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cast them in. For if God loves a contrite spirit, on the contrary he resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. Nothing, therefore, is an evil equal to pride; it makes a man a demon, insolent, a blasphemer, a perjurer, it makes him desire deaths and murders. The proud man always lives with sorrows, is always indignant, is always distressed; there is nothing which can satisfy his passion; even if he should see the king bowing down and doing obeisance, he is not satisfied, but rather is inflamed. For just as the avaricious, however much they receive, desire so much the more; so also the arrogant, however much honor they enjoy, desire so much the more; for their passion grows (for it is a passion), and a passion knows no limit, but stops only when it has killed the one who has it. Do you not see the drunken, that they are always thirsty? for it is a passion, not a natural desire, but a certain perverted disease. Do you not see those whom they call bulimic, that they are always hungry? for it is a passion, as the sons of physicians say, having already gone beyond the bounds of nature. So also the meddlesome and the curious, however many things they learn, do not stop; for it is a passion, and has no limit. Again, those who rejoice in fornication, not even they stop (For to a fornicating man, it says, every bread is sweet; he will not cease until he is consumed); for it is a passion. But these are passions, yet not incurable, but having a cure, and much more so than bodily ones; for if we wish, we can extinguish them. How then is it possible to extinguish arrogance? By acknowledging God. For if it comes from not knowing God, if we know him, all arrogance is driven away. Consider hell, consider those much better than you, consider how many penalties you owe to God; if you consider these things, you will quickly check your thought, you will quickly bend it. But you cannot do these things? Are you too weak? Consider present things, human nature itself, how man is nothing. When you see a dead man being carried through the marketplace, orphan children following, a widow woman beating herself in lament, servants wailing, friends downcast, consider the nothingness of present 62.472 things, and that they differ in nothing from a shadow and dreams. But you do not wish for this? Consider the very wealthy, those perishing utterly in wars; look around at the houses of the great and famous, and now brought down to the ground; consider how much power they had, and now not even a memory of them is left. For each day, if you wish, you find examples of these things; successions of rulers, confiscations from the wealthy. Many tyrants have sat upon the ground, while the unthought-of has worn a diadem. Do these things not happen every day? Are not our affairs like a wheel? Read, if you wish, both our own writings, and those from outside (for they too are full of these examples), if out of arrogance you despise our own; if you admire the writings of the philosophers, at least approach these; they will teach you, recounting ancient misfortunes, and poets, and orators, and sophists, and all the prose-writers. From all sides you will find, if you wish, the examples. But if you wish for none of these, consider our own nature itself, of what it consists, and where it ends; consider, when you sleep, of what worth you are; will not even a small beast be able to destroy you? For often for many, a small insect falling from the roof has either taken out an eye, or become the cause of some other danger. What then? are you not less than all the beasts? But what do you say? That you prevail by reason? But behold, you have no reason, for pride is the proof of unreason. On what then are you proud, tell me? Is it on the good condition of your body? But among the irrational animals are the prizes for victory. This is also found among robbers and murderers and tomb-robbers. But is it on intelligence? But to be proud is not a mark of intelligence; by this, therefore, you first deprive yourself of becoming intelligent. Let us check our thoughts, let us become moderate and humble

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αὐτοὺς ἐνέβαλεν. Εἰ γὰρ πνεῦμα συντετριμμένον ὁ Θεὸς φιλεῖ, ἐκ τοὐναντίου ὑπερηφάνοις ἀντιτάσσεται, καὶ ταπεινοῖς δίδωσι χάριν. Οὐδὲν οὖν ὑπερηφανίας ἴσον κακόν· δαίμονα τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀπεργάζεται, ὑβριστὴν, βλάσφημον, ἐπίορκον, θανάτων ποιεῖ καὶ φόνων ἐφίεσθαι. Ὁ ὑπερήφανος ἀεὶ λύπαις συζῇ, ἀεὶ ἀγανακτεῖ, ἀεὶ ἀλύει· οὐδέν ἐστιν, ὃ τὸ πάθος αὐτοῦ κορέσαι δύναται· κἂν τὸν βασιλέα ἴδῃ ὑποκύπτοντα καὶ προσκυνοῦντα, οὐκ ἐκορέσθη, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἐξήφθη. Καθάπερ γὰρ οἱ φιλάργυροι ὅσον ἂν λάβωσι, τοσοῦτον πλειόνων δέονται· οὕτω καὶ οἱ ἀπονενοημένοι, ὅσης ἂν ἀπολαύσωσι τιμῆς, τοσούτῳ πλείονος ἐπιθυμοῦσιν· αὔξεται γὰρ αὐτοῖς τὸ πάθος (πάθος γάρ ἐστι), πάθος δὲ ὅρον οὐκ οἶδεν, ἀλλὰ τότε ἵσταται, ὅταν ἀποκτείνῃ τὸν ἔχοντα. Οὐχ ὁρᾷς τοὺς μεθύοντας, ὅτι ἀεὶ διψῶσι; πάθος γάρ ἐστιν, οὐ φύσεως ἐπιθυμία, ἀλλὰ νόσος τις διεστραμμένη. Οὐχ ὁρᾷς οὓς καλοῦσι βουλιμιῶντας, ὅτι ἀεὶ πεινῶσι; πάθος γάρ ἐστιν, ὥς φασιν ἰατρῶν παῖδες, ἐξελθὸν ἤδη τῆς φύσεως τοὺς ὅρους. Οὕτω καὶ οἱ πολυπράγμονες καὶ περίεργοι, ὅσα ἂν μάθωσιν, οὐχ ἵστανται· πάθος γάρ ἐστι, καὶ ὅρον οὐκ ἔχει. Οἱ πορνείαις χαίροντες πάλιν, οὐδὲ αὐτοὶ ἵστανται (Ἀνθρώπῳ γὰρ, φησὶ, πόρνῳ πᾶς ἄρτος ἡδύς· οὐ μὴ παύσηται, ἕως ἂν καταποθῇ)· πάθος γάρ ἐστιν. Ἀλλὰ πάθη μέν ἐστι ταῦτα, οὐ μέντοι ἀνίατα, ἀλλὰ ἔχοντα ἴασιν, καὶ πολλῷ μᾶλλον, ἢ τὰ σωματικά· ἂν γὰρ θέλωμεν, δυνάμεθα αὐτὰ σβέσαι. Πῶς οὖν ἐστιν ἀπόνοιαν σβέσαι; Τὸν Θεὸν ἐπιγνόντα. Εἰ γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ μὴ εἰδέναι τὸν Θεὸν γίνεται, ἐὰν γνῶμεν αὐτὸν, ἀπελαύνεται πᾶσα ἀπόνοια. Ἐννόησον τὴν γέενναν, ἐννόησον τοὺς πολλῷ βελτίους σου, ἐννόησον ὅσων ὀφείλεις τῷ Θεῷ δίκας· ἂν ταῦτα ἐννοήσῃς, ταχέως συνέστειλας τὴν διάνοιαν, ταχέως αὐτὴν ἔκαμψας. Ἀλλ' οὐ δύνασαι ταῦτα ποιῆσαι; ἀσθενέστερος εἶ; Ἐννόησον τὰ παρόντα, αὐτὴν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν, πῶς οὐδὲν ἄνθρωπος. Ὅταν ἴδῃς νεκρὸν ἐπ' ἀγορᾶς φερόμενον, παῖδας ὀρφανοὺς ἀκολουθοῦντας, χήραν γυναῖκα κατακοπτομένην, οἰκέτας ὀδυρομένους, φίλους κατηφιῶντας, λόγισαι τὸ οὐδαμινὸν τῶν παρόντων 62.472 πραγμάτων, καὶ ὅτι σκιᾶς καὶ ὀνειράτων οὐδὲν διενήνοχεν. Ἀλλ' οὐ βούλει τοῦτο; Ἐννόησον τοὺς πάνυ πλουτοῦντας, τοὺς ἐν πολέμοις ἀπολλυμένους ἁπλῶς· τὰς οἰκίας περισκόπει τὰς τῶν μεγάλων καὶ περιφανῶν, καὶ νῦν εἰς ἔδαφος κατενεχθείσας· ἐννόησον πόσα ἴσχυσαν, καὶ νῦν οὐδὲ μνήμη αὐτῶν ὑπολέλειπται. Καθ' ἑκάστην γὰρ ἡμέραν, εἰ βούλει, εὑρίσκεις τούτων ὑποδείγματα· διαδοχὰς ἀρχόντων, δημεύσεις πλουτούντων. Πολλοὶ τύραννοι ἐκάθισαν ἐπ' ἐδάφους, ὁ δὲ ἀνυπονόητος ἐφόρεσε διάδημα. Ταῦτα οὐχὶ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν γίνεται; οὐχὶ τροχῷ τινὶ τὰ ἡμέτερα ἔοικεν; Ἀνάγνωθι, εἰ βούλει, καὶ τὰ παρ' ἡμῖν, καὶ τὰ ἔξωθεν (καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐκεῖνα γέμει τούτων τῶν παραδειγμάτων), εἰ τῶν ἡμετέρων καταφρονεῖς ἐξ ἀπονίας· εἰ τὰ τῶν φιλοσόφων θαυμάζεις, κἂν τούτοις πρόσιθι· ἐκεῖνοί σε διδάξουσι, συμφορὰς παλαιὰς διηγούμενοι, καὶ ποιηταὶ, καὶ ῥήτορες, καὶ σοφισταὶ, καὶ λογογράφοι πάντες. Πάντοθεν εὑρίσκεις, εἰ βούλει, τὰ ὑποδείγματα. Εἰ δὲ μηδὲν τούτων θέλεις, αὐτὴν ἀναλόγισαι τὴν φύσιν τὴν ἡμετέραν, πόθεν συνέστηκε, καὶ ποῦ τελευτᾷ· ἐννόησον, ὅταν καθεύδῃς, τίνος ἄξιος εἶ· οὐχὶ καὶ τὸ μικρόν σε θηρίον ἀνελεῖν δυνήσεται; Πολλοῖς γὰρ πολλάκις ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀρόφου κατενεχθὲν μικρὸν ζωΰφιον ἢ τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἐξεῖλεν, ἢ ἑτέρου τινὸς κινδύνου αἴτιον γέγονε. Τί δέ; οὐχὶ πάντων ἐλάττων εἶ τῶν θηρίων; Ἀλλὰ τί λέγεις; ὅτι λόγῳ κρατεῖς; Ἀλλ' ἰδοὺ λόγον οὐκ ἔχεις ἀλογίας γὰρ ἡ ὑπερηφανία τεκμήριον. Ἐπὶ τίνι δὲ μέγα φρονεῖς, εἰπέ μοι; ὅλως ἐπὶ εὐεξίᾳ σώματος; Ἀλλὰ παρὰ τοῖς ἀλόγοις τὰ νικητήρια. Τοῦτο καὶ παρὰ λῃσταῖς καὶ ἀνδροφόνοις καὶ τυμβωρύχοις. Ἀλλ' ἐπὶ συνέσει; Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔστι συνέσεως τὸ μέγα φρονεῖν· τούτῳ μὲν οὖν πρώτῳ σαυτὸν ἀποστερεῖς τοῦ γενέσθαι συνετός. Καταστείλωμεν ἡμῶν τὰ φρονήματα, γενώμεθα μέτριοι καὶ ταπεινοὶ