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Lazarus, who was cast at his gate, violently shaken by the tempest of poverty, but not long after escorted by angels into the calm bosom of Abraham. There was a certain poor man, Lazarus, who was cast at the rich man's gate, full of sores. Oh, by how many evils was the poor man afflicted! By the heaviest poverty, as if by violent hail he was battered; by the festering blisters, as if by sparkling embers he was devoured; from every side torrents of affliction dashed against him, dissolving his body, crushing his heart; no relief of calm was found for him. Without were fightings, within were fears. For without, his body was subdued by the blisters, and within, his heart was devoured by relentless cares. No grain-bearing land offered him the seed of bread, no vine brought him a sweet bunch of grapes, no tree cultivated for him the sweetest fruit of the season, nor was there anything else of the earth for the consolation of his poverty. For how could it be, for one to whom there was not even a span of arable land, nor a cubit of ground for a dwelling, but he was cast out in the open on the dunghill? The dunghill was his covering both by night and by day, warming him in part in the winter, but in the summer burning him terribly. He had a body scarred with wounds, inert for farming, useless for travel and trade, and unfit for the other 59.594 resources for his needs. From every side he had want, from every side distress; groans before tears grew in his heart like thorns; channels of tears ran down his cheeks, furrowed by the continuous flow of tears; he contemplated death in his sleep, he looked for death after sleep, and found it nowhere. For he sought death as a release from his long pains and cares, not unlike the much-suffering Job. For he too, having lost his possessions, his herds, his property, was at last naked, his body consumed by worms, cast upon the dunghill, and desired death. For what did he say? "Why is light given to those in bitterness, and life to the souls in anguish? Who long for death, and do not obtain it, digging for it as for a treasure; but they would be overjoyed if they should attain it; for death is a rest for a man." But he also desired, it says, to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, and no one gave them to him. Oh, what a strange life! The rich man was getting drunk, being watered by the heavily-laden stream of luxury, while the poor man, having no moisture of abundance, was withered by the burning heat of poverty. For why was the voyage of life not temperate for them in their fellowship with one another? Why? So that the poor man might receive the brilliant crowns of patience, and the rich man might chew the unripe grapes of his bestialized soul with his own teeth. But even the dogs, it says, coming, licked his sores. The dogs were nobler than the rich man, better than his inhumanity. While he never moistened the poor man with a drop of oil, the dogs, softening the sharpness of their teeth with compassion, tended him with a gentle tongue, as if wiping away all the filth and all the discharge from his wounds; and taming the wild sores with the smoothness of their tongue, they gently stole away the pains of his wounds. But the rich man never once bestowed a cheerful glance on the poor man, not even a fruitless word, he did not throw a rag to him, no leftover food, not one coin consumed by rust, not bread, not a piece of bread corrupted by mold, but threw everything into his own belly, as into an inn, through the funnel of his throat. 2. But what? As are the wages of each, such also are the rewards. And it came to pass,

2

Λάζαρος, ὃς ἐβέβλητο πρὸς τὸν πυλῶνα αὐτοῦ, τῇ τρικυμίᾳ τῆς πτωχείας σφοδρῶς κλονούμενος, ἀλλὰ μετ' οὐ πολὺ εἰς τὸν εὔδιον κόλπον τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ὑπ' ἀγγέλων δορυφορούμενος. Πτωχὸς δέ τις ἦν Λάζαρος, ὃς πρὸς τὸν πυλῶνα τοῦ πλουσίου ἐβέβλητο ἡλκωμένος. Ὢ πόσοις κακοῖς ὁ πτωχὸς συνείχετο! ὑπὸ τῆς βαρυτάτης πενίας, ὥσπερ ὑπὸ χαλάζης βιαίας ἐκολαφίζετο· ὑπὸ τῶν ἀναζεουσῶν φλυκταινῶν, ὥσπερ ὑπὸ ἀνθράκων σπινθηροβόλων διησθίετο· πανταχόθεν χείμαῤῥοι αὐτῷ θλίψεως προσηῤῥάσσοντο, τὸ σῶμα διαλύοντες, τὴν καρδίαν συνθρύπτοντες· οὐδεμία αὐτῷ ἄνεσις γαλήνης ηὑρίσκετο. Ἔξωθεν μάχαι ἔσωθεν φόβοι. Ἔξωθεν γὰρ τὸ σῶμα ὑπὸ τῶν φλυκταινῶν ἐδαμάζετο, καὶ ἔσωθεν ἡ καρδία ὑπὸ τῶν ἀπαραιτήτων φροντίδων διησθίετο. Οὐ χώρα αὐτῷ σιτοφόρος σπέρμα ἄρτου προσέφερεν, οὐκ ἄμπελος αὐτῷ βότρυν γλυκύῤῥωγον προσεκόμιζεν, οὐ δένδρον ὀπώρας ἥδιστον καρπὸν αὐτῷ ἐγεώργει, οὐδ' ἄλλο τι τῶν γεηρῶν πρὸς τὴν τῆς πενίας παραμυθίαν ἦν. Πῶς γὰρ, ᾧ οὐδὲ σπιθαμὴ γῆς ἀροσίμου τόπος ὑπῆρχεν, οὔτε πηχυαῖον ἔδαφος εἰς κατοίκησιν, ἀλλ' αἴθριος ἐβέβλητο ἐπὶ τῆς κοπρίας; Κόπρος αὐτῷ καὶ ἐν νυκτὶ καὶ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ περιβόλαιον ἦν, θάλπουσα μὲν ἐν τῷ χειμῶνι ἐκ μέρους, ἐν δὲ τῷ θέρει δεινῶς κατακαίουσα. Κατεστιγμένον εἶχε τὸ σῶμα τοῖς τραύμασιν, ἀδρανὲς πρὸς γεωργίαν, ἄχρηστον πρὸς ὁδοιπορίαν καὶ ἐμπορίαν, καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἄλλας 59.594 τῶν χρειῶν ἀφορμὰς ἀνεπιτήδειον. Πανταχόθεν αὐτῷ ἀπορία, πανταχόθεν στένωσις· στεναγμοὶ αὐτῷ πρὸ δακρύων ἐπὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ τριβόλων δίκην ἐφύοντο· ὀχετοὶ δακρύων ἐπὶ παρειῶν αὐτῷ ἐφέροντο τῇ συνεχεῖ τῶν δακρύων ῥύμῃ αὐλακιζόμεναι· θάνατον ἐν τοῖς ὕπνοις ἐμελέτα, θάνατον μετὰ τὸν ὕπνον περιεβλέπετο, καὶ οὐδαμοῦ εὕρισκεν. Πόνων γὰρ καὶ φροντίδων μακρῶν ὡς λυτήριον ἐπεζήτει τὸν θάνατον, οὐδὲν ἀπεοικὼς τῷ πολυάθλῳ Ἰώβ. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος ἀπωλέσας τὰ χρήματα, τὰ βουκόλια, τὰ κτήματα, τελευταῖον γυμνὸς τὸ σῶμα τοῖς σκώληξι συνειλημμένος, ἐπὶ τῆς κοπρίας ἐβέβλητο, καὶ θάνατον ἐπεθύμει. Τί γὰρ ἔλεγε; Ἵνα τί δέδοται τοῖς ἐν πικρίᾳ φῶς, ζωὴ δὲ ταῖς ἐν ὀδύναις ψυχαῖς; Οἱ ἱμείρονται τοῦ θανάτου, καὶ οὐ τυγχάνουσιν, ἀνορύττοντες αὐτὸν ὥσπερ θησαυρόν· περιχαρεῖς δὲ ἐγένοντο, ἐὰν κατατύχωσι· θάνατος γὰρ ἀνδρὶ ἀνάπαυσις. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπεθύμει, φησὶν, ἀπὸ τῶν ψιχίων τῶν πιπτόντων ἀπὸ τῆς τραπέζης τοῦ πλουσίου χορτασθῆναι, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐδίδου αὐτῷ. Ὢ βίου ἀλλοκότου! ὁ μὲν πλούσιος ἐν τῷ πολυφόρτῳ ῥεύματι τῆς τρυφῆς καταρδευόμενος ἐμέθυεν, ὁ δὲ πένης μηδεμίαν ἔχων εὐπορίας ἰκμάδα, τῷ καύσωνι τῆς πενίας ἐμαραίνετο. ∆ιὰ τί γὰρ αὐτοῖς εὔκρατος ὁ πλοῦς τοῦ βίου ἐν τῇ πρὸς ἀλλήλους κοινωνίᾳ οὐ γεγένηται; ∆ιὰ τί; Ἵνα ὁ μὲν πένης λαμπροὺς τοὺς στεφάνους τῆς ὑπομονῆς ὑποδέξηται, ὁ δὲ πλούσιος τῆς ἀποτεθηριωμένης ψυχῆς τοὺς ὄμφακας τοῖς οἰκείοις ὀδοῦσι μασήσηται. Ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ κύνες, φησὶν, ἐρχόμενοι ἀπέλειχον τὰ ἕλκη αὐτοῦ. Εὐγενέστεροι οἱ κύνες τοῦ πλουσίου, ἀγαθώτεροι τῆς ἐκείνου ἀπανθρωπίας. Ἐκείνου μηδέποτε ψεκάδα ἐλαίου δροσίσαντος τῷ πένητι, οἱ κύνες τὴν ἀκμὴν τῶν ὀδόντων τῇ φιλανθρωπίᾳ πραΰναντες, ἁπαλῇ τῇ γλώσσῃ αὐτὸν ἐθεράπευον, ὡς ἂν πᾶσαν ῥυπαρίαν καὶ πάντα ἰχῶρα τῶν τραυμάτων αὐτοῦ ἀποσμήχοντες· καὶ τὰ ἄγρια ἕλκη τῇ λειότητι τῆς γλώττης τιθασσεύοντες, τοὺς πόνους τῶν τραυμάτων αὐτοῦ ὑπέκλεπτον ἠρέμα. Ὁ δέ γε πλούσιος οὐδὲ ὄμμα ἱλαρὸν ἐχαρίσατο τῷ πένητι πώποτε, οὐδὲ λόγον κἂν ἄκαρπον, οὐ ῥάκος αὐτῷ ἐπέῤῥιψεν, οὐ σίτων λείψανον, οὐκ ὀβολὸν ἕνα ὑπὸ ἰοῦ δεδαπανημένον, οὐκ ἄρτον, οὐ κλάσμα ἄρτου ὑπ' εὐρῶτος διεφθαρμένον, ἀλλὰ πάντα ἐν τῇ αὐτοῦ γαστρὶ, ὥσπερ ἐν πανδοχείῳ, διὰ τῆς τοῦ φάρυγγος χώνης ἐνέῤῥιπτεν. βʹ. Ἀλλὰ τί; Οἷα ἑκάστου τὰ ὀψώνια, τοιαῦται καὶ αἱ ἀνταποδόσεις. Συνέβη δὲ,