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A succession of darkness awaits a state of rest, and the earth, condemned to its position, remains motionless in its fixity. The rivers toil unceasingly, being consumed by the insatiable nature of the sea, and in vain the sea receives the inflows of the waters, taking into its gulfs to no greater extent that which is forever poured in. If these things are so in these things, in what is it likely that the human condition exists, which has its life in these things? And why are we surprised, if *A generation goes, and a generation comes*, and this course does not fail 5.287 nature, with the ever-succeeding generation of men both pushing out the one that came before and being pushed out by the one that comes after? What then does the word cry out to the church through these things? That, O men, by looking at the whole, you may understand your own nature. What you see concerning the heaven and the earth, what you observe in the sun, what you perceive in the sea, let these things interpret to you also your own nature. For there is a certain rising and setting of our nature in the likeness of the sun. One is the way for all, one is the circle of the course of life. When we rise through birth, we are drawn down again to our kindred place. For when our life sets, our light also becomes subterranean, when the sense perceptive of light becomes earth; and the earth is certainly resolved into what is kindred to it, and this is a certain circle, perpetually turning in the same things. Just as the word says concerning the sun, that rising over the upper part of the earth it travels through the southern regions, and being under the earth it passes through the opposite northern part, and in this way, continually journeying, it circles its own course and again circling returns. For, it says, *it circles, circling*. Thus, therefore, your spirit also journeys (calling the entire human by a part, the spirit), 5.288 running around this circular course through similar things. For, it says, *the spirit goes and the spirit returns on its circuits*. And he who understands these things would not be helped a little in his own life. What is more brilliant than the light? What is brighter than the rays? But nevertheless, if the sun should go under the earth, the light is hidden and the ray vanishes. Looking at these things, let a man pass his own life more soberly, despising the prominence here, having learned from the things that are seen that distinction does not last forever, but the successions of opposites are swift to turn; and nothing remains forever such as it is in the present, not youth, not beauty, not the prominence from positions of power. And these things for those who live in some good fortune; but for as many as the life toward virtue seems to be laborious, let the soul be trained by the example of the earth to persevere in hardships. *The earth stands forever*. What is more toilsome than this immovable fixity? And yet this state is prolonged unto an age. But you, for whom the time of striving is short, do not become more soulless than the earth, do not become more foolish than senseless things, you who have received reason and are governed in life by the word, but *Remain*, as the apostle says, *in what you have learned and have been assured of*, in a firm and immovable state. Since this too is of the divine commandments, *be steadfast, immovable*, 5.289 let self-control remain unshaken in you, faith firm, love unchangeable, your stand in every good thing immovable, so that the earth in you also may stand forever. But if anyone, gaping at greediness, like a kind of sea spreading out the immoderation of his desire, should be insatiable for the profits flowing in from all sides, let him, by looking at the real sea, be cured of the disease. For as that sea does not pass its own measure amid the countless inflows of waters, but remains at the same fullness, as if no addition were being made to it from the waters, in the same way also human nature, <τοῖς> confined to its own measures in the enjoyment of what comes to it, is not able to broaden its gluttony for enjoyment by the multitude of its revenues, but the inflow does not cease, while the power of enjoyment is kept within its own boundary. If therefore the

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σκότους διαδοχὴ στάσιν ἐκδέχεται ἥ τε γῆ καταδεδικασμένη τὴν στάσιν μένει ἐν τῷ παγίῳ ἀκίνητος, ἀνήνυτα δὲ μοχθοῦσιν οἱ ποταμοὶ τῇ ἀπλήστῳ φύσει τῆς θαλάσσης ἐνδαπανώμενοι, μάτην δὲ τὰς ἐπιρροὰς δέχεται τῶν ὑδάτων ἡ θάλασσα, εἰς οὐδὲν πλέον ὑπολαμβάνουσα τοῖς κόλποις τὸ διὰ παντὸς εἰσχεό μενον· εἰ ταῦτα ἐν τούτοις ἐστίν, ἐν τίσιν εἰκὸς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον εἶναι, ὃ ἐν τούτοις τὴν ζωὴν ἔχει, καὶ τί ξενιζόμεθα, εἰ Γενεὰ πορεύεται καὶ γενεὰ ἔρχεται, καὶ οὐκ ἐπιλείπει 5.287 τὴν φύσιν οὗτος ὁ δρόμος, τῆς ἀεὶ ἐπεισιούσης γενεᾶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων τό τε προεισελθὸν ἐξωθούσης καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐπεισιόντος ἐξωθουμένης; Τί οὖν βοᾷ διὰ τούτων τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ὁ λόγος; ὅτι, ὦ ἄνθρω ποι, εἰς τὸ πᾶν ἀποβλέποντες τὴν ἑαυτῶν φύσιν νοήσατε. ἃ περὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν βλέπεις, ἃ ἐν τῷ ἡλίῳ καθορᾷς, ἃ ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ κατανοεῖς, ταῦτά σοι καὶ τὴν σὴν φύσιν ἑρμηνευέτω. ἔστι γάρ τις καθ' ὁμοιότητα τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν ἀνατολή τε καὶ δύσις. μία ὁδὸς τοῖς πᾶσιν, εἷς ὁ κύκλος τῆς τοῦ βίου πορείας. ὅταν διὰ γενέσεως ἀνατείλωμεν, πάλιν εἰς τὸ συγγενὲς χωρίον ἡμῶν καθελκόμεθα. τῆς γὰρ ζωῆς ἡμῖν ἐπιδυείσης, ὑπόγειον καὶ τὸ ἡμέτερον γίνεται φέγγος, ὅταν ἡ ἀντιληπτικὴ τοῦ φωτὸς αἴσθησις γῆ γένηται· πάντως δὲ ἡ γῆ πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς ἀναλύεται, καὶ οὗτος κύκλος τίς ἐστι διηνεκῶς ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἑλισσόμενος. καθάπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἡλίου φησὶν ὁ λόγος, ὅτι ἀνατέλλων μὲν κατὰ τὸ ἄνω τῆς γῆς μέρος τοῖς νοτίοις ἐνδιοδεύει, ὑπόγειος δὲ κατὰ τὸ ἀντικείμενον τὸ βόρειον ὑπέρχεται μέρος καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον εἰς ἀεὶ περιοδεύων κυκλοῖ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ δρόμον καὶ πάλιν ἀνακυκλῶν περιέρχεται· Κυκλοῖ γάρ, φησί, κυκλῶν· οὕτω τοίνυν καὶ τὸ σὸν πορεύεται πνεῦμα (ἀπὸ μέρους ἅπαν ὀνομάζων τὸ ἀνθρώπινον πνεῦμα), 5.288 τὴν ἐγκύκλιον ταύτην διὰ τῶν ὁμοίων περιτρέχον φοράν. Πορεύεται γάρ, φησί, τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ ἐπὶ κύκλους αὐτοῦ ἐπιστρέφει τὸ πνεῦμα. ὁ δὲ ταῦτα κατανοήσας οὐκ ἂν μικρὰ πρὸς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ βίον ὠφεληθείη. τί λαμπρότερον τοῦ φωτός; τί τῶν ἀκτίνων φανότερον; ἀλλ' ὅμως εἰ ὑπὸ γῆν ὁ ἥλιος ἔλθοι, κρύπτεται τὸ φέγγος καὶ ἡ ἀκτὶς ἀφανίζεται. Πρὸς ταῦτά τις βλέπων σωφρονέστερον τὸν ἑαυτοῦ παρερχέσθω βίον, καταφρονῶν τῆς ὧδε περιφανείας, μαθὼν ἐκ τῶν ὁρωμένων, ὅτι οὐ διαρκεῖ πρὸς τὸ διηνεκὲς τὸ ἐπίσημον, ἀλλ' ἀγχίστροφοί εἰσιν αἱ τῶν ἐναντίων διαδοχαί· μένει δὲ οὐδὲν εἰς ἀεὶ τοιοῦτον, οἷον ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἐστίν, οὐ νεότης, οὐ κάλλος, οὐχ ἡ ἐκ τῶν δυναστειῶν περιφάνεια. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν τοῖς ἐν εὐκληρίᾳ τινὶ ζῶσιν· ὅσοις δὲ ἐπίπονος ὁ πρὸς ἀρετὴν δοκεῖ βίος, τῷ τῆς γῆς ὑποδείγματι πρὸς τὸ ἐγκαρτερεῖν τοῖς δεινοῖς ἡ ψυχὴ παιδοτριβείσθω. Ἡ γῆ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἕστηκεν. τί μοχθηρότερον τῆς ἀκινήτου ταύτης παγιότητος; καὶ ὅμως παρατείνεται μέχρις αἰῶνος ἡ στάσις. σὺ δέ, ᾧ ὀλίγος ὁ τῆς ἀθλήσεως χρόνος, μὴ γίνου τῆς γῆς ἀψυχότερος, μὴ γίνου τῶν ἀναισθήτων ἀνοητότερος ὁ λο γισμὸν εἰληχὼς καὶ λόγῳ πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν διοικούμενος, ἀλλὰ Μένε, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, ἐν οἷς ἔμαθες καὶ ἐπιστώ θης, ἐν ἑδραίᾳ καὶ ἀμετακινήτῳ τῇ στάσει. ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῦτο τῶν θείων παραγγελμάτων ἐστί, τὸ ἑδραῖοι καὶ ἀμετακίνητοι 5.289 γίνεσθε, ἄσειστος ἔν σοι μενέτω ἡ σωφροσύνη, παγία ἡ πίστις, ἀμετάθετος ἡ ἀγάπη, ἀκίνητος ἡ ἐν παντὶ καλῷ στάσις, ὡς ἂν καὶ ἡ ἔν σοι γῆ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἑστήκοι. εἰ δέ τις κεχηνὼς πρὸς τὴν πλεονεξίαν καθάπερ τινὰ θάλασσαν τὴν ἀμετρίαν τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἁπλώσας πρὸς τὰ πανταχόθεν εἰσρέοντα κέρδη ἀπλήστως ἔχοι, οὗτος πρὸς τὴν ὄντως θάλασσαν βλέπων θεραπευέσθω τὴν νόσον. ὡς γὰρ ἐκείνη τὸ ἑαυτῆς οὐ παρέρχεται μέτρον ἐν ταῖς μυρίαις τῶν ὑδάτων ἐπιρροαῖς, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ ἴσῳ διαμένει πληρώματι, καθάπερ οὐδεμιᾶς αὐτῇ γινομένης ἐξ ὑδάτων προσθήκης, κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις <τοῖς> ἰδίοις μέτροις ἐν τῇ ἀπολαύσει τῶν προσιόντων διειλημμένη συμπλατῦναι τῷ πλήθει τῶν προσόδων τὴν ἀπολαυστικὴν λαιμαργίαν οὐ δύναται, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν εἰσρέον οὐ παύεται, ἡ δὲ τῆς ἀπολαύσεως δύναμις ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ ὅρῳ φυλάσσεται. εἰ οὖν ἡ