Book on Monastic Asceticism

OF OUR HOLY FATHER NILUS, TREATISE ON MONASTIC EXERCISE

CHAPTER I

^A Many among the Gentiles have professed philosophy, and not a few among the Jews; but only the disciples of Christ have pursued the true philosophy, because they alone had Wisdom as their teacher, demonstrating through action the way of life appropriate to such an undertaking. For those former ones, like actors performing a play on stage, adorned themselves with an alien persona, assuming an empty name bereft of true philosophy. Displaying themselves as philosophers by their cloak, beard, and staff, while pampering the body and serving their desires as if they were mistresses, they became slaves of the belly and accepted the pleasures of the belly as though they were a work of nature; they were subject to anger, struck by the glitter of glory and desire, and eagerly attacked splendid tables like little dogs. They were ignorant, first of all, that a philosopher must be free ^B and that he should flee being a slave to the passions much more than being a slave bought with silver or a household slave of a slave-born household servant. For it has perhaps done no harm to one who has lived rightly to be a slave to men, but to use the passions as mistresses and serve the pleasures has brought shame and great mockery.

CHAPTER II

There are, indeed, among them some who are wholly indifferent to the conduct of affairs and, being—as they suppose—instructed in rational philosophy, chatter about sublime matters; some are interpreters of things which cannot be demonstrated, boasting that they know the magnitude of the heavens, the measurements of the sun, and the powers of the stars. ^C There are times, too, when they attempt to theologize where the truth is unattainable and conjecture dangerous; meanwhile, they live more disgracefully than swine that wallow in the mire. But if any among them have applied themselves to practical matters, they were worse than the others; for they underwent labors for the sake of glory and praise. For the poor wretches undertook these many things for no other reason than for show and vainglory, receiving a cheap and meager reward for such great hardship. For to impose silence upon oneself altogether, and to live on herbs, and to cover the body with rough rags, and to pass one’s life shut up in a barrel while expecting no reward after death, is beyond all folly; this

^A is, to take away the rewards of virtue from this life, and to establish for oneself a struggle that can be rewarded at no time, and a continuous contest devoid of prizes, and wrestling-grounds that possess nothing more than sweat.

CHAPTER III

Those of the Jews, however, who have honored this manner of life are the descendants of Jonadab, and they receive all who wish to live in the same way, and bring them into the same discipline, dwelling always in tents; abstaining from wine and everything that makes for luxury, they use a frugal diet, and measure it by the necessity of the body. They are very diligent, indeed, in the cultivation of their moral character, and spend most of their time in contemplation, whence they are also called Essenes, the name signifying that they are learned; and, in a word, the aim of philosophy is perfectly attained by them on all sides, since their actions nowhere conflict with their profession. But what is the utility of their struggles, and of their laborious exercise, [to those] who have destroyed Christ, the judge of the contests? For in their case, too, the reward of their labors is lost, since they have denied the distributor of the prizes, and the true life, and have therefore strayed from philosophy. For philosophy is the correction of character along with the knowledge of the true Being. From this, however, both Jews and Greeks have strayed, refusing the wisdom that came down from heaven, and attempting to philosophize without Christ, who alone demonstrated true philosophy by deed and by word. ^B

CHAPTER IV

For He was the first to open the way of this life, exhibiting a pure manner of life, and always keeping His soul superior to the passions of the body, and finally, even despising this [body] itself, when the salvation of mankind, which He was dispensing, required death; teaching by these things that he who rightly prepares himself from above to philosophize must renounce all the pleasures of life; must labor and overcome the passions with great vigor, despising the body; and must hold his soul not even as precious, but must be ready to lay it down whenever it is necessary to set it aside for the demonstration of virtue. And, having taken this up, the holy apostles imitated this conduct, immediately upon being called, bidding farewell to the life [of the world], and despising country, family, and possessions; they immediately transferred themselves to a hard and toilsome life, passing through all difficulties: ^C afflicted, mistreated, driven about, destitute, and lacking even the necessities of life. Finally, they even dared to face death, having excellently imitated the Master in all things, and having left behind an image of the best manner of life in their own lives. But since all Christians, who ought to pattern their own lives after this same image, have either not wished to do so, or have grown slack in their imitation, and only a few have been able to rise above worldly troubles, and

flee the turbulence within the cities. Thus, having become detached from the tumults to embrace the solitary life, these alone made their own lives an image of apostolic virtue. They chose dispossession over possession, so as not to be distracted; and as for food, they preferred that which is provided by chance over that which is elaborately prepared, meeting the body's need with whatever is available, in order to curb the rebellious impulses of the passions. As for soft clothing and things beyond what is necessary—which they regarded as an invention of human luxury—they neglected these, using instead simple and unadorned apparel that sufficed for the body's need. Scornful of pleasures, and regarding it as unworthy of a philosopher to abandon the care of heavenly things and occupy his mind with those that lie upon the earth and are equally available to beasts, they knew not the world, having become free from human passions. Among them there was no defrauder nor one defrauded; no one bringing lawsuits, nor any repelling them.

^B CAPUT V. For everyone had as an incorruptible judge his own conscience. Not one was wealthy while another was in need; nor was one pining away with hunger while another was bursting with satiety. For the zeal of the wealthy met the destitution of the needy, and there was equality and equal distribution, with inequality cast out by the voluntary moderation of the superior toward the lower. Indeed, there was not even equality then, for the eagerness of those striving to be more humble created an inequality, just as now the mania of those vying to be more extolled creates it. Envy was driven out, backbiting was proscribed, pride was removed, vainglory was put to flight, and all causes of contention were dissolved. Being dead to the more violent passions, they were as if without feeling, not even dreaming of such things, because from the beginning they had strenuously turned away from the reminder of them, and by daily exercise and patience had ascended to such a condition. To speak plainly, they were lamps shining in the darkness, and fixed stars illuminating the lightless night of this life, ^C and for all they showed an easy access to a harbor because of the tranquility that surrounded them, so that they might safely avoid the reefs of the passions. ^D

CAPUT VI. But this precise rule and heavenly way of life, like an image which, through the carelessness of those who transcribe it over time, is little by little diminished, arrived at last at complete dissimilarity and departed altogether from the first prototype. For those who had been crucified to the world, and who had renounced the present life, and had denied themselves their humanity—striving to transcend into the nature of the incorporeal Powers through a singular peace of mind (or apathy)—have in a certain way turned back to the business affairs of life and to the shameful, ancestral methods of gain, obscuring those who lived well before them.

^A And those who were able to be celebrated and glorious on account of their virtue, we expose to reproach and insult through our own negligence. We hold the plow handle, retaining the appearance of piety, yet we have become unfit for the kingdom of heaven because we turn back, and we pursue with great zeal those things whose memory ought to have perished. For we no longer strive after a simple and spontaneous life, nor do we consider quiet and silence to be useful for washing away our past impurities. Instead, a host of worldly business, distracted by useless cares, is held in high regard in relation to the true goal, and ambition for material things has overcome our saving exhortations. For although the Lord has completely withdrawn us from anxiety about earthly things, ^B and has commanded us to seek only the kingdom of heaven, we act as if we were eagerly walking along the opposite path; we neglect the Dominical commands, and having abandoned that former care, we place all our hopes in our own hands. For He says: “Look at the birds of the air, because they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them” (Matt. vi, 26). And again: “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they do not labor, nor do they spin” (ibid. 23). But He even forbade carrying a wallet, a moneybag, or a staff, and commanded us to rely only upon the infallible promise which He gave to the disciples when He sent them for the benefit of other men, saying: “The laborer is worthy of his food” (Luke x, 7), ^C knowing that this promise was much more certain for the provision of necessary things than our own industry.

Chapter VII

But we do not refuse to acquire as much land as we can, and we purchase flocks of sheep, plow-oxen conspicuous for their shape and bulk, and well-fed donkeys. The sheep provide us abundantly with wool for the needs of our works; the oxen serve the requirements of tilling the land, providing food for us, and fodder for themselves and the other animals; and the beasts of burden provide the necessary food by bringing in from foreign lands whatever is lacking in our own region, thus increasing our life of luxury. ^D Nay, more, we even busy ourselves with the most profitable of trades, which do not afford us any time to remember God, as they draw all our leisure time to themselves. We seem to have despaired either of the weakness of our Guardian, or we condemn our own former confession—for even if we do not admit it in words, we are convicted by our deeds—as we take delight in the life of worldly men, engaging in the same pursuits as they do, perhaps even wearing ourselves out more with bodily labors, so that piety is now considered by many as a source of gain, and we are devoted to that formerly tranquil and blessed life for no other reason than to perform laborious tasks under the guise of feigned piety.

^A We shun arduous tasks and, having secured a license for enjoyment, we let our impulses loose without restraint toward whatever we please, insulting the simpler folk with great shamelessness, and at times even those who are superior; regarding the life of religious virtue as a matter of tyranny, and by no means one of humility and gentleness. Hence, we are despised even by those who ought to revere us, as if we were a futile crowd; we are derided by the mixed throng of men, just as much as if we were involved in the business of the marketplace, possessing nothing particularly outstanding—as is required—that would distinguish us; for we desire to be recognized not by our way of life, but by our garment; and while we decline the labors of virtue, we senselessly crave the glory that belongs to those labors, exhibiting the shadow of that former truth.

CHAPTER VIII

So it is that if anyone today assumes this venerable garment while the stains of his soul have not yet been washed away, nor the marks of his old sins erased from his mind, but while he still revels in the images of those sins, and his own habits are not yet composed to the rule of the institute, and he is even ignorant of what the goal of divine philosophy is—he nonetheless dons a Pharisaical brow, feigning pride as if he had attained virtue solely by his habit. He moves about carrying equipment the art of which he has never learned, and promises knowledge through his outward appearance, though he has not even tasted it with the tips of his lips. He is a reef instead of a harbor, a whitewashed sepulcher instead of a temple, and, instead of a sheep, a wolf ^C discovered to the destruction of those who are deceived by his appearance. For when these men, having fled from the monasteries because they cannot endure the strictness of that life, swarm into the cities to revel, then, driven by the necessity of the belly as if by a yoke upon the neck, they carry around the simulation of piety like bait fixed to a hook in order to deceive many, enduring everything that the need of the body compels. For nothing is more violent than the necessity of nature, which in extreme straits devises an ingenious path; especially when laziness is added thereto, the pretext proceeds all the more craftily. For this reason, these men beset the doors of the wealthy no less than parasites do. Indeed, in the marketplaces, they press in like slaves, moving aside those who approach and pushing away those they meet, striving to make an easy path for themselves. They do these things for the sake of a meal, not having learned to restrain the pleasure of dainty food, nor having wished to carry upon their belt the stake mentioned by Moses for digging what is necessary; for they would have known, had they used it, ^D that the throat is the boundary for all pleasure in food, and that whatever chance items satisfy the need of the body veil the indecencies of untimely desires.

CHAPTER IX

And thus the name of God is blasphemed, and the life to be desired by all in our prayers has become execrable; and the

possessions of those truly living according to virtue are considered a fraud. The cities are burdened by those who wander about aimlessly; those who live in houses are troubled, and their very appearance becomes unpleasant to them, as they see them remaining at the doors and begging without any shame. Many, indeed, even when admitted into homes, under the pretense of piety for a brief while, and cloaking the reputation for wickedness that urges them on with the mask of hypocrisy, later plunder them and leave. Consequently, they bring discredit upon the entire monastic life. Thus, in the end, those who were once instructors of sobriety are driven from the cities like pests ^B and are cast out as ritually unclean—no less than those afflicted with leprosy. And one would prefer to trust robbers and burglars, rather than those who pretend to the monastic life, deeming it easier to guard against manifest wickedness than against a faith that has been crafted as a snare. These men, who neither began with piety nor know what the profit of quietude [ἡσυχία] is, and who perhaps were thrust, out of some necessity, into the solitary life without discernment—and who think of this matter as a trade for procuring the necessities of life—would, I think, conduct themselves with more decency if they did not go begging at everyone's door. But they make their outward appearance a pretext for extorting larger sums, and they wish to pay their body not just the necessary tribute, but that which luxurious indulgence has devised for insatiable desires. It is difficult to heal those who are thus incurable. ^C

CHAPTER X

For how could anyone explain the benefits of health to those who have never been healthy, but have been nourished from their very swaddling clothes by a wasting disease, and who, on account of long habit, think this misfortune of nature is no different from the natural state? For every speech intended for correction is superfluous when the inclination of the hearers leans toward the worse and is disposed in a manner contrary to what is urged—especially whenever the hope of gain feeds the desire, and the passion completely blocks the ear to advice, so that those exhortations meant for self-restraint can find no entrance, because the mind is intent upon the desire for profit, even if it be shameful. But we, beloved, who out of love for virtue, as we believe, have renounced the world and denied worldly desires, and have promised to follow Christ—why are we entangled again in the distractions of life, and why do we poorly rebuild what we once so well tore down? ^D Why do we, contrary to what is right, comply with the unhealthy counsels of those who transgress their own profession? Why do we inflame the desires of the weaker ones through our own pursuit of vain things, and why have we become a path of greed for the more simple-minded?

CHAPTER XI

For we have been commanded by the Lord to heal, not to irritate, those who are prone to a fall; and before we...

become a cause for them of ambition regarding earthly things, we should consider what is helpful for our neighbor, so that by not following our own indiscriminate impulses, we might not cause many of the more simple-minded to stumble. Why do we value highly the material that we have been taught to despise, by clinging to wealth and possessions, and by dividing our mind into many useless anxieties? The pursuit of these turns us away from more necessary attendance on God and prepares us to be neglectful of the goods of the soul, while it drives those who are gaping after the bright things of this life and who think that the enjoyment of wealth is the highest, supreme lot of happiness, into a great abyss, when they see those who profess to practice philosophy, and who claim to have risen above pleasures, being more eager about these things than we ourselves are. Nothing, however, brings about such an inescapable punishment as making many people followers of one's own evils; for the destruction of those who have imitated becomes an increase of punishment for the one who taught them, and the condemnation for those who did not reject such imitation as shameful is not small for him, because he has become a teacher of evils, the learning of which those who have used sound reasoning have shunned because they judged it shameful. Let no one, therefore, be offended by what is said, but let him either correct the things that have been poorly done on account of the indiscriminate negligence of the many, to the shame of our name, or else let him reject the name. For if the goal is to practice philosophy, it declares that possessions are superfluous to philosophy, and that even the body itself is something alien to philosophy for the sake of the purity of the soul. ^C But if some are held by a desire to possess earthly goods and to enjoy sweetly the pleasures of this life, why do they magnify philosophy in words, while in deed they are carried off to a profession that is entirely alien to it, having merely clothed themselves in venerable titles?

CHAPTER XII

might prosperously obtain a store of those things which afford no utility? Why do we claim another's property as our own, putting heavy shackles of material things upon ourselves, and why do we not listen to the prophet who pronounces such men wretched? "Woe," says the prophet, "to him who gathers for himself what is not his own, and heavily presses his yoke," making it more burdensome. For if those who pursue us are light, according to the one who says, "Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens," yet we load ourselves down with worldly affairs, it is manifest that, being set in motion more sluggishly toward the race, we shall easily be caught by the enemies whom Paul taught us to flee, saying, "Flee fornication" and avarice. ^B Since even those who are stripped for the race toward the prize, if they are not carried along with intense momentum, fall far short of the catching, the pursuing enemies perhaps having swifter feet.

CHAPTER XIII.

A great impediment, indeed, to those hastening toward virtue is the affection for worldly things, which frequently brings ruin to both soul and body. For what destroyed Nabaoth, the Israelite? Was it not the envious vineyard that was the cause of death for him, since it stirred up his neighbor Achab to slaughter against him? And what caused the two and a half tribes to remain outside of the promise, if not the multitude of their beasts of burden? And what separated Abraham from Lot, if not the great number of the flocks, which, stirring up constant quarrels among the shepherds, in the end broke them off from one another? ^C If, therefore, possessions incite the envious to murder against those who possess them, and divert their owners from more serious matters, and cut off kinship, and turn friends into enmity, and finally have nothing in common with the life to come, and are not very necessary for the body, why do we, standing apart from the service of God, turn ourselves entirely to vanity, being abstracted from the service of God? For are we the ones who complete the things of life for ourselves? It is God who manages these things; and human diligence, when it is not supported by divine help, of necessity meets with an unhappy outcome, but God’s management, even without human cooperation, produces good things perfectly. What did their own labor profit those to whom God said, "You have sown much, and brought in little, and I have blown them away from your houses"? And what did those who lived according to virtue lack in regard to necessary things, since they did not think about these things at all? Did not the Israelites for forty years in the desert, enjoying nothing from the cultivation of fields, live and not lack food? But the sea provided ^D a wondrous food, by innovation vomiting up the ortygometra, or quail, and the rock, devoid of moisture, being split, provided water in abundance, and the heaven rained down manna, a rain unusual and strange. And garments and footwear served them for all that time without wearing out.

What sort of land was Elias cultivating while he was being fed in the torrent? Did the ravens not bring him his food? And when he returned to Sarepta, did the widow, though laboring under a lack of necessities, not provide bread, snatching it from the mouth of her own children, so that it might appear that virtue is even more precious than nature? ^A

CHAPTER XIV

friend's house, lest, when you have been sated by the sight, he grow to hate you." For if someone should rarely trouble Christ with the necessities of the body, he will be dear to Him (for this is the true aim of such friends, as the Savior says to His own disciples, ^A "You are my friends"); but if he does this too frequently, he becomes hateful.

CHAPTER XV.

CHAPTER XVI.

that we should not be weighted down by the cares of the body, nor entrust our own keeping to the senses? For that king, when he was resting in his chamber, permitted his wife, it is said, to keep the door. But those who were with Racham, coming and finding her winnowing wheat and drowsing, entered secretly, and slew Jebuthe, whom they found sleeping; for when bodily things dominate, everything sleeps—the mind, the soul, the thought, and the sense. For the fact that the doorkeeper was winnowing wheat shows that the thought had been most studiously occupied with bodily things, and not merely in passing, but that it had applied effort to the cleanliness of these things with a certain zeal. For that Scripture does not teach this in the guise of history is manifest from the following: How ^B could a king have a doorkeeper for a wife, when it was fitting for him to be guarded by a multitude of spear-bearing soldiers and to maintain all the pomp of his dignity around him? Or how was he so destitute that she had to winnow wheat for him? But often that which is contrary to reason is mingled with history for the sake of the truth of the things signified. For the mind of each person resides within, as it were, like a king, having as the doorkeeper the faculty of thought, which, whenever it entrusts itself to bodily things (and it is a bodily thing to winnow wheat), allows those who lie in wait to enter easily and slay the mind. For this reason, the great Abraham does not entrust the guarding of the door to a woman; for he knows the deceptive power of the sense, how, by being delighted by the appearance of sensible things, it divides the mind and persuades it to partake with it of these delights—and the participation is clearly dangerous. ^C But he himself sits by, providing an open entrance for divine thoughts, while closing the door to worldly anxieties. For what comes to us in life from such foolish toil over these things? Is not all the labor of man, according to Ecclesiastes, for his mouth? And are not food and raiment, according to the Apostle, enough for the sustenance of this miserable flesh? Why, then, do we labor endlessly and toil for the wind, as Solomon says—that is, in vain—hindering the soul from the enjoyment of divine goods through eagerness for earthly things, and caring for and cherishing the flesh more than is right? We feed it as an enemy, a neighbor, and a foe, so that it may not only fight a doubtful battle against us, but, contending more strongly and ^D from a position of great advantage, afflict the soul with grief, to such an extent that it does not even permit it to pursue honors and crowns. For what is the necessity of the body, that under this pretext we extend our desire toward the useless difficulty and straitness of things? It is, of course, bread and water. If it is this, do not the fountains provide water copiously? And bread is easy to prepare for those who have hands; and thus from so many works we can provide it, from which both the necessity of the body is fulfilled, and we are little, or not at all, distracted. But does clothing provide much anxiety? Not even this, if we do not look to the softness that comes from habit, but to

^A necessity alone; for what garments woven as if by a spider, what fine linen, purple, or silk did the first man wear? Did not the supreme Architect himself provide him with a garment from skins, and command him to feed on the green herb? In setting these bounds for the necessity of the body, He thus ordained, and from afar deterred the indecency now practiced by man. I do not say, however, that He will not even now provide for those living well, He who feeds the birds of the air, and will clothe those for whom He has surrounded the lilies of the field with such glory, since it is not yet possible to persuade those who stand far removed from this faith. For who will not provide, with supplication, the necessities to one living according to virtue?

CHAPTER XVII

For if barbarous men, the Babylonians, possessing Jerusalem by the law of war, reverenced the virtue of Jeremiah, and provided all bodily service in abundance, giving not only what pertained to food but also the vessels with which it is the custom to serve those at table, how shall not fellow-tribesmen reverence a life distinguished by virtue, those who from childhood have their intellects more purified than the barbarian customs, tending toward an understanding of honorable things and acting as zealots for virtue? For even if they cannot exercise it on account of the weakness of nature, yet they honor virtue and admire those who exercise it. Who persuaded the Shunammite ^B to build a lodging for Elisha, and to place there a table, a chair, a bed, and a lamp? Was it not the virtue of the man? And what moved that widow, when famine was ravaging the whole earth, to prefer the service of the prophet to her own necessity? For unless she had thoroughly admired the wisdom of Elijah, she would never have taken the small comfort of her life and that of her children and bestowed it upon him, choosing to endure the death she imagined would follow shortly thereafter, choosing it before its time because of her zeal for the guest.

CHAPTER XVIII

But a noble spirit, and one never remiss toward labors and contemptuous of itself, made them such, in that they held as nothing all things pertaining to this life; for pursuing frugality and parsimony, and advancing, so to speak, toward the lack of any need through their few requirements, they stood near the incorporeal powers. Hence, though obscure and ignoble regarding the body, they ^C became more powerful than those who held all things, speaking with such freedom to those wearing the crown, with as much as they did not even use toward their own subjects; for in what weapons trusting, or with what power, did Elijah say to Ahab: "I am not upsetting Israel, but you and the house of your father"? Or how also did Moses stand against Pharaoh in competition, having no provisions but the confidence of virtue? And how did Elisha, when the army of the two kings was ^D assembled for war...

say to Jehoram: “As the Lord of Hosts liveth, in whose presence I stand today, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, I would not have looked toward thee, nor seen thee” ^A? He feared neither the army that was moved against him, nor did he dread the wrath of the king, which, around the time of war, one would likely expect, or an irrational impulse of a mind confused by the anxiety of battle. For what can an earthly kingdom do that is equivalent to virtue? What purple robe has parted a river as did the mantle of Elijah ^B? What diadem has dissolved diseases as have the sweat-cloths of the apostles ^C? A prophet once rebuked a king who had transgressed God’s commandment, though he was surrounded by his entire army; and when the rebuke provoked his wrath, the king stretched forth his hand against the prophet, yet he could not seize him, nor could he draw back the hand that had withered ^D. It was a contest of virtue and royal power; the victory of virtue proved stronger. The prophet did not fight, yet virtue routed the warrior; the contestant remained inactive, while faith performed the work; the king’s fellow-soldiers were the witnesses of the struggle and the prizes, and the hand remained as a testament to the victory of virtue.

CHAPTER XIX

Those, indeed, conducted themselves in this way because they determined to live by the soul alone, rejecting the body and the comforts of the body; and what rendered them superior to all was their need of nothing. For they considered it better to abandon the body and be released from life in the flesh than to betray the dignity of virtue or, for the sake of bodily need, to fawn upon any of those who wallow in wealth. We, however, when we are placed in some need of something, like little dogs that with a more cheerful wagging of their tails fawn upon those who perhaps throw them a bare bone or some crumbs besides, so do we run to the rich, calling them benefactors and guardians of Christians and simply testifying that every virtue resides in them—even if they should happen to be in the depth of wickedness—in order to obtain what we desire, not carefully inquiring into the manner of life of the saints whose virtue we supposedly have it in mind to emulate. There came at one time to Elisha, Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, carrying many gifts with him. What, then, did the prophet do? Did he serve him? Did he run to meet him? Did he not reveal to him through a single servant the necessity for which he had come, not even admitting him into his presence, so that it would not be thought that he had provided the healing for the sake of the gifts brought? These things are said, not that we might learn arrogance, but that we might not, for the sake of bodily need, fawn upon those who tend to those things which we have professed to despise. Why, then, do we abandon the aim of philosophy and apply ourselves to agriculture and trade? For what great thing do we contribute to God regarding our own concerns? And so that it may be made clear that the business of agriculture is common—

human care breaks the earth and casts in the seeds, but God irrigates what has been sown with alternating rains, arranging for the roots to extend into the tender hollows of the earth; He makes the sun rise, which warms the ground and with heat invites the plants upward, or draws them forth; He breathes in breezes of wind suitable for the maturity of the crops being nurtured, at first fanning the plain with soft spirits, lest the sown crops, having been heated up, be scorched by hot gusts, but then with more forceful blasts of wind, He ripens the milky juice of the grain in the husks, providing a flame suitable for threshing, and favorable winds for the time of winnowing or the clearing of the grain with a fan. If in any of these things there is a lack, human effort is proven vain, and our toil has become idle, not having been sealed by God's gifts. Often, however, none of these things was lacking for perfection, but a copious and excessive rain, attacking out of season, either flattened the yet-unthreshed ear or swept away the grain that had been piled up at the proper time. It happens at times that even in the barn itself, a worm and a moth have destroyed it, plundering, as one might say, the prepared table from the very mouth.

CAPUT XX.

Where, then, and to what end is our toil useful to us, while God holds the rudders of affairs and bears and conducts all things as He wills? But we shall say that the body requires consolation in its infirmities, and how much better it is to die than to do anything that might disgrace one's purpose. Yet if God wishes us still to live, He will either provide to the body a strength equal to its infirmity, so that the infirm person might bear the labor contracted from the sickness and receive crowns for his nobility of character, or He will devise a way for the consolation of the sufferer; for the fountain of salvation and wisdom will not lack a means devised for salvation. It is beautiful, therefore, beloved, it is beautiful, to return again to the ancient blessedness and to take up the way of life of the ancients. For it is easy for all, in my opinion, who have the will; even if some labor may be present, it will not be fruitless, having as sufficient consolation the glory of those who have preceded us, and the guidance of those who follow. For the gain will not be small for those who have begun such a manner of life and for those who later leave behind an image of this excellent way of life, or for the recovery of what was left behind. Let us flee the social gatherings in cities and villages, so that those who are in cities and villages may run to us; let us seek out solitudes, so that we may draw to ourselves those who now flee from us, if this is at all pleasing to any. For it is written in praise of certain people that they abandoned the cities and dwelt in the rocks, and became as meditative doves 37; and John the Baptist also dwelt in the desert, and all the cities came to him with their own townspeople, and to behold the leather belt

^A of the one who was clothed in garments of silk; and those who possessed houses with golden roofs and rested upon beds inlaid with diverse gems, chose instead the discomfort of the open air, and the laying down upon the sand; and all things were bearable to them, even though they occurred contrary to custom. For the desire for the virtue of the man suppressed the sense of toil in these laborious things, and the wonder of contemplating him stole away the pain in such harsh treatment.

CHAPTER XXI

^B Virtue is esteemed so much more than riches, and the quiet life is held to be more illustrious than much money; how many were rich at that time, and made themselves great for the sake of glory, yet are now silent and given over to oblivion; but the miracle of the man without glory is sung even to this day, and the memory of the dweller in the desert is eagerly celebrated by all. For it is the property of virtue to be renowned and to send forth its fame as an angel to proclaim its own goods. Let us refuse the feeding of cattle, that we may assume the pastoral habit; let us abandon shameful commerce, that we may acquire the most precious pearl; let us flee the cultivation of the earth that brings forth thorns and thistles, that we may become laborers and guardians of Paradise. Let us cast everything aside and take hold of the quiet life, that we may put to shame those who reproach us, and now claim that we are enthralled by possessions. For nothing so much puts to shame those who insult us as does the correction, with moderation, of the very things for which we are reproached; for the conversion of those affected by reproach becomes the confusion of those who reproach. ^C This is indeed shameful, as I think, and it is truly shameful, in which we are rightly laughed at by all. For recently someone who approached the monastic life, having learned only the external customs of the exercise—how and when they pour out prayers, and what the manner of life is—immediately becomes a teacher of those things he has not learned, and goes about dragging a long line of disciples, though he himself is destitute of doctrine, the more so because he thought the matter easy, ignoring that it is the most difficult of all things to hold the care of souls, which first require the cleaning of ancient corruptions, and then much attention for the receiving of instructions that form one unto virtue. But he who has conceived in his mind nothing beyond bodily exercise, how shall he correct the characters of those subject to him? Or in what way will he transform those who are mastered by evil habit? ^D Or by what reasoning will he bring aid to those who are warred upon by the passions, not knowing at all, even through thought, of the internal war, or how he will cure the wounds that occur in the war, when he himself lies down because of a wound, and is in need of bandages and the bonds by which wounds are bound?

CHAPTER XXII

Every art, indeed, requires time and much instruction for its perfection; but the art of arts alone is practiced without any apprenticeship; and one who is inexperienced will not dare to exercise agriculture, nor, being uninitiated, medicine.

^A For he will be convicted, both as one who contributes no aid to the sick, but even imposes upon them a heavier malady, and as one who renders the best land sterile and foul. Yet the worship of God, which is easier than all things, the uninitiated dare to practice—and a matter which is difficult to set straight is considered by the many to be easy, and what Paul says he has not yet grasped, this they claim to know accurately, not knowing even this much, that they are ignorant. For this reason, the monastic life has fallen into contempt, and those who adopt it are mocked by all. For who would not laugh at him who yesterday was carrying water in a tavern, ^B today seeing him as a teacher of virtue surrounded by disciples like spear-bearing guards, or one who recently withdrew from the evil pursuits of public life, later strutting through the whole market with a multitude of disciples? If they were clearly convinced that it is a great labor to lead some to piety, and knew the danger that follows that work, they would surely have declined the task as surpassing them; but as long as they are ignorant of this, and consider holding authority over some to be glorious, they easily tumble headlong into such a pit, and consider leaping into a burning furnace to be light, moving to laughter those who knew their past life, and to indignation God, because of such foolhardiness.

CHAPTER XXIII.

^C For if neither a venerable old age, nor long-standing boldness of speech, nor priestly honor saved Eli from the wrath of God when he neglected the correction of his children, how will they now escape such indignation, they who neither have confidence before God from their former works, nor know either the mode of sin or the method of correction, but ineptly, out of a desire for glory, undertake a work full of danger? For this reason, in accusing the Pharisees, according to what appeared at that time, the Lord said: “Woe to you, scribes and ^D Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” By this reproof of them, He was in truth admonishing those who were to come after, who would be in danger of falling into similar faults, that by paying heed to the “woe,” they might restrain themselves from untimely desire, and judge those words that proclaim calamities as most formidable. Let Job also put them to shame: that they should either care for their subjects in the same way as he, or decline such authority, since they are ignorant of how to act as he did, and are unwilling to bring the same zeal to bear upon those things which must be foreseen. For if he, wanting his sons to be pure even from the defilements of thought, offered sacrifices each day on their behalf, saying, “Lest perhaps my sons have thought evil in their hearts against God,” how can these men, who do not know even the difference between manifest sins, whenever the dust from the struggle against the passions

stimulated, their reason, ^A darkened by the dust arising from the battle against the passions, they rush into leadership over others and accept the charge of others, before having healed their own passions, and not being able, from their own victory, to lead others likewise to conquer.

CHAPTER XXIV.

CHAPTER XXV.

^A And yet they close their eyes to such images, but arrogantly command things that must be done. When they seem to know something of these matters from hearsay—after the manner of the shepherds convicted by the prophet of ignorance, bearing a sword on their arm—then, because of this, their right eye is blinded upon their arm. For the right action, neglected through arrogance, simultaneously extinguishes within itself the splendor of contemplation. This befalls those who teach cruelly and inhumanly; when they have the power to punish readily at hand, the speculative thoughts which are at the right are immediately extinguished; and again, the actions, deprived of contemplation, wither away, those who have girded the sword not on the thigh, but on the arm, being able neither to act nor to see anything. Those who have used the divine word against their own passions gird the sword on their thigh; but those who have the punishment for the faults of others readily at hand, on their arm.

CHAPTER XXVI.

For thus also Naas the Somanite, which is interpreted "serpent," threatens the sharp-sighted Israel that he will gouge out his entire right eye, so that no right thought dwelling within him might lead its possessor to a right action; for he knows that this is the cause of great progress for those who proceed from contemplation to the active life; for that which is done becomes blameless for such men, when it has been foreseen by the eyes of knowledge with the utmost sharpness. That it is a mark of fickle men, and those who have no benefit at home, to accept the governance of others, is clear also from experience; for no one who has tasted of quiet, and has begun to have some leisure for contemplation, would choose to bind his mind to cares concerning bodily things, severing it from knowledge, and dragging down that which is for the most part carried aloft toward things on high to earthly affairs. ^C It is yet more evident from that much-celebrated parable which Jonathan set before the Sichemites, saying: "The trees of the forest went forth to anoint a king over themselves; and they said to the vine: Come, reign over us. And the vine said: Shall I leave my good fruit, which God and men have glorified, and go to rule over the trees?" ^D Likewise, both the fig tree, because of its sweetness, and the olive, because of the fatness which it has, refused. The rhamnus, an unfruitful and thorny tree, accepted the rule over them, having neither its own fatness nor that of the trees subjected to it. For the parable said not the trees of a garden, but of the forest, which were in need of oversight; for just as the vine, and the fig tree, and the olive refused to rule over the trees of the forest, being delighted rather in their own fruit than in the dignity of rule, so those who see in themselves some fruit of virtue, and perceive the benefit from it, even if many constrain them to such a rule, decline it, preferring their own benefit to the aid of the many.

Chapter XXVII.

Chapter XXVIII.

so that, by uncovering the hidden maneuvers, he may reveal them and, by predicting the ambushes of the adversary, may bestow upon his charges victory without labor, and lead them out of the contest crowned. Such a one, however, is rare and not easily found.

CHAPTER XXIX

For the great Paul bears witness to this very thing, saying: "For we are not ignorant of his devices." ^B And the admirable Job, being perplexed about such things, says: "Who will uncover the face of his garment? And who can enter into the fold of his breastplate? And who will open the doors of his face?" That which he says is of this kind: There is no manifest face in him, he says, for he covers his wickedness with many garments, deceiving with what appears in a fraudulent manner, while insidiously contriving destruction with that which is hidden. And that he might not number himself among those ignorant of the things concerning him, he provides his indications, knowing well that everything around him is monstrous. "His eyes," he says, "are like the appearance of Lucifer; his inward parts are of bronze asps." ^C And he says these things, exposing his malice, how by feigning the appearance of Lucifer he contrives to draw towards himself those who see him, but by the asps within, he brings death upon those who approach. And the proverb also hints at the danger of the matter, saying: "He who cuts wood will be in danger, if the iron fall out." For he who weighs matters with his discourse, and separates those that are thought to be joined by nature, and shows them to be entirely foreign to each other, wishing to distinguish what are truly good from what are thought to be such—if he does not have the discourse securely fortified on all sides, ^D he is in danger among his hearers, since the discourse, falling away from its security, provides an opportunity for scandal to those who are being instructed.

CHAPTER XXX

Thus one of those who attended upon Elisha, while cutting wood at the Jordan, and the iron having fallen into the river, being fearful of the danger, cried out to the master saying: "Alas, master! And this was borrowed." This is what they suffer who attempt to teach from things they have learned poorly, and are unable to arrive at the end, because they do not speak from their own habit. For when, in the midst of their discourse, they are caught saying something contrary to their proposition, then they confess their ignorance, being in danger over the word which they have accepted on loan. Therefore, the great Elisha, by casting wood into the depth, made the axe-head which had been cast away by the disciple to float, and by clarifying the thought that was thought to be hidden in the depths and bringing it under the sight of those who hear, he signifies—behold, the Jordan indicates the discourse of repentance; for there the baptism of repentance was performed by John. But he who has not spoken accurately about repentance, but—by laying bare the hidden...

wood, makes the iron ascend from the depths and float—reproves him who dares to speak prematurely. For before the cross, the word concerning repentance was hidden; therefore, he who desired to say something about it was rebuked, having dared too much in his haste. But after the cross, it became manifest to all in its proper time, revealed through the wood. ^A

CHAPTER XXXI

CHAPTER XXXII

are not firm, especially since those who wish to plant are still carried about in an unstable character. For an order and a sequence, if they are to be observed in any other matter, must also be observed in the works of piety, and one must be guided toward the regimen from the very beginning. For those who disregard the things that concern the introduction and are deceived by more delicate things are necessarily pressured to proceed afterward in the series of order. And just as Jacob, attracted by Rachel's beauty, overlooked the weakness of Leah's eyes, he nonetheless did not escape the labor for the possession of that virtue; for he fulfilled the seven years for this one as well. 57 It is necessary, therefore, for someone who wishes to advance rightfully in the regimen, not to be led from the end to the beginnings, but to reach out from the beginning toward perfection.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

For thus will he himself accomplish what he is striving for, and will guide those subject to him blamelessly toward the aim of virtue. But most people, having endured no labor and having directed neither small nor great work of divine worship, fall into that name as if by chance, displaying a grave madness and not noticing the danger that underlies it. And not only do they not shrink away when certain people encourage them toward the work, but even going about the narrow alleys, they drag along those they encounter against their will, promising every service, just as those who set terms for hirelings regarding food and clothing. It is necessary, indeed, for those so caught by the love of the matter—and who desire to appear with a crowd in processions and to find rest in those who guide them by the hand—to maintain the entire scenario of the leaders, adopting the simulation of a drama, so they are not abandoned by those who perform this service for them. They grant many things graciously to their pleasures and permit them their desires, like a charioteer having dropped the reins and having entrusted the course to their own free will; thus, being carried from here toward precipices and toward chasms, it is necessary for them to fall into everything that is in their path, as there is no one who might hold them back or impede their disordered impulses.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

But let such people hear the blessed Ezekiel lamenting those who provide the material for the pleasures of others, and who, because they are carried about by the will of each individual, are storing up "woe" for themselves. For he says: "Woe to those who sew pillows under every elbow of the hand, and who make cushions for every head of every age, so as to destroy souls, for a fistful of barley and for a morsel of bread." 58 Thus, indeed, do these men also, gathering the needs of their own body from contributions, and resting upon mattresses and quilts sewn together as if from rags, put to shame those who ought to pray with a bare head or even to interpret the holy scriptures, by means of these cushions, effeminating the manly state by these coverings placed beneath them, and [bringing ruin] to souls that ought not perish.

^A And it was especially appropriate for those who are obedient to the true Master, Christ, to refuse the governance of others, as much as they were able; for He says to His own disciples: "But you, do not be called Rabbi." If He exhorted Peter, and John, and the whole choir of the apostles to stand far off from such a work, and to consider themselves small for such an office, who then will be the one subsequently who imagines himself above them and considers himself worthy of a dignity from which they were restrained, or perhaps says that He forbade being called Rabbi, not [the actual] being such, but [merely] being called it?

CHAPTER XXXV.

If, however, someone against his will—because he has taken on one or two to govern—should be compelled to preside over more, let him first examine himself diligently to see if he is the sort of person who teaches what must be done by deed rather than by word, setting forth his own life to the learners as an image of every virtue, so that they might not, by transcribing from there the deformity of error, sully the beauty of virtue. Afterwards, let him know that he is obligated to agonize no less for those who are ruled than for himself. For just as he will render an account for himself, so too will he render one for them, once he has undertaken to procure their salvation. For it was the care/zeal of the saints not to leave their disciples lacking in virtue, but to transform them from their first state into a better state. Thus, the Apostle Paul made Onesimus from a fugitive slave into a martyr; Elias made Elisha from a plowman into a prophet; Moses adorned Joshua better than all others; and Eli showed Samuel to be greater than himself. ^B For if the zeal of these men themselves contributed much to the acquiring of virtue, yet the entire cause of their progress was that they happened upon honest masters, who were able to fan the smoldering spark of readiness up to a greater and more sublime degree of progress; and they caused it to shine forth, and on that account they became the mouth of God, to declare His will to men, for they had heard Him who says: "If you bring forth the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth."

CHAPTER XXXVI.

^C But God reveals the faculty of the master to Ezekiel, teaching what sort of disciples one ought to make from what sort of material. "For son of man," He says, "take for yourself a brick, and place it before your face, and upon it you shall describe the city of Jerusalem," signifying that the master fashions a holy disciple from clay as if it were a holy temple. ^D Moreover, it is a fine thing that "you shall place it before your face"; for thus the progress of the disciple toward what is better will be swift, if he is altogether in the sight of the master. For continuous memories of good examples imprint similar images upon souls that are not altogether hard and rough. On account of this, Gehazi and Judas fell, the one by theft, [the other by...]

betrayal, when they withdrew themselves from the eyes of their masters; for had they remained with those who corrected them, neither of them would have transgressed. ^B Indeed, how great a danger follows a master from the negligence of his own disciples, he declared in what follows, saying: "And you shall set an iron pan between you and the city, and it shall be a wall between you and it." For he who does not wish to be a participant in the punishment of one who is sluggish, after he has made him a city out of brick, ought—to those who are reverting from such a state—to declare the punishments with which he threatened them, so that they might become a wall that distinguishes the innocent from the guilty. For God, commanding this to Ezekiel, says: "Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel; ^C and if you see the sword coming, and do not testify to them, yet one of them falls, I will require his soul at your hand."

CHAPTER XXXVII

Moses sets such a wall for himself, too, saying to the Israelites: "Take heed to yourself, that you do not seek to follow them after they have been destroyed from you." For this happens to those who give less heed to their own minds after the cutting away of their passions: just as certain sprouts, the images of former fantasies begin to peep forth, to which, if anyone gives place, they will continuously pour into the intellect, and if he does not prevent their entrance, he will again introduce the passions, preparing a way of life for himself ^D that is ready for combat after the victory. For the passions, once tamed and taught like oxen to eat hay, due to the negligence of the one who is taming them, become wild again and recover the cruelty of wild beasts. Therefore, he says, that this may not happen, "do not seek to follow them," lest the soul, by inquiring, contract a habit of delighting in such fantasies and return to its ancient wickedness. Knowing that this happens, the great Jacob, because those things which are contemplated and continuously meditated upon harm the mind all the more, the clearest and most manifest images of disgraceful fantasies impressed upon it, hides the strange gods in Shechem; for labor concerning the passions hides and destroys them, not for a brief time, but "until this day," that is, for all time; since "this day" extends for eternity, denoting the time that is always present. Shechem shows that it is a battle, which signifies the labor concerning the passions. Therefore, Jacob also gives to Joseph Shechem as an excellent possession, namely, the labor in them that fights against the passions.

CHAPTER XXXVIII

For Jacob himself, saying that he acquired Shechem with sword and bow, shows that he mastered the passions with battle and labor, hiding them in the land of the Shechemites. But it seems in some way contrary: to hide the gods in Shechem, and to place an idol in a secret place; for the former is praiseworthy, which in

^A truth has been done; but that which is to be blamed is to place an idol in secret. Thus, therefore, he even set it down with a curse, saying: "Cursed be he who places an idol in secret" (Deut. xxvii, 15). For it is not the same thing to hide [something] in the earth completely, as it is to place it in a secret place. For that which is hidden in the earth, and no longer appears to the senses, with the passage of time also fades from memory. But that which is placed in secret, perhaps indeed escapes those who are outside, but to him who placed it there, being seen continually, it renews the memory of the image carried secretly. For every foul thought formed in the mind is a secret idol. Thus, therefore, it is a shame to bring such thoughts out into the open; it is dangerous, therefore, to place this idol in secret, but it is more dangerous to follow it and to seek out the forms already vanished, with the thought easily inclining toward the expelled passion, and weighing down the scale of the idols to the very ground. For such a habit of virtue is in a way quick to incline, and if it is neglected, it ^B tips very easily toward the contrary.

Chapter XXXIX.

For Scripture seems to signify this through a figure, when it says: "The land which you are entering is changeable in the changing of the peoples of the nations." For immediately, just as he who is endowed with the habit of virtue is moved toward the contrary, so it too is changed; for the earth is changeable. Therefore, you ought not to provide an accessible beginning for the mind to fantasies apt to harm the reasoning faculty, nor permit it to descend into Egypt; for from there it is violently abducted to the Assyrians. For if the mind is joined into the darkness of impure reasonings (for this is what Egypt is interpreted to mean), then violently and against its will, it is dragged by the passions toward action. For this reason, also, the lawgiver, symbolically blocking the entrance of pleasure, commanded to watch the head of the serpent. For when ^C he also watches the heel—for to him the effective operation is proposed as the goal, which if he does not seize, he cannot easily infuse the poison with a bite—we for our part must strive to crush the very onset of pleasure; for when this is crushed, the operation is weak. Perhaps, moreover, Samson would not have burned the harvests of the foreigners, if he had not bound the heads of the foxes in opposite directions to their tails (Judic. xv, 4). For whoever has been able to consider intently from the beginnings the traps of crafty reasonings, and ignoring the initial phases (for they seem weighty as they are being made, [but] they plot to catch the end), and from the mutual comparison of the extremes, is able to refute the absurdity of the reasonings, he joins tail to tail, placing the torch in the midst of them—which is refutation.

CAPUT XL.

And so that what has been said may become clearer, I shall lay bare what I have stated by means of two arguments; for from this there will also be a true verification of the rest. Often there comes from vain ^D

^A glory the reasoning of lust, and it exhibits indeed the vestibules of the ways that lead to hell; but it hides the ruinous paths, through which it leads down into the storehouses of hell those who follow it without reason. For it suggests sometimes the priesthood, sometimes the perfect life of a monk, and makes many approach it for the sake of utility, and from word and deed it prepares a good reputation to appear for him, and when it has sufficiently beguiled him with these thoughts, it turns him far away from natural sobriety; then, ostensibly portraying the happy encounter of a grave woman, it leads him to the performance of an impure act, bringing down the freedom of conscience to extreme infamy. He, therefore, who wishes to bind the tails together, let him take the ends of the two reasonings: the honor of vain glory, and the disgrace of fornication; and when he clearly sees them opposing each other, then let him think he has done what Samson did. Again, the reasoning of gluttony has fornication as its end; but the end of fornication is sorrow; for immediately after the recovery, sorrow and anxiety of soul follow him who is overcome by such reasonings. Let the combatant therefore consider, not the enjoyment of foods, nor the slipperiness of pleasure, but the ends of both of these; and when he finds sorrow following both, let him know that he has bound tail ^B to tail, and by a refutation he will destroy the harvests of the aliens.

CHAPTER XLI.

If, therefore, such science and experience are necessary for him who carries on war against the passions, let those who are appointed to the governance of others discern what great knowledge they themselves require, so that they may both prudently lead their subjects to the prize of the heavenly calling, and clearly teach them all the deceits, that they may not only provide the appearance of victory by shadow-boxing in the air, but in the very battle against the enemy may inflict lethal wounds, so that they may not cast their hands into the air in vain, but crush the adversary himself. For this contest is much more difficult than the gymnastic struggle; for there the bodies of the athletes are bowed down, which can easily be raised again; but here souls fall, which once they have been struck down, it is scarcely possible to raise up. But if anyone still struggling in a life full of desires, and defiled with blood, attempts to build a temple of God out of rational souls, let such a one by all means hear: «That thou shalt not build me a temple, because thou art a man of blood.» ^C For it belongs to a peaceful state to build a temple to God. And Moses, indeed, taking the tabernacle and fixing it outside the camp, shows that the teacher ought to be very far from warlike tumult, and that he who has been translated to a peaceful and entirely non-bellicose life ought to dwell far from a camp filled with perturbation. ^D When such teachers are found, they require disciples who thus deny themselves, and their own volunta-

-^Ary will, so that they differ in no respect from an inanimate body or original matter subjected to an artisan; just as the soul in the body performs what it wishes, while the body offers no resistance, and just as an artisan displays his own art in his material, being hindered in nothing by it in reaching his proper goal: so the master may work in his disciples the science of virtue, having them obedient and contradicting in nothing.

CAPUT XLII.

For to inquire too curiously into the administration of a master, and to desire to examine those things which he commands, is to impede one’s own progress. For it is not always the case that what appears reasonable and persuasive to the inexperienced is also truly convenient. But the artisan and the person unskilled in an art judge the things belonging to the art differently; for the one uses science as a rule, whereas the other uses what seems likely. Now, what seems likely only rarely hits upon the truth, and more often misses the mark of rectitude, having a certain kinship with deception. For what seems more absurd at first glance than a ship's captain—when the ship is being borne erratically aslant in navigation, in what sailors call a "rectum" (or when tending to the high seas)—ordering those on board to sit on the lower bench in the water, having vacated the upper bench, even while the wind drives [the ship] and rather overturns the side upon which he ordered them to weight down? And yet, it is fitting to advise that the lower bench be weighted down, and in no way to run toward that side which is in danger. But nevertheless, those sailing obey the captain rather than their own thoughts; for the necessity of serving the art of the one who has undertaken to procure their safety persuades them, even if that which is being done is not persuasive from the things they see. Do not, therefore, those who have committed their own safety to the care of another, leaving aside what seems convenient, submit their own reasonings to the art of the one who knows it, judging his science more worthy of faith? And, as a first step, those who are renouncing [the world] should omit nothing outside [of this], not even the very least amount, fearing the example of Ananias, who, thinking he was defrauding men, underwent divine condemnation for theft.

CAPUT XLIII.

^C But just as they surrender themselves, so let them surrender all their own possessions, knowing well that that which is left behind, by continually drawing the mind back to itself, will for the most part distract them from better things, and in the end will even cut them off from the perfection of the brotherhood. For this reason the Holy Spirit committed the lives of the saints to writing, so that each one of those who zealously pursue such a manner of life may be led to the truth by these similar examples. By what reasoning, therefore, did Elisha, in obeying his master, renounce the world? "He was ploughing," says Scripture, "with the oxen and twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he cooked them in the vessels of the oxen," and this signifies enigmatically the fervent eagerness of his soul; for he did not say, "I will sell the yoke of the oxen and I will manage them as is fitting," nor did he reason that what was sold would be of more use...

^A if the proceeds were turned to some great benefit. On the contrary, he was wholly drawn with a ready spirit toward the teacher's presence; he despised what he saw, and studied rather to cast aside things as though they were distractions from a right purpose, since he knew well that postponement had often been the cause of changing one's resolve. In what way, then, did the Lord, when proposing the perfection of a life according to God to the rich man, order him to sell his possessions and give to the poor, and to leave nothing for himself, if He had not known that what was left behind would similarly become a cause of distraction for everything? I also think that Moses, when he wished for those who desired to purify themselves in the great prayer, by ordering that they shave their entire body, ^B was ordering the perfect casting away of existing goods, and second, that they should so forget kinship and domestic familiarity that they might never be troubled by the memories of these things at all.

CHAPTER XLIV

If, indeed, the ark caused the cows that were yoked under the wagon to forget their nature, as well as their calves that were shut away from them at home; and with no one forcing them, they traveled the road without blame, not turning to the right or to the left, nor showing affection for their offspring by a turn of the neck, nor declaring the pain of the loss of their young by lowing; but although they were crushed by the weight of the ark, and though they were being forcibly led by the tyranny of nature as if with a twisted neck, they walked as if along a line and were in no way turned aside from the straight path, having been overcome in the affection which is from nature by the reverence for the ark that was placed upon them—why should not the same be done by those who ^C strive to lift up the intellectual ark? It would indeed be necessary, and even more so, so that the rational faculty, being measured by works that are useful, might not be reproved by irrational nature, as if that which irrational creatures perform by necessity, it does not perform by reasoning.

Likewise, Joseph also wanders through the desert, because he was seeking the definition of perfection from the names of his kin; and for this reason, the man who was inquiring of him the cause of his error—that it was affection for his kinsmen—learned that he would not have said "to feed" them, but rather "to shepherd" the flocks, had he not had a judgment that was erring concerning the method of his art. He says to him: "They have departed from here, for I heard them saying: Let us go to Dothaim." Now Dothaim is interpreted ^D as "sufficient abandonment," teaching him who still wanders and loves the things that concern the body that he will not otherwise find perfection unless he sufficiently abandons the affection for the kinship of the flesh.

CHAPTER XLV

For even if someone leaves Charran, which signifies the senses—for it is interpreted as "caverns"—and goes out from the valley of Chebron, that is, from menial works, and from the desert, in which the error occurs for the one who seeks perfection; and if he does not...

^A transmigrate, there will be no utility for him in his long tribulation, seduced from perfection by the lure of kinship; but the Lord also, as if rebuking the Theotokos Mary when she sought Him among her kin, and judging as unworthy of Himself anyone who loves father or mother more than Him, fittingly proposes the abandonment of the bonds of kinship.

After their direction, those who have recently been freed from tumults must be counseled to embrace quiet, and neither by continuous goings-about to irritate the wounds inflicted upon the mind by the senses, nor to bring new likenesses to the old images of sins, but to decline the assault of the new, and to strive with all zeal to abolish the ancient phantasies. For rest is laborious to those who have recently renounced the world; for then memory, having seized the opportunity, stirs up all the impurity lying within, which it had no leisure to do before because of the multitude of surrounding affairs. Yet it holds, after the labor, this benefit: that eventually it delivers the mind from the perturbation of impure reasonings. For if their purpose is to wash their soul and purge it of all that defiles it, they must withdraw from all affairs through which filth increases, and afford the mind great tranquility, and remain far from agitators, and flee the conversations of closer relatives, embracing solitude, the mother of philosophy.

Chapter XLVI.

let him remain at home safe, procuring for himself security from his quiet. Such was Jesus son of Nave, of whom it is written: ^A *But his servant Jesus, a youth, would not depart out of the tabernacle.* For he knew that those who went out into the field were killed by the brothers of the body and the friends of the flesh because of their premature struggle, having been instructed by the history of Abel.

CHAPTER XLVII

Nor is it less possible to learn precisely from the account of Dinah that it is a truly girlish and womanish cast of mind to undertake things beyond one’s own capacity, and to be deceived by the assumption that one is sufficient for them. For unless she had readily ventured to inspect the things of the region, as though she were capable and in no way liable to be enticed by the pleasure of them, she would not have prematurely corrupted the faculty of judgment implanted in her soul, since it was deceived by the imagination of sensible things, and had not yet lawfully conversed with noble reasoned discourse. God, knowing that this passion—I mean conceit—is prevalent among men, and wishing to uproot it from our affection, says to the lawgiver Moses: ^B *Make the children of Israel pious,* knowing that it is alien to piety to readily undertake struggles that exceed one’s strength. Therefore, one must not mix oneself in civic tumults before the perfect habit of virtue, but must flee as far as possible, establishing the mind far from the clamoring noises; for there is no great benefit in having retreated from affairs only to be surrounded by stories about them, and having left the city, to sit at the gates of the actions, like Lot, becoming filled with the turmoil from that place. Rather, one must withdraw outside, after the example of the great Moses, so that not only their works, but also their voices might cease. As he says: ^C *When I have gone out of the city, and stretched forth my hands, the voices shall cease.*

CHAPTER XLVIII

For then true tranquility comes to pass, when not only the actions, but also the memories of them, leaving the time vacant, provide the soul the ability to see the impressed forms, and to struggle against each one of them, and to cut it out of the mind. But as other and more forms supervene, it is not possible to erase the previously born forms; the reasoning power being occupied with those that are present, the labor for them to cut out the passions necessarily becomes more difficult, since they gain strength from ^D their gradual increase, and like rivers, by their ceaseless flow and the imaginations that keep streaming in, they inundate the discerning power of the soul. For just as those who wish to see the riverbed dry—perhaps because some things worthy of note are stored therein—accomplish nothing by emptying the water that is in that place, into which what is being sough

sought [is thought to be hidden]. When, however, they check the flow from above, the soil of the remaining water, having withdrawn of its own accord, appears to them effortlessly, granting them dry ground for the investigation of those things which were desired. In this way, it is very easy for the effective forms of the passions to be emptied out, provided the senses no longer provide aid from without. For since these senses, like a river, introduce sensible things, it is not only difficult, but impossible, to completely cleanse the mind from such an inundation. For even if the passions do not disturb it, as they find no time for agitation due to constant encounters, ^B they nevertheless hide and, coiled beneath, grow more dense, receiving strength from time itself.

CHAPTER XLIX

And just as soil that is constantly trodden upon, even if it has thorns, does not display them—for the trampling of feet prevents them from sprouting—nonetheless, it extends its strong and very healthy roots deep within its bosom; and when, with time permitting, they have obtained an opportunity to arise, they immediately sprout. So too, the passions, prevented by constant encounters from emerging clearly into the light, become more robust; and growing more abundantly during the quiet, they wage a grave and dangerous war with great strength against those who neglected to fight against them at the beginning. Therefore, the prophet also commands that the seed be exterminated from Babylon, ^C advising that those forms which are still in the storehouses of the senses be destroyed, so that they may not fall into the soil of the mind and sprout, and, watered by the copious and useless rains of ceaseless concern, bring forth a manifold fruit of wickedness. Another prophet also declares blessed those who do not wait for the peak of the passions, but destroy them while still clinging to the breast, saying, “Blessed is he who shall take and dash your little ones against the rock.” Perhaps the great Job, too, while philosophizing to himself, obscurely designates someone of this kind; saying that the papyrus and the *butomon*, or reed, flourish in water, but every herb, when deprived of the river, withers; and “the formicary lion has perished, because it had no food.” He seems to signify something of this kind. For wishing to demonstrate the power of the passion which lies in wait, the great Job found for it a fitting title, compounding the name from the most audacious lion and the most base of all things, the ant. ^D For the assaults of the passions begin from base imaginations, creeping secretly like an ant, but at the end they are puffed up into a great swelling, so that they cause no less danger to the one they encounter in their path than a lion. Therefore, the wrestler must fight against the passions at the time when they approach like an ant—snatching away their baseness as bait. For if they are allowed to reach the strength of a lion, they become difficult to vanquish.

^A They must not be provided with fodder. Their fodder, as has often been said, is the images of the passions which come through sensible things; for these images nourish the passions, arming each species in turn against the soul.

CHAPTER L

For this reason the Lawgiver made the windows of the temple lattice-work, ^B signifying that those who wish to keep their own mind pure, like a temple, must have had it fashioned with lattice-work windows, just as there, to prevent any of the unclean animals from creeping in. In this way, one must interweave the senses with obstacles of reasoning—the terrible things of the future judgment—to wall off the entrance against those unclean forms that creep in and supervene. And perhaps for this reason Ochozias fell ill, after he fell from the lattice; ^C for to fall from the lattice is to neglect the accounts of reciprocal retribution in the time of temptations while inclining toward pleasures. And what is more grievous than this illness? For bodily illness is a state contrary to nature, when the equality of the elements is perverted by the predominance of one, into what is against nature; but for the soul, it is the inclining of right reason after having been conquered by morbific passions. Solomon, ^D for the one who is able to hear, wove such nets for the vision, saying: "When your eyes look upon a strange woman, your mouth will then speak perverse things," calling "perverse" those things that will happen after sin, at the time of retribution; for these, when contemplated with the proper disposition, prohibit every dangerous gazing of the eyes. He also stated what the condition of the reasoning must be at that time: "For you shall lie," he says, "as in the heart of the sea, and as a pilot in a deep swell of waves."

CHAPTER LI

For if someone, in the time of the battle against the sight which provokes lust, is able to make himself so battle-ready against the threatened punishments, that, like a man tossed in a storm at sea, he effortlessly overcomes those struggling against him, not even perceiving the blows dealt him, so as to say: "They struck me, and I felt no pain; and they mocked me, but I did not know." For they, he says, were striking me and thinking they were mocking me. ^D But I did not even feel the blows; for they were the arrows of infants, nor did I turn toward their deceits, not even pretending that they were present. For thus did David, despising such adversaries, speak: "I did not know the wicked man departing from me, nor when they came," he says, "nor when they departed, did I perceive it." But he who does not even know this—that there is much communion of the senses with sensible objects, but that deception easily arises from this communion—such a one...

suspecting harm, but having previously been incautiously subject to them, how will he recognize the treachery at the time of deception, if he has not been instructed beforehand in their distinction? For that there is a war of the senses against sensible things, and that sensible things impose tributes upon the defeated senses, is clear from the war of the Assyrians against the Sodomites. For historically, Scripture introduces the theme of the four kings of the Assyrian nation against the five kings who were around Sodom: first, indeed, concord, treaties, and peaceful sacrifices near the Salt Sea; then the servitude of the five for twelve years; then in the thirteenth year, rebellion; and in the fourteenth, the war of the insurgents, the four against the five, taking them captive. ^B

CHAPTER LII.

And this history indeed had such an outcome; but we are instructed by this history in what pertains to us ourselves, and we learn the war of the senses against sensible things. For each one of us, from birth until twelve years of age, not yet having been purified by discernment, is subjected to servitude without examination, submitting the senses to sensible things as to masters, for the sake of their commands: sight to visible things, hearing to sounds, taste to juices, smell to vapors, and touch to those sensible things that are naturally suited to move this sense; being unable to distinguish even one of these perceptions, nor to break free on account of infancy. When, however, the faculty of reasoning reaches ^C perfect maturity and begins to perceive the harm, it immediately contemplates rebellion and flight from such servitude; and if, having become stronger in reason, it confirms this judgment, it remains free for all time, having escaped the bitter masters. But if it has a judgment weaker than the undertaking, it again abandons the senses as captives, defeated by the power of sensible things, and enduring thenceforth a tyrannical servitude without any good hope. For this reason, those five kings in the history, having been defeated by the four, are driven into the pits of bitumen, so that we may learn that those who are defeated by ^D sensible things, as if in deep ditches or wells, for each sense, the sensible thing which is referred to it is set around it, contemplating nothing more than the things seen thereafter; since desire is bound to earthly things, and the enjoyment of the things that come from them is loved more than things intelligible.

CHAPTER LIII.

Thus also the slave who has loved his master, and his wife, and his children, refusing true liberty because of his kinship with corporeal things, becomes a slave for eternity, his ear having been pierced with an awl, so that hearing from his natural orifice, he may not in any way receive the reason of liberty; but may remain a slave continuously, captured by the love of present things. For this reason also, the hand of the woman who seizes the genitals while two men are fighting, the law

^A commanded to be cut off, because when the battle of the reasonings is taking place regarding the choice between worldly and heavenly goods, this woman, having abandoned the choice of the latter, laid hold of the things of generation and corruption; for through the reproductive organs, Scripture signified the things of generation. It is of no profit, therefore, to renounce occupations if one does not persevere in the judgment, but is drawn aside again and yields to the reasoning, and for this reason turns continuously toward the things that were abandoned, and proclaims the affection one still has for them, just as the wife of Lot—for having turned back, she has stood until today, a pattern for the disobedient, having been changed into a pillar of salt. For such is habit, of which she was a symbol, turning back to itself those who wish to depart without looking back. But what also does the law say, bidding the one who ^B enters the temple, after he has finished the things of prayer? Not to turn back toward that gate through which he entered, but to go out through the one on the opposite side, making his journey straight without looking back: clearly, that it is not fitting to loosen the swift course toward virtue with reciprocal windings; for continuous inclinations toward the things from which we have departed draw us back entirely by habit to the things that are behind, and having slackened the impulse toward what is in front, they pull the whole person toward themselves, and prepare one to return to the ancient evils.

CHAPTER LIV

For habit is a terrible thing to seize hold upon a person, and not permit one to rise again to the former ^C habit of virtue; for a habit is contracted from custom, and from a habit a nature is produced; and to move and change a nature is difficult. For even if it is bent a little by force, it quickly runs back to itself, being shaken from its proper terms, yet not transitioning altogether to the end unless much labor again provides for it that it may travel the same road and return to the state abandoned by custom. For observe the soul that follows customs, how it sits upon idols, having fixed itself to formless matters, and when the reason wishes to lead it up to higher things, it does not consent to the joint ascent, saying, "I cannot rise before you, for it is with me according to the custom of women." For the soul that has rested for many years in the things of life sits upon idols, which are in themselves formless, but receive form by human ^D craft; for is not wealth, and glory, and the other affairs of secular life a formless thing, having nothing polished nor articulated? Instead, they feign the truth through a misleading likeness by receiving from time to time different changes, one after another; but we ourselves clothe them with form, when we fashion a useful appearance through human reasonings for things that conduce to nothing useful.

^A When we extend the necessary requirement of the body to an inconceivable magnificence, preparing food with a thousand delicacies, and ambitiously and variously distinguishing garments for softness and luxury; then, being accused of this vanity, as if we have uselessly and in vain clothed the need, which can be satisfied with a few things, with delicate expenditures for ostentation, we fabricate defenses as if this befits the case. What else are we doing but contending to wrap form around formless matters? And we have well said that such a soul is also seated upon them. ^B For the soul, having confirmed such judgments within itself regarding these things, remains fixed thereafter to these things as to idols, no longer serving the truth, and being unable to turn back through it, and polluting the nature of these things with habits just as with menstrual impurity; but sitting, Scripture here calls the laziness regarding honorable things and the love of pleasure. When it speaks of laziness: “Sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in poverty and iron.” For darkness and fetters are a hindrance to works. And when it speaks of the love of pleasure concerning those whose hearts were turned to Egypt and who said to one another: “We remember when we sat by the pots of meat, and we ate meat to our fill.” For truly those who love pleasure sit upon pots, kindling desires with a moist and restless heat. For the mother of the love of pleasure is satiety, for it itself begets lust, and quickly, too, many other passions; for from this, as from a root, the other passions sprout, and in a short time grow over their parent like tall trees extending up to heaven, shooting forth iniquities like suckers. For greed, and anger, and sorrow are the offspring and sprouts of gluttony; for the glutton has first a need of money to satisfy a desire that is always burning, even if it is never satisfied. But against those who hinder the acquisition of these things, it is necessary for the irascible power to be moved, and sorrow necessarily follows anger, which, on account of infirmity, does not reach its effect; for that which advances into the breast and the belly: when it indeed possesses effective materials of pleasure, it proceeds to the belly; but when it is deprived of these, it creeps into the breast, where irascibility is; for those who love pleasure, when deprived of pleasures, become angry and embittered. ^D

Chapter LVI.

Whence the great Moses places a breastplate upon the chest of the priest, ^C indicating through signs that it is necessary to curb the impulses of the irascible passion with judgment as with a bridle by means of reasoning; for the breastplate is a rational instrument of judgment; and indeed he who controls passion by reason is imperfect; but the perfect Moses removes the irascible entirely; for it does not...

he says, remove the breastplate as an offering before the Lord. ^A There are others who do not cut away the irascible entirely, nor do they master the passion by reason, but instead overcome it through toil; these are they who remove the breastplate together with the arm. For the arm is a sign of toil and labor. Similarly, to say that pleasure proceeds upon the belly is most true; for it is almost the cause of all pleasures. For when the belly is filled, appetites for other pleasures become intense; but when it is in need, they remain quiet and more stable. And here there is a distinction between the one who is progressing and the perfect. For Moses, perfectly casting aside the pleasure of foods, washed the belly and the feet with water; signifying by the belly pleasure, and by the feet, steps and progress. But he who is progressing washes what is in the belly, not the entire belly. And the words, "He washed," and "they shall wash," have a great difference; for the former was voluntary, but the latter is performed by commandment. ^B

CHAPTER LVII

For the perfect man must be stirred to actions according to virtue by the spontaneous movement of the soul, but the one who is progressing, by the encouragement of the instructor, being obedient to the exhortation of the guide. It is most carefully observed that one should remove the whole breastplate, but not remove the belly, but rather wash it; for the wise man has the strength to refuse and cut away all anger, but he cannot cut away the belly. For nature compels even the most temperate person to use necessary foods. But the soul that does not align itself with the right and abiding reason, but has become corrupted by animal pleasures—on account of this the belly is inflamed; because, even if the vessels of the body are overfilled, the desire remains thirsty, and the swelling of the belly follows because the thigh has fallen; for the mind grows weak toward the generation of noble things, as the belly is inflamed by the luxury of foods, and it also relaxes the spiritual tensions; these the legal word signified enigmatically through the thigh. Therefore, the lover of pleasure proceeds upon the belly, having flowed down entirely into luxurious indulgences; but ^C he who sets out to live a life according to virtue removes the fat of the belly, refusing foods that fatten the body. And the one who is progressing washes what is in the belly, but the perfect man washes the whole belly, casting away entirely those things which are superfluous to necessary need. ^D

CHAPTER LVIII

Very appositely is it added, "Upon the breast, and the belly, you shall walk." For pleasure is not of those who are standing and at rest, but of those who are moving and full of turmoil. And rather, in these...

cases, gluttony is closely related to the movement of the sexual passions. ^A Since nature wishes to show the close association between these passions, she has called the reproductive organs "sub-ventral," thereby indicating through their closeness their affinity. For if that passion [gluttony] is weakened, the other [lust] is weakened by the lack of supply from what is above it; but if [gluttony] runs riot and is promoted, [lust] derives an imported strength from it. Gluttony is not only the nurse and foster-mother of these, but also the expeller of all honorable things. For when it rules and has seized the principate, honorable things—continence, temperance, fortitude, patience, and all the remaining virtues—are accustomed to fall and be cast down. Jeremiah declared this enigmatically when he said that the chief of the cooks of the Babylonians threw down the walls of Jerusalem round about, calling the passion of gluttony the "chief of the cooks." ^B For just as the chief of the cooks, having every concern to serve the belly, invents a thousand arts, fabricating pleasures; so too gluttony moves every machine, serving pleasure against hunger, while the variety of foods destroys and afflicts the firmness of the virtues.

CHAPTER LIX

For the condiments and compounds of foods are engines and siege-machines attacking virtue that is already beautifully established, shaking and casting down its stability and firmness. And just as superabundance is the exterminator of the virtues, so on the contrary, frugality is naturally apt to dissolve the fortifications of malice. Just as the chief of the cooks destroyed the wall of Jerusalem in the peaceful soul, using the art of preparing delicacies to distract the flesh toward pleasures, so too the cake of barley bread of the Israelites, ^C as it rolled, cast down the tabernacles of the Midianites. For simple and easily procurable sustenance, proceeding in this way, for the most part dissolves the affections of impurity. For the Midianites bear the figure of the passions of impurity. They were the ones, indeed, who brought harlotry into Israel and deceived a great multitude of the young. The Scripture spoke very elegantly when it said the Midianites have "tabernacles," but Jerusalem has a "wall"; for whatever things encompass virtue are firmly fixed and stable, but those that contain vice are merely a form and a tent, differing nothing from things that only appear to exist.

CHAPTER LX

For this reason, the saints fled the cities and turned away from the gatherings of the many, knowing that the company of corrupt ^D people is more destructive than a pestilential disease. Therefore, taking nothing, they left their possessions uncultivated, rejecting the distraction of soul that comes from them. For this reason, Elias, leaving Judea, inhabited Mount Carmel, which was desert and filled with wild beasts, and, apart from trees, having nothing for the solace of nourishment; for he was content with

^A the fruits of the fields, and with these he met the necessity of his needs. Elisha, in like manner, had the same way of life, and along with other noble deeds, he chose to dwell in desert places, having succeeded to this from his teacher. And John, dwelling in the desert of the Jordan, ate locusts and wild honey, showing to many the effortlessness of the body’s need for life, and reproaching them for their burdensome luxury. Perhaps, too, Moses in a general way sets such a law regarding the manna, instructing the Israelites to gather it from day to day, commanding the human life to be strictly for the day, not provided in advance, judging it fitting for a rational nature to be content with what is at hand, and for Christ to be the steward of the rest, or else, by providing for the future, to appear to distrust ^B the grace of God, as if He did not always rain down upon men His eternal gifts.

CHAPTER LXI

And to speak in summary, for this reason all the saints, of whom the world was not worthy, forsook the inhabited earth, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and the holes of the earth, and went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, afflicted, tormented, fleeing from the domestic vices of men and the strange things flooding the cities, so that they might not be carried away by the violence of the current, like a torrent, into the aimless inundation of the multitude; but rejoicing in living with wild beasts, and judging the harm they could receive from them to be less than that which men might inflict, ^C fleeing from men as plotters, but trusting in the wild beasts as friends; for those do not teach malice, and they admire and honor virtue. Thus, then, those who, as it seemed, were men destroyed Daniel, but the lions preserved him, guarding him who was unjustly condemned out of envy; and when men had defrauded him of justice, they themselves proclaimed anew the righteous judgment concerning him who had been unjustly condemned; and the virtue of the man became to men a subject of envy and strife, but to the wild beasts an incitement to reverence and honor, to as many as have had a love for improvement implanted in them! ^D How great, then, was the implanted love of progress!

CHAPTER LXII

Let us emulate the virtues of the saints, and departing from the servitude of bodily commands, let us pursue freedom, and the wild ass let loose in the desert by the Creator, which hears no complaint from a tax collector and laughs at the tumult of a city. And if up to now we have made him carry burdens, subjecting him to the passions of vice, let us at last loosen the bonds, even if those who are not masters by nature, but who have usurped lordship by custom, speak against it, by all means listening, if they will listen, not with the tongue alone and bare speech, but with an earnest disposition, saying,

"The Lord has need of them." ^A Straightway they shall send him forth, so that, having been adorned with apostolic garments, he may become a vehicle of the Word, or, being released into the ancient pasture of the Word, he may seek after all the greenery—which is to say, following the flourishing sayings of the Divine Scripture, to be led into a blameless life, and at once to crop much nourishment and delight. But at the same time it must be sought how he who has been cast out into the desert by God—the wild ass, having his abode in the desert, and his tent in the salt-marsh—seeks after all the greenery, whereas the salt-marsh and the desert, for the most part, are not very suitable for the growing of grass. Unless perhaps one should say that he who is void of passions is able to seek the contemplation that is in the divine sayings, after the moisture of the passions has been ^B consumed.

CHAPTER LXIII.

Let us then abandon worldly concerns and incline ourselves toward the goods of the soul. How long are we to remain attached to child's play, never assuming a manly understanding? How long are we to act more weakly than mere infants, nor be led by the hand from them toward the progress of older ones? For they, as they change their age, change also the dispositions they have toward games, and easily put aside the propension they had toward such things. For walnuts, perhaps, and knuckle-bones and balls are the stuff of childhood for them, and they are affectionate toward these; as long as they possess the imperfection of understanding, they think it an ^C honor to prepare these things. But if one, having progressed, becomes a man, he has cast away those things and applies himself to business with much zeal. We, however, have remained persistent in infancy, marveling at things that are puerile and worthy of mockery, and we do not wish to even touch upon or receive the care of better things, or to take up a mode of thought befitting men; but abandoning this, we play about in earthly delights as if with walnuts, offering laughter to those who judge matters by following nature. For just as it is shameful to see a man of full age sitting in the ashes and drawing childish amusements in the dust, so it is shameful, and by far more shameful, to see those who are laboring for the enjoyment of eternal goods rolling about in the ashes of earthly things, who disgrace the perfection of their profession by the ineptitude of the things they study. And the cause of this thing for us, as it seems, is that we do not conceive in our mind that there are any ^D greater things than those which we usurp with our eyes; nor, from a comparison of the cheapness of present things, do we discern the eminence of the goods that are there; and being dazzled all around, we are detained by the brightness of what are seen here as goods and held in high esteem, and to these we bind our desire. For always in the absence of the better things, the worse are held in honor, inheriting the order of the former. As if we were having a high-minded thought concerning things to come, we would not be hanging upon these…

CHAPTER LXIV

Let us, therefore, begin to withdraw from present things; let us despise possessions, and money, and everything that submerges the reason and carries it down, groaning. Let us cast off the load, that the ship may for a little while lift its head up; let us, being tempest-tossed, throw out the many vessels, so that the governing mind may be able to be saved along with the cargo of thoughts. For if those who sail on the sea, when tempest-tossed, despise their own trade and with their own hands throw the cargo into the sea—judging the existence of life to be preferable to it, so that the ship, not being over-laden, might not be in danger of sinking from the weight of the cargo—they lighten it by throwing even the precious heirlooms into the abyss; why do we not also, for the sake of the better life, despise those things that drag the soul into the abyss? Why is the fear of God not as potent as the fear of the sea? They, desiring this temporary life, do not consider the loss of what they carry to be a great thing; we, however, claiming to contend so as to attain eternal life, do not despise even a trivial thing, but choose rather to perish together with the load than to be saved, deprived of those things. Let us, therefore, I entreat you, strip off everything; for the adversary stands naked. For do those who contend, contend while clothed? The athletic law brings them naked into the stadium and the arena. Even if there is heat, or if there is cold, they enter in this way, leaving their garments outside. But if any of them refuses to be stripped, he has refused the contest. We, however, invited to contend, and having a fight against adversaries much swifter than those who struggle physically, not only do not strip ourselves, but even, carrying thousands of loads upon our shoulders, attempt to contend, giving many holds to our adversaries against ourselves.

CHAPTER LXV

For how will he contend against the spiritual hosts of wickedness who clings to possessions, being easily buffeted from every side? Or how will he wrestle against the spirit of avarice, he who is buried in money? Or by what means will he run against the demons, who are naked of every care, he who is clothed in a thousand anxieties? Since the divine Scripture says: "He shall be pursued naked in that day." Naked, not he who is clothed in the many-stitched garments of the care for worldly affairs; naked, not he who is hindered in his running by the thoughts of the manifold matter of money and possessions; for the naked man is difficult to capture, or even unconquerable to those who lie in wait. For if the great Joseph had been naked in this way, the Egyptian woman would by no means have found that by which she could lay hold of him. For the divine text says that she laid hold of his garments, saying,

"Sleep with me." ^A Now, garments are bodily things, by which pleasure, while holding on, attracts one; and whosoever seeks after these, it is necessary to be dragged around while struggling with those who take them away. Thus, therefore, the athlete of chastity, as soon as he saw that he was being dragged by force even by the necessary use of the body toward the pleasure and union of intercourse, and learning that he had to live naked with the mistress who had the power to compel him by holding him, he left his garments and fled, and went out, just as once in paradise he walked about in virtue, naked, in imitation of the protoplast, who received nakedness as a preeminent gift from God, and retained it until, through disobedience, he arrived at the need of garments. For as long as he was struggling against the adversaries who were counseling him to loosen the commandment of God, he stood as an athlete naked in the arena; but once defeated and cast out of the contest, he was suitably clothed, putting aside his nakedness along with his athletic condition. ^B

CHAPTER LXVI.

Therefore, the author of the Proverbs, addressing the anointer, says: "Take away his garment, for he has come forth." For as long as one was outside the stadium, he used garments well, as did others who were not contending, concealing his athletic courage with the coverings of his clothes. But after he has advanced to the contest, take away his garment. For one must contend naked; or rather, not only naked, but also anointed. For the contestant who is naked becomes least prehensile to the adversary; but he who is anointed with oil, if he should ever be grappled, slips away easily; for oil facilitates escape from a hold. Therefore the adversaries struggle to scatter dust upon their opponents, so that by roughening the smoothness of the oil with the dust, they may render them easy to be caught for holding. Now, what the dust is there, that is what ^C worldly business is in our contest; and what the oil is there, that is what freedom from anxiety is here. And just as there the anointed one easily loosens the knots called by them [i.e., the grapplers]; but if he should receive dust, he escapes with difficulty from the hand of his wrestling opponent; so here, he who is troubled by no cares is difficult to be apprehended by the devil; but he who is sick with cares and anxieties, as if roughening the smoothness of the mind with some dust, escapes from his hand with great difficulty. ^D

Chapter LXVII.

It is the mark of a perfect soul to be without care, but of an impious one to be worn down by anxieties; for concerning the perfect soul it is said that it is a "lily in the midst of thorns." And this demonstrates that it lives without anxiety among many cares. For the lily in the Gospel also signifies a soul free from anxiety. For it does not toil, it says, nor does it spin, and yet is clothed with greater glory than Solomon. But concerning those who are pressed with much care about bodily things, it says: "All the life of the impious is occupied in..."

^A solicitude." For it is truly impious to extend the care of bodily things over the whole of one's life, and to show no zeal concerning future things. To the body, indeed, though it requires no great care, we expend all our time; but to the soul, which has such a long space for progress that the whole of life is not sufficient for its perfection, we do not even grant a brief time. And if we do seem to assign it some small portion, we offer it in a dissolute and negligent manner, deceived by the surrounding appearance of the things we see; suffering precisely that which those suffer who are caught, as if by a hook, by the most deformed harlots—who, for lack of genuine beauty, devise for the onlookers a treacherous, adulterated beauty, correcting their deformity with the inventions of pigments. For once we have been defeated by the vanity of present things, we are unable to see the disgrace of matter, being deluded by our affection.

Chapter LXVIII

^B And for this reason, we do not stop at necessary use; but, insisting on satiety, which is harmful to life, we gird ourselves with possessions of every kind, in no wise observing that the measure of possession is the use of the body, and what exceeds this is a disgrace, and no longer use. For just as a tunic measured to the body both serves for use and is becoming, but one which flows down on all sides, entangling the feet and being dragged along the ground with indecency, becomes a hindrance to every task: so too, possession which exceeds the need of the body is a hindrance to virtue and is greatly condemned by those who are able to investigate the nature of things. Therefore, one must not adhere to those who have been deceived by sensible things, nor is it fitting to follow without judgment those who, because they have not attended to intelligible things, pursue earthly ones. ^C For it is the same as using the blind as judges of colors, or the deaf as judges of musical sounds—those who are deprived of the instruments for discerning the things under discussion—and placing faith in them as if they had chosen the enjoyment of present things in accordance with reason. For they are indeed blind who have a mutilated reason, in regard to the most necessary instruments of judgment, by which it is innate to discern what is praiseworthy and what is indifferent.

CHAPTER LXIX

One of these was Achar the son of Charmi, who acknowledged to Jesus in the tent of life that he had hidden under the earth things he had stolen, and had buried silver beneath them. ^D For he who judged various and splendid things of matter to be superior, but buried his reason beneath them, is rightly deceived, like an irrational beast, yielding and delivering himself to the imagination of the thing that pleases him; because he, as it were, dislodged reason from the thrones of sovereignty and placed it in the order of subjects, or rather, of the condemned. For if it had been established in its own proper dignity, and the judgment of visible things had been entrusted to it, it would have delivered a just and upright verdict,

having ^A checked the impulse that rushed toward deceptions. It is good, therefore, to remain within the bounds of necessity and to contend with all our might not to exceed them. For if someone is carried away even a little by desire toward the pleasures of life, no reason thereafter checks the forward momentum. For there is no limit to that which is beyond necessity; rather, the endeavor is boundless, and the infinite vanity will always increase the labor regarding these things, like a flame feeding desire by the addition of material.

CHAPTER LXX

For when those who have once passed the bounds of natural necessity begin to advance toward a material life, they want to add a sweet side-dish to their bread, and to their water, wine—at first the customary kind, and then more exquisite sorts. In clothing, moreover, they do not endure to walk in what is useful, but they gather first the wools, and those that are more splendid, culling the very flower of the fleece; then they pass from these to mixtures of linen and ^B fine things having ornamentation; then they wrap themselves in silks—and these at first simple, but afterward variegated with beasts and wild animals and all sorts of histories. They also fashion vessels of silver and gold-plate, serving not only for banquets, but also superfluously applied to animals and little beds. But why is it necessary to recount their untimely ambition to a greater extent? Since they extend it even to the most dishonorable uses, not deigning to fashion vessels from another material for receiving the filth that is excreted from the body, unless silver also serves this service. For to such an extent does pleasure extend itself even to the extreme, and adorns dishonorable tasks ^C with the magnificence of expense. But this is to possess what is superfluous contrary to nature.

CHAPTER LXXI

For the way of living according to nature is one and the same for us and for the animals, having been prescribed by the Creator: “Behold, I have given you” (God says to man), “every green herb ^D of the field; it shall be for food for you and for the beasts” (Gen. 1, 29). Having therefore received a common diet with the irrational creatures, and having perverted it by our inventions into something more luxurious, how shall we not rightly be judged more irrational than them? For if the wild beasts remain within the boundaries of nature, passing by nothing of what was ordained by God, while we men, honored by reason, have completely departed and fallen away from the ancient legislation? For what apparatus of side-dishes exists among the brute animals? Or what arts of bakers and cooks, which prepare a thousand pleasures for the wretched belly? Do they not love the ancient simplicity, eating herbs and being content with what they find, and using water from springs for drink, and that perhaps rarely? Therefore they are less indulgent toward the pleasures which are under the belly, feeding no appetites with fatty food, and not always the male and the fe-

female have discernment: for at only one time of the year does the change of season provide them with a sense of this kind, when the law of nature finds the union for them for the sowing of the like, for the preservation of the species; at other times they are so estranged from it that they fall into total oblivion of such an appetite. But in men, from the excess in food, the insatiable desire for sensual pleasures, sprouting up, has sown insane appetites, allowing the passion to rest at no time.

CHAPTER LXXII

Since, therefore, much destruction follows upon possessions, and it provides the impulses for all passions like a disease-making cause, let us remove the cause itself, if we care for the well-being of the soul. Let us cure the passion of the love of money by the poverty of possessions. Let us flee the throngs of useless men, embracing solitude; for contact with the more frivolous ^B is harmful and destructive to a peaceful state. For just as those who are in pestilential air fall ill without exception, so those who live among undiscerning men become participants in their wickedness. For what common ground do those who have renounced the world still have with the world? "No one serving as a soldier entangles himself in the affairs of life, that he may please him who has chosen him as a soldier" (II Tim. 2, 4); for the preoccupation with business deters one from military exercises. But if we are untrained, how shall we stand in battle against those experienced in war? Or rather, if one must speak the truth, we fight so sluggishly and dissolutely that we cannot even withstand the fallen enemy, but are even ambushed by those standing near the one who has fallen. For what those who despoil the dead after victory suffer in wars ^C because of the love of money—often being killed by those who lie stretched out, and perishing miserably for the sake of shameful gain after erecting trophies—this same thing we now suffer, approaching the enemy even as he lies fallen and gasping his last. For just as those men, searching the dead out of a desire for money, often approaching some half-dead man to strip him, are secretly struck by a timely wound and fall, disgracefully tarnishing the glory won in the victory; so we, when through temperance and continence we have cast down the Barbarian, or seem to have cast him down, then, captivated by the garments that are around him—those which are deemed precious by men, namely wealth, power, good health, and glory—we approach him, desiring to take something of what is his, ^D and thus we die, leading ourselves to the slaughter.

CHAPTER LXXIII

Thus perished the five virgins (Matt. xxv, 1-15), by purity and continence indeed destroying the enemy, but by unmercifulness, which avarice generates, they thrust themselves of their own accord upon the sword of him who could not

^A overcome those who stand against him. Let us not desire anything of his, so that we do not lose our soul along with his possessions; for he calls even now to them, and urges everyone—if he finds them most ready to obey! For if he challenged the Lord Himself, saying, "All these things I will give You, if You will fall down and worship me" (Matt. iv, 9), and attempted to deceive by the things that seem splendid in this life Him who was in no need of them, how shall he not think he will deceive men who are easily captured, who show themselves prone to the enjoyment of sensible things? Let us exercise the mind toward piety, even if bodily exercise is accomplished. For "bodily exercise is profitable for a little," being assimilated to childish disciplines, "but piety is profitable for all things" (1 Tim. iv, 8), preparing a good condition in the soul for those who aspire to victory against the opposing passions.

CHAPTER LXXIV

For as it is decorous for those athletes who exercise themselves in games to train the body and move their limbs continuously, but for men who are already experienced in the struggle, to procure strength apt for the contest and to be anointed for the sacred games; so it is for those beginning the divine worship to be diligent in restraining excessive activities; for it is precious if those who are goaded as it were by a gadfly by the pleasures in which they have been nurtured, and who are driven roughly by custom involuntarily toward vices, gain mastery over their passions. But for those who have ^B developed a habit of active virtue, and who henceforth care for things that are according to reason, they owe it to use every effort to guard the intellect, so that, once moved inordinately, it may not be carried down into some imperfection or devolve ignorantly. And for the former, the study is to moderate bodily movements; but for the latter, it is to form the impulses of the reasoning faculty and bring them gracefully to live a purely philosophical life, so that no worldly imagination may pull the intellect away from more divine thoughts. For the desire of the worshipper of God must be directed entirely toward what is desired, so that his own passions find no time at all for working according to thoughts that are baneful to men. For if each passion, when it is moved in the one who is possessed by it, occupies the intellect and binds it, why should not the zeal for virtue also occupy the intellect when it is vacant from other passions? For what perception ^C of external things does an angry man receive, as he fights in his thought against the image of the one who brought him grief? Or what does he who aspires to money receive, when he is snatched away by his imagination and gazes at material riches as if with fixed eyes, and is abstracted from the senses? But the intemperate man often, even while sitting with others, closes the instruments of his senses, and, having seized the desired countenance, converses with it and forgets those present, and sits mute as a pillar, knowing nothing of what is taking place before his eyes or what is being said, but having turned to things within, he is entirely in his imagination. Such a soul the divine discourse perhaps calls "one sitting in separation," when for a little while, separated from the senses, it gathers its own activity, sensing nothing at all from without because of the shameful imagination that holds it ^D possessed.

^A

CHAPTER LXXV

If these things so master the understanding on account of emotional inclination, and move the senses to be idle, how much more shall the love of philosophy make the mind sublime—tearing it away from sensible things and from the senses themselves, and occupying it in the contemplation of intelligible things! For just as a person being cut or burned cannot admit a thought outside of the passion that holds him, because of the prevailing pain, so too it is impossible for the one who thinks passionately about anything to fly past in his thought the passion that occupies his intellect, since it colors the entire understanding with its own quality. For pleasure does not admit of pain, nor joy of sorrow, nor gladness of dejection. Nor, again, does pain, when it reigns, invite pleasure; nor does ^B sorrow, when it holds sway, have joy attached to it, nor is dejection tempered by gladness. For contrary passions cannot be entwined with one another; they can never come into the same state, nor have they been brought into friendly communion, because of an enmity and alienation that is by nature implacable. Let not, therefore, the purity of virtue be tarnished by the thoughts of worldly affairs, nor the sincerity of contemplation be disturbed by bodily anxieties, so that the image of true philosophy, recovering its own beauty, may no longer be blamed by the impudent, nor become a subject for mockery due to the inexperience of those who describe it; but let it be praised—if not by men, then at least by the higher powers, or by the Lord Christ Himself, from whom the saints also sought their praise, as the great David, who trampled upon human ^C glory, and asking for commendation from God, says: "From You is my praise" (Ps. XXI, 26); and again, "In the Lord shall my soul be praised" (Ps. XXXIII, 3). For men, indeed, frequently slander even honorable things out of envy, but the theater above judges affairs impartially, and bestows the vote of approval according to the truth of what has been done. This theater, then—which it is necessary to delight with the sweetness of good works—let it be delighted. But regarding those men who have the ability neither to return favors to those who have lived well, nor to inflict punishments upon others, there is no need for many words, even if, out of envy or excessive affection, they shade the works ^D of virtue with the names of vice and slander with feigned reproaches a life known to God and to men. For there shall follow all those who have lived well, at the time of retribution, not a reward based on the opinion of men, but the very truth of those who have lived well—the recompense of eternal goods, of which may it be granted to us all to partake by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, now and always, and unto the boundless and unending ages of ages. Amen.