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it was an example of good order, this was the wonderful thing. 1,1b and that man was—again; a man. 1,1b blameless, just, true, God-fearing, 1c abstaining from every evil thing. Each one of these is sufficient to present the beauty of his soul; but just as a lover with great precision describes the beauty of the beloved, so also here. blameless, he says; this is complete virtue. just; and this too. true; and this too. God-fearing; and this too. abstaining from every evil thing; and this too. From every, he says, and not simply; from this one, but not from that one. Where are those who say that nature inclines more toward evil? What fear, what courts, what laws made him so? 4 For since he had said: there is not a just man, who will do good and will not sin, for this reason he says: blameless. He did not say: sinless, but blameless. Not only did he not do those things which contain sin, but not even those which contain blame and condemnation; and you will hear him saying so later. For when he recounts his virtue, be mindful of these words. For this also is part of his wisdom; for he does not recount his virtue, except when he is brought to necessity, just as Paul said: I have become a fool in boasting, you have compelled me. Why blameless? Because he is just. True; for there are false men. True not in words only, but also in deeds, that is, a true man. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole man. For just as statues are false men, so too these are false men. For if this is the whole man, to fear God, he who does not fear God is not a man, but a false man. He had desire for true things. For this reason he says God-fearing, true. Then he states the cause of all good things, that he revered God; for from those things he knew God. For a good life makes one know God, just as a wicked life does the opposite. For the knowledge of God is found through life and becomes a guard for life, so that Hellenism comes from nowhere else than from an impure life. For everyone, he says, who does evil things hates the light and does not come to the light. Abstaining, he says, from every evil thing. He did not say: not doing, but also: being far from every evil thing, and you cannot say that it was through weakness. For lest someone say: “he was just, if not for...,” he says, and: “he was true, if not for...”. 5 Hear someone else saying: lest being full I become false and swear by the name of the Lord. Do you see that for those who are not sober, wealth is a pretext for falsehood? But this man was not such. For he was rich, so that you might learn that he had in his wealth an inclination toward evil, and that wealth is not the cause, but the will. See him also in poverty, so that you may not think again that poverty is a cause of ingratitude. See him both in wealth and in poverty, and in both the great athlete. For he was God-fearing. But from where he was so, he does not say, but later you will hear him saying, and it is clear that it was from within. 1,2 And he had seven sons and three daughters. See how first he speaks of virtue, and then he speaks of the things from God. See the blessing of children from both sexes and well-proportioned, from the more desirable gender the fruit is greater. He speaks first of the things for which one must bless the man, his great virtue and the beauty of his soul. For in ancient times these things came from virtue, I mean the blessing of good children and having many children. There will not be, he says, among you a barren man or a barren woman. But Abraham was barren for this reason, so that you might learn that these are not the prizes of virtue, but others are. For this reason he promised these things to you, condescending. 1,3a And his possessions were, he says, seven thousand sheep, 3b three thousand camels, 3c five hundred yoke of oxen, 3d five hundred grazing she-asses 3e and a very great household, 3f and he had great works on the earth. See him having the more rustic wealth. He did not mention loans and interest, not buried gold, nothing superfluous, but all necessary things. Such was the wealth of the ancients. And if they had any gold, it was little

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ὑπόδειγμα ἦν εὐνομίας, τοῦτο ἦν τὸ θαυμαστόν. 1,1b καὶ ἦν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος- πάλιν· ἄνθρωπος. 1,1b ἄμεμπτος, δίκαιος, ἀληθινός, θεοσεβής, 1c ἀπεχόμενος ἀπὸ παντὸς πονηροῦ πράγματος. ἓν ἕκαστον τούτων ἱκανὸν παραστῆσαι τὴν ὥραν αὐτοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τις ἐραστὴς μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἀκριβείας τὸ κάλλος διηγεῖται τοῦ ἐρωμένου, οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα. ἄμεμπτος, φησίν· τοῦτο ὁλόκληρος ἀρετή. δίκαιος· καὶ τοῦτο. ἀληθινός· καὶ τοῦτο. θεοσεβής· καὶ τοῦτο. ἀπεχόμενος ἀπὸ παντὸς πονηροῦ πράγματος· καὶ τοῦτο. ἀπὸ παντός, φησίν, καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς· τοῦ μέν, τοῦ δὲ οὔ. ποῦ εἰσιν οἱ λέγοντες, ὅτι πρὸς τὸ κακὸν ἡ φύσις ῥέπει μᾶλλον; ποῖος φόβος, ποῖα δικαστήρια, ποῖοι νόμοι τοῦτον τοιοῦτον ἐποίησαν; 4 ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἔλεγεν· οὐκ ἔστι δίκαιος, ὃς ποιήσει ἀγαθὸν καὶ οὐχ ἁμαρτήσεται, διὰ τοῦτό φησιν· ἄμεμπτος. οὐκ εἶπεν· ἀναμάρτητος, ἀλλ' ἄμεμπτος. οὐ μόνον ἐκεῖνα οὐκ ἔπραττε τὰ ἁμαρτίαν ἔχοντα, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὰ μέμψιν καὶ κατάγνωσιν· καὶ ἀκούσῃ αὐτοῦ ὕστερον λέγοντος. ὅταν γὰρ τὴν ἀρετὴν αὐτοῦ διηγῆται, τούτων ἀναμιμνῄσκου τῶν ῥημάτων. καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο τῆς συνέσεως αὐτοῦ· οὐ γὰρ διηγεῖται τὴν ἀρετήν, ἀλλ' ἢ ὅτε εἰς ἀνάγκην καταστῇ, καθάπερ Παῦλος ἔλεγεν· γέγονα ἄφρων καυχώμενος, ὑμεῖς με ἠναγκάσατε. διὰ τί ἄμεμπτος, ἐπειδὴ δίκαιος. ἀληθινός· εἰσὶ γὰρ ἄνθρωποι ψευδεῖς. ἀληθινὸς οὐκ ἐν ῥήμασι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν πράγμασιν, τουτέστιν ἄνθρωπος ἀληθινός. τὸν θεὸν φοβοῦ καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ φύλασσε, ὅτι τοῦτο πᾶς ἄνθρωπος. ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ ἀνδριάντες ψευδεῖς ἄνθρωποί εἰσιν, οὕτω καὶ οὗτοι ψευδεῖς ἄνθρωποί εἰσιν. εἰ γὰρ τοῦτο πᾶς ἄνθρωπος, τὸ φοβεῖσθαι τὸν θεόν, ὁ μὴ φοβούμενος τὸν θεὸν οὐκ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλὰ ψευδὴς ἄνθρωπος. πρὸς τὰ ἀληθινὰ πράγματα τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν εἶχεν. διὰ τοῦτο θεοσεβής, ἀληθινός φησιν. εἶτα τὴν αἰτίαν λέγει πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν, ὅτι τὸν θεὸν ἔσεβεν· ἀπὸ γὰρ ἐκείνων ἐπέγνω τὸν θεόν. βίος γὰρ καλὸς τὸν θεὸν ἐπιγνῶναι ποιεῖ, ὡσπεροῦν καὶ φαῦλος τοὐναντίον. ἡ γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ γνῶσις διὰ βίου εὑρίσκεται καὶ γίνεται βίου φυλακή, ὥστε οὐδαμόθεν ἑτέρωθεν ἑλληνισμός, ἀλλ' ἢ ἀπὸ βίου ἀκαθάρτου. πᾶς γάρ, φησίν, ὁ φαῦλα πράσσων μισεῖ τὸ φῶς καὶ οὐκ ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸ φῶς. ἀπεχόμενος, φησίν, ἀπὸ παντὸς πονηροῦ πράγματος. οὐκ εἶπεν· οὐ ποιῶν, ἀλλὰ καί· μακρὰν ὢν παντὸς πράγματος πονηροῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἔχεις εἰπεῖν, ὅτι δι' ἀσθένειαν. ἵνα γὰρ μή τις λέγῃ· «δίκαιος ἦν, εἰ δὲ μήτι», φησίν, καί· «ἀληθινὸς ἦν, εἰ δὲ μήτι». 5 ἄκουε ἑτέρωθι λέγοντός τινος· ἵνα μὴ πλησθεὶς ψευδὴς γένωμαι καὶ ὀμόσω τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου. ὁρᾷς, ὅτι τοῖς μὴ νήφουσιν ὁ πλοῦτος ψεύδους ὑπόθεσίς ἐστιν; ἀλλ' οὗτος οὐ τοιοῦτος. πλούσιος μὲν γὰρ ἦν, ἵνα μάθῃς, ὅτι καὶ ῥοπὴν πρὸς κακίαν εἶχε τὸν πλοῦτον καὶ ὅτι οὐχ ὁ πλοῦτος αἴτιος, ἀλλ' ἡ γνώμη. ὅρα αὐτὸν καὶ ἐν πενίᾳ, ἵνα μὴ νομίσῃς πάλιν, ὅτι ἡ πενία αἰτία ἀγνωμοσύνης. ὅρα αὐτὸν καὶ ἐν πλούτῳ καὶ ἐν πενίᾳ καὶ ἐν ἑκατέροις τὸν ἀθλητὴν μέγαν. θεοσεβὴς γὰρ ἦν. πόθεν δὲ τοιοῦτος ἦν, οὐ λέγει, ἀλλ' ὕστερον ἀκούσῃ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος, δῆλον δέ, ὅτι οἴκοθεν. 1,2 ἐγένοντο δὲ αὐτῷ υἱοὶ ἑπτὰ καὶ θυγατέρες τρεῖς. ὅρα, πῶς πρῶτον λέγει τὴν ἀρετήν, καὶ τότε λέγει τὰ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ. ὅρα τὴν εὐπαιδίαν ἐξ ἑκατέρας τῆς φύσεως καὶ μεμετρημένην, ἀπὸ τοῦ ποθεινοτέρου γένους πλείων ὁ καρπός. λέγει πρῶτον, δι' ἃ χρὴ μακαρίσαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, τὴν ἀρετὴν αὐτοῦ τὴν πολλὴν καὶ τὴν ὥραν τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς. καὶ γὰρ ἀπὸ ἀρετῆς τὸ παλαιὸν ταῦτα ἐγίνετο, ἡ εὐπαιδία, λέγω, καὶ ἡ πολυπαιδία. οὐκ ἔσται, φησίν, ἐν σοὶ ἄγονος οὐδὲ στεῖρα. ὁ δὲ Ἀβραὰμ ἄγονος ἦν διὰ τοῦτο, ἵνα μάθῃς, ὅτι οὐ ταῦτα τῆς ἀρετῆς τὰ ἔπαθλα, ἀλλ' ἕτερα. διά γε τοῦτο ταῦτα ὑπέσχετό σοι συγκαταβαίνων. 1,3a καὶ ἦν τὰ κτήνη αὐτοῦ, φησίν, πρόβατα ἑπτακισχίλια, 3b κάμηλοι τρισχίλιαι, 3c ζεύγη βοῶν πεντακόσια, 3d ὄνοι θήλειαι νομάδες πεντακόσιαι 3e καὶ ὑπηρεσία πολλὴ σφόδρα, 3f καὶ ἔργα μεγάλα ἦν αὐτῷ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. ὅρα αὐτὸν πλοῦτον ἔχοντα τὸν ἀγροικικώτερον. οὐ δανείσματα καὶ τόκους εἶπεν, οὐ χρυσίον κατορωρυγμένον, οὐδὲν περιττόν, ἀλλὰ πάντα ἀναγκαῖα. τοιοῦτος ἦν τῶν παλαιῶν ὁ πλοῦτος. εἰ δέ που καὶ χρυσίον εἶχον, ὀλίγον