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having gone through our poverty, he proceeds to the experience of death. See the measure of his voluntary poverty. Life tastes death; the Judge is led to judgment; the Lord of the life of all beings is subject to the vote of the judge; the King of all super-cosmic power does not push away the hands of the executioners. To this example, he says, let the measure of your humility look. But perhaps it seems good to me to also examine the irrationality of such a passion, so that the beatitude might become easily attainable for us, with humility being achieved with much ease and readiness. For just as skilled physicians, having first removed the cause of the disease, more easily overcome the affliction; so also we, having suppressed the vanity of those who are puffed up in their reasoning, may make the path of humility easy for ourselves to tread. 44.1204 From where, then, might one better demonstrate the futility of pride? From where else, than by showing what our nature is? For one who looks to himself, and not to the things around him, would not reasonably fall into such a passion. What then is man? Do you want me to speak the more solemn and honorable of accounts? But he who adorns our state, and prepares human nobility for boasting, traces our nature's lineage from clay; and the nobility and solemnity of the proud man has kinship with the brick. But if you should wish to speak of the immediate and ready origin of our birth, away with it, do not speak of this; do not mutter, do not uncover, as the law says, the nakedness of your father and your mother; do not make public in speech things worthy of forgetfulness and deep silence. Then do you not blush, you earthen statue, you who will soon be dust, you who like a bubble contain in yourself a short-lived breath, becoming full of pride, and being inflamed with arrogance, and puffing up your mind with vain conceit. Do you not look to both ends of human life, both how it begins, and in what it ends? But you exult in your youth, and look to the flower of your age, and pride yourself in your prime, because your hands are vigorous for movement, and your feet are light for leaping, and your hair flutters in the breezes, and downy hair marks your cheek, and because your garment blooms with the dye of purple, and your silk fabrics are embroidered for you, decorated with wars or hunts, or some stories, or perhaps you also look at your sandals carefully gleaming in their blackness, and elaborately delighting in the lines from the stitches? You look at these things, but do not look at yourself? I will show you as in a mirror, who you are and what you are like. Have you not seen in a common burial ground the mysteries of our nature? have you not seen the piled-up heap of bones? skulls stripped of flesh, looking out with something fearful and hideous in their empty eyes? Have you seen mouths gaping, and the rest of the limbs scattered about as it chanced? If you have seen those things, you have beheld yourself in them. Where are the symbols of your present bloom? where is the healthy color of the cheek? where is the flower on the lip? where is the fierce beauty in the eyes, gleaming beneath the arch of the eyebrows? where is the straight nose, mediating the beauty of the cheeks? where is the hair upon the neck? where are the curls around the temples? where are the hands that draw the bow? the feet that ride horses? the purple? the fine linen? the cloak? the belt? the sandals? the horse? the race? the arrogance? all the things by which your pride now increases? Where are these things among those bones, tell me, over which you are now exalted and high-minded? What dream is so unsubstantial? What phantoms from sleep are like this? What shadow is so faint, eluding the touch, as the dream of youth, at once appearing and immediately flying away? 44.1205 These things I say to those in their youth who are foolish on account of the immaturity of their age. But what might one say about those already established in life, whose age is advanced, but whose character is unstable, and the disease of pride increases; and for such a sickness of character they give the name of 'high-mindedness'; and office for the most part and the power that comes with it become the basis of pride.

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πτωχείας ἡμῶν διεξελθὼν μέχρι τῆς τοῦ θανάτου πρόεισι πεί ρας. Ὁρᾶτε τῆς ἑκουσίου πτωχείας τὸ μέτρον. Ἡ ζωὴ θανάτου γεύεται· ὁ Κριτὴς εἰς κριτήριον ἄγεται· ὁ τῆς ζωῆς τῶν ὄντων Κύριος ἐπὶ τῇ ψήφῳ τοῦ δι κάζοντος γίνεται· ὁ πάσης τῆς ὑπερκοσμίου δυνάμεως Βασιλεὺς τὰς τῶν δημίων οὐκ ἀπωθεῖται χεῖρας. Πρὸς τοῦτό σοι, φησὶ, τὸ ὑπόδειγμα, τὸ τῆς ταπεινο φροσύνης βλεπέτω μέτρον. Τάχα δέ μοι δοκεῖ καλῶς ἔχειν καὶ τὴν ἀλογίαν τοῦ τοιούτου διασκοπῆσαι πάθους, ὡς ἂν εὐκατόρθωτος ἡμῖν ὁ μακαρισμὸς γένοιτο, σὺν εὐμαρείᾳ πολλῇ καὶ ῥᾳστώνῃ τῆς ταπεινοφροσύνης κατορθουμένης. Καθά περ γὰρ οἱ ἐπιστήμονες τῶν ἰατρῶν, τὸ νοσοποιὸν αἴτιον προεξελόντες, ῥᾷον ἐπικρατοῦσι τοῦ πάθους· οὕτως καὶ ἡμεῖς τὴν χαυνότητα τῶν τυφουμένων τῷ λογισμῷ καταστείλαντες, εὐεπίβατον ἑαυτοῖς τὴν τῆς 44.1204 ταπεινοφροσύνης ὁδὸν καταστήσωμεν. Πόθεν οὖν ἄν τις μᾶλλον ἐπιδείξειε τοῦ τύφου τὸ μάταιον; Πόθεν ἄλλοθεν, ἢ ἐκ τοῦ δεῖξαι τὴν φύσιν, ἥτις ἐστίν; Ὁ γὰρ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν, καὶ μὴ τὰ περὶ αὑτὸν βλέπων, οὐκ ἂν εὐλόγως εἰς τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐμπέσοι πάθος. Τί οὖν ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος; Βούλει τὸν σεμνότερον καὶ τιμιώτε ρον εἴπω τῶν λόγων; Ἀλλ' ὁ κοσμῶν τὰ ἡμέτερα, καὶ πρὸς τὸ κομπωδέστερον διασκευάζων τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην εὐγένειαν, ἐκ πηλοῦ γενεαλογεῖ τὴν φύσιν· καὶ ἡ εὐγένεια, καὶ ἡ σεμνότης τοῦ ὑπερηφάνου, τὸ συγγε νὲς πρὸς τὴν πλίνθον ἔχει. Εἰ δὲ τὴν προσεχῆ τε καὶ πρόχειρον τῆς γενέσεως εἰπεῖν ἐθέλοις, ἄπαγε, μὴ φθέγξῃ περὶ τούτου· μὴ γρύξῃς, μὴ ἀνακαλύψῃς, καθώς φησιν ὁ νόμος, ἀσχημοσύνην πατρὸς καὶ μη τρός σου· μὴ δημοσιεύσῃς τῷ λόγῳ τὰ λήθης ἄξια καὶ βαθείας σιγῆς. Εἶτα οὐκ ἐρυθριᾷς, ὁ γήϊνος ἀν δριὰς, ὁ μετ' ὀλίγον κόνις, ὁ πομφόλυγος δίκην ὠκύ μορον ἐν σεαυτῷ περιέχων τὸ φύσημα, πλήρης ὑπερ ηφανίας γινόμενος, καὶ περιφλεγμαίνων τῷ τύφῳ, καὶ τῷ ματαίῳ φρονήματι ἐξογκῶν τὴν διάνοιαν. Οὐχ ὁρᾷς εἰς ἀμφότερα τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὰ πέρατα, καὶ ὅπως ἄρχεται, καὶ εἰς ὅ τι λήγει; Ἀλλὰ γαυριᾷς τῇ νεότητι, καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἄνθος τῆς ἡλικίας βλέπεις, καὶ ἐγκαλλωπίζῃ τῇ ὥρᾳ, ὅτι σοι ὑπερσφρι γῶσιν αἱ χεῖρες πρὸς κίνησιν, καὶ κοῦφοι πρὸς τὸ ἅλμα οἱ πόδες, καὶ περισοβεῖ ταῖς αὔραις ὁ βόστρυ χος, καὶ τὴν παρειὰν ὑπογράφει ὁ ἴουλος, καὶ ὅτι σοι ἡ ἐσθὴς τῇ βαφῇ τῆς πορφύρας ὑπερανθίζεται, καὶ πεποίκιλταί σοι τὰ ἐκ σηρῶν ὑφάσματα, πολέμοις ἢ θήραις, ἤ τισιν ἱστορίαις πεποικιλμένα, ἢ τάχα καὶ πρὸς τὰ πέδιλα βλέπεις ἐπιμελῶς ἐν τῷ μέλανι στίλ βοντα, καὶ περιέργως ταῖς ἀπὸ τῶν ῥαφίδων γραμ μαῖς ἐπιτέρποντα; Πρὸς ταῦτα βλέπεις, πρὸς δὲ σεαυτὸν οὐχ ὁρᾷς; ∆είξω σοι ὥσπερ ἐν κατόπτρῳ, τίς εἶ καὶ οἷος εἶ. Οὐκ εἶδες ἐν πολυανδρίῳ τὰ τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν μυ στήρια; οὐκ εἶδες τὴν ἐπάλληλον τῶν ὀστέων σω ρείαν; κρανία σαρκῶν γεγυμνωμένα, φόβερόν τι καὶ εἰδεχθὲς ἐν διακένοις δεδορκότα τοῖς ὄμμασιν; Εἶδες στόματα σεσηρότα, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν μελῶν πρὸς τὸ συμβὰν πεφορημένα; Εἰ ἐκεῖνα εἶδες, σεαυτὸν ἐν ἐκεί νοις τεθέασαι. Ποῦ τοῦ παρόντος ἄνθους τὰ σύμβολα; ποῦ ἡ εὔχροια τῆς παρειᾶς; ποῦ τὸ ἐπὶ τοῦ χείλους ἄν θος; ποῦ τὸ βλοσυρὸν ἐν τοῖς ὄμμασι κάλλος τῇ περιβολῇ τῶν ὀφρύων ὑπολαμπόμενον; ποῦ ἡ εὐθεῖα ῥὶς, ἡ τῷ κάλλει τῶν παρειῶν μεσιτεύουσα; ποῦ αἱ ἐπαυχένιοι κόμαι; ποῦ οἱ περικροτάφιοι βόστρυχοι; ποῦ αἱ τοξαζόμεναι χεῖρες; οἱ ἱππαζόμενοι πόδες; ἡ πορφύρα; ἡ βύσ σος; ἡ χλανίς; ἡ ζώνη; τὰ πέδιλα; ὁ ἵππος; ὁ δρό μος; τὸ φρύαγμα; πάντα, δι' ὧν σοι νῦν ὁ τῦφος αὔξεται; Ποῦ ταῦτα ἐν ἐκείνοις, εἰπὲ, ὑπὲρ ὧν νῦν ἐπαίρῃ καὶ μεγαλοφρονεῖς; Ποῖον οὕτως ἀνυπόστατον ὄναρ; Ποῖα τοιαῦτα ἐξ ὕπνου φαντάσματα; Τίς οὕτως 44.1205 ἀδρανὴς σκιὰ τὴν ἁφὴν ὑποφεύγουσα, ὡς τὸ τῆς νεότητος ὄναρ ὁμοῦ τε φαινόμενον καὶ εὐθὺς παρ ιπτάμενον; Ταῦτά μοι πρὸς τοὺς ἐν νεότητι διὰ τὸ ἀτελὲς τῆς ἡλικίας ἀφραίνοντας. Τί δ' ἄν τις εἴποι περὶ τῶν ἤδη καθεστηκότων, οἷς ἡ μὲν ἡλικία βέ βηκεν, ἀστατεῖ δὲ τὸ ἦθος, καὶ ἡ νόσος τῆς ὑπερη φανίας αὔξεται· ὄνομα δὲ τῇ τοιαύτῃ ἀῤῥωστίᾳ τοῦ ἤθους φρόνημα τίθενται· ἀρχὴ δὲ ὡς ἐπιτοπολὺ καὶ ἡ κατ' αὐτὴν δυναστεία, ἡ τῆς ὑπερηφανίας ὑπόθεσις γίνεται.