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12 TO PALLADIUS THE PHILOSOPHER. Not unreasonably, O best of men, are you distressed by this bitter and grievous life; for life is full of many and all kinds of evils, and very few are those who care for virtue and are lovers of philosophy; but the greater part of the race has loved disorder, and not least has the present time brought forth a crop of wicked men, who pursue every form of vice fearlessly, and neither shame, nor the fear of the laws, nor the hope of things to come are sufficient to check the rush of vice, and they do not now, as of old, even cast a shadow over their transgressions, but they arm injustice with shamelessness and call their effrontery 'frankness'. And while the clothes-stealer fears being caught, the covetous man openly steals clothes and breaks through walls and takes away his neighbor's goods and calls his own what in no way belongs to him. For these reasons I too am grieved, and I long for death, and I am eager to be released from the present life; yet I am content with what seems good to God, and I love the movements of His wise rudders, and I am carried wherever He may carry me. And I exhort you, too, to bear sorrows nobly and to remember the words of Demosthenes: For it is necessary, he says, for good men to undertake all noble things, putting forward good hope, but to bear nobly whatever God may give . And such things also Thucydides wrote before him: For one must bear, he says, what comes from the gods with necessity, and what comes from the enemy with courage . These things are for your tongue to utter, O best of men. But we, having been nourished on the writings of the fishermen, can utter what we have learned from them. They are words that have, on the one hand, a humble sheath, but on the other, a secret and mystical treasure of meanings. Having composed the letter to the most magnificent general, I have sent it to your learned self. 13 TO OLYMPIUS GERMANICUS. If the prejudice of your doctrine had not marred the beauty of your soul, and, having turned aside the eye from what is straight, made it bear in another direction, I would have said that I had seen the best of all who live this life. So has the sweetness of your character captivated me. But I am grieved, and very much grieved, seeing such great virtue in need of a head, and beholding such great beauty of a building lying on a precarious foundation. Therefore, gladden us, O admirable one, and prepare for us a very great festival, by making a change of your foundation, and exchanging the truth for what is false, and set right the straightness of the eyes of your soul, by receiving purity. But as for Hermes and the Muses, whom you have placed in your writings along with Eunomius, banish them far away somewhere from sacred words. For it is not fitting for tongues taught to be pious to utter the names of people-deceiving demons. For what, says the holy Apostle, has Christ in common with Belial? Or what part does a believer share with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols ? I write these things out of concern, and thirsting for your perfection, O my dear friend. 14 TO IRENAEUS THE COMES. The most God-beloved archdeacon lately beguiled me by announcing the arrival of your magnificence, and filled my soul with pleasure, and gave wings to my hopes, and prepared me to watch the roads, and to dream of this by night, and to imagine it by day. Thus I spent the entire holy forty days expecting to enjoy your company; but I was deceived in my hopes and as

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12 ΠΑΛΛΑ∆ΙΩ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΩ. Οὐκ ἀπεικότως, ὦ ἄριστε, τὴν πικρὰν ταύτην καὶ ἀνιαρὰν δυσχεραίνεις ζωήν· πολλῶν γὰρ καὶ παντοδαπῶν πλήρης ὁ βίος κακῶν, ὀλίγοι δὲ λίαν εἰσιν ἀρετῆς φροντισταὶ καὶ φιλο σοφίας ἐρασταί· τὸ δὲ πλεῖστον τοῦ γένους τὴν ἀκοσμίαν ἠγά πησεν, οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ ὁ παρὼν καιρὸς φορὰν ἤνεγκε πονηρῶν ἀνθρώπων, πᾶν εἶδος κακίας ἀδεῶς μετιόντων, καὶ οὔτε αἰδώς, οὔτε τῶν νόμων τὸ δέος, οὔθ' ἡ τῶν μελλόντων ἐλπὶς ἱκανὰ κωλῦσαι τῆς κακίας τὴν ῥύμην, καὶ οὐδὲ συσκιάζουσι νῦν ὡς πάλαι τὰ πλημμελούμενα, ἀλλ' ἀναιδείᾳ τὴν ἀδικίαν ὁπλίζουσι καὶ παῤῥησίαν τὴν ἀναισχυντίαν προσαγορεύουσι. Καὶ ὁ μὲν λωποδύτης τὸ φωραθῆναι δειμαίνει, ὁ δὲ πλεονέκτης προφα νῶς λωποδυτεῖ καὶ τοιχωρυχεῖ καὶ τὰ τοῦ πέλας ἀφαιρεῖται καὶ οἰκεῖα καλεὶ τὰ μηδαμόθεν προσήκοντα. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα κἀγὼ ἀνιῶμαι, καὶ θάνατον ἱμείρομαι, καὶ τῆς παρούσης ἀπαλλαγῆ ναι γλίχομαι βιοτῆς· στέργω δὲ ὅμως τὰ τῷ Θεῷ δοκοῦντα, καὶ τῶν σοφῶν αὐτοῦ πηδαλίων ἀγαπῶ τὰ κινήματα, καὶ φέρο μαι ᾗ ἂν φέρῃ. Παρακαλῶ δὲ καί σε γενναίως φέρειν τὰ λυ πηρὰ καὶ μεμνῆσθαι τῶν τοῦ ∆ημοσθένους ῥημάτων· ∆εῖ γάρ, φησί, τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς ἄνδρας ἐγχειρεῖν μὲν ἅπασι τοῖς καλοῖς, τὴν ἀγαθὴν προβαλλομένους ἐλπίδα, φέρειν δὲ ἃ ἂν ὁ θεὸς διδῷ γενναίως . Τοιαῦτα δὲ καὶ ὁ Θουκυδίδης πρὸ τούτου συνέγραψε· Φέρειν γάρ, φησί, τά τε δαιμόνια ἀναγκαίως, τά τε ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμίων ἀνδρείως . Ταῦτα τῆς σῆς, ὦ ἄριστε, γλώττης προφέρειν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ τοῖς τῶν ἁλιέων συγγράμμασιν ἐντραφέντες, ἅπερ ἐκείνων μεμαθήκαμεν, δυνάμεθα φθέγγεσθαι. Λόγοι δέ εἰσιν, εὐτελὲς μὲν τὸ ἔλυτρον ἔχοντες, ἀπ[όρρητον] δὲ καὶ μυστικὸν τῶν νοημάτων τὸν θησαυρόν. Τὴν πρὸς τὸν μεγαλοπρεπέστα τον στρατηγὸν ποιήσας ἐπιστολὴν πέπομφα τῇ σῇ παιδεύσει. 13 ΟΛΥΜΠΙΩ ΓΕΡΜΑΝΙΚΩ. Εἰ μή σου τῷ κάλλει τῆς ψυχῆς ἡ τοῦ δόγματος ἐλυμήνατο πρόληψις, καὶ τὸ ὀπτικὸν τοῦ εὐθέος παρατρέψασα ἑτέρωσε πεποίηκε φέρεσθαι, πασῶν ἀρίστην τῶν ἐν βίῳ ἀναστρεφομέ νων ἔφην ἂν τεθεᾶσθαι. Οὕτως εἷλέ με τῶν σῶν ἠθῶν ἡ γλυ κύτης. Ἀλλ' ἄχθομαι, καὶ λίαν ἄχθομαι τηλικαύτην ἀρετὴν κεφαλῆς δεομένην ὁρῶν, καὶ τοσοῦτον κάλλος οἰκοδομίας ἐπὶ σφαλερᾶς κρηπῖδος θεώμενος κείμενον. Εὔφρανον τοιγαροῦν ἡμᾶς, ὦ θαυμάσιε, καὶ μεγίστην ἡμῖν σχεδίασον ἑορτήν, τὴν τῆς ὑποβάθρας ἐναλλαγὴν ποιησάμενος, καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν τοῦ ψεύδους ἀνταλλαξάμενος, καὶ τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμῶν τὴν εὐθύτητα κατάρτισον, καθαρότητα προσλαβών. Ἑρμῆν δὲ καὶ Μούσας, οὓς τοῖς γράμμασιν ἐντέθεικας σὺν Εὐνομίῳ, πόῤῥω που τῶν ἱερῶν ἐξόρισον λόγων. Οὐ γὰρ πρέπει γλώσσαις εὐσε βεῖν δεδιδαγμέναις δαιμόνων προφέρειν λαοπλάνων ὀνόματα. Τίς γάρ , φησὶν ὁ ἱερὸς Ἀπόστολος, συμφώνησις Χριστῷ πρὸς Βελίας; ἢ τίς μερὶς πιστῷ μετ' ἀπίστου; ἢ τίς συγκατάθεσις ναῷ Θεοῦ μετὰ εἰδώλων ; Ταῦτα κηδό μενος γράφω, καὶ τὴν σήν, ὦ φίλη μοι κεφαλή, διψῶν τελειό τητα. 14 ΕΙΡΗΝΑΙΩ ΚΟΜΗΤΙ. Ἐβουκόλησέ με πρώην τὴν παρουσίαν τῆς σῆς μεγαλοπρε πείας μηνύσας ὁ θεοφιλέστατος ἀρχιδιάκονος, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐπλήρωσεν ἡδονῆς, καὶ ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ἐπτέρωσε, καὶ τὰς ὁδοὺς καραδοκεῖν παρεσκεύασε, καὶ τοῦτο μὲν νύκτωρ ὀνειροπολεῖν, τοῦτο δὲ μεθ' ἡμέραν φαντάζεσθαι. Οὕτω πᾶσαν τὴν ἁγίαν τεσσαρακοστὴν διετέλεσα τῆς σῆς προσδοκῶν ἀπολαύσεσθαι συνουσίας· ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐλπίδων ἐψεύσθην καὶ ὡς