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For there are two ways, opposite to one another; the one broad and spacious, the other narrow and constricted. And two guides, each trying to turn one toward himself. The smooth and sloping way, then, has a deceptive guide, an evil demon, who through pleasure drags his followers to destruction; but the rough and steep way has a good angel, who through the toils of virtue leads his followers to the blessed 29.224 end. So long, then, as each of us is a child, pursuing the pleasure of the present, he takes no care for the future; but when he has become a man, after the formation of his concepts, he seems to see life divided for him toward virtue and vice, and often turning the eye of his soul toward each, he judges side-by-side the things belonging to each. And the life of sinners shows all the delights of the present age; but that of the righteous reveals only the good things of the future. And the way of those who are being saved, inasmuch as it promises good things for the future, provides toilsome things in the present; but the pleasant and licentious life offers enjoyment not expected later, but already present. Therefore every soul grows dizzy, and wavers in its reasonings, when it thinks on eternal things, choosing virtue, but when it looks to present things, preferring pleasure. Here it sees the comfort of the flesh, there the subjugation of the flesh; here drunkenness, there fasting; here unrestrained laughter, there abundant tears; here dancing, and there prayer; here flutes, and there groanings; here fornication, and there virginity. Since, then, the truly good is apprehended by reason through faith (for it is settled far off, and eye has not seen, and ear has not heard), but the pleasure of sin has its enjoyment ready at hand and flowing through every sense; blessed is he who has not been turned aside by the enticements of pleasure toward destruction, but through patience awaits the hope of salvation, and in the choice of the two ways has not set foot on the way that leads to worse things. And has not sat in the seat of the pestilent. Does he mean these seats on which we rest our bodies? And what is the transmission of sin from the wood, that I should avoid as harmful the seat previously occupied by a sinner? Or should we think that a 'seat' means the settled and permanent lingering in the judgment of wickedness? This we must guard against, because to laboriously persist in sins produces a certain habit in souls that is hard to move. For a passion of the soul grown old, and a practice of evil confirmed by time is hard to cure, or even completely incurable, since habit, for the most part, changes into nature. Therefore, it is worth praying not to touch evil. But a second voyage is, immediately after the trial, to flee as from the strike of a poisonous serpent, according to what is written by Solomon concerning the wicked woman, that 'you should not fix your eye upon her, but leap away; do not linger'. But now I know some who in youth slipped into the passions of the flesh 29.225 and, even to old age, remain in their sins through the habit of evil. For just as pigs wallowing in the mire always cake themselves with more mud, so these men daily smear on themselves the shame that comes from pleasure. Therefore, blessed is it not to have thought of evil; but if by the seizure of the enemy you have received into your soul counsels of impiety, do not stand in sin. And if you have suffered this too, do not become established in evil. Therefore, do not sit in the seat of the pestilent. If you have understood what seat the word means, that it speaks of the constant attendance to evil, examine next whom he called the pestilent. Indeed, the experts on these matters say that a plague, whenever it takes hold of one person or animal, is distributed by transmission to all who come near; for such is the nature of the disease, that all infect one another with the sickness. And of such a kind are also the workers of iniquity.

5

∆ύο γάρ εἰσιν ὁδοὶ ἐναντίαι ἀλλήλαις· ἡ μὲν πλατεῖα καὶ εὐρύχωρος, ἡ δὲ στενὴ καὶ τεθλιμ μένη. Καὶ δύο ὁδηγοὶ, ἑκάτερος πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐπι στρέφειν ἐπιχειρῶν. Ἔχει οὖν ἡ μὲν λεία ὁδὸς καὶ πρανὴς ὁδηγὸν ἀπατηλὸν, δαίμονα πονηρὸν, δι' ἡδονῆς πρὸς τὴν ἀπώλειαν τοὺς ἑπομένους ἐπι συρόμενον· ἡ δὲ τραχεῖα καὶ ἀνάντης ἄγγελον ἀγα θὸν, διὰ τῶν ἐπιπόνων τῆς ἀρετῆς πρὸς τὸ μακάριον 29.224 τέλος τοὺς ἑπομένους ἄγοντα. Ἕως μὲν οὖν νήπιός ἐστιν ἕκαστος ἡμῶν, τὸ ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἡδὺ διώκων, οὐδεμίαν τοῦ μέλλοντος κηδεμονίαν ποιεῖται· ἀνὴρ δὲ ἤδη γενόμενος, μετὰ τὸν ἀπαρτισμὸν τῶν ἐννοιῶν, οἷον ὁρᾷν δοκεῖ τὸν βίον αὐτῷ σχιζόμενον πρὸς ἀρε τὴν καὶ κακίαν, καὶ πυκνὰ πρὸς ἑκάτερον τὸ ὄμμα τῆς ψυχῆς μεταστρέφων, παράλληλα κρίνει τὰ ἑκατέρῳ προσόντα. Καὶ ὁ μὲν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν βίος πάντα δείκνυσι τὰ τοῦ παρόντος αἰῶνος τερπνά· ὁ δὲ τῶν δικαίων, μόνα ὑποφαίνει τὰ τοῦ μέλλοντος ἀγαθά. Καὶ ἡ μὲν τῶν σωζομένων ὁδὸς ὅσον καλὰ ὑπισχνεῖ ται τὰ μέλλοντα, τοσοῦτον ἐπίπονα παρέχεται τὰ παρόντα· ὁ δὲ ἡδὺς καὶ ἀκόλαστος βίος οὐχὶ προσδο κωμένην εἰς ὕστερον, ἀλλ' ἤδη παροῦσαν προτείνε ται τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν. Ἰλιγγιᾷ οὖν πᾶσα ψυχὴ, καὶ μετοκλάζει τοῖς λογισμοῖς, ὅταν μὲν ἐνθυμηθῇ τὰ αἰώνια, τὴν ἀρετὴν αἱρουμένη, ὅταν δὲ ἀποβλέψῃ πρὸς τὰ παρόντα, τὴν ἡδονὴν προτιμῶσα. Ὧδε βλέ πει σαρκὸς εὐπάθειαν, ἐκεῖ δουλαγωγίαν σαρκός· ὧδε μέθην, ἐκεῖ νηστείαν· ὧδε γέλωτας ἀκρατεῖς, ἐκεῖ δάκρυον δαψιλές· ἐνταῦθα ὄρχησιν, κἀκεῖ προσ ευχήν· αὐλοὺς ὧδε, κἀκεῖ στεναγμούς· ὧδε πορ νείαν, κἀκεῖ παρθενίαν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν τὸ μὲν ἀληθινῶς ἀγαθὸν λογισμῷ ληπτόν ἐστι διὰ πίστεως (μακρὰν γὰρ ἀπῴκισται, καὶ ὀφθαλμὸς οὐκ εἶδε, καὶ οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσε), τὸ δὲ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἡδὺ πρόχειρον ἔχει καὶ διὰ πάσης αἰσθήσεως ῥέουσαν τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν· μακά ριος ὁ μὴ περιτραπεὶς ἐκ τῶν τῆς ἡδονῆς δε λεασμάτων πρὸς τὴν ἀπώλειαν, ἀλλὰ δι' ὑπομονῆς τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς σωτηρίας ἀπεκδεχόμενος, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐκλογῇ τῶν ὁδῶν ἑκατέρων μὴ ἐπιβὰς τῆς ὁδοῦ ἀγού σης ἐπὶ τὰ χείρονα. Καὶ ἐπὶ καθέδρας λοιμῶν οὐκ ἐκάθισεν. Ἆρα ταύτας λέγει τὰς καθέδρας, ἐφ' ὧν ἀναπαύομεν ἡμῶν τὰ σώματα; Καὶ τίς ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου πρὸς ἁμαρτίαν μετάδοσις, ὥστε με τὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁμαρτω λοῦ προκαταληφθεῖσαν καθέδραν ὡς βλαβερὰν ἀπο φεύγειν; Ἢ νομίζειν ἡμᾶς χρὴ καθέδραν λέγεσθαι τὴν ἑδραίαν καὶ μόνιμον ἐν τῇ κρίσει τῆς κακίας διατριβήν; Ὃ φυλακτέον ἡμῖν, διότι τὸ φιλοπόνως προσδιατρίβειν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ἕξιν τινὰ δυσκίνητον ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἐμποιεῖ. Παλαιωθὲν γὰρ πάθος ψυχῆς, καὶ κακοῦ μελέτη χρόνῳ βεβαιωθεῖσα δυσίατός ἐστιν, ἢ καὶ ἀνίατος παντελῶς, εἰς φύσιν, ὡς τὰ πολλὰ, τοῦ ἔθους μεθισταμένου. Εὐχῆς μὲν οὖν ἄξιον μὴ προσ άψασθαι τοῦ κακοῦ. ∆εύτερος δὲ πλοῦς, εὐθὺς μετὰ τὴν πεῖραν ὥσπερ ἰοβόλου πληγὴν ἀποφεύγειν, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον παρὰ τοῦ Σολομῶντος περὶ τῆς γυ ναικὸς τῆς φαύλης, ὅτι Μὴ ἐπιστήσῃς σὸν ὄμμα πρὸς αὐτὴν, ἀλλ' ἀποπήδησον· μὴ ἐγχρονίσῃς. Νῦν δὲ οἶδά τινας ἐν νεότητι πρὸς τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς 29.225 πάθη κατολισθήσαντας, καὶ μέχρι πολιᾶς αὐτῆς διὰ συνήθειαν τοῦ κακοῦ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις παραμένον τας. Ὡς γὰρ οἱ ἐν βορβόρῳ καλινδούμενοι χοῖροι ἀεὶ προσπλάττουσιν ἑαυτοῖς τὸν πηλόν· οὕτως οὗτοι τὸ ἐκ τῆς ἡδονῆς αἶσχος καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν προσαναμάσσονται. Μακάριον μὲν οὖν τὸ μὴ δια νοηθῆναι τὸ πονηρόν· εἰ δὲ κατὰ συναρπαγὴν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ ἐδέξω τῇ ψυχῇ βουλεύματα ἀσεβείας, μὴ στῇς ἐπὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο πέπονθας, μὴ ἐνιδρυνθῇς τῷ κακῷ. Μὴ τοίνυν καθεσθῇς ἐπὶ καθ έδρας τῆς τῶν λοιμῶν. Εἰ ἐνόησας καθέδραν τίνα φησὶν ὁ λόγος, ὅτι τὴν διαρκῆ λέγει τοῦ κακοῦ προσ εδρίαν, ἐξέτασον λοιπὸν τίνας ὠνόμασε τοὺς λοιμούς. Φασὶ δὴ τὸν λοιμὸν οἱ περὶ ταῦτα δεινοὶ, ἐπειδὰν ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ἢ κτήνους ἅψηται, κατὰ διάδοσιν ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς ἐγγίζοντας διανέμεσθαι· φύσιν γὰρ εἶναι τῆς νόσου τοιαύτην, τὸ ἐξ ἀλλήλων πάντας ἀνα πιμπλάναι τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας. Τοιοῦτοι δέ τινές εἰσι καὶ οἱ ἐργάται τῆς ἀνομίας.