curious, and inclined to every kind of obscenity. For neither fasting nor prayer can enter into a soul defiled by drunkenness.
S. Chrysost. hom. as above. — Fasting and prayer deliver from death; yet righteousness surpasses both of these. Fasting knows how to make the poor man rich. For it does not permit him to make untimely expenditures, nor to exceed the bounds of frugality. It knows also how to make the rich man a prudent administrator of his own wealth.
The same. — Fasting does not consist in abstinence from food, but in abstinence from offenses. Let us embrace fasting, for it is the mother of temperance and the fountain of all philosophy.
The same. — Fasting, when joined with prayer, makes the prayer more powerful. Now, there is present much moderation of the intellect; now, the mind is awakened, and the soul looks upon things above. For this reason, Scripture has yoked prayer to fasting. For then a melody more delightful and acceptable is sent up than from the lyre, because the strings are not sodden with the excess of drunkenness, but the intellect is well-strung and the mind is awakened. B A sober soul approaches God in this way, and speaks to Him alone with the Alone.
LITTERA Ξ.
TIT. I. — Concerning things strange, and things rarely found.
Judg. iii, 15, 31. — « The children of Israel cried unto the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a savior, Ehud, a man ambidextrous. After Ehud arose Shamgar, and he smote the foreigners, six hundred men, with an oxgoad: and he saved Israel. »
Judg. xiv, 5, 6. — « Samson went down, and his father and mother, to Timnath, and came even to the vineyard: and behold, a young lion met him. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he rent him as a kid of the goats, and there was nothing in his hands. And he told not his father or his mother what he had done. » C
Judg. xv, 4-6. — « And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand one in the midst between two tails, and tied it. And he burned the standing corn of the foreigners from the threshing-floor even to the standing corn, and even to the vineyard and the olive grove. »
Ibid. 16-18. — « Samson said: With the jawbone of an ass, I have utterly destroyed them: for with the jawbone of an ass I have smitten a thousand men. And he was sore athirst, and cried unto the Lord: Thou hast wrought this great salvation by the hand of Thy servant: and now I die for thirst, and shall fall into the hands of the uncircumcised. And God opened the hollow place that was in the jawbone, and there came waters out of it; and he drank, and his spirit returned, and he lived. » D
Judg. xvi, 1 seqq. — « And he saw there a woman, a harlot, and went in unto her. And it was told the Gazites, saying: Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all the night in the gate of the city. And they were quiet all the night, saying: In the morning, when it is day,
A we will kill him. And Samson slept until midnight. And he arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, with the two posts, and lifted them up with the bar, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain, and put them there." Judg. XX, 15. — "Six hundred chosen men out of all the people, all these were left-handed; they were slingers, casting stones to a hair's breadth, and not missing." II Reg. II, 18. — "Asahel was light of foot, as a wild roe in the field." S. Basil, Hom. I in Hexaem. — "All things are mixed in all things: thou wilt find both water, and air, and fire in the earth. Furthermore, fire leaps forth from stones; and from iron, which also itself derives its origin from the earth, abundant fire is wont to flash out by friction. This is also worthy of admiration, how it happens that fire, while it is within bodies, dwells harmlessly, but when it has come out, it consumes those things by which it was kept." B Ejusd. hom. 7 in Hexaem. — "Couldst thou explain concerning the sea itself, by what means water hardens into salt? By what reason is coral, that precious stone, a herb of the sea, but when it is brought out into the air, it hardens into the rigidity of a stone? Whence did nature insert a gem of great price into the oyster, a most worthless animal? For those things which the treasuries of kings covet, these are cast about by banks and shores and rugged rocks, adhering to the bodies of oysters. By what means does the *pinna* provide golden fleece, which no dyer has been able to imitate to this day? By what means do the shells grant the purple robe to emperors, which by the elegance of their color surpass even the flowers of the meadows?" C Ibid. — "God made great whales (Gen. I, 21). Not because they are larger than a prawn or a picarel are they called great, but because in the size and bulk of their body they equal the highest mountains; for they often provide the appearance of islands, when they happen to swim on the surface of the water. But if thou hearest how the remora, a small fish, so easily stops the largest ships when they are being carried by the wind with spread sails, so that it keeps them motionless for a long time, just as if they were fixed in the sea itself, then at last thou wilt admire the power of the Creator." Synes. — "They say that apes, when they have brought forth their offspring, gaze upon their young just as if they were statues, admiring their beauty. So great is the love of offspring implanted by nature."
TIT. II. — Concerning unusual punishments, both those brought about by God and those inflicted by men.
Judg. IX, 45. — "They took the city, and slew the people that were therein, and demolished the city, and sowed it with salt." Judg. I, 6, 7. — "They pursued after Adonibezek, and caught him; and they cut off the extremities of his feet and of his hands. And Adonibezek said: Seventy kings, with their feet and their hands D cut off, were gathering...(from the top of the column and the previous context) ...and from the extremities of their hands; they were gathering the scraps of food under my table: as I have done, so God has repaid me.”
I Chron. xx, 2, 3. — “And David struck Rabba, and destroyed it, and carried off very great spoils of the city. And the people that were in it he brought out, and he cut them with saws and with iron harrows. Thus did David to the cities of the children of Ammon.”
Jerem. lii, 10, 11. — “The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Sedecias before his eyes, and slaughtered all the princes of Juda; and he blinded the eyes of Sedecias, and bound him with fetters, and the king of Babylon led him away, and bound him in the mill-house until the day he died.”
TIT. III. — *Of pilgrimage, and that the pilgrim lacks confidence.*
Gen. xix, 2. — “The men of Sodom said to Lot: ‘You have come in to sojourn; shall you also judge?’”
Prov. xxvii, 8. — “As a bird when it flies from its nest, so is a man enslaved when he wanders from his own places.”
Eccli. xxxiv, 9. — “A man who has traveled much has known much. And again: ‘He who has wandered increases his craftiness. I have seen many things in my wandering, and my understanding surpasses my words.’”
LETTER O
TIT. I. — *Of swearing, and that pernicious and preposterous oaths should by no means be kept.*
I Reg. xiv, 43-45. — “Saul said to Jonathan: ‘Tell me what you have done.’ And Jonathan told him, and said: ‘Tasting I tasted a little honey with the tip of the rod that is in my hand, and behold, I die?’ And Saul said to him: ‘May God do these things to me, and may he add these things, that you shall surely die today.’ And the people said to Saul: ‘Shall he who has wrought this great salvation in Israel die today? For he has wrought the mercy of God this day.’ And the people prayed for Jonathan, and he did not die.”
Jerem. xxxviii, 19, 10. — “The king said to Jeremias: ‘I am anxious about the Jews who have fled to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hands, and they mock me.’ And Jeremias said: ‘They will not deliver you. Hear the word of the Lord which I speak, and it shall be well with you, and your soul shall live.’”
Matth. xiv, 6, 7. — “On Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced in the midst, and it pleased Herod, whence with an oath he promised to give her whatever she might ask of him. But she, having been instructed by her mother, said: ‘Give me here on a dish the head of John the Baptist.’ And he gave it to her.”
Schol. It was better for Herod to violate the oath he had sworn than to behead the prophet.
TIT. II. — *Of orphans, and the poor, and widows.*
Exod. xxii, 22, 23. — “You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. But if you afflict them in any way, outcrying they...
shall cry to me, I will surely hear their cry; and I will be wrathful with fury, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children orphans.” A Job xxix, 12, 13. — “The mouth of the widow blessed me. I reached out and helped the orphan who had no helper.” Deut. xxiv, 17. — “You shall not take the widow’s garment as a pledge.” Psal. lxvii, 5. — “The father of orphans and judge of widows.” Prov. xxiii, 10. — “Do not enter into the possession of orphans. For the Lord who delivers them is mighty, and he will plead their case with you.” Prov. i, 32. — “Because they did injury to infants, they shall be killed.” Zach. vii, 10. — “Do not oppress the widow and the orphan, and the stranger and the poor.” B Eccli. iv, 10. — “Be as a father to orphans, and as a husband to their mother: and you shall be as the son of the Most High.” Eccli. xxxv, 17. — “He will hear the prayer of the orphan. He will not despise the supplication of the orphan and the widow, if she pours out her speech. Do not the tears of the widow run down her cheek, and her cry over him who brings them down?” I Tim. v, 3-5. — “Honor widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to govern their own house and to return due recompense to their parents. For this is acceptable before God. And she who is a widow indeed and desolate, hopes in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. But she that lives in pleasure is dead while she lives. These things charge, that they may be irreprehensible.” C Ibid. 13. — “But the younger widows avoid; for when they have become wanton against Christ, they desire to marry, having condemnation, because they have made void their first faith. And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.” Jac. i, 27. — “Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit widows and orphans in their tribulation.” S. Basil, hom. in Hexaem. — “They say that the turtledove, separated once from her mate, can no longer be brought to have intimacy with another, but remains unmarried, and by memory of the one to whom she was once joined, rejects the partnership of another. Let women hear how even among animals, which lack reason, the honor of widowhood is preferred to the baseness of many marriages.” D TIT. III. — *Of boundaries, and that one must not move them.* Deut. xix, 14. — “You shall not move the boundaries of your neighbor, which your fathers have set.” Deut. xxvii, 17. — “Cursed is he who moves the boundaries of his neighbor; and all the people shall say: So be it, so be it.” Job xxiv, 2. — “The wicked have transgressed the boundary.”
A Prov. xxii, 28. — “Do not move the ancient boundaries which your fathers set.”
S. Basil. hom. 7 in Hexaem. — There are some things among fishes which it is fitting to imitate: namely, how each of their kinds, having obtained a region suitable to itself as if by distribution, does not intrude upon the others, but dwells within its own boundaries. No geometer has marked out dwellings among them; they are not circumscribed by walls, nor distinguished by boundaries. For this gulf nurtures these kinds of fish, and that one others; and those that abound here cannot be found in other places. No mountain protruding with sharp peaks divides them; no river intercepts their passage. But a certain law of nature exists, by which, justly and equitably as is useful to each, a place is assigned to all. But we are not like this, since we move B the ancient boundaries which our fathers set. We extend our fields, we join house to house, in order to steal something from our neighbor. The whales know the dwelling place assigned to them by nature, having occupied the sea separated from inhabited regions—which indeed are in no way inferior in size to the tallest mountains, as those who have seen them affirm—and yet they contain themselves within their own boundaries, neither causing harm to the islands nor to the coastal regions. Thus then, each kind, just like in cities or certain villages or ancient homelands, dwells in those parts of the sea which have been designated for them.
TITLE IV. — Concerning the good and evil way: and that one ought to avoid distorted business and oblique paths, and to proceed by a straight way.
CJob xi, 14. — “If there is anything iniquitous in your hand, put it far from you. Thus your face will shine like pure water.”
Job xxiv, 14. — “They who have forgotten the just way are weakened among men.”
Prov. xvi, 5. — “The beginning of a good way is to do just things. And they are more acceptable to God than the blood of sacrifices.”
“The Lord knows the ways that are on the right; but those on the left are perverse.”
Prov. xiv, 2. — “He who makes his ways oblique will be in dishonor.” D
Prov. xxi, 8. — “Upon those who are oblique, God will send oblique paths.”
Prov. xxii, 5. — “Thorns and snares are in oblique ways: but he who keeps his own soul will abstain from them.”
Prov. xxviii, 18. — “He who walks justly will receive aid.”
Prov. iv, 18. — “The paths of the just are like a shining light: they proceed and increase until the day is perfected.”
Prov. xvi, 25. — “There is a way which seems straight to men, but its end leads to the depths of hell.”
“If they had walked in good ways, they would have found the paths of the just smooth.” Prov. xi, 20. “Paths of life turn away from evils.” Prov. xvi, 17. “Make straight paths for your feet: do not decline to the right, nor to the left.” Prov. iv, 26. “Thus says the Lord: Stand upon the ways, and see, and ask for the paths of the Lord, and see what the good way is, and walk in it. See what the good way is, and you will find rest for your souls.” Prov. vi, 16, 17. “Do not draw destruction upon yourselves in the works of your hands.” Sap. i, 12. “Do not winnow with every wind, and do not walk in every path.” Eccli. v, 9. “Turn away from your wickedness, and make your hands straight, and cleanse your hands from every sin.” B Eccli. xxxviii, 10. “Children of cursing, they wandered from the way of truth, having followed the way of Balaam.” II Petr. ii, 15. “Test all things; hold fast what is good; abstain from every kind of evil.” I Thess. v, 20. Those who flee evil are not to be praised if they avoid sin once or twice, but if they have the power to escape the experience of evil entirely. For the beginning of the acquisition of the good is the withdrawal from evils. “Depart,” he says, “from evil, and do good;” wisely and skillfully introducing us to virtue, making the withdrawal from vice the beginning of good things. S. Basil. A spark ignites and a small one a great flame. The bite of a viper often destroys. Seeing this, therefore, flee even a small injury. It is small, indeed, but it grows into something greater. Fountain of evils, do not flow, O vain mind. But you, O tongue, do not receive the mire; But you, O hand, do not write the worse things; Thus the image of God might remain incorrupt in us. C S. Greg. Nazianz., tetrast. 13. Let us recognize the snares and walk far from them. Let us recognize the precipices, and let us not even draw near to them. This will be a cause of the greatest security for us, if we not only flee sins, but also those things which, while seeming to be neither good nor evil, trip us up toward sin. S. Chrysost. The departure from evils is the beginning of salvation. S. Clement.
TIT. V. — Concerning a good and an evil name.
“A good name is more desirable than great riches; and good grace is better than silver and gold.” Prov. xxii, 1. “A good name is better than precious ointment.” Eccli. vii, 2. “Have a care for a good name. For it will remain with you more than a thousand treasures of gold.” D Eccli. xli, 15. “Grace is like a paradise in blessings.” Eccli. xl, 17.A Eccli. xli, 16. — “The number of the days of a good life is full, and a good name remains for ever.” Eccli. vi, 2. — “An evil name shall inherit ignominy and reproach.” Eccli. xx, 19. — “An ungrateful man (that is, without grace) is an importunate fable.”
TITLE VI. — On opinion and estimation: and that it is better to be than to seem. For this is an impediment to virtue.
Eccli. vii, 16. — “I saw a just man perishing in his justice: and this itself is vanity.” I Cor. iii, 18-20. — “If any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written: He catcheth the wise in their craftiness. And again: The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men, that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men.” I Cor. iv, 6, 7. — “That one may not be puffed up against the other for another. For who distinguisheth thee? And what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” Galat. vi, 3, 4. — “For if any man think himself to be something, whereas he is B nothing, he seduceth himself. But let every one prove his own work, and so he shall have glory in himself only, and not in another.” S. Greg. Naz. Poem. hexam. 1. — “It is better for him who is good to seem evil, than for him who is most wicked to be esteemed good: so that he who appears and is painted for men, is like a sepulcher, which within indeed stinks exceedingly with putrefying bones, but outwardly shines with lime and elegant paintings.” Idem. Tetrast. 24. — “I would not have you seek fame, neither all of it, nor too much. It is better to be good than to seem so. But if you are held by an insatiable desire for this thing, by no means pursue that which is vain, nor that which is new, or that which is painted. For what does it profit the ape, if he hears himself called a lion, or is so named?” Idem. — “If I should propose to you an ape transformed into the likeness of a lion, would you not be ashamed to see it? But if a swan were to come upon the stage for your amusement, what would you think? If a crow, the most contemptible of all birds, should smear itself with a C white color, would it not stir up much greater laughter at itself?” Idem. from the Apologues. — “It is easy to deceive oneself, and to imagine oneself to be something when one is nothing, swelling up with empty opinion.” S. Cyrill. — “Opinion, as the ancients said, is the cutting off of progress. For he who flatters himself with empty opinion does not sustain the growth of virtue. Opinion is something impure by nature.”TITLE VII. — On wine, and its use.
Psal. ciii, 15. — “Wine gladdeneth the heart of man.” Prov. xx, 1. — “Wine is a luxurious thing, and drunkenness riotous: whosoever is delighted therewith shall not be wise.” D Prov. xxxi, 6. — “Give wine to those who are in sorrow, and to those who are in pain-A are, that they may forget their poverty, and remember their misery no more.” Eccl. xix, 2. — “Wine and women will make wise men fall away.” Eccl. xxxi, 30. — “Show not thyself valiant in wine; for wine hath destroyed many. Wine was created from the beginning to make men joyful, and not to make them drunk. Wine drunk with moderation is the joy of the heart and the gladness of the soul.” Ephes. v, 18. — “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.” I Tim. v, 13. — “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.” Wine is a gift from God, granted for the solace of infirmity to those who are temperate. The best measure for the use of wine is the body's need. For wine strengthens the body, but the Word of God strengthens the soul. When wine has been consumed, sorrows will depart, driven away just as mist is driven by a whirlwind. B
TIT. VIII. — Concerning the eyes.
Prov. xv, 30. — “A seeing eye rejoiceth the heart.” Prov. iv, 25. — “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.” Eccl. xxxi, 15. — “What is created more wicked than an eye? Therefore it shall weep upon every face.” Eccl. xiv, 10. — “A wicked eye is envious of his bread, and he is deficient at his table.” C Eccl. xxiii, 4. — “O Lord, Father and God of my life, give me not the haughtiness of mine eyes.” Eccl. xxxi, 14. — “Take heed, and remember that an evil eye is a bad thing.” Matth. vi, 22, 23. — “The light of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.”
TIT. IX. — Concerning reproaches, and that one ought not to reproach anyone.
DProv. xxvii, 11. — “Remove from thee reproachful words.” Isa. li, 7. — “Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings; for the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool.” Isa. liv, 4. — “Fear not; because thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy eternal confusion, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.” Eccl. xi, 2. — “Abhor not a man, and do not reproach him to his face.”
Eccl. xxii, 25. — “He that casteth a stone at birds, shall lessen them: and he that upbraideth his friend, breaketh friendship.” A
Eccl. viii, 6. — “Reproach not a man that turneth away from sin, remember that we are all worthy of reproof.”
Eccl. iii, 13. — “A disgrace to the children is a mother without honour.”
Eccl. vii, 12. — “Laugh not a man to scorn in the bitterness of his soul: for there is one that humbleth and exalteth.” A
Eccl. xxix, 35 (or xxix, 25). — “These things are grievous to a man of understanding: the chiding of a house, and reproaching of a lender.”
S. Greg. Nazian., tetrast. 27. — One final security is to reproach no one for their fortunes; for fortune is common, and the future is not to be foreseen. B
S. Irenaeus. — Blessing always those who are worthy, but never blessing the unworthy; in this way we too shall eventually attain the glory and kingdom of God.
Evagrius. — To find fault with him who is free from guilt is a sin against God.
Philo. — To no one should you cast up a calamity as a reproach (for nature is common, and the things that are to come are hidden): lest, being caught in the same things, you be found condemned by your own conscience. C
Didymus. — Neither does praise make a man good, nor does vituperation make him evil.
TITLE X. — Of those who live a short time.
Job xiv, 1. — “Blessed is he that is born of a woman, having but a short time to live.”
Sap. iv, 11-14. — “He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul. Being made perfect in a short space, he fulfilled a long time: for his soul pleased God: therefore he hastened to bring him out of the midst of iniquities.” C
TITLE XI. — Of those who gladly swear; and that one ought to beware of swearing.
Exod. xx, 7. — “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain.”
Levit. xix, 12. — “You shall not swear falsely by my name.”
Osee iv, 15. — “Swear not: The Lord liveth.” D
Eccl. xxiii, 9-11. — “Let not thy mouth be accustomed to swearing; for in it there are many falls. And let not the naming of God be usual in thy mouth. For as a slave daily questioned, will not fail to have a scar, so every one that sweareth and nameth, shall not be wholly pure from sin.”
Matth. v, 34-37. — “But I say to you not to swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God: nor by the earth, for it is his footstool: nor by Jerusalem,
for it is the city of the great King. Neither shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay. And whatever is more than these is of the evil one. A
“He who swears by the altar, swears by it, and by all things upon it. And he who swears by the temple, swears by it, and by Him who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by Him who sits upon it.”
“Above all things, my brethren, do not swear, neither by heaven, nor by earth, nor any other oath. But let your speech be, Yea, yea, and Nay, nay; so that you may not fall under judgment.”
It is not profitable to swear, but rather most harmful, and accursed, and abominable. Therefore, cease from swearing; do not desire to accustom your own tongue to oaths.
TIT. XII. — Concerning those who violate oaths and perjure themselves.
“The Lord said to me: What do you see? And I said: I see a flying sickle, twenty cubits in length and ten cubits in breadth. And He said to me: This shall enter into the house of the one who swears by my name falsely; and it shall break down, and consume it.” B
“Thus says the Lord: Do not love a false oath; for all these things I have hated, says the Lord.”
“I will draw near to you in judgment, and I will be a swift witness against those who swear by my name falsely.”
“They swore unjustly in deceit, despising holiness.”
“A man given to many oaths shall be filled with iniquity, and a scourge shall not depart from his house.”
“Speech given to many oaths shall make the hair stand on end, and their wrangling is the stopping of ears.”
He who confirms a falsehood through oaths acquires the evil profit of inhumanity, namely, perjury. C
A sword does not sting as the nature of an oath does; a blade does not kill as the wound of an oath does. He who has sworn, even if he seems to enjoy life, has nevertheless already perished and received the wound; and just as he who has taken the rope, even before he departs from the city and sees the executioner standing by, dies as soon as he has passed through the doors of the tribunal; so also he who has sworn falsely, even if he lives, has already perished. D
LITTERA Γ. — Concerning faith and piety towards God.
“Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”