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indeed acting beyond all prayer and desire, for whom the power of enjoyment of these good things has not been shut off. But we, just as those who by the luxury of wealth, considering their own poverty, are more grieved and displeased by their present circumstances, in the same way, the more we recognize the wealth of virginity, the more we pity the other life, learning by comparison with better things what and how many things it lacks. I do not mean only what is laid up hereafter for those who have lived virtuously, but also what belongs to the present life. For if one should wish to examine accurately the difference of this life in comparison to virginity, he will find the difference to be as great as that between earthly and heavenly things; and it is possible to know the truth of this statement by examining the facts themselves.

3.2 From where might one begin to bewail worthily this heavy life? Or how could one bring before the eyes the common evils of life, which all men know through experience, but I do not know how nature has contrived for them to be hidden from those who know them, with men being willingly ignorant of the things they are in? Do you wish that we should begin with the most pleasant things? Therefore, the chief of the things earnestly sought in marriage is to obtain a pleasant life together. And indeed, let these things be so, and let marriage be depicted as blessed in every way; esteemed family, sufficient wealth, suitable age, the very flower of youth, much affection, and such as to be thought more of by each one than the other, that sweet rivalry where each wishes to conquer himself in love. Let there be added to these things glory and power and distinction and whatever you wish. But see the grief necessarily accompanying and smouldering beneath the good things that have been enumerated. I do not speak of the envy that springs up against the prosperous and the readiness of men to plot against what seems to be flourishing in life, and that everyone who does not have an equal share in what is better has a certain natural hatred for the one who surpasses him; and for this reason life is full of suspicion for those who seem to be cheerful, providing more painful things than pleasant ones. I pass over these things, as if envy were inactive against them; and yet it is not easy to find someone for whom these two things have come together at the same time: to be happier than the many and to escape envy. But nevertheless, let us suppose, if you please, that their life is free from all such things, and let us see if it is possible for those living in such great prosperity to be cheerful.

3.3 What then will be the cause of grief, you will say, if not even envy lays hold of the happy? This very thing, I say, that their life is sweetened in every way, this is the kindling for grief. For as long as they are human beings, this mortal and perishable thing, and they see the tombs of those from whom they were born, they have grief inseparable from and yoked together with their life, if they have even a small share of reason. For the constant expectation of death, not recognized by any specific signs, but through the uncertainty of the future always feared as if it were present, confuses the ever-present gladness, disturbing their cheerfulness with the fear of what is expected. For if it were possible to learn before the experience the things of those who have experienced them. For if it were possible by some other device to be within life and observe its realities, how great would be the rush of those deserting from marriage to virginity. How much watchfulness and foresight not ever to be caught in the inescapable snares, the difficulty of which it is not possible otherwise by

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μὲν ὄντως καὶ πάσης εὐχῆς καὶ ἐπιθυμίας ἐπέκεινα πράτ τοντες, οἷς ἡ δύναμις τῶν ἀπολαύσεων τῶν ἀγαθῶν τούτων οὐκ ἀποκέκλεισται. Ἡμεῖς δὲ καθάπερ οἱ τῇ πολυτελείᾳ τοῦ πλούτου τὴν ἑαυτῶν παραθεωροῦντες πενίαν πλεῖον ἀνιῶνται τοῖς παροῦσι καὶ δυσχεραίνουσι, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ὅσῳ πλέον τὸν τῆς παρθενίας πλοῦτον ἐπιγινώ σκομεν, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον οἰκτείρομεν τὸν ἄλλον βίον διὰ τῆς τῶν βελτιόνων παρεξετάσεως οἵων καὶ ὅσων πτω χεύει καταμανθάνοντες. Οὐ λέγω μόνον ὅσα εἰς ὕστερον τοῖς κατ' ἀρετὴν βεβιωκόσιν ἀπόκειται, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσα τῆς παρούσης ἐστὶ ζωῆς. Εἰ γάρ τις ἀκριβῶς ἐξετάζειν ἐθέλοι τοῦ βίου τούτου τὸ πρὸς τὴν παρθενίαν διάφορον, τοσαύτην εὑρήσει τὴν διαφοράν, ὅση σχεδὸν τῶν ἐπιγείων ἐστὶ πρὸς τὰ οὐράνια· ἔξεστι δὲ γνῶναι τὴν τοῦ λόγου ἀλήθειαν αὐτὰ διασκεψαμένους τὰ πράγματα.

3.2 Πόθεν δέ τις ἀρξάμενος ἐπαξίως ἂν τὸν βαρὺν τοῦτον βίον ἐκτραγῳδήσειεν; Ἢ πῶς ἄν τις ὑπ' ὄψιν ἀγάγοι τὰ κοινὰ τοῦ βίου κακά, ἃ πάντες μὲν οἱ ἄνθρωποι διὰ τῆς πείρας γινώσκουσιν, οὐκ οἶδα δὲ ὅπως ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς εἰδόσιν αὐτὰ λανθάνειν ἡ φύσις ἐμηχανήσατο, ἑκουσίως τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐν οἷς εἰσιν ἀγνοούντων; Βούλει, ἀπὸ τῶν ἡδίστων ἀρξώμεθα; Οὐκοῦν τὸ κεφάλαιον τῶν ἐν τῷ γάμῳ σπουδαζομένων τὸ κεχαρισμένης ἐπιτυχεῖν συμβιώ σεως. Καὶ δὴ ταῦθ' οὕτως ἐχέτω καὶ διὰ πάντων μακα ριστὸς ὑπογεγράφθω ὁ γάμος· γένος εὐδόκιμον, πλοῦτος ἀρκῶν, ἡλικία συμβαίνουσα, τῆς ὥρας αὐτὸ τὸ ἄνθος, φίλτρον πολύ, καὶ οἷον ἐν ἑκατέρῳ ὑπὲρ τὸν ἄλλον ὑπο νοεῖσθαι, ἡ γλυκεῖα ἐκείνη φιλονεικία τὸ ἑαυτὸν βούλεσθαι νικᾶν ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ ἑκάτερον. Προσέστω τούτοις δόξα καὶ δυναστεία καὶ περιφάνεια καὶ πᾶν ὅ τι βούλει. Ἀλλ' ὅρα τὴν τοῖς ἀπηριθμημένοις χρηστοῖς ἀναγκαίως συμπαρ οῦσαν καὶ ὑποσμύχουσαν λύπην. Οὐ λέγω τὸν τοῖς εὐδο κιμοῦσιν ἐπιφυόμενον φθόνον καὶ τὸ πρόχειρον εἶναι πρὸς ἐπιβουλὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸ δοκοῦν εὐημερεῖν ἐν τῷ βίῳ, καὶ ὅτι πᾶς ὁ μὴ ἰσομοιρῶν ἐν τῷ κρείττονι φυσικόν τι πρὸς τὸν ὑπερέχοντα τὸ μῖσος ἔχει· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο δι' ὑποψίας τοῖς δοκοῦσιν εὐθυμεῖν ὁ βίος ἐστί, πλείω τῶν ἡδέων τὰ λυπηρὰ παρεχόμενος. Παρίημι ταῦτα ὡς καὶ τοῦ φθόνου κατ' ἐκείνων ἀργοῦντος· καίτοι γε οὐ ῥᾴδιόν ἐστιν εὑρεῖν ὅτῳ τὰ δύο κατὰ ταὐτὸν συνηνέχθη καὶ ὑπὲρ τοὺς πολλοὺς εὐδαιμονεῖν καὶ διαφεύγειν τὸν φθόνον. Πλὴν ἀλλὰ πάντων τῶν τοιούτων ἐλευθέραν αὐτῶν, εἰ δοκεῖ, τὴν ζωὴν ὑποθώμεθα, καὶ ἴδωμεν εἰ δυνατόν ἐστιν εὐθυ μεῖν τοὺς ἐν τοσαύτῃ διάγοντας εὐημερίᾳ.

3.3 Τί οὖν ἔσται τὸ λυποῦν, ἐρεῖς, εἰ μηδὲ ὁ φθόνος τῶν εὐδαιμονούντων καθάψεται; Τοῦτο αὐτό φημι τὸ διὰ πάντων αὐτοῖς τὸν βίον καταγλυκαίνεσθαι, τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ τῆς λύπης ὑπέκκαυμα. Ἕως γὰρ ἂν ἄνθρωποι ὦσι, τὸ θνητὸν τοῦτο καὶ ἐπίκηρον πρᾶγμα, καὶ τοὺς τάφους τῶν ἀφ' ὧν γεγόνασι βλέπωσιν, ἀχώριστον ἔχουσι καὶ συνεζευγ μένην τῇ ζωῇ τὴν λύπην, εἰ καὶ μικρὸν μετέχοιεν τοῦ λογίζεσθαι. Ἡ γὰρ διηνεκὴς τοῦ θανάτου προσδοκία οὐκ ἐπὶ ῥητοῖς τισι σημείοις ἐπιγινωσκομένη, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ἀδηλίαν τοῦ μέλλοντος πάντοτε ὡς ἐνεστηκυῖα φοβοῦσα τὴν ἀεὶ παροῦσαν εὐφροσύνην συγχεῖ, τῷ φόβῳ τῶν ἐλπιζομένων τὰς εὐθυμίας ἐπιταράσσουσα. Εἰ γὰρ ἦν δυ νατὸν πρὸ τῆς πείρας τὰ τῶν πεπειραμένων μαθεῖν. Εἰ γὰρ ἐξῆν δι' ἄλλης τινὸς ἐπινοίας ἐντὸς τοῦ βίου γενόμενον ἐποπτεῦσαι τὰ πράγματα, πόσος ἂν ἦν ὁ δρόμος τῶν αὐτο μολούντων πρὸς τὴν παρθενίαν ἀπὸ τοῦ γάμου. Πόση φυ λακὴ καὶ προμήθεια τοῦ μήποτε ταῖς ἀφύκτοις πάγαις ἐγκρατηθῆναι, ὧν τὴν δυσκολίαν οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλως δι'