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by hypothesis) that something painful was done by me against him; what tribunal was established against us for the things done or suspected? what proof has convicted the injustice? what canons were read out against us? what lawful decision of a bishop has ratified the judgment 1.29 against us? And if any of these things had happened lawfully, the danger would surely have been concerning rank; but what 1.30 canons legislated insolence against freedom and dishonor against equals? Judge a just judgment, you who look to God, in what do you consider the dishonor against us 1.31 pardonable? if the dignity were to be judged according to the priesthood, the privilege from the synod has been one and the same for both, or rather the care for the correction of common matters, 1.32 <so that> in this we have equality. But if some were to see us on our own, stripped of the dignity of the priesthood, what more does one have than the other? Family? Education? Freedom among the best and most esteemed? Knowledge? These things can be found either in equal measure with us or certainly 1.33 not in a lesser one. But does he speak of wealth? May it not become necessary to relate these things about him. Surely it is sufficient only to say how great he was at the beginning and how great he has now become, and to leave it to others to seek out the sources of the increase of his wealth, which has been growing and being nourished up to the present time, almost every day, through his fine 1.34 practices. What then is the authority for the insolence against us, if there is neither superiority of family, nor eminence of rank, nor an overwhelming power 1.35 of words, nor is there any pre-existing benefaction? Since even if these things existed, even so the matter of insolence against free men would be unpardonable; but since none of these things exist, I do not think it is right to overlook so great a disease of pride as incurable. But the cure is to bend the arrogance and to deflate the empty bulk, once the puffing up of pride has been slightly let out; but how this might happen, will be God's concern.

2. Concerning those who go away to Jerusalem, to Censorinus

2.1 Since you asked, O friend, through your letter, I thought it proper to answer you in order concerning all things. I say that it is well for those who have once dedicated themselves to the sublime life to look always to the words of the gospel, and just as those who straighten an underlying object with a rule change the crooked parts of what is in their hands to straightness according to the straight line on the rule, so I think it is fitting for these men to apply, as it were, a certain straight and unperverted rule, I mean the evangelical life, and 2.2 according to it to be straightened toward God. Since, therefore, there are some of those who have undertaken the solitary and private life for whom it has been considered a part of piety to see the places in Jerusalem, in which the signs of the Lord's sojourn in the flesh are seen, it would be well to look to the rule, and if the guidance from the commandments wishes these things, to do the work as a command of the Lord; but if it is outside the commandments of the master, I do not know what the one who has been so ordered wants to do, becoming a law of the good 2.3 for himself. Where the Lord calls the blessed to the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven, he did not count going away to Jerusalem among the good deeds; where he announces the beatitude, he did not include such zeal. But that which neither makes one blessed nor is well-suited for the kingdom, for what reason is it pursued with zeal, 2.4 let the one who has sense consider. And if indeed what was being done was beneficial, not even so was it good to be pursued with zeal by the perfect; but since we learn accurately what is being done and that spiritual harm is inflicted on those who have undertaken the strict life, it is not worthy of great zeal but of

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καθ' ὑπόθεσιν) γεγενῆσθαι παρ' ἐμοῦ τι λυπηρὸν κατ' ἐκείνου· ποῖον συνέστη καθ' ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς γενομένοις ἢ ὑπονοουμένοις κριτήριον; τίς ἀπό δειξις τὴν ἀδικίαν ἀπήλεγξεν; τίνες κανόνες καθ' ἡμῶν ἀνεγνώσθησαν; ποία ἔννομος ἐπισκόπου ἀπόφασις τὴν καθ' 1.29 ἡμῶν κρίσιν ἐκύρωσεν; εἰ δέ τι καὶ ἐγεγόνει τούτων ἐν νόμως, πάντως ἂν περὶ τὸν βαθμὸν ὁ κίνδυνος ἦν· ὕβριν δὲ κατὰ ἐλευθερίας καὶ ἀτιμίαν κατὰ τῶν ὁμοτίμων ποῖοι 1.30 κανόνες ἐνομοθέτησαν; Κρίμα δίκαιον κρίνατε οἱ πρὸς θεὸν ὁρῶντες, ἐν τίνι συγγνωστὴν ἡγεῖσθε τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν 1.31 ἀτιμίαν; εἰ κατὰ τὴν ἱερωσύνην τὸ ἀξίωμα κρίνοιτο, ἴση παρὰ τῆς συνόδου καὶ μία γέγονεν ἀμφοτέροις ἡ προνο μία, μᾶλλον δὲ ἡ φροντὶς τῆς τῶν κοινῶν διορθώσεως, 1.32 <ὡς> ἐν τούτῳ τὸ ἴσον ἔχειν. εἰ δέ τινες ἡμᾶς γυμνοὺς τοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἱερωσύνην ἀξιώματος ἐφ' ἑαυτῶν βλέποιεν, τί τοῦ ἑτέρου πλέον ἔχει ὁ ἕτερος; γένος; παίδευσιν; ἐλευ θερίαν πρὸς τοὺς ἀρίστους τε καὶ εὐδοκιμωτάτους; γνῶ σιν; ταῦτα ἢ ἐν τῷ ἴσῳ καὶ παρ' ἡμῖν ἔστιν εὑρεῖν ἢ πάν 1.33 τως οὐκ ἐν ἐλάσσονι. ἀλλὰ πλοῦτον λέγει; μὴ γένοιτο εἰς ἀνάγκην ἐλθεῖν ταῦτα περὶ αὐτοῦ διηγήσασθαι. ἦ το σοῦτον ἀρκεῖ μόνον εἰπεῖν, ὅσος ἦν τὸ κατ' ἀρχὰς καὶ νῦν ὅσος ἐγένετο, καὶ καταλιπεῖν ἄλλοις ἀναζητῆσαι τῆς αὐξήσεως τοῦ πλούτου τὰς ἀφορμὰς τοῦ μέχρι τοῦ παρ όντος καθ' ἑκάστην μικροῦ δεῖν ἡμέραν διὰ τῶν καλῶν 1.34 ἐπιτηδευμάτων αὐξομένου τε καὶ τρεφομένου. τίς οὖν τῆς καθ' ἡμῶν ὕβρεως ἡ ἐξουσία, εἰ μήτε γένους ὑπεροχὴ μήτε ἀξιώματος περιφάνεια μήτε δύναμις ὑπερβάλλουσα 1.35 λόγων, μηδὲ ἔστιν εὐεργεσία τις προϋπάρξασα; ὁπότε καὶ εἰ ταῦτα ἦν, καὶ οὕτως ἂν ἦν τὸ κατὰ τὴν ὕβριν ἐπὶ τῶν ἐλευθέρων ἀσύγγνωστον· μηδενὸς δὲ τούτων ὄντος οὐκ οἶμαι καλῶς ἔχειν τὴν τοσαύτην τοῦ τύφου νόσον περιιδεῖν ἀθεράπευτον. θεραπεία δέ ἐστιν τὸ ἐπικλῖναι τὴν ὑπερη φανίαν καὶ διαστεῖλαι τὸν διάκενον ὄγκον, μικρὸν δια πνευσθέντος τοῦ κατὰ τὸν τῦφον φυσήματος· ὅπως δ' ἂν γένοιτο τοῦτο, θεῷ μελήσει.

2.τ Περὶ τῶν ἀπιόντων εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα, Κηνσίτορι

2.1 Ἐπειδήπερ ἠρώτησας, ὦ φίλε, διὰ τοῦ γράμματος, πρέπειν ᾠήθην περὶ

πάντων σοι καθεξῆς ἀποκρίνασθαι. ἐγὼ τοὺς ἅπαξ ἀνατεθεικότας ἑαυτοὺς τῇ ὑψηλῇ πολιτείᾳ καλῶς ἔχειν φημὶ πρὸς τὰς τοῦ εὐαγγελίου διὰ παντὸς ἀποβλέπειν φωνάς, καὶ ὥσπερ οἱ τῷ κανόνι τὸ ὑποκείμενον ἀπευθύνοντες κατὰ τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ κανόνος εὐθεῖαν τὰ σκολιὰ τοῦ ἐν χερσὶν εἰς εὐθύτητα μεταβάλλουσιν, οὕτως προσή κειν ἡγοῦμαι οἷόν τινα κανόνα ὀρθὸν καὶ ἀδιάστροφον, τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν λέγω δὴ πολιτείαν, τούτοις ἐπιβάλλοντας 2.2 κατ' ἐκείνην πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀπευθύνεσθαι. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν εἰσί τινες τῶν τὸν μονήρη καὶ ἰδιάζοντα βίον ἐπανῃρημέ νων, οἷς ἐν μέρει εὐσεβείας νενόμισται τὸ τοὺς ἐν Ἱεροσο λύμοις τόπους ἰδεῖν, ἐν οἷς τὰ σύμβολα τῆς διὰ σαρκὸς ἐπιδημίας τοῦ κυρίου ὁρᾶται, καλῶς ἂν ἔχοι πρὸς τὸν κανόνα βλέπειν, καὶ εἰ ταῦτα βούλεται ἡ παρὰ τῶν ἐντο λῶν χειραγωγία, ποιεῖν τὸ ἔργον ὡς πρόσταγμα κυρίου· εἰ δὲ ἔξω ἐστὶ τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ δεσπότου, οὐκ οἶδα τί θέλει [τί ἐστι] τὸ διατεταγμένον ποιεῖν, αὐτὸν ἑαυτῷ τοῦ 2.3 καλοῦ νόμον γινόμενον. ὅπου προσκαλεῖται πρὸς τὴν κλη ρονομίαν τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν ὁ κύριος τοὺς εὐλο γημένους, τὸ ἀπελθεῖν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα ἐν τοῖς κατορθώ μασιν οὐκ ἀπηρίθμησεν· ὅπου τὸν μακαρισμὸν διαγγέλλει, τὴν τοιαύτην σπουδὴν οὐ περιέλαβεν. ὃ δὲ μήτε μακάριον ποιεῖ μήτε πρὸς τὴν βασιλείαν εὔθετον, ἀντὶ τίνος σπου 2.4 δάζεται, ὁ νοῦν ἔχων ἐπισκεψάσθω. καὶ εἰ μὲν ἐπωφελὲς ἦν τὸ γινόμενον, οὐκ ἦν οὐδὲ οὕτως καλὸν παρὰ τῶν τε λείων σπουδάζεσθαι· ἐπεὶ δὲ καταμανθάνομεν δι' ἀκρι βείας τὸ γινόμενον καὶ ψυχικὴν προστρίβεσθαι βλάβην τοῖς τὸν ἀκριβῆ βίον ἐνστησαμένοις, οὐκ ἔστι τῆς μακρᾶς σπου δῆς ἄξιον ἀλλὰ τῆς