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But what is their end? Here there are cares and labors, there, unbreakable bonds and outer darkness. Not those who love glory, but what is their end. Here there is slavery and irony, there, great loss and to be burned continually. If we reason with ourselves in this way, and continually sing these and such things as an incantation to our evil desires, we will quickly both flee from vice and achieve virtue, and we will extinguish the love of present things, and we will kindle the love of future things. For what do present things have that is secure, or what is strange and wonderful, that we should spend all our zeal on them? Do we not see the same things continually cycling, such as day and night, night and day, winter and summer, summer and winter, and nothing more? Let us therefore kindle a longing for the good things to come. For great glory is laid up for the righteous, and which it is not possible to describe in words. For having received their bodies incorruptible after the resurrection, they are glorified together and reign together with Christ. 2. And how great this is, we will know from this; or rather, we will not know it clearly from anywhere; but so that being led up from the good things among us, we might at least get some small idea, as best I can, I will try to present what has been said. For tell me, if someone promised to suddenly make you, who are old and living in poverty, young, and to bring you to the very prime of your life, and to make you exceedingly strong and more beautiful than all, and to give you the kingdom of the whole earth for a thousand years, a kingdom having the deepest peace, what would you not have chosen both to do and to suffer for this proposition? Behold then, Christ promises not these things, but things far greater than these. For the difference between corruption and incorruption is not merely as great as the interval between old age and youth; nor is the difference between the glory of the present and of the future merely as great as that between a kingdom and poverty; but as great as that between dreams and reality. Or rather, I have as yet said nothing; for there is no word sufficient to describe the magnitude of the difference of the things to come compared to the present things. And concerning time, it is not possible to conceive of a difference at all. For how could one compare with the present things a life that has no end? And the interval of peace is as great as the difference between peace and war; and of corruption and incorruption, as much as a pure pearl is better than a clod of clay. Or rather, whatever one might say, he will be able to represent nothing. For even if I compare the beauty of the bodies then to the light of a sunbeam, or to the brightest lightning, I will as yet say nothing worthy of that splendor. For the sake of these things, then, what possessions and bodies is it not worth sacrificing? or rather, how many lives is it not worth giving up? But as it is, if someone brought you into a palace, and arranged for the king to converse with you in the presence of all, and made you his companion at table and in life, you would say you were more blessed than all. But when you are about to ascend into heaven, and to stand beside the very King of all, and to shine as brightly as the angels, and to enjoy that unapproachable glory, do you doubt whether you must give up your possessions, when it is necessary, even if you had to cast off life itself, to leap and exult and be winged with pleasure? But you, in order to get an office that provides you with opportunities for theft—for I do not call such a thing profit—you both cast away what you have, and having borrowed from others, if need be, you do not hesitate even to mortgage your wife and children, but when the kingdom of heaven is set before you, an office that has no successor, you hesitate and shrink back and gape after money? And do you not consider, that if the parts of heaven near us are so beautiful and delightful, how great are the highest parts, and the heaven of heaven? But since it is not possible to see these things with bodily eyes, ascend with your reason, and standing above this heaven, look up to that heaven which is higher than this, to the

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ἀλλὰ τί τὸ τέλος αὐτῶν. Ἐνταῦθα φροντίδες καὶ πόνοι, ἐκεῖ δεσμὰ ἄλυτα καὶ σκότος ἐξώτερον. Μὴ τοὺς δόξης ἐρῶντας, ἀλλὰ τί τὸ τέλος αὐτῶν. Ἐνταῦθα δουλεία καὶ εἰρωνεία, ἐκεῖ ζημία πολλὴ καὶ τὸ διηνεκὲς ἐμπυρίζεσθαι. Ἂν οὕτως ἑαυτοῖς διαλεγώμεθα, καὶ ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα συνεχῶς ἐπᾴδωμεν ταῖς πονηραῖς ἡμῶν ἐπιθυμίαις, ταχέως καὶ κακίαν ἐκφύγωμεν, καὶ ἀρετὴν κατορθώσομεν, καὶ τὸν τῶν παρόντων ἔρωτα σβέσομεν, καὶ τὸν τῶν μελλόντων ἀνάψομεν. Τί γὰρ ἔχει τὰ παρόντα βέβαιον, ἢ τί ξένον καὶ παράδοξον, ὅτι πᾶσαν τὴν σπουδὴν εἰς αὐτὰ ἀναλίσκωμεν; Οὐχὶ τὰ αὐτὰ διαπαντὸς ὁρῶμεν ἀνακυκλούμενα, οἷον ἡμέρα καὶ νὺξ, νὺξ καὶ ἡμέρα, χειμὼν καὶ θέρος, θέρος καὶ χειμὼν, καὶ πλέον οὐδέν; Ἀνάψωμεν τοίνυν τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν τὸν πόθον. Μεγάλη γὰρ ἀπόκειται δόξα τοῖς δικαίοις, καὶ ἢν οὐκ ἔνι παραστῆσαι λόγῳ. Τὰ γὰρ σώματα μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἀπολαβόντες ἄφθαρτα, συνδοξάζονται καὶ συμβασιλεύουσι τῷ Χριστῷ. ʹ. Τοῦτο δὲ ἡλίκον ἐστὶν, ἐντεῦθεν εἰσόμεθα· μᾶλλον σὲ σαφῶς μὲν οὐδαμόθεν εἰσόμεθα· ὥστε δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν ἀγαθῶν ἀναχθέντες, μικρὰν γοῦν τινα λάβωμεν ἔννοιαν, ὡς ἂν οἷός τε ὦ, παραστῆσαι πειράσομαι τὸ λεχθέν. Εἰπὲ γάρ μοι, εἴ τίς σε γεγηρακότα, καὶ ἐν πενίᾳ ζῶντα ἐπηγγέλλετο ποιήσειν ἐξαίφνης νέον, καὶ εἰς αὐτὴν ἄξειν τῆς ἡλικίας τὴν ἀκμὴν, καὶ σφόδρα ἰσχυρὸν καὶ ὡραῖον ὑπὲρ πάντας κατασκευάσειν, καὶ βασιλείαν δώσειν τῆς γῆς ἁπάσης ἐπὶ ἔτεσι χιλίοις, βασιλείαν εἰρήνην ἔχουσαν βαθυτάτην, τί οὐκ ἂν ὑπὲρ ταύτης εἵλου τῆς ὑποθέσεως καὶ ποιῆσαι καὶ παθεῖν; Ἰδοὺ τοίνυν, ὁ Χριστὸς οὐχὶ ταῦτα, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ μείζονα τούτων ἐπαγγέλλεται. Οὐ γὰρ ὅσον γήρως καὶ νεότητος τὸ μέσον, τοσοῦτον φθορᾶς καὶ ἀφθαρσίας τὸ διάφορον· οὐδὲ ὅσον βασιλείας καὶ πενίας, τοσοῦτον τῆς δόξης τῆς παρούσης καὶ τῆς μελλούσης· ἀλλ' ὅσον ὀνειράτων καὶ ἀληθείας. Μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲν οὐδέπω εἴρηκα· οὐδὲ γάρ ἐστι λόγος ἱκανὸς παραστῆσαι τὸ μέγεθος τῆς διαφορᾶς τῶν ἐσομένων πρὸς τὰ παρόντα. Χρόνου δὲ ἕνεκεν, οὐδὲ ἐννοῆσαι ὅλως ἔστι διαφοράν. Πῶς γὰρ ἄν τις παραβάλοι τοῖς παροῦσι ζωὴν πέρας οὐκ ἔχουσαν; Τῆς δὲ εἰρήνης τοσοῦτο τὸ μέσον, ὅσον εἰρήνης καὶ πολέμου τὸ διάφορον· καὶ τῆς φθορᾶς καὶ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας, ὅσον βώλου πηλίνης ὁ καθαρὸς μαργαρίτης ἀμείνων. Μᾶλλον δὲ, ὅσα ἂν εἴπῃ τις, οὐδὲν παραστῆσαι δυνήσεται. Κἂν γὰρ τῷ τῆς ἀκτῖνος παραβάλω φωτὶ τὸ κάλλος τῶν τότε σωμάτων, κἂν ἀστραπῇ τῇ φανοτάτῃ, οὐδὲν οὐδέπω τῆς λαμπρότητος ἐκείνης ἄξιον ἐρῶ. Ὑπὲρ δὴ τούτων πόσα οὐκ ἄξιον προέσθαι χρήματα καὶ σώματα; μᾶλλον δὲ πόσας οὐκ ἄξιον προέσθαι ψυχάς; Νῦν δὲ, εἰ μέν τίς σε εἰς βασίλεια εἰσήγαγε, καὶ πάντων παρόντων διαλεχθῆναί σοι τὸν βασιλέα παρεσκεύασε, καὶ ὁμοτράπεζον αὐτῷ καὶ ὁμοδίαιτον ἐποίησε, πάντων ἂν ἔφης σαυτὸν εἶναι μακαριώτερον· εἰς δὲ τὸν οὐρανὸν μέλλων ἀναβῆναι, καὶ παρ' αὐτὸν ἑστάναι τὸν βασιλέα τῶν ὅλων, καὶ τοῖς ἀγγέλοις ἀντιλάμπειν, καὶ τῆς ἀπροσίτου δόξης ἀπολαύειν ἐκείνης, ἀμφιβάλλεις εἰ δέοι προέσθαι χρήματα, δέον, εἰ καὶ τὴν ζωὴν αὐτὴν ἀποδύσασθαι ἔδει, σκιρτᾷν καὶ ἀγάλλεσθαι καὶ πτεροῦσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς ἡδονῆς; Σὺ δὲ, ἵνα μὲν ἀρχὴν λάβῃς τὴν παρέχουσάν σοι κλοπῶν ἀφορμὰς οὐ γὰρ κέρδος τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐγὼ καλῶ, καὶ τὰ ὄντα ἐκβάλλεις, καὶ τὰ ἑτέρων δανεισάμενος, εἰ δέοι, καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ τέκνα ὑποθέσθαι οὐ κατοκνεῖς, τῆς δὲ βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν προκειμένης, τῆς οὐδένα διάδοχον ἐχούσης ἀρχῆς, ὀκνεῖς καὶ ἀναδύῃ καὶ πρὸς χρήματα κέχηνας; καὶ οὐκ ἐννοεῖς, ὅτι εἰ τὰ πρὸς ἡμᾶς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ μέρη οὕτω καλὰ καὶ τερπνὰ, ἡλίκα τὰ ἀνώτατα, καὶ ὁ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ οὐρανός; Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ σωματικοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ταῦτα ἰδεῖν οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀνάβηθι τῷ λογισμῷ, καὶ ὑπὲρ τὸν οὐρανὸν τοῦτον στὰς, ἀνάβλεψον εἰς ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἀνωτέρω τούτου οὐρανὸν, εἰς τὸ