know more precisely from what follows. And I knew, indeed I myself, that one encounter will befall all of them. And I said in my heart: "An encounter like that of a fool will befall me, and why did I become wise?" And I spoke excessively in my heart, because a fool speaks from excess, and this too is vanity. For the memory of the wise man does not endure with that of the fool into eternity, inasmuch as the days that have already passed have caused all things to be forgotten; and how will the wise man die with the fool? {Of Dionysius and Neilus.} The sequence of the argument through what follows heals those who are faint-hearted concerning this life, to whom death and bodily irregularities seem something grievous, and who therefore consider the virtuous life to be of no profit, because there is no difference in these contingencies between the wise and the fool. Therefore he says that the words are words of the cycle that has turned toward folly, whence he also adds: "Because a fool speaks from excess," calling himself a fool, or everyone who reasons thus. Condemning this absurd notion—which is why he said it in his heart, holding back, doubtless fearing the just condemnation from those who would hear it—he resolves the difficulty of the perplexity by reasoning.

For "Why did I become wise?" was the expression of one who was wavering and doubting, whether his wisdom was a good thing or a vain expenditure, if indeed the advantages of the fool are no different, since in the present age he is subject to the same passions as the fool. And for this reason, he says, "I spoke superfluously in my heart," thinking that there is nothing intermediate between the wise man and the fool, because there is no mention of the wise man together with the fool for eternity. For the events of life are transitory, whether they are painful or not, concerning which he says: "inasmuch as all things have already been forgotten," since after a short time the events of life that happen to men are extinguished in oblivion. And even those to whom these things have happened are not remembered in the same way, even if they have encountered similar life events. For they are not remembered on account of these things, but according to how they stood with respect to wisdom or folly, virtue or vice. For the memories of these things are not extinguished among men, because of the rewards that follow them. Therefore he accordingly added: "And how will the wise man die together with the fool?" For the death of sinners is evil, but the memory of a righteous man is accompanied by praises, while the name of an impious man is extinguished. That it happens to a man in all his toil and the choice of his heart, as he himself toils under the sun; that all his days are a distraction of pains and anger.

life, and indeed at night his heart does not sleep. And indeed this is vanity. {Scholion of the author in the name of the parent} For truly, for those who occupy the soul with the distractions of life, life is painful, scourging the heart with the desires of the many, as if with some goads, and the zeal for greed is painful, not so much rejoicing in what it has as grieving over what is lacking, the day being spent in toils, and the night banishing sleep from the eyes with cares for gain. Therefore the zeal of one who looks to these things is vain. And there is no good for a man except what he will eat and drink and show to his soul as good in his toil. And indeed I have seen this, that it is from the hand of God; for who will eat and drink apart from him? {Of Dionysius.} That the discourse is not now about perceptible foods, he himself will add: it is good to go to a house of mourning rather than to a house of drinking, and what he has now added to these: and show to his soul as good in his toil. And yet perceptible food or drink is not good for the soul; for the flesh, when turned to, wars against the soul and rebels against the spirit. And how is dissipation of foods and drunkenness not apart from God? Therefore he speaks of mystical things; for no one will partake of the spiritual table unless called by him and having heard wisdom: come and eat. What is there for the good man? In his face he gave knowledge and wisdom and understanding and joy, and to the one who errs he gave distraction to add and to gather, to give to the good before the face of God.

That this is indeed vanity and a choice of spirit. {Evagrius.} Note that the base man does not receive wisdom; to this you will join the words in Isaiah against those wise in their own conceit: do not say, yes, I know these things. The difference between wisdom and knowledge is this: that to have the true things left behind is proper to knowledge, but to have them also constructed is proper to wisdom. Further, we are taught that first one must correct one's character. There is a time to give birth and a time to die. {Of Nyssa.} He has well placed this necessary conjunction first in the discourse, joining death to birth; for death necessarily follows birth, so that, by showing them together as if with a goad, the memory of death might awaken those who dwell deeply in the life of the flesh and love the present existence, and rouse them to care for the future. For the time came and he was born; the time will come, at an hour he does not know, and he will die. And the great Moses joined the book of Exodus to the book of Genesis. There is a time to plant and a time to uproot what has been planted. {Of the same.} For one must uproot the tares of the sower and plant the most genuine seeds of the word, cut out vice and plant virtue. There is a time to kill and a time to heal. {Of Dionysius.} To kill the one who sins unpardonably, to heal the one who has a wound that can admit a remedy. There is a time to tear down and a time to build. {Of Origen.} To tear down the wicked building, to build up the better one. There is a time to weep and a time to laugh.

{Dionysius.} It is time to weep when it is the time of passion, the Lord saying, "Truly I tell you that you will weep and lament." But to laugh concerning the resurrection; for your grief, he says, will turn to joy. A time to beat the breast and a time to dance. {Dionysius.} When one considers the death which the transgression of Adam brought about, to beat the breast; but to celebrate when we call to mind the resurrection from the dead which we expect through the new Adam. A time to cast stones and a time to gather stones. {Of Neilus.} Perhaps by enigma he names stones the words cast unseasonably, whether dogmatic ones into unworthy ears, or also various ones that will be painful to the hearers. If therefore at some time one casts such words readily as stones, either wearing down the fool through untimely praises into conceit, or grieving a friend with seeming pleasantry, or scandalizing one unworthy of mystical words, let him earnestly gather these to himself at once, recalling the words cast out without thought. A time to keep and a time to cast out. {Dionysius.} A time to keep the scripture from the unworthy, but to cast it out to the worthy. Or also the legal letter before the advent was a time to be kept, but to be cast out when the truth blossomed. A time to tear and a time to sew. {Origen.} To reconcile those who are fighting, which is to sew; but to tear, when we remove the wicked one.

And each of the evangelists and apostles, having broken away from a legal or prophetic utterance, stitched it onto an apostolic and evangelical utterance, not sewing the new onto the old; for all things are spiritual. And we, being separated from heresy, are stitched onto the church. There is a time to be silent and a time to speak. {Dionysius.} It is a time to speak when there are hearers who receive the word; but a time to be silent when the hearers distort the word, as Paul says: dismiss a heretical person after a first and second admonition. There is a time to hate and a time to love. {Of Nyssa.} The good is properly beloved; for you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and strength and power. But one thing is truly hateful: the inventor of evil. 3.10-11 I saw then the distraction which God gave to the sons of men to be distracted by. All the things he made are beautiful in their time, and he also gave the age in their heart, so that man might not find the work which God made from the beginning to the end. {Dionysius.} And this is true. For no one can fully comprehend the works of God. The work of God is the world. No one can find its from the beginning to the end, that is, the time appointed for it and the term defined for it. Since God gave complete ignorance of the age in our hearts, as someone says: tell me the shortness of my days. Thus for our benefit the end of this age, that is, of the present life, is unknown to us.

3.12-13 I knew that there is no good in them, except to be gladdened and to do good in one’s life. And indeed every person who will eat and will drink and will see good in all his toil, this is a gift of God. {Scholion of the author in the name of Xarent} He did not call solitary eating and drunkenness good gladness, but that which is accompanied by doing good in one’s life. For then enjoyment truly becomes gladness and a gift of God, when the soul, delighting in the consolations of the poor, celebrates the gladness that comes from requital. I knew that all things that God made, these will be for eternity; upon them there is no adding, and from them there is no taking away, and God made them so that they might fear from his face. {Of Didymus} The discourse is about visible creations. For some are without succession, while others persist by succession until the end, needing neither addition nor, in thought, any removal as superfluous. And those who find the word itself as far as possible through contemplation are struck by the wisdom of the creator. For God implanted in us an innate fear through the harmony of these things, as we reflect on the maker. Observe that he did not say: so that they might fear “God,” but: “his face.” For the face of the Lord is upon those doing evil, and the face of God is primarily the Son, according to the saying, “Show your face and we shall be saved.” What has come to be already is, and all things that have come to be already have come to be, and God will seek out the one who is pursued. {Of Didymus} If something has come to be, he says, it now is, and all things that are about to come to be have already come to be for God.

The architect of this great beautiful city has nothing incomplete; for even if he acts each day, nothing is new or recent under the sun. God avenges the one who is persecuted, whether by men or by sin and the demons that work it. And I further saw under the sun a place of judgment, there the impious one, and a place of the just one, there the pious one. I said in my heart: God will judge both the just one and the impious one together; because there is a time for every matter and for every deed. {Origen.} He says, then, that the impious one is in a place of judgment, but not also the just one. It would be consistent to set the place of the unjust one in opposition to that of the just one, if not to that of judgment; but the word "together" taken in the sense of place indicates that we are not judged one by one, but all at one time. There I said in my heart concerning the speech of the sons of man, that God will distinguish them, and to show that they are beasts. {Didymus.} That is: if God is going to judge the sons of men concerning speech, demanding an account of every idle word, how will not the pious, having been judged worthy of the sight of the judging one, stand with confidence, while the impious, having been distinguished and separated from them, be reckoned as beasts, having imitated their irrational conduct, and will not even come to judgment, according to David? All things go to one place; all things came from dust, and all things return to dust; and who has seen the spirit of the sons of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward into the earth?

{Didymus} If the sage says this in his own person, he would speak thus: Who knows whether the brutish man will be exalted, like the nations and the robber, and men will be humbled, like Israel and the Jews? He does not say this in doubt, but blessing the one who knows this and lives worthily. For even if our flesh returns to the earth alike, yet the spirit of beasts is dissolved with the flesh, while that of men goes to the one who gave it. Therefore, the one who knows that he himself breathed it in certainly lives worthily. And I saw that there is no good except that which a man will rejoice in his own work, because that is his portion; for who will lead him to see in what state he will be after him? {Nilus} Good, then, he says, is not the accumulation of wealth, nor bodily strength, nor the bloom of beauty, but that which a man rejoices in his own work, providing him with eternal joy. But if no one will lead us to behold what comes after us, how can we direct our labor concerning the things that have been enjoined? For we do not even know what the morrow will bring. And I turned and saw together the false accusations that have occurred under the sun; and behold, the tear of the falsely accused, and there is no one to comfort them, and from the hand of those falsely accusing them there is strength, and there is no one to comfort them. {Scholion of the author named Xarent} I turned, he says, from where in the mist of life many and various false accusations arise; and some are accustomed to falsely accuse out of envy, others out of greed, others out of love of preeminence.

And behold, he says, the tear of the falsely accused, and there is no one to comfort them. And indeed there are many who comfort in word, but in deed no one. For who has reproved the false accuser without hesitation? For we do not share the struggle with the falsely accused, we do not partake of his bonds or imprisonment, nor do we ransom him with our own money. And from the hand of the false accusers comes strength, from offices and lineage and wealth, and because there is no one to defend, the tear abounds for the weak. And I praised together with the dead those who have already died over the living, as many as themselves live until now; and better than these two is he who has not yet come to be, who has not seen the evil deed that has been done under the sun. {Scholia of the author in the name of the owner} He does not speak of this common death, but of another, which those who die are in great praise, as having found the death that renews into life. Therefore he does not say "I blessed," but "I praised"; praise is properly for the living. And whom did I praise? Those dead to sin, those crucified to the world, those who set no value on human life, since they neither falsely accuse nor are falsely accused. For to the one judged about a tunic they let go

and the garment, they despise glory, their course is for the sake of poverty. These are praiseworthy beyond those who live in sin. But good, he says, beyond the two is he who has not yet come to be, not speaking of the one not yet born; for how could the one who has not come to be be good? But since he praised the one who has mingled himself with worldly affairs and turned among those falsely accused or those who falsely accuse, then abstained from these and died to the worldly life, as beyond those living in it, he calls him good by some preeminence of life and praises and admires him beyond the one who has never at all been in worldly tumults. And I saw: I beheld all the toil and all the valor of the poem, that this itself is zeal for a man from his other self; and indeed this is vanity and a choice of spirit. {Evagrius.} Vain along with those who envy are those who are envied for power or wealth or false glory. A fool clasped his hands and ate his own flesh. {Scholia of the author named Xarent} And being filled while alive with the evils that grow from his own flesh, according to the mind of the flesh, and nourished by fleshly works. A good handful of rest is better than two handfuls of toil and choice of spirit. {Nilus.} A little for the righteous is better than much wealth of sinners. Or is it not better to rest in few things and not to be distracted by many and to undergo dangers of corruption of spirit? For nothing so corrupts the spirit as the cares of wealth, as the apostle says.