MONITUM ON THE FOLLOWING HOMILY
This homily is judged by Savile and Fronto Ducaeus to be spurious, and indeed with justice and merit. For the style is entirely alien to the manner of speech of Chrysostom; although it is not entirely unworthy of being read; for it offers, in a few words, a timely lesson concerning the vanity of this life and the exercise of all virtues.
We place the Latin translation of Joachim Perionius, castigated in some places, alongside the Greek text.
ON THE PROPHETIC SAYING, "VERILY EVERY MAN LIVING IS VAINLY TROUBLED" (Ps. 39:6): AND CONCERNING ALMSGIVING
A The deep sea calls to the fisherman, when casting his net he captures a great haul of marine life, and pulls his heavy-laden dragnet with effort. The forest, mother of beasts, calls the hunter when, having searched the mountains and opened up the dense thickets, he returns with a glorious and rich prey. But if the labor undertaken in these things brings pleasure to them who are occupied in such tasks of gain and hunting, how much greater rewards should the catchers of the ecclesiastical gulfs propose to themselves, for whom the prize is not daily nor earthly, but the kingdom of the heavens itself? Come then, beloved, let us sound the Davidic lyre of the psalms, and with David let us mark the baseness and abjection of the human race with these words: "Verily every man living is vainly troubled." He is troubled, and in the end he shall perish; he is troubled, and before he is confirmed, he is swallowed up; as fire is ignited, and is reduced to ashes like stubble; as a storm rises, and as the dust is leveled to the earth; as a flame is excited, and is dissipated like smoke; as a flower is of excellent form, and as grass is dried up; as a cloud is gathered, and is diminished like a drop; as finally a bubble is inflated, and like a spark is extinguished. He is troubled, and with an insatiable greed he produces a foul odor for himself; he is troubled, and when his perturbation was of no use to him, he is extinguished. His are the stirrings and perturbations, the delights of others; his labors, the treasures of others; his cares, the pleasures of others; his adverse affairs, the successes of others; his curses, the connections of others; his rapines, the pleasures of others; his groans, the abundance of all things for others; his tears, money for others; he finally is punished in the underworld, while others, conversely, enjoy his goods with song. Verily every man living is vainly troubled. Man, the usury of life which lasts for a time, the debt of death which cannot be deferred, the animal untamed in its resolve, the wickedness by which he is taught by himself, the stratagems which are taught of their own accord, he who is instructed in the art of wrongdoing, who is gifted with industry for injury, prepared for avarice, insatiable for satisfaction, born for treachery, an inflated spirit, a boastful audacity, a ferocity which is easily quelled, an elation which is destroyed by a small matter, an audacity which is easily captured: the filth full of arrogance, the seditious ash, the dust with an elated soul, the inflated ash, the spark which is easily extinguished; the flame which easily withers, the unstable lamp, the wood whose destruction is swift, the grass which has dried up, the herb which dies easily, the nature which is quickly consumed; who today threatens, and tomorrow departs from life; who today abounds in riches, tomorrow is covered by the grave; who today is adorned with a diadem, and tomorrow is buried; who today shines in purple, and tomorrow is carried out; who today is occupied with treasures, and tomorrow in tombs; who today is with flatterers, tomorrow with worms; who today is, and tomorrow is nothing; who now carries himself magnificently, and shortly after is mourned; who in favorable circumstances cannot be endured, and in adverse circumstances cannot be relieved by any consolation; who knows not himself, and curiously inquires into things that surpass him; who knows not what is present and at hand, and thinks on future things; who is mortal by his own nature, and by the elation of his mind, as it seems to him, is eternal; the proposed outlet for all diseases, the easiest home of every perturbation, the daily and common gymnasium of fevers: finally, the prepared lodging for every pain. How great is the tragedy of our abjection! How great is the triumph of our vileness! How many and how great things I have put forth, while meanwhile I have found nothing more apt than this prophetic voice: "Verily every man living is vainly troubled." But that I may make an end of speaking, see, I pray, how human affairs imitate the sea, how this life of ours is entangled in that perturbation, how much more often we are tossed by tempests than water on the earth, and how much more vehemently we collide with one another than winds, how money, like storms, sets us against each other, and we are driven here and there as in a tempest of the sea. Here one usurps the field of another; another has abducted the slaves of someone else; and this one brings his neighbor to judgment over water, that one contends with a citizen over air. These argue over the measurement of land, those clash among themselves over the method of building; this one makes an assault so that he may receive what he did not give, that one acts in court so that he may not return what he received. This one is not satisfied by usury, that one strives to deprive even of the capital; this one, when he is in need, is afflicted with trouble; that one, abounding in the copy of all things, is tumultuously disturbed; he who has nothing is afflicted with reproaches; he who has is attacked by stratagems; he who holds magistracies falls under suspicion; he who is endowed with power is held in hatred; B he who holds authority is armed. Wars are frequent, envy falls upon envy, insatiable greed dominates, avarice reigns, lying is extolled with the highest praises, good faith is exiled, truth has deserted the earth, friendship is bounded by the table. Others have lost their strength; the earth can no longer bear evils, the air has been contaminated up to the very ether. Because of money, life is not livable; for the greed of money we have sold the free elements; the roads pay tolls, the land is divided by lot, waters are held by authority, the air is sold; collectors of tithes, tributes, and taxes occupy cities; the rich are consumed by cares, the usurers waste away with anxiety, looters fill life with perturbations, those greedy for money busy themselves in judgment and the forum; merchant men seek gains from calamities and losses; calumniators sell lies. Since we are accustomed to lie among ourselves, we have abolished the religion of the oath; we know God only for the purpose of swearing. C When the prophet discerned this, and considered this life to be wretched,