A Wealth flowed in from every side, so that he might have that which he had lost, while the increase served as a just reward for his patience. But why did he receive double the horses, and mules, and camels, and sheep, and farms, and every other luxury of wealth, while the number of his children was merely equal to those who had died? Because the brute animals and all fleeting riches had perished completely, whereas his children, though dead, were still living in the better part of their being. B Being adorned again by the Creator with other sons and daughters, he had this possession doubled also. For some were present, offering joy to their parents in this life, while the others, who had gone before, were awaiting the one who had begotten them; all would then surround Job, when the Judge of human life gathers the universal Church; when the trumpet, signaling the arrival of the King, having sounded with great force over the tombs, demands back the deposit of bodies. Then, those who now seem to be dead will stand before the Creator of all more quickly than the living. For this reason, I think, while He meted out to him his other wealth doubled, He deemed it sufficient for him that his children be equal in number. Do you see how many and how great the goods were which the righteous Job stored up for himself through patience? And you, therefore, if any trouble has befallen you from the fire kindled yesterday by the snares of the demons, endure it with patience, and soothe the sadness arising from your suffering with better thoughts; and according to that which is written: "Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you." To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.
TO YOUNG MEN, How they may derive profit from pagan literature
C 1. Many things urge me, young men, to advise you on the matters which I judge to be best, and which I believe will be profitable to you if you choose them. For both the fact that I am at such an age, and my being already trained in many things, and furthermore, the fact that I have experienced enough and more of the changes that teach everything in both directions, have made me experienced in human affairs, D so that I am able to show those who are just beginning their life as if it were the safest road. Moreover, by natural kinship, I am positioned immediately after your parents in relation to you, so that I myself feel no less goodwill toward you than your fathers do; and I believe that you, unless I am mistaken in my estimation of your intent, do not miss your parents when you look to me.
A If you receive what is said with a ready mind, you shall hold the second place among those praised by Hesiod; but if not, though I would say nothing harsh, you yourselves should be mindful of those verses, in which he says: "He is the best who perceives all things for himself, and he is good who follows what has been pointed out by others, but he who is fit for neither is useless for everything."
2. And do not be surprised, if, though you attend upon teachers and associate with the most distinguished of the ancients through the writings they have left behind, I say that I have discovered something more advantageous from myself. I come, therefore, to advise you on this very thing: not to surrender, once and for all, the rudder of your understanding to these men, as if to some ship, to follow wherever they may lead, but rather to gather what is useful from them and to know what also ought to be disregarded. What these things are, and how we shall discern them, I shall now B teach, beginning from this point. We, young men, do not consider this human life to be any true reality at all, nor do we deem or call anything "good" that provides us only with utility for this present age. Therefore, we do not consider the renown of ancestors, nor strength of body, nor beauty, nor stature, nor the honors bestowed by all men, nor kingship itself, nor anything else that can be called human, to be great, or even worthy to be prayed for, nor do we look with admiration upon those who possess them; rather, we extend our hopes further and do all things for the sake of the preparation for that other life. We say that we ought to embrace and pursue with all our strength whatever contributes to this for us, but to disregard C as unworthy of notice whatever does not reach toward that end. What indeed this life is, and where and how we shall live it, is a subject for a longer discourse than the present occasion allows, and for an audience more mature than you are. Tantum dicam, I will say only this, and perhaps by this I shall demonstrate to you sufficiently, that if someone were to gather all the happiness that has existed since men were born and collect it into one, he would nevertheless find it not to be compared even to the smallest part of those goods; but that all the goods of this present life differ from the dignity of the least of the future goods more than a shadow and a dream fall short of the truth. D Or rather, to use a more appropriate example, as the soul is of more value to all than the body, so great also is the difference between the two lives. Now, the sacred writings lead us to this, training us through hidden mysteries; yet, so long as it is not possible through your age to hear and attain to the depth of their understanding, we in the meantime exercise the eye of the soul upon other writings, not entirely different, as if in certain shadows and mirrors, imitating those who perform their training in military drills.
A For those who have acquired skill in gestures and dancing enjoy the profit of that instruction in the games. And we too must consider that a contest of all contests is proposed to us, for which all effort must be made and we must labor with all our might for its preparation; and one must make use of poets, and writers of prose, and orators, and all men, wherever there is likely to be some benefit for the care of the soul. Just as workers in dyes, having first prepared with certain treatments whatever is to receive the dye, then apply the color, whether it be purple or any other; in the same way we also, if the glory of virtue is to remain indelible in us for all time, having been initiated first into these external studies, shall then hearken to the sacred and mystical teachings; and having become accustomed, as it were, to seeing the sun in water, we shall thus turn our eyes to the light itself. B If, therefore, there is some affinity between the teachings, the knowledge of them would be very useful to us; but if not, at least by placing them side by side, to discern the difference will contribute not a little to the confirmation of the better. To what, then, could you compare each of these branches of learning, so as to form an image? Is it not perhaps as the proper virtue of a tree is to abound in ripe fruit, yet it also bears a certain adornment in the leaves that flutter about the branches? So too, for the soul, the primary fruit is truth, yet it is not unpleasing to be clothed in the wisdom from without, which provides, as it were, leaves as a shelter for the fruit and an appearance not unseasonable. C It is said, then, that that most excellent Moses, whose name is greatest among all men for wisdom, after having trained his mind in the learning of the Egyptians, thus approached the contemplation of the Existent. In a similar way, they say that in later times the wise Daniel, after having learned the wisdom of the Chaldeans in Babylon, then reached for the divine teachings. But that these external studies are not useless to souls has been sufficiently said. How, however, you ought to become participants in them, it would be next to say. First, then, regarding all things that are said by the poets (to start from there), since they say things of various kinds, you must not apply your mind to everything in succession; but when they recount the deeds or words of good men, it is worth the effort both to love and to emulate them, and to strive as much as possible to become such as they; but D when they come to wicked men, this imitation must be avoided, stopping up your ears, no less than they say the sailors did to the songs of the Sirens. For familiarity with base words is a kind of path to imitation.
A Wherefore the soul must be guarded with all watchfulness, lest by the pleasure of the words we unconsciously admit any of the worse things, even as those who partake of poisons mixed with honey. We shall not, therefore, praise the poets when they revile or mock, or when they depict lovers or drunkards, or when they define happiness by a table overflowing with food and unbridled songs. But least of all shall we attend to them when they discourse about the gods, and especially when they speak of them as many, and those not even in harmony with one another. For among them, brother stirs up sedition and discord against brother, and father against children, and these in turn have an implacable war against their parents. The adulteries of the gods, their amours, and their open intimacies, and B especially the escapades of Zeus, who, as they themselves say, is the chief and supreme of all—things which one would be ashamed to recount even of brute beasts—we shall leave to the actors on the stage.
3. I have this to say concerning [poets], and most especially when they compose tales for the amusement of their hearers. Nor shall we imitate the art of lying found in rhetoricians. For lying is not appropriate for us, either in courts of justice or in other actions, since we have chosen the straight and true path of life, and since it is commanded by law that we should not engage in litigation. But we shall rather approve those things of theirs in which they have praised virtue or disparaged vice. C For just as the rest of the world enjoys the fragrance or the color of flowers, but the bees know how to gather honey from them also; so here too, those who do not pursue only the charm and sweetness of such writings can gather some benefit for their souls from them. Therefore, you must use these books according to the example of the bees. For they do not settle upon all flowers equally, nor do they try to carry away all that they fly to; but when they have gathered from them as much as is suitable for their work, they let the rest go. We, too, if we are wise, having gathered from these writings what is suitable to us and akin to the truth, will pass over the rest. D And just as in plucking the flower from the rose-bush we avoid the thorns, so also in such writings, let us harvest what is useful and avoid the harmful. From the very beginning, therefore, it is worthwhile to examine each of the branches of learning and adapt them to the end, as the Dorian proverb says, bringing the stone to the cord. And since we must attain to our life through virtue, and concerning this many things have been sung by poets, many by historians, and many more by philosophers, we must apply ourselves to such writings.
A For the benefit is not small, that a certain familiarity and habit with virtue should be ingrained in the souls of the young; since the teachings of such things are naturally immutable, being impressed and engraved deeply because of the tenderness of their souls. Or what else should we suppose Hesiod to have intended when he composed those verses which everyone sings, if not to exhort the young toward virtue? For he says that the way which leads to virtue is at first rough and difficult of access, and full of much sweat and labor, and is steep. Wherefore it belongs not to everyone to approach that way, because of its steepness, nor, having approached it, is it easy to arrive at the summit. But when one has once reached the top, it is permitted to see how smooth and beautiful it is, and how easy and unobstructed, and more pleasant than the other path which leads to vice, which that same poet said can be grasped immediately and in its entirety because it is close at hand. To me, indeed, it seems that as he committed these things to writing, he proposed nothing else to himself than to exhort us to virtue, and to invite all to be good, and that we should not, broken by labors, desist before obtaining the end. And also, if any other has similarly celebrated virtue, let us receive his words as carrying us toward the same goal.
B 4. But as for me, I heard from a man skilled in perceiving the mind of a poet, that the whole of Homer’s poetry is a praise of virtue, and that everything in it, except that which is added for the sake of adorning the speech, is directed toward this; most especially, however, where he has shown the leader of the Cephallenians saved naked from the shipwreck. C First, indeed, he relates that the queen, as soon as he came into view, stood in awe of him, so far was he from having any reason to be ashamed at being seen naked and alone, since virtue had adorned him in place of garments. Then, also, that he was esteemed so highly by the rest of the Phaeacians that, leaving behind the luxuries in which they lived, they all looked up to him and emulated him, and there was then no one among the Phaeacians who would have wished for anything more than to be Ulysses, and that too, saved from a shipwreck. For in these things, he who was the interpreter of the poet’s mind said that Homer was all but shouting and saying: "You must have a care for virtue, O men, which also swims out together with the shipwrecked man, and upon his coming ashore, renders him—though naked—more venerable than the D fortunate Phaeacians." And in truth, the matter is so. For other possessions are no more those of their possessors than of any others who happen upon them, being shifted here and there as if in a game of dice; but virtue alone of all possessions is something that cannot be taken away, remaining with one both while living and when dead. Whence also Solon
A seems to me to say this to the rich: “But we will not exchange our virtue for their wealth; For this is ever firm, While human money passes now to one, now to another.” (46)
Similar to these are the verses of Theognis, in which he says that God (whoever it is that he calls God) tips the scales for men in one way or another, at one time allowing them to be rich, at another having nothing. Nay, even the Cean sophist Prodicus (47) has philosophized in his own writings on matters kindred to these concerning virtue and vice; and we must pay attention to him as well, for the man is not to be disregarded. His account, as far as I remember the man's thought (for I do not remember the actual words, except that he expressed them simply and without meter), is as follows. When Hercules was still a youth—about the same age as you are now—and was deliberating which of the paths he should take, the one leading through labors to virtue, or the other, the easier one, two women approached him, and these were Virtue and Vice. Even by their appearance, they immediately signified the difference between them, without speaking. The one was adorned with the art of cosmetics to appear beautiful, was flowing with luxury, and led along an entire swarm of pleasures attached to her; she displayed these, and by promising even more than these, attempted to draw Hercules to herself. The other was wasted and squalid, had an intent gaze, and said such things as these: she promised nothing relaxed or pleasant, but myriad sweats, labors, and dangers throughout every land and sea. But the reward for these, according to his account, was to become a god; and this is what Hercules followed in the end. And almost all those who have any reputation for wisdom, each according to his own ability, have B set forth the praise of virtue in their own writings; these must be obeyed, and one must attempt to demonstrate these teachings in one's life. For he who confirms philosophy—which among others remains only in words—by action, is alone wise, while the rest flit about like shadows. C
“For he alone has understanding, while the rest are flitting shadows.” (49)
And this seems to me to be similar to a painter who has imitated a certain wonderful human beauty, while the one who is the subject exists in reality as the one he depicted on the panels. For to praise virtue magnificently in public and to deliver long speeches about her, but in private to prefer pleasure to temperance and gain to justice, I would say is like those who perform dramas on the stage; who often come in as kings and dynasts, D while they are neither kings nor dynasts, nor, for that matter, even free men at all. Then...
a musician would not willingly accept that his lyre be untuned; nor would a chorus leader accept a choir that is not in the highest degree harmonious. Yet each man disagrees with himself, and will not demonstrate a life in conformity with his words: but "the tongue," as he will say following Euripides, "has sworn, but the mind is unsworn," and he will seek to appear good rather than to be so. Yet this is the final limit of injustice, if any trust is to be placed in Plato, to appear just when one is not.
Let us, then, receive the words that hold the precepts of honorable things in such a way. And since the good actions of men of old are also preserved down to us either by the succession of memory, or are guarded in the writings of poets or historians, let us not lack the benefit to be derived from them either. For example, a certain common man from the market place was pursuing Pericles with reproaches; but he did not pay attention, and the two persevered all day long, one indeed heaping many insults upon him, the other not caring at all. Then, when evening at last arrived and darkness had fallen, Pericles with difficulty escorted him out carrying a torch, so that his training in philosophy might not be rendered useless to him. Again, someone, exasperated with Euclid of Megara, threatened him with death, and swore an oath; but he retorted with an oath that he would certainly appease him and make him cease feeling cruelly toward him. How useful it is for something from such examples to come to mind when a man is already held by anger! For we should not simply believe the tragedy when it says: "Anger arms the hand against enemies"; but it is much B better not to get angry at all. But if that is not easy to do, then by imposing reason upon anger like a bridle, let us not permit it to be carried further.
5. But let us again return the discourse to the examples of good deeds. Someone was striking Socrates, son of Sophroniscus, in the very face, having made the assault many times: he, however, offered no resistance but allowed the drunkard to sate his anger, so that his face was already swollen and marked by the blows. When he had finished striking him, it is said that Socrates did nothing else than to inscribe upon his forehead, as if on a statue, the creator: "So-and-so was making this," and in such a way he took his revenge. Since these things tend almost to the same end as our own, I think it is worth the effort for us to imitate such great men. For that of Socrates is germane to that precept which says one ought to offer the other cheek to the one striking it, D let alone take revenge ourselves. And the deed of Pericles, or that of Euclid, is similar to this, in that it bears with those who pursue us and their anger. * Matt. v, 39.
44. Whoever has been previously trained in these things will no longer disbelieve those precepts as if they were impossible. Nor should I pass over the deed of Alexander, who, when he had the daughters of Darius as captives—whose beauty is said to have been incredible—did not even deign to look at them, judging it A shameful for the victor of men to be conquered by women. For this points to the same conclusion as that other saying: that whoever looks on a woman with lust, even if he does not commit adultery in act, yet because he has admitted desire into his soul, he is not free from the charge. Indeed, as for that deed of Clinias, one of the disciples of Pythagoras, I would scarcely believe it happened by chance to coincide with our institutions, rather than that he imitated them by design. And what was it that he did? When it was in his power to avoid a fine of three talents by swearing an oath, he chose to pay rather than to swear, even though he would not have been swearing falsely; having been instructed, as it seems to me, in the commandment that forbids us from swearing. But let us return again to the same point I made at the beginning: that not everything is to be accepted in turn, but only that which is useful. For it would be shameful to reject harmful foods, yet to have no regard for the subjects of study that nourish our soul, instead dragging in everything we encounter, like a mountain torrent. And what logic is there in a helmsman not abandoning a ship B rashly to the winds, but steering toward a harbor, or an archer shooting at a target, or a blacksmith or carpenter aiming at the goal of his craft—yet we ourselves should be inferior to such craftsmen, when we can certainly understand our own affairs? Can it be that there is a goal for the work of artisans, but for human life there is no goal, with which in view it is necessary to do and say everything for anyone who does not wish to be entirely like the brute animals? Or shall we thus be carried up and down through life simply at random, like ships without ballast, with no mind sitting at the rudders of the soul? Rather, just as in the gymnastic contests, or if you prefer, in the musical ones, the exercises are held for those contests for which crowns are proposed—and no one training for wrestling or the pancratium then meditates on playing the cithara or the flute. Certainly not Polydamas; C but that man, before the contest at the Olympics, would hold back carriages driven at full speed, and through these things he strengthened his power. Milo, too, was not pushed away from his greased shield, but resisted when shoved, no less than those statues which are bound with lead. And in a word, their exercises were preparations for the contests. But if, leaving behind the dust and the gymnasiums, one were to consider the sounds and modes
of the Phrygians, or studied the A performances of Marsyas or Olympus more curiously, would they have immediately attained crowns and glory, or would they have avoided looking ridiculous in appearance? On the contrary, Timotheus, having put aside his music, did not pass his time in the wrestling schools. For he would not have been able to excel everyone in music so greatly, he who possessed such a degree of skill in the art that he could arouse the spirit by means of an intense and austere harmony, and yet, whenever he willed, could slacken and soften it through a more relaxed mode. It is said that by this art, when he once played the Phrygian mode for Alexander, he stirred him to arms while he was dining, and then brought him back to his fellow banqueters by slackening the harmony. So great a power does practice afford, both in music and in gymnastic contests, for the attainment of the end.
6. But since I have made mention of crowns and athletes, they, having endured countless trials upon trials and having increased their strength from every quarter, after having sweated much in gymnastic labors and received many blows in the training school, and having accepted a diet not of the pleasantest but one prescribed by the masters of exercises—and not to prolong my discourse—once they have lived in this way in all other respects, so that their life before the contest is a preparation for the contest, then they strip for the stadium, undergoing every labor and every danger, that they might receive a crown of wild olive, or parsley, or some other such thing, and, being victors, be proclaimed by the herald. But for us, for whom the prizes of life set before us are so wondrous in both multitude and magnitude that they cannot be expressed in words, B if we sleep on both ears and live very dissolutely, will it be permitted us to snatch these prizes with one hand? For thus a slothful life would be worthy of praise, and Sardanapalus would be held the most fortunate of all, or even that Margites, if you please, whom Homer said neither plowed, nor dug, nor performed any other of those things which contribute to the requirements of life, if indeed these be of Homer. Is not the saying of Pittacus rather true, who said that it is difficult to be good? For it is only with difficulty that it would fall to us, after having endured many labors in very truth, to attain those goods, of which I said before there is no example to be found among humans. We must not, therefore, live carelessly, nor must we exchange great hopes for brief leisure, unless we are willing to endure disgrace and undergo punishments, not here indeed among men (although even this is not a small thing at least to the prudent and sensible), but in the places of judgment, whether they be under the earth or wherever in the universe they may happen to be. C For he who has strayed from the right and proper path against his own intention might perhaps obtain some pardon from God; but he who has deliberately embraced evils will have no excuse for not enduring a punishment many times greater. What then shall we do?
A What else, other than to take care of the soul, while having complete leisure from other things?
7. Therefore, one should not be enslaved to the body, unless there is an absolute necessity; but we must provide the best things for the soul, freeing it, through philosophy, as if from a prison, from the communion it has with the passions of the body, and at the same time rendering the body invincible to the passions. We ought to serve the belly with the necessary things, not those which are most pleasant, as those do who search out certain caterers and cooks, and search through every land and sea, paying tribute like those who serve a harsh master—objects of pity for their occupation, suffering nothing less than those who are tormented in Hades, B truly carding fire, carrying water in a sieve, and pouring it into a leaking jar, having no end to their labors. To fuss over hair and clothes beyond what is necessary is for those who are either ill-fated, according to the saying of Diogenes, or unjust. Wherefore, I say that to be, and to be called, a fop is to be considered as shameful as to be a debaucher or to plot against the marriages of others. For what difference does it make to one possessing a mind whether he is draped in a tunic or wears some cheap garment, so long C as there is nothing lacking to protect against cold and heat? And in the same way, the rest of things also should not be prepared beyond necessity, nor should greater care be taken of the body than what benefits the soul. For to be well-groomed and a lover of the body, for a man truly worthy of this designation, would be no less shameful than to be ignobly beholden to any other vice. For to devote all one's effort to how the body might look its best is not the act of one who knows himself, nor of one who understands that wise admonition which teaches us that what falls under sight is not the human being, but that a certain more profound wisdom is required, through which each one of us might know himself, whatever that may be. But for those whose mind is not cleansed, this is more difficult than for one with sore eyes to look at the sun. D The cleansing of the soul, to speak concisely and adequately for you, is to despise the pleasures that creep in through the senses; neither to feast the eyes on the absurd displays of jugglers, or on the sight of bodies that inject the goad of pleasure, nor to pour corrupted melody into the soul through the ears. For passions that are the offspring of a servile and lowly mind are wont to arise from this sort of music. But we must pursue the other kind, the one which is better and leads to what is better, which David, the author of the sacred songs, also used, and—as they say—restored the king from his madness. It is also said that Pythagoras, coming upon roistering drunkards, commanded [index: entries preserved]
the flute player who was leading the revelry to change the harmony and play the Dorian mode for them; and they were so restored to their senses by the melody that they cast away their garlands and, overcome with shame, returned home. Others, however, indulge in madness and frenzy to the flute in the manner of the Corybantes. Such is the difference between being filled with wholesome or with base melodies! A So you must experience the music currently in vogue even less than you would the most shameful things imaginable. I am ashamed even to forbid you from letting various kinds of incense, which bring pleasure to the sense of smell, be mixed into the air, or from dabbing yourselves with perfumes. And what is one to say about not pursuing the pleasures of touch and taste, other than that they compel those who occupy themselves in chasing them—like beasts—to live with their heads bowed toward the belly and what lies beneath it? In a word, the whole body is to be despised by one who does not wish to wallow in its pleasures as if in a bog, or it is to be indulged only in so far as, says Plato, it serves philosophy—speaking B not far differently from Paul, who admonishes us to make no provision for the body to fulfill its desires. For those who take care of the body so that it may be in the best condition, while regarding the soul—which is to make use of it—as of no value, how do they differ from those who busy themselves with tuning their instruments but neglect the art that operates through them? Therefore, on the contrary, it is right to chastise the body and hold it in check like some wild beast, and to quiet the disturbances it excites in the soul by using reason like a lash, rather than to slacken every rein of pleasure and abandon the mind, like a charioteer being dragged away by horses C that are rushing violently in their wantonness, to be led off. It will not be out of place to recall Pythagoras, who, having learned that one of his acquaintances was fattening himself excessively with exercises and food and becoming fleshy, said: "Will you not cease to construct a more grievous prison for yourself?" Hence they say that Plato, too, foreseeing the harm arising from the body, deliberately chose the Academy, an unhealthy place in Attica, so that he might prune back the excessive over-refinement of the body like the over-productive growth of a vine. And I have even heard from physicians that a bodily constitution that is excessively healthy is dangerous.
8. Since, therefore, that excessive care for the body is useless D to the body itself and an impediment to the soul, to submit oneself and yield to it is manifest insanity. But if we were to strive to despise this, we would scarcely [find] anything else human
worthy of our admiration. For what further use would we have for wealth, if we despise the pleasures of the body? For my part, I do not see, unless, like the dragons in myths, there were some pleasure to be found in keeping watch over buried treasures. But one who has been liberally trained to be disposed toward such things would be far from ever choosing anything base or shameful in word or deed. For whatever is superfluous, and exceeds the measure of necessity—be it Lydian gold-dust or the work of the gold-bearing ants—one will despise all the more, the less one needs it; for he will define the use of it by the needs of nature, not by pleasures. For those who have passed beyond the B necessary bounds, much like those being carried down a steep slope with no stable place where they might stop, can nowhere check their forward momentum; rather, the more they accumulate, the more they require, or even more, for the gratification of their desire, according to Solon, son of Execestides, who says:
Wealth’s limit is not set for men.
In these matters, we must also employ Theognis as a teacher, who says:
I do not desire to be wealthy, nor do I pray for it; but may it be mine to live on little, having no evil.
I, for one, admire in Diogenes the contempt for all human things combined, C for he declared himself wealthier than the Great King, in that he needed fewer things in life than he did. Yet for us, if we do not possess the talents of the Pythian Mysian, and so much land, and herds of cattle too numerous to count, nothing is enough. But, I believe, it is fitting not to crave or desire wealth when absent, and when present, not to pride oneself on the possession of it more than on the knowledge of how to dispense it. For the saying of Socrates is excellent: who, regarding a wealthy man who was very proud of his money, said he would not admire him before he had D tested whether he knew how to use it. Now, if Phidias and Polycletus, having prided themselves greatly on the gold and ivory with which one fashioned Zeus for the Eleans and the other Hera for the Argives, would have been objects of mockery—having abandoned the art by which the gold itself was rendered more pleasant and precious, in order to seek glory from others' wealth—are we, who presume that human virtue is not sufficient in itself for adornment, going to appear less deserving of shame in doing something like this? Will we indeed despise wealth, and hold the pleasures that enter through the senses in contempt, while yet pursuing the flattery and adulation of the fox of Archilochus?
Yet there is nothing which a man of sound mind should more avoid than living for the sake of glory, regarding the things which are approved by the multitude, and not establishing right reason as the guide of life—in such a way that, even if it is necessary to gainsay all men, and to endure disrepute and danger for the sake of what is noble, one would not be turned aside from what has been rightly judged. A Or shall we say that he who is not in this state differs at all from that Egyptian sophist who used to become a plant and a beast, and fire and water, and all things whenever he wished? For he too will at one time praise justice among those who honor it, but at another time will speak the opposite when he observes injustice being held in high repute—which is the mark of a flatterer. And just as they say the polypus changes its color to match the earth underneath it, so he will change his opinion according to the character of those with whom he lives. But we shall learn these things perhaps more perfectly in our own books; yet for the present, let us outline as much of virtue as can be sketched from external learning. For to those who diligently gather utility from everything, as with great B rivers, many additions are wont to come from everywhere. For that saying, that small must be added to small, ought to be regarded as having been rightly spoken by the poet not more concerning the increase of silver than concerning any sort of knowledge whatsoever. Bias, therefore, to his son who was setting out to the Egyptians, and inquiring what he might do that would be most pleasing to him, said, "Provide yourself with provisions for old age"; calling virtue "provisions," yet circumscribing it within narrow limits, inasmuch as he defined its utility by human life. But I—even if someone should bring forward the old age of Tithonus, or of Arganthonius, or of that Mathusala among us, who is said to have lived nine hundred and seventy years, or even if he should measure out the whole time from when men were first created—I shall laugh at it as at a child's way of thinking, looking instead to that long C and ageless eternity, of which it is as impossible to conceive an end as it is to posit the passing away of the immortal soul. To possess that age, I exhort you to prepare your provisions, moving every stone, as the proverb has it, from whence any utility might accrue to you for reaching it; and let us not, because these things are difficult and require labor, become sluggish and lazy: but let us be mindful of him who admonished that each one should choose the best life, expecting that through habit it will become pleasant, and should undertake the best things. For it is shameful to let the present time slip D away, being mindful of the one who exhorted us that each should choose the best life, expecting that through habit it will become pleasant, and should undertake the best things. For it is shameful, having let the present time go by...
to try to recall the past when it will no longer be of any profit to those who are distressed. As for me, I have told you what I judge to be the best for the present, and for the rest of your life I shall continue to advise you; but you, since there are three types of illness, do not appear to be like the one which is incurable, nor show that the sickness of your mind is similar to the sickness of those who are suffering in their bodies. For those A who suffer from minor ailments come to the physicians themselves; those who have been overtaken by greater sicknesses summon the physicians to them; but those who have fallen into an entirely incurable malady of black bile do not even allow those who approach them to come near. See that this does not befall you now, by avoiding those who are of sound mind and reason.
HOMILY XXIII.
In Saint Mamas the Martyr.
1. I do not ignore the magnitude of those things which are done in public assemblies, the difficulty and the weight; but as I know this, so I myself am also keenly aware of my own weakness. For the subject itself demands B that something worthy be said, both for those who have gathered and for the hope that they have in us, and for the subject matter. For since we are celebrating the memory of the greatest of martyrs today, every mind is uplifted and every ear is prepared, expecting that something worthy of that martyr should be said, and it constrains the sermon through the very desire for him. For grateful children demand magnificent praises of their fathers, and would not suffer the magnitude of those things to be praised to be endangered by the meagerness of the speaker. Therefore, by how much the eagerness is greater, by so much is the danger. What, then, shall we do? C How shall we fulfill your desires, and ourselves not depart having left the matter at hand unfinished? I shall exhort every soul: whatever you had in memory when you came here, renew that in your mind; provide for yourself from your own home, and depart gladdened by your own provisions. Remember for me the martyr, all you who have enjoyed him in dreams; all you who, having happened upon this place, have held him as a helper for prayer; all those whom he served when called by name; those whom he brought back from journeys; those whom he raised from sickness; D those to whom he restored children already dead; those to whom he extended their allotted time of life. Gather all these for me, and compile a eulogy from a common contribution. Distribute to one another what each person knows to the one who does not; what he does not know, let him receive from the one who does; and thus, having fed one another from a mutual contribution, forgive me for my own weakness.
2. For these things are the praises of the martyr, the wealth of