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and he has established pleasant things as a calamity; therefore one must not pay attention to them as if they are fixed. To you, nothing is terrible, not even excessive evils; for in a way, luxury opposes being prudent. but to me even small things appear as a grief; for sin is alienation from God. How could I bear being deprived of God? To you, good sleep and the binding of two sides, and sweet dreams are types of the day's events; you drink, you gamble, you take, you play, you laugh; but for me the greatest part of life is sleepless; for labors prick me even as I sleep, and if I snatch a little bit of sleep, I weep; phantoms of a wild night also frighten me, judgment, an impartial judge, a trembling standing, from one side a splashing fountain of unquenchable fire, from the other a worm eating eternally; in the middle, conscience, an unwritten accuser. God is God to you, if He brings favorable things; to me He is to be worshipped, even if He brings the opposite. For my laboring is a medicine of salvation. As much as I am pressed, so much nearer I come to God; for suffering binds me tight to God.

For indeed the pursuit of an army leads to the walls. Children, a wife and friends are consolations to you, which also the greatest misfortune removes. But for me, God is a support and comfort when I am hungry and shivering and in distress. Be insolent, strike, call me low-born, a beggar, trample, do violence; you will be insolent for a short time. I offer everything to God, toward whom I also look. I send my thought to the later life; there I establish myself; I know nothing of the things below. Thus I am easily released from what causes pain. What else? But today for you not to receive the vote is unbearable, as it seems to me at least. For that which always conquers does not bear being conquered. But for me it is the same to receive it and not to receive it. God is sufficient for me, even if another carries off everything; this is the greatest glory for my victory. {[Κ.]} What then if some of the highest fall? {[Π.]} What then if some of the second rank also fall? For it is possible for both to succeed and to fall. Equal against equal, but I consider those who fall in the first life much worse; so much am I opposed to evils. For of those whose rule is more honored when they rule, their fall is more wretched when they have fallen. But I ask this, not to judge a life by whether someone is most wicked—for he is hostile to life—but to consider it on its own and to distinguish the whole, both of good and likewise of evil, in opposition, and not for the lesser to weigh down in the balance, for it is not just, but for the greater to prevail. And thus you would know how great is the difference between the two lives. Do not compare for me the best of donkeys with a bad horse, nor the best man of the worldly life with the worst of mine. For they would appear better, I will not deny it. But if you would set best against best and bad against bad, you would learn how much I prevail. Consider this also: your failure is at all times equal to our success. But they say one swallow does not bring the pleasant spring, nor old age the gray hair. What do you say? Do you give your vote? Or should I bid you farewell? {[Κρ.]} I give it; how could I not? I will think it right to prefer the lower life to yours, when, having gone mad, I make some mortal equal to God; but if I do not go mad, I will not suffer this either. But go; it is better if you both behave peacefully toward each other and toward the great God, you, assigning the first place to the first life, and you, receiving the second as a brother. If he does not have the first place, what prevents him from having the second? This is no dishonor either. Thus life would be safe for us.

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καὶ τὰ τερπνὰ συμφορὰν ἔστησεν· οὔκουν ὡς παγίοις προσεκτέον. Σοὶ δεινὸν οὐδέν, οὐδὲ τῶν ἄγαν κακῶν· τῷ γὰρ φρονεῖν πως τὸ τρυφᾶν ἐνίσταται. ἐμοὶ δὲ πένθος καὶ τὰ μικρὰ φαίνεται· θεοῦ γὰρ ἀλλοτρίωσις ἡ ἁμαρτία. πῶς δ' ἂν φέροιμι ζημιούμενος θεόν; σοὶ χρηστὸς ὕπνος καὶ δύο πλευρῶν δέσις, ἡδεῖς δ' ὄνειροι τῶν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τύποι· πίνεις, κυβεύεις, λαμβάνεις, παίζεις, γελᾷς· ἐμοὶ δ' ἄϋπνον τοῦ βίου πλεῖστον μέρος· κεντοῦσι γάρ με καὶ καθεύδονθ' οἱ πόνοι, ἂν δ' ἁρπάσω τι μικρὸν ὕπνου, δακρύω· φοβεῖ με καὶ εἴδωλα νυκτὸς ἀγρίας, κρίσις, δικαστὴς ἄρροπος, ἔντρομος στάσις, πηγὴ παφλάζουσ' ἔνθεν ἀσβέστου πυρός, σκώληξ ἐκεῖθεν ἐσθίων ἀειδίως· μέσον συνειδός, ἄγραφος κατήγορος. Θεὸς θεός σοι, ἢν φέρῃ τὰ δεξιά· ἐμοὶ σεβαστός, κἂν φέρῃ τἀναντία. τὸ γάρ με κάμνειν φάρμακον σωτηρίας. ὅσον πιέζομ', ἔρχομαι τόσῳ πέλας θεοῦ· τὸ γὰρ πάσχειν με συσφίγγει θεῷ.

καὶ γὰρ στρατοῦ διωγμὸς εἰς τείχη φέρει. Παῖδες, γυνή σοι καὶ φίλοι παρήγοροι, ἃ καὶ μεθίσταθ' ἡ μεγίστη συμφορά. ἐμοὶ δ' ἔρεισμα καὶ παραψυχὴ θεὸς πεινῶντι καὶ ῥιγοῦντι καὶ στενουμένῳ. ὕβριζε, παῖε, δυσγενῆ, πτωχὸν κάλει, πάτει, βιάζου· μικρὸν ὑβρίσεις χρόνον. θεῷ φέρω τὰ πάντα, πρὸς ὃν καὶ βλέπω. πέμπω λογισμὸν εἰς βίον τὸν ὕστερον· ἐκεῖ καθίσταμ'· οὐδὲν οἶδα τῶν κάτω. οὕτω τὸ λυποῦν ῥᾳδίως ἐκλύομαι. Τί τἆλλα; σήμερον δὲ σοὶ μὲν μὴ λαβεῖν τὴν ψῆφον οὐ φορητόν, ὥς γέ μοι δοκεῖ. οὐ γὰρ φέρει κρατούμενον τὸ κρατοῦν ἀεί. ἴσον δ' ἐμοὶ λαβεῖν τε καὶ τὸ μὴ λαβεῖν. ἀρκεῖ θεός μοι, κἂν τὰ πάντ' ἄλλος φέρῃ· τοῦτ' εὐκλεὲς μέγιστον εἰς νίκην ἐμοί. {[Κ.]} Τί οὖν ἐὰν πέσωσι τῶν ἄκρων τινές; {[Π.]} τί οὖν ἐὰν πέσωσι καὶ τῶν δευτέρων; καὶ γὰρ κατορθοῦν ἐστιν ἀμφοῖν καὶ πεσεῖν. ἴσον πρὸς ἶσον, ἀλλ' ἐγὼ χείρους πολὺ τίθημι τοὺς πίπτοντας ἐν πρώτῳ βίῳ· τοσοῦτόν εἰμι τοῖς κακοῖς ἐναντίος. ὧν γὰρ κρατούντων τιμιώτερον κράτος, τούτων πεσόντων πτῶσις ἀθλιωτέρα. ἐκεῖνο δ' αἰτῶ μὴ λογίζεσθαι βίῳ, εἴ τις κάκιστος, τῷ βίῳ γὰρ δυσμενής, σκοπεῖν δ' ἐφ' αὑτοῦ καὶ διακρίνειν τὸ πᾶν καλῶν θ' ὁμοίως καὶ κακῶν καταντίον καὶ μὴ τὸ μεῖον ἐν ζυγῷ καταρρέπειν, οὐ γὰρ δίκαιον, ἰσχύειν δὲ τὸ πλέον. γνοίης δ' ἂν οὕτω τοῖν βίοιν ὅσον μέσον. μή μοι τὸν ἄκρον τῶν ὄνων ἵππῳ κακῷ ἀντεξετάζειν, μηδὲ κοσμικοῦ βίου ἄριστον ἄνδρα τῷ κακίστῳ τῶν ἐμῶν. κρείττους γὰρ ἂν φανεῖεν, οὐκ ἀρνήσομαι. εἰ δ' ἄκρον ἄκρῳ καὶ κακὸν θείης κακῷ ἐναντίους, μάθοις ἄν, ὁππόσον κρατῶ. σκόπει κἀκεῖνο· ἶσον ἐν παντὶ χρόνῳ τὸ πταῖσαν ὑμῖν καὶ παρ' ἡμῖν τὸ κρατοῦν. μίαν δέ φασιν οὐ φέρειν χελιδόνα ἔαρ τὸ τερπνόν, οὐδὲ γῆρας τὴν τρίχα. τί φῄς; δίδως τὴν ψῆφον; ἢ χαίρειν ἐῶ; {[Κρ.]} ∆ίδωμι· πῶς δ' οὔ; τηνικαῦτ' οἰήσομαι χρῆναι προτιμᾶν τὸν κάτω τοῦ σοῦ βίου, ὅταν θεῷ βροτῶν τιν' ἰσώσω μανείς· εἰ δ' οὐ μανήσομ', οὐδὲ τοῦτο πείσομαι. ἀλλ' ἄπιτε· λῷον δ' ἢν ἔχητ' εἰρηνικῶς ἄμφω πρὸς ἀλλήλους τε καὶ θεὸν μέγαν, σὺ μὲν νέμων τὰ πρῶτα τῷ πρώτῳ βίῳ, σὺ δ' ὡς ἀδελφὸν δεύτερον προσλαμβάνων. εἴ τοι τὸ πρῶτον οὐκ ἔχει, τί κωλύει ἔχειν τὰ δεύτερ'; οὐδὲ τοῦτ' ἀτιμία. οὕτως ἂν ἡμῖν ἀσφαλὴς εἴη βίος.