Commonplaces

NOTICE CONCERNING THE SERMONS OF SAINT MAXIMUS THROUGH SELECT PASSAGES COLLECTED FROM SACRED AND PROFANE AUTHORS

Gesner the physician published them once and again along with Antonius Melissa, and in a second edition also with Joannes Stobaeus, who is most rich in that very same type of writing. In the former edition, he claimed—with little medical sense, as if to lighten the reader's labor—to have marked with an obelisk or expunged all the sentences of Maximus that were the same as the sentences of Melissa under the same headings. This is surely something akin to plagiarism, especially since Maximus lived before Antonius and preceded him; and it is manifest that the latter cites Joannes Damascenus, Photius the patriarch, and Theophylact—men so recent—frequently, none of whom Maximus cites. Therefore, the praise for his own work ought to have remained fully with Maximus, and not—to his supreme injury—be transferred to one who had prospered from his thefts. Certainly, another way should have been undertaken to ease his labor, namely, that the common sentences of both be indicated by some sign; or, if anyone’s were to be expunged, it should rather be those of the one who had prepared nothing through his own industry, but had copied from an earlier compilation without any credit to the author, which is too common among the Greeks.

How much was actually taken from Maximus by this, the ninth sermon—with which the manuscript codex of Maximus (kindly supplied to me by that illustrious and learned man, Father de Ballesdens) begins—shows; for, since the beginning and end of the book were obliterated and neither was certain, I had to determine if that lucubration of Maximus was contained therein. This was done in part quite according to my wishes, so that I might not rely solely on the unstable word of Gesner to publish this work of Maximus, as there was no other help available for me to restore to Maximus what was his own. For Gesner, in his second edition—and in the way he presents the Greek joined with the Latin in Stobaeus—so mixes everything that no one can clearly understand whose is whose, whether it be of Maximus or Antonius. The version of Ribittus, which he praises, itself having clearly distinguished what was Maximus's, has so vanished in its own obscurity that it could not even be obtained. In that regard, I surely needed a Theseus (not in the way Gesner boasts of himself) to extricate myself from the labyrinth of his own confusion, not that I might be greatly aided by his version in restoring the sentences of Maximus. Gesner excuses the fact that neither his version nor that of Ribittus is very elegant, claiming that he rendered them while the press was almost hanging [in the balance], and that the authors themselves are not seldom lacking in elegance.

To me, whatever may be said regarding the elegance of the authors (which that theologian and supreme grammarian, the German physician of heterodox beliefs, rejected with I know not what taste and with what sound mind, holding it against all the ancient theologians, philosophers, orators, and learned men), the primary requirement to be sought is fidelity, which alone marks a good interpreter, even if he is unable to render what was said and written by others with lesser eloquence or with such great brilliance. Many of the titles and names of the authors, because they were written in red lead, could not be read, whereas the sentences themselves, written in ink, were little or not at all distressed in the aforementioned ancient codex, which was written by an educated hand; following the standard of that codex almost entirely, I chose to repeat a few things from Melissa, especially in the first eight titles and chapters, and those which seemed more in the vein of Maximus, lest he himself, once the theft or plagiarism was exposed, appear the more meager. He who could trace the passages, if not all, then at least a great many, back to their sources would indeed be great and would confer something of great value upon literary studies. I, however, do not impose that task upon myself; I do not know if the shoulders of our Father Nicolaus would suffice for it, who wished to be seen as so great in that genre concerning Saint Thomas. In that case, however, the matter was simpler and not entirely impossible, since the authors whom Saint Thomas cited and whose works he used are generally extant and at hand; whereas, for the most part, those whose sentences Maximus excerpted are missing.

ABBA MAXIMUS, PHILOSOPHER AND MARTYR. THEOLOGICAL CHAPTERS; OR, CHOICE SELECTIONS FROM VARIOUS BOOKS, BOTH OUR OWN AND THOSE FROM OUTSIDE.

Grant grace, O Christ, to my labors.

OF SAINT EPHREM: How one ought to read, or to attend to one who is reading.

When you converse with the divine Books, do not be merely hasty, running through them lightly and pursuing the written words tangentially. But even if it should be necessary to go over the same passage often, even twice or thrice, to reach exactness, do not refuse the labor. Furthermore, when you are about to read, or to listen to another reading, pray first to God, saying in this manner: “O Lord Jesus Christ, open the ears and the eyes of my heart so that I may hear your words, understand them, and do your will. I am a sojourner on the earth; do not hide your commandments from me. ^B Open my eyes, and I will contemplate the wonders from your law.” (Ps. cxviii, 19, 18).

SERMON I. On a life led in virtue and vice.

Solomon: “We have no sign of virtue to show; but in our wickedness we have been consumed.” (Sap. v. 13).

Prov. 1, 10, 15, 16. — Let not impious ^A men seduce you, nor walk in the way with them; but turn aside your foot from their paths: for their feet run into evil. Prov. 13, 13. — He who despises a matter shall be despised for it. Prov. 10, 26. — As a sour grape is harmful to the teeth, and smoke to the eyes, so is wickedness to those who use it. Eccli. 27, 30. — He who does evil things, they shall roll upon him; and he shall not know from whence they come to him.

Basilii. — Among those things which are possessed, virtue alone is that whose possession cannot be taken away. The cultivation of virtue is indeed an outstanding possession for him who has it; but it also presents a most pleasant spectacle to those who encounter it. ^B For just as giving light follows fire of its own accord, and giving forth the fragrance of a scent follows ointment, so too does profit necessarily attend upon good deeds. The beginning of taking up what belongs to duty is to withdraw from evils. For it says: "Turn aside from evil, and do good." (Ps. xxxvi, 27).

Theol. Orat. 1, p. 6, and 14, p. 217. — Vice is by nature headlong, and its course toward the worse is more impetuous than if a torrent were to rush down a slope, or stubble were easily ignited by a spark and a breath of wind and burst into flame, and together with its offspring were consumed and destroyed.

It would not be easy to find which virtue excels all others, and to which you might rightly attribute the first prizes of victory; just as neither in a meadow, clothed in a various adornment of flowers and for that reason the more sweetly fragrant, could you find the most beautiful and most fragrant flower, while one pulls the sense of smell and the sight toward itself more than another, and persuades one that it should be plucked first of all. ^C

Chrysost. — Rare and arduous is the acquisition of the good, even if there is no lack of what draws and provokes toward it with great weight. Virtue is not pursued for the sake of a reward, so that it may continue to be virtue, looking only to what is honorable. The clarity of a name is brought about not only by an outstanding deed of virtue, but also by excellent malice, which procures for itself an infamous reputation through the dye of celebrated praise. It cannot be that he who applies diligence to virtue should not have many adversaries. Yet this is nothing to the cultivator of virtue, who is going to emerge far brighter because of these ^D very people. Many, not rarely, by reason of the weariness of labors, [abandon themselves...]

avoid toils, choosing through the praise that comes from them to do what they do.

Just as the end of life is the beginning of death, so too, regarding the path of virtue, the stopping is the beginning of the path of vice.

We have learned from the Divine Scriptures ^B that virtue is a thing difficult to attain, accomplished only with a thousand sweats and labors, with diligence and weariness, and with every effort.

Chrysostom. — For if someone among the people on earth who transgresses the laws undergoes inevitable punishment, how much more shall he be delivered over to intolerable torments who disregards the commandments of the heavenly Master?

Just as on the lyre it is not enough to produce a melody on a single string, but one must go through ^B them all with the proper rhythm, so too regarding virtue in the soul: one law is not enough for our salvation, but one must keep them all with precision.

Let us not, therefore, say that this person is by nature evil and that one is by nature good. For if he is good by nature, he will never be able to become evil; and if he is evil by nature, he will never become good.

Darkness does not endure the presence of light; sickness does not remain where health has arrived; the passions do not stir when ^C stillness is present.

It is fitting that virtue should be free from all fear. For virtue is free and voluntary, being free from all fear and constraint.

There is no other origin of vice than the absence of virtue.

Philo. — The thoughts of a wicked and evil man are one thing, his words another, and his actions yet another; all things are different and conflicting.

As vice departs, it provides an entrance for virtue; and conversely, when the good departs, the lurking evil enters in its place.

Clement. — Liberation from evils is the beginning of salvation.

As it seems, justice is square, equal and uniform in word, in deed, in abstinence from evils, in beneficence, in the perfection of knowledge; in no way ^D and nowhere limping, lest it appear unjust and unequal.

Didymus. — Use the appearance of virtue, not in order to deceive, but in order to be helpful.

The kingdom of God should be defined as the state of those who live in an orderly manner according to the divine laws.

All practical virtue has its being in the doing, and not in the having done.

Nilus. — Rejoice while you practice virtue; but do not be uplifted, lest shipwreck happen in the harbor.

Cyril. — It is worth the effort that virtue should not limp on either side, but be upright in deed and word, and perfect in both.

^A Virtue is rough, and the road to it is difficult; and no one can acquire it for himself without great labor.

From the Fathers. — The soul is polluted by four things: by walking through the city while failing to guard the eyes; by associating with women in any way whatsoever; by cultivating friendships with the nobility of this world; and by loving carnal congress and vain talk.

Plutarch. — The splendor of virtue that is unknown is not seen, just like gold that is buried. ^B Just as food seems sweet to those who exercise their bodies, so virtue seems sweet to those who are educated. Life, like currency that is found lacking at the start, becomes worthless to the whole world. Consider that you do everything as if you were hidden from no one. For even if you hide it for the present, you will be seen later.

Having once chanced upon a man who had injured him, and who was fleeing and ashamed to encounter him, he said to him: "It is not fitting that you should flee from me, but rather that I should flee from you, since you are the base one."

A cowardly and weak man is not to be compared to a dog or an ass, as he is one who has been dissolved by wealth and delicacy. ^C Strive to live in such a way that you are neither despised by those who are more powerful, nor terrifying to those who are lower.

Demosthenes. — Just as, I think, it is necessary for the foundations of a house, and of a ship, and of other such things, to be most firm, so also is it necessary for the beginnings and foundations of actions to be true and just.

Clitarchus. — Do not consider the mere possession of virtue to be a good, but rather how it is fitting to have it, and for what purposes it is fitting. If you have virtue, you have everything; but if you have vice, you do not even have yourself.

Socrates. — Having noticed one of his disciples who was more diligent about his field but neglectful of his action, he said: "Look here, my friend, take care lest, while wishing to cultivate the field, you allow your own soul to become wild."

Having learned that one of his acquaintances was very busy trying to have a statue made in his own likeness, while neglecting the cultivation of his conduct, he said to him: "You have been diligent in having a stone fashioned that looks like you, but you take no thought lest you yourself become like the stone."

Demonax. — He used to reproach those who took care of their bodies but neglected themselves, inasmuch as they have diligence for their houses, but pay no attention to the inhabitants.

Democritus. — Lines ought to be more certain, and actions more glorious.

^A It will make you worthy of God to do nothing that is unworthy of Him.

Bias. — So strive to live, as one who is going to live both a few days and a long life.

Lacon. — Lacon, being asked why Sparta was not surrounded by walls, replied: "You are mistaken; it is walled by the virtues of its inhabitants."

Diogenes. — When someone reproached him for entering into unclean places, he said: "The sun also enters into them, yet it is not defiled."

Lindius. — Piety must be kept; one must advise citizens on what is best; pleasure must be mastered; nothing should be done by force; he who is an enemy to the people must be held as an enemy; one should not punish intoxicated servants, lest you appear to be acting recklessly yourself.

Lycurgus. — Lycurgus the legislator used to say that the honor and dignity of men lay in their substance, but their trustworthiness in their character.

Pythagoras. — It is impossible for the same person to be a lover of pleasure, of the body, of money, and of God. For he who is a lover of pleasure is necessarily also a lover of the body; and he who is a lover of the body is necessarily also a lover of money; and he who is a lover of money is, by necessity, also unjust; and he who is unjust is, toward God, impious, and toward men, lawless.

Whatever things you will not need when released from the body, despise them all; and as for the things you will need at that time, pray that God may be your helper as you strive to cultivate them.

^D Diodorus. — The entire human race, on account of the weakness of nature, lasts in life for only a tiny moment of the total age; for all the remaining time they lie occupied by death. And for those who, while they lived, did nothing noteworthy, all other things pertaining to life perish together with the death of their bodies. But for those who, having practiced virtue, have acquired glory for themselves, their actions will for all eternity be commemorated by the most divine mouth of history.

Hyperides. — It is fitting for a good man to show what he thinks in his words, and what he does in his deeds.

Ittachus the Philosopher. — It is fitting for good men to possess some part of God.

Aristotle. — It belongs to God to do what He wills; but it belongs to man to strive for what is his duty.

Antiphanes. — If someone in the abundance of wealth admits to committing a disgraceful act, what would you think a man living in poverty might commit?

SERMO II. On Prudence and Counsel.

Eccli. XL, 25. ^A — Gold and silver will steady the feet, but counsel is better than both.

Eccli. XXII, 19. — A wooden beam bound into a building will not be dissolved in an earthquake; so the heart strengthened upon the thoughts of counsel will not be afraid in time of need.

Basilii in principium Proverb. — The name of prudence is twofold. For one kind is the safeguarding of one’s own advantage, such as the serpent covering its own head; the other seems to be a certain cunning of character, quickly discovering what is profitable for itself and snatching away the more innocent—such as was that unjust steward (Luke XVI, 8). But true prudence is the certain knowledge of judgment regarding things that should be done and things that should not be done; he who follows this will never be caught in the destruction of vice. ^B Whoever, therefore, understands the words of prudence, knows which are sophistical and which are to be practiced in life and suggest to us the best things; and as a skilled money-changer, he will hold fast what is good and abstain from every form of evil.

Theologi. — For he who has combined the prudence of the serpent in what is evil with the simplicity of the dove in what is good, will not allow prudence to be turned into the craftiness of the mind, nor simplicity into foolishness.

Chrysost. — The fountain and mother and root of prudence is virtue; just as, conversely, all wickedness has its origin in ignorance, just as the Prophet also says: There is no health in my flesh because of my foolishness (Ps. XXXVII, 4). ^C But he who is a cultivator of virtue and relies upon the fear of God is more prudent than all. Therefore, someone also says: The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Eccli. I, 16; Ps. CXI, 10).

Ignatii. — Being perfect, think perfect things. For while you desire to do good, God is ready to provide the capacity for it.

Plutarchi. — Prudence is not a survey of bodies, but of things and circumstances, before a man is involved in them; providing the ability to look at the future, so that when they occur, he may use them afterwards in the best way. For the body is only eyed in front; ^D but in the back, it is blind. The mind, however, is naturally able to see even things that have passed by memory...

^A

"The fool declares his anger on the same day." (Prov. 12:16)

"Every fool is immediately also pusillanimous (small-minded); for he is not steadfast." (Prov. 14:29)

If ever he caught anyone sinning, he would say: "May I never fall into such a thing myself."

Menander. — "Prudence compels all things to serve it."

Those who deliberate take the past as examples for the future. For that which is obscure is most quickly discerned and judged from that which is manifest.

Isocrates. — "He who has planned badly regarding his own affairs will never deliberate well regarding the affairs of others." ^B

Clitarchus. — "Let not the vigor of the body become the infirmity of the soul; but consider prudence to be the vigor of the soul."

Demonax. — "Educate yourself by the examples of others, and you shall be free from suffering evils."

Aristides. — "To be victorious in battles often befalls even the base; but to be able to conquer by prudence and wisdom belongs only to those who know how to deliberate."

Caius. — "I think it is wiser to be on guard so as not to suffer before suffering occurs, than to complain after it has happened."

Democrates. — "It is the work of prudence to be on guard against an approaching injustice; but it is the work of insensibility ^C if, when it has occurred, one does not defend oneself."

Solon. — "Counsel not what is most pleasant, but what is best."

Epictetus. — "Deliberate much on what you are about to say or do; for you will not have the freedom to recall what has been said or done."

Bias. — "To be robust and strong in body is a gift of nature; but to speak those things which are useful to the fatherland is the property of the soul and of prudence."

The same, when asked who is the best counselor, replied: "Time."

He used to say that the prudent are more helped by the foolish than the foolish by the prudent; for the former guard against the mistakes of the latter, while the latter do not imitate the successes of the former.

It behooves the good man to keep the past in memory, ^D to perform the things of the present, and to take diligent foresight for the future.

* The name of the author is missing.

^A One is the principle of good counsel: to know concerning what the word is; otherwise, it is necessary to miss the mark entirely.

Euripides, in *Antiope*: The mind itself is the great bridle of the soul. Though I be weak and of a womanly body, You have wrongly blamed me; for if I am able to think well, This is better than a robust arm.

Sophocles, in *Ajax*: From these manners, surely, never Could the constitution of any law exist, If we should expel those who prevail by justice, And bring those who are behind to the front. But one must yield to these things; for not the broad, Nor the broad-shouldered men are most secure, But those who think well prevail everywhere. And the ox, though endowed with great flanks, Is nevertheless guided by a small whip so that it proceeds along the straight path. For he who thinks well has grasped everything.

SERMON III

On purity and chastity.

Job xxxi, 9. — If my heart followed after the wife of another man; or if I even lay in wait at her doors, let my wife also be pleasing to another.

Wisdom iii, 13. — Blessed is the sterile woman, undefiled, who did not know a bed in transgression: she shall have fruit in the visitation of souls.

Wisdom iv, 1. — Virginity united with virtue is more excellent: for the memory of it is immortal; because it is known both before God and before men. When it is present, they imitate it, and desire it when it has departed: and it walks in procession, crowned forever, having conquered in the contest of undefiled struggles. ^C

Ecclesiasticus. — He who struggles against pleasures, crowns his own life.

Matthew xix, 11. — Not all take this word, but those to whom it is given. There are eunuchs, who were born so from their mother's womb, etc.

Basil, from the book *On True Virginity*. — Neither, therefore, is it proper to praise those who have had their parts cut off in the name of chastity. For we do not praise horses because they do not gore with a horn, nor oxen because they do not kick: but we praise the horses because they are not prone to kick; and regarding the oxen, if they do not gore, we accept it as gentleness. For one is not admired for that in which one is unable, but for that in which, being able, one does not use that power to the injury of another. ^D

^A A dead man is not crowned. No one is righteous simply by virtue of being unable to do evil. One must therefore, like a pilot sitting above the passions, and having embarked upon the vessel of the flesh, skillfully control one’s thoughts like a rudder; one should tread nobly upon the waves, and abiding in a higher seat, inaccessible to the passions, one should never be defiled by their bitterness, as if by salt spray.

Theologian. — Do not easily choose even a brother as a companion. For why should one look upon the fuel of sickness? ^B Better is a morose disposition than broken effeminacy.

Ointment is not entrusted to a rotten vessel. For as the flame does not remain when the material is consumed, but departs along with that which kindled it; so too the impassioned thought does not persist when the fuel is exhausted.

The eye that commits fornication does not keep its virginity. The tongue that commits fornication is mingled with evil. Feet that walk in disorder invite disease or danger to the mind. Let the mind also be virginal; let it not wander or stray. Let it not carry within it any image of evil things. Even the mere image is a part of fornication. Let it not fashion idols in the soul of things that are to be hated. ^C

Chrysostom. — It is ridiculous to keep the genital parts of the body chaste, but not to keep the tongue; or to keep the tongue, but not the sight, or the hearing, or the hands; or to keep these parts chaste while failing to keep the heart, but instead indulging it in a form of pride and anger, bordering on fornication.

Let us not soften our strength, nor sap our sinews through these associations. For a vast and immeasurable evil flows into our souls from this source. For what if we do not perceive it, being drunk with friendship? ^D This is itself the most serious thing of all: that we do not even know how we are being unnerved, and becoming softer than any wax. Just as one who takes a proud and ferocious lion, and then shears off its mane, pulls out its teeth, and removes its claws, makes it shameful and ridiculous, and easily overcome by children—that creature which was once terrible and unbearable, and shook everything with its roar alone—so too these [women], whomever they catch, make them submissive and subject to the devil: softer, more hot-headed, shameless, senseless, quick-tempered, bold, untimely, base, cruel, servile, ignoble, impudent, chattering; and simply bringing all the corrupt feminine passions, they imprint them upon the soul of such men. For it is impossible that someone who lives with such intimacy with women, and who frequents their associations and conversations, should not become a charlatan, a market-lounger, and a vagabond. Even if

he utters something, he will utter everything from looms and wools, his tongue having been stained by the quality of women's talk; and if he does something, he does it with much slavishness, far removed from the nobility befitting Christians, having removed himself from himself, and having become useful for none of the great achievements. ^A

Greg. Nyss. — The Lord calls blessed, not those who live their lives outside of passion (for it is not possible to live a life entirely immaterial and passionless in this fleshy and earthly life), but those who are slow and sluggish to move toward the impulses of nature.

Pleasure is truly, like some bait cast out for every vice, easily dragging more gluttonous souls toward the hook of destruction. ^B

Clement. — The corruption of virgins is called, not just fornication, but also the giving away of them at an immature age; when, so to speak, one is given prematurely to a man, either by herself or by her parents.

From the Fathers. — Fornication is aroused by four things: by fullness of food and drink; by satiety of sleep; by idleness, play, and empty chatter; and by the excessive ornamentation of garments.

Nilus. — Remove the eunuch Smaragdus from your wife; for even if he appears to have been cut below of his twin testicles, he somehow has twin eyes in his face, which look on lustfully and are already gathering evil testimonies and rumors. ^C

Cyril. — Like smoke, or even like certain vapors, the appetites of the pleasures innate in us arise. But he who is temperate and strong restrains the movements and does not allow them to progress further, and easily suppresses the affection while it is still weak. He, however, who is slothful and negligent, admits the beginnings of the pleasures as though they were still mere empty thoughts; but by allowing them to spread abroad, he will find the resistance most difficult. For he who has already been conquered and overcome is not the master of his own will; he is subject, rather, like some Barbarian, to the passion that has won him. ^D

Menander. — Chastity is the storehouse of virtue.

Iamblichus from the Letters on chastity. — Virtue is...

^A all that is mortal it despises, but what is immortal it embraces. And chastity holds this pursuit in much higher esteem, seeing that it despises the pleasures that fasten themselves to the soul through the body, and stands fast on pure foundations, as Plato says. For how could chastity not render us perfect, when it banishes from us everything unfinished, passionate, and base? You may know that this is so if you consider Bellerophon, who, struggling with chastity as his companion, destroyed the Chimera and the whole savage, wild, and untamed tribe. For, in general, the immoderate power of the passions does not even allow men to be men, but drags them toward an irrational, beastly, and disorderly nature. ^B Keep in mind hunger and thirst; for these are of great value to those who pursue chastity.

From the Sentences of Aristippus. — He overcomes pleasure, not who abstains from it, but who makes use of it yet is not carried away; just as with a ship or a horse, it is not he who does not use them, but he who steers them where he wishes.

Isaias. — I consider it the greatest of all services to provide a daily example of a life modest and chaste.

Socrates. — The wind fans the fire; but intimacy inflames desire.

Alexander. — When he had taken the daughters of Darius captive, and his friends advised him that, because they were of elegant form, he should associate with them: It would be disgraceful, he said, if we, who are victors over men, should be overcome by women.

The same man, when he had come to the Illyrians and, at the altar of Zeus, had caught sight of a woman excelling in beauty, was struck by her appearance and gazed at her for a long time. When Hephaestion said that it was fitting that he take her as his mistress, he said, And is it not a terrible thing, if we, who wish to punish the incontinence of others, should ourselves be caught by outsiders as enslaved to incontinence?

Clitarchus. — If you love what you should not, you will not love what you should. For desire is insatiable, and for that reason it is also needy.

Diogenes. — He used to say it was a shameful thing ^D if athletes and lyre-players master their belly and pleasures—some for the sake of their voice, others for the sake of their body’s strength—yet no one despises these things for the sake of temperance and chastity.

Demonax. — Some dominate cities, yet are slaves to women. ^A Antiphon. — Whoever has neither desired nor touched things that are shameful or evil is not temperate; for there is nothing of which he is master, such that he has shown himself to be moderate and chaste. Epictetus. — He is not free who is not master of himself. Pythagoras. — Temperance is the strength of a soul free from passion. For this is the light of a soul already established in the citadel of tranquility. To be a slave to passions or vices is more grievous than to be under tyrants; for it is impossible for one who is a slave to passions and held captive by them to be free. ^B Sophocles. — It is shameful for those who are well-born or sprung from honorable progeny to live shamefully. Demosthenes. — It behooves a wise man to strive always to render his reason victorious over his desires and superior to them. Demetrius. — Demetrius Phalereus used to say that honorable youths ought to revere their parents in the home; in the street, everyone they happen to meet; and in solitude, themselves. Menedemus. — When a certain youth said that it is a great thing to possess what one desires, Menedemus responded: "It is much greater to desire nothing of those things which are not fitting and do not pertain to the standard of what is honorable." Bias. — Bias of Priene said: "Blessed is he who is wealthy and enjoys what he desires; but he who does not desire is more blessed." ^C Xanthus. — The wise Xanthus, having seen an adulterer before the doors of a beautiful woman, said: "That man is purchasing brief pleasure at the cost of great danger." Charicles. — For the sight of those who are beloved stimulates the lover’s memory, and the vision inflames the mind, just as wood becomes fuel for a fire. For discourse about love is the fuel of desire.

SERMON IV

On fortitude and strength.

Matt. xvi, 24. — If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. ^D Prov. xxi, 30, 31 (LXX xxi, 30). — There is no wisdom, nor is there fortitude, nor is there counsel against the Lord.

^A The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but help is from the Lord.

Sirach xiii. — Be not a partner with one who is stronger than you. What will a pot communicate with a caldron? It will strike, and it will be broken.

Ephes. vi, 11. — Put on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil, and what follows.

Basil. — Endure, then, not impassively nor insensibly. For what is the reward of apathy and insensibility? But though in pain and with myriad griefs, endure nevertheless, as a noble combatant, who shows his strength and courage not only by striking his adversaries, but also by stoutly bearing the blows he receives from them. And like a wise pilot, undisturbed by his great experience in navigation, he preserves his soul upright and unsubmerged, higher than any storm.

Theologian. — Boldness and temerity, even if they approach one another in their forms, are separated by a great distance in their power; we say one is fortitude, and the other is cowardice. To be confident where one ought to act is a matter of fortitude, just as to give way is a matter of cowardice. But where the danger is greater, to go to meet it and rush forward, rather than to be restrained and withdraw, is temerity; whereas to withdraw is [a matter of] prudence.

Chrysostom. — One should neither shirk contests, nor jump into them. For thus our victory will be more brilliant, and the defeat of the devil more laughable. When we are dragged into them, to stand firm with a great and lofty spirit; but when not provoked, to study quiet and await the time, is indeed the mark of those who are strong and strenuous, that we may both wash away the stain of vainglory and demonstrate the strength of a manly spirit.

^B Socrates. — Having seen the gates of the Corinthians strongly locked, he said: Do women live here?

Menander. — Strength lacking understanding delivers those who encounter it to the grave.

Alexander the King. — When urged by his friends to attack the enemy by night, he said: It is not royal to steal a victory.

Having seen a certain man of the same name cowardice, he said: Young man, either change your name or your ways. ^{C D}

[NOTE.] ...just as the unknown God himself, whose religion the Apostle brought to the true God; naturally, thus, those most wise men, shadowing forth the name of God, the tetragrammaton, which the religion of the Hebrews does not allow to be uttered or read; and they render it everywhere by the word *Dominus* [Lord]; sometimes it is also depicted with certain characters and marks, as in Procopius on Isaiah, which I know not whether they could have been a deception, so that *ἀσεβῆ* might be read for it in the great amplitude of that proposition of his with an accusative case, joined otherwise than I would prefer, and than Nobil. [has it]—following Cassian, so that it denotes not *apud* [among], but *adversus et contra* [against]; so that it is: There is no wisdom for man, there is no fortitude, there is no counsel against the impious; whereby he may be secured against him, and may be sufficiently cautious (if not indeed by the help of God) against him: which is an excellent sense, but derived from other Hebrew [sources] than what we have, if indeed it was brought forth by the Elders; or unless it is a gloss, and crept from the margin into the text, and thrust out the true word of the text, which is especially [evident since] the following verse expresses the sense clearly.

^A The same [person], when friends urged him to occupy himself with procreating children, said: "Do not be anxious; for I leave you as children the victories won through struggles." The same [person], as he was going out to war, and Aristotle told him that he must wait for the perfect age and then fight, said: "I fear that while I wait for the perfect age, the boldness of a youthful spirit may depart."

A Laconian, when someone taunted him that he was going to war even though he was lame, said: "What is this? The need is not for those who flee, but for those who stand fast and engage in the struggle."

Leonidas. — Leonidas the Lacedaemonian, while marching to war against the Persians, supported by a small band of soldiers, when someone said that he was marching with very few, said: "But [I am marching] with those who are willing."

A Laconian, though his body was in a weakened state, went before the battle-line. When some asked him why he led the way although his body was so afflicted, he replied: "So that I may fulfill my duty by dying for my fatherland."

Musonius. — Seize the opportunity of dying honorably while it is permitted; lest a little later you are forced to die, and the ability to die honorably is no longer yours.

From the Chriai of Dio. — A Laconian woman, when her son had become lame from an injury to his leg in battle, and showed distress at this, said: "Do not grieve, my child; for as often as you take a step, your virtue will come back to mind."

From the collectanea of Nicolaus. — The Celts who dwell by the Ocean think it shameful to flee a falling wall or house. Likewise, they march armed against the incoming tide of the refluent Ocean, and ^B wait until they are submerged and overwhelmed by the waters, so that they may not seem, by fleeing, to fear death.

Of Coriscus. — Coriscus, being quite an old man, when he was freed from a certain difficult illness, said: "Away! How annoying it is that I have returned, having already progressed some distance on the path which it is absolutely necessary to travel."

Of Pyrrhus. — When Pyrrhus had led an army against the Lacedaemonians and was threatening them with many evils, Cercyllidas, one of the councilors, ^C rising in the assembly, said: "If it is God who threatens, we must not fear; for we have done no injustice. But if it is a man, let him know that he is making threats against men."

From the Histories of Plutarch. — Darius, king of the Persians, with an army of three hundred thousand soldiers, ^D [was heading] to—

VARIOUS NOTES.

* Or rather Cercyllidas [in relation] to Pyrrhus.

NOTE.

(r) These stories of Nicolaus (whom I would wish to be the Damascene, about whom Suidas writes at length, and of whose one or two volumes of works I remember having seen in manuscript codices in the Em. Cardinal Mazarin's library, which have recently been brought into the Royal treasury), or at all events, stories said with such exaggeration to denote the ultimate boldness of a people, and [things] which almost exceed the bounds of fortitude and seem to have something of rashness; yet with such boldness they quite often achieve, in the most successful manner, things which exceed all belief, and nowhere more frequently than in this age of ours, or recently in the Turkish-Hungarian war, or a little while before, in very recent memory, the Spanish [war].

^A Marathon. The Athenians sent a thousand against them, and gave them as commanders Polyzelus, Callimachus, Cynaegirus, and Miltiades. When the battle was joined, Polyzelus, having seen an amazing and superhuman vision, lost his sight, and though blind, killed forty-eight. Callimachus, pierced by many spears, stood even when dead. Cynaegirus, seizing the leading ship of the Persians, had his hand cut off. Whence it is said that the following was written about them by Pantelius:

O empty labor and futile war! To our King, returning, what shall we say? O King, why did you send me against immortal warriors? We strike, they do not fall; we wound, they do not fear. One man alone despoiled an entire army; and in the midst, Panting, he stood upon iron roots, Nor does he wish to fall; perhaps he will enter the ships. Speak, helmsman, let us flee the threats of the corpse.

SERMO V.

Concerning Justice.

Matt. v, 6. — Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied. ^B Levit. xix, 36. — Just balances and just weights, and a just measure shall be yours. Isa. xxvi, 9. — Learn justice, you who inhabit the earth. ^C Prov. xiv, 34. — Justice exalts a nation: but sins diminish tribes. Prov. xi, 27, 28. — A pure man is a precious possession, walking in the ways of justice. The way of justice and almsgiving will find life and glory. Prov. xxvi, 27. — He who digs a pit for his neighbor shall fall into it; he who rolls a stone, it will roll back upon himself. Melius is a little gain with justice than many fruits with injustice. ^D Eccli. xl, 15. — The riches of the unjust will be dried up like a river, and like a great thunder in the rain, it will resound.

^A Basil. — He who does not have true justice stored up in his soul, but is either corrupted by riches, or indulges in friendship, or is avenged by enmity, or is swayed by power, cannot direct judgment. Justice is a habit distributing to each according to his merit. But this is difficult to attain, since some, through a lack of prudence, cannot find what is equal to distribute to each person; while others, because they are held by human passions, efface what is just.

Theologian [Gregory of Nazianzus]. — We believe and hear that there are indeed some dregs of God’s wrath—that is, the remains of the movement against those who are deserving—since God is a jealous God who takes vengeance. For even if He inclines through loving-kindness from the severe to the indulgent, He does not permit everything to those who sin, so that they might not become worse through His goodness.

Chrysostom. — God does not demand justice for all things here, so that you might not despair of the resurrection and lose hope in the judgment, with all giving an account here; nor does He allow everything to go unpunished, so that you might not think that all things are without providence.

Nyssen. — The just judgment of God is likened to our own dispositions; and such as matters proceed from us, such things in turn come to us from Him, the author, based on those similarities.

Evagrius. — An unjust judge, a defiled conscience.

^C Cyril. — Everyone who is wronged is burned by grief; and not having the means to avenge himself or to descend to equality—because the hand of the wrongdoer sometimes prevails—he calls upon the sting of divine hatred of evil to bring him aid.

Plato. — He who does no injury to anyone is indeed worthy of honor; but he who also does not permit those who incline toward injury to do so is worthy of more than double the honor of the former. For the one is equivalent to but one person, whereas the other is equivalent to many others. For I truly think that I, and you, and other men, consider doing injustice to be worse than suffering it; and escaping punishment to be worse than receiving it. ^D

It is fitting that we praise those men who choose no advantage of their own over justice; for it is possible to acquire wealth, but it is not easy to acquire glory with wealth.

^A Moschion: It is better to be unjustly blamed by one who has been condemned for judging rightly, than to judge unjustly and be justly censured by nature as judge.

From the sayings of the Seven Wise Men: It seems to me that a city fares best and preserves a free, popular government most securely, in which the perpetrator of an injury is brought before the one who suffered the injury, and they subject the guilty party to punishment.

Hyperides: People are accustomed to abstain from injustice for two reasons: either out of fear, or out of shame.

Socrates: Forbear to do to others the things which, when you suffer them from others, you become angry.

Epictetus: Just as a true balance is neither corrected by a true balance nor judged by a false one, so also a just judge is neither corrected by the just nor judged by the unjust. Do not judge in another’s court before you yourself have been judged before the tribunal of justice.

Pythagoras: The one who is the author of an injury bears greater evils through his conscience being tormented, than he who is struck in his body and beaten with stripes.

^B Zeno: Zeno the Stoic philosopher, when asked by one of his acquaintances how we might do nothing unjust, said: "If you always suppose that I am present with you."

The same man, being asked if a person who commits an injury can be hidden from God, answered: "No, nor even one who thinks of it."

Socrates: Condemned by the Athenians to be executed by being flung from a precipice, while his wife Xantippe was weeping and saying, "How unjustly, Socrates, you are dying!", he said: "So, would you have wanted me to die justly?"

Menander: Surmise no evil concerning a good man; a just man knows no way of doing harm.

Socrates to Xenophon: Does not the deed itself seem to you a more reliable proof than words? "Indeed, by Zeus," he said, "very much so. For those who speak of just things are many who do unjust things; but of those who perform just deeds, not even one would be unjust."

^{C D}

SERMO VI. On friends and brotherly love.

1 Cor. XIII, 1-3. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become...

as sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. And a little later: If I distribute all my possessions into food, and surrender my body that I may be burned, but have not love, I am nothing.

Prov. XXVII, 6. — ^A Wounds of a friend are more faithful than the voluntary kisses of an enemy.

Prov. XXIX, 5. — He who prepares a net before the face of his friend, spreads it for his own feet.

Prov. XVIII, 1. — A man wishing to separate himself from friends seeks excuses.

Prov. XV, 17. — Better is a reception of vegetables with friendship and grace, than a preparation of calves with enmity.

Eccli. XXII, 25. — He who throws a stone at birds ^B frightens them: and he who reproaches a friend, dissolves friendship.

Eccli. VII, 20. — Do not exchange a friend for the sake of no profit.

Eccli. VI, 14. — A faithful friend is a strong protection: and he who holds him, has found a treasure.

Eccli. IX, 14. — Do not abandon an ancient friend: for a new one is not equal to him.

Eccli. VI, 15. — There is nothing for which a faithful friend can be exchanged: and there is no weighing of his goodness.

Basilius. — Of those who are wicked and ignorant, not one is a friend. For the goodness of friendship does not fall into a depraved disposition; because nothing base or incongruous can enter into the harmony of friendship. For evil is not only contrary to the good, but it is also contrary to itself.

Things from friends, even if joined with injury, ^C are tolerable.

Theologus. — Always value the good more than the not-good.

If you associate with the bad, you will surely be bad.

Friendship will bear all things, both suffering and hearing.

A divorce produced for the sake of piety is better than an agreement connected with vice.

The associations of the wicked are harmful (since this is the law of friendship-bonding: that it should coalesce into similar characters for those who are joined by it). Those who hold hatred in the depths of their minds, yet demonstrate a sort of appearance of friendship tinged with love, are ^D just like rocks hidden under water, whose tips are slightly covered by water, and cause unforeseen harm to the unwary.

From him who is evil, never expect anything good. For he seeks pardon for the things he has done in life.

For bodies are joined by place, but souls are united by spirit.

Know the limits of enmity, but of friendship, none.

However, let no one think that I am of the opinion that every peace is to be embraced (for I know that, as there is a certain most excellent dissension, so there is also a most baneful concord), but rather that which is noble and for the sake of a noble thing, and which joins one to God.

^A Chrysost. — Just as the soul is not called a human being without the body, nor is the body [a human being] without the soul, so neither is there love toward God unless it has as its companion love toward one's neighbor.

Nothing is equal to concord. For one, in this way, becomes many. For if two or ten are of one mind, there is no longer only one, but each of them becomes ten times what he was; and you will find the one in the ten, and the ten in the one. And if any enemies should attack the one, in attacking the one he is attacking the ten, and thus he is caught. The one is in need, yet he is not in scarcity; for the need is obscured by the greater portion and number. Each of these has twenty hands, twenty eyes, and just as many feet, and ten souls. For he works everything not only with his own [members and powers], but also with those of others. And if there were even a hundred, the same thing would happen again. He will be able to be the same person in Persia and in Rome; and what nature cannot do, love can do. If, therefore, you have a thousand or two thousand friends, consider to what degree the excellence of this power will finally reach. For this is the wonderful thing: to make the thousand into one. For it is better for us that the sun be extinguished than to be deprived of friends. For many, though they see the sun, dwell in darkness; but those who have many friends would not [be found] even in tribulation. For nothing, absolutely nothing, could be sweeter than love. For what would a true friend not do? What pleasure would he not bring? What utility? What security? Even if you should speak of infinite treasures, you would find nothing comparable to a true friend. And just as bright bodies shed a certain radiance of light upon the surrounding and neighboring places, so also friends, in whatever places they may be, breathe forth grace and sweetness from themselves. Therefore it is better to dwell in darkness than to be ^C deprived of friends.

Gregor. Nyss. — Just as aromatic scents fill the surrounding air with the sweet fragrance they exhale, so the presence of a good man benefits those nearby.

Evagrius. — Love heals the inflamed and swollen parts of anger.

Philo. — One must consider him a friend who is willing to help and to reciprocate, even if he is not able.

To drink poison from a golden cup and to receive counsel from an ignorant friend is the same thing.

Vessels are better when new, but friendship is better the older it is.

The fruits of the earth are yearly; but the fruits of friendship grow in every season.

Many choose friends not for being the best, but for being the wealthy.

^A Many who seem to be friends are not, and there are those who do not seem so, yet are. It is the part of a wise man, therefore, to know each one. One must avoid the friendship of those whose disposition is doubtful.

Isocrates. — Acquire friends, not all who seek to be, but those who are worthy of your nature.

The same. — Do not make anyone a friend before you have inquired how he has dealt with his former friends. For expect that he will become the same toward you as he was toward them. Be slow to enter into friendship, but once you have entered, endeavor to persevere. It is equally shameful to have no friends as it is to exchange many companions out of others.

True friendship seeks three things above all: virtue, as being honorable; companionship, as being pleasant; and use, as being necessary. For one must approve of the judge, rejoice in the companion, and use the needy. ^B

Plutarch. — We prove the excellence of a horse in war, but the faithfulness of a friend in adversity. It does not behoove brothers, like the pans of a balance, for one to be raised while the other is lowered. Be agreeable to all, but conduct yourself with the best. For thus, you will not be offensive to the former, and to the latter you will become a friend. Acquire friends, not those with whom you might spend time most pleasantly, but those with whom you might live best.

From the Chriae of Dion. — For as many companions as one has acquired, with so many eyes he sees what he wishes, with so many ears he hears what is fitting, and with so many minds he deliberates and consults concerning useful things. For it is no different than if God were to grant one who has a single body many souls, all of which would provide for and consult on his behalf. ^C

Aristotle. — It is more fitting to acquire wealth for the sake of friends, than friends for the sake of wealth.

This same man, when reproached for associating with the wicked, said, "He is the best physician who takes on those despaired of by all others."

The same used to say that to please everyone is a most difficult thing.

Socrates. — Those who violate friendship, even if they escape the vengeance of those who have been wronged by the injury, nevertheless do not avert the punishment that God will bring upon them. To love at the wrong time is the same as to hate. Do not fear a genuine friend in times of trouble.

The same, asking Croesus what he had obtained most precious from his kingdom; and upon his replying, "To pursue my enemies and benefit my friends," said, "How much more pleasant it would have been if you had also turned them into friends!" ^D

Democritus. — Not to be able to help one’s friends is a sign of poverty, but not to wish to do so is a sign of a depraved mind.

Clitarchus. — Consider your calamities to be those of your ^A friends: but share your own prosperity with them. To mourn for deceased friends is not noble; but to provide for their survivors is a diligent duty.

Cato. — Friends are not wealth, but friends are wealth. And wealth could never produce friendship, just as the earth could never produce God; but friendship can easily produce wealth, just as God produced the earth. ^B As you do not hate the bee because of its sting, but cherish it because of its fruit, so also do not turn away from a friend offended by the harshness of a rebuke, but love him for the sake of the goodwill he bears you. He who avoids a friend in sad circumstances is not worthy to enjoy his company when he is happy.

Menander. — Love in such a way that you might also come to hate, And hate in such a way that you might also come to love. Gold is known to be tested by fire, But goodwill toward friends is tested by time. He who fawns upon a friend when he is enjoying prosperous times, Is a friend of the moment, not of the friend.

Uncertain. — Do not acquire true friends until you have driven away the false ones. I never strove to please the masses; for I did not learn the things that please them, and the things I did know were far removed from their way of thinking.

Socrates. — Those who overlook their brothers and look for other friends are similar to those who abandon their own land and cultivate another’s. ^C

Critias. — He who associates with friends by doing everything for the sake of fawning, makes a present pleasure into later enmity.

Polyænus. — The more benefits you bestow upon a friend, so much the more do you advance your own interests. For their goodwill towards us returns to us in turn.

Cypselus. — Be the same to your friends in prosperous and in unfortunate circumstances.

Epictetus. — The friendship of the wicked should be avoided, and the enmity of the good should be shunned.

Sextus. — Do not take as a friend one to whom you do not entrust everything. ^D

Cyrus. — When someone sent him much finery, he gave it to his friends. And when it was asked of him why he had left nothing for himself, he said: "Because my body could not be adorned with all this, but when I see my friends adorned with it, I consider it the greatest adornment laid up for me."

Timon. — Timon the misanthrope, being asked why he hated all men, said: "Because I justly hate the wicked; and the rest, because they do not hate the wicked."

Romulus. — Romulus, being accused because he associated with wicked men, said: "Physicians also associate with the sick, but they themselves are healthy."

Antigonus the King. — This man, when sacrificing to the gods, prayed that they would preserve him from those who appear to be friends. Upon being asked...

for what reason he made such a prayer, he said, "Because knowing my enemies, I am on my guard." ^A

Alexander. — Being asked by someone, "Where do you have your treasures?" he pointed to his friends and said, "In these."

Libanius. — We must rejoice with friends when things go well and prosperously for them, just as we must grieve with them when they are in sad circumstances.

Offenses and injuries that arise from friends toward friends are far more difficult to cure, and cause greater damage than those that come from enemies.

Pisonian Dio. — The more a person makes his friends stronger, the stronger he himself becomes.

What calamity is not intolerable apart from friendship? What happiness is not unpleasant without friends? One bears heavy calamities more easily with friends than the greatest prosperity alone.

I justly judge that man to be most miserable who, in misfortunes and calamities, has many who rejoice at them, but in prosperous times has no one to rejoice with him.

He who bestows gifts upon his friends is delighted on the one hand as the giver, and on the other as one who is himself acquiring. ^B

SERMON VII. On Almsgiving.

^C Matth. v, 7. — Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Deut. xv, 11. — There shall not be a needy person from the land. Therefore, I command you this word, saying: Opening, you shall open your hands to your poor brother.

Job xxix, 15. — I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame; I was a father of the weak.

Prov. iii, 3. — Let almsgiving and faith not desert you; bind them around your neck, and you will find grace.

Dan. iv, 24. — Redeem your sins with alms, and your iniquities with mercies for the poor. ^D

Eccli. iii, 33. — Water shall extinguish a burning fire, and almsgiving shall expiate sins.

Eccli. iv, 8. — Incline your ear without grudging to the poor, and answer him with peaceable gentleness.

Eccli. xii, 4. — Give to the godly, and do not receive the sinner; do good to the humble, and do not give to the ungodly.

Eccli. xxix, 15. — Shut up almsgiving in your storehouses, and it shall rescue you from all evil, and it shall fight for you against your enemy more than the spear of strength.

Eccli. xxxv, 26. — Beautiful is mercy in the time of affliction, as clouds of rain in the time of drought.

^A of Basil. — The most grievous kind of greed is not to share even those things which perish with the needy. You wrong as many as you could have provided for.

Of the Theologian. — To do good is more noble than to receive it, and mercy is more to be sought after than profit.

It is better to be called the father of countless children than to have countless staters in your purse. For you will leave your money behind here, whether you like it or not, but you will carry the glory and magnificence of your good works to the Master; and when the whole multitude stands before the common Judge, and they point to you as their provider and benefactor, calling you by all the names of philanthropy—God will be the one receiving you, the angels will sing your praises, the people from the beginning of the world will call you blessed—eternal glory, crowns of righteousness, and the kingdom of heaven will be your reward.

If wealth is scattered in the way the Lord commands, it is its nature to remain; but if it is held onto, it [tends] to go to others. If you keep it, you do not have it; if you scatter it, you will not lose it. *He has dispersed, he has given to the poor* (Ps. cxi, 9).

Piety is a fine shroud. Depart when you have clothed everyone. Make your wealth your own adornment; have it as your companion. Obey well the counsel of Christ, who loved you and who became poor for our sake, that we might become rich through his poverty (II Cor. viii, 9).

^B Of the Theologian. — Mercy is free from all injustice; it makes all things clean. This is better than fasting and sleeping on the ground; and although those things are more arduous and burdensome, this one is more profitable; it tints the soul, makes it subtle, beautiful, and fair.

We shall reap profit only from those things which we have sent on before us there. Those things alone are ours which consist of the virtues of the soul—mercy and philanthropy; for it is impossible to take money with you when you leave; rather, let us send these things on so as to prepare for ourselves a tabernacle in the eternal mansions.

Without mercy, the soul is unfruitful. Without it, all things are unclean, all things are useless. This is the thing whereby we can be made equal to God: to give mercy and to have compassion. When, therefore, we lack this, we are deprived of everything. He did not say, "If you fast, you are like your Father." He did not say, "If you preserve your virginity"; but what? *Be merciful, as your Father in heaven is merciful* (Luc. vi, 36). *For I desire mercy,* he says, *and not sacrifice* (Osee vi, 6; Matth. ix, 13).

Things that we wish to obtain from God, these we must first distribute to our neighbor. If we deprive our neighbor of these things, how do we wish to obtain them from God? Blessed, he says, are the merciful, ^C

^A for they shall obtain mercy; but judgment is without mercy to him who has not shown mercy (Jas. II, 13).

Extend your hands, not to heaven, but to the hands of the poor. If you extend your hand to the hands of the poor, you have touched the very summit of heaven: for He who has his throne there receives the alms. But if you extend them empty, you have gained nothing. For it is not by the extension of hands, nor by the multitude of words, but by good works that you are to be heard. Hear what the prophet says: When you extend your hands, I will avert My eyes from you; and when you multiply your prayer, I will not listen to you: but judge for the orphan and the humble, and justify the widow, and learn to do good (Isa. I, 15, 17).

If there were no poor, a great part of sins would not be cut away. The poor are the physicians of our wounds: their own hands are the remedies they offer us. Not even a physician, stretching forth his hands and applying medicines, grants health as a poor man does, who, by stretching out his hand and receiving what we offer, wipes away our evils. You gave a contribution; along with it, your sins also departed. For such are the priests: they shall eat the sins of my people (Osee IV, 8).

A blind man knows how to lead to the kingdom of heaven him to whom he gives alms: and although he may strike against walls and fall into ditches, he is a safe guide for the ascent into heaven.

Why, O rich man, do you act foolishly, hiding in your own storehouses what belongs to the poor? Why are you angry with those who beg of you, as if you were spending from your own? They want their own patrimony, not yours; what was entrusted to you for their sake was not born with you. Give what you have received, and count its use as your gain. It is enough for you that you were created with this function, that you should give, not receive.

Nothing is as pleasing to God as alms. This is, indeed, the cause why priests in ancient use were anointed with oil, as were kings and prophets. For they had oil as a sign of God's mercy. Because God has mercy on men and grants them clemency, for this reason they were anointed with oil. For He willed the priesthood ^D to be consecrated with oil. Kings also were anointed with oil. For He acts with mercy toward all, it says, because He is almighty; for this is the property of rule: to show mercy and to pity. Consider in your mind that the world was established through mercy, and emulate the Lord. The mercy of a man is upon his neighbor: but the mercy of the Lord is upon all flesh (Eccli. XVIII, 12).

If you give anything, take care that you do not murmur; a thing which many do, giving indeed, but not cheerfully; whereas the alacrity of giving itself is something greater and more perfect than the act of giving. Nor do you think that you must examine the one who is to receive, whether he is worthy to receive or not? For it is far better, I estimate, for the sake of those who are worthy, to give even to the unworthy, than for the sake of the unworthy to be lacking even to the worthy. Better it is to contribute according to one's ability, than nothing. Misericordia autem Domini super omnem carnem

^A prorsus praestare. For it is not he who could not, but he who would not, who is at fault. Be more honorable to your neighbor by appearing kinder. Be a god to him who is struggling with adversities, emulating the mercy of God. ^A One ought to measure one’s request according to the condition of the person from whom one is asking. For it is equally absurd to seek great things from a small person, and small things from a great one. The former is untimely, the latter is sordid.

Chrysost. — When you feed the poor, consider that you are feeding yourself. For such is the nature of this matter, that what we have given passes from us back to us and redounds to our benefit. Let us not fear the Judge, who extends His hand before the judgment; let us not fear the Judge who does not refuse to receive. It is very much at variance with reason that one who wishes to buy a field should seek a fertile field; yet, when heaven is proposed instead of earth, and it is possible to acquire a portion there, one remains on the earth and endures the toils that come from it.

Greg. Nyss. — He who shares with the needy places himself in the portion of Him who for our sake became poor (II Cor. VIII, 9).

Nilus. — Just as it is the property of light to illuminate, so it is the property of God to show mercy and compassion to His own creatures.

St. Irenaeus from his epistle to Victor. — As long as anyone has the means to do good to his neighbors, and does not do so, he shall be considered a stranger to the love of the Lord.

Philo. — Be such toward your servants as you pray for God to be toward you. For as we hear, so shall we be heard by God; and as we see, so shall we be seen by Him. Let us therefore offer ^B mercy in return for mercy, so that we may receive like for like.

Demosthenes. — It is right to show mercy, not to the unjust among men, but to those who are suffering misfortune beyond what is reasonable.

Bias. — Bias, when about to condemn someone by a capital sentence, burst into tears. When someone asked him why this had happened, that he who sat as judge was weeping himself, he said: Because it is necessary, according to nature, to give way to compassion, but according to the law, to give the verdict.

Phocion. — Neither from a temple is the altar, nor from human nature is mercy to be removed.

Democritus, Isocrates, and Epictetus. — Distribute to strangers and to those in need from your own means; for he who does not give to one in need will himself not receive when he is in need.

When a certain pirate had been cast upon the land and had suffered shipwreck in a storm, someone took his cloak and gave it to him, and having brought him into his house, provided him with all following kindnesses. Being reproached by someone, that he was showing kindness to the wicked. ^{C D}

he said: I have not honored the man, but the human condition itself.

Chariclea: In a foreign land, that which is for sale is precious and dear to those who do not know it, but that which is asked for is easily given by the merciful.

SERMON VIII. On Beneficence and Grace.

Luke 6:31: As you wish that men would do to you, do so to them. 1 John 3:10: He who does good is of God; but he who does evil has not seen God. Ecclesiasticus 18:16, 17: A good word is better than a gift; a good word is above a gift. Ecclesiasticus 17:22: Conserve the grace of a man as the apple of your eye. Ecclesiasticus 3:31: He who returns a grace is kept in memory for the future; and in the time of his fall he will find support.

^B Basilius: Just as eyes do not see that which is set too close and imposed upon them, but require a certain moderate distance, so too do ungrateful souls seem to perceive the sense of a past grace only in the alienation of good things.

Theologus: So long as you sail with favorable winds, provide a hand to the shipwrecked; and while it is well with you and you abound in riches, help him who is in misfortune.

Man possesses nothing so much of the divine nature of God as doing good; although one person may show a specimen of it in greater matters, another in lesser, each surely according to his own ability.

Chrysostom: In doing good, consider that you are imitating God.

We see many people, after receiving benefits, despise those who have conferred these gifts upon them as if they were slaves, and knit their brows against them.

Let us do good to those who do not even sense what kind of gift they are receiving from us, so that by not returning to us praise or anything else, they might not diminish our reward for us. For when we receive nothing from men, then we shall receive greater things from God.

Often the intention alone is sufficient to do a great good.

He who does good does not do well, but he himself is favored and receives a benefit more than he grants one; for a greater bounty accrues to him than is given. For he lends to God, not to men; he increases his wealth, he does not diminish it; indeed, it is diminished only if he fails to diminish it, if he does not give. ^{C D}

^A Chrysostom. — He who is the first to confer a benefit clearly shows his kindness; but he who has received a benefit, whatever he may return, is paying a debt, not storing up gratitude.

Clement of Rome. — It is not just that, while he who gave has been abandoned, what was given should remain with the ungrateful.

Nyssen. — He who has desired only the good, but has been prevented from attaining moral excellence by his own inability, is in no way less worthy in the disposition of his soul than one who has demonstrated his intention through deeds.

Philo. — Nothing so easily inclines one to good will as the grateful remembrance of benefits. ^B Love, O Emperor, those who beg for favors from you more than those who are eager to offer you gifts. For in the case of the latter, you are made a debtor in turn, whereas those others will make you their debtor—the one who holds dear what is done for him and who returns your philanthropic purpose with good recompenses.

Of the same, alias Plutarch. — Grace, just like the moon, shines beautifully when it is full.

Democritus. — A man behaves like God when he does not peddle his doing good, but cultivates both beneficence and truth.

The same, having seen someone handing things out readily to everyone and serving others without discernment, said: "May you perish wretchedly, for you have turned the Graces, who are virgins, into harlots."

Moschion. — To bestow something upon an ungrateful person is a loss; on the other hand, not to bestow it upon one who is grateful is harmful. ^C

Cato. — Most men are quite ready to exact vengeance, but are very sluggish when it comes to performing services and cultivating friendships.

Alexander. — Having sent fifty talents to the philosopher Xenocrates, when he refused them, saying he had no need of them, he asked if Xenocrates did not even have a friend: "For me," he said, "the wealth of Darius would barely be enough for my friends."

When one of his friends asked him for something for his daughter’s dowry, he ordered fifty talents to be counted out; however, when the man said that ten were enough, he replied: "It is enough for you to receive ten, but it is not enough for me to give only ten."

The same once filled a dish with bones and sent it to Diogenes the Cynic philosopher; when he received it, he said: "The food is indeed 'cynic' (fitting for a dog), but the gift is by no means royal." ^D

The same said: It is to be considered the same vice, both to give to those who are unworthy and not to give to those who are worthy.

Diogenes, being asked by someone why it is that people give to beggars but give nothing at all to philosophers, said: "Because they expect they might perhaps become lame or blind, but they do not expect to become philosophers."

Philistion. It is better to lend to the earth than to mortals, For it, not unwillingly, returns interest and profit.

^A Lysander. — When Dionysius the tyrant sent expensive garments for the use of his daughters, Lysander refused to receive them, saying that he feared that they might appear all the more unsightly for that adornment.

Gratitude, if anything else in life, withers most quickly for the majority of people.

Demosthenes. — Those who do not rightly use the opportunities [that occur] do not remember even if some good thing from God happens to them. The same man said: "He who confers a benefit ought to forget it immediately; but he who receives it ought to remember it forever."

Heraclitus the Physicist. — Timely gratitude, like food suitable for hunger, heals the indigence of the soul.

Menander. — When another offers you nothing more, Accept a portion; for instead of receiving nothing, To receive a smaller amount will be of far more benefit to you.

SERMO IX. On Magistracy and Power.

Ecclesiasticus xxxiii, 24. — Give not a blot to your glory; and be not lifted up in the day of glory.

Basil. — Homily on the Beginning of Proverbs. — A kingdom is a legitimate government.

The precepts, then, which are given by a king—that is, by one who is truly worthy of this title—are in the highest degree legitimate, insofar as they look to what is useful to all in common, and are not ordained for the purpose of private utility. For this is how a tyrant differs from a king: the former looks for his own advantage from every quarter, whereas the latter ^C cares for the utility of those over whom he rules.

If the heart of the king is in the hand of God (Prov. xxi, 1), his safety is secured not by the strength of arms, but by God acting as his guide and protector. Yet it is not just anyone who is in the hand of God, but only he who is worthy of the title of king.

The subjects are accustomed, for the most part, to be fashioned according to the character of the ruler; so that whatever sort the leaders may be, of necessity those who are led must also be of that same character.

It is an old saying that those who strive for virtue do not readily apply their mind to undertaking office.

The Theologian. — Since it is difficult for a man to know [how to be ruled, he risks the danger that it is far more difficult to know how to rule men.]

Perversion of order and confusion is an indication that there is no one who presides with magistracy; but order shows the leader and the ruler. For what profit is there to a good pilot who employs wicked rowers? ^A Let no one who can safely follow desire to rule, a matter full of hazard; nor let the law of subjection be infringed, which preserves both earthly and celestial things. Kings, have reverence for the purple; for reason shall impose a law even upon legislators. Understand what has been entrusted to you, and what that mystery is which pertains to you. The whole world is held under your hand by a small band and a brief strip of cloth. The things above are of God alone; the things below are also yours. Be gods to those under you; that I may say something even more bold: The heart of a king is in the hand of God (Prov. xxi, 1), and this has both been said and believed. ^B Therein let your power lie, and not in gold ^C and phalanxes.

Show your capacity for action not by doing evil, but by doing something good, if you wish to be a god. This is truly the work of a man who knows his own nature and kind. Truly, [the creature] (e) kills most easily—even as the turtle dove and the scorpion.

Chrysostom. — The magnitude of honor, to those who do not choose to live worthily of its dignity, is an addition to their punishment.

The Scripture knows of two kingdoms of God: one by appropriation, the other by right of creation. For He is King of all, Greeks, Jews, demons, and those who are opposed, according to the principle of creation. ^D

When a ruler is blameless to all, then he is able, with as much authority as he wishes, to both inflict punishments and grant favors to all those subject to his rule.

Nothing so shows a person holding authority as the affection he has for his subjects. For it is not only begetting that makes a father, but also loving those whom he has begotten. And if, where nature exists, there is a need for love, much more so where there is grace.

A ruler is not seen in the cloak and the belt, nor in the voice of the herald, but in restoring those who are laboring and correcting those who are in a bad state; in punishing injustice, and in not allowing justice to be driven away by tyranny.

Philo. — God is in need of nothing; but a king is in need of God alone. Imitate, therefore, Him who is in need of nothing, and be generous with mercy to those who ask, not dealing with your suppliants with the utmost rigor, but providing to all the means for living. For it is much better, for the sake of those who are worthy of mercy, to show mercy even to the unworthy,

^A and not to deprive the worthy for the sake of the unworthy.

*Aristot.* — He who is fearsome to many, fears many.

Wise magistrates ought to be admired not for the sake of their office, but for the cultivation of their virtues; so that, if their fortune should change, they may be deemed worthy of the same praises.

*Isocrat.* — Do not emulate those who have attained the highest office, but those who have made the best use of the office they hold.

He said that a magistrate is most wretched if he cannot rule over himself while holding power. ^B

*Democrit.* — In life, choose rather to be loved than feared; for he whom everyone fears, fears everyone himself.

He who holds a magistracy must needs have reason for the changing times and vicissitudes of affairs; boldness and presence of mind against opponents and the contumacious; and, finally, benevolence towards subordinates.

He who is about to rule over others, must first rule over himself.

*Clitarch.* — It is better to be ruled by fools, than to rule.

*Diogenes.* — Being asked how one should exercise authority in a city and republic, he said: "Like fire: so that you do not approach too near, lest you be burned; nor withdraw too far, lest you be chilled by its absence." ^C

*Cyri.* — It is fitting for no one to rule with power who is not better than his subjects.

*Solonis.* — Rule, provided you have first learned how to be ruled; for he who has learned how to be ruled, will also know how to rule.

Having attained a magistracy, use no wicked ministers for your administration. For whatever they transgress, the blame will be transferred to you, in whose hands the power lies.

Just as he who dwells in a democracy (that is, in a popular state and a free republic) ought to court the people; so also he who lives in a monarchy (that is, under the reign of one) ought to admire and praise the king.

*Chæremon.* — Virtue permits one not at all to think highly of oneself. ^D

*Antigonus.* — Antigonus the king, to a certain matron calling him blessed, said: "If you knew, mother, how many evils this rag represents"—indicating the diadem—"you would not pick it up even if it were lying in the dung."

*Epaminon.* — Epaminondas the Theban, having seen

a large and fine army, but not having a general, said, "What a beast, ^A saying, that does not have a head!"

*Philip.* — A king must remember that, being a man, he has received godlike power, so that he may choose what is noble and divine, and use human prudence. If you wish for your house to be well ordered, imitate Lycurgus the Spartan. For just as he did not surround the city with walls, but fortified its inhabitants with virtue, and always kept the city free: so you too, do not surround it with great and high walls, but establish those who dwell in it with goodwill, faith, and friendship, and nothing harmful will enter into it, not even if the whole phalanx of wickedness should prepare for battle against it.

Let no one who is endowed with wisdom shrink from ruling. For it is impious to withdraw oneself from being useful to those who are in need, and it is ignoble to yield to the base. For it is foolish to prefer being ruled badly rather than to rule well. ^B It is a terrible and most grievous thing for the worse [men] to rule over the better, and for the more foolish to give orders to the wiser.

*Eumenes.* — King Eumenes used to say to his brothers repeatedly: "If you treat me as your king, I will treat you as my brothers; but if you treat me as a brother, I [will treat] you as your king."

*Cotys.* — Cotys, the king of the Thracians, when the Thebans were boasting that they were ruling over the Lacedaemonians, said, "I have seen," he says, "torrents of rivers become greater than perennial [rivers], but for a short time." The same man, being asked to whom he would leave the royal ^C fortress, said: "To the one who is capable."

*Philo.* — With regard to the substance of the body, the king is equal to any man; but in the power of his rank, he is similar to God, who is over all things (Rom. ix, 5). For he has no one on earth who is higher than himself. It is necessary, therefore, both as a mortal not to be puffed up, and as God not to be carried away by anger. For even if he is honored with the divine image, yet he is joined with earthy dust, by which he is taught that he is similar to all men.

*Musonius.* — One must strive to appear more venerable to one's subjects than terrible; for with the former comes the gravity of honor, with the latter, ferocity. ^D

*Democritus.* — A base nature, having seized power, brings about public calamities.

*Antisthenes.* — Cities happen to be destroyed at that time when those who are in power cannot distinguish the base from the good. It is dangerous to give a sword to a madman, and power to a wicked man.

*Menander.* — Wealth which is devoid of reason, having acquired power, makes even those who seem to be wise into fools.

*Demosthenes.* — For to fare well beyond one's desert,

^A a pretext for thinking wrongly arises beyond what is deserved from them; he acts foolishly.

SERMON X. Concerning Vituperation and Calumny.

*Matt. V.* — Blessed are you when they shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil word against you falsely, for my sake.

*I Cor. IV.* — We are reviled, and we bless; we are blasphemed, and we entreat.

*Prov. X.* — Just lips cover enmity; but those who bring forth revilings are most foolish.

*Sirach XXVIII.* — A wicked man will trouble friends, and will cast calumny in the midst of those who are at peace; it will kindle as the substance of a fire.

*Eccli. XI.* — Before you investigate, do not find fault; understand first, and then reprove.

*Basil.* — It is not the words themselves that are apt to cause grief, but our own pride and contempt toward the one who reviles us, and the weighing of these thoughts within our own mind. ^B Such base flatteries are accustomed to cling to great principalities; so that, lacking any good of their own by which they might become illustrious, they commend themselves through the evils of others.

*Theologian.* — For to reprove is not a great matter; for it is very easy, and anyone can perform it; but to bring forward in return one's own opinion is the mark of a pious and intelligent man.

It is better to hear ill than to speak ill. ^C Envy attacks not only the common people, but also the very best.

*Chrysostom.* — Just as to speak well and to praise is the beginning of friendship; so to speak ill and to calumniate has become the beginning and the ground of enmity, and hatred, and countless evils.

It is not possible for those who live in virtue to be well spoken of by all. If those who receive vain reports will not obtain pardon, what defense will they have who calumniate and revile?

Let it not be grievous to us that we hear ill, but that we rightly hear ill.

Most men are advocates of their own vices, but accusers of the vices of others. ^D

*Plutarch.* — A reviling tongue is a certain sign of an evil mind.

*Isocrates.* — Beware of calumnies, even if they are false.

are. For the multitude, ignoring the truth, looks instead to reputation. ^A This person, having heard from someone that "So-and-so was reviling you like this in my presence," replied: "If you had not listened with pleasure, he certainly would not have reviled me."

Democritus.—The sword cut, but slander separates friends.

Socrates.—When someone told him that "So-and-so speaks ill of you," he said: "Let him beat me, even when I am not present."

Do not admit a whisperer or a slanderer. He does not do this out of goodwill. For in the same way that he has revealed to you the secrets of others, he will likewise report to others what is said by you.

Moschion.—To be traduced by many wicked men is neither true nor harmful; but to be reproved by one good man is both true and useful.

Demonax.—When a certain sophist blamed him and said: "Why do you speak ill of me?" he replied: "Because you do not despise him who speaks ill."

Diogenes.—Being reviled by a bald man, he said: "I do not heap insults on you, but I praise your hair, because it has escaped a bad skull."

When a traitor was speaking ill of him, he said: "I rejoice that I have become your enemy; for you do not do ill to your enemies, but to your friends."

Aristippus.—Aristippus, when being treated with contumely by someone, was withdrawing. When the reviler pursued him and said: "Are you fleeing?" he replied: "Yes; for you have the power to speak ill, but I [have the power] not to listen."

Pelopidas.—Pelopidas, when a certain brave soldier was reported to him for speaking against him, said: "I look at his deeds, but I have not heard his words."

Philemon.— Nothing is sweeter or more pleasant Than to be able to bear being reviled. For the reviler, if the one being reviled Does not pretend to notice, is himself reviled. ^B

Demosthenes.—When someone was reviling him, Demosthenes said: "I do not descend into a contest in which the one defeated is superior to the victor."

Menander.— Nothing is more grievous than slander. For there is in another, as it were, a sin, Which must needs always take on its own blame. Whoever quickly puts faith in slanders, Is either himself wicked in his ways, Or has the mind of a child altogether.

Rheginus.—Many, indeed, have already suffered greater evils from slanderers than from enemies; and many already ^{C D}

indeed have been harmed more by the weakness of their ears than by the schemes of their enemies. ^A

*Cleanthes.*—Nothing is more harmful anywhere than slander; for, deceiving in secret the one who has believed, it fashions hatred against one who is in no way guilty.

*Sextus.*—Let him who slanders a friend not be held in high esteem, even if he speaks the truth.

*Chrysippus.*—When someone said to him, "Your friend is slandering you in secret," he said: "Do not rebuke him, since he is intending to do it openly." The same person, having been reviled with many insults by a certain wicked man, said: "You have done very well, leaving nothing of what you possessed." The same person, upon someone reporting that certain people were disparaging and speaking against him, said: "But I will so order my life that no one will believe them." ^B

*Lucian.*—For who would not admit that equality in all things, and nothing in excess or redundant, are works of justice; but inequality and excessive lust for possession are works of injustice? And is he who secretly uses slander against those who are absent not to be considered greedy, and more than greedy, or an unrighteous pillager? For he takes possession of the whole of his listener, and occupies his mind, and obstructs his ears, which, once filled with slander, he makes impervious and closed to subsequent discourse.

SERMON XI. On Adulation.

^C *Luke 6:26*.—Woe to you when all men speak well of you.

*Jude 16*.—These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own desires; and their mouth speaks great swelling words, admiring people for the sake of advantage.

*Prov. 26:22*.—The words of whisperers are soft; but they strike into the innermost parts of the belly. Better is a man who rebukes than another who flatters.

*Isa. 3:12*.—Those who call you blessed are deceiving you, and they trouble the path of your ways.

*Basil.*—Let us flee from adulation and wheedling, and the clever and varied guile ^D of the fox of Archilochus. For nothing is more troublesome to those who are discerning than to live for glory, and to pay heed to things according to the opinion of the mob, and not to make right reason the guide of one's life.

*Theologian.*—If, when I was evil, you regarded me as most excellent, what was I to do? To become worse, so that I might please you more? I would not have advised this for myself. Thus, if you suppose that, although I am living virtuously, I am stumbling, I will not change my virtuous life for your sake. For I do not live more for you than for myself.

^A It is the way of a magnanimous man to welcome the frankness of friends rather than the flattery of enemies. It is much better to cause brief pain and gain the greatest benefits, than to pursue pleasure and suffer the ruin of one’s entire fortune.

Chrysostom. — When a turn for the worse occurs, then the masks of the flatterers are removed; then the chorus of actors becomes manifest, and the pretext of the matter is laid bare. Everyone’s mouths are opened, saying: "The vile wretch, the wicked one, the absolute villain." Didn't you flatter him yesterday? Didn't you kiss his hands? Those were masks. The time has come, I have cast off the mask, and I have revealed my state of mind.

Clement. — Flattery is the plague of friendship. Indeed, most people are accustomed to court the prosperity of those in power rather than the rulers themselves.

Plutarch. — Flattery is like painted armor. Therefore, it provides pleasure, but serves no purpose. Just as fuel increases fire, yet is consumed by the fire itself, so wealth that feeds flatterers is destroyed by them. Just as ravens that swoop down gouge out the eyes of the dead, thus flatterers, by their praises, corrupt the reasoning and minds of men.

One must consider a flatterer to be as naturally hostile to a friend as a dog is to a hare. We must not prefer a mistress to a wife, nor flattery to friendship.

We ought to rejoice in those who rebuke us, not those who flatter us. For those who pain us, stir us up, while those who gratify us, unnerve and trip us up.

Isocrates. — Distinguish between those who flatter by artifice and those who serve with good will, so that the wicked do not have a better situation than the good.

Hate flatterers just as you hate deceivers; for both, having been trusted, do injury to those who believed them.

^D Crates. — Crates, seeing a rich young man being pulled along by many flatterers, said: "Young man, I pity your solitude."

Epictetus. — Ravens ruin the eyes of the dead when there is no longer any use for them; but flatterers corrupt the souls of the living, and extinguish the eyes of their mind.

The anger of an ape and the threat of a flatterer must be held in equal regard.

Approve of those who are willing to offer good counsel, but not those who are eager to flatter at every opportunity. For the former see what is truly advantageous in truth; but the latter look to what pleases those in power, and like those who mimic the shadows of bodies, they nod in agreement to whatever, in light of them, is said.

^A Dio Chrysostom. — For, to speak generally, one might find adulation to be the most extreme of all vices. For, first of all, it corrupts the most beautiful and most just thing—namely, praise—so that it no longer appears trustworthy or sincerely given; and what is most terrible of all, it bestows the rewards of virtue upon vice. Thus, they act much more wickedly than those who adulterate and corrupt legal tender. For the latter merely make [the currency] suspect, but the former undermine the credibility of virtue itself.

Diogenes. — In adulation, just as on a tomb, only the name of friendship is inscribed. The same man, being asked which of the beasts bites most cruelly, said: "Of the wild ones, the calumniator; of the tame ones, the flatterer."

Demosthenes. — Demosthenes said that the flatterer differs from the raven in this regard: the one devours the living, the other devours the dead.

Antisthenes. — Antisthenes says: It is more preferable to fall into the hands of ravens than into those of flatterers; for the former harm only the body of the deceased, whereas the latter corrupt the soul of the living.

Phavorinus. — Just as Actaeon was killed by the dogs he himself nourished, so flatterers devour those who nourish them.

Zeno. — Reprove yourself, whoever you are, and do not listen for the sake of favor; and remove the license of flatterers to speak.

Pythagoras. — Rejoice rather in those who reprove you than in those who flatter you; and turn away from those who flatter you as being worse than enemies. ^B

Socrates. — The benevolence of flatterers, as if it were a routed army, flees from misfortunes and adverse circumstances.

Philo. — Turn away from the deceptive words of flatterers. For by blunting the reasonings of the soul, they do not allow it to see the truth of things. For they either praise what is deserving of blame, or they often blame what exceeds all praise.

Sotion, from the book *On Anger*. — Dolphins swim along with swimmers as long as there is a wave, but they never venture onto the shore; thus, flatterers are constant in the calm of affairs, and as long as the road is level, they dutifully accompany their friends; but when they encounter rough ground, they depart.

Phocion. — Phocion was accustomed to say to Antipater: "You cannot avail yourself of me as both friend and flatterer." ^C

SERMON XII.

On wealth, and poverty, and avarice.

Matthew xix, 24. — It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

I Timothy vi, 17. — Command those who are rich in this age not to be haughty, nor to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in God, who provides us with all things richly for enjoy^Dment.

^A Job xx, 15. — Riches unjustly gathered shall be vomited up. Prov. xix, 1. — Better is a poor man who is righteous than a rich man who is a liar. Eccl. x, 19. — Money answers everything. Sirach xxxi, 1. — The wakefulness of riches wastes away the flesh, and the care of them takes away sleep. Sirach xiii, 22-23. — When a rich man is tripped up, he is helped by many; he has spoken unspeakable things, and they have justified him. A rich man has spoken, and all kept silence, and they have extolled his speech up to the clouds. Basil. — Poverty with truth is more precious than any enjoyment to those who are of a sound mind. It is not being poor that is shameful, but not bearing poverty with a grateful mind. For reason, when avarice has taken hold, is like a balance that brings the weight down to the heavy side of the scale. Theologian. Nothing is more secure than a poor man: He has fixed his gaze on God, and looks to Him alone. Would that riches might perish, if they do not help the needy. Better is poverty than wealth unjustly acquired; For it is even a disease, the bad condition of the body. It is a terrible thing to be poor, but worse to be wealthy in a wicked way. Chrysost. — O what great dignity is in poverty! It becomes a mask of God. In poverty God is hidden, and the poor man is he who reaches out his hand, but God is he who receives. ^B As inflammation arises from gluttony, and from inflammation a fever is born, then death often follows from that; so also from the excess of worldly things and of wealth, madness (dementia) arises. For just as there is inflammation in bodies, so also in the souls of men there is madness. Then, from madness, a desire for things that are not fitting is wont to follow. ^C Greg. Nyss. — To have a little honestly is much more precious than to have much dishonestly. There is never a satiety of gaining, but what is always being acquired becomes the matter and kindling for the desire of more. Gold is a heavy thing; but virtue is a light thing that seeks the heights. If, therefore, it is necessary to ascend to the things above, let us be poor in those things that drag us down, so that we may become high in the heavens. The beauty of riches is not situated in purses, but in the providing of relief to those in need. ^D

^A Philo. — Desires for money and possessions consume time; but it is noble to be sparing of time. Show greater and more diligent care for those who have become poor on account of virtue and piety; and likewise, in a similar manner, for those who are in need due to sickness and misfortune, rather than for those who have become poor through poor management or prodigality.

Nilus. — Do not desire to be rich for the sake of showing charity to the poor; for God ordains the measure of almsgiving according to what one has.

Plutarch. — In war, iron provides a safer defense than gold; but in life, reason is more secure than wealth. We can use neither a horse without a bridle nor wealth without reason and counsel in safety. Nor does a banquet have pleasure without conversation, nor wealth without virtue.

The life of the avaricious is like a dead man’s feast. For while it has everything, it lacks the one who is to enjoy it. You should seek neither conversation from a dead man nor grace from a miser. Bees fly more quickly to the scent of honey, but the avaricious to the scent of gain. For the miser, the desire to increase money for the sake of gain is a mortal wound; hence, the taking away of that money, like blood, brings death upon him. ^B Some in life prepare things for their livelihood, as if they were to live after this life. He said that the rich and insatiable are like those suffering from dropsy; for the latter are full of water but thirst, while the former are full of money. A horse is not to be judged noble because it has expensive trappings, but because it is brilliant by nature; nor is a man to be judged excellent because he possesses a precious estate, but because his soul is noble. Despise those who are eager for riches but unable to use what they possess. For those who do so suffer something akin to someone who buys a fine horse but is unskilled in riding. ^C Count as great-souled not those who take upon themselves more than they can hold, but those who follow a middle path and can accomplish what they have set out to do.

Aristotle. — Poverty is in need of many things; but insatiable greed, of everything. Never call a man blessed on account of wealth and glory; for all such things are lesser than to be considered true goods. Not he who is rich, but he who is not in need of wealth, is blessed. ^D

It is the greatest thing in riches to know that they are superfluous. ^A If you are not in the grip of the desire for many things, even a little will seem like much. For a small appetite will make poverty as equal in strength to wealth. Natural wealth is fulfilled by bread, water, and clothing for the body; but superfluous wealth holds for the soul an unending torture of desire. The same person, when asked how one might become rich, said: "If he becomes a pauper with respect to desires." 570 As for what pertains to nature, we are all rich; but as for what pertains to us, we are all poor. He who is content with natural wealth is much wealthier than he who possesses many things but desires even more. For to the one nothing is lacking; to the other, even more than what he possesses is needed. The excessive gathering of money for the sake of children is a pretext for avarice, exposing one's own character. ^B The poor have escaped the greatest of evils: namely, traps, envy, and hatred, in which the rich reside daily.

Diogenes.—Diogenes the Cynic philosopher, having been asked by someone why gold is pale, said: "Because it has many who lay traps for it." The same man, seeing the servants of Anaximenes carrying about much household equipment, asked: "Whose are these?" And when they replied, "Anaximenes'," he said: "Is he not ashamed to have all these things, when he does not possess himself?" ^C

Socrates.—Wine is changed along with the vessels holding it, but riches are composed [as they are] by the characters of those who possess them. The sweat [derived] from gymnasia is more honorable; but as for wealth, that which is acquired by one's own labors. He used to say that the goods of the rich and indulgent are like a fig tree situated on a precipice, from which men obtain nothing, but crows and kites do, just as from those men do courtezans and flatterers. ^D The same man, when asked who the avaricious and lovers of money were, said: "Those who hunt after shameful profits and treat their necessary friends with contempt." The wealth of the avaricious, just like the sun after it has set, does not gladden any of the living.

Euripides in *Danae*. O gold, the most beautiful gift to mortals! Not even a mother has such charms, Not children so dear, not a father a friend. And if Venus has such rays of the eyes, It is no wonder she nurtures ten thousand lovers.

Moschion.—Just as trappings for horses and a bird's nest do not provide them with lofty flight or pride, but rather the speed of feet for horses, and for birds the swiftness of wings; so neither does superficial adornment and luxury [provide glory] to a man, but rather goodness and beneficence.

^A If you had been born among the Persians, you would not be eager to seek a dwelling in Greece, but rather to live happily in your native soil. Why, then, having been born in poverty, do you labor to grow rich, instead of remaining in that state and living your life more happily? The sober man, by honoring poverty with constancy and nobility of spirit, renders himself more noble than through riches. A large dowry does not make children better.

Clitarchus. — Continence is the foundation of piety; the desire for possession is the beginning of unjust rapacity. For injustice is born from avarice.

Cato. — Glory and riches, when prudence is absent, are not secure possessions.

Apollonius. — Poverty is not a shameful thing by nature; but to be poor due to a shameful cause is a reproach.

Eusebius. — Foolish mortals, who honor and praise those who possess great wealth, even though they be evil; but when they see good men who are poor, they despise and revile them. ^B

Menander. — It is necessary to have a rich soul; as for money, it is nothing other than an object and external adornment of life. Blessed is he who is endowed with both substance and mind; for he uses these things well in matters where it is proper. Whoever stretches out his hand for gold, even if he does not say it, plans and determines evil things in his mind. I have never deemed him happy who is very rich, yet has no ability to enjoy his own possessions. You speak, but what you speak, you speak for the sake of gain.

Craton. — There is no calamity in life greater than poverty; for even if you are by nature a good man, yet you will be laughed at. It is better to be poor honorably than to be rich dishonorably; for the former brings compassion, but the latter brings reproach. ^C

From Phavorinus’s Commentary. — A Boeotian having reached his seventieth year, upon discovering a treasure, lifted his leg and struck it away and passed on, as if it no longer pertained to him.

Aristonymus. — Just as those who drink the same wine—some grow wild and maddened, while others become of a milder temperament—so it is also with riches.

Bion. — Bion used to say that those who zealously pursue riches are ridiculous, since fortune bestows them, meanness preserves them, and benevolence removes them.

Theognis. — Not in vain, O Wealth, do the gods honor you, for it is easy for you to endure a heavy evil. I do not desire to become rich, nor do I seek many things; it suffices to live on a little without evil. ^D

Lucian. — I was sent forth into the light naked, and naked I shall depart again to the earth; why do I toil in vain, seeing that the end is naked?

Simonides. — Simonides, when asked which is more desirable, riches or wisdom, replied: "I do not know, yet I see the wise frequenting the doors of the rich."

Aristides. — Aristides, surnamed the Just, when a certain rich man reproached him for his poverty, said: "To me"

^A poverty will report no evil; but to you, wealth brings not a few disturbances.

Hieronis. — Being reproached because, after teaching many the art of rhetoric, he himself was in need, he said: "For I did not teach them to seek wealth."

Musonii. — We might judge the treasures of Croesus and Cyrus to be the extreme of poverty; but we believe only one man to be wealthy—the one who is wise—who is able, of course, to possess true sufficiency everywhere.

Xenophont. philosoph. — He used to say that poverty is a self-taught philosophy: for what the latter persuades by words, the former compels by deeds.

Wealth is a cloak for many evils.

The same, he said that a rich and uneducated man is nothing but gilded filth.

^B Philistion. — Even if you are the master of ten thousand cubits of land, when dead you will be the master of three or four.

Demonact. — There are some who do not live their present life, but prepare themselves with great zeal as though they were to live another life, not this one.

From the Sentences of Aristippus. — It is not as with a shoe, where the larger size is useless, so too with greater wealth; for that which exceeds what is just in a shoe hinders its use, but it is possible to use wealth according to the constraints of time and place, both generally and in part.

Demosth. — Demosthenes the orator, seeing a certain miser being carried out to burial, said: "This man, having lived a life not worth living, left his wealth to others."

Choose damage rather than shameful gain: for the former will grieve you once, but the latter forever.

Democrit. al. Theocr. — He used to say that most of the wealthy are stewards, not masters, of their money. ^C

Platonis. — Whoever cares for his body does not care for himself; and whoever cares for his money cares for neither himself nor his own possessions, but is far removed from what is his own.

Diphili. — If no one received, no one would be wicked. Avarice is this: when, having ceased to look at what is just, you are a perpetual slave to gain.

Anacreont. — Anacreon, having received five talents as a gift from Polycrates, after being anxious about them for two nights, returned them, saying that they were not worth the anxiety that accompanied them. ^D

Isocratis. — Value your existing property for two reasons: that you may easily make restitution for a great loss, and that you may assist a worthy friend who is suffering misfortune; but [as for your future wealth...]

although you may have it, do not set your heart upon it, but love the uncertain life moderately. Be content with what is present, and seek what is to come.

SERMO XIII. On the virtue of being content with one's own things.

Luke 12:22. — Do not be anxious for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on.

Philippians 4:11, 12. — I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound; everywhere and in all things I am instructed, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. ^B

Proverbs 30:8, 9. — Give me neither poverty nor riches, Lord; but set before me only things necessary and sufficient, lest I be full and become a liar, and say: Who sees me? or driven by need, I should steal and swear by the name of God.

Ecclesiasticus 40:18. — The life of him that is sufficient for himself shall be sweetened.

Ecclesiasticus 31:24. — Sleep of health on moderate bowels.

Basil. — The power that governs the animal, which easily digests the modest food sufficient for it and renders it suitable and adapted to the animal that is nourished, once it has received a sumptuous ^C array of varied kinds of food, being then unable to resist until the end, creates various kinds of diseases.

Theologian. — It is far better to have a few things honestly, than many things basely.

Chrysostom. — He is not rich who has many things in his possession, but he who needs fewer things. For the sake of just needs, brothers, and not for pleasure, is life measured out. Putting aside, therefore, what is superfluous to nature, let us embrace only what is necessary.

Nilus. — It is good to remain within the boundaries of necessity, and to strive with all one's might not to overstep them. For if anyone, through desire, ^D turns his soul even a little toward the pleasures of life, no one can subsequently hold him back from progressing further.

The measure of possession and just substance is the necessary use of the body: to exceed this is a disgrace and luxury, no longer a necessary use. For just as a tunic fitted to the size of the body is both for use and serves as an ornament, but one that flows loosely on all sides and becomes entangled with the feet, and is dragged indecorously along the ground, becomes a hindrance to any work one might undertake: so, possession and substance that exceed the necessary use of the body both obstructs virtue and has much condemnation.

^A Among those who know how to scrutinize the nature of things, it is highly ill-regarded and repeatedly censured.

Clement. — Lovers of sobriety and moderation; shunning luxury and excessive expenditure as a disease of both mind and body. The acquisition and use of necessary things does not have a harmful quality, but rather an amount that exceeds the limit [of need].

Philo. — The good man, in need of few things or frugal, is a mediator between an immortal and a mortal nature; he has a need for things because of his mortal body, but he does not require many things, because of his soul which desires immortality.

Democritus. — For one with a sober and frugal diet, the night never seems too short.

Clitarchus. — We ought to accustom ourselves to live on little, so that we may not learn anything shameful for the sake of money.

Socrates. — Socrates, being asked by someone, "Who seems to you the wealthiest?" replied: "He who is satisfied with the least; for self-sufficiency is the wealth of nature." As one about to travel on a journey does not pack equipment that is of great value, but rather that which is most necessary for the purpose. It is better to be content and happy with a single, small substance than to be blessed with great wealth and yet be unhappy in it.

Alexander. — When one of his friends, and one of those who seemed to take a special interest in his affairs, told him that the cities under his rule could pay higher tributes, he replied: "I hate a gardener who cuts the vegetables from the roots." ^C

Democritus. — Fortune provides a sumptuous table, but sobriety [provides] a self-sufficient one.

From the maxims of Epictetus and Isocrates. — Self-sufficiency, like a brief and pleasant path, possesses great grace, but little labor. Fortify yourself with self-sufficiency; for this is a fortress that is hard to take.

Socrates. — When Xantippe was rebuking her husband Socrates because he was making frugal preparations to receive friends, he said: "If they are our friends, they will not care about this; if they are strangers, we should have no concern for them."

SERMON XIV.

Matt. 6. — When you pray, do not babble,

as the heathens do; for they think that in their much speaking they shall be heard. Be not therefore like them; for your Father knows what things you need before you ask Him. ^A

Jas. 5:13. — Is any one of you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is any one among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

Prov. 15:8. — The sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord; but the prayers of those who walk uprightly are acceptable to Him.

Ecclus. 7:9. — Do not be fainthearted in your prayer.

Ecclus. 18:22. — Do not be hindered from paying your vow in due time. ^B

Basil. — The divine ear does not need a voice to hear. For it knows how to discern the things we seek even in the movement of the heart. For do you not hear that Moses, while saying nothing, calling upon the Lord with his silent sighs (Rom. 8:26), was heard by the Lord, who said: "Why do you cry to Me?" (Exod. 14:15). For the presence of righteous works takes the place of a great cry before God.

Theologian. — Let us not incur the stigma of a low-minded, or rather a more sordid spirit, while we ask for certain trivial things from God, and things unworthy of the munificence of Him who gives. ^C

Chrysostom. — Prayer is a great good if it is made with a grateful and pure mind; if we discipline ourselves not only to give thanks to God when we receive, but also when we fail in our petitions. For sometimes He gives, and sometimes He does not, with useful counsel in both cases. Therefore, whether you have received or not received, by not receiving you have received; and whether you have succeeded or not succeeded, in not succeeding you have succeeded. For there are times when not to receive is more advantageous. For if it were not advantageous for us often not to receive, He would certainly have given it. But to fail advantageously is to succeed.

When prayer proceeds from clean lips, and ^D

^A from a heart free of dissimulation, it knows how to reach the ears of the Master.

When we ask something of the Master through prayer, let us not quickly grow weary; rather, let us overcome the continuity of failure with the continuity of petition. In the delays and deferrals of God’s gifts, let us not lose heart, nor let us faint beforehand. For often the Master draws out what seems to be a delay for the sake of exercising our faith.

It is good always to converse with God through prayer. For if an encounter with a virtuous man makes the one who approaches him better, how much more does conversing with God day and night!

Often God defers a petition, not wishing to dismiss us, but by the delay of the gift, He wisely secures for us a constant attendance upon Him. For thus do loving parents act: they often keep their children, who are sluggish and running toward childish games, with them by the promise of a gift and the hope of a great reward.

For when we need the help of men, we need the expenditure of money, servile flattery, much circumlocution, and effort. ^B For it is not possible to give the favor directly to the lords themselves, or to speak with them often; rather, it is necessary first to appease their servants, stewards, and agents with money, words, and every method, and only then through them to obtain the request. But with God, it is not so. For He does not need mediators for those who petition Him; nor, when He is entreated through others, does He grant grace more than when we ourselves, in our need, beseech Him. That is a well-sounding voice, and one that ascends even to the divine hearing—not the clamor produced with roaring and strife, but the thought ignited from a pure conscience. ^C

Greg. Nyss. — He who, at the time of prayer, is not intent upon things profitable to the soul, but is intent upon the passionate movements of the mind, and asks God to consent to these, is, in truth, a fool, a babbler, a trifler, and a prater, or whatever else signifies such a thing.

Eusebius. — One must pray first for the common salvation, and then for ourselves.

Nilus. — As little birds become airborne by the movement of their wings, so too the God-fearing man transports himself from earthly things to heavenly things by the power of his prayers. ^D

If you ask poorly and in a way that is not conducive...

to your benefit, just as he who is consumed by the heat of a fever asks for wine, God, who foresees the future, does not do your will, nor does He grant an irrational request.

Do not seek riches in prayer, nor health, nor revenge against enemies; do not seek human glory, but only those things that contribute to the salvation of the soul. Just as it is never an inopportune time to draw breath, so too it is never inappropriate to ask for mystical gifts from the Lord, even until your very last breath.

When you pray to God for some good thing, and He does not answer you immediately, do not be negligent, nor lose heart; for often your request does not conduce to your own benefit in the present. ^B

Aristotle. He who offers prayers must be prudent, lest he unknowingly pray some evil upon himself.

Alexander. When Alexander the King received many letters from Antipater accusing his mother, he said, "Do you not know, Antipater, that one tear of a mother wipes away letters filled with many accusations?"

Epicurus. If God were to grant the prayers of men and comply with them, the entire human race would perish very quickly, since they are continually praying for many bitter things against one another out of unrestrained anger.

Isocrates. Men improve in character when they approach God; and they become like God by doing good and speaking the truth.

Bias. Once, when he was sailing in a ship with some impious men and the ship was being tossed by a storm, and they were calling upon their gods, he said, "Be silent, lest they notice that we are sailing here."

He said that those who ask the gods for a better mind but do not strive to amend themselves are foolish and senseless. For not even a painter, by praying to the gods to give him line and soft color, could receive such things unless he had learned the art; nor could one become a musician by the mere power of prayer, unless he learned what pertains to music. In the same way, no one will become prudent by prayer alone, if he has not applied himself to the learning of these things. ^C

SERMO XV.

On doctrine and letters, or eloquence and discourse.

Matt. v, 19. — Amen I say to you, he who does and teaches, this man shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ^D

^A Jas. 1:19, 2:2. — Let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak. And: If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, able also with a bridle to lead about the whole body.

Solom. — Speak nothing in the ears of a fool, lest he scoff at the wisdom of thy words.

Sirach 21:19. — The narration of a fool is as a burden in the way: but grace shall be found on the lips of the wise.

Basilii. — We must beware lest by an immoderate display of speech we render useless what has been collected by us with great labor. For the mind, over-fatigued and weakened by the inability to contain everything at once, is affected in the same way as the stomach, which, through the excess of repletion, is unable to digest the food committed to it.

It is better to entrust the reins of oneself to those who possess greater skill than to have unskilled charioteers for others; ^B and it is better to provide a tractable ear than to move an untrained tongue.

Theologi. — A silent work is better than an ineffective word. No one was ever elevated in life without action, Though many have been by word, though it be only vainly resounding. Either do not teach, or teach by the way of [virtue]. To hear what is shameful is more dishonorable than to speak it.

Chrysost. — Then especially are disciples kindled to a noble zeal, when they have examples from their teachers. Audition is not without danger when it is not accompanied by the addition of deeds. ^C There is knowledge without the faculty of expression, and there is knowledge with the faculty of expression. For there are many who indeed possess knowledge, but lack the faculty of speech.

Nili. — All speech intended for amendment is in vain when the disposition of the hearers, inclined toward vice, is set against what is said in counsel.

Didymi. — A teacher then accomplishes his purpose and is believed in what he says, when he instructs from what he does, according to that which is written: Which Jesus began to do and to teach (Acts 1:1).

Moschion. — Consider the one who converses with you in three ways: either as a superior, or as an inferior, or as an equal. ^D And indeed, if he is superior, it is worth your while to listen and to yield to him; if he is inferior, do not obey; if he is an equal, agree with him.

Demonact. — Speech, like a good potter, fashions the form of the soul for itself.

^A Solon. — As much as iron can do in war, so much does a speech that is well-ordered avail in the state and republic. The same said that speech is the image of deeds.

Diogenes. — He said that orators are eager to speak well and elegantly, but to act well, not at all. When a certain Attic man accused him, asking why he praised the Lacedaemonians more but did not dwell among them: Because, he said, a physician, the artisan of preparing health, does not dwell among those who are well. ^B

Eteocles. — He said that one should not test the powers of those who speak, but the natures of the things themselves.

Socrates. — One should converse with those in power either as little as possible, or as pleasantly as possible. Things should not derive their vigor from words, but words from things. For things are not constructed for the sake of words, but words from things. Let the character of the speaker be what persuades, not his oratory. For it is a terrible thing to speak well, if it brings about some harm.

Antagoras. — When Antagoras was reading the book of the Thebaid among the Boeotians, and no one was paying attention to him while he read, he folded up the scroll and said: "Rightly are you called Boeotians; for you have the ears of oxen."

Hieron. — This man, in giving a speech and reconciling his audience to himself, said that he had three purposes: to benefit the intelligent, to teach the ignorant, and to cause pain to the envious. ^C

Oenopides. — He said that just as a man’s character and disposition is, such also is his speech.

Romulus. — Romulus said: A clay vessel is tested by striking it; but a man is tested by his speech.

SERMON XVI. On correction.

John v, 14. — The Lord said to the paralytic: Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

I Thess. v, 14. — We exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, and always follow that which is good. ^D

Sap. xii, 2. — Therefore Thou chastenest them by little and little that offend, and warnest them by putting them in remembrance wherein they have offended, that escaping from their wickedness they may believe on Thee, O Lord.

Eccli. xviii, 12.— The mercy of the Lord is upon all flesh, reproving and nurturing and teaching, and bringing again, as a shepherd his flock.

Basil. — For a violent lesson is not apt to remain in a firm mind; but that which is insinuated with pleasure and grace, that, indeed, sits more firmly and durably in the soul. He who wishes to raise up one lying prostrate, being more elevated—

altogether necessary that he be higher; but if he has fallen together with another, he himself also needs someone to raise him up. ^A

Theologian. — Neither should sorrow and pain be devoid of consolation, nor should the prosperity of affairs be void of correction.

Chrysostom. — Let us not attempt to heal others while we ourselves teem with ulcers. It is useful for those who sin to be bitten by the acrimony of words, so that they may be freed from the turpitude of deeds. Admonitions should not be difficult to bear. For if they were to be borne with difficulty, it would be fitting for me to bear them with difficulty, I who often speak and am not heard; not for you, who always listen but never obey.

Aristotle. — Think it no less a thing to be corrected than ^B to be praised.

Diogenes. — To heal the dead and to correct the old man is the same thing.

Demosthenes. — When someone asked how one might become one’s own teacher: If, he said, one reprehends in oneself those things which one most reprehends in others.

Demetrius Phalereus. — For those things which friends do not dare to counsel kings, these lie written in books. Just as honey stings ulcerated parts, but is sweet to those that are healthy; so are the discourses and teachings of philosophy.

Euripides. All of us are wise to correct others. ^C But when we do it ourselves, we do not know.

Aesop. — Aesop said that each of us carries two sacks; one in front, and one behind; and into the front one we put the faults of others, but into the back one our own; and for that reason we do not see them.

Isocrates. — Neither represent nor support any evil deed; for you will appear to be doing such things yourself if you provide aid to others who are doing them.

Epictetus. — He who is about to correct should, in the first place, take care to consult the shame and modesty of those who are to be corrected. For those who have once lost their sense of shame can in no way be amended. ^D It is better to admonish and correct than to reproach and rail; for the former is full of gentleness and friendship, but the latter is bitter and insulting: and the former indeed corrects those who sin, but the latter only convicts them.

Empedocles. — Being asked why he was so indignant when spoken ill of, he said: Because I would not even perceive the praises, if I did not suffer when spoken ill of.

SERMON XVII

John VII, 14. — Jesus went up into the temple, and

^A taught the crowds. And the Jews were amazed, saying, How does this man know letters, having never learned?

1 Cor. III, 18. — If any one seems to be wise among you in this age, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.

Prov. I, 20. — Wisdom cries out in the streets, and acts openly in the squares.

Eccli. XXVI, 18. — There is no exchange for a trained soul.

Eccli. VI, 18, 19. — My child, in your youth choose instruction: and as one who plows and sows, draw near to her, and await her good fruits.

Basil. — It is better and more beneficial, being unlearned and simple, to become near to God through love, than, while seeming to be possessed of much knowledge and expertise in things, to be found as blasphemers against our own Master. ^B

The same. — Those who have occupied themselves with vain wisdom are like the eyes of the owl. For its eyes are strong by night, but grow dim when the sun shines. So also is the mind of these persons: it is most acute for the contemplation of vanity, but becomes obscured and dull for the understanding of the true light.

The Theologian. — I think it is admitted by all who are in possession of their senses that education (learning, letters) is the first of all the good things that humans possess.

You who study learning and letters, do not trust too much in letters, nor wish to argue superfluously and beyond the measure of reason; nor desire to win everywhere dishonestly, but there is also a time when you should endure to be honorably defeated. ^C

The chief wisdom is a praiseworthy and God-purified life.

The first wisdom is to despise the wisdom which consists in discourse and the turns of words, and in spurious and superfluous kinds of argumentation. Would that it were granted to me to speak five words in the church with understanding, rather than ten thousand in a tongue (1 Cor. XIV, 19).

For the man who is wise in words, he is not wise to me; nor is he who has a fluent tongue, but a fickle and undisciplined soul. Rather, it is he who speaks little about virtue, but demonstrates much by what he does, and gives credibility to his teaching through ^D his life and deeds. For beauty that is seen with the eyes is better than that which is described by speech and words; and riches that are held in the hands are better than riches which are merely the figments of dreams. Finally, wisdom is not that which has pomp in speech, but that which is proven by works: For "good understanding," he says, "belongs to all who practice it" (Ps. CXX, 10), not to those who praise it by the proclamation of their voice.

Either philosophy must be practiced, or it must be honored, if we do not wish to fall entirely outside of what is good.

^A nor to be condemned for irrationality, having been made rational and hastening by reason toward reason, and incurring through the character and nature of irrational creatures the stain and mark of the absence of reason.

Those who separate themselves from the world and consecrate their life to God shine with greater wisdom than is common to the masses.

Nothing is more impregnable than philosophy, and nothing is more immune to harm and stain. All things will yield before the philosopher. There are two things that are invincible: God and the angel; and there is a third, philosophy. For the philosopher is immaterial in matter, uncircumscribed in a body, heavenly while living on earth, and in his emotions, he is subject to none of them; he yields in victory to all except the judgment of the soul and prudence, which is what conquers those who think themselves conquerors.

I know one wisdom: the fearing of God. ^B For the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Ps. CX, 10; Eccli. I, 16). And: "Hear the end of the matter: fear God and keep his commandments" (Eccl. XII, 13).

Make instruction a weapon of justice, not of death.

Chrysost.—Just as earth that is not soaked and irrigated by rain cannot bring forth ears of corn, even if it has received countless seeds, so a soul that has not been illumined by the divine Scriptures can never show any fruit, even if one pours out countless words upon it.

Didym.—One must read the divine Scriptures. For just as wine when drunk puts grief to rest and ^C transforms the heart into gladness, so spiritual wine transforms the soul into joy.

For someone to know that they are ignorant is a mark of wisdom; just as to know that one has acted unjustly is a mark of justice.

Being wealthy does not make a wise person rejoice, nor does a lack of money lead them into humility; for virtue and wisdom exalt them, preparing them to stand above these things.

Philo.—The yoke-animals must be driven over precipices and into chasms by the driver’s lack of experience and malice; conversely, by their skill and virtue, they are saved.

It is impossible to learn great things before minor ones.

Clement.—Works follow upon knowledge, just as the shadow is a companion to the body.

Plutarch.—The life of the unlearned resembles a dream, having empty fantasies. ^D

Neither in fish is there voice, nor in the unlearned is virtue to be sought.

Neither turbid water nor an unlearned soul should be stirred up.

Being petulant, the unlearned migrate daily from their own way of life, as if from houses.

Foreigners stray on the roads; the unlearned, however, stray in their affairs.

Plato.—All knowledge, when separated from justice and the other virtues, is seen to be not wisdom but rather cunning.

^A Isocrates.—Just as we see the bee settling upon all blossoms, but gathering what is useful from each, so too does it behoove those who yearn for education to remain ignorant of nothing, but to gather what is useful from every quarter. ^B Observe the deposits of words and of instruction more diligently than those of money.

Aristotle.—We consider that happiness does not consist in the possession of many things, but rather in the soul being well-disposed. For no one would call a body blessed just because it shines with splendid garments, but rather one that is healthy and well-conditioned, even if it lacks those things mentioned. In the same way, if the soul is educated—such a person, of that kind, is to be called blessed; not if he is splendidly adorned with external things, while he himself is worth nothing. For we do not count a horse of great value if it has gold ornaments and costly trappings, if it be sluggish; but we praise most highly the one whose body is best constituted and noble. For just as if a master should be inferior to his own servants, he would be held in ridicule; in the same way, we must judge those to be miserable for whom it happens that the wealth they possess is held in higher esteem than their own nature.

Demosthenes.—Demosthenes used to say that the root of education is bitter, but its fruits sweet.

Democritus.—Education is an ornament to those who enjoy prosperity, but a refuge to those in adversity. Cities should be adorned with votive offerings, but souls with learning.

Socrates.—Seeing a certain unlearned rich man, he said, "Behold, a golden slave."

The same, being asked which of the animals is most beautiful, replied, "Man, when adorned with education."

When reproached by someone for speaking like a barbarian, he said, "I am a barbarian in my speech, but you in your character."

The same, being asked what is the best lesson, replied, "To unlearn what is evil."

Demonax.—The unlearned, like fish that have been caught, are silent while they are being dragged.

Diogenes.—Upon being asked what burden the earth bears that is heaviest, he replied, "An unlearned man."

^C Aristippus the Cyrenaic philosopher used to exhort the young to acquire such provisions as could swim out with them even in a shipwreck. ^D

Solon.—When it was once thrown in his face as a reproach that he had hired a rhetorician for a lawsuit he was facing, "Indeed," he replied, "for when I intend to prepare a dinner, I hire a cook."

Cleanthes.—Cleanthes used to say that those who lack education differ from beasts only in their form.

^A Glycon.—Glycon the wise used to say that schooling is a sacred sanctuary.

Empedocl.—Empedocles the natural philosopher, to one who complained that he could not find a wise man according to his reasoning, said: "For the one who seeks a wise man must first be wise himself."

Hiero.—Hiero the tyrant of Sicily, when Xenophanes the Colophonian poet was disparaging Homer, asked him: "How many servants do you have?" When he replied that he had two, and could scarcely feed them, "Are you not ashamed," said the tyrant, "to disparage Homer, who, though dead, feeds more than ten thousand?"

Capion the philosopher.—A philosopher, having two students—one dull-witted but hardworking, and the other gifted but idle and lazy—said: "It is all over for both of you; for you, since you wish to act but cannot ^B, and you, since you are able but do not wish to."

The same used to say that teachers should be given large fees by their students: by those of gifted intellect, because they learn much; and by those of dull intellect, because they cause much trouble.

The same, when asked what he had gained from philosophy, said: "To do voluntarily what some others do out of fear of the laws."

Philistion. Give more care to studies than to money, For studies provide wealth. Through suffering, learn also to sympathize, For another, having suffered, will sympathize with you. Meditate on serious things and the law. If you learn something late in life, do not be ashamed, For it is better to be called a late-learner than unlearned.

^C Theocritus.—Theocritus of Chios, having heard a dull and unrefined poet, and being asked by him which things were well said, replied: "Those which you omitted."

The same.—The farmer cultivates the earth; the philosopher cultivates the soul.

From Democritus, Isocrates, and Epictetus.—Education, like gold, is precious in every place. He who cultivates wisdom cultivates knowledge about God.

The same.—There is no animal among creatures as beautiful as man adorned by education.

Aristot.—For cities, walls provide decoration and safety; for souls, the mind cultivated by education does the same.

Democrit.—As a young man was boasting in the theater that he was wise because he had associated with many wise men, someone said: "I too have associated with many rich men, ^D yet I am not rich."

^A The same said that it is not fitting for a person who is learned to converse among those who are unlearned, just as it is not right for a sober man to converse among the drunken.

Of the same. The same used to say that he who is being educated has need of these three things: natural talent, practice, and time.

^B Œnopides. Œnopides, seeing a young man who possessed many books and was acquiring a great supply of them, said: "Not to the chest, but to the breast." The same used to say that for those who are learned, books are commentaries, but for the unlearned, they are simply memorials. The same said that the mind is the guardian spirit—for the educated, the author of good things, but for the unlearned, the author of evils.

Socrat. Socrates the philosopher, being asked what was the most pleasant thing in life, replied: "Education, virtue, and the investigation of things unknown."

Stilpo. Stilpo the Megarian philosopher, when his fatherland was captured and sacked by Demetrius the tyrant, was brought before the king and asked if he himself had lost anything. "Of the things that are mine," he said, "nothing; for I possess learning and education. As for the rest, why should I consider them mine rather than those of the besiegers?" ^C When the same was asked while his city was being sacked by Demetrius, "Stilpo, has anything of yours been taken away?" he replied, "Nothing." "For no one has driven away my cattle or my horses; and furthermore, I have seen no soldier capable of carrying away virtue upon his shoulders."

Lasus. Lasus the Hermionian, being asked by someone what was the wisest thing, said: "Experience." The same, when an unskilled painter said to him, "Plaster your house so that I may paint it," replied, "Not so; rather, paint it first, so that afterwards I may plaster it."

Protagor. Protagoras said that there is nothing, neither art without practice, nor practice without art.

Epicuri. We should not pursue philosophy in appearance and simulation, but in truth. For we have no need to appear healthy, but to be healthy in reality.

^D Demonact. Being asked who had been his teacher, he said, "The Athenian tribunal," by which he obscurely signified that experience in affairs and practical matters is superior to all sophistic instruction.

SERMON XVIII

Luke xvi, 25. — "You received your good things in your lifetime, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish."

I Cor. iv, 11. — "To this present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and wander about, working with our own hands."

Eccl. xii, 9. — "In the good things of a man, his enemies are in sorrow; and in his evil things, even a friend will depart [from him]."

Eccl. xviii, 25. — "Remember the time of famine in the time of plenty; poverty and need in the day of wealth. From morning until evening the time changes."

Eccl. ix, 16. — "Do not be envious of the glory of sinners."

Ex Epigram. As fate wishes, so am I carried; if otherwise, you yourself Will seek sorrow, and fate will carry you off.

Theologian. — "When you navigate with a fair wind, then you must most especially remember the storm."

Who can know whether this one is being punished for his wickedness, or that one is being exalted as if being puffed up? Or, on the contrary, is one elevated because of his evil, and another proved because of his virtue?

Chrysostom. — "We ought to hold fast to this one thing as certain, that all things are ordered for us by God in a way that is beneficial. ^B One should no longer seek the manner, nor be distressed or downcast because of being ignorant of it. For it is neither possible to know these things, nor is it beneficial: the former, because we are mortals; the latter, because we are quickly lifted up into presumption."

Nilus. — "One should not pride oneself upon any fall or any sin of a man, nor ever exult over one who has been tripped up, even if such a person seems to be a deadly enemy. ^C Weep for the sinner who prospers; for the sword of justice is stretched out over him.

"What is the reason that the righteous are weak and impoverished, while the unrighteous are raised up and grow wealthy? I say: so that the former may be crowned, and the latter be punished eternally."

When all things go well for you, expect a change; and again, at some time, when things come unexpectedly

^A by calamities and a dense storm of evils, you may be surrounded and besieged, think on gentler and better things.

*Philo.* — To rejoice at the misfortunes of others, even if sometimes just, is nevertheless not humane. He who holds to moderation and discipline in favorable circumstances does not refuse to be consoled when he is himself afflicted, sorrowing and grieving. For the greatest protection for those in calamity is the hope of change, and having a better state of affairs before one's eyes. An inflicted blow becomes a lesson to the prudent man; and calamity and hardship are often superior to a prosperous state.

The greatest calamity for a man suffering adversity is that there is no one who can console and relieve him. A great remedy for afflicted things is the compassion that you bring from the heart; and that you truly sympathize relieves a great part of the calamity.

*Evagrius.* — To a man who is not fickle, any calamity is light.

*Plutarch.* — Neither does a golden-footed bed help the sick man, nor does conspicuous prosperity help the foolish. To the sick, physicians should be present; to those in adversity, friends. In drunkenness, most people act like madmen; and in adversities and evils, those who are impulsive are moved out of their minds.

To impose a burden upon the sick, or prosperity upon an undisciplined soul, is exactly the same thing. ^B Splendid fortunes, no differently than whirlwinds, cause great shipwrecks. Just as those sailing in clear weather have at the ready the things by which they may lighten a storm, so too do sober and wise men, in prosperous times, prepare those things that might serve as aids in adversity. The regimen of a sick person, and the prosperity of a foolish one, is a difficult thing.

Fortune resembles an inferior judge of contests; for she often crowns the one who does nothing. ^C Fortune, like an archer, sometimes hits us while shooting, as if at a target; and sometimes she hits things that are near and lie close to us.

Cover up your adversity, so that you may not give joy to your enemies.

*Isocrates.* — Do not reproach anyone for a calamity; for fortune is common, and the future is unseen. Think nothing human to be firm. For thus you will neither be overly exuberant in prosperity, nor beyond measure sad in adversity. Even a skilled helmsman sometimes suffers shipwreck; and he who is supported by virtue makes use of adverse circumstances.

*Democritus.* — He who has obtained a good son-in-law has found

a son; but he who has failed to do so, has lost even his daughter. ^A *Socrates.* — It is a good thing for fire to shine brightly on the hearth; but in adversity, for the mind to shine is truly excellent. *Socrates.* — Those who are intemperate are difficult to treat in sickness; and those who are foolish are difficult in prosperity. The same man, being asked what causes grief to good men, replied: "The good fortune of the wicked; for unreasoning prosperity is wont to provoke works of insolence." Whoever is insulted by fortune also finds blows dealt by those who are otherwise meek. *Demonax.* — As those unskilled in music cannot adapt themselves to instruments, so the undisciplined cannot adapt themselves to the turns of fortune. Adversity demonstrates the man who is truly brave, while it demonstrates the prudent man. ^B *From Favorinus.* — When enjoying prosperity, do not be puffed up with pride; when in want, do not be brought low; know how to bear the changes of fortune nobly. *Alexander.* — King Alexander, seeing Diogenes sleeping in his jar, said: "O jar full of wisdom!" But the philosopher, having risen, said: "O greatest of kings, I would rather desired a drop of fortune than a jar of wisdom, in whose absence the mind fares poorly." To which a certain student of wisdom replied: "A drop of wisdom is worth more to me than an ocean of fortune, in whose absence the soul fares poorly." ^C *Epicurus.* — A humble or petty soul is inflated and puffed up by prosperity, but in adverse circumstances it casts off its arrogance and is cast down. *Demosthenes.* — He said that whoever cannot bear adverse fortune is unable to bear favorable fortune either. *Cypselus of Corinth.* — Be moderate in favorable fortune; and in sad fortune, be prudent. *From Epictetus and Isocrates.* — Those who are learned are like those who compete in the wrestling school: even if they happen to fall, they rise again from adversity quickly and skillfully. It is necessary to call upon reason as a good physician and helper in adversity. ^D A foolish man who partakes too fully of prosperity, just as if it were a cup of intoxication, becomes all the more foolish. Envy is the opponent of those who are in prosperity. He who remembers what man is, will be vexed by none of the things that befall him. As regards a successful voyage, there is need of both a helmsman and of wind.

^A But for attaining happiness, there is need of reason and skill. One must enjoy prosperity when it is present, just as one enjoys the fruits of autumn.

He who is vexed by things that occur by natural necessity is irrational.

Bias. — He used to say that he is unfortunate who cannot bear misfortune. The same man, when asked what was difficult, replied: Courageously to endure a change for the worse.

Zeno. — Zeno the Citiean, having suffered shipwreck and lost all his possessions, spoke nothing unmanly or unworthy, but said: "Well done, O Fortune, that thou hast reduced us to this cloak."

Hieron. — The same man, when asked who is happy and blessed, replied: He who is healthy in body, wealthy in soul, and teachable by nature.

Thales. — Thales, when asked how one might best endure calamity, replied: If one sees his enemies faring in greater misery.

Romulus. — Do not readily proclaim a man happy whose hope is cast upon friends, or children, or any other things whose safety hangs upon a single day. For these things are uncertain; but to lean and be supported upon oneself; this is the only firm thing of God. The same man said: The things that harm men also teach them about life. For many, not being able to foresee the future by reason, have perceived the nature of things through suffering.

^C Rejoice at the good things that befall you, and grieve moderately at the evil things that occur.

Philistion. Our calamities are dissolved by calamities, And other evils are a consolation for evils.

Euripides. One must benefit friends in misfortune. For when fortune gives, what need is there of a friend? For God himself is sufficient, being willing to help.

Josephus. — Just as it is the mark of crude people to be excessively puffed up by prosperity, so it is the mark of soft and effeminate men to be cast down and terrified by failures; for with both conditions change occurs swiftly.

SERMON XIX

^A Eph. iv, 26, 31. — "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath; and give no place to the devil. Let all bitterness, and wrath, be taken away from you, with all malice."

Prov. xxvii, 3. — "A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both."

Prov. xvi, 32; 14. — "Better is a man of long-suffering than a mighty man; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. The wrath of a king is as messengers of death; but a wise man will pacify it."

Eccli. xxx, 26. — "Wrath and fury shorten the days."

Basil. — "But if you take revenge and pay back in kind to the one who reviles you, what excuse will you have? That he provoked you first? But what forgiveness does this deserve? For neither does a fornicator, by laying the blame upon the harlot in that she incited him to sin, diminish anything from his own condemnation." ^B

What is more foolish than anger? If you remain without anger, you have vanquished those who insulted you, having demonstrated your temperance by your deed.

Fury stirs up fighting, and fighting gives birth to revilings; and revilings, to blows; and blows, to wounds; and from wounds, often comes death.

Theologian. — "Neither are crowns given without adversaries, nor is anyone overthrown and falls without a wrestler."

Anger is a blind thing and full of troubles, and especially so when there is a just cause for indignation.

Chrysost. — "When someone reviles you, think of the punishment to which he is being subjected; and not only will you not have anger, but you will also shed tears. For no one is provoked at one suffering from a fever, nor at one who is inflamed and swollen, but he rather pities and follows him with weeping. But if you also wish to take revenge, be silent, and you have given him a grievous blow. But if, bitten, you revile in return, you compel what is said to be considered true. For why, I ask, if someone calls a rich and opulent man poor, does he respond with laughter, because it was so said? Because he is not at all conscious of poverty in himself. If, therefore, we are about to laugh at insults, we will provide the greatest proof that we are not conscious of the things being said."

Nothing so clouds the purity of the mind and the brightness of the faculties as uncontrolled anger, and anger that is borne with great force.

We need more intense diligence concerning anger. For it is a violent passion, and often drags away those who are not sober-minded and brings them down to the very chasm of destruction.

Are you irascible? Be such against your own sins; rebuke your soul; lash it with the scourge of conscience. Be a severe and bitter judge and punisher of your own acts.

This is the profit of anger; for this reason God has implanted it in us. ^B

Evagrius. — Whoever refrains from food and drink, but stirs up anger irrationally, is like a ship on the high seas that has a demon as its pilot.

Cyril. — What beast is so savage and untamed as an irascible man, and one who is tyrannized by unbridled anger?

From the Fathers. — Anger comes about through four things: from the dealings of giving and receiving, from the fact that someone may have his own will carried out, from the pursuit of litigation, and from that opinion by which a person flatters himself as being prudent.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus. — With us, anger is to be bounded until sins cease. For he says: "Be angry, and do not sin" (Ps. IV, 5; Eph. IV, 26). ^C

Apollonius. — The passion of anger, if it does not break forth through speech and be brought to light and soothed, becomes a natural disease.

Plutarch. — Fits of anger, just like dogs, beget blind accusations. Hard horses are controlled by reins; but sharp fits of anger are led by reason. Water that is well-tempered dilutes inflammation; just so, gentle speech dilutes anger. For as the north wind draws clouds, so the wicked life draws reproaches upon itself.

Aristotle. — Just as smoke, entering the eyes and injuring the pupil, does not allow one to see what is before one's feet, so too does anger, when it rushes in, cast shadows over the reason and does not allow the mind to foresee the absurdity that will result from it. Do you not see that in all things done in anger, reason is absent, fleeing from anger as from a bitter tyrant? ^D

Anger is a passion similar to beasts in its disposition, constantly causing distress, hard and violent in its power, a cause of slaughter, an ally to calamity, a partner to injury and disgrace, and a loss of money; furthermore, it is a source of corruption and ruin.

NOTES

(b) Dionysius of Halicarnassus. The fact that it is written thus is not free from suspicion. For the sentiment attributed to him is that of a Christian man versed in the Scriptures, by whose testimony he proves it, whereas Dionysius of Halicarnassus (one or the other of them) did not rank in the camp of Christ. Perhaps Maximus intended and wrote "of Dionysius of Alexandria," who himself enriched Christian matters with his own writings. Nor has it been possible to detect whether he wrote it thus, as the letters of the Ballesd. codex are faded. He appends Apollonius, who himself (if indeed it is he) flourished in the Church under emperors Commodus and Severus, and wrote against Montanus and Priscilla, according to Jerome. Or rather, since he intended to append two of these from the Fathers who were famous for sentiments of this kind, perhaps some error crept into the names, whether it be so or not. Or finally, Dionysius may have crept in for Julian. Julian of Halicarnassus is well known, from whom, although he was a heretic, Maximus might possess this sentiment.

(c) He speaks of anger which one suppresses in the heart, and does not allow to break forth in words. For this increases the passion, and not infrequently brings contamination to the body; whereas at other times, with that ignition of blood around the heart evaporating, as it were, into querulous words of the angry person, the mind is relieved, and the body itself is more mild. Gesner is not right: if it is not soothed and cured by speech, as if he were speaking of someone else who soothes an angry person by speech. For that is incidental, and anger, if not soothed in this way, does not bring the disease and contamination upon the body from itself; but rather the one I was speaking of, which thus grows raw in the soul and takes away the very voice.

^A Evenus. Anger has revealed the mind of a man, which often lay hidden. It would have been heavier than insane frenzy, had it been concealed.

Philemon. We are all driven to madness when we are angry; For it is a great labor to restrain oneself in anger.

Euripides. For shame is more useful to mortals than anger. And just as our body is born mortal, So it is not fitting for one who knows how to be temperate To have an immortal anger.

Herodotos. — Anger does not always reside in the ears of men. For when they hear things that are good, they fill the body with pleasure; but if they hear things contrary to these, they swell up.

^B Arrian. — There are some who are magnanimous in a mild way, acting quietly and as if without anger, in all matters that those who are carried away by intense passion also do. Therefore, this blindness of theirs must also be guarded against, as it is far worse than that of one who is visibly angry. For the latter quickly become sated with taking vengeance; but the former protract it for a long time, just as those who suffer from a slow fever.

Apollonius to Democrates. — He who is angry beyond measure for slight faults does not allow one to discern the sinner, to see whether he has done wrong lightly or heavily.

Sotion from the treatise *On Anger*. — For the wise men, instead of anger, tears came to Heraclitus, but to Democritus, laughter.

^C Just as noble ships are not those which sail in fair weather, but those which withstand the storm and are saved; so too, men who withstand anger and agitation are great and brave.

Democritus. — It is difficult to fight against passion; but to overcome it belongs to a man endowed with reason.

Plato. — Being angry once with his servant, when Xenocrates arrived, he said, "Take this man and whip him; for as for me, anger has come upon me."

They also say that when he was threatening the boy with a stick, he stood for a long time with it held aloft; and when asked the reason, he said that he was punishing the anger that had risen up from within him.

^D Naucrates. — Naucrates the wise said that those who are quick-tempered suffer something similar to lamps; for they also are consumed by an excess of oil.

^A Demonact. — Correct with judgment, not with the power of anger.

Menander. An evil man, slipping into a gentle guise, Lies as a hidden snare for his neighbors. There is, as it seems, no remedy for anger Save the serious words of a friendly man, Even if you are greatly pained; yet, not being enraged, Act not rashly, for one must overcome anger and unreason In times of perturbation, especially the wise man.

Theognis. It is not permitted, O my soul, to give over all the sails [to anger]. Do not show yourself quick-tempered over small and trivial matters.

Aristippus. — Aristippus the Cyrenian philosopher, having seen someone who was angry and speaking harshly, said: "Let us not utter words out of anger, but let us calm our anger through words." ^B

Pythagoras. — Do not take revenge upon those who have done you injury; for it is sufficient that they are brought low by their own wickedness.

It is good to live with an irascible woman for the sake of discipline. For it is fitting that horsemen should grow accustomed to using spirited horses; for if they master these, they will easily master others.

SERMON XX

Concerning silence and mysteries.

Matt. XII, 36. — Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment.

James I, 19. — Let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak. ^C

Prov. XIII, 3. — He who guards his own mouth preserves his soul from tribulation.

Eccli. XX, 52. — Wisdom that is hidden and a treasure that is unseen, what is the profit in both?

Prov. XVIII, 18. — A silent man calms contradiction: and he who loves his own life spares his mouth.

Basil. — We ought to know what must be said and what must be kept silent. For not everything of God’s can be explained in the words of human language, lest the mind, like one who wishes to look directly at the whole sun, lose even the light which it possesses. ^D

Theologian. — Speak, indeed, if you have something better than silence; but where silence is better than speech, observe rather the laws of silence.

^A Speak something better than silence, or hold your silence.

Chrysostom. — Most men, when they have uttered some secret, urge the listener and bind him with an oath to tell no one else; by this very act they show that they have committed a matter worthy of censure. For if you urge that person to tell it to no one else, it was much more incumbent upon you not to have told these things to him in the first place.

From the Elders. — Love silence more than speech; for one of these gathers treasure, the other scatters it.

Before all the commandments God chose quiet [(h)]; for it is written: Upon whom shall I look, if not upon the humble and the quiet? (Isa. lxvi, 2).

Whoever wishes to be saved should chase after poverty and silence.

Apollonius. — Great diligence must be used, so as not to say what one ought not to say. For it is the mark of a completely uneducated person to be unable to keep silence, but to blurt out things that are not fitting. ^B

A wise man, even while silent, honors God, knowing also why he is silent.

Plutarch. — What you wish to be kept in silence, tell no one; for how can you demand the pledge of silence from another, which you have not kept for yourself?

Silence not only prevents thirst, as Hippocrates says, but is also free from trouble and painless.

Zeno. — When certain guests at a party, receiving Zeno rather cheerfully and inviting him with wine, asked him while he was maintaining silence, "What should be reported to the king concerning you, O Zeno?" he said, "Nothing else, but that there is an old man in Athens who is able to keep silence during a drinking bout."

Anacharsis. — This man, having been entertained by Solon and seen lying down to sleep, was found positioned in such a way that his left hand was on his private parts, and his right hand was placed over his mouth. He thought that his tongue stood in need of a stronger bridle. ^C

NOTES. (h) Hesychius also interprets "quiet" as solitude; and Cicero, in Xenophon, renders it "solitude," and it is no wonder that the professors of Christian philosophy, who have more particularly devoted themselves to leisure and exemption from secular affairs so that they might be free for one God and for themselves, have assumed this name for themselves, to signify that quiet of solitude through religious worship and silence, from which also they are called *Hesychasts*, who live in such solitude, and by that silence raise themselves above themselves, and are joined to the heavenly minds through divine contemplation: from which even the name of *monk* does not recoil. For thus those who are alone, or even the cenobites, and who uniquely cultivate silence and exist void of the cares of the world. Even the Pythagoreans called the silence which they imposed upon themselves for their first period of training *hesychia*. Laertius, and in Lucian regarding the same silence: "Thus they for the first discipline by superstitious observance for five years kept silence: ours for the whole of life and religiously, ^D being broken sometimes by useful conversation, especially by those who, as followers closer to the life of Christ and the apostles, have an institution, not only that they may contemplate in silence, but also that they may hand down what they have contemplated in speech, and exist as assistants in the chief office for bishops; being more apt in this matter for all things, by how much they are more remote from the salt of the world and are secure from it, they readily help men and women of the secular militia of every status: since they would prefer to be silent and to be spent solely on divine praises and contemplations, if charity did not persuade and indeed compel them otherwise; the general councils and the supreme pontiffs likewise judged this to be a necessary aid for themselves; and indeed those who understand the burden sufficiently, and who study not for human vanity but for the salvation of their own, attend to it sedulously; and they clearly understand that the hierarchy is not dissolved by this, but supported, so that it may attain its end; just as God also revealed by divine revelations in Francis and Dominic, again and again.

Sermon 21

^A Aristotle. — He who does not know how to be silent does not know how to speak. The same man, being asked what is the most difficult thing in life, said: "To be silent about things which one ought not to speak." Being asked for what reason, while teaching others to speak, he himself remained silent, he said: "For the whetstone itself does not cut, yet it makes iron and swords sharp."

Isocrates. — Establish two times for speaking: either about things which you know for certain, or about things which it is necessary to speak. For in these cases alone speech is better than silence; in other cases, it is better to be silent than to speak.

Al. Arist. — Of a wicked man, just as of a silent dog, one must beware not so much of the voice as of the silence.

Theophrastus. — The Peripatetic philosopher Theophrastus, seeing a young man at a banquet keeping silent, said: "If you are uneducated and foolish, you are clever and wise in keeping silent; but if you are educated, you are ^B being silently uneducated."

Charetis. — Strive most of all to have control of your tongue everywhere, For it brings honor both to the old man and to the young, The tongue that possesses timely silence.

Hiero. — He used to say that those who divulge a secret matter are unjust, as are those to whom they divulge it. For we hate not only those who have spoken out, but also those who have heard things we do not wish to be known.

Pittacus. — Are you about to do something? Do not speak of it; for if the matter does not succeed, you will owe a laugh.

Sophocles. — When someone has been openly caught in a theft, It is necessary to be silent, even if he knows how to speak very well: For shame in evil things is of no use. For silence is an ally to one who speaks.

Xenocrates. — Xenocrates, dividing each part of the day into certain actions, assigned a part even to silence.

Alexander. — He who has divulged words accepted as a deposit ^C is unjust, or exceedingly incontinent. He who does so for gain is unjust; but he who does so without gain is incontinent though both are equally bad.

Lycurgus. — To one who asked him why the Lacedaemonians study brevity of speech, he said: "Because it is close to silence."

Philonides. — It is better to keep silent than to speak in vain.

Democritus. — Upon noticing someone disputing much, but ignorantly, he said: "This man does not appear to me to be skilled in speaking, but unskilled in being silent."

Solon. — Seal your words with silence, and your silence with timeliness.

Simonides. — One must either keep timely silence, or hold useful speech.

Demosthenes. — He used to say that he had never regretted having been silent; but he had often regretted having spoken. ^D

VARIE LECTIONES.

When someone reproached him, saying that his mouth smelled foul, he said, "Truly, many hidden things have rotted away inside me."

SERMON XXI. On curiosity and the anxiety of business, and on quiet and vacation from them.

Luke x, 41. — "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and art troubled about many things. But one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her."

I Thess. iv, 11. — "We beseech you, therefore, brethren, that you abound more, and that you use your endeavor to be quiet, and that you do your own business, and work with your own hands."

Job iii, 13. — "Thou shalt rest, and there shall be none to make thee afraid." ^A

Job xxxix, 7. — "He scorneth the multitude of the city, he heareth not the cry of the exactor."

Eccli. xi, 10. — "My son, let not many actions be thy business: and if thou multiply, thou shalt not be unpunished."

Basil. — "For as beasts, when they are rubbed and stroked, are easily subdued; so desires, anger, fears, and sorrows—the poisonous evils of the soul—when lulled by quiet, and not further enraged by constant irritation, can be more easily overcome by the power of reason."

Quiet, therefore, and vacation or leisure, is the beginning of the soul's purification, when neither the tongue speaks of human affairs, nor the eyes look upon the charms of bodies and the symmetry of limbs, nor does the tongue of the soul become relaxed by hearing songs composed for pleasure; nor by the words of witty and ridiculous men, which are especially apt to dissolve the tension of the soul. ^B

For the mind, when it is not scattered upon external things, nor dissipated by the senses toward the world, returns to itself; and through itself, it ascends to the contemplation of God. Being illuminated and surrounded by that beauty, it even forgets its own nature, not troubling the soul with care for food or clothing; but, freed from worldly cares, it bestows all its study and effort on acquiring eternal goods—how it may accomplish temperance and fortitude, how it may perfect justice and prudence, and the other virtues. ^C

It is impossible for anyone to attain to the strenuous meditation of heavenly things while among those things that distract the soul and introduce worldly anxieties.

Theologian. — "We must also give something to quiet and silence, so that we may commune with God with an untroubled mind, and hold familiar conversations with Him; and for a little while, the mind must be withdrawn from deceptive things that lead into error."

We observe the faults of others, not that we may mourn, but that we may reproach; nor that we may heal, ^D

^A but that we may strike, and have an excuse for our own evils in the wounds of our neighbors.

Quiet and leisure, free from the entanglements of affairs and the vanity of public duties, are most precious.

Prov. xvii, 1. Chrysost. — Better is a morsel of bread in salt with quiet and security, than the provision of sumptuous feasts amid distractions and cares.

For it is impossible for one who occupies himself with the lives of others to ever take care of his own life. For since all his effort is spent on the meddlesome scrutiny of others, of necessity his own affairs remain simply neglected and abandoned.

Philo. — The wise man pursues tranquility and freedom from business, so that he may, in quiet, attain to divine contemplations. ^B The wise man is a deserter and an emigrant from a tangled life, toward the peaceful and blessed life that befits him.

Evagrius. — It is better to lie on a straw mat and be of good cheer, than to be troubled having a golden bed.

The soul becomes uncultivated through four things: by not living in quiet and leisure, by gladly permitting itself to be distracted by the cares and businesses of life, by coveting earthly things, and by being niggardly.

Nilus. — A quiet and private life, apart from business, is more illustrious than the abundance of wealth.

For those who have newly renounced the world, quiet and leisure are laborious. For then the memory, having found an opportunity, stirs up all the inherent impurity, which it was not previously free to do because of the multitude of distracting affairs. ^C

Cyril. — To a mind that is troubled and anxious, neither any thought of honorable things, nor the grace of God, can reach.

Athanas. — It is better, when doubt beats at the mind, to be silent and believe, than to fall away from credibility and faith because of doubt.

Socrates. — Being asked who they are that live with a tranquil and imperturbed mind, he replied: "Those who are conscious to themselves of no wickedness or evil." ^D

Moschion. — He who has withdrawn for the sake of avoiding turmoil counts the loss he has made as a profit.

Aristippus. — When someone said to him, "Because of you, the field has perished," he replied: "Therefore it is better that the field should have perished for my sake, than that I should have perished for the sake of the field."

Demosth. — When someone said to him, "You neglect the field and do not care for your family’s business, but are indulgent toward yourself," he replied: "Naturally, I take care of what I bought the field for in the first place."

^A Serinus. — Seeing Thales with his eyes fixed on the heavens, a servant girl, observing him fall into a pit, said that it happened to him rightly; for as one who was ignorant of things before his feet, he was entirely occupied with investigating what is in the heavens.

Aristotle. — Aristotle used to say that those who try to demonstrate obvious things act like those who strive to show the sun by the light of a lamp.

Euclid. — The philosopher Euclid, when someone asked him, "What kind of beings are the gods, and in what do they take pleasure?" replied: "The rest I do not know; but that they hate meddlesome people, I know for certain."

Demonax. — Every inquisitive person who meddles in others’ affairs is sick, even while in health.

When others were investigating whether the world was animate, and again whether it was spherical, he said, "You are overly anxious and inquisitive about the world, yet you do not care about yourselves, who are lacking and filthy while in the midst of the whole world." ^B

SERMON XXII

Concerning avarice and the unjust desire to have more.

Luke xii, 15. — "Watch and beware of avarice; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."

I Cor. vi, 7. — "Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves do wrong and defraud, and that even your brethren! Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?" ^C

Solomon. — "The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing" (Eccl. i, 8).

Sirach iv, 36. — "Let not your hand be stretched out to receive, and closed when you should give."

Sirach xl, 13. — "The wealth of the unjust will dry up like a river, and, like a great thunder in the rain, it will pass away."

Sirach v, 10. — "Do not rejoice in unjust wealth; for it will be of no benefit in the day of calamity."

Sirach xiv, 9. — "The eye of the covetous person is not satisfied with his portion."

Sirach xxi, 9. — "He who builds his house with other people’s money is like one who gathers his stones in ^D winter into a torrent."

^A Of Basil. He who desires what belongs to others will, before long, lament being despoiled of his own. "As much as the eye sees, so much does the covetous person desire." The grave never said, "It is enough"; nor has the covetous and wicked plunderer ever said, "It is enough." He is an evil neighbor in the city, an evil neighbor in the country. The sea knows its boundaries; night does not go beyond its ancient limits. The covetous man respects no season, recognizes no boundary, concedes nothing to the order of succession; rather, he imitates the violence of fire: he seizes everything, he consumes and devours everything. What then follows? Do not three cubits await us all? Will not a small heap of stones be enough to bury this wretched flesh? Why, therefore, do you toil? Why do you act wickedly?

It is better to relieve one’s need little by little through industry and prudence than to be suddenly puffed up with the goods of others, only to be stripped of all one's substance in the end. He who takes what belongs to another and gives it to others does not perform a work of mercy, but commits the ultimate injustice. For if you show mercy from what you have obtained by injury, show it to those whom you have injured. For the pious and religious man is not he who pours out alms to many, but he who injures no one.

Of the Theologian. — The wages of a harlot are not shared purely. For it is the height of misery not to have security in one's own strongholds, but in the fragile property of others. ^C

Of Chrysostom. — He who does not need the things of others, but considers his own to be sufficient for him, is the wealthiest of all. He who knows not how to impose a limit on his own desire, even if he were to acquire for himself everything that belongs to all, how could he ever be rich?

Of Plutarch. — Those who make expenditures on noble public works from shameful gains do something similar to those who worship God through sacrilege.

Of Democritus. — Wealth obtained through evil deeds is possessed with greater disgrace. It is not indeed useless to acquire wealth; but to do so through injustice is the worst thing of all.

Socrates compared the covetous to birds, one of which swallows whatever it encounters, and is sometimes choked; while the other companions fly along ^D and follow, striving to snatch a part, so that they might partially be choked.

Of Diogenes. — Being asked which beasts were the cruelest, he replied: In the mountains, bears and lions; but in the cities, tax collectors and slanderers.

Of Antiphanes. — Evil gains have short-lived pleasures, but long-lasting sorrows.

Of Euripides. — For the man who is born to desire having more, Thinks of nothing just, nor wishes to, But is estranged from friends and from the entire city.

^A Someone, having caught a certain man stealing his stones, and the other saying that he did not know they were his, replied: “But you knew they were not yours.”

Of Menander. Greed is the greatest evil to men. Those who wish to take the things of their neighbors, Often fail, being overcome; And they add their own things to those of others.

Of Plato. — To steal money is a sign of illiberality; to seize it, of shamelessness.

Of Philemon. If we do not even use the things we have, And we seek the things we do not have: From the former we shall be deprived by fortune, from the latter by ourselves.

Of Euripides. If someone is blessed and possesses wealth, Yet dares not enjoy any of his own goods, I would never call him happy, But rather a wretched guardian of wealth.

SERMON XXIII.

Deut. v, vi. — Honor your father and your mother; and: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Coloss. iii, 20. — Children, obey your parents in all things; for this is well-pleasing in the Lord.

Sir. iii. — My son, help your father in his old age, and do not grieve him as long as he lives; and even if he should lose his understanding, show him indulgence; and do not despise him in your strength. For the alms of a father shall not be forgotten; and as fair weather in ice, so shall your sins being melted away.

Sir. vii. — With your whole heart honor your father, and do not forget the pains of your mother. Remember that through them you were born, and what will you repay them as they have to you?

Of Basil. — Virtuous children provide great praises for their parents.

Of the Theologian. — Do what is noble, because it is noble to obey your father; and even if you expect to gain nothing from it, this itself is the reward: to give pleasure to your father.

^D As a servant, serve those who gave you birth; for what will you repay them, such as they have bestowed upon you? For you cannot beget them in return.

Those parents who are neglectful of the propriety and sobriety of their children appear as murderers of their children, and this is more serious than those [who commit child murder], in that the destruction and death here concern the soul.

^A Cyrill. — The first virtue of Christian piety is that we should treat our parents with honor, and repay the struggles of those who begat us, and bring to them with all our power the necessities of life and the means by which they may be refreshed. For even if we should repay them for the greater part, yet that which they sustained, we shall never be able to repay them.

Children must obey their parents. Where, however, the reason of truth and doctrine compels, honor must be given to God, and those things which are His must be esteemed in a place superior to even the natural love of parents.

Philo. — No one can pursue God with the honor that is equal and worthy, but only with what is just; since it is not possible to return equal thanks to one's parents: for we cannot in turn beget them and bring them into the light. ^B

Aristotle. — It is more worthwhile for a son to be the servant of his father than a slave or a domestic: for the former is a servant by nature, the latter by law.

Isocrates. — Be such towards your parents as you would wish your own children to be towards you.

Alexander. — King Alexander, being asked whether he loved his father Philip more, or his tutor Aristotle, replied: The former, of course, granted that I exist, but the latter is the author of my existing well and honorably.

The same man, when his mother Olympias commanded something grievous: O mother, he said, you exact a bitter reward for the nine months' lodging in the womb! ^C

Socrates. — When his wife chided him because he did not admit his useless and sluggish son, and said that he came from him, he spat and said: This too, he said, is from me, but it is not useful.

Melesius. — Whatever contributions you yourself make towards your parents, expect to receive the same from your children in your old age.

Euripides. Whoever honors his parents in life, He surely is, both living and dead, a friend of God. No gift is more excellent for children than this, To have been born of a noble and good father, And to render worthy honor to those who begat them.

Solon. — Solon, being asked why he had set no punishment for those who struck their parents, replied: Because I did not think that such [people] would exist. ^D

Plato. — Plato, when he observed a certain person acting insolently towards his father and exalting himself against him: Will you not cease, adolescent, he said, from despising him, on account of whom you wish to think grandly of yourself?

From Aelian’s History. — They say that in the eighty-first Olympiad, Mount Etna poured forth fire; and then Philonomus and Callias, citizens of Catana, took up their own parents and carried them through the midst of the flames, having spurned other possessions; for which service they also received a reward from the divine. For those who rushed forth in swift flight...

the fire was divided at the place where they went. ^A

From the Enchiridion of Epictetus and Isocrates. Strive to leave your children better educated rather than wealthier. A daughter is property belonging to another for a father. The same man advised that one must leave behind for children modesty rather than gold. A father’s rebuke is a sweet medicine; for it profits more than it bites. Do not smile upon son and daughter, lest you weep for it later.

SERMO XXIV. On Fear.

Matt. 26:41. — The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Acts 10:34. — In truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him. Prov. 14:27. — The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life; it makes one turn aside from the snare of death. Eccl. 12:13. — The end of the discourse, hear the whole: fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole man. Sir. 40:26. — Wealth and strength exalt the heart; but the fear of the Lord is above both.

^B

Basil. — For even as one who has nails fixed into his body is inert regarding whatever must be done, because he is wholly preoccupied by pains and torture, so he who has been seized by the fear of God can neither use his eye for things that are not his duty, nor move his hands for forbidden acts, nor by any means perform anything less or greater than what the rule of honesty demands; him, assuredly, a certain sting of pain, the threats that hang over him, have pierced.

Theologian. — One must not begin from contemplation and end in fear; for contemplation, if unbridled, might perhaps even cast one over a precipice; but it is fitting to be grounded and purified by fear, and, if I may so say, to be refined, so as to be raised to the heights. Let us fear only one thing: to fear anything more than God. ^C The rustling of leaves terrifies hares: So do the shadows of things terrify those who are not men.

Chrysostom. — Instruction will not be able to accomplish as much as fear accomplishes. For the fear of gehenna will bring us the crown of the kingdom. ^D

^A of many goods, if we wish it, is the devil; for fearing his snares, we are sober and mindful of God. For he who sees the enemy standing over him, runs to the one who is able to help. Just as when an armed soldier is constantly stationed in a house, neither a thief, nor a housebreaker, nor anyone else of those who practice such wickedness will dare to appear; so, while the fear of God occupies [our] souls, none of the servile passions easily steals into us.

Didymus. — It is impossible for the man who truly fears God to be a coward, since it has been said: "Fear no one else besides Him."

Climacus. — Just as a ray of the sun, when it has entered a house, illumines everything, so that it sees even the smallest things, and the dust floating ^B in the air: so too the fear of God, when it has entered into a heart with discernment, reveals all its sins to it.

Severianus. — The beginning of human salvation is the fear of God, and the root of every good thing in us is the law of God. For the divine law is not devoid of fear, nor does fear exist without the law. For the law has fear as the minister of the things that have been established; and fear has the law as the judge of the things that have been commanded.

Bias. — Being asked what in human life is free from fear, Bias replied: "A right conscience."

Epicurus. — He who presents for himself that which is to be feared, cannot be without fear.

Democritus. — One should abstain from sins not because of fear, but because right reason so demands.

Euripides. — ^C Foolish is he who, weak through fear, Once having recovered a little spirit, thinks proud thoughts.

Menander. — It seems to me a manifest folly To understand what is fitting, yet not to guard against what must be avoided.

SERMON XXV.

Luke 9:62. — No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

II Pet. 2:21. — It is better not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. ^D But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog has returned to his own vomit," and "A sow that has been washed, to its wallowing in the mire" (Prov. 26:11).

Prov. 17:20. — A man who is easily changed in his tongue falls into evils.

Prov. 26:11. — Just as a dog when he has returned to his own vomit becomes odious, so...

is a fool returning ^A in his own malice to his own sin.

Eccli. xxxiv, 30; Syrt. 21. — "A man who fasts for his sins, and again goes and does the same things, who will listen to his prayer? and what has he gained by humbling himself?"

Basil. — He who has made progress in good works, then returns to his former habit, not only loses the reward for his previous labors, but is also deemed worthy of a heavier judgment.

For those whose mind is easily moved to change, there is nothing strange in their life also being unorderly.

Let no one who lives in vice despair of himself, knowing that agriculture changes the qualities of plants; and that the careful cultivation of the soul through virtue is capable of overcoming all manner of its ailments.

Men are like clouds, which are carried here and there by the changing of the winds.

Repentance is judged not by the length of time, but by the disposition of the soul.

Theologian. — It is fitting that we should be easily moved from the worse toward the better, but immovable from the better toward the worse.

There is no disgrace in changing from vice; but rather, it is clinging to it that brings destruction.

Not to sin senselessly, but to recognize and perceive what has been done wrong, is no small thing; but it is a sort of road and a beginning leading toward correction, and toward a change to a better state.

We consider those persons light and foolish who are easily carried in both directions, and who flow and ebb, like shifting breezes, or the changes and back-currents of the Euripus, or the unstable waves of the sea. ^B

Chrysostom. — He who has repented of the terrible things he has done, even if he has not shown a repentance worthy of the gravity of his sins, will nevertheless have the reward for this very thing, that he has thus repented.

Evagrius. — A vine or plant that is constantly being transplanted will bear no fruit.

Socrates. — As a statue should be on a base, so a good and studious man should stand firm in a good purpose. ^C

SERMON XXVI. On sin and confession.

John VIII, 34. — "Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin."

Eccli. XXI, 2. — "Flee from sin as from the face of a serpent; for if you draw near, it will bite you. Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, destroying the souls of men."

Rom. VI, 12. — "Do not let sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to obey the ^D

^A desires of it; neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin.

Ecclus. XXVII, 11. — A lion lies in wait for the hunt; so does sin for those who work iniquity. Ecclus. XXXIX, 50. — Good things are created for the good from the beginning; so also are evil things for sinners.

Basil. — Just as of the incision or the cautery, the physician is not the cause, but the disease; so also the destruction of cities and extreme calamities, which have their origin from the exuberance of sins, absolve God from all accusation.

Sin, so long as it is being conceived, has some sense of shame; but when it has been completed, it makes those who work it more shameless.

As smoke drives away bees, and a foul odor drives away pigeons, so does sin, a thing truly mournful and foul, drive away the angel who is the guardian of our life. ^B

Just as a shadow follows the body, so do sins follow souls, depicting their actions clearly.

By nature vice is prone, and the course toward what is worse is headlong.

Wickedness is a thing which easily invites emulation and is prone to occur; and there is nothing so easy as to become evil.

Do not be unwilling to confess your sin, in order that by the shame of the present life you may avoid the disgrace and ignominy of the future (for this also is part of that punishment there), and show that you have truly hated sin, having exposed it to shame and triumphed over it, as it is most worthy of insult.

Surround yourself with dung, tears, and groans, that through confession and a more humble and self-abasing discipline, you may produce better fruit. ^C

There is no confession and amendment for those who have departed into Hades. For God has concluded in the present age, life and action; but in the future, the reckoning and examination of what has been done.

Vice, when kept silent and hidden, exists as a latent disease in the soul.

Theologian. — For one would more quickly partake of a little vice in abundance than of deep virtue little by little. Since even a little wormwood very quickly imparts its bitterness to honey, whereas honey does not impart its sweetness to wormwood, not even if it were double the amount. ^D

Chrysost. — Such is sin. Before it is completed, it makes him who has been ensnared by it intoxicated; but when it has been filled and completed, then the pleasure that was in it withdraws and is extinguished; and the accuser stands bare, the conscience having assumed the role of executioner.

^A It scrapes the sides of him who has sinned, demands the ultimate penalty, and weighs more heavily than any lead.

Depart from wickedness, cease from malice; take hold of virtue and promise to do such things no more; this is sufficient for satisfaction. I call to witness and I guarantee that of those of us who have sinned, if anyone, departing from former evils, promises God in truth never to touch them again, God seeks no greater satisfaction than this for an apology. For He is humane and merciful; and just as a woman in labor desires to give birth, so He Himself desires to pour out His mercy.

^B Just as a spark, if it manages to take hold of something, proceeds to consume everything else; so the nature of sin, when it has taken hold of the thoughts of the soul, and there is no one to extinguish it, eventually becomes more grievous and difficult to master, rising into greater contempt through the addition of subsequent acts.

For just as he who is in sins, while accusing others, accuses himself before them; so too he who is in calamity and reproaches the calamity of another, reproaches himself before that person.

Just as those who walk through a moonless night tremble, even if no one is present to frighten them; so too those who commit sin cannot be confident, even if there is no one to rebuke them.

^C We do not wish to behave shamefully before one witness here; what shall we do there in the presence of myriads?

Greg. Nyss. — There is great ease toward vice, and nature is prone to fall into that which is worse.

Cyril. — We all stumble in many things. For nature labors under the stain of a propensity toward sin, due to those who were the authors of the passion from the beginning.

Philo. — To him who sins through ignorance of what is better, pardon is easily granted; but he who acts unjustly on purpose has no excuse.

Clement. — Let us fear not the outward disease.

^D Who persuaded them, who compelled them to bring into the light what had been dared so long before? Is it not clear that it was their conscience, the incorruptible judge, that was continuously disturbing their mind and soul? Unfold to me the conscience of such a man, and you will see a great tumult of sins within, constant fear, a storm, and agitation. As if in a courtroom, the mind ascends the royal throne of conscience, and sits as a judge, putting forward thoughts like executioners, racking the soul and scraping its sides on account of sins, and crying out loudly when no one knows; note: the Greek text concludes here, while the Latin apparatus continues, as noted in the source material

^A but sins, from which arises the disease, and that a disease of the soul, not of the body.

Theotimus. — Sin is like an obstacle that hinders the benevolence of God from arising in us.

Josephus. — Reason does not eradicate the passions, but it struggles against them. It is not possible to wrap fire in a cloak, nor to hide a shameful sin by time.

Aristotle. — He who modestly confesses that he has sinned, stands not far from innocence, and is held to be pure from the stain.

Pythagoras. — Endeavor not to cover your sins with words, but to heal them with the goads of reproof.

Demosthenes. — Just as a bodily disease, if it be hidden and praised, does not receive the remedies of health; so too an ill-guarded soul cannot easily be healed. ^B

Moschion. — It is better, while you rarely profess to be a cultivator of virtue, to be humble and sober more often, than to rarely acknowledge your sin, while more often you are entangled in offenses.

Zeno. — Live, O man, not only that you may eat and drink, but that you may use your life to live well and happily.

Favorinus. — A certain affection has invaded my soul; and what it is, I do not know. Those who are learned and initiated say that it is love. O envious and inconsiderate demon, you have attacked a weak body, which cannot bear you! I depart from you, O demon; I remove myself from your fight; I am not your soldier. ^C

Theophrastus. — Love is the excess of some irrational desire, which has a quick approach, but a slow departure.

Sermon XXVII.

On gluttony and intemperance in food.

Luke vi, 25. — Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger; woe to you who laugh, for you shall mourn and weep.

James v, 5. — You have feasted delicately upon the earth and have been wanton; you have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

Prov. xxiv, 15. — Do not be deceived by the fullness of your belly.

Prov. xxv, 16. — Having found honey, eat as much as is sufficient, lest perchance being filled you vomit it forth. ^D

Ecclus. xl, 30. — A man looking at another's table, his life is not in the calculation of life.

Basil. — The belly is an unfaithful trader.

^A Since many things are deposited there, it keeps the harm, but it does not keep what was entrusted to it.

The belly is a glutton, which is always asking and never ceases. It is the one that takes today, and forgets tomorrow. When it is filled, it philosophizes about temperance; when it is emptied, it forgets those doctrines.

Fear the example of the rich man (Luc. xvi). He was delivered to the fire because of his life of luxury. For not because of injustice, but being accused of a delicate life, he was fried in the flame of the furnace.

For from thick food and wine, certain sooty vapors are sent up, like a dense cloud, which cut off and hinder the illuminations of the Holy Spirit upon the mind. For this reason also Moses, ascending to the contemplation of God through the mind, remained forty days without food and drink, striving that his governing faculty might remain untroubled. ^B

Theologian. — Human nature is sleepless and awake toward the desire for more, insane with a hunger for greater gain and having more.

Give, says the belly. If when you have received it you are modest, I will give readily; but if you transmit it to those beneath you as dung, you will receive indeed, but not abundantly. But if you hold on to it, we will give abundantly.

For to me, incontinence is everything superfluous and beyond what is needed, and that too while others are hungering and in need, who are formed from the same clay and mixture.

Nothing is so contentious and prone to strife as the belly. ^C

Chrysostom. — When you have eaten and drunk and are filled, pay attention to yourself. For the place of luxury is a precipice.

John Climacus. — When the belly is pressed, the heart is humbled; but when it is pampered, the mind grows arrogant.

Nyssen. — Let need be your side-dish; and do not heap satiety upon satiety, nor blunt your appetite with a hangover.

The root of errors in life is the preoccupation with the throat.

The sense of seasonings ends at the palate; afterward, there is no discernment of what is swallowed, as nature transforms all things equally into foul-smelling waste.

Philo. — To the temperate manner of life, health ^D and...

greatness of strength ^A belong; but to incontinence, weakness and disease approaching death.

Plutarch. — Luxury, like an army, strips the unlearned soul of all its best attributes.

Democritus. — Men ask God for health, but they do not know that they possess its power within themselves; for, by committing acts contrary to health through incontinence and a luxurious life, they become the betrayers of their own wellness. Just as the best unguent is not that which is sweet or plentiful, but that which is healthy, so also with food: it is not that which is delectable or abundant that is good, but that which contributes to health.

Do not eat with excessive haste; for this is canine, and is more fitting for a beast than for a man.

Cato. — This man, upon censuring the expense of delicacies, said: "How difficult it is to speak to the stomach, which has no ears!"

Antisthenes. — When asked what a festival is, Antisthenes said: "An opportunity for gluttony."

Epictetus. — Take care that the food being put into your stomach does not fatten you ^B more than the joy that is in the soul. For the former is turned into excrement, and with it the praise for it melts away, whereas the soul, being separate, remains forever incorruptible. In your banquets and dinners, remember that two are being received: the body, namely, and the soul; and whatever you give to the body, you have immediately poured out, but whatever you give to the soul, you keep forever.

Diogenes. — In those houses where there is an enormous abundance of food, there dwells a multitude of mice and cats; likewise, bodies that receive much food also attract an equal number of diseases.

Crates. — Seeing the golden statue of the harlot Phryne standing at Delphi, Crates exclaimed: "This stands as a trophy of the Greeks' incontinence." The same man, seeing an athletic youth becoming far too corpulent from wine, meat, and the exercises he practiced, said: "O wretched man, cease from building such a strong ^C prison for your own self."

Theognis. — Much more than famine, surfeit has already destroyed Men, as many as desired to have more than their lot.

Socrates. — He used to say that other men live in order to eat, whereas he ate in order to live.

SERMON XXVIII

On sadness, anguish of soul, and sorrow.

Matt. v, 4. — Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. ^D

2 Cor. ii, 2. — Who is the one who makes me glad, if not the one who is saddened by me?

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^A Prov. xxv, 20. — As a moth in a garment, and a worm in wood, so does the sorrow of a man harm the heart. Eccli. xxxviii, 19. — From sorrow comes death; and the sorrow of the heart will bend strength. Basil. — Just as woodworm most especially infests the more tender woods, so do sorrows grow in the softer characters of men. He who says that tribulation is not fitting for the righteous man says nothing other than that it is not fitting for an athlete to have an adversary. Theologian. — The communion and sharing of grief is a consolation to the one who lives in pain. Sometimes sorrow is more honorable than pleasure, and sadness [more honorable] than a festival; and better than an unseemly laugh is a praiseworthy tear. For the medicine from those who suffer together is great. For those who have an equal share of the suffering are more able to provide consolation to the afflicted. Chrys. — The time to indulge in sadness is not when we suffer evils, but when we devise evils. Plutarch. — One should choose the smoothest path, but the life that is most free from sorrow. One ought to put on a tunic for the breastplate, but the mind for sorrow. Socrates. — Being asked what troubles the good, he said: The prosperity of the wicked. Being asked the same thing, how one might lead a life without sorrow: This is impossible, he said; for it is not possible that one who lives in a city or a house and associates with people should not be troubled. Leucippus. — For this is a property of the eyes: in great evils, not to shed tears; but in moderate misfortunes, tears flow down abundantly. Charicles. — For often that which exceeds in joy turns into a sense of pain; and that which is excessive in pleasure has brought on an attracted sorrow. Moschion. — Things that are grievous are accustomed to follow along with things that are delightful. Demonax. — One must bear sorrow as if it were a burden laid upon one, without any groaning. Charicles. — Men build tombs and prepare grave clothes as if they were going to use them; but they do not prepare for the fear of death, which is something they will [definitely] use. Theopompus. — If someone who has acquired most of the goods leads his life with sorrow, he would be the most miserable of all men, both of those who exist and of those who will be.

Ex Epictet., Isocrat. et Democrit. sententiis. — If you desire to live a life free from sorrow, consider those things which are about to happen as if they had already occurred. ^A Be free from sorrow, not by becoming devoid of feeling like the irrational animals, nor by being devoid of reason like the foolish; but as a cultivator of virtue, possessing reason as a remedy for sorrow.

He is a man of probity and grateful spirit who is not sorrowful or pained for the things he does not have, but rejoices in those he has. Those who, when faced with calamities, are least tormented in spirit and most resistant in action, are to be deemed the most excellent, both of cities and of ordinary men.

Epictet. — Being asked how one might inflict pain upon an enemy, Epictetus said: By preparing oneself to live in the best possible manner. ^B Time frees the foolish from sorrow, but reason frees the wise.

Possidippus. — There is no man, being human, who has led a life entirely immune to pain and sorrow; nor has anyone fared happily and prosperously to the very end.

Euripides. — It is not possible to find a life in any person that is immune to all pain and sorrow.

SERMON XXIX. On Sleep.

Matth. xxvi, 40, 41; Mark xiv, 37. — Jesus came and found his disciples sleeping—for their eyes were heavy—and says to them: Could you not watch with me one hour? ^C See also Judas, how he does not sleep. Watch and pray, therefore.

I Thess. v, 6. — Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For they who sleep, sleep at night; and they who are drunk, are drunk at night. But we, who are of the day, let us be sober.

Prov. xxiii, 2. — Every sleepy person shall be clothed with rags and tatters.

Eccli. xlii, 9. — The worry of wakefulness will hinder drowsiness.

Basilii. — Give thanks, O man, to him who, even against our will, through sleep dissolves the continuous fatigue of labor, and, through a brief respite, leads us back again to ^D the height of strength.

Theologi. — A sleepy man is an inventor of dreams; for sleep is a mystic of phantoms, not of realities.

Chrysost. — Sleep is nothing other than a temporary death and a daily passing.

Greg. Nyss. — As in moist earth, when the sun shines upon it and warms it with its hotter rays, certain misty vapors are drawn up from the depths; a similar thing happens in the earth of our own body, while food seethes under the influence of natural heat. And since these vapors are by nature buoyant and airy, and they breathe upward toward the regions above, they come to rest in the places about the head. ^A

Philo. — With justice have men of true wisdom declared sleep to be a meditation on death, and a shadow and image of the life that shall be restored again. For it brings clear likenesses of both, and entirely transfers one out of the other.

Clement. — All that is said concerning sleep must also be understood concerning death. For both denote a departure of the soul; the latter more, the former less. ^B

With all our might, to sum it up, we must struggle against sleep, so that through wakefulness we may gain longer spans of life. For sleep, like a certain publican, takes away almost half our life’s time. So far is it from being necessary to sleep during the day, that even the greater part of the night should be dedicated to wakefulness.

Democritus. — Let your mind be vigilant; for the sleep that comes to it is a kinsman and relative of true death. Daytime naps indicate a burden on the body, or distress of soul, or laziness, or lack of discipline. ^C

Philostratus. — For neither do the wise and earnest nod off, even if they labor until deep into the night. For sleep does not drive them as a master might, having insulted a neck enslaved by wine and tormenting it; but they are seen to be free and upright. Having fallen asleep, they receive sleep with a pure soul, neither being made light-headed by prosperous circumstances, nor cast down by any adversity. For a sober soul, having moderation regarding both these things, allows itself to be conquered by neither passion. Therefore it sleeps most sweetly and without pain, not being cut off from its sleep. ^D

SERMO XXX. On Drunkenness.

Luke xxi, 34. — Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be burdened with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life: and that day come upon you suddenly.

Rom. xiii, 13. — Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness.

Eccl. vii, 3. — It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting.

Prov. xxiii, 20, 21. — Be not a wine-bibber; for every drunkard shall come to poverty.

^A He who willingly lingers in wine-drinking will leave disgrace upon his own fortifications.

Sirach xxxi, 31. — In a wine-banquet do not reprove your neighbor, and do not despise him in his mirth.

Basil. — For as water is an enemy to fire, so the intemperate drinking of wine extinguishes the sober mind. The best measure of the use of wine is the body's necessity.

Drunkenness does not receive the Lord; it drives away the Holy Spirit. For smoke indeed puts bees to flight, but surfeiting drives away spiritual gifts.

^B Theologian. — And they indeed [are] in this manner; but we shall recline brilliantly and in a brilliant manner, upon high and lofty couches, and upon tapestries which it is almost a sin to touch. And to them indeed, even an abundance of water is a sufficiency; but for us, even until drunkenness, the goblets of wine [are supplied]; or rather, even beyond drunkenness for those who are more licentious. And some wines we shall reject, while others, as sweet and pleasing, we shall approve; and concerning others we shall even philosophize, and deem it a loss if, in addition to the local wine, something of the so-called foreign wine, like a tyrant, does not also arrive. For it behaves us to be luxurious and more extravagant than necessity requires, as if we were ashamed, unless we were thought evil and slaves of the belly and of matters beneath the belly.

Chrysostom. — For those who spend their lives in drunkenness and licentiousness, the day is turned into the darkness of night; not that the sun is extinguished, but that their mind is darkened by the surfeiting of wine.

Evagrius. — Wine strengthens the body; the Word of God strengthens the soul.

Plutarch. — The world indeed has its ruin and destruction by fire and water; but the wealth of the intemperate [is destroyed] by lust and drunkenness.

Diogenes. — When in a certain banquet a larger amount of wine was being served to him, he poured it out. And when some blamed him for this, "If I drink it," he said, "not only will the wine perish, but it will also destroy me along with it."

Menander. — Injury and wine are accustomed to reveal to friends the characters of their friends. Much pure wine forces one to be wise in but a little. For it is not the quantity of drink, if one observes it, That makes one act the drunkard, but the nature of the drinker. It is troublesome, however, when one, while drinking, speaks too much, Knowing nothing, yet pretending to know.

Pythagoras. — He used to say that drunkenness is a practice for madness.

Cleostratus. — Cleostratus, to one who was saying to him, "Are you not ashamed, being drunk?" answered: "And are you not ashamed yourself, that you rebuke a drunken man?"

Epictetus. — Cicadas are musical; but snails are mute; and they rejoice, the former when moisture glides in; the latter, when warmth cherishes them. The dew rouses the snails, and as it pours into [their] vents, they emerge; the sun in its ardor provokes the cicadas, by which [he raises] a shrill [song].

^A If you wish to be an adept at music and harmonious, when your soul has been moistened by wine at drinking parties, do not allow it then to advance and be defiled; but when it has been inflamed by the [divine] Word in the assemblies, then bid it celebrate and sing the oracles of justice. Aeschines: Wine is a mirror reflecting the character, as it is [a mirror] of the mind.

Anacharsis: Of the cup that is tempered at home for decency’s sake, I drink the first [cup] for health, the second for pleasure, the third for injury, and the last for madness.

Plato: An intoxicated governor, or anyone who rules over anything, overturns everything—whether it be a ship, a chariot, an army, or whatever it might be that is committed to his care. ^B

Sophocles: Sophocles used to criticize Aeschylus for writing while intoxicated. For even if he does what he ought, he said, he does not do it knowingly.

Epictetus: The vine produces three grapes: the first of pleasure, the second of drunkenness, and the third of injury.

Do not be long-winded amidst your cups, displaying your learning; for you will speak bile.

He is a drunkard who drinks more than three cups; even if he is not inebriated, he has nonetheless exceeded the measure.

SERMON XXXI.

On freedom of speech and reproof.

John vii, 4: No one does anything in secret and seeks himself to be in the light ^C (or: openly).

1 John iii, 21: If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God, and whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things which are pleasing in His sight.

Prov. xvii, 14: He gives power to words, [as] the beginning of justice.

Sirach viii, 13: Do not kindle the coals of sinners by reproving them, lest you be burned by the flame of the fire of their sins.

Basil: Reproof seems to have as its object the correction of the one who is sinning; but abuse happens for the degradation of the offender.

He who remains silent and does not reprove the sin of his brother is unmerciful, ^D just like the one who lets the poison go into the one bitten by a serpent.

Theologian: It is much better to cause brief pain and confer the greatest benefit, than to cause the loss of one’s life-principle while pursuing what gives pleasure.

For it is a greater good to be reproved than to reprove.

^A

Chrysostom. — To speak freely simply in any way is often the habit even of an ordinary man; but to speak as the duty of the situation demands, and at the appropriate time, and to manage the matter with the fitting proportion and prudence, requires a very great and admirable soul. A life established by laws creates freedom of speech. The greatest freedom is to believe that one lacks it; just as, conversely, the greatest shame is to justify oneself before the Lord; and the Pharisee and the Publican are rich witnesses to what is said.

Phocion. — When Phocion the Athenian was once addressing the people, speaking not to curry favor but for the utility of the Athenians, and Damades the orator said to him, "The people will kill you, Phocion, if they go mad," he replied, "And you, if they show good sense."

Plutarch. — One must no more remove the sun from the world than remove freedom of speech from the fellowship of human beings.

Xenocharis. — The philosopher Xenocharis, when asked by someone about certain obscene matters and not responding, and when the one who asked inquired about the cause of his silence, said: "It is fitting for you to ask about such things, but for me it is fitting to keep silent."

Isocrates. — Grant freedom of speech to prudent men, so that you may have those who can examine and judge together with you concerning things about which you are in doubt. ^B

Democritus. — When Democritus was once serving as an envoy for the Athenians to Philip and was speaking with freedom of speech, Philip said to him, "Are you not afraid that I might order your head to be cut off?" To whom he replied, "Not at all; for if you take this one from me, my country will bestow a deathless one upon me."

Pythagoras. — When someone said, "You are mocking and criticizing me too much," he said: "Indeed; for to those with spleen ailments, sharp, bitter, and harsh things are helpful, but sweet things are harmful."

From Epictetus and Isocrates. — One should use neither a blunt sword nor an unordered freedom of speech.

From Ariston. — Just as honey stings those who are ulcerated, but is naturally sweet to those who are healthy, so also is the speech and doctrine of philosophers. He who would remove freedom of speech from discourse acts as if he wished to remove the bitterness from wormwood. ^C

Hermas and Isidore. — Reproof that is acknowledged, O greatest of kings, leads the one who has been reproved to desire those things of which he was previously ignorant.

Socrates. — The grace of freedom of speech, like that of fruit, is sweeter at the appropriate time. ^D

VARIE LECTIONES.

NOTES.

Eusebius. — An enemy who speaks the truth is altogether to be preferred to a friend who speaks falsely for the sake of favor. ^A

SERMON XXXII. On the study of labor and diligence.

John v, 17. — My Father is working until now, and I am working. Acts xx, 34. — You yourselves know that these hands have ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me. I have shown you all things, that so laboring you ought to support the weak. Solomon [Wisdom] iii, 15. — Fair is the fruit of good labors. Ecclesiasticus li, 38. — Work your work before the time, and he will give your reward in his time. ^B

Basil. — For what is acquired by labor is received with greater joy and kept with greater diligence; but for those things the acquisition of which is easy, the possession of them is lightly despised. What is easy among those things that belong to the class of goods? Who, given over to sleep, has set up a trophy? Who, delighting in luxuries and softened by modes and flutes, has been adorned with the crowns of piety? No one has carried off a prize who has not run. Labors bring forth glory; strenuous and anxious sweats are the producers of crowns. ^C

Theologian [Gregory of Nazianzus]. — Virtue itself is rendered more noble and stronger through the suffering of evils; for as cold iron is, so it is hardened by dangers.

Chrysostom. — Everywhere, through difficulty and labors, it is natural for good things to come to men.

Philo. — He who flees labor, flees good things; but he who with a tolerant and brave purpose of mind sustains what is hard, hastens toward blessedness.

Isocrates. — Exercise yourself with labors undertaken voluntarily, so that you may be proficient in sustaining those which come unbidden. ^D

Carcini. — No one ever gained praise through pleasures. No lazy man has become a famously illustrious man. But labors bring about the clarity of a strong spirit.

Philisci. — It is not possible, foolish man, that with sloth, we ourselves not laboring, should obtain the rewards of those who labor.

Evagrius. — It is absurd that he who seeks honors should flee the labors by which honors are prepared.

Plutarch. — Just as an instrument becomes sweet by receiving relaxation and tension, so too does life.

Nicias. — This man was so dedicated to labor that he would often ask his servants if he had bathed or if he had eaten.

Archimedes. — When his servants were dragging him away by force while he was leaning over his tablet, so that they might anoint him, he would draw figures even upon his own anointed skin.

^A Demosth. — When asked by someone how he had mastered the art of rhetoric, he said, "By consuming more oil than wine."

From the Sentences of Democritus and Isocrates. — Exercise your body with labors, but apply your soul to endure dangers strenuously and bravely.

The same man, when asked by someone in what way the industrious differ from the slothful, said, "Just as the pious differ from the impious: in their good hopes."

The same man, seeing a youth laboring, said, "You are preparing a most beautiful provision for your old age."

Democritus. — Voluntary labors make the endurance of involuntary ones lighter.

SERMON XXXIII

On Swearing.

Matt. v, 34. — But I say to you, do not swear at all; neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool.

Jas. v, 12. — But above all things, my brethren, swear not; neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor any other oath. But let your speech be, "Yea, yea," and "Nay, nay."

Sap. xiv, 30. — They swore unjustly in deceit, having despised holiness. For it is not the power of those by whom they swear, but the punishment of those who sin, that always pursues the transgression of the unjust.

Eccli. xxiii, 9, 12. — As a servant who is continually examined will not be without a wale; so he who swears and constantly names God, will not be cleansed from sin.

Sir. xxiii. — A man much given to swearing shall be filled with iniquity, and a scourge shall not depart from his house.

He who establishes a falsehood through oaths procures for himself the worst reward of inhumanity, the guilt of perjury.

Basil. — It is altogether shameful and full of folly to accuse oneself, as if one did not deserve to be believed, and to attach the firmness of an oath to one's words. ^{B C D}

^A Theologian. — The one who swears truthfully may perhaps err at some point, but he who does not swear at all escapes the entire danger of perjury. "The law says," it is said, "Thou shalt not perjure thyself"; but do not thou swear at all, neither for a small matter nor a greater one, since the oath itself brings forth perjury. Chrysostom. — Slanderers sell falsehoods; deceiving one another, they consume oaths, knowing God only for the sake of swearing. Socrates. — It is necessary that good men should show themselves to have a character more trustworthy than an oath. Accept an offered oath for two reasons: either to absolve yourself from a charge, or to save friends from great dangers. For the sake of money, in no way swear by God, not even if you intend to swear truly; for you will appear to some to be perjured, and to others to be obsessed with the disease of greed. ^B Amphidis. — Whoever places no faith in one who is swearing, knows well how to perjure himself easily. The majority of men exhort others to be keepers of oaths; but I, for my part, declare that it is holy not to swear easily from the very start. Eusebius. — One ought to have a goodness of character more trustworthy than an oath.

SERMON XXXIV. On vain glory.

John v, 44. — Receivers of glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory which is from God alone. ^C Galatians v, 26. — Let us not become vain-glorious, provoking one another, envying one another. Proverbs xii, 9. — Better is a man in poverty serving himself, than he who attributes honor to himself and is in need of bread. Sirach i, 38. — Do not exalt yourself, lest you fall and bring shame upon your soul. Sirach x, 7. — Vain glory is hateful before the Lord and men. They are vain-glorious who enrich themselves [in appearance], having nothing. Basil. — Vain-glorious is he who does or says anything for the sake of mere worldly glory. ^D Truly, proud habits, when pampered, are accustomed to become more arrogant than they were. For it is similarly difficult, both in hard straits to maintain an untempted soul, and in prosperity not to be puffed up by worldly pride. Theologian. — Vain glory is a great obstacle to men in the pursuit of virtue.

^A What you wish to be seen as, takes away the greatest part of what you truly are.

It is very easy to deceive oneself and to imagine that one is something, when one is nothing, being puffed up by vain glory.

It is shameful for one who is master of little things to be puffed up with great pretensions.

Do not be concerned to appear better than the wicked; But grieve that you are inferior to the good.

Chrysostom. — Vain glory is therefore aptly named by the ancients; for it is "empty," having nothing useful within; but just as masks appear splendid from the outside and worthy to be loved, yet are empty within—wherefore, although they are more attractive to the sight than true faces, they have never persuaded anyone to fall in love with them—so it is also with the glory of the multitude, or rather, even more pitiable.

Gregory of Nyssa. — To boast of riches, or to be haughty on account of noble birth, or to covet glory, or to wish to appear more distinguished than one's neighbor (by which things human honors are fulfilled), all these things involve the subversion and disgrace of human honor.

Philo. — If you take away the titles and pageantry from those in political life, you will find nothing besides an empty haughtiness that possesses no sense.

Evagrius. — It is difficult to escape the demon of vain glory; for whatever you do to destroy it, that very thing will become for you the beginning of vain glory.

^B John Climacus. — The thief abhors the sun; but the proud man will despise those who are of a gentle and modest mind.

Socrates. — The wind inflates and distends empty skins; just so does the opinion of self distend foolish men.

Diogenes. — Pride, like a shepherd, leads the multitude wherever it wishes.

Alexander. — Alexander, having struggled with a long illness, when he had recovered, said that he suffered nothing worse; for, he said, the sickness reminded us not to have great thoughts, being as we are, mortals.

Philistion. If you see a depraved and wicked man being carried to an elevation, And exulting in the splendor of riches and fortune, And raising his eyebrow higher than his fortune permits, Expect his change and ruin more swiftly. For he is raised higher, so that he may fall with a heavier crash.

Menander. — O, thrice and four times wretched are all those who swell with great pride in themselves; for they do not know the nature and disposition of man.

Aristotle. — Aristotle, having observed a young man who was behaving with excessive arrogance, said: "Young man, I would that I were what you seem to yourself to be! But as for what you truly are in reality, may such as that be the portion of my enemies."

The same man, having observed a youth taking pleasure in a precious garment and boasting in it, said: "Will you not cease, young man, to take pride in virtue that belongs to a sheep?" ^{C D}

^A Heraclitus. — Heraclitus, the natural philosopher, used to say that empty pride and self-opinion are the destruction of progress.

SERMO XXXV. On truth and falsehood.

John III, 21. — Everyone who does truth, comes to the light, that his works may be manifest, because they are wrought in God.

Ephes. IV, 25. — Putting away lying, speak ye every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

Prov. IX, 12. — He that relies upon lies, this man shall feed the winds; and the same shall pursue winged birds.

Eccli. XXVII, 10. — Birds resort unto their like; and truth shall return to those who practice it.

Sirach XXXIV, 4. — From an unclean thing what will be purified? And from a falsehood, what will be true? ^B

Basil. — Falsehood is not suitable in courts of law, nor in other actions, for those who have chosen for themselves the straight and true way of life.

The Theologian. — The truth is one, but falsehood is manifold.

Chrysost. — The power of truth needs no aid; but even if ten thousand seek to quench it, not only does it not vanish, but it even shines out more brightly and loftier through those who attempt to insult it. ^C

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NOTES

(b) "He that relies upon lies." This verse is missing in all the Greek vulgate texts, as it is also in the Hebrew, Syriac, and Targum: only the Latin vulgate recognizes it, in the same words as Maximus has here presented it; from which I correct that which was published by Gesner in the following lines, *idem aves pennigeras persequetur*: which serves as a proverb for a futile endeavor. Another passage, Prov. I, 47, points to this: "A net is spread in vain before the eyes of those that have wings"; which the Greeks express thus; and the Fathers cite it, "For not unjustly are the nets spread for the winged ones." Lucif. and Sixt. "For not unjustly are the nets spread for the birds." Perhaps it is better, "For why, interrogate, what perhaps the Seventy also wrote," being closer to the Hebrew, not paying sufficient attention to Hellenism, even among those learned in Greek, since a knowledge of the Hebrew language was lacking to them. They certainly read what all Bibles contain, [Hebrew text removed], of which no trace exists anywhere in them, [Hebrew text removed]. Certainly it is not in vain, of its own accord, freely, and without any profit that nets are thrown and spread for them; it is well explored and known: for both this hunting and fowling, as I used to do as a boy at home, in the early autumn, when the grapes were ripe, was very frequent according to the custom of the people and the nature of the place, so that, with a net spread out from a double oak (or another taller tree) prepared for that purpose, I would catch the thrushes ^D and other birds of that kind flying down from the vineyard to the woods at almost twilight, indulging for the sake of my mind and the custom, and no otherwise than as they were flying, and while they were in flight, by throwing it upon them: as if the wise man himself wished to indicate this very kind of fowling, as Palestine is itself wonderfully vine-bearing with its slopes and hills, for which there is no lack of woods and forests opposite and facing the north, where the birds themselves, growing fat on the grapes and almost drunk, love to roost: which site is almost the same as that where I was born and raised, in the borders of the Nitiobriges by the river Garonne, of the municipality, and of that field, than which nothing in all widely-extended Gaul and Aquitania is either more fertile or more pleasant, which they call Marmanda, even in the time of the Albigensians a most noble Vallisarnanian castle: let me add, a fortress and bulwark of the Catholic faith and ancestral piety, unconquered through the ravages of the previous age of the Calvinists, so that scarcely one or another family of sectarians, while they dominated almost the entire province, could find a seat in it: it eluded their every force and craft, by the very ready will of the citizens; and it welcomed the King of France himself, the Catholic Henry IV, no otherwise; it wonderfully aided Louis XIII, for the subduing of neighboring towns that were rebellious in the Calvinistic spirit, with men, provisions, and artillery; and now, to the reigning Louis XIV, for the subduing of the metropolis itself, and for bringing it to duty, through the previous tumults it was almost a stronghold, and provided most ample supplies; so that, in whatever faith we have toward God, that same faith is shown toward the king (while he himself, especially by the thing more than by the name, most Christian, is entirely devoted to the Christian cause). These things I have recorded here obiter as a monument of gratitude to my country, although the love of Christ and the training of religious discipline for so many years made me an exile from it, and destroyed thereafter the hope of visiting it; especially since the family was extinguished in that century, and since long ago [it has been] passing on to heaven before me, with no marriage-bonds in children, and those things were almost repudiated for the sake of Christ, while one or another of them, by a generous endeavor in seeking the heights of perfection, have spread the good odor of Christ and the fragrance of sanctity far and wide; and because I am occupied with the writing and books by the order of my superiors, the invitation of the nourishing Gallican clergy, and by my own nod and inclination, if I can contribute any useful work to the Christian and literary cause, it is almost time for me, an old man now, to die shortly in Lutetia Parisiorum.

^A Attempt to undermine efforts, it will shine the more brilliantly and rise higher, laughing to scorn those who in vain vex themselves.

— *Evagrius.* To suppress the truth in silence is to bury gold in the earth.

— *Isidore of Pelusium.* A lie heard first has greater credit than the truth that is shown afterwards in a second account.

— *Severian.* When a lie wishes to be believed, unless it fixes for itself a foundation of apparent truth, it is not believed.

— *Thales.* Thales of Miletus, upon being asked by someone how far a lie is from the truth, said, "As far as the eyes are from the ears."

— *Plutarch.* Equal to the scales; but truth is judged by the reason of philosophy. It is grave to wander from the way and from the truth.

— *Charicles.* A lie is sometimes honest and good, namely, when it brings benefit to those who are speaking and carries no detriment to the hearers.

— *Gerinus.* Just as the eye, being weak and dull, cannot look upon the light of the sun, so, and by a much stronger reason, a weak and dull mind is not able to see the truth.

— *From Epictetus and Isocrates.* Nothing should be held in greater price than truth; nor is the choice of friendship free from the passions by which justice is confused and darkened.

— *Aesop.* Aesop, being asked what profit comes to those who lie from their lying, said, "This: that even when they speak the truth, they are not believed."

— *Plato.* Plato used to say that truth is the pleasantest of things to hear; but Polemon asserted that to speak the truth is far pleasanter than to hear it.

— *Menander.* It is better to choose a lie than a true evil.

SERMON XXXVI

On death.

^C John XI, 25. — *He that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live: and every one that liveth, and believeth in me, shall not die for ever.*

1 Thess. IV, 12 [13]. — *I will not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep, that you be not sorrowful, even as others who have no hope.*

Wisdom IV, 13. — *Being made perfect in a short space, he fulfilled ^D

long years; for his soul was pleasing to the Lord, ^A therefore he hastened to depart from the midst of wickedness.

Sirach XXX. — Better is death than a bitter life, or lasting sickness.

Sirach XXXVIII. — My son, shed tears over the dead, and set about mourning according to his due for one day or two, to avoid disparagement; and be comforted for thy grief. For know that there is no returning, and thou shalt do him no good, and shalt grieve thyself. For from sadness comes death.

Basil. — Just as those who sleep in ships are carried along automatically by the winds, even if they themselves do not perceive it; yet the course pushes their journey toward its conclusion: so also do we, as the time of our life flows past, like a kind of constant and incessant motion, hasten toward our own end, each in the hidden course of our life.

He who is still in this life is not yet to be called blessed, ^B because the outcome is uncertain; but he who has fulfilled what concerned him, and has closed his life with an indisputable end, he may already be safely called blessed.

No one does business after the festival has been dissolved, nor is anyone crowned after he has passed by the contests; nor does anyone show bravery after the wars.

Theologian. — To every dying mortal, the whole earth is a tomb. For whatever is from the earth is earth, and into the earth again it returns. ^C

Chrysostom. — If, when changing from one city to another, we need a guide, how much more will the soul, having departed from the flesh and migrating to the future life, stand in need of those to lead the way?

Just as a body that is dying and near the end of life draws upon itself countless ailments; and as a house that is about to collapse is accustomed to having many things fall beforehand, both from the roof and from the walls; so also the consummation of the world is near and at the doors, and for this reason countless evils are scattered everywhere.

Aristotle. — It is best to depart from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunk.

He who, while ill, writes a will, is like those who start to prepare the tackle of a ship when a storm has already arisen and the tempest is raging. ^D

Socrates. — Choose to die well rather than to live shamefully.

^A

Clitarchus. — It is better to die than to darken the soul through incontinence.

Moschion. — With diseases attacking one after another in almost constant succession, death itself does not delay to be present.

From the writings of Favorinus. — Aristides, surnamed the Just, when asked how long it is permissible for a man who holds fast to what is just and right to live, replied: As long as he considers it better to die than to live.

Amasis. — Amasis, king of the Egyptians, writing a letter of consolation to a friend who had lost his son, said: If you did not grieve when he did not yet exist, you should not grieve now that he will no longer exist.

Diogenes. — Diogenes the Cynic, to someone lamenting because he was destined to die in a foreign land, said: Why, you fool, do you lament and complain, when from every place there is the same way to the underworld? ^B

We ought, indeed, when gathered together, to accompany with mourning him who is born, considering to what great evils he is coming; but, on the contrary, to send him forth from the house with joy and auspicious praises when he has been taken from the living and has obtained an end to his labors.

Epicurus. — It is possible to provide security against other things; but as regards death, we all inhabit a city without walls.

Musonius. — He cannot live the present day honestly who has not set before himself the plan to live it as his last.

Polyaenus. — Do not grieve over those who die, for this is a necessary function of life; but grieve for those who end their days shamefully. ^C

Democritus. — Democritus, having fallen into a lethargy from an illness, upon recovering said: The love of life shall impose nothing upon me, and he departed from life.

Menander. Truly a thrice-wretched and miserable nature; Life is filled with many cares. There is a greater necessity to heal the soul than the body; For it is better to die than to live wickedly.

Sophocles. For what mortal is a faithful friend to a tomb? Alas, how quickly the fleeting grace of the dead Flows away from men, and slips away having betrayed them.

Bias. — Bias, when someone called upon death due to the loss of his children, said: Why do you summon it, man? Will it not come if you do not summon it? The same man, having seen a sword cast away and lying on the ground, said: Who has lost you, or whom have you destroyed? The same, when asked what kind of death is evil, replied: That which is inflicted by the just sentence of the laws. ^D

Socrates. — When Socrates was condemned by the Athenians to be cast down from the cliff, and his wife Xantippe was weeping and saying, "O Socrates, how unjustly you are dying!" he said: So, then, you wanted me to die justly? When someone said to him, "The Athenians have voted for your death," he replied: But nature did so before them.

The same, when asked who is in Hades, said: I have neither gone there, nor have I conversed with anyone of those who dwell there. ^A

Sextus. — Regarding those known to us, while they are alive, take care of them; but when they have passed away, their bodies must be committed to the earth; for this is pious and just; for the soul is not buried with the body. Empty, therefore, is the great labor expended on funerals.

Anaxagoras. — I think there are two reminders of death: the time before we were born, and sleep.

From the Sentences of Philistion. — The Causians mourn for those who are born, but celebrate with auspicious praises and good wishes those who have died. ^B

SERMO XXXVII. On peace and war.

Luke x, 5. — Whatever house you enter, first say: Peace to this house; and if a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him.

II Cor. xiii, 11. — Be at peace, brothers, and the God of peace and love shall be with you.

Prov. xvii, 1. — Better is a morsel with pleasure in peace, than a house full of many goods with strife.

Eccli. xxv, 1. — In three things I was adorned and stood up beautiful before the Lord and men: the concord of brothers, and peace among neighbors, and a wife and husband who agree well with one another. ^C

Basil. — How great is the good of peace, what need is there to speak to men who are sons of peace? For nothing is so characteristic of a Christian as to be a peacemaker; wherefore the Lord has promised us the greatest reward for this very thing.

Theologian. — A praiseworthy war is better than a peace that separates us from God.

Chrysostom. — He who has wished for peace for all, has cast out the war of the passions, and has made his soul more tranquil than a harbor. ^D

Nyssen. — For just as disease vanishes when health arrives, and darkness does not remain when light has appeared; so, too, when peace has shone forth, all the passions that are composed of the contrary are dissolved.

Demosthenes. — Those who would rightly use war must not follow events, but must be in front of events ourselves.

A noble war is to be preferred to a shameful peace.

Herodotus. — For no one is so foolish as to choose war over peace.

Menander. Peace feeds the farmer well even on rocks, But war, even in a plain, is born for ill.

Aristophanes. O peace, rich in wealth, and a yoke of oxen! For would that, with the war having ceased, it might be granted to me

^A to dig and, having bathed, to draw out from the vintage, bringing forth fine bread and radishes! Euripides. Prudence overcomes many hands; But an ignorant multitude adds to the evil.

SERMON XXXVIII

On Hope.

^A *Procopius the Sophist.*—Hope regarding some expected good that turns into the opposite brings an inconsolable grief.

*Plutarch.*—Neither should a ship be moored by a single anchor, nor should a life be secured by a single hope. The hopes of educated men are stable, resting as if in a harbor, in reason. The hopes of virtue are the soul’s own and are genuine; those of vice are spurious. It is the same thing for a ship to be moored by a weak anchor as it is for hope to be based on a base desire.

*Socrates.*—Evil hopes, like bad guides, lead into sin. Neither a woman without a man, nor a good hope without labor, brings forth anything useful.

*Leucippus.*—For pleasant things, even when not present, delight us with hopes. For that which has been despaired of ^B is once and for all removed from the soul; and that which is no longer expected from any quarter provides a release for those who are suffering.

*Charicles.*—For the haste of discourse toward what has not yet been said destroys the integrity of what has already been said.

*Leucippe.*—For the fear of danger used to disturb the soul’s hopes; but the hope of obtaining what one desires covered over the fear with pleasure: and in this way, he who hoped was fearful, and he who suffered pain in his mind, the same man also rejoiced.

SERMON XXXIX. Concerning women.

*John iv.*—Jesus says to her, "I who speak to you am He." And on this, his disciples came, and they marveled that he was speaking with a woman.

*I Tim. ii.*—Let a woman learn in silence with all subjection; but I do not permit a woman to teach, nor to have authority over a man. ^C

*Prov. v.*—Do not pay attention to a base woman; for honey drops from the lips of a harlot, which for a moment slickens your throat; yet afterwards you will find it more bitter than gall.

*Prov. xxv.*—As a worm in wood, so does a wicked woman destroy her husband.

*Prov. xxi.*—It is better to dwell in a desert than with a contentious, talkative, and irritable woman.

*Sir. xxv.*—I would rather dwell with a lion and a dragon than dwell with a wicked woman. ^D

^A Basil. — The perverse dispositions of women drown the weak souls of those who dwell with them.

Theologian, in the *Epitaph on his brother*. — The most foolish of women, lacking their own beauty and charm, flee to colored pigments and cosmetics; and they are, as I might say, decorously theatrical, by their elegance made inelegant, and by their shamefulness even more shameful.

Chrysostom. — Whoever has a wicked wife should know that he has already received the wages of his iniquities. It is a serious thing to take a wife of overly humble means, an equally serious thing to take one of greater wealth: for the one harms one's estate, while the other harms a man’s authority and liberty.

Clement. — A woman removes all suspicion of calumny who does not use superfluous adornment, nor wishes to be adorned beyond the boundary of decency.

Sextus. — A seal is fitting for a wicked woman.

Democritus. — It is the ultimate disgrace and injury for a man to be subject to a wife.

Solon. — Solon, being asked by someone whether he should take a wife, replied: If you marry an ugly one, you will have trouble; if a beautiful one, you will have a common one.

Diogenes. — Seeing women mixing their talk together, he said: An asp borrows venom from a viper.

Pulcheria. — Being asked by someone in a large assembly of matrons why she alone of the other women did not wear jewelry, she replied: The ornament sufficient for a woman is the virtue of her husband.

Pythagoras. — It is the same thing, whether you fall into fire or into a woman.

Secundus. — The wise Secundus, being asked ^B what a woman was, replied: A man’s shipwreck, the storm of a house, an obstacle to peace, a captivity of life, a daily loss, a voluntary fight, a costly war, a beast living with one, an ever-present anxiety, a lioness joined by the necessity of fate, an embellished Scylla, a wicked animal, a necessary evil.

The same said: I have been attacked by a triple evil: I could not escape grammar, poverty, and an accursed wife.

Philoxenus. — The poet Philoxenus, being asked by someone... ^{C D}

...dam, "Why does Sophocles introduce good women, but you yourself [introduce] bad ones?" He said, "Because Sophocles says what women ought to be; I, however, [say] what they actually are."

SERMON XL

Matt. 5:38–39. — "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you: Do not resist the wicked one; but whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."

Rom. 9:20. — "But indeed, O man, who are you that answer back to God? Will the thing molded say to the molder, 'Why have you made me thus?' Or does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor, and another for dishonor?"

Prov. 27:17. — Iron sharpens iron; and a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.

Prov. 25:23. — The north wind brings forth clouds; so an impudent countenance provokes speech.

^BSirach 4:29. — Be not bold in your speech, and sluggish and remiss in your works.

Sirach 22:24. — Before fire, the vapor and smoke of a furnace; so before blood, revilings.

A man accustomed to words of reproach will not be disciplined in all the days of his life.

Sirach 28:11. — Contention hastened kindles fire; and a fight hastened pours out blood.

Basil. — The very desire to contradict shows something self-willed and insubordinate, even if it happens under the guise of humility.

Theologian. — For noble and spirited minds are accustomed to be stubborn against what exerts force and mastery, and just like a flame fanned by the wind, it is kindled all the more, the more violently it is ^Cblown.

Chrysostom. — Do not argue against those who advise you to be silent, saying, "I will not endure that such a one should go away having laughed at me." For he does not deride you at that moment, but when you retaliate. And if he derides you even then, he will suffer that as a fool. But you, who seek to be victorious, do not covet the testimony of fools; but deem it enough...

^A to consider what the wise have felt. Rather, look up to God, and He will praise you; for he who is admired by Him should not seek at all for the honor of men.

Greg. Nyss. — For other sins stand in need of time, circumstances, and external assistance in order to be committed, but the nature of the tongue possesses the power to transgress of itself.

Philo. — Shamelessness is the hallmark of a base mind, while modesty and reverence belong to the one who is honorable and steadfast in virtue. But to be neither affected by shame nor to act impudently is the mark of one who is dull-witted and will not be swayed toward assent.

An impudent gaze, a stiff neck, constant movement of the eyebrows, and a swaggering gait—finally, whatever evil you may have committed, to be affected by no shame—are marks of a most ugly soul, which carves the dim outlines of its own disgraces into a body visible to the eyes. ^B

Philistion. He who does not blush before himself, Knowing that he has committed base things, How shall he blush before another, who knows nothing of them?

Aristot. — Not to be filled with shame when one is wicked is an excess of malice and vice.

Socrates. — Beware of using your tongue impudently; for often boldness and rashness have destroyed the very head itself.

Euripid. — No one has yet acquired virtue through rashness and boldness, but through labor, industry, a brave purpose, and modesty.

Menander. — There is nothing, I think, more daring and more rash than folly.

Musonius. — You will be an object of veneration to all if you first begin to revere yourself.

Theophrast. — Revere yourself, and you will not blush before any other.

Cato. — Seeing a young man flushed with shame, he said: "Well done, for this is the color of virtue."

Consider that each person ought to revere himself most of all; for no one is ever apart from himself. ^C

SERMON XLI. Concerning old age and youth.

John xxi, 18. — "When you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk where you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish."

Heb. xii, 12. — "Therefore lift up your relaxed hands and your paralyzed knees; and make level paths for your feet."

Eccli. i, 35. — "In the multitude of elders, stand; and if there is anyone wise, be joined to him."

Eccli. viii, 7. — "Do not despise a man in his old age; for we also grow old." ^D

Eccli. xxv, 6. — "How beautiful is the judgment of the hoary-headed, and for elders to know counsel! How beautiful is the wisdom of old men, and ^A for glorious men the understanding of counsel!" "My soul hates an old man who is an adulterer, and one who acts in deficiency of understanding."

Basil. — "In truth, senile prudence contributes more to the commendation of an elder (that is, of one who is senior) than does gray hair. He differs in no way from one who is a child in years, who in his mind is childish in understanding."

Theologian [Gregory of Nazianzus]. — "It is shameful for the prime of life to have faded, while lust has not yet faded. Even gray hair learns something, and old age is not, as it might seem, wholly to be regarded as having attained all wisdom."

Chrysostom. - "Hoariness is not white hair, but the virtues of the soul. Do not disparage the young man, nor praise the one who has grown old; for virtue and malice are not placed in the difference of age, but in the difference of the ^B mind."

Greg. Nyss. — "In almost every matter, the counsel of youth is insecure; and no one of that age could easily have performed anything worthy of concern, unless gray-haired age was also received into the partnership of the deliberation."

Philo. — "He who is elder in truth is considered so, not by length of time, but by a praiseworthy and perfect life."

Evagrius. — "That a man may shine with a venerable old age is proof that he has sedulously cultivated the labors of virtue before old age; and a studiously cultivated life in youth is a pledge that old age is to be held in honor thereafter. The soul flowers toward knowledge when the vigor of the body withers with the length of time."

Nilus. — "White hair cries out and testifies to the ^C departure of the soul from hence."

Plutarch. — "Winter needs a roof; but old age needs a soul free from grief."

Plutarch. — "It is truly pleasant to grow old, just as with a worthy friend, so also with noble reason and learning. He exhorted the young to possess these three things: in the mind, modesty and chastity; on the tongue, silence; and in the countenance, reverence."

From the Commentaries of Favorinus. — "Eratosthenes the Cyrenaean used to say that the flourishing of age was spring; that which follows the prime was summer and autumn; and finally, old age was winter."

Solon. — "Solon used to say that old age is a harbor for evil; for to it everything takes refuge."

Diogenes. — "When someone asked him, 'What do you consider old age to be?' he answered, 'The winter of life.'"

Diogenes. — "Diogenes, having seen an old woman ^D adorned with excessive...

meretricious attire, said, 'If your soul is looking toward the living, you are deceived; but if toward the dead, do not delay.'" ^A

Alexandri. — Alexander, having seen a certain old man dyeing his hair, said, "Do not dye your hair, but your knees."

Orgias. — When asked by what way of life he had reached such a long old age, he replied, "By never eating, nor even acting, as if indulging my own genius or the whim of my will."

Procop. — "The length of life is long in expectation; but when it has passed, it proves to be dimmer than a dream or a shadow."

Philemon. — "Syra, Syra, what is it? How are you?" "Never ask this when you encounter an old man, Or an old woman; know immediately that things are not well."

Herodis. — "When you have turned the sixtieth sun, O Gryllus, Gryllus, die and become ash: For every subsequent turn of life would be blind." ^B

Philemonis. — "Sometimes there is intelligence in the young and foolishness in the old; for time does not teach prudence, but a right nature, talent, and way of life."

Democriti. — "Poverty and old age are a double wound, most difficult to heal."

"An old proverb: Let the young be the doers; But let the elders excel in counsels. An old lion is stronger than a young stag in its prime. Strength and beauty are the good of youth; But old age is the flower of temperance and chastity." ^C

SERMO XLII. On patience and long-suffering.

Luke xxi, 19. — "In your patience possess ye your souls."

Jas. v, 10. — "Brethren, take for an example of suffering and patience the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we count them happy who endure. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord."

Prov. xxv, 15. — "A soft patience shall extinguish quarrels; but the impious one stirs them up the more."

Eccli. ii, 4. — "Whatsoever is brought upon thee, take; and in the vicissitude of thy humiliation endure patiently; for gold is tested in fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation." ^D

Eccli. xxii, 29. — "Endure in the time of tribulation, and persevere with thy neighbor, that thou mayest be a co-heir in his inheritance."

Basilii. — "Let the commandment of God be a companion to thee."

As a certain light and radiance for the judgment and discernment of things, it is ceaselessly provided; which, once obtained to preside over your soul, and to prepare true opinions concerning each thing, will not allow you to be changed by any of the things that befall you; but being well-prepared in mind, like some sea-cliff nearby, it will cause you to endure securely and immovably the assaults of both violent winds and waves. ^A

Theologi. — Better is leniency than haste, and the condescension of a yielding spirit than stubbornness. It is better to overcome audacity with gentleness, and to lead the authors of injuries, which we endure with patience, to a better harvest.

They who are attached to the world suffer pain, and much more so than those who are dedicated to divine service; but to the former, this pain is their reward; to us, however, even enduring evils is to have a reward, provided we endure them for the sake of God. ^B

Let us not be evil servants, giving thanks to the Master when He does us good, but showing no mind when He chastises us; although sometimes illness is better than health, and patience is better than relief, and correction better than security.

Chrysost. — Nothing procures such veneration as the patient endurance of insults and reproaches.

Just as the lenity of God is useful to those who repent, so to the unyielding and hard-hearted it becomes the occasion and cause of greater punishment. ^C

When someone treats you with insult, do not look at him, but at the demon who stirs him up, and pour out all your anger upon him; but have pity on the one who is thus driven and impelled by him.

For there is truly nothing that makes men so splendid and worthy of emulation, and fills them with a myriad of good things, as a multitude of temptations, and dangers, and toils, and sorrows; and being continually plotted against, even by those by whom one ought not to be, and yet bearing everything gently. ^D

For whatever we may suffer unjustly from anyone, God reckons that injury for us either toward the blotting out of sins or toward the retribution of a reward.

Nili. — To neglect through weariness, and to be unwilling to endure calamities, is the hallmark of great and varied foolishness.

Glycon. — Knowledge of God is recognized in a man through leniency and meekness.

Greg. Nyss. — The progress of reproaches and insults is stopped by the leniency of bearing them. For if anyone wishes to avenge an injury with an injury, and a reproach with a reproach, he will by this very act plainly increase the vices, while he feeds what is absurd with like things.

^A Firm and indubitable is the hope of the grace whose fruit is gained by those who wait with patience.

Democritus. — If it were possible to learn what must be suffered, and yet not suffer it, it would be good to learn; but if one must suffer, what is the need of learning? For one must suffer.

Solon. — When someone spat upon Solon, he bore it patiently; and when another criticized him for this, he said: "And so, do not fishermen endure to be splashed by the sea, so that they may catch a goby? And shall I not endure the same to catch a man?"

Metrodorus. — Do not seek for things that happen to come about as you wish, but choose that they should happen as they do happen.

SERMON XLIII. On Praise.

Luke vi, 26. — Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

James iii, 10. — Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth out of the same hole sweet water and bitter?

Prov. xxvii, 21. — The fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold: but a man is tried by the mouth of those who praise him.

Ecclus. xxvii, 8. — Before a man speak, do not praise him: for this is the temptation of men. ^B

Basil. — Let us not be softened in spirit toward praises that surpass the truth.

Theologian. — Praises that exceed the measure are the cause for some to contemn even that which is their duty. For of those whose praises I know, I know clearly also their progress.

Let nothing that is another's be praised if it does not shine with the light of justice; nor let anything that is our own and domestic be held in contempt if it is noble and honorable, lest gain should accrue to that which is foreign, while our own standing is turned to loss. For by both, the law of equity is violated—namely, by the proclamation of the former and the silence regarding the latter. ^C

Chrysostom. — For he who praises wickedness robs it of the remedy by which it could be cured through repentance.

Not only those who do evil, but also those who encourage them, shall be fellows in the same punishment, or even a more severe one.

Saint Ignatius. — Although I may shine in religion and the worship of God, I must be all the more fearful and on my guard against those who rashly puff me up with empty pride. For those who praise me, scourge me. ^D

^A Clement. — Hunters catch hares with dogs; but the vulgar catch the foolish with praises. Incense should be offered to the gods, but praise should be bestowed upon the good.

Isocrates. — Consider them faithful, not those who praise everything you do or say, but those who rebuke you when you sin.

Moschion. — If you wish to be well spoken of, learn to speak well. Strive to act well, and thus you will reap the fruit of a good reputation.

Polyænus. — Neither blame nor praise one who is present; for the one brings hostility, the other flattery.

Cypsellus. — Praise the living; call the departed blessed.

Antagenes. — Antagenes used to say: "When the multitude of men praises me, I deem myself worthy of nothing; but when a few do so, I consider myself a worthy man."

HOMILY XLIV.

On beauty.

Matt. vi, 28. — Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin. For I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these.

I Tim. ii, 9. — I desire that women should adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly clothing.

Prov. vi, 25. — Let not the desire for beauty overcome you, nor be caught by your eyes. ^B

Ecclus. xi, 2. — Do not praise a man for his beauty.

Ecclus. xxvi, 22. — The beauty of a face [is] in a stable age.

Basil. — He who today is vigorous in body, corpulent from luxury, having a blooming grace of complexion, swelling and tense and irresistible in impulse due to the vigor of his youth, tomorrow the same man will be pitiable, having been withered by time or dissolved by disease. ^C

Theologian. — Gold and stones, and the ornaments of art and handiwork, expose an ugly and unlovely woman by the comparison; but they add nothing of beauty to a beautiful woman, to whose loveliness they yield. ^D Consider beauty to be the adornment and decency of the mind.

No flame remains when the material is consumed, but it vanishes along with its feeder; nor does a lustful thought persist when its fuel has withered away.

Prov. vi, 25. — Let not the desire for beauty overcome you, nor be caught by your eyelids, if possible, not even to the minimum and with almost closed eyes.

^A Chrysost. — What is the virtue of the eyes? Is it that they should be soft, plump, round, and blue, or that they should be keen and sharp-sighted, that is, apt for discerning? And what is the virtue of a lamp? Is it to shine brightly and light up the whole house, or to be beautifully shaped and round? For the notes of beauty do not arise from the composition of form, but from character and dignity.

Plutarch. — Stoop over a mirror and look at yourself; and if indeed you appear beautiful, do those things that befit one who is beautiful; but if you are misshapen, compensate for what is lacking in the appearance of your face with the integrity of your morals.

Leucippus. — The eye is the conciliator and parent of friendship; and the familiarity of association, so that you may have grace, provides greater veneration. For eyes, reflected reciprocally and cast upon one another, fashion the images of things as if in a mirror.

Diogenes. — Those who are elegant in form but unlearned, he said were like alabaster jars containing vinegar.

Eteocles. — To one boasting of his beauty: "Are you not ashamed," he said, "to think highly of yourself and be puffed up over the bloom [of youth], which you possess only as a deposit for a short time?"

Aesop. — Aesop, to one who used beauty poorly, said: "In what a garment you are clothed, [and yet] you cast it off badly!" The same man, when reproached for having an ugly face, said: "Do not look at my appearance, but attend to the mind."

Having seen a youth adorning himself: "If [you do this] for men," he said, "you are unfortunate; if for women, you act unjustly." ^B The same man, having seen a handsome youth, who was loved for that reason, said: "O youth, hasten to transfer those who are lovers of your body to your soul."

Menander. When character abundantly adorns natural beauty, He who approaches is captured by a double allure.

Socr. — "Fair and good things," I used to say, "do not increase for mortals because of the beauty of appearances, but because of the virtues in life." And: "The kisses of those who are beautiful must be guarded against, just like the bites of venomous animals."

SERMON XLV

Matt. xvi, 27. — The Son of man is to come in the glory of his Father with his angels: and then he will reward each according to his works.

1 Cor. iii, 15. — Each one’s work will be made manifest ^{C D}

in fire; and the fire will test what sort of work each one’s is.

Solom. xii. — God will bring every work into judgment, in everything that has been neglected, whether it be good or evil.

Sirach xvii. — The Lord will arise and render to all, and will repay their recompenses upon their own heads.

Basil. — Do not think, as if I were some nurse, that I am inventing false terrors for you, as they are accustomed to do with infants when they weep in a disorderly and endless fashion, and they quiet them with fabricated tales. For this is no fable, but the truthful word that was proclaimed long ago; and know for certain that an exact examination of things lived will take place. ^B

For, according to Hosea, "His deeds shall encompass every man" (Hosea vii, 2). For we shall see all our works at once, as if standing before us and appearing face-to-face to our mind, in their own forms, as each has been done or as it has been spoken. Yet one should not think that time will be consumed for each one to see himself with his own deeds, and the Judge, and the things following at the divine tribunal; but by an ineffable power, in a moment of time, the mind imagining and painting everything for itself, as if in a mirror, in the principant part of the soul, will behold the forms of the things done before its eyes. ^C

Theologian. — Wherefore it is better to be disciplined and purified now, than to be sent off to the torture there, when it will be the time of judgment, not of purification.

Chrysostom. — Just as we require an account from our household slaves, not only of the expenditure but also of the income, inquiring whence they received this or that, from whom, and when, and how, and of what sort, and how much; so too God, not only of the expenses, but also of what we have held in our possession or acquired, demands an account. ^D

Nothing at all of those things which are good, however small it may be, will be overlooked there by the Judge. For if we are about to pay penalties for sins and words and thoughts, much more will the deeds of virtue, whether they be great or small, be taken into account.

Those who offend frequently and are not punished ought to fear and tremble. For their...

^A unpunished state—by the lenity and long-suffering of God—only adds to their ultimate penalty. For if those who do not enjoy the use of the sun deem their life more bitter than any death, what suffering is to be expected for those who have been deprived of that light?

*Greg. Nyss.* — The harvest is appointed for you according to the nature of your sowing. Have you sown bitterness? Gather the sheaves. Have you cultivated cruelty? Have what you have loved. Have you fled from mercy? Mercy shall flee from you. Have you loathed the poor man? He who became poor for our sake shall loathe you.

*Philo.* — It is impossible that an impious man should lose a good reward from God for a single good deed which he may have performed among not many good deeds; or, conversely, that a righteous man should escape punishment and not receive it, if he has committed some evil, even if he relies upon many good deeds. For it is necessary that God should render all things with an equal balance and just weight. It is not an evil to be punished here, but to be deemed worthy of the punishment there.

*Zaleucus.* — Let this be commanded to us, and to all such citizens, men and women alike, and to the resident aliens: that we remember that God exists and inflicts punishments upon those who act unjustly; and that we place before our eyes that time when the end of each one’s life shall arrive. For whoever is about to die is seized by repentance for the things he has done unjustly, and he earnestly wishes that everything had been done by him justly and holily.

*Apollonius.* — If there is perception in the underworld, and if—as we suppose—God’s providence cares for the departed, then without doubt those who have readily assisted in the failing honors of the gods will obtain the greatest care from God.

*Plutarch.* — The deep gates of the underworld yawn open, and rivers of fire and streams of Styx are mingled together, and the darkness is filled with phantoms of many shapes, bringing with them fierce sights and piteous cries. Judges and executioners are there, and chasms, and recesses filled with countless evils are laid open.

SERMON XLVI. On Glory.

*Matt. vi, 32.* — Seek the kingdom of God, and his glory, and all these things shall be added unto you.

^A Rom. viii, 18. — The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Prov. iii, 35. — The wise shall inherit glory; but the ungodly shall exalt shame. Prov. xxi, 21. — He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life and glory. Prov. xxii, 4. — A wise generation is the fear of the Lord, and riches, and glory, and life. Eccli. xxxiii, 24; xl, 4. — Give not a spot in thy glory, and be not exalted in the day of glory. Eccli. vii, 4. — Seek not of the Lord preeminence, nor of the king the seat of glory. ^B Eccli. xi, 6. — Many tyrants have been greatly dishonored, and men of renown have been delivered into the hands of others. Eccli. ix, 16. — Envy not the glory of sinners. Eccli. iv, 7. — Humble thy soul to the great. Eccli. viii, 1. — Strive not with a mighty man, lest thou fall into his hands. Eccli. xiii, 12. — Being invited by one that is mighty, withdraw thyself, and so much the more he will invite thee. Eccli. xxxii, 13. — In the midst of great men, do not desire to appear equal. Eccli. xlii, 25. — He hath made nothing imperfect; he hath established one thing of one; and who shall be satisfied with beholding his glory? Basilii. — If thou art led by the desire of glory and wishest to excel in a glory greater than that of the common people, and desirest to be esteemed in the affairs of the age: be just, modest, prudent, ^C brave, and patient in the sufferings undergone for the sake of piety. For thus shalt thou both save thyself and, supported by greater goods, shalt obtain a greater brightness. Let not him who presides be puffed up by the dignity in which he shines, lest he lose the praise of a modest and sober mind. Would that man had remained in that brightness which he had received from God! And so, being dignified by power from God, he would shine with no feigned, but with true loftiness. But because he set aside the desire for divine brightness, and having expected greater things, he hastened after what it was not permitted for him to attain, he suffered the loss of that which it was permitted him to attain. I wish that the miracle of creation be more deeply and firmly fixed in your mind. First, therefore, when you see a blade of grass and a flower, recall to mind human nature, keeping in memory the image which the most wise ^D Isaiah has brought forward: "All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass" (Isa. xl, 6). For the prophet has aptly drawn this image for the short-lived delays of life, and the fleeting joy and pleasantness of human prosperity. He who is today flourishing in body, fleshy from the delights with which he stuffs himself, radiant with the beauty of his complexion, swelling and robust with the vigor of his age, whose force no one can bear, and who is most mighty; this same person tomorrow is pitiable, either because of time

^A wasted away, or dissolved by disease. Another, conspicuous for an abundance of riches, surrounded by a crowd of sycophants, hemmed in by a troop of fraudulent friends who court favor in him; to whom there is also a multitude of kinsmen at hand, by whose very attendance he is falsely honored. Finally, an infinite swarm accompanies him, both of parasites and of those attached to him for any other cause or necessity; whom he draws along both when he goes out and when he returns, thereby inciting envy in those he encounters. Besides riches, moreover, you might see him excelling in some civil power, or even receiving honors through the munificence of princes, or governing provinces, or even leading armies with imperial authority; having a herald go before him shouting with a loud voice; having lictors on this side and that striking the most grievous terror into his subjects; having words, bonds, abductions, and prisons, from which an intolerable fear is gathered among those under his control. But what follows from this? One night, or a fever, or an acute sickness of the ribs or lungs, carries off the man snatched from the living, ^B and the whole scene having been suddenly stripped bare, he departs; and all this splendor and magnificent adornment has vanished like a dream. Therefore, the prophet has fittingly and truly compared human glory to the most fragile of flowers.

Theologian.

Chrysost.—For since for the sake of that honor which is bestowed by the custom of the age, one often expends his ^C entire substance; what could be more miserable than we, who do not expend even a little for that future and never-removable glory? For the glory that is from men imitates the lowliness of those who bestow it, whence it also easily slides away. But the glory of God is not so; rather, it remains immovable forever. And that the prophet might signify both of these (the extreme slipperiness of the former, and the firmness of the latter), he spoke thus: *All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass* (Is. XL, 6). By which words the prophet did not wish to compare all human happiness even to grass, but compared it to a viler substance, while he called it all the flower of grass. For he did not propose any part of human ^D happiness, such as riches or pleasure, or power, or honor, or anything of that kind; but having embraced all things splendid among men with the one designation of glory, he thus introduced the image of the grass, saying, *All the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withered, and the flower fell off.*

Cyril.—For the race of men, he says, is by nature like grass; but let its flowers be called the...

^A glory and power that come to them. And just as when the grass withers, the flower falls off, so when death comes upon humans, power and pride are extinguished.

Plutarch.—Plants grow from the root, but glory grows from its first impartation. No one who cares for true glory—the glory of a good reputation—could easily turn out to be a wicked man; but it is good, in place of fleeting pleasure, to exchange it for eternal glory.

Aristotle.—The greatest dignity is not being master of goods, but being considered worthy of them.

Isocrates.—Whose titles of glory you emulate, strive also to practice their virtues.

The Indian Archer.—Alexander ordered a man from India, who was considered the most skilled at archery and was said to be able to shoot an arrow through a ring, to demonstrate his art. When the man refused out of fear, Alexander, inflamed with anger, ordered him to be put to death. As he was being led away, the man began to say to those leading him that it had been a long time since he had taken a bow into his hands, and he had been afraid of missing. Upon hearing this, Alexander marvelled at the man and dismissed him with gifts, because he had preferred to die rather than appear unworthy of glory.

Theophrastus.—For one must not derive honors from the exchange of speech and favor, but from those things which you perform excellently and with virtue.

Heraclitus.—He said that the most direct path to glory is if one strives to be virtuous.

Philo.—He who has learned to be subject also immediately knows how to rule. For even if someone were to grasp the power of all the earth and sea, he would not be a ruler in truth if he has not learned and has not first been trained in how to be subject.

Josephus, *Antiquities*.—All who have learned well how to be subject will also know how to rule when they have attained to power.

SERMON XLVII. Regarding loquacity and incontinence of the tongue.

Matthew XII, 36.—But I say to you, that every idle word that men may speak, they shall give account of it. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. ^D

James 1, 19.—Let every man be swift to hear, and slow to speak.

Sirach VIII, 4.—Do not contend with a garrulous man, and do not heap wood upon his fire.

Proverbs XIII, 3.—He that guards his mouth, preserves his own soul.

Proverbs VI, 2.—A strong snare to a man is his own lips; he is caught by the words of his own mouth.

Proverbs X, 8.—He who is incontinent of lips, by acting crookedly will be tripped up.

Prov. XXII, 14. ^A — A deep pit is the mouth of the impious; and he who is hated by God shall fall into it.

Prov. XXVI, 20. — In much wood fire thrives; but an ungoverned [or: unrestrained] mouth creates disorder.

Eccli. XXII, 33. — Who shall set a watch before my mouth, and a seal upon my lips, that I may not fall thereby, and my tongue may not destroy me?

Eccli. XX, 18. — Good things poured out upon a closed mouth. ^B

Basil. — Do not trust everything to the tongue, lest something untimely happen to you; just as an eye, wishing to behold the whole sun, loses even the light with which it is already endowed.

Theologian. — The tongue, when not governed by reason, causes ruin for men.

Chrysostom. — A word uttered rashly has overturned whole houses; and it has subverted and destroyed souls. And while it is possible to repair the loss of money and wealth, a word once sent forth cannot be recalled. ^C

Cyril. — Do not receive swallows into your house; that is, do not make loquacious men and those who are incontinent of tongue your roommates.

Evagrius. — Speak what is becoming, and when it is becoming, and about what is becoming, and you shall never hear what is not becoming.

Nilus. — If you are continent of appetite, be so also of tongue; so that you may not be a slave to the one, and yet exist as free—though foolishly so—in the other.

Isocrates. — Whatever you are about to say in speech, consider it first in your mind; for in many people the tongue runs ahead of the understanding. ^D

Isocrates the orator, when Careon, a loquacious man, wished to study under him, demanded double the fee. When he asked the reason, "One," he said, "I ask in order that you may learn to speak; and the other, that you may learn to be silent."

Clitarchus. — What you do not wish to hear, do not say; what you do not wish to say, do not hear: the danger of the ears and the tongue is great.

Socrates. — It is better to slip with the foot than with the tongue.

Demonax. — Use your ears more than your tongue.

Demosthenes. — To one who was speaking much at a banquet: "If you had as much wisdom as you have words," he said, "you would not pour forth so many." Being asked why we have one tongue but two ears, he said, "Because one ought to listen twice as much as one speaks."

VARIE LECTIONES. NOTES.

^A Plato. — Plato, when Antisthenes once spoke at length in a discussion, said: "Are you unaware that the measure of a speech lies not in the speaker, but in the listener?"

Nicostratus. — If to speak continuously, much, and rapidly were a mark of wisdom, swallows might be called wiser than we are.

From Epictetus and Isocrates. — Nature has given to men one tongue but two ears, in order that we may hear twice as much from others as we ourselves say.

Pythagoras. — A sword wound is lighter than one from the tongue: for the former wounds the body, the latter the soul.

Aesop. — Being asked what is good and evil in men, he replied: "The tongue."

Democritus. — It is a species of greedy rapacity to want to say everything and to be unwilling to listen to anything.

Apollonius. — Much speaking has many errors, but to be silent is safe. The same person said that orators are like frogs: for the latter croak in the water, the former shout by the water-clock.

Lycon. — Just as swallows, by their constant chattering, lose the pleasure of communication, so too do talkative people, by creating constant annoyance, show themselves disagreeable to their listeners.

To a talkative lawyer, someone said: "One should not say little in many words, but much in few words."

SERMON XLVIII.

Concerning Providence.

Matt. x, 29. — Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them will fall on the ground without your Father. But the hairs of your head are all numbered.

Rom. xi, 33. — O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!

Solomon, xii, 18. — But you, Master of might, judge in equity, and govern us with great indulgence.

Sirach, xvi, 16. — Do not say: "I shall be hidden, and who from on high will remember me?" Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens, the abyss and the earth and all things that are in them, shall be shaken at his visitation. Who will consider his ways? A storm which no man will see; and the greater part of his works are in secrets.

^B Basil. — Whatever good comes to us from divine power, we say that this is the effect of the grace that works all things. Nothing is unprovided for or neglected by God. The unsleeping eye observes everything; it is present to all, providing to each what may bestow safety.

Theologian. — God often knows how to innovate with wondrous ways of salvation, inclining toward humanity by his own providence.

Chrysostom. — No one is so sparing of himself, as [God is of us; for He much more desires us not to suffer anything…]

evil.

You do not know, O man, what is for your own benefit. You often ask for things that are harmful and dangerous; but He, who is more concerned for your salvation, does not heed your request, but provides for your benefit everywhere even before you ask. For if earthly parents do not grant everything to their children who ask, it is not because they despise those who ask, but because they are more concerned for their well-being; much more does God, who loves us more and knows more than all, do what is beneficial for us.

^B Didymus. — Since the Creator of all rational beings knows the secrets of their thoughts, He provides for all, not only by what they feel and do, but also by leading them toward better things out of what He foreknows.

Blessed Ephrem. — God visits and cares for the world with patience, intimating the future, and setting limits to present evil; by commandment He restrains wickedness, and by the conscience He punishes wicked and impious minds.

Epicurus. — Thanks be to that blessed nature, because it made what was necessary easy to procure; and what was not necessary, easy to do without.

Socrates. If any care can do anything, you may have care and concern. But if God Himself cares for you, why are you anxious for yourself?

Plato. — When God wishes to make a state prosperous and happy, He makes men virtuous; but when a city is destined to suffer and be in a bad state, He removes the virtuous men from that city. Thus it seems that virtue is not teachable, nor natural, but arrives in those who attain it by divine fate. ^C God [rules] all things, and with God, luck and time govern all human affairs.

SERMON XLIX

Luke XIV, 11. — Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled; and he who humbles himself shall be exalted. Rom. XII, 16. — Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Prov. XXIX, 23. — The Lord will raise up the humble-minded with glory. Eccl. III, 20. — The greater you are, the more you should humble yourself, and you will find grace before the Lord; for great is the power of the Lord, and He will be glorified by the humble.

Basil. — It is impossible for him who has not accepted himself as the lowest... ^D

to be considered the very last of all, to be able ^A at times, when reviled, to restrain one's anger; or when afflicted, to overcome temptations through long-suffering.

A training ground for humility is to be exercised in more menial tasks, curing the vice of vainglory.

Theologian. — It is better, being wise, to give way out of gentleness, than through ignorance to overreach oneself out of audacity.

Let us not have humility in clothing only, but in the disposition of the soul; nor let a broken or soft-toned neck, or a lowering of the voice, or a bowing of the face, or the depth of a beard, or a staged manner of walking mimic humility, for things fashioned in this way for a moment are very quickly exposed. For whatever is feigned is not lasting; rather, let us be exalted in life, but humble in mindset; inaccessible in virtue, yet in our dealings very accessible. For it is the work of a politician to do and say everything out of which he might win approval from those on the outside, but it is the work of a spiritual man, and of those of us who are his, to look to one thing alone: salvation; and to the simplicity and the guileless and forgiving nature of his character. ^B

Chrysostom. — Nothing is as pleasing to God as to count oneself among the very last.

Let no one imagine that the achievement of humility is free of toil and attained with ease. For the vice according to pride is innate in almost everyone who shares in human nature; therefore, of all the practices of virtue, this is the most laborious.

Clement. — A man ought to conduct himself with more humility the more he appears to be great; for it is a good thing [(z)] that the lesser should always follow the greater, for the sake of fostering the hope of improvement.

Nilus. — Blessed is he whose life is exalted, but whose mindset is humble.

From the Fathers. — Associate with those who possess humility, and you will learn their ways. For if the contemplation of what has been said is useful, how much more so is the instruction that proceeds from their mouth? ^C

Isocrates. — To law and to a ruler, and to one who surpasses in wisdom, it is fitting to yield.

NOTE.

^D Glossal Gesn. *graves et difficiles*: this is not apt; for this character of virtue does not make one sullen and inaccessible through sullenness; but [it signifies] that through its own excellence and eminence, to which no one can easily struggle, and [in] that it reaches it (if there be any such), [it constitutes] the sublimity of life that he spoke of. Thus God is said to dwell in unapproachable light, etc.

*est, cum in Maximo exstet solum superior sententia*: It is difficult [to see] how this reasoning—that one must always think modestly, however great [a virtue] it may appear to us—is [related to the passage] where Gesn. [says]: "It is fitting that the inferior should always follow the superior." [This is] not apt. I would rather [say] that some vice and defect follows virtue, so that we may always acknowledge our own measure, and not think ourselves already perfect or to have apprehended, but rather to follow and strive, as the Apostle expressed the model in himself. And thus should a constant hope persist in us, namely, of attaining perfection; which, whoever thinks he has obtained it while he lives in this mortal life, has not obtained it, but has failed on the course of virtue. These things, so high and spiritual, the Tigurine Calvinist physician could not grasp.

Socrates — In navigation one must obey the helmsman; in life, one who has the capacity for reasoning most excellently. ^A

SERMON L. Concerning Physicians

Matt. IX, 12 — They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. Heb. XII, 13 — Make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Eccli. XXXVIII, 3 — The skill of the physician shall lift up his head: and in the sight of great men he shall be praised. Prov. XIV, 30 — A sound heart is the life of the flesh: the envy is the rottenness of the bones.

Basil — Neither is the medical art to be avoided entirely, nor is it right to place all our hopes in it. For just as we make use of agriculture, yet ask for the fruits from God; and we entrust the rudder ^B to the helmsman, but pray to God to be delivered from the sea: so also, while we admit the physician, we do not depart from the hope that is in God.

An unlearned physician, when admitted to the sick, not only does not restore them to health, but even takes away the small remnant of strength that remains to them.

Theologian — I consider our medicine, which concerns the healing of souls, to be far more difficult and, therefore, more honorable than that which concerns the bodies; because that art, observing only a few things hidden in the depths, occupies itself for the most part with what falls under the eyes. We, however, place all our study and care in healing the hidden man ^C of the heart.

Constrained by insatiable evil, while hiding his ulcers, The unhappy man always bears putrid limbs.

Chrysostom — I think it was not in vain, nor without just reason, that the ancient physicians determined that a display of the various instruments for medicine and surgery should be made openly and in public, so that, by showing in advance what they might need if they were to live out of order or without a proper regimen of food, they might render those who are healthy more cautious.

Gregory of Nyssa — By as much as the soul is more excellent than the body, by so much is he who heals souls to be held dearer and of greater worth than those who provide care for bodies. ^D

Didymus — We call that physician perfect, not who heals everyone, but who omits nothing of what pertains to the utility and care of the sick person.

Trophilus — Trophilus the physician, being asked by someone who is the perfect physician, said: "He who is able to distinguish what can be done and what cannot."

Neocles — Neocles, when a certain bad physician was boasting of his power, said: "Truly you boast of your power, you who have killed so many with impunity."

The same man used to say that physicians are fortunate because their [not translated: see facsimile].

^A successes are seen by the sun, but the earth covers their mistakes.

Stratonic. — Stratonicus, flattering a physician, said, "I praise your skill, because you do not let the sick waste away, but deliver them from life all the sooner."

Demonax. — Greater thanks are owed to the children of Asclepius [physicians] who prevent a disease when it is coming on, than to those who have healed people who are already suffering; for not to be affected by an evil is greatly to be preferred to being delivered from it.

SERMO LI. – Concerning Faith.

Matt. xvii, 19. — Amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you.

Eph. ii, 8. — By grace you are saved through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no man may glory.

Heb. xi, 1. — Faith is the subsistence of things hoped for, the proof of things not seen.

Prov. xii, 17. — A just man declareth the truth as it is ^B.

Sirach xi, 22. — Trust in the Lord, and stay in thy place; for it is easy in the eyes of God on a sudden to make a poor man rich.

Sirach ii, 6. — The gift of God stayeth with the godly; believe in him, and he will help thee.

Basil. — Let faith take the lead in those discourses which are held concerning God. Faith, I say, and not demonstration. Faith is that which draws the soul to assent above the logical methods; faith, not that which is generated by geometric necessities, but that which is generated by the operations of the Spirit.

Faith is an unwavering assent to those things which we have heard, in the fullness of the truth of the things preached, by the grace of God, which Abraham manifested, being attested that he did not waver in unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what God has promised, He is able also to do.

Theologi. — For what is unattainable to someone, he ^C does not even have faith in, because of envy. For to profane souls, nothing of those things which are honest and excellent is considered worthy of belief.

Chrysost. — This is most characteristic of faith, not to seek the reasons for things that are done, but to obey those who command. ^D

^A The religious and faithful man ought to be so firmly and constantly disposed toward the promises of God that, even if things contrary to them appear to happen, he is not thereby troubled, nor does he despair of the outcome. Behold indeed the faithful Abraham, what promise he received, and what he was constrained to do.

Faith is the mother, the crown, and the perfection of the virtues. For just as if the root is not planted, fruit cannot germinate, so if the foundations of faith are not first laid, the discourse of doctrine can never proceed.

Greg. Nyss. — Faith alone grasps the Incomprehensible; faith alone beholds Him who can be seen by no one; faith alone approaches the Inaccessible, as far as it is permitted and allowed.

Cyril. — That which is accepted by faith ought not to be curiously scrutinized. For that which is investigated by arguments, how is it still believed?

Arist. — Just as they say in medicine that the more you nourish impure bodies, the more you harm them, for you are providing matter and fuel to the corrupt humors, so too for a soul preoccupied with wicked opinions, the more you teach it, the more you harm it, providing it with greater occasions for thinking falsely and perversely.

SERMON LII

On Memory.

Luc. xxii, 19. — This is my body, which is given for you: do this in remembrance of me.

II Tim. ii, 8. — Be mindful that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.

Prov. x, 7. — The memory of the just is with praises; but the name of the wicked shall be blotted out.

Eccli. vii, 40. — In all thy works, remember thy last things, and thou shalt never sin.

Basil. — It is impossible for those whose souls have not suffered from the disease of forgetfulness of God to stray from the just path.

Memory is the preservation in the mind of what one has known; recollection or reminiscence is the recovery of that which had slipped away.

Theologi. — We ought to remember God more than we breathe. Worship God with deeds, praise Him with words, and honor and worship Him with the mind.

Clement. — A clear memory of death, ever present to the mind, cuts off the appetite for food; and when this is cut off in humility, the vices and passions are likewise cut off.

Chrysost. — It is an indication of a religious mind to make constant memory of more divine things, and to appease God with frequent supplications.

If anyone, having set up an inanimate image of a child, friend, or relative, imagines that the departed one is present, and through that inanimate image represents him in the thoughts of his soul, how much more do we, through the help of the divine Scriptures, enjoy the presence of the saints, for whom we possess not images of their bodies, but images of their souls? For what has been said by them is the image of their own souls. ^A Plotinus. — Plato used to say that those who were very young and those who were old had a poor memory; for it escapes from the soul, in the former case because they are growing, and in the latter because they are decaying. Likewise also of those who are very quick or very slow; for the former are too fluid, and the latter too rigid, and in the former the images of things do not remain in the soul, while in the latter they do not reach it at all. ^B Plato in the Cratylus. — The very word for memory (mnēmē) indicates that there is a remaining (monē) in the soul, and not a moving away (phora). To hold onto images is called memory, but the recalling of them is recollection; and as a rule, those who are slow are more retentive of memory, while those who are quick and ready to learn are more capable of recollection. Charil. — It is of great benefit toward the forgetting of evils that the reminder of them through the eyes of the soul be obscured. From the maxims of Epictetus. — Let the discourse concerning God be renewed daily, more than the taking of food. Think of God more often than you breathe. If you always remember that God is present as an overseer of whatever you do according to soul or body, you will not sin in all your prayers and actions, and you will have God as your guest. ^C As it is pleasant to view the sea from the land, so it is pleasant for one who has been delivered from dangers to remember his toils.

SERMO LIII. Concerning the Soul.

Matt. x, 39. — He who finds his soul shall lose it; and he who loses his soul for my sake shall find it. II Cor. iv, 16. — Even if our outward man is perishing, yet the inward is being renewed day by day. ^D Sirach xxxvii, 27–31. — My child, glorify your soul in meekness, and see what is evil for it, and do not give it to it. For not all things are profitable to all, and not every soul delights in everything. The destruction of the lawless is evil; for by their impiety they take away their own soul.

Prov. XI, 25. — A blessed soul, [is] every one that is simple. ^A

Basil. — The treasure of the soul [is] the want of the body; for when this is rich, that is poor. One must consider as good by nature that which is the good of the soul. No one overlooks his own child about to fall into a pit, or if he has fallen, leaves him in his collapse; how much more terrible is it to abandon one's soul, falling into a depth of evils, to perdition!

Theologian. — "What do you wish to be done for you?" I ask my soul. What great thing, or what small thing among those that are of value to mortals [do you desire]? Seek only with eagerness something brilliant, and I will give it to you. Sacrifice to God in soul, rather than by mode of vow. I trust in the words of the wise, that every soul that is good and pious, when it has been released from its attached body and has departed from here, immediately perceives and beholds in the awareness [of the light] of the future the good it is to obtain, inasmuch as that which cast darkness upon it has been purged, or laid aside, or—I do not know what else one ought to say—it is delighted and exults with a certain marvelous pleasure, and goes graciously toward its own Master; ^B as if escaping from a difficult prison, the life here, and shaking off the chains wrapped about it, by which the wing of the intellect was dragged down; and as if it already tastes in anticipation, by its imagination, the blessedness laid up for it.

Chrysost. — God has bestowed all things in duplicate upon human nature; two eyes, two ears, two hands, and two feet; so that if one of the two should be injured, we might make up for the necessary need or function through the other; but He has given us only one soul: if we lose this, with what shall we live?

A soul is a certain incorporeal and immortal substance. A soul is a created substance, a living, intelligent substance.

Clement. — Souls released from all cares and labors have life, even though they exist separated from the body, and being moved by desire for that [divine] state, they fly immortal into the bosom of God; just as in winter time, the vapors of the earth, ^C drawn up by the rays of the sun, are carried toward it.

All souls are immortal, even those of the wicked, for whom it would be better not to be immortal. For, tormented forever by the unquenchable fire, and never dying, they can attain no end to their evil. ^D

^A Moschion: Choose to lose all mortal and earthly things, in order to acquire one that is immortal and heavenly. Democritus: It is fitting for a man to take greater care of his soul than of his body. For the soul, having reached the highest peak of perfection, corrects the vice of the tabernacle; but the strength of the tabernacle, if reason is wanting, renders the soul no better. Clitarchus: Have care for the soul as for a leader and commander; but provide for the body as for a soldier. Philistion: The soul of the wise man is joined to God. Death does not destroy the soul, but a wicked life does. Zaleucus: Therefore, let each person have and prepare his own soul to be pure from all evils. For God is not honored by a wicked man, nor is He appeased by expenditures, nor by the lamentations ^B of those being condemned, but by a good disposition of good and just works. Epictetus: There is a greater necessity to heal the soul than the body; for it is better to die than to live wickedly.

SERMON LIV.

On Envy.

so that they might even employ the eyes of the envious to serve their own will. ^A Just as abundance follows the good, so envy follows the devil. Just as vultures fly toward foul-smelling bodies, flying over many meadows and many pleasant and fragrant places, and as flies pass over healthy parts and hasten toward a sore, so the envious do not even look at the bright glories of life or at great deeds worthy of praise; but if anything of vice lurks there, or appears rotten, they rush upon it and settle there.

Theologian ^B — Do not envy him who is prospering and acting rightly, as if he were the one who envied you first, and as if you were judging him to be envious and, for that reason, were offended by him.

Would that envy might perish from among men—the ruin of those who have it, and the poison of those who suffer it! It is the most unjust and yet most just of all passions; the most unjust, because it harasses all that is good, and the most just, because it harms those who possess it.

Chrys. — O envy, root of death, manifold disease, sharpest nail of the heart! For what nail is so sharp, that it pricks in such a way as envy wounds the heart that harbors it? The demon envies men, but he envies no other demon. Yet you, being a man, envy other men; what pardon shall you obtain? ^C

Greg. Nyss. — For the envious, the misfortune is not his own evil, but another’s good; and conversely, his success is not his own good, but another’s evil.

They say that vultures, that voracious animal of carrion, die from perfume. For their nature is acclimated to the stench and decay of corpses. Thus, those who are held by this disease die from the well-being of their friends, as if by the application of some perfume. But if they see any disaster or evil, they fly to it at once, and fixing their hooked beaks, they drag out and expose the hidden misery of the misfortune.

Philo ^D — Noble things, even if they are obscured by envy for a brief time, when released by opportunity and at the right time, shine forth again.

Plutarch — To those walking in the sun, a shadow necessarily follows; and envy clings closely to those who are known for honors and for their life.

The beauty of fame, like some disease, is quickly corrupted by envy.

^A Anacharsis. — Anacharsis the Scythian, being asked for what cause men are always sad, said: "Because they are grieved not only by their own evils, but also by the good fortune of others."

Aristotle. — Envy, he says, is the adversary of those who enjoy good fortune.

Democritus. — The striving for good things aids the one who is jealous, without harming the one who is the object of jealousy. Laws would not forbid each person to live by his own authority, if one did not harm another; for envy is the origin of sedition. The same man said that envy is an ulcer of the truth.

Clitarchus. — Just as iron is consumed by rust, so are the envious consumed by their own nature. ^B

Socrates. — Many, as if in a sign of gratitude, set up monuments for the dead, whom they had previously caused to suffer with envy while they were alive. The same man said that envy is a saw for the soul.

Leucippus. — For jealousy, once it has fallen upon the soul, is difficult to drive away.

Cleobulus. — Cleobulus of Lindus, being asked by someone what he should especially beware of, said: "The envy of friends and the plots of enemies."

Bion. — Bion the sophist, seeing an envious man walking by with a very sad and downcast face, said, "Either some great evil has befallen this man, or some great good has befallen another."

^C Agathon. There would be no envy among men in life, If we had all been born as equals.

Theophrastus. — Theophrastus said that the wicked among men do not take pleasure in their own good things so much as they do in the bad things of others.

Plato. — He was good; and for a good man, jealousy never arises for any reason.

Aristonymus. — Envy, like a base demagogue, opposes noble deeds.

Thucydides. — Envy is directed by men toward those who are their rivals; but that which is not in one's way is honored with unchallenged goodwill.

Anaximenes. — For those who through envy do not praise what has been rightly spoken or done, how could they possibly be of any benefit to these works? ^D

Cato. — He used to say that those who use their fortune with modesty and moderation are least subject to envy. For it is not us that they envy, but our affairs and the things that surround us.

Anonymous. — No one should be envied; for the good are worthy of what they have, and if the wicked have good fortune, they live wretchedly.

Themistocles, while still a young man, said he was doing nothing brilliant, for in this way he would not be envied. For just as beetles grow most of all on thriving wheat and flourishing roses, so does envy reach out…

to those who are virtuous and to those who possess glory of character and appearance.

SERMON LV. On the voluntary and the involuntary.

^A Luc. XII, 47. — That servant, who knew the will of his lord and did not do it, shall be beaten with many stripes; but he who did not know it, shall be beaten with few.

1 Cor. IX, 16. — Woe to me if I do not evangelize! For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if unwillingly, a stewardship is committed to me.

Eccles. X, 5. — The involuntary went out from the face of the prince.

Prov. XXX, 33. — Milk the milk, and there shall be butter; but if you press hard the nostrils, blood shall come out.

^B Eccli. XVIII, 30. — Go not after your lusts, and turn away from your desires. For if you grant to your soul the satisfaction of desire, you will make it a laughingstock for your enemies.

Basilii. — God is not the author of evils in Hades, but we ourselves are. For the origin and root of sin is the fact that we are our own masters and possess the faculty of free will.

We praise those who are good by their own will; not those who are driven to this by some necessity. For where the will is ready, there is nothing that can stand against it.

Force, or fear, could never be the parents of virtue. For honorable things are voluntary, and not of necessity.

Voluntary pain is more precious than involuntary pleasure.

Theologi. — The voluntary is more constant and firmer and safer than the involuntary; and the one belongs to him who exerts force, the other to us; and the one belongs to the divine clemency, the other to the power of one who compels by force.

That which is constrained and subdued by force is accustomed to strive for liberty when the opportunity arises.

^C A shepherd, if he wishes, also milks the goats; But instead of milk, he will draw forth streams of blood.

Chrysost. — God does not reward and crown those who abstain from vice by necessity, but those who do so by will.

God does not lead us by necessity or any force, but by the intention of the mind and by will.

There is no fruit of necessity, but all the reward belongs to the willing mind. For God does not take into account those things which are done by necessity, but those which are accomplished by a free will.

^D [alt-version omitted]

As it is of no benefit to a sparrow that it is endowed with wings if it is caught in a snare, but it flutters them in vain and to no purpose, so too for you there will be no future utility in the discourses of the mind, if you are held entirely captive by an evil desire. ^A

*Dionysius.*—It is not a life governed by necessity that we humans have. For the divine lights of the illuminating providence are not dimmed just because those who are governed by providence are endowed with freedom of the will.

*Didymus.*—Sins which are not of the will, both the law condones, and God, being kind and merciful, overlooks, and He is not a harsh avenger even of those things which are voluntary.

*Philo.*—It does not follow that because it is unjust to sin voluntarily, it is therefore just to sin involuntarily and through ignorance; but perhaps there is something on the border between the two (strictly speaking, between just and unjust) which some call intermediate and indifferent. For of those things which are a sin and an error, no work of justice can be held to be. ^B

*Clement.*—Above all, it is not permitted to Christians to correct by force the trespasses of sins. For God does not crown those who abstain from evil through necessity, but those who do so by the intention and will of their mind. It is impossible for anyone to be good with firm consistency in any other way than by his own will. For he who is rendered good by the coercion of another is not good; because what he is, is not by his own will. For by the liberty which each one possesses, he presents what is truly good, and brings to light what is truly evil. Wherefore God has wisely arranged that by these premises the disposition of each might be shown. ^C

*Choricius.*—That which is good by nature is not approved; but that which is from the will and the intention of the mind is deemed worthy of praise.

*Epictetus.*—If you wish to live without disturbance and placidly, strive for this: that all whom you employ as members of your household might be good. But this will happen if you educate those who are willing, and dismiss those who are unwilling and reluctant (when you have at last mastered them). For along with those who flee, wickedness itself and servitude will flee; and along with those who are in harmony with you, probity and liberty will remain with you. ^D

*Socrates.*—He who is engaged in hardships of his own accord is sustained by a good hope and rejoices in his labors. But idleness and the pleasures and lusts that arise in the moment are unable to provide either a good condition of the body or to produce any knowledge of the soul that might seem of any value.

*Theagis the Pythagorean.*—That which is involuntary is not without pain and fear; but that which is voluntary has pleasure and joy as its companion.

^A *From the Collectanea of Nicholas on Morals.*—The Thyni, receiving shipwrecked men with humanity, make them their friends; but as for strangers, those who come of their own will they honor greatly, while those who come against their will they punish.

SERMON LVI.

Luke VI, 41.—Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the log that is in your own eye? Rom. XIV, 4.—Who are you to judge another man’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls; but he will be established, for God is powerful to establish him. Eccl. XI, 9.—Walk in the ways of your heart, [blameless], and know yourself; for in all these things God will bring you into judgment. Prov. XIII, 10.—Those who know themselves are wise. Eccl. XII, 16.—Beware and attend diligently, for you walk together with your fall (that is to say, with death as your companion).

*Basilius.*—An accurate knowledge of yourself will provide all the provisions sufficient for you, so that you may be led to the understanding of God. If you are mindful of your nature, you will never be puffed up with pride; but you will be mindful of it if you pay attention to yourself. You suffer, O man, that for which you reproach another; and while you diligently see another’s evil, you count your own shame as nothing. For it seems, in truth, to be the most difficult thing of all to know oneself. For not only the eye, looking at external things, does not perceive itself; but also our mind, ^C seeing another's fault keenly, is slow toward the knowledge of its own defects.

*Theologus.*—Scrutinize yourself more than your neighbors; for by the former you will help yourself, by the latter you will help them. Do, I pray, know who you are, and whence you have come. For thus you will easily attain the beauty of the original form.

*Didymus.*—To know that one is ignorant is of wisdom; just as to know that one has acted unjustly is of justice.

*Chrysostomus.*—He knows himself most who considers that he is nothing.

Clemens.*—If you wish to know God, first know yourself.

*Antiphanes.*—If you are mortal, good man, think also of mortal things.

^A *Demosth.*—I judge the future to be uncertain for all men, and that small moments bring forth great events. Therefore, one must practice moderation in times of success, and employ such a strategy of judgment that we may appear to foresee what is to come.

*Heraclitus.*—Heraclitus, when he was a youth, became the wisest of all, because he knew that he was nothing.

*Socrates.*—Socrates considered that he knew only this one thing: that he knew nothing; while others did not even know that. Those who suffer severely from fever lose their appetite and strength; but those who frequent royal courts and linger in them, are prone to spoil their own mind and noble character, unless they frequently repeat to themselves the maxim: "Know yourself."

*Philemon.*—Being human, know this, and you will remain so always.

*Sotadas.*—Even if you are a king, listen as one who is mortal. If you spit abundantly, you are replete with phlegm. If you shine in beautiful garments, a little sheep had them before you. ^B If you sparkle with gold, this is an inflation of fortune. If you are wealthy, this is the uncertain strength of the times. If you are arrogant, this is the swelling of madness. But if you have wisdom, this is a gift from God. And wisdom is present if you measure yourself.

*Thales.*—It is difficult to know oneself, but a blessed thing; for it is to live according to the laws of nature.

*Plato.*—We who know nothing, to speak in a word, imagine that we know everything; and as we do not permit others to do what we do not understand, while we presume to do these things ourselves, we are forced to sin and go astray.

*Menander.*—That saying blames many for no good reason: "Know thyself," for it would have been more useful to say: "Know others."

*Xenophon.*—For those who know themselves are not ignorant of what suits them; they discern by the scale of reason what they are capable of and what they are not. And as they do those things they know how to do, they provide for what they need and fare well; by abstaining from things they do not understand, they become faultless and avoid acting badly. ^C He seems to me to be one who does not know his own power, who is ignorant of himself. But is it not clear, he said, that because men know themselves they obtain many good things, whereas because they err in the knowledge of themselves, they involve themselves in many evils?

Exalt not yourself because of another’s excellence. If a horse were to boast that it is beautiful, it might be tolerable; but when you say, "I have a beautiful horse," know that you are bragging about the goodness of the horse. What then is yours? The use of impressions, which, when you hold them according to nature, then—

^A you shall be exalted; for then you shall be exalted by your own advantage.

Chilo.—Being asked what is the most difficult thing, Chilo said: To know oneself. For this is a useful warning for the proud, who boast and exult foolishly about things beyond their own power.

SERMON LVII.

On goodness, or benignity and gentleness.

Christ, who is good and sweet, seeing the man whom He had fashioned, neither dismissed them nor abandoned them, treating them with clemency.

Basil.—I shine with the image, in that I am endowed with reason; but I attain likeness, in that I become benign.

To take under one's hand those who resist is the mark of a brave man and one who is truly a ruler; but to show oneself gentle and mild to those who have submitted is the mark of one who excels all others in magnanimity and calmness.

Dionysius the Areopagite.—That which is in every way ^C destitute of good, that, in no way, neither was, nor is, nor shall be, nor can be.

Theologian.—It is the praise of goodness to conquer ferocity with gentleness; and to cause those who inflict wrongs upon us, which we endure with patience, to bring forth better fruit.

Be benign to all, but most especially to those nearest. Gain for yourself the benignity of God, by being yourself benign and mild. What is a shorter proof of gentleness? Be such to friends and to neighbors, As you wish them to be to you yourself.

Chrysostom.—God is good and benign and clement not only by conferring gifts, but also by inflicting punishments ^D. For the very rigor of His animadversion and castigation is a very great part of His benefit and gift. For a physician is a physician not only when he leads the sick one into the pleasantries of gardens and meadows, or into baths and pools of water, but also when he orders abstinence from food, when he cuts, when he applies bitter medicines.

he shows forth his own loving-kindness all the more.^A

Greg. Nyss. — He who is by nature good is also the provider of all good things. It is the attribute of any good person to provide benefit.

Demosth. — The force of words is not as persuasive as the quality of virtuous character.

Posidippus. Those whose character is well-ordered, their way of life is likewise ordered. I acquired many acquaintances through art, But through my character, I acquired most of my friends.

Themistocl. — Themistocles, having a property for sale, ordered the crier to proclaim that it also had a good neighbor.^B

Menander. You admonish what is fitting for you, But it is not your word that urges me toward what is my duty. Believe me, it is the character you have that convinces. No one who is upright and virtuous commits any evil deed. We must not grant license to the wicked at all, But we must resist them; otherwise, our life, Being turned upside down, will end in ruin for us.

Leucippes. — Gentleness, having attained grace, is increased all the more; but when insulted, it is provoked to anger.

Perithi. Gentleness is more useful than much wealth.^C Virtuous character is safer than law. For no orator could ever distort the former; But the latter, a speech that confuses, often ruins by turning it upside down.

SERMON LVIII.

John viii, 16. — My judgment is just, because I am not alone, but I and he who sent me. And in your law it is written that the testimony of two men is true.

Rom. ii, 12. — As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.

Prov. xxix, 18. — To know the law is of a good mind.^D

Eccli. xxi, 12. — He who keeps the law of the Lord has mastery of his understanding.

^A Basil. — Since brute and dumb animals consult for their own safety and provide for themselves with such cleverness, and the fish knows what it must pursue and what it must flee, what are we to say, who are honored with reason, trained by laws, invited by promises, and instructed by the Spirit—we who, being more averse to reason and the culture of speech than the dumb fish even, dispose ourselves worse than they do and refuse to yield to the law by obeying it?

It is impossible for one to attain salvation who has not kept the works according to the commandment of God; nor is it without danger to neglect any one of those things which have been commanded to us. For it is a grave arrogance for us to sit as judges of the Lawgiver, approving some of His decrees and rejecting others. For since the man of God must be perfect, it is absolutely necessary that he be fashioned through every commandment into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephes. iv, 13); since, according to the divine law, even if that which is offered is clean, [unless it be perfect and whole], it is not held acceptable as a sacrifice to God (Levit. xxii, 29).

Theologian. — If we had remained what we were, and had kept the commandment, we would have become what we were not. How much sweeter it is to be taught about God than to teach.

Showing piety sparingly in words but abundantly in deeds; and let us demonstrate our love for the Lawgiver by observation of the laws rather than by admiring Him.

^B You are subject to the laws and the Master’s rules, according to whose standard it is fitting for you to regulate your life. And first consider this from within yourself, that your own soul is also subject everywhere to the precepts of virtue. You have also received from the Creator a body equipped with five senses for the duties of life. And even these are not free and autonomous, but each is a slave to laws. And first to hear is the eye. "See," it says, "and behold what is honorable to see"; and better to pluck it out when it sees things that are disorderly and harmful (Matth. xviii, 9). The ear also has a commandment, and the tongue, and the others likewise.

^C It is not safe for those sailing to drop anchor outside the harbor, nor is it without danger for those who are living to live outside of discipline.

If you observe the laws, you will cast out fear; for anyone who keeps the law is free from fear.

There are two things that govern us: nature and law; but nature prevails over the law.

^D Chrys. — Even the laws are accustomed to pardon sins that are committed out of necessity.

There are three kinds of laws: the law of nature, the written law given to Moses, and the law of grace.

^A Zaleucus. Zaleucus, the legislator of the Locrians, said that laws are like spiderwebs. For if a fly or a gnat falls into them, it is held fast; but if a wasp or a bee falls in, it tears the web and flies away. Thus in the laws, if a poor man falls in, he is held; but if a rich or powerful man falls in, he breaks through and escapes.

Solon.—Solon, being asked by someone how cities are best governed, said: If the citizens obey the magistrates, and the magistrates obey the laws.

Demades.—For slaves, necessity is law; but for the free, the law is necessity.

Epictetus.—The law wishes to benefit the life of men; but it cannot whenever they themselves wish to suffer harm. For it displays its own virtue among those who obey it. ^B Just as physicians are the saviors of the sick, so are laws the saviors of those who are wronged.

The most just laws are the truest laws.

To yield to the law, to the ruler, and to the wiser man is honorable.

Things done contrary to the law are to be considered as not done at all.

Demosthenes.—Demosthenes the orator said that laws are the soul of the city. For just as a body deprived of a soul falls, so a city is dissolved if it is not fortified by laws.

Cyrus.—The same man, being asked, "Whom do you consider to be unjust?" replied: "Those who do not make use of the law."

Theophrastus.—Good and honest men have need of few laws; for affairs are not to be ordered according to the laws, but the laws are to be established according to the affairs.

Anonymous.—The best government is a democracy, in which all fear the law as a tyrant. ^C

Arcesilaus.—Arcesilaus used to say: Just as where there is a great supply of medicines and physicians, there are most diseases, so too where there are the most laws, there is also the greatest injustice.

SERMON LIX

Regarding the rational part and reasoning.

Luke vi, 45.—A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil.

II Cor. x, 4.—For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for the demolition ^D

of fortifications, tearing down arguments, and every height raised against the knowledge of God, and taking every thought captive into the obedience of Christ. ^A

Prov. xv, 24 [xii, 14].—The paths of life are the thoughts of the prudent; a good man shall be filled from his own thoughts.

Prov. xii, 5.—The thoughts of the just are judgments.

Prov. xix, 21.—Many are the thoughts in the heart of a man; but the counsel of the Lord shall stand forever.

Eccli. xxvii, 5.—In the shaking of a sieve, the refuse remains; so the dross [scum] of a man is in his thought.

Basil.—For by combining the rational and the irrational part, according to the Greek fiction for explaining the nature of things, like a kind of centaur, the Creator God, when forming the whole human being, joined the human form—that is, the part from the head down to the chest—to the superior portion, and placed underneath a ^B nature like that of a horse from the navel down to the loins (which is beastly towards the pleasures of the belly, and blindly moved towards sexual unions); not that He wished the rational part to be snatched away by the irrational, but because He most wisely implanted the irrational part as subject to the rational, to be guided by it at its command, according to the necessities of nature.

The same.—He who strives to attain the divine state of passionlessness and tranquillity of the passions, ought to keep his own mind unenslaved by any passion or lust.

Theologian [Gregory].—The mind or reason is better than actions or money. For the latter perish, but reason remains. ^C

Chrysostom.—For this reason wings are given to the birds, that they may flee from the snare; and for this reason reason is given to men, that they may avoid sins.

The mind does not cease from producing thoughts; but do you pluck out the evil ones, and cultivate the good.

Clement.—A believer does not become just simply by abstaining from acts, but by shining with chaste and pure thoughts.

Plutarch.—Clouds often cast shadows upon the sun; the passions cast shadows upon reason. ^D

^A Just as one must remove a thorn from the foot, so one must remove ignorance from the irrational soul.

Philemon.—He who examines all things within himself by reason removes what is evil and takes what is good.

Isocrates.—What seems best to your reason, carry out in your actions. Just as it is necessary to banish a seditious person from a well-governed city, so it is necessary to banish from the soul the reasoning that has inclined toward base things. For even the mind endures to consent to the passion and lust of the body.

Epictetus.—What is not permitted to be done, do not even think of doing.

Pythagoras.—It is shameful, while making the swallowing of the bees' gift sweet, to make bitter with malice the gift of God, which is speech. ^B

Theages.—To be unable to endure labors and to be oppressed by the tyranny of pleasure is proper to the part of the soul that is averse to reason; but the purpose of the selecting mind is common to both parts, both to that which uses reason and to that which is devoid of it.

SERMON LX: Concerning insipience, the insipient, the foolish, the uneducated, and the stultified.

Matt. vii, 26.—Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them shall be likened to a foolish man.

I Cor. xiv, 20.—Do not become children in your minds, but in malice be babes; yet in mind be perfect.

The heart of the fool is a pain to him who possesses it.

Eccl. x, 12.—The lips of a fool will cast him down. The beginning of the words of his mouth is insipience, and the end of his mouth is worst error.

Prov. xvi, 27.—A foolish man digs up evils for himself, and he stores up fire upon his own lips.

Prov. xviii, 2.—He who is destitute of heart has no need of wisdom; for he is led rather by insipience.

Eccli. xxii, 14.—Do not multiply your words with a fool, and do not walk with an unthinking man.

Eccli. xxii, 10.—Weep for the dead, for the light has failed; and weep for the fool, for prudence ^D has failed.

Eccli. xxii, 18.—It is easier to bear sand and salt and a mass of iron than a foolish man.

Eccli. iv, 31.—Do not subject yourself to a foolish man.

Eccli. viii, 20.—Do not enter into counsel with a fool.

Eccli. xxii, 7.—He who teaches a fool is like one who glues a potsherd together.

Consider mental disorder a disgrace.

Basil.—Just as the infirm are in need of medicine, so the foolish have need of wisdom.

[alt-version omitted for Variety of Readings in standard apparatus]

^A Of the Theologian: It is shameful for a young man to be weaker than an old man, and for an old man to be more foolish than a young man. The words of a foolish man are like the sounds of the sea; they strike the shores, but do not fatten the grass.

Chrysostom.—Nothing renders men so foolish as wickedness. For when one is deceitful, when one is ungrateful, when, having suffered no injury, one inflicts injury oneself, how does one not produce a demonstration of extreme madness?

Philo.—It is the nature of the foolish man to perceive nothing and to stand for nothing; rather, their whole life is in suspense, having no firm or settled foundation. There is no greater evil for man than foolishness, especially for him who has suffered the loss of reason, which is the proper gift of the human race.

^B The foolish man is always disposed toward idle [α] speech, for he is hostile to tranquility and rest. One should fear neither the blow of the sick nor the threats of the foolish.

Plutarch.—He who takes a blind man as a guide for the road, and he who chooses a foolish advisor, do the same thing. Not so much orphaned children as foolish men stand in need of guardians. Those who are light-minded are like empty vessels; they are easily carried about by their ears. The mind of the foolish is averse to profitable speech, not receiving the saving reason as a remedy.

Crates.—Crates used to compare foolish men to augers; for unless they are bound and compelled by necessity, they are unwilling to do anything that is required of them.

^C Sextus.—One should neither look for a voice in fish, nor virtue in the uneducated and undisciplined.

Zeno.—One of the young men in the Academy was speaking foolishly about his duties. Zeno said to him: "Unless you dip your tongue into your mind before you speak, you will continue to commit many more errors in your reasonings."

Demades.—Demades used to compare the Athenians to flutes from which, if one were to remove the tongue, nothing would remain.

SERMON LXI. Concerning luxury or prodigality.

Luke xv, 13.—And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

^D Eph. v, 18.—And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.

^A Prov. xxix, 21. — He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son at the last; and he shall be sorrowful for himself.

Eccli. vi, 3. — Thou shalt consume thy leaves, and shalt lose thy fruits, and thou shalt leave thyself as a dry tree.

Basilius. — For we do not, because we use our wealth generally with more restraint, pass by our brethren cast upon the ground, nor, because we preserve our assets for our children or other relatives, do we close our ears to those in need; but because we transfer our expenditure to things that are worse, and make our generosity a whetstone of wickedness for those who practice it. For how many—or how many of each sex—have beset some table? Some delight the host with shameful words, others kindle the fire of incontinence with shameless gazes and gestures; others again, by exchanging mocking gibes among themselves, attempt to fabricate laughter for the one who called them; and these, moreover, not only gain from being feasted sumptuously, but also go away with their hands filled with expensive gifts.

Theologus. — It is of the same difficulty both to acquire some good thing when you do not possess it, and to preserve it once acquired. For ambition provides the many with a readiness to spend, but where the gain is invisible, the readiness to provide is blunted.

Chrysostomus. — If you were guardian of a child, and, having received his goods, you neglected him while he was in extreme distress, you would have countless accusers and would pay the penalty appointed by the laws; but having received the goods of Christ, and spending them thus in vain, do you not think you will render an account? ^B

Dionysius. — Never be eager to spend money in vain, from which no glory results. For wealth that is precise is collected not so much from receiving much, as from not spending much.

Menander. — Those who squander their own life [substance] thoughtlessly, quickly turn what is heard well into evil for all.

Chilon. — Being lavish in expenses where you ought not, you shall be little where you ought. Not to possess wealth and acquire it brings no such great harm, but to make bad use of what one has destroys the living ^C and soul of him who so uses it. (z)

NOTE

And the intemperance of this also makes men irascible, bold, and unstable, and prone to anger and harsh. Moreover, this immoderation makes them fierce and audacious and headstrong and irascible, and burdensome and tiresome. This is certainly the more prone effect of intemperate wine-drinking, and that which drunkenness seems to labor under most, so that it cannot be excused from sin: to which there is not lacking, as the gluttonous belly foams with wine, a propensity toward lechery, with humors ignited and the barrier of reason removed.

(g) *Thou shalt consume thy leaves luxuriously.* The word *luxuriously* is perhaps an addition by authority and does not exist in the Greek vulgate. The Codex Alexandrinus has it similarly, *as a dry leaf*, where the others have *as a dry stick* or *tree*. Nor did I think it ought to be changed, for it fits wonderfully: just as when the leaves are eaten away and the fruit lost, a dead leaf is left to a dead tree as it were. For thus, as they wither, the leaves are not changed, but dry up upon them, as we see by experience.

(z) *Of him who so uses his life.* This is fine, for with a slight change, the sentiment is clear and highlights the acuteness of the author.

^A Plutarch. — The life of the dissolute is carried out as if they were dying every day. Having seen a rich spendthrift eating olives and drinking water, he said: "If you had dined like this, you would not be supping like this now."

Cypselus. — It is better to die frugally than to live in poverty.

Plato. — Plato the wise, seeing a well-born youth who had dissolutely consumed his parental estate, and was eating bread and quenching his thirst with water at the door of an inn, said to him: "If you had dined according to your own will like this, you would not be supping like this now."

Diogenes. — The same man, approaching a certain youth who had devoured his inheritance, asked him for ten drachmae. When he asked the reason why he would take an obol from others but asked him for ten drachmae, he said: "Because I hope to receive from others often; but from you, never again."

Xenophon. — For it is not as troublesome not to have obtained goods, as it is to be deprived of them once you have obtained them.

Diphilus. It is difficult to gather a heap over a long time, But it is easy to scatter it in one day.

Zeno. — Zeno, to those who were excusing their own luxury and saying they were spending from an abundant store, said: "Will you also hold the cooks worthy of pardon, if they say they have made the dishes salty, because they have an abundance of salt?"

SERMON LXII.

Rom. vii, 22. — I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.

Sap. xiv, 16. — An ungodly custom grown strong in time, was kept as a law.

Eccl. xxiii, 20. — A man accustomed to the words of reviling, will not be amended for ever. ^B

Basil. — It is not possible to write on wax without first erasing the marks inherent in it; nor is it possible to commit divine things to the soul, unless you have removed the opinions occupied by custom.

Nothing is so desirable that it does not fall into contempt through the constant continuity of enjoying it. But things which we obtain more rarely, their use and apprehension are held more dear.

For a wound of the soul grown old, and the study of evil confirmed by the habit of long time, is hard to heal, or even totally

to be cured, as it generally changes habit into nature.

Separation from familiar things is most grievous even to animals devoid of reason. I once saw an ox at a manger weeping for its yoke-fellow and companion that had died. ^A

Theologian. — It is easier from the beginning not to surrender to vice, and to escape it as it approaches, than, when it has grown, to restrain it and appear superior to it.

To carry water in a sieve and wash a brick is easier than to remove a vice that has been planted for a long time in the soul of a man.

Chrysostom. — Nothing is so strong among men as the tyranny of ancient custom.

Some of those from outside have called custom a second nature. ^B

It is a terrible thing for habit to hold [someone] to itself, and not to allow him to rise up again to the first state of virtue.

A soul having once struck a bargain with sin, and having become insensitive, provides a great addition to the malady.

Often those who do not extinguish the flame at the beginning have ended up in a great shipwreck. For sin, having nothing to check its progress forward, is like a horse that has thrown off its bridle and is casting its rider down a precipice.

Clement of Rome. — For what a man hates, on account of the prudence that a more mature age has brought, he is compelled to do by reason of the long-standing habit of evils, having accepted sin as a grievous housemate. ^C

Some of the Boeotians, when they bring debtors who do not pay into the marketplace, bid them sit down; then they cast a basket upon them. Whoever is thus "basketed" is held to be infamous. It is rumored that this happened to the father of Euripides, who was a Boeotian by birth.

The Persians do not even speak of what is not permitted to be done. But if someone kills his father, they think him a changeling. ^D If the king orders someone to be scourged, he gives thanks as if he had received a good turn, because the king remembered him. They receive awards from the king for having many children; and children among them are taught to speak the truth as part of their studies.

Philo. — Long-standing habit is stronger than nature; and small sins, if you do not check them, grow and multiply to a great size.

Let us by no means blame nature; for habit makes every life either pleasant or unpleasant.

Charicles. — For every affection, that which is quickly known...

is capable of being helped, but that which is prolonged by time is nearly incurable. Choricius. — Nature, having once grasped delights and libidinousness, scarcely consents to return to labors. Socrates. — Nothing is truly pleasant or unpleasant by nature; rather, all things become one or the other through custom. Choose a life established in the best morals; for custom will render this pleasant. ^A Menander. — A long-standing custom cannot be dissolved in a short time. For what has become ingrained through it is not to be neglected. Polyaenus. — Custom takes its origin from small things; but when neglected, it acquires great strength. Theocritus. — I am not willing to ascribe the holding of insidious morals and always possessing some wickedness and wily schemes against everyone to cleverness, as some think, but to the worst element. It is easy to praise what is not fitting, and to criticize; but both proceed from a depraved mind and character. From the writings of Serenus. — The kings of the Persians, before they sacrifice, discourse on piety; before they drink, on sobriety; and when they are about to wage war, on courage. Herodotus. — The Agathyrsi are most soft-living, and are for the most part clothed in golden dresses. They use their wives in common, so that they may all be brothers, and being kin, they might harbor neither envy nor the tinder of hatred ^B toward one another.

SERMO LXIII. On nobility and ignobility.

^A

THEOLOGIAN. Be ashamed of an evil reputation, not of a lowly birth. For they are of [the same] stock who long ago have rotted. Desire either to be the progenitor of a [noble] stock, or to dissolve [the pride of] birth, so that it may be noble to be you, or that you have been born of the noble.

GREGORY OF NYSSA. The nobility and majesty of the proud person has an affinity with brick and clay.

CHRYSOSTOM. It is not the distinction of ancestors, but the virtue of the soul, that is accustomed to make one splendid and noble.

EURIPIDES. Nobility is nothing in the face of wealth. For wealth elevates even the worst into the first ranks. But if the foundation of a birth has not been laid correctly, it is necessary for the descendants to dwell in calamity. Alas, alas, that old proverb does not hold true: "A good man could not be born from a wicked father."

THEOPOMPUS. Consider them noble and gentlemanly not who have been born from honest and good parents, but those who resolve to pursue honest and good things. ^B

THESPIS. Let no one boast in the nobility of ancestors; for all have clay as the progenitor of their birth, both those who are nurtured in purple and fine linen, and those who are consumed in the abyss of poverty.

SCLERIAS. To many mortals the appearance is noble; but the mind within it is found to be ignoble.

SOSTRATUS. Sostratus the flute-player, when someone reproached him because he was born from obscure parents, said: "And should I not, for this very reason, be more highly praised, because a [noble] birth begins from me?"

PHALARIS. To pride oneself on nobility of birth, just as with any other fine thing, is not unbecoming. But as far as I am concerned, I know only one virtue; all other things are fortune. And it can happen that he who is from wicked [parents] may exist as a good man, and may shine as the noblest of kings and of all; while he who is born from good parents may be called wicked, and may himself be base and more ignoble than all the most abject. Therefore, boast of the praise of the soul, not of a nobility of ancestors that has died out and become more obscure in the descendants. He who is born from virtue, he is depicted as noble. ^C

DEMOSTHENES. Neither do we judge the best wheat from the most beautiful field, but from that which provides the best nourishment; nor do we judge a good man or a benevolent friend by being from an illustrious birth, but by the one who excels in character.

It is especially incumbent upon the noble and the good to have beauty in their appearance, sobriety and prudence in their soul, and courage in both of these; and to possess grace in their speech.

DIOGENES. When someone asked him, "Who of men are the most noble?" he said, "Those who despise wealth, glory, pleasure, life; and who exist above their opposites: poverty, disgrace, toil, death."

ZENO. He used to say that one should not seek for those—

humans who are from great cities, but rather those who are worthy of great cities. EPICHARMUS ^A I suffer greatly when someone detracts from nobility, Who is himself ignoble in his ways and a man of nothing. For what has a blind man to do with a mirror?

CHARICLEA. For the manifest power of nobility, the appearance of beauty, and the character of a bandit; it is not able to subdue or tame anything, even of those things which are utterly miserable.

SOCRATES. Socrates the philosopher, noticing one of his disciples who was diligent in the cultivation of his field, but negligent in the cultivation of his own character, said: "Look here, my friend, take care that while you are intent on cultivating the field, you do not let your own soul grow wild."

PLUTARCH. For what else do we consider nobility to be, if not ancient wealth or ancient fame? Neither of these is within our own power, but some things depend on uncertain fortune, while others look toward the luxury of human life. Thus, this inflated name and title, nobility, hangs upon two things that are foreign to us. Moreover, wealth does not beget children similar to itself; but he who is born of virtue, he is depicted as noble.

SERMON LXIV

LUKE VI, 25. — Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

EPH. V, 4. — But fornication and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not once be named among you, as becomes saints: nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor scurrility, which is to no purpose, but rather giving of thanks.

ECCLE. VII, 7. — As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool.

ECCL. XXI, 23. — A fool exalteth his voice in laughter; but a wise man will scarcely laugh quietly. ^C

ECC. XXVII, 14. — The talk of sinners is like an odious smell, and their laughter is in the luxury of sin.

BASIL. To show the joy of the soul up to a gentle smile is not unbecoming, only so far as it reveals what is written: A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance (Prov. xv, 13). But to roar with the voice, and to be shaken and agitated in the body like the manner of something boiling over, is not the mark of a man of composed and modest mind, nor of one who is master of himself. ^D For the wisest Solomon confirms what we say thus, when he asserts: A fool exalteth his voice in laughter; but a wise man will scarcely laugh quietly (Eccl. XXI, 23).

^A Theologian. Laughter is worthy of those who are healthy in mind; indeed all laughter is so, but especially that which is meretricious. Immoderate laughter even begets tears. A prudent anger is better than laughter; for the soul is rightly composed by a stern composure of the countenance. Therefore, indeed, the souls of the wise are sorrowful and are composed in modesty; but those of the foolish, exalting themselves, are dissipated.

Chrysostom. — If you wish to prove clearly to us that you do not delight in obscenity of speech, do not actually endure to hear it. But now, when will you be able to endure the labors that must be sweated over for the sake of chastity, if you immediately dissipate yourself with laughter and obscene words of that kind? For it is a good and great thing that a soul can be made clean, honest, and chaste in the midst of all these things. ^B One must not be a lover of laughter. For it is almost the case that when one has been made sweet by excessive laughter, such a person is rendered liable to a violent change.

From the Sentences of Epictetus. — For the most part, let laughter be far away, and do not wish to move laughter easily. For the ground is slippery towards becoming vulgar. Let not laughter be excessive, nor upon many things. For the most part, shun foreign and vulgar banquets; but if an occasion should arise for you to be present at them, be cautious. For know that if another person is polluted, it is necessary that the other be filled as well.

Isocrates. — Do not be serious in jocular matters, nor rejoice in the ridiculous during serious matters. For ^C what is untimely is everywhere troublesome.

Moschion. — Whoever wishes to laugh with a youth will gain shameful insults and blame.

Cato. — Cato used to say: Those who are serious in ridiculous things become ridiculous in serious things.

Stratonicus. — Stratonicus the citharode, having seen a man shooting ineptly, went away and stood by the target. When someone asked him the reason, he said, "So that I might not be struck."

SERMON LXV.

Concerning dreams.

Matth. xxvii, 19. — Have thou nothing to do with that just man; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.

Act. ix, 10. — And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision: Ananias. And he said: Behold I, Lord. And the Lord said to him: Arise, and go into the street that is called Strait, and seek in the house of Judas, one named Saul of Tarsus. ^D For behold he prayeth. And he saw in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hands upon him, that he might receive his sight.

Solomon, xxxv, 4. — A dream cometh through the multitude of cares.

Sirach xxxiv, 2. — As he that catcheth at a shadow, and followeth after the wind, so is he that attendeth to dreams.

^A Basil. — For the most part, the visions that occur in dreams are the remnants of daily thoughts. For dream-fantasies are somehow accustomed, as a general rule, to be repercussions of daily cares. For whatever our pursuits in life may be, our dreams are of necessity of the same nature. The nights, taking hold of the daily cares, beguile the mind with their fantasies. To see in a dream that which one desires brings consolation to those who love. Men enslaved by drunkenness and gluttony neither enjoy a genuine and sincere sleep, nor remain immune from the terrors of dreams.

Theologian. Do not cling to the trifles of dreams, Nor let your mind be easily stirred by all things; Nor let visions that seem of good omen inflate you; For these are often the snares of the evil one. Fools are richer in dreams Than those who possess an abyss of wealth.

Chrysostom. — He who pays heed to dreams is unfit for everything.

John Climacus. — For the demon is accustomed to declare the future to men during the night, not so that they might guard against what is to come (for they cannot overcome fate), ^B but so that, by suffering it, they might bear it more lightly.

Nilus. — Whoever observes dreams is like one chasing his own shadow. When we begin to obey demons in our dreams, then later they mock us even when we are awake.

Aeschines. — To sleep more than is fitting is more appropriate for the dead than for the living.

SERMO LXVI. Concerning innocence and simplicity, and concerning the memory of injuries and enmity.

Matth. xviii, 3. — Amen, amen I say to you, unless you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Matth. v, 23. — If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, leave there your gift ^C at the altar, and go first to be reconciled to your brother, and then coming you shall offer your gift. I Thess. v, 15. — See that none render evil for evil to any man; but ever follow that which is good. Ephes. iv, 26. — Let not the sun go down upon your anger. Galat. v, 15. — But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one by another. ^D

^A Prov. xxiv, 17. — If your enemy falls, do not rejoice over him; and in his tripping do not be lifted up, because the Lord will see, and it will not please Him, and He will turn His anger away from him.

Prov. xxix. — The ways of those who remember injuries lead to death.

Prov. xxi, 24. — He who remembers injuries is a lawless man.

Prov. xiv, 15. — The simple man believes every word.

Prov. i, 22. — As long as the simple hold fast to righteousness, they shall not be put to shame.

Eccli. xxviii, 2. — Forgive the injury to your neighbor, and then when you pray, your sins will be forgiven.

Basil. — It is not fitting that the sun should set upon the anger of a brother ^B (Ephes. iv, 26), lest perhaps the night pass between both, and should leave in the day of judgment an inexpiable crime.

Simplicity, and that which is devoid of malice, is least of all suspicious of evils.

Theologian. — For the evil man would most quickly think ill even of the good man, but the good man would not easily think ill even of the bad. For what is not inclined to malice is not easy to suspect.

No one heals evil with evil, but evil with good.

Chrysost. — When we think of what we have suffered from our fellow servants, let us also consider what we ourselves have committed against the Master; and through fear of our own sins, we shall be able to cast off quickly ^C the anger conceived from the faults of others. For if we must remember sins, we must remember only our own. Because if we are mindful of our own, we will never reckon those of others.

(Matt. vi, 14). If you forgive your enemies, it will be forgiven to you. Forgive the servile sins, that you may receive a masterly pardon for your sins. But if he has wronged you greatly, by how much the greater things you forgive, by so much greater pardon shall you receive. For therefore we have been taught to say: Forgive us, as we forgive (ib. 12), that we might learn that the measure of forgiveness takes its beginning first from us. So that the more ^D the enemy works against us, by so much does he benefit us all the more. Let us hasten, therefore, and let us strive to be reconciled to those who have offended us, whether they are angry justly or unjustly. For if you are reconciled here, you have been delivered from the judgment there; but if, while the enmity remains between you, death comes and carries you off, or he intercepts the enmity, it is necessary that you be brought before that terrible tribunal to be judged; and you will pay the ultimate penalty at the verdict of the Judge of all these things, and both of you will undergo inexpiable punishment: the one, because he was unjustly angry, for the very reason that it was unjust; and the other, because he even justly treasured up the injury.

^A Therefore, that which others scarcely accomplish by fasting, by lamentations, by prayers, by sackcloth and ashes, and by long and manifold confession—I mean the wiping away of their sins—this we may easily do without sackcloth and ashes and fasting, if only we cast anger from our mind and sincerely forgive those who have wronged us. The remembrance of injuries is worse than any sin. A mind free from malice is also slower to suspect evil. When you see an enemy has fallen into your hands, do not think that this is the time for vengeance, but for providing salvation. For this reason, one must spare enemies most of all when we have become masters of them. Has someone wronged you? Do not retaliate; otherwise, you have become equal to him in turn. For no one heals an evil with evil, but with good.

— Nilus. He who renders evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

— Philo. Seeking forgiveness for sins, forgive also those who have transgressed against you; for to him who forgives, it is forgiven, and through the reconciliation we make with our fellow servants, we obtain release from divine wrath.

— Evagrius. Gifts extinguish the remembrance of injuries; which one may learn from Jacob, who overcame his brother Esau, when he came to meet him with three hundred men, with gifts. But we, being poor, let us fulfill this need by the table.

^C — Martin the Anchorite. He who is filled with hatred for demons is not similarly ill-disposed toward men; but he has peace with demons, who is angry with his brother.

— Croesus. They say that Croesus remitted his anger against the one who had killed his son, when the man voluntarily surrendered himself for punishment; and that for this very reason Cyrus the Great entered into friendship with this same Croesus after the victory.

— Moschion. In those matters where you intend to harm others, expect to receive greater damage yourself.

— Epicurus. Do not turn away when an enemy requests something, nor delay your consent; but be on your guard yourself. For he is no different from a dog.

— Theopompus. Take care to make your enmities short-lived; but prolong your acts of love into long periods of time.

^D — Aeschines. The orator Aeschines, after the Athenians had passed judgment against him, when Demosthenes sent him ten thousand Attic drachmae and encouraged him to bear with a stout heart that which had so sadly come to pass, said: "And how, I ask, can I not be distressed, being cast out of such a country, where those who have been wronged even heap benefits upon those who have wronged them?"

SERMON LXVII

On the inequality of life.

— John XVI, 20. Amen, amen I say to you, that

you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in labor has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she has brought forth the child, she remembers no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world.

1 Tim. VI, 17. — Charge the rich of this world not to be high-minded, nor to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God.

Wisdom II, 2, 3, 5. — The breath in our nostrils is smoke. And: Our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud. For our life is the passing of a shadow. ^A

Wisdom V, 8. — What has our pride profited us? What have riches with vaunting brought us? All those things have passed away like a shadow, and as a post running by; as a ship passing through the waves, of which, when it has passed, there is no trace to be found, nor a path for its keel in the waves; as a bird flying in the air, no token of its way is found.

Sirach XI, 5. — Many tyrants have sat upon the ground, ^B and he whom no one would have suspected has worn the diadem.

Basil. — As it is impossible for the sea to remain the same for very long—for that which is now smooth and calm, you will see shortly after roughened by the violence of the winds; and again, that which is raging and boiling with the surge, a deep calm has stilled and quieted—so also the affairs of life easily undergo reversals in either direction.

Theologian. — By nature nothing of human affairs is enduring, nor stable, nor self-sufficient; but a kind of circle of our ^C affairs keeps turning, producing changes, sometimes in one way and sometimes in another, often in a single day, and sometimes even in an hour. And it is better to trust in breezes that do not stand still, and in the tracks of a ship traversing the sea, and in the deceptive dreams of the night (the grace of which is for a little while), and in whatever children construct playing in the sand, than in the prosperity of men.

Chrysostom. — For as the flow of abundant waters, having received the stream, raises up bubbles, and some of them ^D burst as soon as they are formed, while others, having swelled up more, are afterward themselves also broken; in the same way, the sea of this life has covered those who appeared for a little while, and has also submerged those who lasted for a longer time.

^A When all your affairs are going prosperously, expect a change; and again, when you are surrounded by unexpected calamities, hope for goods and better things. The splendid and magnificent things of this life are less useful even than dead bodies. When you are in the calm of life, expect also a storm of affairs at some point. To have diligence regarding things that can be seen is characteristic of those who set for themselves no hope of the world to come.

Nilus. — Let not things that are shown to be splendid and bright in this world deceive us. For it all passes away, and nothing of the things seen is stable.

When everything is sailing along fortunately for you, expect loss.

Dion Cassius. — There are many who grieve at good things and many who rejoice at bad things. For how many who are wealthy are troubled! And how many who are poor are joyful! Beauty and strength have harmed some, while ugliness and infirmity have benefited others. Some value peace above war; others choose to wage war rather than have peace. Why do some who are always supported by power and dominion lament so bitterly? And, most significantly, the greatest part of mankind find that they live joylessly, while the vast majority die sweetly.

^B Socrates. — It is the same thing both to be high-minded regarding good fortune and to run a race upon a slippery road.

Aristonymus. — Life is like a theatre. Hence it is that, not rarely, the worst of men hold the best place among humans.

Democritus. — In the changes of the times, even the very powerful recognize the necessary aid of the weaker.

Hippothoon. — Being human, be mindful of our common lot.

Isidore. — Being mortal, try to look at the things that are behind you.

Euripides. None is secure in the mortal race; For no one lives in the way he himself chooses.

Anonymous. There is no man who is prosperous in everything; But assume that you too are one of the many.

Diogenes. O mortal and wretched race of men, How we are nothing but shadows! We wander about as a useless burden upon the earth!

^C Apelles the painter, when asked why he painted Fortune sitting, replied, "For she does not stand."

The same man said that one should measure life as if one were going to live both a long and a short time.

Bias. ^D

Sophocles in *Ajax*: As the day declines and again rises, So it is with all human things.

SERMON LXVIII

John v, 29: "They shall come forth who have done good to the resurrection of life; but they who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment."

II Peter ii, 9: "The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished."

Proverbs xxi, 11: "When the pestilent is punished, the simple becomes wiser."

Proverbs xxii, 3: "A crafty man seeing the evil punished is himself instructed."

Ecclesiasticus x, 26: "It is not just to despise a wise poor man, nor does it befit one to glorify a sinful man."

Basil: When sober and prudent men see wicked men held in contempt, they will cleave to virtue with far greater eagerness. Another, indeed, might be bold and daring in these matters; but perhaps no one should be. For my part, I am hesitant to attribute entirely to the present age the punishment of vice or the rest and ^B delights of piety; yet there is a time when this is useful, so that wickedness is restrained, both by the calamity of the wicked and so that virtue may have prosperous success and the happiness of its practitioners may be advanced; but this is not always and not in everything; rather, this is reserved for the age to come, in which some shall receive the rewards of virtue, and others the penalties for their evil deeds.

Chrysostom: Give to the needy, but do not give to the dancer, lest together with your wealth you destroy his very soul. For you are the cause of his destruction through your untimely generosity. For if those who perform on the orchestra knew that their occupation was to be unprofitable for them, they would long since have ceased practicing such things.

Isaiah: He is injurious to the good who spares the wicked. Those who punish the ^C evildoers, these prevent others from being harmed.

He who honors virtue honors truth first of all, and especially because it stands as ruler and patron of every good.

Solon: The wise Solon said that that city is governed best in which it falls out that the good are honored; and governed worst, in which the wicked obtain honors.

Sextus: Two incentives move a man to pay heed to God: the punishment of impiety, and the rewards of a pious mind.

Vice becomes intolerable when it is propped up by praises.

Procopius the Rhetor: When virtue has no honor, ^D vice is emboldened.

^A Philonis. — If you wish to be esteemed in two ways, honor those who act most excellently, and rebuke those who do things that are worse.

Socrates. — Being asked what state is best governed, Socrates said, "That which lives by law, and takes vengeance upon those who do wrong."

SERMON LXIX.

John xii, 25. — He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world keepeth it unto life eternal.

II Cor. x, 18. — For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.

Philipp. ii, 21. — For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.

Eccli. xxxvii, 30. — Son, prove thy soul in thy life, and see what is evil for it, and give not that unto it: for all things are not profitable for all men.

Prov. xxi, 2. — Every man seemeth just to himself; but the Lord pondereth the hearts.

Prov. xxvii, 2. — Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.

Basilii. — It is a disgrace for a man, if he is truly worthy of that name, to be an aspirer after superfluous refinement and bodily delights, or to be ignobly disposed toward any other passion. For to bring all one's diligence to bear on how one's body may be most luxuriously kept is the mark of one who does not know himself, nor understands ^C the wise commandment.

Chrysost. — There is no friend, no brother. Each of us looks only to his own interests. That is the reason why we also cut our own roots, and are weak and easily overcome by both men and the devil, because we do not stand together as a phalanx for one another. For even in a battle and an arrayed army, a soldier who keeps his eye only on this—how he might save himself by fleeing—destroys the others along with himself; whereas he who is valiant, and takes up arms for the sake of others, is thereby the author of safety for himself along with the others.

He who does not accept the care offered to him by his brother is at variance with himself.

Theologi. — We are all pious in this one respect, that we accuse others of impiety; we are lenient judges to ourselves, but harsh and exact censors of others. ^D Let us associate with one another spiritually: let us be lovers of the brethren rather than lovers of self.

Philonis. — Those who do all things solely for their own sake apply their zeal and effort to blind self-love, the worst of vices.

Critii. — It is terrible when someone, not possessing wisdom, thinks that he is wise. We are good at seeing the evil in others; but when we ourselves do it, we do not know.

^A Menander. — No one perceives the evil in himself; but another, if he deviates from what is honorable, he will clearly perceive.

Diogenes. — Diogenes, being asked what was most difficult, replied: "To know oneself." For many, being driven by a blind love of self, shift things to suit their own arguments. The same person said that some men, while speaking of items of duty, do not hear themselves, just as lyres, although they resound with the sweetest tones, feel nothing of them.

Plato. — It is the heaviest thing of all for one to deceive oneself. For since the one who administers the deception is not far distant, but is always present, how is it not something monstrous and terrible?

SERMON LXX

Matt. vii, 13. — Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction.

Hebr. xii, 11. — All discipline for the present indeed seems not to be of joy, but of sorrow; but afterwards it will yield a most peaceful fruit to them that have been exercised in it.

Prov. xvi, 25. — There is a way that seems right to men, but its ends lead to the depths of hell.

Eccli. xxi, 11. — The way of sinners is made smooth with stones, and at the end of it is the pit of hell.

Basil. — Which of those things that are good and virtuous is easy and effortless? Who has erected a trophy while sleeping? Who, indulging in delights and the melodies of pipes, has been crowned with the wreaths of endurance? No one who has not run the race has carried off the prize. Labors beget glory; toils procure crowns. Many who have gathered much from their youth, when they reached middle age, upon the rising up of temptations from the spirits of evil against them, could not bear the weight of the winter, ^C because they lacked the skill of directing their course; but they suffered the loss of all their possessions. For just as it is impossible for a fire that has caught upon dry material not to pass through the whole of it—especially if an aiding wind reaches it, carrying the flame along—so sin, when it has seized upon any one person, cannot but spread to all whose proximity allows it, with the spirits of evil kindling it.

Theologian [Gregory]. — Virtue is difficult to perform, nor is it acquired with small labors. Rare is the acquisition of what is good, and arduous, even if there are many things that provoke and entice one toward it.

Wickedness is a ready thing, and nothing is so easy as to become evil. It is of the same difficulty both to acquire4 some good that one does not possess, and to preserve it once it has been acquired. ^D

^A For often what exertion has gained, negligence has destroyed; and what sloth has laid low, diligence has recovered.

It is easier to be imbued with vice than to impart virtue. Human nature does not easily conceive of the good, just as fire does not easily ignite damp matter; but the majority are prone and adept at the commission of evil. He who is given over to vice, his celebrity draws many with a slippery mind, so that they emulate him in like manner.

A wicked character is more prone to follow evil than to be restrained by the support of virtue. For it is easier from the beginning not to yield to malice and to avoid it as it arises, than to inhibit its progress and to appear superior to it; just as it is easier to take hold of and keep a stone from the start, ^B than to repel it once it is already falling with force.

Much seduction and pleasure are joined to vice, and much labor and sweat are joined to virtue. For otherwise, what thanks would be owed to you, or what reward would you receive, if the matter did not involve labor? For I can point to many who, by nature, loathe being joined to a woman. Shall we therefore call these men chaste, or shall we crown them? By no means. For chastity is self-restraint and victory in the struggle against the passions.

*Greg. Nyss.* — Great is the ease toward vice, and nature is prone to slip into that which is worse.

*Joan. Clim.* — By much labor and toil and sweat is a gentle and well-composed character and life fashioned in us; ^C and virtues acquired by much labor can be lost in a single moment of time.

*Diogen.* — He was once wandering about in the daytime with a lighted lamp; and when certain people asked him what he was doing, he replied that he was seeking a human being.

SERMO LXXI. That the greater portion is not always the best.

*Luc.* XXI, 1. — And looking up, Jesus saw those who were casting their gifts into the treasury, who were rich. And He saw also a certain poor widow casting in two copper coins, and He said, Truly I say to you, this poor widow has cast in more than all. For all these out of their abundance ^D have cast into the gifts of God; but she out of her penury has cast in all her livelihood that she had.

*I Cor.* XIV, 19. — In the church I wish to speak five words with my understanding, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.

[Solomon], Prov. XVII, 1:—Better is one handful of rest, than two handfuls full of labor and vexation of spirit. Sirach XVI, 3:—Better is one just man, than a thousand ungodly: and it is better to die without children, than to have ungodly children. XVI, 5:—By one man of understanding shall a city be inhabited: but the kindred of the wicked shall be made desolate in a short time. ^A Basil:—For often, he who has achieved some small thing in moderation is better than he who has achieved everything in abundance. Psalm CIII, 16:—For if bread strengthens the heart of man, what need is there to bring in side-dishes rashly beyond the necessary food? Theologian [Gregory of Nazianzus]:—A short reign is better than a long tyranny; and a small portion with honor is better than a large, dishonorable, and treacherous estate; and a little light is better than much darkness. ^B Chrysostom:—Almsgiving is not to be judged by the measure of what is given, but by the generosity of the intention. In evil contests the victor is the more miserable, because he departs bearing the greater part of the sin. Plato:—To a longer and worse life, the shorter and better one must by all means be preferred. Isocrates:—A moderate supply of things with justice is to be preferred rather than great wealth with injustice. Demosthenes:—Observe a certain dull demagogue shouting loudly, he said: "But not what is big is good; but what is good, is big." ^C Epictetus:—The rarest pleasures delight the most. Alexander:—Alexander, hearing that Darius was bringing three hundred thousand into battle, said: "One butcher does not fear many sheep." The same, when a scout reported to him that the forces of Darius were more numerous, said: "And sheep, though more numerous, are mastered by one or two wolves."

EXPOSITION OF THE CONFESSION OF FAITH OF THE LATINS, Writtten and sent by Gregory, Pope of Rome, to Germanus, the most holy Patriarch of Constantinople.

EDITION OF THE CONFESSION OF THE FAITH OF THE LATINS, Written and sent by the Roman pontiff Gregory to the most holy Germanus, patriarch of Constantinople.

The Father is God, full in Himself; the Son is God, full, begotten of the Father; the Spirit