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it had the sea. But it was not a pleasant sight, although at other times it is most pleasant, when it grows purple in a calm, and plays upon the shores with a sweet and gentle touch. But what then (for I gladly utter the words of Scripture)? A great wind blowing, it was stirred up and roared; and of the waves, as is wont to happen in such agitations, some rising up from afar, and little by little cresting, then diminishing, were broken upon the shores; while others, dashing against the neighboring rocks and being beaten back, were scattered into foamy and fine spray. There pebbles, and seaweed, and shells, and the lightest of oysters were pushed out and spat forth; and some things were even snatched back again, as the wave receded. But they were unshaken and unmoved, no less than if nothing were disturbing them, except for being struck by the waves.

9. From this I know I gained something for philosophy, and (being the sort of person who refers everything to myself, and especially if I happen to be made dizzy by some event, 35.1240 which has now happened to me) I did not receive what I saw as a secondary matter; and the sight becomes an instruction for me. For is not, I said, our life and human affairs the sea (for in this too there is much that is salty and unstable), and the winds the temptations that assail us and all that is unexpected? This, it seems to me, the most admirable David also understood, when he said, "Save me, O Lord, for the waters have come in even unto my soul;" and, "Deliver me from the deep waters;" "But I came into the depths of the sea, and a tempest overwhelmed me." And of those who are tempted, some seemed to me to be swept away like the lightest and most breathless things, and not to resist the assaults even a little; for they do not have within themselves firmness, and the weight of a sound mind that stands against assaults. But others are a rock, worthy of that Rock on which we have taken our stand, and which we worship, all we who use philosophic reason, and have risen above the lowliness of the many, bear all things unshakenly and unmovably, and laugh at, or pity, those who are shaken (the one out of philosophy, the other out of philanthropy); but they themselves consider it shameful to despise dangers when they are absent, or rather not even to think them dangers, but to be defeated when they are present, and this by what? by things that are passing, as if they were permanent; and to philosophize when the time is not right, but to appear unphilosophical in times of need; just as if someone should think himself the best of athletes, without ever going down into the stadium; or a renowned helmsman, who prides himself on his skill in fair weather, but in storms lets go of the rudders.

10. But since I have once entered upon these discourses, I have also come to another image, very suitable to the present circumstances. Perhaps you will think me an old man and a story-teller, if I make this known to you as well; but it must be made known, since I know that Scripture also often uses such things for a clearer narrative. There is a plant in myth, which flourishes when cut, and struggles against the iron; and, if one must speak paradoxically of a paradoxical thing, it lives by death, and grows by being cut, and increases by being 35.1241 consumed. Such, then, is the myth, and the independence of the fiction; but to me it seems that the philosopher is clearly something of this sort. He thrives in sufferings, and makes painful things the material of virtue, and adorns himself with their opposites; neither being lifted up by the weapons of righteousness on the right hand, nor being bent by those on the left; but remaining always the same, not in the same circumstances, or even found to be more approved, like gold in a furnace. But let us consider it thus: Is he of noble birth? he will display in turn his good conduct with his bloodline; so as to be well-reputed from two sources, both when his lineage is traced, and when he is seen. Of low birth as to his statue and his clay (if indeed one clay differs greatly from another)? he will bring in in its place the nobility that is understood, and which each man fashions for himself for better or for worse; but the other kind he will dismiss, as much as is sown or written, as being of no worth and

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εἶχε τὴν θάλασσαν. Ἡ δὲ ἦν θέαμα οὐχ ἡδὺ, καίτοιγε ἄλλως ἥδιστον οὖσα, ὅταν γαλήνῃ πορφύρηται, καὶ προσπαίζῃ ταῖς ἀκταῖς ἡδύ τι καὶ ἥμερον. Ἀλλὰ τί τότε (φθέγγομαι γὰρ ἡδέως καὶ τὰ ῥήματα τῆς Γραφῆς); Ἀνέμου μεγάλου πνέοντος, διηγείρετό τε καὶ ἐπωρύετο· τῶν δὲ κυμάτων, ὃ φιλεῖ συμβαί νειν ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις κινήμασι, τὰ μὲν πόῤῥω θεν ἀνιστάμενα, καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν κορυφούμενα, εἶτ' ἐλαττούμενα, πρὸς ταῖς ἀκταῖς ἐλύετο· τὰ δὲ ταῖς γείτοσι πέτραις προσπίπτοντα καὶ ἀποκρουό μενα, εἰς ἄχνην ἀφρώδη καὶ ψιλὴν ἐσκορπίζετο. Ἔνθα κάχληκες μὲν, καὶ φυκία, καὶ κήρυκες, καὶ τῶν ὀστρέων τὰ ἐλαφρότατα ἐξωθεῖτο καὶ ἀπεπτύετο· ἔστι δὲ ἃ καὶ ἡρπάζετο πάλιν, ἀναχωροῦντος τοῦ κύματος. Αἱ δὲ ἦσαν ἄσειστοι καὶ ἀτίνακτοι, οὐδέν γε ἧττον ἢ διοχλοῦντος οὐδενὸς, πλὴν ὅσον τοῖς κύ μασι βάλλεσθαι.

Θʹ. Ἐντεῦθεν οἶδά τι πρὸς φιλοσοφίαν ὠφεληθεὶς, καὶ (οἷος ἐγὼ πάντα συντείνων πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν, καὶ μάλιστα εἰ τύχοιμι πρός τι τῶν συμβαινόντων 35.1240 ἰλιγγιάσας, ὃ καὶ νῦν πέπονθα) οὐ παρέργως ἐδεξά μην τὸ ὁρώμενον· καί μοι τὸ θέαμα παίδευμα γίνε ται. Ἦ γὰρ οὐκ, ἔφην ἐγὼ, θάλασσα μὲν ὁ ἡμέτερος βίος καὶ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα (πολὺ γὰρ κἀν τούτῳ τὸ ἁλμυρὸν καὶ ἄστατον), πνεύματα δὲ οἱ προσπίπτοντες πειρασμοὶ καὶ ὅσα τῶν ἀδοκήτων; Ὅ μοι δοκεῖ καὶ ὁ θαυμασιώτατος ∆αβὶδ κατανοήσας, Σῶσόν με, Κύ ριε, λέγειν, ὅτι εἰσήλθοσαν ὕδατα ἕως ψυχῆς μου· καὶ, Ῥῦσαί με ἐκ τῶν βαθέων τῶν ὑδάτων· Ἦλθον δὲ εἰς τὰ βάθη τῆς θαλάσσης, καὶ καταιγὶς κατεπόντισέ με. Τῶν δὲ πειραζομένων οἱ μὲν ἐδό κουν μοι ὡς τὰ κουφότατα καὶ ἄπνοα παρασύρεσθαι, καὶ οὐδὲ μικρὸν ἀντέχειν πρὸς τὰς ἐπηρείας· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς στεῤῥότητα, καὶ βάρος λογισμοῦ σώφρονος, καὶ τοῖς προσπίπτουσιν ἀντιβαίνοντος· οἱ δὲ εἶναι πέτρα, τῆς πέτρας ἐκείνης ἄξιοι, ἐφ' ἧς βεβήκαμεν, καὶ ᾗ λατρεύομεν, ὅσοι φιλοσόφῳ χρώμενοι λόγῳ, καὶ ὑπεραναβεβηκότες τὴν τῶν πολλῶν ταπεινότητα, πάντα φέρουσιν ἀσείστως καὶ ἀτινά κτως, καὶ διαγελῶσι μὲν, ἢ ἐλεοῦσι τοὺς σειομένους (τὸ μὲν ὑπὸ φιλοσοφίας, τὸ δὲ ὑπὸ φιλανθρωπίας)· αὐτοὶ δὲ τῶν αἰσχρῶν τίθενται, ἀπόντα μὲν τὰ δεινὰ περιφρονεῖν, μᾶλλον δὲ μηδὲ δεινὰ οἴεσθαι, παρόντων δὲ ἡττᾶσθαι, καὶ ταῦτα, τίνων; τῶν παρ ερχομένων, ὡς ἱσταμένων· καὶ τοῦ καιροῦ μὲν ἔξω φιλοσοφεῖν, ἐν δὲ ταῖς χρείαις ἀφιλοσόφους φαίνεσθαι· ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις ἄριστον ἑαυτὸν νομίζοι τῶν ἀθλητῶν, μηδὲ καταβαίνων εἰς στάδιον· ἢ κυβερνήτην τῶν εὐδοκίμων, ἐν μὲν ταῖς εὐδίαις τῇ τέχνῃ μέγα φρονοῦντα, ἐν δὲ ταῖς ζάλαις μεθ ιέντα τοὺς οἴακας.

Ιʹ. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἅπαξ εἰς τούτους κατέστην τοὺς λό γους, καὶ πρὸς ἑτέραν ἦλθον εἰκόνα, σφόδρα τοῖς παροῦσι συμβαίνουσαν. Τάχα με γέροντα καὶ μυθολόγον νομίσετε, ἂν καὶ ὑμῖν ταύτην γνωρίσω· γνωριστέον δ' οὖν, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὴν Γραφὴν οἶδα πολλάκις τοιούτοις χρωμένην εἰς σαφεστέραν διήγησιν. Ἔστι τι μύθῳ φυτὸν, ὃ θάλλει τεμνόμενον, καὶ πρὸς τὸν σίδηρον ἀγωνίζεται· καὶ εἰ δεῖ παραδόξως εἰπεῖν περὶ παραδόξου πράγματος, θανάτῳ ζῇ, καὶ τομῇ φύεται, καὶ αὔξεται δαπανώ 35.1241 μενον. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὁ μῦθος, καὶ ἡ αὐτονομία τοῦ πλάσματος· ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκεῖ σαφῶς τοιοῦ τον εἶναί τι ὁ φιλόσοφος. Εὐδοκιμεῖ τοῖς πάθεσι, καὶ ὕλην ἀρετῆς ποιεῖται τὰ λυπηρὰ, καὶ τοῖς ἐναν τίοις ἐγκαλλωπίζεται· μήτε τοῖς δεξιοῖς ὅπλοις τῆς δικαιοσύνης αἰρόμενος, μήτε τοῖς ἀριστεροῖς καμπτό μενος· ἀλλ' ὁ αὐτὸς οὐκ ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἀεὶ διαμένων, ἢ καὶ δοκιμώτερος, ὥσπερ ἐν καμίνῳ χρυσὸς, εὑρι σκόμενος. Σκοπῶμεν δὲ οὕτως· Εὐπατρίδης ἐστίν; ἀντεπιδείξεται τὴν εὐτροπίαν τῷ αἵματι· ὥστε διχόθεν εὐδοκιμεῖν, καὶ γενεαλογούμενος, καὶ ὁρώμενος. ∆υσγενὴς τὸν ἀνδριάντα καὶ τὸν πηλὸν (εἴπερ τι μέγα πηλὸς πηλοῦ διαφέρει); ἀντεισοίσει τὴν νοουμένην εὐγένειαν, καὶ ἣν ἕκαστος ἑαυτὸν δια πλάττει πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον ἢ βέλτιον· τὴν δὲ ἄλλην παραγράψεται, ὅση σπείρεται ἢ γράφεται, ὡς οὐδενὸς ἀξίαν καὶ